Draped in Wires
by. Poisoned Scarlet

Theme 006: Breathe Again

She always knew that loving him would be hard.

He wasn't an easy person to love as it was with his reclusive attitude and aloof way of handling the most emotionally charged of situations. He often panicked, unsure of what to do, and exploded in a raving rage because of the insecurity of not knowing what to do. Or worse – he simply walked away and ignored it altogether.

It sometimes amazed her how much time she spent analyzing his every move to be able to figure him out as well as she did. It took a lot of time and a lot of mulling over certain actions of his but once she knew how he thought, things became much easier.

She didn't blow many things out of proportion and she didn't hit him on the head with her wrench too much – although she would admit there were just times when his 'Holier-than-Thou' attitude became too much handle and he needed a little ego-depressing.

She had been so terribly worried when he stopped contacting them for such a long time. She knew Edward would have no problem going two to three years without contact and then dropping by unexpectedly, no doubt anticipating everything to be unchanged and just as he had left it.

Sometimes his conceit and arrogance got on her nerves but she supposed that was what allured her so much to him – that spark of defiance, that glimmer of mischief, that grin of confidence. It was somewhat of a turn on, she would admit to only herself, whenever things went his way and he allowed that haughty smirk to crawl on his handsome face.

She placed the washed dish on the rack and looked over her should quietly. It was silent in the house, as Mei and Al had been going out far more frequently than Edward would like – if his snooty comments about the Xingese girl stealing Al away from him said anything...

Another thing she had been hesitate about was asking just how long he would stay. It was a common fear she'd grown used to experiencing when it came down to Edward: when would he embark in another wild-ride adventure?

It was only a matter of time.

He was like a ticking time-bomb.

She was just waiting for him to go off and disappear for another few years, leaving her in the countryside – furious and sorrowful and, most of all, waiting.

I checked his automail yesterday, she thought, curiously. But he didn't say anything about leaving and he did say he'd stay a while... After the incident with Edward's broken arm, which he now waved off as unimportant, she had done a complete check up on him just in case; she had been so scared when she had seen him on the ground, groaning, with bone popping out awkwardly in his right limb.

She had been frightened enough to conduct a full check up to assure her – and him, why not? – that he was as healthy as a horse and he would continue to be by her side – however brief those moments were.

She exhaled a weary sigh. She honestly didn't know how to bring that subject up. She guessed bluntly asking would suffice but then that would end in both of them pissed off at each other...

Okay, you have to plan this out well, Winry, she told herself firmly, wiping her hands across her apron. Just...drag him into conversation! Yeah! You do it all the time so it's nothing weird, right? She smiled suddenly, the plan seeming better and better with every ticking second. She walked into the living room, bent on asking if he had seen her wrench (which would surely begin a conversation she could easily steer into her desired topic) only to stop short.

He was lying on the couch again, stretched out like a lazy cat, a book tossed over his face and a hand limp off the edge of the couch. She watched him for a few moments, observing the quiet rise and fall of his chest and the calm atmosphere he produced from simply lying there; asleep.

There was none of the haughtiness; the arrogance and sheer cockiness that often made the most patient people want to pull their hair out of their roots before they even spoke to him. It was just a trait Edward carried – being able to annoy you with a simple sly glance of his cunning gold eyes. Or at least it was to her, as she stepped forward and picked up a few stray books leftover around him.

She piled them up nicely and felt his hand brush her thigh.

She jumped, snapping her head down and sighing in relief when she saw the limp hand. Perhaps she had just brushed up against it. She was wearing loose pants but his fingers had come close to touching her bottom, something which made heat rise to her face at the sheer thought of it.

She shook herself of those thoughts and continued to pile the books, bending down to reach for a book she had seen peeking from under the thick oak coffee table. There was another brush, this time actually managing to touch her butt and she snapped straight up.

He better be asleep. She nervously looked at his hand, limp as before, and then eyed Edward, who's chest rose and fell rhythmically. There seemed nothing wrong with him...he seemed to be asleep. Perhaps she was just moving around too much...

She nodded and moved away from his hand, continuing to pile up the books in orderly piles and flipping through some that caught her interest. After that, she glanced back at his hand, knowing the elbow joint would hurt once he woke up.

She grabbed his hand and bent it inward, letting it rest on his chest.

She would have let go and gone about her daily routine had it not been for his sudden squeeze of her hand. She momentarily froze, embarrassment flooding through her at the thought of him actually being awake when she rubbed her butt against his hand?

However, his groggy: "What'd'ya want, Win?" alerted her that he hadn't been awake.

That was close, she inwardly sighed in relief. The idea of Ed touching her like that left her too bothered to function properly for a while.

"Go back to sleep," she said simply, tugging her hand out of his grasp. "I was just adjusting your arm – you'll have a bad kink in it if you sleep like that for too long." She tried to pull her hand out but he refused to budge. "Ed?"

His other hand plucked the book off his face, revealing drowsy gold-yellow eyes and a rare type of weakness in the form of a small smile and softened features – nothing like the usual bored or annoyed expression she'd grown used to seeing everyday.

"Aren't you sleepy?" he mumbled. "How can you not get sleepy...it's so boring here..."

She rolled her eyes. "If you're so bored then go find something to do like the rest of us!"

"What're you doing right now, anyway?"

"I have to clean my room," she shrugged, conscious at the fact that his hand was like a brand against her skin the longer he held it. "I've got nothing better to do and I've been meaning to do it for a while now..."

There was something in his eyes. A deliberation of sorts she was apprehensive at deciphering. Usually when Edward deliberated something, he deliberated it with an accuracy that sometimes frightened her. She did not want to know what he was mulling over but it turned out she didn't need to as his other hand grabbed her shoulder and he yanked her on top of him.

If she could get redder than she'd gotten there, she'd probably tell you she was capable of turning redder. "E-Edward!" she squeaked, too aware of his nose in her neck and the way he inhaled her scent deeply. "What the hell are you doing!" she growled, annoyance further fueled by the heat on her face; the harsh hammering of her heart in her ears. "Ed!"

"Just shut up," he murmured, his hand dragging across her back and forcing her to lean down lower, to rest her upper body on his chest as her lower half stuck out awkwardly; making her pray that no one would step in through the door and ruin the rather embarrassing but exciting moment. "And go to sleep!" he ended drowsily, his hand stopping on her lower back; going no farther.

Her breath hitched when his left arm wrapped around her neck, bringing her in closer to him. She didn't know who the hell this Edward was, being so bold all of a sudden, but in that instant all of the securities she had placed shattered. Suddenly, the predictability she had comforted herself blew up in smoke and suddenly she became aware that she honestly did not know Ed as much as had thought she did.

Because the awkward boy of sixteen bordering on seventeen would never even dare bringing her in so close, openly breathing her in and sighing in content with his arm wrapped around her neck loosely. That easily angered teenager wouldn't even think about such things as that easily angered teenager was much too busy with his own things to consider girly thoughts like holding her or hugging her or – or kissing her or anything of the sort!

Her hand clutched the rough fabric of the couch, her knees growing weak. She eventually fell on them, slumping forward and resting her cheek against his shoulder. She didn't dare look at him – not confident enough to see what type of expression he wore when she knew her own was beet red and nervous – but if she had looked, she would have seen that Edward's eyes were tight and wide; his own cheeks a pleasant shade of red as he breathed easy at Step One finally accomplished.

A/N: I went through a few of the future chapters of this collection and saw that they got a little too intimate. So I'll probably change the rating to M although once we get out of this awkward stage in their relationship, it'll go back to K+ hilarity between the Resembool Trio and company :3

Review!

Scarlett.