A/N: I've never written something as spontaneous as this. Usually my ideas sit idle, written in my journal, for several months before I act on them. I was talking to a friend last night about our extreme love of almei and she shared some fics she loved with me, and since I stayed home sick today and I'm lying here in my freezing bed (thank god for heating blankets), I decided I'd try my hand at some almei. It's about time. If you know me then you probably guessed this day was coming sooner or later.
Sorry for the shitty summary, I'm real bad at those.
In the beginning, the snow had started out as small, little flurries. Mei Chang had hardly even noticed them as they drifted from the sky that morning when she woke and looked out her window. The small flakes were barely the size of dust particles, so tiny that they might as well have not even been there at all. But as the day progressed, the snowflakes grew larger and larger and came down faster, and by noon that day the whole world was tucked in a thick blanket of white.
It never snowed in Xing, only ever in the very northern regions of the country. In the past one hundred years, it had only ever snowed twice in the Xingese capital.
Mei had never seen snow in Xing before. Chang was even warmer than the capital, being on the leeward side of a mountain range where the climate was arid. There had been the snowstorms in Amestris when she was traveling the northern region with Mr. Scar, but the snow there was cruel and biting. It wasn't the soft, fairytale-like thing that it was now, covering the courtyards like a cloud. Besides, Mei had had other things to worry about when in Amestris, not leaving her much time to enjoy the snow.
That afternoon, Mei had canceled her and Alphonse's alkahestry lesson. The books could wait, instead, they both bundled up in their warmest garments and spent the entire afternoon playing in the snow in the gardens.
Never in her life had Mei ever had so much fun with someone. Hours of snowball fights and building lopsided snowmen and failed attempts to skate on the frozen koi pond had had Mei bursting with joy.
When the sun set and the chill of the evening had really begun set in, the two shuffled back inside, laughing and falling against each other as they slipped on the frozen pathway.
They'd spent hours outside, but never in all that time had she once felt cold. Rather, even in the frigid winter weather, Mei had felt considerably warm, like her heart had been filled up with pleasant honey. With Al's warm breath on her skin and his arms around her waist making sure she didn't slip in the snow, Mei didn't know how anybody could possibly feel anything but toasty.
At the end of the evening, it had felt like someone had captured all the world's sunshine and trapped it inside Mei's soul.
But that night, as Mei changed into her pink, silk nightgown and climbed into bed, the warm feeling had begun to dissipate. The halls of the Xingese palace we uninsulated, not built for sudden cold fronts and snow-filled days. Between her cream covered sheets and covers, Mei shivered, curling into a ball to try and preserve her warmth. Still, goosebumps rose up on her slim arms and her teeth chattered. There was no way she was going to be able to sleep like this.
How was it possible that she could have felt so warm this afternoon when she was actually out there in the snow, but suddenly feel so cold now, tucked away in her bed?
Mei pulled the comforter tighter around her shoulders and squeezed her eyes shut.
Sleep, she urged to herself, but sleep would not come.
Laying there, Mei thought back to that afternoon. It had been her idea to try and ice skate on the koi pond when she found it was frozen.
"We should probably see if it's steady enough to hold the both of us," Alphonse suggested, gently tapping the ice with his foot. "Ladies first."
"Oh you're quite the gentleman," she teased, "too scared to check out the ice for yourself."
He cocked his head to the side, giving her his best mischievous smile. "I didn't say that."
Gosh, had that that fluttering sensation in her heart always there?
"But you implied it," Mei said, trying to keep her voice nonchalant despite her butterfly heart.
"Fine, then I'llgo first."
"Now hold on a second," Mei said, placing her arm out in front of him as a block, "I'm not letting you best me in my own country. I'll go first."
Slowly, Mei stretched out her left foot, slowly placing the heel of her white boot down on the ice. Nothing happened, so she leaned forward, placing her weight onto the ice and stepping on with her right foot.
"See, nothing to it!" she exclaimed. "Now it's your turn."
With a shrug, Al stepped onto the ice following behind her.
"Seems sturdy enough to me," he said.
"Great! Now all we have to do is go find some ice skates in the palace, or if we can't, then you can transmute—" but she was cut off mid-sentence with the direct feeling of falling forwards.
"Mei!" Al yelled, scooping forward and catching her with perfect timing.
"Are you okay?" he asked, his voice panicked.
"Yeah, I'm fine," and a laugh bubbled out of her at the sight of his comically wide eyes, so big and expressive.
Everyone always described Al's eyes as the color of gold, like they could steal his eyes and turn them into fine jewelry for them to show off at the occasional ball. For the first week he'd been in Xing, his uncommon appearance had been one of the favorite subjects of the royal court.
But Mei didn't think his eyes were gold like glittering jewelry, instead, they reminded her of the color of sunrise in the morning. The pale gold color of the sun's first light. It was the color of the dawn's rays reflecting on the lake in the morning while the rest of the world slept. They were priceless, intangible things. A color that could not be described in adjectives, but rather experiences and feelings.
She wanted to fall into them and stay there forever.
"What's so funny?" he asked, his voice still tinged with worry for her.
"You are."
"What?"
"The cute, little panicked face you made when I fell down, it was—" but Mei stopped abruptly, realizing her mistake a touch too late.
Cute! She's really called his face cute! Directly to him too! Oh she was definitely going to die of embarrassment. The ice should just break beneath her and swallow her up whole at this very instant. That would be a mercy in her opinion.
"Cute?" he smirked.
"No!" she said, waving her arms in front of her to dispel the notion. "I didn't mean it like that, I just meant—"
God, she must have been blushing so hard right now.
He laughed, such a hearty, genuine laugh. "It's okay Mei, I'll take cute."
And then they were both laughing, his arms still wrapped around her waist from her fall as they stood there cackling. Mei swore she could feel his laugh on her skin like some divine spell cast over her. She wanted this moment to last forever, just the two of them, some snow on the palace lawns and a world of laughter.
When their laughter subsided, he took her hand, helping her off the ice.
"Now let's see about transmuting those ice skates."
Mei put a hand over her mouth, trying to suppress a laugh at the memory of that afternoon as she lied shivering in her bed. Mei remembered the warmth of his hand on her side when he'd caught her. Even through her thick, pink coat and his grey gloves, she could feel his burning touch. She wondered if he was still that warm now, or if he too was laying in his bed unable to sleep.
Trying to keep her footfalls light, Mei slipped out of bed onto the frosty, wooden floor. From her dressing room she took her slippers, the ones that matched the nightgown she was wearing, and slipped them on.
Perfect. Now she could see if Al was asleep.
The walk was far. The royal suites were situated in a different wing of the castle than the sleeping quarters of imperial guests, but Mei hastily swept down the halls of the palace, only stopping once to look out at the moonlight glittering on the still-frozen koi pond.
Mei was lucky she knew the way to his room like the back of her hand, navigating in the dark on her way over. She didn't bother knocking when she got there, not wanting to wake him if he was asleep.
As soundlessly as she could, Mei pushed his bedroom door open, cringing at the sound of it squeaking on the hinges.
His quarters were large, as the ones lent out to esteemed guest usually were, but even from her vantage point she could see him asleep in the bed, the window above his bed painting him silver in the moonlight. It brought a small smile to her lips.
Looks like he's asleep, you should go back to your room and leave him be, Mei's logical side attempted to say to her, knowing that that was the polite thing to do.
But it seemed Mei had other ideas as the next thing she knew she was stepping into his room quietly, pulling the door shut behind her.
He slept on his stomach, his face turned towards her with his eyes shut. The green comforter of his bed was pulled up to his mid-back, revealing that he was asleep wearing the white, cotton nightshirt he had brought with him from Amestris, now a touch too small as he filled out even more while in Xing.
He looked so peaceful and so young laying there breathing deeply as he slept.
At the foot of his bed, Mei pulled off her slippers, lying them in a neat little row beside his own pair. Then, as quickly as she could, she tiptoed over to the right side of his bed, pulling up the blankets and slipping under them beside Al.
She lied there like that for a moment, but still not warm, she scooted even closer to him until their noses were just inches from each other.
"You know," came a sleepy voice in slurred Amestrian beside her, "you should warn me next time you decide to sneak in here."
Mei almost screamed out suddenly, breaking the silence of the moonlit room, but clamped her hands over her mouth to stop the exclamation before she woke the entire palace.
"Sorry! I didn't mean to wake you. Honestly, I didn't! I can go if you want me to."
"I didn't say anything about wanting you to leave, did I?" He asked, raising an eyebrow despite keeping his eyes shut.
Still, she continued her embarrassed ramble.
"It's just my room is so cold and I figured you were warm and I could probably—"
But again she was cut off, this time by Al putting a finger against her lips. "Shhhh. It doesn't matter why you came, you can stay here with me if you need to." He lifted up his right arm, the blankets clutched in hand.
"Now come here."
And she scooted closer, closing the gap between them until their bodies were pressed up against each other. When they were touching, his put his arm down, wrapping it around her back and smothering them both under the blanket.
"Golly, you are cold," he whispered.
"And you're so warm."
"You will be too if you stay here with me."
She smiled. Seemed like a good reason as any.
"Then I'll stay."
There was no telling what the court would say when someone inevitable found them wrapped in each other's arms in Al's quarters when the morning came. There would be talk, oh there'd be talk, especially considering the fact that they weren't even courting.
Still, Mei couldn't find it in herself to care. Let them find us like this, she thought. For now, she had no intention of ever leaving Al's arms.