About time I wrote another brotherly fluff fic. Just a warning that Pinako is kinda rude to Al in this but it's due to her stress on helping Ed I suppose. This is not meant to be seen as anything but platonic, so please don't comment with romantic things. Basically I didn't know where I was going really with the other half of this so it honestly just ended up being too long but I think it's good overall. So Enjoy!
All he wanted was his mother back.
To feel her warm hugs, to smell the flowers she loved to grow, to taste her wonderful home cooked meals.
But now, he couldn't feel, smell, or taste at all.
He was grateful for his remaining two senses of sight and hearing however, he still had the ability to hear others speak, and see what was in front of him.
However, Alphonse was not the only one who seemed to have his senses changed in some way…
After carrying his bleeding older brother in out of practice metal arms to the Rockbells, Granny and Winry quickly took care of Ed. They put bandages on his shoulder and stump of a leg, yet that didn't stop the excruciating pain. Ed had awful migraines in the days following the transmutation and the house was to be kept as silent as possible.
Al was at a disadvantage though, for every single move he made was loud. He had attempted to step near his brother, who would groan and whine at the loud noise, still very much too out of touch with reality. Al would be scolded, "Can't you be any quieter? Your brother's head hurts, I would think you would understand… even though you can feel pain anymore."
So Al avoided Ed to save his brother the trouble. Yet the sense of sound was not the only sense altered to others.
Whenever Al would enter a room with Winry or Granny doing normal activities, chores, cooking, reading, they would stare as if he was an intruder in the house. They tried to act like it was normal. Al would attempt chores, but he still did not know his own strength. He would lose his grip on a dish and send it crashing to the floor. Anxious apologies were followed by Pinako telling him that maybe sweeping was more his speed, handing him the broom and dustpan to clean up the shattered remains of the dish. The attempts at sweeping however were also futile, as he put too much power into it, sending shards of the plate in many different directions.
"Sorry."
The simple little word was used a lot in those first few days. Granny and Winry would often have trouble calling Al by his own name, not recognizing him well enough to be able to do it upon sight.
Alphonse did his best not to burden the Rockbells as much as possible and not cause any more trouble than he already had. So at night he tried to move as little as possible from the small bathroom he sat in alone, mostly spending his time reading. Though the long darkness of the night is too long to be left alone with thoughts of being a burden. Al found himself stepping out of the bathtub with a clank of his armor. Old vintage armor creaked and clanked as it opened the door with a squeak, which Al winced at. Thankfully the noise didn't seem to wake anyone as Alphonse creeped down the hallway, being as silent as armor could. However he was so focused on being quiet, he didn't realize where the stairs were.
One slip of his foot was all it took.
Several loud crashes woke everyone resting in the house as Al attempted to figure out which way was up.
"What was that?" Winry groggily stumbled out of her room, soon followed by Pinako out of her own room, giving Al a slight frown as she gazed down at him.
A tired voice interrupted her stare, "Granny? Winry?" Ed called from his room, "What was that?"
"Nothing, Al just fell down the stairs."
Granny sighed, "Go back to bed. You need your rest."
"Is Al okay?"
"Yes, I would be surprised at what could harm him. Now go back to sleep."
A pause, "Can I see him? I miss him…" his voice was sort of small.
Granny paused in thought, "Do you still have a migraine?"
"Ed?"
"Yes.."
"Then no, you can't see him." she decided with a tone of finality.
It was silent for a few moments before Edward responded, "No." his voice was louder, "I wanna see him now. It's been a couple days and I miss him."
"Your migraine-"
"I don't give a damn about my migraine right now Granny! I want to see Al no matter how noisy he is! If you don't let him in here then I'll drag myself out there."
Granny muttered something about a stubborn child before turning to Al who was recollecting himself. "You heard him, go see your brother."
"Really?!"
"If you don't see him, he'll come to you. And we don't want that with his wounds." Pinako offered Al a tiny smile before heading back to her room, telling Winry to do so too.
Al made his way up the stairs and to his brother's room slowly, minding the noise he made. He creaked the door open to see his tired older brother gazing up at him.
A sad smile graced his face as his eyes sparked with recognition, "Al." he exhaled.
For a moment Al just stood there, looking back at his older brother.
The silence was once again broken by Edward, "What are you waiting for little brother? Come here."
Al hesitated slightly before stepping towards Ed, leaning down once he reached the bedside to look at Ed better.
Propping himself up with his left arm, Ed scooted towards Al, eventually getting close enough to rest his hand on the chest plate of his brother.
Ed closed his eyes as a comforting silence took hold of the room, "I missed you." he whispered quietly, "It's lonely cooped up in here."
"I've been lonely too.." Al trailed off, looking down at his tired brother, moving back a little so the contact was lost.
"Al?" Ed looked up at him with a slightly puzzled face, "What's the matter?"
"I don't think I'm the best thing to be touching right now, with your wounds you should stick to soft things, not hard metal." Alphonse sounded sheepish.
Ed reached out and took Al's left gauntlet, "Nonsense! All I feel is my little brother!" he brought it up to his face and even nuzzled into it a little, "See? It's just your hand."
"I guess so…" the armored boy trailed off, confused a bit by his brother. However he ended up even more confused when Ed took better hold of Al's arm and used it to hoist himself up so he could lean on Al.
"Brother!? You could hurt yourself!" Al fussed a bit, trying to get Ed down onto the bed without hurting himself.
Ed chuckled, "Come on Al, I'm fine." He laid his face on top of his helmet with a content sigh, "It's been so hot in here the past few days, I'm glad I have you here to cool me down." he kissed the top of the helmet as he leaned on his brother.
Al found no easy way to get him down and accepted Ed as he leaned on him.
After a few minutes, Al noticed that Ed's leg had started to tremble a bit as he yawned. "Brother, it's time for you to go to bed."
"And what if I don't wanna?" Ed challenged.
"Brother you're shaking, I'll try to help you down but I don't know my own strength yet." Al cautiously began to pick up Ed, but ended up dropping him on the bed about a foot above it.
"BROTHER! I'm so sorry!"
"It's okay Al, I'm all good, I landed on the bed, see?" Ed had winced when he hit the bed but smiled through his pain at Alphonse.
Alphonse pulled the covers over Ed as gently as possible, feeling happiness as Ed snuggled more into the soft blankets. Al carefully extended his arm and lightly patted Ed's head with as little strength as possible. The older brother smiled at the contact with a content and happy hum.
Al then stood and walked to the door, ready to turn out the light when he was stopped in his tracks. "Al?"
"Yes brother?"
"Can you stay here tonight? Next to me."
"Sure…"
As Ed slept peacefully with his brother next to him, Al realized that there was still one person who's senses hadn't changed at all.
Ed finally got his brother's body back.
So he could hold him, cross every single food off that list of his, and let him finally have a normal life again.
However, even after getting Al's body back, it was anything but normal.
He was so malnourished that he wouldn't be able to eat real food for a little while, he was so weak that he would have to learn how to walk again, and Edward couldn't imagine it was going to be fun for Al to feel all this constant pain after finally getting his body back.
The worst part of it is that they wouldn't let him see Al until they got him in a 'stable enough condition'. Ed had loudly frowned at those words and protested, but he was instead assigned his own room as his right arm and other injuries were looked at.
Though as soon as Ed was left to his own devices, he had rushed to Al's room, despite the protests of the doctors.
The noises of doctors and nurses scrambling around had become a constant instrumental ever since the brothers got to the hospital. They had hooked the frail, malnourished boy up to a bunch of equipment and were so busy working with him that Ed couldn't see past the wall of doctors.
Sadly though, before the doctors dispersed, Ed was dragged back to his own room by a nurse.
Edward sat through the many long questions about how he 'rated his pain', not that the nurse gave him much reference on what a one or a ten was.
Finally, once the nurse had finished talking to Ed, he was more than ready to see Al when the absolute last thing he wanted to see burst through the door.
"EDWARD ELRIC!" there were almost visible sparkles around the man as he burst through the door.
The golden teen blinked a couple times and shook his head before looking towards the impossibly tall man, "M-major Armstrong, what are you doing here?"
"Why it's visiting hour of course! How could I not pay you a visit?!"
"I really appreciate it Major, but I'd actually like to see Al right now, I haven't seen him since we got to this damn prison of a hospital." Ed made to get himself out of bed when the proud voice cut him off in his tracks.
"I apologize Edward, but I was told nobody was to see him at this time! For he is resting, not even family can interrupt him!"
Ed frowned and fell back onto his bed, Al was sleeping and he sure as hell wasn't going to interrupt that. His little brother deserved the right to sleep after all this time. Ed laid down in defeat as he listened to Armstrong ramble and sparkle.
Early the next morning, Ed woke up to a nurse bringing him breakfast, while biting into a piece of toast he was reminded of Al who hadn't eaten in years, "Excuse me ma'am?"
The nurse turned towards him, "Yes Mr. Elric?"
"Do you think I can finish eating this with my brother across the hall?" he swallowed his bite.
The nurse shook her head, "I'm afraid that Alphonse isn't eating breakfast, he isn't yet well enough to chew and swallow food yet. He isn't well enough for visitors yet either, we don't want him getting overwhelmed."
"Oh, alright…" Edward looked down at his food, suddenly not feeling like eating much anymore, "Do you have any idea when I will get to see him?"
She shrugged, "I honestly have no idea, we will have to see how he's doing within the next few days."
Ed deflated, "Days? I want to see him sooner than that! I miss him and I am sure he misses me too!" he gripped his sheets, "Please I just want to see him for a little while."
"That isn't my decision Mr. Elric, now please finish your breakfast."
Ed exhaled sharply, impaling some eggs with a fork before munching on it irritably. He figured it was time to take drastic measures because he wanted to see his younger brother damnit! He had finally gotten his brother's body back after all these years and now he wasn't allowed to see him. Frankly, Ed thought this was bullshit.
Hours passed as Ed planned out his escape of his room, when the time the nurse came to take his dinner tray and bid him goodnight, he was ready. As soon as the nurse closed the door, Ed jumped out of bed and crept to the door. He listened up closely as he heard the same thing being done to Al, muffled voices proved Al was still awake. Shoes clicked down the hallway till he could no longer hear them.
Ed opened his door quickly and pushed it until it was almost shut, doing it all briskly before gently clicking it into place to avoid creaking. He watched his step as he headed across the hallway. Once at the door, he carefully grabbed the doorknob opening and closing it as he'd done with his door.
Ed glanced around in the pitch black room, squinting at a moving figure near the window, the figure was frozen, and looked almost frightened.
Thinking back on his plan, Ed had figured that an unidentified person sneaking into your room could seem a little scary, especially if it was too dark to even see your hand in front of your face.
"Al." Ed whispered as quietly as he could without being unhearable.
Silence.
"Brother?" Al sounded hopeful and happy, but tired.
"Yea." Ed stepped towards the bed, clicking on a lamp resting on the side table.
Al slowly blinked with a little smile gracing his face, "It's nice to see you, the time has been going by so slowly ever since I've gotten here." he made a slow move to brush the long hair out of his eyes, but halted as Ed did it for him.
"Your hair is so unhealthy and brittle…" Ed trailed off.
"Yea, I'm planning on getting it cut as soon as possible." Al hummed in thought, "I think I'll get it as short as I had it when I was ten."
"Yea, you should get it soon, it feels like your hair is gonna snap off any second." Ed chuckled, carefully touching it with his right hand.
"Hey brother?"
"Yea Al?"
"Does your right arm feel as weird as my body?"
Ed chuckled, "I dunno Al, how does your body feel?"
Alphonse smiled a bit as he looked at his left hand, "Well, I haven't felt anything in such a long time, it's kind of hard to describe it, but if I had to…" he closed his hand into a fist, "I'd say, a little sore, and sensitive. But touching things feels so nice."
The older blonde grinned at him, "Well I'd imagine, it's nice to feel with my right arm again too, but I couldn't imagine what it must feel like to have my whole body feel like that."
"It's an odd feeling, I'll say that." Al chuckled, "But I'm just glad I can feel at all I suppose."
Ed let out a content breath, "I am too." he took his brother's left hand into his right and held it gently.
Tired golden eyes gleamed with happiness."It's.. So nice to feel again. It's warm, calming and grounding, almost blissful in a way." he couldn't contain a yawn as he blinked tiredly.
"I think that's my cue to leave, it was nice seeing you Al." Ed went to move away but Al's grip tightened. Ed whipped around, "H-hey, don't strain yourself."
"Brother… I…" Al trailed off, looking almost sheepish.
"What is it little brother?"
"Please, don't leave… can you stay here tonight?" he looked up almost pleadingly.
Ed recalled something from around five years before as a smile grew on his face, "Of course! That's the least I can do!" he began to look around, "If I can find a chai or something around here I can-"
"Um actually…" Al swallowed, "Even though you've grown, I'm nowhere near the size I was before, and I figured that it should equal out enough for you to sleep next to me here…"
"But Al, you're still so weak, I don't want to hurt you."
"You don't have to make an excuse if you just don't want to-" Al looked away.
"No! That's not it at all I just… don't want to hurt you." Ed sighed.
"Please big brother?" Al's tired eyes gazed right into Ed's soul as he sighed in defeat.
"Alright, but only if you're sure it won't hurt you or interrupt with your sleep."
"I'm sure." A glimmer of confidence shined through his face as he moved over to the side of his bed to make room for his brother. The older teen carefully slid under the covers next to Al and tried his best to give his little brother room, but realized it was futile when Al simply snuggled up to him. Ed accepted it and gently intertwined his right hand with Al's left as they drifted off to sleep.
The awakening was not as peaceful as falling asleep to say the least…
"MR. ELRIC WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN HERE?!"
Ed groggily woke up face to face with Al's sheepish smile. "Fucking busted." he muttered.
"At least you tried." Alphonse offered.
"Get back to your room right now! Your brother isn't ready for anything like this! You could have-"
"What could he have done miss?" Al piped up, "Snuggled me to death?" he quirked an eyebrow at the nurse who was taken aback by the sudden sass, "I asked him to."
"Your brother still shouldn't have snuck into your room in the first place, we may have to lock your room."
"What kind of vendetta you got against me lady?" Ed asked, stretching, "If you add a lock then I'll pick it."
"Then I'll add a lock to your room."
"I'll break the damn door down." Ed smirked.
The woman brought a hand to her face and rubbed at her temples. "You aren't going to stop until you win this… what do you want?"
"A bed next to Al's would be nice."
"That's-"
"Miss please," Al sat up more, "I'm alright, he brings more comfort than stress really."
The woman just sighed and turned on her heel and walked out the door calling an, "I'll make arrangements then." behind her.
The brothers shared a smile at their victory and laid back down together. "You still tired?" Ed asked.
"A little." Al admitted.
"Well a little is too much, let's hope that bitchy nurse doesn't walk in and wake you again this time." he patted Alphonse's head.
"Don't be so rude brother." Al exhaled as he snuggled under the covers.
"Eh she deserved it, now let's get some rest."
As the two of them rested, they gained back the sensations they had lost, healing as somehow everything felt right in the world, even if it was for just one moment.
Hope you enjoyed this one shot! Be sure to give me any feedback or thoughts on this in a review! I really appreciate them!
Also feel free to check out my other works as well! Thanks for reading!
~Aspen