At last, it is my turn to write a sick fic! For those who have been waiting for my next project, this wasn't exactly what I had planned, but that's okay. It won't have much of an updating schedule, but it'll be very short. I'll still be working on my other plans as I do this. But until then, enjoy this thing. :D

Ill-Tempered

Chapter 1

It was supposed to be a simple mission. But that was always how it went, wasn't it? Something stunningly easy somehow became unnecessarily complicated thanks to none other than Edward Elric. All he was supposed to do was go to the small town of Cameron, a few measly miles away from East City, and repair some damages from a recent earthquake. Roy gave him almost a week to travel there and get it done, even while it could have technically been completed in half that time.

Edward must have realized that too, because he was seen back at the dorms days before his deadline. But of course, he never chose to send in his report or even call. Roy figured that he just wanted to wait until the due date. Fine, whatever. It was his own time he was wasting anyway, since Roy had already found another possible lead on the Philosopher's Stone for him.

But then the deadline came and went with still no word from the kid.

Sure, he was only fourteen years old, but he had done homework before, right? He was supposed to know how to do this. It wasn't hard to write up a report on what happened and put it on his superior officer's desk. The only possible excuse he could possibly fathom was pure laziness. And that was something that Roy had absolutely no patience for.

The colonel absently tapped his pen against the edge of his desk as he held his head in his palm, glaring through his fingers at the paper in front of him that he pretended to read, eyes scanning over the words as his mind seethed quietly.

That kid was pushing his limits with every report he owed. Just being late was one thing, but having the gall to show his face in this town without coming in to file the damn thing, making Roy wait for no reason at all...

He had about enough of it.

"Havoc," Roy barked suddenly, bringing many sets of eyes up towards him as he shamelessly broke the uncharacteristic focus that had filled the room. They had been drowning in extra paperwork lately, and it took many threats from Hawkeye to actually get the team to start chipping away at it, which made Edward's unfortunate timing all the worse.

"Yeah?" the second lieutenant answered abruptly, mildly startled.

"I want you to go to Fullmetal's dorm and bring him back here, kicking and screaming if you have to."

Havoc scoffed, clearly amused and possibly not quite understanding why Roy was so irritated by the matter. Relieved to get a break from the tedious paperwork, the eased grin remained even as he gave the colonel a lazy salute. "Sure thing, Boss. I'm on it."

And with that, the blond disappeared into the hall and Roy settled back into his chair, crossing his arms and eagerly planning out what he was going to say to the kid when they returned.

"You do plan on getting back to work now- right, sir?"

Broken out of his short-lived reverie, Roy looked up and blinked at Hawkeye, who had approached his desk with an arm-full of papers and folders, watching him dangerously.

"I am working," he corrected sharply, not quite understanding how she didn't see the importance of this matter.

"You haven't written a word in over twenty minutes."

"I-" He promptly shut his mouth when she quirked a brow at him, and his eyes somehow dropped down to the gun that rested by her hip. "Yeah, yeah," he relented with a sigh as he fought back the icy shudder that wanted to crawl down his spice.

"Good." Hawkeye then dropped the large stack of paper down on his desk and briskly turned away, effectively pulling the rug out from any satisfaction he might have previously felt.

There wasn't much of a reason as to why Havoc's mission should have taken more than a half hour. Once that mark hit, Roy pulled himself out of the mundane paperwork to glance at the clock and ponder it for a moment. But then again, Edward was a master procrastinator. Regardless, he trusted his lieutenant to get the job done, and went back to work.

And then a full hour had passed since he sent the man to fetch Fullmetal. Roy started to worry, fearing to wonder what kind of black hole Ed had sucked Havoc into. He considered sending someone to investigate, but was not eager to risk them disappearing to the same fate.

But before he had to come to a decision, his phone began to chime, abruptly jerking him out of his thoughts.

"Colonel Mustang," he answered automatically after clearing his throat.

"Hey Boss," Havoc's voice came from the other end in a tone that was difficult to read. But there was a seriousness behind it that simmered Roy's annoyance and replaced it with a careful curiosity.

"Havoc- what's taking you?"

There was a terse exhale in the line, hesitant and unsure, and made Roy sit a little straighter behind his desk. "Well... I found out why we haven't heard from him." He paused shortly, in which Roy nearly snapped at him to spit it out. "The kid's sick. He looked like he was gonna pass out by the time I got there, so I took him to the hospital- the emergency room, actually... Sorry I didn't tell you sooner, Colonel, but this was the first free moment I got."

Whatever Roy had prepared when he picked up the phone had vanished during Havoc's explanation and left him with pathetically little. He worked his jaw for a moment, stunned that Ed had been sick enough to warrant going to a hospital all this time without Roy knowing anything about it.

"...is he doing alright?"

"The doctors are looking at him now, so I'm not sure. But they said that they needed his legal guardian to come down to sign some papers."

"Then just-" Roy started speaking before his mind could fully digest the words, and he cut himself off once it did. The responsibility of being Edward's legal guardian would fall to his superior officer; meaning Roy. "-oh." He glanced at Hawkeye, who barely had time to return the look before he turned back down at his desk and withheld a sigh. "I'm on my way."

Within seconds, he had ended the call and was standing from his desk, but not without drawing the attention of the Hawk's Eye.

"Going somewhere, sir?" she asked sternly, clearly ready to stand up and physically intercept him if need be. But of course, she didn't yet know that he actually had a good reason this time. And now that the thought occurred to him... Edward gave him a reason to get out of work. Perhaps this wouldn't be so bad.

"Yes, lieutenant, I am," he answered all too smugly, earning a critically raised brow from the blonde. His faint smile dropped the moment the reason came back to him. "Havoc called to tell me that he had taken Fullmetal to the hospital. I need to meet them there and sign some papers."

Suddenly more eyes were on him, wiping away the guise that the others were not listening to their conversation. The obvious question on their lips floated through the air before they could get the words out.

"He must have caught something in Cameron and was too prideful to do anything about it. I'm sure he'll be fine in a day or two," Roy explained lightly as he boldly walked through the office, half expecting to be stopped at any moment.

"Perhaps one of us should go with you," Hawkeye suggested carefully, but the strict disapproval that resided in her eyes earlier was replaced by concern for the child. To make sure you don't slack off whispered behind her words.

"There's no need. We'll only get less done if Fullmetal takes up that much attention. I'll be back in no time." He reached the door and cast a glance behind him, blinking almost in confusion when no one rose to tackle him before he could leave and get away from that damnable paperwork that waited in stacks on his desk, glaring back at him.

So he bid his team farewell and walked out into the hall and closed the door behind him, almost breaking into a sprint before Hawkeye could change her mind.

Once the threat of Hawkeye stopping him became a non-issue, he was able to switch his top priority over to Fullmetal. All of the best and worse case scenarios flooded his mind during the drive to the hospital. At the very least, the distraction made for a seemingly short trip.

He found himself walking through the front door within no time at all.

Roy was guided through the halls of the stark hospital not long after arriving, thank god. They didn't give much priority to a sick kid in comparison to the many patients with objectively worse conditions, but he was no stranger to throwing his rank around until he got what he wanted- or in the case of the female nurses, he only had to tell them how worried he was for poor Edward before he had them eating out of the palm of his hand.

Worked every time.

But the charming smile and the elegant words fell from his lips once he finally reached the door of the emergency room that divided him from his young subordinate.

Withholding a sigh, Roy reached forward to push the door open. But before any contact was made, the door swung open and revealed Havoc on the other side, pausing just short of running into him.

"Boss?" he stuttered for a moment, working his jaw until he managed to coerce the words. "I was just about to-"

"About time!" the irate voice of Fullmetal called from inside the room. Roy cast a quick glance at the tired lieutenant before stepping around him and into the room.

Contrary to any of his wildest fears, Edward looked relatively alright. Paler than usual and drowned out from the bleaching white of the bed that he sat in, he still looked back at Roy with a familiar energy in his eyes that shined through the wariness that came with being sick. An IV was strapped to his flesh arm, but he otherwise looked like he would have had little difficulty standing up and walking out of that room.

"So you're sick, huh?" he asked as he studied the kid's appearance. He certainty seemed lively enough, but there was no mistaking what he saw with being completely healthy.

Edward dropped his gaze, brow furrowed in a halfhearted glare towards the bed sheets. "I guess. But I told Havoc that I didn't need to come here," he muttered.

"Hey," the lieutenant in question muttered as he crossed his arms, apparently in disagreement with the statement but not willing to argue it at the moment.

"Have we figured out what the problem was?" the colonel asked, glancing around the room for anything that would answer his question, but finding nothing of interest. Earlier, Havoc said that the kid looked like he would pass out at any moment, but that certainly wasn't what Roy was seeing.

"Last I heard, they're not sure," Fullmetal groaned and slumped further into the bed with a weak scowl.

"They think it's food poisoning.," Havoc supplied with a small frown. "A nurse was in here just a bit ago. They said that there's nothing they can do for him at this point, but he should be fine after a while. We were just waiting on you now so he can be released."

"Now if you wouldn't mind signing those release papers," Edward added and trailed off pointedly with a hint of sarcasm, without so much as a hello or a sorry I didn't report back in on time and failed to tell you that I was sick.

But what should he have expected? Fullmetal didn't seem to be feeling too unwell. Roy had to wonder why Havoc thought bringing him to the hospital like this was justified, but didn't care to ask at the moment since it was getting him out of work.

"You certainly seem to be in a rush," Roy commented casually as he approached the end of the bed, earning an annoyed scowl from the kid as he smiled back. "Are you late for something? Turning in a report, perhaps? If that were the case, of course I would understand."

But bringing up the report did not extract the expected response. Instead of waving it off as if it were the least important thing in his world, Edward started faintly and managed to look worried about something for a brief moment, before blinking out of it and hiding whatever thoughts he had caught a glimpse of under a mask.

"Uh- yeah, yeah, I'll take care of it. Just sign the damn papers already so I can get out of here," he huffed as he moved to cross his arms only for the IV line to get caught on his automail. He fumbled with it as Roy sighed and glanced dubiously at Havoc, who was quietly watching by the door.

"Alright, alright," he breathed with a dismissive wave of his wrist. "I'll hunt down the doctor. Maybe you can write up that report as you wait."

"God damn, you're obsessed. Don't you have anything else on your mind?" Ed scoffed as Roy turned back towards the door and pulled it open.

"Nope. My life revolves around your late field reports. Don't let me down, Fullmetal," he responded as he was already out the door with a sarcastic indifference.

"Bastard," he heard the kid call back, but Roy only smirked as he entered into the hall, subconsciously ignoring how his insult wasn't filled with as much fire or ferocity as usual.

Mind already far from the subtle concern, he scanned his eyes down the hall and chose a direction in hopes of finding the correct doctor somehow and getting this over with. Getting away from the office was nice while it lasted, but he wasn't about to go out of his way to stay here with Ed any longer than necessary.

"Hey Boss, wait up." Roy slowed his stride to allow Havoc to fall into step besides him with ease. "Listen, he was much worse just an hour ago. He was curled up in the corner of his dorm and didn't even notice me right away."

"Then that was a quick turnaround," he replied easily with a slight shrug of his shoulders, finding it rather difficult to empathize based on how Ed was just doing.

He heard a dissatisfied groan from the lieutenant. "Whatever the doctors gave him must have helped, but I think he's partly faking it."

"I don't see what I can do about that. If they say that he's good to be released, then that's all there is to it."

Havoc didn't reply, but was clearly unsatisfied by the response. He probably wanted Edward to stay longer just in case, but as he had just told him, there was nothing more the hospital could do. As far as Roy could see, all of this was unnecessary to begin with. Better safe than sorry, he reasoned, but there was no need to drag it out. If the kid did just eat something bad, then they could only wait it out.

"Relax, Havoc. Fullmetal is going to be fine. Once I sign the release forms, I'll drive him to his dorm and meet you back at the office."

The blond opened his mouth to argue, but promptly shut it, hopefully finding no use in arguing with the colonel on this matter. "Yes sir," he agreed reluctantly and continued to follow in silence.

The drive back to the military dorms was quiet. Despite how vocal Fullmetal was earlier, he had shut his mouth since he stood from the bed. He moved tensely and didn't put up much of a fight when the nurse insisted on having him use a wheelchair until they got to the entrance of the hospital. He did of course fight a little; claimed it was pointless and that he could walk just fine. He gave in more easily than he would have before, which was a detail Roy doubted many would notice.

The colonel drove his car alongside the ER entrance as Edward waited with Havoc, sitting with arms crossed in the wheelchair that he claimed he did not need. But as Roy watched him slowly stand up, struggling to morph his expression into something not so strained, he began to have doubts. Perhaps the warning Havoc game him had more merit than he had originally thought.

The lieutenant said something to the kid that was muted to Roy through the car as he wheeled up closer. Just the few short steps from the sidewalk to the back seat of the car seemed to exhaust Edward and he suddenly looked paler upon sitting back down, eyes glaring at the back of the seat in front of him as he tried and failed to look composed.

Roy watched through the rear view mirror, torn between saying something and remaining silent. It was an excellent opportunity to poke at the kid's annoying pride, but at the same time, just how much pain was he in? He would be fine, right?

The hospital said there was nothing more they could do for him. But once Roy found the doctor, he learned that that wasn't necessarily a good sign. He was told that they did indeed believe it to be food poisoning or something of the like, but they still wanted someone to keep an eye out on the kid. They advised that he remain under supervision. Apparently, they were worried that he would pass out and hurt himself.

Which brought up another question that Roy did not yet want to ask yet: where was Alphonse? Why was this supervision being passed onto Roy instead of the kid's doting brother?

The question sat on his tongue for several heavy minutes as he began driving away from the hospital, glancing back at Ed every few seconds, but he found himself hesitant to ask.

The blond was leaning against the door, eyes shut tightly as his arms were wrapped around himself.

"Hey, are you doing alright?"

"Fine," Edward shot back without allowing a beat to pass, cracking his eyes open only to glare at the colonel through thin slits.

Roy promptly shut up after that, feeling all sense of smug superiority drain away with every passing second he spent in the car. He never had any idea how to deal with these situations, especially with kids. At this point, he didn't want to taunt Ed for being sick or reprimand him for not turning in the report- he just want him to get better so he wouldn't have to deal with... whatever this situation was.

And so, the remainder of the car ride was silent. Edward slowly began to relax, but he would tense up every time Roy drove over a bump or had to take a turn. Meanwhile, the colonel's mind was racing, trying to figure out if he actually needed to stay and watch over him. He hadn't put much thought into the suggestion while they were at the hospital when he assumed that Fullmetal was still fine. He figured it was one of those things that doctors said to do that no one actually did.

No, surely Edward would be fine. He just needed some rest. And Alphonse... he would return soon enough. Since the older kid wasn't worried about his lacking presence, then everything had to be fine. Right?

…right.

Roy pulled up to the dorms, driving very carefully at this point, and turned off the car before twisting to look back at Fullmetal. He studied him for a moment before saying anything, pursing his lip when the kid did not react to parking- barely seemed to notice that they had arrived.

"You ready to go in?"

Edward pulled his eyes open and nodded without looking at the man. He slowly shifted to open the car door, which prompted Roy to do the same, albeit much faster.

He was relieved to see that the blond managed to stand up straight without looking like he would soon keel over. Ordinarily, he would have just left the kid there and gone on his merry way back to work. He allowed himself to hope that Ed was just overly susceptible to car sickness at the moment, but as it were, something still urged him to follow his subordinate up to his dorm.

"I don't need a babysitter," Edward huffed once he noticed that the colonel planned on following him inside.

"Believe me, Fullmetal: I don't want to stay anymore than you want me to. But it won't kill either of us if I just follow you to your door."

Edward just grumbled something about a bastard and trudged on ahead, slumping his shoulders as he walked. He made it difficult to tell if walking was painful or if he was just tired, but Roy followed quietly all the same, keeping a careful eye on him as they continued down the hall of the dormitory.

Again, more silence during their journey. Edward did a decent job hiding how much of a struggle it was to walk- and for a moment, Roy almost began to believe that he was doing better already.

It was when they turned a corner and entered the hall where the Elric's dorm was located that Roy looked away from him. He counted the upcoming doors until he found the correct one, and he began to wonder yet again if he would be required to stay. If Edward didn't need him (god knew why he even would), then he didn't see any reason why he would need to supervise a fully capable state alchemist.

"Ugh...hey M-Mu..."

Roy spun around the moment he heard Edward's suddenly quiet, weakened voice just in time to see him stumble over his own feet and slouch to the side, lacking the strength needed to keep himself from sliding down the wall and collapsing to the ground all in one swift motion.

A sharp jolt spiked through Roy's nerves and he hastily knelt down in front of the kid, keep him from curling in on himself by holding him up by the shoulders. His golden eyes flickered, then tightened with a grimace as he was hit by a tremor of pain.

"Fullmetal- what's wrong? Fullmetal!"

"Stop yelling," he groaned without opening his eyes, weakly waving a hand in Roy's direction. "M' fine."

"Do I need to take you back to the hospital?"

"No!" he snapped a little too quickly, cracking his eyes open to stare back at the colonel. "Just- just help me to my dorm, and I'll be fine."

If the fact that Edward was asking for help wasn't enough of a red flag, than Roy didn't know what was. Perhaps it was his naive hope that this would blow over in a day or two, but he agreed and rose to his feet, pulling Fullmetal up with him to drag his half-conscious body into the dorm.