Leave A Scar (Fullmetal Alchemist)

Capturing It

I kept my face turned to the side, staring at the same spot as before. The corner of the window, where the frame met the beginning of the curtains.

"Is this good?" I asked, my eyes looking in Ed's direction.

"Yeah, good enough, I guess." The alchemist grumbled. I smiled, and instantly heard his voice again. "Yeah, stay like that!"

I held my confusion away from my face, continuing to keep the same smile. I hoped this wouldn't take him very long. I could hear his pen making small strokes against the paper. The sound was almost comforting...

Al giggled a little from his spot on the kitchen's bar stool. To my surprise, Ed ignored him, continuing to focus. I wish I could see his face, or respond to Al... I could only keep staring at this one side of the room, this corner of the window... The darkness visible from the window wasn't really helping. Memories started flashing, a tightness slowly constricting my chest. I tried to breathe, and soon enough the smile dropped from my face.

The movements of Ed's pen stopped.

"Something wrong?" he asked me softly.

I did the worst thing a model could do; I broke my position, looking down. "Um, yeah." I tried to smile at him. "Can we take a break for a few minutes? My neck is getting a little sore."

Ed nodded. "Sure."

I tried to smile again in response, the expression faltering almost immediately. "Sorry." I raised a hand to the back of my head, smiling at my own foolishness this time.

"Don't worry about it." Ed told me. He looked away, stare going to the coffee table between us. We were separated between the table lengthwise; him sitting on an arm chair and myself taking up a small part of the loveseat.

"There's a menu for room service." Ed continued, bringing my stare to the piece of paper on the table. "If you're hungry."

"Oh, no." The words were automatic, conflicting the ache in my stomach. "I couldn't intrude like that!" My stomach, however, had to speak for itself; it growled loudly, the sound spiraling down and leaving me embarrassed.

Ed just grinned. "Dinner's on me then!"

I looked up from my bowl of noodles, stare traveling to Al, who was still sitting by the kitchen.

"Aren't you going to have something to eat, Al?" I asked him. "There's so much food here..."

"Oh, no!" Al held up one of the hands that was in his lap. "I can't eat, actually! I'm doing some very intense Alchemy training. Fasting's part of it!"

I vaguely caught the alarm in Ed's face drop away. He turned back to the chicken thigh in his hand, ripping a part of it into his mouth. I looked back down to my ramen, pushing the noodles around with my chopsticks. I laughed for a moment, pinching the sticks together and apart. "These things sure are strange! I read this is a dish that came from Xing."

"Yeah," Ed replied, leaning back, "Somewhere from the East side."

"I've always been fascinated with that country." My sticks picked up a few noodles, holding them away from the broth they were in. "Always wanted to go."

I looked up from my bowl, noticing Ed giving me that smile again. The small one I couldn't read... He looked down, eyes closing for a moment as he tossed the now meatless chicken wing. The bone landed on top of all the other ones he had stripped bare.

"Let me know when you're done eating." he said, putting his head back and keeping his feet on the coffee table. He relaxed a bit deeper into the chair, getting comfortable. "I'll finish that drawing..."