Chapter Text
Winry is finishing twisting the last screw of the Harley she’s been working on for the last two weeks, crounched near the floor with her greased hands holding the tire correctly, when she feels a shadow loom over her. She’s been working at the MC’s garage for the last two months so she’s used to people looming over since she’s the only female on the staff that is 5’5.
She looks up, from the other side of the Harley, there’s dark jeans, white sneakers and a golden ponytail.
“What’s up, gremlin.” Edward says, grinning.
Winry rolls her eyes, faking her smile. “What’s up, dickhead.”
She usually can dodge him in school, they have a few classes together – they usually end up arguing because he thinks he’s a genius but often her grades are better than his – and they have different lunch tables, different friends – thank God – so the garage is the place they see each other often.
Winry looks back at the Harley. “What do you want?”
She can hear his smug smile. “To tell you I won the chemistry challenge.”
“What?” Winry groans, looking sharply at him. “No, you didn’t.”
“Yep, I did.” Edward leans against the counter in the back of the room, standing in front of Winry, pulling a pack of cigarettes out of back pockets and placing one on his lips. Honestly, Winry hates how good looking he is. “I warned you, you can’t beat me at chemistry.”
"I can beat you at anything."
"Uhum," Edward takes a drag before smirking. "Do you remember the physics presentation?"
"Okay, that wasn't fair." Winry stands, dangling the screwdriver on her hand. "You kept flirting with the monitor, of course she'd give you a higher grade."
"Well, what can I do?"
"Ah, I don't know. Not flirt with anyone wearing a skirt?"
"Excuse me, I have higher standards than that."
Winry chuckles. "Right."
"Besides, you know that's not why I got a higher grade in that class." He raises his eyebrows smugly and Winry wants to punch him in the face. Toss her screwdriver on his head. Kick him in the shin. Or something equally satisfactory.
"Do I?" She rolls her eyes. "I don't why I ask, you're gonna tell me anyway."
Edward tips a little closer towards her, holds his smile and mumbles, "It's because I'm awesome."
"Oh, fuck off." She snaps loudly, but Edward's laugh carries along the shop. She doesn't know why or when it started this rivalry between, but there's something Edward takes great pleasure in, is making Winry angry. One day, when she snapped at him and punched his arm, Edward kept smiling so much that Winry couldn't help but tease back at him.
"One day," she had said "I'll give you a shirt that says 'I like to be beaten by pretty girls' because there's no other explanation why you like to piss me off so much."
"You might as well just write your name on that shirt," Edward had smiled dangerously. "You're the only one who has exclusivity in that department."
She was too speechless to answer back, but till that day, she thinks about getting the shirt to him because the teasing never stopped.
She goes back to adjusting the bike, while he stands in silence. Winry hears him take a long drag, finish his cigarette, before crossing his legs. She really really wanted to win the chemistry challenge, not because she likes the subject, but just so she could trash the wining on Edward’s face.
Since she can remember, Winry was angry at him because he barely worked hard for the grades, he only read some books, arrived at school sleepy and took the tests.
Once, the biology teacher was so angry at their petty competition, she made them work together in one assignment for six months. Edward barely showed up at the meetings, usually smoking all the time while Winry talked and explained and read books. Three months in, Winry needed help to finish the written paper so Edward stayed for eight hours in the public library with her, on a saturday, helping with the research.
After that, she learned that he was really intelligent when he wasn’t being an asshole and maybe, just maybe she didn’t hate Edward Elric as much as she thought.
“Are you finishing up here?” Edward says after a few minutes of silence.
Winry rubs her forearm on her face, cleaning it up. Thankfully, she’s wearing the garage’s jumper and her hair is tied up high in a ponytail so the chance of getting dirty is low.
“Almost. There are a few things to solve yet. Why?”
Edward pushes another cigarette on his lips and takes two drags before staring at her. “Can you check my bike afterwards? I think there’s something wrong.”
Winry’s attention is immediately on him. “What happened? Did you crash somewhere?”
“No, she just.. started to sound weird. And the handlebar is pulling to the right.”
“It can be an alignment issue.” Winry says. “Bring her up here and I’ll look her up. But I can’t promise to be done today. Or tomorrow.”
Edward puts down his cigarette in the ashtray near him. “Don’t worry, take your time. I’ll wait.”
Winry looks at the garage full of cars and bikes, biting her lips. “Maybe four days?”
He nods, sadly. “I know I’m asking a lot, but can you make it in two days? I have a race on friday. At dawn.”
There's a loud crashing sound behind them and immediately, Winry and Edward stare at the kid – Jerry – who just arrived at the shop and is walking towards them. He's a skinny little thing, shorter than Winry but they're the same age, the only difference is that he doesn't attend the same school she does.
"Oh, hey Edward." Jerry waves his hands, awkwardly. Edward doesn't answer, like always when talking to new mechanics, stares at him in silence.
"Hey, Jerry." Winry waves, politely.
The kid only nods towards Winry focusing his glinting eyes towards Ed again. Which.. is not new. Pretty much every male mechanic in the shop wants to be Edward or admires him so they do tend to become a little more dumb whenever they're in his presence.
"Hm, I heard you.. you need help?" Jerry says, gesturing awkwardly around. "With your bike, I mean. I can help–"
"No." Edward grunts, resuming his cigarette. After a few seconds, Jerry finally realizes Ed won't say much else and he starts to blush. Winry almost feels bad for him, except that he's making a fool of himself in front of Edward like every single girl does and that's just a little ridiculous.
"I'm pretty good with bikes, especially Harley's and–" Jerry continues, being the idiot he is. He’s the new kid – who has only been in the shop for two months and already thinks he's the best of them – freshly hired, who knows about car engines and very little about boundaries and Edward Elric. “I mean, I can do a better job than–"
“No one touches my bike.” Edward splits his words, angrily. He hates newbies around the shop, begging for his attention. He hates even more arrogant mechanics who don't think twice. “Except for Winry.”
Winry bites her smile. She doesn’t really like Ed, he is a pain in her ass, rude and loud and more often than not, he makes fun of her. But she does appreciate how possessive he is with his bike and that she is the only one allowed to touch it.
Young boys always arrive at the shop trying to impress Edward, trying to be like him, to earn his attention and the first thing they decide to start a conversation with is Edward's bike. Too bad the idiot is very protective, if not mention borderline obsessed with his Harley, to let anyone get anywhere near the shiny metal.
“I just– I meant that..” Jerry stumbles, twisting his hands frantically and looking at Winry before switching up to the floor.
"You should go." Winry says, not unkindly. "Don't you have Miss. Wheeler's car to fix?"
The kid nods, looks down, and leaves the place without a single word. Winry can't really feel sorry for him, more often than not, she hears him make sexist comments about how women don't know much about mechanics and gears whenever Winry is not near. Usually, piss her off but it's not like she's not used to it.
"Is he giving you a hard time?" Edward says, hands in his pockets, staring attentive at Winry.
"Who? The kid?" Winry moves around the bike she's fixing, kneeling behind the tire. "No, not really. Just the usual crap."
"Hm," The sun is starting to set, finally the warm afternoon is leaving the day behind. Winry can feel the sweat running down her back; she hates working in the heat. "Let me know if he starts giving you more crap."
Winry chuckles. "Why? Gonna beat him for my honor?"
Edward tips his head to the right until his face is in Winry's line of sight. She looks up, staring at his eyes. "Nah, you can do that yourself. If I don't punch someone once a month, my ego will be hurt."
She opens her mouth to retort, a sharp answer with the words fragile and masculinity ready to get out, when she hears a loud, rough voice behind them. Instantly, Winry jumps in place, alarmed with the sound of someone else, and for the first time, notices how close Edward is to her.
“Hey, stay away from her.” Dominic says – the shop owner and president of the motorcycle club – with a smirk and a mocking tone on his voice. “She’s my best mechanic, don’t get your smooth talk around her.”
"Why? Afraid she's too busy with my smooth talk to fix engines?" Edward teases back, standing up and moving towards Dominic.
The older man doesn't even flinch. "No, afraid you'll break her heart and scare her away from my shop. Do you have any idea how hard it is to find someone that good?"
Winry grins back at Dominic, ignoring Edward's pointed look. “Don’t worry, he couldn’t get his mouth near me even if he begged.”
Dominci and the rest of the club coming shortly behind him laughs loudly, four men whistle back and mocking Edward's lack of action. Winry grins hugely, delighting in the sense of familiarity. She loves these guys.
She has been working for Dominic since she was fourteen and proved to him she could assemble a V8 engine from memory only. He had taken one look at her scrapy knees and oil stain at her forehead and gave her a shot. She proved herself to him that day and he hired her for half period, five days a week after school, with only three rules: don't die, don't bring homework for the shop, don't take bullshit from anyone.
When she was sixteen, last year, one of the newbies thought it was funny to have a blonde girl with boobs as a senior mechanic and decided to tease her by slapping her ass while Winry walked across the garage. Three of the MC's club reacted instantly, raising themselves from their place to charge for the boy, but Winry was faster when she closed her fist and broke his nose.
Winry was very pleased with herself once she saw the blood dripping from his shirt, but not so much pleased when Edward got word of what had happened, scowled her for closing her fist with her thumb beneath her fingers, – "You are an idiot, you could broken you hand, you know that?" he had said, applying ice to the red soressed on her knuckles while Winry only rolled her eyes and pretended not to be affected by his perfume. – and then broke the kid's arm.
If anyone asked, Winry would say it was too much, that Edward didn't need to break anyone's arm for her, but on the inside, Winry had a very different feeling, a warm curling on her bed feeling of being protected, of being taken care. Even though they argued constantly and Winry didn't like some aspects of Edward's personality, seeing him defend her just like he did when they were kids, made her content.
Winry waits until Edward turns his eyes back on her, raising her eyebrows in challenge. He doesn't fall for that, tho. He simply pushes his hands on his pockets, staring at her.
“You should go, pretty boy.” Winry grins. “Take your sweet mouth somewhere else.”
Edward smiles, a silly little thing, on the corner of his lips, with his eyes glinting mischief towards her. “Someday, you're gonna regret saying those words, gearhead.”
You wish, Edward Elric.