13 May 2012 ( happy mothers day! )
he's only human
: her voice of adieux
"Ed," she whispers almost as quietly as she would have as a little girl.
Her eyes are open, head resting on her arm, hand caressing the textured patterns of the rug she lays over. The clock above the living room bookcase maintains a comforting metronome that makes the moonlight fading through the windows giggle. Curiously, her eyes dart over the blue-gray tones and shadows.
"Hm?"
Her attention snaps forward at the body dangling from the couch. She can hear his breaths descend, but she knows he's waiting. Her gaze lowers.
"You've told me that you're an atheist," her voice laces her words cautiously. "So that makes me wonder—" pause, "—do you believe in heaven . . .?" She finds that they taste of the sweet innocence of a child.
She feels his eyes land over the silhouette of her body, and suddenly she feels transparent; vulnerable, maybe even a little scared. Has she asked something wrong?
Suddenly, something catches her expectations from behind. He chuckles, and she feels the color drain from her face.
"Why the sudden wonder, Win?" He turns to face her fully, head now comfortably dug into a cushion providing his levitation.
"It's her birthday tomorrow," she says plainly, though tinged with caution.
Silence captures them, but Winry swears that after eternity gives them a full round, she's heard him break into a smile. Naturally, because of this, she stares up at his outline and quietly studies the creases in his shirt, the shape of his arm, the lining of his face. Her heart stops when his eyes grab at her own, fixing them in place. The color in her cheeks returns.
"Yeah," he says so discretely that at first she doesn't recognize the unfamiliar warmth that accompanies him. "I do."
His expression is tender, and Winry loses her sense of perception, and, for a mild second, what she has even asked and is receiving an answer to.
"You do?" she finds herself asking.
His lips meet, creating the visible curvature of their shy smile.
"Yeah," he begins to say, and his eyes release their hold on her. "I do because women and people like her need somewhere to go when they're finally at peace."
.
Disclaimer: Credit for Fullmetal Alchemist belongs to Hiromu Arakawa.