Edward was in pain, but he blatantly refused help beyond someone to lean on, and he refused it from anyone other than Alphonse. He didn't want them to touch him because then he'd have to admit that he needed their help.
Hughes opened the car door as Mustang went to the front door to unlock his home.
Edward waited, placing a hand on his head. He was trying to knead out his headache.
Warm hands went to his temples. They weren't his, but he changed his mind about fighting against it when the messaging gave him the tiniest bit of relief.
"...Can do it myself..." Edward said through his clenched teeth after a minute. He looked to Hughes with Alphonse standing behind him. Hughes nodded and pulled his hands away respectfully. Edward didn't really want the relieving touch to leave, but he wanted to have his say heard. Now Hughes has helped and he couldn't say that all he had needed was Alphonse.
Hughes moved away, allowing Alphonse to take a place in the doorway of the car. Edward's little brother reached into the car, hesitating before touching his brother's shoulders.
Edward reached up, grabbing his younger brother's armour forearms. The gesture showed that Edward was willing to take, much needed, help from his brother.
It was, honestly, unfair to the others to keep pushing them away when they were only trying to help Edward out. All this stuff happening had put him on guard, though.
Alphonse picked up on the hint and took Edward's hand, writing in it again. The first letter was obvious. "It's 'C'."
Alphonse confirmed the assumption with a nod. The next letter that followed was easy to decipher. "'A'?" Another nod.
The next letter was different it seemed a little harder. "'B'?" Edward asked, unsure of his answer.
Alphonse shook his head. He wrote it again, more slowly this time.
Edward's brows were furrowed. He glared at his palm like it had betrayed him. The letter was formed, and the confused, annoyed expression snapped away, being replaced by a look of realization. "'R'?"
Alphonse nodded and drew it again.
Edward was confused. Then it dawned on him. "Two."
Alphonse confirmed it and began drawing a "Y".
"No. No, I don't want that," Edward hissed.
Alphonse pulled back a little, making Edward's gut twist with guilt.
"I'm sorry. I don't- I want to walk." Edward looked down at his lap.
"I understand, Brother. I just want to help." Alphonse knew Edward couldn't hear him. It was painful to know that Edward couldn't understand him unless he wrote it down or drew it out. He had lost one of the only things he could actually do with his brother. He couldn't really touch his brother, and he couldn't smell him. However odd that may sound, he wanted to. After not being able to feel or smell or taste anything for so long, it was something he would have to admit that he wanted.
Edward looked up from his lap. "Al."
Alphonse snapped his attention back to the present moment. "Yes, Ed?" Why do you keep talking when he can't hear a word you're saying?
"I can't- would you..." Edward was once again staring into his lap.
Alphonse knew that it must be hard for Edward to ask for help. That would likely be a challenge. He was used to not needing help, but now it was something that he couldn't go without, and he didn't want that to be the case.
Alphonse knew what Edward wanted to ask without even needing any words to be spoken. He started to guide Edward out of the car.
Edward looked a little surprised. "I- I didn't even..."
Alphonse shook his head and put a finger to his armour face. It was the universal signal for silence.
Edward's mouth snapped shut. He allowed Alphonse to silently, on both accounts, guide him out if the vehicle.
The slow, limping tread of Edward's mismatched feet and broken automail was supported along the way to the house's front door by his little brother. He nearly fell quite a few times. Luckily, though, he was caught mid-fall by Alphonse on those occasions.
Once inside Edward sat heavily down on the sofa with a long satisfied sigh. Hughes went into the kitchen, promising to return in a moment.
Edward leaned into the back of the couch. It stung a little, but the relief easily outweighed the pain. He let his head fall back and his eyes shut. He willed away the headache that was building in pressure every second. He was taking in long deliberate breaths in an attempt to soothe the roaring lion that gnawed at his chewed out brain.
Something icy-cold touched Edward's arm, causing him to gasp and pull away. Edward's eyes had opened in that time and were now laying on the face of an apologetic looking Maes Hughes.
"I'm sorry," played off of the man's lips. Edward nodded back, showing that the act was forgiven. Now, Edward's gaze fell on the glass of ice-water that had "wronged him". It was being offered to him by Hughes.
"U- umm, thanks." Edward took the glass but didn't drink anything from it.
Maes started to speak. Edward only caught some of the words "Roy is... some... for you."
Edward furrowed his brows but didn't press for answers and none were offered by the man.
Roy opened the bag of medicines, rifling through them for the intended capsules and medicines. He pulled out all the bottles, placing them on the counter. He sorted them quickly, finding the ones he wanted. The rest were all placed in the top cabinet. Roy immediately checked the dosage on the side of the bottle, already forgetting the doctor's earlier instructions. They couldn't expect him to remember everything, though, right? He pulled a cup out of another cabinet and dropped the medication in. The capsules rattled when they hit the bottom of the cup.
Maes's voice traveled into the kitchen from the living room. "Roy is getting some medicine for you."
Roy frowned as he picked up the pill-bottles and placed them into the cabinet with the rest of Edward's medication. He Also grabbed the bag that had previously held the medicine. It wasn't empty. At the bottom was something Mustang didn't want to use. The syringes. It just felt wrong to think that he should do that to Edward. Neither the giving nor the receiving party would enjoy the experience. There was also the sense of dread that they might be needed at some point, and Roy wasn't sure he could do it without feeling sick to his stomach. He discarded the bag, placing it in the cupboard with the medicine near the back so he wouldn't have to see it. He shut the cupboard door.
With that out of mind, he grabbed the cup and made his way into the living room.
Edward scowled when Roy approached. He had seen the contents of the cup. "That for me?" he asked.
Roy frowned and sighed at Edward's reaction. He nodded. "Yes, it is. It should help with the pain."
Edward looked like he wanted to resist but took the cup anyway. He emptied the the pills into his palm and eyed them studiously.
"They aren't going to kill you. I wouldn't poison you. Especially, not in my own home." Edward didn't react to Mustang's words. Of course, he didn't. He was deaf.
Edward popped all the pills into his mouth at once.
"Wait, Brother, Don't do that! You might choke!" It really was too late to try and stop him. He had already brought the glass of water to his lips and was washing down the medicine. "Brother," Alphonse groaned.
Hughes chuckled merrily at the brothers and skipped back into the kitchen. He came back shortly with a large slice of pie and a fork for Ed. Hughes waited for Ed to look up at his face. "Gracia made that for you. She wanted to be sure you got at least one thing that was cooked right while staying with Roy." Roy hissed at that.
"Hughes, I know how to cook!"
"Oh, come on, Roy. Is that what you call that what you call a charred pile of what was previously food?" Hughes teased.
"One time. That was one time!" Roy defended himself as Alphonse giggled, and Edward watched them in confusion, only catching a few words here and there.
"One time means once. That didn't happen once," Hughes said nearly choking on laughter.
Roy looked miserable and Edward was just excitedly digging into the pie. "I don't know. I think anything's better than hospital food," Edward said through an overstuffed mouth. He swallowed and scowled, muttering something that sounded a lot like curses against "the devil's secreted cow juice". He probably didn't even know he was saying it aloud.
"Not something that's charred." Edward nodded in answer.
"I don't- oh, whatever!" Roy exclaimed.
The group fell into silence as they waited for the medication to take affect. Hughes sat on the couch near Edward and Roy took an armchair by the couch. Alphonse resigned himself to sitting on the floor in front of the couch so that he could watch Edward, who had finished the pie and gone back to warding off his headache.
Edward was feeling weighed down and heavy after a while. His limbs felt like they were tied down by led weights. His brain was growing fuzzier the minute, slowly dulling his senses that were still functioning.
Time passed in a silent blur. Alphonse's head shot up when there was a quiet snore. Edward's mouth was cracked open slightly, and Alphonse could easily tell that the snore was escaping from Edward's parted lips.
"The medication seems to make you drowsy," Roy supplied. "We can wake him."
"No," Alphonse wished that he could smile at the sight of his brother sleeping on the Colonel's sofa. "He needs the sleep."
"Do you want me to help you take him up to the guest room?" Hughes asked his friend, already rising to his feet.
"Actually," Alphonse intervened before anyone could answer. "Can he stay on the couch? I'm sure that if we moved him now he'd wake up."
"Yeah, of course he can stay," Roy assured.
"Lay him down, and we can lay a blanket over him," Hughes added after Roy said that.
"Okay, sir." Alphonse gently eased Edward's body down so that his brother could lay flat on the sofa.
Edward groaned, and everyone froze as he repositioned himself onto his side. Hughes grabbed the throw blanket that laid over the back of the couch and draped it over Edward's sleeping form.
"He looks so young when he's asleep," Roy commented in a sort of awe. He had seen Edward asleep at the hospital, but he had been quite pale, only looking paler because of the white light. Now in a real house, despite whose house it was, he looked healthier and less stressed, not healthy but healthier. Add to that that Edward had mostly been unconscious and not really truly sleeping. The sleep he was in now may have been introduced by a drug, but it was a more relaxed look that graced Edward's features.
"No, Roy, he looks his age," Maes corrected. Roy nodded. It really was hard sometimes to grasp that Edward was just a kid. It was just not a word Roy would unconsciously associate with Edward. Neither would he associate it with him consciously.
Hughes smiled down at the sleeping boy and rested a hand on Alphonse's back. "Roy, well, I'll leave you to give the tour. I have to get home to my wonderful girls. Will you walk out with me, Roy? We need to talk."
Roy nodded after looking to Alphonse, who looked slightly awkward. "Yeah. Alphonse, I'll be back in a minute to show you around."
"That's fine, sir."
Roy followed Maes as his friend went to the door. As soon as they were outside and the door was shut Maes sighed. "Roy, I'm guessing that you haven't told Ed yet."
Roy wanted to play dumb but knew Maes would not be pleased with him if he did. "I swear, Hughes, I'm going to tell him, but do you really think that this is easy? I don't think he would want to hear that from me."
"Roy," Maes snapped, surprising Roy. "You should have told him right after finding out about it. He deserves to know, and holding back that information isn't going to help any! He's been discharged, Roy. There isn't any going back. Tell him before he figures it out. You know he's smart."
"I know," Roy sighed. "I know. I'll tell him."
"Good. And I wanted you to know that if you need anything while the boys are staying with you, call me. Any time you need, just call me. You already know that, though." Maes clapped Roy on the back and made his way down the sidewalk.
"Wait! What about your car?" Roy asked. Maes turned back.
"It's still at the hospital."
"I know. I was about to ask if you want a ride there," Roy offered.
"No, I can walk, and you've got those boys, remember?" Maes said through a smile.
"Yeah, I remember."
Alphonse was slightly curious as to what the Colonel and Mr. Hughes were talking about. He wasn't planning on eavesdropping, of course. He was just curious.
It was unintentional, but Alphonse found his hand on Edward's. He couldn't feel it so he was surprised to see that he had put it there.
Edward stirred at the touch. His eyes opened a little. There was a short pause from Edward before he spoke. "...Alphonse?"
Alphonse gently caressed Edward's hand with his giant thumb. "Go back to sleep," Alphonse said softly, though uselessly.
Edward's eyes closed again as if he had actually heard Alphonse, which he hadn't.
Alphonse let go of Edward's hand, causing Edward a moment of confusion, based on the expression on his face. It disappeared when Alphonse placed his hand on Edward's cheek. His eyes fluttered open again, falling shut with a sigh as he confirmed the touch to be Alphonse's. As Edward drifted back into the blissful unconsciousness, Alphonse's leather gauntlet thumb caressed his brother's unburned cheek.
"Sleep tight," Alphonse hummed.
A/N: Sorry about the wait. I've rewritten the ending in five different ways and finally settled on this one. Also, I've been sort of busy.
Thank you so much for the response! Please review!
-UNAU/IME