It was dark and rainy, as it always was when it neared the end of November. Most people were at home, small children getting ready for bed, adults settling down for the evening; no one was out.

Or rather, almost no one was out. Had one of the adults or children looked out their windows, they might have caught a glimpse of a young boy wearing a long red coat, hands in his pockets as he stared at the ground, and a slightly taller figure, only taller by a few centimeters, and from a distance, if you didn't know any better, you could mistake him as his shadow.

But the other figure was not the first one's shadow, it was his younger brother, Alphonse, and the first one's name was Edward.

It was late for them to be out, but Edward had landed an after school detention, and his brother, though only a year younger than him, didn't want to walk home alone without his brother.

Edward Elric, 10 years old, wore black boots, black pants, and a black shirt, long sleeved with a high collar, and edged with white, overtop of which he wore a long red overcoat with a mysterious black symbol on the back. He had long blonde hair that he kept in a braid, and his eyes were about the same golden shade, and over his hands, though you couldn't see them as they were tucked into his pockets, he wore white gloves over them at all times.

Alphonse Elric, 9 years old, wore plain jeans and a t-shirt, and had a black leather jacket on. His hair was darker than his brothers, and it was tied back into a long, high ponytail, and his eyes were a warm, smoldering grey. Though he was younger, he was a little taller than his brother, but he was a lot more skittish. His brother had a reputation for starting fights, Al would do almost anything to avoid one.

"Hang on, Al," the older boy murmured to his younger brother as they walked, "almost there now,"

"I know, Brother," Al muttered and stayed close to the older of the two.

"Heheheh, hey, Alphonse, whose your girlfriend?" came a voice from behind them.

The two brothers spun around and saw a group of boys from school. It was Friday, and they seemed to have snuck out as usual.

"Hey, he's not-" Alphonse started, but was cut off by his brothers arm stopping in front of him.

"Don't even bother bother with them, Al, even if you tried to, they're idiots, and probably wouldn't remember anything. They're nothing more than a bunch of brainless morons," he told his brother.

"What was that, Pipsqueak?" the leader of the group shouted.

"Don't call me small!" Edward retaliated.

"Oooh, little Girly-Boy's got a temper," he mocked.

"Why you-!" the older Elric brought his right arm back to swing at the taller boys face.

"No, Brother! Don't do it!" Al pleaded as he reached for his older siblings right arm, fear flitting across his face.

Edward lowered his arm and sighed, looking back at his brother with a sad smile on his face. The gang laughed and Ed spun around and punched their leader square in the nose with his left hand.

"Your lucky Al was here, or your face would really be screwed up," Edward threatened as he turned away, motioning for his brother to follow and they turned the corner to their house.

"You won't get away with this you little punk!" the others threatened, but the Elrics both ignored them.

"Thanks, Al," Edward looked at his brother who was breathing rather frantically, "do you need your inhaler?" he asked.

"No, I'm fine," the younger answered honestly as he took a deep breath, "and your welcome, Brother," he muttered.

The two walked in silence until they came to their house and walked over the threshold, "we're home," Alphonse called sadly inside as he shed his jacket and hung it up.

"You finished your homework, right Al?" Edward asked as he hung up his own coat.

"Yep, and you?"

"Done, only thing to do in detention anyway,"

The boys went upstairs to the room they shared. It was plenty spacious for them both to lay out their things without bothering the other, so there were few arguments about that.

"Well if you didn't fight so much..." Al started as he got dressed for bed.

"Don't start that, Al! He had it coming to him!" Edward snapped as he came out of the closet, dressed in long sleeping pants and shirt, his ever present gloves on his hands, and he had removed his shoes and just had on his socks.

Al sighed, "Brother, I don't see why you feel the need to...I mean we're in our own house...It's not like I haven't seen-" Al trailed of abruptly and blushed slightly as he realized how it sounded, but Edward completely missed it and only saw his brothers red face.

The older Elric walked across the room and pulled off his left glove before placing it on his brothers forehead, "are you feeling alright, Al?" he asked worriedly.

"I'm fine, Brother, I'm not sick," the younger boy pushed his brothers hand away gently.

"Are you sure? Your awfully red,"

"It's nothing," Al assured him, "anyway, why won't you take off your glove, or even your sock for that matter?"

"Al, you know why," Ed rubbed his forehead with his left hand, the two of them had this same discussion a few times a week, and it always ended up the same way.

"I know why you won't at school, but no ones here but us, and I know what happened, dammit, I saw it, Brother!" Al looked up at his brother from where he was seated on his bed.

"Watch your mouth, Al, you don't want to end up with a bad reputation," Edward reprimanded his younger brother.

"But-"

"Drop it, Al!" Edward snapped as he left the room, the door closing with a snap, leaving his younger brother alone in the dark.

*********************************

Al lay awake until he could no longer keep his eyes open. He had wanted to wait until his brother had come in so he could apologize, but it seemed the older Elric was going to sleep on the couch, so late that night, Al finally drifted off to sleep.