Summary: Sciezska watches Winry work on automail and Winry watches Sciezska read books. They each wonder about the other and her obsession. WinryXSciezska.

Notes: Winry is homeschooled by Pinako. She, Ed and Al had to go to school sometime in their lives. How else could they possibly be this well educated in mechanics and alchemy?

Mechanics and Literature

Sciezska

Watching Winry sit at her worktable, examining the automail leg throughly and making adjustments here and there, Sciezska began to wonder. Ever since she first came here and began her stay, she noticed the daily routine Winry went through. After waking up and having breakfast, she would go straight up to her workshop upstairs and work on automail.

Sciezska would follow her, book in hand, and sit at a nearby chair and pretend to read, but in reality, watcing her. Watching her working so intently to make each and every aspect of all the automail limbs perfect. Searching for the right parts, screwing in each of them in their rightful places, working to no end, trying to make better automail parts. She worked so hard, she began to sweat. Pretty soon, her face was covered in dirt and grime.

Yet, despite all of this, she took pride in her work. She loved making automail. Sciezska wondered why. She wondered how anyone could love this as much as Winry did.

Finally, around 12:30 am, Pinako came up to the workshop and they all went down to eat lunch. Afterwards, Sciezska would go to the study and sit down to read one of the books on the shelves. Most of them were about mechanics, though. Some of theme were novels. After she had gone through all of them, she started reading some of the ones about the history of automail mechanics, since they were more story-like than the guides and introductions.

The funny thing, Sciezska noticed, was how Winry always came with her to the study. She sat in the couch opposite to her working on her homeschool assighnments, but Sciezska knew that half the time, Winry was'nt even doing them. Sciezska knew Winry often watched her... And she liked it.

Winry

Every day, Winry would go up to her workshop and work on her automail for five and a half hours. Sciezska would always be up there, sitting in a chair in the corner, watching her. Just watching. After lunch, Sciezska would head down to the study. Winry would accompany her. They would sit on the couch and the chair facing eachother and Sciezska would read.

Winry would be working on her homeschool work, while Sciezska would be reading one of the books from the shelves. Whenever she could, she would watch Sciezska read. Her eyes seemed far off. Distant. She seemed to be in another place. Maybe another time. She never looked up from her book. She was always absorbed into it. Winry didn't understand why.

For five hours, Sciezska would read. Finally, Pinako called them to dinner. After dinner, Winry, Sciezska, and Den went to spend some time outside. Sometimes they would just go walking, sometimes they would play with Den, sometimes they would sit in the fields and talk while watching Den run around. No matter what they did, Winry would be thinking. She would be thinking about Sciezska.

She wondered about how Sciezska was so into her books. She never asked, though. She had some mixed feeling about the other girl that she couldn't quite put her finger on...

Sciezska

One day, up in the workshop, Winry was sitting at her worktable making final adjustments to one of the an automail right leg she was making for one of her patients. Sciezska was in her usual chair, her book lay open in her lap, but her eyes rested on Winry's hand, gripping the screw driver and adjusting the final screw.

Today she was going to ask Winry why she loved making automail. Right now. It was just a simple, casual question. Sciezska was pretty sure it wasn't too personal to bother or upset Winry. So why was she hesitating? Why was it so hard to ask a simple question? Finally, she sucked it up and spoke aloud, "Winry?"

She looked up with a curious expression on her face. "What? Is something wrong?"

"No, it's just... I wanted to ask you a question." Then she added quickly, "Unless you're too busy to answer it. Then I won't bother you with the question."

Winry scooted her chair a bit so that it was facing Sciezska. "No, I can take a break to talk to you. Go ahead and ask."

Sciezska took a deep breath and began. "Well, I was just wondering... Why do you like automail so much? I mean, why are you so..." Obsessed with it... "...Into it? I mean... What is so great about? I just really want to know..."

Winry stared at Sciezska for a moment. Then she looked up at the ceiling in deep thought for another moment before answering, "It's my passion. The complex mechanisms and the way they all work together is a very facinating subject. I love putting it all together in the right way and I love the way the limb looks when it's complete."

She carefully picked up the automail right leg she had been finishing up and held it in her arms, her eyes glistening with excitement. The face of a girl who was showing off something great she had just done.

"See, this automail is for a twenty-five year old man who lost his right leg in a car accident a few months ago. It's extremly painful to have automail attached to your body, but after it's complete and the patient is up again, I get a wonderful feeling. A sense of accomplishment. I feel happy when I see someone with my automail able to function normally again, knowing that, thanks to me, this person can do everything they used to do without having a hard time or needing any help."

"Oh..." Sciezska had soaked in all of Winry's words. She had a wide grin on her face. "That's very wonderful. I'm glad you're doing what you love and helping people."

"Thanks." Winry smiled. Then she scooted her chair back to facing the desk. "By the way, your question reminded me... I want to ask you a question as well, but i'll ask after lunch." That was all she said before turning back to the automail limb, picking up the screw, and continuing from where she left off.

Sciezska replayed Winry's answer in her head a couple of times, pondering on what she said. Indeed, she was satisfied with the answer. She had no idea why Winry was so obsessed with the makings of metallic limbs, but now that Winry had laid it out for her in such a way, it all made sense to her now. There was so much more to the other girl than Sciezska had first assumed.

She had another thought crowding her head. What was it that Winry wanted to ask her after lunch? The question burned numerous holes into her brain. For once, the usual five and a half hours seemed to last forever. Winry had finished the automail, after tagging it and putting it away, Pinako came in and called them down to lunch.

They ate their lunch in silence. After lunch, Winry and Sciezska went down to the study. Winry sat down on the couch, spread her work down on the table, and began to write. Sciezska went to the bookshelves and selected the book with the dark blue bookmark inserted into it. The one she had been reading lately. Automail Prosthetics: A life history of the greatest automail mechanics of their time: Part I. Sciezska had a distinct feeling that Winry would someday wind up in part II...

After she seated herself on the recliner and opened her book, she wondered to herself for a moment when Winry would ask her her question. But she shoved the thought out of her head and began to focus on the book. In time...

Winry

She had never expected Sciezska to ask her such a question. It was hard to answer. The question had put her love for mechanics and automail to the test. She was sure of her answer, she hoped that Sciezska understood as well. Sciezska asking this question had also made Winry realize that she was wondering the exact same thing about Sciezska and her books.

After she finshed the automail leg, she tagged it with the name and confidential information of the man it was for and carried it to the storage cases in the far back. She looked up at the clock. 12:27. It was just about time for lunch. As if on cue, the doorknob turned and Pinako stepped into the room. "Girls. Time for lunch."

After lunch, Winry and Sciezska went down to the study. Winry sat down on the couch, spread her work down on the table, and began to write. She only did so for a few seconds before looking back up at Sciezska, who had already begun reading. She turned back to her work and didn't look up for about half an hour.

Finally, she looked up and was drawn into Sciezska's deep green eyes. As always, they were completly focused on the book, blocking out everything else. Winry smiled to herself. Now was the time to ask. She opened her mouth. Nothing came out. Winry tried again. "Hey, Sciezska?"

Sciezska's eyes snapped out of their trance. "Hmm? Oh, yeah. The question. You were going to ask me something earlier, were'nt you?" Sciezska reinserted the bookmark into her book, closed it, and set it down on the lamp table beside her. She turned to face Winry.

"Right. You remember." Winry took a deep breath and said, "Earler you asked me why I love automail and I answered as best I could. Now I would like to know why you like books."

Sciezska seemed surprised. "Why I like books?" She pondered for a moment and then smiled. "Here's my answer... I love books because they take me to diffrent places. When I read a book, I envision what the story looks like when it's all happening. In a way, I get to be in the story. I see the protagonist and I am absorbed into the story of this person. What happens to them, how they deal with things, what they think and feel, it's an amazing expirience. Opening up a book is like opening up a part of your soul. Literature is food for the soul."

"Wow... I had no idea... That is awesome." Winry was truly glad that Sciezska had shared this with her. Now she understood what it meant when Sciezska had that distant trance-like look in her eyes when she read.

"Well... I hope that's the answer you were looking for." Sciezska picked up her book and resumed where she left off, her eyes soon regaining that reading look. Winry smiled to herself and continued her work.

Finally, by 6:00 Pinako called them to dinner. They ate, once again, in silence. Afterwards, Winry brought out Den and they went outside. They walked for a while until they reached the hilltop next to the river. They both sat down on the grass while Den ran ahead and splashed around in the water, chasing away random ducks.

They both sat in silence for a while, enjoying eachother's company. Finally, Winry spoke up. "Hey, umm... I was just thinking about the questions and answers from before..."

"So have I." Sciezska responded. "We both have good reasons for loving what we do... When I heard your reason I was... Well, it was very good. I was impressed. Infact, I might start reading a bit about mechanics."

"Really? When I heard your reason, I was impressed too. I think i'm going to start reading more books thanks to you." Winry smiled at Sciezska. Sciezska smiled back. They were inches away from eachother.

A strange new feeling suddenly arose... Something Winry couldn't explain. She wondered what it was for a moment before she suddenly realized it wasn't new. She had it all along. She felt diffrently for the other girl. Before she had thout it was a deep sense of respect and friendship, but now... This was when she realized what it really was.

The question is... How would Sciezska react? Guess she was going to find out...

Sciezska

She didn't understand this, but her breath had caught in her throat. The look Winry was giving her made her heart skip a beat. Winry suddenly leaned twords her. She didn't move. She could feel Winry's breath on her face, but only for a moment before their lips touched. Her heart picked up it's pace until it was so loud and frequent, she was sure Winry could hear it.

Finally, Winry broke away. "I'm sorry. I'm really sorry." She stared at the ground. "I hope you're not mad..."

Sciezska licked her lips. The kiss had been wonderful. "I'm not mad. I... liked it." Winry looked up. "I've read lots of books depicting a romance between two girls. It could work out." She suddenly realized what Winry might be thinking. What if it was just a spur of the moment? What if Winry wasn't looking for a relationship and had only kissed her on accident?

But she was only paranoid. "I would like a relationship. Romantic, I mean." Winry whispered. "I would like to kiss more..."

Sciezska had a brave moment. She leaned over and pressed her lips to Winry's the same way Winry had for her. Winry complied with the kiss. When they broke away, Winry had a grin on her face. "Like that. Just like that. I would also like the relationship to be about Books."

Sciezska replied, "I would also like to hear about automail mechanics."

"Automail and books. Mechanics and literature. I think that would be a great theme."

Sciezska smiled widely "As do I."

End.

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