31 December Prompts Challenge, FMA-Style

by StellatheAlchemist

Just what the title says. A series of December-themed prompts used to write a collection of FMA short stories, one per day. Most will be during the manga/Brotherhood, but some will be post-manga and a few might even be pre-manga. Not sure about pairings yet, but if there are any it'll be EdWin, Royai or LingFan. Rated K plus because Ed is a pottymouth.

1. Day 01

((So, I'm going to be doing this challenge thing for December. Basically you get one winter/holidays themed prompt per day, and you have to write a short story to fit that theme every day using a chosen universe or whatever. So of course I'm doing FMA. xD I'll hopefully have one new story up each day.))
((Today was... special. I had little motivation and writer's block, in the end I just kind of made stuff up... Hence the strange ending. Sorry about that, everyone! Hopefully it won't happen again. .))

Day 01

Prompt: Sweaters

Setting: Fort Briggs, during manga

If there was one thing Ed had learned about Briggs in the short time he had been there, it was that it was cold. Really, really cold. There had been some cold winters back in Risembool, but being in Briggs was like being in a giant freezer. He shivered and pulled his jacket tighter around him. Had he pulled it any tighter than that, it would have torn. He was annoyed to find that it didn't make him any warmer.

"Are you ok, Brother?" Al asked concernedly, looking up from the book he was reading.

"No, I am not ok! I'm freezing my ass off!" Ed complained. He poked the guard standing outside their cell. "Hey, can't you turn the heat up or something?"

"No, but if you ask nicely I MIGHT get you a sweater," the guard replied, annoyed at Ed's rudeness.

"...Please?" Ed tried hopefully. The guard sighed. He did feel bad for the kid; Briggs was a tough place, and the climate wasn't for everyone, especially not those from the warm and sunny eastern region.

"All right, kid. But don't think it's free."

Ed's face brightened a little as the guard went to go get him a sweater, although not for long because he sneezed. He wiped his nose on his sleeve and sniffled, wishing he would just magically get warmer. Luckily for him, the guard returned and threw the sweater at him, hitting him right in the face. He pulled it off and looked at it, only to discover that it was a bit... special.

"...It's ugly," he observed unhappily.

"Do you want to get warm or not?" the guard retorted. Ed thought it over for a few seconds and reluctantly pulled it on.

It was an odd shade of coppery orange, with puke-green snowflakes and eggplant purple accents. Whoever had made it was clearly either horribly colorblind, pure evil, or both. It was also terribly itchy, and smelled like cat pee. However, it was warm, so Ed reluctantly put up with it.

Even though nearly everyone who walked by laughed at him, he put up with it, because he'd rather be ridiculed than cold. And also because he could get his revenge later, but mostly just because he was cold. He learned an important lesson that day: If you wear an ugly sweater, people WILL make fun of you. Except Al, because he's some sort of magical fairy princess with no bad qualities.