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The rain harshly battered against the window, matching the gloomy gray outside. Alfons was not looking forward to walking home in that. Nothing to be done about it though, he supposed, gathering his notes and placing them neatly in desk drawer. But if Edward hadn’t crashed the car… He shook his head, a helpless grin tugging at his lips. He shrugged on his coat and searched for his short friend. Unsurprisingly, he found Edward buried in what seemed to be a literal mountain of books and crumpled pieces of paper. Alfons’ grin grew wider and reached over to tap Ed’s right shoulder. However, his smile quickly faded when the other flinched away from his touch.
“What’s wrong?” He asked, concerned as he grabbed Ed’s chair and turned it towards him.
“It’s nothing.” Edward muttered, looking through his bangs at Alfons’ unimpressed look, “Really, the rain is just being a dick. It’s time to go anyway right? About damn time.” Alfons frowned but nodded and the two began the trek home. As they borderline ran through the rain, the German noticed the stiff limp Ed was trying to hide and began to form a plan. They reached their apartment and left their coats and shoes at the door. Ed grumbled, but diligently put his things away neatly not wanting to incur the wrath of Alphonse as he did before. Alphonse called out a greeting from the kitchen. The other two returned in kind and left to change into dry clothes. Alphonse had dinner on the table when the two came down. Conversation was stilted because any attempt to engage Edward in talk was only received by grunts and clipped answers. Eventually he stood up and disappeared into the study, leaving behind a full plate of food. The remaining two shared a glance.
“His ports must be causing him more pain than usual. He always tries to at least most of his food.” Alphonse commented as he got up to gather the dishes and Alfons joined to help wash.
“Yeah, he even left work willingly, and you know how hard it is to get him away from it normally.”As they cleaned, Alfons explained his plan to the younger and Alphonse readily agreed. They gathered the necessary supplies and set everything up in the bedroom.
“He’s not going to thank us for this, is he?” Alfons questioned, Al shook his head.
“Probably not, but oh jeez does he need it.”
“Amen to that.” They shared a laugh and continued. Now all that was left to do was gather Edward himself.
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Edward straightened up from his hunched over position and felt his bones pop, accompanied by a painful twinge in his right shoulder. He sighed, he had hoped that focusing on his work would distract him from the aching in his leg and arm, but no such luck. In fact, he caught himself making more mistakes in his formulas than he world ever admit to. He slowly stood up, trying to put as little weight as possible on his leg. He was just going to lie in bed until his limbs decided to stop trying to commit mutiny. He limped slowly to the bedroom, trying not to alert the other two to his movements, hoping they were already asleep. He eased open the door and cautiously stepped in the doorway. Before him were candles lit, illuminating the room in a soft glow, beginning to ease the headache he had been trying to ignore. Al and Alfons were both sitting on the bed with the radio from the kitchen sitting on the nightstand playing quiet music. The two rose in tandem and led Ed farther into the room.
“You should’ve told us your ports were causing you pain brother.” Al admonished, but his tone gentle as he began to unbutton Ed’s shirt. Alfons hummed in agreement and came to stand behind Edward.
“It doesn’t matter.” Ed muttered, averting his eyes to a random corner of the room. “C’mon Al you know it always acts up when the weather’s bad.” The other two watched as a faint flush appeared on his cheeks.
“That may be, but there is a difference between being in agony and mild pain, which we can help achieve.” Alfons countered, slowly drawing Ed’s hair tie out, watching the golden strands fall against his back as Alphonse finally pushed the shirt off his brother and it pooled to the floor. Alphonse grabbed his left hand and led him over to the bed. Edward mumbled a half hearted protest, but allowed them to lay him down on his stomach. They tugged off his socks and shoes before helping him out of his pants, leaving him in nothing but his underwear. It also revealed the angry, irritated skin of his leg where it was connected to the port. Alphonse sucked in a breath.
“Brother, the hell?” He demanded, moving to disconnect the leg as without irritating the skin more.
“Didn’t know it was that bad.” Ed grited out, reaching to clutch the pillow with his left hand. After storing the leg and arm away, Alphonse clamored over him, straddling his hips and Alfons pulled up a chair by his feet. In unison the two began to massage the area around the ports. Edward gave a strangled cry and tried to arch at the touch. They quietly shushed him, Al pressing a kiss to the back of his head.
“Just bear it for a bit, yeah? If it doesn’t get better and we’ll stop and go to bed.” Alfons murmured. As the massage continued, Edward noticed how the ache seemed to less to a much more manageable level. They didn’t stop there though, and after coating their hands again in a scented oil that Miss Gracia had gifted to them with a wink. It wasn’t long before they had a boneless alchemist on their hands. The two shared a look and snickered quietly as they got ready for bed themselves. After blowing out the candles they pulled a sheet over all of them and Edward immediately sought after the sources of warmth. And the three of them finally drifted off to the faint music of the radio in the otherwise quiet apartment they called home.