Gravity

For all means and purposes, the night was still considered young; the sun had just barely set, and several couples were still occupying their booths in the open-air restaurants that lined the streets of Central. If there was a god looking down on the world from above, even he would sense the contentment within the scene.

Edward Elric was the only one who didn't feel that same feeling of peace with all that was about him. Sure, he was on a date, and one that he'd been wanting to go on for a long time, but he still couldn't forget the events that had transpired not so long ago. He breathed a sigh and rested his cheek upon his automail arm, still able to feel the slightly cooler temperature from the artificial limb.

Winry Rockbell looked up at him from over her ravioli and looked down again, concerned for her best-friend-turned-date. He'd finally plucked up the courage to even ask, and now he was acting all depressed? Part of it made Winry angry and upset, probably those Rockbell genes, but the predominant part of her was worried. What in the world could be going on in that head of his… She thought as she popped another of the saucy noodles into her mouth.

"Hey Winry, I've got an idea!" Edward cheered up, the dark look that had been occupying his face only moments earlier lifted. Winry agreed without thinking; she would have agreed to give up being an automail mechanic if only that boy could stay smiling forever.

"It's a kind of science I learned on the Other Side of the Gate. Have you ever wondered why we don't go flying off into space?"

"Uh, no, not really." Winry deadpanned. It's another science thing? She queried in her mind. Horrible consequences flashed through her mind; surely he'd learned the first time…?

"It's because of gravity; it's a relatively new subject here that's never really been studied due to the advancement of alchemy, but it's possible to change the movement of molecules without transmutation circles, even change them into something entirely different!" Edward flipped a worn leather notebook from inside his coat, reading notes to remind himself as he went. He was getting excited by the prospect. "It's even possible to calculate the constants of the earth, including gravity! Everybody can do it! Would you like me to show you?"

"Um." Winry faltered. She didn't really care about science outside of what could be done in mechanics, but it'd been such a long time since she had seen his golden eyes so full of life. The life that only the pursuit of the creation and understanding of life itself could give him. "Sure."

Edward grinned before transmuting a stopwatch (something he'd learned of on the Other Side), a meter stick, and a sort of device that resembled a clock. "This is a pendulum. It may not look like it, but we can use it to prove that the earth rotates around the sun." Winry decided not to argue and nodded her head like she understood.

"Now, if we measure the length of the string…" Edward handed Winry the meter stick, expecting her to assist him in taking measurements. She took it without much struggle and reached up, taking an incorrect measurement due to her carelessness.

"No! You have to make sure it's up there properly or it won't work!" Edward protested.

"Transmute me a stepladder or something, geez! Just because you're short doesn't mean the entire world can measure taller things on command!" Winry retorted.

"WHO ARE YOU CALLING SO SHORT HE CAN'T EVEN REACH A METER UP A WALL?"

"Just transmute the ladder!"

Ed grumbled and did as he was told, allowing Winry to step up and gain a proper measurement of 1.62 meters.

"Now the period is…" Edward murmured to himself as he quickly drew figures in his notebook, none of which Winry could deciper. "Uh, Ed? Aren't you teaching me this?"

Edward cleared his throat, embarrassed. "I was just making sure it worked first is all…" He commented. "Now, the equation is T=2π square root of l over g, where T is the period, l is the length of the string, and g is gravity. We're solving for g. So…"

Edward proceeded to solve for the unknown variable. "We're left with g=4π squared l over T squared. Okay so far?"

Winry understood slightly, so she nodded. "Now you plug in the variables, l is the 1.62 meters you measured earlier and the period, which I just did, is 2.551 seconds. The π comes from the fact that it's supposed to be circular, just keeps getting stopped by gravity." She nodded again. "Substitute 3.14 in for pi, and…"

At this point in time Edward handed the journal and pen over to Winry. "You mean I get to calculate it?" Winry asked.

"That was the goal of all this." Edward grinned at her. Winry smiled back and proceeded to do the math, Edward only correcting her once.

"9.827." Winry stated confidently.

"Good! Now that's in meters per second squared, because it's a rate of speed per time, and speed is measured in meters per second." Edward sketched out the units so she would understand. "And that's actually really close to the standard! Good job!" He reached for the book and flipped to a worn page near the back of his journal depicting universal constants, pointing toward a small g near the top of the list. Sure enough, that number read 9.80665.

"I really did science that you do?" Winry marveled. Edward only nodded. The girl squealed in joy, hugging Edward tightly. "I didn't know I could do that!" Edward only blushed.

Soon enough Winry realized what she was doing and froze. "Uh, this just got slightly awkward…" She commented, chuckling nervously. Edward put the index finger of his real hand over her lips to silence her.

"It's alright. I asked you out, so it shouldn't be." He reassured her, relaxing slightly as the surprise of her attacking him out of the blue wore off.

Nonetheless, Winry released Edward and soon both were lying back on the grass in the park they had chosen to conduct their experiment, looking up and the numerous stars that were visible even with the bright city lights drowning most of them out.

"Maybe I should try my hand at learning more of this science. Maybe I could become a prodigy like you." Winry turned her head sideways and grinned sideways at Edward.

His response was to roll over on top of her, holding himself slightly above her, and plant a chaste kiss on her lips. When they parted, both were grinning from ear to ear.

"Maybe next time we could study rotation of the 'earth'." Winry suggested, flipping him onto his back and holding herself above him, beginning an endless cycle of them turning each other over on the large lawn in the park and laughing, their only audience being the moon and the faint twinkling of the stars.

Of course, they were moving toward each other with the help of gravity as well.