Chapter Eight
"You have to eat something," Hughes said when he placed a tray of food on the table beside Edward's bed. The teen hadn't left from the bed since he had been back from the hospital; Hughes knew the only way to get the kid to eat was to bring it to him. So far, Ed hadn't touched a thing in three days. Hughes had done some research and knew this meant a binge could happen at any time, so he had to be on his best to make sure that didn't happen.
"I don't have to eat anything if I don't want to," Edward said in protest. "You tell Mustang to un-suspend me and we'll see about me eating something."
"So are you saying that this is a form of protest to get what you want?" Hughes asked. Ed weakly nodded. "Well, we're not giving in that easily. You're sick. If you don't want to eat...I'll have no choice but to take you back to the hospital."
"No!" Ed exclaimed. "No...I'll eat, okay?"
"Good," Hughes said. He moved to walk out of the room when he spotted the suit of armor sitting in the corner of the room. Alphonse hadn't taken kindly to the news that Edward hadn't been eating properly, so had dedicated all of his time to watching Edward. "Al, you watch your brother."
"Yes, mister Hughes," Alphonse said as the man walked out of the room. "Brother…Please…"
"I said I was going to eat it and I will, okay?" Ed growled. "What is it with you and Hughes ganging up on me?"
"We're not ganging up on you, brother; we just want you to be healthy," Alphonse argued. He had been devastated when Hughes and Mustang sat him down and explained that Edward was diagnosed with Bulimia. Despite this explanation, Edward had completely denied the problem at all.
"I am healthy," Edward responded. "Even the damn doctor said I'm at a healthy weight!"
"They said that you weren't eating and that when you did you were throwing it up, brother," Alphonse said. "Even mister Hughes said that he's going to be taking you to the dentist tomorrow to look at what you did to your teeth."
"I didn't do anything to my damn teeth because I didn't do anything," Ed said, though he did know that there had to be tooth decay. When he had first begun the cycle of binging and purging, Edward had become obsessed with brushing his teeth excessively afterward. It had become less and less important over time.
"You and I both know that's not true, brother," Al said so quietly that Edward had to strain to hear him. "I've been watching you for a while; you don't eat right. When mister Hughes says that you've been eating everything and throwing it up, I believe him because I've seen you go out of control and eat everything."
"What?" Ed asked.
"Whenever you're in the mess hall at headquarters you eat a lot or nothing at all. Then you always spend a while in the bathroom," Alphonse said. "I thought it was just a weird quirk of yours, you've always been that way, but…But I think mister Hughes and the colonel are right."
"My own damn brother…" Edward trailed off. "God dammit, Al! You're against me too!"
"No, brother, I'm for you!" Alphonse argued.
"Get out!" Ed growled, throwing the food that had been given to him onto the floor. "Get out of my room right now!"
"Brother, you can't just throw your food down like that," Al said, bending over to pick up the discarded food before it could ruin the carpet.
"Get out!" Edward shouted, pointing to the door.
Alphonse sighed softly, gathering the discarded food and dishes before walking out of the room.
"Now, Edward, we're just going to have a peek at your teeth and see what's been going on," the dentist explained as the blonde teen sat in the examination chair.
"If you put your hands in my mouth I will fucking bite you," Ed said in monotone.
"Um…" the dentist trailed off. "Is this safe?" the man asked Hughes and Mustang, who were both standing in the room.
"It might be safe to give him a light sedative," Mustang said.
"Fuck you!" Edward spat.
"I think I agree with you, Roy," Hughes responded.
"I'll have my nurse come in to deliver it," the dentist said before walking out of the room.
"Fuck you guys!" Edward shouted. "You're not gonna give me a damn sedative!"
"We're going to give you whatever drugs we need to give you to get you to behave for the damn doctor," Mustang said. "I swear to God, Edward, you are so close to going in the hospital again. You'd already be there if it wasn't for Hughes, so you could act a little grateful."
"Oh, grateful to one of the people that got me diagnosed with a girl disease?" Ed asked. "I don't have a problem. There's nothing to cure me of."
"We'll see about that," Mustang said just as the dentist returned with several nurses.
"Oh, so now you need a team of people to take me down and give me a sedative?" Edward asked.
"Needles," Mustang said. Ed's eyes suddenly widened, losing his smart ass attitude and struggling against the people who were holding him down.
"Stop it! Stop, stop, stop!" Edward cried before the sedative was given. It didn't take long for the struggling to die down and for Edward's eyes to droop shut.
"He'll be all right for the rest of his appointment and probably be out of it for the rest of the day," the dentist explained, excusing his nurses as he began to look through Ed's mouth. "Hm…there's not a lot of decay here, though it's obvious that he's been doing this for quite some time. Years, probably."
"Could you pinpoint how many years?" Hughes asked.
"Well it looks like it's been around three years," the dentist said. "I've had a lot of Bulimia patients at different timelines, so I can tell with these, and it looks like he's been very lucky. He probably took pretty good care of his teeth."
"What's going to happen to his teeth if he continues to do this to himself?" Mustang asked.
"They'll definitely suffer more damage," the dentist answered. "I can do a deep cleaning today and you can bring him back in three months to see if there's been any further damage."
"Thank you," Hughes thanked.
The rest of the appointment went smoothly. Edward had a deep cleaning while he was still out of it from the sedative. Unfortunately, this meant he was still out when the appointment was over, and the two men had to figure out how to get the teenager out of the dentist's office.
Mustang struggled as he carried the heavy teen out of the office. Edward didn't weigh as much as he felt, but the automail really added to how heavy the teen felt.
When they returned to Hughes' house, the man placed the teenager in his bed. Alphonse had agreed to leave Edward alone for the time being. It wasn't like Ed was going to do anything bad while he slept.
He only did everything bad when everyone else was sleeping.
Oh my gosh, this chapter took so long and it's still so short. I'm hoping I'll continue to update, but I'll be starting my first day of college tomorrow (kill me now) and I'll probably be seriously busy. I hope you guys like the chapter; even if it's short!
