Thank you everyone who reviewed/favourited/alerted! Much appreciated.
Goddamn, I'm really busy, I have four big tests coming up, so I've not been on Microsoft Word for like weeks since writing the first chapter of this, and at the time, I was supposed to be doing biology revision.
Um, as a note, if you liked this, maybe you want to check out Failures? Just a suggestion.
This chapter is going to have German speaking German and Edward speaking English, just because it's less confusing that 'blah blah blah,' he said in German and such. Kay?
Also, I will be using Google Translate, because I don't speak nearly enough German to not use it. So some translations might be slightly off.
~*~Charismatisch~*~
Alfons opened the door to his flat after Edward and scanned the room with tired eyes. Now that he'd upped for all of this, he realised that he wasn't up for any shit that this kid could possibly give him, and approached the boy as such.
"Edward? Wo bist du? Edward?" Alfons walked past the table to see Edward standing by the door to his room looking like some kind of furnishing. Suddenly, the German became aware that the situation was incredibly awkward.
"Er… How is you?"
Edward continued to stare at him as if sizing him up. "Gut, danke." He said shortly, making it obvious who would be leading the conversation.
"Das ist mein zimmer…"
Edward looked at him blankly. He pointed at the door on his right, and then at Alfons. "Yours?" he asked. Alfons nodded, thanking that Edward seemed to have a bearable understanding of German. The last time Alfons had spoken English had been in school, and though he'd been good, he'd never really learned the language, just a lot of complicated grammar rules.
"Sitzen?" he suggested, indicating the table beside him. Edward obviously got it, because he walked stiffly over and sat heavily. Alfons tried to work out how he could possibly be crippled while hurriedly tidying his papers from the table.
"Sie möchten Deutschland?" Alfons asked, as it was the only thing he could think to say. Edward just stared.
"Pardon?"
"Er… It's gut? Deutschland?" Edward's eyebrows raised in comprehension, but he just shrugged in answer. "Mmm." He said, noncommittally.
Alfons hoped that Mr Hohenheim would be coming back from wherever soon, because his son was turning out to be unbearable.
There was a long silence, through which Alfons stood with a stack of papers in his hands and Edward sat, staring at him unnervingly until, surprisingly, Edward spoke up.
"Alphonse?" he asked. Alfons was thrown. Was Edward translating his name, or… or what?"
"Alfons." The German corrected. "'F'"
"You are Alphonse Elric." Edward stated as if this were an obvious fact. Alfons was utterly confused by it however.
"Nein. Alfons Heiderich. Edward's father spoke." Shit that didn't come out right, he thought to himself, but Edward's comprehension skills were good enough to make up.
Edward kept holding his gaze with his sad, but calculating, clever eyes. Eventually, he looked down. "Pardon." He said again. "Pardon, Alfons Heiderich. Danke. Mein papa ist ein bastard."
Alfons laughed, though he really shouldn't. "Er schien angenehm." Alfons commented, remembering the man he saw. Not particularly doting, but a good man, and he seemed to like his son. And respect his personality.
"Pardon?"
"Are you searching for Entschuldigung?" Alfons asked, smiling slightly. He imagined that once he and Edward could understand one another, they might get along, but at the moment, things were strained.
"'Entschuldigung' ist 'sorry'?"
"Ja."
"Entschuldigung."
"Schon gut."
~*~ Charismatisch~*~
In the end, even though it had seemed rude, Alfons had sat down with a book, clearly indicating to Edward that his bookshelf was open to him. Edward was sitting at the other side of the room at the table with a dictionary. Not that it really helped, since it was just a normal dictionary, and the definitions were in German, but Edward seemed pretty confident that he could learn the language simply by reading a lot and guessing.
Alfons would have been quite happy to sit there and read until going to bed if Edward's stomach hadn't snapped him back to reality.
Alfons felt incredibly horrid and felt himself turn red as Edward's stomach continued to growl and Edward continued to ignore it completely. But then again, if Edward was hungry, he really should have said.
"Edward?" Edward looked up from his dictionary.
"You are um…" The English wouldn't come. Alfons scanned though his mind to try and find that word. Maybe he should have continued studying English instead of dropping it…
"Food," he substituted. 'Edward, you are food?" Shit. He sounded like an idiot.
"Ich bin hungrig," Edward agreed in perfect German. For someone who was clearly able to ignore his hunger, Alfons wondered why he had that phrase at his disposal.
Alfons mentally pictured his cupboards. Not much. Damn. Well, he hadn't been shopping lately, and Gracia had taken it upon herself to make sure that he didn't starve.
"Not much food, Edward, sorry."
"Why ask then?"
He had a point there. "Sorry."
"S-Schon gut?"
"Ja."
Edward smiled. New phrase for the book.
"Takeaway?"
Alfons was a little thrown by that. What he knew about English, that phrase didn't match anything to do with 'sorry' or food!
"Take me away?" Alfons took a blind stab.
Edward laughed. It was the first time Alfons had seen Edward laugh, and it was a pretty sight. Edward definitely suited laughing as opposed to sulking. He found himself hoping he could become the kind of person who would make Edward smile more often.
Edward wiped the tears from his eyes. "Take food away! Take the food out of the shop and eat it, silly! Like Chinese food, or Indian food!"
Alfons gave him a blank look. "Chinese food? Where?"
Edward whacked his forehead off the table.
"Never mind. Uncultured other world," he muttered.
Alfons didn't really get what Edward had just said, but it didn't sound like a compliment. He chose to ignore it.
"Kneipe?" Alfons asked, somewhat hopefully. Edward was sixteen, right?
"Ich bin HUNGRY. Food. You alcoholic."
Apparently Edward knew that word. Though in all fairness, he had just changed the subject from food to alcohol. Hmm…
"Edward like würstchen?"
Edward raised an eyebrow at him and went back to his dictionary, apparently deciding that he was not worth talking to. Alfons found himself quite offended and raised his voice more than he really needed to.
"Hay! Sausage! I mean sausage! You like?"
Edward shrugged. "Who doesn't?"
Alfons took that as a yes. Everybody liked sausages, right? Unless you were a vegetarian.
"Let us buy sausage." Alfons insisted; standing and so sort of forcing Edward to come along.
Edward tailed behind him, muttering something in English. Why did Alfons get the impression that Edward wasn't really English? He knew that he obviously was, since he spoke the language without an American accent. But he didn't really look very English. There was something a bit foreign about him. If it wasn't the eyes, Edward was very slightly tanned and just… Alfons felt like he was missing something.
"Where are you boys off to?" Gracia asked, having apparently heard them coming downstairs into the shop.
"We're going to buy some sausages," Alfons told her, smiling. The smile abruptly slid of his face when Gracia continued to stare at him.
"Alfons, it's Sunday. The shops aren't open at all, never mind at eight o'clock."
Apparently, Edward had got that, because he growled and punched the wall. It seemed he'd been looking forward to sausages.
Alfons, now quite embarrassed, also felt quite bad for Edward. Though really, if he'd had some warning, he would have gotten in some food! But Hohenheim had just turned up! Also, he wasn't Edward's father! Surely the boy could look after himself to some extent.
"Well…" Alfons started in an attempt to defend himself. Gracia cut him off however.
"If you guys are that desperate, I'm sure I could whip something up." She offered. Alfons was starting to think she actually enjoyed taking care of them, though he still felt bad for imposing. "I'm not actually hungry, but Edward's practically starving. I'm sure he'd appreciate the offer."
Edward had zoned out of the conversation and was wandering around the dark flower shop. He looked up at them when he heard his name. Ignoring the conversation topic, he pointed at some flowers.
"Flowers." He stated, requesting the translation.
"Blume." Gracia supplied. Edward them indicated the whole building.
"Shop." Gracia, again, translated.
"Blume Bestellen. Ich lebe in wohnung oben blume bestellen."
Gracia raised an eyebrow before approving. Edward gave a little self-satisfied smirk and muttered again in English. Alfons was beginning to think that Edward was thinking of the German language as an enemy to be defeated rather than something to be learned.
He exchanged a shrug with Gracia and followed her inside, gesturing for Edward to follow.
~*~ Charismatisch~*~
While Gracia made Edward his beloved sausages, Edward wandered around the front room pointing out random objects and demanding Alfons give him translations. Not only did Edward learn a lot of German, but Alfons inadvertently picked up lot of English.
Also, Alfons discovered why someone who could ignore his own bodily functions for so long would know how to say he was hungry. Edward practically inhaled all of the sausages that Gracia owned, and then, because he didn't have to cook it, an awful lot of cheese.
They would make a point of going shopping tomorrow. He hoped that Edward's father took into consideration how much his son ate when sending Edward money.
I didn't initially mean for these to be consecutive, but I didn't want to really skip out on their first conversation. I hope you approve of the layout and how the languages were handled. Also, I have an odd obsession over Germany for no apparent reason, so I was quite happy to extend my vocabulary!
Feedback is appreciated!
~BS