Hero of the Day Chapter 1, a fullmetal alchemist fanfic

Hero of the Day, Chapter One

AU. Set in present-day America.

Ed is a rioting fuck-up; Al, a good kid; Mustang, a would-be Senator; and Bradley King, the current Senator for Ed's district.

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Notes: this is a non-yaoi, non-yuri fic. If you want yaoi, read my other stories. There won't be much het in this fic either for that matter, so if that grosses you out, fear not.

Pairings: Roy/Risa, Maes/Glacier, Envy/your mom (just kidding)

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Alphonse Elric sat at his desk, working on a computer program on his brand-new desktop. This was the fine machine that he had purchased with money from his summer job working at the Rockbelle Mechanic Shop, and he treasured every moment he could spend on it.

"Ah…" Al said as he compiled the program. He knew that it would take a while, so he pushed himself out of his comfortable desk chair (also bought with summer job money) and headed downstairs for a snack.

His mother, Trisha Elric, was in the living room, folding her sons' laundry. "Hey, kiddo," she said, smiling at her younger son. "Did you come down to help fold laundry?"

Al, being the good son that he was, said, "Sure, mom," rolled his eyes, and began to help her.

Trisha said, "Thanks, sweetie."

They were the absolutely perfect picture of the perfect American family.

Al's mom left the room for a few minutes, leaving him to finish up. He turned on the TV, and changed the channel from C-SPAN (which was probably what his brother had been watching the day before) to CNN.

"Today, riots erupted around City Hall," the well made-up newscaster reported. The camera switched from her to a birds-eye-view of a swarm of rioters pushing past police lines.

The newscaster continued. "The protestors demanded that Bradley King be thrown out of his the Senate."

Al made a face. It was that man's company that put mother in so much danger. She used to be his secretary, and she was exposed to a lot of different chemicals when she worked there.

"Al, honey?" Trisha called from her bedroom upstairs. She had turned on her TV, as well.

"Yes, mom?" he asked politely, taking his eyes off the TV.

"Doesn't that look like Ed?"

Al's attention snapped back to the TV, and he saw his older brother, Ed, on the screen. Ed was at the front of the line of protestors, and he pushed past the police line, trying to get to Bradley King as he walked up the step of City Hall. Ed suddenly jumped over a few downed officers and attacked the Congressman.

Trisha asked, "Al? That's Ed, right?"

Al stared at the screen as the camera switched from Ed to the newscaster. "One of those arrested was eighteen-year-old Edward Elric. He has confessed to being the one responsible for today's protest."

The camera again switched to the crowd, but this time it was street-level…and the shot was a close-up of his brother, handcuffed and being led away by police officers.

"That (beep) (beep)ed up my mom! My mom has cancer because of that mother (beep)!" Ed shouted on the screen. Al's jaw dropped as his brother continued. "That ass(beep) should (beep)ing burn for what he did! How can we let a man like that work for, us, the people, in our government!"

Al heard the phone ring then. He muted the TV (though he could still hear his brother shouting on the TV in his mother's room upstairs) and quickly answered the phone.

"Hello? Elric residence."

Panting. "Hey, Al."

Al bit his lip. It was his brother. "What is it…Ed?" he asked cautiously.

Ed laughed on the other side. "Nothing, just got arrested again. Can you come down here in the truck? They're gonna let me go, since they think I'm fourteen or something for some reason, and they don't want to keep minors around today." He paused. "Come really quickly, though, and don't let mom know this happened…you know, like all the other times."

"What other times?"

Al froze as he heard his mother's voice on the phone. She had picked up the cordless phone on the line, and had probably heard most of the conversation.

"Oh, hi, mom," Ed said. "Um…I was joking, you know? I'm at the downtown library."

"She saw the newscast, Ed," Al said. His mother had left her room and was giving him a look saying that he was in trouble. "I…got to go. I'll pick you up soon."

"We're going to have a little talk when you get home, young man," Trisha said.

"Oh, mom--"

Trisha hung up, and Al knew better than to stay on the phone with his brother right then. He hit the 'off' button, and turned to his mother.

"Al, right now, you're going to go pick up Ed," she said in a steely voice as she descended the stairs. "When you two get home, we're going to have a family talk."

Al swallowed nervously. "Yes, mother." He hung the phone up, picked up the keys to Ed's truck, and ran out of their house as quickly as he could.

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Ed smiled at his brother as he climbed into his well-used, badly-kept truck. "Was mom pissed?" he asked with a smirk.

Al glared at his older brother as he started the engine. The car sputtered for a few seconds, then decided that it was going to work. "You really need to be more careful. Now I'm in trouble with mom, too." He shot Ed a dirty look. "I should never have agreed to get you out of trouble every time you get arrested."

Ed's smile disappeared. "Well, thanks anyway."

Al backed up the truck in the crowded parking lot of the city jail, and sighed. Why is brother such a trouble-maker?

Said brother turned on the radio. "So, it was on the news?" he asked nervously. "Like, mom saw me get arrested?"

"She saw you attack King."

"….oh."

Ed decided to be silent for a few seconds, out of respect for his brother. "Sorry for getting you in trouble," he said quietly.

Al shook his head. "Like I said, I should never have helped you out."

His older brother stared out the window and kept his mouth shut for the rest of the ride home. He had seen their mother upset before, usually because of him, and even though she wouldn't shout, or curse, or threaten, he was terrified.

He always made his mother think badly of him.

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Across town, Roy Mustang had begun to fold one of his campaign flyers into a paper airplane. His campaign advisor and bodyguard had gone out to get lunch for him on the promise that we would look over some documents or something while they were gone. He threw the little airplane, then turned on the TV.

"And now we know that Edward Elric, the young man who led today's riot, is missing in action. Police speculate that he may have lied about his identity upon arriving at Rizenbule Jail, and, due to his height, he probably would have easily been mistaken for a minor."

Roy laughed. "Kids these days. Don't any of them know how to have fun?" he started to fold another airplane when the door to his officer creaked open.

Shit! Those papers…where are they…

He began to look through the stacks of paper on his desk as the TV droned on.

"Edward Elric is eighteen years old, five foot five inches, with blonde hair. Sources say that he participates--"

His campaign advisor, Maes Hughes, and his bodyguard and assistant, Risa Hawkeye entered the room. Risa sighed as she watched Roy knock a large stack of flyers to the floor.

"You didn't sign anything, did you?"

Roy stood up. "Well, things happened."

Maes chuckled. "It's okay. You can run for the Senate in another six years." The older man sat down to text-message his wife.

Risa began to help Mustang with the papers he'd knocked down. "Sir, why do you do these things?" She picked up three pieces of paper and handed them to him.

"Please, just read these and sign them. I'll clean up after you, okay?" she said in a huffy voice.

"Yeah, yeah…"

Risa and Roy were surprised to hear Maes laughing. He pointed at the television and said, "Wow, this kid is something else! He looks like a junior high student, but he organizes protests, and he's involved in interest groups too. Pro-environment, pro-public health, a registered Democrat…"

Roy grumbled, "There's something wrong with kids these days."

Maes turned to face his boss. "You know, he could really help your image."

"How so?" Risa asked, not looking up from the flyer mess.

"Well, for one thing, Roy is well-known for being a prick."

"I resent that."

Maes shrugged. "You're also unpopular with certain demographics. Like, you know, young people. Democrats. Kids. Women. Nice people."

Roy scowled at his advisor as he returned to his desk chair. "I don't need a kid to help my platform."

"Well, you don't seem like the caring type. Look at this kid." Maes pointed to the television, which showed Ed cursing out Bradley King in front of a reporter. "Very passionate, don't you think? Makes me wish I was young again."

Roy ignored him. "I shouldn't have any problem with this election."

His assistant produced a chart from a nearby cabinet. "Bradley King connects well with the baby boomers, since he has a family of his own and most people from that generation have families." She pointed to Mustang's chart. "You didn't even get the Republicans. King got them. Both of you are pro-life, pro-Big Business…the only group you have that he doesn't, are the veterans."

Roy nodded. "Military veterans deserve our appreciation."

Risa snorted. "It's because you always wear your old uniform, you idiot. You're as bad as President Bush."

Maes laughed. "Gotta tell that one to Glacier."

Risa put the charts away, and folded her arms as she glared at her boss. "Nothing about you is original. You don't even try to connect with the common voter."

"How so?"

"You skipped out on the meet-and-greet at the mall, for one," she said.

"I had a date!"

"We set up the meet-and-greet six months in advance."

"Love can't wait!"

She sighed. "Grow up. It's time to try something a little different for your image."

"Sees, Hawky-hawk agrees with me!" Maes shouted from the couch. He was watching the news again.

Roy rested his chin on his hands as he stared at the documents. He didn't read them, though. Instead, the wheels in his head began to turn.

Even Bradley King can't get college students, he thought. Maybe I should try to get this kid's help after all.

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Ed and Al were greeted by a terrifying sight when they returned home. Their mother was sitting in the living room, and their three couches were arranged in a triangular formation so as to not allow escape.

"Come in here, boys!" she shouted. Al sat down quietly as Ed dropped down onto his couch, sighing heavily and staring out the window.

Trisha took the last couch. "We don't have much time to talk, so I'll go first." She cleared her throat and started with Ed.

"Ed! I can't believe your attitude! I thought that it was bad enough when you started to sneak out of school all the time, but this!" She through her hands up in the air. "Getting arrested? Rioting? And all that cursing, too!"

"But mom--"

She held up her hand. "You'll wait your turn, young man." She turned to Al. "And Alphonse, I expected better of you."

Ed glared at his goody-two-shoes brother, who said, "I'm sorry, mother."

That's it?

"What do you have to say for yourself, Ed?" Trisha asked.

Ed glared at his mother. "Mom, come on, I did it for you--"

Upon hearing a car pull up in the driveway, Trisha once again silenced Ed with a hand. "Oh! They're here!" She stood up. "Push the couches back into place!"

"Who's here?" Ed asked as Al pushed his own couch back into place, then his brother's.

"Your father and his other son," she said under her breath as she ran to answer the door.

Ed joked, "Which one?".

"Brother, be nice to him," Al said under his breath. "You know he'd never felt easy around mother."

"Well, that's his problem."

"Darling!" Trisha said happily as she opened the door to see her husband and his oldest son, Envy. She embraced Hohenheim, then turned to Envy. "Your hair looks nice. Are you growing it out?"

Envy rolled his eyes, then pushed past her. "Yeah, ever since I was five," he said as he stalked up to Ed and Al.

Hohenheim put his arm around Trisha and said, "Don't worry, it's just been a long trip."

She shook her head. "It's okay. Help me make dinner, darling?"

The blonde man smiled. "I'd love to, just don't let me burn anything."

"Hey, midget," Envy said as he patted Ed on the head…or, rather, hit Ed's head in a downward direction. "I heard you got in trouble."

Ed stared at Envy. "You heard it on the news?"

Envy laid down on the nearest couch and put his feet up on the living room table. "No, but your old lady told my old man and he told me." He sighed. "Got any beer?"

Al held his hands up. "This is a dry house."

Ed sat down on the couch next to Envy, and pulled the table out from under his feet. "It's pretty sad that you'd want to get wasted as soon as you came back home from your trip."

"Better than seeing your face," he said, adding, "and this ain't home," with a scowl.

Al sat down again, hoping that his brother and his half-brother would simmer down (or rather that Envy would stop provoking Ed and that Ed would stop taking the bait).

After a few minutes, Envy asked, "So, you still going to school, Ed?"

Ed rolled his eyes. "Yeah, but I don't know what FOR. Mom won't let me quit."

Envy whistled. "Dad let me stop going to school."

"Well, Ed found a subject he likes, didn't you, brother?" Al asked pleasantly.

Ed nodded. "Chemistry isn't so bad. Maybe if I go to college, I'll major in that…maybe try to do something for the environment."

"Of course," Envy said. He peaked into the kitchen and saw his father talking nonstop with Ed's mother while they prepared dinner together. Disgusting. "You only ever talk about shit like that, anyway."

"I'd personally like to go into the sciences myself," Al said.

Envy turned his attention to his youngest brother. "Yeah, you're a straight-A student, right? I bet you'll make lots of money when you're older."

Al shrugged. "I try."

His half-brother laughed for a moment, then said, "I think it's funny that you two grew up with the same mother, in the same house, went to the same school, and one of you is a good-two-shoes and the other one is a total fuckup."

Ed glared at him. "Don't curse. Mother might hear you."

Envy shrugged. "Nothing she ain't heard before, if she's spent more than five minutes with Dad."

"Dad doesn't curse." Ed said.

"You just haven't spent enough time with him."

"Well, he's never here, so how could I?"

"Al, honey, can you help make salads?" Trisha asked her youngest in a sweet voice.

"Yes, mother." Al stood up quickly and helped his mother.

Hohenheim laughed. "Envy, honey, can you get drinks for everyone?"

Ed laughed at the look of disgust on his half-brother's face. "Do it yourself, old man!" He glowered for a minute before turning to Ed and asking, "What the fuck do you want?"

Ed stared at him. "Like…what?"

"To drink, dumbass."

"I thought you weren't getting drinks."

"You have to say no sometimes, or they'll ALWAYS ask." He sat up and smirked. "It makes 'em happy if you surprise 'em."

"Well, in that case…some tea, I guess."

Envy was once again disgusted. "Tea? Ech." He joined Al and the adults in the kitchen, leaving Ed to realize that he was the only son not asked to do anything.

That suited him just fine, though.

He knew they didn't want him for anything.

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I know that I'm just a burden to my mother, and I probably embarrass my little brother, though he's too nice to say anything about it. My teachers all look down on me, and my best friend wants me to drop everything that I want so that I can join her church group and become a normal guy. No one likes anything about me, and everyone wants something different. Sometimes, I feel like I should just cave in and change into the person everyone wants me to be.

I need to know that this is the right thing for me to do.

I want my life to lead to something.

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Notes: Each chapter will end with Ed's thoughts. That's what all that was. I will not explain this in further chapters.