Chapter twenty-eight

"Well, boys, here we are. Welcome home," Roy said awkwardly as the truck came to a halt in the familiar driveway. He couldn't really see much from where he was sitting, but he could see the upper floor of the house across the street.

Ed was looking about him curiously from where he was lying with his head on Roy's lap. He mewled slightly at the sound of the doors up front opening and closing and yelped as the tailgate was opened to reveal Havoc and Breda. "You ready?" Havoc asked, looking at Ed's whimpering form. "Because in that case, we'll come see you in a few days once you've settled in a bit.". Roy nodded and thanked them before he picked Ed up into his arms, to which the boy began shrieking and thrashing in his grip. Roy got him out of the truck and carried him into the hallway, and Alphonse shut the door behind them. Roy put Ed down on the floor, not failing to notice the way that Maes had child proofed just about every sharp corner in the house and everything that Ed could potentially hurt himself on as he dragged himself around. The staircase had been covered with mats to prevent slipping and there was even a baby gate on top of the staircase.

Ed was whimpering as he took in his surroundings. It was only ten in the morning and they had eaten in the truck, meaning that what they really needed, was a shower. Roy was looking forwards to one very much as the hospital showers were a bit off-putting when there were poop stains on the roll of toilet paper next to the toilet a metre away. So even if he felt cleaner than he had ever since that one shower he was allowed to take before the cage, it still didn't feel like he was properly clean after using one of those, even after he alerted the nurses about the toilet paper and it was changed.

Also, washing yourself in the same room that when the day he got there, a male nurse had had his eyes glued on his head for the entire shower was a bit …unnerving. The man hadn't been staring at parts that made him uncomfortable, and Roy had long since got over the whole "many men in a wardrobe" panic: he was a soldier after all and the nurse had probably already seen just about everything that nature had to offer.

No, it had been the fact that Roy hadn't been allowed to take that first shower without supervision. Showering with someone staring at you to make sure you don't drown yourself kind of takes the pleasure out of the warm water.

The house was empty except for the three of them. Hawkeye was supposed to be in the garden at the moment and would come inside in about an hour, giving Ed time to learn his new surroundings. The boy was already sniffing at the phone cord and then he was off after a curious glance up at Roy.

Roy sighed, taking a deep breath as he let the scent of his own home wash over him. "Shit. I'm actually here," was all he could say. Then he reminded himself that there was an eleven year old kid standing next to him. "Sorry, Alphonse. I shouldn't be swearing."

"It's your home, Colonel," Al said awkwardly. Their relationship was kind of strained still. After all, they hardly knew each other and the nature of their previous relationship was basically "I'm your brother's CO and could you please keep him from blowing stuff up?"

And now they'd be living together until Al moved out.

No, Roy had no fucking clue what to do, really. "Still, it was rude of me and I shouldn't be swearing anyways."

"If you say so, sir."

Then Roy realised why Al wasn't walking further into the house. "Alphonse, it is your house too now, you don't need my permission to act like it. There's a library in my basement and you're free to look at everything you want, although the door to the right down there is off limits."

"Oh, okay, thanks … Can I ask why it is? If you don't want to tell me, that's okay!"

Roy couldn't help that little, sad smile at the reminder of the Elric curiosity. "It's okay. It's just where I keep my research and I've promised someone that I will never let anyone else learn the secrets of flame alchemy."

And none of this would have happened if I had just listened to Master Hawkeye.

"Oh. I see."

"Al, would you mind keeping an eye on your brother while I go upstairs and have a shower? Afterwards, I'm going to give him a bath."

"Bo-uh," came Ed's voice from the neighbouring room.

"Of course, sir!"

Roy smiled at him gratefully. "Thank you, Al." Roy didn't really want to put this much work on Alphonse, but he had to ask him even so. "And I'm probably going to need some assistance… I've been thinking, Alphonse, and there's no way that letting Ed keep his hair that length will be anything but cruel in the long run. Forcing him to take it as I brush out the knots that have been building up for two weeks now is just going to break what trust I have gained and I don't want to hurt him."

"I see. I'll help you however you need. But how are you even going to get him to sit still long enough to cut it?"

"That's what I need you for… I need you to hold up a bag of crisps for him as I work." Roy felt … empty … at the idea that he'd have to use food to distract Ed so that he could cut his hair. He felt like he was letting him down in a way.

Ed shifted his position on Roy's lap and began running his fingers through his hair as far as Roy could tell in the limited amount of light inside the playhouse. The kid grunted a bit, obviously as a sign of displeasure.

"Edward? You're finger combing your hair?" Roy asked, surprised, as he pulled the blankets around him again.

"Yeah. It's getting knotted up by these blankets and, well, I'd like to keep it straight so that once I get a shower again, I'll actually be able to keep it this long. Took me over a year to grow it out, you know?" Ed said uncomfortably.

"Can I ask you why you keep it that long? It wasn't that way back in Resembool as far as I remember."

"Guess I just felt like it, and when I told Al I was growing it out, he suddenly got a bit … sad, I guess. He started thinking about how he missed the feeling of a simple hair wash. And soon enough, he was reminiscing about how he always loved to pet my hair when we were younger. According to Mom, the first time I met him, he reached out and grabbed my antenna and he just loved the feel of my hair, so that was how he greeted me that first year. Then it was my fringe after that first time I tousled his hair and he decided to try it for himself on me and that was when we shared the same bed and so he used to do that every night before going to sleep. He stopped when he was around four, but he'd do it from time to time just as a kind of nostalgic joke ever since. And so he joked about how he'd have to give the plait a go when he got his body back to see if it lived up to his standards…" The boy sighed. "So I'm gonna make sure that it's up to shape for him, no matter how long we'll have to stay here."

Roy felt terrible as he recalled that conversation with Edward. But there wasn't a way to get past the problem that his hair now represented.

"But he's keeping the antenna, Al, I swear," Roy told the boy as he placed a hand on his arm and looked up at him.

"Okay…" Al said, obviously a bit confused about the solemnity that Roy had put into the statement.