AN: Sorry if the time doesn't match up correctly. Enjoy ;)
I DON'T OWN FMA.
Safe Sex.
Two years has not even passed since Edward was able to retrieve Alphonse's body back. It took some time for both brothers to adjust to the changes which occurred to their bodies that day. Every now and then, Ed would absent mindedly clap his hands in attempt to do alchemy. If Alphonse was in the vicinity, he would rush over to his brother once he heard his hands clapping.
Whenever Ed needed to do something alchemy related, Al had no problem assisting. Al felt as if that was the least that he could do. Ed had already taken on the burden to get his body back, although he was equally to blame for losing his body in the first place.
In their house in Resembool, Al stood in front of his bed. He was working on packing a suite case for Xing and was unsure of what he needed. For sure he knew the basics of what he needed: underwear, socks, t-shirts, slacks and sweatpants.
But what else? Al asked himself as he stroked his bottom lip thinking.
As Al went into his drawer to get a few button down collar shirts, he heard what sounded like a glass hitting the floor. Soon after, the sounds of hands clapping, accompanied with a disappointed sigh.
"Ed?" Al questioned, tossing the shirts into the suite case. He was already heading to the source of where he heard the sound before Edward could respond.
"Yeah. I'm fine," Ed yelled back.
Al was jogging down the stairs and walking into the kitchen where Ed was standing over what looked like a broken ceramic container mixed in with a pile of either sugar or salt.
"What happened?" Al said walking towards the mess.
Before Ed could answer, Al was already kneeling on the floor. Without a second though, Al clapped his hands and repaired the ceramic jar.
"I accidentally left the salt too close to the edge while I was cooking. And then I forgot it was there and hit it off the table by mistake."
"Uh huh," Al said placing the container on the table, "I know it's your night to prepare dinner," The younger Elric paused eyeing the mess in the sink Ed had already caused, "But are you sure you don't want to just make us a sandwich?"
It was no secret that between the two of them, Al was the better cook. He exceeded Ed in cooking. Edward on the other hand was not very good at cooking.
"I'm sure. Winry showed me how to make lamb stew last weekend and I wanna try it. Plus Paninya just mailed me her famous lasagna recipe."
Al raised his eyebrows, half impressed and half shocked.
"You still speak with Paninya? Even though she calls you a pipsqueak?"
Ed exhaled. Although he matured, he still hasn't completely gotten over people making fun of his height.
"You want to know what's funny though, Al," Ed asked rhetorically, "She started her letter off as 'Dear shorty pipsqueak'. It's like she enjoys pissing me off. I'm even taller than her and she still calls me short."
Al shrugged, "She wouldn't be Paninya if she didn't make fun of you," A chuckle escaped Al's lips.
"Yeah, whatever. Next time I see her I won't let her get away with it that easily."
Al sighed, "Please, don't destroy Rush Valley," His shoulders then dropped at the thought of all the work he would have to put in to repair the town, "It would take forever to clean that mess up."
"Don't worry Al," Ed reassured, "Since I can't use alchemy anymore, there isn't much I can do. I'm just a mere human."
Alphonse shot a look that read 'yeah right' towards Edward.
"Even without alchemy, you're not just a mere human. "
This caused Ed to grin. He then balled one of his fist before lightly punching it in his opposite hand , "I can still hold my own. Even without alchemy."
Alphonse rolled his eyes, "Oh, God."
Ed turned to the table and picked up the jar once containing the salt. He then pushed the jar into Al's chest, "Since we're out of salt, can you ask the neighbor if we can have some. I'd go myself but I have to watch the stew."
Al nodded, "Sure. Please don't set the house on fire while I'm gone."
Ed gave the thumbs up, "I'll be fine don't worry."
Al walked out of the kitchen, "Alright. I'll just go and ask Marcie if she has any."
"Sounds good," Ed said agreeing with Al. He followed his younger brother to the front door, "Don't take all day. I need that salt pretty soon," Ed leaned against the frame of the front door as Al walked down the steps.
"Uh huh," Al waved, "Got it. Be back quickly."
"I mean it, Al."
"I won't be long!" Al reassured.
The younger of the two bother walked down the path leading to Marcie's house.
Marcie Rojarnie was an absolutely stunning women. Aged 24, she was already following in her father's footsteps as a pharmaceutical doctor. She recently moved away from the large city alone to be able to grow and study the effects of her own plants.
With the jar in his hand, Al wondered what Marcie would have to offer him today. Although she was no doctor, she often gave the Elric brothers a sample of crushed plants claiming some health benefits. Before Al realized it, he was already walking up towards her door.
It did not take long for Marcie to open the door after Al knocked.
In front of him stood Marcie. Tight blonde curls fell just above the her shoulders. With just an over sized t-shirt on, her large brown eyes searched Al's face trying to guess the reason for his unexpected visit.
"Sorry," Marcie started, "I was just about to step into the shower when you knocked. Did you need something?"
Al's face turned slightly red at the thought of Marcie getting into the shower. This was a humanly function which he thought that he could do without.
"Uhh," Al stumbled to find his words, "I just wanted to ask if we can barrow salt. Ed accidentally spilt all of ours. "
Marcie grinned, relieved that there wasn't some type of emergency.
"No problem," She adjusted the glasses on her face, "I thought Ed was sick or something. Come on in."
After Al promised to return as soon as he could, Ed walked back into the house closing the door behind him. Immediately, Ed rushed over to the kitchen to keep a eye on the lamb stew that he started. Lucky for him, Winry mentioned that the stew took awhile to cook.
Ed began reminiscing on the conversation between him and Winry. A couple of weeks ago, Winry told Ed that she met Al leaving Marcie's house at around 1 in the morning. Then Winry proceeded to ask Ed if he ever had the safe sex talk with Al.
Granted, Ed and Winry both had sex for this first time not too long after retrieving Al's body. But for the past two years, Al's been working on regaining his strength and getting used to being a human once more. Surely, Ed thought sex wasn't on his younger brother's mind. That was until Winry bought up Al leaving their neighbor's house at such a late hour. Plus the fact that he spends a lot of his free time with her.
A slight blush appeared across Ed's face. How was he going to open up the conversation with Al? Ed was certain that Al was a smart individual and knew what parts went where. But if he had other question, how would he answer them?
"Honestly," Ed answered his question out loud.
"That was surprisingly good," Al said as he helped Ed clear the table, "I think you did Winry's stew justice tonight."
"Jeeze Al," Ed said gabbing a plate from Al and putting it in the sink, "Can you at least pretend that you have some confidence in me?"
Alphonse snickered, "Can you blame me, Ed? Cooking wasn't your forte. You burned toast."
" I was trying to figure out the toaster! That damned thing was weird."
Al raised his eyebrows, "It was toast, Ed."
Ed wiped his hands on his sweatpants before sitting at the table again, "It would have tasted ok if you put jam on top of it."
Al made a face of disgust, "Uh, no," Al laughed at his older brother, "Should I start coffee? I know I will be up late tonight reading some books before I leave for Xing. I'm wondering if you'll be doing the same," Al asked before going over to the counter to prepare coffee.
"Yeah," Ed waved, "I wanna do some studying before I head West."
"Mhh hmm," Al said measuring out the coffee beans, "Did you start to pack?"
"Nah," Ed admitted leaning back on his chair, "Not too worried about clothes. If I need something over there I'm sure I can just buy it."
Al nodded, "True."
"Speaking of traveling," Ed began to straighten his posture, "I wanna talk to you about something."
"Of course," Al walked over to the kitchen table to join his older brother, "Anything."
"W-well" Ed stammered. He was a little nervous about the conversation, "We're pretty open about everything right?"
"Uh huh," Al nodded, "We're brothers. Is everything ok?"
"Everything is fine," Ed took a deep breath. He was starting to wonder why he was so nervous to have this talk with Al. They spoke about everything else. Whatever question Al had about his adult body, Ed was happy to answer.
Out with it, Ed thought to himself.
"I think it's time that we have the sex talk," Ed said carefully watching Al's reaction.
"Oh," Al formed an 'O' shape with his mouth, "Ok then. What do you want to know?"
Ed was taken aback by Al's response.
"What do you know?" The older brother looked Al up and down completely shocked by his response.
"Relax Ed," Al put his hands up in defense.
"Are you sexually active?"
"Right now," Al looked his brother in the eyes, "No."
"What's that mean?! You were active before?"
"About a year ago. When I went to visit Julia. We started dating. After that stuff just kinda happened," Al shrugged, "Ya know? She's a very beautiful girl and I really liked her."
"Hold the hell up!" Ed pointed at his younger brother, "You're dating Julia?!" He almost fell out of his chair.
"No not anymore. She decided that we're better off friends since we didn't know when was the next time we'd be able to see each other. Plus I told her about me traveling to Xing. But we dated for the amount of time that I spent visiting her so it didn't even make sense telling you."
"So," Ed started in disbelief, "You actually knew how everything worked? You didn't have any problems?"
"Well," Al began thinking about the time he spent with Julia, "Actually, I wasn't entirely sure of what to do. Sure, I knew how everything worked, but I didn't know that you actually had to put time in before actual intercourse. Not that I minded anyway. But she guided me through everything."
"Damn Julia, she beat me to the punch," Ed mumbled to himself.
"Why?" Al leaned forward onto the table, "Do you need any advice? I'm sure you and Winry are active."
"What?!" Ed said slightly offended, "I'm trying to have the sex talk with you, not the other way around!"
The coffee maker began making noises, signaling that the coffee was done.
"Right," Al lightly laughed at his brother's reaction before getting up to attend to the coffee. He walked over to the cabinet where the coffee mugs were placed.
Ed cleared his throat, "Anyway Al," Ed watched as Al was preparing the coffee, "No creamer for me please. I want mine black."
"Sure," A said putting creamer in his alone.
"Anyway," Ed continued his original thought, "I was going to ask you if you knew about sex and all. But it seems like you already got that down. But what I do want to know is if you're using contraceptives."
Al walked over with coffee in both hands. He first placed the cup in front of Ed, then set his own before sitting down, "You mean condoms."
"Yes," Ed watched his younger brother's face for a reaction.
"When I was with Julia, no," Al took a sip of his coffee, "Scariest five weeks of my life. I'm no where ready to be a father."
Ed slid his fingers into the loop of the coffee mug, "Okay. So for future reference I do have some in my nightstand drawer. If you ever need them feel free."
"I know," Al sported a smug look on his face, "Thanks for the offer."
"How did you know?"
"You've asked me many times to get items from that drawer. I know what a condom container looks like, brother. I may not have had my body back for long, but I'm not that naive," Al took another sip of his coffee. He looked down at his brother's hand and noticed that he was gripping the mug very tightly.
"Relax, Ed. You don't have to be so tense about this topic. I mean we already talk about everything else. Drink the coffee," Al instructed his older brother.
"It's just, I wanna make sure that you're ok. I wouldn't want you to get into another situation," Ed admitted before bringing the mug to his mouth.
"Where did all this come from?"
After drinking some of his coffee Ed answered, "Winry told me that she saw you leaving Marcie's house around one in the morning. So I figured," Ed didn't finish his sentence.
"I see," Al nodded, biting his lip to suppress his laughter, "Marcie is very pretty. So I can see where you got that idea from. And she's really smart."
"You mean you and her aren't?" Ed asked unsure of what exactly the relationship is between Al and Marcie.
"No! I'm interested in her studies. That's why I'm always leave her house late. We're just friends," Al began laughing out loud, "This is too funny! You think me and Marcie are," Al couldn't contain his laughter, "This is what bought up this whole sex talk?"
"What's so funny?" The older Elric brother demanded.
After Al was able to pull himself back together he answered, "Let's just say that she asked me about Winry."
"Is she?"
Al nodded, "Yup, she's a lesbian. She's not interested in me. She thinks your girlfriend is 'pretty cute' though," He tried his best to imitate Marcie's voice, "Then she mentioned that if she wasn't dating you, she'd try to turn Winry out."
"No," Ed whispered in horror. He immediately pushed his seat away from the table.
"Where are you going?" Al watched as Ed frantically walk over to the coat rack to grab his sweater.
"To warn Winry to stay away from Marcie."
Al chuckled again, "Alright," He picked up his cup of coffee, "Then I'll just go up to my room to study."
"Al," Ed call, stopping his younger brother before heading up the stairs.
"Yes?" Al turned to his older brother.
"What would you have told me, if I asked for you advice in sex?"
"Oh," Al paused for a few seconds to think, "I think what I learned from Julia is to listen to her reactions and watch her body language. But I'm sure you already knew that right?"
Ed smiled satisfied with Al's answer, "We didn't even need to have this talk. Except for the condoms. I'm serious Al if you ever need them, you know where they are."
"I got it. Thanks, brother."