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Resembool hadn't changed much. The sky was still that impossible blue, the fields rolling on like they had somewhere to be, and the mountains sat on the horizon like they were waiting for him. Five months in the West, and the view from the train window looked exactly like the one he'd been carrying around in his head. He'd gone to Creta for their alchemy and come away having barely scratched the surface of it. Worth the five months anyway. Even if he couldn’t do alchemy anymore, it still remained his passion. The homesickness had caught him off guard. He'd gone longer than five months during his military years and never once felt it. Or he'd been better then at not letting himself notice. Things had changed now. Al was in Xing, whole, with his own two feet under him. Ed still hadn't gotten used to how light that made everything else feel. He was finally able to look ahead.
Thinking about the future made Ed remember his last conversation with her at the train station if you could call it that. He hadn't planned any of it. He’d just became overwhelmed when he started walking away from their home with Winry. They'd already been together by then, in every way except the word for it. Neither of them had needed one — Al knew, Granny knew, and that had felt like enough.
That morning, the walk to the station had been quiet. Too quiet. Ed kept trying to catch her eye. She kept finding somewhere else to look, and she was doing it on purpose. When she finally did look at him, it was there anyway, the thing he hated seeing on her. He wished he hadn't seen it. Now all he wanted was to pull her in and kiss it off her face. So he kept his hands to himself.
But it didn’t stop him from becoming increasingly grumpy by the time she started lecturing him about his automail which he was only half listening. He was starting to realize that he really needed to say something to her, he had no idea what but something that they both could hold onto, something to name their relationship. He knew he was annoying her. When the train’s whistle rang out, he realized now he didn’t have much time. He looked at Winry’s back, sweat prickling at his hairline.
As the train came, he played nonchalant and decided to leave just like that.
"Whenever you need maintenance,” she started, bright as anything. "be sure to book an appointment.” He replied back with a “Sure.” Then he stopped.
An appointment. Like he was any other customer. Like nothing had—
He stopped at the train door. Turned around. She blinked then smiled saying, “What?”, and the smile was the worst part.
Now he knew he needed to say something.
“Winry..” he started
“What? Come out and say it” now he could tell she was annoyed but was also encouraging him to get on with it.
His face went hot all the way to his ears. His finger came up, leveled at her like an accusation.
He ended up yelling at her, “Equivalent Exchange.”
He regretted it instantly because he had no idea what he wanted to say but his brain had vacated. His mouth kept going without it, all while pointing at her,
“I’ll give you half of my life, if you give me half of yours” and then he gulped audibly, he felt like he couldn’t breathe at that point.
She stood there, lips parted. Then she sighed loudly, rolled her eyes, and face palmed.
“Why do alchemists have to be like this?” she said, keeping her hand over her forehead, exasperated, “The principle of equivalent exchange is all nonsense, isn’t it?”all the while he was pointing at her, still blushing.
He instantly countered with “What did you say?” He couldn’t have her calling equivalent exchange nonsense!
“It really is nonsense”, she said and he was ready to defend alchemy when she added “Never mind half, I’ll give you all of it,” leaving him speechless.
They just stared at each other. Winry came to realize what she just said, and blushed uncontrollably and stuttered, “Ok, not all of it! Ninety percent.. No, 80 percent..” and started counting on her fingers, even she didn’t know what she was counting. All through this he remained speechless, staring dumbly at her, mouth open, still pointing that finger at her as if it was frozen in space. Finally she said, “Ok, 85, yeah, I’ll be willing to give you that much.”
Something broke loose in him and he started laughing, one hand going to his stomach while she looked at him, “What?” but he couldn’t help himself, he cackled even more at that, bending over, saying “Sorry.”
"Ed”, she looked both annoyed and embarrassed.
“You really are amazing!”, he said looking up at her, “You turned equivalent exchange right on its butt!”
Face still red she muttered, “What do you mean?” narrowing her eyes she added, “Are you making fun of me?”
"No, I’m not.” He straightened up, still smiling, and put a hand on her head. His other arm came around her shoulders and pulled her in.
She remained still for a moment as he whispered “You’ve cheered me up.” while stroking her hair lightly,”Thanks, I’ll miss you” and her hands came around his waist as she nodded happily, “Come home early.”
He was jerked out of his thoughts when the train finally reached the station. When he started making his way toward the house, he felt the nervousness climb — which was absurd, because it was his home, and it was just Winry. Or maybe it was because she was Winry. He'd been hoping to grow out of this. Apparently not yet.
They'd talked about their conversation at the train station since, on crackling long-distance lines that ate his coins faster than he could feed them. It had just been a promise on his side, a promise of forever. She had understood, she always did. He knew he would marry her someday but not now, it was too early. Someday he'd ask her properly. When he had something to ask with. Just — not yet. Eighteen felt too early to be anyone's husband, even hers.
Then the road bent, and there it was. The house sat on its hilltop the way it had his whole life, windows catching the late sun, the workshop sign swinging faintly on its post. Something in Ed's chest pulled tight. He'd spent weeks wanting to be exactly here, and now his feet were dragging like the hill had gotten steeper while he was gone. Den heard his footsteps and rushed through the door to greet him, jumping up and nearly knocking him flat. Ed scrambled to shush him, patting Den's head — it was supposed to be a surprise, damn it. He quickly slipped inside the house, trying to be silent. The door gave a traitorous creak, making him curse. He was met by the afternoon stillness, the smell of machine oil, solder, old wood, and sun-warmed curtains.
He removed his boots and started scanning the hall for Winry but got a lungful of pipe smoke instead. Pinako was in the doorway, pipe in hand, mildly surprised and getting less so by the second as she watched his eyes keep going past her. He made himself stop. “Hello, Granny.”
She replied back “Welcome home, pipsqueak”, still looking amused.
He tried to keep his anger in control which he was still working on and replied, “Good to be back, old hag,” then continued to look around the house.
She asked, “Looking for someone?” in her usual haughty tone.
He immediately got flustered, his cheeks turning red, he instantly started stuttering in a high pitched voice, “N-no, just looking at the house, ya know, it’s been a while.”
Pinako just stood there, enjoying the show — the boy she'd raised, red to his ears and lying badly in her hallway. Grandson-in-law, she supposed, if he ever got around to it.
That old bat wasn't going to help him.
"Where's Winry?" he finally muttered. "She home?"
She should have heard the commotion by now — Den alone had made enough noise to wake the dead and Ed was also being very loud just now.
Apparently deciding he'd suffered enough, Pinako chuckled. "She's in her workshop." And she wandered off without another word, like she hadn't just watched him sweat for the fun of it.
He sighed, all these years and he couldn’t win against her. He walked toward the workshop, feeling excited and nervous at the same time. He stood at the door, contemplating whether to knock.
He just opened it.
Late sunlight was pouring through the window, falling across the workbench and on honey-blonde hair escaping its bandana, a few strands stuck to her cheek. She was slumped over the bench, head pillowed loosely on her arms, an automail part still in one hand. She was breathing slowly and evenly, deep with exhaustion. Sweat beaded at her hairline; she was pale under the smudges of grease, washed out the way she only got when she'd been running on coffee instead of sleep. His hand was on her forehead before he'd decided anything. The way his mom used to check his temperature. No fever. He sighed, keeping his hand there a moment longer than checking took. Then, slowly, he brushed the strands from her cheek and tucked them behind her ear. She looked adorable, he couldn’t help it, a smile made its way to his lips.
She must have pulled another all-nighter, a habit he'd picked up off her and never quite put down. He would read here while she worked, sometimes they talked while she worked, he missed this. He could see her favorite black coffee resting beside her arm half emptied. He looked at the automail arm she was working on, it looked almost complete from what he could tell.
She stirred a bit beneath his hand and he pulled his hand away. He pried the automail from her hand gently, one finger at a time – he suddenly remembered himself doing the same some years ago, except that time it had been a gun, and she'd been shaking, and he'd been begging. His stomach lurched. He looked at her grease-smudged, dead asleep, her hand going loose around a half-built arm instead of a trigger. Her hands that saved lives, like they saved him without even her knowing. He set the automail down.
Ed stood back for a moment and thought what to do. He couldn’t really leave her asleep here, she would wake up with a stiff neck if he did. He could carry her up. The thought put something jumpy in his stomach. She might wake. Worse, the old hag might see. He went out the door and checked for Pinako and sighed when he found the hall empty. He made his way to her, placed one hand behind her shoulders and other beneath her knees, carrying her like he had done countless times during his stay. He shifted her in his arms, her head lolling a bit on his shoulder, making him freeze. He stood there as she stirred. Then he turned and walked out the room to the stairs, trying to be silent as his automail thumped on the floor, cursing at it in his head. He ended up colliding with the railing. He flinched and went still, breath caught in his throat as Winry sleepily opened her eyes, looking at him from half-lidded eyes, whispering, “Ed…” , he found himself smiling as she fell asleep again.
Finally, he reached her room, and placed her over her bed. He removed her bandana, letting her hair flow freely and moved some fallen hair from her face, his hand lingering there. He tucked her in watching her sleep peacefully, and there was that smile again, sitting on his face without his permission. He knew he was being ridiculous, watching her sleep like an idiot with a dumb smile but he had missed her. His chest ached, low and quiet. Then his eyes caught the circles under hers again, the grease she hadn't even washed off, and the ache soured into something more like resolve. She'd run herself into the ground, yet again. She did this every time he wasn't here to drag her to bed. He was going to have words with her about it. He wiped some grease from her cheeks and then walked out, turning to his own room, feeling tired from his long travels.
He fell asleep the moment his cheek touched his pillow, feeling relaxed and at home for the first time in five months.
***
When Winry opened her eyes, the last thing she remembered was the arm. Mr. Grant's rush order, the bench, the light going orange through the window. She remembered completing it, but she would need to check it. Now the question remained, how did she end up in her bed? She lay there thinking when she vaguely remembered seeing him while being in his arms or being in the air? She couldn’t tell, maybe she was just dreaming. She must have come up after completing the arm. She'd done that before, sleepwalked her way to bed after a long job.
She sighed and sat up, stretching her slightly sore limbs and her stomach growled, loud in the quiet room. And she realized she hadn’t eaten anything the whole day. She looked out the window, it was dusk. She made her way out her room and downstairs, hoping her grandma had cooked something for her.
The moment she was in kitchen, she opened the fridge, looking for any leftovers and sighed, granny hadn’t cooked anything. She closed the fridge and saw a note stating her grandma had gone to meet a client and would be back by night. She sighed again.
“Hungry, gearhead?” a voice called from behind. A voice she knew too well, and had been missing for a while now.
She slowly turned and her breath caught in her throat as she met his eyes. He had the same smug look he always wore but she also saw fondness in his eyes, she felt like she would burst with happiness. She laughed, ran towards him and tackled him in a big hug, forgetting all about her hungry stomach. He caught her and steadied her holding her in his arms, they remained in the embrace for a while. She pulled back, and looked up at him, smiling. He had grown a bit taller than the last time she hugged him. But then she realized something.
“Did you break your automail again, Ed?” she yelled, quickly trying to check his automail but he stopped her keeping her in the hug.
“The first thing you do is attack me and then check my automail? Seriously, Winry?” he looked amused.
She batted him off and tried to take a look at his leg. He sighed and pulled up his pant leg presenting his leg to her confidently. She took a closer look and could see he had tried to keep his automail in shape, even oiled it regularly but it still needed tune-up and maybe height adjustment not that she was going to admit it.
“Why are you back so soon then?” she asked, confused.
“What? You don’t like having me here?”
“No moron, but you always come back when your automail breaks. Did you hurt yourself?”
She started checking him over as he grumbled and tried to push her hands away.
“Hey, I am alright, Can’t I just come to see you when I miss you?” he snapped.
“I missed you too, alchemy freak” she said softly. His shoulders came down. She realised the state of her hair, sleep-flattened on one side, and the grease still smudged over her arms. He chuckled at her.
She pouted
“Why didn’t you call before coming?” she asked in an annoyed voice, eyes narrowed and hands on her hips.
“I wanted to surprise you, Win,” he replied smugly.
She blinked. Then she realized that he was wearing the clothes he wore at home which meant he had been here for a while. Then her stomach rumbled again breaking the moment, she blushed.
He laughed making her glare at him.
He conceded with “You go and wash up while I make something for dinner”
Her eyes lit up “Pasta?” eyes going big and hopeful in a way that had never once worked on Granny and always worked on him.
He rolled his eyes and said softly “I already started the pasta, Winry” pointing to the kitchen counter where she could see sliced tomatoes and pasta boiling on the stove. Then he rushed toward the pot, checking the pasta hadn't gone soft while he wasn't looking. He turned off the stove and started pulling out some onions to cut. Winry chuckled and kissed him on the cheek. He smiled turning and pulling her to him again, kissing her forehead. She smiled back at him and left to change from her greasy clothes.
Edward cut those damn onions, making his eyes water. He knew Winry loved pasta or rather the pasta he made, he thought proudly. Over his two-year stay he had learned many ways to train his atrophied arm, one of them being cooking. He knew how to cook from a young age - Izumi had drilled those skills into him, he shuddered remembering his time in her kitchen. He started cutting some garlic too. He had always been a decent cook, could make simple dishes but over his stay he frequently started cooking, secretly enjoying it.
Al, Winry and Pinako were very skeptical of his cooking at first then had concluded his cooking as decent enough. He remembered when they’d tried his pasta for the first time, Al had circled his plate like it might go off, and Ed had to threaten him into the first bite. Winry only took her bite after seeing Al alive and well. They both stopped mid chew, eyes going wide, looking at him in wonder and hence, he became the chef of the house. He stirred the onions, garlic and tomatoes in a sauce pan. It had become Winry’s favorite dish over time, she would always want pasta when she was tired. Sometimes, he’d make her pasta while she baked apple pie chatting all the time. He really believed the way to her love was through her stomach. He chuckled.
Winry came back by the time he was setting dishes on the table. She helped him and sat with him on dining table side by side. As she moved to grab the fork, an idea crossed her mind. She made an audible “ah” sound pulling her hand back and got exactly what she wanted
“What is it? Winry, Are you ok?”
She bit her lower lip to stop herself from laughing “My arm hurts, Ed, maybe I hurt it while working” she said in a soft voice hoping he would not catch her lie.
Any other time he’d have easily caught her lying but now he was gently taking her arm in his hand and inspecting it, concerned. “Where exactly does it hurt?” he asked like he would magically heal her just by knowing. She pointed to a random place on her bicep.
He moved his hand to the spot, brow furrowed but she stopped him, “I want to eat first, Ed” trying to sound pained. He stopped. He put some pasta in her plate then took a spoonful of pasta, blew on it and held it for her to eat. She felt her heart skip a beat even if this was what she’d been planning. She knew she was acting childish and spoiled but she couldn’t help it, she’d missed him. Maybe he’d just spoiled her.
She took the bite offered to her and savored the taste as he took his own bite, looking at her from the corner of his eye. He fed her another bite, then another, like this was normal. Sauce had smudged at the corner of her mouth. He wiped it away with his thumb, unhurried. As she moved her hand toward the water bottle, she realized her mistake and looked at Ed who was looking at her smirking, shaking his head lightly. So, he knew the whole time. But he didn't stop, just loaded the spoon again.
After they were done, she stood up from her chair as he teased her, “Are your legs also hurting? Want me to carry you?” a mischievous glint in his eyes as he grinned at her.
She blushed instantly. And rebutted with a “Shut up” in a flustered voice. Then she remembered her dream which maybe wasn’t a dream. It came back to her in pieces, his arms, the stairs creaking. She knew she couldn’t ask him directly so she went with:
“Why didn’t you wake me up then?”
“You looked tired and-“ he started while blushing then narrowed his eyes and said “You stayed awake again right? How many days have you been doing that now? Huh?”
Now she knew for sure he had indeed carried her again. She felt a warmth in her chest. She smiled at him knowingly and he seemed to realize he’d been caught. But still he continued,
“Are you going to answer me, gearhead?”
“Oh, I just needed to finish an arm that Mr. Grant needed repaired real quick and then I started making some adjustments along the way-“ she continued rambling about the arm trying to avoid the main question he’d asked. He cut her off saying,
“How many days?”
“How do you know its been days? You weren’t here” she said narrowing her eyes.
She saw a little hurt in his eyes and regretted saying it like that.
He countered with, “I can tell just by looking at you, you still look tired and you just took a nap.”
She ended up answering him, muttering “maybe 4 days or 5 or a week, I worked on a leg too before that”
“A week?”
Actually, it may have been going on for more than a week. She couldn’t help it, she’d just work through the night, sometimes consciously, sometimes just not realising the time. Then she’d take some naps in between during the day. She knew it was bad for her even by her own standards, her granny had scolded her multiple times but she’d just pretend to go to her bed to sleep and go back to her workshop.
“Why did you have to keep it up for a week, Winry? Can’t you give some orders to granny? Or maybe move the deadlines?”, he asked exasperated.
“You do the same thing when you're deep in research — running on no sleep for days.”
“Hey, I never did that for this long! And you are the one who would throw that wrench at me if I did”
“I will throw it at you now if -”, she yelled at him.
She stopped when she felt his lips on her own. She returned the kiss after a moment. He slowly pulled away his hand resting on her cheek and said quietly, "Just... don't do that again," thumb moving once over her cheek.
She nodded and smiled up at him, tilting her face, resting it on his palm. She pulled him in a hug again. His arms came around her and he sighed.
“Missed me this much, Gearhead?”, she could feel him grin as she rested her head on his chest, closing her eyes.
She could only nod at that, tears beading her eyes. She continued listening to his heartbeat as he moved his hand in her hair, kissing the top of her head. Then she pulled back only when she was sure her eyes were dry as she knew how overdramatic Ed could get when he saw her crying.
He walked to the table to remove the dishes and started to carry them inside the kitchen, while she smiled at him. When he started washing them, she moved, snatching the plate from him shooing off his hands as she started washing them herself. He just smiled, shaking his head and started wiping the plates.
***
They sat out on the porch a while, the boards still warm from the day, watching the stars come up one at a time, Winry's breathing slowed against his shoulder.
“How was Creta?” Winry said, breaking the silence.
“It was great! It’s very different from Amestris, they are more advanced in theoretical alchemy and other sciences-”, “Ya know, I even caught a shark there” he added rather proudly.
“What? How?-“ Winry started horrified as she pulled away from him and then face-palmed,
“Forget how… You could have been hurt, you moron”
“Hey! It was really big. I should have gotten a picture of it, you would have been impressed”
“Hm, sure”, she said sighing, trying to sound annoyed but ended up smiling as she placed her head on his shoulder again. Then silence washed over them again as Ed caressed her arm lightly, his arm around her shoulders.
“Ed…”, she started, somewhat unsure, breaking the silence.
“Hm”, he looked at her.
“How long are you going to stay?” she asked in a quiet voice.
"Dunno" he said, "Few weeks, at least. There's still stuff in Creta I didn't finish, and Aerugo after that, probably." He paused. "But not yet. Not for a while."
“That’s good”, she tried in a cheerful voice.
“But I will keep coming back, Winry. And ya know how I am with my automail I will keep needing tune ups” he said in a rushed voice.
“Yeah, I was actually surprised to see your automail in one piece after this much time, though, it still needs maintenance” she teased
“Hey, I am not that bad, I actually took care of it this time! Didn’t want to give you a reason to beat me up with your damn wrench again” he said, annoyed. After a beat he added,
“And you will be bored if you don’t have my automail to play with”
“How is your work going?” Ed asked after a moment, “You really need to tone down the orders.” He scolded.
“It’s been awesome, Ed. I came up with some new designs and added different alloys to make it more water resistant and light. Oh! I need to try so many things on your automail. I am also working on increasing the sensory input-“ She rambled on excitedly. He listened, watching her face. He really loved listening to her all excited even if he couldn’t understand half of it.
“Garfiel called some days ago, asked if I wanted to come and work with him again” she added quieter now, some of the excitement dimming, “he also suggested I can even buy my own shop - like I have enough money” She laughed a bit.
He didn't answer right away.
“I think you should, maybe in future? You will love it, I have enough funds from my state alchemist days and they are even sponsoring my travels and you also earn well, we can figure it out”
“I can’t take your money, you know that Ed”, she said sharply. He just shrugged and she sighed.
“I think I will be going to Rush Valley in a month or so” she said quietly “Granny says she'll manage fine. I'm not sure I believe her, but—" she fell silent not finishing the thought.
“Old hag will just be fine, Win.” He said softly then adds in an annoyed voice, “which means dealing with every automail freak in Rush Valley pawing at my leg. Great.”
She laughed, and something in her chest went light. He'd come. He'd said it like it was already decided. A second later she remembered the arm.
“Oh! I need to check that arm” she jumped up, seeing the sky was now pitch dark, and turned back to go to her workroom. But two strong arms caught her.
She turned her head and looked up to see Ed grinning at her, and said “Let go, Ed” as he kept her still against his chest.
“No, automail freak, I’ll not let you work now. You’ll sleep”
She half-heartedly struggled in his hold, “But I am not sleepy”, she knew she could fall asleep the moment her head touched the pillow but he didn’t need to know that.
“Then we will just lie down and talk in bed”, moving to scoop her up in his arms as she started flailing.
She gave up as he started laughing, carrying her as she pouted. Seeing him, she also started giggling as he took her up the stairs. After they reached her bed, he gently placed her down and tucked her in, kissing her cheek. She rolled her eyes, for someone who was always rough around the edges, he treated her like she’d break if not handled with care, not that she didn’t like it.
He came around to sit on the other side as she also sat up.
They continued talking for a while, her eyes started getting droopy, sleep already overcoming her. He fondly said “not sleepy, my ass” then tucked her in, kissing her on the head and turned to leave the room. She held out her hand to grab his, saying “Stay…” and pulled him for a kiss on the mouth. He blushed, then moved under the covers. She turned placing her head in the crook of his neck, his arms coming around her waist as they both succumbed to sleep.