February

Edward was still in the library, he seemed to be very busy. The subject of his studies was unknown to me, although his condition started to worry me. He came home late and left early. It's like we didn't even share the same life anymore. Nevertheless, I stayed up one night just to talk to him about his hard work and how he should lay off it for awhile. From what I remembered, when he was with me, Edward always seemed to be trying to lack off work but he always continued to do it. He just seemed to be more active and spontaneous, always wanting to take a short vacation from time to time. Ever since he was in Germany, he seemed to have become more serious and hardworking. I suppose Alphonse Heiderich's influence must have gotten to him.

I sat on the bed and I waited for him. The clock was two minutes away from striking one, it was late and my eyes were weary. I couldn't help but to notice awhile after that he left a few of his clothes on the floor and I couldn't contain myself but to pick them up. As soon as I did, my brother entered with a depressive, tired look on his face. He walked to his bed and took off his shoes. Then, he collapsed onto the bed.

"Brother…?"

I spoke softly; I didn't want to make him anxious after all that work he's been doing.

"… How come you're still awake?"

He mumbled in his pillow while slowly turning to me.

"… I was waiting for you… I wanted to talk to you about something…"

"… Can't you talk to me about this tomorrow?"

He groaned; I could sense his drowsiness was affecting his irritation. I had no choice but to insist this time; it was the third time this week that I have tried to have a word with him and yet he still answers me the same response as usual.

"… No, brother. It's really important."

I heard him sigh deeply as he sat up, turning completely towards me. He was a wreck. His eyelids were multiplying each time I saw him.

"What is it?"

He sounded annoyed, and I felt guilty for it. I held his clothes close to me and I swallowed my fears.

"… I think… you should take a little break."

His golden eyes fixed into mine, he looked as in he was in a state of shock. His mouth was opened but nothing came out. I felt like I said something wrong and that I should just leave. I couldn't. I was frozen solid, incapable of looking away of those yellow eyes. It was as if he struck me to the wall with an invisible arrow. I somehow thought he wanted an explanation for my suggestion.

"… Brother, you've been working mighty hard… for a few weeks… I just think you should lay off a little… I'm just… worried for you."

I said as I was capable of freeing myself from his regard; I simply gazed at the ground. The room was quiet until I heard a short yet nervous laugh. I raise my head to see my brother smiling; boy, I haven't seen that in awhile. He tilted his head slightly behind and scratched his scalp.

"… I guess… I could take a little break."

He said in a calm voice. This made me happy; I smiled, dropped his clothes and jumped onto my brother's bed to hug him. He blinked, smiled and patted my back gently.

"I'm sorry for worrying you…"

He yawned a bit. I removed myself and regarded him. He stretched and yawned again.

"We should get some rest."

He mentioned as he lay down on his bed. I got off and placed a cover over him.

"You better rest."

I threatened him playfully as I walked back to my bed.

We rested until the afternoon.

I woke up and noticed that my brother was still sleeping. I figured that when he'd wake up, he'd like it to have a nice meal in front of him. I wrote a note about my departure to buy a breakfast and that I would be back in a short while. Of course, that was just to make sure when he wakes up and finds out I'm not there, not to panic. I placed the note on his pillow beside his pillow. I heard him mumble Winry a couple of times. What a lover boy.

I left the room quietly on my tip toes. I didn't want to wake him up from his beautiful dream of his future lover. When I closed the door the most inaudibly as I could, I thought about my love life. I didn't have anyone. Edward told me it would come in time. At my age, he had two girls after him and yet, me… No one. He must be better looking than I am, it could be. Or maybe girls of my age are more for the less sensitive and more for the outgoing types. Well, I am not about to change.

I walked out of the military base and headed to the main street of Central where all the restaurants would be. Obviously, I would take a doggy-bag for my brother and I.

It was a nice day today. Sun was bright, the sky was clear, no signs of the clouds; just a very beautiful day. I arrived at the restaurant which serves lunch since it was pass noon. I ordered a platter named miso soup, my brother seem to like that plate very much. It's some kind of thing named dashi, miso paste, small leek sliced very fine tofu cubed and wakame seaweed strands; from what the lady told me. I took the same thing since it was on special and started to march back to the military.

On my way, I noticed a girl gazing at me. This made me nervous. She was quite pretty I must say, but somehow, I didn't feel too attracted to her. She came walking over to me. I kept my eyes on the ground and kept walking. What would I say to whatever she says? I hope she asks the time… the only thing is that I don't have the time. She finally catches up and taps me on the shoulder.

"Excuse me…"

She had some kind of accent that was somewhat very sexy.

"You are an Elric, are you not?"

I turned to her and smiled weakly, trying not to show that I was edgy.

"Y-yes. I am an Elric. Why do you ask… madam?"

I thought I screwed up, my voice was screeching slightly. But when I thought everything went wrong, she giggled.

"Please… I am a miss…"

I apologized quickly while bowing my head and she raise it with one of her fingers, her nose one inch away from mine. I gulped nervously.

"Are you not the famous… Fullmetal Alchemist?"

I blinked slightly and shook my head.

"N-no, miss. I'm his younger brother."

She removed her finger from under my chin and placed both her hands on her hips.

"Well then… do you mind answering a few questions for him… Oh my… I forgot your first name… what was it?"

"… Alphonse."

I felt like I wasn't important. My brother was always the one who seem to be the best at everything. I sighed deeply and nodded.

"And I'll answer your question, miss."

She regarded at me with a strange look, must have been the tone of my voice. I was completely discourage.

"… well then… first things first… does he have a girlfriend?"

I stopped walking. I thought this might have been questions about his physicals and his alchemy ways but not personal life questions.

"… He loves someone… but he doesn't want to admit it."

The young woman smiled and got a little closer to me, her eyebrows raised in an intrigue.

"… do you know this girl?"

She had a smirk while raising her eyebrows up and doing, just waiting for my answer.

"Yes."

I answered firmly, somewhat confused why she asked these questions.

"What is her name?"

She kept on insisting, I wanted to ask her some questions of my own, but I felt it were more polite to answer hers before asking mine.

"Winry. But why are you---"

"Winry who?"

"Winry Rockbell. But as I was saying, why are you asking all th----"

"Where does she lives?"

"In Ressembol. Why are you asking all these questi---"

"Do you have a picture of her?"

"Yes. But please hear me out, why are you asking all these----"

"Can I see it?"

"Yes. But before I show it to you… could you please answer my question?"

I can't believe how many times this woman cut me off, how impolite of her! She's lucky I'm not impatient like my brother.

"Sure."

He took out the photo from my brother's wallet and fixed my eyes on her.

"Why do you ask all these questions?"

She smiled sweetly at me and placed her fingers on the tip of the photo.

"I'm a reporter, kid."

She stared at me evilly with a grin and stole Winry's photo.

"And you know when going gets tough; people need a good story for the newspaper."

She started to run off. I then realized how dead I would be if Edward found out his picture of Winry was stolen from his wallet, placed in the newspaper with an article that he loves her and that the chances that the newspaper gets to Ressembol are high. I freaked out and placed the miso soups beside the wall and ran after her.

"Wait! That's the only picture he has of her!"

I yelled as I tried to catch up to her. She went inside an automobile and screamed "DRIVE" to the driver. I had no choice. It was this reporter's best scoop or my survival. I decided to be selfish for once; I didn't want to screw up on my brother's day off.

I slipped my hands into my pockets, took out my alchemy gloves. I clapped my hands together and place them on a building, making a dead-end for the car. The car stopped just in time before crashing in the wall and I just walked to it slowly. I saw the woman coming out and started to yell at me with insults of some sorts. I ignored her. I was dead serious. No one messes with my brother's life unless they get through me. In this case, they haven't.

As I got to the woman, she stopped screaming at me while I suppose she had seen my face. I was quite pissed off.

"Give me the picture."

I said in a serious tone, placing my hand in front of her. She just gave a cold look.

"You're insane. I've got one of the best scoops of my life and you want me to give it away!"

"Find yourself another scoop."

Suddenly I felt cheery.

"Like Roy Mustang!"

I just smiled at her, trying to convince her. Wouldn't that make my brother happy to know a couple of rumors about Mustang. I know that would make his day.

"Afterall, he isn't just a Major in the military… no no… he's a colonel… and that's a high rank… and imagine those juicy rumors about…"

I stopped and looked at my fingers for a moment, giving the reporter a look once in awhile. She seem to be drooling for more information.

"… Alright… Alright…"

She handed me the picture and nudged me.

"Now… juicy rumors about what?"

I just simply smile and slipped out the relationship between Roy and Riza. Then I left to see if my miso soup orders were still there. Lucky me, they were. I walked back to the room and opened the door quietly to see my brother dressing up.

"Good evening, Nii-san."

I smiled sweetly at him as I closed the door. He turned to me and blinked.

"Oh, hey Al. I was just about to go and find you."

He smiled slightly and then spotted the miso soups.

"… is that…?"

He looked at me with a famished regard. I simply nodded and took his soup.

"… I love you, Al…"

He sat down and he started to eat like he hadn't eaten in days, which was probably the case. But I sat down in front of him and started to eat my soup slowly until I realized what he said to me.

"What?"

I looked at him, feeling a slight blush on my cheeks. He blinked and lift an eyebrow.

"… I said I love you, Al."

He said with a mouthful. I was feeling weird inside, why… why did he say he loved me? I was completely confused; I didn't know what to say! He saw me probably really confused and not understanding what he meant, he swallowed his bite and spoke up.

"I love you because you bought me some miso."

My tense body collapsed into a relax mode.

"Alright."

I just smiled and we ate quietly. I was still somewhat in shock of how I overreacted. Why did I overreact? Why was I blushing? All these questions were not to be answered because I didn't know the answer myself. We sat down on the bed and started to talk about things.

"So… when do you feel like going back to Ressembol to surprise everyone?"

I mentioned as I hope he would say sometime soon.

"… I don't know if I want to go back there."

He seems to tremble in fear for some reason.

"How come?"

"I fear the wrench…"

He looked at me with cute, pitiful eyes. I blinked a bit and smiled. I found a reason for him not to be afraid.

"Well, you've grown a bit, haven't you?"

"… I guess. And what do you mean by a bit!"

He became furious and before he could do any big commotion over nothing I'd explain my reason.

"Well, remember when you came back from Germany two years ago?"

I ask as he nodded.

"Did she hit you with a wrench?"

He was dumbfounded. He knew I was right. The only thing he could say to me was:

"Shut up."

I chuckled a bit and I looked outside. I pointed out the snow falling.

"Look, it's snowing."

"Yeah… it is."

The room stood in silence as we both admired the snowflakes gently falling from the fluffy grey clouds leaving us to drift off in our deepest thoughts. I hope to go to Ressembol soon. I couldn't wait to see our family.