Adventure One: I can hear you!
Summary: Ed had only ever blown up on the humans in Risembool once in his life.
Edward Elric: Age Four
Alphonse Elric: Age Three
Al was sick and the ingredients Trisha needed for her remedy had run out necessitating a trip into town.
"Pinako, would you be willing to keep an eye on the boys until I get back?" Trisha said.
"Of course not. Winry would be glad to play. Is Al contagious?"
"No. It's just a little bit of a stomach bug. I used to get them all the time," Trisha said.
Pinako arrived with Winry an hour later. Ed was standing by the door.
"Yes, Edward?" Trisha said.
"I want to go with you," Ed said.
"Why?" Trisha said,
"Because I want to pick up something to help Al feel better," Ed said.
"My little man," Trisha said with a smile, "You're a great big brother." Ed looked off to the side with his cheeks red.
Ed kept close to Trisha as the pair of Hylians walked into the town proper. As per usual, the whispers started amongst those who had no compunctions against gossip.
"It's that loose Hylian woman again and her child."
"Hush, Harriet!"
"Where does she get off thinking she can carry on like a respectable citizen whenever she let that MAN leave her with two children like that!"
"Bite your tongue! Don't you know that their kind are a blessing from the Goddesses!"
"Blessing? Hah!"
"Pipe down, it's said that their unnatural ears give them the ability to hear EVERYTHING."
"It's serve her right to hear this. Might set her straight too-."
STOMP! STOMP STOMP! Ed had stormed over to the worst of them glaring before he pointed to his own pointed ear.
"I can hear you!" he said, "I can hear every terrible thing you've said you nasty old bi-."
"Edward Elric!" Ed froze. Trisha was kind and gentle, until she reached her breaking point.
Trisha calmly dragged her son away from the stunned old biddies, paid for the ingredients she needed for her remedy, and in a dead quiet dragged her son out of the market.
She didn't speak again until they were nearly home.
"Do you know why what you did was wrong?" Trisha said after a moment. Ed shook his head.
"Because, you used the gifts you were born with to violate the privacy of others. Would you like it if I decided to listen in on everything you and Al do in your father's study or whenever you're playing with Winry? Would you?"
"….No."
"Those women were horrible to say such things, but it was worse still to do what you did," Trisha said.
"But I can't not hear them-."
"You will have to learn. It's not easy, but you learned to be a better brother to Al, you can learn to do this," Trisha said. Ed nodded after a few moments.
While Ed was never fully able to stop hearing the comments, he did learn to keep it in.
Seven and half years later,
"Did you see that! One of those Elric boys is HALF metal! I knew they should have been turned over to the Orphanage!"
"Look at how he's flaunting those limbs."
"What is with his brother in that armor?"
"Have you seen how improper that Rockbell girl is behaving-." CLANG!
Well, Ed might have learned that lesson, but Winry hadn't.