Sorry if you get the alert for this twice. was being a jerky buttface and smushing the whole story together into one big paragraph.

YAAYYY!!! Words cannot convey my emotions right now because Kairi sketched out the first two pages of The New Neighbors as a webcomic! It's so cool to see my stuff actually visualize!! Or whatever. But it's soooo coooool!!! Hee. Oh, and in last chap I put in (1) but I didn't actually comment on it. So what I meant to say was: (1) Yes, it can take that long to change one tire. I speak from experience. Though ours might have taken so long because the spare was also flat…

As you all know, AdventureAddict does not in any way own any part of Fullmetal Alchemist.

On wit' da show!

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Chapter Twenty-Two – Spoilsport

Robyn sat on the hospital bed with a baseball cap resting on top of her bald head, making her look more like a tomboy than she had since being put in the hospital. A pair of scissors was clutched in her sweaty hands and dangling dangerously over the top of Ed's ponytail. Even though Ed had assured her multiple times that it was okay if she messed up, she still couldn't help but feel nervous.

"This can't work," Robyn murmured softly as she pulled the scissors away from Ed. He turned back to look at her.

"Sure it can," he assured her. "All have to do is push down on the handle and it will cut right through. Scissors are made to do that sort of thing."

Robyn looked back up at him with a slight smile. "Not that," she said slowly. "This. Us. What good is it to admit we love each other if we'll be in different worlds?"

Ed sighed and looked down at his palms. After a minute of silence, he slowly said, "I know it did me a lot of good. Even if we can't stay together, I can't remember I felt this good for so long. I don't even want to think about how I'd start acting if we could stay in the same world."

"You'd probably panic," Robyn laughed. "If you stayed here you'd be worried about the people you wouldn't be able to protect in Amestris, and if I went with you, you'd be worried about me." Ed smiled. "You're right though," Robyn said slowly. "I never saw you smile this often in the manga. And believe me, I looked."

"You looked?" Ed asked, his eyes widening. "What are you, some kind of stalker?"

"Maybe I was at the time," Robyn laughed. "I felt sorry for you. A teenager shouldn't have so many worries that they never smile. Hell, even I smile!" She noticed that Ed was looking at the wall, and quickly added, "But I couldn't do that now."

"Huh?" Ed looked back over at her, confused by this comment.

"I can't watch or read anything now without thinking about how that person could be real and I'm just learning everything about them," she explained. "Well, unless it's a documentary," she added. "But those aren't usually very interesting. Now turn back around. I'm going to try to cut your hair." Ed obediently turned back around, and Robyn held the scissors over his hair again.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Robyn asked suddenly after a moment of hesitation. "I mean, everybody will be talking about how it's so different al all that…"

Ed turned back to look at her. "I think you're more nervous about cutting my hair than I am," he teased, and Robyn blushed slightly. "I don't care about what people will say. I didn't grow my hair out for them," he said with a cocky grin, and then added seriously, "If you want, I could make the first cut, and then you could…kinda…just trim it up a bit, you know?"

"No. I don't want you to stab your neck or something just because you can't see what you're doing," Robyn said stubbornly. She held the scissors over Ed's hair for the third time, and after taking a deep breath, finally cut through. His ponytail of golden hair fell limp in her hand, and she looked down at it sadly.

"That feels weird," Ed said with a smile as he shook out his mane of hair. He looked back at Robyn, who smiled at him slightly.

"It looks weird too," she said softly, before he turned back around to let Robyn trim the rest of his hair.

After making the initial cut, Robyn found it much easier to trim the rest of Ed's hair, and soon little blond hairs were littered on the bed around Ed's back.

"Okay, I think you're done," Robyn said softly, tapping Ed on the shoulder. Ed turned around to look at her and smiled as he ran his fingers through his bangs. Robyn cocked her head as she looked back at him.

"You know, I might be a little biased since the only time I saw you with short hair was when you were a kid in the manga," she said slowly. "But I think that haircut makes you look younger. In a good way," she added quickly. "Not so… I don't know… burdened."

"Brother?!" Al said loudly as he walked into the room, and Ed looked up at him sheepishly. "What did you do to your hair?!"

"What? You don't like it?" Ed asked slyly, and Al quickly raised his hands in protest.

"No, it's not that!" Al said quickly as he shook his hands back and forth. "But… Since when do you have short hair?!"

"Since today," Ed said stubbornly as he crossed his arms across his chest. "And my hair used to be this short when we were kids, remember?"

"Of course I remember!" Al protested, and then suddenly sighed. "You just surprised me, that's all. It looks nice, Brother."

"Yeah, right," Ed grumbled, looking over at the wall. "You're just saying that to get me off your case."

"Geez Ed!" Robyn sighed exasperatedly. "Learn to take a compliment!"

"Huh?" Ed uncoiled a bit and looked over at Robyn.

"Your brother just said that your hair looked nice," Robyn said slowly. "The proper response would be to say, 'Thank you, Alphonse. I'm glad you think so.'"

"Umm…" Ed looked at Robyn for a moment, and then back over at Al. "Thanks Al," he muttered as he scratched the back of his head. "I'm glad you think so," he added in an even softer voice.

"See? That wasn't so hard, was it?" Robyn said with a smile, and Ed whirled around to face her.

"Yes it was!" he yelled at her, making Robyn laugh a little. "And don't go trying to pull all that cute and innocent crap on me!" he added.

He suddenly stopped as he heard a soft click, and spun around to face Kari, who was standing in the doorway with a camera in one hand. His eyes narrowed as he continued to glare at her, and she just smiled sheepishly.

"I figured we should get some pictures while we could," she explained. "After all, it's not every day you see the Elric brothers."

"And just what exactly are you going to do with the pictures?" Ed demanded suddenly. "Sell them on Ebay? I can see it now – 'Get your picture of the real Elrics today! Starting bid: $50!'"

"Oh, grow up," Kari laughed. "Robbie knows I wouldn't do that, don't you Robbie?" when Robyn nodded she turned back to look at Ed and Al. "Now get over next o her so I can get a picture of all three of you."

"And what if I don't?" Ed grumbled, crossing his arms as Al sat down tentatively next to Robyn.

"Then I'll force-feed you milk," Robyn threatened, and Ed spun around to look back at her. "And you know I would, too," she added. Ed considered her for a moment, then stomped
over and sat down on the bed with a huff.

"You're horrible," Ed muttered under his breath.

"Thanks," Robyn laughed, and then nudged him. "Smile," she whispered.

"Why?" he scowled back.

"Because if you don't cooperate, there will be hell to pay," Robyn told him. Ed snorted and looked over at her. She actually looked serious about it. He sighed and slouched down a little.

Robyn then suddenly reached over and wrapped one arm around Ed's shoulders and one around the middle of Al's back, since he was too high for her to reach his shoulders. Ed looked over at her, and she smiled at him before tuning back to face the camera. Ed shrugged his shoulders slightly and smiled as he felt Robyn's hand slide up with the movement and briefly touch the side of his neck before sliding down again.

Click!

"That was good!" Kari said happily as she rewound the camera and Ed refocused his attention back on her. Never mind Robyn's hand on his shoulder, he was going to kill Kari! But then he felt Robyn's hand gently squeeze his shoulder, and relaxed slightly. She must have felt him moving to get up.

He looked back over at Robyn. She was smiling at him happily, and then he noticed that her hand was no longer around Al as well. Just him. The gesture had moved away from something simple and friendly, especially with the way Robyn was looking at him now. And on top of that, Kari and Al were both staring at him and Robyn.

Aw, screw them. Ed sighed and wrapped an arm around Robyn's waist. He could feel her jerk slightly at the surprise of the contact, but then she relaxed again.

"Aw! I never thought Robyn would let a guy hold her like that!" Kari cooed, her hands on her cheeks.

"And I never thought Big Brother would be able to get that close to a girl without screaming!" Al said excitedly. Ed taking the first girl Al had a date with obviously didn't hurt him.

Ed and Robyn's arms both dropped simultaneously and they inched away from each other. Neither of them wanted to hear the remarks from Kari and Al.

"Oh!" Kari said suddenly, pulling out a small thin box. "I almost forgot! I brought Conqueror of Shamballa!"

"The Fullmetal Alchemist movie?" Robyn gulped. A few months ago she had been talking about it nonstop and couldn't wait to see it. But now… She glanced over at Ed and Al worriedly. She didn't want to let them know what happened in episode 51.

"Well, duh," Kari replied nonchalantly.

"But Kari," Robyn protested, "Ed and Al haven't seen the entire series!"

"Oh," Kari sighed. "Well, you see," she said quickly to the Elric brothers, "At the very end, Envy-"

"KARI!!" Robyn shouted, "Don't spoil it for them!"

"I wasn't going to spoil it," Kari pouted. "Just fill them in."

"There's a movie about us too?" Al whispered excitedly to his brother.

"Shh," Ed hushed him, flicking his eyes between the two girls like it was a tennis match.

"Please Kari," Robyn sighed. "Can you just go get another movie from Blockbuster or something? What about the fourth Harry Potter? I don't think Ed's seen it yet."

"Actually, I have," Ed added quickly, and Kari turned to him excitedly.

"Have you read the books?" she asked, and then continued before Ed could say anything. "I LOVE them sooo much! JK Rowling's such a good author! I mean, I cried in the sixth book when Snape-"

"KARI!!!" Robyn shouted quickly.

"I'm still in the middle of the fifth book," Ed said shakily, before Kari could give away the ending. He didn't want to hear about what Snape did in the sixth book, even if he probably wouldn't have the time to read the rest of the series.

"Just go rent a different movie," Robyn told Kari. "What about Stranger Than Fiction? That one looked funny."

"That's the one where the guy finds out that he's really the character in a book, right?" Kari asked, and Robyn nodded. "Well what's the point in that if you're practically living it?" Kari sighed, motioning towards Ed and Al.

"Using that logic, what's the point in watching Conqueror of Shamballa?" Robyn countered.

"Touché," Kari sighed. "Okay, truce. What about Howl's Moving Castle? I still haven't seen that. I go drop this back off at my house and stop at Blockbuster on the way back," she said, flipping the disc in the air. Robyn recognized it as an old habit of Kari's. It was nice to know she hadn't changed. Much.

"What's a 'Blockbuster?'" Al finally blurted out, unable to keep it in any longer.

"You mean you haven't been to Blockbuster?" Kari laughed, and Al shook his head. "Well, in that case, you can come with me," she said happily, and then turned to Ed. "You want to come along too?" she asked, but Ed shook his head.

"Naw. I've been to Blockbuster before. You have fun Al," he said, and then the two walked out the door. He then turned to look at Robyn again.

"What happens at the end of the series that's so bad?" he asked suddenly.

"Huh?" Robyn said dumbly, taken by surprise by this question.

"She said something about Envy. What did Envy do that's got you so worried?" Ed persisted.

"Erm…"

"You know, not everything goes exactly the way it does in the manga and anime," Ed said suddenly, and Robyn cocked her head. "I read through quite a few of the manga, and watched all the discs of the anime you lent Al, and our lives are a bit of a… combination of the two. Bits and pieces of each are true, but not the whole thing."

"Well, I'm still not telling you," Robyn said, but Ed could tell that she was relieved. His insides were burning to find out what happened in the last episode, but he decided to leave well enough alone.

"Hey Ed, could you do me a favor?" Robyn asked suddenly, and he looked up. "They have my clothes from the day of the accident in that big wardrobe-thing over there. Could you please get them for me?"

Ed raised an eyebrow quizzically, but walked over and retrieved the blue dress and white heels. He handed the clothes to Robyn who immediately stuck both her hands inside the shoes. He was about to ask her what she was doing when she pulled out her guitar pick necklace from one of the shoes. Ed smiled slightly at the sight of the familiar object. Before Robyn had been put in the hospital, he hadn't seen a day go by without her wearing it.

"I want you to take this," Robyn said suddenly, thrusting the necklace into one of Ed's hands.

"Robyn-"

"No, Ed. Please, just take it," Robyn persisted. "I want you to take it."

"It would leave a bitter taste in my mouth to take something of yours without giving you something in return," Ed said slowly, his eyebrows creased in thought.

"You already gave me your hair," Robyn laughed. "I think we're even now."

"No," Ed thought slowly, feeling the smooth plastic of the guitar picks between his fingers. "This necklace is sort of your…trademark, I guess you could call it. I know!" he said suddenly, and then put the necklace on the bed for a second and then pulled off his red jacket.

"No, Ed, not your jacket-" Robyn said quickly.

"Why not? A trademark for a trademark. It's an Equivalent Exchange," Ed grinned, holding out the jacket to Robyn. "Besides, I've got more back home. I tend to rip these a lot."

"Fine, you win," Robyn sighed, grabbing the jacket. "You and your 'Equivalent Exchanges.' But then you have to take the necklace, okay?"

"Okay," Ed smiled, picking the necklace back up off the bed.

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Sigh. I think that maybe, just maybe in the next chap we'll reach the end of part one! I'm keeping my fingers crossed! In the meantime, I have to study for finals. Blergh. Wish me luck. Maybe if I do well enough I'll become a State Alchemist… What? You don't think so? I'll be The Troublemaking Alchemist! It has a nice ring to it.