Authors Note: This is my first published work. I would deeply appreciate feedback and reviews. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: Fullmetal Alchemist belongs to Hiromu Arakawa, and seeing as I am not her, I do not own Fullmetal.

"Go away, Trisha." Van Hohenheim said to the stubborn girl. She was seated beside the man, and wasn't moving an inch. "Lighten up Van, come dance with me." Trisha said brightly. The two were seated under a tree, the flames from bonfire eliminating their faces.

Plenty of people were dancing round and round the pit of fire, and Van could see Pinako watching fondly as Urey spun Sara around in a circle. Van had remembered when Pinako first told him about Urey's girlfriend, a sweet girl around Trisha's age from the other side of town.

"Van," Trisha said tugging on his hand. She had stood up now and was smiling brightly at him. "You know you want to dance!" Van guessed that part was true, he actually did want to dance but well there was his little 'problem' that stood in the way. He refused to let himself grow close to anyone, but Pinako was an exception.

But Van knew he couldn't ignore the girl forever, she had been bothering him for some time now. Six years if he remembered correctly. Trisha had first shown up at the small hotel he was stayingat, knocking on the door just after her fourteenth birthday, and told him she had baked him a batch of cookies. He didn't know what to say, and accepted the cookie and thanked her. From then on she would come and bring him cookies every time he was in town, sometimes she would bring her little tabby cat, Caramel. It was an old cat that she had since she was only a little girl, which explained the name of the little creature.

Van knew that she had picked up on his secret, but he hadn't told her what it actually was, and nor was he planning too. All she knew was it was something to do with alchemy and immortally. But it seemed despite him being a monster; she still seemed to want to be around him.

"Van..." Trisha trailed on the 'A' in his name and pulled on his hand some more. "Get up." She complained.

There was the constant whisper of the souls inside him, but one of the voices was louder than most. Van recognized it as the boy named Zacchary, the son one of the alchemists He had worked with. 'Come on Van, dance with the girl!' He said and another voice, Dalia, joined in 'Dance, Van!' she said. Another voice joined the two of them, and another, and another, and another. All of them encouraging him to go dance with the brunette in front of him.

Well that settles it. He gave his friends thanks and asked them to lower their voices so he could think straight when he talked to Trisha. They cheered and wished him good luck as he gave into Trisha's request.

The twenty year old beamed as he stood up and pulled off his outer coat. Van then let her drag him along to the light of the fire. Trisha smiled brightly as she took his hands in hers and moved along to the beat of the cheerful music. He followed in suit, but was horrible at the dance she was trying to show him. Van accidently stepped on her foot, which he apologized greatly for. "Sorry, I'm not very good at this."

"Don't be silly!" Trisha said, "Everyone has to start somewhere!" Trisha soon showed him the correct way and he quickly got the hang of it.

Van was glad he had listened to the people of Xerxes; it was truly fun, dancing with Trisha. And at one of the moments when she twirled under his hand, Van snuck a glance at Pinako, who was smiling at the two of them. Van returned the smile, and moved his gaze back to Trisha.

"See? Isn't this fun?" Trisha said. "Yes it is," Van said brightly. Trisha smiled up at him, "I'm glad you think so." She gave him a kiss on the cheek, which turned him quite red, and resumed dancing.

"Did you like the cookies I brought this morning?" She asked. Van smiled, "How could I not? They were wonderful." Trisha smiled widened, well if it could it did. A huge smile had been plastered on her face ever since he agreed to dance with her, and even before then she had still been smiling.

Van remembered after all the dancing that both their feet hurt and the two of them ended up sitting down under the very tree in which she originally pulled him up from under. They talked about countless things then, Van's travels, Trisha's ambitions, her baking skill (which she had great pride in bragging about. Van couldn't help but laugh at that.), and Van's alchemy.

Van then stood up and told Trisha to wait a minute, telling her he would be right back. Van walked a few meters away before kneeling down next to some flowers. In a flash of alchemic light, Van soon returned. His hands were behind his back and he asked Trisha to close her eyes.

She did so, and covered them with her hand to ensure him that she wouldn't peek, a smile playing on her lips. He held out his little creation and told her to open her eyes. It was a small wreath of the field flowers woven together with alchemy. Trisha's eyes lit up seeing this. The man she loved finally seemed to love her back. It was the most amazing feeling, knowing that someone loved you.

Trisha's lips broke into a smile, her beautiful smile, and Van placed the wreath daintily on her hair and sat down beside her. "Do you like them?" He asked. Trisha beamed at him, "I love them." She said sweetly, and gave him a peck on the cheek. He blushed at this, and gave her a smile. "I'm glad you think so." Van said, and her smile widened.

Trisha's smile was a wonderful and beautiful thing, and that was one of the reasons Van had fallen in love with her. There were plenty of reasons why. Her cheerful voice, her kind personality, and her ability to love everyone she met. But maybe her smile was the reason that Van kept returning to Resembool, and perhaps the reason he stayed.

Another Author's Note: So please tell me your thoughts on this and anything I can improve on. Thanks for reading!