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20_heartbeats
Summary: Prompts from 20_heartbeats.
09. Ink [words written on my heart]
14. Poison [corrupted from the inside out]
Road and Tyki Mikk had a tea party. Road liked her Uncle Tyki. He was always nicely dressed and knew the right way to drink the tea and besides, he was family, that was what was most important. And he gave her lollipops.
She put on her especially nice dress that day, the lacey frilly one that splayed out, and her good red and black stockings, and had nice blood red ribbons laced around her throat, like she had been beheaded. All her other guests were there, too, the empty porcelain dolls with their glazed green eyes that might contain real-live human souls, and the stuffed teddy bear that was missing an eye and an arm, and even a hand, though Road refused to tell anybody if it was real or not.
But it always left such a bad bloody mess on the nice white chair.
“Uncle Tyki,” she crooned, “Where were you?” She swung her legs playfully.
“Out to that mining town,” Tyki said, unruffled. He poured himself a cup, and began to pour Road a cup of the dark tea. Then he began to drop the sugar inside, because Uncle Tyki knew what she liked best.
“You were gone too long,” she said, cutting her cake. It was creamy and white and smooth and puffy and pretty, with a nice bloody strawberry on top, and it tasted so sweet that she could feel her mouth tingle happily.
“Ohh?” Tyki raised an eyebrow. He continued to drop the sugar cubes, one by one, even when the tea started to flow out of the cup. “Did something happen while I was away?”
“I had homework. You have to look at it.” She pouted. “It was math, too.”
“Ahaha, Road,” he said lovingly, dropping the last sugar cube on her cup. All the tea had spilled out, and only a tower of white crystallized cubes remained. “I’m not very good with calculus, you see.”
“Not fair,” she said. “It’s not fair of you to leave for that long, Uncle Tyki.”
“I can’t help it,” Tyki chuckled, smoothing back his hair and stirring his own cup of tea. “I like humans. And what I like, I destroy.” He stretched out his gloved hands, in askance of Road. But she only sneered and licked the creaminess from her cake.
“Pah. Humans.” Road’s expression changed to a pout. “I only like Allen. I want to play with him, and make him into my toy.”
“Isn’t he already?” Tyki was already standing, brushing off his suit.
“Yes. No. Are you leaving already?” she whined, biting into a sugar cube. “Eat something, Uncle Tyki. You can’t leave like that.”
“I’m sorry, Road,” he said with a smile.
“But I’ve been a good girl.”
“I’ll be back,” Tyki said kindly.
“Can’t you at least drink your tea before you go?”
“But didn’t you put arsenic in there?” Tyki asked, pausing at the doorway, quirking a kind eyebrow at her.
Road giggled.
02. Breath; Footfall [the only sound in the world]
Al watched his brother breathe.
“When you were a shrimp,” Ed would tell him, tearing off a piece of chicken wing with mad vengeance, grumpy look obvious on his face, “you were really small. I didn’t even think that you breathed.”
Brother, was he breathing now?
It didn’t feel cold. But it didn’t feel warm, either. And he could only pretend that he was breathing, but he was just a big suit of armor that made really loud noises if he fell or tripped or clattered against anything. This was the worse time of night, because it was a bad sort of quiet. Like the quietness would strangle him to death, and nothing would move. And there would be more of it to come, and all Al could do was sit there.
And wonder if he was really alive.
So he sat by his brother and watched him breathe. Ed’s chest rose and fell, softly, gently. Sometimes, he pretended that he could breathe too.
In. Out. In. Out. In. Out.
But no matter how much he stared, his own metal chest never moved.
05. Devotion [faith as sweet as a promise, sharp as a knife]
17. Truth [an honest answer isn't always a kind one]
It wasn’t like Allen liked Kanda or anything. But he was displaying all the signs of shoujo boyish love, from the blushing and the stammering and the cute little acts of trying so hard to make Kanda a proper Valentine’s Day sheath for his sword, the sign of true love.
“You must like him,” Lavi said triumphantly, after a few hours of figuring it out on a comically wide chalkboard with the typical difficult equations of integrals and deriviatives, with an absolute lack of any relation to the current problem. Along the way, Lavi proved a few physics laws here or there, but that really didn’t matter.
“N-No, I don’t,” Allen said, in a proper uke way. He then blushed and ran away from the scene, leaving Lavi all alone to clean the chalkboard, when he ran into Miranda, who asked Allen what was wrong.
“I-I blush all the time, and I keep on stammering, and my heart beats really fast when I’m around this person,” Allen admitted unhappily while blushing, making him a fangirl target. Miranda, being one of worldly experience, dispensed wise advice.
“I-Is it contagious?! It’s contagious!! It’s contagious! You must have caught it from me! I’m sorry I’m sorry I’m sorry I’m sorry--!” she wailed for a little over the hour. Later, in retrospect, she realized that she should have given Allen a more proper answer, for clearly the certain someone that Allen had been referring to had been Crory.
And then she would sigh and wonder if Crory could ever love Allen back.
However, the current problem stayed current as Allen watched Miranda tuck away in her corner of woe, tending the mushrooms. So then he, still in need of the Wise Advice, waited for a handy-dandy plot device. He secretly would have liked to see himself rescuing Kanda from Akuma in a most manly manner, with himself being tragically injured, and Kanda confessing his love for him while tears streamed down his face, but then again, Akuma was serious business.
His next encounter, however, was with Crory, where he said the same thing, with the same tone, looking down bashfully. Crory also felt the need to give Allen some advice.
“Dating an akuma can be hazardous to your health,” he said, weeping. Then Crory, overcome, suddenly fled the scene, leaving Allen slightly confused. Later, in retrospect, Crory realized he should have given more appropriate advice, because clearly Allen had been talking about Miranda.
And then he would sigh and wonder if Miranda could ever love Allen back.
Luckily, Allen eventually encountered the single voice of reason, Lenalee, on his wandering down the hallways. She sat him down and talked to him in a meaningful manner. When the moment came when he had to finally admit that he liked a boy, Lenalee paused.
And furrowed her brows.
Allen, at first, thought that she might be annoyed because now fangirls would dispense hate upon her because she was a female character in a place where clearly only slash could thrive like elephants in the pink clouds, but he was surprised when she merely sighed.
“At least it isn’t my brother,” she said.
Then she dispensed Wise Advice, and hugged Allen, and then left to cook because, really, even though Allen could run around confessing, she had a job to do.
In the meanwhile, Miranda and Crory were having a very confused conversation, where she was crying and he was crying, and both were wondering about Allen’s future.
So Little White-Haired Allenhood went to where Kanda was practicing in a shirtless form, doing the Three Shirtless Arts of Swordery, all the while looking extremely pretty. Allen admired the Shirtless State, and then went about, blushing, stammering, and finally, squirming.
“K-Kanda, I-I like you!”
If Allen had been expecting a response, he would have been vastly disappointed, as Kanda stoically continued to practice the Shirtless Art of being Shirtless. So Allen, pressured by the crickets, ventured even more dangerously forward.
“Do . . . Do you think you could ever like me back . . . ?” he asked shyly.
Kanda opened one eye, and faced Allen. Dramatically, the cherry blossoms swirled about in the gust of wind, spiraling them out of control, and Kanda’s hair very prettily streamed behind him, and Allen looked with his large eyes.
“No.”
And then Kanda left and went on to fight Akuma and all that other stuff.
04. Create [anyone can destroy, but this is far harder]
20_heartbeats.09. Ink [words written on my heart]
14. Poison [corrupted from the inside out]
Road and Tyki Mikk had a tea party. Road liked her Uncle Tyki. He was always nicely dressed and knew the right way to drink the tea and besides, he was family, that was what was most important. And he gave her lollipops.
She put on her especially nice dress that day, the lacey frilly one that splayed out, and her good red and black stockings, and had nice blood red ribbons laced around her throat, like she had been beheaded. All her other guests were there, too, the empty porcelain dolls with their glazed green eyes that might contain real-live human souls, and the stuffed teddy bear that was missing an eye and an arm, and even a hand, though Road refused to tell anybody if it was real or not.
But it always left such a bad bloody mess on the nice white chair.
“Uncle Tyki,” she crooned, “Where were you?” She swung her legs playfully.
“Out to that mining town,” Tyki said, unruffled. He poured himself a cup, and began to pour Road a cup of the dark tea. Then he began to drop the sugar inside, because Uncle Tyki knew what she liked best.
“You were gone too long,” she said, cutting her cake. It was creamy and white and smooth and puffy and pretty, with a nice bloody strawberry on top, and it tasted so sweet that she could feel her mouth tingle happily.
“Ohh?” Tyki raised an eyebrow. He continued to drop the sugar cubes, one by one, even when the tea started to flow out of the cup. “Did something happen while I was away?”
“I had homework. You have to look at it.” She pouted. “It was math, too.”
“Ahaha, Road,” he said lovingly, dropping the last sugar cube on her cup. All the tea had spilled out, and only a tower of white crystallized cubes remained. “I’m not very good with calculus, you see.”
“Not fair,” she said. “It’s not fair of you to leave for that long, Uncle Tyki.”
“I can’t help it,” Tyki chuckled, smoothing back his hair and stirring his own cup of tea. “I like humans. And what I like, I destroy.” He stretched out his gloved hands, in askance of Road. But she only sneered and licked the creaminess from her cake.
“Pah. Humans.” Road’s expression changed to a pout. “I only like Allen. I want to play with him, and make him into my toy.”
“Isn’t he already?” Tyki was already standing, brushing off his suit.
“Yes. No. Are you leaving already?” she whined, biting into a sugar cube. “Eat something, Uncle Tyki. You can’t leave like that.”
“I’m sorry, Road,” he said with a smile.
“But I’ve been a good girl.”
“I’ll be back,” Tyki said kindly.
“Can’t you at least drink your tea before you go?”
“But didn’t you put arsenic in there?” Tyki asked, pausing at the doorway, quirking a kind eyebrow at her.
Road giggled.
02. Breath; Footfall [the only sound in the world]
Al watched his brother breathe.
“When you were a shrimp,” Ed would tell him, tearing off a piece of chicken wing with mad vengeance, grumpy look obvious on his face, “you were really small. I didn’t even think that you breathed.”
Brother, was he breathing now?
It didn’t feel cold. But it didn’t feel warm, either. And he could only pretend that he was breathing, but he was just a big suit of armor that made really loud noises if he fell or tripped or clattered against anything. This was the worse time of night, because it was a bad sort of quiet. Like the quietness would strangle him to death, and nothing would move. And there would be more of it to come, and all Al could do was sit there.
And wonder if he was really alive.
So he sat by his brother and watched him breathe. Ed’s chest rose and fell, softly, gently. Sometimes, he pretended that he could breathe too.
In. Out. In. Out. In. Out.
But no matter how much he stared, his own metal chest never moved.
05. Devotion [faith as sweet as a promise, sharp as a knife]
17. Truth [an honest answer isn't always a kind one]
It wasn’t like Allen liked Kanda or anything. But he was displaying all the signs of shoujo boyish love, from the blushing and the stammering and the cute little acts of trying so hard to make Kanda a proper Valentine’s Day sheath for his sword, the sign of true love.
“You must like him,” Lavi said triumphantly, after a few hours of figuring it out on a comically wide chalkboard with the typical difficult equations of integrals and deriviatives, with an absolute lack of any relation to the current problem. Along the way, Lavi proved a few physics laws here or there, but that really didn’t matter.
“N-No, I don’t,” Allen said, in a proper uke way. He then blushed and ran away from the scene, leaving Lavi all alone to clean the chalkboard, when he ran into Miranda, who asked Allen what was wrong.
“I-I blush all the time, and I keep on stammering, and my heart beats really fast when I’m around this person,” Allen admitted unhappily while blushing, making him a fangirl target. Miranda, being one of worldly experience, dispensed wise advice.
“I-Is it contagious?! It’s contagious!! It’s contagious! You must have caught it from me! I’m sorry I’m sorry I’m sorry I’m sorry--!” she wailed for a little over the hour. Later, in retrospect, she realized that she should have given Allen a more proper answer, for clearly the certain someone that Allen had been referring to had been Crory.
And then she would sigh and wonder if Crory could ever love Allen back.
However, the current problem stayed current as Allen watched Miranda tuck away in her corner of woe, tending the mushrooms. So then he, still in need of the Wise Advice, waited for a handy-dandy plot device. He secretly would have liked to see himself rescuing Kanda from Akuma in a most manly manner, with himself being tragically injured, and Kanda confessing his love for him while tears streamed down his face, but then again, Akuma was serious business.
His next encounter, however, was with Crory, where he said the same thing, with the same tone, looking down bashfully. Crory also felt the need to give Allen some advice.
“Dating an akuma can be hazardous to your health,” he said, weeping. Then Crory, overcome, suddenly fled the scene, leaving Allen slightly confused. Later, in retrospect, Crory realized he should have given more appropriate advice, because clearly Allen had been talking about Miranda.
And then he would sigh and wonder if Miranda could ever love Allen back.
Luckily, Allen eventually encountered the single voice of reason, Lenalee, on his wandering down the hallways. She sat him down and talked to him in a meaningful manner. When the moment came when he had to finally admit that he liked a boy, Lenalee paused.
And furrowed her brows.
Allen, at first, thought that she might be annoyed because now fangirls would dispense hate upon her because she was a female character in a place where clearly only slash could thrive like elephants in the pink clouds, but he was surprised when she merely sighed.
“At least it isn’t my brother,” she said.
Then she dispensed Wise Advice, and hugged Allen, and then left to cook because, really, even though Allen could run around confessing, she had a job to do.
In the meanwhile, Miranda and Crory were having a very confused conversation, where she was crying and he was crying, and both were wondering about Allen’s future.
So Little White-Haired Allenhood went to where Kanda was practicing in a shirtless form, doing the Three Shirtless Arts of Swordery, all the while looking extremely pretty. Allen admired the Shirtless State, and then went about, blushing, stammering, and finally, squirming.
“K-Kanda, I-I like you!”
If Allen had been expecting a response, he would have been vastly disappointed, as Kanda stoically continued to practice the Shirtless Art of being Shirtless. So Allen, pressured by the crickets, ventured even more dangerously forward.
“Do . . . Do you think you could ever like me back . . . ?” he asked shyly.
Kanda opened one eye, and faced Allen. Dramatically, the cherry blossoms swirled about in the gust of wind, spiraling them out of control, and Kanda’s hair very prettily streamed behind him, and Allen looked with his large eyes.
“No.”
And then Kanda left and went on to fight Akuma and all that other stuff.
04. Create [anyone can destroy, but this is far harder]