Fic: Movie-verse - The Second Hand Moved.
Title: The Second Hand Moved
Beta: None
Genre: Gen, although some readers have viewed it as comedy, others have seen it as angst. Mild, either way.
Characters: Edward Elric, Alfons Heiderich
Pairing: None
Rating: G
Spoiler: Uhh... If Alfons' existance is a spoiler, that's about it.
Timeline: Post-series, pre-movie or during the movie.
Warning: Short. Very very .... short.
The light was already on when Alfons got up that morning. Some mornings Edward had a tendency to sleep in as late as humanly possible, and others he was up and already dressed inhumanly early. It reminded the younger teen vaguely of a cat, how they never truly seemed to need much sleep at all but still somehow managed to seem as if all they did was sleep. That was Edward.
Or rather, this was Edward. Sitting at the table and staring intently at his palm. Had it been his right hand, Alfons would have thought to ask if something had gone wrong with the limb - but it was his left hand, golden eyes were so narrowly focused on.
"You're up early." He offered cheerfully, hoping to pull the other from whatever intense thoughts he was going over. Edward didn't even blink, still staring intently. Under the distinct impression that he could throw a dish through the window by the older boy's head and Edward probably wouldn't even flinch, he decided to creep up behind him and see just what he was looking at.
His pocket watch, apparently. Sitting snugly in the curve of the blond's hand while he kept his eye intently on it. It was only after a moment of staring as well that Alfons realized what Edward was doing. The watch looked as if it had stopped working, the second hand wasn't progressing forward one second at a time as it should have been, ticking forward to count the time - by now fifteen seconds had gone by, and the hand remained pointed straight up at 12:00.
"Is it broken?" He asked tentatively, aware that Ed still hadn't even acknowledged his initial statement.
"No." One word, and nothing else, blue eyes blinked and he opened his mouth to question how, exactly, the other could tell that much when Edward finally tore his gaze away to look at Alfons. "Look carefully, see? If it was broken, it wouldn't be moving at all, right?"
"Huh." Alfons peered closer as he was instructed, and after leaning over Edward's shoulder realized what it was he was referring to.
The second hand moved.
Not forward, by any stretch of the imagination... but it moved. Twitched as if trying to tick away the count of a second, but unable to remain in that position to actually continue on. Rather it simply jumped from the very point of midnight to almost one second later and then back again.
Clearly, something was still working. Although, a watch that couldn't tell time was as good as broken right?
"Let me see." Alfons offered, taking the watch from Ed's hand before he could protest and winding it. After a moment or two he stopped, looked down at the face to see if there'd been any progress, and handed it back to his room mate with a satisfied smile. "It should probably work now. Hasn't anyone ever told you that you have to wind a watch, Ed?"
Beta: None
Genre: Gen, although some readers have viewed it as comedy, others have seen it as angst. Mild, either way.
Characters: Edward Elric, Alfons Heiderich
Pairing: None
Rating: G
Spoiler: Uhh... If Alfons' existance is a spoiler, that's about it.
Timeline: Post-series, pre-movie or during the movie.
Warning: Short. Very very .... short.
The light was already on when Alfons got up that morning. Some mornings Edward had a tendency to sleep in as late as humanly possible, and others he was up and already dressed inhumanly early. It reminded the younger teen vaguely of a cat, how they never truly seemed to need much sleep at all but still somehow managed to seem as if all they did was sleep. That was Edward.
Or rather, this was Edward. Sitting at the table and staring intently at his palm. Had it been his right hand, Alfons would have thought to ask if something had gone wrong with the limb - but it was his left hand, golden eyes were so narrowly focused on.
"You're up early." He offered cheerfully, hoping to pull the other from whatever intense thoughts he was going over. Edward didn't even blink, still staring intently. Under the distinct impression that he could throw a dish through the window by the older boy's head and Edward probably wouldn't even flinch, he decided to creep up behind him and see just what he was looking at.
His pocket watch, apparently. Sitting snugly in the curve of the blond's hand while he kept his eye intently on it. It was only after a moment of staring as well that Alfons realized what Edward was doing. The watch looked as if it had stopped working, the second hand wasn't progressing forward one second at a time as it should have been, ticking forward to count the time - by now fifteen seconds had gone by, and the hand remained pointed straight up at 12:00.
"Is it broken?" He asked tentatively, aware that Ed still hadn't even acknowledged his initial statement.
"No." One word, and nothing else, blue eyes blinked and he opened his mouth to question how, exactly, the other could tell that much when Edward finally tore his gaze away to look at Alfons. "Look carefully, see? If it was broken, it wouldn't be moving at all, right?"
"Huh." Alfons peered closer as he was instructed, and after leaning over Edward's shoulder realized what it was he was referring to.
The second hand moved.
Not forward, by any stretch of the imagination... but it moved. Twitched as if trying to tick away the count of a second, but unable to remain in that position to actually continue on. Rather it simply jumped from the very point of midnight to almost one second later and then back again.
Clearly, something was still working. Although, a watch that couldn't tell time was as good as broken right?
"Let me see." Alfons offered, taking the watch from Ed's hand before he could protest and winding it. After a moment or two he stopped, looked down at the face to see if there'd been any progress, and handed it back to his room mate with a satisfied smile. "It should probably work now. Hasn't anyone ever told you that you have to wind a watch, Ed?"