[Complete] Doughnuts and Alchemy

[proficiently]

Who: Edward [still_fullmetal] and Alfons [proficiently]
Where: Alfons' room.
When: Late evening. (.. one of those days)
Rating: PG
Summary: Doughnuts and Alchemy.
The Story:
Edward; Sometimes Edward couldn't stop looking out the window. He'd pull up up a chair and drape his arms over the window sill, the heels of his shoes scraping against the floor boards whenever he kicked his feet to remember that they could in fact touch the ground. He had gotten taller, after all.

What was so interesting about the windows that sometimes when he looked out, he would see the house he grew up in. Other times, he could see Winry's home...or even parts of Central.

But then there were moments like tonight where he would stare and he would see Munich. The flower shop. The town houses. The university.

With a sigh, the alchemist turned his head to peer over at his brother, sound asleep on his bed. Al was finally here, but what good was that? He didn't like them being apart, but then didn't mean he wanted him to suffer in this queer place.

The chair was pushed back, and he paused to give Alphonse a lingering look to make sure he wasn't faking before locking their room's door and stepping out to head down to the kitchen to grab something to eat. Something portable. Something that he could share.

When he was back on his floor of the mansion, Ed walked right by his door and instead stopped at the one just next to it, remembering to have just enough manners to knock before opening the door on up. "Alfons? You awake?" He knew he was. Probably reading or more research or something equally bookworm-ey. "I brought snacks."

Alfons; "If I wasn't before, then I am now," came the pleasantly amused reply before the door was eased open to allow Edward inside. To say that Alfons had been bookworm-ey would have been the understatement of the century. All available wall space was covered in various slips of paper that were covered in both important notes, at least important to him and an array of complicated formulas.

As soon as the shorter boy was greeted, he retraced his steps back to his desk, which was equally messy, to take a seat before he pulled a spare chair over for Edward to sit on. "How is your brother doing? I figured you would want some time alone with him, I'm sorry I've been a little scarce lately."

With an apologetic smile out of the way, he folded his arms over his chest and reclined back in the chair. "So, what's for dinner?"

Edward; The covered walls didn't receive so much as a glance from him at first. He'd lived with the man before, after all, so it wasn't a shock. He did wonder just what Alfons was collecting notes on, though. Happenings in the mansion? Ways out?

Or was it about rockets? Even if he was dead, was that still his passion? No, Ed didn't even want to think about that. It was still too much to compute, no matter how much time you had to deal. "He's asleep, actually..." And the older brother had a sneaking suspicion that he'd passed his cold onto the younger brother.

With a sigh, he grabbed the offered chair and flipped around so that he could straddle it backwards, holding out the plate. "Doughnuts?"

...There were worse dinners, Ed mused quietly as he reached out with his free hand to pluck up a piece of paper from Alfons' desk to look over.

Alfons; He was quick to accept the doughnut, but it wasn't without a curious glance. Doughnuts were better than no dinner at all, of course, which might have been the case had Edward not stopped by. He'd holed himself up in his room for quite a few days now and he hadn't exactly eaten much, either. But enough of that--

"Your manners are getting better, I'll give you that much," he began, half-amused and half-annoyed, as he eyed the piece of paper the other man had taken. "But taking my notes without asking is just plain rude." But did he try to take the paper back? No. Rather, he contented himself with nibbling at the doughnut he'd selected off of the plate.

"Those are just a few things that I've noticed about this Wonderland."

Edward; All Ed had to offer to the comment on his manners was a snort and a roll of his eyes as he set the plate down on the floor between them and stuffed a doughnut into his mouth. "Don't leave 'em sitting out, then," he muttered with a full mouth, probably impossible to understand as he wiped his gloved hand off on the thigh of his trousers.

Somehow managing to swallow without choking, the piece of paper was set back onto the desk while he leaned over the back of the chair to scan the rest. "The Duchess is still missing, huh... I say good riddance. Useless if they won't even come out for a confrontation."

He really hoped he wouldn't have to make this place his home... He still had far too much to do to be stuck in this place. It was giving him cabin fever! The only thing keeping him from blowing everything up in order to find a way out was Alfons... Just how was he supposed to ditch him like that?

Alfons; He could read Edward like a book but, rather than let him know that much, he let out a little laugh. "The universal napkin, is it?" He nodded towards the powder stains on Edward's pant leg before he attempted to put the mass of notes into a neat pile atop of the desk. "I'm not even going to attempt to translate that," he made a slight face, as if disturbed, and shook his head.

"Maybe she doesn't want to be found. It's her Wonderland, isn't it? I imagine there are hundreds of places she could hide if she absolutely wanted to." But why would she hide, he wondered? Maybe it was something else, something a bit more complicated than playing hide and seek--

"Do you want to fight with them that much, Edward?" He looked away then, after finishing the morsel, and went right back to making his work area tidy. "I know how you feel, you really want to get home, don't you? I bet you have a lot of things to take care of. Being here, it must be miserable."

He was almost glad the other couldn't see his expression right now.

Edward; Ed could be dense, but he would have had to be blind and deaf to not understand the implications Alfons was getting at. Snagging another doughnut from the plate on the floor, the former State Alchemist averted his eyes while he tried to think up some witty reply that would lighten the mood.

When that didn't work, he took a large bite before jumping up from his chair. "Of course I wanna fight 'em! Bastards think they can control us and keep us in a prison just because it looks fancy?! They don't even know who they're messing with, that's for sure, and teaming up the Elric Brothers was a big mistake!"

Of course, he just had to finish that doughnut before he could continue, and once again wiped off his hand on his pants. When he remembered Alfons' comment about the universal napkin, though, he felt a little bad. So with a shrug he clapped his hands and placed them over his hip, the electrical current flashing along his leg and leaving clean fabric behind.

Alfons; He had been just about ready to apologize when Edward made a scene, but it still nagged at him a little. Alfons' eyes followed the other as he went on ranting and raving about The Duchess and company, and he couldn't help but crack a smile and then partake in a full-blown laugh when Edward was finished with his said spiel.

"I hope you don't plan to attack with them doughnut crumbs all down your front, it could spell a disastrous end. Or, at the very least, it would be an embarrassing encounter." His musings were cut short, however, when an unfamiliar noise caught in his ears. Leave it to Edward to nearly give the boy a heat attack.

He, and rather ungracefully at that, fell out of his chair and did little more then stare up at Edward, as if he had just been struck. He'd never seen anything quite like it before. He was pulled out of his thoughts, alas, when he caught himself staring at Edward's powder-free thigh for a curious length of time.

"Er-- Sorry."

Edward; Alfons' face was priceless, and it nearly made Ed burst out laughing right then and there. But he held off, and settled for an accomplished grin. "Doughnut crumbs where now?" Of course they still existed, just...not as doughnut crumbs.

It was hard to not puff up his chest with pride whenever he got amazed looks like that. He'd told Alfons about his alchemy plenty of times, but they hadn't really had the chance to have a meeting where he could fully show it off. And this, at least, was something he knew. Even better, it was something to keep the mood from getting too dark.

"Anything else you want to see?" Without even waiting for a response, Ed clapped his hands once more and dropped down to press them against the floorboards, where the wood beneath Alfons warped and rose. The only good thing about the mansion was how it seemed to constantly regenerate, meaning it offered an endless supply. As a result, the floor was as sturdy as ever, but there was a brand new, and rather elaborately carved chair beneath Alfons at the moment.

And then he cracked up laughing at his face.

Alfons; "Very funn--" Alfons yelped before he knew what was happening. Really, it would have been silly to expect a chair to suddenly spring to life beneath you, so he really didn't know what to do. He opened his mouth once or twice in an attempt to voice an opinion, but always snapped it shut again before the words could come out.

No. One definitely couldn't explain this logically and sound sane.

At the laughter, his face turned a tinge of pink and he leaned over the chair to swat at the teen in an attempt to get his revenge. "I'd be lying if I said I wasn't impressed," he began, fingers drifting over the woodwork for a second or two before he continued. "I remember you talking about your alchemy, but I never expected--" Oh, really, what was he trying to say?

"It's an amazing talent, Edward."

Edward; With a smug grin, he reached up to clear his throat pointedly against his fist. "Yeah well...! I wasn't Fullmetal for nothin'! Al's really good, too. I bet he'd be happy to show off sometime. Your reaction's better than Winry's first reaction, though. She started to cry when we made her a doll."

Resting his hands on his hips, Edward raised an eyebrow at the befuddled teen. "And with my automail, I'm hardly a cripple anymore! Still think I'm crazy and have outlandish theories?"

Alfons;

"Was it a scary doll?" Alfons mused, pushing out of the seat to further admire the handiwork. "I still think you have outlandish theories," he murmured as he rounded the chair to snatch another doughnut off of the plate. "But maybe you're not as crazy anymore."

Because if Edward was crazy, then that must have meant he was crazy too.

"Is it a good idea, though? To show off something like that. I imagine it would be useful to all the wrong people if they got their hands on it." He took a bite of the doughnut, rolling his eyes up with a soft hum. "Then again, you've got the advantage, being so small and all."

He grinned.

Edward; "No it wasn't a scary doll! She just wasn't used to it. And this isn't something they can 'get their hands' on, anyway! Alchemy isn't something you can steal... It takes years of study, practice, and ski--"

The short jab hit home and made his jaw drop. It wasn't often that Alfons actually did mock his height right to his face, so that was shocking alone. Revenge for scaring him or not, there was no way Ed was going to take that! With a stomp, he pointed and yelled, "WHO'S SO SMALL THAT A VILLAIN CAN'T EVEN SEE WHAT TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF?!"

With a growl, Edward reached out and grabbed Alfons' hand, shoving to squash the powdered doughnut right into his face.

Alfons; Alfons was laughing clear up until the doughnut made contact with his face, when he opted to do little more than stare at Edward, as if what he'd done hadn't quite sunk in yet. When it did, however, Alfons wiped his face off with a sleeve and, mildly seething, lifted his hand to smoosh what was left over into Edward's face.

Yeah. Take that.

"It's a good doughnut, you should try it!"

Edward; Edward really felt like he'd had his fill of doughnuts, thanks, especially after that stunt. He hadn't really expected for Alfons to retaliate. He was supposed to be the nice one, damnit! If he kept retaliating, they were never gonna be even!

With a wicked grin, Ed reached up to wipe his face off. "Gee thanks, pal," he responded in a wholly friendly manner while grabbing his Alfons' outstretched hand before it could pull back. Remembering that he needed to be a little more careful with his frailer friend, Ed resisted the urge to use all his strength as he yanked and twisted while using his own hip to help him completely flip the taller German right over to land on his back.

While the other was still winded, Edward dropped down to straddle him, snatching a chocolate covered doughnut off of the plate to stuff into Alfons' mouth. "This one's pretty good, too!" Really, he should have known better than to call him short!

Alfons; Really, they weren't going to get anywhere at this rate -- especially since he was particularly stubborn about winning this little bout. He hadn't expected to be flipped onto his back, and he definitely didn't see the chocolate doughnut in the equation. He turned his head off to the side to escape, but it was no use.

And it only served to smear chocolate frosting all over his cheek before it found his mouth.

"Edward--" He murmured with a mouthful of food, looking more amused than angry before he tensed up and went into a rather unexpected coughing fit. No, no, no -- he definitely didn't want something like this to happen right now, especially since this whole ordeal had been friendly.

Now he'd feel bad.

Edward; Edward's playful grin immediately vanished as soon as the coughing started, and he swung his leg back over so that he was no longer straddling him, as if afraid of actually crushing his good friend. He needed air, right? It wasn't fair that Alfons still had problems like this when he'd already died, damnit.

"Shit, sorry! You okay?" Maybe he'd just choked on the doughnut, but either way Ed felt guilty.

Crouching next to Alfons, he leaned over to squint worriedly at him, pony-tail falling to drape over his shoulder as he reached out to wipe at the teen's cheek with his glove, as gentle as he could be with his automail hand.

Alfons; He sat up and turned his face off to the side to cough into a fist. "What kind of a person--" he began but was cut off by a few stray coughs. "Stuffs a doughnut into someones mouth like that?" Alfons wiped his eyes free of tears that had come about during his fit, then he shot him a weary smile.

"I'm fine, the doughnut just surprised me." He reached over and took up his automail hand before he dipped his finger into the leftover chocolate that was on the back and smeared it across Edward's cheek.

"I guess that means I win."

Edward; It was a relief to find that Alfons wasn't choking to death or anything, but the retaliation made him respond with a grumpy scowl. "Humph! Yeah whatever. I'm letting you win."

Reaching up, he rubbed at his own cheek, though all that accomplished was smearing it a bit before he gave up and pulled off his now dirty glove, revealing the silver hand beneath.

With a grumble, he clapped his hand before using the alchemy to clean it off, leaving the material as pure white as before. Still, as grumpy as he was over 'losing', he was still lingering close, just in case his old roommate started coughing again.

Alfons; "Letting me win? That's a new one," he murmured, watching the dramatic show of alchemy before he pushed off of the ground and offered Edward his hand. "I'm fine," he reassured him, almost as if he knew exactly what the blonde was thinking -- and he did. Living with the same person for months on end, you kind of caught on to things like that eventually.

Not to mention the fact that Edward wore his heart on his sleeve most of the time.

"You mentioned Winry," he continued, completely casual. "Is she your girlfriend?" Really, he didn't need to look back at Edward to hear the inevitable embarrassment that was about to drip free from his words, or how the red flush of his face stretched up to the tips of his ears.

Edward; He gripped Alfons' hand out of courtesy, but he was sure to use his own legs to help him up. If he yanked with all his strength, Alfons would definitely just topple over onto his face. Shorter, maybe, but certainly not weaker.

"Huh?" Oh. And right on cue, Ed rubbed at the back of his neck and stammered. "No! What? No! She's just... I mean we grew up together. Winry's, um..."

Scowling, he shot an embarrassed glare over at Alfons. "Doesn't matter anyway, does it? Al and I aren't there."

Alfons; "It was just question, no need to get so worked up," he mused, but the pleasure from getting a rise out of the smaller boy was evident in his voice. "You may not be there but you still miss her, don't you? She sounds like a nice person." Once he was sure Edward was stable on his feet, he reclaimed his hand and bought out a handkerchief from his back pocket to clean off the rest of his face.

"When he wakes up, could I meet him? Your brother. I never had a chance to before--" He cut himself off abruptly and tried on a smile. "You've talked so much about him, it already feels like I know him. It would be nice to finally be able to put a face to the name."

Edward; Edward nodded absently to the first part. Yeah, he definitely missed Winry. Hell, he even missed the Colonel. But he'd made Alfons' world his home now. London, specifically, and it wasn't half bad.

Then the comment about the face and the name made him grin and shove lightly at his friend's shoulder. "I told you! He looks like you! Just darker blond hair, and eyes more my color."

With his glove tugged back on, Ed grabbed the trash can nearby to pull over so that he could lean over and brush the mess of doughnut crumbs into it. Sure, alchemy could clean up the mess easy, but Izumi had taught them to not depend on it so much, after all...

"...I bet he'll be happy to properly meet you, too."

Alfons; "Not exactly alike, I hope? Then I would have to agree with some of your crazy theories," he grinned and proceeded to shrug into his jacket before he went about eying his new piece of furniture. "I don't really know where to put this now, but I guess leaving it here won't hurt much. Unless, of course, someone decides to trip over it in the middle of the night."

Late night visits from Edward, while not entirely unwanted, always caught him offguard. He'd become used to it by now, waking up in the middle of the night to someone pressing into his side. He wouldn't dream of telling him to go elsewhere, especially because of some of the things he mumbled in his sleep, but it was a bit disheartening that he couldn't do more for him.

"I don't suppose he's a fan of rocketeering, is he?"

Edward; "Hah hah," he retorted while rolling his eyes. "Well you don't have to worry about that anymore, now that Al's here." With his brother to room with, Ed didn't need to go crawling into anybody's bed for comfort any longer.

"Eh, rockets? Not so much... Now that we've found each other, there isn't much reason. We've been studying bombs more, actually..." Grabbing the back of the chair, Ed dragged it over to a spot that didn't seem to be in the way against the wall. "The bomb that came over from our world, we need to track it down and disarm it before someone dangerous gets their hands on it."

Alfons; "That's a relief," Alfons began, moving to help him with the chair. "Now I won't wake up to little drool spots all over your side of the pillow." Joking or not? If he was, he wasn't letting the other man know it just yet. In fact, amidst talking, he'd even thrown an almost exasperated glance towards said pillow before changing to the new topic on hand.

A bomb?

"You'll find it and then you both can get back to your world. I'm sure there are a lot of people waiting for the safe return, not just Winry."

Edward; There was a pause, then, as he adjusted the chair just an inch or so. Amber eyes drifted down to the floor, and Ed shifted uncomfortably at that subject matter. After Alfons had died sending him back, how was he supposed to break the news exactly?

"...We...destroyed the Gate."

Immediately trying to lighten it up, the young man forced a grin onto his face as he straightened and rubbed at the back of his neck, laughing a bit as if trying to dismiss the importance of it. "Mustang took care of it on the other side, and Al and I had to bust our ass to get rid of it in Munich! But it was the only way, ya know? To make sure nobody else could cross the Gate to try and start anything bad."

Alfons; While the news wasn't exactly good, he had expected something along those lines the minute Edward's eyes fell to the floor. He couldn't really tell what he felt then. it was a mixture of a lot of things, but he knew one thing; he wasn't angry. This Fullmetal Alchemist had shown him a lot, that even when the situation seemed grim that there was also a bit of hope lingering in the in.

So it was with that in mind that he clasped a hand over his shoulder and gave it a tiny, reassuring squeeze before voice his voice. "But you'll still find a way back. Your brother found his way to you, even when you thought it was impossible. You're an amazing pair. If you want to go home enough, I'm sure you'll be able to achieve your goal."

And he smiled.

Edward; He'd half expected to get chided. The warm encouragement wasn't completely shocking, but it did throw him off a bit. But then, he had a hand on his shoulder to keep him steady.

Edward was unable to keep from smiling back then. Different from his normally cocky grin. There was a sad acceptance there in his eyes, and a warmth in his heart as he just quietly nodded and reached up to settle his hand over Alfons'. Normally, Edward Elric wasn't one to instigate or even reciprocate physical touch...but it would have felt wrong not to right then. It wasn't responding to comfort, or anything, but instead a tacit message.

No, he wouldn't be going back. To open the Gate again would be too dangerous... And he was fine with that. But there was no need to drag it out in an argument. His friend's support was enough.

Then, stepping back and turning, Ed quickly walked over to snatch up the plate and what was left of the doughnuts, a carefree grin back on his face. "I better go make sure Al's sleeping alright. Think I gave him my cold. Don't stay up too much later or I bet you'll get one too!"

Alfons; The dead can't catch colds, Edward.

Rather than speak what was on his mind, he laughed and watched the boy make his way towards the door. "Don't eat too many doughnuts or you'll get fat." he joked, "Make sure he stays warm, and I wouldn't recommend doughnuts for a midnight snack. They have soup downstairs, don't they? Either way," he continued, walking him to the door.

"It's a little late now but I want to show you something tomorrow. Good night, Edward."

Edward; "Yeah yeah, I'll get him soup! And who's getting fat?" In indignation, the alchemist puffed up his cheeks a bit as he glared before waving his hand and opening the door.

He was curious about that last comment, and curiosity made him want to ask, but it was still too soon to be away from his brother for long, so he decided to just go along with it. "Alright, tomorrow. I'll drop by. When I'm sure Al's healthy I'll introduce you two."

Stuffing one last doughnut into his mouth while giving Alfons a pointed 'so there' look, Ed grabbed the doorknob and yanked it shut behind him.