Each of these ficlets was written for the Live Journal Community, Fanfic_Bakeoff, for the prompt: Shine. As they are meant to be read as a whole, I'm posting them that way.

Poor Wandering One

Alphonse had never expected the sight that awaited him when he opened his bedroom door in the Imperial Palace of Xing. "Brother?"

Edward grinned, leaping off the bed and coming to give Alphonse a hug. "Al! It's great to see you." After thumping his back, Edward let go, gesturing around the room. "I can't believe this is where you sleep. It's all so…shiny."

"Not often." The words slipped out and Alphonse hastened to add, "I'm not usually in the palace." It was true; he didn't spend a lot of time here. He was usually out wandering the countryside, learning as much as he could from local practitioners of alkahestry. "Why are you here? Not that I'm not happy to see you but…."

Edward rubbed the back of his neck up under his ponytail. "Ah, well, I wanted to come see you?"

"That's nice, Brother, but..." Alphonse studied his brother's back. His spine was stiff and his shoulders taut. Something was going on. "Did you bring Winry?"

"Bring Winry?" Edward snorted, glancing over his shoulder.

"Yeah. I mean, since you wrote me that you were engaged and all…" Alphonse poured some water from a carafe into a bowl, washing his hands, giving his brother a little time to think about that answer.

"Uh."

He whipped around. "Ed. Don't tell me you did something stupid!"

"I didn't!" Edward nearly whined. "I mean. Winry! She kicked me out! Told me I needed to get my head on straight. What the hell does that even mean?"

Alphonse just knew this was going to be a very long visit. Or at least seem like one.

Thou Has Surely Strayed

Groaning, Alphonse fell onto his bed. "Did you ask Winry to explain why she kicked you out?"

"She got pissed!"

Winry probably would. Alphonse knew his brother would be an idiot about it, too, instead of sticking around and sucking up to Winry to find out what it was she actually wanted, he ran away. All the way to Xing. "Brother, not that I'm not thrilled to see you," Edward, fortunately, was oblivious to sarcasm, too, "but you need to turn around and go home. Go talk to Winry. Have her explain it to you. Beg, if you have to. I know, go see Mustang. He'll give you all sorts of ideas on how to win her back." Alphonse hesitated, a brief, bare second. "You do want her back, right?"

Edward glared, a furious, golden stare. "What kind of stupid question is that?"

That's exactly what Alphonse wanted to hear. He kept his relief to himself, though. "Go buy her something that glitters and shines, like that ring I told you to buy before I even left Rezembool, and go home to her."

Huffing, Edward dropped onto the bed next to Alphonse, covering his eyes with his forearm. "I think I'll give her a chance to cool off, first."

Yup. It was going to be a long visit.

Take Heart of Grace

"Ed," Alphonse sighed, "the longer you wait to go home, the angrier Winry's going to get."

"Ffft." Edward waved a hand. "Look, there's another reason I came to visit."

That didn't sound good. Edward seemed far too relaxed. Alphonse didn't like it. "Why?"

The forearm came away from his eyes. Edward showed a lot of glittery teeth that shone in the dim light of Alphonse's bedroom. "Worried I'm going to decide to stay here? Don't worry, Al. I'm not going to horn in on your trip."

You have no idea, Brother. "That's not what I'm worried about, Ed."

"Yeah? Then what's got your panties in a bunch?" He chuckled at Alphonse's expression. "What? I can't say that word?"

"No…but really, Ed, take my advice." For once. "Go home to Winry before she decides you don't care."

"She just needs a chance to cool down!" God, but his brother could really look like a mule sometimes. All he needed were the floppy ears to lay back against his head. "And I want to see you. It's been a while, Al, didn't you even miss me?"

He was pouting. Dammit, Edward was good at pouting. "Yes. I missed you. I missed you and Granny and Winry and Den. You can tell them all that when you go home."

"I can't believe you're trying to kick me out of here! Are you afraid I'm going to get in the way of you and that bean princess?"

The door slammed open, Ling leaping through. "I heard you had a visitor, Al!" He grabbed Edward, hugging him tight. "I was hoping it was you!"

Ignoring his brother's protests at Ling's embrace, Alphonse decided hard liquor was the best idea at this point. It was the only way he was going to survive this visit.

Note: The titles for each segment come from The Pirates of Penzance song, "Poor Wandering One".