We will understand each other if I'm with you…

My secret blooming love for you

Aria followed after Edward into the kitchen as he went to sit by his brother. Aria noticed Alphonse, but also realizing it is him in a suit of armor. She was not as surprised with that as she was with Edward's automail. Alphonse stood up to greet her, "It's good to see you again, Aria."

She smiled, "It's good to see you too Al."

"Ok Aria how 'bout we start dinner?" Fumiko interrupted.

"Oh yes of course," She said as she turned to Fumiko.

Alphonse noticed as Aria glanced back at Edward who made eye contact with her but quickly looked away. Aria lowered her head sadly as well and turned back to help Fumiko.

"What happened between those two?" Alphonse thought to himself.

He looked at his brother who continued to look in the opposite direction. At first he thought he was mad but when he took a closer look at Edward's face, he saw that he was sad. He glanced back to Aria who went on with what she was doing; preparing to cook with Fumiko's help.

Later on that night, after they made dinner and sat around to eat it, Edward and Aria started to warm up to each other again. But Alphonse noticed that not all was right with them.

After Fumiko and Aria had picked up the dishes, cleaned them and put them away, Edward got up and started to walk toward his room.

"I'm going to go take a shower," he said as he left the kitchen. His brother started to say something to him, but he was too late. On instinct he looked at Aria who began to make it to her room. She looked back at Fumiko and Alphonse and smiled, "I'm going to get ready for bed. I'll see you two in the morning." She turned back again and went to her room.

"You felt that too, didn't you?" Fumiko said to Alphonse as she took a seat by them.

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"That something weird is going on between them."

"Oh yeah I had a feeling about that. What do we do?"

"Nothing."

"But, why?"

"Because this is their problem. I'm sure it's nothing, but even so."

"I'm wondering what he's going to do when we have to leave. I'm afraid to ask."

Fumiko leaned over the table and rested her chin on her hand. "Let's just see how it plays."

Alphonse got up from his seat, "I'm going to talk to Aria."

Fumiko smiled, "I'm sure she would like that."

Before Aria had the chance to finally change into her nightgown, she heard a knock on her door. Curious to whom it was, she answered it. It was Alphonse.

"Oh, uh, hi Aria." He said rubbing the back of his head.

She smiled lightly, "Hello Alphonse. Did you need anything?"

"Oh, well, I came to apologize for my brother being so rude. That's just how he always is."

Aria looked at him surprised, "He wasn't being rude?"

"He wasn't? I just thought seeing how you guys were acting."

She shook he head, "No it was nothing. There's no need for you to worry."

Alphonse could tell she was lying, "Are you sure?"

"Yes."
"Oh ok… then I'll leave you alone. Sorry."

"You don't need to be sorry, thank you for being so concerned."

He nodded and started down the hall until Aria interrupted, "Um…Alphonse?"

He turned to face her, "Yeah?"
"You can't sleep in that body can't you?"

"Um….no…"

"Well if you get lonely, Fumiko is always up at night. She's an insomniac. If you need someone to talk to I'm sure that she would be happy to keep you company."

This made Alphonse a little happier; he was always lonely at night when Edward had to sleep. This could give him a chance to talk to someone for once.

"Thank you Aria. Good night."

"Good Night Alphonse." She slowly closed her door as Alphonse went back to him and Edward's room.

Alphonse entered their room as soon as Edward was leaving the bathroom from taking a shower.

As usual, he was only in his pale blue boxers with his hair let down and his automail not being hidden. He looked up to see Alphonse entering the room, "Hey Al."

"Hey Ed."

There was an awkward silence until his brother said, "Um, well since you're going to sleep I'm going to visit with Fumiko?"

His brother raised an eyebrow, "Does she not sleep or something?"

"Well Aria said that she's practically an insomniac and since I can't sleep it would be nice to have someone to talk to."

Edward smiled, "Ok, as long as you're happy."

Alphonse nodded then left the room, closing the door behind him. Edward's smile faded as he looked down into the palm of his automail hand, and then closed it. He looked up and walked toward the door, opening it. He stuck his head out of it to look up and down the hall where his room was in the middle. He quietly shut off the light in his room and walked down to Aria's room at the end of the hall.

After Alphonse had left, Aria went into her bathroom that her room led into like the guest room. It was a good thing they had 3 bathrooms. She dressed into her long-sleeved nightgown that had ribbons around the neckline, wrists, below the chest, and at the bottom of the whole dress. I had frills in those areas and its color was a tanish-pink.

Before leaving the bathroom, whose door was shut, she finished taking her make-up off and cleaning her face. She looked in the mirror so see how the mark on her neck was. It was slowly fading but a slight bruise stayed behind. It was small and not really noticeable; but she knew once she saw Edward the next day that's the exact place he would look.

She tried to think of a way to cover it up, but that would just make him feel worse. Besides, it wasn't bad enough that she would need to cover it.

She let go of the thought and turned off the lights in her bathroom. The lights in her room were already off but her room's window was opened, so the light from the moon gave her enough light to see. She stepped out of her bathroom and closed its door behind her. Suddenly, she looked at her bed to see Edward laying in it asleep. She stood there surprised as Edward slept peacefully in her own bed. She walked over and leaned over him on her bed, then shook him. He woke up startled and sat up in the bed. He looked over at Aria who stared at him curiously, wondering why he was in her bed.

"Oh, hi Aria."

"Um, Edward?

"Yeah?"

"Why are you in my bed?"

Edward gritted his teeth while he searched for the reason in his head. "Ah, well, I wanted to talk to you. But you were in the bathroom so I thought I would wait for you and I accidentally fell asleep."

"Oh, uh, ok."

Edward calmed down and looked at where the bruise appeared on Aria's collar bone, "I came to see if that was ok."

Aria smiled, "It's fine Edward you don't need to worry so much."

"Yeah but it was my fault, I have to worry."

Aria pointed at the small bruise, "It's almost gone. It's no problem."

Edward frowned; he rested his head on his knees as he scratched his head. Aria suddenly got fed up with the small cycle of sadness; she grabbed Edward's right shoulder and turned him toward her, "Stop being so sad! It's not bad! Just be happy, ok?!"

Edward looked back at her as he was taken aback, then he suddenly felt at ease.

"Heh, that's the Aria I know," He smirked.

Aria smiled, "Well now, that's better."

They both laughed, now more at ease with each other. They both laid back comfortably on the bed's pillows and their hands behind their heads. They stared at the dark ceiling above them as they began to talk to each other and reminiscing.

"I remember how we would always stay out late so we could see the stars in Risembool," Aria said.

"Yeah I'm surprised we never got in trouble for staying out so late. But Risembool isn't dangerous so I could see why my mom could put up with it," Edward added.

"Yeah and I remember how Winry always wanted to play house. That was a fun game."

"Haha and you and I would always be the mom and dad."

"And Alphonse would be our son and Winry would be our daughter."

They laughed together at the fun thought of them playing back when they were younger."

The whole time though, Aria had one thought on her mind. Her eyes looked over to Edward who continued to look up at the ceiling and going on about their younger days.

"I wonder if he remembers….that promise…" she thought to herself. She contemplated on whether to ask, and didn't know whether she should. She played with the ring on exact hand Edward had put it on; the ring her made for her so long ago.

It suddenly grew silent, Edward turned on his side facing Aria; that long silence between them meant he fell asleep. She looked at him and turned to face him too. Suddenly he opened his eyes and yawned, "I'm sorry I'm just so tired; I barely got any sleep on the train. Not to mention it hurt my neck."

Aria's eyes began to feel tired as well; she smiled and looked back into his eyes, "Its fine. It's just like old times. We would always sleep by each other."

"Yeah and you would always end up clinged to me."

"And you slept with your stomach out."

They both smiled. Aria continued, "Well at least I have clothes on, you're in my bed with just your boxers!"

Edward laughed, "Is that a problem? You're just in a dress!"

"Touché`."

Edward yawned once again, "Ugh there I go again." He rubbed his eye with his automail hand.

Aria looked at his arm closely and then down to his leg. Edward noticed.

"Are you interested in my automail or something?"

She slowly averted her attention back to him, "No I'm just curious."

"What about them?"

"Did it hurt when you got them?"

"Yeah a lot…" He said as he looked down at his hand. "But it's not half as bad as what I put Alphonse through…"

The moment had suddenly darkened and they both noticed this. Aria began to speak, but she realized she didn't really have anything to say. Anything that could help at least.

"But I swear I'm going to get our bodies back to normal. I'm never going to quit."

Aria softly smiled, "I know you will."

Despite the comment Edward's expression hardened, "That's why I didn't want you to hold on to my arm, because it's my sin and I'm disgusted with it. It was even worse that I hurt you with it."

Aria sighed, "Edward, you don't need to worry about me. You just need to worry about your problems and fixing them. And if you ever need help, I'm right here."

Edward's face started to soften and he smiled, "I'm sorry I shouldn't be complaining, you've had your share of problems. I'm just glad you're ok."

"Well we should probably go to sleep now. Tomorrow I can show you just how good I am with alchemy. Not to mention fighting,' she giggled softly. Edward put his left hand on her head.

"I'm sure you're great." He took his hand as Aria turned to lay on her right side. Secretly she was blushing, but suddenly a thought crept into her head.

"WHY ARE WE SLEEPING IN THE SAME BED?!"

I want to break the wall to reach

Your dear pain

If I can stay nearby you

It'll be nice to share everything with you