Next Door
Disclaimer: Don't own Fullmetal Alchemist.
Joh: I know I shouldn't be making more stories since I've made more than enough, but this plot has been bothering me for awhile so….hah….
Jessie: I'm sure it'll be very good! –Smiles-
Joh: -Sighs- we can only hope…we can only hope
Warnings: Yaoi, strong language
Ed- 9th grade 15 years old
Envy-11th grade 17 years old
0oo0o0o0
1.
It all started when I was being bored as hell and banging my head against my bedroom window. That's right. Banging my head against the bedroom window and losing 10 brain cells each time.
Time to get a life? Gotcha.
It was only then that I notice a large white truck parked outside the house next door. To be honest, I wasn't all that interested. I mean, the house had been empty for years, 'bout time someone moved in.
Vaguely, I wondered if the family would have a kid my age. Don't get me wrong; I'm not the type of person who's into that whole 'girl next door' thing.
I watched as a light went on in the window facing mine, the house light dulled by the thin gray curtain. The curtain pulled back, revealing a tall boy with vivid violet eyes. He stared at me in a calculating way as a smirk spread across his face.
He narrowed his eyes and mouthed something to me, but I couldn't understand. With a knowing smile he winked at me before dropping his hand, letting the curtain fall back into place.
What the hell just happened?
"Onii-san?"
I jumped and fell to the floor with a painful thump. Smooth, real smooth. I looked up into my younger brother's dark yellow eyes as he looked down at me, concerned.
"Onii-san, are you okay?" he repeated, holding out a hand for me.
With a smile I took his hand and let him pull me up so that I was on my feet, rubbing my back. "Yeah." I murmured, glancing out the window again. "Yeah, I'm fine."
He looked at me strangely before sitting down on my unmade bed, staring into his lap as he fidgeted nervously.
Al has a tendency of doing that when he tries to talk to me about our dad. What's the big deal? My dad and I, we just don' get along, so what's the problem?
I mean, it's not like we have shouting matches every night that results in some kind of violent dispute. It's nothing like that. We just acknowledge the fact that we dislike each other and leave it at that. Simple, right? Right.
Besides, he's never home anyway…it's not like I could talk to him even if I wanted to.
"Can't you try?" Al whispered, staring fixedly at his hands.
I sighed. "He didn't want to talk to me anyway." Just to full you in, dad called last night to check in (He actually remembered he had kids. Extra snaps for daddy.) And I had refused to speak to him.
Not like he minded.
Al didn't say anything; he just got up and walked over to the window, looking down at the moving truck below. "Someone's actually moving in? I wonder if they have a girl?"
"They don't." I said flatly, still staring at the window across from my own.
"How do you know, Ed?"
I shrugged, unconcerned.
"Do you think we should say hi…? It's polite, isn't it?"
"No." I answer quickly. I'm not sure why. That boy just made me feel uneasy. Maybe it was the dyed green hair that reached past his shoulders, or the way his eyes gleamed strangely. Either way, I didn't trust him.
Can't you tell I've never bought that whole 'let's never judge a book by its cover!' crap?
Al frowned at me. "Onii-san, that's not very nice of you." His tone is playful meaning I'm forgiven for now.
I sighed and let him grab my arm and drag me out into the narrow hallway then down the stairs. Reluctantly I slipped on my boots and stood back as Al pulled his on. "Maybe we can be friends!" he chattered happily, grinning from ear to ear.
"Hm." I grunted a response.
Al grabbed my hand again, yanking me through the door. "Hey!" he called, waving wildly as he dragged me over to the house next door.
A tall lady was standing in the doorway. She turned slightly and eyed us up and down with deep onyx eyes under dark lashes. "And you are?" her voice was soft, entrancing.
"Ah…we're your neighbors!" Al answered cheerfully, taken aback by her appearance.
The lady smiled slightly. "I see. I'm Lust."
Lust? What type of name is Lust anyway? I couldn't help but raise my eyebrows, wondering if she was telling us some retarded nickname. Although, I have to say, the name does suit her. In a weird way. You know what I'm saying?
"I'm Al and this is my brother Edward." Al smiled.
She bowed her head politely, a small smile on her face. "Pleasure."
"Do you live alone?"
"No. My crazy nephew is upstairs. I'm sure he will attend the same school as you though." She tucked a loose strand of ebony hair behind one pierced ear. With another polite smile she closed the door.
0o0
"I don't like her." I comment bluntly, flipping through the channels on the T.V with a bored look.
Al shot me a look but said nothing back as he continued scribbling down notes in his spiral.
"What are you doing, homework?" I asked him, surprised. Al and I have always been pretty good students, we do are homework and turn it in always on time so it's kinda weird to see Al doing homework so late into the night.
He shook his head no as he continued writing.
"Is it your diary?" I teased, flinging a pillow at him.
He tosses the pillow back at me, grinning as he hugged the journal to himself doing his best to look as feminine as possible. "'Course onii-san! But you can't read it!" he giggled and smirked.
I laughed then stifled a yawn.
"Sleepy?"
"Just a little bit." I yawned again.
"Go to bed then. We have school tomorrow, don't we? We can finally meet the new boy!"
"Yeah, yeah, yeah."
Joy. For some reason I'm not very thrilled about that.
Sighing, I made my way up the stairs to my room. Flipping on the lights I couldn't help but glance out the window into the room next door.
The lights were on and the curtain was drawn back so that the room was in full view. From what I could see it was plain and pretty empty ignoring a few unopened boxes and bags.
Whatever.
I looked away and walked over to my closet to pull on a nightshirt and pants. In the middle of pulling my black T-shirt off I felt eyes on me, watching.
I froze for a moment; my arms raised with the shirt half off. With a shrug I finished changing and turned around to climb into bed, only for my eyes to meet someone else's. Someone from the other window.
The same boy from before was leaning out of his window, grinning at me oddly.
He made hand motions for me to open my window but I simply raised an eyebrow and ignored him otherwise.
As I pulled the covers up around me I glanced at his window again, hoping he wouldn't be there. No such luck. He was still there, grinning lopsidedly at me.
Creep.
Isn't it just right for me to have someone like him next door?
Yeah.
Still watching the boy carefully I turned off the lights and closed my eyes.
Sleep tight.
0o0
Thank god.
He's two grades above me.
That means I don't have to talk to him, meet him, or even (excluding brief encounters in the hallways) look at him.
That's right. I don't have to worry about that freak anymore.
I grinned lazily at my friend, Ling, and tipped my chair back. (1)
He raised an eyebrow at me, tapping his pencil against his desk. "What are you happy about?" he whispered to me, eyeing the teacher at the front of the classroom with disinterest.
"Nothin'." I whispered back, doodling in the corner of my spiral.
I know, I know. I said before that I was a decent student, then what am I doing slacking off in class? Thing is, I don't mean to sound conceited but I don't need to pay attention in class to do well. I'm just that good.
I dropped my pencil and stared outside the window I had been conveniently placed right next to. Everyone thinks that it's good luck to get a seat next to the window but in reality it's shit. Can you imagine having to sit in a cramped classroom all day and be forced to watch the birds fly by twittering madly as if laughing at you? Yeah, shit.
I felt like shooting one of those damn birds.
Bored, I looked up to the front of the room where the teacher was scribbling something on the board creating the horrid sound of nails against a chalkboard.
With a sigh I slumped forward letting my head fall against the desk.
Unsurprisingly the teacher didn't seem to notice and she continued with her ranting.
I felt a sharp poke in the side and irritably turned to glare at Ling through one golden eye. "What?"
"Listen to this, it's actually kinda interesting." He grinned and nodded his head at the teacher who appeared to be now making some kind of announcement.
I raised my head and halfheartedly tuned in. I mean, Ling was one of the laziest guys I knew so if he thought it was semi interesting it sure as hell was.
"-So if anyone's interested the sign up sheet will be on the board…"
The bell rung, cutting her off from whatever she was talking about.
The sound of chairs being pushed back and the rustling of books and papers being shoved into bags arose.
I stuffed my books into my bag and got up, turning to Ling. He was taking his time, stretching his arms over his head and yawning.
Just to fill you in on Ling, he's probably my best friend and has been since the 7th grade when he moved here from China. To be honest, he's a weirdo, but a nice guy all the same.
"Hurry up." I groaned, tapping my feet restlessly. I was kinda worked up after being forced to sit still for a full hour listening to the monotonous tone of Ms. Belle's voice.
He ignored me and pushed his seat in, making his way to the door along with the rest of the class eager for lunch.
"Did you hear what she was talking about?" he asked me.
"No."
Ling grinned and elbowed me. "She was talking 'bout this tutoring thing. You should do it."
I made a face. "Like I have time to tutor some airhead." I shook my head and flicked a piece of golden hair out of my face.
"Yeah, you do actually."
I gave him a look. "No, I don't actually."
He shrugged and took to whistling a song as we entered the cafeteria packed with raving hungry students.
I followed behind Ling to the lunch line, casting bored glances around.
God, our school really was low budget.
Big round tables stained with food are scattered randomly across the room. Numerous trashcans were pressed against the plain white walls in hopes that the students would actually throw their trash in there instead of on the floor.
I turned my attention back to Ling who was happily grabbing a tray and serving him self what the school passed off as 'food'.
I took a tray as well and moved along with the line, picking out foods that look recognizable.
After paying for the meal and finding an empty table with Ling I settled down and began to pick at my lunch.
Ling ignored me and starts to inhale his meal, completely oblivious to all those around him.
That's when I saw him again.
He was at one of the tables in the corner with two others, sitting on the edge of the table looking relaxed if not bored. I studied his long green hair critically. Who wears their hair long nowadays?
What is he, a hippie?
He cocked his head in my direction, staring into my eyes blankly. Slowly, a smirk spread across his lips before he winked one purple eye at me.
Is he gay or something?
Yeah…never mind. I looked away and poked Ling in the side. "I'm heading to 8th period early, k?"
He mumbled a reply through his stuffed mouth. I nodded and slung my bag over my shoulders before hurrying out of the lunchroom.
As soon as I was in the hallway I relaxed and slowed down my pace. With a sigh I dropped my bag and leaned against the wall, sliding down to the floor. (2)
"Elric?"
Suppressing a groan of irritation I looked up to see my 6th period teacher peering down at me from over her books.
"Yes?"
She smiled, please about something or other. "You know, you're one of the top students in my class…"
"I am your top student Ms. Belle." I corrected her. I'm not arrogant, really. I'm just…proud of myself.
She frowned slightly but shook the correction off before handing me a form.
I looked down at it, not really reading it.
"Since you're such a good student I was wondering if you would be interested in tutoring some students."
"Sorry, I really don't have time for that." I muttered.
"Oh but…you could earn hours…" she trailed off hopefully. (3)
I hesitated. I did need some SSL hours… "Who would I be tutoring?" I asked, almost suspiciously. I really don't want to be stuck with some middle school kid.
"9th graders, 10th graders, 11th graders even…maybe a few 12th graders." She answered cheerfully.
"You're kidding me." I stood up, crossing my arms over my chest. True, I probably am smarter than most of the older kids in this school, but it was still odd to hear a teacher admit that.
"Some of the students aren't doing as well as they should. And you're in all honors classes so…" she beamed.
"Fine." I sighed and tucked the paper into my pocket.
"Great! By tomorrow I'll have you assigned to a student!" With that she skipped off merrily.
For some reason, I had a really bad feeling about this.
0o0o0o0
(1) Ling is a character from the manga and he isn't in the anime. He's that Chinese dude who eats too much and was friends with Ed.
(2) Sitting down in the middle of a school hallway isn't that odd if it seemed weird to you. A lot of people do that in my school…but my school's kinda weird so…
(3) I'm not sure if other schools have to do SSL hours (student service learning hours) too but I do and let me tell you, IT SUCKS! -Bangs head against wall- if you don't know what it is, it's this requirement thingy. Like I can't graduate unless I have earned 60 hours of SSL. You get SSL by volunteering to do crap and whatnot. Pretty annoying, but what do I know? Maybe some kids enjoy it.
–Laughs head off-
Joh: This is my first FMA story so…yeah. There wasn't much action in this chapter, give it time.
Jessie: All in good time…all in good time.
Joh: Yeah. Exactly. Uh-huh.
Review please.
-JoH