Gone
"You shouldn't be doing spring cleaning!" Ed squawked, hovering anxiously. "Your arm isn't nearly strong enough to carry some of this shit!"
Havoc plopped down onto the bed, eyeing the fretting young man. "Well, then you're just going to have to help me," he remarked, lighting a cigarette. "Since I'm obviously too weak to carry anything..."
"Lazy bum," Ed growled, apparently ignoring what he had said earlier.
"Think of it as weight training. That way if and when you see your teacher, she won't try to kick your ass and make you do something that'll probably kill you. I'm being kind to you." The young man growled something unprintable. He just smiled sweetly. "When you walked in that door the first time, you pretty much gave yourself up for anything that might happen. I think this goes under the 'anything' clause, don't you?"
He watched curiously as Ed's motion slowly ground to a halt. "Well, it's not quite what I had imagined to be an 'anything'," the young man admitted. "I was thinking of something a little more... dramatic."
He smiled to himself, getting up and collecting a few scattered books. "Don't look like that, kid. I'm not going to even ask. It's just enough that I have company nowadays."
The pile of books tottered precariously. Havoc had to go through all sorts of weird contortions to keep the damn things on top of one another.
"Why couldn't you just put a hand on them?" Ed asked, skating by with a box of old clothing.
"You sure you want to know?"
"I asked, didn't I?"
Havoc shrugged. "All right. Just don't complain." He managed to ease the books out of the crook of his left arm and drew the sleeve covering his right arm up.
Ed's mouth hung open. "For the love of God man, I don't think that's supposed to happen!"
"Shut up, kid. You're complaining."
Ed noticed his strained grin. "I'm sorry, Jean. Just... that looks pretty nasty. Are you sure it's not infected?"
"One hell of a lingering infection. I've been out for a month, and it's been two months since I got it." He gave a lopsided shrug. "It'll heal."
