Fullmetal Alchemist Fan Fiction ❯ Seasons ❯ Winter: Obsessions ( Chapter 5 )

Warnings and Disclaimers: Any and all characters from the anime Fullmetal Alchemist do not belong to me. I only torture them for some stories. There may be some teenage content in the story but it is very limited. This story is set after the movie which means there are some spoilers and if you have no idea what any of this may be about, then don't come crying to me please. It's not my fault, I warned you *sheepish grin*.

 

 

 

Seasons

Winter: Obsessions

Chapter 5

 

By: RomanceFanFicLover

 

Ed fought the blush that was quickly spreading across his face; he'd been doing this for a month and a half already and he still froze up when he reached the `intimate wear' section of Winry's laundry. He couldn't really decide whether he was traumatized or blessed by this sight once every week.

 

“Ed! Back to work!” Winry called from the other room. How she always knew when he stopped, he'd never know.

 

 

Ed secretly reveled in the though that Winry seemed to know him better then Al now. Ed knew he always had a soft spot for Winry. She's pretty, smart, tough, funny, pretty, did he mention tough? Ed sighed lightly. This wasn't like him, not at all. He continued washing her clothes, musing on how he'd become a housewife of sorts.

 

 

..+..------------------------------..+..

 

 

Winry sat in the living room, legs propped up on the table, reading the new catalogue on automail that had arrived two days ago. She heard the splashing of water continue, but the rhythm of it had changed.

 

 

“Ed! Back to work!” She shouted over her shoulder before she even realized that she had turned.

 

 

She'd always loved Ed, she'd figured that out when she was about 16 and now her 19th birthday was fast approaching. However, this was just getting ridiculous.

 

 

Ed was playfully named W.S by Al and Pinako. Although Winry hadn't noticed until Ed had asked them what the hell it meant. They laughed and exchanged glances before Al had said “Winry's Shadow.”

 

 

Sure, they spent a lot of time together now, but that was just because she had convinced her to be his slave. Winry grinned evilly to herself, imagining Ed in a maid's uniform. Red burst onto her face as a blush smothered her face and she giggled into her hand.

 

 

Clearing up her thoughts, she once again tried to concentrate on the automail designs in front of her.

 

 

`Ed would like that one…' she thought absently before she hit herself over the head with the book. `Winry! Get a hold of yourself!' She took a deep breath and put aside the book.

 

 

Ed had been drifted through her thoughts more then usual, and that was a lot. After protesting the carvings in his automail, Ed had finally given into the idea. When he thought she wasn't looking, she'd catch him staring at the words with a strange look in his eyes.

 

 

Winry was extremely pleased with herself, she had gotten Ed to open up to her more and now they talked more freely then they had two months ago. The idea of him becoming her slave certainly worked to her advantage as well; she had more free time, and Ed was forced to stay near her in case she wanted anything done. Although there was that first time that Ed had done her laundry…Winry blushed at the thought.

 

 

Winry instructed Ed on what to do and surveyed his workmanship. He randomly pulled out an article of clothing each time, scrubbed, rinsed then hung it up to dry. He repeated this process and developed a rhythm. Winry memorized the rhythm easily and immediately noticed when he wasn't concentrating or was only pretending to work.

 

 

The rhythm had stopped completely and Winry glanced at Ed. She froze in horror as Ed held one of her rather stringy `intimates' in his hands. Ed turned slowly to her, a smirk fighting to make its way to his face but he fought it ruthlessly. Winry saw the obvious amusement in his eyes though, so his attempts were futile.

 

 

Winry swallowed the nervous lump in her throat and looked Ed square in the face. “What's wrong? Keep working.” She hoped her voice sounded as strong as she tried to make it. Ed shrugged and turned around to continue working. She heard him snickering to himself and decided to remember that she had left the stove on.

 

 

Winry smiled softly to herself. It was still a pretty nice memory, and memorable moments were scarce with Ed.

 

 

“Hey, what are you so giddy about?” Ed looked at as the corners of his lips turned up slightly. He leaned against the doorframe with one foot tucked neatly behind the other and his arms crossed; he almost looked as though he was posing for her.

 

 

“What are you, a model?” Winry joked before remembering that Al had come in earlier asking for Ed. “Al was looking for you, I think he went to Nelly's though.”

 

 

Ed seemed to contemplate going after him as he pushed off the doorframe and made his way to the kitchen.

 

 

Winry watched him go by and noticed that he was wearing shorts and not his boxers or black pants. That was a first. Actually, he had been wearing shorts and t-shirts a lot more often, which was very strange attire for winter.

 

 

“Ed, why are you wearing shorts in winter?” She could have sworn she saw Ed blush lightly.

 

 

“Why do you wear miniskirts in winter?” Ed turned to her with a triumphant smirk. She must have imagined the blush, probably the lighting or something.

 

 

He was right; it was much warmer in the house anyways. Winry shrugged and picked up the book again.

 

 

Ed watched her from behind the kitchen counter; that was close. He breathed a sigh of relief into the glass he held to his lips. He looked at the metal hand that held the glass, then down at the metal leg that was leaning against the counter. He stared at the words carved into both of them, and let himself relax.

 

 

He was a cocky, arrogant and prideful guy, that part of him was almost as legendary as his alchemy, so why not flaunt something you have pride in?

 

 

..+..------------------------------..+..

 

 

Winry had gone out two hours ago. She had offered to take Ed with her to the job she had that morning, but being the stubborn jackass that he is; Ed refused. Now he sat in his room staring at the wall.

 

 

He was so bored. He hadn't been like this since…ever. Between the time he was born and the time the `incident' happened, he had always been outside or with Al or with Winry. Between the time he joined the military and the time he was sent across the gate, he was busy searching for the philosopher's stone. While he was in the gate, he was busy looking for a way back. And when he first came back, well that was only a few months but they were still filled with something.

 

 

Ed sighed, he wasn't even sure how long he had been inside the room; but the sun seemed farther down and Winry still wasn't back yet. For some reason this annoyed Ed, a lot.

 

 

“Edward! Dinner!” Pinako's voice echoed slightly in the hallway before reaching Ed's room.

 

 

Dinner? Already? But where was Winry? She said she'd be back for dinner.

 

 

Something in his chest seemed to tighten as he made his way downstairs and joined that table.

 

 

“Is something bothering you Brother?” Al was careful to keep his tone casual as he ate a forkful of food.

 

 

“No…why?” Ed's suspicion rose as Al and Pinako quietly exchanged glances.

 

 

“You're not eating.” Ed looked down at his plate in surprise. Over the past 15 minutes he had spent at the table he had only succeeded to swirl his food around in his plate until it turned to something relative to mush.

 

 

“Oh…” This was strange to Ed; he hadn't felt like this before. Why was he so down today? Was it because Winry wasn't here with him? Ed started to panic at that thought; he wasn't supposed to be upset when Winry wasn't around. “I'm going for a walk.” Ed got up hastily and fled the scene.

 

 

After grabbing his coat, bursting through the door and jumping down the porch steps, Ed had finally calmed his nerves and was walking at a reasonable pace. He looked around leisurely while stuffing his hands in his pocket.

 

 

He had forgotten what he was wearing; shorts were most diffidently not good for the winter. Ed made a mental note of that. He kept walking aimlessly with no real thoughts catching his attention. He hadn't even noticed he had gone straight to the area where Winry had told him she was doing some jobs today.

 

 

Ed laughed self-consciously. “What a coincidence, well might as well look for her while I'm here. I have nothing better to do.” He wasn't saying it to anyone in particular, especially seeing as not many people were around. Double-checking that his conscience didn't think he was in denial, Ed began weaving his way through the houses that inhabited the area.

 

 

“Ed?” Winry looked at him strangely, almost nervously. “What are you doing here?”

 

 

“Winry? Oh, what a coincidence, I was just taking a walk and…” Winry laughed suddenly and latched onto Ed's arm.

 

 

“Thank you for picking me up Ed. Sorry I was late.” She gave him a soft smile and he tried not to give in.

 

 

“I was really going for a walk you know, don't get any ideas.” Winry nodded quietly and they began walking.

 

 

Who was he kidding? He was the one getting ideas as she hugged his arm close to her chest. If his bare legs weren't keeping him cool then he was sure he would be melting. This wasn't like him. Something was…wrong?

 

 

 

..+..------------------------------..+..

 

 

Al was just starting to doze off when he heard a knock on his door.

 

 

“Yes?” his voice was thick with exhaustion.

 

 

“It's me, can I come in?” Al sat up slowly. Why would Ed want to talk this late?

 

 

“Uh, sure.” The door opened and Ed stepped in, closing the door behind him.

 

 

“What's up, brother?” Al was wide awake now, curiosity beating down his exhaustion.

 

 

“Al, can I ask you a question…?” Ed's voice was soft, he was obviously really bothered by this.

 

 

“Sure.” Al chirped his answer happily, trying to push away the nervousness that was starting to build. The last time his brother wanted to ask him a question late at night it didn't go very well.

 

 

Ed dragged his feet across the floor as he walked towards Al's bed. Al felt the bed shift under the added weight as Ed sat down. Waiting patiently, Al looked expectantly at his older brother. His brow was knitted and a look of concentration and contemplation was etched into his features. When Ed finally spoke, Al had to fight from jumping in fright; his voice shook in fear and that was diffidently not like the Ed he had known for 18 years.

 

 

“Al, what does it mean when if you're without something or someone you don't know what to do. You think about the thing or person all the time and put them before everything.” Ed took a deep breath, as though he was trying to steady himself, “What does it mean when you feel hopeless and lost when your without it, but when you have it with you it seems like the world is so much simpler and so wonderful? Is it bad? Am I crazy? Al, tell me!” Ed's eyes were wide in confusion and possibly a hint of fear; the child prodigy, youngest state alchemist in the country, defeater of the homunculi and a child genius did not know what this feeling he had was, and it scared the daylights out of him.

 

 

“Brother, are you talking about a person or a thing?” Al wasn't sure if he should feel bad or be ridiculously happy.

 

 

“What does it matter?” Ed glared at his brother defensively.

 

 

“Because it could mean different things depending on what it is.” Al watched as his brother thought over what he said obviously weighing the options of telling him or asking for a general description.

 

 

“Tell me both.” Al wasn't expecting that request. Although he was disheartened that he didn't figure out whether or not Ed had developed feelings for their beloved mechanic, he thought over Ed's original question.

 

 

“Well, if it's an object, then it could be that you are obsessed with it. If it is a person then it is probably love that you feel.”

 

 

“How do you get over them?”

 

 

“Uh…An obsession is much easier to get over, you have to focus on things other than the object and try to stay away from it.” The expression on Ed's face told Al that he probably liked that answer.

 

 

“And for love?”

 

 

“For love…? Some people never get over their love, and it's much harder to just stop loving someone than it is to stop obsessing over an object.” Al liked his own answer this time and grinned in pride of his logic.

 

 

Al noticed that this answer didn't seem to satisfy Ed as much as it did for himself, as a scowl took over his brother's face. “Um, well actually-”

 

 

“Thanks Al.” Al barely heard the murmured words as Ed quickly retreated from the room.

 

 

..+..------------------------------..+..

 

 

Ed shuffled into his room and closed the door quietly. He stared up at the ceiling for a long time, not really thinking about anything. He tried to keep his mind blank but it didn't get him very far.

 

 

`I don't love her. I don't love her. I don't love her.' Ed felt torn. As he repeated his mantra over and over again part of him felt relieved that it was being burned into his brain and another part of him felt strangely betrayed.

 

 

“It's an obsession huh?” Ed murmured the words into the air before a snore replaced their sound.

 

 

..+..------------------------------..+..

 

 

It had been two weeks since Ed had walked her home that night, and he'd stayed away from her as well as possible. By the third day she had already asked him if she did anything wrong and even let him off his “duties”, but Ed just brushed off her kindness and replied to it with a snide remark.

 

 

By the end of the week she had all of her wrenches lined up to attack him. Luckily, Al had caught her before she could actually deliver any damage to the golden-eyed teen.

 

 

Two days ago, when Ed had refused to eat his dinner because she had made it, it was the last straw. She screeched her lungs dry at him, throwing anything from forks to spoons before Al once again stopped her from getting more violent.

 

 

She had given up. If he really wanted her out of his life, like he had so loudly proclaimed during their kitchenware fight, then she'd walk out and stay out.

 

 

She had shared this thought with her grandmother but was only rewarded with a lecture and some scolding. Winry decided to try Al's opinion but delivered a melodramatic speech on true friendships and his brother's disillusioned sense of the world.

 

 

So that was how Winry decided that instead of just walking out on him, she'd give him a taste of his own medicine.

 

 

..+..------------------------------..+..

 

 

Ed's plan was going better than he thought it would. Winry not only avoided him now, she was also beyond angry at him.

 

 

“There's no going back now.” Ed's face had a smirk plastered all over it, but his voice was saddened. This confused him thoroughly; he was happy, wasn't he?

 

 

Before he could dig deeper into the subject, the front door opened behind him.

 

 

“Oh, it's you.” Ed's eyes widened at the blatant dislike in the voice. The sneering voice couldn't possibly be from…?

 

 

Ed turned, fearing every second and caught a glimpse of pinkish-purple working overalls and a swish of lemon-blonde hair.

 

 

“Winry?” Her name kissed his lips as he whispered it quietly to the house. He hadn't said her name in a while, he either called her “you” or “girl” or sometimes even “nuisance”. He had felt thoroughly guilty she had stared at him with hurt bleeding from her eyes after he had referred to her as that. He was surprised she'd get that worked up with his words.

 

 

Guilt kicked him in the gut and apologies fluttered around in his head. His head reeled and he felt nauseous. His injury had been healed last week, why was it coming back? Was it even his injury? A soft sob permeated the front door and drifted to Ed's sharp ears.

 

 

“Winry?” Ed's heart clenched. Why was she crying? He's the one who felt so guilty for getting her to hate him.

 

 

`She hates me?' Ed felt the nausea returning at the thought. His heart clenched more painfully and his blood ran cold.

 

 

“Winry!” Ed turned around quickly, slipping off the step he was sitting on. Quickly recapturing his footing, he flung the door open and was greeted with an empty living room. The sound of a door slamming shut on the second floor resonated through the house.

 

 

Swallowing the nervous lump that formed in his throat, Ed ran towards the staircase..

 

 

..+..------------------------------..+..

 

 

Winry leaned against the bathroom door, breathing heavily. She felt tired, incredibly tired. It took everything she had just to grind those words out to Ed; her tone of voice took everything else in her world to come out. She had practiced in the mirror early that afternoon; she had known it would be difficult for her to say it with such hate. Sure, she fought with him regularly, but she could never hate him. After all he's been through, all the people who couldn't be there for him; she sure as hell wouldn't just up and leave.

 

 

Winry greatly contemplated hiding under her comforters; the world just seemed so unfair right now. She knew she was being immature and childish but she didn't care. Ed was being childish too! She mentally berated herself.

 

 

`Winry, get a hold of yourself. You're 19! Don't act like you're 6.'

 

 

This wasn't right! What she was doing wasn't right at all. She had known, her gut had told her to try harder, not to get so frustrated.

 

 

She growled at herself; stupid, stupid, stupid girl, how could she just retaliate by pushing Ed farther away from her than he had already distanced herself.

 

 

A chill ran down her spine as she realized what she may have very well done. What if Ed was too far from her now? What if she couldn't bring him back to her? What if all the time they had spent together all their lives could be so easily thrown away?

 

 

Tears washed her guilt-stricken face freely and splashed onto her chest unnoticed. Her mouth was opened slightly in order for her to breathe; her nose was starting to get stuffy from her crying. Winry reached her arm up and turned off the light in the room before she crawled in the corner and brought her knees up to her face.

 

 

Tears poured down her face into her knees as she sat their pitifully. She knew she should have gotten up, she knew this wasn't like her and she knew she had to be strong for him. But she also knew that she needed him in order for her to do all of that, and apparently Ed didn't want to even sit beside her let alone comfort her.

 

 

“I'm so stupid! So goddamned stupid!”

 

 

Burying her face further into her knees, Winry wept for everything she was sure she had lost.

 

 

..+..------------------------------..+..

 

 

Ed froze as he passed by the upstairs bathroom. He heard crying, no, sobbing. Heart-breaking sounds leaked out of the wooden door as Winry muttered to herself and shifted into the room.

 

 

Silence passed for a few seconds and Ed reached for the doorknob before he paused once again as her words became clear enough for him to hear her.

 

 

“I'm so stupid. So goddamned stupid.” Ed felt the bottom of his stomach drop when he heard Winry's sobs strengthen. Swallowing his own tears, Ed opened the door and was greeted with darkness.

 

 

The crying stopped and soft sniffling came from a corner. Closing the door, Ed shuffled towards the corner slowly but slammed his flesh knee into the toilet before he reached his destination. He cursed loudly and Winry made an `eep' sound. He figured it was because she had finally realized it was him.

 

 

“Winry…? Can you see where I am?” He ground the words out through his teeth and he bit his lip in pain. Receiving a grunt in response, Ed continued. “Come here then…please?” His voice was strained from the slight throbbing that now replaced the stinging in his knee cap.

 

 

A few moments passed without a sound and Ed began to fear that he had pushed her too much, that she really hated him now. A warm hand wrapped around his flesh hand and Ed almost had a heart attack. “Ah! Don't DO that!” Ed panted loudly as he sought to stop his heart from beating wildly.

 

 

“Sorry…” Winry smiled softly in the darkness but carefully guarded herself just incase this “normal-ness” was only a small lapse in his new hatred for her.

 

 

“No…I…I should be the one saying sorry.” Once again Ed found himself surprised by how easily the words flowed from his mouth.

 

 

“What?” Even with the darkness obscuring his vision, Ed could picture Winry's bewildered face looking up at him.

 

 

“I've been acting like a jerk lately and I'm sorry. I don't know what-” The last part of Ed's apology was cut short as Winry leapt at him and tackled him to the ground in a fierce hug. “W-Winry?”

 

 

“Thank you so much…” Her voice was filled with tears and Ed felt the wetness of them stream down his neck. “I thought you hated me, thank you so much!”

 

 

Ed stared down at the muted blonde hair that tickled his cheek in amazement before he relaxed enough to hesitantly wrap his arms around her. “I'd never hate you Winry…”

 

 

`I-…I love her.' Ed didn't dare say the words that embedded themselves into his knowledge, `Winry Rockbell. The machine freak, my best friend since I was two, the first girl who I ever admired and so much more. And I love her.'

 

 

For some reason Ed savored this information and tucked it away for safe keeping.

 

 

Winry looked up from Ed's shoulder to see a large grin on his face and his eyes shining with pure happiness. Winry didn't know what it was for, but she knew she hadn't seen that look for over 10 years. And she became overjoyed as well.

 

 

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