Sorry it's a bit late everyone. This isn't the last chapter


Ed walked ahead of Al, opening the door and holding the door open for him, smiling gently at his younger brother

Ed walked ahead of Al, opening the door and holding the door open for him, smiling gently at his younger brother. Avoiding Ed's watch, Al quickly walked into their home.

"Al -" Ed started.

"I'm tired," Al interrupted quickly, turning towards his room. "I'm going to go to bed."

"But Al, I think we need to talk," protested Ed.

Al made a face and clenched his fists. Grimacing, trying to look as calm and natural as possible, he turned around slowly to face his older brother.

"I'm sorry Ed, I'm just really tired. We can talk some other time." Al said, forcing a small laugh.

Ed closed his eyes for a second, trying to hold back a sigh. "Of course Al, sure, some other time."
Al smiled again, trying his hardest to look as cheerful as possible. "See you in the morning, brother." Al quickly turned and shut the door. Ed stared out of the window. It was still quite early, the sun had gone and a few stars were visible among the clouds but it wasn't completely dark. Maybe Al was just tired. And anyway, perhaps he needed some freedom, time to think about things. Ed would have preferred Al confiding in him about his feelings, especially after keeping the bullying problem a secret from him. Surely though, they would have a chat about it in the morning. Al just needed a bit of time to recover. Ed had decided to keep Al off of school for a while, but he was going to let Al decide if he wanted to go back at all. He wouldn't make Al go back there, if he didn't want to.

After a few minutes, Ed got up and grabbed his coat and pulled it on. It was unlikely that Al would leave his room, but Ed left him a note just incase.

Gone out, be back soon – Ed

Ed walked down to Gracia's shop. He had been planning to talk to Gracia, but he looked a lot happier to see Noa just leaving the store.

"Noa!" Ed grinned, walking over to her.

"Hello Edward," she said with a smile.

"How you doing?" He asked.

Noa replied "Good, you?"

"Yeah, ok."

"Just ok?" She asked.

"Al's been having a few problems at school," said Ed with a sigh.

"Problems?" Noa asked, sounding a bit worried.

"Some kids were picking on him."

Noa smiled sympathetically. "I think that's rather normal in schools. The adults are usually aware of what goes on, but they usually don't make an effort to prevent it, unless cheating is involved or something like that."

"Cheating?" Ed asked, suddenly curious, remembering that Al had recently been hit in school.

"Yes. One of the boys who is causing Al grief, he may be forcing Al to do his work or tell him the answers and such."

Ed chewed his lip. Al had been getting an unnaturally large amount of homework, and that would explain the cheating incident. He was sure Al would never really do something like that.

"I think that might have been happening to him," Ed mumbled, "He hasn't said much about this whole thing, which is starting to bug me."

Noa touched him briefly on the shoulder. Ed wasn't sure if she was trying to comfort him or trying to read his mind.

"He'll probably open up to you eventually. But it is good to talk about this with him."

"Yeah," Ed agreed.

"He probably is feeling scared and embarrassed."

"Why would he be?" Ed frowned.

"Well, he's probably confused. He might think you are angry."

Ed bit his lip hard. This was tough. Why the hell would he be angry with Al because some kids were bullying him?

"I had better get back," Ed said, "Thanks, Noa."

"See you soon Ed, I hope he's feeling better soon."


Al walked out of his bedroom and into the kitchen, the sunlight shining through the windows.

"It's about time," Ed snapped, jumping up from the kitchen table.

Al looked at him, slightly puzzled.

"Do you have any idea what time it is?" Ed demanded. Al turned and looked at the clock. It was nearly two o'clock in the afternoon!

Al chuckled, turning to look at Ed. "Wow, I really was tired, wasn't I? I had no idea I could sleep so much."

"Yeah, I didn't know that it was humanly possible," Ed muttered sarcastically. He was pretty sure Al hadn't been asleep. There was no way.

"Lunch?" Ed asked. Al shook his head.

"No thank you, Brother."

"Suit yourself," Ed grumbled. He couldn't help but feel a little bit irritated with Al.

"Anyway, Al. I wanted to talk - "

"Come on brother, not now," Al groaned. "It's way to nice today to stay indoors. I'm going to go on a walk."

"Fine," Ed sighed.

"Thanks brother!" Al grinned, running outdoors.

...

Al gritted his teeth. He had been out for a very long time, but he didn't feel like going inside. He exhaled loudly. These excuses were just getting stupid. He couldn't keep avoiding Ed like this. Al sat down on the pavement, biting his nail. Ed was going to talk to him sooner or later.