mayfield_logs | Lonely Hearts

Entry tags:

c: edward elric

Lonely Hearts

Who: Alphonse and Edward Elric
Where: 924 Topper Street, Al's bedroom
When: March 16th
What: Brotherly bonding and some bad advice
Warnings: None, maybe some foul language from Ed

Alphonse had spent the last few days getting used to being back here; no, more accurately, getting used to the idea he had left in the first place. It still felt to him as though he had gone to sleep in December and woken up in March. Everything was different - Mom gone, a different house, Brother having to go through all that alone... But at least they were together again. That's all that mattered.

He missed his mother dearly, painfully, heart aching for her in a way that had been dulled over time and was now fresh again. It was like losing her all over again, it was cruel to have that second chance snatched away, and he knew Ed felt it just as keenly as he did. It was worse knowing her drone was still here, horribly painful to look at that vapid smile and dead eyes where kindness should be. But they needed to make her proud, and to do that they needed to carry on... not sit still and wallow.

So Al had gone back to school, he had started smiling again (truthfully, it was hard to hold down his smile for long), and was well on his way to getting fully back in the swing of things. It was easier having Ed stay for two nights out of every three, even if they did have to share a bed because Mayfield wouldn't provide another. He was sat on that bed right now, looking at his maths homework without really seeing it - it was easy, of course, for someone who knew complex alchemical equations, but his mind wasn't on it.

"Brother?"

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Given the option of staying in the house on Albright lane with his droned mother wandering around the house, giving him that unsettling smile and telling him in a dead, flat, lifeless tone that she loved him or staying here with Al and Greed well...

There really wasn't much of a choice to make, was there?

Ed was going back to school, too. If only to spend time with Al. He sure as hell wasn't doing the homework never mind paying attention in class. The papers on the bed next to him were not maths homework, but some alchemy assignments he'd given Diana to work on. And, of course, it was flawless work.

He speaks without looking up from his notebook, twirling his pen idly between his fingers.

"Yeah?"

Al was too much of a goody-two-shoes to not really do his homework, he doesn't want to risk upsetting the teachers by making them think their subjects weren't interesting enough. Besides, it didn't take too much effort to do, not when most of it wouldn't even cover the most basic alchemy workings.

"Do the girls at school ever talk to you?"

It wasn't that Alphonse didn't know how to talk to girls, or that he didn't want to, one of his fondest dreams was to have a girlfriend one day... but... he didn't know how to handle them being so nice and personal with him. One of the drones in his art class kept asking him to go to the diner with her, and he was running out of polite ways to decline.

His eyes flick over towards Al, brows raised. Clearly this was not the question he was expecting to hear. There were a million other things Ed would have expected Al to ask him. Asking him if the girls at school ever talked to him was not, at any time, on that list of things.

"I guess sometimes, yeah. What are you getting at, Al?"

He wasn't sure whether to be relieved that the drone girls talked to anyone, or a little disappointed that he wasn't special. Not that he liked any of them like that, they creeped him out a little, but it might have been nice to be desired.

Just for a moment in his mind's eye, he can see the scene perfectly. He's a bit more muscled and less round in the face, there's a girl hanging off one bulging bicep as Ed watches on with a jealous scowl. But the moment passes, and he closes the book to roll onto his stomach and look at Ed properly.

"Do they keep asking you to go out to the diner too?"

"The drones, you mean? There were a couple of girls who did, but they stopped asking a few weeks ago. Guess they finally figured out that I wasn't going to agree to go anytime soon."

Ed puts down his pen with a bit of a frown. "Why, are they bothering you?" Because he will get them to stop if they are. It'll probably involve a lot of yelling and he might end up getting droned for the rest of the day, but well... the things you do for family.

"No!"

He knew that look right away, and he didn't want to watch Ed yell at a gaggle of perfectly innocent drone girls.

"I just... don't want to go with them to the diner. But I don't want to hurt their feelings, Brother."

"Ok, jeeze, I was just asking."

It's not like Al had to watch him yell at them, gosh.

"You're worried about hurting the drone's feelings? Seriously?" He shakes his head, rubbing the back of his neck. "Just keep telling them no, Al. They'll stop asking eventually."

"They're still people, Brother!"

Al's voice was half chiding, sitting up properly to look at Ed with a small frown. He didn't like the way people treated the drones, it was disconcerting deep down for reasons... if they weren't considered as human, despite looking and bleeding like them, then where did a hollow suit of armour fall?

"Just because they're not what everyone thinks of as normal, doesn't mean they're not people. It's not their fault they act like this... but they still feel, I know they do."

Ouch. That stung. His expression softened instantly, his brows knitting tightly together.

"... No, you're right. I'm... I'm sorry." Ed mumbled. His eyes dropped and he stared at his hands for a moment, unable to look Al in the eye. Al was right, the drones weren't to blame. They were all stuck here, they were all human. Or well, not all of them were human, but they certainly intelligent forms of life who were able to think and feel and bleed and hurt and --

Fuck.

He never cared for the drones much to begin with -- they creeped him out and they were so incredibly annoying, but living with the drones of his family had not been an easy task. His brother was walking around and smiling at him, but it wasn't Al. His mother would give him a hug, but it all felt wrong. It made it hurt a little less to think that there was nothing human left in them, but that didn't make it right.

He knows that Ed would never mean it in a malicious way, nobody had been a greater campaigner for seeing him as a human boy still than his brother. He understands, he has only glimpsed the drone of their mother once since his return and it had been more than enough to break his heart all over again, but it still didn't make it right to look at the drones differently.

Reaching out to put his hand on Ed's back gently, he shifted closer to duck his head down and look up to where his silly brother was avoiding his gaze. He tactfully avoided mentioning the apology or pushing the subject, he knows Ed understands now.

"How do I keep from hurting her feelings, Brother?"

Ed heaves a sigh as he runs a hand through his hair, his eyes flicking back up to meet Al's. He gives his brother a bit of an incredulous smile, chuckling softly.

"You sure you're asking the right guy, Al?"

After all, he wasn't exactly know for his sensitivity and tact.

He pretends to seriously consider this for a moment, before drawing his knees up to his chest and resting a cheek on one to look at Ed properly as he spoke.

"You're really kind, and you care about people more than anyone else I know, who else would I ask?"

He pauses for a moment, before his smile gets wider.

"Even if your face is mean sometimes."

"What? It is not!"

He laughs, grabbing a pillow behind him and tossing it Al's face.

"There is nothing wrong with my face. What happened to respecting your elders? Jeeze."

Catching the pillow as it was about to hit his face, he chuckled and flopped backwards on the bed.

"You're not that much older than me, Brother."

Besides, he's fairly sure that he acts the elder most of the time.

What no, Ed is the most mature. Shush.

"Doesn't matter. I'm still older."

Aaaand.... that would be another pillow getting chucked at you, Alphonse.

Oof! This one hits him directly in the face and he glowers at Ed for a moment before laughing.

"Brother! You're supposed to be helping me, remember?"

There is only one thing he can do in response to Al's glowering face -- laugh in it. Which is exactly what he proceeds to do.

"What you don't consider this helping?"

He reaches over and snags one of the pillows back, still chuckling a little. "Alright, alright. Well, you could keep telling her no and hope she'll stop asking or... I dunno, I guess you could tell her your not interested, say you've had your eye on someone else or something."

He doesn't like the thought of lying and saying he was interested in someone else, when he certainly wasn't, it seemed underhanded. But then again, it also seemed mean to outright say he wasn't interested, the poor drone girl might wonder what was wrong with her.

"Is that what you did?"

After all, Ed had said that the drones had stopped asking him. So had he been mean and said he wasn't interested, or lied and said he had someone else (BECAUSE SURELY BROTHER DOESN'T HAVE AN ACTUAL GIRLFRIEND).

"Hate to break it to you, but there really isn't a good way to turn someone down. No matter what you say, it's still gonna hurt their feelings a little. But yeah, that's pretty much what I did."

Surely they stopped asking because he straight up told them he wasn't interested. It couldn't be because they all saw him spending so much time with that blonde girl he seemed to like so much. No. Definitely not.

Al sighed softly, he could see in his mind's eye that Ed had probably screamed at the girls until they didn't want to talk to him any more. That approach wouldn't really work for him, so perhaps he shouldn't have asked Ed for help after all.

"It's not that I don't want a girlfriend." He's always wanted one, it was one of the reasons he wanted his body back. "But I want one that I really like."

And for once Al would be surprised to find out that was not the case at all. He was just, well... blunt. Well... ok so there was one girl that he actually did yell at but that doesn't count. When someone asks you every single time they see you around town or pass them in the halls you've gotta take some drastic measures. So yeah, ok, he yelled at one girl.

"Well, why don't you try telling her that? That you'd rather be friends or something?"

"But what about when I do find a girl that I like?"

This is the bit he's really wanting advice on, he has no idea how he would tell a girl that he actually liked her. Not that Ed has done that either, but important things should always be talked over between the brothers.

Oh Alphonse. If only you were here for Valentine's Day.

Ed bites his lip, rubbing the back of his neck a little awkwardly. And... oh, what's this? Is Edward blushing a little?

"I-I don't know, just... just tell her."

Well now, that's new... and Al can't help the knowing grin spreading across his face as Ed's face lights up like that.

"...Brother?"

MIND EXPLAINING?

Ed's eyes dart away, focusing on something that wasn't his brother.

"What?"

"You're blushing, Brother."

Leaning forwards on the bed, Al looked directly into Ed's face, grinning at the sight of tell-tale red infusing his cheeks.

Ed backs away, turning his head and staring at the wall like he thought it was actually going to help.

"I am not!" Yes he is.

Edited 2012-04-11 00:26 (UTC)

Well, now he knows something is going on, and he has a fair idea of what it might be. But as much as he knows Ed has feelings for Winry (doesn't everybody know?) he doesn't think his silly big brother would ever do anything about it.

"Yes, you are! Tell me what happened, Brother!"

"N-nothing! Nothing happened, really!"

He bites his lip, the blush on his cheeks turning an even darker shade of red. Damn it. It's not like it's a big deal or anything. Ok, so, it is kind of a big deal and it's not like he'd be able to hide it from Al. He shouldn't hide it from Al. Hell, there was nothing to hide! Why was this so haaaaaaard??

"Well, see..." Ed meets Al's eyes briefly before looking away again. "It's just that... Winry and I are kind of dating."

Al's eyes widened in surprise, his heart seeming to skip a beat in his chest. Brother and Winry were actually dating? He knew they were meant for each other, you'd have to be blind not to see it... and as much as he teased Ed about it sometimes, he couldn't be more happy to see it happen.

But he didn't want to embarrass his brother even more by making a bigger deal out of it than it already was. Ed should know how he felt, should know that he only ever wanted what was best for him and for his big brother to be happy in everything he did. So instead of gushing over it, he just mock-sighed and leaned forwards with his elbows on his knees.

"That's not fair, Brother. I won the fight for Winry's hand in marriage."

He was fully expecting for Al to start teasing him. Maybe just start laughing, tell him something like how it was 'about time'. But he didn't. The blush on Ed's cheeks fades considerably and a large grin spreads across his face.

"Oh come on, that way forever ago! And besides she turned us both down the first time."

"Mm."

He remembers, grinning right along with his brother, so pleased to see him this happy even after everything that had happened.

"You didn't even let me join in the fight this time."

He waves his hand dismissively.

"Tch, not my fault you weren't paying attention."

Reaching over to bump Ed's shoulder with his own affectionately, Al chuckled contentedly.

"Yeah, I guess that was my fault."

"Happened a couple weeks into February. There's this thing called Valentine's Day that they celebrate. Still not really sure what it's all about, but whatever it was it was a big enough deal for Mayfield to want to screw with us."

He laughs, shaking his head a little. "I uh... I actually ended up making a public phone call telling everyone that I loved her."

"I wish I hadn't missed that!"

He can't help laughing right along with Ed. He imagined that must have caused a lot of red face all around, though he's glad it worked out for the best and pushed the two of them into admitting how they felt about one another.

"Wasn't Winry mad?"

"Yeeep."

He grins, rubbing the back of his neck. "She hung up on me, actually."

"But you must have got her to forgive you, if you're dating."

He can imagine that conversation involved a lot of wrench throwing and temper tantrums.

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Lonely Hearts

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