A Pen or a Sword?

By: Bar-Ohki

Disclaimer: This is no reason to sue me, so please don't!

Recap: Jaxith pisses off his friends, gets thrown out on the street, and then gets plastered at a gay bar.

Other Stuff: I'm not sick anymore! That's a wonderful, wonderful thing. I'll keep the inserts open this chapter.

Previously:

"Emotionally?" Roy asked again.

"…Right." Jaxith answered after some thought.

Chapter 34: Forgiveness

"Why'd you throw me out on the street?" Jaxith asked after a long while.

"You needed a drink and some assurance that your attraction to Edward wasn't a bad thing. The drink was for making you think through and clear out your emotions, so why not stick you in a bar full of homosexuals?" Roy grinned. "The man that picked you up was my old landlord."

"So you actually set that up?" Jaxith's eyebrow twitched, betraying his annoyed state.

"Yes. We almost had a problem when Fuery decided he wasn't going to go to the bar that night, but thankfully Hawkeye persuaded him otherwise." Roy let out a breath of relief. "Now before you get grumpy with me for meddling in your affairs, let me remind you that I don't meddle unless it's absolutely needed."

"Equivalent Exchange." Jaxith muttered under his breath.

"Yes, it is." Roy nodded.

"Will this headache ever go away?" Jaxith moaned.

"You'll be fine enough for school tomorrow if that's what you want to know." Roy answered, not assuring Jaxith in the least.

-Break-

Despite Roy's assurance that he would not have to go into work that day, a phone call that afternoon proved him wrong. Jaxith followed his great-uncle into work, grumbling all the while. Upon arrival at the office, Roy opened the door to see Edward and Alphonse standing there. Edward was frowning and Alphonse seemed tense.

"Hello." Roy greeted the Elrics. Edward in response stomped past him and grabbed Jaxith's wrist dragging the boy off.

"Should I be worried?" Roy asked Alphonse.

"I don't think so, but I'd have the first aid kit ready just in case." Alphonse told Roy as he walked out after his brother and friend. Roy didn't like the sound of that.

It did not take long for Alphonse to catch up with Edward and Jaxith. They walked in silence while Edward led them to the State Alchemist testing grounds. Jaxith blinked, having not seen the variety of raw materials the military stored for their alchemists.

"This is where you have your practical examination." Edward explained. "Your great-uncle's been here, as have I."

"Am I supposed to be here?" Jaxith whispered.

"Right now you are, but it's breaking of the rules if that's what you mean." Edward gave Jaxith a cheeky grin.

And that was all the warning Jaxith got before Edward swung his automail fist at Jaxith's head, albeit slowly as to not hurt his friend. Jaxith had enough time to react and he jerked away, stumbling backwards to trip and land gracelessly on his ass. He managed a small 'ow' before having to roll out of the way as Edward was on him again.

It didn't take a genius to see that it was a one-sided fight. Jaxith knew how to brawl and was best suited against other opponents without real combat training. Edward, being a State certified field alchemist and a student of Izumi Curtis, was several levels above Jaxith. He had complete control over both of their movements.

Pressing the attack purposefully, Edward provoked Jaxith to punch him back. Jaxith, falling right into Edward's trap, swung at the blonde's face and hit it. Edward swerved his head to the side, cushioning the blow a slight bit.

"Damn, that's going to hurt in the morning." Edward muttered, now with a black eye starting to form. Jaxith just stood there and gasped in horror. Edward rolled his eyes then proceeded to smack Jaxith on the side of the head, hard.

"Quit being wishy-washy!" Edward proceeded to lecture his friend, having saved it until the fight was over.

"I'm not a trained fighter!" Jaxith snapped back. "I don't like fighting! I hate it!"

"Then why are you picking fights?" Edward asked, deadly serious. "Provoking people is only going to get you into trouble!"

"Like you're one to talk." Alphonse snorted from the back.

"Why did you attack me?" Jaxith asked.

"Because I wanted to see how good a fighter you were." Edward answered, as if it was obvious.

"Your curiosity earned you a black eye." Jaxith observed, finding this side of Edward strange.

"You never know anything until you conduct the experiment." Edward pointed out. "Now I don't know how I feel about liking guys and girls, but I'm willing to try it out."

"What?" Jaxith was caught off-guard.

"Me and Al talked it over last night." Edward admitted. "And that Michel-guy was right, I need some more social experience."

"So you're going to date me to get experience?" Jaxith felt slightly used.

"Isn't that was dating is about?" Edward asked. "I mean, it's not like I'm deciding on a life partner."

"But what if I am?" Jaxith asked back.

"Neither of us know if we really like boys or not, and I don't think this-" Edward was cut off.

"I like boys." Jaxith answered. "I really like boys, and I'm sure about that."

"Well, I'm not." Edward replied.

"What do we do now?" Jaxith asked, not knowing himself.

"Finding you both ice packs, I think that is a good place to start…." Alphonse suggested, pointing at both of their bruises.

As they walked away Jaxith realized that at some point, he was going to have to confess that he was now dating Edward Elric.

-Break-

Jaxith walked into the calculus room bright and early the next morning. As per usual, Euclid was already there, but today was not usual in that Samantha was also in the room with him. They had been waiting.

"So Jaxith, Mike told me the most interesting story," Samantha began, "care to elaborate?"

"I don't know what he told you." Jaxith shrugged. "I can't defend myself if I don't know what I've been accused of."

"What did you do to make him call you 'artificial'?" Samantha asked, looking concerned.

"I-" Jaxith opened his mouth to say another word, but none came to mind. He shut his mouth.

"I heard you got yourself plastered at The Broken Tankard." (1) Euclid was frowning. "Care to share how the heck you got them to let you in?"

"I was with my uncle's previous landlord." Jaxith answered as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "Uncle Roy sent me there to straighten out my emotions."

"Which is what had upset Mike." Euclid concluded. "Mike's a little oblivious sometimes, so it's all right."

"What do you mean?" Jaxith asked, confused.

"We knew you weren't expressing yourself properly." Samantha smiled. "Which is why we've been trying to help."

"And don't worry about Mike, we'll set him straight for you." Euclid grinned. "Here's a make-up assignment."

"…Thank you?"

-Break-

During calculus Euclid had given Mike a look to stay quiet, for which Jaxith was thankful. Heading into his second class with von Kisper, Jaxith moaned. He wasn't going to like this. As he was sitting down, von Kisper marched over.

"So, care to share with me why you weren't in class yesterday?" Kisper growled.

"I was sick." Jaxith answered.

"With a hangover." Kisper scornfully glared. "As punishment, you get to give your speech first."

"Wait, isn't that tomorrow?" Jaxith's eyes flew open with panic when he glanced at the calendar in the back of the room. Today was Thursday. The report was due Friday.

"Yes it is." Kisper smiled. "It better be good."

Jaxith swallowed hard, not liking that at all.

-Break-

Michel was currently wishing he knew what he had done to piss Samantha off. Because today in Physical Education, they were playing dodgeball. And Samantha was currently enjoying pelting him with dodge balls. Well, more like hurtling them at dangerous and painful velocities.

Afterwards Samantha hauled him to the side.

"You realize that Jax needs your help and support right now?" She growled.

"That's what I did?" Michel blinked. She smacked him on the head.

"He's finally figuring himself out! You've got to be supportive." Samantha turned on her heel and left.

"Ouchies…." Michel muttered not too sure what to do now. The bell reminded him that going to class might be a good idea.

-Break-

At lunch Michel sat down next to Jaxith, who was sporting entire sticks of chalk in his hair today.

"What did you do to that woman?" Michel asked him, half horrified.

"I fell asleep." Jaxith sweatdropped. "She seems to throw more chalk the more I do it. Why are you talking to me?"

"Because I was being an ungrateful asshole earlier." Michel left it at that. "You need help, not rejection."

"How many of those bruises did Samantha give you?" Jaxith eyed Michel's black and blue arm.

"…All."

"I will never understand the female creature." Jaxith shook his head.

"Me nether." Both laughed.

"What did you two just say about women?" Samantha asked, seething from right behind them.

"Er-" "Wait-!" "We didn't mean to-" The boys sputtered senselessly.

Samantha growled once and held up a large math textbook.

Smack! Thump!

And on the floor, two boys were left unconscious.

-----------

Never make a woman mad, it's generally a very bad idea. And as for Edward, he's such a scientist about everything he does. Wow, even dating is an experiment to him…. Anyone wanna place bets on how far Roy's going to jump in the air when he walks in on Jaxith and Edward making out?

1- This is the bar Jaxith got himself smashed at in the last chapter. It is known for its drag-queens, strip teases, good drinks, and Haymans Breda's most humiliating college moment. Not that the last one is too well known...