Pills and Buttons

To Hear A Pin Drop

It was silent when Ed finished, Winry and May's jaws on the floor. Alphonse was clenching his tighter than a steel trap used to catch bears.

"Can you stand at all?" Al gritted through clamped teeth, looking at his brother with a mentally pained expression on his face. "Or are your nerves too dead?"

"I-I don't know if I can." Edward turned away, avoiding looking in their direction. He still couldn't keep the images of what their faces must look like out of his mind frame. Roy rubbed his shoulder softly, the silence deafening.

"Don't tell me you're going to need more automail." Winry winced. "You pushed yourself last time." She traced the patterns on his calf automail, flinching at the coldness of the steel.

"I don't think it's that bad." Riza spoke up, flipping through a file. She scanned the page before looking up. "His doctor explained how the nerves were, in a way, "packaged" for use at another time. That would have been the safest way to remove them." Hawkeye cleared the length of the room, passing the green file folder over to Mustang. He had to keep it out of Winry's reach when she snatched at it. "They're working on a reversal serum. It might take a while." Her voice grew quiet, her eyes glancing at Ed's face. It seemed like he was thinking, and hard at that.

"Why?" Meyer snorts. "Why he asks? Well, I'll tell you sprout. My daughter was your height. Real pretty too. She was exactly like you, except without all this metal." He tugged at my automail, nearly ripping it from the socket. I barely held back a scream of agony. "That's why I chose you." He barks over to Luna. "Remove his automail. Do with it as you please. I don't want to see it again."

"Even the ports?" She looked at me in fear. I've never seen her that scared.

"Leave those." He ducked a beam, heading upstairs quietly.

"I'm sorry, Edward. I'm so sorry." She closes her  bright green eyes, pulling sharply on my automail-

"Fullmetal! Edward?" He pushes away the hands near his arm, nearly falling off the bed. His yelp of pain rings in Mustang's ears.

"No, don't touch me!" Ed's face is traced with tear marks, still pink with blood. "Please."

"Edward, it's us. Not Meyer." Riza places a delicate hand on his flesh arm, feeling him stiffen. "Just relax." Winry rubs a tear from his cheek softly, wincing at the sight of his eyes. The gold color was slowly coming back but they were bloodshot from lack of use. Each vein was visible and it infuriated the mechanic.

"I'm going to get you some water." Alphonse murmured, ducking out the doorway and down the hall. May followed, noticing how upset he was. Hawkeye sat on the bed beside the small Elric, whispering quietly to him. His body relaxed and he leaned back into the pillows with a broken sigh.

"I'm leaving you with Winry and Roy. Make sure they don't cut each other into small bits for me." He laughs, smiling softly.

"I'll try, Lieutenant."

"Please," Riza tucked a strand of her own hair back over her ear, "call me Riza." She stood, her heels clicking as she made her exit.

"I'm not gonna chop you into small bits, just so you know." Mustang teased, sitting on the arm of a rather large felt chair. It was uncomfortable, like the rest of them.

"Thanks for the consideration." Winry shot back, smiling.

"Now now, ladies. You're both pretty." Edward laughed softly, smiling.

The other two shared a look. "As for you, I might take you apart and leave the pieces somewhere you will never find them." Winry laughed manically, but in a joking way.

"Oh no!" Roy stepped between them. "I'll protect you." Edward's heart fluttered a bit.

"My hero, my steed in shining armor." Mustang deflates a little, turning on the Elric boy. "Okay, I'll stop, I'll stop. I can feel you glaring at me."

"You're damn right I'm glaring at you. Since when did you start calling me a horse?" He put his hands on his hips, watching Ed closely.

"I had a lot of time to think. Your last name is Mustang. A Mustang is a car and a horse. Horses remind me of the book Outsiders and there is a character named Pony Boy." Edward shrugged. "That's why. Luna calls you hot rod because that's a nickname for a car and because of the fire alchemy thing."

"I think I prefer a hot rod to Pony Boy." Roy walks over and sits on his right side, petting the boy's blonde locks. Ed relaxes into the touch, smiling softly.

"I'll remember that." Winry is silently fangirling over in the corner, looking at them like they were couple of the year.

"Stop staring Winry. Geez, stalker much in that corner?" Mustang beaconed her closer, and she dashes over to Ed's other side. The three of them all barely fit on the small bed, but they make it all work.

"Hey Win?"

"Yeah Ed?" She looks at him.

"Where's Al and May?" He looks in her direction.

"You know... I don't know." She looks at Mustang.

"I'd voice but my mind's in the wrong place."

Ed and Winry scrunch their noses. "Gross Colonel!" They synchronized, pushing him off the bed.