Warnings and Disclaimers: Any and all characters from the anime or manga Fullmetal Alchemist do not belong to me. I only torture them for some stories. There may be some teenage content in the story but it is very limited. This story is set after the movie which means there are some spoilers and if you have no idea what any of this may be about, then don't come crying to me please. It's not my fault, I warned you -:sheepish grin:-.
Seasons
Summer: Youth
Chapter 12
By: RomanceFanFicLover
Pinako watched as the blonde alchemist grimaced into the quickly approaching sunset. He had returned from Central with Winry four days before, but they still hadn't exchanged many words.
There wasn't any tension though, Pinako had noticed, just a strain on their relationship; one that wasn't there before they had originally left for Central with al in tow. When Al and Winry had returned alone Al reassured her that nothing happened to Ed, but that he had said he had nothing in Risembool to come home to. Yet, a mere two days later there was a phone call and Winry came running from the phone frantically searching for her toolbox and her coat; Ed was calling for her in Central, he was to come home.
Chewing on her empty pipe, Pinako narrowed her eyes on the boy's back. He was always changing, yes, but now he had changed differently; maturing through pain and loss is strong, but maturing through emotion and socialization is also strong.
"Auntie Pinako, will they be okay?" Al whispered beside her, a kitten slumbering peacefully in his lap.
"That there is one of Nelly's kitties now isn't it?" Pinako chuckled heartily at the blush she received as a response. "Yes, yes. Those two will be alright; I'll make sure of it. Now shall we head inside?"
Al watched the elderly woman throttle back inside and nearly shook with fear. He knew she meant well, but when she got like that….it was creepy. Shaking off the feeling, Al followed her inside.
Ed relaxed as Al's presence faded away from him. Not that he disliked his brother's presence, it was just that he really wanted some time alone.
"I hate loving her but I would hate hating her. So would I like liking her? Does that even make sense?" Ed shook his body in frustration before falling back against the truck of the tree he was leaning on. "Why can't this shit be simple like alchemy!" His whining voice was carried into the distance as he slumped down into an angry pout.
"Why the long face?" Winry appeared above him and Ed released s startled yell. "You're pathetic, you used to fight battles but you're scared of a beautiful young girl like me? Terrible, simply terrible." She continued muttering as she pulled out her toolbox.
Eyeing the wrench she had just taken out, Ed raised an eyebrow in suspicion. "What are you doing?"
"Your weekly maintenance check is today" came the muffled response from the lid of the large toolbox. Reached out to analyze the damage, Winry clucked her tongue in disappointment. "You're not even fighting anymore and you still treat my poor baby so poorly." Winry scolded as she cradled her creation lovingly.
Ed scoffed at her but watched in awe as she quickly began her work on his arm and leg. It was amazing how much she had improved since he had been gone; what used to take her half a day now took her half an hour.
"Done!" Winry sat back on her heels, swiping away the small bead of sweat that rolled down her cheek. "It's already so hot for early June…." She sighed, staring up into the boughs of the tree above.
"Yeah…" Ed murmured as he curiously watched a bead of sweat travel from her chin, down her neck, down her chest and slowly crawling past the collar of her shirt.
"Ed…" the threatening note she held in her voice caused Ed to looked up cautiously. She stared at him with one eyebrow cocked upwards in a mixture of annoyance and surprise. "What are you looking at…?" The upturned eyebrow twitched dangerously.
"Looking…" Ed searched his suddenly blank mind before realization dawned on him and he glanced at the smirking girl warily before gulping, "…at? Me? Oh, nothing special."
"I see." Winry snapped before standing up quickly and turning sharply on her heel towards the house.
"Wait, I was joking!" Winry kept walking, not missing a single step. "It was actually…quite interesting?" This statement rewarded him with Winry's abrupt stop and death-wishing glare. "Or…not?" He called to her quickly retreating form."
"Brother…" Ed screamed as his brother's olive-grey eyes peeked out at him from the leaves above his head. "…you scream like a girl."
Now it was Ed's turn to cock an eyebrow in annoyance. "What!"
"Nothing." Swinging out of the tree, Al stretched out beside his brother. "You're not very good with girls, are you?"
Ed's eyebrow twitched slightly; he probably got this habit from Winry. "What?"
"You ask a lot of question Brother." Al yawned into his hand, turning his head to lazily stare at his enraged elder brother. "I could answer some questions you might have about girls, Brother."
"Isn't that my line?" Ed asked; his tone dangerously low.
"It would be, Brother, but you seem to be having…mechanical difficulties." A loud tearing sound followed by the swish of leaves and the frightened yelp of Al intrigued Winry to look out the workroom window.
Upon catching wind of what they were shouting at each other, Winry returned to the stuffy room and shut the window, tightly. Shaking her head, she tried to smother the muffled, but still loud, screams that erupted from the two men on her lawn.
"AL! I'M GOING TO KILL YOU; I DON'T LIKE HER!"
"BECAUSE YOU LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOVE HER!" Al tossed back over his shoulder, once again running from the eldest Elric.
"I-….STOP ACTING CHILDISH!"
"YOU'RE MORE CHILDISH THAN ME!"
"HOW IS THAT! ARE YOU CALLING ME SHORT! ARE YOU! HUH! HUH BLONDEY!"
"BROTHER, YOU'RE NOT MAKING SENSE!"
"I'M GOING TO KILL YOU ANYWAYS!"
"BROTHER…!"
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Completely exhausted from the activities earlier that day, Ed stared up at the ceiling fan that generated the soft 'whiz' sound that floated around his head. Using his arms as a pillow and crossing his ankles tenderly, he avoided sleep by concentrating on his thoughts.
"Ed, dinner's ready." Winry called from downstairs.
"I'll come down later." He answered her restlessly.
A muffled screech of annoyance was heard before she yelled up the stairs, "Dinner is for dinner time you moron, get down here!"
"I don't want any!" Ed roared back at her, his frustration rising as her feet slammed up the stairs angrily.
The door flew open and Winry glared at him from the doorway. "Why not. You always want food."
"I'm not Gluttony. I just don't feel well today." Ed muttered. As Winry became to speak he hurried to interrupt her, "It's not my automail, I just feel depressed." Nodding quietly in understanding, Winry closed the door softly and walked away.
Ed waited until he hear the creak of the stares before her cursed loudly and rolled over in irritation.
Depressed! Ha! He was down right pissed the hell off! That Johnny boy had called; the jeweler kid. Winry picked up the phone and stayed on the phone for two hours, but not only that. Afterwards when he asked her, rather politely in his opinion, what the damn call was about she had said it was a business order.
"I think not!" Ed scoffed into the empty room, eyes narrowing dangerously on the ceramic vase that lay on the windowsill to his right.
The vase had a stunning blue color; one of Winry's favorite colors, the color of Jonathon's eyes.
"Ed!" Winry exclaimed in shock, eyes round like saucers and staring at the scene before her. "Y-You're hand…what-…what are you doing!"
A soft splashing sound caught Ed's attention as something dripped off his left hand. Slowly, turning his head towards his left, Ed gaped at the shattered vase in his left hand.
"I-…I didn't-…it wasn't even my metal-…I-I didn't realize…" Ripping his gaze away from the shattered ceramic, to his bloody hand, to Winry's stunned expression, Ed felt his head spin as the pain finally shot up from his hand and into his body.
Carefully scrutinizing every inch of her body, Ed realized that Winry's knees were shaking and her hands were unconsciously rising to her face.
He hesitantly took an unstable step towards her. "Winry…I-"
"I'll get the first aid kit!" Running out of the room, Ed stared as the last wisp of her blonde ponytail seemed follow her in slow-motion.
Dropping to his knees, Ed felt nauseous; he had no idea what had happened and the blood dripping down his hand was making him feel ill. Ed gasped in shock as he found himself on the bed, Al and Pinako now present as well as Winry.
"Brother?" Lolling his head to the side to look at his younger brother, Ed felt his head spin again and clenched his eyes shut against it. "Brother!"
"He needs rest, Al. We'll come back in the morning."
"But Granny…?"
"Come on Winry, it's what he needs right now." Pinako's voice was soft, but quickly changed to a sterner voice after a short pause. "I forbid either of you to enter this room tonight."
Ed strained his ears; he could barely understand what they were arguing about now. He just wanted to sleep and get rid of his raging headache and the pain in his hand and arm.
Winry watched as Ed's sweat-laden eyelids drifted closed. "Granny, what's wrong with him. It's just a cut on his hand."
"Ah, but dear that vase had very old and very dirty water in it. I believe he has an infection." When Winry moved to interrupt her, she held up a wrinkled hand. "I gave him disinfectants and now he just needs to fight off the fever. He should be fine by morning if he gets the rest he needs. Which is why you are forbidden to come in here tonight."
"Not even to-?"
"Not even to check up on him or anything. If he calls for someone, come get me." Pinako stared into the misty blue eyes of her granddaughter before she turned away and held open the door for the two conscious teenagers. "Out."
Winry nodded and got up but Al remained seated at the bed.
Compassion spilled into Al's voice. "Brother…" His toned changed dramatically as he stood up. "You're so careless! Always getting sick! And he's supposed to be the older, more mature one…" He muttered absently as he passed Pinako.
When Winry and Al had returned to their own respective bedrooms, Pinako hobbled over to Ed's side and replaced the wet cloth that lay across his forehead with a cooler one.
"You stupid, stupid boy. Making people worry like that." Pinako scolded Ed's prone form. "Never worry people who love you; that should be your new mission. Let's see how you handle that on military boy." Pinako smirked into the room.
"Win…"
Pinako looked down at the sweating blonde in surprise. "Win?" she mumbled curiously, a familiar fire lighting her eyes.
"Win…ry"
Rushing out of the room, Pinako hurried into her own room, rustling through her dressers. "Now where did I put that tape recorder…?"
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Sunlight streamed through the window, sprawling itself against Ed's sleeping figure. Fluttering his eyes open, only to close them against the sunlight, Ed struggled to get into a sitting position and groaned.
"Brother! Are you alright! What hurts! What do you need!" Al rambled on his list of concerned questions.
"Al!" The boy looked at him and nodded weakly in response. "Get me food" Ed whined pathetically.
"Auntie! Food!"
"Get it yourself you damn lazy child!" came the angered response.
Smiling sheepishly, Al murmured "I'll be back soon" and hurried down to the kitchen.
Leaning back into the pillows, Ed stared at his bandaged hand. "Am I crazy…?"
"Haven't we been through this already? If you're talking to yourself than yes, you are." Winry laughed meekly, a concerned smile resting on her face.
"How long was I out for?"
"Just the night. You got a small infection from the vase you destroyed. Nothing major, thankfully." She started to walk towards him, but turned to the chair on the other side instead. "So…Why did you break it Ed?" Winry asked as she seated herself on the wooden chair.
Shrugging stubbornly, Ed looked away from her and focused his gaze on the scene outside the window. "I don't know."
"What did it call you short? Don't just do ridiculous things like that. What if that vase was valuable? What if I needed that vase?" She scolded from her position beside him. "What if-?"
"Shut up, Winry. Leave me alone. Go call Jonathon or something; get that job done. Just get away from me."
"Brother! That was uncalled for!" Al lectured as he walked into the room and carefully placed the try of food on the stand beside Ed.
"No, Al. It's fine, I'll leave. I'm probably just a nuisance anyways." Looking up weakly through her bangs, Winry smiled sadly. "Catch up, you guys rarely seem to just talk now."
Her chair toppled over as she abruptly got up and ran from the room. Her door closed loudly, but not enough to be considered slamming. Al looked at his brother disapprovingly but decided to detour from the topic.
"Auntie Pinako made some of your favorites." Al forced out cheerfully as he presented the food to his sibling. "Would you like help? I could go outside and help Auntie Pinako with the herb garden if you would prefer to be alone."
Ed nodded gratefully, "Yeah, thanks Al." He waited until he heard his door close before he let the grimace he had been holding back, seep into his face.
"She's probably crying…" Ed thought out loud. He hadn't meant to hurt her, but she was just so difficult sometimes. Ed was sure he'd be so much more believable if he had something to justify that with.
He honestly wasn't very sure why he had attacked the poor vase. It was incredibly stupid; even for him. All he could remember was associating the vase's color with the jeweler-bastard's eye color. Was that enough to provoke him to attack a piece of ceramic artwork?
Scoffing at his own stupidity, Ed propped up the pillows behind him and sat up a little higher. "The vase was pretty though, it's a shame." Shaking his head and laughing lightly at his sudden appreciation for art, Ed refocused on his original thoughts.
'I don't even remember getting up to grab the vase. I just remember Winry standing in the doorway; looking at me so…weird.' Ed knew he'd seen that look before; it was so familiar.
He reached for the try of food and started to satisfy his hunger, taking a sip of the water his brother had replaced milk with occasionally. When his plate was clean and his stomach full, Ed continued to sip the water distractedly as he once again examined his behavior earlier.
"Am…Am I…jealous?" He asked the empty room incredulously. "No, Am I that jealous!"
Ed's grip on the glass slackened slightly as he sat in shock. It certainly explained why he had gotten so mad when she was on the phone with him. And why whenever she wore jewelry he insulted her appearance and scoffed at her choice of jewelry. He was a possessive bastard that couldn't even take claim on what he was possessive about, therefore leaving everything else to face the wrath of his anger. Risembool was set for destruction.
A loud yelp echoed through the room and Winry burst through the door, worry etched into her features. "What's wrong?" she huffed dramatically.
"Cold, cold, cold!" Ed whimpered as he placed the now empty glass on the tray and ripped the wet sheets away from his mostly bare body. He paused as Winry's laughter filled the room. "What's wrong?" This made Winry laugh harder for some reason and Ed narrowed his eyes in annoyance.
"Y-Your…" Another fit of giggled took over her ability to talk.
"My…?" Ed asked, his patience wearing thin.
"B-B…Boxers…are…!" Winry covered her eyes now and turned her back to him, her giggling winding down finally. Clearing her throat, Winry peered over her shoulder with a blush heated her face as she quickly turned around again and got caught up in her giggles.
"What about my goddamned boxers! You've seen them enough times! They're either plain white or plain blue! They don't have little duckies on them or anything!" Ed roared as his patience snapped as the volume of her laughter increased tenfold.
"E-Exactly!" Wiping the tears in her eyes, Winry gasped her explanation out between giggles, "They are…white…and…the water…"
Realization dawned on Ed and he hastily grabbed for the wet sheets again. "Y-You…You PERVERT! GET OUT! OUT, OUT, OUT, OUT, OUT!"
Winry squealed as pillows, sheets, flowers, chairs and trays were thrown at her. "I'm leaving! I'm leaving!"
As his door closed, Ed kneeled in the middle of his bed, a sheet wrapped tightly around his hips and his hair ruffled and messy from his explosion of activity. Struggling to get air to return to his lungs, Ed continued his pointless glare at the door as a strong blush crept into his cheeks.
His eyes widened and he slumped back against the soles of his feet. "S-She…she saw me…" Ed gasped into the room before letting out an aggravated and embarrassed roar and diving into his closet in search of clothes.
Winry lay on the floor outside his door, giggling uncontrollably and fighting the butterflies that erupted in her stomach. "He's…He's…!" Swiping away the tears that surfaced at the corners of her eyes furiously, Winry hurried into her room to bury her thoughts in her machines.
Winry leaned back from her desk and put down the screwdriver. Ed leaned back against the headboard and placed the alchemy book down on his now-dry lap. Both stared at the different ceilings above them. "This is going to drive me crazy."
Cursing loudly, Ed returned to his equations. Winry continued to stare at the ceiling for a moment before sighing and setting back to working out the kinks of her new design.
Pinako stared up the stairs that lead to the upper level. "Being young is tough, isn't it?" Smirking to herself, she continued out into the backyard where Al was harvesting his catnip. "Alphonse! Don't think I can't see that cat in your shirt!"
"But Auntie!"
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A/N: I don't think I'm writing very well anymore. :-pout-: but I'll try harder next time! I would feel sorry for Ed & Winry…but…it's fun torturing them so, oh well! Reviews are valued and loved! 3
Xoxoxoxo!