Midnight Planning [Ed]

[Alphonse Elric]

Alphonse quietly made his way to his brother's room, taking care not to step on any loose floorboards or let any doors creak. The brothers had decided: Winry couldn't find out about this. If she did, she might try to stop them, and neither of them really wanted that. Still, that didn't mean that Alphonse wanted to hide things from her; he knew that if she found out, she'd probably be hurt (and hurt them), and he really didn't want that. He could see why she wouldn't want them to go; after all, they'd only been in Risembool a year, but Ed was getting restless, and, Alphonse had to admit, so was he.

Slowly, he opened the door to Ed's room and slipped inside. His brother was already planning, from the looks of it. Alphonse stifled a yawn, wishing, not for the first time, that the two of them could plan this during the day. His body still needed more sleep than a normal person, and these midnight sessions were taking a toll on him. He wouldn't be surprised if Winry thought he were getting sick.

Alphonse cleared his throat to make his brother aware of his presence. "Hey, Ed."

[/color] he greeted. "Have you planned anything else out yet?"[/color] He knew that sometimes his brother had ideas, and, Alphonse had to admit, they usually weren't bad at all.[/font]
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[Edward Elric]

Edward startled a bit as Alphonse coughed, but relaxed at the sight of his younger brother. He motioned for him to close the door behind him, not missing the yawn Al stifled. Ed frowned. He knew it wasn't good for Al to be up this late, his body wasn't fully adjusted yet, but there was no other time that they could meet if they didn't want to let Winry know.

"Nah," he said, stretching his arms behind him. He had far less of a problem with late nights, having grown accustomed to them over the years. "Thought of a couple countries I'd especially like to go to, did some research on when the best times to cross the desert are, that kinda stuff. You?"

[Alphonse Elric]

Alphonse shrugged. "I haven't really thought that much about it, but...."

[/color] he trailed off. It was fairly obvious that he'd been thinking about something, and so he sighed. There was no use trying to hide anything from Ed. "I was considering going to Xing. That way, you wouldn't have to cross the desert with your automail. I think it'd make more sense for me to go Xing, anyway, since Mei, er..." It was no secret that Mei preferred Alphonse to Edward; she'd made it painfully obvious, after all.

Alphonse stifled another yawn and sat down near his brother. "So... where were you thinking about going?" He wouldn't complain if Ed wanted to go to Xing; he was sure that if Ed went instead, Ling would find him someone to teach about alkahestry. With that thought, Alphonse came to a realisation. "Hey, Ed? What are we going to do if we go somewhere and we can't find someone who's willing to teach us about their alchemy?"[/color] It was possible, after all. Despite the recent reformation efforts, Al knew very well that not everyone loved Amestris or its people.[/b][/font]
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[Edward Elric]

Ed snorted. "Yeah, yeah, I get it," he said, waving Al off. "You like panda-girl and panda-girl likes you. 'sides, crossing halfway through the desert was enough for me. It's goddamn hot."

He looked up concernedly when Alphonse let out another yawn, though. "Al, you're tired...you sure you're okay being up this late? It's not good for you." He leaned back in his chair, stealing the occasional worried glance towards his only sibling. "Not sure yet. I want to see the world, but at the same time I don't want to get too far away...especially now..." he trailed off, a light blush forming on his cheeks as he directed his gaze firmly towards the lamp, seemingly finding it very interesting.

"Everyone loves you, Al," he added a few moments later, moving his gaze to address his brother."Don't sweat it."

[Alphonse Elric]

Alphonse rolled his eyes. "Of course I like her..."

[/color] The truth was that he wasn't entirely sure how he felt about Mei. He liked her, sure, but he wasn't sure to what extent that went - not to mention the fact that for most of the time he'd spent with her, he'd been a soul attached to a suit of armour, and, therefore... hadn't quite... well, he hadn't had a physical body, especially not one of a teenage boy.

Alphonse started. He should have realised that trying to hide his fatigue from his brother wouldn't work. "I'm fine, don't worry about it. It's not like I'm not sleeping in to make up for it." It was the truth. He wasn't going to risk ruining his health; he didn't want to worry Ed any more than he already was (or Winry or Granny, for that matter). At his brother's words, a sly grin formed upon Alphonse's face. "You know, everyone but Winry herself can see that you love her."[/color] It wasn't that he enjoyed making Ed uncomfortable, but he couldn't deny that it was incredibly amusing to see he and Winry around each other lately. He made a note to make sure that Ed at least confessed to Winry before they left.

Al rolled his eyes. "What I meant is that we're Amestrian, and a lot of people are still bitter about how Amestris has acted in the past."[/color] Of course, it was true that Führer Grumman and Brigadier-General Mustang were doing their best to reform the country, but that didn't mean that other countries had forgotten what Amestris had done "I mean... I know that Xing won't be a problem, but we don't exactly know anyone in the west..."[/color] He certainly didn't want Ed to have to turn back because the other countries distrusted Amestrians.[/b]

_{note: okay, fuck the italicising names. it takes too much time and looks weird.}[/color][/font][/blockquote]