The Importance of Wearing Shoes

Update of fire! I’m working on my other pieces too but this one was jabbing at me till I wrote it down so I went with it.

Please review!

I hold no rights over Fullmetal Alchemist or any of its characters.

Thoughts in italics, e.g: 'Oh my God...'

Review replies:

Kuragari- Super speedy update for you! I'm really glad you like the cliffy :), I tend to annoy people with them...(hides in a corner...)

Lilith- Here's the update for you! I'm happy that you're finding it amusing, I hope this chapter keeps it going for you.

MustangsHavoc- Thank you! Yes, abusing Mustang's desk IS fun XD. I hope you enjoy this chapter and thanks for the review.

radcat- Yay! Thank you, I'm glad you're finding it amusing :). Yes, you will hear the fate of the poor desk in this chapter, your review made me smile.

Baroqueangel- Thank you! I'm glad you like the fics, I've just to get organised at updates:). Super speedy update for you! Enjoy!
xXx

Ed awoke to the smell of hospitals.

His head and ankle were throbbing, the pain a dull pulse, not enough to be serious but quite sufficient to make Fullmetal groan.

Cracking his eyes open he was greeted with the bleached white of a hospital ceiling. ‘So I’ll be lying down then.’ he concluded, taking from the sensation of a pillow and blankets that he was in bed.

“You know shrimp, for a moment there I was hopeful you weren’t going to wake up.”

The instantly recognisable voice yanked Ed from his silent analysis of his surroundings.

“MUSTANG?!” Snapping up in bed only to be forced down again by the protesting pain in his head, Ed looked to the side and was greeted with the sight of a very moody looking colonel. “What the hell are you doing here?!”

“Well Ed,” The man’s tone was just as cheerful as his appearance. “after you trashed my desk with that metal leg of yours and passed out, Lieutenant Hawkeye decided you needed medical attention. Unfortunately, I was the only one with enough time on my hands to take you to the hospital. So,” Ed was presented with a frown. “that’s why you have the pleasure of waking up to my presence, Fullmetal.”

“I trashed your desk with my auto-mail...?” Realisation dawned. “Is it OK?! My auto-mail, not the desk. I mean, it can take some serious knocks but your desk?!” Ed was beginning to get worried, he so didn’t need a spanner in the head from Winry right now, it hurt enough already...

“Your auto-mail’s fine.” Ed heaved a sigh of relief and Mustang continued. “Unfortunately, my desk, however, isn’t. Oh, and if you hadn’t noticed your ankle’s broken, the non-metal one, I mean.”

“Broken?!” Pulling up the covers to look, Ed groaned for the second time that day. His toes were peeping out at him from a blaringly red cast that went all the way up to his knee...great, just great...

“I picked the colour for you, I thought it would match your coat.” Mustang at least appeared to be getting some joy from the blonde’s predicament.

“Why thank you colonel...” Ed tried to fit as much sarcasm as humanly possible into the words.

“No problem Edward, anyway I’d better go and tell the doctor that you’re awake, you hit your head pretty hard, you know.” The man rose from his sitting position beside the bed and head for the door. “But then,” He began, turning to look back at Ed. “I suppose that’s what you get for running around with no shoes on, isn’t it Fullmetal?” And with that Mustang disappeared from the room smirking smugly, leaving Ed to silently fume.

Talk about kicking a man when he was down!

Ed was so busy cogitating over his personal grievances that he didn’t notice the nurse peeping through the room’s small window, and only registered her presence when she hurried inside.

“You’re conscious!” Her face crinkled into a pleased grin. “You were out for some time, are you experiencing any serious pains?” She earnestly enquired, scrabbling in her pocket for a notebook and pen.

“Umm...” He thought for a moment. “Nothing that I shouldn’t expect, just a few aches and pains really.” It was the truth, after he’d woken up a bit the pain had gone down considerably.

“That’s good!” The nurse’s smile widened and then suddenly fell when she looked about the room. “But, where’s your friend?”

“My friend?” That left Ed confused. What friend?

“The man who was with you. He was terribly worried about you, kept on asking whether you’d be alright and staying beside you the whole time you were out!” The nurse continued to natter and Ed gawped. ”You broke your ankle pretty badly, so while we were setting it you struggled a bit from the pain even when unconscious. But he, well, he settled you right down, soothing like...stroking your hair...” To his horror she began to blush and giggle. “He even held your hand! Are you sure that you don’t know him?”

Ed’s jaw had dropped so far he was worried he was going to dislocate it. No way...there was just no way that Mustang...evil dictator colonel Mustang would ever...just no way. She must have got the wrong person, although...Ed couldn’t really imagine anyone it actually could have been.

He had to check.

“Do you mean a dark haired man in military uniform?” Ed’s scientifically minded mind urged him to be more specific. “Kind of pale and, well...” He swallowed, there was no denying it, he was going to have to use the word. “Handsome?”

The nurse didn’t get to answer the question as an amusedly smug voice drifted across the room blocking off any possible answer.

“So you think I’m handsome then, Fullmetal?”

Ed almost swallowed his tongue.

Of all the times for him to turn up! Didn’t Mustang have a big enough ego already without having to add Ed’s humiliation to it?

The man must have been in the doorway, doctor in tow, just in time to hear the blonde’s description of himself. Fantastic, he was no doubt going to have to put up with constant jibes for this later, as if he didn’t have enough to deal with already.

Stepping into the room Mustang flashed a grin at the nurse causing a blush comparable to a supernova, she mumbled star struck apologies and hurried out of the room. ‘Damn Colonel trying to be so smooth.’ Ed mentally grumbled, not without a hint of jealousy. ‘Why doesn’t he smile at me like that instead of anything in a skirt?’ Realising what he had just thought Fullmetal swiftly beat his straying mind down...’not the time...not the time...’.

After a few moments Ed realised that the doctor was speaking. He had been so busy mentally assaulting himself that he hadn’t noticed.

“...on the whole you should be fine, give your ankle about six weeks in the cast and it should be as good as new.” Ed hoped he hadn’t missed anything important. “But during the healing period you’ll need to be on crutches, and for the next few days you’re going to have to keep that leg up and get plenty of rest.”

‘Plenty of rest, like that’s ever going to happen! Not with Colonel-Tyrant on my case.’ Cynicism etched Fullmetal’s thoughts.

The doctor continued.

“Seeing as your friend’s already collected the crutches we’ll just need to put you in a wheel-chair so you don’t have to walk out of the hospital.”

Ed froze.

He was not going in a wheel-chair. They reminded him too much...too much of when he had first lost his arm and leg, not yet fitted with auto-mail. He had hated that time, how the stumps of his two limbs were a constant reminder of his sin...

Roy, still calmly observing the blonde, frowned at Ed’s reaction. He noticed how Fullmetal’s whole body seized up at the mention of a wheelchair. He didn’t like it.

Stepping forward, Mustang calmly stated. “A wheelchair won’t be necessary doctor.”

“Oh? But then, how will he be able to walk from...” the doctor didn’t need to finish his question as Mustang’s actions had already answered it.

Moving towards the bed the colonel had scooped up Ed bridal style into his arms, using Fullmetal’s astonishment to his advantage, Ed would never have allowed Mustang to do this if fully alert.

Edward, still in a state of astonishment from his sudden transition from the warm hospital bed to being carried by the colonel, merely stared as the man thanked the doctors and nurses and exited the room, still holding Ed.

Both pretending not to notice the giggles and blushes of female nurses and patients alike, the pair progressed in silence, that is, until Mustang broke it with a question.

“Why did you freeze up when he mentioned the wheelchair?” The man had lowered his voice to prevent any passers by from hearing.

“They...uh...hold some bad memories for me.” Ed didn’t particularly feel like going into the subject.

“Oh...”Mustang decided not to push for further information, it was obviously a difficult topic for the teen and he didn’t want to upset the blonde.

“Thanks...”

“Hmm?”

“For um, getting me out of the whole wheelchair thing, thank you.”

“Oh.” Mustang smiled down at him and Ed was terrified that he was going to blush. “You don’t need to thank me, I could see you were uncomfortable with the idea so I decided to step in. No worries.”

Continuing to look up at the man holding him, a warm sensation rose in Fullmetal’s chest. He contemplated what had just been said. ‘He...noticed..? He did this for me? Maybe... maybe the colonel isn’t so bad.’

Roy, however, with amazing talent, managed to effectively destroy the entire tender moment with his next sentence.

“You’re bloody heavy Fullmetal.”

A new flush of anger worked its way across Edward’s face. “What do you expect?! I’ve got a metal arm and leg! You’re going to end up throwing your back out, old man.”

The colonel snorted in response. “I’m twenty-nine, Ed, hardly an ‘old man’.”

“Yeah, well...” There was an odd hint of tenderness to Mustang’s teasing that Ed didn’t usually detect. ‘Could it be that he..?’

During their conversation the pair had left the hospital and emerged onto its vast car-park.

“I’m parked over there.” Mustang indicated with a nod of his head, arms occupied in carrying Edward. “I’ll drive you home, no doubt Al’s worrying about you.”

“Thanks...” From his position in the colonel’s arms he could smell his cologne, rich and musky, the man’s chest was firm and warm.

After a minutes walking they arrived at the car. Ed could see a pair of hazy silver crutches lying on the back seat.

By some feat of sheer ingenuity and muscle power, Mustang managed to unlock the car door still holding Ed, even managing to slip Fullmetal gracefully onto the passenger seat. Once sure Edward was securely seated, the colonel moved his way around to take his own position behind the steering wheel.

When they were on the road a comfortable silence settled across the car. The colonel tapped his fingers against the steering wheel in a content sort of way, and Ed stared out of the window, taking in the blur of houses and shops that was central.

“Err...sorry about the whole desk thing.” Ed felt it was only fair he offered some sort of apology, the man had been acting strangely nice to him, after all.

“Don’t worry about it, it was an accident. I was going to be provided with a new desk anyway.”

“Huh?” That one threw Ed off, he had been expecting some typical sarcastic reply. “Really?”

“Yep.” Ed heaved a sigh of relief. “Oh, except you will be having to do another week-end of bathroom duty as punishment.”

Mustang was getting really good at destroying the mood.

“WHAT?!” Ed was outraged. This was so like the colonel to lure him into a false sense of security then throw it in his face. “But, you said it was an accident!! You can’t punish me for an accident! You’re getting a new stupid desk anyway!“

“The punishment’s not for the desk, Ed.”

“Huh? But...I didn’t do anything else...did I?” Edward desperately scanned his mind for any recent rule breaking but found nothing.

“You came into the office in incomplete uniform, Fullmetal, which is a punishable offence.”

The blonde’s mind went ‘click’.

“You mean...because I wasn’t wearing any shoes?” Edward’s voice was the calm before the storm.

Mustang gave a nod.

Ed exploded.

“What the HELL is your problem?!” His voice was amplified by the small space of the car. “Why are you being such a dick lately?!” This was probably going to get him into even more trouble but Ed didn’t care, Mustang deserved a good shouting at. “I get in trouble for everything I do around you now, do you get off on it or something you sick bastard?!”

“Now Ed, I’m merely following protocol.” The colonel’s voice was infuriatingly calm. “If one of my subordinates...it is my duty to punish them accordingly.

“No its not!!” It was so unfair! “Havoc’s come in LOADS of times hung-over or missing parts of his uniform and you’ve never done anything to HIM!! Why are you just picking on me?!”

No answer presented itself, but Ed had to know.

“Why me Mustang?!”

“Why you?” The words were still calm, but seemed somehow strained around the edges. “Well, Ed, you could say...” Mustang turned to look at him, gaze steely. “It’s because I hate you.”

Hate...hate...hate... The word spun round and round in Edward’s head. Even though he was furious with the man he was still distraught. ‘Mustang can’t hate me, he can’t hate me! Isn’t going to smile at me anymore?’

Amidst the despair a whisper of hope came into Ed’s mind. ‘What about before! What the nurse said, what about that..?’ This, however, soon also turned into anger. From what he’d heard, Mustang couldn’t hate him, so why was the bastard lying?! Was this just another way to screw around with him?

“Oh yeah?!” Ed hissed at the colonel, words bitter and harsh. “If you hate me so much, then why were you holding my hand when I was unconscious?!” The man’s eyes widened and Ed continued, sensing he’d hit upon something. “Did you have fun stroking my hair Mustang?! Explain that one to me...Roy...”

And in the sudden silence that followed the only sound in the car was the thrum of its engine.

Explain that one to me...

To be continued...

xXx

On the whole I’m pretty pleased with this chapter. I always seem to start a story with a really short chappy then king of get into it, which is hopefully a good way of going about this.

Oh and Mustang’s strange behaviour will be explained in the next chapter, so I hope you all look forward to it. (Trying to force people to continue reading...XD master plan)

I hope you enjoyed it and please review!