(Untitled)

[tinprodigy]

Characters: Ed and Al Elric
Location: A Random Blockbuster, perhaps Casualty Communal
Rating: PG13
Time: July 9
Description: The brothers Elric attempt a movie night... if they can agree on what to watch.

Comments

[tinprodigy]

Ed rolled his eyes at Al's obvious lack of interest in the veritable goldmine of special-effects laden goodness. Or badness, as the case may be, because some of these were the sort of movies that were so awful they were entertaining. Sort of like soap operas, only with less trashy romantic affairs and more monster-shaped puppets attacking people so they bled red-colored corn syrup.

When Al spoke up again, Ed turned to look at the shelf he'd pointed out and pulled a face.

"Ugh. Seriously? I thought we were supposed to be relaxing, not researching," he said, but he walked over to examine the titles anyway. Al had been on edge of late, and Ed had some tact these days. Throwing a fit over something as stupid as movies would probably just piss Al off even more.

Or would it? Ed looked sidelong at Alphonse, unaware of the worried frown that tugged at his mouth. For all that Ed had been here a while, he still felt a bit... awkward, uncertain around Al. Which was as stupid as it was only to be expected. He was Al still, of a sort, but there were differences that Ed couldn't begin to guess at, and it unsettled him not to have that sense of knowing him like he'd known his Al. Especially because this Al seemed constantly worried and he wouldn't talk, and Ed didn't know if he should try to badger it out of him like he would with his real little brother.

He bit the inside of his cheek and looked back at the shelf. Maybe, just this once, he'd humor Al and watch a dammed documentary. If it made Al less tense, he could put up with...

"'Protozoa: The Flagellates'? 'The IRS and You'? 'Cross-Stitch Crafts of the World'?" he asked out loud, face twisting with the same kind of horror Al reserved for the dreaded sequels. "Are you sure about this?"

[tinprodigy]

Ed didn't mean to do it, he really didn't, but it was practically a reflex - one he had never suspected - to swat the cross-stitching documentary out of Al's hands as if it were some deadly viper. He resisted the urge to stomp on it with both boots - they hardly had money for a rental, much less damages.

Ed would do very nearly anything for Al, but sitting through god-only-knows how many hours of grandmotherly women describing proper thread technique was apparently on the short list of No Way In Hell.

"NO," Ed said emphatically, then turned a narrow gaze up at Al. "And neither have you, so don't even start. What's wrong with you? Why can't you watch movies with explosions and car chases?"

[tinprodigy]

"Oh, right, like documentaries about paint drying are so much more riveting," Ed sneered under his breath as Al went to pick up the DVD case. He eyed the shelf of informative videos with a venomous gaze, like it was their fault Al had awful taste.

Al's laugh startled him into looking up, because he hadn't heard it in so long. Not Al's real laughter, anyway, and the sound twisted something tight in his chest even as it coaxed a smile to his own lips. He stepped up beside Al to take the case from him and scan the back of it.

"'The Fly,'" Ed said consideringly. It wasn't familiar, but then a lot of the movies here weren't. His Amestris had been too busy fighting wars to focus on developing the arts of movie magic - which made most of the movies from back home suck, unfortunately. Which was one of the reasons he was so dead-set on seeing as many movies crammed chock-full of special-effects as possible.

The downside was that Al seemed nostalgic now, for a home and a brother that Ed simply didn't know. He tried not to feel like he was letting Al down when he said, "I've never seen it." Then he smiled up at him and addd, "But that's easy enough to fix, right?"

[tinprodigy]

Ed grinned, but kept back the sigh of relief. "Right! Hang on, I'll be right back."

He rushed back to the B-movie sci-fi films he'd been looking at earlier and grabbed the first one he'd found that night. Attack of the Killer Tomatoes - it was bound to be just terrible, and he wasn't sure if there would be car chases or explosions, but seriously. Killer Tomatoes. He'd watch it just to see how those round little bastards pulled it off.

He went back to collect Al and steer him towards the counter, and as they paid for their rentals he pondered the strange coincidence of similar movies being made in Al's home and here - not unlike odd congruences he'd noted in London and Munich.

"It's so strange," he remarked half-absently, as they left the shop. "This world's linked to that other, just the geography and countries and all. It's also linked to yours through that movie if nothing else. Mine's like yours, yet vastly different enough that it connected to that one on the other side of..."

Ed trailed off abruptly when he realized what he was about to say. He hadn't lied to Al, when they'd first discussed their worlds and the events thereof, but that didn't mean he'd gone into detail. He's sort of just glossed over the exact events of his death, resurrection, and subsequent self-sacrifice and unexpected survival. (His exact words had been, "Shit hit the fan, I had to save Al, and I wound up in London.")A difficult enough subject on its own without an audience of people who were and weren't strangers. He still wasn't sure how to explain now.

So he shrugged dismissively and said, "All this multiverse crap is giving me a headache."