Chapter forty-seven

Ed looked up at Roy with large eyes. "Jacuzzi? What's that?"

"It's a bathtub that shoots water jets under the water. It's really relaxing. I'll show you, Ed."

Ed nodded at Roy, still looking a bit sceptical. After scrutinising the empty tub, Ed dropped his rubber ducks at the bottom and walked over to the toilet to pee. Roy had taught him that it was always a good idea to do so before taking a bath so that he didn't have to get out halfway. Roy had already relieved himself before fetching Ed and he simply untied his bathrobe, hanging it up on the peg on the door as he closed it. Ed looked up at Roy curiously from where he was sitting, obviously having recognised his swimming trunks. "You're gonna join me, Daddy?"

"Yes. The tub is a lot deeper and bigger than the ones you are used to and it's not safe for you to be in there on your own."

"Oh. So it's dangerous?" Ed looked up at Roy slightly anxiously at that, stopping halfway on his job of getting toilet paper to wipe himself with.

Roy had to admit that explaining jacuzzis to a traumatised five-year-old was a bit challenging. If he explained about the water jets and how they could be quite powerful, especially for someone as small as Ed, would most likely leave the boy terrified. No, he'd take it step by step and show Ed as they went. He smiled at his son with warm confidence. "Not when you're with me."

Ed smiled back at him, although some trepidation still in his eyes. "Okay, Daddy." And so Ed finished his toilet break and once again Roy lifted him by the waist so that he could wash his hands and dry them on the towel. Once he was back on the tiled bathroom floor, he lifted his arms in the air for Roy to help him out of his clothes.

Once Roy had hung the towels on the rack above the jacuzzi, he stepped down into the tub and lifted Ed down to him. Ed was eyeing the various metal circles at the backs of the seats with slight mistrust. Roy smiled encouragingly and Ed just sat down in the middle of the tub as Roy sat himself down at one of the seats. "Okay, Ed, jacuzzis are always hotter than regular baths, but you'll get used to it soon," Roy said, turning the knob to his right, making hot water flow out from the opening at the bottom of the tub. Ed watched the water and put his hand to it, looking at it sceptically as it started filling up around him. "It's really hot."

"I know, but it'll make it more relaxing as you get used to it." Roy spoke kindly and ruffled Ed's hair a bit. Ed relaxed into the touch and leaned against Roy's legs.

"When are the water jets coming?" Ed asked.

"When we've filled the tub and I turn them on. You see these knobs here?" Roy pointed towards a couple of knobs to his right. "When I turn them on, they'll start massaging my back with water."

"Massaging? What's that?" Ed asked.

In answer, Roy gently lifted Ed up on his lap and turned him so that his left arm was facing Roy's chest. Roy really didn't know how to explain massage to a five-year-old without making the kid afraid of him hurting him. "It's like this." Roy then gently put his left arm around Ed's waist while placing his right hand at his back, carefully placing a finger on each side of his spine, just between the shoulder blades and gently pushed his fingers around in circles. "It's basically just rubbing in certain ways and it makes the muscles feel better, making tension go away."

Ed was sitting there, his face confused, probably trying to figure out just how he felt about the sensation. Roy smiled down at him as he moved his hand up to Ed's shoulders, remembering how odd, yet strangely pleasant it was the first time someone gave him a massage. It had been one of the waitresses at the bar and Roy had been seven at the time. She had been babysitting him while the Madame was at a mandatory bar owner course. Cindy, her name was, had been trying to put Roy to bed and was trying to make Roy relax so that he would go to sleep.

Ed had the beginnings of small knots of tension at his shoulders, probably because of the way his sleep was haunted by stress and fear. Roy gently began working on them, voicing a new concern at the tension. "Ed, do you get headaches sometimes?"

"No. Is something wrong, Daddy?"

"No, you're just a bit tense here. It can cause people to get headaches, but if you're not having any, then that's good. You don't have to worry."

The water was just about covering Roy's thighs by now and he could feel his fringe starting to cling a bit to his forehead because of the heat. Ed was leaning sideways into Roy's left shoulder, seeming to enjoy the gentle massage. "You like massage, Ed?"

"It's nice. Odd nice."

Roy chuckled. "That just about sums it up."

Roy kept gently working on the knots in his shoulders until he deemed the water to have filled up enough around them. "Okay, Ed, it's time for you to try this out."

And so Roy leant sideways and turned the knob that turned the water jets on. The jacuzzi soon began bubbling merrily and Ed was sitting there on Roy's lap, looking mesmerised, but giggling merrily. Roy was already enjoying the water jets on his own back.

"Look at the duckies, Daddy!" Ed laughed.

Roy chuckled himself at the five rubber ducks bobbing in the water, being pushed everywhere by the currents. Roy then turned his attention back to Ed and smiled down at him, gently holding his hands at Ed's waist. Ed wasn't tall enough to actually sit anywhere else than on Roy's lap, the water reaching his chin even then, but he didn't seem to mind. Ed was grinning, lifting his arms so that they could float up and be pushed around by the streams. "Do you want more bubbles, Ed?"

Ed grinned. "Yeah!"

And so Roy turned the knob, nearly groaning at the way the water was working on his aching back. He wouldn't have been surprised if he fell asleep in here, so it was really a good thing that Ed was there to keep him awake.

Ed turned around on Roy's lap, leaning his back against his chest before placing Roy's arms so that they were hugging him around the middle. Ed then looked at his right arm, flexing his fingers in the water. He was frowning a bit.

"Is something wrong, Ed?" Roy asked, concerned.

"It's just… this isn't my arm." Ed wriggled his index finger. "This could have been my knee two months ago…"

Roy didn't really know how to respond to that. He hadn't lied to Ed about the details of his transformation, mostly because lying would probably cause him even more distress than the truth. This way, he didn't have to worry that he didn't earn his limbs or something like that because they had simply been made by the materials that were already there.

Not that the truth wasn't distressing enough already.

"D-Daddy? Am I still human?"

Roy froze. Out of all the questions he had anticipated, that was not one of them. "Of course you are, Ed! Why shouldn't you be?"

"B-because I found one of our old alchemy books back in Resembool… I-It had a name for people made from alchemy… A-am I a –"

"You're not a homunculus, Edward," Roy said sternly, feeling his gut twist at the thought of his son fearing that. He turned Ed around on his lap so that his right shoulder was facing Roy and then he gently held his chin between his thumb and index finger, turning his head towards him. Ed was looking desperately at Roy and he knew that this had been eating at him for days now.

"B-but I'm a human made from alchemy!" Ed said, absolutely terrified.

"No, Ed. You were born by your mother and someone used alchemy to turn you back to your younger self. Your body is made from the same one you were born with. You're not artificial. You're one hundred per cent human."

Ed was looking so desperately scared at Roy, but he needed to be sure that there was no doubt in Ed's mind before he could just sweep him into a hug and call for Hawkeye to come in with a cookie. "A-are you sure, Daddy?"

"Yes, Ed. It's still the same life that you were born with, even if you've changed. It's your soul. Your soul and your body are still the same ones that Trisha Elric carried inside her stomach for nine months. Even if you look and act a bit different, your soul is still the same one. It may have been forced to forget the last ten years, but it's still your soul. And that is what makes you human."

Ed was quiet for a little while, just looking at Roy, then tears began forming in his eyes.

And so Roy pulled him into a hug, kissing his cheek before resting his chin on top of Ed's head, holding him close. "You, Edward Elric-Mustang, with a hyphen, my son, is, without a doubt, one hundred per cent human."

Ed leaned further into his chest, hugging him back. "Thank you, Daddy."

And so Roy just hugged him for a few minutes before raising his voice a bit. "Lieutenant?! Could you bring us two cookies? I want one too."

And so Roy found himself eating one of Pinako's famous cookies in a jacuzzi with Ed eating one himself where he sat on his lap.

Ed was soon smiling brightly up at him, a large weight clearly having been removed from his shoulders. "Daddy? I like jacuzzis."