One-Shot written for my stories "I Think it was Lemonade", and "the FAITH inside".

Note: The formatting difference (italic bold) is where the POV switches, since I can't change color.

'Alphonse has a proclivity towards stacking his dirty dishes,' I thought peering into the room. The younger boy was situating aforementioned dishes to get them out of the way of his needlessly large sketchbook. Well, at least I feel it's too big, and too heavy at that. You can trust me about it being heavy, I know. It's from all the times Al's dropped it on me when we're going down the stairs. That is most unpleasant.

I sighed and began to step away from the doorway.

"Nicky? Did you want something?"

Ah, and that was the artist himself. I indolently sidled into the room.

"What are you drawing?" I asked peeking over his shoulder.

" A dystopia," he answered stolidly.

"Dystopia? Where the hell did you hear that word?"

He narrowed his silvery-gray eyes at me.

"I, unlike you, read."

I pouted at him.

"I read!" I whined.

"Medical dictionaries don't count," he mumbled turning back to his drawing. I scowled at the back of his head for a moment, before leaving the room. I guess that was the phenomenon known as 'Male PMS'. And to think, I'd thought it was just a myth.

I oozed down the hallway, to my room, and slumped down onto the bed. I'd been lying there for a couple minutes, dozing lightly when a cacophony drove me from the edge of dreamland. It was the ringtone version of Three Days Grace's 'Never too Late', and it was blasting out, at full volume, from under my pillow. That meant one thing. That one most insidious evil. My cellphone.

I pulled it out from underneath my pillow, flipped it open, and pressed it to my ear.

"Hello?"

"HiNicky!OhmyGod!It'smeAmanda!?"

And yes, in case you were wondering, that was all said in one breath.

"Amanda?"

"Nicky! So can I?"

Ah, she teems with metaphorical sunshine.

"Can you what?"

"Come over for dinner."

"I guess…it's not really my house…"

"Come off it!-"

I don't think I'll ever understand her strange usage of British phrases.

"-You've lived there for three years! -"

This is true.

"-Besides, Al's grandma loves you!"

That was probably also true…she might change her mind though, if she knew about the lecherous thoughts I had about her grandson, but! That's a story for another time!

"I guess…"

"Yay!"

Her voice reminds me of a juggernaut. It bowels me over every time she raises it.

"But if I get in trouble, we're using Al as a scapegoat."

"Aw, but I thought you lurved him!"

I flushed brightly at her words.

"He's acting like he's going through menopause."

Her raucous laughter suffused through the phone's speakers and set my teeth on edge. I mean, she was a nice girl, but sometimes she really reminded me of The Evil Witch of the West.

"I apologize for my disrespect, Ice Queen Nicholas, but you act like that all the time."

"Shut up!"

"See! You're doing it again! No wonder Al's trying to get a girlfriend!"

And then I hung up on her. I've changed my mind. I don't like her.

I sighed and buried my face in my pillow.

"Nicky?"

I raised my head back up, and glanced behind me just as the bed sank. It was Alphonse.

"Alphonse. Do you want something?" I groused, mimicking his earlier, perfunctory question.

"Were you sleeping?"

"Early to bed, early to rise makes on healthy, something, and wise," I mumbled turning my attention to my wall. Amanda's words were still burning in my ears. Was I really that mean?

Al chuckled slightly

"Your dictum makes you sound like an old man. Are you really my long lost great uncle, who's been drinking Polyjuice potion?"

I looked at him funny.

"Are you really a Harry Potter fangirl, who's infiltrated my home by pretending to be my little brother?"

He scowled and crossed his arms.

"I'm not your brother."

"I know, not technically. You're like a little brother to me."

He frowned, and stood.

"I'm going to go finish my picture."

And then he left. Well fine then. I'll find some other way to entertain myself.

I wandered around my room to see if I actually could find something to entertain myself with. In general, I'd be at work at this time, so I didn't spend much time just sitting around doing nothing. Yeah, normally I'd come home around two in the morning, make Alphonse scoot over, and pass out. The next day I'd wake up around eleven, eat breakfast, do the work for my independent study class, go pick Al up from school so he wouldn't get attacked by the little girls on the school bus, drop him off at home, then head to work, and the cycle would repeat. Etcetera. Perhaps the monotony of my daily life was penance for not being there for my real little brother..?

My search for entertainment had come up empty, and it appeared that if I wanted something to do, I'd have to go bug Al, and my profusion of pride wouldn't let me do that. Not 'till he apologized for being all weird.

I slumped back onto the bed and groaned in boredom. My cellphone started ringing again. A cursory glance at the screen revealed that it was Amanda again. For once, I decided to feign sleep rather than deal with her. Okay, maybe it wasn't the first time…

It didn't take long for feigned sleep to turn into real sleep…

The moment Amanda turned up on the doorstep, I knew the evening was going to be insane. I wasn't exactly known for my prescient feelings…but…still…

"Amanda?"

"Nicky didn't tell you?" she asked entering the room without waiting to be invited.

"Tell me what?" I asked closing the front door.

"I'm staying for dinner."

Wonderful. Just wonderful. Right when Nicky's being Ice Princess from Hell. And my Grandma's out of town. And I can't cook. Unless making cereal counts as cooking.

"What dinner? My grandma's out of town, and you know I can't cook."

She grinned in a way that reminded me of a hungry crocodile.

"Nicky can cook, right?"

I bit my lip.

"He can bake."

She clapped her hands together.

"Then we can have brownies for dinner!"

"Nicky will approve…"

She grinned again.

"I know, right! And isn't he supposed to be responsible?" she said, cackling. I sighed and looked down at my feet. Whenever Amanda came over and did stuff like this, I tended to get in trouble.

"You should go get him."

I nodded slightly at the command.

I doubt I'll ever stand up to her.

I pushed open the door to Nicholas' room and slipped inside. He was asleep on his bed, and halfway falling off at that. It was nice seeing him look so peaceful. He'd had such horrible nightmares ever since his family was killed, I almost didn't want to wake him…but neither Amanda nor I made as good of brownies as he did, so he was a necessary ingredient for tonight's dinner. I suspect his talent for making sweet stuff comes from the fact he avoids eating non-sugary foods at every turn.

"Nicky…" I said nudging him in the side.

He moaned slightly in his sleep, and a deep blush spread across my cheeks at the sound.

"That's it. Amanda can wake him up," I hissed turning away.

"Alphonse?"

I plastered a fake smile across my face and turned back to face the hapless seducer. Hopefully he was too inebriated to notice how red I was.

"Amanda's here. We need your help to make brownies."

He frowned tiredly.

"Brownies? Why can't your grandma help?"

"Don't you remember? She out of town at a teacher's convention."

"Damn. I forgot. Fine, I'll be down in a minute. Go down and make sure Amanda doesn't go all Tazmanian Devil™ on the kitchen."

I nodded, and left the room.

I yawned as I stepped out of the stairwell.

"Nicky! Duck!"

I looked up, just in time to narrowly avoid the trajectory of an egg flying at my head."Chicken, actually," I said, watching as the yolk oozed down the wall.

"Aw, damn. I missed," lamented Amanda from where she stood, next to the fridge, holding a carton of eggs.

"If you waste the eggs, we can't make brownies," I pointed out, taking them from her. I really didn't trust her not to peg me in the back of the head with them when I wasn't looking.

"It's not a waste. Actually, egg whites are very good for your hair," she said nodding, and trying to grab them back from me.

"I think I'm fine with shampoo," I alleged, holding them above her hands. Points to me for being tall. She pouted, and turned her back on me. Ha. One battle won. Heh, that rhymes.

"So, um, how shall we go about this?" asked Alphonse, from his spot by the counter. I grinned.

"Your boyfriend's a slave driver," hissed Amanda in my ear as she stirred the chocolaty ooze that would eventually become brownies.

"He's not my boyfriend!" I hissed back.

"Less talking, more mixing! ~" sang Nicky from behind us. He really was enjoying this… I shot a dirty look at him, only to have him grin right back. Jerk.

Once we had the mix…mixed…Amanda and I made Nicky put it in the oven. I pled stove-phobia, and Amanda called him on his lack of chivalry. And then we just had to wait for the brownies to finish baking.

I pulled the -finally- baked brownies out of the oven, since Al and Amanda were both pansies and couldn't do it, and set them on the counter. Once they were out, we three sat around them, frothing at the mouth, waiting for them to cool. After a couple minutes, I got tired of waiting, and snatched one out of the pan.

"Hot!" I yelped, wolfing it down.

"If you ever have kids, I hope they take after their mother," said Amanda, looking at me disdainfully.

"Why?" I asked, reaching for another brownie.

"Because you're a moron," she answered looking at the hand that was reaching for the scalding brownies.

"Moron is a bit harsh, I just lack common sense," I said grabbing another brownies. This one seemed to be a bit cooler. I bit into it to confirm my hypothesis.

"I think they're fine now." At my words, both of them grabbed a brownie.

A few minutes passed in silence before Amanda decided to embarrass Al.

"So, Al, I wasn't at school today, so you have to tell me, how did it go with the girlfriend finding?"

He blushed a cherry red and choked on his brownie. He glanced at me before answering.

"Um, Arielle told me that she couldn't go out with boys who are prettier than her."

His words caused me to gigglesnort into my brownie. Ah, it's so hard to remain objective where Alphonse's love life, or lack there of, is concerned. It's much more enjoyable to be subjective. He glared at me before looking back down at the tablecloth.

Once we finished with our brownies, Amanda decided she was going to stay the night. Al and I were both too full of chocolate to argue with the unstoppable force that was Amanda Atwood.

Hell, I didn't even bother trying to stop her when she talked us into playing 'Truth or Dare'. There was no point, really. Plus, it's funny to see Alphonse when he's flustered.

"Alphonse, truth or dare?" asked Amanda leaning towards him. He glanced up at her from the book he was reading.

"Truth," he mumbled turning the page.

Amanda grinned.

"Do you like Nicholas?"

I scowled at her, but she ignored me. Al frowned slightly.

"Of course I do-"

Was this it? What I'd been waiting for?

"-he's one of my closest friends."

And maybe not…Amanda seemed to feel the same way.

"That's not the kind of like I meant!" she screeched.

"I answered your question, now it's my turn, you slash fangirl."

Amanda pouted, but let the point drop."

"Now, Amanda, do you like Nicky?"

She looked at me.

"Eh, he's hot, but too much of an Ice Queen for my tastes."

I glared at her.

"You're annoying."

She just grinned.

"It's my turn again, right? Well then, Nicholas, do you like Alphonse? And not the platonic kind. The love kind"

"I refuse to answer the question," I said leaning back against the couch. Truth or Dare suddenly didn't seem like such a good idea.

"Chicken. By refusing to answer, it makes it obvious!"

"If it's obvious, then why do I have to answer?"

"Because otherwise you're a coward, and no one likes a coward!"

"FINE! I, Nicholas La Joules, AM IN LOVE WITH Alphonse Caillat!" I yelled slamming my fists down on the carpet next to me.

"Wow," said Amanda looking at me, shocked.

"Huh?"

I looked nervously over at Al. He was looking blankly between Amanda and I.

Oh. My. God.

He was so wrapped up in his book, A. N. Roquelaure's 'The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty', that he hadn't heard a word of what I'd said.

"Nicky loves you," said Amanda smiling evilly.

"WHAT?!"

"I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!!"

Ah, the convoluted life I lead.

-LOVE-

SQUEE!!!