Title: Pucker Up
Rating: PG
Spoilers: none
Synopsis: Ed and Al bring Winry a rare treat, although they have to figure it out, first. Meanwhile, Ed has his own plans to set in motion.
Chosen Prompt: Frosty glasses of lemonade

Winry wasn't sure exactly where lemons came from in Amestris. It was rare enough to see them in the east, let alone in a small town like Resembool. So when Ed and Al brought lemons with them as a gift, it made all of her anger at the destruction of his automail--yet again--fade into the background.

"Wow, I've never seen so many in one spot before!" Winry dumped the bag of lemons onto in the kitchen table, hazarding a guess at the number they'd brought. A dozen? Fifteen? "I don't even know where to start."

"You know, Sensei would make us lemonade after a long training session," Al supplied, trying to be helpful. "It's really easy."

"Yeah, it has to be," Ed chimed in. "It's just lemon juice, sugar and water."

Winry grinned in excitement. "Great! So, how many lemons do we need?"

Ed and Al looked at each other, then back at Winry. "Three?" Ed guessed.

"You guys don't know?"

"Well, we never really saw her make it," Al said. "She just had it in a big pitcher."

Silence fell, as Winry held back the urge to hit something, while the brothers just stood there. Finally, she broke the tense quiet and sighed. "I'll go ask Granny."

Thankfully, Granny Pinako had more knowledge about this sort of thing, and dragged out an old cookbook stored in the cupboard. "This says you need a cup of lemon juice, a cup of sugar, and 6 cups of water. But you'll have to heat up the water so the sugar dissolves properly."

"Got it. Squeeze lemons, hot water, no problem," Ed gave Granny a thumbs-up.

Half an hour later...

"Dammit!" Ed yelled as juice managed to find its way into his eyes once again. "I hate lemons! Gah, how did anyone ever figure out that you could eat these things, anyway?"

"Who knows?" Al shrugged as he finished the sugar-water combination. "Aren't you done yet?"

"Almost...but there's all this disgusting stringy pulp and seeds floating in this stuff. I can't believe it took six lemons to get a cup of juice."

Winry lugged a small bucket of ice to the kitchen table. "I finished chipping off chunks of ice for the drinks. Granny's going to be angry when she sees what's left in the icebox, though."

"Eh, she'll just make us pay for it, as usual. Okay, that's the last of it, time to do some mixing and drinking."

Carefully, they poured the lemon juice--minus the bits Ed found incredibly disgusting--into a pitcher, followed by the sugar-water and even more water to fill it all the way. In a matter of minutes, they had frosty glasses of lemonade in hand, while they sat out on the porch in the afternoon sun.

Ed took a gulp and sighed in contentment. "Hey, it's actually pretty good."

Al looked at him eagerly. "Does it taste like Sensei's?"

"It's not as strong, but I like it that way. How about you, Winry? Do you like it?"

She smiled and nodded. "It turned out just right, I think. It's not too sweet or tart. Ed, how many lemons did we have left?"

"Eight."

"That might be enough for lemon meringue pie. I remember Mom made it once when I was little, and it was delicious."

"Oh yeah! I remember that! It had all that white stuff on top," Ed recalled fondly.

"That's the meringue," Winry said flatly. "I wish you could have some of this, Al. I promise I'll make you a whole pitcher of lemonade when you get your body back."

"As long as it's with a slice of apple pie, you've got a deal."

Winry smiled and relaxed into her deck chair. After a few moments of peace while basking in the afternoon sun, Al suddenly stood up and turned to go back inside. Ed's voice caused him to stop.

"Al? Don't you want to stay outside with us?"

"It's okay, big brother. I just wanted to clean up the kitchen before Granny sees the mess we made."

"Ah, good idea." Ed slouched into his chair, as if hiding from Granny's envitable wrath.

Winry looked at Al with concern. "Are you sure you don't need any help?"

"No, I'm fine." He truly sounded like he was, too. "You guys enjoy yourselves, okay?"

They nodded, and Al went inside. Winry wiped off a patch of condensation on her glass, as her brows furrowed in thought. "I hope all our talk about eating and everything didn't make him upset."

"If he says he's okay, then I believe him," Ed replied. With Al gone, the peace had changed into a tense silence, as if the two of them were waiting for the other to do something.

"So, you'll want the arm fixed as soon as possible, right?"

"Well, I guess...unless you have other customers to finish with first, then it can't be helped." Ed shrugged casually, "I've got things to attend to here, so there's no hurry."

"What things...?" Winry began to ask, as he turned to smile at her. Not a smirk, or a grin, but a soft smile that she vaguely remembered from years ago, before things became so grim. Her heart did a loud thump.

"Oh, this and that. I have some catching up to do with our old friends." He took a long sip of his lemonade, then continued, "And I want to see how much it'll cost to build a house."

Winry swore she must've heard him wrong. "Wait, does this mean you're going to live in Resembool?"

He nodded. "Al and I have talked about it, and once we're restored, we plan on coming back here to live. We couldn't keep living under Granny's roof and being a burden to her, though."

"You know you're not a burden to us, Ed." He opened his mouth to disagree, but she cut him off. "Not even with your automail."

He sat back and mulled it over. "Maybe. But I still want to build a house in Resembool someday. I'm going to have to, if I'm going to get married, have kids, and all that."

"You're going to have to grow up first, then find a wife," she replied, smiling.

"I kind of messed that up already," he said, then paused as if in an internal debate. After a few moments, he continued while his gaze locked with hers. "You see, I found my wife first. I don't even know if she'll have someone like me...but I hope she can wait until I get my arm and leg back, and come back for her."

Her heart did another couple of loud thumps. He was being deliberately coy as a way to save face in case he was wrong, giving her an opportunity to break his heart without too much guilt. She felt lightheaded as she rose up from her chair and said, "She'll have you, just the way you are."

At that, Ed stood up and embraced her, too overcome for words. She hugged him back tightly, elated and still a little stunned at how fast everything had changed. When his arms went slack, she almost thought he'd changed his mind. Instead, she found that his hands were exploring along her sides and back, as if memorizing and cataloguing her every curve and swell. She sighed and relaxed into it, letting her own hands drift along his back. His soft gasp told her it was having a similar effect on him, and she smiled in contentment.

Gradually, Ed felt bold enough to brush his lips against hers once, then twice. Her arms were around his neck in a second and she kissed him back, encouraging him to continue. He reciprocated happily, pulling her closer as their lips met again and again, changing angles and growing more confident as time went on. Finally, they broke apart for air.

"Wow, that was..."

"Amazing, " Winry finished for him.

"Yeah."

"Hey, are you guys done?" Al's voice cut in, shattering the moment. It was too late to jump apart, but they did it anyway. An armor-shaped silhouette stood unabashedly in the doorway. "Granny wants to talk to Winry."

Ed flailed for an answer as Winry stepped in, although she was blushing as well. "I'll be right there, Al."

"Okay." He turned to leave, then flashed Ed a thumbs-up. The door closed behind him silently.

"Eh..." Ed looked like he was going to explode or deflate. Or maybe both at once.

Winry shook her head and gave him a kiss on the cheek. "Come find me in ten minutes," she said, giving him a wink as she followed Al into the house. Ed stood there for a few seconds before it fully sunk in, and he grinned devilishly. She had nothing to worry about. From now on, nothing was going to keep him from finding her, wherever she happened to be.

He drank the last of his lemonade, grabbed both of their glasses and headed inside, hoping that he could convince Winry to try making that lemon meringue pie.

This time, however, Al was going to squeeze the lemons.