Moved

Chapter 2 - Truth or Dare

They sat there in silence, staring at what seemed to be endless piles of books, clothes, art supplies, finished paintings and drawings and other smaller, but equally valuable, objects that Ed seemingly couldn't live without when he was going to move into his dorm room tomorrow. It was the last evening in the room that had been Ed and Al's room the last 13 years since they were adopted into the Rockbell family at the age of only 4 and 5.

They had been pretty lucky, escaping the orphanage so soon and preventing being adopted into separate families, when grandma Pinako had decided to adopt them both, having known them since they were born. If she did it out of pity for the boys, or because she had known their mom before she died, or because Winry needed some family members her own age to overcome her own loss of both her parents, they didn't know. And they didn't feel the need to ask, but both had a feeling of utter gratitude towards the small lady that had taken care of them and given them a stable childhood. They could've ended up in all sorts of unfortunate things, but thanks to her, sometimes strict but always annoyingly better knowing, parental skills, they had grown up in what they assumed to be a good and normal life. Sure they weren't the richest but it was just enough for the four of them, and the boys had always tried their best to help out, taking small jobs as paperboys or washing dishes at restaurants and when Ed got older he started selling his paintings and doing commissions for whoever wanted to pay him for his works.

And now, he was moving out.

It was a weird feeling for everyone in the household, but especially for the two brothers, since they had always been together. But they both knew that this was a rare opportunity for Edward, he had applied and gotten into one of the fine art schools, and he had to move to the dorms of the school, since it was cheaper than travelling back and forth every day. Also because it would mean Ed had to get up very early to catch a train every morning, and they all knew he wouldn't be able to keep that up for 4 years. So this was it.

They both continued their work in silence. It wasn't exactly an uncomfortable silence, but it had a heavy and a bit sad feeling to it. They had continued for an hour or more, the only sound being the muffled voices from the girls and the television next door, when suddenly Ed had had enough of it, getting tired of the, what he saw it as, depressing look on Al's face. He got up, stretched and broke the silence between the two.

''Nnngh.. This should be all for now! If I have forgotten anything I can bring it with me when I visit in a weekend.''

Al looked up at his brother who walked towards him while carefully stepping over the boxes standing in the way. Ed sat down beside him, handing him the bag of potato-chips that was thrown at him earlier; ''Here, take a snack, you've done enough. Now quit sulking.''

''I'm not sulking...''

''Yeah you are, what else is that look for?''

''What look? Okay stop it I'm not sulking, it's just...''

Ed looked at Al questioning until he continued.

''It's just, I hope you'll be okay.'' Still with the questioning look! Al got frustrated as he explained himself further; ''I hope you'll be okay, I mean you'll have to cook for yourself and everything, how do I know you won't end up starving because you forget to go shopping??''

Ed broke into a loud laughter; ''Hahaha! Really?? That's what that look was about? Come on Al, I thought it was something serious, you had me worried!''

''I am serious brother! You forget to eat and take care of yourself if I don't remind you! You kick your blanket off while sleeping and then you catch a cold! I swear sometimes I'm the older one of us!'', Alphonse pouted and began eating the chips in protest. Now he really was sulking. He reminded Ed of a hamster. A really adorable one. Wait what? Ed shook his head, now it was Al's turn to question him.