Your eyes stared up at the white ceiling. It was late, and you felt tired, but your body refused to fall asleep. You looked over at the ticking clock near your bed.
'3:16'
You groaned. You had so much you wanted to do tomorrow, but you got the feeling you would be sleeping in instead.
You eyes moved to the pile of books on your nightstand. All of them had been finished, and with talking to Alphonse during your times in the library together, you had forgotten to get a fresh set of reading material.
You sighed, sitting up and shivering as the covers slipped off your shoulders. You had on your regular clothes, which had turned into your pajamas, since you were too lazy to change into actual pajamas. But they were comfortable, so you stuck with them. You slid out of bed, deciding to go to the library and get some more books. Maybe Al would be there as well!
You carefully pushed open the door to your room, not wanting to wake Winry up across the hall. You stepped out and started to walk towards the library. On the way there however, you noticed a slightly open door, and you paused to look at it.
"Should I go investigate? It seems like a stupid idea, that's usually how people in horror stories die," you began talking to yourself aloud. You started to continue on your way, but then decided that the mystery room would bug you unless you went to investigate it properly.
"Curiosity killed the cat, or in this case, the (Y/n)," you said out loud (like any sane person does).
You lightly pushed open the door, a creak emanating from it as it moved.
A dusty room with a large window lay on the other side of the door. Your gaze scanned the room, and you noticed some black music stands near the walls, several instrument cases, and a large grand piano in the center of the room.
"A music room?" You asked yourself. "What is this, Ouran High School?"
Your gaze remained on the piano, desperately wishing that you knew how to play. But your wishful thinking was short lived as you noticed a certain instrument case near the side wall.
A violin.
You gasped dramatically and ran over to it, grabbing it and hurriedly opening the case. The wood was a beautiful color, but it looked as if it hadn't been played in a while, judging by the color of the bow hair. It could desperately use some rosin. You placed your hands down on it, feeling it carefully. You looked over to the high quality shoulder rest that was in the case.
Oh how badly you wanted to play this thing.
"Hey, you're not a servant or anything, are you?" You asked.
No response.
You grinned, and quickly took the violin out of the case and put the shoulder rest on. You set it down, taking out the bow and some rosin, which was thankfully easily found in the case.
"I haven't gotten to play in such a long time, my violin got stuck at Winry's house," you said aloud, anticipation growing. Then a thought came over you.
"Wait, it's past three in the morning. Could I accidentally wake everybody up?" You weren't exactly the quietest player, but at the same time you liked playing when no one was watching. You even had a habit of dancing around the room as you played. After a few minutes of consideration, you decided.
"Ah, screw it. It probably won't wake anyone up. Probably."
You walked over to the piano, finding the A note so that you could tune. You pulled the bow across the strings, adjusting the tuning pegs until they played the right pitch. You then started tuning the other strings, tuning them to match the A string. With that done, you decided it was time to play.
***
Alphonse sighed, closing the book in his hands. He wanted to talk to (Y/n), but he knew she would be sleeping. There was no way to make time move faster for him, not like everyone else. They could simply close their eyes and let a dream state envelop them. He didn't have that privilege.
Suddenly he heard the sound of a note being played. It sounded like it was coming from a piano, but then the sound of a violin in the process of being tuned replaced it.
Alphonse stood up and walked towards the library door. He knew exactly where the noise was coming from, it was the who was making it that was bothering him.
'Who would be in the music room at past three in the morning?' He thought.
More strings were tuned as he made his way to the sounds' origin, but they stopped abruptly. Al's hand was a few inches away from the door to the room, for he froze when the sound stopped.
'Did they hear me walking down the hall towards them?' Al wondered.
But soon the sounds of the violin continued. They began to produce a clean, somewhat slow melody. Alphonse remained still, taking in the pretty noises of the instrument. He'd often wished he could play the small stringed instrument, but his body was too large and metallic to even hold it properly, let alone play it.
The sound rang through the air as the bow was lifted off the string for a second, before the violinist on the other side of the door played the same tune at a much faster rate, and at a much louder volume.
***
Your fingers moved with ease as the bow sped across the strings. You had played this song so many times, yet you had never gotten tired of it. It was simply too fun to play.
Originally, you had played it softly, having to figure out every note by ear. But as time went on, your confidence grew.
Now there was no need to stand still, and you were grateful that that was the case as you started dancing around the room as you played.
Alphonse opened the door and peered in to see you playing. Your (h/c) hair swished slightly as you moved. You didn't notice him in the door, your eyes were closed and you were enjoying yourself so much.
As quietly as he could, Al slipped unnoticed into the room and stood silently near the door. You didn't pay any attention to where you were going, assuming the room was as you had found it when you came in. You began backing up towards Alphonse.
You suddenly felt cold metal on your back, and you whipped around, lowering your instrument.
"I-I didn't mean to interrupt!"
You looked up, somewhat scared, before you realized it was just the gentle giant. That's right, you had started giving him nicknames in your mind. Although, you didn't say them out loud.
"Oh, it's just you Al," you exhaled. "You scared me there."
Al rubbed the back of his helmet, looking down at the ground.
"Y-yeah, sorry about that. Um, if you don't mind me asking, what are you doing in here at this hour?"
"Well," you paused, recalling what you had been planning to do when you originally left your room. "I couldn't fall asleep, so I was coming to the library to see if you were there. But then I saw the door of this room open, and I got curious, and one thing led to another, and now here we are!"
Al's helmet held a small blush.
"Y-you, were coming to see me?"
"Yeah, I mean for one thing you're probably the only other person up anyways, but I also just wanted to come see you," you glanced shyly at the ground, smiling.
Alphonse nodded in understanding, before continuing, "I didn't know you played the violin."
You chuckled, "I haven't really gotten the chance to play since I came here. I didn't exactly bring my violin with me." You looked up at him questioningly, "Do you play?"
"U-uh, no. I really wish I could but," he trailed off.
"But it would be kinda hard to in your state?" You guessed.
Al nodded.
"Do you play any other instruments?" You asked.
"U-um, I don't really. I'd like to learn, but brother knows how to play the piano,"Al said.
(A/N- Edward, your Tamaki is showing. Two Ouran references in one chapter, I'm on a roll!)
"Really? Ed doesn't really strike me as the piano type."
Al chuckled, "Yeah, he doesn't act like it. But he does play surprisingly well."
You hummed, thinking. "He should play something for Winry, it would be adorable."
"That would be pretty cute. Do, do you have any idea what kind of instrument I would be able to play?" Alphonse asked.
You put you hand on your chin, thinking. To Al, you looked quite adorable when you were lost in thought. You snapped your fingers, an idea coming to mind.
"I know! You could play the cello, or bass! Or guitar!"
"Why those instruments?"
"Well, you can't really play any woodwind or brass instruments, and the cello and bass only need two arms to play. And they're large enough that you'd be able to play them pretty easily... And I just like the sound of cellos and basses, but guitars are cool too!" You smiled, eyes closed.
"Great! Now I just need to find someone to teach me how to play," Al said.
"I'm sure one of the servants knows how, they could teach you!" You told him.
Alphonse nodded happily. He stared down at you silently for a few seconds. You started feeling a little awkward.
"W-why are you staring at me like that?"
"S-sorry, I didn't mean to stare. You're just r-really," Al looked away.
"Yes?"
He didn't say anything at first, but eventually...
"U-um, do you want to keep playing?"
You were a bit disappointed he didn't finish his sentence, but you let it slide.
"Sure. I, um, do tend to get a bit of stage fright when I'm playing in front of other people, though. So if I mess up, blame yourself," you joked.
Al chuckled, nodding for you to go on.
You lifted your bow back to the strings and began playing again. Your dance around the room restarted as you closed your eyes and focused on what you were playing, a smile creeping onto your face.
Al watched from the side of the room. If he could smile, he would be doing so. It was nice to see you enjoying yourself so much, especially since that incident during the thunderstorm.
'She looks so beautiful when she's playing. I wish I could play along with her. And now I really want to learn to play an instrument. Maybe it would boost my chances with her. No, I shouldn't kid myself, why would she love me in that way? She probably loves me as a friend, or as a brother. There's no way she could think of me in any romantic way, right?'
(A/N- *unconvincing laugh* He isn't onto you... yet.)
After several minutes of playing, you reached the end of the song, bow hovering off the string as you finished. You stayed in that position, before Alphonse started clapping.
"That was amazing (Y/n)!"
You blushed, looking at the ground and rubbing your neck, bow still in hand.
"I-it wasn't that great, I probably messed up at a couple of spots, since it's been so long since I've played and..."
"Well it sounded wonderful to me. You should be proud of your talents!" Al told you. He moved forward and hugged you, carefully, making sure not to damage the instrument you were holding.
"A-Alphonse," You said after the surprise hug had lasted for a few seconds.
Al suddenly realized what exactly he was doing, and quickly let go. He backed up a few steps towards the door as you stared up at him, bewildered.
"S-sorry! I didn't mean to- Ah!" He turned and ran out of the room. Clanking echoed as he ran down the hall.
You stood still, processing what all had just happened. You smiled, turning to put the violin back in its case. When you had strapped everything back inside and closed it, you let out a big yawn, stretching your arms upward.
"Guess I'm tired now, better go back to my room," you said, moving groggily to the door and down the hall. Your eyes were already drooping, and you flopped down on your bed as soon as you reached it.
Before you fell asleep, your mind was filled with thoughts of Alphonse, and his early exit. And his hug. You couldn't stop thinking about that hug. You'd wanted to hug him again for a while now, but he beat you to it.
You fell asleep with a smile on your face.