Summary: The Promised Day has come and passed. Everyone was left to lick their wounds and during a quiet moment, Roy got a special visitor in his hospital room.

Disclaimer: All characters belong to Hiromu Arakawa.

This was inspired by an anon on tumblr who wished for a paternal!RoyEd fic, the prompt was "lesson".

Please enjoy!

Roy sighed in relief. Finally, finally, her breathing had become even and she had fallen asleep.
Only now he allowed himself to relax a little and slide down the pillows of his bed into a horizontal position, granting his back some well deserved rest as well.

He closed his eyes, his hand fingering the plaster that the nurse had stuck on his arm after drawing as much blood as possible from his vein, and resisted the urge to turn to his left and open his eyes again. It's not like he would be able to see her anyway.

A soft knock on the door woke Roy from his slumber and he immediately cocked his ears to hear more of his surroundings. The soft breathing next to him seemed to stir for a second, but continued shortly after. He heard the click of the door opening and a few soft steps before the door closed with another click. Riza sighed softly next to him and the heard the rustle of what he presumed to be bedsheets before she succumbed to her exhaustion again.

At the same time, the steps came closer to him, slow and deliberate, and another sound, like metal scraping over linoleum, reached his ear.

"Hey Colonel."

That voice made him sit up in surprise, brows furrowed

"Fullmetal?"

The voice came from his left, right in front of where Riza should be lying, and with unseeing eyes, Roy moved his head around, trying to make sense of the situation.

"Yeah," the boy answered in hushed voices, "I moved the visitor chair and sat down between your beds. The Lieutenant is sleeping behind me. She looks good; her cheeks are getting rosy. The machines show that she has a slight fever, the rest looks fine."

Roy sighed deeply and his tense shoulder relaxed a little. He turned his torso slightly left, hoping he would at least somewhat face the teen now, and his hand wandered up to the plaster on its own again.

"She had a blood transfusion," Roy explained with the same hushed voice. "Why are you here?"

"Really?" Edward scoffed. "I'm hurt."

"Come on, Fullmetal."

The boy snickered slightly.

"Al asked me to come."

"Alphonse?" Roy's eyebrows rose up under his bangs in astonishment. "How is he?"

"As good as he can be, given the situation," Edward answered, but the questioning expression on Roy's face made him continue.

"When he returned from the Gate, he was all skin and bones. They have bathed him by now, trimmed his long hair and nails, to make him feel more like himself – even though that's hard enough when you go from being a suit of armor to returning to a body of flesh and blood again."

The pitch in Edward's voice changed slightly; it grew more solemn.

"I'm not sure he ever told you, but Al had a list of things he wanted to do when he got his body back. And another list of dishes and foods he wanted to eat."

Roy nodded, but he was unsure whether the boy took notice of it when he continued.

"He was weak and hungry and I brought him a jar of applesauce. It –" His voice broke. Roy automatically stretched his hand out to comfort the boy, but he didn't know whether he just reached into the void or Edward intentionally avoided his touch. The teen inhaled and exhaled once before continuing.

"It upset his stomach. He threw up several times and it exhausted him needlessly."

"You couldn't have known. You wanted the best for him. You knew better than anyone how he longed for normalcy."

Uncomfortable silence seemed to spread between the two men and only Riza's steady breathing was audible before Edward continued talking.

"He's being fed artificially for now. They say his digestive system has to adjust little by little. All he can have is a gulp of water from time to time. But he's… happy."

There was a hint of happiness in Edward's voice that caused the corner's of Roy's mouth to curl up.

"Oh, and please tell the Lieutenant 'thanks'."

Roy cocked his head.

"Thanks for what?"

"Apparently, one time, when Fuery came to check on you two, she told him to bring Hayate over to Al so he can run his hands through his fur. You know, his list."

He heard a quick squeaking sound – Edward seemed to have leaned back in his chair.

"Well, since he can't leave Intensive Care right now, that's not really possible, so instead, he decided to bring him a plush cat that's nearly as soft as a real cat."

There was another pause, but this time, it wasn't uncomfortable. It was filled with love.

"Sometimes, I catch him when he's unaware. He's petting the doll, grasping the fake fur, running it over his arm to feel the different sensations. I try not to eat food next to him, because it feels cruel, but he still takes up all scents and asks me about them. There are so many little things that he enjoys right now. It's incredible."

Roy let his head sink onto his chest now, a low chuckle escaping his lips, and the chair squeaked a second time, though the boy stayed silent.

"Thank you, Fullmetal."

" 'Thank you'? For what?"

He lifted his head again and turned his face to Edward, only missing him by a few centimeters.

"I've been wallowing in self-pity for the last two days; constantly alternating between accepting my new impediment and wanting to give up on everything, not seeing my immediate future work out in any way." He furrowed his brows when he thought about his sentence. "Metaphorically speaking, of course. Anyway, and then you come in and tell me about what's really important."

He sighed and his unseeing eyes tried to focus on the sleeping woman behind the teen. He had no idea that he had succeeded.

"We survived. We're here. Tattered, bruised, but breathing. I can't see, but maybe I should just follow Alphonse's example and concentrate of what I have left. I can still feel things and listen to noises and voices. If your brother can adapt to be a living armor and back to a human, I can adapt to this. It's a little embarrassing that I had to realize it by talking to someone else, but better late than never, right?"

"Yeah," Edward answered, a smile in his voice, "you have to adapt. Can't become even more useless for the poor Lieutenant, right?"

Roy's features scrunched up in annoyance.

"You are exhausting my hospitality, Fullmetal."

"Yep, I thought so much," the teen answered, and his chair scratched over the ground for a second again as he apparently stood up and placed it back to its original position.

"Don't forget to tell the Lieutenant 'Thank you'."

"Don't you forget to tell Alphonse 'Thank you'. And our regards. We will visit him as soon as the Lieutenant feels better."

Roy heard the teen cross the room to the door, opening it and closing it, and then it was only filled with the soft breathing of Riza Hawkeye. Deciding that it was time for him to finally rest and let go, too, he slid down onto his pillow again, closing his eyes, and it were only a few minutes before the Lieutenant's breathing was accompanied by her Colonel's light snores.