Oh my god I wrote something other than RoyEd. Never thought I'd see the day. I used to detest this pairing, but now that I'm starting to like it, I thought I'd give it a go.

In reading this, you should pretend the movie never happened.

Ed hadn't really seen Winry that way at first.

Sure, he and Al had fought over who would marry her when they were little, but that didn't mean he really loved her. It meant he was very competitive against his brother and considered Winry one of the only girls in Resembool who wasn't gross. Besides, he was a child then. You'd have to be a fool to think it really meant anything.

Of course, it had progressed, and soon he found himself staring at her whenever he thought she wasn't looking. Then there were the dreams. Not that he would ever tell anyone about those...

But they really were very good dreams.

He didn't really want to act on it since he thought it too cliché - she was his childhood friend, after all, and it seemed that everyone expected them to get together. He wasn't sure why, but that put him off. If everyone was expecting it, he shouldn't do it, that would just make them all nod knowingly and say that they saw it coming. The thought sickened him, really. It would be too embarrassing.

He didn't want to act on it, and so he didn't. He went on as normal, ignoring the fact that he had feelings for her, tried to push all thoughts of her out of his mind (or at least he attempted to - it wasn't quite as easy as he thought it would be).

And so he'd focussed solely on finding the Philosopher's Stone and getting Al his body back, which worked well enough. It took her off his mind... and he was able to pretend he felt nothing towards her other than friendship.

After that, he'd been taken through to the other side of the Gate, truly able to forget about his feelings towards her.

But wasn't that what he wanted all along? To be away from her, away from his feelings?

It had been hard, but he'd managed, and he left behind his memories. That is, of course, until he saw... her. She wasn't Winry. He told himself over and over that she wasn't Winry, this woman, but he couldn't help but be drawn to her. She looked just like Winry, after all...

The first time he saw her, he'd had to stop himself from running up to her and start rambling on about how much he'd missed her.

It had taken him a moment to realise that it wasn't her.

Winry Rockbell was back in Resembool.

In Amestris.

Not there in Germany with him.

How could he allow himself to forget that?

Even so, he'd gone up to her and made awkward conversation which seemed to entertain her, and she clearly liked him. At first he'd thought that this could be his way to live out the relationship with Winry that he'd always secretly wanted.

But Winery was different, she lacked the flare that Winry had and was too meek and agreed with everything he said. It was fun, a novelty, at first, and quite pleasant to be around her without getting a wrench chucked at his head, but because of the difference between Winery and Winry, it didn't last very long. Ed, quite simply, got sick of her. They were the same person, basically, but Winery had had a slightly different upbringing, resulting in a personality Ed wasn't so sure he liked.

After his relationship with Winery failed, he spent all of his time researching methods of getting back through the Gate to his own world, refusing to get involved with anyone else. He wasn't planning on staying, anyway.

And then it had happened. It hadn't exactly been pleasant but he had made it through, falling from the sky in the middle of Central, unconscious. Naturally this had caused quite a stir, but he had been found by his brother and taken to his home as soon as Al managed to find someone to help him carry Ed.

It had been two weeks since he had made it back home, those two weeks spent getting used to being back in Amestris, catching up with Al and finding someone in Central to replace his prosthetic limbs with automail.

Here he was now, standing on a grassy hill in Resembool. He could see Winry and Aunt Pinako's house from here... everything in Resembool was exactly how he remembered it... it was exactly the same as it had always been, and that was somehow comforting to know.

There she was, hanging laundry up outside her house. That's all she was doing, it was so simple, but he couldn't help but notice how beautiful she looked, even doing such a mundane task as laundry.

He didn't know how long he just stood there, watching Winry intently and not moving from his spot on the hill, but it was long enough for her to glance in his direction, spot him and drop the bed sheet she was about to hang out to dry. They stood very still for a while, eyes locked, until she slowly turned back to her laundry and began hanging it up again.

What the hell? Edward thought, a little put out that she hadn't even reacted to him. Is that all I get after all these years? He rolled his eyes, realising that it might be down to him to get anything done now, so he made his way down the hill and over to the house, jumping over the fence to get into her garden. He stood there watching her, wondering why she didn't seem to be reacting.

She ignored him until she had finished, proceeding to turn to him and frown.

"Winry?" he asked cautiously. She was acting strangely. It was unnerving him...

"Are..." She paused. "Are you real?" she asked softly.

He reached out nervously and touched her lightly on the shoulder as if to prove his existence. "As far as I'm aware," he smiled, trying to lighten the atmosphere.

At this, she quite simply burst into tears.

"Oh God, Edward!" she cried, throwing her arms around his shoulders and squeezing. Ed slowly brought his arms up around her back, moving his hands in slow circular motions and hoping it would stop her from crying. What was he supposed to do? He assumed that these were tears of happiness, but even so, he had no experience dealing with crying girls and had absolutely no idea how to get her to stop. "I can't believe you're home! I missed you so much!"

"I missed you too..."

Winry slowly withdrew and wiped at her eyes frantically.

"I thought you were dead," she said. "I thought I'd never see you again. I can't believe you're here!" She lunged at him again and this time her hug was even more tight than before. It was like she was trying to make sure he wasn't going to leave again.

"And now you're here... you're here... When did you get back?"

"Um... two weeks ago, more or less."

"Ugh! Two weeks?! Why on earth didn't you come here before?" she said, pulling away and straightening up. She didn't wait for an answer, however, before she started talking again. "Dammit Edward, I was so worried about you. You could have called at the very least!"

"I'm sorry, Winry," he said sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head. "I was getting adjusted to life back here. I'm sorry."

There was an awkward silence. Even background noise seemed to have reduced to a murmur, making it even more intense and uncomfortable.

Without thinking, Edward leaned forward and hugged her one last time. "I missed you too. I thought about you a lot while I was in Ger... while I was away." Winry made a soft grunting noise into his chest but otherwise didn't respond. She didn't need to; she'd already made her emotions clear. "Winry, I really am sorry I didn't come here sooner. It was sort of frantic in Central, my mind was elsewhere."

"I understand," she sighed. "You had more important things to deal with. It's fine."

He carefully gripped her shoulders and moved her back so her face wasn't planted in his chest and wiped away the moisture from her cheeks where the tears had smeared after being pressed against him.

And then he was kissing her, just lightly, closed-mouth and chaste, but as she hesitantly began kissing back, he had to wonder why he had never done it before.

It was confirmation that he was finally home and Winry was here, and that was the best feeling in the world.

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