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Ed did his customary grumbling when Winry asked him to help with dinner, but truthfully he didn’t mind. Since he’d returned after the Promised Day, he’d been taking every chance to spend time with her. Each fervent glance and passing touch was as enjoyable as it was awkward, and neither of them could get enough.
That being said, he probably should’ve been paying less attention to Winry tying her hair back and more to what his own hands were doing, because his right hand was stinging and he had to step away to keep from bleeding on the potatoes. Winry yelped and grabbed bandages from the cabinet by the door.
“I don’t need those,” he protested. “It’s not that bad.”
“Yes you do. Quit sucking on it.” Rather than wait for him to comply, Winry grabbed his hand and started wrapping it herself. “You idiot,” she told him. “You can’t even peel potatoes without hurting yourself. How you survived all those fights I’ll never know.”
“I’m sorry I didn’t make potato peelers my weapon of choice,” Ed sneered back.
“I would expect someone who spends so much time around sharp objects to know that you make cuts away from your body, not towards your hand! Were you trying to stab yourself?”
“Well up until recently, I didn’t have to worry about stabbing my right hand.”
Winry freed a hand from his bandages so she could smack his shoulder. “You jerk! Just because your arm wasn’t flesh doesn’t mean you could scratch and dent it like that! I work hard to give it that finish, you know!”
“I don’t know what you’re complaining about. I paid you well enough for it.”
Winry gave an aggravated groan. “You know it’s not about the money. Idiot.”
“Yeah. And you love working on automail. I gave you a ton more opportunities to do it. It’s not like you hated it when I came back for repairs.”
“Because that was the only time you ever came back at all! I missed you, stupid!”
“I missed you too, you know,” Ed grumbled.
Winry tied off his bandage with a subdued tsk, but she held onto his hand, her thumbs drawing slow circles on the parts that weren’t covered. Ed felt his face heat up a little, but he had no intention of drawing his hand away. “You never said so before,” Winry told him.
“I thought I didn’t have to,” he said.
Winry gently pushed his bangs away from his face. “Of course you didn’t,” she said, sounding more complacent than resigned. She was standing very close to him now, and leaning closer. The hand that held his moved up to his wrist, while her other traced behind his ear and down to his neck.
She was giving off so many signals, but he didn’t believe she was going to kiss him until she already had. When she drew back, he found himself speechless. Just what was he supposed to say after his best friend had kissed him, seemingly out of nowhere?
Instead of waiting for him to fill the gap, she said, “I waited for you and Al to get your bodies back, and I waited for you both to come home to me. I wasn’t going to wait for you to make the first move.”