Rebound Chapter 1: Two Striped Candies
Xxx
"Alchemy, It is the scientific technique of understanding the structure of matter, decomposing it, and then reconstructing it."
Edeline Elric announced, the only sound breaking the silence of the classroom of 10 year olds around her being the friction of the chalk she was holding scratching against the chalkboard.
"If performed skillfully, it is even possible to create gold out of lead. However, as it is a science, there are some natural principles in place. Only one thing can be created from something else of a certain mass. This is the Principle of Equivalent Exchange."
Once she was finished with her masterpiece she turned to her students. A smile displaying on her face when she noticed the interested but confused faces around her. A little girl in the back of the room raised her hand, her thin eyebrows furrowed in concentration.
"Yes, Mia?" Ed questioned, leaning back on the desk next to her and smirking at the child who was wrinkling her nose in confusion.
"Sensei, what exactly is equivalent exchange?" Mia groaned, rolling her palms through her carefully styled hair and ruffling it up.
Ed's gold eyes brightened in amusement as she chuckled, nodding towards the board once more.
"Well, In order to obtain or create something, something of equal value must be lost or destroyed. Humankind cannot gain anything without first giving something in return. To obtain, something of equal value must be lost. That is Alchemy's First Law of Equivalent Exchange." When Ed looked at Mia once more to see her looking even more lost she shrugged and walked over to the small girl's desk.
Reaching into her coat pocket, Ed pulled out two pieces of striped, colorful candy. Smiling when she heard gasps from the children around her. Looking up at Mia, she smirked.
"Let's say you have one piece of candy—" Ed swatted Mia's hand playfully when she the girl reached for one of the small treats.
"Hoi! I wasn't finished!" She gave Mia a fake glare, causing the small girl to give her a sheepish smile.
"Now," Ed continued, finally placing one candy on Mia's desk and dangling the other up for the class to see. "You have the choice to eat that candy right now, or wait one minute for me to add the other candy." Ed's gold eyes gleamed in mirth while she indulged the uproar of students around her.
"Mia! You should wait and give the other candy to me!" Her friend in the back shouted causing many more students to protest.
"Settle down!" Ed growled, leaning towards Mia and directing the whole classrooms attention to them.
"If you wait, you would be sacrificing time and temptation for another piece," Ed dangled the candy in the air once more, drawing many eyes to it. "Time, for another candy. That's equivalent." Ed smirked
Seeing it dawn in most of her student's eyes, Ed walked over to the back of the classroom and pulled out a huge bucket of candy from behind her desk.
"Let's see how many of you understand this concept, shall we?"
Xxx
"How was the class today?"
Ed looked up from her plate of food and met Winry's blue eyes. Seeing the sincere concern on his face, she couldn't contain her smile.
Ed got home from the school to sit at the dinner table with Winry, the two childhood friends ate and made chatter as usual.
"It was good," she grinned, "though I swear I heard a kid laughing when I walked into the door frame this morning," Winry hid a smile behind his hand, a small chuckle escaping his lips.
Ed sighed, "Hey! At least they can't call me short." She declared, poising a fist into the air.
"That's only because they're smaller than you!" Winry laughed aloud, causing Ed to give him an annoyed glare.
"Besides—" Winry gave Ed a teasing grin causing her to narrow her eyes in suspicion.
"You've grown a little." Winry took this as an invitation to pat Ed's head causing the annoyed alchemist to growl and swat his hand away in anger.
"Alright, alright!" Winry laughed, standing and picking up the disregarded plates.
"Al's going to return from Xing tomorrow." Winry grinned, putting the food Ed didn't eat into the dog bowl.
"You exited?" Ed looked at Winry with a genuine smile causing him to divert his eyes in a different direction.
Winry kept his eyes focused on the plates in front of him, dropping them in the soapy water.
"I'm really excited," Winry smiled, "I just am really sad he left as soon as he recovered" he sighed, rubbing a blue sponge against each dirty plate.
Afraid they were treading into a dangerous topic, Ed quickly changed the subject.
"Ah, that old suit, remember when he sat on and destroyed my leg? Speaking of my leg aren't we doing a checkup tonight?" Ed gulped her water until every last drop was gone. Standing up, she dropped the class into the water and took the wet plates off the counter, drying them with a cloth.
Winry turned to Ed with a mischievous look in his eyes, grabbing the plates out of her hands and turning carefully to put them in the cabinet.
"I'm surprised you remembered about that," Winry turned back around and leaned towards Ed.
"I thought you were going to avoid it by thinking I forgot!" He winked, poking Ed on the tip of the nose and walking towards his workroom to fetch his tools.
"Like I would choose to limp around for the next month!" Ed stuck her tongue out and crossed her arms childishly towards the workroom; a tint of an embarrassed blush on her cheeks.
"Yeah, yeah. Now go and change!" Winry yelled from the other side of the room, laughing when he heard Edeline's loud stomps disappear up the stairs.
Xxx
When he was sure she wasn't looking and had her eyes closed, Winry glanced up from his sitting position at the bed Ed was in, taking note of how Ed's hair was left down.
He glanced in awe at the golden tresses that were sprawled on the black sheets. His eyes reviewing Ed's soft features and then slowly trailing down her body.
Winry flinched away in realization, the conversation he had with Ling earlier creeping into his mind.
Flashback
Winry jumped in surprise when he heard the bell on the door ring in announcement of a visitor. He was questioning if he should answer as he was closed for the day but didn't give a second thought to it when he saw Ed's war friend perched on the porch.
"Ling! Sorry I didn't answer right away, I wasn't expecting any visitors. What are you doing here, where's Al?" Winry sprinted towards the door, opening it in welcome and looking around for her younger brother figure.
"He's not here." Ling walked in, going over to the fridge and grabbing an apple.
When he saw Winry's frown he elaborated, "Yet. Him and Mei are on their way, they'll be here tomorrow." He took a large bite of the green apple in his hand.
Winry shut the door and went over to a cabinet and grabbed two glasses. Going to the sink and filling them with fresh water.
"Ugh I'm starving." Ling groaned, tossing the leftover apple core in the trash and leaning back against his chair.
"Hoi, do you know where the Fullmetal Chibi is?" Ling quickly sat up, taking the glass that Winry placed in front of him and chugged it down.
"She's teaching today. Once Al left to Xing to learn Alkahestry she opened up a small school that teaches children the basics of alchemy. What do you need her for?" Winry picked up his water, taking big gulps as he leaned back and stretched.
"I came to pick her up for dinner—" before his sentence was long finished, the water in Winry's mouth spewed everywhere.
Ling jumped up, grabbing a handful of paper towels, spreading them on the soaked table, he then proceeded to hit Winry's back.
"You're going on a date with Edeline?!" Winry coughed. Bending over and bringing his hands to his stomach.
"I saved her life so she owes me a meal." Ling grinned, swaying back and forth in delight.
"Are you bothered by this?" Ling winked, picking up the recovering Winry and leaning into his face.
"Is Ed your girl?" The Xingese prince teased. At his statement Winry's cheeks brightened considerably. The blonde male turning away and fetching the mop.
"Now that I think about it, aren't you her mechanic?" Ling pointed to him, not that Winry would notice.
"Isn't she half naked when you checkout her automail? That's really Sly." Ling walked over to the bright red male, taking the mop from his hands, starting to mop the seeping wet floor.
"Why would she be half naked?" Winry sputtered angrily, "i only am her mechanic for her leg!" He protested, crossing his arms and wanting to punch himself for getting so worked up over this.
"Hahahh! You should see yourself! Your reaction proves you've fallen for that Chibi!" Ling laughed aloud, wringing out the mop and placing it back in the closet. At this point Winry just wanted the floor to open up and swallow him whole.
"I haven't seen her in years. She must have grown to be really beautiful?" Ling questioned seriously, going over to the couch and popping a squat.
Winry's mind pondered about Ed. Her long golden hair and golden eyes flashing in his mind.
"Does she have a good body?" Ling leaned back. Looking at the wood ceiling, blinking a couple times.
'I've never really thought about that' he pondered. Suddenly a memory flashed through his mind. Causing him to cover his face in embarrassment.
A couple weeks ago Ed came home and went straight to her room. Not giving a second glance at the table full of food that Winry set up that night. Winry respected when Ed wanted to be alone, but the past week Ed was doing nothing to spend time with him and he was starting to feel really lonely. It reminded him of the times when it was just him and Pinako.
Fed up with the stubborn alchemist and highly annoyed, Winry barged into Ed's room without knocking, seeing a sight he still can't erase from his mind.
A newly showered Ed stood in the corner of her room showcasing red underwear and a black bra that clashed against her tan skin.
Ed had yet to spot Winry as at the moment she was throwing a white tank over her head. Suddenly, Winry couldn't stop his eyes from roaming up and down her form. His eyes settling on her toned, long legs.
Drip.
Winry's eyes traveled to a drop of water right above Ed's nape. The drop slowly traveling down and into the blonde's bra. Suddenly Winry felt really hot.
He could take it anymore.
Fearing he couldn't restrain himself anymore, and more so the of what he would do to Ed, he highjacked out of there. Closing the door as slowly as he could in the moment and backing away into a sprint. He hid in his room for the rest of the night, leaving a confused but satisfied Ed with the food.
Shaking his head, Winry refused to look up at Ling or answer his questions, instead going to the fridge and handing Ling a bento he made for Ed's lunch.
"This should make up for it, I'll tell her you stopped by." Winry sighed. Pushing Ling towards the exit and shoving him out the door.
Once he was gone Winry sat by himself in contemplation, looking out the window awaiting Ed's arrival.
End Flashback
"Are you ok?" Winry looked up at Edeline, who was now sitting up with concern marring her pretty features. Winry's eyes trailed longingly down to Edeline's now spread legs.
"Winry are you even listening!" Ed snapped, kicking him hard in the gut and knocking the air out of his lungs.
"Baka!" Winry snapped, harassing poor Ed's good leg with a wrench, "why're you asking?!" Winry yelled casing Ed's eyes to widen and back away from Winry with a flinch.
"H—hey!" Ed paled considerably, crawling back as far as she could from Winry and the wrench. "Hold on Winry! I was just— Ow! Hey!" Ed was dragged back by her good leg. Covering her face in alarm when Winry raised his wrench once more.
"Hold still! I need to finish tightening the bolts." Winry growled. Sitting on top of Ed and holding her metal leg up and roughly while he tightened the screws.
"Hoi! That hurt, warn me will you?!" She yelped, squirming around and trying to free her harassed leg to no avail.
It was at that moment Winry realized the position they were in, dropping Ed's leg with a loud thudding sound. Ed yelped at the pain and moved once more causing her to rub invitingly against Winry and causing more friction than Winry would've liked.
Winry gasped in surprise, standing up and backing away in alarm.
"I'm done" Suddenly he turned to pack his supplies, not turning to face Ed.
Surprised by his sudden change of attitude Ed gave his turned back a glare, "Are you now? All I did was care to ask you about your wellbeing!" Ed saw Winry flinch, feeling as if she pushed a bit harder she could break through his wall.
"What did I do that made you so pissed—"
"I said I'm done, Edeline." Winry clutched his fists and continued out the door, slamming it with a harsh shove.
Still stunned by the use and stress of her first name, Edeline glared at the door as if she was trying to crack it with her glare.
"GOODNIGHT TO YOU TOO!" She bellowed sarcastically, making sure it was loud enough to reach the other room.
Little did Ed know Winry was scarlet red when he got to his room and realized how much she actually effected him. He was a lot more excited than he initially thought and all Ed's squirming caused a huge problem below.
"Stupid Xingese prince!" He gasped, locking his door and mentally preparing himself for a long, cold shower.