Title – Kiss You Better
By – Kaylbunny
Disclaimer – I don't own Full Metal Alchemist
Notes – For my darling Chrissy Sky. Nothing says 'I love you' like gay incest.
As cranky as Ed is normally he gets even worse in the winter. When the temperature drops he becomes as irritable as a big old grizzly bear, causing his colleagues to mutter about his volatile nature and how they only put up with him because of his usefulness. But Al knows the truth.
He knows that the cold makes Ed's joints ache, especially around his automail, making it so that some days it's pure agony to even get out of bed. He knows that when it rains Ed's scars hurt, re-opening the wounds psychologically if not physically, making him remember how he received each and every one and the events that led him to the battles where he became marked. Sometimes, when it snows, Ed refuses to talk even to Al, spending his time in his own little world of guilt and pain.
Ed didn't tell Al all of this; just enough so that his little brother wouldn't think something else was wrong and worry. Even after retrieving his body Ed was still fiercely protective of him, choosing to hide his own pain rather than to share it. He doesn't realise that Al feels it anyway, that all of Ed's injuries can be attributed to trying to save Al, and therefore he is responsible. Only through knowing his brother better than himself and careful watching shows Al the true extent of Ed's suffering, so he takes it upon himself to do anything he can to ease it.
He runs hot baths and adds soothing oils to the water, helping to ease the swelling of Ed's joints. Massages take away the rest of the pain, leaving Ed lying beneath him like a contented cat, practically purring from Al's touch and the ease of strain on his tired muscles. When they go to bed Al wraps himself around Ed, sharing his body heat, warming him like no blanket ever could. He doesn't close his eyes until he's sure that Ed is finally asleep, and then he can rest himself, secure for the moment that he has done all he can for the one he loves.
When they wake Ed is hard and wanting, but not daring to do anything that could hurt his brother. So Al takes the initiative, offering his body and sharing another type of heat. This kind of loving is forbidden to them, he knows, and made all the more seductive for it. Being able to touch the body he spent so long trying to win back heals him more than any medicine ever could, and Al is grateful for it.
He relishes the chance to give something back to the brother who gave his life to save him, though he doesn't try and kid himself that it's the only reason he does this. From the moment he had his body back and touched Ed's skin he knew he was lost. Like a drug he kept wanting more, only each time the last touch wasn't enough to satisfy. It was Al who made the first move from brothers into more, though if anyone found out they would likely think it was the other way round. Al didn't mind, because neither was planning on telling anyone and what they did behind closed doors was their own business.
When Ed goes to work afterwards it is with considerably less grousing than he would have without Al's treatment. By the time he came back he'd be full of pain again, so Al would repeat the process every night, and when winter turned into spring and spring into summer he'd continue to do it just because he wanted to. In the heat of summer he could spend time brushing and braiding Ed's hair, weaving what looked like strands of golden silk under the sunlight.
He was the most beautiful person that he would ever set his eyes upon, Al thought, though whenever he told Ed he would disagree. Ed rarely looked in mirrors, and whatever he saw staring back at him Al didn't know other than Ed didn't like it. When Al looked at Ed he saw so much courage, strength and beauty that it was breathtaking. Though he doubted he could ever truly take Ed's guilt away Al was going to spend the rest of their lives showing him what he really was: his brother, love and saviour. It was okay that Ed felt pain, because Al would always be there to sooth it. Things were different now; Al was going to take care of them both.