A Little Light of Love
Chapter 24
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Disclaimer: I do NOT own
Fullmetal Alchemist or its characters.....I'm just playing with them.
Author's note:
Thanks Chicky (ZaKai) for the help...shouldn't
be much longer now XS...my baby! -sob-
I kinda think of this story as having three parts.
travelling. The second part, where they
meet
conclusion. Why tell you this?
the action to continue forever...well, it's not.
story. So, in essence, the tone of the
story will/has changed.
(1) Jerries – a slang term used by the
Americans to describe the German's...Not sure if this would be the correct
spelling though. It could be '
-
Chapter 24
Al hated himself a lot at the
moment. He was totally being a chicken
shit, as Ed would no doubt tell him when he asked his brother for advice.
an answer to Noa's quiet confession of love for him by the night nurse doing
her rounds. After the nurse had given
him something for the pain and left, Noa reentered the room.
He listened as Noa resumed her seat
at his bed side, holding his hand in hers.
He was disgusted with himself for taking the easy way out...but he
needed to think, and she wasn't giving him the room to do it.
motionless. Even though he knew that Ed
had no interest in Noa in that way, he needed to make sure that if he
did decide to start anything with her, that it would be okay with him.
Even though he had always liked
Noa, he had never really thought about her like this.
empathic. What wasn't there to
like? What was holding him back?
couldn't figure out what. Where was his
brother anyway? He'd been gone a while
now. He would have thought that Ed
wouldn't be able to stay away for so long.
This needed sorting out and he couldn't do it if Ed stayed away!
The door to his room creaked open,
forcing Al to resist the urge to see if it was Ed.
he recognized as Ed's due to the loop-sided sound of the gait.
With a gasp, Noa placed his hand
back on the bed, and the chair scraped across the floor.
What happened?” whispered Noa. Al
could hear the alarm in her voice.
“It's nothing, really,” said the
captain in his smooth voice. He thought
and risked cracking his eyes open the smallest of slivers to watch the
scene.
Ed and Roy stood in the
doorway. Ed was further in the room,
hands in his pockets, and leaning against the wall, looking very tired.
was standing behind his brother; his dress shirt un-tucked, with blood seeping
through in various parts. His jacket was
buttoned up very poorly, almost hastily.
He looked even worse then Ed. His
hair was tousled and wet. If
General Mustang, he would never look like this if he had a choice.
“Is that your blood?” she asked
coming closer to the two men.
Ed reacted violently to Noa's
outstretched hand, shying away. Everyone
froze. Noa's mouth was open in shock,
her hand hovering between them. Ed was
hiding something if he didn't want Noa to touch him, and Al could see that Noa
came to the same conclusion as her hand fell back to her side.
The silence became thick and
unbearable. No one would look at
anyone. Noa shrank into herself, holding
her hands against her chest and letting her hair hide her face.
coward’s way out with her. She must be
feeling very left out now. Al considered
giving up on his act just to break the tension that seemed to have settled over
everyone, but was stopped by a timid knock on the door to his room.
moved further into the room while Ed reached for the knob, pulling the door
into the room. Al strained his ears to
catch the mumbled conversation, but
was in the way so he could neither see nor hear anything.
and he came into the room carrying their luggage.
“I take it, we were kicked out of
our accommodations?” wondered Ed as he placed the cases on the floor by his
bed.
“Yes, I took care of things for
you,” said Noa. Al saw her gesture
behind her, and he wondered what she was pointing to.
Ed became very sad, and mumbled,
“Thank you.” The silence fell over
everyone again. “
“Hm?”
grunted
“You should get looked at—your
shoulder...”
“Hmm, I'm okay,” said
low out of consideration for Al who was still pretending to be sleeping.
“Ah, well, I suppose I should get
us some new lodgings. I guess I'll go do
that now, it's not too late,” said Ed, looking from Noa to
back to your base, or something?”
“I'll come,” said
“I'll be back later, Noa.
Ed. Al watched as Noa nodded, then Ed
jerked his head at the door, telling
that it was time to go. Noa held her
place until the door had closed behind the two men, then she moved over to the
window, staring out into the night.
Al fully planned on talking with
Noa, but the drugs that the night nurse had given to him twenty minutes ago
finally caught up to him, and before he knew it he was in a deep sleep.
The key fit easily into the door
of the newly rented flat. Upon opening
the apartment, Ed was presented with a clean, sparsely furnished room that
included a small kitchenette and living space together.
“Seems nice enough,” commented Ed
to the man behind him. “Now will
you let me look at your shoulder?”
“I said as much, didn't I?” said
smile. They had bantered back and forth
during the whole time Ed looked for suitable residence for him and Noa; Al
would be at the hospital for a while yet, so Ed was only looking for a two
bedroom apartment.
“Yeah, you did.
or something?” asked Ed.
smirked at him. “You coming?” asked
serious. It was too soon to be jumping
into anything that serious now, but he couldn't resist teasing the younger
man. The tone of their jokes had gone
from poking fun at their faults to more provocative themes.
“Che,
you wish, bastard,” said Ed, matching his smirk.
wander through the flat.
began his own investigation of the rental, looking out the window in the living
room down to the street below. It wasn't
an altogether unpleasant view. The
street below was wide; but, still, there shouldn't be too much in the way of
nightly noise to disturb the occupants.
Even though the room was sparsely furnished, it was cheery just the
same.
“What's it look like out there?”
asked Ed, suddenly at
elbow, leaning on the windowsill. “
let his eyes fall to the crown of Ed's head while he looked down at the street
blow. His gaze unconsciously traced
along the fall of hair, down to the shoulders and then to the hands as they
gripped the sill. “I'm going to clean
up, if you don't mind. You should put
some ice on your neck so you don't have too much swelling,” said
from the window.
“Okay,” said Ed, his voice
following him to the back of the apartment.
“Call me when you're done!”
As soon as Ed heard the door to
the washroom close, he fell into the couch.
The sound of the shower started quickly after that.
was out of it. He hesitated to call it a
dream, but he wasn't sure that it wasn't entirely truthful.
died? The last time he could claim that
he had died, he went before the gate.
This time it was different.
Absently, Ed rubbed his left hand
into the place over his heart as he stared at the richly patterned carpet.
deep in thought. Strangely he seemed to
feel nothing in response to this.
Mustang had been different then he remembered.
him. It wasn't anything like he was used
to from the man.
A difficult swallow reminded him
that he should do as
suggested and put some ice along his bruised throat before it got much
worse. Wearily pushing himself to his
feet, Ed crossed over to the icebox, opening the door to see if there was
anything he might use.
A metal ice tray, pushed well back
into the upper part of the icebox was dragged out and the whole thing was
wrapped up in a tea towel he found in one of the drawers, then
placed against his throat. He felt
stupid for having allowed that asshole to get the upper hand with him.
that. The sharp coolness of the ice tray
made him shiver as he rocked it along his throat, trying to ice all of it at
once.
“Ed!
apartment.
Startled out of his musings, Ed
dropped the ice tray on the counter top.
He hadn’t noticed the water shutting off until
cupboards. “No!
down on the floor to shove the pots aside.
“Oh!
With a snort, Ed got back to his
feet, slammed the door with a bang and wandered towards the bathroom.
waist up with his back to the door as he rummaged through the first aid kit.
he hadn't thought to notice it before, Ed grabbed the chance to really look at
the man's strong back in appreciation.
The yellow light allowed him to
see that Roy was just a shade or two darker than he was, but he kinda liked
that and Mustang had been white to the point of sickly.
shoulder blades was memorizing to watch.
nicely built; the muscles contracting and stretching at his whim.
Ed would have very much liked to run his left hand all along that wide back,
committing it to memory. Perhaps another
time he would get that chance; but, for now, he had to be patient.
“Damn,” hissed
making Ed chuckle. Surprised,
Ed came away from the door and
retrieved the vile. “How's your
shoulder?” wondered Ed, his eyes going to the back of the shoulder facing
him.
sighed. “I don't know.
said
craning his neck to inspect his shoulder from the front.
Unscrewing the eye drop lid of the
vile, Ed allowed a few drops of the coppery liquid to fall into a gauze pad
that he had taken from the open kit resting on the sink.
edge.
“Yes, sir,” smirked
with a small grimace.
“Hurts?” asked Ed softly as he
came close to
leaning across him dab at the wound. Ed
had to keep his eyes on what he was doing.
He didn't dare look into
face right now. He was all too aware of
the heat coming off
body and the smell of the soap he must have used.
“Everything hurts.
The breath whispered across his cheek as Ed worked, making his heart
thud painfully under his shirt.
Ed grunted in answer; now he knew
that
watching him. Parting his lips, Ed
continued to work at cleaning the wound, then moved
onto cleaning the back wound. Ed threw
the soiled gauze pad into the trash. He
picked out a fresh pad and treated the small abrasions on
say the fuck out of the gutter and focus.
He threw that pad away too then began to search for something to cover
the shoulder with.
“How come you can move your hand
so well even though it's metal?” wondered
Ed glanced
side long at him before resuming his search.
“It's attached to my nerves. Just
because my arm's gone doesn't mean that the signals from the brain stop.”
“Oh, yeah?
Ed snickered.
you?” wondered Ed. He pulled two half
decent looking pads from the kit, along with some tape and went to work on
covering the wound.
“Oh, and you do?” quipped
the skin to make sure it stayed in place.
“I do,” confirmed Ed.
eyes were so dark that the iris was pretty much non-existent.
“What did you really bring back?”
asked
curiously. He shifted on the tub's edge
to watch him more closely.
“Back from where?” wondered Ed
evasively. He almost knew what was
coming next. He could sense the question
hanging over him about to drop. He
wanted to move, create distance between them, but those eyes held him in place.
“When you did that-that
trans...something-or-other,” said
waving his hand vaguely, watching him intently—curiously.
Ah, hell!
Ed let his eyes close and sighed heavily.
him, but did she have to be so forthcoming about his past?
lid, letting his hands hang between his knees.
That explains why she knew
was at the hospital. They had arrived
together.
“Was I not supposed to ask that?”
whispered
Ed was suddenly very tired.
body sag. “It's real,
Whatever she told you, it's real.”
He was numb to almost all emotions now.
For the past two days he'd been pulled one way, then the other.
“I'm sorry,” whispered
hand to run through Ed's hair, pulling his hair away from his face.
comfort.
touched; his arm hooked over Ed's shoulder.
“You're tired. Why don't you go
to bed,” said
leaning forward to look around the hair hanging in Ed's face.
Go to bed?
would be alright? Ed snorted
softly. Shifting his leg, Ed pressed
against
thigh. If he was going to sleep at all,
then... Ed leaned forward until his
forehead rested on top of
leg with a sigh. Here, he could go to
sleep. He could feel the tension in
He had fully intended to give
the space he needed, but he just wanted the contact, even for a moment.
“Roy...” mumbled Ed, sleep
beckoning. He wrapped his arms around
the lower part of
leg and sighed again.
“Ed?
He leaned over the man, trying to see over his shoulder to look at his
face. Weary eyes blinked once before
focusing on him. “I'm sorry, but I can't
stay and be your pillow. I'll be declared
AWOL.”
Ed grumbled unhappily, rubbing his
face into the wool of
pants. “Don't care.
closed. Each passing moment made his
body feel heavier, more relaxed.
With a soft sigh,
Ed's collar bone. That simple touch
brought Ed back from the edge of sleep to focus on what it was doing to his
body. Each pass of the thumb sent little
tingles of sensation down his chest straight to his groin.
touch.
and his groin decided it like those touches, taking interest in what was going
on.
“Ah,
You better stop,” said Ed in his most neutral voice he could manage.
“What?”
didn't know what he was doing. He
flattened
hand against his chest to still its movements.
“Oh...”
Ed smiled at the vanity.
touch him more then this, he knew better then to force the issue.
of
leg. They regarded one another; Ed
seated on the toilet,
on the tub's edge.
This was going nowhere and quickly
getting on his nerves. With a sigh, Ed
pushed himself wearily to his feet.
“Well, as you say, you should get going before you get declared AWOL.
to sleep. You should get dressed,”
suggested Ed as he headed for the door.
It was getting a bit too close—too hard to be near to
The living room was just as still
as when they'd first walked in. It was
almost strange that there was no one shooting at him, chasing him, or making
him do strange things against his will.
It felt surreal, more like a dream.
Ed fisted his hands at his side.
“Thanks...for the patch up,” said
voice washed over him. He was really
starting to love the sound of that voice.
“You're welcome,” he said as he turned around.
had replaced his shirt and jacket, and was neatening his appearance.
back to the hospital, tell Noa about the new place, and sleep.
“Um, I'll call on you
tomorrow? Would that be alright?”
“Is it okay to be seen with me?”
wondered Ed, glancing at
and wished he could take it back.
“You're mad at me,” stated
of his jacket.
“I'm tired.
added, rubbing his throat. Ed looked
anywhere but where
was standing, watching him.
nodded. “But you didn't answer my
question, either.”
Ed pressed his lips and nodded,
but he didn't offer any further comments.
He didn't think he would be able to stay calm for much longer.
wanted, but now had to wait for him to make up his stupid mind.
“Listen, I've already said why I
can't just jump into this—”
“I know,” snarled Ed, cutting
excuses.
“Hey!
making him meet
annoyed frown.
“
Just leave, please,” said Ed, making an effort to school his voice from
the hostilities bubbling up in him. He
pulled his shoulder out of
hold and moved towards the window. There
was a heavy silence over everything as Ed looked down at the street below
“You're being unreasonable,” said
so lucky, okay! I have been raised to
believe that it's man and woman, not man and
man. This is hard for me to wrap my head
around. Why can't you get that?”
“Oh, come on!
whirling around to glare at
across the room. “God?
It's all just stuff made up to
keep people in line. Do you actually
believe that 'god' made man, and the world appeared in seven days?
“Hey!
mine!”
“Why not?
narrowed his eyes at him. “You know
what? You're right.
of its package and held it between his lips.
Shooting another glare at Ed,
shook his head disgustedly as he clicked his brass lighter.
front room.
There was a tense moment where
both of them just looked at each other, neither one of them willing to back
down. With a puff of smoke,
headed for the door.
“See ya
tomorrow,” said
gruffly before the door closed.
It took a moment before it sunk in
that
just left, and that Ed had pushed him out the door.
things about
beliefs, but he couldn't help it. Ed
sighed. He was always making a mess of
things, even when he didn't have to. It
was really tiring.
Swallowing just caused his throat
to complain. With a sigh of frustration,
Ed decided against going back to the hospital tonight, but he would go down to
the front desk and make a call. Noa
could come here if she wanted or stay with Al for the night.
finished his cigarette quickly, but he hardly tasted it.
what Ed had said. He would have thought
Ed would have been more understanding about his position.
asked for space, you gave it? Why would Ed
want to push him?
Noa's warnings seemed to take on
another dimension. This would be the
'really simple but complex' that she must have been talking about.
because he didn't returned his confession.
But what could he have honestly expected to happen?
dovey?
flicked the butt away towards a small mound of sand and continued down the
darkened streets towards the base. If
this was what he could expect from Ed, would it be fair to get wrapped up in
this? There had been a moment there, in
the bathroom, where he’d realized what he was doing to Ed by offering him, what
he thought, was just some kindness. But,
as soon as Ed had stilled his hand, he felt a thrill of excitement to know that
it had affected the man in his lap. He
had been too caught up in Ed's well being to think that it might
on.
stopped dead in the middle of the street.
He needed to take a moment to understand that.
used to. He couldn't quite understand
how, but from there it had gone downhill.
He was going to blame it on Ed's being exhausted and try to not let it
bother him so much. They were both
understandably tired. He shook his head
and continued towards the base.
Excusing Ed for his behavior
allowed other thoughts to plague him—thoughts about his most recent act of
violence. As a soldier, he knew that he
was going to be asked to kill, it was a given.
But what he had done tonight had been out of rage and some sort of
territorial staking out of what was his.
There had been no duty in that.
But very faint, way in the back of his mind,
that it was him who had silenced the bastard and his strange followers.
take too much room in his mind. If it
did, he wasn't sure he would like how it would change him.
He would put this behind him.
Despite the fact that his career was effectively over now due to his
injury, there were other things he wanted to do.
a depression like he'd seen happen to so many other soldiers.
easy, but he would come out on top for this.
pressed his lips hard as the death cries of the victims of his fire rang in his
head, as if to disprove his resolution to put this behind him.
light, twisting and full of agony. Death
by fire was horrible, both to watch and to experience.
might be feeling as the flesh charred, and they choked on the smoke from their
own bodies.
His hand covered his mouth, trying
to ward off the nausea threatening to make him ill.
of what he had done up until now.
more. He didn't want to continue to the
base, but he wasn't sure that if he turned around and went back to Ed's place,
he'd be welcome there either. He was
alone in this.
He needed to find balance by
himself.
With a mental shake,
the street once more. He wouldn't stop
until he was in his bunk begging the sandman for some well deserved sleep.
base, seconds from the curfew time. He
was given a stern look, but allowed to continue.
first floor, and headed towards the stairs that lead up to the third floor
officer's quarters.
“
around. “Hey,” said Jimmy, smiling at
him as he came up the hallway. “How are
you? I heard about the shenanigans that went
on out there.”
“Ah, tired, sore—I got a
headache. You know the usual,” said
friend. “I heard our investigation
wrapped up nicely.”
“Yeah, cables went out late last
night. By the time we get back home it
should all be cleaned up and pretty like.
The crates taken before they destroyed the place are being cataloged and
sorted. Looks like they were into some
weird stuff. Human tests and
stuff... God, I hate Jerries!
(1)”
“Yeah...,” grunted
the hallway, knowing that Jimmy would follow.
“Anything else happen?”
“No.
about you leaving so suddenly.”
“Really?
doubt that!” snorted
him to do extra work.”
“Yup,” Jimmy said, smiling at
him. They fell silent as they traveled
through the building, heading towards their quarters.
sent a withering glare at the man walking beside him.
obvious,” growled
thankful that he was being permitted to drop back into the old, familiar
teasing with Jimmy. He hadn't really had
a chance to be around him since that time on the roof.
kiss between him and Ed in the power room.
He was just glad that Jimmy had no recollection of it.
of.”
“Some things...” said
Jimmy, raising his eyebrows.
to know more, but thankfully he didn't ask.
“Anything else?” wondered
stairs. He had to pull his tired legs up
by holding onto the railing. He must
have looked quite the sight, because Jimmy hovered behind him nervously.
“No.
the doc?”
“Shut up and help me to bed.
off his jacket, waited until the door to his room closed and then fell into a
dreamless sleep.
It was still dark out when Ed
opened his eyes. He felt like he hadn't
slept that long, so he assumed that it was somewhere in the early morning.
peace. Thoughts swirled back and forth
through his mind—running in circles over and over.
injuries, missing Izzy, his harsh treatment towards
Noa...his laundry list of things to worry over only grew as the slow hours of
the night passed.
Worrying wasn't his thing.
to be with him wouldn't work.
stubborn person...unfortunately, just like Mustang was.
wouldn't be rushed, Ed could tell that much.
But...he really wanted to kiss him again.
morgue. Even though he knew that
friend. He wanted
that was haunting his waking thoughts regularly now.
Then his mind would jump to the
next item on his list, the bomb. He had
no idea what to do about finding the bomb now.
now. If these guys had been in town,
they were gone by now. It was pretty
hard to miss what happened out in the desert.
It could take months to get another lead, not to mention that he now had
an obligation to the American government that he needed to fulfill.
give a full report in order to get his 100,000 dollars.
wanted his money.
Ed kicked the thin blanket to the
floor in frustration. It was obvious
that he wasn't going to be getting any real sleep tonight, so he might as well
give up and make his way over to the hospital.
Ed hissed lowly as he slowly sat up on the mattress.
probably the other reason he hadn't been able to get a good sleep so far.
stand. It took a moment before his back
cooperated and cracked loudly when he finally stood upright.
Moving about the dark room as quietly
as he could, Ed felt through his suitcase that Noa had brought over shortly
after his phone call, and pulled out a pair of pants.
slip first one leg, then the other down into his slacks.
door and pulled it open. The apartment
was dark and quiet; Noa's door closed.
Shuffling down the hall, Ed stooped over his shoes, foregoing doing the
laces at this point, because he wasn't going to be able to bend that way.
Throwing open the deadbolt, Ed
shuffled out into the hall and closed the door.
He stared at the black door, thinking.
Should he go back and write a note for Noa to tell her where he'd
gone? He felt guilty about how he had
been treating her since yesterday evening.
She was only concerned for him, he knew that, but he didn't want her to
know what had happened in the basement of the hospital.
he had made sure to avoid her so she wouldn't have the chance to ask.
With a shake of his head, Ed
decided against going back into the apartment.
He was too sore to backtrack and just the thought of doing so made him
groan in agony. With a small sigh for
the pain he was about to put himself through, Ed started off down the hall
doing up his shirt as he went.
It was a good twenty minutes
longer for what should have been a five minute walk that Ed finally entered
Al's dark room. He was exhausted, his
legs hurt, and he was weary. He dragged
himself over to the chair by Al's head and all but collapsed into it.
escaped into the room as his body settled into the chair.
Al stirred at the noise and then
lay quietly for a moment. “
“Yeah, it's me,” whispered Ed,
watching his brother's body shift slightly in the darkness.
“What time is it?” wondered
Al.
“Early,” grunted Ed.
Al's arm lifted from the mattress
and he rubbed his face into his hand.
“Noa?”
“She's at the new place I
got. We got kicked out of the other
one.” Ed shifted on the chair, slumping as
he tried to find a more comfortable position for his body.
bomb in his mind. They still hadn't
really investigated their current clue before they got sidetracked...again, so
even if they were gone, there still might be some clues for them to follow.
“Ed?”
“Yeah?”
“I think Noa likes me...”
said Al in a rush.
“That so?” grunted Ed again too
busy thinking about bigger things to worry about whatever Al was trying to tell
him.
“Do you think that she...
Ed sighed aloud.
some ideas. He could do some looking
around while Al was recovering. “Al, I've
been thinking. All that stuff that
happened, we never did get a chance to look for the bomb.
be. We probably lost the only real lead
we've had in months. It took us almost a
year to get that one lead. I can't waste
another year. We get sidetracked and
look at what happened! How are we going
to find that bomb now if we have to go to
again, it's not fair—”
“Edward?”
hearing his full name in so long. “I
don't think we should look for it anymore,” said Al hesitantly.
“What!
“Yes, but we don't have to be its
heroes,” Al said almost sadly.
It felt like he had been punched
hard in the gut. Ed just stared at Al's
indistinct shape on the bed, reeling.
“Al...I don't want to be a hero,” said Ed in a faint whisper.
“Yes, you do,” Al softly
contradicted him. “Everything you do—you
throw yourself into danger, you take risks—you enjoy it.
around with, um, Lady Rose—”
“I didn't like her,” hissed
Ed. “And with good reason!”
“My point is that you became
irritable. You—”
“I'm not talking about this!” said
Ed, surging from his seat to stalk over to the window.
last of the moonlight before dawn. He
did not seek out his troubles, they found him.
As if he would ever invite an insane person like the Seniore to chase
after him willingly! He hated the
spotlight, why then would he seek it out?
If, as Al said, he wanted to be a hero, shouldn't he be seeking some
sort of rewards from his hard work?
“Ed...
world, when we know what's coming.”
Ed pressed his lips in annoyance,
staring at the shadows and waning light mixing in the gardens.
“I don't think telling even the
Americans what we know will make much of a difference.
coming won't change anything for them.
We can't be everywhere at once.
I'm not sure what you envisioned, but we're just two people.”
Letting his head drop in defeat,
Ed could only stare at his fingers as they gripped the windowsill.
most likely wouldn't act any differently then they would if they hadn't
known. Any time he had run into
Americans so far—except for
proven that they were arrogant and prideful.
He could almost imagine how the conversation would go when he started
telling them some of the more grievous mistakes they would soon be making.
But that didn't mean that he
shouldn't try! Al was giving up before
they even really got started! There was
so much they could do to try and change things that were coming.
was taking more of a toll then any of his previous missions.
he remembered. But that didn't mean they
shouldn't try...
Ed turned, letting the faint white
light spill onto the bed. Al was
watching him though half closed eyes. He
wasn't ready to give up yet. Suddenly,
Al's eyes went wide and a bolt of panic had Ed rooted to the floor.
“What the hell happened to you?”
Al yelled. Ed blinked.
Before he knew what he was doing,
Ed was moving to obey. His hand was on
the lamp beside Al's bed before he even thought to question himself.
“Ed, turn on the light,” Al said
again when he hesitated too long.
With a sigh, Ed turned the knob
and yellow light filled the room. There
was no point in trying to hide it; everyone would see it in the light of day
anyway. Taking a step away from the side
table, Ed looked down at his brother, while Al looked him over quietly.
“There are hand prints on
your neck?” Al said in a scandalized hiss.
He wilted under Al's shocked and angry gaze.
“I—Roy and I, we...”
“Ed, for heaven's sake, tell me.”
“The Seniore, he, ah, came
here. He took
anything else. I was stupid, I know
that, but somehow it all worked out...”
Ed trailed off and frowned deeply.
He slowly lowered himself back down into the chair and thought
hard. Was it all worked out?
sight. He didn't even consider what that
meant.
'handled it', but what did that mean?
Al inhaled loudly and slowly let
the air out. “Ed.
“I—no, not according to
that Al was left alone for most of the night.
Anything might have happened to him, and he wouldn't have known.
thought of that sick man coming near his brother.
“I don't want to look for the bomb
anymore, Ed. I want to be normal, and
just have a life and I don't want you to look for it either,” said Al.
“Yeah, you will have a great
life,” murmured Ed.
“And you too, Ed!” said Al sternly
from the bed. Ed said nothing.
useless it turned out to be. He had to
try... “How's the captain?”
“Hm?”
brother.
“
How is he? You said that the
Seniore tort—”
“Oh, yeah.
what he was saying. He didn't want Al to
start asking all sorts of questions about what had happened down there.
“Is everything okay?
happy?”
“I'm thrilled,” Ed
deadpanned. Thankfully, Al wasn't asking
the questions Ed didn't want asked, but instead he was asking questions that
were hard to answer. There was no way he
was going to tell Al how he had pretty much forced
Al rolled his eyes at him which made Ed press his lips together in a
thin line.
He suffered under his brother's
scrutiny for several moments before Al said, “Something happen with you and the
captain?”
“No,” answered Ed, a tad too
fast. He winced and Al's gaze pierced
through his hesitance.
“What did you do?” asked Al as
though he was a misbehaving child hiding the evidence of his crime.
“I didn't do anything,”
said Ed hotly, resenting Al's tone.
“You did!
Don't make me hit you again.”
“Stay where you are, my jaw still
hurts thanks to you,” Ed said, rubbing his chin.
take it any longer. Bowing his head
under the searching gaze, Ed mumbled at his lap, “I might have said something
that kinda put him on the spot.”
“Like what?”
“'I love you'?”
Al's eyes went wide.
That's...wow. I feel sorta
inadequate now.” Ed looked over at Al
and grunted questioningly. “Noa
confessed to me, and I didn't answer her.”
“Al!
Ed leaned forward in his chair in shock.
That would explain why Noa was quick to go to bed without trying to ask
him loads of questions or push for the explanation he had promised.
her way, he had found it odd that she didn't once ask him anything.
“Because I'm not sure what I feel
towards her,” said Al, sounding small and guilty.
“Sheesh,
you and Roy make a fine pair, leaving us hanging out to dry.
eyebrow at his brother making an increasingly guilty face at him.
“That's not fair, I was really
thinking hard about it. It was a shock,
too. I didn't think that she even looked
at me like that, so why would I look at her like that?”
“Likely story,” said Ed with a
roll of his eyes.
“Oh, yeah.
the right to say anything.”
“I'm very in tune with my
feelings,” Ed declared, puffing out his chest slightly.
Al snorted at him,
“Oh, don't make me laugh,” pleaded Al, choking on more laughter and
holding onto his stomach gingerly.
For the first time in a long time,
both Ed and Al were able to have a fairly normal conversation without the usual
arguments that had almost become the standard with them.
brother. In the morning, when
for a clarification on exactly what had happened with the Seniore, and take
whatever actions were needed.
Then, he'd ask
--To Be Continued--