That night's celebration was perfect. They enjoyed a home cooked meal by Winry and Pinako, then watched Al take a bite of Winry's apple pie and got emotional… the time flew by, and it came to where Pinako and Winry prepared sleeping arrangements for everyone.
Winry and Pinako slept in their rooms upstairs, while Manami took the spare room downstairs, and Ed and Al took the room that used to sleep patients across the hall from her.
"Ugh..."
Manami found herself unable to sleep. After hours of tossing and turning, she decided that she wanted to look at something other than the dark ceiling.
She quietly tiptoed out of her room and through the front door, where she was welcomed by a cool breeze once she stepped out onto the front patio. She inhaled the lovely air, as much as her lungs could allow, before looking up to the sky as she exhaled.
One of Manami's favorite things about Resembool was how beautiful the starry night skies were. It was still amazing to her, after all the change throughout the years, her hometown was just as she remembered it.
She stepped forward to the small set of steps and went to sit on the top one, then leaned back on her hands to continue gazing up at the sky.
She eventually got so immersed in the starry sky that she she lost track of time, and even lost track of her surroundings. She thought back to when she would lay under these stars as a child, with her dear friends and sister. They would talk about the silliest of things, and make wishes under the shooting stars.
She thought she heard a snap, but paid no mind to it. It could've easily been a rabbit or fox running nearby. It was when she heard the door behind her crack open that she completely broke out of her trance with a jump.
"?!"
"Sorry… did I scare you?"
Manami didn't believe her ears and turned to look back to make sure she really heard him talk to her.
There he was. Alphonse Elric, smiling softly.
"Couldn't sleep either?" He asked her quietly. He gestured with the hand that wasn't in the arm-crutch towards her. "Would you like some company?"
"Y-Yeah, sure… go ahead…" Manami nodded, watching as he walked over with the assistance of his crutch and went to sit to her left, on the top step.
"Ugh… this thing hurts." He mumbled, fumbling with the crutch on his arm until got it off, then rubbed that spot of his arm. "Not that I'm complaining about—"
"You are allowed to complain. Pain sucks." Manami said with a sympathetic smile.
"I just don't want to seem ungrateful, that's all…" Al looked down to his lap.
"You're not." Manami shook her head. "Knowing you, you'll take that pain and turn it into motivation to work harder, so you can get your strength back."
"Yeah… you're right…" Al grinned sheepishly as he went to rub the back of his neck.
They were quiet for a long moment, to where Manami went back to looking up at the stars. Al glanced over to her and then followed her gaze.
"So, why are you up?" Manami broke the silence.
"Did brother not tell you?" Al looked back to her. "I've had insomnia ever since I got my body back…"
"Really?" Manami turned to look at him and met his eyes. She had no idea.
"I thought maybe being home and out of a hospital would help, but…" Al let out a weak chuckle. "I guess it's not that surprising, with how I couldn't sleep in the armor and all…"
"So… you don't sleep at all still?" Manami asked, her expression saddening.
"No, I sleep, just… irregularly." Al said. "In the hospital, they gave me sleep aids so that I would sleep at night. They gave me some to take with me when I was discharged, too, but… well, tonight I thought I'd try without it... I guess that was a little silly..."
Manami looked down to her lap and thought for a moment. It was wild to her that, despite that Al's soul was still so accustomed to not sleeping... that it would overpower his body's need for it.
"How about you?" Al changed the subject. "Did you need a capsule?" He joked.
"Maybe." Manami gave him a small chuckle. "I guess I haven't gotten over how weird it is for me to be home."
So weird, that she even felt foreign by saying the word.
"Seems like I'm not the only one adjusting…" Al hummed.
"..." Manami didn't know how to respond to that. She had a feeling that he was reading her like an open book.
"... Manami?" Al was the one to break the silence, now. "Can I, um... talk to you..?"
"You already are…" Manami chuckled weakly, an attempt to lighten the mood.
"…" Al looked up to the sky. "It's just… I wanted to, um…"
"Wanted to..?"
"Well… you wanted to say something to me…" Al murmured. "On the Promised Day."
Manami's eyes widened, and her heart began to pound. She knew where this conversation was going immediately.
"But, before that… I wanted to apologize."
"Huh?" Manami blinked, the apology throwing her off.
"You sounded like you really wanted to say it, and…" He looked down to his lap. "I didn't let you."
"Well, it made sense why you didn't…" Manami replied, shaking her head.
"... I still think… that I was wrong to stop you." Al admitted, and she raised her eyebrows.
"I really did believe at that time that it would be more meaningful if you said it after we won the fight, when I had my body back... and we were safe." Al clenched his fists in his lap.
"It wasn't until I saw you try to save brother and I thought Father took your soul… that I realized how wrong I was."
Manami's eyes saddened a little. "Al…"
"I thought I lost you again." Al closed his eyes and eyebrows furrowed. "I was right to have faith in you, but… you were right in wanting to tell me what you wanted to say at that moment, too. What would I have done if—"
"I thought I lost you too, you know." Manami cut him off. "When I woke up, you were gone. All that was left of you was…" Manami couldn't finish.
"..." Al heaved a sigh. "I'm so sorry, Manami…"
"I am, too." Manami looked up to force a smile, but noticed his hand near hers... and she nervously went to gently place her hand on top of his.
Al jumped a bit in surprise as he looked down at their hands for a second, then lifted his head to look back up at her.
"… I think… we should focus on the fact that we're both here now, you know..?" Manami asked quietly, offering a small smile.
"... yeah, I agree…" Al smiled back at her. "Sorry… I just wanted to get that off my chest..."
"Mm." Manami hummed with a nod. "That's okay."
They both grew quiet.
"So…" Al hesitated, looking down to their hands again. "Um… if you want… I think now would be a good time for you to… tell me what you wanted to say..."
He lifted his head to meet her eyes, and they stared at each other for a long moment... both of their hearts were pounding.
"..." Manami let out a scoff and slowly pulled her hand back as she looked away, her blush hidden in the moonlight.
"Manami..?" Al blinked, confused.
"I already told you." Manami said quietly.
"Y-You did?" Al looked up in thought, desperately trying to remember all of their conversations in recent memory. He didn't want to admit that he didn't remember, but…
"Well… I didn't say the words, but…" Manami's cheeks puffed out a little. "I-I showed you them, at least... i-in front of everyone..."
"..!" Al's eyes widened when he finally understood what she meant.
The kiss.
"..." He swallowed thickly, feeling his heart pounding even faster and harder now.
He was about to take a big risk… but...
"W-Well, then… I had something I wanted to tell you, too."
Manami looked back at him with trembling eyes. "Huh..?"
She felt herself get lost in his golden eyes. Al reached to gently brush some hair out of her face and tuck it behind her ear, and then smiled softly as his hand cupped her cheek.
It was in that moment when Manami realized that his face was drawing near hers...
She felt their noses brush and she closed her eyes before she felt their lips connect in a soft, tender kiss.
Despite its gentleness, the kiss sent sparks flying inside the both of them. It was when Manami realized that she was holding her breath and running out of air that she started to pull away, her breath hitching a little as she managed to catch her breath. Al smiled, leaning his forehead against hers, and slowly opening his eyes to see hers looking back at him.
The words fell out of her mouth like instinct, in a whisper...
"I love you."
Al's eyes widened a little at the sudden, yet quiet outburst. Manami's eyes widened too, and darted from side to side nervously as she started to retract.
"U-Uh…"
Did I just say that?!
While Manami was internally freaking out, Al was feeling his chest fill up with butterflies, and he couldn't help but beam at her.
"I love you, too." Before she could react, he leaned forward so that he could kiss her once more.
They shared another long kiss that they wished would last forever, but they had pull away once again for air. This time, they pulled away and sat upright.
Manami let out a pent up breath, followed by a chuckle or two. She could tell by how her cheeks were hurting that not only was she blushing... but she was probably smiling like an idiot, too.
"What's so funny?" Al asked, though seeing her chuckle made him do so as well.
"This is crazy..." Manami shook her head, covering her face with her hands.
"Crazy?" Al blinked.
"Nuts." Manami confirmed. "Never in a million years did I think this would happen…"
"Why not?" Al asked, genuinely curious.
"I-I don't know…" Manami mumbled. "One of those… 'too-good-to-be-true' moments? I mean…" She turned her head to look off to the distance.
"This is only something I've dreamed of since I was a kid."
"R-Really?" Al blinked again, feeling a blush sting his cheeks.
"Really." Manami went to rub the back of her neck.
"..." Al smiled, looking down to see Manami's hand resting on the deck they sat on, and slowly reached to place his hand on top of hers. She looked down to their hands and then moved hers, so that she could intertwine her fingers with his.
"So… uh…" Al cleared his throat. "Does this mean that we're… you know…"
Manami grinned shyly. "I-I mean… we already kissed and dropped the 'I love you's'... so..."
She felt her cheeks get hot, but she suddenly thought of something that made her smile fade.
"... actually…" She slowly pulled her hand back to rest in her lap. "Before we do… I-I have a confession to make…"
"..?" Al raised an eyebrow.
"... I don't know... I didn't really do anything, but…" Manami's eyebrows furrowed. "I almost did. I feel like I should be open about it..."
"…" Al slowly nodded. "Okay. You can tell me."
"I don't know how much Ed told you… about our experiences on the Promised Day." Manami started.
Al frowned a little.
"Not too much..." He shook his head. "We didn't want to get into too much detail about it at the hospital."
"..." Manami sighed softly, going to rub her upper arms. She went on to explain about Envy confessing that he killed Maes. That she snapped and went all out. If he were a normal human, she definitely would have killed him... but it was Ed who stopped her from taking his final life.
Manami was mindlessly wrung her hands together as she continued.
"... it was because he said how Maes wouldn't have wanted me to do it. Then he brought up Elicia and Gracia… and Winry… and you." She looked up to the sky. "He asked, 'Could you go through with this, and face them with eyes like that? The eyes of a killer?' That was when I knew… I couldn't do it."
Both of them were quiet for a long moment.
"In the end… Envy ended up killing himself." Manami added.
"..." Al slowly reached to wrap an arm around Manami's shoulders and pulled her close to him.
"I'm sorry..." He said quietly.
"..." Manami let out a weak chuckle, her eyes getting teary.
"I make a confession that I was one step away from murdering someone, and you apologize..?"
"Because I couldn't be there to help you through that…" Al's grip around her shoulders tightened, and he went to plant a kiss on her temple... though he didn't pull away, his lips softly brushing against the side of her head as he continued.
"At the very least, I'm glad that brother was there for you..."
"You won't believe this," Manami chuckled again. "But he let me cry on his shoulder."
"What?" Al raised his eyebrows and pulled back so that he could look for a trace of a lie in her expression. "No way."
"I'm serious." Manami insisted.
"Hmm…" Al hummed, as he thought for a moment. "Well… I guess I should confess something to you. Just promise you won't tell brother."
"You sure that I should know?" Manami blinked. "I don't know how I feel about keeping a secret from Ed…"
"At least leave it to me to tell him." Al said with a weak chuckle. "I just… don't know how he will take it. But, since you came clean… I feel that I should come clean with you, too."
"Okay… that's fair." Manami nodded.
Al retracted his arm and pulled away to sit up straight. He folded his hands in his lap, staring at them for a moment.
"After you left, Pride had called for Kimblee by tapping my helmet. I didn't realize until it was too late that he was using Morse code." Al explained. "A fight broke out, and we almost lost... but Mr. Heinkel… he gave me a Philosopher's Stone."
Manami's eyes widened a little, as she started to understand where he was going with this.
"Mr. Heinkel… and Doctor Marcoh and Yoki… they could've been killed. I had to fight to protect them... and so, I used the stone." Al said quietly.
"..." Manami nodded in understanding. "I see…"
"You don't… think that's wrong, do you..?" Al lifted his head and met her eyes, a little relieved to see her smiling back at him.
"No." She shook her head. "I see why you're nervous to tell Ed, but… you two promised that you wouldn't use that Stone to get your body back… but that's not what you did."
She paused for a moment. "Those souls... they weren't used for that Homunculus's selfish plan. They were used to protect."
"..." Al smiled back at her, slowly reaching to wrap his arm around her and pull her close to him once again... and she went to lean her head on his shoulder.
They were quiet for a long moment, just enjoying being this close to each other.
"I'm done confessing, if you are..." Manami broke the silence.
"Yeah..." Al nodded, but then pulled away so that he could look down at her, smiling sheepishly.
"So… would you mind if I call you my girlfriend from here on out?"
Manami met his eyes and reflected a similar smile back to him. "Only if you're okay with me calling you my boyfriend."
"Deal." Al laughed and then leaned down to kiss her.
The both of them were in perfect bliss— this was easily the best night of both of their lives. Finally confessing their feelings for each other… learning that the other feels the same way… and kissing under the stars.
Though Manami and Al never made it back to their rooms that night. After spending some time on the front porch, they both agreed that they still didn't feel tired, so they lit a dim lantern and sat on the couch in the living room, snuggling close and talking quietly about everything and nothing at the same time, for hours...
Eventually, Manami was first to finally fall asleep while leaning her head on Al's shoulder. He watched her sleep for a little while, then found himself feeling tired too. He liked the idea of sleeping next to her like this, so he didn't bother waking her. Instead, he just rested his head on top of hers and closed his eyes... and drifted off to sleep as well.