A/N: I got stuck on the fourth chapter of Waiting, so I decided to clear my head with a bit of Almei fluff. Enjoy!
"You're still not doing it right!"
Alphonse opened his eyes and was met with her frustrated black ones, squinting at him fiercely - or, rather, as fiercely as someone so adorable as she was could manage. He tried very hard not to grin at the way she got so flustered when he did it wrong, but he couldn't help himself.
"I'm sorry, Mei," he began. She puffed up in further annoyance, and he quickly amended his apology with the proper Xingese honorific. "I mean, Sensei."
She took a deep breath a leveled a look at him that seemed very similar to a pout, but he would never say so aloud. "I told you that you can't just breathe, you have to feel. If you don't learn to reach for the Earth's energy, you can never feel the Dragon's Pulse. You have to let your body feel every vibration in the air and in the ground, and you have to imagine that you are one with everything around you. All you're doing is breathing in and out!"
With a chuckle, Al shook his head. "I'm trying, Sensei, but it's really hard to learn something when every time I ask you to show me how, you sit there and breathe in and out! It's not exactly detailed instruction." Mei was growling furiously before he'd even finished his sentence, and he only barely ducked her swipe at his head in time.
He was starting to understand why his brother was always teasing Winry - it was hard to resist when Mei got all flushed like that.
Mei seemed to finally notice his grin, and sat back on her knees with an indignant huff. "Maybe you're just hopeless. Not everyone can learn Alkahestry, I'll understand if it's too hard for you, Alphonse." She gave him a teasing grin.
With an amiable smile, Al shrugged. "Maybe you're right. I'd like to keep working at it for now though." He took her small hands in his own, pretending to ignore the pink that rose in her cheeks when he did so. "Come on, maybe if you show me like this, I'll feel it and be able to do it myself!"
With their legs crossed and their backs straight, they both closed their eyes and began to breathe deeply and evenly.
Al tried to imagine himself being one with the Earth, and he tried to imagine that each breath of air he took was a communion with its energy, but truthfully, it was extremely hard to do so when all he could really focus on was how warm and soft her hands were. He didn't know what he had expected, but he was learning quickly that having a teacher as pretty as this one was quite counter-productive.
He opened one eye to glance at her, and couldn't stop the smile that spread across his face. She looked so serious when she was trying to teach him, and the crinkle in her brow when she was concentrating was quite endearing. Her passion for Alkahestry was the reason he was here, yet at the same time it was fast becoming the reason he couldn't manage to focus on actually learning it. It was quite a conundrum.
As if she had sensed his distraction, her eyes opened, and his heart fluttered when they met his own. Of course, it was only a fleeting moment, for when she saw him peeking at her through one opened eye, her face contorted in annoyance once more. She released his hands, and he was loath to let them slide out of his.
Mei leapt to her feet and planted her fists firmly on her hips. "How can you say I'm not teaching you well enough when you aren't even concentrating?" she demanded hotly.
Al scratched the back of his neck with a sheepish grin. "I'm sorry, Sensei. I must be tired." He could tell she didn't believe him at all, but the way her nose wrinkled in annoyance was worth it.
Her long braids swished against her arms as she shook her head at him. "Very well, Alphonse," she sighed dramatically. "We'll call it a day, but you'd better not be this terrible for our lesson tomorrow!" Her eyes glimmered with the promise of her very cute but formidable temper, and he grinned at her.
"Thanks Mei!" He ignored her indignation at the use of her name and kissed her on the cheek, filling with amusement once more when her cheeks flushed bright red. "I won't let you down tomorrow. I'll see you in the morning, bright and early!"
He left the room with delectable Xingese food on his mind and a resolution to make her blush that hard more often.