Draped in Wires
by. Poisoned Scarlet

Theme 055: Sad, Happy

Winry gawked in horror as she stood at the mouth of the upstairs bedroom of their new home, staring at the putrid green of the walls as Edward stood in the middle holding a brush and looking meek under her suddenly, incredibly, furious face.

"Edward..." She began, threateningly. "Why are the walls green?"

"Didn't you say you wanted them green?" Ed reminded, although he inched back when she took a rigid step forward. He knew when she was just about to blow and, in those moments, she looked as if she were bottling it up and readying her anger for lift off...

"I said I wanted it to be light green!"

"This is light green!"

"No, it's not!" She shrieked. "This is fluorescent green!"

"Well," Ed coughed into his fist. "That's not what the guy at the store told me..."

"EDWARD ELRIC YOU COLORED THE ROOM GREEN!"

"IT'S LIGHT GREEN!"

"UGH!" Winry pinched the bridge of her nose, trying to control her quickly dissipating compassion for her husband. "Why didn't you consult this with me in the first place? Now look what you did! They're—they're—!" Her eyes watered and she felt an uncontrollable bout of frustration, annoyance, and anger swamp her. "The walls...are green!" She cried out again. "They're green!"

"Whoa, whoa, I can fix it!" Ed quickly said, when he noticed the tears that had begun to slide down her cheeks. He threw the brush into the bucket of green paint and crossed the length of the room, placing a hand on her shoulder comfortingly. "Don't cry! I'm sorry!"

"But...they're green!" She cried harder, leaning against the wall.

"Wait, don't—!"

Winry leaned off and touched her back, crying harder when she saw green paint on her hands. "Ughh, I hate you so much right now!" She hiccuped, digging the heel of her palms into her eyes. She felt his arms wrap around her and immediately felt his hand start to rub circles into her aching back. She could feel his hand cup her cheek, as she tried to hold in the irrational tears that continued to trail down her face.

"Hey, don't cry anymore," he softly told her, thumbing her tears off. "I'll fix it right now! Just give it a few hours to dry and I'll repaint it!" He promised, smiling a bit when she blinked away the last of her tears.

"You will?" She croaked, feeling a bit dumb for crying.

"Yeah, I will." He smiled, raising another hand to gently wipe away the tear-tracks. "You'll get your light green in a few hours, okay? So please stop crying – too much emotional stress is bad for the baby. You wouldn't want Pinako to sterilize me for getting you too wound up, would you?" He reminded with a humored smile, causing her to giggle a bit.

"So...what do we do about this for now?" Winry asked, once she was composed enough not to break out into tears once more. Edward set his hands on his hips, gazing at the eye-squinting green of the walls.

"You wanna' just..." Ed shrugged, "leave it like it is?"

Winry punched his arm.

"Ow! I meant for now!" Ed clarified, rubbing the spot she hit. "Jeez, I didn't know being pregnant made you super strong...ow..."

"Suck it up! I didn't hit you that hard!" She laughed, further astounding him with how she could go from furious to a sobbing mess to bubbly in a few short seconds. "Let it dry and then we'll both go back to the hardware store so we could get the right color." She gave him a warning look he only waved off.

"C'mon, lets get outta' here!" Ed pushed her gently out the door, giving the room one last look. "All of these paint fumes cannot be good for you!"

"What I'm curious about is how you did not stop when you saw the color of the paint!" Winry wondered, once in the hallway. "I mean, it's so green."

"Well, I thought it was okay."

"Seriously? It's such a hideous color! It's so-so green! How could you like something so green? You have absolutely no sense of style, it's unbelievable!"

"Hey!" Ed snapped. "I thought it looked pretty good, alright?"

Winry stared.

Ed shifted on his foot, scowling out: "Let's go grab a bite – I know you're hungry right now! You haven't eaten since morning!"

Winry rolled her eyes and fondly reached forward to hug him, walking down the stairs with her arms wrapped tightly around his midsection. "I want steak!"

"Steak? We live in the countryside I highly doubt there's a restaurant that sells steak here! Hell, I doubt there's even a restaurant in Resembool!"

"We could always go to the bar!" Winry cheerfully suggested. "They always sell steak there!"

"Bar? You're not entering a bar, Winry!" Ed glared at her, his scowl growing heavier when she skipped off into the dining room. He stopped. "Wait a second, how do you even know they sell steak in the bar?"

Winry paused. She looked over her shoulder with a sheepish smile and Ed felt whatever amusement drain in those few seconds. "You didn't..." He started, dangerously.

"It was just once!" Winry replied, defensively. "And I only know because granny told me to go with her!"

"That crazy old bat!" Ed cried in outraged. "What the hell was she thinking, bringing her granddaughter into a bar to strike up conversation with some goddamn drunk?"

"Hey! The people inside aren't all drunks, you know!" Winry huffed, pulling her shirt lower on her swelled belly.

"We're not going to a bar!"

"But I want steak!" Winry whined, stomping her foot like a child. "Edward!"

"No!"

"Ed!"

"NO!"

"I WANT STEAK!" She snarled, eyes flashing dangerously.

Edward took several steps back, instinctively sinking into a defensive stance when her eyes did not lose their fierceness. He wearily eyed her scowling lips and narrowed eyes and, after a moment, sighed out: "How about I go get you some steak and you wait here? Deal?"

She smiled, brightly. "Okay! While you're at it, could you go get some milk for later? I know you don't like it but I crave milk at night for some weird reason!" Winry's distant voice came from the kitchen, where he heard her rummage through the drawers for something or the other.

"Yeah, sure!" Ed wearily replied, thinking he would record this strange swing in moods in his little notebook for further inspection once he came back.