When contract talks come around, Edward Elric has his brother, Alphonse Elric to help him out with contract details and to make sure he is getting his money's worth. Unlike himself, Alphonse is not an over-eager and highly emotional person and he tends to make more reasonable decisions than his brother, Edward. He is usually considered the more responsible brother of the two and for good reason! Although Edward will begrudgingly acknowledge this fact, he does want the best for Alphonse, Winry and himself and ultimately realizes that the best person to get maximum value out of his contract is Alphonse Elric. For Edward, he is a year older than Alphonse Elric and has basically known him his entire life due to them being siblings. They have a very tight bond as the two are basically inseparable and have been that way since Alphone was born. The death of their mother and disappearance of their father had only brought the two closer and strengthened their relationship.