It was the middle of summer when it happened, a humid lazy evening with a dying fire, closing darkness outside with the night being spent lying on the couch and slowly drifting away to a a blissful sleep. At least it was until...
"Budge up Ed, stop hogging the couch."
Winry. Traitor.
With a long suffering sigh to let her (and the world) know just how unhappy he was with this prospect, he slowly, oh so very slowly complied. A great groan came from his mouth and all waking occupants in the room, dog and eyeless armour included, rolled their eyes as he sat up and shuffled to the end of the couch. Usually he might have made some absolutely awe inspiring remark (Bugger off and let me sleep, pleaaaassseee) to make the pretty mechanic back off but it was just. So. Fucking. Humid.
And so it was she plopped herself down next to him with her drink, the room returning to silence as the armour read, the dog and granny slept soundly and the mechanic slurped rather loudly. All in all, nice and peaceful for a welcome change.
This is nice.
It was only a maintenance visit but this bloody weather had prompted him and Al to stay the night with the prospect of sleeping on a bumpy, uncomfortable train in this weather making him feel a bit like crying a lot, considering his ass still hadn't recovered from the last ride. It was with a quiet start that Ed realised this once, just this once, he was alright being held up if the result was a tranquil night such as this, spent with the ones who kept him going when the going got rough
A bump on cold metal made him look down, drowsiness prompted by humidity making his eyes lidded as he saw a head of blond hair lean against his automail.
"My arm isn't a pillow Winry. Go upstairs if you wanna sleep." While he intended for the comment to sound far more biting than that (pissed Winry in the summer was something to look at) but it came out more quiet and whispered. Without missing a beat, her neck tilted back so she could look at him and...
"Your arm's cold and the weather isn't. My automail, my rules Fullmetal, even if you do transmute the stuff."
Why that little...
And she actually had the freaking cheek to close her eyes, prop her feet up on the other end of the couch and leave her drink on the floor beside her. At this point Al and a newly awakened dog seemed to be looking at him wearily, (how did a suit of armour even look weary anyway?) probably expecting their usual nights entertainment to begin with a bang.
Mumbling, Ed settled back with mild annoyance. The flush to his face was only the weather yessir. Absolutely nothing else, nope, not at all. The weather was absolutely the only reason he hadn't started one, mhm. Nothing to do at all with the fact that a pretty girl was cuddling up to his arm, no sirree.
Liar.
Winry was probably the only one who could get away with lying all over him without being given the 'Elric special', as his brother had so affectionately called it.
It was a sheer accident what he did next. He had more fucking control over his automail arm than his flesh and blood one it seemed. You see as he sat back, Winry deftly slipped past his arm, her head leaning backwards to rest on his automail leg as her eyes rolled in mild annoyance at his movement, despite the smile playing at her oh so pretty lips. It was here with a puff of air out her nose and a inhale from her mouth that she fell asleep seemingly immediately.
On Ed's lap.
Gulp.
Suddenly the night seemed to become ten times hotter, time stretching itself like a rubber band, his face flushing deeply because damnit he was still a teenager and she was pretty and she's out on my lap oh god someone help me maydaymaydaymayday we have problem...think about Armstrong stripping, don't look at her face or her legs or her body or...oh for fucks sake, definitely not...
And then he realised his arm, his actual flesh arm picked itself up and ran its hand through her hair ever so slowly whilst he was busy ringing the mental fire alarm. He paused for a second and he regarded the flesh with cool anger in his eyes.
Oh you fucking traitor. I should cut you off myself, at least righty listens to what I tell it to do.
Her hair was soft and it was almost therapeutic stroking his hand through her hair, gently untangling the small knots in it present in as he watched her carefully (please don't open your eyes, please, please, please) she seemed to lean into his touch as he moved through her hair, brushing her cheek with his thumb (yup, smooth and soft as it looked) and he realised that hey, this wasn't all that stressful. He could be fighting Scar again (see:getting absolutely murdered) or Greed (see: almost literally dying).
Wait a second. Too quiet...
Shit.
It was with apprehension that he moved his head up slowly, spotting Gran turned towards them and it was with a small sigh of relief he saw her eyes closed. Al on the other hand...
Had put his book down and with amusement (again, how the hell was armour so expressive?) was giving him two thumbs-up. Ed could almost see that shit-eating grin his brother would have if he was human and his hand stopped, face resuming it's impression of a healthy tomato.
It was with minimal clanking and creaking that Al stood up and tenderly picked up the old woman from her chair, taking care not to wake her. As he moved past Ed, he paused and the metal head was next to his frozen body.
"Do yourself a favour brother and don't be afraid. If you don't have a wrench at your head, you're doing something right you know. "
And with that, the metal shitbag gently bumped Ed's head with his own and went upstairs to place Gran in her bed with a parting of "Night Ed. Happy dreams"
He could've sworn that walking tin can was chuckling as he walked up the stairs.
"What did you stop that for?" The mechanic asked quietly without opening her eyes as the alchemist leant his head back on the couch. Ed started, pulled from his thoughts and remembered oh yeah, pretty girl on my lap..
"Nothing Winry. Just go to sleep yeah?" She opened her mouth to say something but he resumed his stroking of her hair, slow movements rendering her utterly relaxed. He kept this up for a good time, feeling himself unwind as well, his own eyes drooping and chin dropping to rest on the top of his chest.
It was this relaxed state that probably stopped him from jumping when he felt a hand softly tug at his hair braid. As it was, his muscles tensed up and his eyes flew open, battle instincts kicking in before common sense as he grabbed the hand holding the tie that usually kept his hair back. Thankfully, his automail arm was trapped beneath Winry's free hand (when the hell had that happened?) so his grip wasn't tight enough to leave a mark like the last time she'd tried that-needless to say he learned his lesson. Automail hurt and not hurting Winry was rule number one.
"Easy there soldier boy " Winry's amused voice spoke to the night, the light from the fire long ago fading and leaving them in darkness. Time seemed to have gone from stretching to rushing past him. Had he dozed off? "Haven't seen you with your hair down in ages"
Ed didn't quite know what to say to that, just released Winry's hand and hoped the light was low enough to hide his blush as she ran her hand through his hair.
"You have no idea how jealous some girls round here are of that hair. Half of them wish it was this long or thick."
"Huh?" Words. Please.
She didn't reply, just kept running her hand through his hair and bloody hell, if she kept that up, he would not be held responsible for what he did next.
"Winry..."
"Hmm?"
"You should go to bed. It's late and I know you don't sleep much as it is because of us," His tone was gentle yet he did nothing to stop the hand moving from his hair to the side of his face nor did he stop the shiver that raced down his spine at the skin on skin contact.
"Sleep is for the weak. Fire can't kill a dragon" she murmured as her hand left his face and she stretched, catlike almost, and swung herself up to sit next to him, their shoulder's touching. "Only if you promise me something."
"What?"
"We do this again sometime. Quiet moments like these are always nice...make sure you know the world isn't all fire and brimstone. " And she moved quickly after that, as if her nerve was leaving her, grabbing him and pulling him to lie down facing her and he felt almost breathless at their close proximity. He could faintly see her smile at him before he felt lips press gently against his head and she rolled over her back to him as his automail was snugly trapped beneath her body and his normal arm naturally threw itself over her stomach, keeping her close.
"Night Ed."
"Night Winry." A dazed alchemist replied.
Undoubtedly, it was the best nights sleep either of them had had in a loooooong time.
Needless to say, Al had quite the time teasing Ed as they took their seats on the train the next morning.
"So...Winry huh?"
"Not another bloody word from you tin-can."
"Sure, sure...tell me one thing though."
"Oh hell..."
"How did the two of you fit on the couch like that? Did you transmute it?" If armour had eyebrows, he bet Al would be wiggling his. "You transmute her?"
"I'll transmute you into a dead tin-can if you don't stop anytime soon Al."
"..."
"..."
"What was her hair like brother?" There was a wistful curiousity to the boy's voice that tugged at Ed's heart, the innocence of the soul trapped inside hitting him like a ton of bricks.
"..."
"Ed?"
"Soft Al. Really soft and sort of..I don't know...relaxing? Annoying when it tickles your no..." His brain caught up to his mouth. "I-I mean-you couldn't really tell anything else, i-it was dark and the f-fire was out..."
Al smiled (or would've if he had his body) as his brother went off on a sputtering tangent trying desperately to change the subject.
Looked like Havoc owed him some money. Al did love the sweet taste of victory.