Title: Work and Play
Prompt #33: Genderswitch
Word Count: 2,176
Summary: Dammit. Who'd have known that automail repairs would be so difficult?
Rating: T
A/N: Since I ran out of time for the last prompt, I really wanted to get this one in. It took me a long time to think of any ideas…but it ended up being female Ed and male Winry pairing. I decided on a common theme in a lot of EdWin stories- Ed becoming distracted while Winry maintains his automail. I figured that I should add my own twist to things. Oh, and I also tried to be creative with the names. Hope they work okay.
This is my first time writing genderswitch, which is something I don't normally go for. But this was oddly fun to write, so I hope you all enjoy. :)
Thanks to please-knock for the beta, and as always I do not own, no matter how much I may wish I did in light of chapter 102... D:
Fire gold eyes met deep blue. The blue eyes narrowed, pointing to a chair set purposefully next to a table. "Sit."
Gold eyes rolled, looking mildly irritated at being addressed with a command, but didn't say anything for once, settling in the chair with minor grumbling.
This time the blue eyes rolled up to the ceiling. "Come on Edlyn, quit being such a baby, or you might just convince me that you're really a girl."
This remark brought forth the fury he'd expected. Edlyn sat up straight, her braid sliding off of her shoulder. "Watch it, Wendel." The words were spoken with a snarl that would have immobilized many a fearsome threat, but Wendel rolled his eyes again, before raising his favorite wrench threateningly. "Ed…"
Edlyn settled back again, this time her grumbling considerably louder.
Wendel took a deep breath, squared his shoulders, and bent over his childhood friend.
He shook his head, remembering just how badly Ed had damaged his last masterpiece. It had looked like someone had run over it with a lawnmower. What could she have possibly been doing to get it in that state?
He stopped cold there, closing his eyes for a moment, the screw in his hand freezing halfway into place. He couldn't think about that. He knew where all those thoughts led. Pointless worry and half formed questions that were never answered. Both her and Al put themselves in danger all the time- that was all he really knew for sure. And that scrap of knowledge did him no good as he sat alone in his room, staying up all night trying to find ways to make automail stand up against explosions and war and killers and all other manner of horrors that he couldn't even imagine- or maybe was a bit afraid to.
Sometimes, Wendel wondered whether Al would be able to sleep, even if he had his original body back, after all that had happened to them.
"Wen?" Edlyn's voice startled him, and he jumped.
"Yeah?"
Gold eyes stared at him with slight concern. "You, uh…weren't moving. So…"
Wen couldn't help smiling a little. So many guys complained about girls wanting to always talk about their 'feelings,' and this was never the case with Edlyn. So times like these he tried to not take for granted. He wasn't sure how well he'd be able to express himself if he had been hurt so badly.
Not that he hadn't been hurt before. He wasn't so foolish or optimistic as to doubt his own strength.
Still, he was always waiting. Worrying. Waiting and worrying Wendel. Maybe it would become a children's nursery rhyme someday.
"I'm fine, Ed, thanks for asking." He smiled again, the grin turning wicked. "I was just thinking about how easily I could slip a machine gun or missile in here. Wouldn't that be awesome?" He sighed as though a wonderful fantasy was playing behind his eyes.
Edlyn's concern turned to indignation and faint fear. "Hell no! That is not happening."
"Fine, fine…" Grinning cheekily, he went back to work on her leg, determinedly keeping his thoughts from the dangers his best friends faced.
Of course, this in effect gave his mind permission to roam to other subjects he would have rather avoided for the moment. This was hard to do, however, when mere inches from him was a bare flesh leg, the tight black shorts she was wearing coming up a good four or five inches above her knee.
He swallowed a little. Turned out all that running from danger gave Ed just about the best legs he'd ever seen- and being an automail technician, he'd seen a lot. Despite the fact that she was a little on the short side, her legs were surprisingly long. This didn't give her the look of an oddly stretched human being, however. Instead, it made her look incredibly graceful and smooth, especially during her unguarded moments.
At this moment, Edlyn chose to yawn a little, stretching her flesh leg, pointing her toe and foot, the small motion so fluid that Wen couldn't help thinking of how it would feel to run his hand along her thigh and calf, his hands so contrastingly rough from working with metal, her skin would feel like satin, and while he was ghosting his hand along her leg, she would lean forward, and said leg would wrap around his waist as his hand continued to travel up the sweet curve of her hip and-
The wrench he'd been holding fell from his grasp, clattering on the floor, and he jumped back about three feet, his heart hammering for more reasons than one.
Edlyn raised an eyebrow. "Clumsy much, Wen?"
Struggling to laugh it off, Wendel picked up the wrench with trembling hands, trying to command the blood that had rushed so far south to make a U-turn. Dammit.
Deep breath, he told himself. Concentrate. You're good at that. Come on, Wen, you can do this.
Fixing a smile on his face, he set to work again, trying not to focus on the fact that the best (worst, he thought furiously) was yet to come.
It wasn't as if these feelings were new, by any stretch of the imagination. But it had been a particularly long time since he'd seen Edlyn, and it felt as though everything was rushing back full force.
Really, though, he argued with himself, it wasn't as if what he was thinking was really wrong. He was a perfectly healthy male, and perfectly healthy men had thoughts. It didn't mean they were bad, really.
Maybe he could…multitask. Yeah. Multitasking was good, wasn't it?
He nodded to himself. Except…well, he'd have to keep his thoughts to a minimum. He could just imagine what Edlyn's reaction would be if she happened to glance downward should he get too into it.
Wen blew hair out of his eyes. Dammit. Who knew automail repair could be so difficult?
He finished the leg, getting up from his place on the floor, snagging another chair from a nearby table to begin working on Edlyn's arm; fixing a smile on his face, and hoping Ed didn't comment on how flushed his cheeks were (not that she ever noticed anything, the girl was so oblivious).
Ed gave a quick nod, starting to lift up her shirt, only to freeze. "Shit."
"What?" Wen quickly scanned her for any sudden injuries. Had he attached the leg too tightly?
Edlyn looked at him- is that a blush?- her eyes a bit wide. "I don't have my undershirt."
Oh. Wait, what? Oh god. Do not think about it, do not think about it…dammit! Stop thinking about it! "You…why?"
Ed looked a bit embarrassed. She actually ducked her head, and scuffed her foot on the floor. She mumbled something about having to use it for a bandage in a tight spot, so it had gotten ripped into strips.
"Ah…well, uh…you can make another shirt with alchemy, right? Or something."
"Not without an arm." She nodded toward her currently empty shoulder port. "I guess I can just use..." She trailed off, frowning, evidently coming up with nothing.
Wen swallowed. "Well…come on. I've known you all your life, Ed. It's not like I haven't seen anything before." He tried to laugh, but it didn't sound quite right. "Besides, half my automail customers are female."
"Right."
"Uh-huh."
There was silence for several moments.
Ed cleared her throat, and, not looking at Wen, started lifting her shirt again, the action somewhat complicated by the fact that she was missing an arm.
"Here," Wen said immediately, jumping forward to help, lifting the other side of her shirt.
Edlyn shot him an odd look, but muttered something that sounded like "thanks."
She was wearing a red tube top, except it stopped just below her ribs.
Wen had teased her earlier about not seeming much like a girl. It was something they'd carried from childhood. Ed had never acted like the other girls at school, which was really where her nickname started, giving her a much more masculine name. Wendel had always seemed like a guy in most senses- if perhaps better in tune with his feelings- but Edlyn had started calling him that for retaliation, as "Wen" wasn't particularly manly. The names had stuck, however, becoming terms of endearment rather than teasing.
But for a few years now, Wen had been lying through his teeth when he said that Edlyn wasn't much of a girl, and he knew it.
Especially at that moment.
Wendel licked his lips. Ed wasn't looking at him, her head turned away.
Stepping closer, Wendel braced Ed's arm, counting to three softly, his breath stirring her hair, goosebumps erupting along the smooth skin of her neck.
Edlyn made a noise in the back of her throat, jumping a little, but otherwise didn't react.
"I'll just…check the screws really quick," Wen said. He almost didn't recognize his voice, it was so low.
Edlyn jerked her head in a quick nod.
Wendel leaned forward, adjusting one of the top screws with deliberate slowness, unable to help himself from gently brushing his fingers over her shoulder as he worked.
Her hair covered her eyes, and he wondered what it would be like, having her hair loose and flowing down her bare shoulders, gold hair and eyes and golden tanned skin smooth and inviting, daring him to touch.
Wen could easily see himself bending toward her neck, kissing her collarbone. He could practically hear the slight noise of startlement she would make, and he wondered what her skin would taste like, so close to the metal…would that change it? He could see himself going along the scar from automail surgery, down and down and down, to the crevice that he could see quite well if he leaned just a little more to the right…
She took in a deeper breath; suddenly, he was distracted, standing a bit out of his seat to get a better view, warmth growing his stomach, spreading lower and lower until-
"Gah!"
He slipped on the floor, toppling forward, his wrench flying out of his hand and skidding a good distance away. Wen caught himself just before he could squish Edlyn, swinging his leg over her automail one, bracing his arms on the arms of her chair. They stared at each other, Wen quite aware of the fact that her leg was between his, her breath misting his face as she stared at him.
Something shifted in her eyes, surprised and guarded giving way to soft, melting gold, drowning him in their warmth.
His own eyes closed halfway, and he leaned closer, their lips millimeters apart-
"Sis!" Al knocked on the door, and they both froze. "Sis, I'm sorry, but there's a lot of patients out here to see Wendel, and they're getting restless."
Wen stumbled off of Ed just in time as Al pushed the door open, stopping in his tracks at Edlyn almost fixatedly putting on her shirt and coat, Wen's back stiff as he picked up his tools, head bent just enough that he couldn't see his face.
If he could have, Al would have blinked. "Did you two get in a fight?"
"No!" They said together, stopping and glancing at each other before looking away again.
"O…okay. Are you done, sis?"
Ed's head bobbed. "Yeah Al. Come on, we'd better head into town if we're gonna get what we need for tomorrow."
Al's armor clanked as he nodded. "Right." He turned and left, Edlyn following in his wake. She stopped just in front of the doorway.
"Hey, uh, Wen…"
Wen turned his head, his face returned to normal color- if only because all the blood had once again flown south for the winter. "Yeah?"
Ed kept her back to him. "Keep your schedule kinda clear, y'know…for…future repairs."
Wendel blinked, and opened his mouth to say something, but Edlyn had already left, her red coat swinging as she went around the corner.
He leaned back against the chair, before sprinting forward to close the door. He had a few minutes before the clients would actually come in, to really…contemplate…what Edlyn had said.