Title: Make-Up
Pairing: Al/Winry
Type: Post-series AU/Continuation challenge.
For: IrethFefalas
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She wore make-up everyday now. It was repetitive and expected of a teenage girl. She always spent a few minutes every morning to do who-knows-what to her face. Powder her nose, he guessed. He could easily remember a time when she had sneered at the other girls in the small school who 'wasted' money on the 'useless' cosmetics. When charged with being only jealous, she had answered that she could wear make-up anytime she wanted. Then the other girls would say that the make-up would be her mom's and end up running away like sissies when she went to tackle them. It didn't seem that long ago to him when she had frowned on it, but it was. Oh, it wasn't like the make-up was too heavy, or made her look bad -she was unbelievably pretty -it was just so natural on her.
It made his heart ache that something so natural to her he could not remember. He felt worse knowing his childhood friend suddenly grew up without him. She comforted him often, telling him that it was all right. It wasn't his fault that his brother and four years of his life were taken away from him.
It just felt like his fault that her two childhood friends were gone or too far detached. She must feel so horrible. She must be trying to hide it all. From who? Who? He couldn't remember all the people she tried to tell him about and could only wonder why and for who she put on the make-up for.
Alphonse could remember one time when she had twirled a red coat around in front of him. "Do you remember? Al, do you remember?" It was so known to her and his own subconscious found it strangely familiar but his conscious could not know why. Had no clue why. But he didn't want to say no.
He would wander around the Rockbell home trying to remember what felt like something important that could restore his brother because Winry and himself needed it. He wanted to repay her four years of solace that he could not recollect with his brother. They both missed Edward.
He could only comfort her back constantly and would cry with her whenever she burst abruptly into tears while working on automail, shaking her head and sobbing "I miss Ed, I miss him, I miss him so much!"
He would hurt with her too.
He felt insanely young while he hurt inside, rubbing her back as he heard her mumble his brother's name over and over again. "I miss him too," he said.
He always meant to comfort her, take care of her whenever Edward made her mad. It didn't surprise him that the words were too true and then he started crying too watching her mascara/her eyeliner/make-up run black trails down her face.
Alphonse noticed then that she held his helmet in front of her. He could remember that prison that he'd been trapped in for months and then there would only be now. Here. Holding Winry as she slid down to the floor with metal parts strewn around her weeping.
"I miss him too; I miss nii-san too."
She hugged the helmet closer. It was the old Alphonse wasn't it? He missed something now, he had for a long time. Al held her in human arms that Edward had traded everything for.
"Shh. Shh. It's fine. Everything's fine. I'll get him back. Just you see. Open your eyes, Winry."
He could talk for years to stop the sound of her crying to make her feel better. Slowly, it stopped and she hiccuped a bit feeling foolish. Sniffled despite herself.
"You don't have to wear the make-up you know," Al added shortly. He hugged her, the only one who could know Edward as well as he did, as she hugged the helmet and leaned against him. Him.
And she had smiled then -in his recovered memories- and had stopped wearing make-up the very next day.
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A/N: What can I say?
I was taking requests (still am, hint hint) and my friend here decided to give me a real challenge. She wanted post-series het. I delivered. Review?