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The Elrics were out shopping.
Winry trailed close behind, watching Alphonse waver and stumble as Edward stole glances from over his shoulder. Each time the youngest was thrown off balance, Edward was there to catch him.
Alphonse glanced at the clothing store that they had gone to for as long as they could remember; Ed could recall when their father had held up a small shirt that said something he couldn’t read, which made their mother laugh loudly before she told him to put it back.
Alphonse meandered his way to the boys section, flipping through tanktops and button up shirts while Edward scanned over the top of the racks and shelves of clothes across the store.
Being tall in the last few months was definitely something to get used to. Not the most jarring thing, especially with the lack of most of his other senses, but definitely one of them. He always thought he’d get tall because of puberty, not from becoming a suit of armor.
“Bah!” Alphonse said to grab Edward’s attention. ‘Hold this.’ he said with his hand before throwing a tanktop on one of his fuzzy shoulders. Edward touched the fabric, brushing over it with a chain hand.
Navigating throughout days proved strange since he and Alphonse had attempted the transmutation; he couldn’t feel the texture, and found it hard to pick out the difference between touching something and air until he could put pressure on it. Most of his senses found themselves missing, but he could still tell where he put his hands without looking at it. Pinako had rattled off a few different words when he brought it up; he hadn’t quite understood them, but finding the root words proved easy enough with equilibrioception and proprioception.
Ed caught himself wandering towards the jackets, and particularly the bright red fabric that he spotted from across the store. He pulled it from the rack, stringing it between both his hands before turning it around.
It was perfect .
But it was too small.
Edward deflated. He pulled it closer to his face so he could look at the texture. It looked soft , with extra pockets in his favorite style, and even enough room to sew inner breast pockets. The hood was big enough to dip below his face if he put it on; the sleeves didn’t look constricting. The color was his favorite; bright and bold, enough to stand out of a crowd anytime. It really was a perfect jacket, but as he held it close to the hole in his chest, it really was too small.
Then a revelation rang through Edward’s eleven year old head.
“Al!” He called across the store, which Alphonse responded with his hand shooting in the air and pointing at himself alongside a soft grunt. “Al, c’mere!”
Alphonse shuffled his feet before he clambered his way over, swaying to keep his balance correct with the missing arm. His hand shook in a sputtery moment, ‘What?’ He asked, a blueish shirt on his empty shoulder.
Edward held the red jacket at his face. “Look at this jacket! Isn’t it awesome?” Alphonse tried to paw it away, failing against Ed’s determination to get him to look at it. He took a wobbly step backwards before surrendering and grabbing it by the hood, inspecting it for a minute.
He hummed, nodding at Ed before handing it back to him. ‘Good!’ He spelled with his fingers. Edward grabbed it from him, staring at his younger brother for another second. Alphonse noticed and tilted his head at him.
“Do you wanna try it on? It looks really soft.” He said as sweetly as he could. Alphonse scrunched his nose, shrugging. Edward pretended to not notice, pushing it towards his face. “C’mon! It’s a great jacket! I think putting Teacher’s emblem on the back of it would be metal as hell!”
Alphonse craned his neck to get away from the ambush of fabric. ‘One arm! How with one arm?’ He asked with limited speech, fingerspelling half his words. Edward scoffed. “That’s why you’re getting a new arm next week, for jackets. Just try it on!” He said, shoving it back into his face. Alphonse grunted, then took it.
He gestured with his stump for Edward to take the shirt on his shoulder, which he did, letting Alphonse sling the fabric over his empty shoulder and shimmied his arm into the sleeve.
Al stuck his hand into the pockets, exploring the jacket. His fingers skimmed over the seams along the inside, before pressing the material into his chest. He hummed to himself for a moment, trying to find an easy way to describe. ‘Soft.’
“Obviously it’s soft. You should get it! It looks great on you.” Edward said with as much of a smile in his voice as he could get across. Alphonse’s face scrunched slightly. ‘It’s…’ Alphonse started, fingerspelling. “Bold? Confident? The best jacket you’ve ever worn?” Edward finished for him. Al’s nose scrunched even farther into his face. ‘Loud.’ He corrected, tilting his head.
Edward threw the other shirt his brother had picked out on his shoulder. “How else are people supposed to know who they need to be looking at?” He said, putting his hands on metal hips.
Al scratched his head with a small grin, sleeve limply swaying with his body movement. “We’ll get it, it’ll be great.” Ed said before Alphonse could protest. He gently took it off his shoulder, letting his brother worm his arm out of the loose sleeve before Edward threw it over his furred pauldron.
“What’s Winry doing?” Edward asked, looking over his collar to see the brim of a sunhat that was giant on the eleven year old girl.
‘Scarves’ Alphonse said, falling over until Ed put a hand on his side to keep him standing. Edward rolled his eyes. “She’s the type.” He scoffed, which Winry poked her head out from the shelves she was browsing. “I’m the type for what?”
Ed waved her away. “Nothing, gearhead. Go find yourself goggles or something.” He said, making Winry step away from the collection of scarves and bandanas, hands on her hips. “I’ll have you know that I already have goggles! They’re of the best quality for craftsmanship in the region, and I only need an extra magnification till they’re the best pair you’ll ever see!” She said, pointing at Edward. He crossed his arms and rolled his eyes.
“Like I said, gearhead!” Ed bit back as Alphonse handed him a pair of comfortable black shorts. Winry bit her cheek before pivoting on her heels. “Al! Grab your clothes, we’re leaving! Edward can walk home!” She said before Alphonse reached towards his brother’s shoulders to pull down the clothes he had picked out, ignoring the red jacket. “Hey! That’s not fair!” Ed sputtered as Winry thumbed through the money Granny had given her.
She set it on the counter as Al placed his pile of apparel next to it, which got covered by red as Edward stomped over.
Winry’s nose scrunched at him. “You’re getting a jacket? That you can't even wear?”
Edward crossed his arms, avoiding eye contact by staring at the ceiling. “Not for me ; it’s for Al.” He corrected. Winry’s head swiveled towards the younger brother with a suspicious expression. Alphonse just shrugged, flicking his head toward Ed. ‘Looks happy.’ He said, which made Winry scoff.
The bell on the door rang as Pinako stepped inside. “I have all the parts for Al’s arm and port now. Are you kids ready to get back home?” She asked, resting the weight of a specialized duffle bag onto her hip.
“Coming Granny!” Winry said as the lady at the register folded the clothes into a bag.
By the time they got home, Ed was buzzing in excitement. He insisted on carrying the bags inside, which he exploited by immediately whisking the jacket to Pinako’s room. After digging through the dusty desk, he found what he was looking for; an old sewing kit.
“What are you doing, Edward?” Pinako asked as he scrawled out something on the floor, placing the jacket and a spool of black thread on top of it. “Shhh; it’s for Al.” He said before pressing his hands onto the chalk markings.
In a small burst of light, the jacket fluttered to the ground, the iconic symbol they had seen on their Teacher’s collarbone every day of training was embroidered to the back. Edward smoothed it out, admiring the transmutation. He always had been good at intricate details.
“Al picked that out? It’s not his normal style.” Pinako noted, pipe to her lips. “I picked it out.” Edward corrected, picking up the jacket and standing. He brushed it off, ignoring the open sewing box and nearly empty spool of thread on the used transmutation circle.
“That explains it.” She said before blowing out a puff of smoke. Edward moved past her before trotting his way downstairs to Winry folding clothes with Alphonse at the dinner table.
“Al!”
He set the jacket on the table, fanning it out so he could see. “Pretty cool, huh?” He preened. Al smiled, Nodding with his fist. ‘Yeah.’ He said before looking at the clothes, then gestured towards them. ‘Help?’ He said with improvised movements.
Edward started folding pants as Winry talked about her plans for Al’s automail.
“As soon as granny says I can, I’m gonna design you the best arm anyone’s ever seen. Even in rushvalley!” She said, wiggling a finger at Alphonse. “It’s gonna be so great and you’re gonna love it! You won’t even want the one Granny made.”
Edward rolled his eyes. “It’s not like he’s gonna have it for long. We’re gonna get our bodies back as soon as Al recovers; you won’t have time to make one.”
The younger brother smiled at the thought, using his only hand to fold one of Winry’s new scarfs. She hissed at Edward. “As if! A year of recovery is still enough time for me to start designing arms. You’ll see; I’ll be the best automail designer in the country before Al can start talking again.”
Alphonse snickered. Winry’s head whipped towards him. “You’ll be there to showcase everything. My own personal model.” She said. Al just nodded, ‘Okay’ he signed, before Pinako came downstairs.
“You kids hungry?” She asked, wiping her hands with a rag. Winry and Al responded with equally excited shouts, Edward leaned further back into his chair.
The rest of the day ended with Edward and Winry helping with dinner, while having to continuously shoo Alphonse away so he wouldn’t fall into a hot pan.
When he went to bed, Edward cracked open the door and found the red jacket resting on one of the frame posts as he shifted under the blankets.
Ed let his mind wander until he settled into a nook at the edge of the spare room, reading for the rest of the night.