Chapter Text
Al managed to stop crying in time to say goodbye to his foster family and talk to Roy and Riza, but he didn’t manage much more than a choked introduction. They seemed nice enough, like they understood, and he was grateful.
Al was always the lucky one, the one who got the nice homes while Ed had to live with awful people who hurt him. Al had felt so helpless, but now it seemed like they both were lucky. Finally, after all this time, they could live together. And Al didn’t know what else to do but cry.
He played Animal Crossing Pocket Camp on the way home, leaning across the median and showing his campsite to Ed, who seemed perfectly content to listen as Al explained his setup and introduced him to all his favorite villagers. He quickly moved onto Neko Atsume (or “that cat game”, as Ed called it), and Ed had just finished redecorating his yard as they pulled into the driveway.
Al held his hand as they walked into the house, Roy carrying his duffel while Riza unlocked the front door. Their dog, (Ed introduced him as Black Hataye) immediately jumped on Al, despite Riza’s calls of “down”. Al grinned as he sat down to pet him. He got to live with a dog? Black Hayate licked Al’s face as Al stroked his fur.
“You’ll be sharing a room with your brother,” Roy called over Black Hayate’s joyful barks. “I hope that’s alright.”
Of course that was alright! But before he could say anything, Ed spoke up, looking down at Al with a bright expression. “It’s a bunk bed, Al,” he said, and Al stared up at him with wide eyes. He scrambled to his feet.
“Who gets top?” he asked, running after Ed as he sprinted towards their room.
“You do, dummy!” Ed called, throwing open the door to their room.
Oh. Right. That made sense. Black Hayate ran alongside them playfully and Al scrambled up to the top bunk. They had always wanted bunk beds. He swung his head down to look at the lower bunk.
“We can make forts!”
“Yeah!” Ed called, helping Roy with Al’s bags. “Do you have any homework left?”
“Nope! Finished it all,” he said cheerfully. Ed smiled at him and Al felt like he would melt from the warmth of his pride.
“Are you hungry?” Roy asked, and Al stared at him for a long moment before nervously shaking his head. He noticed that Roy and his brother were starting to unpack his clothes, so he climbed down to help.
“Well, I know you are,” Roy said, looking over at Ed. “I think we’ve got some mac n’cheese. Sound alright to you?”
Ed nodded, grabbing Al’s hand as he shuffled over to him. “Yep, sounds great,” he replied.
Roy left the room, and Al looked over at Ed.
“Don’t worry, he’s nice,” Ed assured quickly, continuing to unpack Al’s suitcase. “Mom’s nice too.”
“Why did they do this?” Al asked, looking over at him with a shocked expression. “He’s your teacher, right? Why are they helping?”
“I don’t know,” Ed admitted, but he was grinning. His nose was taped and his face was bruised, but he looked happier than Al had seen him in years. “But I’m not gonna ask questions. This’ll be the last house, Al, I promise. I won’t let them move you again.”
Al shook his head in response. “I don’t care where we are, brother,” he replied. “As long as we’re together.” He couldn’t do this anymore. Living without Ed, having no one who understood the anxiety that settled in his stomach and filled him up with bad feelings, no one to sit with him and tell him stories to distract him. There was only so much Ed could do over the phone, and Al wanted him here. Together, they could keep each other safe.
Ed sighed, looking up at Al with a weary, content expression. “I know,” he replied, and he seemed almost sad about it. “I feel the same way.”
Roy called Ed out for dinner and Al followed, anxious to remain at his side. Ed curled up on the sofa as he ate his mac n’ cheese, and Al snuggled against him, half watching the Harry Potter marathon Roy had flipped to.
Box mac n’ cheese, Harry Potter, and a stranger. It was the happiest night of Al’s life.
Ed and Roy are sitting on the living room floor folding laundry. Riza’s at work and Al’s at a friend’s house, because Al has friends. House Hunters or something is on, and every now and then, Ed will pay attention to it. It’s the middle of summer and Roy has a tutoring appointment in an hour. He goes to several a day, because either money’s tighter than Ed realizes or he has a secret gambling addiction. Who’s to say.
Ed’s folding a pair of Al’s pajama pants and all he can feel is a tragic sort of anger, because this is perfect. Everything, from the rattling of the ceiling fan, to the slumped form of Black Hayate, to the stupid jangly commercial music, it’s all absolutely perfect, and Ed has no idea how long any of it is going to last. He’s asked before, but Roy and Riza wiggle out of the question every time, and he knows it’s a lot to ask someone but they aren’t being fair. Can’t they have the decency to just say no?
Mustang throws a pair of boxers at him, his own boxers, and Ed catches them and moves to fold them without teasing him (not even a little bit) because this is all perfectly normal. House Hunters comes on, some couple from Texas moving to Florida to be closer to the beach or whatever and as their “must-haves” list flashes onto the screen Ed realizes he can’t take it anymore.
“I know you don’t want to talk about it, but I need to know if you’re keeping Al or not.”
There’s no noise but the ceiling fan and the husband explaining why he wants a man cave. Mustang looks over at him, and Ed looks right back, not balking for a second. Finally, Mustang looks away, burying his face in his hands. Ed can’t tell if he’s laughing or crying.
“What?” Ed snaps, because now he feels stupid and he hates it. “What is it?”
“Ed,” Mustang sighs into his hands. Finally, he looks up at him again. “Have you really been worrying about this?”
Ed looks away, suddenly bright red. “Maybe,” he mutters.
“Well,” Mustang continues with a low huff of disappointment. “We were going to tell both of you at Disney World, but we’ve already filed the adoption paperwork. Of course we’re keeping you, Ed. Do you think we went through all that to let you go back into the system?”
Ed doesn’t know what to say. The House Hunter couple is touring an oceanfront home with three bedrooms and two baths in the background. They’re talking about their stupid list for the fourth time. The ceiling fan is rattling like it’s about to fall off, and maybe it is, but all Ed can think right now is that he’s a colossal idiot.
“Come here,” Mustang says, opening up his arms, and Ed crawls over the folded laundry and into his now-father’s lap, and lets himself be pulled into an embrace tight enough to crack ribs. He doesn’t realize he’s crying until he feels the tears soak into Mustang’s shirt.
“Can we still go to Disney World?” he sniffs, and Mustang laughs.
“I didn’t work all summer for nothing,” he replies. “We were worried you might say it’s for babies, or something. I have all these rollercoaster videos bookmarked.”
“No, it’s cool. I wanna go. But don’t tell Al,” he mutters, burying his face in Mustang’s shirt. “I want Mickey Mouse to tell Al. He’ll start crying. It’ll be great. That was a good idea.”
“I’m glad,” Mustang says, and Ed clutches him tight, and then there wasn’t much left to say at all.