Precious Time

by ChirpingChorus

Summary:

Izumi has picked a terrible day to send Al and Ed to wait in line for an exhibit of famous paintings. It's a useless errand, and there's no way it'll teach them anything, and Ed really wishes he were doing anything else. Still, the brothers make their own fun as they wait in line... And Ed ends up having a nice day, after all.

Written for @codyis-not-cool during @rene-of-the-blackouts's gift exchange for the Tumblr FMA community!

11:42

Ed examined the mass of people crowding the streets for about two seconds before kicking the ground. And kicking it again. “I thought we were only going to train for real now. What could this have to do with alchemy?”

“I’m sure Sensei sent us here for a reason,” said Al.

“Why? What interest would she have in some art gallery?”

“No, not a personal reason. A lesson to teach us. Yok Island taught us lots of important things!”

“Yeah, I remember. I just don’t think there’s any lesson to be learnt here. And I don’t understand why anyone could need this errand done for them, much less her. Tell her about paintings… She’s making us do a worse version of those book reports from school.” He looked down. “And today, too… It’s so cold out.”

The choice in day was inconvenient for more reasons than the temperature, of course, but Ed saw no reason to bring that up when Al knew just as well.

“Come on,” said Ed, “let’s get in line. If we get out of the exhibit early enough, we can go back and be done before evening.” Ed scanned the crowd, but couldn’t see where exactly the start of the line was. “Where’s the tail of the line?”

“Um… I think it was a few blocks back.”

Ed grumbled. “Of course. Let’s go.”

12:10

“It’s been forever since we got in line and we’ve just been standing here. Do you think it’s noon yet, Al?”

“Well… I can’t tell.”

“We should have brought a watch.”

“That wouldn’t make the time pass by any quicker, you know.”

Ed sat down to face Al. “Let’s play a game.”

“Brother, you know Sensei won’t be happy if she has to clean those pants again.”

Ed scoffed. “She’ll be fine. Let’s play… I Spy.”

Al thought for a moment, then smiled. “I spy someone who’s going to learn how to do his own laundry this evening.”

Ed grumbled. “I spy someone who’s going to do it for me.”

“Why?”

Ed saw Al realize why before he could respond, but he responded anyway.

“It’s the least you could do for me today.”

Al looked away with a smile, then said, “I know…”

Ed knew Al had no control over what Izumi had told them to do that day, so he didn’t guilt him any further. Still, he’d be lying if he said he wasn’t upset. (And why in the world would any of this make him smile?)

12:38

Ed made a show of thinking deeply, tapping his finger on his temple more times than he could count.

“I spy,” he announced, “something that’s not moving.”

“Come on, be original! That’s the third time you’ve said–” Al gasped and pointed ahead.

Ed got up and turned around. The line was shifting. He never thought he’d see the day.

“Fine,” Ed said. “I spy something that’s moving.”

Al frowned. “Let’s play a different game.”

 

13:02

“Okay, Al, I’ll keep better track this time. Promise.”

Al took in a deep breath and exhaled, then breathed in again and said, as fast he could:

“Hydrogen, helium, lithium, beryllium, boron, carbon…”

13:03

“Radium, actinium, thorium AND uranium.” Al panted for a moment before looking to Ed. “How’d I do?”

Ed shook his head a single time. “I was faster by a lot. At least ten seconds.”

“No, we’ll both do it again! I’ll count!”

13:05

“Radium, actinium, thorium and uranium.” Al breathed in deeply, then asked, “Was that better?”

“Well… I have to admit you were much faster than me that time. But let’s stop this game; your face is red.”

Al’s eyes widened. “You don’t want a rematch?”

“No, ‘cause I’ll do better than you, and then you’ll make yourself pass out trying to do even better.”

“Whatever.”

“Let’s do something else…” Ed looked around until he spotted someone a few heads behind. “Al, do you see that tall lady with the green purse?”

Reluctantly, Al turned around. “What about her?” He asked in a slight whisper.

Ed crossed his arms and grinned. “What do you think she does in her free time?”

Al winced. “Brother… Gossipping about people so close to us really isn’t a good idea.”

“Psssh.” Ed rolled his eyes. “It’s not gossipping if we don’t think it’s true. And we won’t tell anyone else, either.”

“Can’t she hear us?”

“Maybe she can, but she won’t be listening to us. Let’s give her a name first…”

13:57

“And every night,” said Ed in a hushed tone that may have been more suitable for a horror story, “Amanda wonders if Tery knows how guilty she ought to feel.”

“And now they’re both here!” Al’s eyes lit up.

Ed shook his head. “But she’d never confront someone like that.”

“Why not?”

“Not in public. She’s hiding from the press, remember?”

Al looked to the side. “Yeah… You’re right. Have we written ourselves into a corner?”

“What? No! I’ll think of something. Just trust me. Maybe if we just go back…”

14:11

Ed couldn’t think of something. He spent a good while denying this before conceding to play a different game.

14:29

“Come on, Al, hurry up!”

“Okay, okay. Would you rather… Not be able to use alchemy–”

“Oh, that’s easy!”

Al put his hands on his hips. “I didn’t finish!”

“You don’t have to finish.” Ed crossed his arms. “I’ll just pick the other option.”

“But–”

“That’s the whole reason we’re waiting in line in the first place, Al. Why we’re training as intensely as we are.”

Ed clenched his fists. “Nothing but alchemy can help us with what we want to do.”

14:30

…

15:01

“Alright, Al, you have to tell me first. Living or non-living?”

“Living.”

Ed smirked. “Is it a cat?”

Al frowned. “You can’t just ask that right away!”

“Why not? Is there a rule against winning too quickly?”

“Well…” Al shifted to the side and examined the line ahead. They were much closer to the front, and could actually see the museum. “If you took a bit longer, it would’ve given us more to do.”

Ed groaned. “How much longer could we have to wait?”

Al glanced up at the sun, then back down. “Actually… It seems like it’s about three.”

Ed tilted his head and raised an eyebrow. “So?”

“Well…” Al pursed his lips. “Now that I think about it, we might as well just keep waiting.”

“What do you mean? Of course we have to keep waiting! Sensei will be on our case for months if we don’t.”

“Right,” said Al. Ed got the feeling Al was trying to stifle some sort of emotion, but what exactly that feeling was, he couldn’t tell.

15:20

After almost four hours of waiting, according to Al’s estimates, they were finally at the entrance of the museum. A red carpet stretched out from the bottom of Ed’s feet to thegate, continuing all across the rest of the path indoors he could see.

“They sure are making a big show out of all this. It better be worth all this time.”

“I know it’ll be!” Al smiled, something glimmering in his eyes. “Sensei knows what she’s doing.”

15:36

Ed left from the exit in a huff. “That was even more of a time-waster than I thought it’d be! Isn’t art supposed to be beautiful?”

Al followed behind, then caught up to Ed’s side. “Let’s just get back to the station, okay? Sig’s been waiting for a while.”

“Yeah… I doubt any of this was his idea. Let’s not inconvenience him.”

15:51

After the three had settled in their seats, Ed started thinking out loud. “Man, I can’t wait to find out what the lesson behind all this was supposed to be. I’m never gonna hear the end of it if I can’t think of anything good to say about these lousy paintings…”

Neither Sig nor Al responded, but they looked at each other. It was almost like they were talking with their eyes or their minds–Ed could see little shifts in their countenances, but he couldn’t grasp the overall meaning.

Whatever, he thought. Less time talking meant more time to think about some message he could glean from those paintings.

16:25

As the three walked home, Ed noticed they were lagging behind him. He stopped walking for a moment, and so did they.

“Why did you stop?” Asked Ed.

Al blinked. “Why did you stop?”

Ed realized in this moment that there wasn’t any reason to stop other than to test Al and Sig. “I was just thinking.”

“So were we,” said Al defensively.

“Well, it’s good to know we’re all exercising our brains.” He started walking again. (Why did this day have to be so weird?)

16:25

Ed opened the door to Izumi’s house, but something was different–there was just a single lamp on in another room, and Ed couldn’t see any figures in the dark. He stepped in slowly, looking around once he was fully inside.

He walked a few steps, not questioning what was going on or why–mostly because he was busy trying to remember where all the fancy things he wasn’t supposed to bump into were. Then, Ed noticed nothing new–a smell, or several smells. He ran into the kitchen, barely picking up on the fact that Al and Sig started running right behind him almost as soon as he did.

Suddenly, a flame wooshed out on the table, illuminating a smiling Izumi and the white layered cake below her, as well as Mason, sporting an even larger grin.

Ed beamed and pretended his eyes were completely dry. (Not that they would notice with this little light, but… Still.) “You… How?”

“Al told us,” said Izumi.

“You two have been working so hard for these past few months!” Mason said, still smiling, as he walked around and turned the lights back on. “We know it’s technically just Ed’s birthday, but we wanted to do something to reward both of you before you’re done with training.”

Al gasped. “Is that soup?”

“I needed you to leave for a while so we could make that complicated cake,” said Izumi. “But that meant you wouldn’t have lunch. So Mason and I had to make enough food to really satisfy you both after all that waiting.”

“And Al knew all along, too? He’s terrible at keeping secrets!”

Al laughed. “You mean you couldn’t tell?”

“Well…” Ed paused. “I could tell something was off. But I couldn’t tell what exactly it was, ‘cause you never blurted it out like you usually do.”

Al ignored him and eyed the soup. “Let’s eat!”

The brothers sat down and began their meals. They ate in blissful silence for a moment or two before Mason asked, “How was the exhibit? I hear the painter who made those pieces is the best in all of Amestris.”

Ed did his best not to laugh out his soup. “For the sake of our country’s artistic future, let’s hope that’s not the case.”

Sig frowned. “You didn’t like it?”

“Wait.” Ed squinted. “Was making us go to the gallery to kill time your idea?”

Sig shrugged. “I hoped you would appreciate it… I’ve seen all those works before, but that painter’s one of my favorites.”

“Well, I wouldn’t have anything nice to say about him… Maybe ask Al what he thought.”

Al, of course, was still busy enjoying his meal.

Mason sighed. “I guess we should’ve thought of something for you two to do that would be a little less annoying. And on your birthday, too!”

Ed thought for a moment. “Nah, it’s fine. Besides, Al and I had fun.” He looked to his brother, who was finally starting the cake. Ed was always glad to see someone he cared about so happy.

“Any time I can spend with him–and you all, too–that’s something I treasure no matter if it’s my birthday or not.”

Notes:

Now I know how many elements were in the periodic table circa 1909! I imagine things were different in the FMA world, but I tried to stick close to what we knew.

If you enjoyed, please leave a comment! Have a wonderful day and thank you so much for reading! :)