[FMA] Dark Night Looming
Oct. 22nd, 2007 04:18 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
runespoorTitle: Dark Night Looming
Author:![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
runespoor7
Rating: G
Summary: It doesn't bother Al that he has to pretend Ed isn't afraid of the dark so long as Ed keeps on sleeping in Al's bed.
Notes: You know the icon meme that was around about two weeks ago? Alphabetise the characters in your icons and make a pairing out of each couple thus obtained? Yeah, well this is the first ficlet. I'm hoping to be able to do them all, though some clearly want me dead.
Ed's the older one. He's eight now, which means that he's a Big Boy. That's what Mom says, so it means Ed thinks he has to do his best to be a Big Boy, not only because of Mom, but also because of Al.
That's something Al understands though no-one, least of all Ed, said anything about it. He's rather confused as to why it's that, if it's because he needs to reassert his authority as the older one now Al's a little taller than him, or if he feels he needs to set an example or something. Sometimes – like now, curled in his bed, contentedly listening to the quietness of the sleeping house, eyes half-shut in his dark room – Al mulls over the situation, chewing on his lower lip. It's something that's been bothering him for a while, because he's not entirely sure how to react.
And does he need to react at all, he wonders. (Besides using the opportunity to use pretty, complicated words he's picked up in various and sundry texts, like "reassert". Reassert is a great word, Al thinks, because Winry had no idea what it means, and Niisan and him never fail to throw it around three, four times a day when she's with them.)
The door creaks slightly, and soft footsteps enter the room. Al pushes himself on his elbows, less to see who's the intruder than to show that he's awake. Of course, he knows perfectly well what he will find, but he still blinks a few times – the corridor is just as dark as his room, and he tries to make out where his visitor stands.
"Al?" his brother's voice reaches him tentatively.
He almost sighs.
"Yeah," he whispers instead.
Al wishes he could see his brother's face, but he has to settle with imagining the tension leaving his thin frame. He's convinced it's not a stretch by any mean, but he knows better than to say that, he may not be the resident Big Boy but he's never been stupid.
"There's a draught in my room, can I spend the night here?" Ed's words are high-pitched, in that almost forced whisper you use when you're trying to not wake someone up or to hide the squeaks of your voice. So far, Al has dutifully noted that Mom never woke up.
Al almost sighs again. They've run out of candles for their nightlights and the new ones are only arriving tomorrow at the shop, so it's not as if it's unexpected for Ed to come tonight. Actually, Al was more or less waiting for him. He's been distracting himself with random daydreams – well, musings since it's night (snicker again) – to avoid falling asleep.
"Yeah, of course," he answers, not too quick, as if he's briefly considered the idea and found it pleasant.
Which is true, of course, as he realises when his brother crawls in the bed, and Al moves over to let him have a little room, without rolling too far away, since it's the whole point of Ed's cover-up. The heavy wool blanket muffles the sounds of two small bodies rearranging on a thick mattress, and for a few moments Al hears nothing except the low sounds of cloth ruffling against cloth, and he feels the warmth of his brother's body under the cover; his head is no longer resting in the nest it had weighed in the middle of the pillow, but has moved, like his body, on the cooler side of the bed.
He stays still, his left side almost against the cold wall, his right side close to his brother's presence, and he idly thinks about taking his brother's hand, but this would involve moving, and fumbling, and Al already knows that Niisan isn't even two inches away, and it might make Ed question what's happening, and he might jerk his hand away and snarl and grumble in deep undertones.
Up until recently, Al didn't know why Niisan would react this way, though he held his breath and respected his older brother's silent wishes, and finally relaxed when Ed's arms went around him. Now, he thinks maybe Ed is, well, embarrassed, and Al feels shame burning his cheeks, as if it's some kind of blasphemy. If Al's uncomfortable thinking that, he reasons with inescapable seven-year old logic, it only makes sense that Niisan would too. He's not sure why, but he vaguely decides it must have something to do with Ed's ideas of how a big boy must act. Maybe Ed thinks a big boy mustn't be afraid of the dark. But Al's younger than him and he's not afraid of the dark.
In any case, he can perfectly wait until Niisan feels bold enough to touch him.
It's just a matter of keeping Niisan from realising how terrified he is that maybe this time Niisan won't need that to be okay.
Finally Ed rolls over and slips his right arm around Al's neck. Al takes a moment to marvel at how the skin feels against his own, focusing on the sensation as if he'd been deprived of touch for five years. Then he moves forward to accommodate his brother, who is now tangling his legs with Al's as if he doesn't want anyone to be able to tell them apart, with an energy that Al knows to be pure stubbornness.
Al easily imagines his brother's dark, grouchy, pouty expression as his own arms close around Ed's smaller body, like a shield between Ed's back and the rest of the room, bringing his brother closer still. Ed has his face buried in the crook of Al's neck, and Al can feel the vibrations of things that could be either whimpers or purring, and he soothingly runs his hand in Ed's hair. It's thicker and coarser than Al's; Mom says it's almost like adult hair.
Al found the word frail in a book a week ago. That's exactly how Ed's body feels, clinging to his own as if he wanted to disappear inside it.
It makes his heart beat faster, but Al likes watching out for Ed like that. He likes that there are things he can protect Ed from.
And, he wouldn't say that during the day, because Ed would laugh at him and call him a girl (unless maybe Winry was here to jump up at that), but he really likes cuddling up with Niisan like that.
Maybe that won't change even if Ed has weird ideas about getting older, and Al smiles in the dark of the room, because, with Ed's even breathing breezing like a caress against his skin, it's hard not to feel optimistic. Maybe he won't need to do anything except keep it on.
Author:
runespoor7Rating: G
Summary: It doesn't bother Al that he has to pretend Ed isn't afraid of the dark so long as Ed keeps on sleeping in Al's bed.
Notes: You know the icon meme that was around about two weeks ago? Alphabetise the characters in your icons and make a pairing out of each couple thus obtained? Yeah, well this is the first ficlet. I'm hoping to be able to do them all, though some clearly want me dead.
Ed's the older one. He's eight now, which means that he's a Big Boy. That's what Mom says, so it means Ed thinks he has to do his best to be a Big Boy, not only because of Mom, but also because of Al.
That's something Al understands though no-one, least of all Ed, said anything about it. He's rather confused as to why it's that, if it's because he needs to reassert his authority as the older one now Al's a little taller than him, or if he feels he needs to set an example or something. Sometimes – like now, curled in his bed, contentedly listening to the quietness of the sleeping house, eyes half-shut in his dark room – Al mulls over the situation, chewing on his lower lip. It's something that's been bothering him for a while, because he's not entirely sure how to react.
And does he need to react at all, he wonders. (Besides using the opportunity to use pretty, complicated words he's picked up in various and sundry texts, like "reassert". Reassert is a great word, Al thinks, because Winry had no idea what it means, and Niisan and him never fail to throw it around three, four times a day when she's with them.)
The door creaks slightly, and soft footsteps enter the room. Al pushes himself on his elbows, less to see who's the intruder than to show that he's awake. Of course, he knows perfectly well what he will find, but he still blinks a few times – the corridor is just as dark as his room, and he tries to make out where his visitor stands.
"Al?" his brother's voice reaches him tentatively.
He almost sighs.
"Yeah," he whispers instead.
Al wishes he could see his brother's face, but he has to settle with imagining the tension leaving his thin frame. He's convinced it's not a stretch by any mean, but he knows better than to say that, he may not be the resident Big Boy but he's never been stupid.
"There's a draught in my room, can I spend the night here?" Ed's words are high-pitched, in that almost forced whisper you use when you're trying to not wake someone up or to hide the squeaks of your voice. So far, Al has dutifully noted that Mom never woke up.
Al almost sighs again. They've run out of candles for their nightlights and the new ones are only arriving tomorrow at the shop, so it's not as if it's unexpected for Ed to come tonight. Actually, Al was more or less waiting for him. He's been distracting himself with random daydreams – well, musings since it's night (snicker again) – to avoid falling asleep.
"Yeah, of course," he answers, not too quick, as if he's briefly considered the idea and found it pleasant.
Which is true, of course, as he realises when his brother crawls in the bed, and Al moves over to let him have a little room, without rolling too far away, since it's the whole point of Ed's cover-up. The heavy wool blanket muffles the sounds of two small bodies rearranging on a thick mattress, and for a few moments Al hears nothing except the low sounds of cloth ruffling against cloth, and he feels the warmth of his brother's body under the cover; his head is no longer resting in the nest it had weighed in the middle of the pillow, but has moved, like his body, on the cooler side of the bed.
He stays still, his left side almost against the cold wall, his right side close to his brother's presence, and he idly thinks about taking his brother's hand, but this would involve moving, and fumbling, and Al already knows that Niisan isn't even two inches away, and it might make Ed question what's happening, and he might jerk his hand away and snarl and grumble in deep undertones.
Up until recently, Al didn't know why Niisan would react this way, though he held his breath and respected his older brother's silent wishes, and finally relaxed when Ed's arms went around him. Now, he thinks maybe Ed is, well, embarrassed, and Al feels shame burning his cheeks, as if it's some kind of blasphemy. If Al's uncomfortable thinking that, he reasons with inescapable seven-year old logic, it only makes sense that Niisan would too. He's not sure why, but he vaguely decides it must have something to do with Ed's ideas of how a big boy must act. Maybe Ed thinks a big boy mustn't be afraid of the dark. But Al's younger than him and he's not afraid of the dark.
In any case, he can perfectly wait until Niisan feels bold enough to touch him.
It's just a matter of keeping Niisan from realising how terrified he is that maybe this time Niisan won't need that to be okay.
Finally Ed rolls over and slips his right arm around Al's neck. Al takes a moment to marvel at how the skin feels against his own, focusing on the sensation as if he'd been deprived of touch for five years. Then he moves forward to accommodate his brother, who is now tangling his legs with Al's as if he doesn't want anyone to be able to tell them apart, with an energy that Al knows to be pure stubbornness.
Al easily imagines his brother's dark, grouchy, pouty expression as his own arms close around Ed's smaller body, like a shield between Ed's back and the rest of the room, bringing his brother closer still. Ed has his face buried in the crook of Al's neck, and Al can feel the vibrations of things that could be either whimpers or purring, and he soothingly runs his hand in Ed's hair. It's thicker and coarser than Al's; Mom says it's almost like adult hair.
Al found the word frail in a book a week ago. That's exactly how Ed's body feels, clinging to his own as if he wanted to disappear inside it.
It makes his heart beat faster, but Al likes watching out for Ed like that. He likes that there are things he can protect Ed from.
And, he wouldn't say that during the day, because Ed would laugh at him and call him a girl (unless maybe Winry was here to jump up at that), but he really likes cuddling up with Niisan like that.
Maybe that won't change even if Ed has weird ideas about getting older, and Al smiles in the dark of the room, because, with Ed's even breathing breezing like a caress against his skin, it's hard not to feel optimistic. Maybe he won't need to do anything except keep it on.
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