More Than A Fire Hazard; Chapter Four

He felt that it was his duty, to get the Colonel to take the pain killers. After all, it was his actions that caused said pain in the first place. Normally he wouldn't give a shit whether or not Mustang was in pain, because he never really witnessed the man as a true human being. The front had been forcibly taken down by Fullmetal, his mask of calmness shattered just like the unsettled bones in his hand, and it was bothering him to witness such a thing; it was almost indecent. He had to get the image of a Mustang with real emotions out of his mind, but with every cringe and grimace the image was further engraved into his mind.

So these thoughts were plaguing the younger Alchemist when it came time for Roy to take his pain pills again. And the Flame Alchemist was giving him hell, "I do not need to take them, Fullmetal. Please leave me alone. I can handle the pain on my own without them," it would have been easy for even a small child to hear the waver of pain in Roy's voice.

Sighing in frustration Edward watched the pills get tossed around in the transparent bottle as he rolled it over and over again in his palm, as he tried to figure a way into this stubborn man's mind. Albeit he himself was having trouble trying to figure out why he really cared.

Somehow all of his luck had run out today, as he could still do paper work. That had been attributed to the findings of Riza Hawkeye, whom had discovered that Roy was indeed ambidextrous. Meaning, he could write with his left hand as well as his right. The sharp-eyed First Lieutenant found it to be the best that the Colonel got some work done if he refused to go home, so he might as well be productive. Not like he was going to read the papers anyway, with the pain taking over his mind.

Setting down his pen on top of his relatively small stack of papers, he looked over to Edward whose back was at the bookcase, his eyes staring down at the Colonel. Raising an eyebrow questioningly he spoke, "How did you get those anyhow? I put them in my drawer." It would be an understatement to say that Roy was perplexed as to how the young man had obtained his pills.

Shooting Roy a look that clearly questioned the Colonel's sanity, "You must be going litearlly insane, Mustang. You handed them back to me after ten minutes, complaining that you didn't want them; at all," Edward's voice was somewhat reproachful. He had always seen Mustang as a wholly collected guy, and for him not to remember handing him a small bottle of pills seemed like somehting highly unusual. "But you should still take them, I don't want to get Lieutenant Hawkeye in here," though he was slightly, microscopically concerned for Roy; a slight glint appeared in his eyes as he surveyed the pensieve look on Roy's face.

When a thought crossed his mind, Edward noticed the way his superior chewed on his lower lip. Sighing quietly Roy picked up his pen again, just fiddling with it between his forefinger and his thumb as he spoke in his usual drawl, "Well I suppose getting First Lieutenant Hawkeye would be quite foolish. She would undoubtedly be dragging you out by your braid for bothering me." It was a mere suggestion but Roy knew that Edward was smart enough to get his implication of self-damnation.

And Roy was right as a breif look of object horror was thrown his way. A small smirk found its way tugging upward at the corners of Roy's mouth, "Well then. One good turn deserves another I guess," Edward said frowning deeply, "But you should still take the damn pain killer regardless."

Rolling his eyes Roy gave Edward a pointed look, "You have no idea of what I do and do not need Fullmetal. Nor do you have any real sense of who I am. You judge far too quickly in order to see the whole picture, and you only have a half-baked idea that I am only some cocky bastard. But as the cliche saying goes; never judge a book by it's cover," this was said without his usual confidence, his eyes locking breifly on the pale lips of his subordinate. Watching them turn deeper into a frown.

"There are things I acknowledge, for all you can tell, that you may never think I see. I was naive at first to thnk that you only had one side, but what else is a person to think when they can only see the side presented to them? How is anybody able to know you, if you only let them see you being a calculating man with a stoic expression; what do you expect people to think?" Edward's voice was unwaving in his conviction, it was evident that this boy, was not an ordinary child. As Roy already knew all too well, and had witnessed on many occasions.

Sighing heavily he extended his arm, his hand; palm open, facing the ceiling. "Give me the damned pill," and for once, in Edward's time in the military, Roy's expressionless lips fell into a deep frown not much unlike his.

The first sign of a broken dam always was the smallest.