Chapter Text
“and I'm longing,
for words to describe how I'm feeling
I'm feeling inspired,
my world just flip turned upside down.”
– secondhand serenade.
The hours between six o'clock to eight o'clock are always awfully quiet for Ling.
He usually sits in his room, idly texting Ed on his Xing phone about nothing and everything – school, sports, missed homework, and, most often, girls. Lan Fan and Winry in particular, actually. Except it's more of Ling talking to Ed about Lan Fan than Ed talking about Winry.
Ed has had a crush on Winry for as long as Ling can remember – he has a feeling that it started in middle school, but he isn't sure. Ling knows that Ed likes to hide his feelings, but the furious blushing and the way he talks about her is obvious enough proof that he likes her.
Ed doesn't like talking about it as much as he likes talking about alchemy, though.
Ling isn't sure why Ed is so obsessed with the science – if it can be considered a science. Alchemy is more of a … a magic, but the Elrics have a strange and dusty library in their house, and the entire room is filled with books on alchemy, and each of them is coated in thick layers of dust from being untouched so long until Ed discovered them in his father's study. Ling doesn't know much about it, though, usually because he doesn't listen to Ed when he talks about it.
Ling sets his Xing phone down beside him and rubs his forehead. He's had enough with the alchemy talk, and would literally talk about anything else other than alchemy, especially considering that his mind has been buzzing with thoughts of Lan Fan.
Another ping is heard and Ling sighs and checks his phone for Ed's text.
ED: ok enough already about the alchemy talk [seen 6:23 pm]
Is Ed a mind reader ? Ling asks himself, utterly confused to whether this is a coincidence or not. Is this what alchemy is about? Mind-reading? Maybe Ed has some sort of psychic powers.
ED : youre going with lan fan to the winter formal!! [seen 7:23 pm]
ED : are you at least a bit excited?? [seen 7:23 pm]
Yes, he's excited – but he's not really sure how to feel about her. She's his best friend and he turns to her whenever he's afraid or worried about anything and she's loyal and brave and she's great, she really is. But he can't love her. He can't possibly love her – he has close to no experience on love or whatever it is.
Maybe it's just a slight crush. Or maybe he's simply excited that he will actually be able to spend time with her and it isn't work.
Ling immediately begins to type up a reply on the touchscreen.
LING : Well, Lan Fan's my best friend so I suppose. [seen 7:23 pm]
ED: seriously man?? JUST your best friend? [seen 7:23 pm]
ED: ive seen her look at you [seen 7:23 pm]
ED: she likes you, man [seen 7:23 pm]
ED: and im betting that you like her back [seen 7:23 pm]
Admittedly, Ling begins to blush, and he's more than determined to change the subject before he starts raving about him and Lan Fan.
LING: Ah, well, I guess that's … correct. [seen 7:23 pm]
LING: And you're going with Winry, right? [seen 7:23 pm]
The future owner of Xing suddenly gets a little worried when Edward doesn't reply instantly – this usually means he got mad over something and had tossed his phone across the room. The amount of chips and scratches on Ed's phone can prove that he does this. (And Ling has been there to witness it in person once. Terrifying.)
… How exactly could Alphonse spend an entire lifetime living with Edward alone? Ling wonders.
Ling hears the familiar ping again and forgets all his worries.
ED : ahaha yeahh she tried to throw a wrench at me last I saw her [seen 7:26 pm]
Ling chuckles. Ouch. He's lucky that Lan Fan isn't like that, at the slightest. Not that Winry isn't a great girl – she's funny and smart and she's really pretty, but she can be quite aggressive towards the shorter Elric brother.
Lan Fan has pointed out once that Winry is only hostile towards Ed and Ed only, and it makes Ling put two and two together, and he comes to one conclusion. Winry likes Ed, and Ed happens to like her back, but the two of them are too stupid to realize their feelings for each other.
LING: ...Wait... why, exactly? [seen 7:27 pm]
Ling can almost feel Ed shrug from the other side of the screen before the familiar ping can be heard once again.
ED: ehh beats me. She probably hates me man [seen 7:27 pm]
ED: WHAT DID I EVEN DO?? SHE JUST HATES ME FOR NO REASON [seen 7:27 pm]
LING: Are we just ignoring the fact that you call her a crazy gearhead 24/7? [seen 7:27 pm]
That's true – Ed often teases Winry and sometimes he takes it too far, and while Winry will look visibly upset, Ed wasn't often the best at reading emotions, and it makes Ling think that it wouldn't kill for the older Elric brother to apologize every once in a while.
The two usually make up, though, and the two of them know that they can't really afford to lose each other considering that they've known each other for as long as they can remember. Winry and Ed are in some sort of love hate relationship and nothing can really change that.
ED: ...oh yeah that [seen 7:28 pm]
ED: ughh what do I do she's not talking to me [seen 7:28 pm]
Ling sighs, getting annoyed with the older Elric. He wants to tell Ed that it's not that hard to apologize to Winry for once, but the future owner of Xing knows that Ed and Winry having another argument shouldn't worry him that much.
He swears that if the two of them ever date, they'd be those couples who break up and get back together every two weeks or something.
LING: I'll tell you what. I can ask Lan Fan to ask Winry. [seen 7:28 pm]
LING: I mean they're close friends. [seen 7:28 pm]
LING: And she's not talking to you … right? [seen 7:28 pm]
ED: actually... i'll do it [seen 7:28 pm]
Ed's reply shocked Ling to the point that he drops his phone on his face. Ling re-reads the text again … and then again … just to check if he's bluffing.
LING: ... No, seriously? [seen 7:29 pm]
ED: yeah I gtg to her house anyway [seen 7:29 pm]
ED: her grandma invited me and al for dinner [seen 7:29 pm]
ED: k i'll talk to you later probably [seen 7:29 pm]
LING: Yeah, good luck. [seen 7:29 pm]
LING: If you're lucky, you're gonna show up at school tomorrow NOT INJURED and telling me that you have a date. See you tomorrow. [seen 7:29 pm]
“Uh, young lord?” she startles him, honestly, and when he finally sees her by his door, he almost shouts … for Lan Fan to rid of the intruder.
“Lan Fan! I didn't even hear you come in – how did you even–!” he exclaims, surprised for a split second, then sighs. Seriously, he thinks. Lan Fan has got to stop doing that and she's been doing that for the past couple years now, catching him by surprise when he's tired and he can't hear well. He scrunches his eyebrows and asks, “How … how long have you been here, anyway?”
“The moment you dropped your phone on your face...” a small smile tugs on her lips. He almost doesn't notice it, but he's known Lan Fan for a long time to know whether she's smiling or not. She adds questioningly, “If I may ask, young lord … Who were you talking to, anyway?”
“Oh! Uh – just Ed.”
“I see,” she says, pursing her lips. “Your mother told me to call you for dinner. She also said that we have a guest and that's why dinner is … thirty minutes earlier than–” Before she finished the sentence, however, he gets up and takes her arm and drags her by the hallway.
“Hurry up, Lan Fan! We don't want to be late for dinner!”
And as the two of them run past the maids scurrying in the hallways to the dining hall, Ling could literally hear the older Elric brother's reminder: She likes you, man. And I'm betting that you like her back.