FMA: Works of Love

[bard_linn]

devils_devotion's birthday fic! She asked for more "Little Brother OTP" with cake. Hope this fits!

Title: Works of Love [Yes, it's a lame title. I don't care.]
Pairings: Roy/Al.
Rating: PG-13ish
Warnings: Yaoi. Humor. Bad cooking.
Disclaimer: Not mine, no money being made. Only trying to brighten up someone's day!
Note: Could be though of as a semi-sequal to By Your Side if you like.


Works of Love

Al carefully surveyed the house, looking for his lover. Satisfied that Roy Mustang was at work like he was supposed to be, the young man carted his supplies into the kitchen. This would be the first time Al had been home the entire day for Roy’s birthday and he intended to make the most of it.

“Flour, butter, sugar, vanilla, eggs, baking powder, salt, milk…” Al quickly checked off the items on his list, smiling at the last. He could never think of milk without thinking of his brother. Who was a damn good cook, even if he despised milk. Al only hoped he could do nearly as well with his first major attempt at cooking. It couldn’t be harder than alchemy, right? After all, cooking and alchemy shared a lot of common characteristics…

After turning on the oven so it could preheat, Al carefully began to measure out the ingredients. He creamed the butter, and then added the sugar and vanilla. “Fold in eggs?” Al blinked in surprise, staring at his recipe book. That didn’t seem to make sense…but then again some of the desert recipes called for crème of tarter and that most certainly didn’t make sense. With a shrug Al placed the eggs into the bowl and folded them in with his spoon. “Right. Now, beat until well mixed.” Al stirred quickly, wincing as he heard several loud cracks. “Hopefully it doesn’t matter the eggs broke.”

Al quickly combined the dry ingredients together then started to pour them into the other bowl. “Crap!” Both bowls abruptly went flying as his hands slipped. The sound of glass breaking echoed through the house as one bowl shattered, changing the kitchen floor into a crystal mine field, powdered with flour. “No good,” Al groaned as he surveyed the mess. Better clean this up first.

Fifteen minutes later he had successfully gathered all of the glass pieces, reassembled them with a quick array and had begun the process all over again. “Right. Vanilla, eggs, milk, sugar, butter….” The young alchemist had just managed to recreate his work up to the point of his accident when the door bell rang. “Coming!” Al left the wet mix on the stove and quickly moved to answer the door. “Yes?”

“I’ve got a package for a Mr. Roy Mustang. Would that be you?” The man at the door asked.

“No. Roy’s at work. But I can take it in for you if you’d like.”

“Thank you, young man. Now, just sign here…there you go.”

“Have a good day!” Al called, smiling. He frowned at the package. This better not be from an admirer. He might have to do something about it. He placed the box on the dinning room table and moved back to the kitchen. Successfully combining the mixtures this time, Al finally added the milk and beat it until it was reasonably smooth. He couldn’t do much about the egg shell pieces.

Next, Al poured the cake mix into the pan. Or at least attempted to. “What….oops.” Al flushed as he realized that some of the batter had baked onto the glass bottom while on top of the stove. “Oh well. No time to start over.” Roy would be home soon. Al placed what batter he could into the pan and tossed it in the oven. “Better clean up. I never realized how messy baking was.”

An hour later Al had successfully cleaned the kitchen, finished the dirty dishes and made the frosting. Well, it looked a little lumpy but surely that would fix itself once he put it on the cake, right? A quick glance at the clock told him he had only thirty minutes till Roy was due home. Al raced up the stairs, jumped in and out of the shower and changed his flour covered clothes for the outfit Roy had gotten him for his birthday. Smiling, the youth skipped down the stairs and pulled the cake out.

It looked….burnt. Uneven. And not the least bit appetizing.

But maybe that was how cake always looked? That’s why you used icing? Al quickly attempted to pry the cake free of the pan, with little success. Frantic now, Al iced the cake in the pan only to see the white mixture meld on contact with the hot cake. “Not good, not good…” At this rate his surprise for Roy would be a total flop.

“Al?”

“CRAP.” Al hissed as he heard the Flame Alchemist’s voice from the door. He looked at the sad excuse of a cake and winced. No saving it now. “Hello Roy!” He quickly moved out into the other room, hoping he could keep Roy from seeing the cake. ‘If I can sneak out…I can buy a cake…’

“Have you been cooking?” Roy asked, a smile on his face.

“Errr…” Damn it, how had the man known?

“Let me see…Al, this is magnificent! Looks just like your brother’s work. Did he help you?”

Al looked at his lover’s back in shock. Clearly the man must be seeing things? Moving up to Roy’s side, Al started at the elegant creation that had take the place of his first cooking disaster, complete with ‘Happy Birthday Roy’ on the top. Al suddenly smiled, understanding what had happened. He didn’t go scouting outside, though he suspected if he did there would be a young man with long blond hair bearing a particularity strong resemblance to himself hiding underside the kitchen window, hands full with a pan of rather disastrous cake. It was things like this that let Al know that for all of his grumbling, Ed really did support his choices.

Still, he was going to make Roy’s cake himself next year. If it killed him.

Okay, so room didn't go boom this time. Still, I find it amusing. The eggs folding is shamlessly taken from Disney's Sleeping Beauty. The cake mix baking in the bowl is from personal experience. XD;;

Comments

[velvet-mace.livejournal.com]

Aw that was cute, and I like Ed still bailing Al out.

[bard-linn.livejournal.com]

Thanks! Ed's very protective of his brother.

[zalia.livejournal.com]

Awwww, sweet ^_^ I love Al's absolute cluelessness when it comes to baking ^^; And Ed bailing him out.

Great fic Linn!!

[bard-linn.livejournal.com]

Al is soooo cute. Ed saving the world: one Al's cooking disaster at a time. XD;;

[kytyngurl2.livejournal.com]

All together now: AWWWWWWWWW!

Al sounds like I do when I try to bake tricky things. I always make guesses too...

Ed bailing Al out has to be one of the sweetest brother scenes ever. *melts*

Nice work, that was fluffily adorable and well done!

[bard-linn.livejournal.com]

I can actually cook rather well; I just make sure I know all the mumbo-jumbo first!

Ed would totally bail his brother out.

Ed: *grumbles* Al wants to make that bastard a cake...and he can't cook. *headdesk*

[tir-synni.livejournal.com]

*bounces* Bwa-ha-ha! I actually . . . caught . . . the Disney reference? *blinks* Maybe I shouldn't brag about that. But it's such a pretty movie.
So cute! And in most fics, Al's a good cook. XD

[bard-linn.livejournal.com]

I love Sleeping Beauty. Pink! Blue! PINK! BLUE! XD;;

Al's a bad cook in HoS. ^^;