Winry leans back against the door of the house, her arms resting loosely on her knees as she stares out into the star-filled sky. Ed seems much more tense. He sits cross-legged on the lowest step and presses his automail hand down into the dirt.

"You're going to do it?" Winry asks quietly. "Go become a dog of the military?"

Ed grinds his teeth. "I'm going to become a State Alchemist. I need their research, Winry, it's the only chance I have of getting Al his body back." He looks back at her, a look of pure betrayal on his face. "I thought you'd be happy for me."

"Of course I'm not happy! How could I be happy that you're going off to join the military when my parents died in a war?!"

"I'm not joining the military."

"You are," she says levelly.

Ed sighs. "Fine, I am, but it's not like I'll have to fight. The war is over."

"Until the next one starts," Winry mutters, under her breath.

Ed rolls over, resting his forearms on the middle stair and looking up at her. "Winry, come on."

"I'm not going to be the one to fix your automail when it gets busted on some battlefield."

"I wouldn't dream of asking. And there's not going to be a battlefield. You're overreacting."

"Don't tell me I'm overreacting!"

"Winry…" Ed climbs up to the top step, to sit next to her. "Are you crying?" She is crying, her breath coming in great gasps.

"They promised they'd come back. 'Don't worry, sweet Winry, we'll be back before you know it. Grandma will take good care of you.' I waited for them every day."

"I know," Ed breathes. His heart had twisted the day they heard what happened to Winry's parents. Because his mother was dead and his father was gone, but Winry had letters and pressed desert flowers and drawings from her father. She remembered the smell of her mother's perfume and she remembered walking them to the train station on the day they left for Ishval.

Ed remembered flipping through Mr. Rockbell's anatomy textbooks and the way Mrs. Rockbell swatted him when he stole cookies from her kitchen. She used to come over and drink tea with his mother. Especially after his father left, when Trisha cried and pretended not to.

Then Edward's mother died and Winry's parents left. Then Winry's parents died, and Ed and Al lost everything trying to undo something that can't be undone.

"I'm sure they'd be proud of you," Ed says. "You know, if they were here."

"Your mother would be proud of you."

(Behind his eyelids, he sees twisted, mangled flesh, groaning and gasping, and he shudders and swallows hot bile.)

Ed wraps his arm around Winry (his real, flesh and blood arm), and her skin is warm against his and she takes in a shaky breath and rubs her hand against her eye to stop the rest of the tears.

Ed seems much more comfortable once Winry's stopped crying. He ruffles her hair and then lets his arm slide down hers until his hand is resting on top of her hand. It surprises him that she hasn't pushed him off by now, but she seems content to let him comfort her.

"I'm going to come back, Winry. And I'll write all the time, I swear."

"Don't make promises you can't keep."

Ed almost protests, but then he just nods. "I'll write, then. I can do that much."

Winry runs her hand over his cheek, and the intensity of his golden eyes is breathtaking. She's never thought about Ed as… grown-up. And he isn't, he's the same age as her, only eleven, but he seems older. He has ever since he lost his leg and arm. He seems old enough to be able to protect her, although she has no idea what she may need protecting from in Resembool.

Winry takes a deep breath and kisses Ed, before she can lose her nerve. He nearly tumbles off the steps in his shock, but she holds his automail arm with a solid grip and won't let him go. After a heartbeat or two, he starts kissing her back. Winry opens her mouth and Ed slides his tongue inside and then she's pushing her lips against his with even more heat and pressure. After a few more seconds, they break apart. Ed's cheeks are red hot, and he glares at Winry as if she's somehow betrayed him.

"What'd you do that for?"

She just shrugs, flicking at the wooden stair beneath her with a fingernail. "If you're going to join the military, Edward, you should know how to kiss a girl."

Their laughter rings out over the fields.