38: Downtime

**3rd person P.O.V.**

Ed sighed and stuffed his hands in his pockets. He didn't much like dressing up, but, well, it was kinda required for a wedding. He turned around again, checking out his tuxedo. He sighed again and glanced over at a nearby chair.

'Bowtie or regular?' he thought. 'And why did they have to pick green as their theme color?' he watched snow fall outside the window. It had been almost a month since Havoc had proposed to Riza. They were getting married at the end of January, a few weeks away.

"I'm home." Asher called, stepping through the door. The elric brothers decided to move in with Asher, since they spent most of their free time in her dorm. "hey there Casanova." she grinned, eyeing Ed.

"I'm not gonna ask." Ed said, taking off his jacket. He noticed the bags Asher was carrying and that Al was still out.

"Al said he'd be late tonight. He was meeting Aya after we finished shopping." Asher said, almost reading Ed's mind.

"What's in the bags?" Ed asked, sitting on the edge of a bed.

"This one's my bridesmaids dress, this one is my wedding singer dress and this one has my new shoes." she said, pointing to each bag. "I'm gonna have a broken ankle when the whole thing is over."

"Dare I ask why?" Ed grinned. Asher rolled her eyes and pulled out a shoebox. She held up one three-inch heel.

"Three inch twigs. I have to walk down the freakin' aisle in these." she groaned.

"I don't see the problem." Ed said, leaning forward. Asher sat on the bed opposite him.

"I have terrible balance in heels." she admitted, blushing a little.

"Really. In that case I'm walking at least two feet away from you so you don't drag me down with you." Ed joked. Asher threw the box lid at him. "Can I see your dresses?" Asher pulled them out of their bags and held them up for Ed to see.

"Why green?" she complained.

"That's not what I meant." ed chuckled. Asher stared at him rather stupidly.

"What did you mean?" she asked.

"I meant I want to see how they look on you." Ed replied. Asher blushed slightly, but took the dresses and her shoes into the closet to change.

"No peeking." she said before closing the door. Ed let his eyes wander the room and tried not to imagine Asher changing. He laid flat on the bed and stared at the ceiling. The small box in his pocket suddenly felt very heavy.

'I could ask her now... but that seems kinda...weird, what with everything going on right now. I guess I'll just wait a little longer...' Ed thought absently. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the closet door open. He sat up.

"I'm coming out. Don't laugh." Asher said nervously. 'I never wear things like this... how will Ed react?' she thought, pushing open the door quickly before she changed her mind and changed into her regular clothes. "This is the bridesmaid's dress." she said, holding onto the doorknob for support.

Ed examined the strapless green dress. "I like it." he grinned. Asher blushed more and fidgeted, shifting her weight from one foot to the other. She walked out into the room a little, taking slow steps so as not to fall over and possibly ruin the dress. Ed stood up as well. "You're almost as tall as me now." he chuckled.

"Yeah... I don't like it. I'm so used to being tiny compared to everyone else. Now I'm almost the normal person's height and it feels so weird." she grinned. She looked down at her dress. Silky green fabric draped around her knees and she felt the urge to start spinning. Just twirl around in circles until she fell over dizzy.

"I have to agree with you there." Ed grinned. "Where's Winry? I thought she went shopping with you and the others."

"Oh, we just so happened to walk by a tool shop. She refused to leave." Asher giggled before turning around to show off her second dress. She stumbled and grabbed Ed's shirt without thinking, pulling him down with her.

"Graceful." Ed said. Asher blushed and looked away. "You should practice walking in those shoes." he chuckled before kissing her. Asher pushed him away, her face bright red.

'I'm willing to go that far with you.' The words echoed in Ed's head. ' Did she really mean that?' "Asher... did you mean it when you said... you were willing to... go that far with me?" he asked, sitting back on his heels.

"Y-yeah, but if you don't want to it's okay... I mean.... it's up to you...." she stuttered, blushing even redder if it was possible. "You know what, let's just forget it. That's what we did after that game and it's obviously too awkward to talk about so...." she stopped and stood up, trying to reach the zipper on the back of her dress. "Um... could you get the zipper, please?"

Ed unzipped her dress enough to where she could reach the zipper. He wrapped his arms around her waist and buried his face in the crook of her neck. "It's not up to me. You're the one who was hurt before. I don't want to hurt you by doing that." he mumbled.

'He's so thoughtful... I really love him... so much it almost hurts...' Asher managed to turn around and hug him back. "I love you." she whispered. Ed kissed her neck softly.

"I love you too." he replied. Asher pulled away and changed into jeans and a tank top. "Bowtie or regular tie?" he asked when she got out of the closet, holding up both items.

"regular." she said. She walked into the living room and began pulling wires on the T.V. out of their sockets. She got a small, flat, back box and more wires out of a cabinet and began hooking them up to the T.V.

"What's that?" Ed asked, pointing to the black box. Asher walked across the room and began dragging two large metal platforms over to the T.V. and plugged them in.

"It's called a Playstation 2. See, there's these things called video games and you take the game, which is on this disc, " she held up a shiny disc, " and put it in the right console, the box, and turn it on." she put the disc in and turned on the machine. "Then you start playing. These metal things are dance pads." she tapped one of the platforms with her foot.

"You use those to play the game?" Ed asked, curious. Asher nodded.

"I'll show you." Ed watched as she hit the different arrows with her feet, selecting a song and difficulty before stepping on the arrows when they showed up on the screen. Ed found himself trying to follow the arrows.

"Can I try?" he asked. Asher pointed to the second platform.

"Stand in the center of the four arrows. I'll put you on the beginner level." She hit the arrows until Ed's difficulty level was the easiest, then chose a song.

"What level are you on?" he asked, growing more intrigued by the second.

"I'm on light. I wouldn't have you try it. Its kinda confusing." she laughed softly.

"I noticed." Ed replied. The screen displayed a quick how-to on how to play the game. "What is the game called?"

"Dance Dance Revolution, or DDR for short. Now, when an arrow appears on the screen, you watch it carefully. When it hits the arrows on the top, you step on the corresponding arrow. Focus on your arrows, not mine. If you do, you'll fail." she grinned as the song started.

An hour later, the couple collapsed on the couch, exhausted. Ed let his body go completely limp.

"I don't get how you can to light for one hour straight!" he wheezed. Asher chuckled.

"You get used to it." she said between deep breaths. "Ed, can you play guitar?"

"No, why?" he asked, slightly confused. Asher grinned.

"I have an idea for their wedding." she replied. At that moment, Al came home. He opened the door and was glomped by Asher.

"Hello?" he greeted her nervously.

"Hi, Al. We're gonna start a band!" Asher exclaimed. The two boys gave each other scared looks.