Chapter Text
Alphonse can’t sleep.
Edward realized this one night when he was sitting in his hotel room. Alphonse had quietly walked out a few moments ago, and Edward had realized Alphonse’s plight. Not only had Edward taken away his little brother’s ability to taste, feel, and smell, he had taken away his ability to sleep.
Of course, Edward had known this all along, because, even though Alphonse never specifically told him, Edward always knew he was awake, and that he never truly fell asleep.
It wasn’t fair.
How come Edward still had everything in his life the same (minus two limbs), but Alphonse had everything taken away from him at such an early age? Why hadn’t Edward found the philosopher’s stone yet? Why was he wasting his time sleeping, when he could be searching for a way for his brother to regain his ability to sleep?
Edward finally decided, after a long sleepless night, to try to sleep in moderation, only when his body gave out, or he couldn’t walk or function properly anymore.
It couldn’t be that hard, could it?
—-
Edward had been awake for forty eight hours when his body, that was so accustomed to sleeping for multiple hours a night, collapsed onto his desk in the hotel room for the first time.
He had been researching, and drowning himself in caffeine, when Alphonse came in.
“Brother, are you okay?” Alphonse asked quietly.
Despite Alphonse’s small whispering voice, Ed jolted up from his bent over position in his chair, and spilled his coffee on his shirt. “Agh!!” He shouted as the hot liquid hit his exposed, non metal arm. He jumped out of his chair, and tried to wipe it off while he sped towards the bathroom to get a towel.
“Al, I’m busy right now, can’t you just go bother someone else?” Edward stated harshly. Ed took off his coffee stained, red jacket, leaving only his sleeveless black shirt. Alphonse visibly shrunk into himself and shuffled out of the hotel room.
Edward was a little bit too sleepy and caffeinated to be nice to Alphonse, and Ed just sunk back into his chair. He rubbed his burned arm in annoyance. Why had he flinched so violently? He was usually so aware, and never lashed out at Alphonse.
Later in the night, Edward had reached over to the side of the desk to drink some coffee, when he remembered his spill earlier, and his outburst towards Alphonse.
I’ll apologize in the morning, Ed thought, as he went back to his work.
By morning, Edward had finally fallen asleep.
—-
Alphonse had noticed that something was wrong with Edward. He was a little bit more stiff when he walked around, as though he was afraid of someone sneaking up on him or something.
When he had come into the hotel room, he could see the bags under his brothers eyes, and his tensed up body, from the caffeine.
“Brother, are you okay?” He said quietly, as though he was afraid that if he spoke any louder, Ed would be angry.
Instead, Edward flinched violently and hit his cup of coffee off the table, and onto his jacket. “Agh!!” He had shouted, and then he got up and pushed past Alphonse while practically shouting, “Al, I’m busy right now, can’t you just go bother someone else?”
Alphonse had tensed up and walked out of the room. Something was definitely wrong with Edward, and he was going to find out what. He started to head to the colonel’s office, to ask him if he knew anything about Ed.
—-
Roy had definitely noticed that Edward had been acting strange recently. He was very diligent in his work, he stayed in the office late, and came in early. He was always working, almost never taking breaks, and he was sporting heavy bags under his eyes.
Roy was worried that Ed wasn’t sleeping enough, so a few days after the strange behavior had started, he called Edward into his office.
Edward looked terrible.
His eyes was were bloodshot and barely being kept open, and his body was tense from the caffeine, but tired of keeping his metal limbs supported.
He leaned slightly on Mustangs desk, but it was barely noticeable, and if someone had noticed, they would have probably just ignored it and thought that he was just trying to be annoying.
“Fullmetal, have you been getting enough sleep recently?” He asked, concern lacing his voice.
Edward looked up at Mustang with surprise, as though he had just realized that Mustang was there.
“Y-yeah of course,” He said hesitantly. Roy looked at Edward in suspicion before he waved him out of his office.
Mustang watched as Edward left his office, swaying slightly on his feet.