Draped in Wires
by. Poisoned Scarlet

Theme 026: Caught Red-Handed

Alphonse kicked a stone from his path as he walked lonesome down a dirt road. His brother and Winry had gone off together somewhere and Mei had taken an errand from his granny to buy a few vegetables they were lacking for the stew she was going to prepare later for dinner.

He was still reeling from the girly conversation he had eavesdropped on with his older brother. The words exchanged in that conversation had made otherwise suppressed thoughts begin to blossom in his head and they were honestly starting to drive him insane. His brother had, in the end, tried to help him sort out the myriad of thoughts but it was difficult when he himself had his own issues to deal with.

"All I could tell you is to go for it." Ed shrugged, as his brother conflictingly gazed at his lap. "That bean girl has liked you since you were in the armor, she isn't lying there. She, apparently, wasn't disappointed with what she saw when you got your body back!" He smirked slyly.

"But...I was so thin and, and I must've looked weird..." Al mumbled, self-consciously.

"Yeah, but that was before and this is now!" Ed smiled encouragingly, kneeling so he was level with him. "Trust me, you're not ugly. You're my brother, you can't be ugly!"

"Thanks, Ed, that makes me feel so much better." Al replied dryly.

"Right!" Ed cheerfully responded. He patted his back in comfort, smiling confidently:"So go out there and make me proud, little bro!"

"Only if you do it first, poor Winry must be so confused with you're mixed signals." Al muttered.

Ed blinked. "Mixed what?"

"Nothing... nothing at all, brother."

Alphonse was still trying to understand how being brother to Edward gave him the necessary push to ask Mei out on a date. It didn't make very much sense to him, although it was understandable that Edward would let his vanity get to him sometimes, but Alphonse decided to let the comment inspire him as he stopped in the middle of the road.

His brother had told him those words for a reason... right? It was most certainly not just mindless babble...

"Ugh, who am I kidding? I've got no clue what to do!" Alphonse cried at the heavens, bordering on a tantrum comparable to a certain older brothers of his. Although, Al sighed, frustration spent already, while his older brother would have raged and raved for at least five more minutes he could barely muster enough anger to stomp his foot and even that was rather subdued. "What am I supposed to do?"

"Alphonse-sama, is something the matter?" A perky voice asked from beside him. Alphonse yelped and snapped his head up, meeting with a pair of curious black ones. "You are...talking to yourself in the middle of the road."

"Oh, uh, actually, yeah, there is something wrong!" He blurted, cursing his honest personality when Mei's smile faltered and she shifted the grocery bags in her hands.

"Is it something bad?" She asked, cautiously. "Are you being followed by anyone suspicious, Alphonse-sama?" Mei suddenly asked, sharp eyes scanning the area carefully.

Alphonse smiled wryly. "No, Mei, I'm not in danger of being assassinated."

"But you must always keep in mind that you can!" Mei insisted, sounding distressed. "I understand that you do not let this get in the way of our relationship but there is always the danger of assassination!"

She was speaking of the dangers of being acquainted with a princess. Ever since the Yao clan had officially allied itself with the Chang clan, her family had gotten a sudden influx of money and wealth. Alphonse would know as, when he had first took his trip to the east, he had stopped by Mei's humble home and, when he had gone back after a year of traveling farther than Xing, discovered that she no longer lived in a less than decent-sized bungalow but something that could be considered a mansion.

"It's not that, Mei." Al sighed, digging the heel of his shoe into the dirt. "It's just...do you have a couple of minutes? Or do you have to bring those back to granny right away?"

"Oh, no, she said I could take my time.." Mei timidly said, shifting the bags into her right hand. "What is it, Alphonse-sama?" The way she gazed up at him, so worried and hesitant, made him want to impulsively reach over and squeeze her to him. The girl was adorable when she was small but now, taller and older, she had only grown more cute...as Winry had squealed about previously.

That brought it back to his problems, sobering him up instantly.

"C'mon, let's go take a walk by the river." Al suggested, pointing to the thick wood rail to herd in the sheep that roamed the plains. He helped her with the bags, allowing her to easily leap over the barricade while he painstakingly squeezed through two slabs of wood.

"Alphonse-sama?" Mei asked, as they both strolled down the plains. "It's nothing dangerous, is it?"

"No, um, it's not." He mumbled, absently thinking that her Xingese accent was slowly thinning away the longer she was around his family. He had nothing against her accent, it only made her sound more adorable when she spoke so formally to him, but hearing the threatening edge of Amestrian in her tone gave her a slightly more grown up voice, for some unfathomable reason.

He halfheartedly wished she could keep the accent...

"Oh, I cannot take it!" Mei burst, accent thick in her panic, stopping and grabbing his hands in her own. His face flushed red, as he briefly misinterpreted her words, but the watery concern in her eyes worried him instantly. "Alphonse-sama, you look so miserable! Please tell me what's wrong so I could make it better!"

Make it better? He swallowed, aware that her small hands were gripping his own. He supposed he should not look too much into it – the Xingese were respectful people and had customs that baffled him in the beginning. For example, they tended to be rather touchy people with close friends, proof in the way Mei squeezed his both of his hands in her own without realizing how it made his heart pound and mind fill to the brim with inappropriate thoughts like hugging her or—

Stop it. You shouldn't think about girls like that! It's disgusting! Al scolded himself firmly. He would not become a perverted maniac like his brother. He refused.

"No! No, don't cry, Mei!" Alphonse quickly tried to amend, pulling one hand away to hesitantly wipe away a tear that had escaped her eyes. The kicked-puppy expression made his resolve thin out; he wanted to tell her just what was bothering her – all gentlemanly manners aside. "It's nothing that you should be crying about! I was just making a big deal out of nothing! Please don't cry, Mei." His voice dipped, softened even more. "You look better when you smile."

"Then what is it?" Mei asked again, frustrated.

"It's just..." Al sighed, guilt getting the better of him. "Ed and I eavesdropped on you and Winry a couple of days ago. I'm sorry!" He dropped his gaze in shame. "We shouldn't have done that..."

"I-is that it?"

He wanted to say no but instead he said: "Yes, it is..."

Mei laughed in relief and Al rose his eyes, watching her laugh with a small smile growing on his face. It was safe to say he was forgiven although when she abruptly stopped laughing his small fell off as well. "Mei, is something the matter?"

"Y-you eavesdropped on us?" She asked, slowly.

"Yes..."

"Then you...you..." Her face became pink, he saw, before it became red and she spluttered: "Y-you must have heard...Winry-chan say...say that I-I like you, correct?"

His own face became red. "Oh. Yeah. I did hear that, actually..."

Mei swallowed hard, her eyes falling on the hand that was still clutching his own. Her first instinct was to tear her hand off and take a few steps back, laughingly deny the accusation, and perhaps turn heel and head to the Rockbell Household like a dog with its tail between its legs. But she became aware that he did seem to take the declaration wrongly and this small beam of light was enough for her to tighten her own hand in his courageously.

Alphonse flashed his eyes to their hands, their connected hands, and he searched her expression quietly. The furrow between her brows, the pools of black eyes that were drowning in uncertainty, and the way she was biting her bottom lip all set off alarms in his head.

"Do...you?" He asked carefully.

Her lips parted but no words came out. He faintly saw her bottom lip quiver and he became aware of the words that wanted to spill out but refused. He was then glad that he had enough experience with dealing with such stubborn people.

"It's—okay, Mei." He said, a warm smile on his lips. She looked up, mouth still parted, but the words she desperately wished to say were conveyed in an embrace. Her arms wrapped around him and she felt his own encase her, his larger body almost overshadowing her own and causing a warm emotion to seep into her chest. "I understand."

She rested her cheek on his shoulder. "Was this what was really bothering you?" She asked softly.

"Yeah, it was!" Al laughed. His own cheek rested on her head. "But now it's cleared up, right?"

"Mmhmm!" Mei smiled brightly, squeezing him tighter in an attempt to show him just how much he meant to her. "I like you!" She laughed when he gasped, face going hotter.

He bit down a grin of his own and instead replied with a tighter hug, chuckling when she whined that he had the advantage over her as he was much bigger and stronger. "C'mon, Mei, let's go back home before granny has a cow!" Al grinned down at her. He grunted as he took off the grocery handles that had marked his wrists red. "These bags sure get heavy after a while..."

"Oh, here, let me get those!" Mei quickly grabbed the bags and apologetically smiled at him. "I'm sorry..."

"It's okay! No harm done!" Al cheerfully replied. "Let's go—!"

"Wait!" Mei suddenly said, holding a hand up. Her eyes darted to the bustle of trees, the river she could faintly hear from her position. She heard more shuffling, more whispers, and Mei beckoned him over with a finger as she stealthily neared the entrance to the trees.

"What is it?" Al asked concernedly, voice a murmur.

"I heard something come from the river." She whispered. "It sounded like a person..."

"Well, maybe it's the neighborhood kids." Al suggested, still quiet. "Ed, Winry and I used to come down here to play all the time with our friends."

"Yes, but..." Mei continued cautiously, pausing by a tree and peeking over it. "It does not hurt to check—!" Her eyes locked on the pair roughhousing on the floor and she gasped loudly, her eyes going round with mortification.

"What is it?" Al asked, instantly on guard. He stepped out from behind her and gawked, face becoming scarlet, as he stared into the equally horrified eyes of his older brother and Winry Rockbell.

"E-ED?" Al gaped. Edward swore and moved himself in front of Winry; covering up her, he noticed with an even redder ting, no doubt naked chest although he only managed to catch sight of her exposed stomach. Alphonse looked away instantly, stammering: "E-Edward! What the heck do you think you're doing? Kids play around here, you know!"

"Not right now they don't!" Edward snapped, hands groping for the Winry's shirt, which he had thrown somewhere around him. "It's the afternoon, idiot! They don't come out until sundown!"

"It doesn't matter!" Al hissed, grabbing Mei and also flipping her around although she had both hands covering her eyes. "If you think its bad that we caught you, just think if some of the neighborhood kids did! They wouldn't make themselves known, you know!"

"Okay! We get it! We'll choose another location next time!" Ed grumbled out in silent embarrassment, getting off Winry, who pulled her shirt over her head and snatched the bra she saw lying beside her. She stuffed it into her pants pocket and Edward helped her up to her feet, avoiding her face as he tried to regain what little pride he had left. First Pinako caught them, now his own flesh and blood brother? Someone was plotting against him, he was convinced of this now.

"We're really sorry you guys!" Winry apologized meekly, tucking a strand of hair behind her ears. "You two didn't see anything... did you?"

"Ask Mei, she was the one who caught you two in the first place!"

"I-I did not see anything except Edward-kun, um, kissing you..." Mei cleared her throat, aware she had caught him doing much more than simply kissing her but she did not think she would be able to say that without embarrassing either of them more than they already were.

"What the hell were you two doing all the way out here, anyway?" Ed growled, face growing redder than Winry's with every second they stand there and try to smooth out the awkward situation. "I thought you were going to the market with Mei!"

"I never went!" Al shouted back.

"If you did go to the market," Winry interjected curiously, catching sight of the grocery bags in the girls hands as they both stood with their backs to them, "then how come you're all the way over here?"

"That's what I just asked!" Ed told Winry, annoyed.

"Obviously not clear enough." Winry shot right back, ignoring his glare as she waited expectantly.

"Um, we were just..." Al stuttered, caught red handed. "I just—needed...to talk to her, is all!"

Winry understood immediately, mouth rounding to form an O, while Ed furrowed his brows and asked, "If you needed to talk to her, you coulda' just waited for her to get home, you moron!" He was still annoyed he had once again been denied his path to manhood. And that he had been caught red-handed by a bean girl with too much time on her hands, apparently...

"Edward." Winry pinched the bridge of her nose. "Let's just go. We're making things worse."

"But—!"

"We'll catch you two at the house okay!" Winry shouted, with an encouraging smile when Al looked behind him cautiously. "Oh, and please don't tell granny, Al! Mei?" She smiled gratefully when both of them just nodded wearily, watching the long-overdue couple walk down the edge of the river; Edward trying to pull his wrist away from her grasp with a whine as she dragged him further away from their previously adored make-out spot.

"Um, do you want to go home? It has been nearly an hour and Pinako-obasama is probably angry with me for taking so long." Mei spoke up, regaining Al's attention.

"Yeah, let's go." Al sighed, face returning to its normal color. Once his brother and Winry vanished down the slope, Al cheekily said, "Remember: not a word!", causing Mei to giggle as they both headed back home, his hand finding her own along the way.