A/N: I meant to upload the last chapter last week, and failed, so have another. I'd like to get another chapter out this week, but no promises. Work is kind of kicking my ass right now.
89. Parting Gift
Winry was hiding something- Ed could positively smell it. It was almost like she'd been avoiding him whenever she wasn't dealing with his attached limbs. When she did have to deal with him, she seemed to be hiding her right profile. He was starting to think she was hiding a pimple, but he provoked and automail lecture, and machines overrode vanity any day in Winry's mind. Her face was clear as it ever was, and Ed spent a decent part of the evening wondering why he knew that Winry had nice skin.
It wasn't until the night before their departure that Ed finally found some answers. Winry and Paninya were talking about something involving Domino's automail, and Winry was sitting on the floor examining Paninya's new knee joints. She hadn't heard Ed come in, and he finally got a good look at her right side. There was a small band on her finger; it looked like a heart being held by two hands, topped with a crown. Ed had seen rings like that all over Dublith, and he knew it had a lot of different meanings depending on how it was worn. The way Teacher wore hers, it was a wedding ring. Curiosity always overrode appearances in Ed's mind, so he crouched down right next to Winry' while her ringed hand was unoccupied and snatched it up. Winry started to snap at him until she followed his gaze to her hand. Paninya slunk out of the room unnoticed by alchemist and engineer.
Ed tried working backward in his mind. Left hand and heart facing in was married, facing out was engaged, which meant right hand facing in was… "You've got a boyfriend?"
"Not exactly," Winry grumbled. She tried to pull her hand back, but Ed didn't let go- he hadn't noticed her small struggle through the fog of this strange, empty, hollow feeling taking over his body.
"Brother?" said Al, peeking in the doorway, but one glance had him taking off to find anywhere else to be.
"I thought facing in meant-" Ed finally chocked out, but Winry cut him off.
"'Someone's captured your heart' was the cheesy line they told me when I bought it," she mumbled.
"So you like someone," Ed replied. His voice sounded oddly hollow, and he still couldn't seem to let go of her hand.
"Yeah, got a problem with that?" she finally snapped.
"Yeah, maybe I do!" Ed snapped back, his argumentative nature forcing the words out of his mouth. Cursing his quick mouth, he cringed, expecting a shouting match or a wrench.
He was not expecting a kiss on his cheek. Thoughts flew through his mind at warp speed, and they all seemed to reach the same conclusion about her ring and himself. Winry averted her eyes and finally managed to get her hand back when Ed's hands went limp in shock.
"I'd have bought you a ring if you said you wanted one," he muttered.
"Well, you weren't there, and I wanted it," she replied with an edge in her voice.
Ed clapped his hands and touched a finger to the heart on the ring, inscribing Flammel's Cross in the center. "Call it a parting gift," he mumbled as she examined the new detail.
Ed suddenly had a face full of blonde hair as Winry tackle-hugged him and knocked him over in the process.