Fandom: FMA
Title: Coming To Terms

Pairings: Elricest, OC/Al

Rating: NC 17
Warnings: Incest, yaoi, lemon

Author's Notes: AU, OC

Word Count: 8,257
Status: Complete

Disclaimer: Not mine, too bad. Not mine, so sad.

Summary: "Well, well, well." Al looked nervously at Ed, who still leaned in the door to the hallway, looking almost… predatory.

Coming To Terms

Chapter 2

Mustang watched his young subordinate closely. It had been just over three months since Al caught Ed distraught over Al's confession of passionate love. The next day, Mustang had asked how things were, but Ed had refused to talk about it. But Ed changed. He had grown quiet, pensive, but his temper was even more unpredictable than before. Mustang wondered if he was giving himself to his brother, but doubted it. Al used to come by frequently to bring Ed a lunch or snacks or a special treat; Al never came back to HQ again. But no matter what was happening in the Elric household, Ed was as eager to rush home after hours as before.

Things changed again about a month ago. Ed became even more edgy, prone to fits of unexplained tears, followed by snarling embarrassment. And Ed lingered after work, sometimes for hours, eating a sandwich from the cafeteria for dinner.

"We need to talk, Edward."

Ed's head lifted, startled, sandwich still stuffed into his mouth as he looked at Mustang standing in the doorway. "Why?" He asked with his mouth full. "I'm getting more work done than ever before, aren't I?"

"Look, I know you're unhappy. Talk to me. Maybe we can…"

"No. I made that mistake once before, I'm not going to do it again." At Mustang's hurt look, he went on. "Look, Mustang, put yourself in Al's place. You finally work up the courage to tell your brother you're in love with him, and he goes and runs to someone outside the family, crying in fear, and telling everything." He bit his lip. "I not only crushed his heart, Mustang, I humiliated him. My brother! He can't even look at my face anymore. No. This time I'm gonna keep my big mouth shut, even if there isn't a snowball's chance in hell of him overhearing this time."

"Yes. He works late at the university now. I heard."

Ed threw him a disgusted look but said nothing, nor would he reveal anything else.

Ed was lonely. He only saw Al for a short while in the mornings before he had to go to work, and for a little while in the evening after Al got home from work. But then, Al began to look at him again. There was still shame in his eyes, but at least he was looking. The tension between them eased considerably but never quite left. And Al actually began to smile a little. And Ed was grateful, until he found out why.

It was Saturday. Though things had gotten a little better, Al still felt uncomfortable spending time with Ed, and still spent hours outside, leaving Ed to his books and studies. Offers to help weed and such had been gently rebuffed. Weekends that once were spent in laughter and play and quiet studies together had become almost silent, always lonely days, for both of them.

There was a knock on the door. Ed rose to answer it uneasily, hoping it wasn't Mustang. Al would cross the street to avoid Ed's superior now. But he couldn't imagine who else would be knocking on their door. To his surprise, he found two strange boys on the doorstep. One was black haired with gray eyes and a dusting of freckles across his nose, the other was considerably younger, with glossy brown hair and the biggest brown eyes Ed had ever seen. Both were extremely attractive, and at least the brunette was not taller than he was, even if he was considerably younger.

They looked abashed to see Ed at the door. "Ummm, hello," The black haired young man said. "Is… Al home?"

"Are you the Fullmetal Alchemist?" The brunette chimed in before Ed could answer.

Ed thrust his metal fingers into his hair in bewilderment. "Yes, and yes."

"Wow!" The younger boy's eyes were as wide as saucers. The older one elbowed him sharply.

"I'm Sam Jensen," The taller one said. "And this is Jaxon Martin. We work with Al at the university. Could we see him?"

"Yeah, yeah, sure," Ed said belatedly. "Come in. I'll go get him." The two of them filed in and Ed went out the back door, startling Al who was just coming up the back steps with a bowl full of ripe tomatoes. Al was so surprised that he almost dropped the bowl, but Ed steadied it by grabbing it, his hands landing over his brother's. Al gasped and jerked free, leaving the bowl in Ed's hands.

Smiling sheepishly, he took it back, careful to place his hands on the bowl and not Ed's. "Did you want something, Niisan?"

"You've got company. Two guys from the university."

"Really?" For the first time in forever, Al looked eager. "Cool!" He dashed past Ed and into the house. "Sam! Jaxon! Hey guys!"

Ed stood on the back steps quietly, wistfully listening to the happy tone in his brother's voice. Once Al used to sound that way about him. He wandered dismally back inside, sitting down and opening his book again.

"So," Al said, washing his hands as he put the bowl of tomatoes on the counter, "what brings you two guys to my neck of the woods?"

Ed was trying to ignore Jaxon, who was staring at him with huge chocolaty brown eyes. He had a winsome quality about him, reminiscent of Al. Or rather, how Al used to be.

Sam wandered into the kitchen. "Remember how I told you I was going to work on the flux modulator at home last night? Well, I think I had a breakthrough. Jaxon insisted on staying up half the night taking notes; wouldn't listen to me and go to bed. Anyway, the problem is, I've hit another snag. I was wondering if you'd take a look-see and figure out what I've overlooked."

"Sure, Sam," Al said amiably, clearing a basket of fruit and some books off the kitchen table. "Did you bring the specs with you?"

"Naturally. Jaxon has them. Jaxon. Jaxon! Stop gawking and come here."

Jaxon gave Ed a weak smile and dashed into the kitchen with his folder. Soon the table was covered with papers and notes and diagrams. The boys were just about nose first into the table peering at them, muttering words like vectors, interfaces and alignments. Ed listened shamelessly.

"Wait, wait, wait!" Al exclaimed excitedly. "Here's the problem. Your chemical array is wrong. Look…" And Al snatched a black pen from behind Sam's ear without a second thought and began to scratch at a particular diagram. "If you change the array here, here, and here, it will concentrate both the hydrogen and oxygen particles instead of the carbons."

Ed was fascinated. Al and his friends were combining alchemy and chemical engineering from the sounds of things. He set his book aside and rose to check it out.

"I knew it!" Jaxon was saying excitedly. "I knew the array was wrong! I've been watching Al very carefully, and I knew!"

Sam was almost jumping with joy. "You did it, Al! I knew you would! We're almost there!" Gleefully, Sam threw his arms around Al, both of them laughing, until they paused, blushed, and broke apart, looking anywhere except at each other.

Ed sat slowly back down, a cold weight settling deep in his gut.

"Let's go back to the lab, right now, and do a field test." Jaxon said.

"Eh, can't," Sam said, having recovered. "The lab's locked up tight. Professor Humber forbade us from working this weekend. Says we work too hard and need time off, remember?"

"So?" Jaxon prompted saucily. "Al has the keys, he could let us in. Won't you, Al?"

Al gave an amused snort. "Let me think about this… NO."

"Awwww…"

"Jaxon, you know Al would never betray the Professor's trust," Sam said reprovingly.

"Dammit all," Jaxon, swore, and Al and Sam chorused their disapproval of his language. "Fine. Darn it. Better? I still can't believe we have to wait until Monday. Can we at least go in early then?"

Ed clutched his book with bloodless fingers. It suddenly occurred to him that he knew next to nothing about his brother now, when he used to know everything. Now Al had a life, a job, friends, a boss that trusted him with keys to the lab, maybe even a boyfriend. And Ed had known nothing of this.

"Hey, look guys, I've got to start dinner and…"

"Oh, yeah, sure," Sam said, hastily rolling up the sheets while Jaxon gathered the papers.

"Al, why don't you invite your friends to stay for dinner?" Ed was lounging in the pass through window between the kitchen and the living room. "We can order takeout."

"Really?" Jaxon blurted out. "That'd be great!"

Al gave one of his now rare delicious laughs. "Aren't you guys sick of takeout? I know I am. We eat it every day. How about I make us all a nice home cooked meal? How long has it been since you guys have had one of those?"

The boys responded enthusiastically, and Al took the opportunity to walk over to Ed. "Thanks," he said softly, giving him one of his old sweet smiles.

"Don't thank me," Ed muttered, "It's your house too. You're always welcome to invite your friends over. " Feeling hurt for some reason, Ed walked back to his chair and picked up his book, leaving Al staring after him in bewilderment.