-1"Need…more…ramen.." Alphonse Elric watched slightly fascinated as his brother slept, stomach hanging out as usual. The blond haired boy twitched and rolled over in his sleep nearly falling off the couch he had fallen asleep on claiming he was too tired to actually walk to his bed, Al just thought he was lazy. Al himself was starting to yawn, something that was still new to him, and decided that it was time to try and get his brother into his bed, if he left him here he knew that Ed would wake up stiff from curling up on the couch in a weird position or he'd fall off of it and hurt himself. 'Shouldn't be to hard.' Al thought 'He may be my big brother, but he's still kind of small.' As if Al had spoken these words out loud Ed let out a small grunt, a scowl on his sleeping features, and muttered something about not being a hobbit. Al suppressed a laugh and gently put his arm under his brother's back to lift him up into a sitting position. He was surprised that his brother was so heavy even though he was so small and was glad that Ed was starting to support his own weight a little, his eyes opening to reveal sleep-hazed golden orbs.
"What's Al?" Ed mumbled sleepily, his words running together making him sound as if he was asking what Al was instead of what was going on.
"Brother, you need to get in bed." Ed started to protest as Al dragged him off of the couch and started walking down the hall of the house the two boys shared.
"I dun wanna'" he whined and said something Al couldn't hear, but sounded a lot like 'Why did the hallways have to be so long?'. Finally reaching Ed's room Al opened the door, which was not easy seeing as how a certain blonde chibi decided that he was no longer going to support himself,: thus knocking poor Al into the doorframe, Al dragged his brother inside the room and flopped him onto the bed. The only problem with that was the fact Ed was still holding on to him, causing Al to fall onto the bed next to Ed, who promptly cuddled up to him.
"Um..brother?" Al whispered, "Would you mind letting go?"
"Quiet Al, you're comfortable." Ed said sleepily and easily went back to sleep. Al looked down at his brother's face, and blushed slightly at how close they were, he had never noticed how soft Ed's lips were, or how angelic his brother's face was when he slept. Mentally scolding himself as his blush grew deeper Al concentrated on getting to sleep, it didn't look like Ed was going to let go of him anytime soon.
When Edward Elric opened his eyes the next morning he was surprised to see his brother's sleeping form next to him. He gazed down at his arms and realized he was gripping rather tightly to his brother's shirt, and he was cuddled rather close…Shaking his head Ed let go of his brother and eased himself out of bed quietly not wanting to wake him. As he made his way into the kitchen to make coffee, he hated the stuff but it was the only way he could actually move in the mornings, he tried to convince himself that it was only the fact that Al was a warm and trustworthy figure, and the fact that it was a cold night being winter and all, that he had curled up against him like that. As he took of a sip of coffee from the steaming cup in front of him, wincing as he did, he couldn't help but think of how Al's face looked as he slept. His brother was always very 'soft' looking, and he had always looked young, but there was always that spark of determination when he was awake, looking at the sleeping Al and noticing how innocent he looked Ed felt rather bad about the fact he had wanted to lean over and claim his brother's lips as his own. This thought, which was really a realization, brought a blush to his face and that was of course the time his brother picked to walk into the room. "Good morning brother!" Al said cheerfully as he bustled about the kitchen making breakfast for both himself and his brother .
"Morning Al." Ed said, ducking his head and staring into his cup hoping to hide the remnants of the blush. They ate their breakfast in near silence, except for a few words by Al that failed at starting a conversation with his brother. As Al cleared the dishes, Ed pulled on his boots and grabbed his jacket, heading towards the front door.
"Where are you going brother?" Al asked, not looking up from the sink.
"I'm just going outside for some fresh air, I'll be back in soon."
"Be careful" Al replied "There are a couple of patches of ice out there, I don't want you falling and hurting yourself."
"I won't" Ed promised and made his way outside, watching out for the ice his brother had mentioned. 'He was worried about me…. Just like last night, he must have moved me from the couch to my bed, could he?' Ed mentally smacked himself. Of course his brother would be worried about him, he always had, that didn't suggest that Al felt anything romantic for him! Heading down a familiar path in the forest by their home Ed tried desperately to ignore the fact he was in love with his brother.
Ed had been rather quiet during breakfast, and that worried Al. He couldn't help but wonder if Ed had somehow found out about his feelings and was repulsed but the fact that Al loved him much more then a brother. It hurt to think that his brother might hate him for that, and it made Al sick to his stomach that Ed couldn't even look him in the eye during breakfast, why else would he have stared at his food the entire time and ignored Al's conversations? He sank to the floor overcome by grief and buried his head in his hands as he started to cry.
Ed had been sitting in the clearing in the forest for a long time, he didn't realize how long until he noticed that the light was fading fast. Cursing he got up from the fallen tree he had been using as a chair and winced as he fell down, his leg asleep. Growling softly he struggled up and stumbled along the path towards his home. After a little while he started having a sinking feeling that he was lost, to make matters worse it was already dark and he was getting numb from the cold. He could barely see the path in front of him and it was starting to freak him out, not to mention Al was probably worried. Al, just thinking of his name sent a pang through his heart, maybe he'd be better without him. "First I take away his body and then when I finally get it back for him I find I.." He found he what? That he lusted after his brother? No. It wasn't merely lust that he felt for his brother, it was something much more, something he had felt even when his brother was a walking tin can. Edward Elric, the Fullmetal Alchemist, was in love with his brother. Madly in love to tell the truth. "Great, now that I've figured that one out, what the hell am I going to do about this?!" He yelled to no one in particular, taking a step forward he slid on a patch of ice and landed in a pile of snow next to ground where Al's garden was in the summer. Wait…Al's garden?
"Brother?" A familiar voice called and Ed smiled, even though he doubted it could be seen with his face in the snow.
"Brother?" Al called as he saw his blonde brother in the snow by his garden. Ed pushed himself up, sitting back on his knees, and with the candle Al was holding he could make out a few scratches where his brother must have fallen in the forest. "Brother! Are you ok?" he asked walking closer to Ed, crouching down so they were at eye level.
"Al…." Ed said, a strange smile on his face.
"Yes brother?"
"I love you." Al blinked and looked at Ed.
"I know." He said simply, and Ed looked at him shocked.
"You..you..know?"
"Of course brother, I love you too!" Al smiled innocently, but inside his heart was breaking. He wished Ed hadn't said that, because while it was true that Al did love him it was so different from just being brothers…. Ed looked at him for a second before looking down with a sigh.
" I don't think you understand me Al.." He looked up again staring into Al's eyes. "I know it's wrong, and you'll probably hate me for it, but.. I.." Ed gave up on words and pressed his lips gently against his brother's, whose eyes had gone wide. As Ed pulled away, looking a tad ashamed, Al touched his fingers to his lips.
"Brother…"
"You hate me right?" Ed said with a humorless laugh
"I.."
" Don't worry Al, you don't have to say anything, I understand"
"But I-"
"I'll get my stuff and leave." Ed went to push himself up but found himself tackled to the snowy ground by his brother. Al let out a small growl.
"Don't you dare Ed!" Ed blinked and went to open his mouth to say something. "Oh no you don't brother!" Al said cutting him off. "You never listen to me! I told you to watch out for the ice and you didn't and you fell!"
"Al, I don't see how that-"
"And now I'm trying to tell you I feel the same way about you as you do for me and once again you aren't listening and are trying to leave!" Ed's eyes grew wide. "Now shut-up and kiss me!" Al said fiercely and pressed his lips against Ed's. A rather shocked Ed kissed his brother back uncertainly and when they finally broke away he took a long look at his brother.
"Al..we're both guys, not to mention brothers are you sure you're ok with this?" Al sighed and got up, pulling Ed to his feet.
"Ed, get inside and dry off" He said in a rather motherly tone of voice.
"What?" Ed asked incredulously.
"You heard me!" Al said, "You're soaked! How many times did you fall down in the snow?" He shook his head and started to push his brother inside.
"Al you didn't answer me" Giving another sigh Al finally got Ed into the house and closed the door. "Don't you ever listen? "I. Love. You." He said slowly making sure to enunciate, "Now go get some dry clothes on!"
Ed laughed, "Yes sir." and gave Al a quick peck on the check before heading to his room and changing clothes.
From then on, everything was much more relaxed around the Elric household, and Ed slowly learned that it was ok for him to love his brother the way he did, and of course he learned how to listen to Al better. Al learned to stand up for himself just a tad more, but was usually the push-over he had always been. The only thing that he really fought for was their love, and no one in the world could make him back down from that.