Silkspun Dreams III

all grown up - ed

Ed had always been just Ed. Winry never looked at him past that. He wasn't even seen as a costumer to her, even if he only ever came to visit when he needed his automail fixed. When she looked at him, all she saw was Edward. Ed the scrawny young boy who was her close childhood friend and now had many demons tormenting his fragile mind. But Winry had only seen that fragile side of him once and that was when everything had begun to change. It became the time when suddenly Ed wasn't just Ed.

It had started normally enough. Ed had come for automail repair as usual. However Winry had to do a double take when he walked in when she noticed his hair fell around his face in a tangled mess. (Later Winry found out it was like this because he had somehow lost his hair tie on the train.) She had to fight the urge to comb her fingers through the golden locks and blushed when she noticed how handsome he looked like that... how wild and untamed. And that was with his clothes on. Clothing was a hindrance to automail maintenance. Even just rolling up a sleeve or a pant leg could cause problems. The shyer costumers were offered a free flowing robe if removing their clothing was absolutely necessary and usually it was. Yet it had never really been an issue with Ed. Wandering around her house shirtless or only in his boxers between maintenance was just something he did. That was just Ed.

But since Ed was suddenly no longer just Ed, Winry found herself blushing like an idiot when he stripped down to his boxers and plopped lazily down on the couch, obviously weary from travel. He arched an eyebrow at her when he noticed the flush on her cheeks, but said nothing. Winry quickly went to work to distract her eyes, starting the repairs on his leg. But her eyes had plans of their own and continued to stray. She found herself constantly looking up at him, blushing furiously when he caught her a few times. It was very odd for Winry to suddenly discover her scrawny childhood friend was actually quite the looker. After so many years of Ed just being Ed only to have it abruptly turn around left Winry understandably dazed and confused. She was just beginning to notice so many things about him for the first time. Like how well built his chest and stomach were. Perfectly toned muscles underneath skin marred and turned rough by many scars. It instantly struck fear into her as her eyes lingered on a particularly nasty scar cutting across his chest. She suddenly had a strong urge to run her fingers tips across his muscles and scars.

"Your face is turning really red," Ed suddenly commented.

Winry lost her grip on the tool she was using and it crashed loudly to the floor, causing Ed to turn to her. He smirked in amusement as she quickly fumbled to pick it back up.

"Oi, what's with you?" He asked innocently, but he was still smirking.

Winry's eyes twitched. He was clearly teasing her and definitely wasn't as innocent as he had tried to sound. This surprised her a bit, considering she knew Ed to be pretty dense about these types of things. However given his smirk, he knew exactly what was going on and decided to only make things more difficult for her. She muttered something incoherent and went back to work. Ed just continued to grin and settled back, satisfied with his victory for now. He didn't let her be at peace for long, though, before he began to poke her with his flesh foot playfully before he took to rubbing his foot against her side, making her blush terribly and squirm. Not only did it tickle, but it felt kinda nice too. Whether Ed meant anything suggestive by his actions or not would never be determined. He was too busy being amused by her reaction to it to really think about it.

Although severally distracted, Winry managed to finish both his arm and leg within two hours. She fought with both Ed and her wandering eyes the entire time. She then stood, moving out of his reach quickly, and cleaned her hands on a rag already stained with oil.

"There, finished," She huffed, still a bit flustered and annoyed with his actions earlier. "That should hold you over for awhile, at least."

Winry turned to move away before he tried anything else, but apparently Ed wasn't done teasing her yet. He caught her wrist with his flesh hand before she could flee. He brought her hand to his face and kissed her finger tips gently, brushing is lips across all five fingers in a feather light kiss. His lips lingered on her soft skin a moment before he glanced up at her and smirked devilishly at how red her face had gone.

"Thanks."

He stood after this simple word and rubbed his lower back, a bit sore form sitting so long on the train ride and now on the couch. He then wandered away into his room where Al awaited, gathering his discarded clothes as he did. And Winry was merely left standing there in shock, face red and cradling the hand he had kissed against her heart.