Okay, so I finished watching Brotherhood three days ago and promptly started crying the moment Ed said "a heart made fullmetal." I lost it. And then the happy pictures of everyone made me cry even harder because fEELS. Then I spiraled into a deep craving for EdWin, and thus this drabble was born! It's a songfic, based off the song Cold is the Night by the Oh Hello's. DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN ANY OF THE LYRICS TO COLD IS THE NIGHT.
Cold is the night without you here
Just your absence ringing in my ears
Hard is the heart that feels no fear
Without the bad, the good disappears
Winry rolled over in bed, and shivered. Winters in Resembool weren't pleasant. Sure, it was nothing compared to when she went to visit Ed and Al at Fort Briggs, but still. Her old house was a drafty house, and no matter how tightly she shut the windows, she would still feel the bite of a cold winter breeze blow throughout the rooms of the house.
But tonight, the cold wasn't the only thing keeping her up.
She rolled over again and sighed, glaring at the space in the bed next to her. Ed had been gone one of his trips out west for five months now. It was funny how quickly she had grown accustomed to having his body next to hers every night. She missed how he always fell asleep with one foot sticking out of the blankets, how he would always shift closer to her in his sleep until they were a tangle of arms and legs, and how he would always burrow under the covers until they were wrapped in a cocoon of blankets. Hell, she even missed his snoring. Her room was too quiet without it.
She was worried, too. She always worried about him when he was gone; old habits died hard. She had every right to be worried, though. Whenever he used to come home, it would only be for automail repairs and his arm or his leg or both would be busted so badly she'd wanted to cry at the sight of her ruined craftsmanship. But, if she were being honest, she also looked forward to the times he would unexpectedly show up on her front doorstep with his limbs in shambles, because it meant she could see him again.
Winry finally sat up and threw back the covers, shivering when her feet touched the cold hardwood floor. She dug around for a pair of socks and grabbed the top blanket off her bed before making her way downstairs. If she couldn't sleep, at least she could get ahead on some automail orders.
She passed the calendar on her way through the kitchen and sighed again when she caught sight of the red X's marking the days since Ed first left.
Where are you, Ed? She thought. It's been so long…
Long is the road that leads me home
And longer still when I walk alone
Bitter is the thought of all that time
Spent searching for something I'll never find
Take this burden away from me
And bury it before it buries me
Ed rubbed his bleary eyes as the train pulled to a stop at the station. It was well past midnight, and all he wanted was to get home.
He grabbed his suitcase from the rack overhead and disembarked, shivering when he stepped into the cold air. He'd gone soft, getting used to the warmer climates of the countries out west, so the winter in Resembool was an unpleasant surprise.
Thank God we don't live in Briggs, Ed thought as he tugged the collar of his coat up and started down the long road that would take him home.
Home. To Winry.
He shuffled forward with a slight limp in his automail leg. A chill from the cold metal was beginning to creep up the rest of his leg, and he grit his teeth and pushed on through the light snow. The sooner he got home, the sooner he could get under the covers and warm up, with Winry's body pressed up against his.
He missed her more than he'd expected this time, compared to his other trips. He supposed it was because right before he left for this trip, he finally gave her a ring and officially declared them engaged. He smiled to himself, still self-satisfied, even now. He'd hunted for the right ring for months, visiting almost every jewelry store in Central, and then anywhere else he'd traveled. Al, of course, had been a huge part of the process, turning down any ring he thought was 'tacky' or 'gaudy'. Whatever that meant. Ed knew he had a great sense of style. Al just didn't appreciate it.
But it had all been worth it to see the expression of joy on Winry's face when he finally knelt down and pulled a ring out of his pocket, and sliding it on her finger after her tearful and exuberant "YES!"
But then, he'd had to go away again, and five months was one of the longest amounts of time he'd been gone for, not including the years he'd spent chasing the philosopher's stone. He scowled unconsciously and gave his metal leg a little shake to keep it from stiffening up. He mused about how these recent months away seemed much longer than those years he and Al were gone, but shrugged it off. He knew why. It was the same reason he wasn't able to sleep without her; he missed her too much, the ache had grown so sharply so fast, but now he wouldn't have it any other way, even if the pangs of missing her kept him awake most nights. He would stare at the ceiling and recite the periodic table of the elements to himself in an effort to bore himself to sleep, but it never worked. The only thing now that ever put him to sleep was the scent of her hair, the weight of her head on his chest, and the shared warmth they created while bundled under the covers.
That last thought perked him up enough to quicken his steps. He wanted to get home as soon as possible.
Many are the days I've wanted to cease
Lay myself down and find some relief
Heavy is the head that gets no sleep
We carry our lives around in our memories
Take away this apathy
And bury it before it buries me
At her desk, Winry pored over blueprints of automail arms and legs and hands and feet, correcting a drawing here, calculating an angle there, and pulled out the corresponding automail parts. She glanced up at the bulletin board above the desk, searching for another blueprint, and her gaze drifted to all the photographs she'd tacked up. Pictures of everyone after the Promised Day, before the Promised Day, pictures of Ed and Al and Winry when they were young, pictures of Mustang and his team, pictures of Elysia and Gracia and Mr. Hughes, and a lot of new pictures of Al with his body back. Her favorite one, though, was one of Ed, posing before boarding a train to go out west for a trip. She liked it because his smile was so genuine, and she hadn't seen that in a long, long time.
She unpinned it from the bulletin board and examined it more closely, smiling at Ed's smile. He smiled a lot more now, but her favorite smiles were the small, private ones he'd have just for her. Whether their eyes would meet as she worked on his automail leg, or over the dinner table, or passing by in the hall, he would give her a rare, tender smile, and it would warm her from her head to her toes.
She yawned. Maybe I should just…
And still holding the picture, Winry fell asleep at the desk.
Steady is the hand that's come to terms
With the lessons it has had to learn
I've seen the things that I must do
But Lord, this road is meant for two
So I am waiting here for you
Ed was almost home, rounding the bend in the road that would lead him straight to Winry's. He found he'd even missed passing by the familiar fields and buildings of Resembool on his way home every day. He only used to see them sporadically before the Promised Day, and it was always a small comfort to see things hadn't changed. Instead, he'd changed, but he still found comfort in the fact that still, nothing had changed in this small town.
The only thing was that now instead of having Al with him, he made the trek home by himself, and found himself missing that, too. That had changed.
At the top of the hill, he finally was able to look down at all the houses, and saw the porch lights of Granny Pinako's. That hadn't changed. The old bat always forgot to turn them off.
A light was on, glowing from the kitchen window, and Ed chuckled to himself. Winry was probably up, doing some automail stuff. She never stopped. He swore she liked it more than him sometimes.
He broke into a run, down the hill and towards the house. He was home.
Take my hand and set me free
Take my burdens and bury them deep
Take my burden away from me
And bury it before
Bury it before
Bury it before it buries me
When Ed finally stumbled through the door, he was almost frozen solid. He dropped his suitcase by the door and shucked off his snow-covered coat, tucking his hands into his armpits because he forgot to bring gloves.
He made himself a cup of tea in the kitchen and shivered. That damn house was about as cold inside as it was out. He saw the calendar with the red X's and smiled. So Winry had been keeping a countdown too. His own calendar was filled with X's and circles, days when he could finally be home.
He was about to head upstairs before he saw the light creeping in under the door to the basement.
"Winry," he muttered to himself. If she was still awake…
Ed descended the stairs and shivered. It was so cold in the basement, he could see his breath. Winry was sprawled across her desk with the lamp on and blueprints scattered all over it, along with tools and automail parts. At least she had thought to bring a blanket and had draped it around herself. Ed saw that she was clutching a photograph in her hand.
"Winry," he whispered, and shook his head. "Damn crazy gearhead."
He stooped and slung an arm under her knees and around her back, and lifted her into his arms. She curled into him instantly, sighing to herself. The picture fluttered from her fingers and drifted to the ground. Ed recognized it as a picture of him, boarding the train, about to head west. He smiled to himself.
"Winry, wake up," Ed whispered as he carried her up the stairs and into the kitchen.
"Ed?" she yawned, and her eyes flicked open. Ed felt his breath catch as he took in the sleepy blue gaze. He had missed it so much.
"What are you trying to do, work yourself to death?" Ed chastised as he continued to carry her upstairs and into her room.
"I couldn't sleep." She reached a hand up and cupped his face. "I missed you too much."
"I, ah, missed you, too," he said, his cheeks heating under her gaze. Even now, almost a year after their 'official' engagement, she still made him blush uncontrollably, even if it was just admitting something as simple as that.
He deposited her onto her bed and held back the covers so she could crawl in, and spread the blanket on top.
She patted the space beside her and eyed him purposefully, and he couldn't help but smile at her. He missed this too.
"My pants are soaked and my leg's a block of ice. I'm not sure you want to feel that every time you move your leg," Ed said, heading into his room to grab some dry pajama pants.
"Don't care," She yawned. "You're home. That's what matters."
He quickly changed and after realizing his shirt was also soaked through, yanked it over his head and left it in a crumpled ball on the floor. Winry would no doubt yell at him in the morning, but he didn't care. Besides, he smirked to himself. She liked his chest too much to tell him to put a shirt back on.
When he slid into bed next to her, Winry immediately rolled over and burrowed into his side. He tugged the covers up until they were buried in a pile of blankets, and curled around her, kissing her forehead.
"I missed you," he whispered again, into her hair.
She hummed in reply, tucking her head underneath his chin and rested it on his chest, tangling their legs together. She felt his arms drift around her and hold her close, enveloping her in his warmth.
They drifted off, entwined together in their own little world, where not even the cold could enter in.
There you have it! I'm debating on whether or not to add another fluffy chapter about waking up together… but I don't know what else to put…
Help me out by dropping a review! Thanks!