This was not good, this could not be good his mind chanted. Awkwardly he waddled to turn the water off and wrapped a towel around his waist automatically before he realised and re-wrapped it under his arms. He needed to get help but not Al, not for this. Winry… oh gods no, not that…her. Granny. He had to go to Granny, she'd know what to do.
Keeping his thighs pressed together and the toilet paper held securely, he quickly dried himself. Throwing his sleep shirt on and wrapping the towel around his waist now, he opened the bathroom door as quietly as he could. He didn't want to see anyone but Pinako. As quickly as he could he walked awkwardly down the passage. Thank you Al for these two perfect legs, he thought as he heard no loud clanking, and knocked softly at her door with his flesh hand.
He twitched and shivered, moving his weight restlessly from one foot to the next as he waited. He was about to knock again when it opened and a thin sliver of light hit his wide frightened eyes.
She pulled him into her room without a word and closed the door behind him. Ed just looked at her, shaking and trembling in his distress. She took his flesh hand and led him to a chair but he shook his head, wet hair dripping.
"I'm bleeding" was all he said in a small voice and she instantly understood.
"You've got a towel around you, Ed. It will be alright. Just sit down." She gently forced him to sit even as he shook his head again. He clenched his hands together making his shoulder hurt but welcoming the distracting pain. He sat quietly as Pinako pulled out a spare blanket and slipped it around his shoulders and he waited as requested while she left the room and returned ten minutes later with hot chocolate, his clothes, another towel and a small bag.
Ed sipped at the hot drink gratefully. This 'sit back and relax with hot chocolate while bleeding to death' was a far cry from his normal experiences of emergency wards and self-applied field dressings. It was even stranger to know that you were bleeding and not even feel it. Pinako sat on the other chair and sipped at her drink and smiled at him.
"Feeling better now?" She could see the colour returning to Ed's face and his hands were not trembling as much anymore. Ed still had those wide eyes and Pinako could see him trying to bring the distress under control with slow breaths and forcing his tensed shoulders to relax.
Pinako had given this talk before and it was a bitter-sweet memory. Winry should have shared that moment with her mother not her grandmother and both had shed tears and regrets. Pinako had found herself telling Winry stories about her mother and the step from child to woman had become one of Winry's most precious moments simply because she had learnt more about her mother than ever before.
This time the talk was very different. Girls knew what to expect before anything even happened but Ed knew absolutely nothing. There was no preparation or warning. Not only that but he had had very little exposure to girls so the information they seemed to inherently know had slipped right by him. Pinako began at the beginning.
"You're bleeding Ed because this is the start of your menstrual cycle." Ed looked at her blankly.
Okay, so it had to be more basic than that. Or maybe, given Ed's background…
"Ed, you studied the human body, didn't you?" They both understood the reference to the transmutation attempt and she received a nod in reply.
"You know what makes up a body. Now the human body is controlled by many different systems, and all these systems are driven by catalysts that activate and manipulate them. Some of these include enzymes, proteins and more importantly, hormones." Ed kept nodding, he could understand this. "A menstrual cycle begins when certain hormones change their balance and after a short time they will rebalance again and the bleeding will stop."
"So… this is temporary?" Ed asked shakily. Science had come to his rescue and he felt more reassured.
"Yes, until next month when it all happens again." Pinako choked on the horrified look Ed gave her. "It's a cycle Ed."
"It happens again?!"
"Every month, Ed. All women go through this."
"How? Why?" Ed was looking very unsettled now. This was more than he had bargained for.
"It's what we women do Ed. If we didn't then there would be no new life. This cycle prepares every woman for pregnancy and the bleeding is a sign that you are not pregnant. You do know about sex don't you Ed?" Pinako asked with a raised eyebrow and got a red face nodding in reply. She smiled at that and continued. "From a female perspective, sex can result in pregnancy which is why protection is so important. This is all part of the human reproductive system Ed."