Alfons folded his napkin neatly while Edward stuffed another forkful of potatoes into his mouth. He tried not to laugh. The alchemist was hardly chewing.

"Relax, Ed. I'll wait for you to finish before we leave, so take your time."

Edward's jaw dropped and he paused, as if only then realizing how quickly he'd been scoffing his meal. "Yeah, you're right. I guess I'm just anxious, that's all." He swallowed. Then he choked.

"Seriously, Ed," Alfons chuckled, handing the flailing hands a glass of liquid refreshment, "You really need to slow down."

Ed downed the drink in three gulps. Then he sputtered wildly into his napkin. "AUGHH. Was that milk?!"

"Yes. Why?"

"I hate milk! Are you trying to kill me or what? Cow throw-up, and all lumpy and churning to boot—"

"It is not! Besides, if you don't drink milk, you'll never—"

"I know, I know. I'll never grow, I get it! STOP SAYING I'M SHORT, ALFON—" But Al's forefinger over his mouth thoroughly shushed him.

Alfons was leaning over the table, his face inches away from the Elric boy's. He'd made the choice to quiet Edward on a whim, but he'd still been careful not to trail his sleeves through the stew that perched between them. Al didn't know why he'd bothered to hush Ed, anyway – it wasn't like the alchemist ever did what he was told – but it'd seemed like the best idea at the time. In any case, Edward was bright red now, and he gazed with mortification down his nose at the finger that hovered near his lips.

"Alfons," he hissed, and Al sat back down.

"I'm just trying to get you to listen, Ed," Alfons reassured, tucking his napkin in his lap once more and lifting his spoon serenely. "I didn't say you were short."

"It's not what you said – it's what you implied! And stop smirking at me!"

Al wiped the amusement from his face immediately, though his eyes still twinkled. His submission had the desired effect. Edward calmed down. Alfons noticed with satisfaction that he'd slowed his eating speed tenfold as well.

"So," Edward said finally, as if none of the prior chaos had occurred, "Have you heard anything new from the Professor?"

"Professor Oberth?" Al's face creased into a frown. "I haven't. I know he's been busy, and I know it's because of him that the Spaceflight Society has come this far, but sometimes I…" There came a loud knock on the front door.

"I'll get it," Edward volunteered, and Al merely nodded. The alchemist made his way to the foyer, but his hand paused over the knob and he turned back. "Hermann Oberth hasn't abandoned you or your team of rocket engineers. He knows you've come far in your research. Give the Professor a little credit. After all, if he hadn't taken you as his apprentice at his factory, then you and I would have never met, right?"

Al's blue eyes flew wide.

The knock sounded on the door again. Ed whirled around, impatient. "Yeah, yeah. Hold your horses. Who is it?" Then he gasped. "What the hell are you doing here, old man? I thought you were gone for good this time!" Edward Elric growled, clearly incensed.

"Professor Hohenheim!" Al strode excitedly to the door and shook the man's hand.

Ed glanced between them, thunderstruck. "Professor?"

"Go easy, Edward, and don't raise your voice. I'm not as young as I used to be." Hohenheim of Light removed his shoes and hung his umbrella on the coat rack.

"If you want me to yell, I can yell, old man."

"Now, now. Go back and eat your dinner."

The order only irritated Edward further. "Easy for you to say, pops! If you're here, then that means I'm gonna watch you like a hawk so you can't give me the slip again. You haven't told me half of what I need to know!"

Hohenheim sighed. "It's Alfons I'm here to speak with this time, Edward."

Edward blinked. "Alfons?"

Al averted his gaze, but Ed's stare pierced him to the core.

"You knew he was coming?"

Alfons Heiderich didn't answer, so Ed spun around again to shout at the tall man with the glasses.

"Where the hell have you been?"

Hohenheim sagged wearily. When he saw that his son was not about to let him pass, he removed his dripping coat and draped it across the nearest chair. "I thought I told you I was going to study with Haushofer."

Alfons had to take a step back when Ed made an irate sweeping motion with his arm. "That doesn't tell me a thing. Why would you want to exchange ideas with him, anyway? There's nothing you can learn here that will work the same as alchemy. There's nothing that can even come close!"

The lines on Hohenheim's face appeared deeper than when Alfons had last seen him, and there was a dullness to his eyes behind the lenses. "Are you sure, Edward?"

Ed's breath caught in his throat. He opened his mouth to protest, but suddenly Hohenheim noticed the mechanical arm and seized it.

"You see?" he said, lifting the sleeve to reveal the artificial skin and prod at its surface. "You're already making use of the things that I've learned. This very arm is the result of mixing my alchemic knowledge with the science found in this world. I crafted this arm, you know. It's my model; there's no mistaking the workmanship." Hohenheim's gaze found Alfons. "Wouldn't you agree, Mr. Heiderich?"

"His model?" Ed cried, tearing free of his father's grasp and seeking Al's petrified stare. "He's the one that made this?"

Alfons couldn't bring himself to answer. Edward was furious.

"I based it off the automail technology from Amestris," Hohenheim interrupted, peering at Al for a split second before returning focus to his son. "And I modified it when I was sent through the gate. It's no great surprise, Edward. You really should have guessed. Didn't Pinako ever tell you that I was the one who brought automail to our world to begin with? I invented the practice over four hundred years ago."

"Your father's work is incredible," Alfons whispered, wishing the meekness would evaporate from his voice. Hohenheim of Light spouted stories even stranger than the ones Edward Elric told, but his scientific inventions had earned Al's respect. He cleared his throat. "Prosthetic limbs of that quality were difficult to make until your father came along and revolutionized the process. He's even made a number of spares. No one can do it but him."

Alfons had thought his explanation would sooth Edward. It did just the opposite, and Al jumped as the alchemist came flying toward him.

"And you, Alfons? What does any of this have to do with you? Did you throw in your lot in with his? Mess around behind my back? You went and put that bastard's automail on my arm, acting like it was nothing, like it was just practice with mechanics. Like you could somehow use it with your damn rockets!"

"Edward, let go of me." Al hacked weakly, fighting to pry Ed's hands from his collar.

Hohenheim clapped a heavy palm onto Edward's shoulder and forced the two of them apart. "I didn't tell Alfons to do it, son," he said, and Ed growled something unintelligible. "Ask him yourself. He probably did it because he wanted to help you. God knows I wasn't the one who installed that ignition mechanism. Alfons figured out how to do that with nothing but his own sheer skill." Edward was hardly mollified by this news.

"I knew you would be upset," Al ventured, glancing carefully into Edward's perilous golden eyes. "So I didn't tell you."

Ed ripped himself away from the scene with a loud curse. He stormed through the foyer and past the dining room, fuming. "God damn it, why is everybody always keeping secrets?"

Alfons watched him march off with half a mind to follow. Then Hohenheim's hand was at the small of his back, keeping him there. Al concluded their dinner was destined to get cold.

"He'll only be upset for a while," the elder man said, picking up his coat and donning it with a grunt of defeat. "It's a shame, though. For once the two of you seemed to be getting along."

Al handed him his umbrella and observed the downpour when Hohenheim opened the door. "We do get along," he said. "Better than I thought we would."

"Yet you act like mere acquaintances. You don't get along like brothers."

Alfons felt the familiar pang of helplessness welling inside him again. "We aren't brothers, Professor." His fist tightened.

Hohenheim of Light halted, his expression well hidden under the rim of his black umbrella. "That's right. I keep forgetting. I hope you'll forgive me, Alfons. It's just that you remind me so much of my younger son."

"I know. I remind Ed too." He didn't mean for his response to sound so bitter. Hohenheim left without another word. Alfons closed the door and shook droplets off his face. The resounding click of the lock sent shivers down his spine when the noise echoed through the empty chamber.

"We do get along," he whispered to the puddle that was forming on the hardwood floor. "It's just that Edward is so distant sometimes." When Hohenheim's tall figure melded into the gloom outside, he turned around and made his way to Edward's room.

Ed's door was unlocked.

"Where's my father?" he asked as soon as Al had entered.

Alfons wasted no time in making his mood known. "He left, because you couldn't grow up."

"What, do you want me to start wailing or something because now there's no telling whether he'll come back? Don't make me laugh, Al."

Alfons Heiderich was a good-humored individual. He hated getting angry, and found that arguing solved nothing as quickly as rational cooperation did. But there was something about the Elric boy that was fast decomposing his will to remain levelheaded. Edward fueled a fire in him – a desire that made him burn with questions that begged answering, with hope that made him feel less useless in the grand scheme of rocket science. Even when he was surrounded by minds greater than his, cast aside by theorists and engineers with higher credits and more experience, Al had never felt his goals were out of reach with the Elric boy working beside him. It had been over a year, and still nothing was impossible; Edward's optimism and innovative thinking often proved that. But at the same time, Ed was an enigma. An enigma that drove Al mad with curiosity and pushed him to the brink of his sanity with his brashness and temper.

Alfons let out a mirthless laugh before he could stop himself. "How does it feel to be the one left in the dark for once, Ed?" This time he didn't care that his voice rang foreign and hostile.

Edward smashed his arm into the dresser. The wood splintered at the impact. "You think you're the one without a clue, is that it? You think you're the one being treated unfairly?" Al flinched as another strike to an inanimate object caused a crash. "Then tell me, Alfons Heiderich, why it is that you know more about my father Hohenheim than I do!"

In a flash, Alfons had been slammed against the door, Edward's palms pressed into the woodwork on either side of him.

"Well?" The blonde alchemist was panting.

They were standing too close together. Alfons could feel the steady breath from the other boy's lips, see the beads of moisture that had collected on his forehead. He was boxed in – tightly muscled, human arm on one side, dangerous mechanical machine limb on the other. His heartbeat faltered.

"Humor me a minute, Ed," Al murmured, determined not to cave until he'd gotten his answers. "Why do you hate Hohenheim of Light so much?"

The alchemist looked taken aback. "I don't hate him, okay?" he spat, "I just… Look, it's none of your business, Al." Ed moved as if to retreat at last, but Alfons grabbed the folds of his shirt and held him in place.

"Your father says the same ludicrous things you do," Al whispered, striving to control his fury. "But he tries to explain things when I ask. I've learned more about your mysterious alchemic world from him than I ever did from you. And it didn't cost him anything to tell me. Your problem is that you don't care, Edward. All you want is to use our research to find a new way to open the gate. Don't make that face; I knew it all along. But the truth is, your ideas have still helped us. And Professor Hohenheim has helped me."

Ed struggled to dislodge his body, but Al refused to relinquish his hold. He kept them there, locked together, himself pressed against the door and Edward hovering over him, quite stunned.

"I'm not some figment of your imagination, Ed. And I'm not your brother Alphonse, either. The least you could do is try to acknowledge that."

Alfons was finished negotiating. He felt sick. He'd unleashed his bottled emotions in a single onslaught, and now he was drained. There followed a thick silence, ruffled only by Edward's desperate breathing. The alchemist wasn't struggling to loose himself anymore, but he trembled slightly. Al kept his hands latched onto Ed's quaking form, grateful that he had something physical to hang on to as his mind went reeling.

"Alfons, I—"

"Just don't talk, Ed. Please, shut up." He ignored the way his lungs made wheezing noises in his ribcage. "Because no matter what you say, I know you'll be back to yourself within minutes. Forgetting I'm even here. Shutting me out."

Edward chuckled weakly – it seemed the only thing he was capable of. "You make me sound so self-centered. If it's any consolation, I'm doing all this for a reason."

"Reason or not, it's a little late for that."

"Wh-What d'you mean, Al?"

Al's face darkened. "Six months from now, there'll be a carnival coming to Munich. Oberth wants us to put our latest rockets on display – a test run with an audience. There are all sorts of politicians and military officials looking for a use for something like the liquid fuel rocket, Ed. This could be my big chance to help Germany, don't you see? I'd leave a mark on history's pages. I may even get my own factory if I succeed."

Edward's eyes widened, and a tiny breath of air escaped his lips. "But do you really think that'll—"

"If my team gets a big chance, I won't turn it down. That's what I mean, Ed. I'll put my heart and soul into it for all I'm worth, and I won't be coming home to this house, or back to the old workshop. I knew you'd never agree to me giving up my discoveries so easily, so you won't come with me even if I ask, will you? We may have met because of Professor Oberth, but we'll split up because of him, too. He sides with me. So go open your gate and look for your brother. I'll be doing something a little more scientific."

Ed shifted his hands from the door to Al's shoulders and gave him a little shake. "Alfons, just a second. I never said I didn't want to work with you! You're the only chance I've got!"

"And you'll keep pushing me aside until you get that chance. Don't fool yourself, Edward – we're all lifeless wraiths to you. You'll always believe more in your world than you will in ours, even though you're here with us standing in it. Standing here with me."

Edward let his arms drop in what Al decided was defeat, listing forward until Alfons was forced to catch him round the shoulders to support him. He did so with as little emotion as possible; he didn't want to feel Edward against him now, didn't want to take responsibility for the way he'd sapped the otherworldly alchemist of his resolve and injected him with guilt.

Ed laid his forehead against the crook of Al's neck, and Alfons held his breath.

"Look, Alfons, I'm sorry," Ed mumbled. He stirred restlessly and the movement of body against body sent Al's system into shock mode. "It was never my intention to make you feel like you were being used. I just get carried away. Hell, I'm an alchemist – I go to extremes. And I can't change the fact that finding my brother Alphonse is the only thought in my head right now."

Al shook as sensation came back to him. Ed seemed to share his reaction. He looked up. "Alfons?"

"I…" The fact that their faces were mere inches apart registered with the velocity of a freight train.

To Al's great surprise, it was Edward that flushed to the eartips and shot backward, untangling them once and for all.

"YOU TRYIN' TO GIVE ME A HEART ATTACK?" Ed shouted, tripping across an overturned chair and barely managing to seize the bedpost for balance.

Alfons couldn't help it. He smiled. "Does all the yelling mean you haven't forgotten about studying rocketry?

"Like I said – I'll stick around. I wish you wouldn't keep getting weird on me, Al."

"You're the one that's weird. Your face matches the tomatoes from our salad."

Ed sputtered before crying out in agony. "Our dinner! It's probably all cold!"

"Then why don't we go finish it?" Al opened the door and headed down the stairs.

"Fine. As long as you don't feed me any more milk."

"Don't choke and I won't have to. Er, but you should still hurry. Now we're late for the workshop."

"WHAT? You should say those sorts of things earlier!"

They bickered their way into the dining room. Alfons heaved a sigh while Ed shoveled down his lukewarm stew.

Alfons knew they'd barely hit the tip of the iceberg. They had a long way to go before they understood each other. But still, as he polished off his meal, he found he wasn't quite as daunted as before. For the first time in a long time, Al's heart felt light.

A/N: Now that it's been a solid three chapters, guys, I need some drop dead honest opinions. Criticism would be great. Heiderich's a rather unexplored realm, so I'll take all the help I can get.