It rained later that evening. Al was washing his brother's dishes.
"That kid thinks go to bed means wrestle with daddy," Ed sighed as he took a seat at the kitchen table. "You really don't have to do this, you know?"
Al hummed as he stacked clean plates neatly into the dish strainer. His two kittens had placed themselves on the counter and looked curiously at him.
"Alphonse?" Ed asked. It wasn't like his brother to ignore him. "ALPHONSE!"
Al jumped nearly slicing his thumb with a sharp butcher knife he was rinsing.
"Huh? What? What's wrong?" he turned and asked his brother. He wiped the sweat from his brow on his sleeve.
Ed squinted at him making Al feel a little confused. Then Ed crossed his arms and smiled.
"Who is she, Al?" Ed grinned.
"What are you talking about?" Alphonse asked still confused.
"You've been humming to yourself, you've made this house almost completely spotless, and you barely touched your dinner and the dessert granny made," Ed pointed out. "You met someone special. I know it. I acted the same way with Winry."
The phone rang, finally disrupting them.
"I'll get it," Ed sighed and got up from his chair.
Al felt relieved and put away the last of the clean silverware. He drained the water and was drying his hands on a towel when Ed came back. He had a smirk on his face.
"It's for you, Al," Ed told him. Alphonse wondered who would be calling him this late. "She sounds pretty hot," Edward added. Al's face went red as he walked quickly to the phone. He didn't expect Anna to call him.
"Hello?" Al said when the phone touched his ear.
"Hi Alphonse!" Anna's voice came from the other end.
"Oh, hi Anna," he said nervously. He saw Ed standing in the doorway smirking.
"I didn't mean to call this late, but I had a pile of homework."
"It's ok."
"So, how are things?"
"Umm…I just finished the dishes to be honest."
"Oh cool, well I was wondering if we could meet somewhere tomorrow."
Ed could hear the entire conversation. Al glared at him and he finally went back to the kitchen.
"Are you still there?" Anna asked.
"Yea," Alphonse said. He felt more confident now that his brother was gone. "How about we go for coffee in the morning?"
"That sounds great, but tomorrow is Sunday. Most places are closed," she said.
Al felt his heart sink. Then he had an idea.
"Why don't you come here? I hope you don't mind my family being around," he suggested.
"Fine with me!" Anna told him. He heard the excitement in her voice.
They set a time and Al gave the address. They spoke for a little bit afterwards before saying good night. Alphonse found his brother asleep at the kitchen table. Winry had already gone to bed so she didn't come down to fetch Edward after getting the baby to sleep. Tomorrow morning would definitely be interesting.
. . .
Al was up early that morning before anyone else. Anna would be there in thirty minutes and he was nothing but nerves. He showered and borrowed some cologne from Ed. They were just having coffee, but he acted like he asked her out to a five star restaurant. He towel dried his hair when the doorbell rang. He dropped what he was doing and answered the door. It was Anna. She was wearing a dark red dress and was holding a small bag.
"I bought some doughnut holes," she said as she stepped through the door. She heard two tiny
Meows and looked down to see two kittens. One was orange and the other was black with a white patch of fur on its chest in the shape of a triangle.
"Don't mind them," Al told her as he shut the door. "That's just Ed and Mustang."
"Ed and Mustang?" Anna asked.
"Yea. Ed is the yellow grumpy looking one, he's named after my brother," Al explained. "And the black one is Mustang; he's named after an old friend of ours." The two cats rubbed against Anna's legs. "I see they already like you."
When Alphonse and Anna sat down to eat and drink coffee, they talked some. Anna explained that she was a nursing student going for pediatrics. She lived in small apartment in town. Her family lived in another area.
Alphonse only told her bits and pieces of his life. He told her about losing his mother and about becoming state alchemists. He left a lot of detail out. Anna only knew he was once in the military with his brother because they had nowhere else to go. That was it.
"That must have been interesting," she told him.
"What about you? What did you do before you lived here?" Alphonse asked.
She paused like she had to think about what to say. "Nothing special," Anna finally said. "It's not that important."
Al felt like she was hiding something, but decided not to pry. There was an awkward silence. Anna stared into her coffee and thought about when Alphonse had answered the door. He looked really cute with his hair tasseled from towel drying and he had smelled really nice. When she helped him make the coffee, their hands had brushed a few times. She never knew a guy's hand could be rough and soft at the same time. Anna finally cleared her throat and stood up.
"I need more coffee. Do you want anymore?" she asked.
"Please," Al responded. He finally got a look at her legs. They were long and slender, but he noticed a scrape on the left one. "Did you scrape yourself yesterday?" he asked her.
"Yea," she answered as she poured his coffee. "I didn't realize it until I showered last night."
Alphonse tried really hard not to imagine her in the shower. He hoped she didn't see him blush.
"By the way," Anna paused and stood next to him. "Who's in that picture on the wall?"
It was a picture of a younger Ed and Alphonse in a suit of armor.
