Another Day

Morning at the Suoh's began with Alphonse quite literally dragging his older brother down to breakfast,

Ed was still exhausted and vowed to sleep through classes again. He perked up at the sight (and smell) of the enormous breakfast spread, but it was obvious to anyone present he wasn't quite awake just yet.

That is, until his first sip of black coffee which had him do a double-take and examine the fancy mug it was in.

"Are you sure this is black?"

"Yes, freshly brewed." Tamaki smiled, "It's Hacienda la Esmeralda, imported from Panama."

"The stupidly expensive stuff...right."

Taking a bite of his waffles, Tamaki watched his cousin thoroughly examine the coffee, sniffing it, checking the shallow color of it in a spoon, and simply watching it between sips. Overcome by curiousity and reminded very much of the teacup on the first day, Tamaki couldn't help but ask, "Is there something wrong with it?"

"Huh?" Looking up, Ed didn't expect to meet Tamaki's eyes, he wasn't aware anyone was watching him play with the mug, and he quickly looked away, "Ah, no...it's just...not what I expected, that's all."

His brother snorted, "Just say you like, it Ed."

"It's...alright, I mean it better be for the price you apparently pay for the stuff."

"You sleep like the dead and it woke you up after a few minutes, seems to me it's worth the money."

Edward found himself surprised at the realization it really had been only a few minutes. "Huh….I guess it did, didn't it."

"Isn't that the point of coffee?" Haruhi asked, "To wake you up?"

"You don't get it Haruhi, with how exhausted brother was it'd usually take a few cups just to get him moving."

"Please, Al, I haven't been that bad since before the prom-" Catching himself, Ed was quick to try and rephrase, "I mean, I haven't needed more than two after an all nighter in at least a few years."

Prom? Sharing a look, Haruhi and Tamaki realized that Ed almost let something important slip, but given his demeanor and how little he offered, neither chose to pry. Instead, Tamaki chose to focus on a different part of his cousin's statement. "Were you up all night? Did something happen on patrol?" He asked, remembering the Elric's agreement in the limo.

Ed coughed into his coffee splashing it in his face, and setting the cup down in favor of his sleeve, a slight blush on his cheeks, "Not all night," while at the same time his brother wore a cheshire grin, and started snickering into his own mug.

Ignoring the glare Ed shot him, Alphonse looked at the other two, "Edward here was just telling me about how he screwed up proposing to his girlfriend."

Slamming his palms on the table Ed shouted, "I didn't screw it up!"

"You yelled at her at a train station!" Al retorted, which got a snort out of Haruhi and Tamaki, the latter of which quickly turned his head from Edward's field of vision, swiftly covering his mouth with his hand.

Edward for his part, was too focused on the topic to notice, "I..yeah, well…" he paused thinking, his face turning redder by the milisecond, "She agreed to it! Shut up!"

"If it was anyone other than Winry, brother, they wouldn't have."

"Oh yeah? Well, Mr.Perfect, how would you propose to Bean Girl, then?"

"Not like that!" Al barked, his face turning to embarrassment as his brother's words sunk in, "I-I mean I wouldn't propose to her at all! We aren't dating brother!"

"Sure, you aren't. That's why you aren't doing a wonderful impression of your breakfast." Ed deadpanned, gesturing to his brother's strawberry pancakes with a quirked brow.

"I was only studying there for a year!"

"Oh yeah? What were you studying?"

"Alka- Edward!"

Tamaki couldn't take it any longer, he burst out laughing, Haruhi not far behind. "I'm sorry, I-I don't mean to laugh."

"No, please, go ahead, my little brother's got it coming for laughing at me constantly last night."

Quickly latching onto the out he was given, Alphonse chided his brother, "Don't exaggerate, it wasn't constantly."

"You fell asleep laughing, what else do you call it?"

"A valid reaction." Which earned a slap to his arm.

The rest of the morning went by quickly, but everyone was in a much brighter mood, which eased the tension from the previous night, despite being under nearly constant surveillance by their respective guards.

"I didn't know you were engaged." Tamaki braved in the limo, setting his bag to the floor by his feet.

Turning to look at his cousin, Ed nodded, "Yeah it's a recent-" He corrected himself, squinting his eyes slightly as he thought, "Well...I guess not so recent, really. I went on a research trip immediately after, for a year. And we didn't really discuss it until I was back a couple months ago...so...kindof recent, I guess." Alphonse rolled his eyes at this, but Edward didn't notice as he continued, nodding at his little brother, "We grew up together, the three of us. And she's been my mechanic forever." He concluded with a shrug.

Tamaki blinked, "I didn't know you had a car."

"Ah...yeah." Quickly shooting his brother a confused look, Al responded with an equally confused shrug. "Farming community, ya'know, lots of equipment and...stuff." Did Japan even have automail? There was no doubt it was a technology being used in the trade agreements, but was it something they could reveal without drawing attention? In Amestris the only reason they kept it hidden was to catch others offguard in a fight, it was a pretty well known albeit expensive, alternative. Meanwhile they hadn't come across anyone with prosthetics at all since they arrived in Japan, so exactly what state their fake limbs were produced was unclear. Did they use a different material? Did they still use peg-legs? Evidently whatever they used didn't require it's own professional to maintain.

Misinterpreting the confused behavior the Elrics shared, Tamaki nodded, "Sorry, forgot you grew up in a rural area."

"No, it's my fault, haha." Forgot you apparently don't have prosthetics that require mechanics.

"Can I ask what type of machinery she repairs then? I'm not very familiar with commoner tools."

"Machinery?" Ed croaked, Shit what can I even list, a sickle? You don't need a mechanic for that! Uh, milking stand-no, Sheep shearers-no, Spinning wheels don't need a mechanic, do they? I doubt a lawn mower would have a specific mechanic..though its not like Winry hasn't fixed those before… "Uh" He cleared his throat, "You got it right with the car, actually, but I don't know much about it, you'd have to ask Winry."

Tamaki nodded, "Your fiancé I take it?"

Ed sighed, relieved to be off the vehicle topic, not like either brother knew anything about those besides maybe the metals they were made from. "That's her." He confirmed, quickly patting his pockets for his wallet, he pulled out a photo of the three of them as kids. Taking a moment to look at the photograph, Winry was in the center pulling Ed and Al towards her, he reached over and handed it to his cousin, "I guess I don't have anything more recent on me, I didn't think to bring any with us to Japan." In reality they'd taken lots of pictures after the promised day with the camera, but many of the pictures Ed had taken with him to Creta ended up ruined from being in his wallet. The one he was showing off being the only real survivor. There was some visible water damage along the edges as well as some salt crusted here and there, but the photo did it's job.

Flipping through his phone, Al chimed up, "I think I have one, brother." Holding the phone out, sure enough there was a slightly out of focus picture of Winry in a sunhat holding Den. Den of course was in focus, but being a very excitable dog that couldn't sit still, he was smudged.

Checking his own phone, Ed grunted, "How'd you even take that? All of mine are blurry." As if to prove his point, he shuffled through a handful of out of focus images of varying degree of blurriness with a frown.

At the same time Tamaki said, "She's cute," Haruhi spoke, "Well those phones are pretty old."

Ed's mind trailed to a halt as he turned to Haruhi with a scandalized look on his face, "Old? These are brand new!"

In response Haruhi shakes her head and pulls out her cell phone, "Honestly, I don't know how you even got one of those brand-new. Mine's really cheap, but it's got an image stabilizer and it's a lot sleeker than the one you both have."

Both brothers looked between the phones, curiosity radiating from them. These were the 'state-of-the-art' phones Japan had offered Amestris not only in the trade deals, but for this mission specifically. The fact a 'cheap' phone their charge could afford bested their military issued fancy trade-deal ones, left them confused. Not surprising, given Amestris was doing the same thing with their automail in the trades, but given a middle-class teenager could afford a better phone really spoke of how the trades themselves were going. Ed made a mental note to bring it up to Mustang when he inevitably had to write a report.

Looking from his own phone to Haruhi's and making a mental note of small observations, he asked, "Can I see it?"

Haruhi shrugged, handing it to the older brother. "Sure."

Turning the phone around in his hands, the advancements were clear. While both were flip phones, the model Haruhi had was much thinner, with less obnoxious buttons and the camera seemed to take up more space.

Probably the stabilizer Haruhi mentioned, he observed.

There was a space on the top cover for the time and date to show, and the inner screen was a much clearer resolution than the chunky models the Amestrians had. The icons on the screen seemed less cluttered and confusing as well.

"It's a lot lighter than ours too." Ed mentions as he hands it to Al.

"Look, brother, the pictures aren't as blocky either." Taking a quick snap of Tamaki, the Elrics compare the image to their cousin sitting across from them.

"No kidding. Man, this place and it's technology."

"Yours isn't as advanced?" Tamaki asked, watching the brothers pick out differences between the phones.

"Not even close." Ed murmurred, trying to take a non blurry picture with his own cellphone, and failing, "We still have landlines."

"Up until recently the military was the only ones with anything resembling a wireless phone and they were like bricks and had to be attached to some sort of transmitter." Al explained, "We'd used them a few times due to our unique background, but even then they weren't a widespread technology like yours seems to be here. Payphones and booths are the most accessible unless you're a business or in a city."

Haruhi nodded as she was given her phone back, "So where did you get these then?"

"They were given to us for the mission. We familiarized ourselves with them like a week before we left, but other than that they would hardly work in Amestris because we don't have the..towers?" Ed hesitated glancing to his brother for affirmation, "Necessary to receive the signal."

Tapping the barrier in the limo, Tamaki asked the driver what their eta was, and given they still had a good chunk of time before first period, demanded a detour to the business district, the driver promptly closing the barrier and the car jerking violently to the left.

Ed bristled and immediately started shouting, "We didn't authorize any detour!"

"Ah ah ah, my dear cousin." Tamaki emphasizes with a wag of his finger, "This is a necessary expenditure!"

Unimpressed, Al asks "Where are we going, Tamaki?"

"To get you both state of the art cell phones, of course!" At the lack of enthusiasm, Tamaki deflated a little, but explained his reasoning nonetheless, "What if you had to take a picture of the bad guy or some key evidence? Those phones wouldn't cut it!"

"Senpai's got a point, have you tried calling anybody on them since you got here?" At the negative head shake from both brothers, Haruhi continued, "They might not even work if you do need to use them. Older phones can be really slow and have really awful battery life, but they're also more liable to drop calls."

Both brothers blinked, confused by the term and questioned in unison, "Drop calls?"

"That's it!" Tamaki exclaimed, "We're giving you a crash course during lunch, Haruhi and I will take care of the phone situation until then!"

"Hey, waitaminute, what about the phone number?" Ed half shouted, already irritated that they were going off course already, "Important people have that phone's number, we can't just get a new one!"

"We'll deal with that when we get to the store, rest assured, my dear brothers! We will get you working cell phones before long!" Ed tried to break in again with some sense that that wasn't something small they could wait for an answer on, but Tamaki was so caught up in his excitement and dramatics, he quickly gave up.

Exchanging a look of disbelief and exasperation, the Elrics resigned to their fates, hoping silently that there even was a way to transfer phone numbers.

The purchase at the store went fairly quickly after hearing "no expense will be spared!" The manager rushed out from the back after being told the current customers were students of Ouran and the two associates catered, bartered and explained the intricacies of newer models and upgrades.
The Elrics, having been lost to the conversation, left the haggling to Haruhi and Tamaki who were nodding along and asking questions as if they were talking about the weather and not highly advanced communications devices.

Luckily, the phones the Elrics had been using were new enough that they used sim cards, making the number transfer a breeze, which left the foreigners to wander the store, as their hosts were occupied with various upgrades.

Keeping an eye on the two teens, Ed and Al meandered around the store looking at the different types of cell phones, some that slid up, others that had a bigger keyboard, some that were just a block with no cover, one with a huge screen and huge buttons that was clearly meant for failing eyesight. They settled on a sleek model that looked really advanced. There was a large stripe on the side and the colors were striking, black and white for the display, though it insisted there were various other colors available. It was thinner than most of the displays and had no visible antenna on the outside, the inside had a camera too, but neither one was as big as Haruhi's.

Pressing buttons and comparing with the other phones, they tested the model this way and that, and what they could understand from the little explanation about speed of 'text' delivery (Text? Could you order books from these?) and easier 'voicemail' access (that's like an answering machine, right, Al?), they realized it had features the others didn't, or at least, didn't advertise.

The hosts and employees were so caught up in their discussion that none of them seemed to notice the rather loud and distinct 'SNAP' that rang throughout the store from the direction of the Amestrians.

Sweating bullets, the brothers silently panicked as the phone they'd been messing with didn't quite bend like it implied it would. Juggling the screen and trying to catch it, both brothers were whispering frantically between each other "Put it back!" "I'm trying!" "Well try harder!"

There was a small clack as Ed finally dropped it on the floor, and Al quickly picked it up as his brother discreetly blocked the display from the public eye.

The quick flash of blue caught their cousin's eye, but it was gone as quickly as it came, like a camera flash, and he brushed off as a notification from one of the display models.

With a heavy sigh, the Elrics decided to sit and wait in the chairs by the door for their new phones, too scared to touch the merchandise or any other displays.

"I really hope they don't get us that one."

"Me neither."

Before they knew it they were being called over to choose their colors. Ed of course chose red, and Alphonse went with silver. They were handed their phones to mess with but both brothers were...less than enthusiastic after the incident with the display model. Tamaki had insisted on paying as a gift for his family, but Ed ultimately won the battle and used the card he was given for mission related expenditures, "Because that's the purpose of it, Tamaki."

Though the accessories, Tamaki was able to weasel off their bill onto his own, "Because they aren't necessary, Edward, but they're nice to have."

Both the new and old cellphones were given to the Elrics in the car, and they were given a rundown on how to open them properly after both brothers were strangely hesitant to mess with them, which Haruhi found weird since they seemed to be fine maneuvering about their old phones, and the rest, as promised, was saved for the lunch break. Luckily the phones were thicker than the display model they'd had the misfortune of messing with.

Before leaving the vehicle, rules were reiterated, and agreed upon. Stay near the Elrics, don't wander off, don't ditch, and everything was run through one of them throughout the course of the school day.

Watch was split due to the previous night's lack of sleep, Edward slept through the classes before lunch, while Alphonse took the block of classes after lunch.

And for once, Edward was wide awake for the host club, not that he wanted to be, and he took that opportunity to walk the school and it's grounds and take note of anything suspicious or strange.

There wasn't much odd around the school's property, though he did catch a torn scrap of fabric on one of the rose bushes, as well as some broken branches, but he suspected students, as nothing else seemed suspicious. He made sure to be extra thorough around the area just in case, and almost stepped on someone asleep under one of the gazebos.

Finding nothing of interest, and feeling like he'd left his brother and charge alone for long enough, Ed changed his route and headed back towards the school, stopping once or twice to stretch his sore leg, or to take a photo on his new phone (the technology here was incredible! Winry was gonna flip!), noting that while his hand was blurring some, they came out more or less like a normal film camera as opposed to the pixelated mess the government-issued ones were capable of.

Pushing open the door to the host club, he found a large crowd around his little brother who seemed to be trying to explain something, as well as the rest of the hosts talking about some...word?

"I'm telling you guys, a prom is an American tradition!" Hikaru insisted, Al dropped his head into his hands and let himself fall into the love seat as the argument he was trying to prevent started up yet again.

Ignoring the strange stares and astonished faces and murmurs he got from the crowd, Ed pushed his way to his brother's side and quirked a brow, "Why are we talking about American traditions?"

"Tama-chan asked what a prom was!" Hunny replied from behind the strawberry cheesecake he was seated at. Tamaki seemed to have stiffened at the seemingly innocent exclamation, which confused Ed.

All eyes seemingly turned towards the Elrics, and Ed looked around confused, "So?" At everyone's lack of response, he looked at his brother who was now watching the hosts, and then looked back at the club members, "What is it, then?"

"You don't know?" Haruhi asked, sharing a look with Tamaki who seemed equally confused.

Ed frowns, "Do I look American?"

A girl's voice comes from his left, "A little," and he scrunches up his nose, looking for the source of the voice in the sea of yellow dresses.

Tamaki speaks up, which draws his attention back to one of the few people he could name, "You mentioned it this morning when we were talking about coffee so we thought you might."

Starting to think, his thoughts were interrupted by Hikaru, "For the last time, it's a fancy dance Americans do!"

"Oh, but if it's a dance, are there elephants?" Hunny asked enthusiastically

"Why would there be elephants?" Haruhi questioned

"Uh, because-" Kaoru stepped forward, "If there weren't, why wouldn't they just call it a dance?"

The hosts seem to consider this, as Ed asked his brother when the heck either of them mentioned an American dance that morning. And both brothers jumped as the volume of the room exploded.

"Oh I bet there's exotic birds!"

"If they've got elephants they've probably got lions, how extravagant!"

"Lions? My daddy has a tiger, they're much more majestic!"

"Do you think they serve 'burgers'?"

"I want to go to a prom!"

"What dresses do you think they'd wear to something like that?"

"My mom has a dress that looks like a peacock, if there's peacocks, maybe that?"

"You wouldn't want to look like a bird in front of a tiger!"

"I thought it was lions!"

"Elephants! Elephants!"

"America is so cool, I want a prom!"

"Me too!"

"Oh my god please!"

"That sounds so fun!"

"AIIIEEEEEE! I wanna go!"

Ed was about to shout at the large crowd to shut up, but Kyoya beat him to it, "Enough!" As the chattering dropped to a minimum, he continued, "I think it's safe to say that we should research and plan for a 'prom'-" The cheering covered up any more that would have been said and the Elrics shared an exasperated look. There was an entire forty-five minutes left of this.

The crowds excitement continued, but at a much more manageable volume, "Now that that's settled-"

"But it's not settled, Kyoya-senpai," Turning to the Elrics, Haruhi asked, "That wasn't what you were talking about was it?"

"No but-" Ed started before cutting himself off, "OH!" he exclaimed upon realization, before immediately tensing up. He cut himself off before saying 'Promised Day', and they remembered that? What the heck was he supposed to substitute there?

"Ed was saying Promise. Not Prom." Looking to Alphonse who gave a subtle nod, Ed visibly relaxed and they both shrugged as a few of the girls visibly deflated, having watched the interaction hoping for more insider info. Scratching his neck, Al continued, "We don't have really fancy dances like that in Amestris, they're more of a festival only type of thing or there's balls for important job events but they're not really common." There were a few sad awes and looks of pity thrown their way by the girls.

Ed shrugged again, glancing at Haruhi before taking a seat on the chair nearest her, "And the festival ones aren't fancy, we used to go in muddy coveralls."

The awes turned to eugh; which made Ed snort, "What's with that reaction? We grew up rural, what'd you think people wear in mud country? Suede*?"

"Brother, Suede isn't bad for mud."

"Yeah, but that's that fancy leather, Al, twice the price for half the product."

A girl with two red pigtails shook her head, "Suede isn't that expensive, and it's really soft!"

Edward rolled his eyes, "That's cause ya'll're fancy rich folk who have people to do jobs for you. You don't want soft in sheep country, or you'll have holes in everything."

Al scrunches his nose, "Ram's'll tear right through leather too if they get you the right way. Didn't you get butted through a barbed fence when we were little?"

"Yeah, and the leather tore, but my skin didn't. That's my point. The wire would've torn suede and skin."

Some of the girl's blanched at the conversation, but one of them was brave enough to ask what they all wanted to know, "Well what do you wear for fancy gatherings then?"

Ed raised an eyebrow, "I dunno, pants?"

Al snorted, "It depends on the town, most people in our towns' idea of fancy is a nice button down and good shoes. Most of them still wore their work pants, just cleaned them up a bit."

Ignoring the cringe some of the girls were experiencing, Ed scratched his neck, "Winry wears a sun dress every once in a while, sometimes a skirt, but they're not what I'd call fancy, really…" Before Al had a chance to tease him, Ed turned to him, "You ever seen Pinako outside of work clothes?"

Al paused, thinking, "Now that you mention it, no. Most of her old pictures are in coveralls too."

Ignoring the murmurs going through the crowd about the names of not one, but two women in these stranger's lives, Ed folds his arms across his chest and brings it back to the original topic, "Point is: suede sucks."

Al glares at him, "Are you serious, that was not that point or the question!"

With a shrug Ed concludes, "'Twas my point. Can't wear fancy when fancy sucks."

Al groans , "Oh my god, brother, fancy has it's place, just not in practicality."

"Uh yeah, cause it sucks."

The club seemed to go in various directions after that as the girl's lost interest in the conversation with Ed denouncing how much fancy expensive things were useless and explaining why. Even the host club was finding it hard to relate, however Haruhi would chime in with a mix of feelings between the brother's opinions, though moreso agreeing with Edward's practicality. Fancy had it's place but practical would make the money spent last longer. The host club figured it must be a poor person thing and went back to entertaining their clients.

Much of the following week went the same way. Quiet. Which left the Elrics suspicious, and made those who knew the situation think they were taking things a little too seriously.

No murders, nothing strange on patrols, no news from the police on any leads. It seemed the murderer was laying low since his encounter with Edward, and the longer it lasted the bolder the Host club attempted to become with their club meetings.

That is, until they were notified of one of their clients found dead a week after that.

*I am not an expert on leather or suede. They're both too expensive for my poor ass.
Personally, I use duck canvas or denim for all my country needs. My coveralls are purple and insulated.

Hey so sorry this has taken so long to get out. Life = bad. Has been for a long time but eugh I'm trying to make progress and that's slowed down even further by the pandemic which sucks but hey, whatchu gon' do. I'd rather not get dead.

This chapter is kindof filler, but the point of it is to get the mundanity of the situation to seep in. Not unlike the irl situation, people start to forget and get impatient with precautions when things are drawn out.

Also do people get notifications when chapters are deleted? I deleted chapter 7 in prep for this, but got distracted by irl being terrible as usual lmao

If I'd have known that I would've waited to delete til I got this, sorry about that! I didn't realize that counts as an update!

I also wanted to get something out for 503week which I missed, and I suck at romance, but I might finish up a sort of…well really its more or less the start of another crossover but with Harry Potter, but I haven't seen Harry Potter in so long I can't actually write it accurately, and really it wasn't supposed to be posted til I finished this as it was something I was just playing around with; so more or less the first chapter is an alternate ending to the canon series so I can have Winry with the boys in whatever world I throw them to because A) she deserves better (thanks brohood 3), B) I love Winry to bits, C) Edwin is like, one of the whole two ships I care about at all, D) there are not enough HP/FMA crossovers with Winry in them. Seriously, theres like 800 of these and like, hardly any have Winry (for fair story reasons, but still).

Anyway I might use it again in the future, since it really has nothing to do with whatever series it's going to be set in until the very end if it involves literal other worlds. Its mostly a setup after canon to get Winry out of Resembool in a more or less convincing manner. So I'm debating letting it out as a 'prequel' and a oneshot. We'll see.

As I said before I have Alchemical Reactions planned out overall, just gotta write it. Started Chapter 8 so hopefully I can ride this out but uh…(Im supposed to be filling a dumpster rn hhhhhhh)

Also for anyone keeping track by the end of this chapter, the Elrics have been in Japan for about 18 days. Most of it passing in this chapter in the last bit, 2 entire weeks in a line or two.
I figure this gives me plenty of room to write some one-shot shenanigans down the road that take place during this time.

Thank you all for your continued support, reviews are most motivating and wonderful to read, and please stay safe during the pandemic. May The Odds Be Ever In Your Favor!