A short little crossover set in Amity Park.

Stranger Than Normal, pt. 2

March 24, 2013

"Hey Tuck, you still have a fry left."

"Grhhhhhn," he managed.

"Thanks," Danny said as he grabbed the last sliver of potato out of the basket and crunched loudly on it, grinning over Ed and Tucker who were both lounging over the table, bellies protruding and faces somewhere between ecstasy and agony.

Sam smirked. "Alright, who's up for dessert?"

Groans.

"Fine, I'll just go get ice cream by myself. Danny, you coming with me?"

At the suggestion of dessert, everyone leapt from the table to join her in line and she laughed until sobering down enough to order a dairy free ice cream.

Ed's brow furrowed at the strange order. "What's that?"

"It's fake ice cream," Tucker helpfully supplied. Sam whacked him upside the head.

"It's ice cream without the milk." She said pointedly.

"Because she's an ultra recycle vegetarian," Danny explained at Ed's odd look. "So she doesn't eat anything with a face. And sometimes she doesn't eat stuff that comes from stuff with a face."

Sam rolled her eyes. "Yeah, whatever." Then she looked at Ed, whose face had drained of all color. "Hey, you okay?" She reached out a hand to steady him. "I know what I do might seem a little weird to you, but it's not…"

Ed's mouth seemed to be working up and down, silently. Then his mouth began to tremble. "There's milk in ice cream?"

"… yes…?"

"Al!" he burst out, limbs quivering in jerky spasms. "You traitor, you knew; why didn't you ever tell me?"

"Well I knew that you liked it but you wouldn't if you knew and I didn't want to deprive you so I just… didn't tell you."

"And you didn't think this would be a problem when I found out?"

"No one was going to tell you," his younger brother protested.

"Oh sure, Mustang wasn't going to…?"

"Brother," Al interrupted. "If he was going to tell you that there was milk in ice cream, he would have done it a long time ago."

Ed groused and stamped from one foot to another in a strange hop dance. "It still doesn't… grr… you should have…!"

"But you like stew even though it has milk in it. You thought it was brilliant, remember? The stuff to which scientists should strive."

"That's different, Al! That's… that's…"

Sam stopped the tirade by putting a dish of ice cream into his hands. "Here, try this. It doesn't have any milk."

His cheeks flushed as he realized how much he had been ranting and how everyone was staring at him now. He slowly pulled out a spoonful of the stuff and put it in his mouth as he scrunched his eyes tight and appeared to be expecting the worst.

Sam huffed and crossed her arms as she watched. Everyone else leaned forward expectantly, not caring that they were next in line to order and holding up the other customers. The boys passed knowing grins between them and Alphonse hoped beyond all hope that his brother would be placated rather than riled up by the food.

Incredibly enough, an expression of pure bliss and incredulity spread across the irritated boy's face. When he finally opened his eyes, they glistened and he looked ready to hug Sam, who quickly backed away but then smiled.

"I take it you like it."

"Like it? Like it? I love it! It's fantastic. It's just like ice cream, even better than the stuff back home. And it doesn't have milk! You're sure it doesn't have milk?"

"Quite sure," they all laughed.

"This is awesome!"

"Hey, if you think that's cool, wait till I introduce you to milk without the milk."

Ed's eyes opened wide and he gaped at Sam.

"What do you mean by that? You can have milk without the milk? What kind of magician are you?"

"It's milk from almonds or coconuts or soy beans or something. So it tastes mostly like milk except it doesn't come from a cow."

"Doesn't… come from a cow…?" Ed repeated numbly.

"Brother, that's great!"

Ed fell on his knees. "Take me! Show me the infinite ways of your new scientific magic ness. Take me to the cow-less milk!" Sam tried to brush him off but he grabbed her boots. "Now! I must see it!"

"Brother…" Al admonished.

"NOW!"

Look at that, there really was a part , that's the end of this one, but I do have a couple more crossover ideas in the works. ;)