See nice a long!! A nice long chapter! See? See? ...you don't get it, do you?

REVIEW! REVIEW DAMMIT! XD I WANT REVIEWS!

"Ehehehe..." blush

--

"Al, did you go to a chick flick?" Ed asked suspiciously as Al helped him hop through the front door.

"Wh-? No." Al was straining to hold Ed up and find his keys at the same time. Catching onto them with one finger as he rooted around in his jeans pocket, he pulled them out and scooted sideways, pulling Ed with him, so that he could reach the lock on the door and open it without hitting himself or Ed. He swung the door open and Ed launched away from him and fell flat on the floor.

"Brother! Stop doing that!"

Ed rolled around like a dying fish until he could clap his hands together and alchemically lower his sling from the ceiling. Al rolled his eyes and locked the door before shedding his coat.

"You've been crying." Ed suddenly dropped down directly in front of Al.

"You'll never be able to use your limbs again," Al said. He wasn't really lying, but the statement misled Ed enough to make Al sure that the real reason for his grief was protected. He didn't want to tell Ed he was crying because he didn't believe his big brother could learn to be independent and happy without the use of two of his limbs.

"Al, don't worry about it. Worse things have happened."

Al's jaw dropped. That was the last thing he'd expected Ed to say.

"Well, they have," Ed said defensively in reply to Al's shocked face.

"Ed... I just never thought you'd say that. It's been so hard on you-"

"Al! Jeez, it's not thatbad...I can handle it...I mean, you're always here."

"Edward, I need to get a job." Al closed his eyes, silently praying for Ed's forgiveness.

"Al, we talked about this," Ed said scoldingly.

"Yeah, we did, but you...you have to be independent, Ed."

"Al, what are you saying? I'm not a helpless infant!" Ed was immediately furious.

"So you should be fine without me!"

"Why do you want to get away from me?"

"That's not it, Ed! We need money- really need it and-"

"I'll take care of it, Al! I'm your older brother-"

"You can't work, you can't do anything-"

"THAT'S NOT TRUE," Ed screeched.

"Ed!!"

"It's not true, it's not true, it's not true, it's NOT!"

"Ed, calm down, I-"

"Don't talk to me! DON'T!"

"EDWARD ELRIC, listen to me!"

"SHUT UP!"

A knock on the front door prevented Al from screaming back at Ed. He walked over and yanked the door open with tremendous force.

"I heard yelling...is everything alright?" their next-door neighbor asked shyly. He was gently wringing his hands and Ed yelled, "Just leave us alone!" at the nervous man.

"Don't mind Ed, he's being incredibly thick right now. We're fine."

"Oh, ah, good." Nelson turned to leave, and as Al shut the door, the man said, "Just don't prevent anyone else from sleeping!" in a sort of friendly way. Al slammed the door shut so hard that Ed's sling swayed. Al turned around, and Ed transmuted his sling, flying to his bedroom. He locked the door and wouldn't respond. Al was too furious to sleep. He was too livid to do anything. Finally, he stormed out of the house. He walked all the way to the park where Jean had shot at Edward, and then didn't know what to do with himself.

He walked right by a bench without noticing the person sitting on it until the man said, 'Hello."

Al jumped. "Hey."

"Why are you out, walking so fast, at night?"

"Uh, I'm angry..."

"Ah."

"Who are you?"

"No one you know, if that's what you mean. I don't know you, either."

"Why are you out here?"

"I'm homeless. I've been kicked out."

"...Why?" Al sat down on the end of the bench.

"Because I'm gay."

"Uh, oh!" Al said awkwardly.

"My father disowned me because I'm gay."

"Well, um, I'm sorry."

They sat in silence until the mysterious man stood up. "Now I'm going to walk. Not as fast as you, because I'm not angry, but slow, because I'm depressed."

"OK..." Al watched him go, reveling in the very surreal night he was having. A fight with his brother and a bizarre conversation with an unfortunate stranger. The surreal feeling replaced the angry one, and by the time Al had walked home, he was able to go to bed and sleep.

--

"Ed, there's food on the table. I'm leaving, so you can come out and eat it," Al yelled at Ed's door the next morning. He was going job-hunting.

Al hadn't been expecting to find a high-paying job in a nice place without a difficult search, but it seemed like no one even wanted to hire him for the crappy jobs... He'd gone into four restaurants with "Hiring" posted in their windows, but not one of the managers had seemed impressed with him. He'd blown his chance at being a dishwasher when he'd been taken in back and given a chance, only ti hip and pull back from the extremely hot water in the sink. He had gingerly maneuvered some really gross pots out of the water and scrubbed them, but he was told not to come back to see if he'd be hired.

Inwardly, Al groaned when he saw a huge, bright-colored poster with "Now Hiring" written on it hanging outside a dilapidated little shack of a restaurant. He didn't want to go in, but he had made a resolution that he would take every opportunity he saw, and he wanted to come home with a job today before Edward's silent fury and rejection wore him down and he gave up the hunt.

He went inside, surprised by how cool it was. And dark, and not particularly neat or tidy, but oh well. There were no customers that Al could see, although the cashier seemed very busy doing something at her little counter. There was a display with a glass window for pastries next to the counter, and all it contained was a single cookie and some bits of paper.

"Hello? What can I do for you?" asked the dark-haired little cashier.

"Uh...I'm looking for a job," Al admitted after a moment.

"Oh, really?" she seemed reservedly skeptical. Al walked up to the counter, finding her to be several inches shorter than he was.

"Can you cook?"

Al was caught off-guard. "Well, at home, yeah."

"We don't have a problem with home-style cookin' around here," she smirked.

"Well..." Al wasn't sure he was exactly qualified.

"It'll be a cook, or nothin' else. There's no other jobs in a place with no cook."

"Why don't you have a cook?"

"He was a kid. Family problems came up and he quit. Not much older 'n you."

"How long ago?"

"It's been 'bout two weeks," she nodded to herself, "and we tried to handle it ourselves, but a hair got in someone's sandwich and he made a big old fuss 'bout it and made us promise we'd hire a real cook. He's kind of a friend of the family," she added.

"I'm not really a real cook," Al told her.

"Come try the kitchen. We don't got a lot of hope right now." She led Al behind the counter to a greasy-smelling kitchen. It wasn't too cluttered, but everything was covered in a fine layer of cold grease and it made Al uncomfortable.

"Here's one of our old menus," she said, picking one up off a counter. It was cold and greasy too. Hamburgers, hotdogs, fish, ramen, french fries... not exactly Al's usual dishes.

"Whaddaya think? Pretty basic fare."

"I think I'm not qualified and I've never done it before and I'd screw up. I- just can't-ah..."

Hands on hips, she glared darkly up at him.

"I'd like to help out, but-uh..."

She raised one eyebrow.

"Look, I've never worked before- I mean, I've never had a job before!"

"Then you won't complain about the wages."

"Uh, my brother's an invalid," he said quietly, feeling as if by saying the word, he was betraying Ed somehow, "and we have medical bills, a car, and a house to pay for."

She sighed, frustrated, and walked back to the register.

"Look, I'm sorry, I just can't-"

"Save it. If you can't, you can't. You don't have to answer to me."

Al couldn't come up with anything more to say and walked out the door, feeling a tightness in his stomach he was not at all comfortable with.

--

This point in time found Ed groaning on the floor.

"Aww...oww..." Ed tried to lift his head, then put it back down. He'd fallen from his sling, his right arm draped across him, almost pinning him to the floor. Lonely, but angry, he'd had absolutely nothing to do all. day. long. He'd been zooming around the house, burning off his excess energy through alchemy. Then he'd started taking abrupt stops, seeing how far he could make his sling swing, and inevitably launched himself out of the sling and onto the floor by the front door. He groaned again, then shut his eyes and relaxed, resting where he was.

--

Al hadn't found a single other place that wanted to hire him. Now he was just stalling outside HQ, waiting for Breda to get off work so he could talk to him.

When Jean and Heymans emerged from the building, stretching, sighing and yawning, they greeted Al happily, glad for an end to the monotony of the day. Al told them about his entire day over iced coffee. Breda and Al discussed pros and cons of taking the job as a short-order cook. Breda was even more dubious of the job than Al, but there was something in the Elric's gut telling him not to just drop the idea. As soon as he could politely get a word in, Jean inquired as to how Ed was doing. Al fell silent.

"I don't...know. I know I have to go check on him, but I just don't want to deal with his attitude."

"We'll all go," Breda said kindly, Jean nodding to back him up.

--

"Oh, nooo," Al moaned as he walked through the door. "Oh God, Ed, please wake up."

"Hey, Al. You're back."

"Ed! What happened!"

Ed mumbled an angry, embarrassed answer.

"Something stupid, no doubt," said Jean, peering over Al's shoulder.

"What the hell's he doing here?" Ed growled.

"Alphonse didn't want to have to deal with you alone and we agreed that no one should have to suffer that fate," Jean bit back.

"Shut up, Asshole."

"Edward!" Al scolded.

"Aw, let him cuss. It's all he can do."

"Jean! What the hell-" Breda said loudly. Ed flopped weakly, bringing his left hand to his right, and Al seized his wrists.

"Edward, what happened?" he asked firmly.

"No big deal, I just-..." Ed searched for words, "ended up on the floor."

Al shook his head. "That's not a good enough answer, Brother."

"Good enough for what?" Ed snapped back, "Good enough for the brother who disappeared before I was even awake this morning? D'ja find a job, by the way?" His tone was bitter enough that Al knew he was going to regret not taking the job at that little shack just because he couldn't truthfully say yes to Ed's last question.

"Ed, I need to know what you did so that I know whether or not you need attention." 'Attention,' was Al's word for everything ranging from emergency room visits to chiropractic appointments to simple shoulder rubs and hot chocolate.

"I don't."

"You always say that whether it's true or not! How can you expect me to believe you when you say that now?"

"I guess I thought my little brother would have faith in me," Ed replied callously. Al set his teeth and Jean opened his mouth:

"No one who knows you well enough would trust you farther than they could throw Colonel Armstrong."

Breda rolled his eyes, wishing Jean had enough sense to stay out of this. When Ed didn't reply, Breda looked at the little blond in surprise, only to be shocked further by the wetness around Ed's eyes. They were smoldering and angry. He yanked his right hand out of Al's grip and transmuted his sling down next to himself. Al was caught off-guard, being, not surprised, but frustrated and dismayed at the sign of Ed's inner misery. Every once in a while, his brother's shield was pulled down and he would start to cry, usually sucking it up and remaining in denial until he mastered himself. It always made Al feel guilty to see Ed's walls breached.

Ed swung away into the bathroom and slammed the door shut.

"If he's going to act that way then he doesn't deserve any help anyway."

"Jean-!"

"WILL YOU JUST SHUT UP!" Al screamed. Jean bristled and went silent.

"Alphonse, I'm so-"

"Don't apologize for him! He's obviously not sorry about constantly provoking Ed!"

"Don't blame me for his attitude!" Jean snapped.

"I'm not!"

"Then why are you yelling?"

"You're no better than he is! I have no idea why the doctor thought you would be good for each other, when all you two do is antagonize!"

"I don't take my feelings out on-"

"You don't help anything by taunting him! You're just making it worse for everyone!"

"You baby him!"

The bathroom door slammed open. "Stay out of this, Havoc! Leave my brother alone!"

"I! HAVE! HAD IT! WITH YOU!" Al completely blew his top. When Breda tried to block his escape out the door, Al clapped his hands together threateningly, greenish-blue light illuminating his face as he channeled alchemic energy.

"Look what you did!" Ed yelled at Jean, chest heaving.

"This is hardly my fault, you selfish son of a bitch."

Breda smacked Jean upside the head and glared at Ed, warning him of a similar chastisement if he retaliated. Ed tightened his jaw, chest still heaving, eyes still smoldering with repressed tears.

"Gonna cry about it?" Jean said very lowly and softly. Ed threw himself from his sling, knocking Jean and his wheelchair back onto the floor. Breda tried to pull him off, but he was kicking and scratching and punching with everything his defective body had to work with. Jean held him off with one arm, then drew back his fist and sent Ed rolling across the floor. Ed was holding his jaw and cheek in his hand, trembling slightly. Jean tensed, waiting for Ed to come flying and biting back at him, and when he didn't, began to relax and look on anxiously. Breda pulled Jean's wheelchair upright, accidentally dumping the blond man out of it in the process. Jean didn't seem too rattled. He was watching Ed shake and curl up into a ball on the floor, still holding and covering his face.

"Ed? Are you OK?" Jean elbow-crawled over to Ed. There were tears squeezing out from the corner of the smaller blond's eyes as he bit his lip to fight them. Jean put one arm over the golden-eyed man. Ed choked.

"Shh," Jean said, tightening his arm around Ed. "Shh."

Breda watched, surprised at the sudden change in Jean's treatment of Ed. Ed still fought his choking sobs, but huddled under Jean's arm where he could hide his face.

"You know," Jean said after a moment,"this doesn't mean I think you didn't deserve that."

Ed broke out laughing, "I guess I mighta needed that... Doesn't mean I wanted it though." Ed poked Jean really hard with his left pointer finger.

"The two of you are just ridiculous," Breda shook his head.

--

Any suggestions on what should happen in the next chapter? I have a goal in mind, but I'll have to get to it a rather round-a-bout way, so...

R&R please! Thanks!