CW Week 6 - Still Family

He was sitting on the couch, one ankle slung over the other knee, an open book propped on his lap.  His golden eyes perused the text with all the intensity of the genius he was, completely oblivious of Will lurking around the corner in the hallway.

The younger teenager took a step back, away from the yellow glow of the lamp and into the midnight shadows of the hall.  He clutched two fingers of one hand in the other, stared at the carpet, chewed on his lower lip.  Finally he swallowed his indecision and stepped forward.

Edward didn’t look up as the other entered, but Will saw him stiffen.  He watched the older boy out of the corner of his eye, watched as his eyes stopped moving across the page.  Watched as Ed waited for Will to sit on the other couch.

Will sat hunched, hands in his lap, squeezing the digits of one hand with the fingers of the other.  He didn’t dare look up at Edward.  And still, Ed kept his eyes glued to the text.

Silenced stretched the air between them.

Edward let out a low, resigned sigh, folding up the book and placing it on the couch cushions.

“I didn’t mean to make you cry.”

Will began chewing his lip again, harder this time.  “What…”  He cleared his throat; the syllable was too soft and gravelly to be audible.  “What you said was true.”

Edward wouldn’t look up at the other blond, but his face softened, regret battering at it.  “I shouldn’t’ve, though.”

“But…you weren’t wrong.”

“Doesn’t mean I shouldn’t’ve kept my mouth shut.”

Will let out a sigh and closed his eyes, an agonized look crossing his face.  “But you were right, Ed,” he countered, sounding a bit more desperate this time.  “I don’t belong here.  I’ve brought you and the Rockbells nothing but grief.  I shouldn’t have come—“

“Will you just shutup and let me apologize?”  

Will jolted, eyes shooting up to meet Edward’s.  He was met with an irritated scowl, one offset by the repentance hiding in Ed’s eyes.

“Look.”  Ed heaved a sigh, tented his hands in his lap, and leaned over them, looking away from the younger teenager.  “What you want isn’t wrong.  Even considering the…circumstances…”  He hesitated, his lips twisting in ire, before continuing.  “Even with that, it’s not like you’re not related to us.  To me.”

Will’s eyes widened, but he bit down on his lip again, not daring to hope.

Edward sighed again, running a hand through his bangs.  “You…have every right to want a family, especially considering who and what you ran away from.  And really…we are the logical choice.  So I really don’t have the right to deny that from you.”

The teenager’s eyes widened further.  “Y-you mean it?”

Edward sighed, sat up, and looked over at Will.  “I mean it.”

For a moment, Will could swear he saw a shadow of smile forming on the other’s face, hiding just beneath his eyes.

He was crying before he knew it.

Edward blinked at him; wide-eyed, he lurched to his feet.  “Don’t cry again!”  He sat down next to Will, distressed.  “What did I say?”

But Will laughed through the tears, shaking his head and wiping his face on the back of his wrist.  “I just—I never expected—I mean—there isn’t any reason for you to trust me, after—“  He sniffed.  “I’m gonna prove to you, Ed, I’m gonna prove it to you—“

“Whoa whoa, slow down, okay?”  Tentatively, Edward reached out and placed a hand on Will’s shoulder, grimacing in concern.   “If Winry wakes up and finds you crying again, she’ll hit me for sure.”  He let out an uneasy chuckle, at a loss.

Will chuckled into his sleeve.  “You two are nuts,” he observed.  “She whacks you every time you say something she doesn’t like—you two shout at each other all the time—but she never stays mad at you for anything.  And you neither.”

Ed shrugged, a smile wobbling onto his face.  “Winry’s like family.  I’ve known her since we were both little kids.”

Fresh tears poured from Will’s eyes; fresh sobs choked his throat.  “A-and if I prove—if I show you I’m not—not like the others, can I…”  He sniffed.  “Even though we haven’t known each other very long, can I…can I be family, too?”

Despite his uncertain, pitying look, this time, Edward did smile.  He gave Will’s shoulder a reassuring squeeze.

“Sure.”