Pretty fast update huh? Well...At least its faster than all the rest of the chapters previously...

No warnings for this chapter.

I don't know how to speak Spanish, so I basically researched a couple words for this chapter. Let me know if I got it right!


Chapter 11: New Perspective.

August 21st, 2013.

Wednesday.

Ling stares at the ceiling, looking at all the bumps and grooves on the paintings on the walls that were surrounding him inside his large expanded bedroom, gazing at all the posters hung up on each side of his head that are hanging from his pure black bed frame, and then looks down at the plush dark blue carpet covered over the dark hard-wood floor boards beneath.

"Nothing here is mine." He whispers, then sighs heavily and lays eagle spread on his queen sized mattress, he unties his hair string that pulls up all his hair neatly to the back of his head, and shakes his long black hair out of its confines as he lays his head back down onto his pillow.

'I'm bored.' Ling pouts as he continues to eye the ceiling above him once again in disdain.

How he hated being bored.

He ditched school that day for the simple reason that his parents didn't want him going today.

And why didn't they want him going to school? Simple question.

Easier answer.

Because the security alarm for the entire house, broke just that morning, and they couldn't get a repair man to come and take a look at the problem until later on that evening, so they made him stay home to keep an eye on the house, and their riches. And what a load of shit it's been to stay inside a huge house by yourself, with nothing to do. The repair man already came and gone and it was now 4:30—something, and Ling didn't have a clue on what else it is that he should go and do for the rest of the day.

He spent his entire day cleaning his already spotless room, he tried helping the house maid, but was then shooed away when he started goofing off with the vacuum cleaner—how was he supposed to know that a slipper could get stuck in the hose?—and he was then holed up in his room for the rest of the day, simply laying down, looking through his large collection of CD's, tape cassettes, and his records, to skimming through some magazines he found in his mother's office desk—and that's when he got bored of laying down in his room. He went to go investigate, see if he could find anything secretive that maybe his parents didn't want him to find out, but it turns out, his family was more cleaner than he thought, so that proved to be boring.

But when he found those magazine, that proved to be a good source of entertainment, now he wished he was a girl to see if their hypothesis on "how to seduce your boss" can actually work. And to that article he found in the magazine of "Cosmo", he had started to question whether or not his family was actually clean as he thought they were, and he also started to ask himself, was his own mother cheating on his father with her boss?

But now that time has passed, and he is still being locked away inside his own room—like an imprisoned princess—and he didn't know what to do with himself.

'I could go see what Edward is doing.' Ling thought, he purses his lip at that fresh idea he had in mind. Considering he had a good visit with him a couple of days ago, well, all in all he had a good visit, before he got the boot from Edward, and he was also told that he couldn't visit unless Hohenhiem—Edward's father—was gone, or was away from the apartment building completely.

And why he couldn't visit Edward when Hohenhiem was there, Ling could only guess that Edward didn't want his dad to see him with another boy, which is a strange thought all in all.

'So maybe Hohenhiem is thinking that maybe Edward is gay?' Ling couldn't help but smile at that thought. 'Now why would his dad think that? Unless Edward was caught with Envy and they were doing something very unpleasant…But then again, Edward doesn't look like he's friends with Envy at all, I see them pass by each other in the hallway, and they never say a word to each other at all.' Ling thought, with confusion. 'Anyways…I'm still bored, and thinking doesn't really help with that.' He sighs heavily and gets up from his bed, enjoying the feel of the plush and fluffy carpet underneath his bare feet, before he walks quietly towards his balcony doors and opens one of the glass doors with a gentle push and walks pleasantly to the steel railing across.

He flicks his dark eyes this way and that around the city streets, noticing how busy it is in this section of the city, and he notices in slight disappointment just how many hobo's and bum's resided in the alleyways. He sighs once again and turns away, he's been sighing a lot lately, he's been practically sighing instead of conversing for the entire day.

And having a normal conversation with somebody in this house hold was trouble in itself considering that he couldn't exactly have a nice conversation with the house maid, when he doesn't speak a lick of Spanish.

"Hola señorita, no queda café." He says, smirking for his effort.

That is probably the only thing he had picked up while living inside the Yao mansion with a Spanish maid, puttering about inside their kitchen.

"Hello miss, there's no coffee." He repeats, this time in English, and sighs in disdain as he walks silently across the plush dark blue carpet and walks towards his couch, and with a running jump, he lands with a heavy "oof" and lays out flat on his back, he quickly grabs his remote to the stereo, which is hung up onto a higher shelf inside his book case, and turns it on. Inwardly feeling relieved at having the radio stream out voices of people from his favorite radio station, but purses his lip in displeasure when no music was yet to be heard.

"So bored…" He groans, throwing the remote onto the other side of the couch situated beside him by his head, he lays his arm behind his head as he stares back up at the ceiling with a scowl. "What to do...?" He asks himself.

'If I go to Edward's place, he'll probably only kick me out if Hohenhiem is there. But then again, if he isn't home, I can easily visit Edward, besides...I'm bored, and I want to see him anyways.' He scowls again. 'Actually...Now that I think about it, I always want to go see him, am I that bored all the time? Or…Is it something else that makes me wanna see him?'

Then he thinks back to when he visited Edward a couple days ago, then thought of Edward in his large and baggy shirt with only his boxers on, and he couldn't help but smirk at that image, but then frowns soon after when he thought about it to intensely, that's what made him run away from Edward in the first place, he had a certain...Situation...That he needed to take care of inside the privacy of the...Bathroom...

"God…" He groans, rubbing his face with both his hands at the thought. "I'm such a fucking pervert." He scolds himself before looking back up at the ceiling over-head.

'I don't even know why that happened in the first place...He's as old as me, so I can't really call myself a pedophile, so that's a good thing...' He thought with a frown. 'But it still doesn't make it alright that I did that, and with the image of Edward inside my mind the whole time too! I could just call myself a pervert for having those thoughts of the shrimp…And for having to do "that" inside his bathroom too…But Fuck…What's up with me? And what the fuck is wrong with me for thinking about HIM while I'm rubbing one out?' He sighs heavily in frustration and turns his head away from the ceiling.

'Another subject, gotta change the subject of my own thoughts…If I gotta tell myself that, than yeah, I'm a full-fledged pervert. I'll just leave it at that.' He furrows his eyebrows as he glares at the wall straight across from him, before he pulls his gaze back to the ceiling above him.

'Why did I even have that image in my head? I usually think about something entirely different when I'm pulling it, so what made me look at Edward that way? Was it because I saw him in his boxers? Maybe it was the over-sized t-shirt he wore? It'd had to be those things...Because that's all I'm thinking about right now.' Ling scratches his head and pulls his arm around his torso with a pout. 'I could just be me over thinking these things again, I mean, it's Edward for Christ sake! He's only supposed to be a person that makes me less bored, a toy practically...But after having these kinds of thoughts, it doesn't really prove that point. It's almost like...He's my...' He quickly and hurriedly shakes his thoughts away, and also resists the urge to punch himself in the face because of those ridiculous thoughts.

"He's nothing!" He yells at himself, then glares angrily at the ceiling.

"Well it's a long way up and we won't come down tonight,"

Ling scowls at the song playing from the radio.

"Well it may be wrong, but baby, it sure feels right."

Ling's scowl becomes more prominent as he continues to stare up at the ceiling, with the song still playing on his radio.

"And the moon is up, and the stars are bright,
And whatever comes, gonna be alright,
Cause tonight you will be mine, up on Cloud Number Nine."

He starts to lip singing unwittingly.

"And there ain't no place that I'd rather be,
And we can't go back, but you're here with me,
And the weather's really fine, up on Cloud Number Nine."

He smiles small after lip singing the chorus.

"Now I hurt you, and you hurt me,
And that wasn't the way it was supposed to be,
So baby tonight, let's leave the world behind,
And spend some time up on Cloud Number Nine."

He lip sings happily and smiles softly at the song.

Then quickly the happy smile drops from his face when he realizes he's singing a damn love song, with a certain image of a blonde-haired boy popping up inside his mind all the while, and sits upright inside the ouch, grabs the stereo's remote control, and throws it at the stereo.

With a loud command of: "Shat up!"

And once he threw the offending object, it lands with a loud bang, and he watches in satisfaction as the stereo falls, and shatters to the floor, with the remote control breaking upon impact of the stereo.

He stares at the floor for a couple of silent seconds, then sighs heavily and gets up from the couch. "Stupid song..." He grumbles in displeasure as he walk over to his dresser and pulls out a pair of white socks from the top drawer, including a white colored muscle shirt, with black jeans, and smiles at the wardrobe. "I should just go for a walk. Clear my head." He mutters to himself, and nods at his own idea as he begins to change into the fresh ensemble.

Once he's dressed in his choice of clothing, he walks over to his walk-in closet located just beside his dresser, he pulls out a black short sleeved sweater, which had bright orange colors on both of the short sleeves, short sleeves that only reached above his elbows, and the same bright orange could be found on the hood, the collar of the sweater, and at the hem. He goes back to his closet and pulls out a green wrist band, bright blue high-top sneakers, and a beaded light pink bracelet.

And once he's fully dressed, he inspects himself in the full body mirror, only to scowl at the reflection. "Where's my hair tie?" He asks as he pats down his long messy hair and looks to and fro inside his bedroom, he soon smiles in delight when he finds the tie on his pillow on the bed and he dashes towards the pillow, grabs the hair-tie, and begins tying back his hair into his usual pony-tail behind his head and straightens out his clothing.

"I need to clear my head..." He says after inspecting his pony-tail in the mirror above his bedroom door. "That's all I need. Take a breather, time to myself...And see where that takes me." He sighs and closes his eyes. 'What if I bump into Edward? What do I do then? What if he wants to hang out with me? What should I say? And what if...What I want to...' He groans loudly in frustration and slouches his shoulders and hangs his head in defeat.

"This is why I need to take a walk…" He grumbles as he straightens his hunch over posture in front of his bedroom door, he gives his reflection a smile, a wink of his eye, and he walks out of his room.

0.o.0.o.0

'Alright…I'm out of the house, and I'm walking as well…Now what?' He thinks and purses his bottom lip in thought as he stares down at the bright blue and black colored sneakers. 'What exactly do I do? Should I go to a café? The park? Maybe go see Edward?' He sighs in disdain and stuffs both his hands into his black jeans pockets. 'Why do I keep doing that? Every time I think, I keep thinking about him! Gaaah!' He inwardly shouts at himself inside his head and walks with more force in each step he takes, practically stomping across the street as he does, but once the light flickers to red, he stands by the crosswalk and hums a sad little tune to himself and his misfortune.

"I'm hungry…" He states in realization, he can feel his stomach growling, demanding for sustenance and food angrily. "I should just go to a café, I want a muffin." He says, smiling to himself at that wonderful idea. He thought that talking to himself, was much than thinking all the time, at least, that was his theory he came up with on the spot.

As he continues to walk down the streets, in a hushed silence, all he was able to hear once he really put his mind to it, was the growling of his stomach, and the occasional heavy sigh or two for when thinking became too much of a hassle for his brain to handle.

"I am over-thinking things…" He says aloud as he bites his lip in worry and continues to stare down at his sneakers, watching as he legs automatically moved with each stiff, almost robotic, steps he takes. Even walking was proving to be too much hard work, his brain was already fried from simply thinking too much.

"I'm an idiot." He grumbles as he finally looks up from his blue sneakers, only to stop dead in his tracks as his eyes manages to catch a glimpse of pure blonde-hair bobbing within a crowd of people on the other side of the street.

And once he stops, he accidentally makes another pedestrian stumble into him from behind.

"Watch it!" The stranger yells from over his shoulder once he walks around the black-haired hippie kid.

"Sorry!" Ling hisses under his breath, all too shock to actually apologize more respectfully to the guy he banged into.

Because walking just up ahead on another street altogether, was Alphonse, and alongside his older brother Edward.

Ling felt an over-whelming urge to turn-tail, and book it down the street that he had just walked across, and head back to his house, but then again on the other hand, he also wanted to bolt it across the street, and tackle Edward for managing to show up from outta nowhere when he was just thinking about him.

And then again, he also wanted to do both.

So that is why he just stands there, in the middle of the street, as many people pass by him, shooting odd glances at him from over their shoulders, or just walking completely around him and muttering curse words at him from under their breath.

He stands there in the middle of the sidewalk and gulps nervously. He never felt this way before, but when Edward just showed up from out of the blue, when he was just thinking about him no less, he felt unbelievably happy, and relieved, as though he's just been lost for hours on end, and with Edward's mere appearance, he felt completely better.

But he still didn't know what it is that he should do. 'What do I do? What should I do? Walk up to him and say "Hi"…? Or walk up to Alphonse and say hi? Do I just ignore them and turn back around? If I go back to my place, I'll only be bored and probably regret ever turning around and ignoring the both of them...What if I walk up to them, and be totally awkward around Edward? What should I do dammit!?' His mind rages, he thinks about all of the possible situations he would put himself in, some were good, and some were bad, and some were just horribly awkward and embarrassing.

He soon quickly ducks his head, once he thought Edward was glancing his way, and he turns around not two second later, he takes three whole steps back to the direction he just came from, but then stops.

'What if he already saw me? And what if he thinks I'm just ignoring him because I quickly turned around?'

At that horrible thought, he hurriedly turns back around and walks a few step forward to where he saw Edward, but then stops once again he notices that both of the brother's weren't looking in his direction at all, and quickly he turns back around and walks a few more steps back to where he just came from. 'They didn't see me, so that's good.' He thinks as he walks a couple feet back to the street he just crossed, then stops and sighs heavily in irritation and closes his eyes in frustration. 'Fuck it!' He swears inside his head, and swiftly he turns back around, hurriedly he walks across the street from where he saw Al and Ed, and quickly he jogs down the sidewalk towards the two Elric brother's.

He plasters on a fake smile as he nervously begins to sweat, he waves a hand high in the air above his head, and both of the brother's instantly look towards him. "Hiya guys!" He greets enthusiastically, still waving his hand vigorously.

Edward and Alphonse both stop in their tracks just as they were both about to head into a small Starbucks café and wait by the door of the coffee shop.

Alphonse raises his hand and waves back to the long-haired teen with a large and happy smile. "Hi Ling! What's up?" He asks once the teenager catches up with them as he gives Ling a high-five, once the taller teenager makes it to his side just in front of the coffee shop.

Edward quirks an eyebrow up at the long-haired teenager suspiciously as he crosses his arms over his chest skeptically. "What the fuck were you doing?" He asks in a serious manner.

Ling looks towards him with a tilt of his head and a confused looking smile. "Eh? What?"

Edward only rolls his eyes in passion. "What were you doing walking back and forth in the streets for?" He questions again, pointing off into the direction from where he saw Ling come from.

Ling looks back to the sidewalk, the same sidewalk he was just walking back and forth in, then looks back towards the confused looking brother's with a casual shrug of his shoulders and a happy looking smile. "I was...Dancing?" He states, unsure with himself at the idiotic answer.

Edward and Al both look towards each other, then shrug it away. It sounds like something Ling would do, if he was bored enough.

Edward sighs and scratches behind his head. "Whatever. Me and Al were just gonna have some coffee and—"

"—Oooh coffee!" Ling rejoices happily as he starts rubbing his hands together in anticipation. "Let's go! I want a muffin!" He smiles happily and swiftly he walks towards the door to Starbucks.

Edward groans at the new arrival and gesticulate wildly. "It was just gonna be me and Alphonse! Why do you have to—"

"—Ling! Try the blueberry muffins here! They're great!" Alphonse quickly cuts off the ranting Edward as he takes Ling's side by the doorway and begins weaving them through the crowd inside as they start to have a delightful little conversation about all the delicious muffins and cakes that they have on the menu.

And Edward stands further behind them with a hard scowl on his face. "Doesn't anyone listen to me?!" He shouts, throwing up his hands in the air. "I'm the older one here! Listen to me!" He rages madly as he quickly strides into Starbucks.

0.o.0.o.0

"Ahh~" Ling sighs in delight from beside Alphonse and slaps the younger teenager in the back with a cheerful smile. "You're right! These were the best blueberry muffin I ever had! I wish I could have a dozen of them!" Ling announces in excitement as he sips lightly on his Green Tea.

Alphonse chokes back his herbal tea with an awkward smile as he clears his throat. "T-that's great to hear, I love it here." Alphonse replies happily as he turns his attention back to his scowling brother across from him and Ling at the table.

Edward was practically growling in-between each bite he took out of the cookie in his hand.

And all Alphonse could do, was smile at his grumpy brother. He knew that Edward probably didn't like the fact that Ling had just invited himself to their outting. But he couldn't exactly say anything about it. But he could bug him about it. "What's wrong brother? Aren't you happy that you're finally out of the apartment now?" He asks with a small smile.

Edward blinks a couple time in surprise and turns his attention back to his younger brother as he shrugs, uncaring. "I'm fine." He deadpans as he scowls down at his cookie.

"He's just moody because I'm here Al."

Both of the Elric brother's turn their attention to Ling at the table.

"I'm sure he'll get over it." Ling states with a smile as he waves his hand dismissively at Ed's behavior as he begins to eat Alphonse's cookie. "Mm, your cookie is amazing too." He groans in the bite.

Alphonse quickly makes a grab for his cookie. "Gimme that! I wasn't done!" He nearly shouts in protest as he reaches for his cookie, only for Ling to quickly take it away as the long-haired teenager holds it up higher above his head.

"Come and get it Alphy!" Ling teases.

"Don't call me that! That's a horrible nickname!" Alphonse objects as he reaches higher for the cookie, practically standing up from his chair to try and grab his pastry away from Ling.

"Imma eat it on ya!" Ling laughs as he pulls the cookie down to his lap, then tries sticking the whole cookie into his mouth before Alphonse could get his hands on it.

But just as the cookie touches Ling's lips, Alphonse quickly grabs onto his wrist with a startled sounding gasp as he tries steering Ling's arm backwards desperately. "Don't eat it! I didn't even get to taste it yet!" Al hisses in surprise.

"I'll save ya a bite! Don't worry Al-baby!" Ling smiles graciously.

"Don't call me 'baby' either! Gimme!" Alphonse shrieks once the cookie manages to touch Ling's lips once again, crumbs start to fall in both their laps.

Alphonse forces the long-haired teenagers arm backwards and pulls his own face down closer towards the cookie, which is near Ling's chest, and opens his mouth wide, uncaring if he bites Ling's hand or not.

"You're gonna bite my hand!" Ling shouts in clear surprise.

Alphonse sneers by the cookie, and bites into it, even though it was still being held inside Ling's hand. Then cheers in triumph as he chews the cookie bit in his mouth. "It's mine now!" He cheers merrily, crumbs flying from his lips.

Edward could only look on at the two teasing teenager's in annoyance, and felt his eyebrows twitch with irritation.

Then he was only watching on in horror once Alphonse quickly eats the cookie, which was still being held in-between Ling's fingers.

And that's when he lost his patience for the two. "Quit fooling around! Sit down and eat so we can get that damn cell phone!" Edward snaps.

Causing both of the teenager's to look back to Edward in surprise, which then lead to the both of them sitting down in their seats once again, but their movements were slow and timid.

Edward only sighs heavily in relief as he slaps an arm onto the table top in front of him as he cradles his head in his hand. "Better. Now shut up." He grumbles, taking a shot from his coffee cup as he grabs for his own cookie inside the pure white plate beside him.

That is until Ling snatches the cookie right out from the dish Edward was just reaching towards and pops the pastry into his mouth his a sneer.

"There." Ling states with a smile. "Now I'm happy." Ling smiles happily as he chews on the cookie inside his mouth, and hums appreciatively. "So good." He groans quietly.

Edward only growls in disdain as he points directly at Ling's smiling face. "See why I don't take you anywhere? You eat like a boar and have no respect for other's people's property!" He rages.

Alphonse merely chuckles at his brother's reaction and slaps Ling on the back, hard, and begins to laugh loudly once the teen starts to choke on the cookie he stole from Edward. "He's alright Ed!" He says in-between his laughter. "Just leave him alone, then he won't bug you as much." Alphonse chuckles as he smiles happily at Ling beside him.

Who grumbles begrudgingly inside his throat and rubs the back of his neck.

"You mean, like a dog?" Edward sneers at Ling, who only scowls right back at him.

Alphonse nods in agreement. "Like a dog Ed." He announces with a smile.

"Both of you are jerks." Ling pouts, but then smiles happily. "Thanks for the cookie Ed! Now...What're we gonna do?" He asks politely, sipping from his tea. "What cell phone you guys talkin' 'bout?" He asks animatedly. "You lookin' for a cell phone? I know where to get a good one!" He grins in delight.

Alphonse smiles happily. "My dad is looking for a cellphone, because the one he has now, is ancient and he's tired of Edward bugging him to buy a new one." He says, shooting accusatory eyes at Edward's general direction.

Edward waves a spoon he had on his plate, in the air beside his blonde-head. "He's an old-fart, he won't know what the fuck he's doing with a cellphone anyways, so I don't know why we gotta get him—ow! I'm kiddin' Al! Sheesh!" He grumbles, rubbing his abused arm and shooting a hard glare at Alphonse across from him.

Alphonse only smiles sweetly at the glare he receives, before he turns his attention to Ling. "So where exactly do we go?"

Ling thumbs his chest proudly. "Why, FutureShop my dear Alphonse." He smirks.

Alphonse nods his head and quickly finishes up his tea. "Well let's get going, I'll pay." He says as he gets up from his chair at their little round table.

Edward shakes his head in refusal. "I'll pay. I still have money left over from when we moved here." Edward quickly interjects, he pulls out his wallet from his back pocket and pulls out a two ten dollar bills. "The coffee here is fucking expensive...Why did we come here again?" He asks, scowling.

"Because you wanted their coffee." Alphonse deadpans.

Edward shoots another glare at his brother. "Shut up. I didn't think it would be so fucking expensive here." He defends halfheartedly.

Ling waves a hand dismissively. "I'll pay!" He announces happily. "I got tons of money from when my parents left me." He says with a smile as he pulls out his own wallet from his pocket.

Edward shakes his head and tries to ignore that little tid-bit of information about Ling's parents leaving him. "But I'm the one who—" But he was soon cut off by Ling, who suddenly jumps up from the table and makes a mad dash towards the cashier with a bright smile on his face.

The brother's look on towards the cash register, to see that Ling was already hitting on a much older, but very beautiful, cashier lady on the other side of the counter top, opening the cash register. She looks as though she was flattered, but the nervous smile etched on her face told the boy's that she was uncomfortable at the casual display of flirtatiousness.

"Does he hit on every cute girl he meets?" Alphonse asks as he shakes his head sadly at the flirting teenager, who was soon shot down by the looks of it.

Because Ling looks as though he was pouting now.

Edward only growls. "I don't know, I never see him hit on anyone else but m—" He slaps a hand over his mouth to stifle the rest of his sentence. He scrambles his brain for much better, and appropriate, words. "—mothers." He quickly blurts out on impulse, then inwardly groans at his poor choice of words, that sounds completely perverted, not to mention very creepy...

Alphonse merely quirks an eyebrow at the sentence. "Mothers? Is that what you were going to say before?" Al says with coy smirk as he grabs his jacket from the chair and leaves a small tip on the table. "Cos it sure sounds like you were about to say, 'me'."

Edward blushes furiously as he quickly gets up from the table and leaves Alphonse behind without looking back. "Shut up!" He hisses over his shoulder as he swiftly strides his way towards Ling at the cash register.

He storms over to the long-haired teenager, and grabs his arm with a smile directed at the pretty cashier lady. "I'm sorry if he's a horn dog, eeh..." He quickly looks to the name-tag hung on the girl's uniform and smiles graciously at the woman. "Elizabeth, he's always hitting on anything wearing a skirt." He says with a delightfully happy tone as he pulls away Ling by the arm.

Ling's eyes widen in fright. "Wha? No! I'm not Lizzie! I was just—!"

"—Let's go, I'm embarrassed for you already." Edward deadpans as he drags Ling away by the arm and out the door.

Alphonse walks over to the cashier lady, whose name was apparently Elizabeth, as he learned rather rudely by Edward, and smiles brightly at the woman. "I'm sorry for their behavior. I left a tip at the table, and added extra, just because of those two who just left." He informs her as he thumbs over his shoulder, at the two arguing just beyond the Starbucks doors. "We'll be coming here often, and I assure you, they won't act that way again." Alphonse reassures with a warm smile and a soft chuckle.

Elizabeth merely smiles as she waves her hand dismissively. "It's alright, don't worry about it. I see and hear many of the people that come to this place and with little to no words said to me. It's kind of refreshing." She informs with a smile. "I'll see you later then...?" She asks timidly.

Alphonse nods his head enthusiastically. "You bet we will. I'm Alphonse by the way." He greets casually as he stretches his arm over the counter with a smile.

The purple-haired cashier lady takes the hand offered out towards her with a smile. "Elizabeth, but I'm sure you already knew that." She says with a cute smile as she leans onto the counter top and closer towards the younger looking teen as she continues to hold his hand inside her own with a flirty smile.

Alphonse blushes a bright red, and quickly he points to the door with a nervous smile as she finally releases her hold on his hand. "I should go now and break up their arguing. I'll see you again though Lizzie." He says with a crooked smile as he ducks and hides his feverishly blushing face as he swiftly exits the Starbucks cafe.

And couldn't help but over-hearing the cashier lady giggling behind him.

As he steps out of the cafe, he is greeted with the pleasant sight of Ling and his brother, heatedly arguing and glaring at each other.

Well, Ling wasn't the one glaring, he was merely standing in front of Edward with a large grin on his face.

0.o.0.o.0

"What a beautiful day!" Ling rejoices as he throws his arms up in the air above his head and starts twirling around in a full circle in the middle of the crowded sidewalk.

Getting many odd glances thrown at him from over many of the passer-by's shoulders

"Loser." Edward mutters grumpily, trying hard to ignore the over-enthusiastic teenager.

"It's hot out! Whew!" Alphonse states as he starts pulling on the collar of his shirt and shakes the fabric with his fingers twice.

"It is, isn't it?" Ling says, holding out his hand to feel the heat of the sun blazing his skin. "I'm gonna miss summer though, once fall comes." He says with a small smile. "I love fall, the leaves changing colors, the beautiful nights and the leaves falling. Seriously, I love fall." Ling states with a dreamy sigh as he hugs himself at the mere thought

Edward rolled his eyes. "I like fall too, doesn't mean I'll start skipping through the leaves any time soon." He snorts.

"You should, you'll look cute." Ling comments, winking at the teen coyly.

Edward merely glances away with a hint of pink ghosting across his cheek as he mutters a quiet. "Shut up."

Alphonse looks between the two and looks away with a knowing, secretive smile stretching across his face. It's like Ed is bashful or something... Alphonse thought, sharing a light chuckle with himself.

"Al-baby! There it is!" Ling states happily as he points across the street that they are on, pointing excitedly at the little Futureshop located on the other side of the street.

Alphonse scowls at Ling's horrible nickname and looks towards Edward's direction, to gouge his reaction, and saw that the short blonde teenager was already glaring heatedly at the back of Ling's skull, as though he wanted Ling to either burst into flames, or get hit by a car. Or both.

Alphonse looks back to Ling's happily smirking face and shakes his head exasperatedly as he wrinkles his nose in offence. 'He's jealous, can't you see that?' Alphonse secretly gives Ling the warning.

"Please don't call me baby, it's embarrassing, not to mention…Erm, gay." Al whispers quietly to Ling.

Who only laughs loudly as he slaps a hand onto Al's back. "I can get away with that babe, don't worry." Ling states with a wink.

Alphonse narrows his eyes accusingly. "So you're gay then?" He asks, smirking lazily.

Ling pales at the thought and slings his arm over the other teenager's shoulders with an exasperated sounding sigh escaping his lips. " Look, babe, when I call you 'baby' or 'babe', it's not the same from how I call other girls baby." He explains, grinning.

Alphonse quirks an eyebrow up at the taller teenager beside him. "What do you mean?" He asks, now confused.

"Well, this is how I say baby to you," Ling clears his throat as he looks away. "Hey Alphonse baby! What's happening?" He grins mischievously down at Alphonse. "And this is how I say 'baby' when I'm around hotter, older, much beautiful women." He looks away for the second time, but then looks back down to Alphonse with a more flirtatious grin, and a coy look in his dark colored eyes.

A look that made Alphonse shiver in repulse for such a blatant display of flirtatious behavior.

"Hey baby," Ling purrs lowly down to Alphonse. "Nice legs, when do they open?" He practically whispers into Al's ear as he pulls away with a wink directed down to Alphonse.

Alphonse looks away with a bright blush. It wasn't the stare that made him blush, but the disgusting pick-up line Ling used for him.

"Alright Ling!" Edward suddenly shouts from behind them as he pulls the two teenager apart with a loud growl. "Quit teaching my brother how to be a perverted creep!" He warns dangerously as he holds the teenagers away at arms-length.

Alphonse inwardly smiles at Edward's reaction as he looks at Edward's seething expression. 'He is jealous, isn't he? Never thought I would see Edward jealous before.' He thought with a light chuckle.

Ling groans in exasperation as he holds up his hands in mock surrender. "The kid just wanted to know how I pick up chicks Ed, so don't worry about a thing baby." He announces with a purr heard inside his tone, and this time he pulls his leer down towards Edward beside him. "You're still my number one babe." He says with a smirk.

The shorter teenager shivers at the stare and quickly looks away with a hard scowl. "You disgust me, you know that, right?" Edward grumbles as he walks across the street with the two teenagers at his sides on the street.

Ling shrugs. "You told me that many times already." He says with a smirk. "And I just got used to it, just like how you gotten used to me calling you 'baby' after a while." He says with a mischievous smile.

Edward scoffs at the statement as he waves his hands dismissively. "I didn't get used to it. I just stopped giving a shit. Two different things." He explains in an acerbic tone.

Ling merely laughs. "Sure, if that's what you call giving a shit." He notes with a smile. "You're blushing."

Edward blushes madly. "I'm not blushing!" He roars in defense.

"Now you are."

"Fuck you!" Ed yells again. "How can I not blush, when someone says that you are blushing, when you weren't blushing in the first place, but then you make them blush for saying that they are blushing!"

Ling blinks in confusion. "What?" He deadpans.

"You're an idiot!" Edward snaps, quickly walking up ahead of Ling with a "Tch." Thrown over his shoulder.

Alphonse shakes his head with a sad sigh and watches the two older teenagers begin to argue in the middle of the street. He had to smile though when he notices that Edward quickly looked away again with a bright red blush staining his cheeks. He never saw Edward blush before, even he had to admit that his brother looked rather adorable at the moment.

It reminded him of his kitten back at home, not the fact that Edward was blushing, but because of the cute scowling/pouting expression. His kitten always scowled at every little thing that he didn't like. Al sighs wistfully at the reminder of his adorable little kitten, and began wishing he was back at the apartment to play with Little Edward. He gotten used to calling his kitten "Edward", but Edward himself didn't like the name still. He just couldn't think of any other name to call his kitten. He just couldn't think of a name that would suit his kitten.

'Grouch' could be one of the names...But then that reminds me of a puppet.' Alphonse wrinkles his nose at the thought. 'I could call him...Schiff...? Like that character's name on that one anime show Edward forced me to watch with him. That's actually a cute name, considering that the guy on the anime never smiles and he's always serious looking. Alright then, Schiff it is.' Alphonse thought with a smile, the name sounded nice, it suited his little grouchy kitten perfectly.

"Earth to Alphiiiiiieeeee!" Ling sang, waving a hand in front of Alphonse's blissfully smiling expression.

Alphonse drops the dopey smile as he blinks several times to get his surroundings together.

To find that he has been standing inside Futureshop for several minutes now with Edward staring intensely at his face and with Ling staring at him with a confused expression.

"Uhm…Yeah…?" Alphonse replies timidly as he smiles nervously at the two.

Edward snorts at the reaction and leans on a nearby wall. "I asked what kind of phone you think Hohenhiem would like." He says with a scowl.

"When are you gonna stop calling dad by his first name?" Alphonse sighs in exasperation as he walks over to a rack of cellphones. "He needs any kind that's easy to handle and one that has a keyboard, so he doesn't get confused using a touch screen and so we don't hear him swearing like a sailor when using it."

"You mean...Like this one?" Ling states, thumbing at a cellphone hanging on the wall encased in glass.

Alphonse and Edward both scuttle over towards the glass case and nods their heads in agreement at the cell.

"That's a good one, it has a touch screen, but you can flip it open and it has a keyboard. The old-fart should be able to use that." Edward comments. "I'll go get someone that works here." Edward announces as he turns away from the glass and heads towards the nearest Futureshop employee.

"You have a good eye," Alphonse compliments with a smile, directing his attention to the cell phone in front of him, which was practically sparkling from underneath the lighting of the small electronic store.

Ling shrugs casually. "I lived here most of my life. Once you live in a place for so long, you start getting used to seeing everything around you, that you tend to remember the entire layout of the stores you see, nothing becomes much of a surprise to you anymore." Ling states with a small smile as he straightens out his hunched over posture to look over towards Edward.

Who was now helping a stressed out looking employee, by carrying different types of cameras in his arms and offering out each camera individually and one at a time towards the worker, who is standing on top of a small stepping ladder as the employee carefully placed each camera behind the glasses cases and onto different shelves.

"Well...Edward's humanitarian side is coming out again." Alphonse announces with a grin as he looks to his older brother helping out an employee. "This could take a while Ling. Let's find a place to sit for a while." Alphonse suggests. Looking back to his elder brother, who tends to get carried away in his helpful deeds with a smile.

Ling smiles at the suggestion and nods his head in agreement, finally peeling his eyes off of Edward's concentrated and full-thinking-mode expression as he points off towards the corner of the store. "There should be a little gaming area in the back. I would know, I used to come here nearly every day to see if they got any new games out on display." Ling states with a smile as he takes the lead in front of Alphonse.

Both of the teenagers flick their eyes back to Edward, to see him smiling up at the employee in front of him, and see him grinning from ear-to-ear as he holds out the cameras for the employee to take.

Both Alphonse and Ling grin at Edward's reaction once the employee catches his tie within the glass.

Edward's response to the clumsy employee, was to laugh, and loudly at that.

0.o.0.o.0

"So now that we got dad a cell phone, what do you want to do?" Alphonse asks, looking to Edward. "Just call it a day and head back home?" He asks, peering into the small plastic bag that he's been carrying inside his hand with curiosity. And enviously eyeing the new cell phone within.

Edward shrugs. "I don't know, I'm tired, but I want another coffee." Edward states, looking around the street that they were on. Trying to remember where the Starbucks café was located.

Ling smiles happily and points down the street opposite from where they had just came from, which was the small Futureshop store. Successfully grabbing both of the teenager's attentions by his pointing.

One expression was curious, while the other expression was suspicious.

Ling merely smiles. "I have an idea. Down that way is where the annual Fireworks Festival is held. You guys hear about that festival yet?" Ling asks curiously.

Edward shakes his head. "No." He states in confusion. "Is it an actual festival? Or just a bunch of old fogies getting together?"

Ling smirks. "Its an actual festival. Old people do go there, but they usually just sit around and enjoy the food." He states with a bright smile.

Alphonse puts his hand up in the air. "I think I heard about it...The student were talking about it inside class the other day..." Alphonse replies, holding his hand to his chin in thought. "Is that the festival where they have tons of amusement parks and games? The students also said something about small stores for clothes and jewelry." Alphonse announces, looking up to Ling in curiosity.

Ling nods his head enthusiastically and snaps his fingers with a grin. "That's the one!" He rejoices. "Anyone wanna go?" He asks excitedly.

Alphonse nods in excitement. "Well yeah! I wanna go! Whatta 'bout you Ed? Wanna go check it out?" The younger teen asks as he takes a small step towards Ling.

Who pulls on his puppy dog look as he fake sniffles. "I'll cry if you don't." He states with a small pout.

"Cry then." Edward deadpans. Face serious.

"Edwaaaard!" Alphonse groans loudly. "If you don't, then it'll just be me and Ling there. If you leave, then maybe he'll teach me all the tricks he knows about how to pick up pretty women." Alphonse announces with a small, and hidden, sneer, but his the tone in his voice held dread and fear.

The younger Elric brother peeks behind his shoulder to eye many of Edward's facial expressions, which was clear shock, then anger, and the other being a look of pure concentration.

Edward bristled at the disturbing thought of his brother being alone with the skirt chaser, and quickly he made up his mind as he strides towards the two with a scowl. "I'm going. Call Hohenhiem and let him know that we're going to that stupid festival." Edward commanded sternly as he walks past the two boy's, but not without clipping Ling in the shoulder with his elbow.

Alphonse smiles happily at his brother as he pulls out his cell phone. "Awesome! This is my first time going to a festival!" He announces in excitement as he dials his father's phone number. "Besides the one me and Edward went to back when we lived in Phoenix...I don't think that one can compare to this one though!" He states eagerly as he waits for his father to pick up the phone.

"What's the kind you went to, when you lived in Phoenix?" Ling asks as he looks towards Edward.

Edward simply waves his hand dismissively at the question. "Just some lame get-together they had in my neighborhood park, we were just little kids when we went. All we did was play games, and swim in the little kiddie pools." He states uninterested.

"Awww." Ling coos happily. "You must've looked soo cuuute." He continues to coo as he wiggles in a spot as he puts his hands together and holds them up to his happily smiling face.

Edward only shakes his head with a loud scoff of indifference. "I was a little shit. Alphonse was the cute one. Only because he smiled all the time. I just stood there, with a pissed off expression." He snorts loudly.

"Still cute." Ling comments with a smirk. "And you still pull that look off perfectly." Ling smiles widely with a tilt of his head.

Edward hides his face within his long golden bangs and turns around on his heel sharply. "Whatever. Let's go already." He deadpans. Feeling the blush quickly spreading across his face at Ling's blunt statement.

Edward then mutters a quick. "Idiot." Over his shoulder to Ling as he begins to speed walk ahead of the two smiling teenager's behind him.


Edward is blushing major time in this chapter, it was fun and cute to type :) I finished most of the other chapters, I still gotta complete 13 and half of 14, so you can expect new chapters in the future :)

Sorry if you find a few mistakes, I corrected most of them!

-Hella-