[Closed]

[alchemyfreak]

who: Alphonse & Edward Elric
what: Ed surprises Al with his birthday gift
when: The night of Al's birthday, after the party.
where: The General Store
warnings: Boring remodeling?


After their conversation the night of the masquerade Ed’s idea of doing something for his brother was much quieter than a party involving all of their friends. The night before the Elrics had gone to the General Store to work out the set up and layout, considering the first night they’d tried that hadn’t accomplished much at all in regards to the shop. It wasn’t meant to be part of Al’s present, even if he thought it had been, it was just an excuse to keep him off of the floor while the party was arranged. Slipping out early to finish getting set up was easy enough once Edward found a task to occupy his brother with in his absence. When they were ready he’d just called him and told him to come back to the communal building, because they could finish up that night.

Which is exactly what they were doing now. After some work Ed had managed to get his hands on the property next door in order to convert it into an apartment space for them, but that sort of work wasn’t going to be done in a night either. They’d still have to get furniture and really set it up for it to be a space to live in. For now it was a functioning kitchen and bathroom attached to the General Store which was really all they needed right away. The General Store itself had several places to sleep with a cot, sofa and bed added to the back office and storage room upstairs. Now that they were back, Ed focused on getting a door between the storage room upstairs and the bedroom of the building next door to make things easier before anything else.

He hadn’t mentioned Al’s present since they left the communal building, but Ed made sure to bring it along so Al could get a chance to meet the new addition in private, away from the commotion of roommates or party goers. Once he was done he moved through the building to find his brother, really there was no way they’d get everything done in one night. Ed had sort of expected this to be more of a long term project, even before remodeling an apartment was added to the list of things they had to do to set up. “I think it’s time for a break, I’m going to grab a drink, want one?”

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[alkahestic]

The party had been one of the best nights of Al's life. He felt complete knowing that he had friends and Ed who cared about him enough to put on such a party. But most of all, he was grateful to his brother. His wonderful amazing brother who wasn't much of a party person, but had helped Jason put together the surprise anyway. And after the previous night, Al was sure that had been Ed's gift. So he wasn't expecting anything tonight except a bit of snuggling with his brother.

Converting the new space as a place to live in took some time and Al was never one to shirk away from hard work. By the time they paused to take a break, Al was a bit sweaty, wiping sweat from his brow as he stood up and brushed himself off. He gave Ed a smile, nodding as he rounded the counter. He was thirsty, likely as much as Ed and he released a slow breath. "Sure, Brother. I'll just finish cleaning up here and then wait for you."

[alchemyfreak]

Of course Al had figured the night before was his gift, or at least part of it, that was the cover up as Ed intended. He was right that Ed was hardly the type to enjoy a party of that nature, especially after years in Purg where that sort of thing just never happened. It was a weird place to be mentally, some of the most casual snacks in the Quarantine where rare expensive items or completely unheard of in Purg so a party of that nature was almost excessive to think about from his position. Not that it mattered, if things had been different there he would have done the same thing - or at least as close to it as he could have with the resources available. They were just generally too busy dealing with trying to stay alive to even consider something like that.

“Just leave it, Al. We’ll get back it later. I put some stuff in the fridge earlier, so something in there should be cool by now. Besides, you want your gift before midnight, right? It doesn’t make sense to give it to you after your birthday. I left it in the kitchen.” Specifically for the purpose of dragging Al away from whatever task he was in the middle of to take a break, actually. There was no sense making such a major project out of tonight when Ed had other ideas, this was supposed to be about them this time, not the store. That’s what last night’s focus was about.

[alkahestic]

Not knowing what was going on his brother's head, not fully aware of what life had been like in Purg for Ed, Al wasn't cognizant of just how much effort and how extravagant the party had been compared to what Ed had been used to for so long. The only realization he came to was that his brother really cared for him, enough to get their friends involved, and that had spoken volumes for Al. After all, birthdays had been a luxury forgotten by him while on the road, searching for his brother. He just hadn't cared when he had memories missing and memories of another boy mixed up in his head.

Now that he had a semblance of a home and was reunited with his brother, it seemed the perfect opportunity to revel in something he before hadn't put much thought to. Which made him all the more eager to see what Ed had set aside for him.

"All right, Brother. Lead the way and let's see it," he said, giddy enough to be bouncing on his feet a little. "I can hardly wait!"

[alchemyfreak]

Even if he wouldn't admit it, Ed preferred it that way. He didn't want Al to think of any of it as a big deal, he didn't want his brother to know about the life he hadn't had to live there. If he thought all of this was normal, should be normal, that was enough for Edward when they'd spent so many birthdays on the road and not really thinking about it before now. For whatever reasons they each had not to think about birthdays over the years.

When Alphonse expressed that he could hardly wait Ed only grinned in return before leading the way to the gutted restaurant that would eventually be a functioning apartment for them. The sound of scuffling from behind the counter was probably a give away that Al's present was an animal before he even saw it, but Ed only tilted his head in indication that his brother should step behind the counter to investigate for himself. Two Pokeballs sat in a shallow tray to keep them from rolling away, and once he stepped past it he would find the Eevee and Vulpix playing with each other.

Ed moved to the fridge without even acknowledging them as they tumbled around on the floor, grabbing drinks for both of them as promised before speaking. "The plan was to get one, but they both seemed bent on following us home. I thought I'd leave it up to you which one you want." For all he cared his brother could have both of them and things would be no different, he imagined Al would be the one paying them the most attention anyway.

[alkahestic]

As they entered the former restaurant, the noise became even more and more noticeable. It made Al's eyes widen in surprise. Clearly, it was some kind of animal, but Ed had always been so adamant about not keeping pets. Al had figured the same would be true here in Quarantine where no one knew when a person could disappear back to their world. Coupled with Ed's paranoia, Al never even considered a pet would be a possibility. But the closer he got, the more apparent it became that Ed had indeed brought Al a pet for a gift. And not just any kind of pet, at that.

Al's eyes drifted over the counter, noting the two pokeballs. He was familiar with them if only because he'd seen Ed's pokeball for his other pokemon. But these were different and Al drew closer still, peering around the counter to where the noise was coming from.

As soon as he saw the two creatures playing together, Al couldn't help but let out a noise of glee, hands clapping together. "They're so cute, Brother! How could I possibly pick just one?"

Eagerly, Al bent over, pulling off a glove and reaching out to let both pokemon sniff at him. They were both such beautiful creatures that Al knew he would struggle to choose. At least they were keeping both, it seemed.

"How do I take care of them?" he asked, unsure how one went about caring for such strange but lovely creatures.

[alchemyfreak]

He smirked at the question, repressing the urge to roll his eyes. "Then don't, I don't care. They have a mind of their own anyway, you might not get a choice." He remembered more than one person in Purg not being happy about finding themselves 'adopted' by their new addition, and although he wasn't concerned either way in his position there had been plenty of loud complaints over the network when these things showed up all at once. Setting one of the drinks down for Al, he opened his own and watched as both of them approached Alphonse curiously. Ed was already taking a sip of his drink when the next question was asked, eyebrows raising curiously.

"Good question," Before Riverview he hadn't had to actually think about taking care of them, his had always done its own thing and he'd been perfectly fine with that. Of course, before Riverview he'd never really considered the Milotic his either. "They ate just about anything we did in Purg, there weren't really a lot of options for pet food there. At least here we can probably look up their ideal diet or something. If this place can supply food for Garrus, it shouldn't be too hard to figure out."

After a pause, as if considering whether or not to add the rest, "They'll probably need some training too. They're not just pets, they're bred for battling, with more than one around they'll probably fight each other whether you want them to or not." If he'd thought about it before, he probably should have found some reading material on the subject, but they could always look into it now that Al had them.

[alkahestic]

Nodding, Al made sure to listen carefully to everything his brother told him. After all, Ed knew more about these strange and wonderful creatures than he did, having prior knowledge. It was useful, Al thought, and he felt a well of joy rise up inside him that Ed had thought to give him such a gift. He wanted to throw his arms around Edward in a hug, but refrained only because his brother was still sipping at his drink.

"I don't think I'm going to train them to battle. That seems a little cruel. I just want them to feel loved," he replied, giving his brother a bright grin. The eevee was apparently inspecting his boots and Al laughed softly, rubbing behind its ears before looking back up at Ed. "We'll have to come up with names for them, of course."

[alchemyfreak]

"It's not cruel, it's what they do. If you don't work with them they might burn the place down." Ed watched curiously as the Eevee went about getting to know his brother, considering his words for a moment before speaking again. He knew Al had no idea what they were capable of, but he'd learn soon enough that a certain adorable little fox had the ability to breathe fire.

"It's like sparring, you want them to be smart and happy, right? That's what makes them happy. They're not cats, they like to train. If you're not training them they will do it themselves, I'd rather not take that risk." He wasn't completely sure of that, but he had read some things. If they chose to fight each other because Al left it up to them he wasn't sure what would happen, he'd never had to deal with more than one before.