Disclaimer: Fullmetal Alchemist/Hagane no RenkinJutsushi belong to Arakawa-san. I just borrow her characters from time to time.

The Many Benefits of Automail

Rating: K

Summary: As much as he wanted his real limbs back, Edward couldn't deny that being an alchemist with automail had its perks.

Warnings: None

Author's Note: Diverges at chapter 108.

At seventeen, Edward knew perfectly well how to do a number of things involved in everyday house work. He knew, for example, how to repair leaky sinks both with and without the help of alchemy, how to clean toilets and bathtubs, and how to cook. His aptitudes for the above mentioned tasks were debatable, but he was at least able to survive on his own.

Not that this was truly a necessity. Between Granny, Winry, and his brother, he would have been more than able to make do without knowledge of these skills, though his head may have been dented in a few places for his lack of "helping out around the house."

As a matter of a fact, even with these skills on hand, this was an argument that sprang up occasionally between himself and Alphonse or, more commonly, between himself and his childhood friend.

However, how this amounted in him making that night's dinner, he could not quite recall. The salad was easy to make,even if he did forget where the large knives were kept. But he wasn't considered a genius for nothing, he thought with a smirk; he clapped his hands together and transmuted his automail prosthetic into a chopping knife —though he made sure to look around before he did so, and to clean it carefully afterwards.

He did all of this while the Sheppard's pie, stuffed with ground beef and studded with carrots and corn he had brought in from the vegetable garden, finished browning in the oven. He tested the pie with a fork to make sure that it was properly baked, and being unable to figure where the oven mitts were, he just shrugged and reached in with his right hand.

A shrill voice nearly made him drop the dish all over the floor as it rang out.

"HOW MANY TIMES HAVE I TOLD YOU NOT TO STICK YOUR HAND IN THE OVEN!"

Ending Note: It's been a while since I've borrowed Arakawa-san's toys, so let me know if you guys feel like the characters ever feel "off" in any way. Beyond that, I'd also be happy to receive any sentences, ideas, themes, or other prompts that any of you lovely people might feel like throwing into a review. Consider it equivalent exchange—you get a shout out, and my muses get food!

xCxBxBx