A/N: Heyho, just a little something I wrote on a whim. I apologize in advance for any mistakes/things that don't make sense. Please enjoy and leave a review if you'd like!
A loud growl echoed through their father's study that was once again filled with heavy silence. Alphonse dropped the book he was reading and immediately clutched his stomach in surprise. The book made a 'thud' and pierced the silence even further, raising dust as it landed on the old wooden floor. His brother's golden eyes flickered up at him questioningly.
"Sorry brother, I think I'm getting hungry", the younger boy admitted sheepishly as he rubbed the back of his head.
Setting down his own book, Edward glanced at the intimidating grandfather clock in the corner. "It's almost six, no wonder it's gotten so dark outside."
Ed pushed the pile of books he still had to read away from himself and stood up from where he had been sitting on the floor with a stretch that made his shoulders crack. "Let's get going, Al! I hope the old hag made stew again!"
The older brother opened the door into their hallway with a slightly drooling grin. When he neither heard his brother move, nor scold him for his rude language, Edward turned around in confusion. Al still sat where he had been for the last few hours, previously dropped book in front of his face again. Ed noticed that he held it upside down.
"Hey, you alright Al? Didn't you just say you were hungry?"
"I, um, I changed my mind. We need all the time we can get for our research, right brother?" Alphonse sounded slightly nervous, he had always been a terrible liar.
"You're telling me that you can concentrate with your stomach rumbling that loudly?" Ed raised a sceptical eyebrow as he crossed his arms in front of his chest. "Besides, they'll wait for us anyways."
Al slowly lowered the book, revealing a face of pure embarrassment. "T-there may be something I forgot to tell you, brother…" The boy trailed of as he averted his eyes to the ground.
"Huh? What is it, spit it out Al!" Ed sighed impatiently as he let himself fall to the ground next to his younger brother, regarding his face carefully.
"Do you remember that old guy living out there in the woods? Apparently, he really needs a doctor, that's why Pinako and Winry are gone the whole day. They told me a few days ago and said I should inform you, so that we could ask someone else in the village whether we could come over for dinner… But it's too late now, isn't it?"
Alphonse half expected his brother to start yelling or at least call him stupid for being so forgetful, but instead Edward just let out a long sigh and grabbed his hand, pulling him off of the ground. Al was surprised to see his brother so calm, the look in his eyes one of determination and nothing else.
"You're hungry, right Al? We'll just have to make some food on our own then!" Ed shot him a grin, leaving the younger boy even more baffled. Without another word, Al let himself be dragged through their hallway and into their rarely used kitchen. Only when he watched his brother struggle to reach the pots on the top shelf, Alphonse snapped out of his speechlessness.
"You're not angry brother? Or even annoyed?" The questions were tentative, and Al couldn't get the confused look off of his face. His brother shot him a glare. "Don't be so surprised, sheesh. You already said it, right? 'It's too late now.' And I know that you're sorry, Al."
Alphonse suddenly started laughing, partially because he had been worried for no reason and partially because his brother still couldn't even touch the pots with his fingertips. "Amazing brother, you're so mature all of a sudden!"
Edwards glare intensified, but it almost instantly melted away into a smile. "Whatever. Now get on my shoulders and help me get down these damn pots!"
Al, still chuckling, clumsily climbed onto his brother's lowered back and sat down on his shoulders, careful not to cut of his oxygen supply. Supported by Edward, Alphonse suddenly found himself rising into the air. He heard his brother suck in a shaky breath and heard him clench his teeth. "Hurry up, Al!"
"I am, just don't let me fall!" He muttered as he noticed his brother swaying back and forth just a tad bit. The younger blonde hesitantly reached out and grabbed one of the pots that were now on his eyelevel. The added weight made his brother groan and Al noticed that he was starting to slip off his brother's shoulders.
"I've got one, brother." His voice was urgent and Alphonse unconsciously pressed his knees together in front of his brother's throat.
"Great, then stop suffocating me and get off!" Edward pressed out, followed by a rough, strangled noise.
Al nodded, but soon found himself at a loss. He needed both of his hands to hold the pot, there wasn't a single thing he could do right now. "Well, how? I've got my hands full!" Slightly panicky, Al raised his voice, his legs not loosening around Ed's neck for the fear of falling.
"Then just hand the pot to me!" Edward was starting to find it hard to keep standing, his shoulders aching painfully and legs shaking under the weight. His vision slowly became blurred as less and less air filled his lungs.
"But you need your hands to hold me, if you let go I'll fall!" Al was almost shouting at this point, already bracing himself for the inevitable fall.
"You'll fall if you don't give me that goddamn pot, Al!" Edward's voice broke at the end of his sentence and without waiting for any kind of acknowledgement from his brother, he let go of Al's legs and reached up, quickly snatching the metal pot out of his hands. Ed felt a pair of hands digging into his golden hair as he noticed Al slowly slipping off his shoulders with a surprised yelp.
Ignoring the pain in his scalp, Edward immediately dropped the pot onto the counter and knelt down just in time for his brother to slide down his back and ungracefully land on his behind with another yelp. With a relieved sigh, Alphonse let go off his brother's hair, nervously trying to hide the few strands he had pulled out.
"Let's just use a chair next time, okay brother?"
Edward gave a thumbs-up in agreement, followed by a rough wheezing as he rubbed his sore shoulders with one and his aching head with the other hand. "Alright, next thing is grocery shopping. I'll leave that to you, Al, while I prepare the rest."
Alphonse was quick to realize that his brother probably needed a minute to catch his breath and so he agreed, grabbing a basket and some of their money before heading down the path into the village. It was probably better that he did the shopping, Ed had a habit of wasting their money on books and other things, even though they were short on money to begin with. The savings of their mother wouldn't last forever, and no one knew when their father would return, if ever. With no sort of income, the two brothers needed to be careful with their expenses. They were still searching for an alchemy teacher at this point, it would be hard to find someone who wouldn't demand high tutor fees.
Al's steps were quick on his way home, he was feeling slightly uneasy out on the open street in the dark all on his own. It was only on rare occasions that the two brothers weren't seen together and Al had gotten so used to his brother's presence, he wouldn't know what to do if he wouldn't be there anymore one day. After all, Ed had been there for as long as Al could remember, only leaving him alone during school since they were in different grades. And now, it often seemed like they only had each other…
Alphonse stopped his musing as soon as he reached their front door, golden light shining through the windows and the door crack. He opened the door and steeped inside, momentarily blinded by the bright light. "I'm back!" He called, closing and locking the door behind him. His stomach was still rumbling fiercely, Al really hoped they would be able to at least make something edible.
"Welcome home!" Edward's voice came from the kitchen and when Al entered, he almost dropped the basket he was holding. His jaw definitely did drop to the floor as his eyes widened in surprise at the baffling sight before him.
His brother calmly sat on the kitchen floor, a rather complicated transmutation circle drawn in front of him. The pot stood in the middle, filled with water that was already boiling.
"What are you doing?!" Alphonse set the basket down on the counter before letting himself fall to the ground next to his brother, incredulously inspecting the circle. "You know that we were trying to cook something, right brother?"
Edward brushed his brother's insanity questioning look aside and instead spread his arms wide open as if to showcase his transmutation circle, a bright grin on his face. "If you think about it, cooking really is just like alchemy! You follow a recipe and use ingredients to create something new out of them – so why wouldn't it work the same way?"
Al simply stared at his older brother and the sparkle in his golden eyes made him worry ever so slightly. "You're kidding, right?" He deadpanned, having a hard time resisting the urge to hide his face in his hands. He usually shared his brother's obsession over alchemy to a certain point, but this was… just no.
"Come on Al, trust your big brother on this!" Ed stood up and hurried over to the counter, retrieving all the needed ingredients for stew from the basket. "I calculated the exact amount of all the things we need, and we won't have to do any cutting or stirring, just some good ol' alchemy. I see no reason why this shouldn't work."
Al stood up with a slightly exasperated groan, yanking the unprepared food from his brother's hands before he could dump them into the boiling water. Edward protested and glared but the look his younger brother gave him silenced the older blonde.
"Brother, you're being ridiculous. I know you're meaning well, but you really need to be more responsible! We can't just spend money on food just to experiment with it. I don't know about you, but I'm hungry and I don't want to risk going without something to eat when we could just cook the food like normal people do! And here I thought you'd gotten more mature." Al finished his little rant with a stern nod.
Edward looked surprised for a while, almost a little rattled, but he quickly settled for a challenging glare. "I calculated it, Al. There is no logical reason why it wouldn't work. We're not wasting anything and it's not a risk when you're absolutely sure! Just trust me on this, will ya?"
Even though he said that, Al didn't really feel like his brother was raising his trust like this. This wasn't about whether it could potentially work or not, this was about why they would even do it. "But if it's so easy, why have we never heard about anyone using alchemy to cook? I tell you, it's impossible that you're the first one to ever have that idea if there was any possibility this was going to work!"
Edward didn't lose any time to argue back, his voice suddenly raised and his fists balled. "I don't get it, you want to bring mom back too, don't you? So what if no one's ever done it before? So what if it's impossible? How can I promise you that we'll bring her back when I can't even believe this is possible? How can I attempt to bring her back when I'm not even able to do something as simple as transmuting some stupid stew? How can I make you trust me with bringing mom back when you won't even believe that I'll be able to do this much? You say I'm not responsible, but I plan on taking full responsibility for what'll happen. Cause I'm your big brother and I –"
Al's hand on his own interrupted his emotional tirade and Edward blinked in surprise. His little brother looked up at him with big, slightly watery eyes and a small smile on his lips. "It's okay, I understand. I'm starving, so show me what you got, 'kay?"
Ed's glare faltered, quickly melting away into something softer, more tired. Previously balled into fists, his hands were now ruffling through his younger brother's hair before taking the ingredients from him with a confident grin. No more words were needed between them, the matter was as quickly resolved as it had started.
Edward instantly got to work, dumping everything in the still boiling water. When he crouched down and clapped his hands together, Al quickly took a few steps back and shielded his eyes from the blue lightning that immediately illuminated their small kitchen. When the light had vanished and the dust had settled, the boys curiously leaned closer and peeked into the steaming pot.
"It worked! That's amazing, brother!" Al gasped in awe as he took in the mouth-watering smell of stew and closely mustered the contents of the pot. It looked like perfectly fine stew, he hoped it would taste just as well.
"Told ya so!" Ed's grin grew even bigger and his chest seemed to swell with pride. "Now let's try it, it's about time!"
Soon, the two boys were sitting at their dining table, each a bowl of stew in front of them. And two bottles of milk respectively.
"You told me not to waste money, yet you bought two bottles of milk?" Edward raised in eyebrow before staring at his arch nemesis with utter disgust.
"It wouldn't be wasted if you just drank it." Al let out a chuckle before filling his spoon with some stew. "Alright, here goes nothing."
Ed quickly followed suit and they simultaneously filled their mouths. It was silent for a few moments, both carefully judging the taste before swallowing and letting out a thoughtful 'hmm'.
"It's…" Ed started, expression unreadable.
"…completely mediocre." Al finished, face blank as well.
When their eyes met, they both suddenly started laughing. "But I guess it wasn't bad for my first try, right Al?"
"Could've been much worse I guess. At least we won't starve." The younger boy added, a content smile on his face.
Still, he couldn't help but admire his brother. He'd had a crazy idea, but made it work. He took care of him in his own way, and Alphonse couldn't imagine a better older brother. It seemed that everything was possible at this very moment, even though they would harshly be reminded of their arrogance in just a few years. Maybe it would've been better if Ed hadn't succeeded in transmuting the stew, maybe it would've been better if Al hadn't believed him. Or maybe it wouldn't have made any difference at all.
Alphonse looked at his older brother sitting in the seat opposite of him, head resting on the train's window as he snored slightly in his sleep. He had just remembered this little incident from their past and couldn't stop pondering about it. In retrospect, it seemed like such a stupid thing but Al felt it wasn't entirely unimportant. Thinking back on it strengthened the hope he had that they would succeed in getting their original bodies back, no matter how unbelievable it seemed. The words his brother had said to him back then, unbelievable that he had only been eight years old!
He'd always been strong willed, more like stubborn. A genius, but so incredibly stupid at the same time. Transmuting food, really? But it had worked out in the end, and it hadn't even been half bad. But they never tried it since, there never had been any need to.
His metallic body clinked as Al pulled out his journal and opened it. He stared at the list of food he was planning on eating once he got his body back, smiling inwardly. Trying to be as quiet as possible, Al pulled out the pen and wrote something down, near the top next to Winry's apple-pie and Mrs. Hughes quiche. It wasn't for the taste or anything like that, but more as a symbol that they had finally reached their goal.
Ed started to stir and Al quickly put the journal away. His brother really didn't need to see this, it was already embarrassing enough.
'Brother's transmuted stew'
A/N: It's kinda ironic that Al actually will never be able to cross that of his list, so I guess it's more a symbol of Ed's sacrifice, really. Also, while editing I couldn't stop laughing because of the word pot. Yes, I'm that immature.
Any kind of feedback is highly appreciated! Btw, would you be interested in more stories of this kind? I'm thinking of doing a collection of one-shots like this, my inspiration is basically unlimited. So, yay or nay?
By DarkChain