A/N: *crawls out of dark cave, throws out fic, crawls back in* Sorry for making everyone wait so long for this. It's been over a year and it's still not done, there really is no excuse for it. I have half of the next part done so I should (will, this time) get it done in a reasonable amount of time. And super duper apologies to those who expected this by Christmas. I wanted to get more typed out but nothing was happening so I've decided to post what I've got and see if your REVIEWS (hint, hint, nudge, nudge) can inspire me for more. There will be more, I have a plot and everything, it's just getting the ball rolling that's always been a bit difficult for me. Again, sorry it's late, sorry it's short, there will be more.
.:.
Al grinned as he felt his brother's tongue slide over the outside of his ear.
"Wake up, lazy," Edward murmured, shaking Al's shoulder lightly. Al grumbled and lazily swatted in Ed's direction.
"G'way," he mumbled, pretending he wanted to continue his nap. In all honesty, he'd much rather wake up and snuggle with his brother. However, the more he could bug Ed, the better off it was; Ed deserved a few annoyances in return for the complete nuisance he was. And Ed was persistent, nibbling at the curve of his ear and kissing down the side of his neck. Teeth brushed against the soft skin and Al shivered but stayed asleep.
Suddenly, the lips, teeth, and tongue were gone. Al frowned and was about to turn over to see why Ed had drawn back when his brother's tongue returned… wet and wriggling inside his ear.
"GAH!" Al exclaimed, jerking upright. "What the hell!"
Ed was grinning impishly at him, tongue still sticking out. "It lives," Ed teased.
"What do you want?" Al asked, glaring at his brother.
"I wanna go do something," Edward whined. "We haven't done anything all week."
"Like what?" Al yawned.
"I don't know." Ed leaned his head over the side of the bed. Al's eyes swept over the well-toned abs as Ed's shirt rode up on his chest. "Want to go hunting?"
"Not thirsty," Al said, his eyes tracing up Edward's arms.
"We could always make better use of the bed," Ed suggested with a half-hearted wriggle that might have been intended to be seductive. "Hmm… nah, we've been doing that all week… Love doing it, but I need something more to do."
Al scooted forward, trying to get a better look at Ed's chest.
"Ugh, this town is so boring," Ed complained. "There's nothing to do here… Al, what are you doing?"
Al hadn't realized he'd straddled Ed's waist until he was staring down into confused gold eyes. "Um…" Al didn't know what he was doing as he looked at Edward's face.
"You sure you're not thirsty?" Ed asked, propping himself on his elbows. His gold eyes were full of concern. He leaned his head to the side, revealing the scarred skin of his neck. Though vampires healed remarkably fast, Edward's neck was littered with scars. Al was still unable to kill humans, his personality had yet to harden, was still too soft for murder even if it was to sustain himself. He still consumed all his sustenance through his brother. The human blood was, of course, diluted and Al constantly refused to drink his fill, afraid he may drain too much from Ed. Because of this, he was almost always thirsty. The skin on Ed's neck hardly had any time to fully heal before it was torn again. Al hated himself every time his fangs sank into the sweet flesh. Ed resorted to wearing turtlenecks to cover the marks and affectionately called them love bites, averse to upsetting Al in anyway. Still, Al knew they were there behind the clinging cotton.
"No, I'm not thirsty," Al said, shaking his head. "I… just like looking at you." Al blushed slightly, avoiding his brother's gaze but still looking at him.
Ed chuckled, throwing his arm around Al's neck and pulling him down for a kiss. "I like looking at you too," Ed said as they broke apart. "But I wouldn't mind doing something else."
"Let's go visit Rihi," Al suggested, his hands tracing over Ed's chest. "We promised to stop by if we ever passed nearby again."
"Yeah," Ed said, a mischievous grin spreading across his face at the mentioning of the poor college student that was his favorite target for pranks. "He could always use a good scare…"
.:.
Alfons Heidrich sneezed as he made his way past crowds of fellow college students. His arms were laden with books and his thoughts were absorbed with his thesis, his surroundings barely registering in his mind. He knew the layout of the sunny courtyard well enough to avoid running into inanimate objects and the other students were quick to jump out of the way of a daydreaming geek plowing through with a mountain of books.
Alfons rammed right into the one person who chose to stand his ground. The books fell out of his arms and thudded to the dirty sidewalk. Alfons, never one for elegance and grace, tripped over them and stumbled into a pair of strong arms that prevented him from becoming very familiar with the hard concrete.
"Careful there, Alfons," said a silky smooth voice, badly masking a chuckle. "You don't want to scratch up that pretty face of yours."
Alfons' stomach dropped to become friends with further reaches of his body. His heart raced as he recognized exactly who- and especially what- had him in a rather tight, if slightly uncomfortable grip. "H-hi, Ed," he said, trying to sound annoyed but coming off a bit more breathless than he wanted to. Normally, of course, he would have been rather pissed off at who ever made him drop his books. They were nowhere near cheap and he liked his books better than half the idiots on campus. But this was Edward Elric, one of the few people who had the honor of being liked over books. Even if he did half scare him to death every time they ran into each other, even when it wasn't literal. "Can you put me down?" He glanced over his shoulder and saw the smirk on Edward's face turn absolutely evil.
"If you insist," and immediately, the supporting arms vanished and Alfons fell closer to the ground. A second set of arms grabbed him inches before his nose was smashed and a rather agitated voice chided," Brother, you're always so mean."
Alfons' heart was trying to jump out of his chest. Alphonse Elric was more disconcerting than Ed. With Edward, Alfons could shove his fear behind a thick wall of annoyance, making it easier to pretend the vampire was just another normal person. Al made that impossible. It was eerie enough that they looked so similar. Al acted so strange around him and Alfons had no clue how to act in return.
"Are you ok. Rihi?" Al asked, setting Alfons back onto his feet. His oddly colored brown eyes watched him carefully, hands still firm around Alfons' shoulders.
"I'm fine," Alfons said, slipping out of Al's grip and stooping to pick up his books. "I hope you realize I'm going to be late for class now." He aimed an angry glare at the golden blond who gave him a broad smile in return.
"Good to see you too," Edward said, throwing an unhelpful arm around Alfons' shoulder as he stood up.
"Why are you back?" Alfons asked, trying to walk under the added weight of Edward. "I thought you left town weeks ago."
"Brother was bored with the last town we were in," Al said, reaching behind Alfons to yank on Edward's braid. "So we decided to come back and check on you." He gave Edward a warning glare and Alfons had a feeling that the older of the two had wanted to come back to play jokes on him… again.
"Oh, goodie," Alfons said sarcastically, Edward stuck his tongue out at him and his eyes gained a dangerous sparkle.
"You're running late, aren't you?" he asked innocently. "Want me to run your books to class for you?"
"No," Al and Alfons said at the same time.
"The professors don't exactly appreciate it when you hang my books from the ceilings," Alfons said with a frown.
"I'll take them for you," Al offered, snatching the large pile out of Alfons' arms before he could protest. "Physics next, right?" He didn't even wait for an answer before he disappeared.
"I don't know which is worse," Alfons grumbled as he stared at the spot where Al had disappeared. "You and your annoying pranks or Al. I can take care of myself."
"Al's just worried about you, kid," Ed said, reaching up to ruffle Alfons' hair.
"You know, I'm not that much younger than you." Alfons pushed Edward's hand away and started walking again.
"Well, technically, no," Edward agreed, putting his arms behind his head as he followed. "But I am actually 36."
"Sure, sure," Alfons said, trying to get his hair to lie flat. "You look younger than me."
"Are you calling me short?" Ed asked. He poked Alfons rather hard in the side.
"Compared to me and Al, yeah." Alfons ducked to avoid the fist aimed for the back of his head.
"You're just a freaking giant, that's all," Ed grumbled, crossing his arms with a pout. "And Al's growing off of my blood, that's why I'm not growing any!"
Alfons shook his head and grinned. "Are you staying for long?"
"Probably," Edward said, flashing a brilliant smile at a passing, giggling redhead. "Know anyone who's gone on vacation?"
"You can stay at my place," Alfons said, knowing full well the two vampires would break into any abandoned building and stay there until the owners returned.
"You're dorm sucks," Edward saird. "No offense. It's too small, anyway. We'll let you know when and where the party is."
"What party- oh." Alfons shook his head again. "Are you hunting in town?"
"No, we ate on the way," Ed said, licking his teeth as if to remove something lodged there." "Just scoping out the possibilities."
Alfons nodded. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he knew the person walking at his side should completely terrify him. The casual way that Edward spoke of feeding off the blood of others, of killing humans just as weak as himself, should scare the crap out of him. And he did feel these things, was terrified to sleep some nights thinking something strange and powerful could be lurking outside his window, that his blood could be drained so easily by something he would never see coming. But when he was with the Elric brothers, he felt… safe. He was drawn to them, a pair of golden lights in the terrifying darkness, even though they were the ones who led him to fear, who told him about vampires. Well, that's what you get for sticking your nose into business that bites back.
"Ah, Al's back," Edward said, breaking Alfons from his rather depressing thoughts. "Hurry up and get to class now." He leaned over to peck Alfons on the cheek and slapped his ass.
"What the hell?!" Alfons turned around to yell at Ed but the older blond was gone, vanished into a crowd of students. Cheeks blushing brilliantly, Alfons hurried to his next class, grumbling murderously under his breath.
.:.
"Brother, stop picking on him," Al chastised as Edward joined him under the shadows of the trees. Edward grinned at him as Al glared down.
"Aw, I'm not hurting him." Ed put his arms around Al's neck and tried to pull his brother down for a kiss.
"He's sick," Al mumbled around Ed's lips, refusing to act complacent.
"Exactly," Ed said, leaning back to hang off of Al's neck. "He needs to enjoy life." While he can. The thought remained unsaid but the meaning was clear. They both knew Alfons didn't have long to live. He smelled different from the people around him because he was the closest person to death either vampire had smelled outside of a hospital. Alfons didn't tell anyone about anything wrong with him so the brothers just assumed he didn't know about it. It didn't help that Alfons was one of the few humans to know about them, making him a prime target for observance from other, much older vampires who took it upon themselves to maintain order. When not worried this disease would kill their friend with out him knowing, the Elrics feared others like them would do it first.
"C'mon," Ed said, tugging at Al's wrist and away from any dark thoughts about the skinny kid now walking around the college campus with a sign on his butt. "Let's go check out the empty houses downtown."
Al sighed but allowed a small smile to creep onto his face as he followed his brother.