Some wounds never heal, Some tears never will

[kin_slayer]

Characters: Alphonse Elric (bloodseal_soul ), Uchiha Itachi (kin_slayer ) and Uchiha Sasuke (avenging_raven )
When: Saturday, September 20th
Where: Al's house than Vincent's.
Rating: R for Fucked up. Also for pantsing. And evil Uchihas.
Summary: Sasuke is staying with Itachi, but Itachi is hearing voices neither of them want to deal with. On an expedition to pick up earplugs Itachi makes a

Comments

[kin_slayer]

Itachi let Al nudge him towards bed, but only so that when they were both at the edge of the mattress Itachi was able to lightly pry the blond off of him and shove him firmly but not ungently onto the bed next to Sasuke. He misjudged slightly, pushing Al a little more firmly then he wanted--not hard enough to hurt, but sending the blond half sprawled across Sasuke as Itachi stepped back, unbuttoning his coat. He didn't really watch the two younger boys try to untangle themselves, fishing the earplugs and music player out of his pocket and setting them on the edge of the bed before tossing his coat over a chair.

Itachi walked to the small little camp stove he kept in his room turning on a burner and setting the kettle to boil.

"Unohana-san can have my head." He said mildly. "You are both over-worrying." And that was all he seemed to want to say on the matter, pulling a cup and his medicine from a small cupboard and preparing a dose for when the water was ready.

Itachi settled into the char he'd tossed his coat onto, braced his elbows against his knees and bowed his head, taking several deep, steadying breaths, releasing the genjutsu that concealed his condition. He looked up after he felt he could speak fairly normally without faking it, watching the two younger men with half a smile. The room was dim enough that the change from health to the pallor of sickness wasn't overly noticeable. And Sasuke, at least, was used to it.

[avenging_raven]

After a moment it processed that Al was sort of clinging to Itachi. That pulled a very slight frown to Sasuke's lips. However, he didn't even remotely get a chance to try and ask just what the hell was going on; he was all set to open his mouth when he unexpectedly got a blond sprawled on top of him. Instead of a question, an entirely undignified squawk came out of his mouth and he flailed. Sure, it was a little chilly in the room but getting Al shoved on top of him wasn't precisely how he'd planned on warming up. "Dammit, Itachi!" This probably looked completely, totally compromising to anyone else but fortunately it was just Itachi and it was his fault they'd ended up like this anyway.

"I am not over-worrying so quit saying I am," he grumbled as he tried to figure out the best way to get himself untangled from Al without sending anyone flying off the bed. Ninja logistics were generally not meant for situations like this, so he was trying to determine the best course of action. He could sense the genjutsu being released, more than he could see it; he'd never get used to seeing his brother ill. It just didn't seem at all right. But then again, even when he was thirteen he'd envisioned Itachi as the strongest person ever. It wasn't any surprise that he'd never abandoned that view, even after seeing him laying dead. Old habits died hard, and that made this sort of hard to take.

"So -- argh -- why are you here, Alphonse?" This was possibly the single most awkward meeting known to man, right here. Someone should put this one up for an award.

[bloodseal_soul]

If there was one thing to be said for Itachi in general, it was that he had a knack for the unexpected, and the shove was certainly it. He might have recovered and managed not to fly into Sasuke, but he was pushed forwards against the mattress, and his legs didn't bend the way they'd need to to catch him. Instead he let out an almost girlish gasping squeak and lost his breath when he hit Sasuke's chest, sprawled bodily on top of him and practically pinning him to the bed. He lost his breath when he went down, the shock of colliding with Sasuke disabling even his reflex of catching himself with his hands, and his face went bright red.

"Itachi!" he gasped out, almost directly after Sasuke, putting himself up on his hands in order to glare at him, though there wasn't any real fire behind it, just a bit of righteous indignation. The man just seemed to live to cause trouble, honestly. "You need to take care of yourself, you know?" He let out a lightly frustrated sigh, hanging his head, and at that particular moment realized that he was still on all fours, practically pinning Sasuke down. He flushed and sat up, then scooted backwards, the movement as awkward as it could possibly get, to get off Sasuke's legs. It was obvious enough that the whole thing was awkward in general, but to top it all off, he was visibly flustered with the contact.

He cleared his throat from behind his fist, eyes darting to one side as his PCD crackled, choosing that precise moment to let off another round of the Joker's maniacal laughter. He visibly flinched, but offered no explanation, looking to Itachi.

[kin_slayer]

Watching Alphonse and Sasuke sort of flail at each other was endearing. And amusing. Itachi didn't even try to hide his smile as the two tried to maneuver around each other, completely awkward. It probably wasn't helping Al that Sasuke was shirtless, and it likely wasn't helping Sasuke that Al was straddling him. Having them both sort of scolding him while in the middle of trying to right themselves actually made him laugh, a low, content chuckle. It was a really pleasant, warm laugh--the fact that the Joker's laughter overrode it and swallowed it sort of ruined the affect, however, and by the time the Joker's laughing was done with, Itachi was coughing, a hand to his mouth as his lungs made sick noises and he half choked on blood.

The fit was over fairly quickly and Itachi straightened, wiping his blood-flecked lips with the back of his hand almost casually as the kettle began to rattle and whistle.

Itachi stood, turning his back to the two boys and pouring the hot water into his cup, stirring the tonic and letting it steep, inhaling the smoke and gaining his composure before he turned around to face the two again.

"Alphonse-kun is here because I was not going to leave him alone to face his voices, Sasuke." Itachi's voice was rough from coughing, but the tone was mild. "And I take care of myself quite well, Alphonse-kun, Sasuke is almost a nuisance about making sure of that."

[avenging_raven]

'Awkward' really didn't even begin to describe it. Al falling on top of him would've been bad enough. Al pinning him down and straddling him was a whole different ball of wax. Sasuke was having some minor issues processing this one. Very minor issues. No, really. Minor, minor issues. Seriously. You believe him, right? Right. You should believe him. Even if he was lying right through his teeth. No. Only minor issues. He was a bit dumbfounded, an uncharacteristically poleaxed look on his face as he stared at Al. Eventually the blond scuttled away from him and he could heave a sigh of relief, tugging the blanket up over his lap a little bit more. Ahem.

"That's annoying," was his only comment when the Joker's laugh came over Al's PCD. Obnoxious. Didn't scare him, just...obnoxious. Then again, that pretty much summed up his reactions to just about everything these days. If it interfered with his little bubble of recovery, it was obnoxious. Go figure. He glared over at his brother when he heard Itachi coughing. He'd grown to hate that sound with an unholy passion in recent days. The less he heard it, the happier he was. "I am not a nuisance," he grumbled under his breath as he rolled on his side, propping himself up with one arm. Dark eyes eventually slid over to Alphonse thoughtfully.

"So you're camping out with us tonight then?" Another set of voices. He was pretty sure he was the only one in the house who wasn't hearing them at this point, though that was probably an enormous blessing -- Itachi's voices were bad enough for the both of them. Thus the earplugs. He didn't need to make anything worse on them.

[bloodseal_soul]

Thankfully, although Alphonse was a sharp person in general, that sort of thing didn't enter his mind enough to be suspicious about Sasuke's reaction. He was having enough to deal with on his own, between the epic amounts of awkward and the fact that he'd always found Sasuke attractive (not to mention the fact that he'd had only a few months to get used to being already through the puberty thing), but he was too nervous and flaily and blushy to attempt to think THAT one through, so he decided not to touch it with a ten-foot pole.

Al would have deeply appreciated the laugh, had he been able to hear it properly. He only managed a little before the clown had to rudely interrupt and ruin a moment that Al would have treasured, otherwise. Instead, the effect was rather frightening. However, Itachi's laugh seemed to soften the nightmare a bit, make it less real. The cough worried him deeply - he'd only heard the barest edges of it before, since Itachi turned off the feed when it started. They sounded wet, and like something inside might be dislodged. How worried he'd been before was nothing to now.

"He's not, he's just cares," Al said gently, almost sadly.

Glad for the fact that Itachi had spared him the explanation, Al nevertheless covered the PCD in his pocket with a sigh. "I-I'm sorry about this, Sasuke," he apologized. There was no way to turn his PCD off, and oh, he'd tried all sorts of things with it. It was a mercy it was being as quiet as it was right now. "I-Is it okay with you if I stay?" He smiled sheepishly, but adorably, reaching up to rub at the back of his neck. For such a polite young man, he was having a bit of trouble with this.

"Itachi never mentioned you'd be here," he said softly, and then turned to look at the older brother. "This is what you wanted to talk to me about earlier, wasn't it...?"

[kin_slayer]

Itachi sipped his tonic quietly as the two managed to sort themselves up. He did notice Sasuke's reaction, even if Al didn't, and he gave his little brother the briefest of amused looks, one eyebrow quirking before his attention returned to his drink.

"I know." Itachi said, almost reassuringly, as Al defended Sasuke. "That doesn't make him less of a nuisance." He smiled just slightly at both of them, finishing the contents of his glass.

"Some of it, Alphonse-kun." Itachi agreed without preamble, setting the now empty glass down and toeing off his sandals, moving to the chest he kept his sleeping clothes in. Al could borrow a set of Sasuke's pajamas... He fished a loose shirt and drawstring pants out and tossed them at the bed. "Al will use these." He commented over his shoulder, not a question, just an assured statement of this is how it will be.

Itachi fished out his own loose black sleeping shirt and nondescript grey pajama pants. He was taking off his shirt, apparently not caring who was in the room with him, when his own voices decided to chime in.

"Wanna make out?" Lazy masculine voice.

Itachi froze with his shirt half off.

"Shisui what the hell is wrong with you?" It was Itachi's young voice, early teens. "We're on surveillance."

"Yeah but it's boring. Nothing is happening."

Itachi threw his shirt off and stripped to his boxers, almost aggressively. He pulled on the shirt and pants, back turned towards the other two as the voices continued.

"Do you work at being this much of a moron?" There was a soft gasp in Itachi's voice, followed by an annoyed growl.

"You are so uptight." The other voice purred. "Relax."

[avenging_raven]

Silently, Sasuke was thanking every single deity known to man that Al didn't see his entirely unconscious reaction. There were times when it was very lousy to be a sixteen-year-old boy and since he'd gotten here Sasuke had let his usually iron control over his hormones and instinctual reactions slip. Really, really slip. He caught Itachi eyeing him and glared, eyes narrowing in what he intended to be menacing and what really came out as much more of a pout.

"I am not a nuisance," he grumbled, stretching a bit as Itachi stole some pajamas for Al without so much as asking. He narrowed his eyes more and glared, and it just came out even more pouty. He wasn't doing very well with the menacing right now, despite his best intentions. "Fine, fine, fine," he bitched as he settled down in the bed. "But I'm not giving up my--"

He cut right off at those voices.

First reaction? One of the more spectacularly impressive what-the-fuck faces in recent memory.

Second reaction? Snickers. "Well damn, Itachi, you got started young," he mocked, well aware that he was probably going to be seriously asking for trouble when his brother turned back around.

[bloodseal_soul]

Of course Sasuke wasn't a nuisance, Itachi was just bad in general with having people care about him, but the pouted insistence was enough to get Al to smile genuinely, which was likely going to be a rather hard thing to do, at this point. He caught the pajamas and started to apologize to Sasuke, but then it degenerated to a stutter before and blush before he even got the first word out.

"I-Itachi!" He pointedly turned his back and blushed like hell when Itachi started to get out of his clothes. Itachi might have been comfortable with stripping in front of Al, but it made Alphonse's face light up like a tomato.

Then, they were all cut off by something rather interesting coming from Itachi's PCD, enough to cut Sasuke off mid-complaining, and make Al's head snap to the side to look at Itachi, never mind the mostly naked appearance, and he clapped both hands over his mouth. If he had been red before, it was nothing, NOTHING, to now. For a moment there was dead silence in the room, and then Al snorted before he started laughing hysterically.

It wasn't the nicest thing in the world to do, and he'd feel bad about it later, but Itachi's broken cool followed by Sasuke's expression was too much for him, and he tried unsuccessfully to stifle the giggle fit that erupted at Sasuke's teasing.

[kin_slayer]

Itachi's shoulders actually hunched a bit, a little defensively, and his neck was just a tinge pink. He didn't really have his guard up around these two, and he couldn't for the life of him spoil the mood and make a comment about how Shisui had merely been trying to take advantage of his youthful hormones to get Itachi to let his guard down around his cousin--in short, that Itachi had been Shisui's mission. Neither of the younger boys needed that kind of a downer. So he piped up, voice dark as Al's laughter rang through the room following Sasuke's dry teasing--and Sasuke was going to pay for that, and Al too if Itachi could swing it.

"Shisui, even as a disembodied ephemeral voice, apparently continues to have the most inappropriate sense of timing." He pulled the hem of his t-shirt down fully and turned to regard the other two. In regular PJs and looking slightly sulky, Itachi actually looked his age, eighteen and young.

"Anyway." Itachi approached the bed, manner shifting subtly to a menacing stalk. "I don't see what you're both so amused about." He crossed his arms, standing at the foot of the bed and glaring at them both, one eyebrow arched challengingly. "Considering I am going to make you both forget you ever heard that." There was definite threat in the voice, a moment of controlled silent anticipation, and then he lunged foreward, catching Sasuke's foot under the covers and one of Al's feet.

Itachi threw the covers away from Sasuke's foot, caught his little brother's calf securely under his arm, keeping hold of Al's ankle in one hand, pulling off Al's boot and sock efficiently and then going to work at tickling both their feet with determined vengeance.

[avenging_raven]

Itachi blushing was quite possibly one of the most fun things that Sasuke had ever seen in his entire life. He hadn't known Shisui all that well, beyond that he was Itachi's best friend when they were growing up; he'd been too busy in the ANBU for the most part to spend much time playing with his little cousin. That was okay with Sasuke though, he was so wound up in spending time with Itachi when he got the chance that sometimes he forgot he had other relatives. Besides, Shisui was quite a bit older.

"He's haunting you and probably will continue to haunt you," he snickered. It was weird seeing Itachi like that; it hammered home that no, right now they were not particularly far apart in age. Almost twinlike, but not quite. It was positively eerie.

As Itachi stalked forward he snorted, just lounging there like it was no big deal. He was in bed! What was his brother going to do to him that would even remotely threaten him? Honestly now. "Oh and just how are you going to--ack!" He tried to pull himself free, but a moment later he was howling with laughter as Itachi exploited his greatest weakness -- the fact that he was horribly, horribly ticklish. This was not something he admitted to, pretty much ever. Damn brother for knowing that.

[bloodseal_soul]

It was very, very hard for Alphonse to contain his laughter, mostly because Itachi being flustered and blushing, even in the slightest, most insignificant of ways, was enough for Al to get started, and when he started into his gigglefits it was very hard for him to stop. Although he didn't know who Shisui was, by the way the interaction sounded, well... it also helped that with the way Itachi was dressed now, he didn't look quite so forbidding; just someone's slightly annoyed older brother, which made him much easier to tease.

Alphonse wasn't normally the 'teasing' type of person unless he felt very, very comfortable with someone, so the fact that Itachi got it at all was a mark of how close they were unintentionally becoming.

"What do they, say, Sasuke, about getting someone ba-ACK!" Al let out something that was just this side of a squeal when his boot was yanked off, and fingers assualted the bottom of his foot. Alphonse had always been horribly ticklish, but the bottoms of his feet were the worst place. He liked being tickled in general but that was a dangerous area -

... namely because of the reflexes.

Though mostly disabled by laughter, his body attempted to twist away. Outside of Al's control, he cocked his leg back, attempting to pull away, and then his foot shot forward,

Nailing Itachi in the face.

[kin_slayer]

Itachi knew from when they were kids, with some sort of instinct inherent in big brothers, the best ways to harass Sasuke, and where all the younger Uchiha's most ticklish spots were. He'd gambled that Al had a similar weakness, especially with the blond already trapped in a gigglefit.

Itachi was grinning as he reduced both boys to helpless laughter, a sort of mix between insufferably smug, entirely wicked, and genuinely happy.

Then Al got him in the face.

It a fairly hard kick, it grazed his jaw and cheek, jarred his nose and smashed his lips against his teeth. It was more of a shock to be hit, than actually damaging though. He hadn't expected it and he should have been able to anticipate and dodge. He let go of their legs and sort of slumped against the edge of the bed, hand raising to his mouth, eyes wide for a moment before his shoulders started to shake, and he leaned heavily on the mattress, dissolving into a fit of outright amused laughter.

"I'm never.." Itachi wheezed, slumping to his knees and leaning his elbows on the mattress. "Going to live... this down.. ha!" he was grinning rueful and amused and completely momentarily open as he looked at both boys, happy even as he kept laughing. For once the voices didn't chime in.

[avenging_raven]

Back when they were kids it was a case of Itachi pinning a squirming Sasuke down and tickling him until he cried uncle for whatever reason then got let up, gasping and giggling and all red in the face. Even eight years later he was still ticklish in the same spots and pretty much nobody but his older brother would ever know that about him. He was all over the place laughing, only narrowly aware that Al was in the same state next to him.

Then Itachi got kicked.

He stopped laughing and just blinked, staring...and then Itachi started to laugh. It was the strangest sound in some ways, since he hadn't heard it in god only knew how long...too many years. But it was impossible to not laugh right back. He pointed, snickering uncontrollably. "You. The great Uchiha Itachi. Amazing shinobi. Just got nailed and you didn't see it coming..."

It was enough to almost get him reduced to tears, he was laughing so hard. This never happened, he never opened up this much, but damn it felt good.

[bloodseal_soul]

Alphonse proceeded to freak out a little when he managed to plant his foot into Itachi's skull, effectively punting him into stopping the tickling assualt. He shouldn't have been afraid of hurting him, but for a moment he worried he had. He rolled forward on the sheets to put a hand on Itachi's shoulder, still breathless and unable to ask if he was okay. However, when Itachi started laughing, Al couldn't help it.

Sasuke only proceeded to add to it, until Al absolutely couldn't stop himself, and he practically collapsed onto his back on the bed, trying to breathe.

"Should have seen-" he gasped between the near-hysteria. "Your face..." he tried to imitate the expression that had come across Itachi's features, and rolled to his side, towards Sasuke, gripping what he thought was the blankets and ended up being the pajama pants covering the outside of Sasuke's thigh. It was all so impossible and improbable, but somehow it had happened. All three of them were laughing themselves sick, like idiots. Like normal teenagers.

It would be amazing if they didn't wake up everyone in the house.

[kin_slayer]

"Shove it." Itachi gasped, no heat in his voice because he was far too damn busy trying to breathe around the laughter. He leaned his elbow against the mattress, wheezing a little, not in a good way, but he was still laughing and gasping and obviously enjoying himself. He ran his fingers through his bangs, hair tousled as he gave both boys a wide grin from under his hands.

"You are both," Itachi declared, a little breathless as he hauled himself upright on his forearms. "A pair of incorrigible brats. And I don't know why I put up with you." He crawled onto the foot of the bed, still regaining his breath, if not his composure.

He hardly even noticed the state Al and Sasuke were in, instead picking up the pair of Sasuke's PJs he'd thrown at the blond and waving them vaguely at the both of them.

"You aren't sleeping in your clothes, don't make me dress you."