Fullmetal Alchemist Fan Fiction ❯ Friend or What? ❯ Admitting... ( Chapter 2 )

The sun outside had sailed in the sky, going from the east toward west, leaving morning to mid afternoon. Inside the Rockbell estate, if one listened close enough, they could make out echoes of laughter from the uppermost part of the house, where inside Winry and Edward had steadily went from talking about Rush Valley to some events from their childhood that took place by a river.

 

"I didn't think he would really get in the barrel!" Edward said wiping a tear of laughter from his eye.

 

"Yeah, poor Al. I can't remember; who pushed the barrel down?" she asked still giggling a bit.

 

"Oh, I think that was Nellie."

 

"Funny..." Winry said with a playful glare "I didn't know Nellie's hair was blond then..."

 

"Ah..." Edward groaned "Alright that was me."

 

"Yeah, I thought so," she said giving Edward a playful shove "At least he got his revenge though."

 

"Yeah... I couldn't believe he pulled me in the river after I tried helping him out."

 

Winry suddenly simpered mischievously.

 

"Perhaps only because I might have hinted him to..."

 

Edward looked at her with a shock of surprise at this new information "You told him to do that?" He gasped softly backhanding her arm. "You were evil back then!"

 

"Like you were so innocent!" she said back handing him, "I remember when you and Al decided to hold my dolls hostage in your Tree fort," she halted "Or should I say; your tree 'board."

 

Edward shifted uneasy as he though about the board he had nailed to the tree in his yard when he was younger. Although it was only a single board on two branches, it seemed at the time his greatest accomplishment. Of course, because of certain events and all he's done since then; he's felt pretty Unaccomplished...

 

Because...

 

"Hey," she said tapping a forefinger on his skull "Are you awake in there, dafty?"

 

Edward choked "Dafty! Look who's talking!" he glared "your more flightier than birds going south for winter!"

 

The gravity cracked around Winry and she swiped at Edward. "How dare you!"

 

"Hey!" Edward said dodging the punch "Your going to get it you keep that up!"

 

"Oh?" Winry gasped in a mock startle "You wanna fight? Wee-man!"

 

Edward's eyebrows arched downward and a vein mark labeled his brow.

 

"That's it!" He got up off the floor and stood in stance "No one gets away with pulling short-jokes on me! Your going down!"

 

Winry followed in suit and took a stance of her own; fists bunched up and held out.

 

"Bring it on, Fullmetal pansy!"

 

One by one they went at throwing insults at one another, their battle of wits raging as they threw only half hearted punches at one another, until they reached away from the window toward the back of the attic, by this time they were bickering so much that neither one noticed.

 

"Who's winning now?" Winry laughed as Edward backed away from another of her throws. "Who's in charge, Alchemy Dork?"

 

Ed scoffed, as he got ready to angle his footing. "That's it, Machine Junky! Now you've asked for------!!!"

 

What it was Winry had asked for? She never did find out, at that moment the angle Edward had tried putting himself in was disturbed by a fur skinned rug under him and the contrast had him cascading to his back with a muffled thunk.

 

"Ed!" Winry gasped as all battle thoughts slipped her mind. She rushed over to him.

 

"Are you alright?"

 

Besides a slight ache where he hit the back of his head, he felt fine, so he nodded.

 

"Here, let me help you up." She said holding her hand out to him.

 

Edward looked at her hand, for a split second getting chills 'is it cold in here?' He wondered before taking her offered hand.

 

Then he grinned in his toothy scheming expression and Winry suddenly found herself facedown on the floor to his left, the fur of the rug coated the face-plant but a small ache still teemed her forehead.

 

"EDWARD ELRIC!" she screeched fixing him with a look of scorn as he laughed at her expense.

 

"Dammit, Ed! That was a dirty trick!"

 

"Just think of it as vengeance for the short joke." Edward said with a confident tone like he'd won the argument. "Besides, I told you that you were flighty."

 

" Damn you!!!" She growled, and then noticed Edward's laugh had gone from devilish to a more regular tone.

 

"Look at us," he giggled "Were acting like idiots over this."

 

Winry thought about this a moment, realizing that they did look ridiculous, she laughed along with him.

 

After a few minutes of mocking their own actions, they stopped laughing to catch their breath. Without one another's voices, the attic seemed eerily quiet save the spring wind blowing at the screen on the window.

 

"Hey, Ed."

 

"Hmm?" Edward hummed, turning to look at Winry; she turned herself and sat up. When she looked at him he noticed the seriousness on her face, and he became curious.

 

"Do you really plan on leaving tomorrow?" she asked him.

 

Edward had been afraid this would get brought up. He breathed out a heavy sigh. "Yeah, I need to; Al and me both." He sat up. "Were still searching, you know."

 

"Yes, I know... but," she said, blinking mist out of her eyes, there was no way in hell she was going to cry, not now anyway. "Why can't you and Al take a break?" she asked, even though she could guess what the answer would be.

 

"You know we can't" Edward said looking away; he didn't want to see her cry. He never enjoyed it. He often wished for a way to make her stop, but in reality; there was no alchemic code to fix a broken heart.

 

"Getting Alphonse back to normal is way too much a priority, I can't afford leisure breaks."

 

Winry watched him turn his head away, even after so long she knew he was trying to avoid eye contact because he was never good with keeping a straight face with emotional situations.

She wished he would look at her though, because the next thing she wanted to ask him would probably jeopardize their friendship forever, and if that happened; she wanted to remember how kindly his eyes would glow when he looked at her.

 

She breathed out softly and mentally crossed her fingers; it was now or never...

 

She just hoped he would feel the same way.

 

"Edward, what do you think about me?"

 

His head suddenly snapped back toward her, eyes wide and questioning.

 

'Is, is he blushing?' Winry thought, as Edward seemed to be fiddling around for words.

 

"Wh-what do you mean?" He asked her, blinking a little more than usual. In a sense; he knew what she meant, at least; he hoped it wasn't what she meant. He tried as hard as he could to avoid hurting Winry ever since they were kidnapped four years ago. He could still remember the fear in her eyes and tears that littered her features. He didn't admit it then; but while he made Al the promise to get his body back no matter the cost; he couldn't bring himself to speak fully to Winry because of how weak he'd been during that time, how scared he was at the thought of their being killed, that he couldn't apologize.

 

Nor admit ever since that Winry had become something more to him than just a friend.

 

Which was why he hoped deeply she wasn't asking that because he didn't want the responsibility of hurting her again.

 

"I mean..." Winry continued on not thinking much about the distant look in Edward's irises.

 

"What do you think about..." she moved her hand to rest it on his forearm gently, "Us."

 

Edward looked toward the ground in anguish, she was asking about them, 'Dammit! I thought I avoided this sort of confrontation! I'm only going to hurt her, Dammit!'

 

Winry felt his arm tense up as he silently argued with himself and mistook it for something she did wrong.

 

"I mean-that is-" she stumbled for words and looked away while moving her hand off his arm. "I'm sorry, n-never mind."

 

He scolded himself mentally for making her think he was mad, and decided he should ask what it was she meant, except when he asked, she continued ignoring him, looking away as if suddenly quite more interested in the collective dust in the corner of the attic than in the fact that he was there.

 

'How can she act like I'm not here? This is really starting to piss me off!'

 

"Dammit, Winry!" Edward snapped and nudged her shoulder with his left hand in a hopeful attempt to make her at least look at him "Answer me-----!!!"

 

Edward swore time had slowed down. What else could he say to describe it? Only a few moments ago; he took in Winry's features as he seen them in his youth, Blond hair, blue eyes and childish face that somehow completed the look you'd find in a Rockbell.

 

So now his plutonic views suddenly took notice of how well the light from the small window bounced off her Buttercup yellow hair just right enough to make the blue irises become oceanic and her flushed face to seem chiseled so that she looked more desirable instead of youthful.

 

Words had decided to fail the Fullmetal Alchemists vocabulary, leaving him only one word to decipher how she looked to him

 

Beautiful...

 

Winry had been averting her eyes in an effort to keep Edward from noticing that her tears were threatening to emerge once again. After she had decided she had them under control did she work the nerve to look back at him, except he'd chosen that moment to palm her shoulder as hot red tinges crept around her face.

 

'Dammit! First the stupid tears now I look like a tomato face! Why did Ed have to-!'

 

Winry lost her train of thought as she looked at the boy-no. stranger sitting next to her. What happened to Edward? Only a few seconds ago he was the usual stubborn faced flaxen-headed kid she'd befriended in her youth.

 

What was next to her now was a handsome young man with golden cultured hair with bangs that cascaded like waterfalls over piercing honey colored irises, his face held in a sort of calming shock like he seen something amazing, whatever it was it made his face tinge the slightest pink.

 

Winry momentarily lost her sense of using proper text to describe how he looked. Only one solid word formed in her mind.

 

Beautiful...

 

Edward noticed he left his hand against her shoulder and pulled away quickly.

 

"Uh, sorry about that... I guess I should go,” he murmured sheepishly. Without warning Winry took hold of Edward's idle hand, palm against the back of his hand.

 

Edward blinked at the sudden action. "Winry?" he questioned her.

 

"Ed, I-" she trailed off with her words. She looked at Edward's hand, tanned skin over a hand that held the build of someone who did extensive labor. While hers were work-worn too, it was masked by creamy skin that gave her hands a smooth appeal.

 

She didn't want to let go of the hand hers held, nor have the owner of that hand leave her side.

 

Not just yet...

 

"Ed." She began, using her other hand to brace herself as she leaned slightly forward. "I know I get on your case sometimes.

And there's times that I can't stand being around you because you won't let me in, in your world, won't let me know what's on your mind, won't even stay in the same room when I ask you...But despite it all...Ed I wanted to say- that is- I"

 

She trailed off as her voice tried to pry past the shudders of newborn tears wanting to see the world. And they did so, masking Winry's vision of her childhood friend in a cloudy haze.

 

"I- Dammit it's too hard to- P, Please don't leave now- I'm trying to say-I wanted to tell you t-that I-." she cut off her speech, shutting her eyes as the tears fell. The hand she held pulled away and she inwardly kicked herself for getting so emotional, the tears she worked hard to get rid of earlier now back in full force. This sort of thing would now surely make him leave the room she believed.

 

So Winry was shocked when the sudden movement in front of her made her feel a blanket of warmth from someone very close to her, and she opened her eyes to see Edward, using his hand to wipe away the tears that clung to her face.

 

The action made her blush quite violently.

 

Edward too was shocked by his actions, but something else was overpowering his embarrassment. Winry's words... they; soothed him somehow. The dark feeling that always made him want to avoid having anyone involved with what goes on in his daily life had ebbed away somewhat as he looked into Winry's eyes. The eyes he could see were so full of care about him that it almost made him lose control over his own emotions. Edward had spent that whole moment trying to figure out why Winry had asked him that question earlier, despite the times he purposely made her hate him in order to keep her ignorant.

 

He knew now what it was, because right there in her eyes laid all the proof he would ever need.

 

"Win..." he said using her childhood nickname; one she would have earlier yelled at him for using.

 

He continued "I, I understand."

 

He could never guess what Winry was truly thinking; but the flash in her eyes and the blush on her face made it obvious that she realized she got the answer she wanted from Edward this time.

 

He blushed as the words he formed fell from his lips. "I like you too."

 

With the pull of embarrassment no longer gaining the upper hand in Edward's mind, he leaned forward and planted a soft kiss on Winry's lips.

 

Time seemed to slow to almost a recordless calm while picking up speed in the form of fire storming heartbeats from both bodies. Turning the room temperature to an intense yet somewhat enjoyable hundred-degree increase.

 

Edward hugged Winry close to him as they locked lips. Winry taking hold of Edward's back, feeling the lines of his shoulder blades, making good on taking her time to feel the shaped form of someone whom she usually only put her hands on when it was for fixing the arm she grafted for him.

 

To her, Edward was perfection.

 

Suddenly a sharp thought crossed her mind. It was so out of the blue she almost went into panic when it formed in her thoughts.

 

What if we....

 

She didn't want to think about it, thinking would ruin everything.

 

But what if he....

 

Stop it!

 

What if I-

 

That did it, like lightning Winry broke away from Edward's lips, backing off somewhat, a look of pure shock etched in her face.

 

' What the hell am I doing! Why am I doing this to him? Am I some sort of hussy? I can't believe I- this isn't Edward! What have I-'

 

With out much warning, the look of stabbing scorn being the only giveaway. Edward shot up off the floor. He walked away from her to the attic door, opening it.

 

"I'm sorry." He said, sounding broken but non-the less holding that stubborn will of Elric he honed so well. "I didn't mean to act like that. Listen, I'm going to get Al. We'll leave tonight." he stepped out the door. Stopped. Then hesitated before turning his head. "Listen, I think it would be better if I stayed at a hotel in town. Just tell Al that when he gets back. Tomorrow I'll pay you for the leg and leave."

 

Without another word, he continued out.

 

Winry sat in the silence with her mind bellowing and jumping in dozens of directions. Going from wanting to stop Edward from leaving to hitting him to screaming at the top of her lungs.

 

She did none of these things. Just let the emotion well up without rebellion.

 

As Edward descended the stairs down to the living room, he locked his gaze at the floor, watching beyond what his vision displayed for him. His mind raced as the images flew in his mind. He couldn't believe he almost- what if Winry hadn't backed away? Would he still-

Edward felt the pangs of hurt drown in his chest as he grabbed his coat off of the rack and walk out the door, not bothering to make his pain noticeable by slamming the door childishly.

 

Instead, eyebrows arched, he smiled pitifully.

 

The sun settled fully into twilight as both teenagers cried silently.