Al had been wandering around the house all morning, poking his head into everything. It made Alphonse Heiderich nervous, as if he were under an inspection of some sort. He followed the younger boy on his self-guided tour of the apartment, staying several steps behind him.
He had opened the cabinets and eyed the chipped plates critically. He shook out the dusty curtains and pushed them open and grimaced at the cloudy glass in the windows. He sat down heavily on the couch and then stood, only to fall back on it again. He propped his feet up on the coffee table, took them down, stood, and stared at Alphonse's bookshelves. "How long have you lived here?" he asked.
"Seven years," he answered slowly. "Ed's lived here for six."
"How did he find you?" Al asked, turning the corner into their small bedroom, plopping down on the narrow bed.
Alphonse followed him, watching him from the doorway. As much as he missed Ed, he understood that this other Alphonse must be missing him more. It was like the boy was trying to touch everything his brother had touched, see everything his brother had seen, because there was no other way to get to him. "Ah, we met in the University Library," he told him. "I thought he was a bit strange, because he was staring at me. Later he told me it was because he thought I was you, at first."
Al lay back on the bed, his legs still hanging over the edge. "What did he do?" he asked, staring up at the cracked ceiling.
Alphonse shrugged. "Nothing really. He said hello, I guess. We talked a little about books." He walked over to the bed and sat down on the edge, staring at his younger face. "You know what he was doing there in the first place? He was looking for a way to get back to you." He meant the statement to be comforting, and winced as he watched Al squeeze his eyes shut and turn his head away, bringing his arm up to cover his face.
Eventually Al sighed, and sat up again. "You'd better get working on that rocket," he told his double. "You've still got all the plans, you can make another one."
Alphonse groaned. "It will take forever to build it myself," he protested. "I don't even know if I can, there were some parts of it that only Ed understood."
"You're not going to build it yourself," Al told him seriously. "I'm going to help."
"You?" Alphonse scoffed, and immediately felt bad for reacting that way when he saw the younger boy's hurt expression. "You said yourself that science here in completely different," he tried to explain, but Al was already shaking his head.
"It's not that different," he said defensively, standing up and walking over to the window and looking out at the dreary sidewalks. "Besides, I'm a genius. Didn't you know that?"
When he turned around, there was a mischievous glimmer in his grey eyes that startled the older Alphonse, and he winked.
"As modest as your brother," he said softly, shaking his head.
Al just smiled. "Anyway, my girlfriend is a mechanic. I've learned a lot from watching her destroy- er, disassemble stuff."
Alphonse laughed at that. He was starting to feel more comfortable with his double, and the laugh came easily. He felt less awkward about staring at the boy now, comparing him with his brother and then comparing him with himself, because he realized that Al was doing the same thing. If he caught him staring, he would just smile with understanding. It wasn't that he knew what his double was thinking, but after spending enough time with him he was fairly certain he knew how he was thinking. "Yeah, okay," he told the boy. "Mr. Silleman told me that the government has a new lab set up for whenever I want to come back to work." He sighed. "I just haven't felt like working on that stuff, you know, alone."
Al nodded. "Well, you wont be alone," he said simply.
Alphonse gave him a hesitant smile. "Thanks."
The younger boy walked back to the bed and flopped down on it again, grabbing one of the pillows and bunching it up under his chin. "So you and my brother share a bed," he said unexpectedly.
Alphonse cringed. "Yeah."
Al regarded him intently for a minute. "So did we, when we were little kids," he said evenly. "I guess he probably still kicks in his sleep?"
When he isn't having terrifying nightmares, he does. Alphonse just nodded, feeling a bit suspicious of this line of questioning.
The boy sat up, throwing the pillow to one side. "Well, you're not me," Al said with a sudden fierceness.
Certain that this had long since already been determined, the other Alphonse merely nodded. "I know," he agreed.
The younger boy had his arms crossed in front of him and an eerie look behind his eyes. "So what exactly are you to my brother? His lover?" he asked boldly. "Or just his friend?"
They were sitting under the open window, staring up at the red summer moon. They had piled their pillows on the floor, because Edward insisted that heat rises and it would be cooler to sleep at the lowest point in the apartment. Now he sat, leaning back between Al's legs, his back pressed against the larger boy's chest. Al had his arms settled around his friend, and they sat like this, breathing almost in unison and listening to the sounds on the street below.
"Ed," he said after a while. "I don't think we can pay rent this month."
"Eh, don't worry about it," came the slow response. "We'll be fine."
"Well, it's due tomorrow, and I don't think we can even manage half of it," he pressed.
Ed shook his head, his soft hair moving under Al's chin. "It's already paid," he said, smiling to himself. "Just relax."
"But how-"
"I asked my father for money," Ed said shortly. "So don't worry about it."
"Oh." The sound of a large automobile passing by the apartment was the only noise for a moment, and then they heard a dog barking somewhere blocks away. "Did you thank him?"
"You can thank him if you want. He likes you better than me anyway."
He pressed his cheek into the other boy's blonde hair and sighed contentedly. "Ed, I love you. You know that, right?"
He could feel Ed's ribs shake as he snickered softly. "Yeah, it is nice knowing you'll have a place to live for the next month, isn't it?"
Alphonse shoved him lightly. "Ed!" he protested.
Ed leaned back into him, looking up towards the ceiling. "Oh, were we being serious?" he said innocently, his smirk upside down from this angle.
"Yes!"
"Mmm," was the lazy response. "Then I love you too, Al."
Alphonse marveled at how easily he said it. "You're my best friend," he said easily.
The silence lasted several minutes, until finally Ed twisted in his friend's arms, turning to face him. "Al, you're more than just a friend to me."
Al's heart began to race, and he wondered vaguely if Edward could feel it through his chest. "Yes?" he urged.
Ed just sighed and turned back around, leaning back against him. Alphonse flinched as he felt Ed's heavy metal arm dig into his side once again, but said nothing.
"You're like my brother."
He couldn't bring himself to tell this to Al, it would be too cruel.
"I don't know," he said softly. "Both, I guess."