"(Y/N)! GET OUT OF BED ALREADY!" Winry shouted, attempting to pull you from your cocoon of blankets.
"No. It's warm in here and cold out there."
"(Y/N) GET UP NOW!"
"Why?"
"Ed and Al are waiting outside your door for us! We're going to teach them how to dance, and I need you as Al's dance partner!"
"Winry, I didn't sleep very well last night. I don't even know how to dance," you grumbled with your eyes closed.
Winry stopped trying to pull the covers away and silently stared at you.
"You don't know how to dance?"
"Nope, I never learned. I thought you knew that already," you said, adjusting your covers so that they were comfortably around you once again.
"Welp, let's change that!" With one swift movement, Winry managed to pull the covers off of the bed. You, refusing to exit your nest, fell on the floor with the blankets. Winry practically dragged you across the floor over to the wardrobe, pulling out an elegant yet simple (f/c) dress. Pulling you up, she handed the outfit to you.
"Now put this on. You want to look nice for Alphonse, don't you?" She teased.
"It's too early for your teasing. If you tease me too much I'll crawl back into bed," you grumbled, changing into the clothes.
After getting the dress on, you looked over in the mirror at yourself and sighed. You walked over and grabbed the brush, running it through your (h/l) (h/c) locks.
"Is it really necessary to dress up just for learning how to dance?"
"Yes, yes it is. Now let's go!" Winry cheered, grabbing your hand and pulling you towards the door. When you two exited the room, Winry nearly ran into Edward. Ed and Al had in fact been waiting directly outside the door.
"Ready to learn you guys!?" Winry asked excitedly.
"Sure, as long as it doesn't take too long. I'm not sure how much work this new arm can manage," Ed said, looking down at the shiny new arm Winry had finished making and attached yesterday.
"Yeah yeah, don't be such a baby," Winry said.
You looked over at Al, who automatically darted his eyes down to the ground. You were going to ask him what was wrong, but Winry spoke before you could.
"Come on guys, let's go!"
"Where are we going?" You asked.
"The music room of course! Can't have dancing without music! Edward told me about it, he's gonna lead the way there," Winry said, looking at Ed to tell him to show you all where to go.
Ed started walking, Winry following next to him, and you smirked.
"I think those two are starting to like each other," you whispered to Al.
"Y-yeah. They're probably too scared to tell each other, though," Al whispered back.
You laughed nervously, but Al didn't seem to noticed your anxiety. You had been feeling that way about him. He was so kind and sweet and caring, you had had a feeling it would happen at some point. You just didn't expect it to be as strong a love as it was. Which was why you were so scared to tell him.
After about a minute of silence between you and Al, the group reached the music room. Unknown to Ed and Winry, you and Al had been here before. You all entered silently.
Winry gasped, pointing at the violin case you had used before.
"(Y/n), they have your instrument!"
"Yeah," you yawned. "I've used that violin before."
"Wait, you have?" Winry asked, confused.
"Yeah, I found this room when I was exploring one time. Then Al found me in here and told me that Edward could play the piano."
"Ed, you can play the piano?" Winry asked, shooting Ed a questioning look.
"Well, yeah. I haven't really played in a while, but I can play," Ed confessed, rubbing the back of his neck.
"Do you think you could play music that Alphonse and (Y/n) could waltz to?"
"I don't see why not. I'll see what music I have in three-four time," Ed said, moving over to the piano and looking through the book of music on the piano stand.
Winry looked at you and Al, walking over to you.
"Now, you two should just be fine with the box step," she said, pulling you near her so that you were facing the same way as her. "All you have to do, (Y/n), is first move your right foot back, like this," Winry stepped backwards with her right foot, and you copied the movement. "Then you slide your left foot back diagonally so that there's about a foot of space between your feet," you mirrored Winry's movements, looking at her feet postions. "And then lastly, you slide your right foot so that its next to your left foot."
"Well that's a lot easier than I thought it would be," you commented.
"And then you just do the reverse for coming forward. First move your left foot forward, slide your right foot over to a foot away from your left one, then slide your left foot over to meet your right one. Then you just restart the step by moving backwards again," Winry instructed.
"That's actually really easy!" You cheered.
"It might seem easy, but there's a lot of stuff that could go wrong. You have to look graceful, and have a straight posture. And then you have to have a good partner as well," you both looked over at Alphonse. He tensed up, looking down at the ground.
"No pressure, Al," you joked.
"Al, since you're the guy, you lead in the dance. It's simple, so don't worry too much. You have the same steps (Y/n) does, except her second of the two parts is your first part. You start with moving your left foot forward first, then slide your right foot to here," Winry started demonstrating the steps, and Alphonse tried his best to follow along. It was basically your steps, but he started by moving forward instead of back. It was a bit difficult for him to be graceful and elegant, due to his larger stature.
"I found a waltz, will that be good for them to dance to?" Ed called from across the room.
"Yeah, that'll be fine," Winry called back. She turned back to Al, to see him stepping decently after some practice. "See, it's not so difficult. Now you two can try to dance together!" She grabbed your arm and pulled you over to Alphonse. She put your left hand on Al's right arm, just below his shoulder-area. She moved Al's right hand to just under your left arm and informed him to cup his hand. Then she moved to your other side, putting your right hand in Al's left hand and raising both of your arms up. Next, she stepped back, before stepping back forward and moving you slightly to the left so that you and Al's feet didn't collide when you moved.
You could already feel a blush on your face, and you hadn't even begun dancing yet. You were looking down to the side.
Winry shouted at you,"Look at your partner (Y/n)!"
Your gaze snapped back up to Al, who was staring down at you with a similar pink on his metallic face. You heard him chuckle slightly, and you smiled shyly.
"Alright Edward, count off so they can start," Winry commanded.
Edward stared at Winry for a few seconds, eyes staying on her and not moving. Winry noticed, and repeated herself.
"Ed, count off so they can start."
Edward snapped to attention, and you had a feeling that under all the fur covering his face he was blushing.
'Cuties,' you thought to yourself.
"5, 6, 7, 8," Ed counted, before he started playing.
You began to step back as Alphonse moved forward, following the steps Winry had told you to follow. It was somewhat difficult to keep eye contact with Al, but you managed, smiling up at him shyly. Al was slightly slouched over to try to aid you, but Winry was too perceptive.
"Alphonse! Posture!"
Al quickly straightened up.
"Sorry," he whispered.
Eventually, after a few minutes, you got into a smooth rhythm.
"You guys don't have to stay in that little area of the room, you know that right?" Winry asked.
Slowly, you two started moving around the room in your dance. It was actually quite fun to move freely as you two were doing.
You glanced over to see Winry was watching Ed play. Edward was focused on playing, but you guessed he was trying to impress Winry with his 'mad skills' on the piano. You looked back up towards Al, who was still looking at you, and you tipped your head in their direction as you spun around.
Alphonse took your hint and looked at the two of them and hummed slightly.
"They totally like each other," you whispered.
"Yeah, Ed's not even playing the same song he was playing when we started dancing anymore. He's playing other waltz stuff from memory now.  I think he just wants to play more for Winry," Alphonse whispered back.
"I thought the tune sounded different now. I wonder if they'll ask me to play violin so that they can dance. I know a few minuets, those are waltz songs. But it's been a while since I've played them. Playing from memory in front of other people sounds like a formula for musical disaster," you chuckled.
"I'm sure you would sound beautiful. If anything else, you could always sing for them. I've heard you singing in the library before, you have a really good singing voice," Al told you.
You looked back down to the side, blushing.
"I-I didn't know anyone could hear me in there."
"Well you sounded beautiful. A-and today, y-you," Alphonse looked down to the other side where you weren't looking. You (e/c) eyes moved back up to his face.
"I-I what?"
He sighed, slowly looking back into your eyes.
"Today, y-you look b-beautiful."
You felt like your face was the color of a tomato. Your blush wasn't going anywhere anytime soon.
"A-Alphonse," you began. But before you could say anything else, the last note was ringing out on the piano.
Winry snapped out of her daze, hurriedly looking back to you and Al.
"G-great job you guys! And, great job to you too, Ed."
"Well," Ed ran a clawed hand through his mane, hair, whatever it was. "It was nothing."
Winry looked towards the door to the music room to see some of the servants looking in.
"Master Edward, that was beautiful!" Alex entered the room, sparkles around him. He turned to Alphonse,"And excellent dancing, master Alphonse!"
You moved away from Al, exiting your dancing position.
You saw Maes enter behind Alex, followed by Roy and Riza. Maes went over towards Alphonse, signaling for him to kneel down so that Al could hear him better.
"So, Alphonse, when are you going to confess your love to her?" Hughes whispered, trying to make it so only Al could hear him, but you easily heard what he said. Your blush only got worse.
You quickly moved over towards the violin case, hoping that they didn't suspect anything from your hasty departure. Riza followed you over to the instrument.
"Hey, Ed and Winry, want me to play so you guys can dance, too?" You called.
Winry looked surprised.
"Why are you offering to play in front of other people? Are you trying to avoid talking or something?"
"N-no, I just want to play violin," you lied.
Winry gave you a suspicious look, before instructing you to proceed.
You started taking out the violin, getting everything ready as slowly as possible. Your hasty decision making had ended up getting you into a different problem. You glanced over to see Al whispering hastily to Maes, face tinted a deep shade of pink. You sighed softly, looking back down at the instrument in front of you. Riza sat down next to you. You looked to her and smiled.
"Hey (Y/n), how's it going with him?" Riza asked. She had been the one that helped you originally realize that what you felt towards Al was love.
"I'm not sure. He seems to be blushing a lot around me, and occasionally stuttering. But then he's also just generally shy, so I'm not certain. It could be what we hope, or I could be getting my hopes up for nothing."
"Just let things play out. You can't force someone to love you. Now, go play your heart out on that violin of yours," Riza smiled at you.
You smiled back, "Thanks, Riza." You stood up and tuned the violin to the right notes, then started playing a song people could ballroom dance to.
You watched as Winry instructed Ed as they danced together. At first it was only a small part of the room, like you and Al had started with, before they slowly transitioned to using the entire room. You grinned. Edward and Winry really did look good together. Of course, Edward looked somewhat terrified in the midst of the happiness.
Since Edward had started playing other songs to let you and Al dance for longer than you could have, you returned the favor. You moved swiftly between the songs, not even a pause between the tunes.
You thought you heard some of the servants whispering, and Al moving occasionally, but you were focused on your playing. You actually started dancing along a little. You kept an eye on the two dancers to make sure they still wanted to dance, and when they appeared to be winding down, you choose to finish the song. You caught Winry's eyes, trying to convey what you were going to do. She nodded her head, and you lifted the bow off the string and held it in the air, letting the notes ring.
Everyone who hadn't been dancing or playing started clapping, and Alex got excited again.
"Splendid! Such magnificent dancing and playing! Surely such skill has been passed down your family line for generations!"
"Well, I don't know about that. It's mostly just thanks to practice," you told him, rubbing your neck a bit.
"I-I think it sounded pretty," Al said.
The servants were all smirking at him, but you felt your face heat up once again.
"Th-thanks."
There was a few seconds of silence, in which everyone was looking around the room awkwardly.
"And that's how you dance!" Winry exclaimed.
***
A large yawn escaped (Y/n)'s mouth. She blinked a few times, looking down at her book. She tried her best to keep reading, but soon her eyes drooped and her head fell forward. She jerked awake, looking down at her book again. She sighed in defeat and looked over at the clock.
'9:37,' it read.
"It's not even that late, and I can barely stay awake," she sighed. "Stupid Winry waking me up so early."
Alphonse looked at her worriedly, observing her sleep deprived state.
"(Y/n), I think you should go to bed," he said.
"But then you'll be all alone until morning," she argued.
"Don't worry, I'll have Spook to keep me company," he said, petting the sleeping, curled up white kitten laying just to the side of him.
"But she's sleeping, too. Can't I just fall asleep here and not have to move?" (Y/n) pouted.
"No, cats can sleep anywhere. People can't. Go to bed, (Y/n)."
(Y/n) groaned tiredly.
"Can you carry me?" She asked. She slumped forward onto her book.
"C-carry you? As in, b-back to your room?" Al stuttered.
(Y/n) nodded, head still against the book.
Alphonse thought for a moment, before sighing and standing up.
"Alright, I'll carry you."
(Y/n) sleepily adjusted so that Alphonse could pick her up. Al picked her up bridal style and carried her to the library door. He looked back and saw Spook still sleeping.
"Be a good kitty and stay there Spook," Al softly called.
"She won't listen to you. She doesn't take orders from anybody," (Y/n) whispered lazily.
Alphonse chuckled, carrying (Y/n) back to her room. On the way there, he observed (Y/n) had fallen asleep in his arms.
'Aww, she's so cute when she's asleep,' he thought. Her mouth was open slightly, soft breathing emanating from her.
He quietly opened the door to (Y/n)'s room and walked over to the bed. He gently set her down, then moved some of the blankets over her so she wouldn't be cold during the night.
(Y/n)'s sleeping form sensed the blankets, curling up subconsciously under them and rolling onto her side. Al stared at her for about a minute, making sure she was really still asleep.
When he determined she was, he started moving towards the door. Once he reached the door, he exited the room, before turning back around and peeking his head in to look at (Y/n) once more.
He took a deep breath, then called something to her that he had wanted to say for a long time now.
"Goodnight (Y/n). I," he inhaled deeply again, before finishing his statement. "I love you."
The sleeping girl didn't stir. Alphonse let out a sigh of relief. He had said it. He had told her his feelings.
If only she had been awake.
Alphonse carefully closed the door, hearing it click. Stepping back, he began his return trip to the library.