"Mm, I'm bored..." I hummed, sprawled on my back next to Winry. It was hot and humid in this strange place we arrived in nine days ago, apparently the middle of summer, and it felt like my automail was searing my skin.

Hell, it still does.

"Well, do something about it!" Winry snapped to my right. I pursed my lips and growled slightly before rolling onto my side and glaring in her direction.

"Alright, i've over-looked it for the past hour- why the hell are you so pissy right now?" I tried to keep the snap out of my voice, but it wasn't very well pulled off.

She didn't bother to look at me, staring at the ceiling in her trademark tubetop and jumpsuit. "Oh, I think you know- pipsqueak."

I snarled back, matching her vigor easily. "Who's a pipsqueak?" I rolled over again to hover over her with narrowed eyes. She glared back and blew a strand of hair from her face. "And no, I don't know, that could be why i'm asking!"

"Well, for starters, it's fucking hot, you're being a jackass, and we're trapped in some other world because of your stupid Alchemy!" She hissed, trying to push me off. She's strong, but it was still in vain.

"Well, I can't really do anything about the heat, Winry, and you know that isn't my faul-"

"Oh, really? I thought Alchemy could do everything. Isn't Alchemy the answer to all of our problems, Ed?"

I bristled, my shoulders locking in place and my nose wrinkling.

She doesn't mean it like that, Ed, she's just not thinking about that... she's not...

"You and I know very damn well that Alchemy can't do everything and it's not the answer to all of our problems!" I spat, my glare jerking toward the wall and my ponytail almost angrily slapping her cheek lightly.

.

.

Summer. With it, brought the intense sun and it's heat, searing heat the burned the tips of your skin and made your throat always dry. It was the heat that coiled inside your stomach and made you squirm because you knew that it wasn't the type of heat you were talking about and only that you can feel it.

Even though in summer, the heat can burn you, I know that this type of heat is only because he's there and he's so close that I can count the number of his long eyelashes.

But, of course, with the burning in my stomach plus the uncomfortable-ness, I had to snap at him - even when both he and I were at our wit's end, teetering on the edge of snapping and sighing at the same time. I know that I shouldn't have blushed when he rolled over and glared at me with his sun-colored eyes, I knew that I shouldn't irritate him and push him more than I already had with the knowledge he already knew, but I couldn't help it.

All our problems. That stupid idiot; he could never understand, was he really that dense? Our problems. Us. Both of us. Together or not, it was so unclear, but I hated being in the fog and not knowing when he smiles at me, he does it because he wants to or he does it because he doesn't want to worry me.

After he heatedly (this word was coming up too often) told me again what I (and he) already knew, I swallowed and looked away. His hair tickled my face and I could barely smell the faint scent of wood before he looked away too.

"...I know." I said after a while. "But...I still want to go home."

I fiddled with my fingers, not exactly sure how I could continue talking to him now. It was so hard. So, so hard to look him in the face and say what I was really feeling. "I'll get us home," I felt his fingers touch my face and bring it up to look at mine. His eyes were soft, and he wouldn't look away. "I promise, I'll get us home."

I'll get your body back.

It sounded so familiar, a promise that he'd always make to himself, based on someone else. First it was Al - he was always first - and then...now it was with me. I'll get us home. And in those words were the same determination that I could never comprehend, never get tired of. It was refreshing and exhilarating at the same time.

I reached up a hand to touch his with mine, feeling the warmth spread to my face. I curled my fingers around his gently, and nodded.

"I know you will." I mutter back softly. "I know you will."

.

.

Realization that we were holding hands came pretty slowly. When it did my face heated up more than it already had and I began to notice other things. Like, per say, that we were in a kind of suggestive position. I felt my eyes widen and I casually flopped back over onto my back, keeping my hand loosely linked with hers.

"I mean, you've got a lot of people that depend on you, huh? Saving lives, and all that jazz." I stretched my arms (and, coincidentally, her's) over my head, clawing at the air slightly and arching my back before falling limp again. "Can't keep you all to myself... Err, I mean, we can't keep you all toourselves, me and Al." I explained quickly, giving a nervous chuckle and looking back over at my mechanic with a small smile.

.

.

I nodded, not even recognizing his small mistake. I was too focused of the heat in my stomach and the missing warmth of his hand against my face. I let my hand fall to my lap limply, and nodded numbly.

"You have a lot of people depending on you too," I responded. "Mister Mustang, Miss Riza, Miss Gracia and Elysia. The people of Amestris, those people who all look up to you, want to be like you. Everyone who wants to see the famous Fullmetal Alchemist for themselves..." I trailed off on the last part, keeping silent and talking to myself so he wouldn't hear.

But I could see that he stared from me in his peripheral vision, and I knew he heard every single word.

.

.

I scoffed and rolled my eyes. "No one should want to be like me," I frowned as he hand left mine, thought I wouldn't admit it outloud. "Alchemist be thou for thy people, i'm not doin' anything special, Win, just what I'm supposed to." I yawned and put my hand to my mouth.

"Plus, it's not the people that want to see me that matter, it's the people that knew me before I was famous. If fame is what you could call it." I shrugged and rolled my shoulder uncomfortably, the heat stinging the scar tissue on my shoulder.

"I guess it's also a good thing that we're gone. We could really use a break once in a while- and I was starting to get sick of that bastard and his egotistical ways." I grimaced and rose my hand to scratch the scar on my abdomen. "But I'll get us home. I swear, I will."

I sighed and stretched again, rolling my spine slightly and twisting to an awkward angle before falling limp again. "But for now, I'm tired, and hot, and I don't want to do anything."

.

.

I shook my head; I hated it when he just acted so modest for something that he shouldn't be, and when the unnecessary things come along he brags and boasts. Perhaps that's what gets me irritated so much.

"I'll get us home. I swear."

I know.

I was tempted to say it. It became something automatic when he said the same thing over and over, but both he and I meant it.

He moved to an awkward angle on the bed we shared at the Leaky Cauldron, and the curve of his neck was covered in small beads of sweat. I frowned. Then, I sighed and placed a hand on his arm and jerked him back to lie on his back on the flat mattress, and curled myself under his arm. I didn't blush, thankfully, but buried my face in his side and made myself comfortable there.

It wasn't nighttime yet - barely noon, but his scent made me drowsy. "If you're uncomfortable, say so, idiot." I murmured. "And you know that you enjoy that fame inside, a little bit." I yawned. My eyelids were closing. Maybe I should sleep next to him more when I'm not tired. He was so warm but I didn't feel like moving. "But...Ed...promise me...when we get home, that you'll stay..."

.

.

What the hell is she doing? I flopped over with a huff as she pushed me onto my back and furrowed my eyebrows as she moved my arm. My face heated... err... considerably when she curled into my side and nuzzled there.

"I did say that I was uncomfortable. I'm hot, and tired." I rose an eyebrow as she kneaded her thumb into where the automail connects with my skin. I snorted and shook my head. "No, I really don't like the fame," Maybe a little. "It's annoying when everybody mobs you on the street asking you to fix their toasters, and shit." But really, it doesn't take that long. "And still, no one should try to be like me." really, they shouldn't.

I frowned as she yawned and nuzzled my side again. I was tempted to say something like 'you know, you're not helping with the whole "I'm fucking hot" thing' but shrugged it off and instead focused on how cute she looked when she was sleepy. I sighed and ruffled her hair with my left hand, rolling slightly onto my side and placing my automail in a clothed spot as to not burn her skin.

"But... Ed... promise me... when we get home, that you'll stay..."

I yawned and pressed my forehead to her's. "Yeah, I will."

A nap sounds really good right now, actually...

.

.

As per usual, courtesy of Annie and Summer. :-)

Annie - Ed
Summer - Winry

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