"You have the worst luck, brother."

"Shut up…" Edward coughed, surprising his younger brother and making him jump. "How was I supposed to know that we're not immune on Earth?"

"Well, I thought you knew better, honestly." The tall, blue-eyed German said teasingly. "After all, you act like you know everything."

"Hey, if it weren't for-," he broke off, coughing, "If it weren't for me, you'd be deader than a doorknob."

The look-alikes sighed exasperatedly, the taller of the two standing to rifle through the medicine cabinet. Since Alfons had been shot, his sickness had disappeared. He had kept all his cough medicine, though, thinking that Alphonse's liability to sickness would be higher. However, Edward was the first one to fall ill.

The former alchemist was fighting the doppelgangers tooth and nail, begging, bribing, lying, and even sneaking out to go to work. They weren't having it. Alfons was near the end of his rope, threatening to tie Ed down. Alphonse was a little subtler with his frustration, but Ed found himself clamped into an iron-tight grip every morning and a small bundle of heat wrapped around his arm every night.

It had only been three days, but both of the healthy roommates were fretting and fussing over Edward. Alfons was reluctant to leave for work, even though he wholly trusted the younger of the brothers to care for his best friend. Al never let his sibling out of his sight, favoring to read, play card and board games, or do puzzles with him.

Ed was refusing to be taken to the doctor, though he consented to visit the hospital if he didn't improve in a week. He didn't exactly seem to be getting any better, though. What had started as a light cough was now a cough that shook his small frame and made his voice fade, coupled with a high fever that left his cheeks overly rosy and his extremities ice-cold. He insisted that he wasn't sick, but he was getting weaker every day to the point where he fell out of his chair at dinner.

It was scary for Alphonse. He'd never seen Ed so weak and pitiful, and had grown up watching him fight his way out of everything. What if Ed simply couldn't fight any more? What if his cough got as bad as their German friend's used to be? That was one of the reasons Al stayed so close to Edward. He didn't want Ed to leave him alone in this strange, yet similar world to the one he had always known.

Alfons returned with a bottle of pills and a glass of water. "Take two of these."

"Those are goddamn horse pills!" Another coughing fit.

"Horse pills that will make you feel a good deal better."

"Come on, brother. We just want you to feel better."

Edward eyed them angrily, too fed-up to argue. With some help, he sat up and gulped down the capsules. "They're huge as hell."

"Get over it, mister alchemist." Alfons said mockingly, taking the cup downstairs to the kitchen.

xxx

Alphonse sighed, watching Ed doze. He studied his brother's face for a while. His face had just barely started to mature, and he knew he would have to force Ed to shave in the near future. His expression was fitful, showing premature lines on his nineteen-year-old face. Al was tempted to ask if he was all right, but figured that if Ed had bad dreams, he could deal with it. He was a grown man now, after all.

Golden eyes flickered behind closed lids, coming to a stop after a moment. "Why are you watching me?"

Al jumped. "I thought you were asleep."

"I'm not anymore. Why were you watching me?"

"I… I'm worried about you, brother." Alphonse confessed.

"Come on, it's just a little cold."

"Ed, you can't say that anymore. You have a fever and a bad cough. What if you have influenza? Or tuberculosis?"

"I don't, though. If I had flu, I'd be throwing up. And if I had TB, I'd have a rash."

Alphonse felt more at ease, but only slightly. "I'm still worried."

"Alphonse." Ed sat up, all on his own, looking his brother right in the eye. "What do I always tell you?"

"You… um, you…"

"I'll never leave you, Al. You're stuck with me forever. You're my brother. Where'd I be without you?"

Al hadn't heard Ed use that tone for a very long time. "I dunno, I mean-"

"Al, we're never, ever, going to be apart ever again." Ed's freezing cold hands, one metal and one flesh, wound their way around Al's warm digits. "You and Heiderich and I, we're family. We can't be separated just by a little cold. Got it?"

Alphonse nodded, jumping again when he heard a soft chuckle from the doorway. "Well said, Edward." Alfons sat back in his chair next to Alphonse, easing one of each of the brothers' hands into his own. "We're brothers, even if we're from different worlds or dimensions or whatever."

Family has a diamond-hard bond that nothing will ever break, not alchemy, physics, or even death. Don't ever give up on your family, because they will never give up on you.