Hellloooooo

So this chapter... It's a bit of a filler chapter. But I think it has some cute little moments, but it's more on the...fluff side, than anything else.

Anywhos, I'll stop wasting your time.

Enjoy! c:

Al's Point of View

Judging by the amount of time that Winry and Brother stayed in the room and the lack of yelling after I left, I'd say it's pretty safe to assume that they're both okay again.

At least, as okay as they ever will be.

Mrs. Hughes' and Elicia had come back to the apartment, and Elicia was going on and on about this cake she wanted to bake.

I set to helping Mrs. Hughes' get out all the supplies, and Elicia went to get Ed and Winry.

She didn't have to venture far before she squealed, "There they are! Big sister, we're baking a cake!"

A laughing Winry was then pulled into the kitchen by the little girl, followed by Ed who seemed to be smiling to himself about something.

I remained out of the way while Elicia made Winry help her make the batter.

Mrs. Hughes' had vacated to her room after incredible amounts of "We've got this" and "We're fine, go take a break", and other variations, from Brother, Winry, and me.

Ed had also remained on the sidelines, watching the situation play out between the two girls.

Elicia had thrown a bit of flour at Winry, which had resulted in a mini-war between the two.

It was pretty cute, and even Ed must've thought so because he had a small smile playing about his face.

Until Winry threw a puff of flour at him, which resulted in him joining in the flour war.

Soon enough, the entire kitchen was a mess of the white powder, and all four of us were in fits of laughter, unable to control it.

I couldn't help but notice the looks Ed and Winry had been giving each other, when the other wasn't looking.

It was evident in the way they were acting that they obviously had gotten over whatever had been wrong between them.

Elicia then hopped up onto the counter, and picked up one of the eggs.

Without hesitating, she threw it at Ed and watched as it broke open on his chest and continued oozing down the rest of his shirt.

Everyone had gone silent for a moment, before Winry just started laughing.

Ed stared down at the mess for a moment, before he smirked and took his revenge on Elicia by tickling the little girl.

The little girls hysteric laughter brought Gracia into the kitchen, obviously curious.

Everyone froze when they saw her, a look of shock and guilt written all over their faces.

Mrs. Hughes' eyes had widened at the sight, until she just gave a tired sigh, a small smile, and said,

"Just remember – you guys have to clean it up."

With a knowing look, she then turned and left the chaotic kitchen.

Ed had stopped tickling Elicia, so that she and Winry could continue baking.

Brother approached me, his hair filled with flour, egg running down his shirt, and overall just a general mess. His once black pants were now spotted with white.

"What did Winry want?" I asked in a hushed tone, quiet enough so that the girls wouldn't hear.

Edward gave me an annoyed look before saying,

"She just wanted to talk."

"About what?"

"About…what happened yesterday."

"…What happened yesterday?"

"Goddammit Al, you're always so nosy." He then smirked up at me, and continued. "You already know the majority of what happened, seeing as you caused it. She told me that she liked me."

"But you didn't tell me how you reacted."

Ed's ears turned pink, and his eyes widened.

He didn't respond.

"Brother, it can't be that bad, can it?"

Still no answer.

"Come on. I'm bound to find out sooner or later."

More silence.

"You can't keep it from me for all eternity. Everything has a way to coming to the light, like it or not."

Ed responded to this by walking away from me.

I couldn't help but notice his ears were still pink, not to mention his face was a burning crimson colour.

As he was about to leave the kitchen, Winry's voice stopped him.

"Now, just where do you think you're going?" The smirk was present in her voice.

Ed slowly turned towards her, a look of innocence on his face.

"Nowhere?"

"Come back here and help us clean up."

With that, Winry poured the batter into the cake pan and placed it into the oven.

"Yay! Cake! How much longer, big sister?" Elicia exclaimed.

"Another 20 minutes, Elicia. Then we can decorate it. For now, why don't you go play in your room or something while Ed and I clean up?"

"Okay!"

And with that, Elicia went skipping out of the kitchen.

Winry began to wipe up the counters, while Ed and I just stood there.

"Well? Are you going to just stand there and watch?" As she said this, she tossed a cloth in Ed's direction.

He clumsily caught it, and awkwardly began to wipe up the mess on the floor.

Even though neither of them were saying anything, I just felt like an odd and awkward presence in the room. Like I was interrupting something, even though that really didn't make much sense.

I felt like I was the third wheel.

"Well… I'll go check on Elicia then…" I said awkwardly before leaving.

Both of them looked up as I walked by, and I couldn't help but notice that their eyes met before continuing to clean up.

Winry's Point of View

I sighed, as I pulled myself up onto the counter top.

"That's the last of it. Well, at least the last of it in the kitchen." I laughed as I glanced at my powdery clothes and Ed's floury hair.

Ed tossed the rags into the kitchen sink before checking the time on the stove.

There was still a good 15 minutes until the cake was ready to take out.

Al had gone off to play with Elicia or something, and Gracia was most likely in her room relaxing.

"So…What do we do now?" Ed asked.

"We wait." I said simply.

Ed looked at me briefly, before pulling his hair back into a ponytail.

He looked as if he wanted to talk about something, but didn't know how to start.

I waited a bit, before prompting him.

"Is there something you want to talk about…?"

Ed didn't say anything at first.

"I'm not too sure how to say this. In fact, I have no fucking idea how…"

His voice trailed off, leaving the possibilities of where this might go to my imagination.

"Look, Winry, the thing is – "

Just then, Mrs. Hughes' came into the kitchen.

"Edward, Colonel Mustang is on the phone. He would like to speak with you, if that's alright."

"Oh, uh, sure."

Ed looked at me for a moment, before continuing past Mrs. Hughes' and most likely to the living room to pick up the phone.

Gracia gave me a knowing smile before asking,

"So when are you going to tell me about it?"

"Tell you about what?" I asked, feigning innocence.

"About you and Edward."

At the mention of his name and the meaning behind her tone, I blushed.

"I… I don't know what you're talking about."

I ducked my head in a pathetic attempt to hide my burning cheeks.

Gracia walked over to me.

"Come on, you're like a daughter to me. You can talk to me about it."

I sighed in defeat. I did want to talk to another girl about this, so why not?

"Well…I don't exactly know where to start, now that I think about it. It's all rather confusing."

"Just start with the beginning."

I gulped.

"I guess… I guess the beginning could be when Ed came to Resembool. Or rather, before he did… Before he came, I found myself just wanting to be with him, and to have him there with me. And then when he finally showed up, I wanted him to go away… But then we just… Well, we didn't really talk much, but there was this sense of comfort. Just being with him… It was calming. And then, he and I fell asleep together, accidentally, and I woke up to find that we were cuddling."

I took a deep breath, trying to recollect my thoughts as I thought about what to say next.

"Then, when we got here, we didn't really talk much. And then, there's been some small things here and there between us, but the major one… The major one was yesterday. When I followed him outside, and we went for a walk… I ended up telling him that I had feelings for him. After a bit of a struggle, I had gotten him to admit that he had feelings for me too… And he kissed me."

This was the first time I had said this out loud, and it filled my stomach with butterflies.

I had to fight back this giddy feeling, as a giant smile spread across my face. I tried to keep it under control, but I couldn't fight the smile.

I looked up to find Mrs. Hughes flashing a warm smile at me.

"But then, as you saw, we didn't really talk to each other and there was this tension between us… Until today. I went in to talk to him, and we ended up just sitting together… We didn't talk much. But that's alright. Sometimes talking ruins things. And then he took my hand, and just before we came into the kitchen, I hugged him…and it wasn't a romantic one, necessarily, but it was just…nice. Just me and him. It felt…right. Does… Does that make any sense?"

Gracia grinned.

"It makes perfect sense. I can tell you've wanted to talk about this."

"Yeah… it feels good to have gotten that off my chest. I didn't even realize how much it felt like it was weighing me down. Thanks…for, you know, listening…"

I smiled at Mrs. Hughes and she pulled me into a hug.

"Anytime, Winry."

Just then the oven timer went off, signifying that the cake was ready.

Sure enough, Elicia came bounding back into the kitchen.

"Is it ready?!"

"Almost, it's just got to cool down a little sweetie." Gracia said as she pulled the cake out of the oven and set it on the counter next to me.

We let it cool down for a little bit, but Elicia's energetic persistence made it difficult to wait the full 5 minutes.

Elicia and I had just finished covering the cake in a multitude of rainbow icing when Al and Ed came back into the kitchen.

Ed looked tired, and stressed.

Al had come over to the cake and had begun helping Elicia decorate it with different sprinkles and candy while Ed leaned against the doorframe.

I walked over to him, eyes full of worry.

"What's wrong?"

He looked as though he was about to respond, but stopped himself.

I could tell that he was going to say 'nothing'.

He looked down at me and said,

"Don't worry about it."

He gave me a smile, as if to reassure me, only it seemed as if he was more trying to reassure himself.

I decided to leave it at that for now, and I gave his hand a small squeeze before returning to the cake.

The decorations on it now spelled out "Elicia" and it appeared as though the little girl had dumped the entire container of sprinkles onto the middle of the cake.

"What do you think?" A grinning Elicia asked as she looked up at me.

"It's very colourful." I said with a small laugh.

"That's a bit of an understatement…" Al mumbled.

I grinned and began to sweep all the leftover sprinkles into my hand and put them in the garbage.

Elicia began to stick her finger in the icing on the cake and lick it, until her mum grabbed her hand and told her not to, that it was for everyone.

"Well. I guess it's about time I started cooking dinner." Gracia said with a small sigh, and everyone filed out of the kitchen.

I was the last one out, and just as I entered the hallway I saw Ed and Al disappear into their bedroom.

I stared at the closed door for a moment, before Elicia began calling to me to come play dolls with her.

Alright, so hopefully either in the next chapter or the next couple chapters, the story will pick up a bit.

I'm getting a bit tired of it, at least at the point I have it at right now, and so I'm looking to fix that XD

Either way, the next chapter should be more interesting and also up by the end of the week.

But, let me know what you think so far! And thank you to all those who favourited, and followed, and reviewed, etc.

You know I love you all. :3

Review! c:

- HazelEyes8D