Alright, I forgot to say a few things in the last chapter. Disclaimer: I do not in any way, shape, or form own Fullmetal Alchemist, its plot, or any of its characters. I am just playing in the esteemed lady's sandbox.
This chapter was inspired by I Hate My Life by Theory of A Deadman and Tonight, Tonight, Tonight by Beat Crusaders, (the latter of which is the song in the beginning)
Warnings for this chapter: Pretty strong language and lots of OOCness.
Whiplash Chapter 2- I Hate My Life
An alarm went off. The time on the infernal red letters on the digital clock read 5:00 am. Golden eyes twitched, and the radio on that same machine turned on.
Woke up with yawn, it's dawning: I'm still alive
Turned on my radio to start off new day…
As goddamned DJ's chattered how to survive
Amazing news got over on the air wave…
Tonight, love is-
Wham. An automail fist smashed into the clock, hitting the mute button. Fortunately for the clock –but unfortunately for poor Ed- his grandmother had taken special care to get the thing made nearly indestructible…. No, seriously. The alarm clock was frigging MISSILE PROOF. Ed's face came up slightly from the pillow he was previously face-down on and looked at the thrice-damned contraption with narrowed ochre eyes. Nothing had EVER, and I repeat, EVER survived Ed's Patented Iron Fist of All-Hell Releasing® before. The blonde then dragged himself out of bed to get ready for school. Once he was decent and in his usual attire (black laceup combat boots, black leather pants, black tank, red button-down on top with the first few buttons undone, hair in standard braid) he went to go wake up Al.
Al went to his grandmother's house every day before Ed got to school. It pained Ed that Al couldn't go with him to school every day… And it hurt him to know that inside that suit of armor, his little brother… Had gone insane, and was getting more so by the day. He would be distant and spacey, and then he would go into a corner for long periods of time and refuse to come out or eat for days on end. Sometimes he was irrationally angry and would lash out at any who crossed his path, but most of the time he was docile and sweet as a newborn kitten. Well, not docile exactly… more like helpless. And he felt helpless, Ed was sure. Sometimes he could still hear Al screaming in the middle of the night… "No, I don't want to! GET OFF! LEAVE ME ALONE! I LOVE ED; I DON'T WANT TO HURT HIM! HE'S MY BROTHER! Just go away, stop talking to me! I hate you all, just go away! I don't even want to listen to you anymore!"
His brother was quietly going insane… Well, quietly outside his slumber anyway. His Granny Pinako didn't understand either. She didn't get why Al couldn't be normal and get out of that suit of armor and go to school like normal children his age. Ed was seriously considering taking her to their therapist so it could all be explained, preferably while he WASN'T in a one-mile radius of his grandmother. With that in mind, Ed woke up Al and had him in the car before the younger boy was even fully awake… Al didn't have to hunch over, as Ed had saved up a whole bunch of money and bought a convertible specifically so he could drive his brother in his suit of armor, assuming Ed had the top down. It didn't hurt that the car was also brand-new, sleek black with silver accents and red leather interior… Completely badass.
Ed dropped his brother off and turned tail to his car before he could catch his grandmothers disappointed and slightly irritated look… She was upset that Ed hadn't gotten Al out of the full- body armor yet. Ed drove as quickly as the speed limit would allow to his school, and gently rolled into a parking spot almost at the door. He was one of the first there, of course. He DID get up at 5 am for that specific reason, and would be doing so for the next year at least… Possibly the rest of his life, depending on what job he got. It was a gloomy thought, as Ed loved sleep as much as he hated milk. But it was necessary, and it wasn't like it would kill him. Determined to not be late on his first day of school, Ed trotted off to the Main Office to get his schedule.
The receptionist looked up when he entered the room and sneered slightly- whether it was at his height, hair, or clothing choice Ed didn't know- and asked for his name. "Elric, Edward." Ed replied in a slightly forced- sounding pleasant voice. The receptionist narrowed watery blue eyes at him, and Ed could tell she was reviewing lots of excuses to land him in detention on that very night. She seemed to rethink that when she recognized his name. "Wait, Edward Elric? Son of THE Hoenheim Elric? The famous scientist?" Ed's jaw clenched and his eyes hardened. "He did assist my mother in creating both myself and my younger brother, yes."
The receptionist didn't seem to sense the nerve that her needless question hit, and went on to say: "Oh, so cold to your poor father! How is he doing anyway? He hasn't been heard from in years! Did he move here with you? Well of course he did, he's your FATHER! What was I thinking? Can you set me up a meeting with him someday?" "No, he didn't. I haven't heard a word from the man, nor seen him since my mother passed six years ago. He hasn't attempted to call or visit, despite my brother's hopes which are getting crushed more with every day that passes. So no, I cannot set you up to meet him, Madame. Now, may I please have my schedule?"
Poleaxed, the middle-aged woman handed the petit teen his schedule and he left. Ed walked down the hallways, trying to read his schedule and walk at the same time. It seemed that he had Music first, with a… Ms. Rose as the teacher. Wasn't Rose a first name? Shrugging, he quickly found the room and sat down in one of the available seats in the third row. There were partnered tables, and each table had two keyboards placed on it. He saw other students file in slowly, but couldn't seem to find the teacher anywhere. His searching was brought to a halt by someone plopping into the desk next to him. He turned to look at the person next to him…
And his eyes nearly bugged out of his head. There was a guy there, dressed in a leather skirt with slits up the sides and knee-length leggings under that with combat boots on. As for his top half, he wore a high-necked shirt- one that Ed could tell would be exposing his stomach if it were not for the zipped-up leather jacket with the sleeves pushed up to the elbows. To make the male all the more interesting, he had incredibly long forest-green hair and brilliant amethyst eyes. One eyebrow raised when Ed got to his face, which made Ed's own eyes widen and a blush come across his face. Damn, he'd been caught staring.
The stranger spoke. "If you're wondering if I'm a single girl-" Ed interrupted. "I know you're not. I just tend to observe my surroundings thoroughly in case they may be of later use. I was staring at the keyboard and table just a minute ago. I wasn't trying to hit on you or anything…" The blond protégé trailed off. The other looked dumbstruck for just a moment, then smirked and whispered a bare inch from the Elric's ear "You're gay, aren't you?" Ed flushed and stammered "W-wh-what makes you think that?" The stranger licked his earlobe and bit it lightly. Ed's cheeks invented a new shade of red.
The green-haired boy smirked in delight. "THAT'S why. Anyway, I'm Envy." The blush on his face finally cooling, Ed managed to say "Envy…" He trailed off, waiting for a family name. "Just Envy." Ed smiled sympathetically. "I thought about disowning myself too… My asshole of a father left us… But then I learned that his name was… still is of great use in the higher-up circles." Envy frowned and then asked "Heh, that so? Who are you, anyway?" "Name's Edward Elric." The purple-eyed teen nodded in understanding. Who the hell would want to discard a name like Elric?
The two of them got through the period in relative peace… The teacher was a slightly insane Catholic who only taught gospel. And when he said slightly insane, he meant completely and utterly bat-shit insane. In a non-violent, religious way. Thankfully, the time sped by and Ed was heading off to his second class of the day, Gym. Ed was a bit nervous, as the uniform was long sweatpants and a t-shirt, which would leave his automail arm exposed. It would raise far too many questions for the teen's liking, but it couldn't be helped. Ed got there before anyone else and went to talk to the teacher about the rather sensitive subject of his artificial limbs. He rapped gently on the wooden door to Mr. Armstrong's office and waited for about a minute until the door was open.
He then found himself staring up at a giant of a man. He was at least 6 feet and had a body-builder type of physique. In contrast, he had kind blue eyes. Ed cleared his throat nervously. "Um… I have to speak with you about something before class starts." Armstrong nodded and let him in the office. The room was reasonably lit with a huge oak desk. Ed sat down and started. "Um, sir. I don't want to be a bother, but I thought I should inform you of something before class begins." He waited for Armstrong to nod before continuing. "The thing is, sir… Two of my limbs are metal. They're automail, a type of prosthetic arm that allows you to have feeling in that arm despite it being metal. You get a whole system of nerves in that arm and can feel everything, which is why it's incredibly painful to attach or detach. I didn't want to alarm you when class started, and I also came to ask you if you could possibly stop them talking about it to me, at least during this class period. It makes me uncomfortable."
Armstrong nodded sadly. This poor teenager had to suffer through all of that hate… All of that ridicule when someone found out. "May I ask you a few questions and have a look? My family all specialized in automail as a profession, so I picked up a few things." Ed's eyes widened slightly and then he nodded. He rolled up his right sleeve and left pant leg to display the shining limbs. "Okay, when was the last time you got this checked?" "Around six months ago. I get it checked regularly so I can be sure it fits all right." Armstrong felt a surge of pity. The poor boy's mechanic probably had to detach his limbs every single time he went in for a fitting to make sure the measurements were accurate and it fit well.
"How long have you had automail?" Ed flinched slightly. "Oh, around… Six years now, I guess." Armstrong barely managed to hide his own wince. Six years and at least two sets of excruciating pain per year… Armstrong nodded. "I will try to keep them busy at least this class period… I know EXACTLY what will distract them!" Armsrong boomed, his shirt tearing off his chest. Armstrong ran off to the gym, probably to change the lesson plans. Ed quickly got changed before anyone got a chance to show up and then, as per Armstrong's request, brought a cart of soft foam balls to the middle of the room. 'Sweet. Dodgeball!' Thought Ed. When he got back with the cones to mark the area, the rest of the class was there… And the second he walked in, their eyes snapped to him… No, not him exactly- just his arm. In all the whispering commotion and the fear of being hated, the others and Ed failed to notice Armstrong pull a large fan and a box of glitter from seemingly nowhere.
In an instant, the glitter pelted the entire class and was invading their mouths, getting in their eyes and making them burn, and going just about anywhere you could think of… Yes, in some cases including some… non-appropriate places. Ed managed to find the plug in all the commotion and yanked it out of the socket. He then tried to shake all of the glitter off. He ended up having to unbraid his hair to get all the glitter out of it. Unfortunately for Ed, the moment he finished getting all the glitter out was the moment one of his female classmates looked up. Once she saw him with his hair down, she screamed "Aww, he's so pretty!" In roughly half a second, Ed managed to rebraid his hair, get off all of the remaining glitter, lean up against the wall with arms crossed over his chest, and raise one eyebrow. The girls looked at their peer like she'd gone insane, and she muttered under her breath. "It's not my fault you didn't catch him with his hair down!" Ed ran the fuck out of there, got dressed, and was speeding towards History before his mind even registered that he had left. When he finally realized why he was running- whack.
He had run face first into a well muscled and yet somehow soft chest that seemed to just radiate heat. He looked up from the man's collarbone which he had gotten a faceful of, and gasped slightly when he saw who was looking down at him. Well, in his mind, what was looking down at him. Because there was no doubt in Edward Elric's mind that this beautiful being could be human. A strong jawline and slightly full lips rested below an angular nose. The man's raven locks were unruly, and it almost looked like someone had just been carding their fingers through it and maybe pulling on it a bit. The most interesting feature, however, were his eyes. Incredibly deep royal blue that would appear black to those not paying close attention as Ed was. And it wasn't just because it was this stranger. Ed was just an observant person, plain and simple.
"What's with the glitter? Are you trying to make a statement or something? What happened?" you could almost taste the humor that the guy got out of this. Ed replied simply; "Armstrong." The stranger nodded sagely. Apparently, four years with the teacher at Central High Hell had wizened him up a bit. Ed suddenly noticed that he had placed his hands out to break his fall… The hands that were now fisting the angel's shirt. Blushing like mad, he let go and took a few steps back. The angel smirked. "I'm Roy Mustang. And you?" He said, offering his right hand… Damn. Now Ed would have to shake with the automail hand. Cautiously reaching out, wondering if Roy would be able to feel the cool metal through his leather glove, he said "Edward Elric."
Roy's eyebrow raised at the mention of his last name, but then went back into place smoothly as he realized that Hoenheim was a sensitive subject for Ed. "Well, see you later, maybe." Roy called over his shoulder as he walked away. Ed replied "Maybe." And tore off to History in hopes of getting there before the bell rang. His day was getting slightly better. Ed wondered if it would continue on the rest of the day. Perhaps high school wasn't really so bad…
You should know better than to jinx yourself, Edward Elric.
