Chapter Two: Issues
Riza pushed him at gun point into Colonel Mustang's office. With a short statement, "Here he is Sir," she shut the door quickly after her with a snap. By now, Edward was fully awake and in a relatively good mood. Despite being awakened at gun-point. Which was rare for the short tempered young man, especially when being dragged into a situation that could have been avoided. This rare sight however, was not unnoticed by Roy Mustang, whom simply laid down his pen and glanced with a raised eyebrow over towards his subordinate. "So, Fullmetal. What have I been hearing? You were blocking an entire hallway, and caused Lt. Havoc to trip and fall... is that it?" His voice was steady and calm, although he made his customary jab at Edward's height. Mentally, Roy was counting down until Edward had realized exactly what he had said.
"Yes an entire... HEY! Stop making fun of my height!" All traces of amusement was stripped from Edward's voice as he shot his customary glare at his Commanding officer.
Finding great amusement in Edward's reaction as always, Roy took full advantage of the somewhat subdued, for Edward, reaction to his insinuation. The Colonel stood up slowly, and walked to the other side of his desk. Leaning casually against the oaken piece of furniture a smirk tugged at the corners of his lips, "Height? You have no height. Tell you what Fullmetal, go out and get some height, and then I will make fun of it." His smug was fully formed now as he observed the slight twitching of his subordinate.
"You bastard..." it was all Edward could say before lunging forward intent on punching the amused Colonel. From what Edward had observed in previous confrontations was that Roy had usually kept his hands in his pockets at first, leaving him susceptible to an attack; if it was done swift enough. But what Edward had misjudged in his hazed fury, was that Roy was leaning against the desk, his hands in plain sight.
Roy was no fool, having fought in an indescribable war his reflexes were honed to that of a cat. Instead of taking Edward's intended punch to the stomach, he caught his superiors fist in his palm. Although his stomach suffered no pain, his hand did. A sickening crack resounded in both pair of ears and an equally loud swear escaped Roy's lips, "Fuck!" Pure agony laced his voice as he shrunk back against the desk cradling his hand to his chest. This was not the way he was supposed to be talking to Fullmetal about his sleeping habits. Even though he was not an entire fool, Roy lacked some ability to acknowledge one simple fact. Edward was right handed. Edward's right hand was made out of metal. And metal is very effective in breaking assorted items, including bone. Of course if there was anytime that Roy let his guard down, it was when he was either called useless, or extremely hurt. This time being the latter.
The slip in Roy's demeanor had actually scared Edward for a brief second, that initial fear slipped away with a wash of panic. He had actually hurt Roy Mustang. Colonel, Roy Mustang for that matter. He could be kicked out of the military for that, and that wasn't even the scariest part. That would have to be not having access to so many resources so he could find, or attempt to find a way to create a philosophers stone to give Alphonse his body back. His fevered thoughts were interrupted by Havoc and Hawkeye flooding into the office to check on the Colonel's scream.
"Well it seems that you're more than a fire hazard today Edward..." Havoc said slightly bitter in Edward's direction as he helped Roy remove his glove. "You broke his hand, in three places," he spoke through his cigarette as he inspected his Colonel's rapidly swelling hand.
"I-I didn't mean to… it was an accident," that of course was true. He fully intended on punching Roy in the stomach, not on having the bastard catch his fist mid-punch. Hawkeye raised an eyebrow in suspicion at this comment. "Really! I swear it was."
After Havoc had announced the amount of damage to Roy's hand he tried to get the Colonel to go to the infirmary, but to no avail. The stubborn man just cradled his hurt hand to his chest as he tried to regain his composure. Though the firm look of pain would not leave his face, but kept it in a tight grimace. Sighing in defeat, Havoc smoked away as he left the room, shrugging as he passed Hawkeye. After the door shut behind Havoc, the three were standing in a triangle, all looking in different directions.
Edward was staring at the floor in embarrassment, he couldn't bring himself to look up at Roy. Even though the young man had a strong will, and temper to match, he always had a bigger conscious. An overwhelming sense of guilt took over his mind, as he considered his rash actions. People always seemed to get hurt because of him, and they all tended to be the people he cared for the most… At that thought his eyes widened and he immediately turned to leave the room.
But Roy had been watching him, and Hawkeye in turn watching Roy. The sudden movement of the younger man made Roy step forward, "Where do you think you're going Fullmetal?" his voice was tinged ever so slightly with masked pain, to the trained ear anyhow.
There was no response from the young man, but Hawkeye spoke up instead, "Sir, you should have your hand checked out before anything else. It isn't good for…" her sentence was cut off as Roy dismissed her. With an odd glint in her eyes she left, side stepping Edward on her way out.
With his back now to Roy, Edward had to look over his shoulder to see the now stoic expression on Roy's face. He wasn't expecting anything else, but he couldn't help but feel a small wave of relief take over his face, "I was leaving," he stated quietly and simply.
"I do not think so," Roy replied coolly. With a slight smirk he nodded towards the door, "You will be accompanying me to the infirmary incase anybody should ask why my bones have been shattered so painfully."
"And why should I do that?" Edward's temper was returning, but he couldn't help but raise an eyebrow in the Colonel's direction. Why in the world would Roy really want him to come with him? The man was almost thirty for crying out loud, and was quite capable of ratting him out on his own. After all, the bastard liked to cause trouble… right?
-----
Those tables that they had the patients sit on, the ones with the sanitary wax paper on, were quite uncomfortable Roy mused. He kept on shifting as if he were three, rather than almost thirty every few seconds as his buttocks kept on going numb from the hard surface. Not only was his ass uncomfortable, his hand was throbbing like no other. He did all that he could from either passing out from the pain, or going into a rage to forget about the pain. He chose to do what he could from passing out. Biting down on his lower lip he kept his gaze steadily on the soft blue tiled floor while he waited for the attendant to return with pain killers.
It was that same piercing look that drew Edward's eyes to the floor in front of the Colonel. He was interested in why the Colonel was staring at the floor, rather than throwing this in his face. After all he, Roy, had been the second person he had hurt. First he tripped Havoc, and then shattered Roy's hand. Not a good start to the day. Not a good start at all. He himself was slumped over in a hard plastic chair, his ass receiving the same numbing treatment as was his superior's was. He had grown so restless in the chair that he was hardly in the chair at all, his neck touching the top of the chairs back, and his legs propped him up so that his ass barely even touched the bottom anymore.
Roy's eyes only moved from the spot on the floor when the door to the attendants office open and shut quickly, startling him slightly. Although he didn't show it, he looked up quickly and pried his teeth from their grooves in his bottom lip. He sighed audibly, wanting relief as soon as possible. But he was distracted further as a clatter and a string of curses rose to his ears. He looked away from the bemused attendant and back to the floor, where Edward now was. Apparently the noise had startled the younger man too, but to a different extent.
Huffing slightly, he stood up and dusted himself off, moving closer to the raised platform, almost like a dais, where Roy was seated, "Don't even think about it…" Edward was referring to a smart assed comment about being startled, but by the look Roy gave him, it was the last thing on his mind. Edward decided it would be a good thing to remain quiet for the rest of the little examination process, only talking when prompted. Which in itself, was a rarer thing than his being (outwardly) happy to see Colonel Mustang.
(A/N Hope that wasn't too awful.)