"Hey, what are you doing back here?"

Alphonse snapped his head up sharply at the invading voice. It didn't take much effort to realize how he must look to the stranger: a six-year-old huddled underneath the playground's slide, crying and sniffling. Mortified, Al quickly swiped at his face, but his embarrassment encouraged more tears to rise, making him want to hide away farther in the shadows.

"I—I'm fine," Al hiccupped, hunching more tightly against his raised knees. He wanted the stranger to believe him and leave, and yet, at the same time, he desperately didn't want to be left alone.

"That's…not what I asked," the person, an older teenaged girl, pointed out.

Al flushed, his timid nature shutting down his vocal cords momentarily as he panicked to backtrack. In the end, more tears were the only thing he could produce, along with some barely suppressed whimpers. He must look so silly and childish to the newcomer.

"Hey, it's fine. I'm just surprised that…" She averted her gaze, not bothering to finish her statement as she glanced around the small, empty playground. Shaking her head, she continued, "Are you here alone? Shouldn't you…be with someone?"

A breath hitched in the boy's throat. The stranger, (stranger, because he certainly had never seen her around Resembool before), had unknowingly touched on the reason for his tears. Lip quivering, Alphonse tore his watery eyes away to stare forlornly at the ground and answered truthfully, "Brother… Brother ditched me."

"Ditched you?" There was no hiding the incredulity in her tone.

Alphonse nodded hesitantly. He plucked at the material of his shorts, trying in vain to calm his feelings of sadness and abandonment. "We got in a fight… He yelled at me a lot…"

"Oh, sweetie," she said kindly, kneeling down until she was crouched on his level. Her dark eyes shimmered in compassion. "I'm sure whatever ya'll were arguing about, he'll eventually realize that you were right."

Alphonse blinked hugely, crying momentarily forgotten as he frowned in confusion. "But you don't know what we were fighting about…"

"I don't need to. Younger siblings are always right. Trust me, I've got a big brother too."

Again, the girl's words perplexed him. "You... How do you know it's my big brother?"

"Uh…" She scratched her head for a moment, faltering and looking like she was floundering around for an answer. "Becaaaause big brothers are annoying? Like I said, I've got one too."

Alphonse fidgeted, his childish innocence not catching on to the obvious lie. His insecurity concerned him more at the moment. "Um, is—is your big brother here?"

"Nah. I haven't seen that guy for ages. But if he could, and if I were sitting here alone on the playground, I bet he would come back for me. Just like your brother will come back for you!"

"R-really?"

"Yeah! He's just being grumpy. He'll come around once he cools off. While you wait for him though, you wanna swing with me or something? It's better than sitting under here by yourself."

This person displayed such confidence, such surety that Edward would return, that Al found it impossible to doubt her. At his youthful age, his lack of experience made it easier to believe and overlook the subtle oddities the stranger accidentally hinted at. Instead of being wary, Alphonse managed to replace his tears for a hopeful smile when he reached out to take his new friend's hand.

And oh, what friends they would be.


Welcome to my plot bunny. To be honest, the inspiration came from the song, "Two Breaths Walking," road's cover to be exact. You can find it on youtube, if you like.

This new friend of Al's is an OC of mine from my story, "Life Hates Me," but this story has no relation to it. Just share the same OC, who happens to be my sister in real life. Speaking of, to readers of LHM, I haven't updated because of two things. One, I haven't been home half the summer. Two, I have fallen into the deep, dark hole known at the Hetalia fandom. Seriously, I haven't even thought of FMA much in so long. My muse is absolutely STUCK on Hetalia. And now, me and my sister have been seriously discussing a story for Hetalia where she is Mexico. I'm not saying I'm completely abandoning my stories in FMA...but for now, I don't want to fight it, so I'll follow my muse and see where it takes me. But this story here will be updated more. It's not completed, but I've got quite a bit of it that's been collecting dust on my computer, and since I haven't updated anything in so long, this is my apology of sorts. I'll update real soon, since the chapters are going to be about the same length as this one. I'm trying out a different way of writing with this one, where I focus more on the heart of the scene and less on the in between; because sometimes, the meaning gets lost in the details.

MORE TO COME!