Title: So, This is Christmas
Fandom: Full Metal Alchemist
Pairings: LIGHT HeiEd. Maybe if you squint.
Warnings: Drunken rambling
Author's Note: This was a Christmas Gift for Sharpwind over on LJ and here on . She received it on time, I'm just late posting it here.

Alfons stamped his boots on the ground, shaking a few flakes of snow from his hair before he opened the door, calling out, "I'm home!"

It was silly of him to do so. The walls were so paper thin, Edward had probably heard him on the street below. Poor Miss Gracia couldn't even have a gentleman friend over without the boys upstairs hearing everyt-

Ahem. Anyway.

There was no answer, but there rarely was. Edward spent his mornings at the library, his afternoons in the lab, and his evenings at home, pouring over his work from the day. He was like clockwork, Alfons could even tell what time of day it was depending on Edward's location. He was almost more reliable than the sun, and shone just as bright-

Yes, Alfons had had one too many beers down at the pub. Straight to bed with him.

In the bedroom, Edward was sitting on the edge of his bed, a puzzled look on his face. Alfons went over to his own bed and sat down to remove his boots.

"What is that?" Edward asked.

Alfons, not sure if it was rhetorical or not, looked up at Edward. But Edward wasn't staring at the papers strewn about his bed, but at the small pine tree Alfons had placed in the corner of the room.

It wasn't the grandest of trees, barely reaching Alfons' hip. He had found it at the very edge of town, and had smuggled it in under his coat. From it hung a solitaire, broken red glass ornament that he had found in the trash, and on top of it was a paper star, cut from that morning's newspaper.

"It's… it's a Christmas tree," Alfons muttered softly, his cheeks now a crimson red.

"A what tree?"

"A Christmas tree!" Alfons yelled, thoroughly embarrassed. "I'll take it down if-"

"What's Christmas?"

Alfons, having risen to remove the now offensive Christmas decoration, fell back on the bed in shock. "You don't know what Christmas is?"

"No. Should I?" Edward asked, his full attention on Alfons. That happened so rarely these days.

"It's a holiday. A Christian holiday. They celebrate the birth of-"

"They?" Edward interrupted. "You're not religious?"

Alfons paused, before answering, "I gave up on God some time ago."

Edward offered him a small smile, also a rarity. "I never gave him the chance."

"So, why the tree?"

"Actually," Alfons said, "it's a pagan tradition that the Christians stole, and now everyone does it. You're supposed to put presents under it and open them Christmas day."

"But, why'd you put it up? We're not Christians, and we can't afford presents."

Alfons tore his eyes from Edward and let them rest on the sad tree. "It reminds me of my family."

"Your family… I've never asked you about your family," Edward observed sadly.

"You're asked enough questions for tonight," Alfons said, the ale taking control of his eyes and resisting the urge to keep them open. He shrugged off his coat and kicked off his boots, laying down on his bed. "Good night, Edward."

"Good night," Edward called over his shoulder, his eyes still on the tree.

That night, as it often happened when the two boys talked about family, Edward quietly slipped into Alfons' bed. As always, Alfons said nothing, but when the smaller boy snuggled up against his back, Alfons rolled over and offered Edward his side instead, wrapping his arm around him. Neither boy said a word as they drifted off to sleep.

In the morning, Alfons woke to an empty bed, a massive headache, and a bottle-shaped present, wrapped in newspaper, with his name on it beneath the tree.

Oh, if only Edward preferred ale over wine.