Fullmetal Alchemist: Red Carpet

[jordannamorgan]

Title: Red Carpet
Author: jordannamorgan
Archive Rights: Please request the author’s consent.
Rating/Warnings: G.
Characters: Mainly Ed, with contemplations on Al.
Setting: General.
Summary: Prejudice must be an awful lot of work.
Disclaimer: They belong to Hiromu Arakawa. I’m just playing with them.
Notes: Just a little something based on the prompt word comfort, via fma_fic_contest.



Sometimes, I’d like to enjoy something nice for a change.

Take that restaurant on the corner, with the chandeliers and the red carpet. I’d like to go to a place like that, just once. Just to see what it’s like. Maybe like playing dress-up… or make-believe. Pretending I could be that normal, just for one night.

But Al wouldn’t come. I’ll bet they wouldn’t let his ironclad carcass through the door; and even if they did, he’d be too uncomfortable, too self-conscious to stand it.

And because he can’t go… neither can I. It’s my fault he can’t even pretend to be normal—and I could never enjoy the pleasures I’ve caused him to miss.

It’s not fair, I think, just for a moment.

But as we walk past, the well-dressed people by the front doors stare at Al. Some even take a few steps back from the sidewalk.

And suddenly, I realize—

They’re the ones who are never comfortable.

People like that spend their lives picking and choosing who’s good enough to be near them, for all the wrong reasons. They could never see Al for who he is… and if they’re missing out on a guy like him, I wonder how much else they’ve pushed away.

Prejudice must be an awful lot of work.

They can have their chandeliers and red carpets. Starlight and winding roads are enough for me, as long as Al is there.

My brother is beside me—and that’s all the comfort I need.

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2010 Jordanna Morgan