If you knew anything about Edward Elric, the first thing you knew about him was his automail prosthetics. It was an eyecatcher and attracted the attention of everyone everywhere he went. That much was to be expected. Unless you were in Rush Valley, it wasn't everyday that you saw someone with not only one, but two limbs made of steel.

The second was his hatred of hospitals. If the boy didn't loudly proclaim it, he surely showed it. He was curt and brisk with every doctor and nurse that spoke to him. He vehemently hated everything to do with them. The distinct, unmistakable smell of antiseptic, the vents that constantly spat out frigid air, the repulsive expanse of white. So much white everywhere you looked. The bedsheets, the curtains, even the walls.

Of course no one knew how much his hatred was a cover for the terror it struck in him. He was the Fullmetal alchemist. His automail was as much of his identity as his alchemy was. How could he of all people be afraid of hospitals?

He left his disdain for hospitals at just that. Disdain, scorn, aversion, and any other synonym you could think of. No one needed to know how deep the fear truly went. It was a vulnerability Ed wasn't ready to share. As long as he had automail, he'd never be ready.

So when he found himself in his current predicament, he couldn't be entirely surprised.

…

The car ride was silent aside from the sound of Roy rhythmically thrumming his fingertips against the steering wheel.

Ed desperately tried to focus on anything except their destination. As much as he fought to let his mind wander to literally anything else, Roy would tap his fingers again and the boy would be drawn back and he'd be right back at square one. Everytime he closed his eyes, he remembered the blinding pain as his useless stumps were poked and prodded.

Tap

The nauseating feeling of needles lingering under his skin.

Tap

The steady dripping of his IV drugging him senseless until he couldn't tell his left from his right and night from day.

Tap-

"Will you stop that?" Ed barked, no longer able to keep himself in check.

The man looked over to Edward. His eyebrows furrowed and a finger halted in mid air, he slowly said "What are you talking about?"

"You keep tapping the wheel. Stop it."

Mustang made a sound that was half way between a scoff and a chuckle. "I think that was a huge overreaction, even for you, Fullmetal."

Ed couldn't help the anger that bubbled in his chest. It simmered wildly beneath the surface, threatening to spill over at the slightest provocation. He resolutely bit his lip and forced his gaze to stare out the window.

He took one deep breath after another, forcing himself to be calm. It was just a shot. One shot. He'd had one before and he could take another. He could do this.

"If it's any consolation, I'm not overjoyed about this either. I can imagine a few more exciting things to spend my lunch doing rather than getting a shot up the ass." Roy sighed, absentmindedly resuming his tapping.

Ed felt his last strand of patience snap as he whipped his head towards Mustang. "I just asked you to stop tapping. And no, it's not any consolation. I don't even know why I need a stupid shot or why you have to be there," he spat like venom.

Roy prided himself on being a stoic man. No one could get a rise out of him, a trait that angered his jealous superiors to no end. They could say the most heinous, downright cruel things and he'd put on his diplomatic smile and brush it off. Some would revert back to their childish ways and poke fun at his past. To that, Roy would clap them on the back and even offer a joke of his own. No one could anger him.

On the side of that same token, no one could anger him as much, or as easily, as Edward could. The boy's irritation was disgustingly contagious and Roy couldn't help but entertain it.

"I'm not there for you." Roy retorted, keeping his tone even with strenuous effort on his part. "My appointment is at the same time. If you have a problem you need to take it up with Hawkeye and while you're at it, pull that stick out your ass."

"What the hell is your problem?" Ed all but screamed.

Roy whirled onto the boy, "I should be asking you that! You're the one with the attitude. I know tapping can be a little annoying but snapping at me wasn't necessary. You've seem to have forgotten that I'm your commanding and superior officer. You need to mind your tongue."

Ed swiveled in his seat, sitting up until his face was only inches from Mustang's, only the dashboard separating them. "And you've seem to have forgotten you're not my damn dad. Stop talking to me like you are." Ed spat back with a sense of finality.

Dark, charcoal eyes bore into electric, gold ones. The two alchemists stared at each other, both breathing heavily. Neither of them uttered a word until a blaring horn snapped them from their heated eye contact.

Roy whipped his eyes back to the road, jerking the wheel back once he realized he had started to veer off into the next lane.

The sudden turn sent Ed crashing back down into his seat, slumped into the car door. He felt the anger slowly ebb off of him as he watched the trees zoom past. "Just leave me the hell alone." Ed muttered, all the fight seemingly gone from his body.

Roy said nothing as he tightened his grip on the steering wheel.

The palpable tension between the alchemists made the car ride seem to drag on forever. Any other time Edward would've been more bothered by it but right now, all he could focus on was the needle waiting on him. The suspense was the worst part. His brilliant mind never lacked imagination. It was a double edged sword that could help him figure out the most complex of problems, or bite him in the ass by curating horrifying thoughts. The longer the drive went on, the more his mind plagued him with the memories of his automail surgery.

They say in the aftermath of traumatic situations, they're are two types of people. People like Alphonse who forget almost everything, and people like Edward who remember everything in agonizing detail.

He couldn't stand it.

The waiting was torturous. Even though Ed knew exactly what to expect, a routine vaccination, he couldn't slow his quickening heart rate nor quell the anxiety creeping on to him.

If he absolutely had to go to a hospital (even then he would have to be knocking on death's door) he'd rather be unconscious, unknowingly enroute to the hospital then wake up to see the nauseating white ceiling, already chilled to the bone, than be aware the entire time.

It's just a shot. In and out. Just a shot.

Edward repeated it like a mantra in his head, forcing one controlled breath after another. He clenched and unclenched his automail hand, listening to its mechanical clicking.

Mustang shifting the car into park shook him from his thoughts. "We're here," he simply said before unbuckling his seat belt and pushing the car door open.

Ed lagged behind for a second, Mustang's words muddled before they could finally reach his ears. With quivering hands, he unbuckled himself and followed behind the older man.

They walked briskly into the building, chasing after protection from central's frost. Edward bee-lined up to the chairs lined up in the waiting room, leaving Mustang alone to check them in. Despite wanting nothing more to curl up into a ball to give himself even a resemblance of comfort, he instead slumped into the chair, ignoring the stares from the other patients.

Roy glanced at Edward, his eyebrow ticking in annoyance. The amount of times he'd wanted to wring the boy's neck in the past fifteen minutes was astonishing. In fact, he should've been rewarded for his patience. If he didn't have so much self control, Amestris would've been down a state alchemist months ago.

He knew in the back of his mind, Fullmetal was just a teenager going through a whirlwind of hormones but he still couldn't help the irritation clinging to him after the boy's outburst. Even after the year and a half of having Fullmetal under his command, Roy still couldn't understand half the things he did. In situations like this, he would take a deep breath and remind himself that one, he was an adult and two, entertaining this was childish. And with that, he'd let whatever happened go and approach Fullmetal as if it never happened.

With step one of his routine complete, he started on step two, striding over to the waiting room and taking the seat next to Fullmetal.

The boy huffed and slid over to the next seat, never once looking at Roy. Roy stared at the empty chair separating him and felt the irritation slam back into full force. He forced a breath out in a short exhale, before letting his hang down as much as was appropriate for a colonel. All he could do was sigh as he accepted this was going to be a long appointment.

…

His anxiety seemed to increase ten fold now that he was actually here. His flesh leg began to bounce in place almost immediately as he sat down. Every time a nurse entered a waiting room to call a patient back, Ed felt his heart stutter. Slowly, every patient was called back, leaving the two alchemists alone.

Damn it, Edward cursed internally. He couldn't be this riled up just for a shot. This was getting embarrassing. He forced his leg to still, no matter how much he body begged for him to expel some of the tension building up inside him. He shut his eyes and focused hard on the sound of the ticking clock and papers shuffled by the receptionist.

"Elric and Mustang?"

Hearing his name called shook him from, well whatever you could call his halfway state between apprehension and dread. His stomach flipped as he watched the nurse approach them.

After flipping through the clipboard in her hands, she looked up, giving the alchemists a kind smile. The woman had a kind looking face, her deep dimples only added to her serene aura. "Hello, how are y'all doin' today?" she greeted in a southern drawl.

Mustang stood, extending a hand to her in his classic diplomatic fashion. "We're doing well. How about yourself?" he returned with a charming smile. He shot a look at Fullmetal over his shoulder for not doing the same.

"I'm quite alright, thanks for askin' dear. I'm Ms. Rixx and I'll be takin' care of y'all today. Could you follow me to the examination room?" she asked before turning on her heel expectantly.

"Of course," Mustang replied, grabbing Ed's sleeve. He pushed the boy in front of him and ignored when Ed wretched his sleeve from his grasp. Ms. Rixx and Mustang engaged in light conversation as she led them through what seemed like a labyrinth of rooms. Ed almost felt his head spinning from the amount of turns they did.

With each step closer to an examination room, Ed's nerves went haywire. Each door they passed made the dread pool further and further in his gut. It wasn't even the shot itself that scared him, not really anyway. After two automail surgeries and the phantom pains that lingered no matter what he did, he was no stranger to pain. He could take a lot of it and manage it well. His threshold for pain surpassed men twice his age. No, Edward wasn't afraid of the pain.

The terror was such an abstract thing he couldn't even begin to put into words. He couldn't tell you exactly why he was afraid, he just was. The unexplainable part is what drove him absolutely insane.

They finally reached a room at the end of the hall marked as room thirty. The nurse opened the door for them, telling both of them to take a seat on the chairs before leaving once again. As Edward walked in, he took in the room. It was cold, both physically and emotionally. The room was completely clinical with no hint of personality in sight. Its bleak appearance made Edward want to vomit.

The nurse returned to the room with a small cart in tow. Ed could see the needles and vials of medicine packages and he couldn't help but scowl. He resolutely looked anywhere besides the cart and willed his breathing to even out before Ms. Rixx noticed.

After laying out all her materials, the young nurse turned to face the pair. "Alright. Which one of y'all would like to go first?"

Ed completely stilled at her question. Her words sounded like he was underwater, taking an eternity to reach his ears.

It's just a shot. It's just a shot. It's just a-

"I'll go first," Roy spoke up. "Might as well get it over with right?"

Observance was not a trait Roy was blessed with naturally. It was a skill he had to acquire to survive Ishval and climb the ranks of a cutthroat military. It was what allowed him to pick up the nearly miniscule hints of lies that would otherwise go unnoticed. It was what allowed him to pick up on an opponent's weakness, exploiting it for all its worth. It was what allowed him to notice Ed's subtle change in body language.

In Fullmetal's gold eyes, he could see apprehension bubbling. In the perpetual scowl on his face, he could see fear pilling into the knot in his eyebrows. The tension etched into his body. He looked ready to spring up at the slightest provocation. If looks could burn, the metal atop Ms. Rixx's cart would be long gone from the way Ed glared daggers at it.

Suddenly everything made sense. Edward's irrational anger at the unforeseen appointment. The way he snapped at the man in the car. The way his leg hadn't stopped bouncing in place the moment he sat down.

He understood.

Without acknowledging Edward's lingering gaze, Roy confidently strode forward, sitting in the patient chair next to Ms. Rixx.

"I'm gonna need you to take off your jacket, hun," she said, Roy quickly obliged with no more than a certain nod.

The nurse quickly prepped Mustang's arm. She picked up the needle, placing it on the raven haired man's arm. "This might hurt a bit," she warned. The way Ed physically flinched didn't escape Roy's notice.

Without further preamble, she plunged the needle into Mustang's arm. He could feel the length of it entering him, sinking down the muscle. He wanted to cringed at the feeling of the medicine beginning to inject into his bloodstream. Regardless, he took the shot without batting an eye. He'd certainly be lying if he said it was a pleasant feeling but he couldn't let it show. Not while Ed was watching him with such an intense gaze.

As quickly as it began, it was over and Roy could only hope his lack of a reaction had the desired effect.

"Alright," Ms. Rixx began in a cheerful tone, "we're all done with you, sir!' It's Ed's turn now."

At her announcement, Roy got up, moving to the side of the chair. Gingerly, Edward walked over to where Roy previously sat. Ed's nervousness was loud, even without the boy voicing it aloud. Roy honestly couldn't say what prompted him to take Ed's hand into his own, but he knew he had to try to comfort him in some way, even if he didn't want it. To Roy's surprise, Ed didn't shrug him off.

As Ms. Rixx began prepping his arm, Ed felt his pulse quicken beneath his finger tips. He knew there was nothing more he could say to rationalize with himself over an irrational fear so he opted for distracting himself. He repeated the periodic table in his head over and over, ignoring the damp feeling the sanitization cloth left on his skin.

"Okay, Edward, I'm going to give you the shot now. I'll try to make it quick," she said in a soothing voice.

Ed simply nodded, not yet trusting himself to speak without his voice shaking.

It seemed like every sense became heightened as the needle approached Ed. He was hyper aware of the isopropyl alcohol burning his nostrils, the heat rolling off of Mustang's body in waves, the ticking of the clock in the middle of the wall.

As soon as the needle pricked his skin, he couldn't help the violent tremor that shook his body.

"I'm sorry, I think I forgot my band-aids. I left them on my desk, I'll go grab them," she said, quickly excusing herself.

Ed inhaled a shaky breath as he stifled the urge to run out the room to the nearest exit.

The telltale signs of his burning nose and trembling lips made him want to . That's what it was. Even the sight of the damn needle was enough to send him into a frenzy. Ed struggled to get his heart rate under control as he did half assed breathing techniques. He just couldn't shake the feeling of hands pressing him down to the bed. Hushed whispers reassuring him that "it's okay, you'll be okay." With each panicked breath he took, he smelled the all too recognizable scent of antiseptics. Bleach lingering from the excessive use of cleaning supplies that accumulated together.

Roy found himself inwardly thanking the nurse, remembering the fact she had a newly opened box of band-aids sitting in her pocket. The small sound of a muffled sniffle tore him from his thoughts.

Roy could feel Fullmetal's hand trembling beneath his own. Despite their complicated relationship where the lines between commanding officer and subordinate blurred all too frequently, he knew he couldn't stand to see Fullmetall like this. Roy tightened his hand around the boy's undeterred by the fact he couldn't feel it.

"Fullmetal…" Roy began, unsure of how or what he could say to comfort him. With adults you could give them a cigarette or a glass of bourbon, and maybe a shoulder to cry on if the situation called for it. For children however, he learned that it was much harder. Sometimes, they only needed someone to listen, other times they were just as confused about their feelings and needed to be guided through it.

Roy was so grossly out of his element, he felt like he shouldn't try to comfort the blond, lest he make everything worse. But the strong feeling flaring in his gut he didn't dare name, left him unable to just sit by and watch.

He leaned down until he was inches from Fullmetal's ear. He spoke in a low tone, despire them being alone in the room. "Listen to me. Don't focus on her or the shot. You saw how quick mine went. It'll be over before you can even blink. You are strong. You're brave. I know it isn't the shot you're afraid of, but whatever it is, you'll get through it. We will get through it, okay?"

Roy felt his own pulse quickening as he waited for Fullmetal's response. Had he gone too far? Stepped out of line?

Ed sniffled again and nodded, quelling the man's growing anxieties. Roy gave him a second to dry his tears, busying himself with straightening out his uniform.

Almost on cue, Ms. Rixx strolled back into the room. "Sorry about that," she apologized with a sheepish smile. "I've been doin' silly things all day. You ready Ed?"

For the first time, Ed looked the nurse in her eyes. Determination replaced the apprehension. "Yeah… I'm ready."

The genius Fullmetal alchemist was reduced to such a nervous wreck by a mere needle. Roy almost couldn't believe the boy that clung to him was the same boy who had screamed colorful; profanities in his face just an hour earlier. It was times like these that Roy was reminded that Edward really was just a child.