Expressions of Love
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The Elric brothers had many ways of describing each other. Al had a few favorite adjectives reserved for only his brother. Clean. Ed had always smelled like clean laundry. Even when they had began to dabble in alchemy, the smell of ozone could never quite cover the gentle scent. A scent he had missed as armor, but he hadn't missed those eyes. Blessed with a vision that was never quite sight, Al could see them, those eyes, everyday. The best times were at dawn when his brother would first awake. His mind clear and his eyes free of guilt, those times were Al's favorite, because he imagined that if he could just go a little farther into those depths he would find eternity. He'd always felt foolish for feeling this way, but it was true, Ed was his eternity. Fresh, bright and clear. More precious than the gold he resembled.
Ed had words for Al too. Not as profound in his thoughts as Al perhaps, but he still had words. Al's lips were the pink of strawberries, Ed had always thought, and Al loved strawberries. They were his favorite in fact, and how fitting. That they should be almost as sweet as the boy himself. Almost. Ed liked comparing Al to food, and other sweet things in particular, because that was Al, all sugar and sweetness and good. Like his scent, which was always rich with honeysuckle. Or his eyes, such an indescribable wonder to look into those eyes. Those eyes that Ed had so proudly deemed the color of "coconut" as a child. Named for the only milk filled substance Ed would ever deem worthy. Yes, Al's eyes were coconut, brown outside though the shades and hues varied from fruit to fruit, just as Al's eyes did with emotions and days. The inside of the seed filled with a white near-clear liquid milk. Always sparkling.
When Al had lost his body but not his soul, not his hope, not his love, Ed still had words for him. Nothing physical though. No, because Edward could never see his brother as cold, or steel, or hollow, because he wasn't. Not at all. Al was instead graceful, caring, pure. Al was human again, though he always had been, human that is. Either brother could spend their lives searching for the perfect way to describe the other, but they would run out of time before they ran out of words.
Often they argued that the other was wrong, Al complaining that he was not "soft like woven silk" or "bright as a summer sun". Just as Ed would object to being lovely and graceful because he was "NOT A GIRL!" Yet, whenever their lips met there were three words they could always agree on.
Love. Happiness. Finally.
