Please see the previous authors note. Thank you.
I don't own FMA nor any of its characters.
Fool Me Once, But Fool Me twice?
The dawning of a new day only brought more rain and storms, however, it's not like there were too many complaints to be had, in fact for one girl, she much rather preferred waking up to darkness and rainfall than searing sunlight from her window.
The figure in the bed stirred when the shriek of an alarm went off and tried in vain a few times to silence it. Groggily rising from her bed, Winry shut the device off with a swift pound of her fist.
"I am so tired" she muttered to herself on her way to the shower. She hadn't slept at all that night thanks to her mind wishing to relive her first kiss again and again. She took her time getting ready that morning and even settled on wearing something even more non-descript than usual. She favored a pair of old jeans that were fading from constant washing and wear with a fitted, long sleeved dark grey shirt. Slipping into her shoes and lacing them properly, she grabbed her jacket and book bag before descending to the kitchen downstairs.
The lower level was quiet and for the second time in a row, Cain was not where he usually was at seven-thirty in the morning. Instead, Winry found a note taped to the banister of the stair case in her uncle's rushed and almost illegible script.
Be home by four, no later.
She sighed as she crumpled the small note and stuffed it into the pocket of her jeans. Throwing on her jacket and grabbing her umbrella again, she exited her house, locking the door securely behind her.
"I guess I should be happy that he actually agreed." She thought gently. She replayed the previous night in her head starting with when her uncle had graced her with his presence that night.
Winry had been sitting at the kitchen table with her science book opened to their latest chapter of study and her notebook flipped open to a blank page trying in vain to do the assigned work. In reality, she found her mind wondering elsewhere and that her pen was making little circles in the margins. She had just started reading the first paragraph of the importance of cellular growth and function for the third time when Cain had stumbled in, reeking of his latest exploits. He hadn't said a word to her except for an acknowledging grunt as he passed her to get to the stove where his dinner sat waiting for him.
Winry knew it was now or never and after a quick mental preparation, decided to ask him something.
"Umm, sir?" she did her best to keep her voice strong and unwavering.
"What?" Cain demanded as he wheeled to face her.
Under the table, her hands were wringing themselves and twisting into each other, a testament to the nerves that were over taking her body. "I was just wondering," she began, "I have a project worth like, forty percent of my grade and I was wondering if my partner could come over tomorrow so we can work on it?" The whole thing was spoken with few pauses that left the small girl almost breathless as she waited on his response.
Cain seemed to wobble back and forth slightly as he steadied himself. "Dude or broad?" he asked in a gruff voice.
Winry wasn't at all looking forward to that question and swallowed hard before answering. "Dude."
It seemed like an eternity before Cain walked forward until he was directly across from her on the opposite side of the table. Bracing his hands on the lacquered surface, he leaned forward until his nose was inches from the terrified girl. "I don't tolerate fucking whores in my house. Remember that." With those words piercing Winry's heart, he slammed his open palm onto the table top for emphasis and laughed a long cruel laugh when she visibly flinched in terror.
Pulling away and grabbing the plate of baked chicken and vegetables, Cain paused to momentarily regain his balance before walking out of the open doorway and into the living room where the television was featuring some late night comedy.
Releasing a terrified breath she wasn't aware she had been holding, Winry willed her body to relax itself and allowed a small smile to appear onto her lips.
"At least he said it was ok."
She sighed at the memory from last night and did her best to push the feeling of depression from her mind. She never cared for being called the things he insisted she was and all they did was make her feel terrible.
"Whatever", she thought dismally as she stepped over a particularly deep puddle in the sidewalk. He doesn't know anything. Trying to focus on a lighter topic in her mind, her thoughts started to drift to the particular short-tempered blonde that would be joining her that evening.
I still can't believe that really happened, she thought as a blush crept up her cheeks, I mean, it had to have been an accident, right? Come on Winry, you know you guys are just friends.
Arguing with herself, she was able to come to a decisive conclusion just as she entered the crowded building. Shaking her umbrella dry on the way to her locker, Winry was nearly knocked over by the excited young woman that was her best friend.
"I take it things went well?" Winry replied with a giggle in her voice as she and Riza walked to her locker so she could retrieve her necessary books for class.
"Surprisingly, yes." Riza admitted with a soft blush. "I never would have believed he could be such a gentleman." Seeing the look of disbelief on Winry's face made her continue her explanation. "He said I was beautiful, held doors open for me, and he didn't even make one crass joke." Riza finished with a faint blush dusting her face.
Winry smiled at the explanation, happy that Roy was smart enough to at least turn on the charm when it mattered. "So when are you seeing him again?"
Riza blushed lightly. "I don't know…" seeing the surprised look on Winrys face made her train of thought derail. "What?" she asked her friend skeptically.
"You kissed him didn't you?" It wasn't a question, but more of a statement and the embarrassed flush that took over Riza's face only confirmed her accusation. A large grin spread across the now cheerful blondes face as she started to belt out, "Riza and Roy sitting in a tree… K-I-S-S-I- oomph" Riza had succeeded in rounding on the shorter girl and covered her mouth with her hand. "Shut it Rockbell or I will shut it for you." She threatened before releasing her friend.
Winry just smiled a large, unwavering smile. "Whatever you say." She said with a laugh at Riza's scowl.
"hmph. At least someone is actually interested in me." Riza said with a mock huff as she crossed her arms and fell in stride with Winry. "I have never heard you even make a pass at a guy before."
Winry just chuckled. "I have no desire to. The moment I graduate I am saying good-bye to this hell hole once and for all and worrying about some stupid guy along with it isn't going to help me." Seeing the slightly concerned look on Riza's face, she shrugged her shoulders and added an afterthought. "Besides, can you imagine how much hell would be raised if Cain found out I was seeing someone? It would rain fire and brimstone for months on end." She replied, thinking of his comments from the night before.
Riza tried to change the subject to a more pleasant topic until they reached their destination. "Well, all I know is we have that test in math to worry about."
"Damnit. I knew I forgot something."
The first few classes flew by except for the afore mentioned math test which plagued the two girls and took them some time to complete. They went their separate ways some time later and before Winry knew it, she was sitting in her assigned seat for fourth period science.
I'm so exhausted, she thought as she rubbed her tired blue eyes. Glancing to her left, she took note that the weather wasn't exactly helping her situation either as rain still pounded the sidewalks and window panes.
"You look like hell." A familiar voice filled with mirth said, pulling her from her internal musings.
Winry immediately turned her head to see Ed flopping into the seat next to her, sporting his same golden hair pulled into a braid and the same cocky smirk on his face. His clothing was always kept simple, but it seemed he was prone to wearing darker shades and that day was no different. He decided to go with a pair of dark blue jeans with a long sleeved black shirt. His soaked, blood red, hooded sweatshirt was thrown over the back of his chair to try and relieve the dampness from it.
Realizing she was staring longer than what is deemed polite, she brought her downcast eyes to stare at the previous nights homework she had sitting on her desk. I can't believe it, I'm blushing! She thought as she felt her cheeks heat up. I mean, he doesn't even look phased! I'm sure that he didn't mean that kiss yesterday. It must have been a momentary lapse of judgment or something.
Vowing that must be it, she felt much more confident in asking him over. "I was thinking Ed-",
"That's a first" he interjected, laughing at the glare that was shot his way.
"I was thinking…" she began again, making sure to continue glaring to keep the laughing man from interrupting again. "That if you weren't busy tonight, you could come over and work on this project that's due next week."
Ed stopped laughing almost instantly as he weighed what she said in his mind. "You sure that's a good idea?" he asked in all seriousness, his gold eyes pierced her own as he searched for some unspoken answer to his question.
"Yes, its fine." She replied almost too quickly. "I already talked it over and he said it was fine." They both knew she didn't have to specify who "he" was.
Hesitantly Ed agreed and said to meet him by his car after classes ended for the day.
Just as their conversation ended, the bell rang and the teacher went by to pick up their assignments. Picking up Winry's, he raised a skeptical eyebrow, "I didn't know we had the next Picasso in our class", he said referring to the girls mindless doodles from the night before. Winry hung her head as another blush crept its way across her face, increasing in its intensity as Ed's laughter grew in decibels.
Jerk, she fumed silently, I knew that kiss was a mistake.
The rest of the day passed by in a blur and without incident, except for another almost physical education injury brought on by Winry's lack of attention.
Stupid basketball… she huffed internally as she gathered her books for the night and the project she had just completed in her machinery class. When will I ever need to learn to shoot a free-throw? Engineers don't need a skill like that.
Closing her locker, she started to make her way to Riza's to wish her friend a good night when seeing the back of a tall, dark haired man had her stopping in her tracks. What is this? She thought to herself as she crouched to avoid being seen. Riza was facing in Winry's direction and taking to Roy Mustang about something. Standing up again, Winry tip-toed closer to the couple to just detect the conversation was heading towards another date.
Spotting her friend, Riza tried not to let the blonde distract her as she averted her dark eyes back to Roy's. That only worked for so long. Shifting them back slyly, she had just enough of a moment to catch her friend waving good bye and waving her cell phone at her. Riza gave her a small smile and an even smaller nod of her head, indicating she would call her that night.
With a final thumbs up, Winry turned to walk the other way and out of the building where the storm was in full effect. Sighing, she headed out to the busy parking lot, not even bothering to open her umbrella and in the process, getting soaked. Spotting the familiar car in a parking space, Winry gently waved to the man inside the warm vehicle before opening the door and sliding in.
Ed offered her a smile before reversing out of the space and then driving out of the parking lot. It was on the way to her house that a thought occurred to her.
"I hadn't noticed before, but how come Al is never with you in the mornings or afternoons?"
Ed shrugged nonchalantly. "He goes to school early for some club and usually stays later for some other one. He's a good kid, a real over-achiever. He will do something with his life."
The last sentence had Winry's eyebrows knitting together in confusion. She wanted to ask, to delve deeper into his mind to find out what he meant, but she knew she shouldn't at that moment. She silently vowed to ask him later.
The car stopping brought both silent teens out of their thoughts when they stopped in front of Winry's two story house. Exiting, they made their way through the storm and effectively getting soaked all over again before they got to the front porch and through the door. They stood in the foyer grappling with their wet shoes before making the trek through the rest of the foyer and into a hallway that held the stair case leading to the second floor.
It seems normal enough, Ed thought to himself as he took notice of the still landscapes hanging on the wall of the staircase. The house looked more lived in than his own he compared dryly and upon first glance, no one would ever guess the things that would take place behind closed doors.
Coming to the landing, he took notice of the long hallway with one door directly across from the pair and with two others on both sides. "Your house is nice, I hadn't noticed before."
Winry shrugged her shoulders. "Not my house." The place would never be a home to her and in some cases, felt more like a prison. Going through the first door on the left, the pair made their way into Winry's bedroom where Ed took a seat onto her bed.
Winry's ears perked at the phones shrill ring and excused herself to quickly go get it, leaving Ed to his thoughts.
She's not that typical of a girl. He thought idly as he scanned the titles on her bookshelf. All were large bound books with some form of engineering or machinery in the title. She seems like a real gear-head.
Standing up, he crossed the room to her dresser where the clutter of random bolts, washers and screws had him chuckling. He was about to dismiss it when a single photo caught his eye. The frame was small and simple, just plain black with a single pane of glass.
Is that Winry? He thought as he brought the photo closer. The girl in the photo was tiny and Ed guessed her to be no older than five or six. She was wearing jean overalls over a light pink, short sleeved shirt and her long blond hair was tied into two pigtails on the side of her head. Her sapphire eyes shone with the innocence of childhood and happiness as she was playing with a dog at the foot of the adults. Letting his eyes roam over the rest, he noticed two women sitting in the wrought iron chairs of their garden.
It was probably taken outside, Ed thought as his eyes landed on the first and the older of two women. Creepy, Ed thought as he took notice of the older woman's large glasses, pulled back hair and masculine pipe in her mouth. He shifted his gaze to the other woman sitting opposite.
That has to be her mother, the similarity is uncanny. Truly it was. Both mother and daughter had the same beautiful eyes and gorgeous smiles that Ed had noticed of Winry on rare occasion. That must be her father, Ed thought as he took notice of the man crouched down next to the young Winry on the ground. He had a large, warm smile and the same sunflower hair as his daughter though his eyes were darker.
"That's my family."
Ed turned to the doorway to see Winry standing with two glasses of water in hand. Setting them down on the desk she walked until their shoulders were touching and peered into the same frame as him.
"My mother and father," she said as she pointed to them. Her fingers danced across the smooth glass as she walked them over to the older lady. "My grandmother on my mother's side," she pointed with a smile.
Ed set the frame back onto the smooth wooden surface of her dresser. "You said they died, right?" Ed asked softly.
She nodded her head in response. "That was their last summer. They died that winter in a car accident."
Ed walked back to take his seat on her soft comforter while she sat opposite him in her desk chair. "How come you don't live with your grandmother? I'm sure you would be treated infinitely better." He asked quizzically.
Winry swiveled her chair to face the polished surface of her desk. "I had just turned six when they were killed and the lawyer argued that my grandmother was not capable of caring for someone so young. Complete bullshit if you ask me." She did her best to keep her voice calm and level as she started to clear off her work station. "Cain was the relative that got stuck with me." She packed some books up and crossed the room to shelve them in their proper place before returning.
"Stuck with you?" Ed's golden eyes never left her moving figure as he watched her.
She nodded tersely. "No one wanted me. My father's family had not approved of their marriage to begin with and fought tooth and nail to wash their hands of us." She pulled out her science book and the project rubric and flipped to the chapter their project was on. "I don't know how and I don't know why, but Cain took me in." she finished as she brought her eyes to Ed's.
"Why didn't you leave when you were more grown? I'm sure your grandmother would have won custody if she tried."
Winry shrugged at the question, something she had often wondered herself. "I didn't want to burden her. Her daughter and son-in-law are dead and it would break her heart if she heard that her only living child was beating her granddaughter." She turned her back to him to start skimming over the paragraphs in the text book, "And I would never be able to live with myself if I did that." She added quietly and more to herself than to the man that had inquired.
Plastering a fake smile onto her lips she cheerfully asked, "So, any ideas for this thing?"
The two teens had worked diligently through the afternoon and early evening, once they both actually agreed on something. Truth be told, they spent more time arguing about the project than actually doing it, which probably would have cut the time it took them to complete it in half.
Sighing, Winry collapsed onto her backside on the floor, her hands a rainbow of marks from the sharpies they used. "Finished." She said tossing an orange sharpie into a pencil box.
From his sitting position on the floor, Ed scrutinized their display board appreciatively. "I still think the diagram should be on the left."
Winry tossed a marker at him, effectively nailing him in the head as it bounced off to another side of the room. "It goes in the center! That should be the first thing they see!"
"Whatever gear head. How would you know what looks good? " He smirked as he knew the next insult would set her off. "You're too much of a tomboy to have any valid input on looking good."
Blushing in both embarrassment and fury, Winry scowled at the laughing man. "I may be a tomboy but at least I won't have a problem being taller than my boyfriend…Shorty." She laughed as Ed's laughter turned into a growl and a glare directed at her.
"SHORTY? WHO ARE YOU CALLING SHORTY?" he demanded as he flailed his fists in anger. "I'LL HAVE YOU KNOW I AM AVERAGE HEIGHT FOR A MAN MY AGE!"
Her laughter didn't subside in the slightest as she got to her feet to roll their poster board into a secure tube. She deftly wound a rubber band around it, securing the poster board into its elastic prison before handing Ed the rolled up tube.
"You're in charge of it." She told him as he took it from her after standing to his feet.
"Yeah, yeah…" Ed stretched his arms above his head before letting them fall to his sides. "I should get going. I'm sure Al is wondering where I have gone off to." He said as he grabbed his book bag from the floor.
The two teens walked out of Winry's room and into the hallway and down the stairs to the front door. I am surprised he isn't home yet, Winry thought with concern. Cain was never necessarily "predictable" but he was known to have a pattern to his days and evenings and when he deviated from it, it usually spelled disaster for the young girl. Pushing it to the back of her mind, Winry opened the oak door to see that it was in fact still raining just as hard as it was during the day. Frowning when Ed slung his hoody on, she couldn't help but remark, "You really should wear a jacket or take an umbrella or something. You will get sick if you keep going out in this."
Ed shrugged her concerns off. "I am pretty resilient." He stepped out onto the overhang of her porch and faltered for a moment. "Hey, I was wondering." He started as he turned to face her.
Confused as to why he seemed so apprehensive, Winry enquired further. "What is it?" Usually he would just ask anything, regardless of what kind of subject matter.
Suddenly finding the ground interesting, Ed readjusted his bag onto his shoulder. "I was wondering if, maybe you would want to hang out again…like maybe Saturday night?" He asked as a light blush spread across his cheeks.
Confused, Winry responded, "Of course Ed, were friends I would imagine we would hang out more, but Saturday is fine."
Staring at her incredulously for at least two seconds, Ed just sighed and buried his face in his hand. "That's not what I meant Winry." He said as pinched the bridge of his nose. Bringing his golden eyes to hers and trying unsuccessfully to stop blushing, he tried again. "I mean the two of us, and maybe go to a movie or something."
Winry blinked once, then twice. "Again Ed, I didn't realize we had to schedule time to ha-" the words died on her lips as the young man's patience ran thin.
"Damnit Winry I'm trying to ask you out!" he interrupted, finally having had enough.
Stunned into silence, it was a full minute before she found her voice again. Blushing even more than him, her eyes slid down to stare at the ground at their feet.
"Why didn't you say so in the first place?" she enquired softly.
Ed's blush deepened as he turned his head to the other side "I did, you're just too thick headed."
Deciding to let that one slide, she raised her eyes to his and offered him a beautiful smile in return. "Yes then, Saturday it is."
Releasing a breath of air he wasn't aware he had been holding, Ed nodded once in agreement before turning to walk to his car. He got about halfway across the front lawn before winning a mental war with himself and turning back around to jog back to the startled girl.
"I'm probably pushing my luck" he laughed lightly as water droplets slid down his face and hair, "but…" Leaning in, he pressed his warm lips to Winry's cold ones for a fraction of a moment. "Get inside its cold out here." He whispered to her before smiling one last time and jogging back to his car. Too stunned to move, Winry leaned against the open door frame long after Ed's black car was out of sight.
"Did that…really just happen?" she asked herself. Mechanically, Winry moved back into the house and shut the door quietly. "Well, one thing is for damn sure. You don't make the same mistake twice in a row."
So thats chapter 11!
Hard to believe I am writing again. I apologize ten thousand times over but I can confidently say I am continuing this story. I have actually found a scheduled time to write now so as long as I keep to it, everything should be good and dandy. I have really missed this.
Chapter twelve soon to be brought to a computer screen near you! Please Review!
