Predilection

By Kloudy Reignfall

Disclaimers and Warnings and stuff: Alright, so I don't own FMA. I know, sorry to disappoint you. :shakes head: Oh, and there are a lot of put-downs about certain types of people, so just so you know I don't have anything against any of those people, such as: Jocks, porn stars, Freshmen, tall people, and short people. :laughs: Oh, and there's some 'bad' language too.

Hallo, welcome! Nice to see you all! Thanks for dropping in on my story. I hope you like it! I feel like I'm taking a big leap posting this, because nobody's read it yet and I have no idea how good it really is. I guess I'll find out. Oh, and sorry about the title. It has nothing really to do with the story. That just happened to be the name of the song I was listening to as I first started to write this, so that's what I called it.
I feel a bit stupid for writing what seems to be such a generic fic, you know, the high-school thing, inserting characters as students and teachers and such, but… I dunno, the idea just wouldn't let go. Anyway, I actually kind of like it…

Oh, BY THE WAY: In case I didn't mention, this story will be SHOUNEN-AI and have multiple pairings, at least somewhere in the near future. At the present, it's a bit general and vague, but such is the way of first chapters.

Read on, dear fans!

Chapter One

Edward had never really noticed how common his name was until his first day of 11th grade. There was at least one other Edward in each of his classes; three others in his third period class! Granted, they weren't all different people, but still.

He sat lazily at one of the desks on the left wall of his World History class, waiting for the teacher to get in and wondering what this year was going to be like in comparison to last year. Things were basically the same, so he didn't see how it would be any different except for his classes. The same monotonous, meaningless stuff as always. And that was alright, but he was really in need of some sort of change.

As Edward had been lost in shallow thought the teacher had come into the room and settled behind his desk in the front left corner of the room, just by the door.

To Edward he looked much like any other teacher (except perhaps a bit younger than most, and with a cold gleam in his eyes), but it was apparent that his opinions differed greatly from those of every girl in the room. At each breath, there was a shiver through the spines of the entire female half of the class and each look sent them into a fit of silent, quivering giggles.

At this, the teacher smiled faintly, not looking up from the papers he held. The girls all thought he was gorgeous and he knew it. Edward scoffed. People like that pissed him off. There were too many of them that he already had to tolerate, and now his teacher! What a lovely year he was in for in this class, he thought sarcastically. But then, he had wanted something different and at least this was different.

He studied the man as he waited for class to really begin. The teacher was still looking over what Ed assumed to be the roster. At least, that's what it looked like he was doing. He was probably really scanning through the students to find the hottest girls. He seemed like that kind of person, the kind who would seduce young girls because they were so easy and trusting.

Pedophile, Edward thought with vague, self-righteous disgust. People like that should be imprisoned, or at least neutered.

Now the teacher lifted his eyes and stood to face the whiteboard behind him where he began to write his name.

'Mr. Mustang.' Even his name sounds like it would belong to a pedophile. Or a porn star.

The teacher, Mr. Mustang, turned to the class and gave a smile that made all the girls giddy and caused Ed to roll his eyes in annoyance. And then he spoke.

"Good morning class, welcome to World History. My name is Roy Mustang, but please don't call me Roy or I'll have to write you up." His eyes sparkled slightly, creating an innocent illusion for the girls sitting on the edge of their seats who were fully focused on the sound of his voice. "I'll be your teacher for the duration of this class. It's my first year at this school, so don't be too rough on me. I hope we can all learn something interesting this year." He finished his introduction speech and sat back down with his roster, all eyes (or at least all female eyes and many of the male ones) still focused on him.

"Right, well let's all introduce ourselves, starting with you over there in the right corner."

Edward sighed and put his head down on his desk. He didn't need to listen to this since he already knew most of the names of the people in his classes anyway, just from previous years. Not that he really talked to many of them, but it was hard not to get to know a few people. Some of the names caught his attention though, like the three other Edwards. Each one called himself something different; one was Edward, another was Eddy, and the last was Ed. He didn't really have a problem with people sharing his name (not as if there was anything he could do about it), but they'd taken all of the forms of it! Now what was he supposed to call himself in this class? He'd say Ed, but having more than one person of the same name could get too confusing.

He was still pondering this when his turn came around. He stood like everyone else had, and announced his name to the class. He'd decided on his full proper name: Edward Elric.

Mr. Mustang blinked at him several times. "You're…" he began.

If you say short I'm going to shoot you! Edward thought viciously at his teacher. (Edward, who stood at a full 5 feet, 1 inch, maybe 5'3" in his favorite boots, was always rather sensitive about his height, having been teased about it since middle school.)

"… another Edward," Mustang said shortly. Ed breathed a sigh of relief, his hate of this teacher lessening slightly at his being the first one not to have mentioned his height so far today. Then again… "And you're rather chibi," he finished with a smirk. Suddenly Edward hated this Mr. Mustang more than he thought possible. He sat down with a thud and angrily crossed his arms, glaring at the teacher as he signaled for the next person to stand.

This class was going to be certified hell, oh yes it was. How could he be expected to stand such an insufferable man within his presence, let alone teaching him for a whole year!

Soon the whole class had been introduced and the teacher stood once again. "World History is a very important subject," he said, "but it's also important to know a little history about the people you have to interact with every day. I'd like to know about all of you, and I'm sure you want to ask me some questions. Go ahead," he said with a flirtatious look.

The girls all instantly raised their hands and he nodded at them one by one to ask their questions while he answered.

"How old are you?" asked the first girl anxiously. Several other girls let their hands down in disappointment.

"I'm twenty-nine years old."

"Do you have a wife?" another girl inquired, a look of hope on her face.

Mustang laughed. "No," he said, still smiling, perhaps more so now, "I don't have a wife." The girl who asked (not to mention most of the others) looked obviously relieved.

"A husband?" one girl sitting in the back of the room asked.

He didn't laugh at this one, but he still smiled as he shook his head, although it seemed a bit stiff of a smile.

"Any kids, then?" suggested another.

"Nope," Mr. Mustang replied.

"What kind of music do you listen to?" a girl curiously asked him.

He looked thoughtful for a moment. "Rock, mostly," he said. "But I like a little metal sometimes."

Edward listened to the Q and A, slightly annoyed at the whole thing. He was just about to raise his hand and ask the teacher if he'd ever been incarcerated, when the bell rang for the end of class. The students rushed out in a hurry to their next classes. Edward lethargically gathered up his stuff and headed for the door, the last student. As he passed Mustang's desk, the smirking teacher called out with a friendly-sounding, "Have a nice day, Chibi Elric."

Ed violently fought off the urge to beat this teacher into the ground for that comment, and continued on to his next class, hoping against hope that he hadn't just acquired a new nickname.

OoOoOoOoO

By the time lunch rolled around, Edward was starving! Dealing with annoying new teachers and students could really work up an appetite. So far his classes didn't seem too incredibly hard, but it was still the first day yet. Luckily he didn't have any homework, but that was bound to change. He wandered into the lunchroom with a sigh.

Damn it, Ed cursed mentally, I hate school! Such a pain in the ass. Why couldn't we have been home schooled?

Idiot that he was, Edward was paying very little attention to where he was going and didn't notice that there was something in his way until he walked right into it. It was very solid, but it didn't hurt too much. Wasn't a pole, he deduced, as he picked himself up off the cafeteria floor. He looked angrily up to see what or who had decided to knock him down.

A very large, very pissed-off looking guy in a blue and gray letter jacket stared down at him. "What the hell was that for, you damn little punk? Watch where the hell you're going next time! Fucking freshman."

Edward sat on the floor, stunned, for about half a second. Then he was up in a flash, grabbing the goon in front of him by the front of his expensive jacket. "And just who the hell are you calling a little freshman, jackass!" But before the goon or any of his friends had a chance to react to the ballsy little pipsqueak in front of them, a hand grabbed Ed's shoulder and pulled him back.

"I'm so sorry about that!" Alphonse offered the disgruntled group of students. Without another word, he pulled his brother to a nearby table. (But not too near, for fear that the tall, muscular and angry jock wasn't satisfied with the end of their confrontation.) He sat Ed down on the bench roughly.

Alphonse sighed. "Geez, Ed. First day and you're already making enemies again!"

"Hey!" Ed protested loudly, "He knocked me down, ok? I was just trying to find you guys." He cast a glare over at the other table where the group seemed to have forgotten about him. "And they stole our table! That's where we sat last year!"

Al shook his head. He almost couldn't believe that Ed would get so worked up over something so trivial, like possessiveness over a table. Almost. But he'd dealt with Edward's antics for years and as crazy as it was, he was used it. He turned back to his brother who was still stewing. "It doesn't matter. Anyway, it's nice outside. Winry thought we could eat out there."

Edward nodded, no better alternative coming to mind, and followed his little brother outside.

It really was a nice day outside the confines of the school walls. Sure, they were still at school, but out in the cool air with the trees and flowers and lack of annoying I'm-better-than-you-because-I'm-taller jocks, Ed couldn't help but relax.

They found Winry sitting at one of the round stone tables in the middle of the large courtyard. Ed followed Al, who took a seat next to the blonde girl, and set his things on the table.

"Hey, Ed," Winry greeted with a smile. "How's your first day been so far?"

"Okay, I guess," he answered, noncommittal.

"He almost got into a fight with a senior," Al supplied. "I had to save his skin again."

"Well he knocked me down! And he called me a freshman," Ed told them defensively, though with less gusto than was normal for him.

Winry rolled her eyes. That was Edward for you, always getting angry about something or other. Usually it had to do with his height. Getting off a potentially dangerous subject, she decided to try for something neutral. "So, how have your classes been? Meet anyone interesting?"

Ed considered. "The classes are boring like always. There aren't any interesting people. They're all boring too. The most interesting person was the new World History teacher."

"Oh, yeah?" Winry asked, politely involved.

"Yeah. Smug, rude, ugly old bastard! Mr. Mustang," he mocked. "Even his name disgusts me!" Ed scoffed and crossed his arms.

"Mr. Mustang?" Al said. "Hmm. I think one of my friends had him for second period. Said he seemed like a nice guy."

"Hmph! Whatever. That guy's a jerk! I don't see why anyone likes him."

Winry cut in. "Yeah, some of my friends had him earlier too. They said all sorts of nice stuff about him."

Ed simply growled quietly.

Winry and Al, both just a little bit surprised at Ed's blatant hatred of someone he'd just met, turned to look the elder Elric in the eyes.

"Why does it bother you so much, Ed?" Winry questioned, a very slight smirk playing on her face.

"It doesn't-!" Ed began before his brother interrupted.

"He called you short, didn't he, Ed?" Al asked, the grin audible in his voice.

Ed seethed. "Ugh! That's not it!" He grumbled and put his head down on the hard table.

Winry cocked her head to the side innocently. "Then what is it?"

Ed's hands balled into angry fists. "I don't know! He's irritating! He just- I mean, he- I don't know!"

Al and Winry grinned at each other and then at Ed, who sat with his head in his arms. So easily flustered. Sometimes they almost felt bad about teasing him so often. Almost being the operative word.

They patted him on the head and he smacked their hands away as they sat down to eat lunch in the warm afternoon sun.

End Chapter One

Well, there you have it, the first chapter! I started writing this completely on a whim one night. It was like midnight and I must have been on a major sugar-high or something. Anyway, when I started writing it, I had no idea where it was going, but by now I've actually written out a basic outline of several more chapters and I've got a pretty good idea of where I'd like to take it. Of course, at the rate that I update it'll be forever before we find out what actually happens. Heh.
Well, I'm not begging or anything, but reviews certainly help inspire me to write. So, if you liked it, feel free to leave a review. If you didn't like it, feel free to leave a flame, but only if it's well written. :grin:
Oh, yeah, and why don't you all take a guess as to some of the pairings? I don't think they are painfully obvious yet, but perhaps you can tell already.
'Til next time.
-Kloudy Reignfall