In my story A Source of Hope, you might notice that unlike a lot of other people I maintain the fact that Al and Mei never sleep together through their pre-wedding relationship. I'm not going to deny the fact that some of that does come from my own standards regarding premarital sex, but when I saw that this was one of the prompts for AlMei week, I decided that I was going to use it to explain how it's NOT just that. I honestly can't see Al and Mei as a couple that would end up having sex before they were married. I just don't feel like it's in their character. And I used this fic to try to explain that.

I did give this fic a higher rating that my usual submissions because of the subject matter, but you have my word that nothing that deserves a higher rating actually happens.

It just wasn't something they ever had to discuss.

And to be completely honest, Al liked it that way.

They never made any conscious decision as a couple, or even as an individual in Al's case, to not have sex. And while Al couldn't claim that he had never thought about it (puberty had hit the poor alchemist hard when he was thrust into a fourteen year old body having left it when he was ten) or even that he hadn't wanted it, he didn't… want it.

The thoughts didn't even make sense to him. Which was blatantly obvious when Ling called Al in for a private meeting, and stared at him with a very somber expression on his face. Ling never had a somber expression on his face unless he was dealing with something very serious. Ling had even dismissed Lan Fan (she was waiting right outside the door) so it was just the two of them.

"Al, you know I like you."

"… yes."

"And I want you to know that I have a lot of respect for you, but I do have to ask both as an Emperor inquiring after one of my siblings' relationships and as an older brother… Is Mei still a virgin?"

Had Al been drinking tea at the moment he would have started choking on it. As it was he flushed bright red from his neck to the tips of his roots.

"What?"

"Is Mei still a virgin?" His expression stayed serious. "Al, I don't feel any more comfortable asking this question as you are answering it. Do you think I want to think about my little sister like that? No, but it is something I need to know."

"Why?"

Ling eyed Al a bit too shrewdly for the Amestrian's comfort.

"As the Emperor, I am responsible for all of my sibling's betrothals. That responsibility is given to me in my father's absence. And if you and Mei have… if she isn't and it's because of you, I need to know that when arranging any future relationships for her, even if it is to you. And there's just the fact that I'm her older brother and I care about her."

"I… well… no."

"No she's not?"

"No, she is! Or… at least… we haven't…" His bright red cheeks didn't change hue at all, if anything only intensifying.

"Are you sure?"

If at all possible, Al flushed even brighter. "Yes I'm sure."

"Al, I'm not going to do anything to you if you have." His words were steady, and Al was almost positive that he was trying to reassure him. "I just need to know."

"We haven't. I'm being honest."

"And Mei will tell me the same thing?"

"Yes," he answered firmly. "But I think she would probably find it even more of an awkward question to answer than I did."

Ling stared at him for a few seconds that seemed to stretch on forever. He thought that his color was starting to go down, but it wouldn't stay down for long if Ling kept staring at him like that.

Then the Emperor sighed in relief. "I'm glad we're done with that conversation. I'm sorry, Alphonse, but I had to ask. With how close you two have gotten people were bound to start asking questions and I needed to have an answer before they started asking."

"People really think that we would… do that?"

Ling simply raised an eyebrow. "Al, I know you aren't quite as familiar with the way things work here in Xing, but I thought you would have gotten enough of a taste for the royalty to know that enough people would jump to that conclusion. And with how hypocritical most of the Elders and higher ranking courtiers are, they'd probably try to have you kicked out of the country for deflowering the Princess, even though they regularly visit whore houses."

Any progress that Al had made in keeping his color down disappeared.

"No…"

"You might want to keep it that way."

"We weren't… going to. As in we weren't planning on… changing anything," he clarified quickly.

The raised eyebrow was back. "You've talked about this before? I know Mei would have been able to work out that it would have been a problem, but I wouldn't have thought that she would have brought it up with you—"

"No… we actually haven't really talked about it at all," Al confessed. He was frowning slightly. "I… well we haven't. I just… it wouldn't be… or at least I don't feel it would be… right."

"What do you mean?" Al risked a glance at Ling. His expression was perfectly blank, an expression that Al recognized only from court meetings when Ling was really annoyed with someone and desperate to not show it.

"Well I… I've always… I just don't think it'd be right. I'm not sure how else to say it. I feel like… I love Mei. I love her more than I've ever loved anyone. And there's not… I just want to make it clear that… well…" Inwardly Al was smacking himself over the head. He was supposed to be an Ambassador and speak in front of people all the time. He could make a speech to hundreds of people who would all like him out of their country or dead. Why could he not explain this in a way that made rational sense?

"It's not… it's not about sex. It's about the fact that… well, that, other things are more important to me. And I think we've never talked about it because we both agree. We want our relationship to be more than just that. It's just something we don't have to say. And I'm sure that if we stay together and get married that we won't have a problem with it, we both want children after all and… well that's how it happens, but for right now we don't need to. Our relationship is right where we want it to be. We don't need to… go there."

Ling's blank face remained firmly in place.

"I see."

There was silence while Ling continued to stare at him. Then he abruptly stood up.

"Lan Fan." The door opened and Lan Fan appeared. "I think I've spent enough time turning our dear Ambassador into a lovely New Year's red. Thank you for your time and your honesty, Al."

"That's it?"

"That's it," Ling confirmed. The blank expression was now gone, as if it had never existed, his usual sloppy grin plastered across his face. "I learned all that I needed to know. Oh and Al?"

"Yes?"

"Whenever you finally work up the guts to ask her to marry you, make sure to tell me."

The Emperor winked and the slipped through the doorway faster than Al could turn red and yell at him.