Something in the Sky
Title: Something in the Sky
Author: miss_auto1621
Pairing: Edward E. & Winry R.
Fandom: Fullmetal Alchemist
Theme: 1: Starlight
Rating: T for language
Disclaimer: Auto keeps her hands to herself and lets Arakawa own the whole thing. She only uses her characters for entertainment, nonprofit fics.
Summary: When they looked at the sky, they realized that it's beautiful, decorated with the white sprinkled stars. However, a particular glow caught their attention. Post Manga with a twist! Dedicated to Caro!
Part of LiveJournal's 101 kisses challenge
The date was very simple. Ed invited Winry to go stargazing. That in itself was something to raise eyebrows. Even Pinako was surprised when her granddaughter told her she was going out for a while. With Edward. To see the stars. Pinako almost dropped her pipe, but held her composure as Winry looked for a blanket so Ed and her could sit on while looking at the night sky. Without Al. Just the two of them. Alone. At night.
Pinako just hoped that Ed would be good for Winry.
Winry knew Ed was good for her. He just didn't show it at times, but it was alright because he wasn't perfect, and he wasn't the type to flirt. In fact, he was just terrible with women, but he tried just for Winry. Wooing her would not be easy for him, so he had to build some common ground that did not involve metal.
So Resembool's sky was something he thought of while remembering the beauties of his home (besides Winry). He was surprised she accepted without hesitation. He would have jumped with joy, but having Winry's acceptance was in itself a jump for both of them. So he would try to be a gentleman with her and keep treating her as his friend until the right moment struck.
'When would that be?' he asked himself. That would not remain a mystery for long, but to him it would take forever. When would the right moment come? What would be the right moment, anyway? What did he have to do to know? He didn't want to look like he was rushing into these things. If only he knew and understood what these 'things' are supposed to be. He could save his country, and the rest of the world, from the hands of a God-wannabe, he could get his brother's body and his right arm back, he became a major at the age of twelve, and knew alchemy's truth enough to give it up at the age of sixteen, but he could not know how love worked? That did not come in the Truth. At least, he didn't remember it appearing in there. That was what he had to figure out on his own. Maybe that was part of his equivalency for getting his brother's body back? Get Winry's attention and affection by yourself, dumbass.
At least Winry was cooperating with him. If she had rejected his invitation to see stars, then how would he hope for a second date? Well, first he had to get this date out of the way. It was a date, right? Only he and Winry were going to look at the stars, without Al or Pinako, and without anyone else looking at them.
'Shit, I'm on my own,' he thought as he realized that he wouldn't have Al for support just in case he didn't do something right. It was all him.
"The sky's beautiful tonight," Winry said, breaking Ed's train of thought.
"Yeah, it is," he answered, almost answering 'Yeah, you are' by mistake. He didn't know what he would have done if he had actually said that out loud. Talk about messing up within the first five minutes of the date. They hadn't even reached the spot they wanted, much less sat down. So the awkwardness was spared.
If his menacing thoughts didn't ruin the date, then the silence between them would. He didn't know what to talk about with Winry. Small talk was not his thing (well, words in general were out of his field of specialty), but if he didn't learn fast, she would not enjoy his company. After all, him asking her out meant that he wanted to be more than friends with her, and she accepted it. Would she reconsider?
But she knew he wasn't a man of words. She tried making conversation, though, once the blanket was set up and they were seated.
"The stars haven't changed at all," she began.
Say something, dumbass. "I think they have," he said. "They look like they're in more clusters than when we were kids."
When we were kids…
"That's true," Winry agreed after staring at the white lights for a few moments. "But I think you think they're like that because you've seen a lot more skies than I have." She paused. "After all, I've only really studied this sky."
Ed stared at her for a minute before observing the sky. He smiled and decided to lay down on the blanket to have a better view of both Winry and the sky. She decided to lay down next to him.
"Well, of all the skies I've seen, I haven't seen one like this one," he admitted, except his answer had a double meaning for him. He had seen many women, but he had never seen one like Winry.
"Really?" Winry asked as she turned to look at him and rested her right cheek on her right hand. "Not even Central's sky is this pretty?"
"I could barely see a star or two when I was in Central, what with all the lights interfering and all," he explained.
Winry's eyes widened. "I didn't realize that artificial light had to do with the appearance of stars."
"It does," he said. "The other cities I went to weren't as illuminated as Central, but the stars didn't look that nice, either. Even Dublith's sky can't compare, despite Al and I being in an island while alchemy training."
"Do you think it's because this is your home?" Winry asked. Her blue eyes twinkled like the stars above their heads.
"I'm not sure," Ed answered, "but I guess it does."
Ed didn't realize what was happening until he felt a sudden warmth on his lips, which were soft against his own. He didn't mind the touch, even if he didn't know what had caused it. It dawned on him that Winry understood his double-meaning answers. For some reason, she knew what he was talking about when he spoke of the skies. She had deciphered his coded words with her own intuition and had felt the need to reward him for his efforts.
That was the right moment for Edward. He rewarded her with a kiss of his own. A lingering thought hung on his mind. How did they look like, kissing while laying down in a blanket, away from prying eyes?
They heard something and had to halt their lip-locking to see what the noise was. It came from the stars. And the shooting star looked so innocent, but with the noise, Ed couldn't help but think that there was something wrong with that star. Then, it dawned on him. It wasn't a shooting star at all. It was a flying machine.
A/N: Can we pretend that the airplanes in the night sky were like shooting stars? 'Cause I could really use a wish right now…
