By the time Edward eased back into consciousness the details of his dream had gone hazy, but from the hardness pressing against the inside fabric of his boxers he could tell it had been hot.

He glanced towards the one source of light in the hotel room and could just make out the large silhouette of his brother seated in an armchair in front of the window. The curtains were cracked just a couple of inches, and Alphonse had his back to the bed, facing that sliver of windowpane.

Normally Edward would go in the bathroom to take care of things, but this hotel room was very cold outside his blankets and besides, his dick was already fully erect — if Alphonse turned around as Edward made his way to the bathroom, the younger brother was certain to see either a telltale bulge or Ed's hands trying to cover it…

Thinking about hands on his crotch made the hardness press even more urgently against his boxers. No more deliberating; he couldn't wait. He had enough heavy blankets piled up on him that Alphonse wouldn't be able to see his hands moving under the sheets even if he did turn around. As an added precaution, Edward pulled the top quilt up over his head. There. Now if any sounds escaped his lips they'd be muffled, and his expression would be hidden from view.

Privacy thus established, Edward slid both hands downward. With his metal right hand he cupped the hardness that bulged through his boxers - did his best to silence the moan that rose involuntarily to his lips. Jeeze, he hadn't even made contact skin to skin yet. That must have been some dream to get him so desperate; he wished he could remember it.

He stroked his dick through the fabric quietly for several moments, basking in the waves of pleasure that rode up to his brain and down to his toes. It had been a few weeks since he'd last come and he knew this was going to be a good one; he wanted to take it slow and enjoy it, while also remembering to do so silently.

After a while, he slid his left hand under the waistband of his boxers, leaving his automail arm outside the fabric for now. While he was right-handed, he'd gotten very good at using his flesh left arm for this task.

His breath caught as the warm skin of his fingers came into contact with his dick. Slowly, careful not to make a sound, he skimmed one finger up, up to the tip, and downwards again. Up and down he went, and then lower still to cup his own balls. He shuddered with pleasure, with need. He was ready to go hard.

Cautiously, he poked his head out from the blankets. Al was still at the window, back to him. Edward stuck his left arm out of the quilts too and reached down to his bag on the floor beside the bed. Luckily it didn't take too much rooting around in it before his fingers wrapped around the small glass bottle he was seeking. All the while he kept his eyes on his brother's silhouette; it didn't move.

Back into the safety of the blankets he went. Breathing on his automail palm to warm it up a little first, he then unscrewed the bottle and emptied some of its contents onto that metal palm. He wrapped the hand around his shaft, gasping softly as the still-chilly metal gripped it. He loved that feeling - if he used his imagination it was easy to pretend someone else was touching him, since the automail lacked sensation. He started to pump his hand up and down, spreading the lube across his shaft —

"Brother?"

Shit.

Edward's hand froze, still wrapped around his now-slick erection. He lay very still, trying to make his breath slow and even from under the quilts.

"Brother."

Dammit. Al knew he was awake.

Doing his best to make his voice sound sleepy and, well, not heavy with desire as his dick throbbed with its need for friction in his palm, Edward replied, "Yeah, Al? What's the matter?"

"Can I…" Silence filled the room for a moment. Edward waited impatiently, desperate to go back to what he was doing. "Can I watch?"

"Al!" The name came out like a squeak, he was so shocked to hear that question. His hand loosened from around his dick, mortified to be caught in the act.

He reached his left hand up to pull the blanket from off his head, and found himself face to face with Alphonse, who had apparently gotten up from his window seat to come stand over the bed; Edward must have been too immersed in his activities to hear any clanking.

"Watch what, Al?" he demanded, trying to sound casual. "Watch me sleep?"

"I know what you're doing, brother. You're not exactly the king of subtlety."

"But I was being subtle!" Edward retorted, annoyed — and then groaned inwardly, realizing that response had given him away. He blinked and looked away from the steady glow that served as Alphonse's eyes within his helmet. "I'm sorry I bothered you, I'll…I'm gonna go to the bathroom to…to finish up," he muttered, starting to sit up.

"Please don't!" Alphonse cried, armored arm reaching out to push Edward back down. "S-sorry." He moved his arm back with a jerk. "I…it's just…I'm so curious, brother."

Curious? About what? Edward swung his eyes back to his brother's face, trying to read those glowing eyes. Oh! Oh… "Do you mean you never…back when you had a body. You never…tried this, Al?"

Alphonse had only been ten years old when he lost his body. It was totally possible that he'd never…explored himself.

"Never," Alphonse confirmed. His slightly-hollow voice sounded a little embarrassed, and Edward's heart ached for him. It was his fault, Edward's fault, that Alphonse hadn't gone through a normal puberty, was stuck in a cage of metal that lacked sensation and only held memories of a child's body.

"So…" Alphonse said, jarring Edward from his guilty thoughts. "Can I watch? Can I?"

Edward was quiet for a minute. He knew that Alphonse would let the matter go if asked, and he considered saying that simple word, "No." That's what he should say, right? "No, Al, it's not normal for brothers to watch each other jerk off. We're gonna get you your body back soon and then you can do it on your own."

But he found that he didn't want to say that.

He wanted very much to say yes.

"You want to watch just as some sort of biology lesson, right?" he asked his younger brother. "Just…curiosity?"

"Yes, brother. I've tried to picture it but it can't possibly work the way I'm imagining."

"Well, I can't fault you for being curious," Edward said, and for the first time in this whole bizarre exchange he smiled. The two of them were alchemists, scientists, above all else - it was their nature to go after knowledge of any kind. Of course Alphonse wanted to know if his theories about this were right.

Now, what were the logistics of this…He pushed his bangs out of his eyes as he thought. "Why don't you pull up a chair so you're not looming over me while I'm, um, doing it. And don't talk during it!" he ordered, face reddening. "I'm going to look away and just…pretend you're not there."

Already obeying the command to silence, Alphonse didn't voice a reply; he just got up to go fetch the chair he'd left by the window.

As Alphonse carried it over, Edward kicked the blankets down to his knees, shivering a bit as the cool air hit his bare arm and shoulder. He hesitated as he regarded his boxers, trying to decide if he was comfortable pulling them down. Sure, Al had seen his dick before — they'd always shared a room, and it wasn't like Edward saw the need to be modest around his brother. But Al had never seen it...erect. No one had. He decided to keep them on for now.

Turning his face to the wall, Edward listened to Alphonse's metal body make its familiar clanking sounds as the younger boy sat down in the chair that he'd pulled up beside the bed.

The room was quiet for several long seconds, tense with expectation. Suddenly Edward's heart sped up — he couldn't do this, surely he wouldn't be able to get it up with someone watching.

But he realized he was still half-hard from before Alphonse had interrupted him, and as his thoughts turned to his lower body he could feel more blood rushing there. Yes, he could definitely get it up.

He started over from what he'd been doing before, cupping his left hand over the bulge through his boxers. If this was a sort of lesson, he might as well teach Alphonse his usual technique.

He stroked through the fabric, eyes closed, basking in the sensation of blood flowing back into his dick until it was fully erect once more. Then, his left hand continuing to fondle himself, he pushed his shirt up a little so that his lower stomach was exposed. He let the chilly fingers of his automail, still a little slick with lube, skim along the heated skin of his stomach, then lower, along his hipbones. He shivered at the sensation, savored it for a minute, and then decided he was ready.

Keeping his eyes shut and trying not to think about his brother was watching, Edward pulled his boxers down and off. Then he grasped his erection, still lubed up from earlier, in his automail hand.

Just like before, he gasped as the chilly fingers wrapped around his shaft - and this time, he didn't try to muffle it. He began to pump, quickly getting into a rhythm, his left hand still outside his boxers stroking his head through the fabric. After a minute he moved that hand up to his chest, skimming his fingers roughly over his nipples under his shirt, letting one moan and then another burst from his lips.

It wasn't long before he felt the orgasm building. Part of him wanted to slow down, take his time - but he couldn't, it was building so fast and intense.

He pulled his left hand into his boxers to join his automail hand and grunted as the pressure built to almost unbearable levels - it was coming, hard and fast - he threw back his head to meet it and, without thinking, opened his eyes - and met his brother's.

Edward only had a second to be surprised before the orgasm took him, shuddering across his whole body in waves. He closed his eyes again and tried to banish the thought that he had just come while starting deep into the eyes of his brother. It was fine, it was fine. He relaxed - couldn't help but relax as all his muscles turned to liquid after the release of such tension.

"Mmmm," he hummed happily, unable to help himself. He slid his hands out from his boxers and lay still, utterly relaxed.

After a minute, he cracked his eyes open and glanced towards his brother.

Alphonse was still looking at him, the glow that stood in for his eyes steady and unreadable from the depths of his helmet.

"Alphonse," Edward said, trying to sound annoyed but still riding on too good a wave to manage it. "Why the hell were you staring at my face instead of my...you know."

"I like to see you happy," Alphonse replied simply. "You don't smile often, brother – I didn't want to miss seeing you feeling good."

Edward didn't know how to respond to that. Jeeze, his brother was just too good. How did someone who had been through the hell Al had been through remain so sweet and kind?

Instead of answering, Edward sat up in bed and swung his legs to the floor. He hissed as his flesh foot made contact with the cold wood.

"I'm gonna, uh, clean up," he said as he made his way to the bathroom.

When he was done, he all but sprinted across the room and jumped into the warm blankets. "Why's it so damn cold in this room anyway?" he complained to Alphonse, who was still sitting beside the bed. "The hotel is charging enough that they could provide us some heat."

"Interesting. I thought sex warmed people up—but you're still cold, brother?"

Ed's brain went blank for a second. "Th-that wasn't sex! Where the hell did you learn all this stuff anyway?"

"Oh, some books, listening to guys at pubs when we travel…it's always just been theory, though. It was interesting to actually see it in action."

Edward turned towards the wall, suddenly very drowsy and very done with this conversation. "Well, I'm glad I could oblige you. Now let me sleep."

"Good night, brother," he heard Alphonse say in a soft, almost tender voice as he drifted to sleep.

AUTHOR'S NOTE

I hope it's not too obvious this is my first time ever writing smut, but if it is, let me know! I welcome corrections and feedback that can help me write better scenes in the future.

This story will probably be just a few chapters long.