Writing Prompt #1
Write about a pair of gloves. Whose gloves are they? Why do they wear them?
The monitors in the hospital did not bring a sense of peace like they should have. The doctors were relieved to hear it every time they came in, but Roy was just aggravated. Every single beep from the heart monitor reminded him that Edward was on a ventilator instead of arguing with him.
The Colonel had taken up to doing his work in the hospital room just so he would be there if anything happened.
Alphonse stayed there too.
The younger brother lived only for Edward. There was nothing for him to do. Roy started bringing him books from the library. The suit of armor seemed to appreciate it.
On one particular day, Roy noticed a pair of gloves sitting on the nightstand beside Ed's bed. The Colonel couldn't help but walk over to them and place his own gloved hand over them.
"Who brought these?" he asked Alphonse. The armor never left Ed's side; he couldn't have brought them in.
"Mister Hughes did," Alphonse answered. "He brought some of brother's things yesterday evening. The doctors think he might wake up soon."
"I don't think he'll need gloves when waking up from a coma," Roy said. Though, when he really paid attention, this was the first time he saw the blonde's hands without the gloves in years. The teenager always kept himself so covered. There was no way he would go anywhere without the gloves or his coat.
"Alphonse..." Roy trailed off. "Why does your brother insist on these gloves?"
"Oh..." Alphonse trailed off suddenly. He wasn't used to this question. Everyone always asked Ed why he was always so bundled up, and the oldest Elric always had a witty remark.
"Brother's ashamed of his automail."
"What?" Roy asked. He knew no one would want to sow off a prosthetic limb, but to go out of their way to keep it hidden at all times was something else. "I would have thought you two would be used to that, growing up in the East." The Elrics must have witnessed many wounded soldiers after the war, in need of prosthetic limbs.
"We are," Alphonse responded. "Brother just doesn't want it on him. I think he thinks of it as a reminder of what we did. Kind of like how our house as."
"Your house?"
"We burned it down when brother was certified," Alphonse explained. "Brother said it was a symbol of our resolve, but...I think he was just ashamed."
Roy sighed. All this over a simple pair of gloves.
The day Ed woke up form his coma, a new pair of gloves were waiting on his nightstand.