Summary: It is the 19 April 1915, which means that it is Alphonse Elric's fifteenth birthday. Edward and Winry have given him vague hints of plans they have for that day, so let's see what they have planned.
Notes: According to the fandom wiki 19 April is indeed Al's birthday. This chapter ended up taking a bit more space than I expected, because I wanted to add a scene of Alphonse enjoying a slightly annoying morning due to being a normal teen boy now. In the end I managed to put in enough of the scenes between Ed and Winry as well, so I am not necessarily disatisfied. I am also surprised with the amount of views and kudos this has already had. Apparently this fandom really likes domestic and romantic fluff. The next chapter will have Winry staying in Rush Valley for a few days and Alphonse will begin this story's secondary arc began by the play in the previous one.
After the sentences for Klemin and Edison were handed down, they all returned to Resembool. None of them had any sort of desire to see the sentence carried out and ruin their celebratory mood. Besides, the following Monday was Alphonse's fifteenth birthday, and they had a plan for that. On Friday evening, Ed was walking from the shower in his pyjamas and ready for bed, when he noticed light from beneath the doors into the workshop. "Really, Win," he muttered and opened it.
And yes, his girlfriend was tinkering with something again. "If you want to make stuff, you can just do it during the day, you know," he said as he walked closer. Winry did not look up due to being in a sensitive part of the process. "Yeah, but there was not really time for this before now," she explained, and Edward responded with a questioning look. He took another chair and plopped it down next to her, so he could join in.
At this point, he noticed that whatever she was making was not even remotely related to prosthetics. Instead, it looked more like an elaborate mixing device. "Is that for your grand culinary plans?" "Yep, I plan to make Al's cake a grand affair and that will mean any help whatsoever is appreciated," she gave a small nod toward him. Her boyfriend huffed. "You don't need to ask. Of course, I will gladly take part in my continued attempts to spoil my brother rotten," he answered with a smile.
"Oh, I am well aware. I was simply informing you that it was part of my plans." Ed briefly blinked as a wave of tiredness passed over him. "Seriously, though, why did you wait until evening to start working on this? Do you want to fall asleep on the desk again? That can't be good for your back." She finished tying a screw and replied with a small sigh. "There just wasn't a good time to start working on it at any point before now."
She got a confused look in response. "What do you mean? The last four days have been free as far as I can tell. It was the reason why we spent going back and forth between celebrating with Al and having private moments. If you wanted to work on this, why did you not say anything," he asked in a quiet tone, and she briefly looked away and her shoulders sagged. "I didn't want to impose," she answered and got an even more confused look.
"How is that imposing? This is your work and hobby," he said and gestured to the table. "Taking time off to do something you like is not imposing as far as I am concerned." She looked a bit sheepish for a moment. "But, we always had our private moments, and it felt wrong to interrupt that for the sake of a personal thing," she admitted. "Why?" He put his hand on her shoulders and she put down her tools. "This is my own thing, and it feels wrong to make is superior to our relationship."
"It doesn't to me." He got a look. "Wait, I did not think the wording through," he quickly amended. "I mean, this is a part of you in a sense. You have always been into it, so when I entered this relationship, I never expected you to give it up. I mean, you would not want me to give up alchemy, would you?" She wagged her head. "Then why are you uncomfortable with doing this stuff at a normal time. Just tell me you have something to work on and I will understand. I am not claiming your free time."
She suddenly leaned on his left hand. "It just feels like I should focus on our relationship and not on work, when we are together." He took his right index finger and tapped her chin. With slight force, he turned her around and made her look at his face. "I took Winry Rockbell as she was last week. Being a 'gear freak' included. I am not going to protest if you take some time for your own personal stuff. I take time for myself, why shouldn't you?" She turned her head back down and put her chin down near the nape of his neck.
"It just doesn't feel right." "I don't care about that. You enjoy doing this, so I won't stop you from doing it." There was a brief silence. "Thanks," she eventually whispered. "I'll try to remember that next time," she promised. "Do you want to go back to Rush Valley by any chance?" There was another moment of silence. "Eventually," she guessed. "If you want to go and work there for some time, I won't protest either, just so we are clear. I am trying to claim your heart, not your life."
He turned right briefly and barely managed to put his hand in front of his mouth before yawning. Several seconds later, she yawned as well. "See, you're tired too. Come on, finish up and let's go to bed before we both fall asleep here." Winry sat up straighter and put her hand on the table. Once more, silence briefly reigned. "If you don't finish up within fifteen minutes, I will come here and drag you to bed if you want to or not, Winry. You have several days left to prepare," he warned her. "Okay," she muttered.
He left for the bedroom he shared with his brother, but made sure to wait out the fifteen minutes based on the small alarm clock he had on his night stand. When time was up he went back to the workshop and sure enough found her still there. He approached quietly and the moment she was not touching something important made his presence known by hooking his arms under her armpits and raising from the chair as she yelped.
"Come on, Win, this is ridiculous," he said as she flailed around and almost hit him with a wrench before calming down. She gave a quick look at the wrench and Edward was a bit confused about the grimace she made due to the angle he saw her face from. "You are not letting me continue, are you?" "Absolutely not. I have no problem with you having hobbies and work outside of me, but if you are refusing to sleep like a normal person, I will do whatever I can to fix that."
She gave him a tired frown. "Yes, I am aware that is hypocritical on my end, given my own personal sleep hygiene. However, seeing you passed out on the worktable and hurting your back because of it, is not something I like." He let her stand on his own and touched her left cheek with a knuckle on his right index finger and lightly moved it around. "Come on, let's go to sleep and tomorrow you can work as much as you want. Hell, if you still feel like it's imposing, I will gladly sit here and watch you make stuff. Call it an unorthodox date."
She gave a weak smile. "Thank you." She walked closer to him and gave him a look he had by this point become very familiar with. He leaned down to accept the kiss and tried to return it. The sleepiness on both sides made it a bit awkward, but it was also oddly energizing as well. When they split apart, both seemed to be slightly more awake and well as another thing. "What are you thinking about," she asked. "How much Granny would complain if I joined you in bed tonight."
"Probably a lot, but given we are probably going to be out cold within minutes of our heads touching the pillows, not as much as she could." He nodded and started turning slightly to position himself between the table and her. "I get it," she muttered and started walking towards the door. They went to the door into her bedroom and she turned to him again. "So? Want to see what it feels like to share a bed?" "It still feels a bit quick," he admitted. "It was just an offer. Don't feel forced for my sake."
"Shh, shh, it's okay," he said as she pushed out those two sentences out a bit too quickly for his liking. "Go ahead and have a good night's sleep, Winry. It's the least of all the good that you deserve." "Are you sure, you will be okay?" "I will be fine. Sleeping in my own bed will not kill me. And if certain parts of me complain, then I will take care of that too," he said before thinking through the appropriateness of it.
Fortunately, she was too tired to tease him for that implication. "Good night, Ed," she eventually said, and it briefly looked like she wanted to add something, before thinking better of it. "Go ahead, a good night's sleep is a great thing," Edward replied, and she slowly closed the bedroom door behind her. He went to bed wondering if he would need to actually take care of things before he managed to fall asleep, but both were out of it within minutes of getting into bed.
A part of Alphonse's mind wondered who this girl was, but she was cute and kissing her felt great. It did not occur to him that, normally, women don't spontaneously change their entire body the moment you break eye contact with them. Then again, the phrase 'dream logic' existed for a reason and when the dreams were cooked up by a weird combination of subconscious mind and teenage hormones, it was arguably even more nonsensical.
He turned around on his bed as wakefulness started to tug on him. Everything was really comfortable, and the kisses felt great. Wait, what? Suddenly, his rational mind asked what the hell his subconscious was talking about. He opened his eyes a bit and noticed that it had to be way after sunrise, since the bedroom was filled with natural light. Nobody was anywhere near him. In fact, there wasn't even anyone in the room. Edward's bed was empty, and the blankets roughly folded in half.
He moved his right hand towards his face. As he grazed his cheek, he felt some of the hairs on it. Apparently, Truth had considered facial hair an unimportant thing, so both brothers only started to grow theirs after being separated back into two bodies. It was still at the stage of light fuss, but pretty soon they would have to learn how to properly shave. Admittedly, that was the least annoying part of puberty thus far. He touched his lips and shivered.
It really felt like he had been kissing a girl just now, but the vague memory was already vanishing into the fog of forgetfulness. He tried to grasp for what she looked like, but the colours merged into one and left nothing behind. He made a slight groan of annoyance as he realised his dreams were heavily teasing him and turned back around. A part of him really wanted to stay under the blankets and go back to sleep. He wondered if the whole imagined make out session was created, because he was a bit jealous of his brother for having a romantic partner.
Of course, he would never tell them, it was a stupid thing anyway and would pass eventually. As he turned around, his mind brought to attention the fact that his body had reacted as teenage boys normally do to that kind of dream. Good morning, he thought with a tinge of annoyance. Would you mind if we went back to sleep, he continued thinking as if it could actually answer him. In a way, it could, but he did not like the answer. Well tough, we are not doing what you want right now, he answered internally and snuggled into the blankets. As he lay on his right side with his head facing the wall, sleepiness drained from him regardless.
Finally, his groggy mind reminded him that it should be Monday. Right, that meant it was his birthday. He was now fifteen years old. It felt a bit weird to consider that, but the fact he was now growing up with a restored body was very much undeniable. Especially when that body thought the orders of his mind were suggestions. "It was just a kiss with a girl my mind made up from nothing," he muttered and switched to his other side. "Stop acting like we're a chimera with a Venus fly trap!"
After trying to go back to sleep for another minute, he gave up and set up in his bed. Good grief, I feel like I barely slept, he thought. He wiped his eyes and immediately widely yawned, but threw the blanket off himself anyway. After giving one last annoyed look at the issue that plagued most teen boys, he decided to just get dressed and take a firm piece of underwear. He took his walking stick just in case, because he felt somewhat stiffer than yesterday and not just because he was a walking mess of hormones.
Ed and Winry were probably already working on the plans they vaguely talked of for his birthday. It still felt weird thinking about that fact, that he was no longer fourteen, but there was no point in being all that bothered, was there? If anything, it meant today, the trio would have another day of celebrations to make up for the last four years. When he tried to enter the kitchen, he found the door locked from the other side.
"Who is it," Winry called from the inside. "Somebody, who wants to have some breakfast," Al replied. "Hold on, we'll bring you whatever you want, Al, but Win has decided you are not allowed to come in," Edward told him. "Good grief, what are you two making in there? Tiered cakes with golden leaf decorations," he snarked at them. "Now, now, you aren't getting that information so easily. What do you want to eat," Winry refused to tell him, and Alphonse did not have the desire to continue trying to gain entry into the room. "Tea and some sort of sweet pastry," he asked for.
Instead of waiting outside, he went over to the living room and sat down. About a minute later his brother also came into the room with a large cup, a tea kettle, a bowl of sugar and half of a lemon. "Nice apron," Al noted with a smile. Ed had a large blue piece of cloth and somebody had tied up his hair into a short bun. "Thanks. How has the day been thus far, apart from not being allowed into the kitchen?" "Not bad," Al told him as he poured himself a cup. "I did wake up annoyed, but otherwise all is well."
"What got you annoyed before you even woke up," Edward asked, while his brother put two spoons of sugar into his tea. "My head decided I should have an interesting dream. Ever woke up convinced you were just kissing a girl?" Ed laughed. "Ah, I know that kind of dream. Had it several times, and each time made me want to swear up a storm." "As you can imagine, I did not take kindly to that either," Alphonse replied and squeezed the lemon to get juice into his cup.
"Who was the lucky girl," Winry asked as she brought in a small wooden board with various sweet pastries on them. She wore her own green apron and had her own hair in two buns. "A smoke illusion of some sort, I guess. My subconscious is apparently adapting to maturity faster than other parts of me," Al told her. "You know, I kind of like this personal servant thing," he added and looked up at them with a smile. He was rewarded with twin pouts.
"Don't get used to it. You get special treatment today, because it's your birthday," she told him, and he started to move his hand around above the board as he thought about, what he wanted to have to eat. "How long am I banished from the kitchen for?" "Until dinner," Edward informed him, and Al responded with a raised eyebrow. "Are you turning the house into a bakery?" "Sort us, actually" his brother said with a head wiggle. "Oh, quit being dramatic, Ed," Winry told him off.
"And done," Winry said as she closed the oven on two pan and gave a relieved side before swiping the sweat from her forehead. "That was the most insane thing ever, but I bet Al will absolutely love it," Edward promised as she walked over to him and leaned against him like a pillow. "He better after all we have done to make this," she muttered. "Where did you even get that recipe?" "Huh? Oh, I sometimes go through cooking periodicals in my free time, and this one just caught my eye."
Ed tilted his head to look at the cut-out, which had a photograph attached to the top. "I mean, it definitely looks like a nice cake, but the fondant will probably be a bit difficult." "You worry too much. We'll just slap thick layers on them and when it looks like enough, all it will take is smoothing it out with a spatula. Speaking of, have you ever worked with a piping bag?" "I don't even know what a piping bag is," he admitted. She stood up properly and gestured for him to follow.
She opened one of the more rarely used drawers and pulled out a paper bag with an iron tip. "Oh, that's what you meant by piping bag. I didn't know that's what they called it." She gave him a shrug. "I don't really know why it's not just called 'an icing bag' or something," she admitted, and put scoops of icing that her little mixer had whipped up earlier into it. "We are going to make those waves that look like curtains," her boyfriend asked, and she nodded. "It's not that hard."
"For you, maybe," he grumbled. "Oh come on," she complained and pulled him to a soufflé layer on the kitchen disk, which they excluded from the cake due to it being too high for the oven, "try it out with this one," she told him and gave him the bag. Edward frowned at it and then put it on top of the soufflé and pushed a bit. A glob of frosting spilled out at speed. "Ah! Too much pressure," he muttered and moved to the side to try again. This time it came out more slowly and consistently.
He slowly made a wavy line along the edge. The wavelengths however left something to be desired. "That looks atrocious," he told her. "Keep trying, Ed. For someone, who has never done this, it is reasonable." Slowly the gaps started to be somewhat equal, and now it was the wave amplitude that was the large issue. "Are those air bubbles," he asked after as he almost met the large clump on the other end.
"Yeah, that's why I left the icing lie under a damp cloth. If you don't let it settle before applying, it does that," she explained and then had a closer look at the Ed's attempt. "That's not nearly as bad as you think it is. If issues come up, we can always remove the icing by carefully swiping it off with a spatula. At worst, some fondant comes along, and we'll have to replace it and smoothen the surface again." She pulled out a kitchen knife and started cutting up the soufflé into slices. "Come on, take a piece," she told him.
He took a bit with more unequal waves, and she took the one with a big glob. "Uh, perfect, it has that nice strawberry taste," she noted as she ate the pinkish pastry. In the process, she managed to get some of that icing on her nose. Edward snickered and she gave him a small frown. "As if you never got a bit of food on your nose by accident," she said and kept eating her slice. "Well, at least it looks cute on you," he argued. "Cute? You think a white glob of sugar on my nose looks cute?"
He came closer to her. "Well yeah, not quite as sweet as you, but," he did not get further before she lightly slapped his arm. "You are such a panderer, it's not even funny." She did not bother hiding her smile. "Can I take it off," he suddenly asked, and she agreed before thinking through the oddity of that requests. "Yeah." What she was not expecting was for him to lick it off her. She felt like someone put her head inside the oven. Somewhat infuriatingly, he only gave a smug smile in turn. "I did ask."
She took a breath and decided to try and get him back. "So, what do I taste like?" "Like a very flowery honey," he answered promptly. "Really?" "With just the slightest hint of motor oil," he added with a grin and put up his arms as she tried to smack his head. "Cheeky bastard! You were waiting to drop that one for a long time, weren't you?" "Perhaps, I was," he said and gave her a toothy smile. He then leaned towards her frowning face, but instead of going for a kiss, he went for her ear.
"But as far as I am concerned, you are better than any honey in the entire world. And if the bees want to have with me about that, I will gladly take the challenge." She gave him a combined pout and a smile. "You really must be in love, if you would willingly get stung for the sake of my honour." "Have I not made that clear," he whispered in her ear, and it made her shiver from the air currents tickling the earlobe. "Admittedly, you do look at me with that dopey look," she said and pushed his face in front of her. He did look at her with that love-stricken look.
"Do you like it?" "Very much. It feels good, knowing that I somehow manage to make my boyfriend have that sort of reaction to me." He snickered. "Win, that is not the only kind of reaction I have toward you. Besides, I am pretty sure we share that one, because otherwise this relationship wouldn't be a thing, now, would it?" "Oh, you are very much correct," she said, and they kissed again and Edward pulled her forward so he could sit down on the edge of the table.
After an amount, Winry leaned on top of him, and he put his right hand in her hair. They kept their lips together and started relaxing more a more into it. She briefly opened their eyes to look at the timer next to the oven, but there were still twenty minutes remaining, so she went back to the 'work' at hand. After a moment, she noticed that something had changed. Suddenly, Ed broke the kiss and she groaned. Both realised they were blushing and ever so slightly panting. "Wow, that was absolutely amazing," she whispered.
"Yeah," Edward replied, but appeared to be frozen in place. "What's wrong," she asked and leaned forward. As a result, she moved her right leg closer to him and suddenly found out the slight reluctance on his part. There was a brief pause as they looked at each other, and she noted her body had reacted similarily. "Well, that crossed over from the romantic to... um, the other side rather quickly," she whispered, and he nodded alongside relief as she pulled her leg back.
"Is that the other kind of reaction you were talking about," she asked. He gave a little cough. "Yeah," he admitted quietly. "You don't need to feel bad about that," she told him, just in case. "It's not like your comment about 'sharing' was inaccurate in that part. Just because girls can hide it better than boys, doesn't mean we don't think about or react to you like that, too." They were blushing more than when they broke the kiss. Neither said anything for over ten seconds, and they tried to look away from each other.
"Do you want us to talk about that more," Edward eventually asked as he turned to look at her again. After a moment, his girlfriend nodded, and he pulled a chair, so she could sit down. However, she raised her right hand in a sign indicating she wanted him to stop. "But not today. We'll need to talk about that later, but I don't think I am ready to discuss that properly." Ed sighed. "Okay, as you wish." "However, I want to tell you that I am okay with you reacting to me and thinking about me like that."
Edward sat down and she decided to do that too. "I am in an awkward spot, where I want to really talk about it, because I feel it is important to this relationship, even if we agreed to postpone that sort of intimacy for much later," she admitted. "But it feels wrong to talk about it, even with your boyfriend," he suggested. "Yeah, and I know that's dumb." She let her face fall on the table surface. "It's so stupid. Inside my head I can think about it without a problem, but the moment I think about saying anything out loud it feels so wrong."
"That's just puberty being a bitch and making the mind mature slower than the body. You keep associating discussion about intimacy with the actual act." "Yeah, I guess." "Also, since you gave me that permission, I would like to extend the same thing to you. If anything, we are just accepting what has already been going on, aren't we?" She nodded. "After all, you do consider me a snack, don't you," he said with much less cheek than he thought he could summon. She snorted. "And you consider me the best honey in the world. You have to admit, that does sound more romantic than my choice of terms."
"Is honey not a snack," he said and leaned forward toward her. "Mr. Elric, are you trying to seduce me," she said in a slightly mocking tone. "Took you long enough to notice, huh," he replied in a deadpan one, and they both burst out laughing. "Wow, our flirting is atrocious, isn't it," she pointed out. "Well, you do get better with experience, so, hopefully it gets better eventually. I wouldn't mind seeing how much I can get you flustered with words alone." "Please, spare my poor and weak heart!"
Alphonse and Pinako were waiting in the living room, while Edward and Winry slowly moved their cake and the rolling table, because they did not want to risk dropping their creation. They unlocked the kitchen door and put the key away. "Now slowly," Ed said as the table wheels slowly approached the threshold. He pulled slightly up and they both made sure the cake was not upset about suddenly being at a slight angle. They both gave relieved breaths and got the whole ensemble outside.
"Good god, you were actually making a tiered cake, you absolute nutters," Al exclaimed as his brother moved to the sight and revealed the double tiered strawberry cake. "Happy birthday to you," the pair started singing with smiles as they came closer and completely ignored the previous outburst. The candle flames danced wildly as they slowly moved the cake in front of Alphonse, who looked at it with a mix of smile and a look of horror. It looked like an absolutely insane creation. "Happy birthday to you, dear Alphonse!"
The bottom tier was covered in a white fondant and the upper tier in a more pinkish fondant. The upper tier had cut strawberries along the entire top side, and the parts of the lower tier not supporting the other had it too. Then somebody had actually bothered to take the ingredient the fondants were made from and made a wavy line along the top like curtains. Somehow it all looked like it was done by relative professionals. "Happy birthday to you!"
"Blown away, are you," Winry asked after he made no sound for a minute without. "I think we broke him, Win," Edward laughed, and that finally broke him out of his stupor. "You two... I don't...," he stuttered and then slammed his hands on his thighs. "Yeah, actually, I am blown away. You made all of THAT for ME. I don't know which part I find harder to fathom." The pair sat down on either side of him and gave him a double hug. "We promised that we would spoil you." "And did a good job of it," Pinako assessed. "Are you two sure you don't want to become bakers?"
"Absolutely not," Ed immediately answered, and Winry gave a firm nod in agreement. "It was fun and interesting, but I do not want to do this several times every day. Especially since this required several days of preparations to pull off." "Go ahead, Al, make your wish," Edward told him, and he finally bent forward towards the culinary invention before him. He inhaled and blew the fifteen candles out in order as he slowly turned from left to right. Fifteen thin line of smoke rose from the darkened wicks.
The three others clapped, and although he made an eye roll, he was nonetheless smiling. "I have bought a little gift for you," Pinako announced and walked over to a wardrobe. The very surprised to find a wrapped box that she hid there. "I think you will like it, but I just hope you won't outgrow it at any time soon." Alphonse took it and removed the wrapping to find a piece of clothing. He stood up, and it folded out into a coat. "Oh."
He put it on. "Very nice. Good choice, Granny," Winry cooed as she looked at the greyish coat approvingly. "Makes you look even more mature, then you look already," Edward teased, and she gave him a small slap. "No it doesn't. He is still baby faced, but it does give him an aura of maturity, for sure." "Gee, thanks, you two," he muttered as he walked to the mirror to check himself out. "It's not bad, admittedly. Although the choice of pants makes it seem rather awkward," he declared after a moment.
"That can be fixed later," Pinako pointed out. "Is the size good?" "It does feel ever so slightly too large," he admitted. "Good. That's the point, Al. I don't know how much more you are going to grow, so I wanted to make sure it will fit you for at least some time." Alphonse turned around to check out what he looked like from the side. "I like it. It was a kind of gift I was expecting, but I am certainly not complaining." "Well now I feel bad for not getting you gifts as well," Edward said.
His brother turned around with a vaguely confused look and just gestured towards the two tiered strawberry cake. "Really? You two made that insanity, and you feel like you should have done more? As far as I am concerned, that is your gift. It definitely demanded more work than anything else I can imagine you would give me as a gift. And speaking of it, I would really like to explore what that taste like," he said as he walked back and sat down. He could not stop himself from liking his lips.
"You will definitely enjoy it. We filled it with biscuit layers and soufflé layers." "Oh, I am salivating already," he cooed as he took the carving knife and placed it above the top tier. "This feels almost sacrilegious, but I must." The fondant layer cracked as he cut through. "Quit stalling, I want to have a taste too," Ed suddenly complained. "Now, now, who's the birthday boy today?" He made a second cut and pulled the slice out. The insides were made of yellowish biscuit layers and pinkish soufflé layers.
"Oh, that is an epitome of beauty. How did you manage to pull that off?" "Hard work and dedication," Winry answered as she stood up to get small cake plates and the tiny spoons. Meanwhile, Al continued cutting and removing the candles from the top. "Darn, I will have to cut that strawberry in half," he groaned. His brother gave the fakest gasp ever. "Oh no, how unfortunate. I spent so much time making a pretty strawberry, and you just violate it like that." He pretended to wipe away a tear. "How could you?"