Ed's 17 years
Ed never really ever thought he'd ever get married, than alone be a parent. His one goal in life had been to restore his brother's soul to his body, a goal which forced Ed into a whole other world. Ed didn't even know if Alphonse was alive or if everything he'd been through the last year had been for naught. Whatever the case, Ed couldn't allow himself to get involved with anyone; it wouldn't be fair to her, and Ed knew that. Ed was going to go back home, soon or later, and when he did leave, could he really expect her to go with him?
So Ed ignored the women that seemed to flock around him, and eventually they got the message. Ed wasn't for sale.
Of course, most of the women that did flock around Ed were prostitutes or some form or fashion of a low-life. Ed refused to transmute too much gold, preferring to work at a job than upset this world's economy. As a result, Ed was left with a 7 dollar an hour job at a convenience store/gas station and a small shitty run-down rat-infested bug-ridden crumbling and decomposing flat. It was small and it one of the worst neighborhoods imaginable where gang-bangers and criminals of all sorts ran rampant. Even the bobbies were afraid of the area, and refused to go in without at least three men as back-up.
That didn't stop Ed from walking around though. He walked late at night, from 11 to 1, then slept from 1 to 7 where he then did some exercises, and then from 9 am to 9 pm Ed worked at his poorly-paying job.
So one day, while Ed was taking his nightly stroll, he saw not far ahead of him two men (one was huge) and a woman. They deposited a large basket on a doorstop of some random (or maybe not so random) house and left the vicinity quickly and quietly. Ed turned back to the basket when it began to quite suddenly cry. Ed was startled at the noise, which sounded an awful lot like a baby.
Why would those three leave a baby at that house? Ed was saddened that the child was given up so readily, but he supposed they must've had a good reason. After all, the people living at that house must be nice if three people decided to leave a baby with them without any sort of information.
Not so.
Once the doors opened, the woman got one good look at the baby at froze, shocked. Her, Ed assumed, husband followed her to the door and scowled when he saw the babe in the basket. He picked up what looked to be a piece of paper and read it quickly before giving a growl so loud even Ed could hear it. He then ripped up the paper before storming back inside, pulling his wife along, and slamming the door shut. The two had just left the baby outside, crying, without any sort of anything.
Were they serious?
After two minutes of the baby's cries-turn-hiccups, Ed couldn't stand it anymore and stormed over to the house, and baby, and glared daggers as he reached down the child and picked him up, bouncing him in his arms.
The baby was soon calmed and asleep in Ed's embrace, lightly clutching Ed's sweatshirt in his little baby-fist and softly snoring a sweet baby-snore. It was too cute for his own good, and Ed wondered how those two horrible people could just leave the baby outside. Alone. He growled to himself as he scourged the basket for the note pieces and scrambled them together best he could. A lot of the pieces were missing, and out of the pieces that were there, Ed could barely make out the word "Harry". 'Harry' must be the boy's name, damned if Ed could read the surname, so it was just Harry.
Ed sighed as he tried to place the baby back in the basket only the baby to scrunch up his face like he was about to cry. Ed rocked the child in his arms and sighed. What was he thinking? He couldn't leave the boy to those monsters! But then, what was he to do?
Brother, you know what you have to do.
But I can't take care of a baby, Al!
You took care of me.
Yeah, and look how that turned out.
Ed, are you really going to leave Harry with these people?
No!
Then you'll drop him off in an orphanage. Of course, we escaped 'our' orphanage, didn't we Brother? They probably weren't any better than these people are.
You're making assumptions.
You need to take care of that baby! You need someone to need you, Ed! I know you!
But Al-!
No! You need him as much as Harry needs you.
So Ed picked up the basket in his right automail hand and walked away from the house, heading home. Al had always won their arguments, and he wondered why he even bothered toi try. Of course, it slightly concerned him that he'd talk to the Al in his head, despite the fact that Al could very well be dead.
But the child did need a parent, Ed knew that better than anyone, and if Ed was the only one available for the job, well then so be it. He raised Al, he could raise Harry too.
Ed got to his flat relatively quickly, and with a quick work of alchemy, a wooden and rotting chair became a rather small crib. It was still big enough to hold the dark-haired green-eyed infant, and Ed was pleased with the rather intricate designs on the wooden crib, if he did say so himself. It wasn't anything grotesque mind you, but it was… unique.
Placing the child in the crib, Ed quickly changed, showered, and re-dressed himself. After that, he made a beeline for that basket and began to examine it more closely. It seemed to be hand-made, but Ed couldn't find the starting wick.
Strange.
The blanket also had some sort of glistening to it, but Ed wasn't able to quickly identify the chemical composition.
Stranger.
Ed sighed and placed the basket in a closet before turning back to the crib. He saw immediately that Harry was now sitting up (leaning on the railing mind you) and watching Ed with a certain innocent curiosity. A small smile was played on the baby's lips, and we he saw that he'd caught Ed's attention; the baby began to clap happily before holding his hands high in the air. It was the universal signal to be picked up; Ed recognized this and moved over to the baby.
Arms still in the air, Ed reached down into the crib and picked up the child, cradling him in the crook of his arm while the child's arms wrapped securely around his neck. The baby cooed happily and snorted before he began to play with Ed's plaited hair.
Ed pulled the child from his shoulder and placed him on his knee, after sitting down on the edge of his bed, and sighed. What had he gotten himself into? He couldn't raise a baby! He didn't even know what babies ate, then alone how they slept or even went to the bathroom! What was he supposed to do now?
Ed groaned and hung his head. His only option was finding a mother and asking, or going to the books on childcare in the library. Ed had a long night ahead of him, that much was certain.
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