Missed the Understanding
Summary: Winry comes to Central for the celebration of Amestres's first full year of democracy and ends up trying to help Edward win over the mysterious, unnamed girl he's got a crush on. Edward becomes enveloped in work and new terrorist group threatens national security, just as a large group of foreign envoys arrive. Humor, romance, drama, alcohol, and Xingians abound. EdWin, RoyAi, LingRanFan, AlMei, +More
Rating: T+ (for adult situations, strong language, and violence)
Disclaimer: I'm not Hiromu Arakawa; if I was, this would all be in Japanese. Every word of this is mine (besides a couple flashbacks), but the characters aren't (besides a couple of OCs).
Sometimes, we get so caught up in our own emotions we don't take the time to comprehend the emotions of those around us. The cacophony of life's many paths can call out to us and simultaneously obstruct our vision. Sometimes, we just misunderstand.
Unfortunately for Edward Elric, the last time he misunderstood a transmutation circle, he ended up catching his pants on fire (fortunately, they were leather, so he kept the remains for the next time he ran out of groceries and didn't want to make a trip to the nearest gas station). But that's a story for another time. The last time the Fullmetal Alchemist misunderstood a woman, however… Let's just say it's an interesting tale to be told.
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"I wish a tall, handsome prince like in that movie comes to Resembool!" an eight-year-old Winry Rockbell told her friends Ed and Al on the way home from the theater.
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"You're not cute! You're not sexy!" a young Ed exclaimed after his assistant mechanic hit him over the head with a chair.
--
A gruff looking, slightly tipsy soldier slapped his blushing, thirteen-year-old comrade, the Fullmetal Alchemist, on the back and attempted to give him some helpful advice on women, "Good thing you're ambidextrous, kid… er, Major. You'll have enough problems landing a chick with that automail of yours, so you've got to be able to really use your left hand. The last thing most women want is a metal finger up their pussy…"
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"Well," a primped preteen girl huffed at a grease-covered mechanic, "I can certainly see why you haven't had a boyfriend yet. No guy likes a girl covered head to toe in muck."
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"Do you love Winry-chan?"
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"I think I may have fallen for him a long time ago."
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Perhaps I should have spent more time
Ignoring things that others say
In the end, all I find
Is I want you to come my way
Chapter 1: Regroup and Rendezvous Part A
Edward Elric groggily turned off his alarm clock before sitting up and promptly laying back down again. Just as his head hit the pillow, however, a shrill ringing caused him to sit back up again with a start, clutching his head in his hands and bruising himself in the process with his right one.
"Fuck…" he muttered, picking up the phone. "Hello?"
"Hey, nii-san!" an incessantly chipper voice resonated from the device, "I'm glad you're up! Guess what? I got off of school early for the celebrations and I'm back in Central!"
"What!" Edward exclaimed with a yelp, "Why didn't you call me earlier?"
Ed could picture his brother shrugging nonchalantly from the other line, "I wanted to surprise you. And I'll get to be there when Winry comes in this afternoon too. This is all so exciting! I know how hard you've been working to make Amestres a functioning democracy, and I want to be there every step of the way for the first anniversary."
"Cool. So, where are you now?"
"Look out your window."
Ed bounced out of his bed, phone and all, and leapt to his open window. Looking down, he saw none other than Alphonse Elric giving him a peace sign from the phone booth across the street.
"Your hair looks horrible from all way down here, nii-san." Al commented with a light laugh.
"Give me a break, I just got out of bed," Ed replied, his wide grin framed by loose hair and bangs that stuck out in every direction.
As he rushed to his door to let his younger brother into the small apartment he currently resided in, Ed contemplated just how much Al had grown in the couple of months since he'd last seen him. His brother was still a little too thin; although he wasn't the sickly kind of thin he'd been when he'd first gotten his body back. His hair was shorter than Ed's, but it was still somewhat long, falling just above his shoulders in a laidback sort of style.
Ed opened the door and was immediately leapt upon and hugged.
"Geez, Al! Are you trying to kill me?" Ed joked, squeezing his brother just as tightly.
Al stepped back after a moment and smiled as his older brother ran a hand through his unruly blond hair, wincing when it hit a particularly nasty knot.
"You may want to shower before picking up Winry," he teased, giving Ed a suggestive look.
Ed rolled his eyes, but the slight reddening of his cheeks said something else entirely.
Al chuckled, "You can actually go shower now if you want, nii-san. I'll scrounge up some brunch for both of us. It's ten o'clock but all I've had so far is a bit of coffee from the train. I had to get up pretty early to leave and the rest of their food was way too expensive… You're up later than usual by the way. I know it's Sunday, but still…"
Ed shrugged, "I was working late last night. I took the day off today so I could pick up Winry and get some last minute sleep before next week. It's going to be crazy as hell at HQ, and with you and Winry here, I have a feeling I won't be getting much sleep."
Al nodded before heading to the kitchen and Ed made his way back to his bedroom, ripping off his loose, sleeveless shirt as he did so. He grabbed the entire phone and carried it, cord dragging, to the bathroom where he sat it on top of the toilet before throwing his boxers to the floor and stepping into the shower. Sure enough, approximately twenty seconds after Ed turned the water on, the phone rang. Ed turned off the water to answer it.
"Hello?"
"Fullmetal?" a deep voice resonated from the other end of the line.
Ed rubbed his temples and sighed, "I knew it. I always get a work call the second I step into the shower."
"I did not need the mental image of your naked ass, Fullmetal. It's not my fault you're cursed." Roy Mustang told his subordinate in the easy-going manner he so often seemed in possession of.
"Yeah… yeah…" Ed gripped. "What is it this time? This is my day off, I have things to do."
Edward could just picture the raised eyebrow on the other end, "You haven't actually had a day off in three months straight, since when your brother was last here. And do you know how weird it is for a kid your age to have a 'day off' on the weekend? It's Sunday, Fullmetal. You need a life."
"Al's here now, actually. Just came in this morning. I guess things got pretty crazy for him over at the University. And I do to have a life; its name is work. I'm sure you're well acquainted with it anyway. Now will you please explain to me why the President of Amestres is interrupting my shower? I'm getting kind of cold."
Roy quickly turned his laugh into a funny-sounding snort that had Ed rolling his eyes at his Commander and Chief, "I have some papers for you, Fullmetal, information on the Lotus Squad terrorist unit that's been giving us some problems in the west. A member of theirs was spotted in Central. I'd also like to talk to you about the envoys coming for the celebrations. I want you in charge of everyone coming from Xing, Drachma, Aerugo, and Creta."
"The fuck!"
"Tsk, tsk… that is not the proper language for foreign relations."
"Didn't I just help you set up a foreign relations committee several months ago?"
The president's voice suddenly became very strained, "Yes but… one of the head honchos got caught embezzling and landed in prison. We've been swamped and never got around to replacing him and apparently, the others heads of the committee were feeling the strain and got very drunk on a trip to Drachma several days ago. Long story short, we have one guy in an Amestrian prison, five in a Drachman prison, and an entire committee in chaos when we need it the most. So I'm giving the committee over to you and we can try and run it together until this whole mess is over and we can start looking for new candidates."
Edward closed his eyes and took a deep breath, "Why me?"
"You're honestly the only person I can think of whom has the ability to handle this situation under pressure… and the only one I trust whose crazy enough to do it."
"You bastard. Alright, I'll pick up the information around one, after I pick up Winry."
"Miss Rockbell?" Roy smiled and sighed with relief at the same moment, "So that's why the workaholic wanted the day off! Planning on getting lucky tonight, kid?"
"That was so funny I forgot to laugh." Ed responded dryly as a flush began to spread from his face to lower parts of his body.
The reticent sound of hair brushing against the receiver as Roy shook his head seemed much louder to Ed than the banging sounds Al was making in the kitchen as he dug through his brother's appliances.
"You find the idea of yourself getting laid funny?" Mustang said with a hint of disbelief in his voice. "Most would think you have self-esteem to spare."
"Self-esteem has nothing to do with it. Look… can you have someone contact everyone working for the foreign relations committee and tell them to meet me in their main office at one-thirty? And tell them I want all members' personal profiles (with picture) attached to a paper with their job description on it so I know who I'm working with. I also want them to think-tank before I arrive and put together a list of everything they think needs to be accomplished in order of its importance."
"Can do," Roy replied curtly. "I'll even write down what I believe needs to be accomplished as well so they can add more onto the list. It's better to do more than less at this point, but getting this whole mess settled is the main thing. I'll work on getting Parliament's opinions as well, which should help ease their minds since they had no say in my putting you at the head of two committees at once. We'll need their cooperation ASAP."
"Cool. Bye."
Ed hung up the phone and stared at the ceiling for a while before blasting himself with cold water. He needed to be completely focused on work again. There were so many people counting on him for their safety, and he couldn't afford to do anything else. Edward had always pictured himself leaving the military after restoring his brother's body, but nothing could stop the stories of how he'd saved Amestres from complete and total destruction from spreading across the land. Already known as the Alchemist of the People, he was instantly elevated to the status of "National Hero" and the key to Roy Mustang's ascension to the presidency. The night after it was all over, a crowd of people, stretching as far as the eye could see had gathered outside of Central Headquarters where Ed was recovering from everything that had happened and fretting constantly over Al whom Mei, Winry, and a couple doctors were working to stabilize as he adjusted to his human body once more. Stepping to the window to see what all the commotion was about, Ed was nearly knocked over by the assiduous shockwave of cheers, cries, and desperate people screaming his name. They'd all wanted him to lead them, something Ed didn't believe he had the strength and experience to do. All these people would willingly put their lives in his hands, and he had felt a surge inside of himself. He'd do whatever he could to protect them.
Now if only he could stop thinking about Winry. He had been able to push her to the very edge of his thoughts with work and more work, but now that she was coming to stay in Central, he couldn't seem to keep her from the forefront of his mind. He just kept picturing her, over and over again… Her laugh, her smile, and her all-too-tangible kindness and spunk that painted his insides with something he could never quite put his finger on. Whatever it was, it made his head spin.
"Hey, Ed! Why do you have a charred pair of pants in your cupboard and why are there bite marks in them?" Al yelled from the kitchen.
"Long story…!" Ed shouted back as he began to shampoo his hair. "Don't throw them away!"
--
Winry listened to the rattling of train tracks underneath her seat and felt helpless. The train was something she didn't control, and it could spiral into oblivion at any time without her consent. Of course, most things could, but she tried to keep her mind off of that particular fact. For this visit would bring the moment, the all-important moment where she finally told Ed that she thought she might be in love with him. After everything that had happened in the last year or so, she just couldn't take her silence anymore.
Winry tapped her chin promptly with a purple ballpoint pen then began to scribble in a small notebook.
Mission: Seduce Ed
Plan A – Look sexy
Plan B – Just tell him already!!
She surveyed Plan A with a thoughtful eye before snorting and tossing the notebook back into her bag. Ed hadn't mentioned a girlfriend, but Winry suspected the Fullmetal Alchemist had women throwing themselves all over him. She remembered all too well the cheering crowds and adoring faces that had greeted Edward everywhere he went the last time she'd seen him. She thought of the enormous mass of people who'd shown up that night after it was all over...
"What am I thinking?" she muttered to herself.
"I would hope you of all people would know the answer to that question," someone spoke up behind her.
Winry squeaked and twisted herself around to the sound of the voice, immediately falling into a minor bout of nervous laughter when the face of Van Hohenheim came into focus.
"Hohenheim-san… when did you get here?" she asked the father of her romantic problems in a slightly higher pitch than normal.
Hohenheim chuckled from the seat behind her, "Just a minute ago. I boarded the train at the last stop but decided to grab a coffee from the dining car." The old man raised his coffee cup and gave Winry a warm smile. "Have you heard from my sons lately?"
Winry nodded, "Al's really good about writing. Ed will give me a call once a week, but I move around so much lately that I normally end up calling him." She smiled, "He even sent me a set of Rush-Industries' latest tools a week before they came out in stores. It was amazing! How about you, have you heard from Ed and Al recently?"
Hohenheim smiled, "I have indeed! I agree that Al is a very good writer. All Ed and I have been communicating is our latest alchemic observations and discoveries, but it's much more than I ever hoped for, really. I send him new books and research all the time, as well as things from my old collections that I can't be carrying around and were just taking up space in storage."
Winry's head tilted to the side and she patted the older man on the shoulder. Hohenheim was currently traveling Amestres researching medical alchemy and helping out whoever needed it. Although few in Amestres knew who he was, there were several rumors flying around about a kindly doctor who could help anyone with alchemy. After hearing the entire story of Hohenheim's past as a slave and the unfortunate events that lead to the creation of the homunculi, Winry suspected Hohenheim blamed himself for everything Father had done, and was trying to make amends. Still, he was much more open than he'd been when she'd first met the man.
"You know what Ed loves?" Winry began, "He really loves stew. We should both make him some when we get to Central… You are going to Central, aren't you?"
"Isn't everyone? Yes, I'm going to Central as well. You know… you'd make my son a very happy man if you two got together…" Hohenheim told her in a playful tone she'd never heard him use before.
"Son? Which son?" Winry asked, a little too quickly as the nervous laughter returned. "You do have two you know. Hahaha… Haha… ha…?"
The young blond subconsciously kicked the bag containing a certain notebook, evidence, further underneath her seat. She didn't know why she felt the mad desire to hide the secret she so desperately wanted out, but she certainly felt it.
Hohenheim sent a marauding wink in Winry's direction, "You know exactly which son I mean."
A man in the seat across the aisle rolled his eyes behind an open newspaper, smiling wickedly as he did so.
--
Al looked up from the stove when his brother tripped into the kitchen in a nothing but ponytail and a pair of jeans.
"Gah! Jeez, Al, did you have to move all these books?" Ed asked Alphonse as he grabbed the stack of literary offenders and moved them into his small living room area, stacking them against the wall by several larger stacks.
Al shrugged, "They were just sitting on the kitchen table. Do you even use your kitchen table?"
This time it was Ed's turn to shrug, "Not really."
Ed's living room attached to four other rooms in the apartment: the kitchen (which was separated from everything else by a mini-bar), his room, a small guest room/library, and the bathroom. He had decided that Winry would take the guest room and Al would sleep on the couch. Ed yawned and stretched, causing the muscles in his abdomen to tighten; he appeared momentarily taller before pulling his arms back down to rub his eyes.
"You should totally walk around shirtless when Winry gets here," Al suggested. "I've heard girls dig ab muscles."
Ed began to twitch ferociously, "College has corrupted you."
"Only a little, I'm working on some stomach muscles myself though. Actually…" Al grinned, lifting the hem of his shirt to show the beginnings of some decent muscle definition, "There are a ton of cute girls at Dublith University. Most of them are older than me, but I did go on a date the other night."
Ed's eyebrows shot to the moon. His little brother had been on a date before he had? Maybe Mustang was right, he did need a life. At sixteen, Al was two years younger than the average college freshman, but was indeed about to become a sophomore at Dublith U., a school that he'd chosen for several reasons. The fact that he could live with his former sensei, Izumi Curtis, was one of them. No longer in a teacher-student relationship, the two sparred together and helped each other with their studies. Alphonse knew he still had a lot to learn from Izumi, however, and continuously thanked her for her help in finding new ways and exercises that built his body's strength and endurance after so many years sitting and waiting in front of the Gate. He was currently working as an assistant at Izumi's new martial arts school in exchange for room and board (Hohenheim had insisted on paying his tuition, but Al was determined to cover everything else himself).
"How was the date?" Ed asked his brother.
"Fun!" Al responded as he dumped two huge piles of cheesy eggs onto two plates, threw some bacon on top, and set them on the table, "We went to a movie. But I don't think it's going to go anywhere. The girl's super cute, but…"
"You saving yourself for that little princess crush of yours?" Ed teased.
Al looked at his older brother thoughtfully as Ed began shoving the food down his throat, "Perhaps."
Ed choked on his breakfast. Al sipped his tea.
"Perhaps?" Ed wheezed.
How could Al just outright say what he felt without any visible effort? Ed gazed at his younger brother from across the table. Maybe he was just more confident about his ability to charm women. Maybe because Mei Chang so obviously adored him, Al felt more comfortable in pursuing a relationship with her.
Al nodded, only the tiniest bit of red tingeing his cheeks, "What can I say? Deep down I'm a hopeless romantic. She's coming to the celebration as one of the envoys and I'm going to see how things work out. We've been writing each other ever since she returned to Xing with Ling and Ran Fan. She's been given several very important positions by Ling, and the status of her clan has risen considerably since she left it for the first time. It's amazing really; she's only just turned fifteen you know."
"Foreign envoys… right…" Ed winced. He was getting a headache just thinking about the oncoming week. "Mustang just put me in charge of the Foreign Relations Committee. Don't ask."
"What!" Al exclaimed. "But you're already the head of the Intelligence and Investigation Committee!"
"I'm all too aware of that." Ed responded.
"You're crazy."
"That's why Mustang gave me the job."
Suddenly, a broad grin stretched across Ed's face, and his eyes became fixed upon his younger sibling.
"What?" Al asked nervously. "This can't be good."
"Oh yes it can! Al! How would you like to help me out with the envoys? That way, I get some assistance and you spend more time with Mei."
"I actually couldn't be happier with that idea. Wow. It's even sort of rational. And romantic. And it came from you."
"So?"
"Isn't that a sign of the apocalypse?"
Ed took the spoon he was stirring his tea with and chucked it at Alphonse before taking a long gulp of the steaming liquid. Glancing at the clock, he realized he still had some time before they needed to pick up Winry. The first thing that came to mind was that he could get some more work done, but he quickly diverted his thoughts to how he could entertain his younger brother.
"So, Al, you want to take a quick walk around the city in the general direction of the train station? We have about an hour or so." Ed asked his little brother.
"Sounds good, nii-san," Al responded as the two siblings began cleaning up after themselves, the clattering of dishes interjecting fruitlessly amidst the conversation.
Before stepping out the door, Ed threw on a simple, red button-down shirt with short sleeves over a light, long-sleeved black one, and pair of sunglasses. Despite the gloves he wore to cover his automail, the look was very casual and un-Ed like, Al thought. Maybe it was the red sneakers. Although he was a little more relaxed than he used to be, Ed still carried so much baggage from the past, present, and future of almost everything imaginable. Through Al's eyes, the weight of the world could be seen on his brother's shoulders. After saving Amestres, Ed was bound and determined to keep it safe and sound. Hohenheim was the same way; he and his eldest son both held themselves personally responsible for the well-being of Amestres. Al briefly wondered if it was the mere fact that the two knew they had the skills to protect it which caused them to feel obligated to.
"You're much too tense, nii-san," Al remarked as he and Ed strolled past skyscrapers and corner stores.
"Eh?" Ed looked at his younger sibling as if he'd gone nuts.
Before Al had a chance to respond, a shrill scream cut through the air and the Elric brothers turned just in time to spot a man in long grey overcoat dashing towards Ed, a grenade clenched tightly in his fist.
Heart beating with vigor, Ed felt adrenaline race through his system as he clapped his hands together, ducked down, and blew up the street under his attacker with alchemy in a jagged burst of neon blue light. The grenade flew towards him and he caught it quickly, creating a deep hole in the ground as he did so. A thousand tiny images of transmutation circles and calculations flew through Ed's mind with a force that would have caused anyone less focused to become thoroughly disoriented. Before most of the people on the street could blink, the grenade was down the hole, the hole was covered, and what felt like a mini earthquake shook the sidewalk, accompanied by the muted noise akin to that of a freight train. There were more shrieks as the attacker pulled out a dagger and lunged at Edward, who dodged it easily and caught the man's arm in his automail one, his bangs swooping with a swift ease from one of his face side to the other. The Fullmetal Alchemist hadn't even broken a sweat.
"Is that really the best you can do?" Ed asked menacingly.
He clenched his automail hand and the unknown would-be assassin let out a strangled cry as he heard the bone in his arm snap under the pressure. Ed then transmuted the sleeves of the man's overcoat into rope and bound his arms behind his back, stormed over to the nearest telephone booth and started dialing what looked like a complex series of numbers.
"This is Edward Elric; I'm standing on Fifth and Glade Street with someone who just tried to kill me. Send some MPs out here, will you?"
There was a pause.
"I'll get right on that, sir."
Al stared at his brother, "Nii-san?"
"Yeah...?" Ed prompted as he hung up the phone and rubbed his temples for what felt like the hundredth time that morning.
"What the fuck?"
Ed shrugged, "I was just thinking the same thing…" he glanced down at his newfound prisoner, whimpering and bound on the sidewalk and kicked the guy in the head, effectively knocking him out. "I mean… this isn't the first time I've been attacked like that, but it's been so long since anyone's tried… Most of the crazies from the Führer's old regime have been imprisoned by now. However…"
Ed's thoughts fled to the Red Lotus terrorist group. They were new to the Amestrian political scene, and they'd been breaking into prisons and taking prisoners in some of the border areas. What their motives were, no one but the members knew. Ed checked his watch.
"If the MPs decide to meander over here any slower, we're going to be late picking up Winry," he griped.
Al shook his head, "You were almost assassinated a minute ago and all you can think about it being on time to see Winry? You've got it bad."
Ed gave Al the "you're crazy" look again.
"The hell?"
End Notes:
This chapter and the next one were supposed to be combined, but I was told people prefer shorter chapters. Although I don't understand this (more chapters doesn't mean a longer story), I decided to split them up and post this part early. Please tell me what you prefer.
I'm trying to keep hilarity alive and not turn this into a political drama, even though I'm a soon-to-be International Studies student obsessed with politics in a heated election year. I'm also trying to keep this from being a total soap, opera even though I've suddenly become a fan of the manga Nana. 0.o
Also, if you're a fan of EdWin, you should check out my Manga Music Videos (MMVs) on youtube. Just search "Letishia" and "EdWin" then pretend this isn't just another shameless plug.
Feel free to email me and chat.
Next Chapter:
In the next chapter, Regroup and Rendezvous Part B, Ed and Al will reunite with Winry and then meet someone... interesting.