Fullmetal Alchemist Fan Fiction ❯ I Sense You Here ❯ Smell ( Chapter 3 )

Smell

 

“Come on, Ed. Stop sulking.” Winry pleaded.

“I'm not sulking.” Ed retorted childishly as he played with his mashed potatoes, watching the butter melt on top of the fluffy mounds before melting into yellow rivers and collecting into a pool on his plate. Even the mouth-watering aroma of roast beef and gravy couldn't put Ed into better spirits.

“You're such a big baby. So Al's…”

“Don't say it!” Ed hollered, pushing back from the table and scrunching his features into a menacing contortion.

Winry, as always, did not cower.

“So Al's taller than you. It's no big deal.” she said flippantly. Her words, naturally, left Ed ranting, his body twisting as if in agony and his fingers pulling at his loose hair.

“This is so unfair! I can't believe the injustice. He's my younger brother, he's not supposed to be taller than me! My head barely reaches his shoulders!” Ed lamented, banging his head on the table, his untouched dinner plate clanking with each resounding thud of his head.

“Stop that!” Winry ordered. “And you're exaggerating. You reach Al's nose which means he's only about three inches taller.”

“Three gigantic inches.” Ed whined, his face buried in the hard wood.

“Besides, if you wear your lifts in your boots, which you have been doing since you became a State Alchemist - and don't try to deny it! - you'd be only about an inch-and-a-half shorter. That's not so bad.” Winry reasoned.

“It's still shorter. It's all your fault, Winry!”

“How is your height deficiency my fault?!” Winry demanded, startled when she thought she spied hurt in Ed's large golden eyes. It quickly vanished, though, and was replaced with anger.

“The automail!”

“Don't go there, Edward.” Winry warned as she stood up from her chair, glowering at her friend.

As usual, Ed didn't heed the warning.

“Yep, it was all the fault of the automail. Your automail was heavy and it weighed me down so my body wouldn't grow right an now it won't grow at all!”

“You jerk!” Winry cried, her voice so shrill Den actually cowered out of the room. Before Ed could react, indeed, before he realized the gravity of what it was he had said, a plate went whizzing across the table and slapped the sixteen year old squarely in the face.

“Dammit! Winry!” Ed called when the plate fell and smashed into pieces around his bare feet.

“You stupid ass.” the young woman cried as she stormed out of the room towards her workshop. Ed cringed when he heard the workshop door slam so hard it sounded as if the hinges had broken.

Winry was mad.

Looking around at the mess of glass around his feet, Ed rubbed the heel of his palms against his closed eyelids, groaning at the mess he had made with his careless insult.

“Fuck.” he grumbled as he came to the realization that he had really screwed things up. He hadn't meant the automail comment, not really. His negative feelings towards his prosthetic limbs stemmed from his own feelings of self-pity and not from Winry's craftsmanship. He just really hated being short and, as usual, when confronted with his stunted height he went overboard and ended up hurting the last person he ever wanted to hurt.

As he set to using alchemy to restore the broken plate, Ed was thankful that Al and Auntie Pinako were not in the house to witness his stupidity, otherwise he would be subjected to the old woman's criticisms and Al's overbearing logic. Ed didn't need others to tell him that he had screwed up. He knew enough on his own.

Still, a part of Ed did wish that Al was around to talk to.

The younger Elric had started walking under his own strength for quite some time, only needing the aid of a cane to make his way around. Naturally, Al was walking as much as his body would allow, rediscovering the Resembool countryside. When the old woman had announced that she would be going to the train station to collect some tools she had ordered, Al had eagerly volunteered to go with her, even suggesting they leave a little earlier so they could eat at the town's lone inn and Al could reunite with some old friends.

That left Ed and Winry alone.

It really was the perfect opportunity to finally clear some of the sexual tension that had settled over the teenagers and what had Ed gone and done?

He'd fucked it up Edward Elric style.

Staring at this reflection in the plate he'd just alchemized, Ed knew he had to go to Winry and apologize.

`Guess I have matured a little.' he thought as he trudged towards the back of the house where Winry's workshop was. `Apologizing still sucks, though.'

Ed carefully opened the workshop door, noting that the top hinge had broken under Winry's furious force. It squeaked, betraying his entrance.

The hot smell of metal, oil and grease struck Ed like a slap in the face, as if the air itself was doing Winry's biding. It wasn't a nauseating or unpleasant odor, it was just so strong and encompassing that sometimes it fairly overwhelmed Ed so that he felt lightheaded. The fumes of burning metal caught Ed's attention and he looked towards the smallest of the work tables to discover Winry hunched over something, a fine line of grey smoke wafting lazily over her head.

Swallowing his pride and mentally rehearsing his apology, Ed took a few tentative steps into the room.

“I'm holding a soldering iron, Ed. I wouldn't get too close.” Winry warned stonily.

“Well, you know I like to play with fire.” Ed joked lamely as he continued to take shy steps towards her. “What are you building?”

“A motor for an ankle joint for one of my stupid heavy automail parts.” Winry spat. “Seriously, Ed, go away.”

“Winry…”

“Just because Al is growing up and you're having a tough time dealing with it doesn't mean you get to take it out on me.” Winry lectured, her voice sounding wet and quivering.

Besides alchemy, the one thing that Ed did well was make Winry cry. And aside from automail, the one other thing Winry was an expert at was reading Ed. She knew, even before Ed realized it himself, that Al's growing independence was taking its toll on the elder Elric.

Ed hadn't believed that he would be bothered by Al getting better. In fact, he had been the one who cheered the loudest when Al was finally out of the wheelchair, off of the crutches, and relying solely on a cane. Soon, Al wouldn't need a walking aid at all, and after that…

After that, Al wanted to go to Xing. Not just to see Mei, the fifteen year old insisted as his face burned brightly, but to help with the finalization of the peace treaties between the clans. When that was finished, Al thought he might travel, see the world outside of Amestris, and after that he thought he might like to go to university and medical school.

Ed had been stunned when Al had revealed his plans. For so much of his life, Ed had lived for the moment. True, he always had a plan, and that plan was to retrieve his and his brother's original bodies, but for the most part, Ed's thought process did not wander too far into the future. Now, the sixteen year old was suddenly faced with days, months, years ahead of himself and he didn't have a plan.

Al had plans, and most of them didn't involve his brother.

“I guess…” Ed said softly as he came to stand a hair's-breath away from Winry's back, the smell of burning metal mingling with the faint sweet smell of her hair, “I've never had to do anything without Al before. Now he wants to leave me…”

“He just wants to go to Xing and see his psychotic little girlfriend for a few weeks and then spend a month or two seeing the world. That's nothing major, and now that he can do it you should be happy for him.”

“Dammit, I am happy for him!” Ed roared, taking a cautious step back when Winry spun around to face him. Thankfully, she had released the soldering iron, but that didn't mean he was safe from her wrath. After all, the wrenches were just an arm's length away.

“What exactly is the problem, Ed, and don't say it's your height issues. It's really no big deal. I mean, you're taller than me now and you don't see me whining about it.”

Ed opened his mouth, prepared to respond, when he realized that Winry was right.

He was taller than her.

In fact, he was nearly a head taller than her, her bright blond bangs reaching the tip of his chin.

Ed was stunned.

In all of the excitement of returning his body back to normal and coming home and watching Al heal, Ed hadn't ever bothered to notice that he was no longer the shortest of the three friends.

A grin of insurmountable joy spread across his face.

“Fullmetal geek.” Winry grumbled, not appreciating the foolish happiness that was radiating from Ed at his discovery.

“Can't call me that anymore.” Ed retorted proudly as he flashed her his right arm. “Besides, I was given an honorable discharge so I'm not part of the military anymore. I'm not a fullmetal anything”

“I'll just call you a jackass then.” Winry grumbled under her breath. She was still furious with him. In all of their years together Winry had never seriously thrown an insult at Ed's alchemy because she knew it was his life's work. She had hoped that the idiot would show the same respect for her automail, but that didn't appear to be the case. “You know, that automail was to help you.”

“I know that, Win, and I'm sorry. Your automail isn't heavy.” Ed said, taking a small step closer to the fuming woman. “Forgive me?”

“Never.” Winry retorted, the sudden scent of sweat and grass invading her senses. Ed always smelled of fresh cut grass, no matter the season or location. It was a calming scent under most circumstances, but with him so close…and the two of them all alone...

Winry felt her heart begin to beat faster.

“Hey, Win…” Ed drawled, and Winry finally noticed that there was barely an inch of space between them. She swallowed, hard, but it did little to alleviate the sudden dryness of her throat. She placed her hands on the edge of her worktable to brace herself for whatever Ed had planned.

She hadn't expected him to lean in close, his chin softly resting upon her tense shoulder. Hot, moist breath caressed her neck, right where her pulse was beating erratically.

“Ed, what's up?” she managed to squeak out, not bothering to move away from her friend's inquisitive, and delightful, exploration.

“Have I ever told you that you smell good?” he asked, leaning further into her, his arms reaching out to brace himself against the worktable, effectively trapping Winry within his embrace.

“Ed, what's wrong with you?” Winry demanded, though her voice quaked when Ed's lips took the place of his chin against her shoulder. “This isn't like you at all.”

“Can't a guy say a girl smells nice?”

“Sure, a guy can, but this is you…and me.”

“I've always thought you smelled nice, Winry. I just never told you.” Ed answered, each word causing his lips to brush just wonderfully against her flushed skin.

“So, why are you telling me now?”

Ed paused, his nose still delightfully inhaling the sweet flowery scent of Winry's shampoo. He had recalled this scent often in his years of traveling across the country, never admitting how much he had missed it, or how much comfort he found in it, until this lonely charged moment.

Al wanted to live his own life and be with the girl he cared about. Ed wanted the same thing…only he was lucky enough to have his girl right in front of him and not miles away in another country. Ed didn't have to worry about his little brother anymore. Now, he could worry about himself and the girl who smelled of flowers and grease. Winry's declaration that Ed was now taller than her only encouraged the sixteen year old to finally make his move.

After all, height gave him confidence.

“I guess I'm telling you now because it feels right. We're alone…I'm not going anywhere…and you smell so good…”

Each word from Ed's mouth had Winry breathing heavier and heavier, her chest rising and falling, almost brushing against Ed as he inched closer. His lips left her shoulder, his cheek brushing hers as he rose up to his full height and looked down at her. Winry could smell the muted aroma of gravy and potatoes on Ed's breath as it fanned across her face.

He was leaning in closer…his lips pursing…just a little bit closer…

“Ouch!” Winry hollered, her body jerking forward so that her head bumped painfully into Ed's chin. The striking bitter scent of burnt skin filled the air between the teenagers as Winry cradled her left hand against her chest. “Fucking iron.” she grumbled, furious that she had clumsily touched the hot tool just when Ed was finally going to kiss her.

“Here.” Ed said, taking Winry's hand in his and blowing softly on the small burn. He examined the patch of pink skin with a critical eye before offering Winry a small, comforting grin. “Should get a cold bandage on that.” he remarked.

“Yeah.” was all Winry could manage to say, loosing herself in Ed's dark golden eyes…and he was leaning in again…

“Brother! Winry! We're home! Where are you guys!”

Al's calls of greeting were all it took to break the spell that had settled over Ed and Winry. Ed released Winry's had and took a hasty step back. Distantly, they could hear Al and Pinako clamoring through the house, the elder woman complaining of how inconsiderate Ed was to not come and help them carry their parcels.

“Um…I better get something on this burn.” Winry mumbled.

“Yeah…I better go and see what the old hag wants.”

“Sure.” Winry nodded as she took several steps away from Ed, her mind so preoccupied that she forgot to hit Ed for his rude comment about her grandmother.

She had almost kissed Ed.

Ed had almost kissed her.

“So, I'll talk to you later.” Ed said as he slowly made his way out of the workshop. With each step that the teenage alchemist took away from the young automail mechanic, the tension between the pair became more and more palpable. Something had changed dramatically between Ed and Winry. It wasn't something that could be fixed or something that should never have happened. This change was inevitable and had been progressing ever since the pair had hit adolescence. Winry hadn't been anticipating it, but she knew it was there all the same. And now, Ed had nearly kissed her, told her she smelled nice, nuzzled her flushed skin and caressed her shoulder with his dry lips.

Winry regarded her small burn, the wretched injury that had interrupted what might have been her first kiss with Edward Elric, and cursed it. If she had only known that it would be a few hours before that first kiss actually came to be, she might not have dabbed cold water onto the tender flesh with such annoyed aggression.