I'm being very bad and switching the order of two of the themes because 'Survivor' is taking so bloody long. Even worse, 'Beauty and the Beast' is going on a VERY temporary hiatus because NaNoWriMo is upon me. Don't worry, I'll be back by December to write the last handful of themes :)
And aren't I leaving you on such a wonderful, cheery note? XD
91. Live Wire
Al knew from the beginning it wouldn't end well. Nobody could live a life together where bruises meant 'I love you' and time together was snuck in through open windows and between skin-raking battles. But a life wasn't what either of them were looking for... at least, that's what they whispered when they thought Al couldn't hear.
And just as much as he knew Envy meant exactly what he said, Al knew that Ed didn't. But nobody had mastered the art of lying to themselves quite like his brother had.
That was the thing about electricity. It was always searching for solid ground, but sometimes it got lost. Ed was nothing if not a live-wire, desperate for something more to hold on to that wouldn't slip away (and every day Al wished he could be more, do more), desperate to sink everything he was, every bit of energy he had into something so that he could finally relax.
It should have been Winry, or Hawkeye - or even the Colonel if that was really where Ed's interests lay. Al trusted them.
It should have been them, but it wasn't.
So when one night, the usual sounds of lust and desire turned into something else, and a minute later, into a soft, almost inaudible sob, Al wasted no time in opening the door. He tried to sound surprised as he pressed the cold metal of his gauntlet against the quickly-swelling bruise on Ed's face. He tried to pretend like he had no idea what had happened.
He tried to believe his brother when he said it wouldn't happen again.