If anybody's wondering, I will of course have some Al-Roy bonding as well, I'm just trying to slowly get comfortable writing Al. (For some reason I find him harder to write, but it's getting easier and easier with each time!)
Anyways, this is an Al-heavy chapter, but with some Ed as well.
I hope you people will enjoy it!
Disclaimer: I do not own Fullmetal Alchemist.
Chapter twenty-three
Al just watched his brother, not sure what to think. Nina was lying on the floor, sleeping, using Alexander as a pillow, the dog snoring slightly under her.
"You're changing your name?" Al said, staring at his brother sitting cross-legged on the floor.
"Yes. I'll be Edward Elric-Mustang from tomorrow on."
"So that's what the certificate will say?"
"Guess so."
Al had never thought about changing his name. He'd always had his mother's name, seeing as how her and their father never were married. He'd just been Alphonse Elric all his life. It was odd to think that his brother would be an Elric-Mustang from tomorrow on. Maybe he should change too? After all, Dad had been great to him and Brother for weeks and was certainly their new father. It would be nice to sort of show how he belonged to him too now. He just didn't know if he was ready for it quite yet. He liked Dad a lot, although it was still a bit odd to think of him that way, but it just felt a lot more natural around Ed. He was kind and he had clearly thrown most of his life out the window for the pair of them. Although Ed needed a lot of attention, he was there to listen, to be a dad.
And Al really looked forward to when he would be able to feel one of his hugs. To really be a son. To be his son. It had been a long time since Al had been able to feel like that.
"Al, are you okay?" Ed asked.
"Yes, I'm just thinking."
"Oh."
Ed looked over at Nina and yawned loudly. Dad obviously saw it, and he came over and picked Ed up before he sat back down as he leaned his back against the desk while Ed Curled up on his lap. Dad removed his uniform jacket and put it over him. He then just sat there and stroked his hair as Ed fell asleep. Ed was probably going to nap for about an hour. Al liked how Dad always was there when Ed fell asleep, Brother seemed to otherwise be unable to actually doze off.
"Hey, Dad?" Al asked once he was sure Ed was asleep.
"Yes, Al?"
"Uhm … do you want me to change my name too?"
"That's perfectly up to you. I won't look at you any different no matter what you choose. I can see how it is rather abrupt and you shouldn't feel pressured to change it. You just do what you feel like, when you feel like it."
"Oh, okay."
Dad sighed happily. "To think, from tomorrow on, you two are officially my sons."
"I guess you didn't see that one coming when Brother kept breaking down your office doors."
Dad chuckled. "No, I certainly didn't. But I'm happy, you know? I'm thrilled to be able to call you my sons." Dad sighed. "You know, Al, I should probably tell you, I don't really know how a father is supposed to act. I'm basically working with my instincts here, so if there's anything that I'm doing wrong, please tell me. I want to give you two the childhood that you deserve."
"You're doing a pretty good job so far," Al said with a chuckle. "Can I ask why you don't know how fathers are supposed to act?" Al suddenly realised what that could mean and gasp. "Your father didn't hit you, right?"
"No, my parents died when I was still quite young. I was raised and adopted by my aunt."
Al was surprised. He had never even considered his childhood. "Oh, I'm sorry about your parents."
"That's alright, Al." He smiled at him warmly. "I suppose she's your grandmother now. I should tell her about you two."
Al felt rather excited at that thought, but there must be something wrong judging by his choice of words. "Aren't you that close?"
"Well, it's mostly that we're not that good at keeping contact. I have a feeling that she'll be rather fond of the pair of you. Maybe we could take a trip to Central to meet her. We just need to make an appointment first." He looked a bit awkward at that.
"What's wrong?"
"Well, you see, she owns a hostess bar, so I'd rather the establishment be closed when we're visiting.
"A hostess bar? What's that?" Al could have sworn that Dad was blushing faintly.
"It's a bar where the waitresses are paid to also ... flirt with the guests. You can imagine how I would look if I came in there with Ed during business hours. Maybe it would be better if we met her at a restaurant or something."
"Why would you pay for strangers to flirt with you? If you know it's their job, then it's not real."
Dad seemed to regret entering this part of the conversation and was turning pink. "I'll tell you when you're older."
So it had to do with that thing. Al had read enough science books to know the basics of it, but he was still quite unsure what the point was when people weren't making babies.
Which meant that Dad was actually going at some point to have a sit down with Al and tell him. To have "the talk". Al had come across the term in a few books. And it was a proper father/son thing to do. Something that a real dad did when his son reached a certain age.
That was one of those moments when Al really felt that he had got a Dad again.
"Thank you, Dad."
He looked confused. "For what?"
"For being a Dad. For being my Dad. For wanting to be our Dad."
"Of course I want to be your Dad, Al. You and Ed are the best sons I can think of. You're strong and intelligent as hell, but you are both so stunningly selfless and compassionate at the same time. Any parent should be proud to have you boys. I'm lucky. Really, really lucky."
"Thank you, Dad." Al was filled with warmth at the shower of compliments. He sat himself closer to him, wanting some kind of closeness although he couldn't feel it. Al just sat there like that for a minute, watching Ed sleeping with a little smile on his face.
Al decided to just ask Dad about something that had been bothering him for the last week now. "Dad? Are you happy that this happened to Brother? Because I think I am, and I don't know what to think of it."
"What do you mean, Al?" he asked softly, not denying the statement.
"I mean that Brother hasn't been this happy in years. He's had so many bad things happen without the comfort of a parent, and he's so more at peace with the world. It's good to finally see that. To see him have his limbs again and not carry the weight of the world anymore. And I hate what the Pentons did, I really do. It's just, he's smiling while he's sleeping. He hasn't done that since Mom died. And I miss him, all the time, but it's still him. He's still my brother, he's just so much happier. And it got us a Dad again. I really have a Dad again ... Does this make me selfish?"
"No, Alphonse. It makes you my son. My wonderful, compassionate son. You said it yourself, you're happy because he's happy. And you're happy that life has finally given you a lucky break and given you something that you have been missing in your life for much too long. That doesn't sound selfish to me at all." Dad paused for a few minutes. "And yes, I'm happy too. I'm sad about losing Fullmetal, of course I am, but now I have you two. I have the two most wonderful boys in the entire world, and it was at the cost of Fullmetal. It nearly tears my heart in half when I think about it, but then I try to remind myself that I have been given the chance to make sure that your brother grows up like he should. Like he deserves. Somehow I've been given this chance despite my failure as his commanding officer. And I won't fail you two. Never. I love you boys more than you'll ever know."
Al was so glad to hear this. To get the reassurance. "Thank you, Dad, I love you too."
Ed was happy. He had been afraid that Al and Daddy kind of wished he was the old one. Ed was afraid of messing things up and hurting Al because he wasn't the big brother he knew. But they were happy for him. They loved him and they didn't want to change him. Ed just wondered how bad it must have been being the old Ed when Al was relieved. Because Ed still felt guilty about Al and he only slept well at night about half the time, so he was scared of finding a solution if it would make hiim hurt so much. In a way it made Ed feel guilty, because Al needed his older brother, but now they had Daddy, so maybe he didn't? They had said that they couldn't change him back, but what if that was wrong? Ed didn't want to go back to being the old Ed. He sounded like he was in so much pain and hurt all the time for things that weren't his fault and Ed didn't want that. So to hear that they were happier with him this way, made something he'd been dreading since Dublith go away. He was still sad about all he had lost, but Ed was still Ed, right? Daddy kept talking about the old Ed and Ed like they were different people. But maybe that just made it easier for him. The old Ed hadn't been his son after all. And Daddy wasn't lying when he said he loved him. Ed knew that. He still had a feeling that he wasn't supposed to hear the conversation though. That they thought he was sleeping.
He liked listening to them talk, just to hear how they got along. To hear that he was Al's Daddy too. Ed still had to look after his little brother after all, which meant that it was important that Al and Daddy were close too.
"I'm just still sorry that your brother never thought much of me," Daddy said with a sigh. "That's one of the biggest regrets of my life. I should have done more for him. I really was a bastard to him, just like he used to tell me."
Ed got a bit uneasy at hearing this. He still couldn't see how his Daddy had been anything but nice to him. Daddy was a kind man after all. Ed knew his Daddy.
Didn't he?
"Dad, you shouldn't think about that. Brother teased you just as much as you did him."
"But still. I used to threaten him with a court-martial just to make him do stuff. I should have been kinder to him."
"Dad, I honestly believe that you and Brother were too much like each other. You didn't try to make friends because it was easier to just not face your similarities. Brother was just as much at fault as you were. He had too much pride and didn't want to seem weak. You two were just too stubborn."
Ed hadn't heard this part of it before. He didn't know that it was this bad.
"Al, I was the grownup that brought a twelve-year-old into the military. I should have acted my age, Fullmetal was just acting his after all. But no, I called him an insubordinate brat. I really can't see how you managed to overlook that and actually trust me. Your brother must have hated me."
"I don't think he did. You just annoyed him, that's all."
Ed felt horrible. Had they been that bad? He knew he couldn't just pretend to sleep anymore, he needed an answer. "Daddy? Was I really like that?" Ed looked up at him and saw him pale slightly.
"Ed! I –"
Ed wasn't angry, he was just confused. He sat up, the jacket falling off him. He felt tears pressing slightly at the corners of his eyes. "I was, wasn't I? Why did you cry over me like you did when I behaved like that? Why would you wanna take me in? We didn't even like each other!" Ed felt the tears flowing freely down his cheeks. Daddy brought his arms around him and held him tight. "It doesn't sound like you at all, Daddy!" Ed wailed.
"Ed, you need to understand … I didn't act like I should have. You were great, you really, truly were. I was just too stubborn to see it at the time. I just –"
"What happened, Ed, was that you got to know the true Roy when he lost the old you," Maes suddenly said. "Your Daddy is a natural when it comes to keeping up façades. He just regrets not having let you see past that while you were still your old self. Being a Colonel at his age means that when he wants to reach the top, he has to act a lot more ruthless than what he truly is. He was afraid to let you get close because it meant that he would feel a lot more vulnerable. Your Daddy is still the good, kind man that you know, don't you worry."
Ed looked up at Daddy and saw the fear that his eyes held. That and the single tear that threatened to leave the corner of his eye. Ed stretched upwards and wiped it away before he sat back down again. Daddy wiped Ed's eyes with his hands before hugging him again. He obviously didn't know what to say.
Which was when Ed understood why Maes Hughes was Daddy's best friend.
