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Winry's POV

I quickly thanked the woman for the ride and hurried inside to get ready. The sun had already begun to set and I didn't know how much time I had before Edward arrived. He normally didn't function like the rest of society on the time he would arrive, and if asked what time he always grunted with answers like breakfast, lunch, or dinner time. I chuckled to myself and rolled my eyes at the thought. He based his time on when he would eat...which didn't really help considering he eats several times through out the day.

I quickly scooted past the shop counter and stepped over a project I had been working on that was too large to be on the work table. Since I had worked with Mr. Garfiel for a while, his shop had become a second home to me. Whenever I came to work for him he always had the studio apartment above ready for my use. I looked around in the back and saw the lights off - usually a sign that he had gone home for the night. I made sure everything was locked up just in the case he might have forgotten, sometimes he was a bit ditsy in his actions.

My shoes thudded against the steps as I busted tail up the steps, feeling anxious that I hadn't yet gotten in the shower. On the door to the studio was a slightly crumpled note taped to the door with some rather hard to read scribble.

Winry, thank you for working a longer shift than usual the other day! Please take some time off to visit with Edward. I can handle the shop. You're young and you need to be spontaneous. Give Edward my regards and make sure you're not TOO responsible with that handsome man of yours ;)
-Atelier Garfiel

I grabbed at my throat and choked while reading the last sentence. Although Edward and I hadn't really made our...uh.."arrangement" very public yet, everyone always made the assumption that we had feelings for one another. And if anyone were to bring it up to us, Edward normally went into fits of yelling...but I guess since their journey was over - our friends and loved ones were very curious about our relationship. I didn't mind it so much, but Ed had his own way of dealing with it - yelling. Quickly unlocking the door, I flung the note onto the dining table without another thought.

I ripped my clothes off with such a speed that if it were a sport I'd hold the time record for sure. Tripping over the throw rug, I reached the closet to grab a clean towel and raced into the bathroom.

"I feel weird. Is it normal to be this scared?! Am I scared?! Or am I just nervous?! Wait why am I talking to myself?!" I groaned, knocking over a body wash as bubbles from the cap flew up into my face. Usually I had Den to at least listen to my own rambles, maybe I should start bringing him with me to Rush Valley.

I squeaked when the shower began to rain down upon me, completely forgetting to turn the knob to a warmer temperature before turning it on. I ran my hands through my hair deciding to suck it up as time was precious, swearing under my breath. Why couldn't he just say a damn time? Why "I don't know, dinner time." I growled and shook my head at the thought. The next few minutes of fast scrubbing felt like hell, my heart ready to beat out of my chest as I listened for the fateful knock on the door. Wait...did I even lock the door?

Quickly shutting off the shower, I almost yanked the curtain right off the rod as I whipped my towel around my body. I hadn't even grabbed clean clothes and the last thing I needed was for him to walk on the mess I currently was. My hair dripped onto the floor, causing me to slip and grab for the sink countertop. I really was out of it, I was more unbalanced than usual. It normally only occurred whenever Edward came around, for some reason he turned my body into a ball of nerves. I winced as I felt pain shoot through my arm and found that I managed to skin my elbow in my attempts to catch myself. Of course nothing would go the way I planned, so much for having my shit together before he arrived.

I peaked my head out the door to check that the coast was clear before making my way to my dresser. Yanking open the drawers I slid on my bra and underwear before peaking through the window's curtain. There were a few people walking on the street still but none of them were a ponytailed blonde haired man. I sighed with relief and rushed back to my now disheveled drawers and quickly slid a black tank top over my head, just in time to hear a knock at the door. Shoving my clothes down and pushing the dresser drawers closed, I felt a sense of relief wash over me as I walked towards the door. Despite my heart ready to pound right out of me, I was glad that I had succeeded at being ready just in time. I looked through the peephole and felt my heart's raging beating stop at the sight of the golden eyed man standing at the door. My palm felt cold and I trembled slightly as I worked up the courage to open the door. I took a deep breath and with all my might, I swung open the door so fast that it surprised the both of us..

"Jesus woman! You scared the shit out of me!" Edward growled. Before I could comment back, I noticed his eyes drop to my hips and watched as they grew wide in horror. "Uh..Winry. You..uh.."

I gave him a confused look as I watched his face grow red, his eyes now looking up at the ceiling. Usually he would have a whole rant going on by now.

"What?" I asked, placing a hand on my hip. That's when the awful awful AWFUL realization hit me as my fingers ran over the fabric of my underwear. "NOOOOOOOOOO." I thought as I heard myself gasp. Without another thought, I slammed the door in Edward's face as I ran to my dresser and dug out a pair of jean shorts, slipping them over my legs and fastening the button. Honestly, at this point I was ready to cry or die from the embarrassment. So much for things going smooth...

Deciding that I couldn't leave him out there forever (although I DID contemplate climbing out the window and escaping) I took another deep breath and sighed, walking over to the door as slow as I could. The desire to see him vanishing and I blinked back tears of humiliation. I held onto the door knob and stood there aimlessly for a few minutes as I calmed myself down. With one last breath, I opened the door to find a rather flustered Ed, who also seemed ready to run away. This was going to be a long night...


Edward's POV

"Fuck fuck fuck..." I groaned while waiting for Winry to open the door again. Why did things always end up so weird with us? She couldn't remember to put god damn pants on? I blushed as the image continued to flash in my mind and I contemplated running down the steps, but that was a cowardly thing to do. If Alphonse was here he'd be elbowing me in the side and making stupid jokes. I scratched the back of my head and sighed. It was hot out and I desperately wanted to unbutton my shirt a little, but I didn't want to create any assumptions with us moving...well moving forward like that...

I slid my hand over my face, feeling ridiculous. They weren't technically assumptions anymore...although we had only told the old hag and Al about the proposal at the train station (which Alphonse scolded me about not being romantic or whatever) everyone else was starting to figure out that we were in a relationship.

I was a bit torn apart - half of my brain was strangely excited about the awkward moment, while I'd consider my smarter half wanted to flee from the scene. Yes, I had always had feelings for Winry, and I didn't have time to think much on those feelings in the past. But now, my brain had all the time in the damn world to think about it.

I started getting impatient and thought about just opening the door myself until Winry whipped the door back open, her face blushing. She was struggling to come up with words so my dumb ass decided to speak first.

"Those are shorts? Hell no wonder you answer the door without them on, they're about the same fucking length." I scoffed as I moved past her and into the room. "You're a fucking idiot."

I heard Winry behind me make incoherent noises at my bold...insult? But before I could turn around and make up for it, a stinging pain went through my skull and I went flying to the floor. I groaned and felt the back of my head, my brain vibrating.

"What the hell Winry!? I just got here and you're already beating me?!" I yelled up at her as she towered over me.

"You're the one being an ass! Why would you say something so, so embarrassing!?"

"Well why did you have to answer the door without pants on!" I retorted.

"You act like I did it on purpose!"

I stood up and brushed myself off and shot her a glare. We both stood in silence, our eyes narrowed at the other. To be honest I wasn't really angry with her, but I didn't like being the one to break first. Winry always challenged me in that way. She drove me crazy most of the time, but it was one of the reasons I fell for her. I heard her sigh and felt the corners of my lips turn up into a smirk. She was going to break first.

"Well, you don't have to worry about ever seeing me without pants on again if it bothers you that much." She flatly stated and turned on her heel, walking towards the kitchen area. I felt my jaw drop slightly at her comment. What the hell was I supposed to say to THAT?

"Wh-wh-whats that supposed to mean?!"

I felt my stomach turn into knots as she turned back around, a smirk dancing on her lips now. She was now winning our little spat and she knew it. She-demon...

"You know what it means." She said, laughing at the horrific look on my face. Granted, Winry and I were engaged, we hadn't exactly gotten very far on the physical affection part (and let alone I clearly sucked at the emotional part too). Besides the occasional hug or the one time I let her hold my hand, I actually hadn't progressed our relationship much further than that. I knew that would have to change eventually.

I grumbled and shoved my hands in my pockets, deciding to let the topic end there.

"Are you hungry?" Winry asked, opening the refrigerator door. "Mr. Garfiel is a bit of a restaurant lover and always brings back something for me. He brought you something too since he knew you were coming. It's some kind of chicken with pasta." She laughed as she tried to decipher what exactly the dish was. She continued to talk about a restaurant near the shop as my head was still stuck in the same thought from before. While half-listening to her I walked to the table and sat down, fiddling with a piece of paper that was just laying there. That's when I caught sight of my name poorly scribbled on it.

"What is this?" I asked myself out loud, snapping Winry's attention in my direction. Don't ask what possessed me to say that out loud because even I don't know.

Within a flash Winry was at the table trying to rip the note from my hands.

"Give it to me!" She demanded, reaching over the table. I laughed and stood up.

"Why? What does it say?" I smirked. I decided to have some fun with it to ease up the tension from earlier. Boy was I wrong about that easing up tension part...

"It's just a note from Mr. Garfiel! He just wanted me to take some time off while you're here!"

"Then why do you care if I read it?"

"Edward!"

I started laughing as I held the note above my head and out of her reach - something that I definitely loved doing. Anything that involved showing off my height always put me in a grand mood. She stomped her feet childishly and eyed her wrench nearby, but I was a step ahead of her and quickly grabbed her around her waist, keeping her from getting to her precious throwing skull breaker.

"Edward!" She yelled, beating her fists against my chest. I winced as she struggled to get free from my grasp. "Let go!" She huffed. But I continued to hold her tightly, deciding I was having too much fun with this.

"So why don't you want me to read this?"

"Because we've had enough embarrassment for one evening!"

"But...now I'm curious. You're just making it worse flipping out the way you are." I grinned.

"You're...you're acting weird!"

"Oh ouch Win, that really was vicious." I scoffed. I flipped open the note and looked up as I began to read it out loud just to get on her nerves.

"Winry, thank you for working a longer shift than usual the other day! Please take some time off to visit with Edward. I can handle the shop. You're young and you need to be spontaneous. Give Edward my regards and make sure you're-Ahhh!"

Before I could read any further, Winry had wrapped her fingers around my ponytail and tugged hard. Immediately I felt my anger boil back up.

"WINRY!" I growled through my teeth. She grabbed the note from my hand and stuck her tongue out at me before making a run for it. Normally something as insignificant as a dumb note wouldn't be worth the effort, but like I said, I wasn't one for backing down first. I rubbed the back of my neck and found Winry jumping on her bed in attempts to open her window. Clearly to her - the only way to get rid of it was by throwing it outside...where I could just walk down the steps and get it later, however I was just as stubborn and raced over to take the note back.

"Stop being a child!" I groaned, pushing down on the window to keep it shut. In the time span from when I arrived we had already been at each other's throats twice now for stupid shit.

I grabbed at Winry's wrists and held them firmly while avoiding her swinging legs from kicking me in a particular area...

"You're as tall as a child!"

"WINRY! YOU KNOW THAT'S NOT FUCKING TRUE! I'M TALLER THAN YOU GEAR HEAD!" I growled.

I pinned her arms down above her head with one arm and kept her legs down with the rest of my body weight. The way that I've thought about being in bed with Winry in the past...well it wasn't exactly the same kind of "fighting" if you catch my drift. I could feel her breath hitting my face we were so close to the other, and for a second she stopped thrashing when she began to take in how we had ended up. I used this as my opportunity to grab the note from her fingers and began reading the last part aloud.

"make sure you're not TOO responsible with that handsome man of yours...?" I frowned. "I don't get it..."

"Ugh!" Winry groaned, catching me off guard and kicking me onto the floor. My tailbone throbbed from the impact.

"Why the hell were you so upset about that!" I grumbled, slowly bringing myself up from the floor while rubbing the sore spot on my back. She rolled her eyes at me, exasperated.

"You really don't understand it? You've met him before! You know how he is!"

I turned my head in question. I really did NOT get it. To me there was nothing wrong with the note - in fact it seemed pretty innocent. He wanted her to take a break from work and not be so serious about things. I sat back down beside her on the bed and yawned, starting to lose interest in the whole debate itself.

"Edward...really?"

"All he says is for us not to be too responsible. He probably knows how serious you get about your work and wants you to take a break fr-"

"He's talking about sex."

The second that word left her lips I was convinced my body had went into shut down as I sat there awkwardly frozen. Suddenly being on the bed beside her didn't feel right, or maybe the fact being on the bed was right and it scared the hell out of me. I wasn't afraid of sex per se; it was always more of a science to me - reproduction. But...when you put Winry into that equation it became awkward for me. Don't get the wrong idea, I've thought about that point in our relationship a few times, especially when I wasn't busy and I would drift into those thoughts. I was a man after all, I was definitely aware of how attractive she was...

"Ed...?"

Crap she was talking to me. Of course she would dig into this - you know that saying about picking at a scab? Well this was like Winry stabbing at an already open wound - fucking torture.

"Hm?" I grumbled.

I noticed her big blue eyes staring in my direction and decided it best to stare at the fan on the ceiling. It may have only been a few seconds but let me tell you it felt like hours before I heard her finally sigh in defeat. I mentally slapped myself at my lack of showing affection once again about a particularly sensitive topic. I knew inside that this visit had to be different. We couldn't continue the way we were. Christ, I had asked her to marry me and I hadn't even kissed her yet. Out of all of the terrifying near death moments of my life and I couldn't even kiss the woman I was going to marry. God damn it all...My inner debate was interrupted by Winry clearing her throat.

"So...I'm a bit tired if you don't mind? It's getting late and I'd rather go to bed now so I can wake up early and make you breakfast." She said, stretching her arms above her head. I noticed the change in her tone and knew I had fucked up. I quickly stood up and scratched the back of my head.

"Nahhh. I'll take you somewhere for breakfast. I don't want you to stress over me. Just wake up whenever." I stated, shooting her a grin. I felt relief as a tiny smile made its way onto her lips.

"You sure?"

"Yeah. Didn't you know? I'm rich." I laughed. Technically...that wasn't a lie. During the years of being a state alchemist, Alphonse and I never really had a use for those paychecks besides food.

"Well thank god you're humble about it." She joked back, smoothing out the top covers of the bed before standing up. "You can sleep here okay? I can sleep on the couch."

I was surprised by this remark and felt my face heat up. I wasn't a stupid teenage boy - I really needed to stop acting like one too. Yeah I admit I'm not exactly the most romantic guy...shit I probably was the worst at it considering our flirting so far had been us fighting, but it wasn't right for her to think she should sleep on the couch...not that I would ever let that happen. Of course I'd take the stupid couch but we were in a relationship were we not? Jesus Christ my head was going to explode.

"Uh...I mean...you, and bed...uh.." I stuttered out. Fuck! She snorted and looked at me confused.

"What?"

"Don't be a freaking coward Ed!" I thought bitterly. I took a deep breath and gently grabbed her hand. I could do this.

"We can...we can...switch actually I'll take the couch." I blurted out, dropping her hand quickly as I marched past her confused stature and jumped onto the couch's soft cushions, defeated. "Idiot! Idiot! Idiot!"

"Oh. Okay then..." She responded. We both could feel a sort of odd tension that filled the room, clearly unhappy with how things had progressed since I had arrived. I watched as Winry opened a cabinet and step on her tippy toes to reach for a blanket, the muscles in her legs becoming even more defined. I thanked her as she threw the soft blanket my direction and caught it just before it hit the floor. I heard the lights flick off and listened to her feet pad over to her bed. And just as my eyes were drawing heavy with sleep, I heard the sound of jean shorts drop to the floor before hearing her climb into bed. My eyes widened and my thoughts flashed back to her standing at the door in her tank top and underwear.

This was going to be the longest night of my damn life.


Hooray! Chapter 2 is finished! :) I hope you all enjoyed it! I had a lot of fun writing this chapter. I'd like to point out that I'm trying my best not to rush things between them, and I really enjoy little bits of affection to add tension between the two characters. Based on Edward's personality, I've always determined him to not do so well with romance and affection, so there is a lot of ups and downs going on in his brain. I think both he and Winry are a bit awkward about their relationship despite how strongly they feel for one another (via the train station proposal)

Please review nicely! I'm not a real author of any sort and this is just for fun! Thank you!