Draped in Wires
by. Poisoned Scarlet

Theme 005: Insanity

"Brother! Watch out for the—!"

"Wh-whoa!"

"BROTHER!"

"W—I'm okay!"

Alphonse watched his brother teeter precariously on the edge of the roof, a hammer and nails in his hand. Pinako had asked them both to fix the shingles on the rooftop as rainy season would drop by sooner than either would like and it would be an even bigger pain to fix the roof with rain pouring down their backs.

However, Edward had stubbornly insisted that he should fix the roof since he needed to learn how to fix things the old fashioned way, anyway.

"I'm out of practice," he'd stated. "I might as well brush up on my hammering skills or else I'll never be able to hold my own against Winry!"

But now Alphonse was starting to feel this was a bad idea, the more his brother wobbled on the edge of the roof. His hands were already up and ready, mind working at full-capacity in case his brother fell. He nervously waited for anything, any sign, that would tip him off that his brother would fall off the roof but none came.

"Alphonse-sama!" Mei chirped, walking out of the backdoor with a glass of fresh lemon aid in her hand. "I made you a refreshment! It's so hot out here!" She fanned herself and he noticed she had unbuttoned her usually primly kept oriental shirt at her neck to allow some air-flow down her shirt.

Mei had grown, in a quite short time as well.

It turned out she was only two years younger than him.

While he was now twenty she was only eighteen and boy did she grow into a woman in the two years spent at Resembool before their leave to the east and west respectively. When he had arrived in Xing, after gazing at the rich cultural activity for a few hours, he had been shocked to see such a beautiful, older, Mei Chang than the cute little girl he had last seen.

He remembered not being able to speak properly, his tongue strangely tied, and his eyes straying to the subtle curves her heavy robes allowed teasing glimpses of. He remembered writing to Ed in that time, saying Mei had sure grown and she was no longer the 'bean-sprout girl' he so-frequently liked to call her.

'...she'll always be the bean-sprout girl to me!' he had written back before his letters had stopped altogether and he didn't see his brother until now, in their return to the town they grew up in; the house that would always be home to them.

"Thank you, Mei!" he beamed back, taking the glass from her.

"Has Edward-kun finished fixing the roof? Winry-chan wishes to speak to him about something," Mei informed, looking up at the older brother who calmly fixed the roof by himself; not hitting his thumb with the hammer once, which he was secretly smug about.

"He's almost done," Al assured. "Are you almost done, brother?" he shouted, for extra measure.

"Hold up! This takes time, you know!" Ed snapped back.

"Yeah, he's almost done," Al laughed, causing Mei to smile back brightly. This was another thing he had grown fond of: her smile. It was always so vibrant and bright – a smile so blinding he sometimes saw blotches in his vision, however dramatic that may sound.

"Neh, Alphonse-sama, I believe Edward-kun and Winry-chan have finally reconciled," Mei commented, allowing Al's attention to drift to the pretty Xingese girl beside him.

"Yeah, I bet Ed finally mustered up enough guts to talk to her. Honestly, he can be so dense sometimes. I can only imagine how it'll be once they're together," he sighed heavily. "It'll be like they're married...and just think how that'll pan out once it happens."

"Together?" Mei blinked. "What makes you think that?"

"Don't tell me you can't see it," Al chuckled, leaning down so his words wouldn't be heard by unwanted ears – like Winry, who'd no faster upper cut him than she would yell. "Anyone who knows them is just waiting for one or the other to make a move!"

"Hey, Al, I'm done!" Ed grinned down at his brother, scowling when he noticed he was too captivated by Mei to pay attention to him. He stepped back a few, finding that being steady on a slope was hard when you had an automail leg.

"Really?" Mei replied, hushed. She leaned up closer, lips curving into a smile. "I thought it was just me..."

"Nope," Alphonse grinned, leaning down even closer. "Everyone knows."

"How the fuck am I gonna' get off here..." came Edward's distant voice. "Can I—whoa—uh—crap!"

"Then I can't wait until they do become one!" she laughed joyously, too close to his face, making Al dreamily think she had a wonderful laugh...

"ALPHONSE!"

"AH! BROTHER—!"

CRASH

"EDWARD-KUN!"

Edward cracked one eye open, eyes flashing to the bulging bone that rose abnormally from his arm. He hadn't hit his thumb with the hammer – he instead fell off the roof and broke his damn arm.

Great.

He didn't feel pain—now he felt pain. "...I think I broke my arm," he stated bluntly, a little entranced by the splintered bone. It would look cool if it didn't hurt so much.

"What's all the racket—EDWARD!" Winry shrieked in panic, face draining white when she saw the object of her affection laying uncomfortably on the ground, rolling on his back and holding a disjointed arm in his left hand; eyes tightly screwed shut as the sharp pain from his broken arm registered in his addled brain.

The trio crowded around him, calamity ensuing as they all became very aware of how close Edward had come to gravely hurting himself or worse - although his broken arm could count as a grave injury. Winry barked orders out to Al, who was looking too anxious for his own good at his brothers broken limb, and Mei had her hands over her mouth; eyes wide in fear at the gruesome sight of Edward's broken arm.

Edward scowled heavily, annoyed by the cacophony of voices all asking if he was okay. If he was okay, he'd have dusted it off and rushed inside already! "EVERONE SHUT UP!" he screamed.

Winry stopped fussing.

Mei blinked.

Alphonse stopped apologizing.

"Al, you went to Xing to – ngh – study Alkahestry, right?" Ed forced out, the terrible stabbing in his arm nearly as bad as automail installation. But this was worse, three times worse, as he shifted just a inch and he felt the splintered bone rub against chipped bone under his skin. "So unless you spent it fooling around and not learning anything... fix me, you moron!" he snapped.

"R-right!" Alphonse stammered, kneeling before his brother and grabbing his arm gently. "I...um...you have to extend it."

"Then do it!" Ed barked.

"But—brother, it'll hurt a lot—!"

"Do it!" he growled. "It'll hurt either way so just do it, Al! Gah, you guys are all so damn useless; I'll do it myself!"

"E-Ed," Winry whimpered, eyes drowned in anxiety. She helped him sit up, allowing him to rest against her. She watched him, with a sort of admiration, grab his arm and promptly stretch it out, his head tossing back and his eyes screwing shut against the terrible wave of anguish his broken arm shot up into his stomach; nearly making him heave out his breakfast.

"O...kay..." he wheezed, swallowing hard. "That was harder...than I thought...it'd be..."

Alphonse crossed his hands, placing them over his brothers arm and concentrating. It wasn't long before an Alkahestry array appeared in a flash of bright blue and Edward felt the bone begin to mend itself. It seemed as if the bone-mending process hurt more than the break itself, though, as he resisted a cry of pain as the bone cracked back into place; his brother no doubt using the excess bone marrow in order to properly reattach it.

"Done!" Al alerted, a few minutes later.

Edward didn't know he had leaned so heavily into Winry's chest until he noticed his head was resting on her shoulder and she most likely saw the pain flash on his face during those few excruciating minutes. He avoided her worried gaze and flexed his right arm, cracking his fingers and finding no pain whatsoever.

"Huh," Ed murmured, clenching his hand. Nice and new. "Not bad, little bro."

Alphonse looked immensely relieved. "Thank goodness you're alright! Edward, why didn't you wait until I helped you down?" he snapped, as his relief drained into anger. "This would have never happened if you had been patient!"

"Tch," Ed scoffed. He helped himself back on his feet, dusting himself off and lending Winry a hand. "'Cause I'm starving, that's why! Hey, Win, is lunch ready?"

"Y-yes—!"

"Sweet!" Edward bounced into the kitchen like an excited pup, already having forgotten the intense pain of breaking a bone so callously.

Winry and Al stood in stunned awe at Edward's resiliency.

"Well," Mei interrupted, wondrous. "That was... rather strange."

"You're telling me," Alphonse muttered with a shake of his head, smiling as he followed his brother inside; Winry and Mei in tow.