Hi! :)

(I am so incredibly nervous about this, yikes.)

So this is officially my second ever fanfiction that I've written or published. The first one was written over 10 years ago, and I will gladly put it behind me as I'm quite sure my writing abilities at the age of 14 were... Questionable. I've wanted to write something post-CoS for such a long time now, but I was (and still am) very nervous about writing in English. But I figured I have to give it a shot if I want to get better!

So just a few things I want to note:

1. English is not my first or even my second language, and I don't use it daily, expect on the internet of course. So please tell me about any typos or weird phrases you see!

2. I don't have any idea how long this fic will be, but hopefully quite long, though that also depends a bit on the reviews I get... So please review! :)

3. Feel free to also point out if you feel like the characters are behaving / speaking in a way that's very unfitting to them. Al will, for the point of this story, be moodier than normally, but I hope to still present him as true to his character.

4. I've recently only wathed FMAB, but as you've probably figured by now, this fic is based on the first series and is post-movie. So if I get some weird mixing up of the ages/characters/timelines or anything of the sort, feel free to point that out too. I'll try my best to stay in the FMA universe. :)

5. As the summary states, this will be Elricest, so an incestuous relationship between two brothers will be taking place here. If that bothers you, please don't continue reading.

I think that's enough of blabbering for now, so, enjoy (I hope)!

Like Snow in the Sun

Chapter 1

It had been exactly three weeks since Alphonse Elric had follower his older brother, Edward Elric, through the Gate and into another world. A world completely unknown to Al, the only familiar thing in it his brother, who he had not remembered seeing since they were children. He left behind Winry and Aunt Pinako, the closest thing to family he had had for years, to follow his brother who he did not remember since he was eleven.

But there seemed to be no hesitation in Al's mind. He would follow his brother no matter what. He would follow him into the unknown, into a land filled only with strangers and strange things alike.

Or so Al had thought. In the first few days he had seen strangley familiar faces, or bodies that carried familiar faces. He had noticed how oddly familiar other things were, too. People wore different clothes and alchemy wasn't working here, but people grew old the same way they did back at home and laughed in much the same way. The books had different titles, but once you began to read them you noticed that the stories behind them were the same. Natural science and chemistry were the substitutes for alchemy, but the story behind them was the same as well. Much in the same way as all is one and one is all in alchemy, space and time were the same in physics.

But the change was still huge. The countries had different names and shapes, and both Ed and Al could swear that the colors were somehow different in this universe. There were hundreds of small things that seemed different somehow, but once you tried to put your finger on it, it ran away and you completely forgot what you were thinking about. It almost seemed as if thinking about it too much went againgst the rules of the universe.

Some shock was to be expected from Al in Ed's mind. Some trouble getting used to things, some home sickness and teary eyed conversations about how things were so different. Maybe even some moodiness, although Edward knew that for Al to be moody, something had to be seriously bothering him.

But what Edward Elric was faced with was nothing like that.

Edward currently sat crouched at the small, round table with his head in his hands. An untouched cup of coffee lay in front of him, but Edward was too busy boring a hole into the wall across from him with his gaze, where a rusty clock ticked relentlessly. 1:39 AM turned into 1:40 AM, but nothing happened.

Edward closed his eyes and sucked air through his nose with exaggerated force. A deep growl made his chest vibrate.

He was beyond angry.

He had been pissed multiple times in his life. Anyone who knew Edward also knew of his infamous temper. Heck, you didn't even need to know him to know that. If you had heard of the Fullmetal Alchemist, you had also heard not to mess with him. Coming to this world had changed him somewhat, and he had become much less emotional, in all aspects of the word. He didn't feel as enraged as he used to, but he also didn't feel as happy or motivated. Most of the time he just felt mellow.

But at this very moment, he was livid.

This was the second time that week this had happened. Edward had come back home after a long day of looking for clues about the uranium bombs, or alternatively looking for a temporary job that he could ditch after a few weeks to get back on the road, but when he came back he found the apartment empty.

They had temporarily settled down in a small village near Nürnberg in an apartment that was more than enough for the two of them. Noah had said her goodbyes shortly after Heiderich's death, so there was no one else to share the space with. And, apparently, some nights it was void of Al, too.

Alphonse had been weird ever since their first week back together, but things had really started to escalate the second week. While Edward had never had real trouble reading his brother, now he felt like he was trying to understand someone he had never even seen before.

Al had started to get weirdly avoidant of long conversations with him, but also of long silences. He was also avoidant of sitting down at the table with him, laughing with him, crying with him, remembering the past and planning the future with him, and well, anything that included him in general. At first Ed thought it was just his way of trying to get a hold of things, to rearrange his two sets of memories from the same age period in his life, to make sense of everything that didn't. Edward wasn't too worried or insulted by it at first. Sure, he would have wanted to spend a little more time with his brother, who he was not sure was even alive still three week ago, but he could be patient too.

The front door of the apartment closed slowly, only creeking a tiny bit on it's way, but the sound of the lock clicking back into place was loud enough to be heard from all around the room.

Alphonse hissed as the sound seemed to linger in the air all around him, bouncing from one wall to another, only multiplying it's volume. Not two seconds after the light in the living room was lit and hasty footsteps followed.

"AL!", he heard his name being called by an all too familiar voice. The sandy haired teen turned around and was faced with his brother, whose face that was much less round and much more mature than Al remembered, was so full of emotion that it actually took Alphonse by surprise. Ed was staring at him with his mouth open and he seemed like he had been literally holding his breath for minutes, or hours most like.

Alphonse could almost hear Ed's thoughts as his gaze scanned him from head to toes. 'No scratches, the fabric in the clothes is intact, no blood anywhere, no signs of any kind of struggle... No signs of having run, no panting or sweat anywhere... No other expression than surprise and... Regret?'

Ed's face seemed to pick out one emotion from all the one's that had been swimming around his head just moments ago.

"WHERE THE HELL HAVE YOU BEEN! I LOOKED ALL OVER FOR YOU, DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW LATE IT IS!?", he shouted and took a few strides over to his younger brother. Edward clutched Alphonse by the elbows and gave him a shake, one that seemed way too gentle to him at that moment, but to Al it felt way too hard. Al tried to get away from his touch, but Ed only grasped him tighter.

"Brother, stop! You're hurting me", Al said and held his hands close to his chest protectively. "I was... I was taking a walk", the lie rolled of this tongue surprisingly easily. It left a bad taste in his mouth, but it didn't seem to put out the storm in Edward's eyes.

"You were taking a walk for SIX HOURS!?", Ed shouted, but to his surprise Al seemed genuinely taken aback by his words.

'What!? Was it really six hours? Oh no...', Al bit his lip. He closed his eyes with a pained expression, but didn't speak.

"Well!?", Ed snapped not two seconds into the silence. "Al, I was worried sick of you! I thought something had happened to you, that you were-"

"Well I'm fine as you can see!", Al shouted suddenly and his eyes flashed open, only to stare at Ed with such emotion and fire that it almost matched his own. Alphonse's gray, round eyes rarely held that same fire as Edwards sunfire glaze, and it was somewhat startling. Ed found himself stunned for long enough to Alphonse break from his grasp.

"I was out getting to know this world, Brother. I was trying to make some friends here, to have something outside of these four walls that I... That I know", he exclaimed and stared intensily at Edward, who did not know how to react. He just stared at his younger brother for awhile, completely taken aback by his sudden outburst - 'I'm the one who is supposed to be angry here!' - all the while trying to regain his previous control of the situation.

"Al, that's not an excuse to just disappear for the night and not tell me where you were!", he cried in annoyance as Al walked right past him, making his way to the bathroom.

"I'm sorry Brother, I'll tell you next time", Al informed so casually that it made Ed all the more annoyed.

"You- you won't randomly be gone for six hours during the night, Al, telling me or not telling me is not the only problem here! You have the body of a 12 year old, you can't just walk around like that!", Ed tried to reason with him, but was greeted with the bathroom door nearly closing on his face.

"Leave me be, Brother! I want to be alone", Al shouted from the small bathroom.

Ed was fuming. "Don't close the door on my face!", he yelled and tried his best not to kick the door down. He did not want to brake it in a world where you can't just fix things with the clap of your hands. Instead, he leaned his right arm on the door and rested his forehead against the cool wood, sighing heavily.

"Al, I-… I understand how difficult this is for you. Believe me, I was in the same situation a few years ago. I know how hard it is to change worlds", he explained once he felt calm enough to not raise his voice. "But I feel like you're not... You're not trusting me anymore. You can talk to me, you know that, right?"

Only silence ensued. Ed waited patiently for what felt like hours, but not one sound was heard from behind the door.

After a while the shower turned on and Edward sighed again, defeatedly.

"We'll talk tomorrow, then", he said, more to himself than anyone else, running his left hand down his tired face.

They never did.

Al's POV

Three weeks ago

Alphonse Elric opened his eyes slowly, since the motion alone made him feel like he was pushing a concrete wall with his bare hands. His eyelids had never felt as heavy as they did right now. Or maybe they had, back when he got his body back. But at the moment, that was just a distant memory, and this moment was everything he could feel.

About twenty different emotions ran through his mind the first ten seconds he was awake.

The scents that hit his nose were weird and familiar at the same time. The light that finally reached his eyes felt the same way: he didn't expect sunlight to ever feel weird, but that was exactly how it felt right then. The soft piece of fabric that lay on top of him felt too heavy. The ceiling was a weird, grayish white color, and he couldn't tell if it was supposed to be that way or if it was just old and dirty. Something was weird about everything it seemed.

He turned his head and looked to his side. What he saw, however, made the weirdness in everything else okay.

Lying next to him was no other but his older brother, whose face was mostly covered with bright blonde hair and who was – albeit a bit uncomfortably – leaning his head on his left arm. His mouth was open a tiny bit, the right side of his mouth curved upwards. He looked happy.

Al looked at him and couldn't help but smile too. His brother. He was really with him again. He could recognize that soft snoring and his scent anywhere. The scent that was the only familiar one here. The light that bounced off of his bright hair and illuminated the air around him was the only familiar light in Alphone's eyes.

Although they had spent most of the night catching up on everything, Alphonse felt like he could easily talk through the whole day with him. They had talked about everyone back in Amestris – Al was still trying to get used to the idea that he would never see them again, and it pained him horribly despite being able to have his brother back – but they had also talked about Hohenheim, Noah, the boy Heiderich who looked strangely much like Alphonse himself and they talked about how this world worked. They had talked about how their lives had been spent the last few years. Neither of them mentioned Al's long hair or red coat, but they both knew why he looked like that. They talked about how much they had missed each other.

Al looked at his brother, who was much more to him than just that. He was his best friend, his most trusted person, and in many ways his role model, something their father never was to him.

Al felt something move against his left side. He looked down and saw Ed's arm curled lazily around him, resting close to his hip. It was his left arm, that wasn't automail anymore, but this world's substitute for it. The skin color was a bit too light and the skin looked somewhat thick, but otherwise it looked very realistic.

At first Al felt happy and protected, but after a moment he started to feel something else. If someone would have asked what, he wouldn't have had any idea even himself. The arm resting on top of him was an indication of protection, but it felt too much somehow. It almost felt like it was too hot, burning against Al's bare skin that was left exposed by the loose t-shirt Ed had given him to sleep in. It wasn't that it felt uncomfortable. But maybe that was exactly what made it so uncomfortable.

Al pushed himself up from the bed and almost tripped on the blankets as he went. He walked quickly to the bathroom and closed the door behind him, not caring that the sound probably woke Ed up. Al rested his hands on top of the sink and lifted his head to take a look at himself in the mirror. Now that his memories were back, the long, sandy hair that cascaded down to his ribs looked strange. So much like Ed's. Which had been the point of it, but now that he was finally reunited with his brother, it felt almost like a security blanket that he didn't need anymore. He made a mental note of cutting it later, but for now, he decided to take a long shower, trying to wash away the strange feeling at the pit of his stomach. The hot water made his skin turn pink, but the feeling persisted.

In a way, some strangeness was to be expected when they could finally touch each other again. That was the only touch Al had really missed, aside from their mother of course. But now that he had it, it didn't feel like he thought it would have. It felt nothing like it did when he was younger, but he had no idea how or why it had changed.

When Al finally emerged from the bathroom, he found the bed empty. The sheets had been carelessly thrown all around the bed and the door of the room was open. The sound of pots and pans being moved around could be heard from the kitchen.

'He couldn't actually be preparing breakfast, could he?', Al wondered as he made his way into the kitchen. Ed had never been a morning person, much less someone who actually got up from bed right when they woke up. He would usually laze around for a good half an hour and then slowly proceed to drag himself to get coffee and food that someone else had prepared, preferrably. Then again, Al hadn't seen Ed for years. Made that had changed?

Sure enough, when he made his way into the kitchen, there was Ed, dressed in a white button-up shirt and brown pants, his hair in a neat ponytail, frying eggs and making coffee at the same time. Al had to blink at the sight. He would have never in a million years imagined seeing his brother being this productive in the morning.

Al felt outlandish in his messy, wet hair sticking in weird directions and sporting his sleep ruffled clothes. For a fleeting moment he felt as though he was in an alternate universe where he and Ed had changed personalities.

Ed turned around, probably sensing his presence, and greeted him with a smile that was so soft that Al wasn't sure if he had ever seen one like it before. The strange feeling from earlier seemed to make a comeback, and Al struggled to smile back at him normally. He felt like his face was getting unbearably hot.

"Morning", Ed said cheerfully and turned towards the table, scooping up three scrambled eggs with a spatula and placed them on the plate nearer to Al. "Dig in. I don't know if you drink coffee now, but I made some extra in case you want it", he explained as he proceeded to fill his own plate as well.

"Uh, thank you", Al said timidly with a small smile and pulled the chair from under the table. He felt like he sould brush his hair, but then again, he was with Ed. Why would he need to look presentable with his brother? Al shrugged at his weird train of thought as he picked up his utensils and started to cut up the eggs.

He watched as Ed moved around the kitchen surprisingly smoothly, looking like he had mastered a ritual of what to do in the mornings. This was weird to witness, as Al had never thought they would have mornings as relatively normal as this one.

"You want some?", Ed asked after he had poured himself a royal amount of black coffee. Al nodded slowly.

"Yeah", he said, earning an surprised expression from Ed.

"So you drink coffee now?"

Al shrugged. "Sometimes. Not that much, but I like it with milk and sugar", he said as Ed poured him a cup.

"Al", Ed began, "If you think I have milk here then you really don't remember me."

Al knitted his brows at that. "That's not funny, Brother."

"Sorry, sorry", Ed said amusedly and smiled that smile of his that made his eyes look like he was looking far beyond just the coffee cup. He ruffled Al's hair before he turned to place the kettle on the stove. "I was just teasing you, we do have milk. Alf- Heiderich used to drink it, too", he explained, sounding uncomfortable at the mention of his friend. Who was never going to drink that milk with his coffee again.

Al felt sad for his brother, but didn't know what to say, so he simply picked up one perfectly heated piece of toast from a plate infront of him. Nothing that Ed had prepared was the slightest bit burned. How long had he been in the shower for? Did Ed maybe have the time to do a second batch after messing up the first one?

"When did you begin to cook, Brother?", Al voiced his question out loud as Ed sat down and started wolfing down his food. At least that hadn't changed.

"Huh?", Ed asked around a mouthful of toast. "Oh, I don't know, I guess it's been a while now", he answered noncommittally.

Al simply nodded, but gave his brother a long, searching look. Ed was still smiling, and he seemed so relaxed in general, not feeling weird or uncomfortable or anything like that. Al wondered why he couldn't feel the same way. He was, of course, more than happy to be with his brother. This was all he had dreamed of for years, and he did not regret his decision to come here in the least. But he felt slightly uncomfortable and awkward at the same time.

They proceeded to eat in relative silence, with Al silently pondering his feelings, and Ed seeming to be committed to mainly eating and skimming the newspaper every now and then.

Al cleared his throat, deciding that he would not let his weird feelings ruin the first morning they spent together after such a long while.

But before he could speak, Ed beat him to hit.

"Did you get a cat?", he asked, rising his eyes from the newspaper.

Al was dumbfounded for a moment. For some reason he had not exptected that specific question.

"No", the younger of the two answered and shook his head. "I was moving around a lot."

"Hmm", Ed answered in an unreadable tone. "I was thinking, maybe we should go outside today, you know, so that you could get to know Münich better?"

Al smiled at his brother. "Sure! That sounds great."

Sooo that was it for now!

Please tell me what you think! I will very gladly hear any opinions. :)