Archive of Our Own

The first time Ed was interested in the idea of long hair, he was seven years old and crying.

“Oh sweetheart,” his mom soothed, “it was just a nightmare.”

Ed vehemently shook his head, pressing it further into his mom’s chest, “But it wasn’t. Dad did leave us, and I don’t know why. For all I know, you’ll just leave for the same reason before I can fix it!”

He hated that good-for-nothing bastard. He hated the way that jackass left their mom with a scowl, like they weren’t good enough, he hated how Al was so confused and lost about it all, he hated how their dad could just randomly ditch them and not even explain why. Ed hated him so much.

He couldn’t even voice his frustration around anyone but Al. Everyone always got on his high-horse for swearing so much. As if that jerk of a father deserved anything less.

His mom suddenly spoke, all quiet and amused, “Do you like my hair, sweetie?”

Ed blinked, confused about why she would ask something like that. Then he turned his eyesight downard and noticed his pointer finger and thumb playing with the end of her hair, rubbing the strands between the tiny limbs subconsciously. He sniffled the snot from his cry-fest out of his nose, slowly understanding what exactly he was doing.

He abruptly came back to reality at that, releasing her ponytail instantly, “W-What? No, of course not!”

She giggled, moving to set him down so he could be seated directly in front of her, “It’s completely fine if you do, after all, long hair is very pretty. It’s why I grow mine out.”

Ed puffed his cheeks, “Long hair is a girl thing.”

“And is there something wrong with being a girl?” Trisha politely inquired. “I’m a girl too, you know. So is Winry.”

Edward simply puffed his cheeks even more and crossed his arms, indignantly turning his head away to avoid eye contact. Okay, so maybe he reached for the first convenient excuse his brain could come up with even if it sounded silly out loud. Mom did have a point; Ed had seen plenty of boys and men like him with long hair. The florist in town, the train conductor that retired and lived nearby, his fa-

His fingers started to grip his upper arms a little harder.

He was suddenly being picked up again and brought closer to someone. His mom let out another couple of giggles, enjoying his confusion more than she probably should, “Here.”

She pulled the band that loosely held her hair together off, letting the brunette locks fall freely. Just like that, a large portion of Ed’s upsetness vanished as he became mesmerized with his mom’s hair. He slowly reached forward, running his fingers through the strands more thoroughly than the pinches he was doing before.

Almost like magic, Ed’s eyes began to lethargically close. The rhythmic motions he was moving in were lulling him to sleep, even if he tried denying it. Occasionally, he would jerk his head up and abruptly open his eyes fully wide. It was rather adorable; he was just like those stray kittens down the street.

Eventually, he was back in the land of unconsciousness. As his hand fell to a more natural position, Trisha quietly put her hair back into the side-ponytail she preferred to wear it in. It was pretty easy from then to just pick up Ed and place him back into bed, sitting next to his prone form and running her fingers through his hair much like he did to her.

She stayed with him for the rest of the night, humming a lullaby Ed was fond of, battling her exhausted lungs in favor of comforting her child until the sun rose.

---

If only there was a word that could describe pain worse than pure agony.

Three years, they said. He didn’t have three years. Three years of him sitting around meant three years Al was still trapped in that tin can of a jail cell. The time it had been from when they did that and now was already unforgivable.

He wasn’t going to listen to the Old Hag’s warnings; he was going to get through this stupid surgery as quickly as possible, and then-

“Hey, Ed?” Winry popped her head into the room. “Granny was wondering if you think you could keep some water down.”

Some water, huh? He wasn’t sure if he could necessarily keep it down, but he knew he should at least try and stay hydrated. He needed to keep his health up as much as possible, “Probably…”

Winry nodded and left, and Ed lethargically blinked only once before she was back with the water. She walked over and sat down in the chair next to him, holding a cup out that was half full and had a straw, “You’re going to need to sit up a little bit.”

Yeah. Yeah, he could definitely do that. That was so easy. He did that action every day, there should be no problem in performing it right now. He just needed to heave and ho. Just do a little shimmy upward. Just-

“Ed?” Winry spoke quietly.

Dammit, “I… can’t really move. Moving hurts.”

Winry immediately started looking guilty, “Oh, sorry! I’m an idiot, why did I not consider that. I’m supposed to be the expert here-”

“Winry,” Ed interrupted. “It’s okay, but you still need to find a way for me to drink without moving. I mean, I could still try-”

“No! Here, I can do this,” Winry decided, getting up and leaning over so she could hold the cup right next to Ed’s cheek. She used her hand not holding the cup to angle the straw so it could reach the corner of his lips, “Okay, you should be able to drink now.”

Wiggling only a smidge, Ed was able to grab the tip of the straw between his lips successfully and slowly sip. It turned out that Ed could keep water down, as he drank all the contents in the cup pretty quickly, way quicker than either of them expected him to. Yes, even himself.

Once the cup was empty, Winry got out of Ed’s space to set the cup down on a nearby table, and when she looked back at him she noticed him trying to blow a bang out of his eye. It must have got tousled when he was drinking, “Do you need help with that?”

Ed paused, his bang still awkwardly over his eye. Perhaps it was just the pain he was in, but he relented a lot faster to let her help than he normally would. With a nod of his head, Winry was back in his face and readjusting his hair to be more comfortable for him.

“It’s gotten kind of long,” Winry commented. “Have you thought about trimming it?”

The way Ed shook his head pretty much threw all his efforts of not moving too aggressively out the window. Ed winced harshly, and Winry jumped back like he splashed hot water on him. Ed was quick to reassure her that she didn’t do anything wrong, “S-Sorry, shouldn’t have done that. I’m not cutting my hair short, though.”

Winry stared at him in confusion for a second before accepting that answer. Sometimes all you need to be told was ‘no,’ “Well, in that case, do you mind if I try something?”

Ed had no time to question what that meant before Winry was gently reaching forward and running her fingers through a small grouping of his hair. Part of him was itching to tell her to knock it off, but another, more insistent part was telling him to let this happen and see what the hell she was doing.

It only took a minute for her to finish, and when she did, she grabbed a small rubber band from her pocket and also put it in his hair, “There we go! I’ve been wanting to do that with someone other than myself since forever!”

Ed was thoroughly lost, “What is ‘that’ in this scenario?”

Winry was smiling like she just ate five pounds of candy, “I gave you a tiny braid! I’ve seen a couple of other boys in town do something similar, which is what made me want to learn how to do it in the first place. It looks very cute on you!”

“Winry!” Pinako called from downstairs. “I need your help again!”

Winry let out a dejected noise at that, “I guess I need to leave again. Don’t worry, I’ll be back soon, but be sure to catch up on that sleep of yours!”

“Wait! Aren’t you going to…” Ed quieted when he assumed Winry couldn’t hear him, “take it down…”

With a sigh, Ed snuggled further into his bed. It didn’t really matter; he could hardly feel a difference in his hair outside of the spot Winry was messing with having a minuscule amount of extra weight. Besides, braids were kind of cool. There was a hero in one of Mom’s favorite stories that wore a braid.

Maybe Ed should wear his hair up in a braid when it finally gets longer too.

---

Ed was pretty sure his teeth would be ground into dust with how much he was clenching his jaw.

“Hold still!” Elicia said a little too enthusiastically. “I’m not done yet!”

Holding back another wince, Ed took a deep breath so his words didn’t sound like enunciated wheezes, “As happy as I am that you’re enjoying this, do you really have to tug that hard on my hair?”

He received his answer in the form of her yanking so hard his head practically flew back off his shoulders. Tears formed in the corners of his eyes as she continued to giggle, oblivious as any child her age would be, “Okay, okay, it’s done! Take a look!”

Elicia moved away to grab a portable mirror to hold in front of Ed, and when she was finally positioned so Ed could see himself, the teen choked down a pained noise. Thankfully, no scissors were involved as per Gracia’s motherly insistence, but that didn’t stop her daughter’s “handiwork” from looking like five pairs of them went to town on his head.

Random strands hung loosely, almost alternating with the various-sized ponytails being tied up with pastel-colored ribbons. Honestly, it looked like he got electrocuted by a taser made of crayons (that analogy made sense, yes). Hang on, was that candy stuck in-

“Hey, sweetie-pie,” a voice spoke from the doorway, causing the kids to look over and make eye contact with Hughes. He was leaning against the frame nonchalantly, the other hand firmly inside one of his pockets, “I think it’s bedtime for you.”

Ed kept his face toward Hughes as he turned his eyes to look at Elicia. She was very indignant to that statement her father made, her cheeks puffing to the size of balloons, “But daddyyyy! I haven’t done little big brother’s makeup yet!”

She was dramatically flailing her arms as her dad walked further into the room. Ed watched as he picked her up, her immature movements getting less and less noticeable since she was steadily falling asleep. Once she was comfortably suited in Hughes’ arms, she let out a giant yawn, and when he placed a hand on the back of her head, it clonked forward onto his shoulder, signifying that she was dead asleep.

Wow.

Hughes chuckled at his daughter’s adorableness before finally turning to look at Ed, sympathetically whistling at the sight, “Yowza, I bet you’re glad Gracia gave that ‘no scissors’ stipulation now.”

Elicia didn’t need them. She was about to make me bald through pure physical strength alone, “No kidding. Speaking of which, when’s she getting back? She and Al have been out for longer than I thought they would be.”

“Just a little bit more, I think,” Hughes turned to the door that was Elicia’s room. “Thanks for all your guys’ help. Gracia hates putting off grocery day, and Elicia definitely appreciated not being left alone while I handled that emergency call from headquarters. “

Ed stood up as he watched Hughes go put Elicia properly to bed, “Yeah, of course.”

The door to Elicia’s room clicked shut and Ed felt tension leave his shoulders like a ball with a hole in it. He almost ran his hand through his hair, but then he remembered the state it was in and promptly stopped. Geez, this was going to be a hard fix. The hairbands were easy enough to get off, but all the candy that somehow found its way into his hair… man, there was one that looked like an entire lollipop even.

He was starting to think that no scissors didn’t matter; it looked like he would need to snip off a few chucks to get everything out anyway. Maybe he could use alchemy? Al had been cautioning him more and more recently about using alchemy to fix everything, but he would need to cut Ed some slack this time. Nothing short of a miracle could save the hard work Ed put into growing out his braid at this point.

Elicia’s door opened again. Breaking him out of his thoughts was Hughes talking right away, “Do you want any help with that rat’s nest of yours?”

Ed blinked—nearly jumped out of his pants—before turning around to face the Lieutenant Colonel, “Um, no offense, but I’m not sure there’s anything to save here.”

“C’mon, you think your head of hair is the first one she’s defiled?” Hughes said with a smirk. “At this point, I might as well open up a salon as a side job with how many times I’ve had to fix me and my wife’s hair.”

It did seem like Elicia knew what she was doing a little too much, “Really? What’s the trick?”

Hughes pushed his glasses up his nose, “It took me a few tries, but I finally made a special soap that gets everything less than pleasing off in one go. Comes in handy for a lot of things.”

Well, that sounded just like the “miracle” he needed to fix everything. It was just that…

“Hey, what’s wrong?” Hughes could easily tell that Ed was struggling to say what he wanted to say. “You don’t actually want to keep that hair-do, do you?”

Ed felt one of his fingers nervously scratch the side of his face, “No, I don’t, I’m just not the biggest fan of other people taking care of my hair. Letting kids play with it is one thing, but…”

Ed didn’t need to explain anything else, Hughes immediately became apologetic, “Oh, I’m sorry! That’s perfectly understandable. Why don’t I just give you the soap and instructions and then you can handle it yourself, sound reasonable to you?”

“That… works,” Ed agreed, a little flabbergasted while doing so. Hughes nodded once before heading off to the bathroom to undoubtedly grab his “special soap,” leaving Ed behind to ruminate on what just happened. Seriously, these people confused the crap out of him. He never mentioned to Hughes that he didn’t like others messing with his hair, yet the man still felt bad about potentially crossing that boundary despite literally not knowing about it.

It was confusing as all hell.

Like a flash of lightning, Hughes was back with a half-empty bottle in his hands and a smile on his face, “Here it is! Make sure to get your hair nice and wet first, then put lots of soap in it, let it sit for a few minutes, then rinse carefully with warm water. All that sticky candy should just slide right off.”

Slowly reaching forward, Ed took the stuff as if it were a fragile vase and not a measly bottle of soap. He rotated it around a little bit, keenly aware of Hughes watching him be way more pedantic about this than needed, “Actually… Can you clean my hair for me instead?”

Hughes was genuinely surprised by that question, “Are you sure? I don’t want to jump the gun and make you uncomfortable.”

Edward nodded his head rapidly before he could change his mind or regret asking in the first place, “Probably should just in case. You know how to apply this stuff way better than I will.”

That same warm smile that Hughes wore spread across his face once more, “Alrighty, then let us get that hair of yours fixed up.”

The next motions were a blur, and Ed was only aware of sitting on the floor and leaning against the tub when the noise of a showerhead was turned on. He realized he had a handful of pretty hairbands clenched in one fist, and it was a testament to how out of it he was that he never noticed he took them out until now. He reached over to give the things to Hughes, “I think these belong to you.”

“Ah, yes, thank you,” Hughes said with no preamble, simply taking the bands and shoving them in his pocket. “Okay, just lean back and I’ll take care of the rest.”

If Ed remembered the steps correctly, his hair had to wet first, then the soap needed to be applied so it could sit, and then it was supposed to be rinsed off carefully. The water was the perfect temperature; not too freezing cold, but also not hot enough to burn. It was… nice, to feel something other than his own hands run through his hair.

It certainly didn’t help how gentle Hughes was being. Ed was so out-of-this-world by the time Hughes was adding the soap that he almost didn’t even feel it. He sighed contently, missing the prideful smirk that split Hughes’ face when he did so due to his eyes being closed.

He must have fallen asleep a little bit, even, because it felt like the soap had only been there for twenty seconds before water was being dumped in his hair. He could no longer hear the shower running, meaning Hughes probably walked away for a second to grab a cup of some kind. Yep, he definitely snoozed for a brief period there.

Things clinking against the ground behind Ed brought him back to reality, as well as the feeling of the weight in his hair lessening. The clinks themselves had a variety of volumes, and on the last dump of water, they stopped sounding out completely about halfway through the water usage. Before Ed could sit up, a towel was thrown over his face and a voice was speaking confidently, “Heck yeah, every single piece is gone! You are now a candy-free citizen of this household.”

Hughes’ way with words was… something. Ed finally sat up, stretching the crick out of his neck a little as he fully grabbed the towel and began to dry his hair, “Thanks. Do you have a brush I could borrow? Not to ask for more than I’ve already gotten-”

He was shut up by a pink brush decorated with cat decals being shoved in his face alongside Hughes’ smile being a little more nervous than usual, “Here’s a brush, and sorry for the frilly-ness. I can go find my comb for you to use instead if you don’t want to use this one.”

Ed shrugged his shoulders and happily took the hair tool anyway, “Eh, whatever. I just want to avoid tangles, so I’ll take what I can get.”

“Honey, we’re back!” Gracia called from the door Hughes had used to enter the household at the start of all of this. Metal scraping against metal sounded from behind her, meaning Al had also returned.

“Sounds awesome! I’ll be out in a second!” Hughes called with a hand cupping his mouth. He turned back to Ed one last time and spoke much quieter, “You good to take care of the rest by yourself? Those two are probably going to need an extra set of hands to help carry stuff.”

Ed nodded, carefully running the brush through his hair as he did so. Hughes also nodded in reply, leaving the bathroom to do exactly what he said he would. It didn’t take Ed super long to get rid of every twist and knot in his strands, so just as he picked the brush up, he was setting it down and re-braiding his hair. He stood up, his knees and back cracking a little, and then he was walking outside to where everyone else would be.

Al was handing things off to Gracia a la factory line style, but paused in his work when he noticed Ed, “Brother! How was it taking care of Elicia?”

Ed slightly leaned back with his hands in his pockets, “It was alright. She’s a sweet kid.”

Al took that answer easily, “That’s good to hear! As soon as I finish getting this last batch of groceries in, we should be good to head back to our dorm.”

“Ah, are you kids sure?” Hughes questioned as soon as he popped his head back in the room. “It’s gotten pretty late, and we don’t mind you staying over if you’re tired.”

Ed opened his mouth to object—they didn’t need to fill up any more of the Hughes Family’s space—but when he noticed Al out of the corner of his eye looking all super excited at the idea of staying (as emotive as a giant set of armor could be, anyway), he clicked his lips shut. Dammit, Al always made these decisions more difficult than they needed to be.

Ugh, fine, Ed had been cooping his poor brother up a lot recently. It was only fair he took a moment to give him a break, “Yeah, we might as well stay the night. You’re not wrong about it being rather dark out there.”

Hughes was frozen for a second, but then that same fatherly grin he wore all the damn time came back full throttle, “Thanks a bunch, you guys. Elicia will be happy to see you two again so early in the morning.”

“No more candy, though,” Ed said succinctly, confusing his brother.

Hughes simply laughed, “Of course, no candy whatsoever.”

---

It had been raining—no, thunderstorming, actually—when Ed awoke from his slumber.

What a great welcome back after just getting fixed up.

“Al?!” he called out, practically writhing and bringing his normal leg up to his chest to hug it while keeping his automail as still as possible. “Can you bring me a warm towel?!”

Normally, that would be followed by the familiar clanking of armor and Al walking away to get the object in question, followed by him walking back to give it to Ed, sympathy laced in his tone as he mindlessly talked to Ed while the pain lessened.

Ed only received pure silence.

Okay, that was… okay. There might be something wrong, but there also might be some reason Ed just hasn’t seen yet that explains why Al wasn’t here, “Alphonse?!”

If he wanted to figure out which reason it was, though, he was going to need to get up and move around.

Deeply inhaling, Ed threw the sheets off of him and not-so-slowly made his way toward a table in the room. He tripped when a spike of pain hit, so that caused him to nearly tumble into the piece of furniture he was aiming for. Blinking some tears out of his eyes, he noticed a piece of paper laid out a little too neatly to be a coincidence.

Ed picked the paper up and realized someone left scribbles on it.

If I’m not back by the time you wake up, it just means I haven’t returned from my walk. -Al

He was on a stupid walk, of course. One time Al left and didn’t realize how quickly Ed would be awake, he came back to his brother nearly sprinting outside to go search for him. After that, Al promised to always leave a note of some kind so that way if it happened again, Ed could see the message and not lose his shit.

Just Ed’s luck, it did happen again, and at the worst time too. Poor Al, they tended to avoid going out in thunderstorms over worry of Al getting struck by lightning, so the storm must have hit while Al was already halfway across the city. Ed’s brother was probably huddled under some overpass somewhere waiting for the rougher parts to go away.

A sudden bout of nausea washed over Ed, and the only maneuvering Ed could get in was turning around to barf on the floor between the table and his bed, his braid falling loosely over his shoulder. Shudders came next, and Ed was barely able to scoot around to avoid curling up in the pile of vomit he just created.

He wasn’t sure if he laid there for five seconds or five minutes when a pounding on the door brought him out of his daze, making him wince.

“Fullmetal!” Fucking great, what the hell was he doing in Central? “Are you in here?!”

A softer but still just as stern voice followed, “Sir, maybe we should give him a second to get to the door first before we wake up the entire dormitory.”

A sigh, “Sorry, I just expected to get in, grab the papers, and then get out, not have a bunch of superiors yap my ear off about the kid not reporting in properly.”

“Respectfully sir, he’s not the only person here who’s shown up late a few times.”

A bunch of grumbles was the last thing heard before silence came again. Which then had a few more rough knocks come after, and Ed was half-tempted to transmutate the floor those two were standing on from where he was laying to get them to stop making his headache any more prevalent. Eh, that sounded like it would just make him throw up again.

Another couple of knocks, and Ed finally gave in. He felt himself tremble as he somehow managed to get up on all fours, “‘m coming! Give me a second…”

That “second” actually ended up being roughly a minute, considering Ed needed to stand up without collapsing, limp over to the door without collapsing, and open the door without collapsing. He surprised himself managing to do so, as well as the Colonel apparently, “There you are, I-”

The Lieutenant and Bastard become genuinely shocked at what greeted them on the other side. Ed was sweating buckets, leaning most of his weight on his right leg. A sickly stench slowly filtered out to them as well, and Hawkeye peered over him to notice what was most likely a vomit pile in the middle of the room.

“Edward, what happened?” Hawkeye questioned, much gentler than the reprimand she gave Mustang just a few minutes prior.

Ed wiped off the corner of his mouth, keenly aware of the fact that he appeared less than presentable, “Nothing, just… give me a few minutes and I can make sure your ‘superiors’ quit bothering you.”

It was this moment that sensibility snapped into the Colonel at lightning speed, “Oh no you’re not. You think you can walk outside looking like that?”

Maybe Ed should just transmutate the floor, consequences be damned, “Excuse-”

“He means that you look awful, Ed,” Hawkeye translated, “and he’s concerned because of it.”

The Colonel pinched the bridge of his nose, barely managing to get across the “concern” Hawkeye said he was feeling, “Fullmetal, your hair is covered in throw-up.” Shit, really? Maybe Ed didn’t move out of the way of his mess as much as he thought he did. “You’re not fit to work today, or at least, not this morning. You never answered Hawkeye's question about what was wrong.”

Ed shook his head, which was a bad decision, as more nausea flooded his nerves. He was able to keep it down this time, though, “Rain hurts, thunderstorms even worse.”

The adults tilted their heads in confusion, but Roy eventually got the picture, placing his hand on his forehead like it should have been obvious, “Right, stumps hurt in the rain. I bet the thirty pounds of metal hanging off of them doesn’t help the matter.”

Ed scrunched his eyebrows, mystified that the Colonel knew that without Ed saying anything.

“You think I don’t know other people in the military with missing limbs?” Roy rhetorically questioned. “Maybe I’m inept sometimes but I’m not an idiot.”

That made sense, “Did you just finally admit to being useless?”

Now it was Roy’s turn to visibly look annoyed, “Not until you finally accept being under the average height limit, pipsqueak.”

“Boys! Can either of you behave for two seconds?” Hawkeye jumped in before Ed could continue. “I think we should focus on the fact that you, Edward, are not in the best shape, and the fact that there is a pile of vomit sitting in the middle of the room.”

In the blink of an eye, Roy became a chastised child, and Ed became an even more chastised child.

Riza rolled her eyes, quickly whipping up a plan of action in her head, "Ed needs to clean up. Get him down to the showers while I handle his room."

That was a pretty standard plan. Nothing was really wrong with it. It made perfect sense that Hawkeye would concoct it considering the information she knew.

Which made it unfortunate that she wasn't aware Ed would barely be able to walk, thus tripping right into Roy, who almost missed catching him and preventing him from falling flat on his face.

Faceplanting would have been less embarrassing than the Bastard’s hands holding onto his shoulders like he was about to shatter into pieces.

Riza stared, unsure of how to proceed knowing what she did now, “Ed, how badly are you hurting?”

The noise that came from Ed could best be described as an inquisitive moan, “It’s middle of the road for me?”

Riza puffed her cheeks a little, disbelieving that answer, “Based on how most people deal with pain, how badly are you hurting?”

A beat of silence, “... This shit sucks so much.”

Riza almost deflated at that, “Okay, here’s what we’re going to do. Colonel, you help him figure out a way to clean up while I still take care of the mess in his room. Shout if anything goes wrong.”

The guys mumbled their words of agreement as Riza walked away to go find some kind of mop.

“Alright, what do you want to do?” Roy began when they were alone. ”We can still go for the showers, but I won’t get upset if you think they’re too far.”

Ed felt a twitch of annoyance run through him, “You could screw off and leave me alone. I’m sure that option is beneficial for both of us.”

Roy got snippy at that, again, “Did you miss the part where we said your hair is visibly dirty? You have to clean up somehow. It might take a long time, but getting a bucket that I can fill with water for you would even be enough. It just has to be something.”

Ed stayed strong with his indignancy.

Eventually, Roy sighed, “I’m not trying to insist you're an invalid, Ed.” Ed tensing up proved that assumption to be right on the money. “I’ve seen first hand how hard it is to move around while someone is in pain. There’s no shame in requiring a little bit of assistance during those times.”

The silence became awkward, but before Roy could continue to gently coax any life morals into Ed, the kid spoke at an almost non-existent volume level, “Al… carries me. Sometimes.”

Roy’s eyebrows tilted in confusion, “Ed, you’re going to need to speak up.”

“I said, Al carries me sometimes,” Ed spoke more clearly after taking a deep breath through his nose. “On the days that are particularly difficult to move, Al carries me to a shower or something where I can sit in warm water for a little bit.”

Roy seemed to not be able to process that information, “Are you saying… you want me to carry you to the showers?”

Ed was going to smack himself for nodding.

Roy let out a little noise, still not comprehending that he was the one Fullmetal was asking of this, “Are you sure you want me to do that? I don’t want to disregard your autonomy. Just because you are having a rough day doesn’t mean you need to be treated like a baby or anything.”

Ed was going to stab himself for nodding again.

The fact of the matter was that Ed absolutely hated being brought down to a point where Al had to step in. As if Ed hadn’t already taken enough from his brother, he needed to be coddled like he was some infant learning to walk for the first time. The Bastard being the stand-in for Al right now just made it all that much worse.

But dammit, a warm shower sounded nice, and if he needed to be swaddled and treated tenderly, then so fucking be it.

Mustang was pondering something heavily, his eyes closed as he thought over all his options. With a deep breath out, he nodded his head, “Okay. If you’re okay with it, then okay. On the count of three. One, two, three-”

Suddenly, Ed’s feet were no longer touching the floor, and he was being precariously balanced in the arms of the Colonel. Ed grunted a little bit, the abrupt movement of his sore limbs not feeling the greatest. Neither he nor Roy mentioned his hand gripping Roy’s jacket like his life depended on it.

“Sorry,” Roy apologized. “Are you sure you want to keep doing this?”

Ed nodded aggressively, “I want my damn shower.”

Roy simply turned to look down the hall and began walking, “Fair enough.”

And with that, silence overtook the air. It wasn’t like they needed to say anything else. Though, Ed supposed that maybe he should have been chatting a little bit, seeing as Roy had to shake him back to awareness once he finally reached the showers, “Alright, Ed, where do you want me to let you go?”

Ed brought his real arm out from between their bodies to point at a showerhead, “Just set me down there and place some soap where I can reach it.”

Roy hummed, moving to do exactly as told. Ed felt his butt getting gently set against the floor at the same time the Colonel asked one last question, “Alright, you need some soap, and then is that everything?”

Ed nodded.

Roy didn’t verbally reply. Ed listened as the Colonel’s boots walked around the room, grabbing the necessary items Ed needed and placing them next to the kid. Then, he left the room, shutting the door once he was completely out. Finally, Ed could get down to business.

With great difficulty, Ed grabbed the handle that turned on the shower and turned it up really high. Probably higher than it should be, but it wasn’t like this was the first hot shower Ed has ever taken. Sighing, Ed melted against the tiled wall as the warmth flowed through his body to relieve him of his pain.

If heaven existed, Ed expected the closest thing humans would get to it was the act of taking warm, long showers. Suffice to say, he was getting blissed out as all hell. While he would personally enjoy just sitting there doing nothing, he knew he was here for a purpose, so reluctantly, he picked up the soap and took his braid down to begin cleaning himself.

After a while, a brief interruption was the door opening just a smidge and clothes being slid inside, the door shutting just as quickly as it was opened. Right, those were important. Point one for the Bastard. As well as the Lieutenant, apparently, as she began to speak right when the door shut, “How long has he been in there?”

It sounded like Roy made a humming noise of sorts, followed by a thump against the wall, then the noise of fabric rubbing up against something and another smaller thump. Roy must have slid down the wall to sit, “Only a little bit. Great job cleaning his room, by the way.”

“I made sure to make it look like it never happened, sir,” similar sliding-down-the-wall noises occurred. Riza must have sat next to the Colonel. “How did the two of you get down to the showers without breaking anything, if I may ask?”

“Ah, well,” the conversation reached a point where the only noise being made was the two of them talking, “the kid eventually asked me to just… pick him up and carry him over here.”

“... Actually?”

“Yeah, you’re not anymore surprised than I was. I guess he decided washing off properly was something he wanted more than anything else. He didn’t even worry about others seeing us, he just asked.”

“I’m a little shocked you agreed so easily.”

“Eh, it was a little bit of a pain carrying a body connected to two hunks of metal, but-”

“My point is more about the emotional aspect, sir.”

“...”

“You’ve gone soft, even more than you already are for the team. What snapped?”

“...” A drawn-out sigh, “That kid is a firecracker humanized. He’s bright, loud, but also impulsive, and you’re never sure when he’s going to go off. Before it wasn’t too much of a problem, besides the property damage, but now…”

“This is about Scar, isn’t it.”

“... Ed has bared witness to stuff incomprehensible to the everyday man, but… even though he likes to pretend otherwise, he’s still a kid.”

“Mhm.”

“He’s not going to see the nuance behind Scar’s actions; he’s treating it like it’s some every-other-day situation, like all he has to do is punch away the problem. And then when he realizes he can’t do that, well, he shuts down. It’s not a path he can keep taking, not when everything is getting more and more dangerous.”

“... It wasn’t fun to see him lying on the ground like that, accepting death so readily.”

“No kidding. So yeah, I’m a little more concerned than normal-”

“That’s already a pretty high bar to cross, you know.”

“-but it’s within reason. I just hope Ed realizes that anyone on this team would be willing to fight for him and his brother in a heartbeat. If it takes throwing out my back a little while picking up him and his steel limbs, then sure, what’s the harm in that?”

Huh, who knew the Bastard could be so eloquent. Ed supposed Havoc was right: Riza is magic.

Eventually, he found himself slowly turning off the shower and getting ready to leave. As he stood up and looked for a towel, Ed felt himself nearly sagging at the relief of missing pain. Of course, it wasn’t one-hundred percent gone, but it was noticeably nicer than when he woke up. He made quick work of drying off and getting dressed, and when he stepped outside, he found both the Lieutenant and the Colonel standing again, going silent as they stared at him and examined his physical state, double-checking that he was (hopefully) better than he was before he took a shower.

“Do either one of you know where a brush is?” Ed asked, breaking the silence. “I wanna run one through my hair before I braid it again.”

Mustang opened his mouth, but was interrupted by the Lieutenant abruptly reaching into one of his coat pockets and pulling out a comb, “Lieutenant?! What the hell-”

“Here’s one, Ed,” Riza spoke, easily ignoring her sputtering superior. “Do you think it’ll work? It’s not a brush.”

Ed could only stare slightly flabbergasted before accepting the situation for what it was, “Yeah, it should be good enough. Just something to get the remaining tangles out. Thank you.”

Riza nodded and turned to Roy, “I’ll be waiting outside when you finish up here, sir.”

Roy sighed, the annoyance he was feeling draining out of him at the realization that it would be best for him to just let this happen, “Sounds good, Lieutenant. See you soon.”

By the time Riza was down the hall and out of sight, Ed’s hair was back in its familiar braid and he was holding out the comb for Roy to take back, “If I get lice from this I'm going to make it your problem.”

Roy sighed yet again, which he seemed to be doing a lot, “Would you believe me if I said I kept this ridiculously cleaned?”

“Unfortunately, yes.”

Roy wasn’t looking at Ed while he put the comb back into his pocket, but once it was situated, his expression became a little softer when he turned back, “Will you be good for the rest of the day? Or is there anything else you think that would help?”

Ed took a second to respond, mainly because he was already unprepared to handle the first half of today, let alone follow-up questions, “Um, I should be good to go. The pain won’t fully go away until tomorrow, but it’s manageable now.”

“Whatever you say, Fullmetal,” Roy hummed. Before he walked away, he decided to place his hand on Ed’s shoulder and give the kid one of his most serious looks, and he had a lot of “most serious” looks already, “Promise me you and Al will watch your backs more than usual. Things are… picking up, so you two must be careful. As careful as you can be, at least.”

There was nothing Ed could do to whip up enough brain capacity to respond to that, so he simply nodded fervently, hoping it got the message across.

Thankfully, Roy understood, “Glad to hear it. Feel free to give me a call if you need anything else. I’ll be Eastward, but I’m sure I can arrange stuff for you over here anyway.”

Ed watched as the Colonel followed the same path the Lieutenant took a minute earlier, losing his goddamn mind as everything that just happened washed over him. The Lieutenant and Colonel helping him. The Bastard being less of a Bastard than normal. Nothing blowing up in his face for focusing on himself-

Whatever, Ed didn’t have time for this. He should have been in the library and reading shit ages ago. Dwelling on the past was never going to get Al’s body, hard work and determination were. Though, it turned out that luck was going to be on their side a little bit after all, as Ed timed his walking outside to be able to greet Al at the entrance of the dormitory.

“Brother!” Al yelled excitedly with a hint of relief. “Sorry I was gone this morning, that sudden thunderstorm really caught everyone off guard. Are you okay? I know they hurt your ports more than a normal rain-”

Ed was quick to make Al stop apologizing, waving him off with a lax grin on his face, “Don’t worry about it. I was able to handle it in the end. Now then, let’s get back to the library and read until our brains start to melt!”

Al was unsure of Ed’s authenticity. It wouldn’t have been the first time Ed lied about his automail hurting, but the way he spoke… there was an air of confidence that Al had no choice but to believe in regards to Ed, “Sure thing, brother. Lead the way.”

---

Ed was starting to think anyone who touched his hair became cursed.

His mom died. Al is trapped in a suit of armor until further notice. Winry seemed to be okay but knowing him something was going to happen to her sooner or later. Hughes also died. Now Ross-

Maybe it was a sign of something. Who knew what the fuck it was. But it probably existed somehow in this weird tangle of bullshit Ed called life.

The pain meds had yet to fully kick in for the night.

Ed was laying on his back staring at the ceiling, reciting the periodic table backward in his mind when the door to his room opened.

“Hey Ed,” Lieutenant Ross spoke quietly. “Your nurse asked me to change your bandages. He’s a little nervous to get near you again, so I decided to just take over.”

Ed grunted as he sat up, “Maybe next time he should learn who to call someone so short they can fit inside a test tube. Anyway, did Winry call any of you yet to say when she’s getting in?”

Ross was pulling a chair over to have something to sit on, “Major Armstrong says your mechanic should get in tomorrow.”

Ed nodded and proceeded to sit still as Ross unfurled the bandages from his chest and applied new ones. He winced a few times, his injuries still tender even after doing nothing but sitting on his ass for the past few days. Thankfully, it was practically over as soon as it started.

Is what Ed would have said if Ross didn’t pause as she leaned away, “Edward, your hair!”

Ed blinked, and then he realized that his hair probably looked worse than the cafeteria pasta they serve every Thursday. He knew how to brush his hair with only one arm—figured it would be an important talent to have under his belt—but he just… hadn’t been doing so. He just didn’t have the energy or enough care to run a brush through his tangled locks.

The injuries making it hard to twist properly to reach his hair certainly didn’t help.

“Yeah…” Ed said slowly, feeling oddly chastised. “I just haven’t felt like brushing through it recently.”

“Well, can I do it for you?” Ross questioned innocently. “I’m just worried about it getting matted.”

Edward raised an eyebrow at that, “You really think a few days is that bad?”

Ross hummed, “Maybe not, but I used to have hair just like you. One time, I got horribly sick for a few days, could barely do anything, and forgot to braid my hair beforehand. Through sweat and tears, I was able to fix the tangles and mess that became of my head, but just barely.”

Ed blinked, “Oh… I didn’t think you were the type to, well, have long hair.”

Ross smirked patiently, “Once I decided I wanted to join the military, I figured I should get a head start on the hair stuff and cut it all away as soon as possible. It wasn’t a requirement, but I personally felt better about not having to worry about it.”

Ed sighed and flopped against his bed, “Alright then, if you think it’s worth it, then I’ll let you brush through it.”

Ross paused like she wasn’t expecting him to agree so quickly. But it was short-lived because she practically teleported out of the room to go find a brush. She came back even faster and was sitting down in the chair once more, “Okay, if you just wanna scoot over a little bit, then we can get this thing started.”

Ed winced a little as he sat back up, but honestly, pulling the ponytail out of his hair in some ways hurt worse. He was secretly glad Ross insisted on doing something because if that was the precursor to what was about to happen now, he loathed imagining how much worse it could have gotten.

He flinched a little when she first ran her fingers through his locks, but once she started brushing, Ed couldn't stop the tension draining from his shoulders like he was a leaky pipe. Yeah, some of the knots and tangles hurt like a bitch, but Ross always made sure to firmly squeeze that group of strands so not all of the pulling force was allotted to pull on his scalp.

Ed always found it weird how, when brushing tangles out of his hair, the weight felt different. For some reason, the same amount of mass was somehow changed enough to be noticeable. Of course, the logical explanation would just be that the distribution became more even once the knots went away, but-

“Aaand it’s done!” Ross suddenly spoke, making Ed blink. He reached behind him with his real arm to feel his new ponytail, one that was free of painful twists for at least the next few hours. “Everything feel good to you?

Ed nodded as Ross stood up, “Yep, pretty much. Thanks again for doing this, it’ll probably save me a lot of time and pain in the long run.”

Ross grinned and moved to leave the room for the rest of the night, “No problem, Ed. Unfortunately, I gotta get back home, but I’ll be here first thing in the morning. Be sure to get a good night’s rest while you’re here. Lord knows moments like these are the only times we can get a decent amount of sleep.”

“No kidding,” Ed laughed. Yeah, that sounded like a good idea right now.

Now he was here, being dragged out into the middle of absolutely nowhere with Armstrong, Breda, and the old man. He supposed he should consider himself lucky; if the Bastard came along instead of just telling them to come here he might have been less complacent. Small victories.

The place they went, Xerxes, was… vast. Ed paused multiple times to admire the stonework, repeatedly needing to be snapped at so he didn’t get so far behind he would become lost. After a bit more wandering, as well as impromptu storytelling of both Xerxes and Xing, Ed found himself being called out to by a woman. One that was very familiar.

Turning around, Ed couldn’t stop the grin that split his face at seeing Ross alive and well, “That damn Colonel.”

“LIEUTENANT ROSS!” Armstrong cried joyfully, immediately becoming shirtless and chasing her like an excited puppy. It took them a few minutes to get Armstrong to calm down so they could all be informed of the truth. That Bastard always has a trick up his sleeve.

Ed was dazed the entire walk to the edge of the ruins. He had his hands firmly shoved in his pockets and was watching his feet as he walked, so he was pretty surprised when Ross leaned over to talk quietly, meaning she probably only wanted him to hear it, “Your hair isn’t looking that well maintained again, Edward.”

She was lucky he was so lost in his thoughts, if he was any more aware he might have accidentally punched her, “Jeez, what are you, my Teacher? She said the exact same thing when we went to visit recently.”

Ross hummed, looking away but keeping the conversation going, “Really? And did you listen to her?”

Ed sighed, his eyebrow twitches slowly petering off, “Well, her response to growing my hair out has always been asking me to keep or cut it short, and I’m not too keen about taking that course of action, so no, I didn’t listen.”

Ross nodded, “What’s so important about that idea to her that she asks you it enough to annoy you?”

“She thinks it’ll get in the way of my sight and screw me over,” Ed explained. “But she always drops it after a while when she sees she’s not getting through to me.”

Ross hummed again, turning to look at Ed, “It sounds like she respects your decision at the end of the day.”

Ed found himself humming too, “I guess.”

The group got to the edge pretty soon after that. They all shared some last few words, as well as plans for the future, right before Ross turned to get on her horse. Ed thought she was going to address everyone one last time but was caught off guard when he realized she was focusing solely on him.

“Goodbye, Edward,” Ross said with a smile. “Take care of yourself, okay?”

For some reason, Ed found himself smiling back, “I still owe you. For slapping me, that is.”

Ross chuckled and spoke right before they shared one last handshake, “You can get me next time.”

As he watched her and the old man ride off into the distant desert with the rest of the travelers, his only thoughts were about how he didn’t feel like he was saying goodbye.

He was finally saying he would eventually see someone later, “Alright. Next time.”

---

“I thought you said you weren’t going to braid it until everything was over,” Greed broke the silent tension.

It took Ed a second to realize he was the one being spoken to, “Hmm? Oh, yeah, ‘cause people would have probably been able to tell who I was if I wore it in a braid like I always do.”

“I get that,” Greed said straightforwardly. “What I want to know is why you did it anyway.”

Ed paused, his fingers fidgeting within his pockets. He quieted his words so Hohenheim couldn’t hear him, “That bastard over there said we looked alike with my hair in a ponytail, so I changed it back.”

Greed let out a hum like he got it, but was also mostly just amused by the situation, “Why don’t you just cut your hair short then? I feel like that would be a lot easier to handle considering your job.”

Ed ever so slightly began walking faster, “C’mon, we’re almost to the city.”

---

Despite everything, automail still hurt in the rain, and along with that, Ed also still had automail.

Granted, it was only drizzling today, which meant the pain felt more like an annoying twinge that could be ignored with just the right amount of work.

But there wasn’t any work to be done. All the cleaning was finished, there wasn’t any leak in the ceiling, and there were only so many times he could read his Alchemy textbooks before the letters physically imprinted themselves onto his brain. That was saying a lot considering it was, you know, him he was talking about.

Now he was sitting on the couch in the living room, reading one of mom’s old stories to pass the time. It was pretty entertaining, so much so to the point that he didn’t even look up when footsteps were approaching him and speaking to him, “Hey brother, how’s the reading going?”

Ed smiled as Al walked over to stand behind and wrap around him in a loose hug, trapping his arms. Al placed his chin on Ed’s shoulder in an attempt to read what the book was about, but Ed was quick to playfully jolt out of the hold, “Wait your turn you little twit. It’s the story about the warrior that needs to climb the waterfall.”

Al was smiling way wider than he deserved to. He placed his hands on the back of the couch when he realized he wouldn’t be able to annoy his brother with them, “Oh, that one! That was always a good tale. You know, I’ve always wondered if that was the reason you decided to wear your hair in a braid.”

“Nope. Well,” Ed corrected himself. “I did think about the character when I made the decision, but it wasn’t the reason I went through with it.”

Al hummed, reaching over to grab a few strands of Ed’s ponytail and pinching them, rubbing his fingers together, “You’re not wearing one right now.”

“That I am not,” Ed agreed, flipping a page in his book.

Al kept messing with the hair, “Can I braid it for you?”

Ed briefly paused before resuming his reading like nothing was out of the ordinary, “Sure.”

Al let out a squee-type noise before rushing away a little more enthusiastically than needed to find a hairbrush. Ed rolled his eyes fondly, making no move to stop reading the book just like before. The story was getting to the best part anyway.

The thing about Al being over-excited to braid his brother’s hair was that it was understandable. Back during their journeys, on all their trips to try and save Al from his future of being a metal husk, he had tried to before. He had tried the delicate act of taking care of his brother’s hair, but the fact of the matter was that a suit of armor just wasn’t fit for the job.

Big fingers trying to thread their way through hundreds of strands, not being able to feel if you were tugging too hard, it was all just a smorgasbord of complications. It didn’t help that Ed’s hair was more sensitive than most. They were able to do it once or twice when Ed was sitting completely still and Al was moving as slow as a rock, but was all that struggle really worth it for the technical victory?

Now here they were today, alive and well, and Al had a pair of normal, human hands ready and willing to play with his brother’s hair like they were toddlers again.

Footsteps sounded behind Ed again, and before he could blink, fingers were running through his ponytail and taking the band out, followed by a brush working its magic. Ed sighed, leaning back into the touch. Neither brother said anything, just enjoying each other’s company.

“Winry should be home tomorrow morning,” Al pointed out after a minute of silence.

Ed was about to nod, but then he remembered what was happening, “Yeah, she told me she bought a type of apple we normally can’t buy around here and was going to make some pie with it. I figured you would be excited to hear that.”

Al hummed, setting the brush down to begin braiding, “I can’t wait. Her pies are always the best.”

Ed made a similar hum in agreement.

It was silent again until Al froze for a moment, “I was thinking of visiting their graves tonight.”

If there was anything that could make Ed stop reading, it would be that, “Oh, really?”

“Yeah,” Al began working with Ed’s hair again, but the movements were much slower. “I was wondering if you wanted to join me.”

Ed thought about it for a second, “Yeah, okay. I’ll come with you.”

Al completely froze this time, “Wait, seriously?”

“Why wouldn’t I be?” Ed slightly turned to look at his brother, making sure not to turn too much as to ruin Al’s handiwork.

Al was staring at him like the answer was obvious, “I just thought… I don’t know. Dad’s grave was placed right next to hers, so I expected you to not want to go there anymore.”

Ed grinned cheekily before turning back to his book, “I think not even I’m the type of person to be as petty as that.”

Al leaned over to give a look to his brother that said yes, you are exactly the type of person to do that.

“Al, I’ve always refused to cut my hair short, haven’t I?” Ed pointed out. “I’m going to join you tonight. I’ve been meaning to say a few things to them anyway.”

If it were anyone but Al he was talking to, they would have been confused out of their minds by that statement. Thankfully, it was his brother on the other side of this conversation, which meant that Al understood his words perfectly, “Okay Ed, I get what you mean. Do you want to bring any flowers with us?”

Ed pondered, “I think Pinako has some daffodils laying around that she’s been meaning to get rid of; let’s use those. Oh, and thank you, by the way.”

Al finished the braid, wrapping the hairband around the end of the locks until it was nice and snug, “Sounds good, brother. And you’re welcome.”

They both knew they weren’t just talking about the hair.