For anyone ordinary, shopping was a simple and easy task. Winry had expected nothing less when she had proposed they go into town to buy clothes.
Ed, however, was anything but ordinary.
Winry should've foreseen as much, considering the day's previous events, but Ed somehow always seemed to throw new surprises at her.
As it was, they hadn't even reached their destination, exhaustion looming over them like a dark storm cloud. Winry was no stranger to heat, but something about pulling an overexcited former-merman around had made the sun's rays feel like daggers. Ed had improved in walking since he had first started, but he'd become reliant on grasping onto her arm with an iron grip. Better than falling over every few seconds, she supposed.
Somewhere along the line, Ed had begun to talk to her about chemistry of all things, asking what elements various things were composed of—as if she had any clue. It had become clear to her how seriously smart he was, going on about things she hadn't even heard of in intricate detail. It was amusing, no doubt, but it hadn't even reached noon and Winry felt due for a day's worth of sleep.
On top of it all, his brother hadn't even arrived yet.
"You know, if you continue to chat my ear off about chemistry, I might just have to follow suit with mechanics."
Ed frowned, a look of distaste crossing his features. "What's wrong with chemistry? It's cool. Not boring like your weird mechanical things."
"You're not still mad that I yelled at you for touching one, are you?"
Ed huffed, blowing a piece of hair out of his face. "Whatever."
That was a yes, then. For someone so prideful, Ed was surprisingly easy to rile-up. Not that she hadn't expected the fact—the first thing he'd done was yell at her, after all.
The path into town was long and winding, but Winry could just barely make out the small shops that made up Resembool's quaint market. It was never truly crowded—nothing like the cities—but full enough that they'd elicit some stares if Ed decided to do something strange.
Another glance at him, and Winry realized he didn't quite look the part of a local.
"Hold on a sec, you need to get that hair out of your face." She stopped walking, pulling him over to sit on a ledge lining the path.
They were due for a break anyways, even if Ed was too stubborn to admit it.
He lifted a lock of hair and dropped it, letting it flop down around his shoulder. "It's never been dry like this before. Feels weird," he muttered.
"I'm just surprised it isn't tangled beyond recognition." She ran her fingers through it, shocked at the lack of resistance.
"What's that supposed to mean?!" His voice had substantially increased in volume, and Winry retaliated with a light slap to his shoulder.
"Oh calm down! It's just normal for wet hair to get tangly, is all."
"Huh. Guess merfolk just have cooler hair, then," he smirked.
"Whatever you say." Winry rolled her eyes and gripped him by the shoulders, turning him so she could see the back of his head. "Stay still while I do this."
"Do what?" He attempted to turn back around, but Winry held him firmly in place.
Instead of answering, she began plaiting his hair, deftly moving her fingers through it with ease. He remained silent as she braided, weaving golden strands from his temples down to the back of his head. The style suited him, and Winry couldn't help her smile as she tied off the completed product with a spare band.
"What'd you do?" he asked, feeling around his head.
"A fishtail braid, of course!"
He scoffed and shook his head, lips curling up despite his feigned annoyance. "Ha ha. Very funny."
"Oh shut it. I can tell you like it."
Ed frowned, a pink hue coloring his cheeks. "Fine. It's… nice. Happy?"
Winry flashed an enormous grin, nodding once in affirmation. "Yep!"
He groaned, and she wasted no time in pulling him up to continue the journey into town. It took a moment for him to regain control of his unsteady feet, but before long they were moving at the same pace they had beforehand.
"Is it normal to get damp like this?" Ed asked, letting go of her arm to wipe at his forehead.
Winry couldn't help but chuckle. For his prodigious levels of intelligence, he still knew next to nothing about being a human.
"Yep, it's called sweat. It's hot here, so you'll have to get used to it."
"It feels gross," he grumbled, wrapping his arm around hers once more.
It hadn't taken long for them to reach the town's entrance, but once they had, Ed's excitement had skyrocketed. One look at his face was all it took for her to know that he would not want to leave easily.
"Woah," he breathed from beside her, his mouth hanging open in a way that was hardly flattering. Adorable, yes, but embarrassing nonetheless.
For as small and ordinary as it had become for Winry, the market town was surely a marvel to look at for Ed. The smell of baked goods wafted through the air, no doubt from the bakery Mr. Wilson ran with his wife. The shops displayed their products proudly on the street corners; a dazzling assortment of colors and fabrics. Fresh fruit and vegetables were displayed on carts in neat rows, alongside the fishermen's daily catches. For a beachside town, Resembool was the perfect blend of a fishing village with a rural one.
"First thing's first, we should find you some clothes. I'd rather you have your own things to wear instead of relying on me for them." Winry pulled Ed ahead from where he'd been standing in place, and he quickly stumbled forward to match her pace.
"I can pick whatever I want, right?"
His tone was concerning, and Winry quickly narrowed her eyes in his direction. "As long as it's nothing too expensive, sure."
She directed him to the nearest clothing shop—known for its reliable quality and large selection—and let him have free rein to look around as he pleased.
Within five minutes, Winry's forehead had become very well acquainted with the palm of her hand. For someone with zero experience with clothes, she had expected his style to be questionable... but this?
This was downright horrendous.
The clothes Ed had picked out were almost comically tacky in their design, having been pushed to the back of their racks from lack of interest. It was impressive, really, how he had missed the mark by such an inconceivable amount.
"Are you sure you don't want something a little more… comfortable?" she said for lack of better phrasing.
He held up the leather black pants he had found, twisting them in his grip. "No way! These look way cooler than all those boring ones."
"And the bright red coat? It's a little… noticeable."
"I think you mean awesome," Ed retorted. "I bet you're just jealous I'll look way more badass than you."
Badass? That's what he was going with now?
"No, I just like to wear clothes that are functional! What do you expect to be doing in a gaudy getup like that, anyways?"
Ed huffed and swung his head to the side, braid swinging behind him like a metronome. "Even back home they call my style gaudy, so I guess nobody anywhere has any taste!"
She was about to respond when what he had said sunk in, leaving her more curious than irritated. "Wait, what did you wear if not clothes?"
He froze, biting his lip. "We still have…uh...what's it called?" he gestured around his body with his arm, and she took a wild guess at what he was referring to. He wasn't one for charades, that was for sure.
"Accessories?"
"Yeah, those!"
She supposed it wasn't too far fetched of an idea; she knew nothing about merpeople, after all. When it came to style, buying some tacky clothing was far preferable than ornate pieces of jewelry. Small mercies.
"Huh. Well, since we're focusing on clothes right now, you can't only buy a few showy pieces like you would with accessories." His face fell, and she quickly continued. "I'll make a compromise. You can get what you want, but only if you let me pick you out some clothes as well."
He seemed to ponder her words for a moment, before finally nodding in agreement. "Deal."
Shopping became much smoother after their agreement, turning into a balancing act between her choices and his. If one thing was certain, it was that his wardrobe would be seriously eclectic.
By the time they had finished purchasing clothes, the sun was high in the sky and more merciless than ever. For as worn out as Winry felt, Ed was still bouncing with energy, paper shopping bags hanging comically from his arm in surplus.
His dimples became even more prominent as he looked around the marketplace in awe, and Winry wasn't sure whether the pounding of her heart was from the heat or the way he had looked at her. She smiled back, letting him pull her ahead into the bustling market ahead of them.
Ed could't remember the last time he had felt so… happy. The feelings of guilt and pressure that he had grown accustomed to felt as if they had been washed away; the coil that had taken hold of his midsection loosening to allow him to finally feel free.
The sensation of breathing air and the feeling of the ground beneath his feet (feet!) was almost overwhelming, filling him with such a strong sense of euphoria that he wondered how he'd lived his entire life without them.
The only thing missing was Al, but he'd be there soon enough to experience it alongside him.
For now, at least, he had Winry. For as annoying as she could sometimes be, her presence beside him made him feel like he was drifting in calm waters. Safe. She hardly even knew him, and yet here she was helping him in a way he could hardly pay back.
Well, he had saved her life, but that was beyond the point.
He had spent the day stumbling around the streets, looking at as many things as he possibly could. He was quickly becoming aware that the artifacts he had collected were hardly things normally found lying around, let alone being sold in a town. The metal objects he had found were a stark contrast to the wide range of colors and textures the market held, which were far less cold in comparison.
Winry must've been frustrated by now with his questions, but everything was so goddamn amazing that he couldn't help but take it all in in a frenzy, fearing he'd lose the chance to in the future.
As he stared ahead, a large building caught his eye, devoid of any products to sell.
"What's that?" he asked.
Winry followed his gaze. "Oh, it's the library! It has all different sorts of books on anything you can imagine."
He'd spent his entire lifetime accumulating information by word of mouth and questionable sources, and now it was all available to him in one convenient location. It was like a dream, as if he wasn't already living one. Without a second thought, he forced his legs to move forward with such force that Winry gasped in surprise from behind him, lurching as he pulled her ahead.
"Come on!"
Upon entering, he was greeted with a plethora of books, mismatched and dusty and arranged in a way that made him feel overwhelmed with choices. He'd seen a few human books before, but they'd always been too ruined and waterlogged to look at properly. Now, they were crisp and dry, the smell making him feel a comfort he hadn't known since his mother had passed.
It wasn't until he grabbed one at random that he was met with a slight inconvenience.
He didn't know how to read.
"What's wrong?" Winry asked.
He sighed, pushing aside his embarrassment. If it meant learning sooner, he could handle a small blow to his ego. "Al and I only picked up on the human language from listening to it. We've never really… looked at it before."
"Oh."
Whatever that tone of voice ensued, he didn't like it. "I mean, we know what letters are, and what some words look like-"
"I can teach you, if you want."
He stopped his stammering, meeting her eyes. "Really? Isn't that a bit… more than you agreed to?"
She shrugged, plucking the book from his hands. "You could argue that nothing can truly equal the price of a life, so I don't think teaching you to read of all things is too much for me to handle."
She was right, of course, but that didn't mean he couldn't feel guilty about it. When he had saved her, he'd been acting on pure instinct, not expecting anything in return. Did that sort of decision require an equivalent payback? Did he even deserve it? He'd always believed in giving back the same as what he received, but now the lines were starting to blur together in a way he hadn't expected them to.
"You really are amazing, you know that?" The words tumbled from his mouth before he had realized what he was saying, and it was clear Winry hadn't been expecting it either.
"H-huh? What are you getting at?!" she sputtered, narrowing her eyes at him. She must've noticed the way his ears turned pink, because her expression quickly turned to one of smugness. "Finally recognizing my talents, huh?"
"Forget I said anything, you crazy machine freak," he grumbled.
"Ha! No way am I forgetting that one now, guppy."
He heard a strangled sound leave his throat, and Winry only smirked wider.
"What the hell?! That nickname doesn't even work anymore."
"Sure it does, and besides, you're the one who started it," she said, an air of finality to her voice.
Forget all his former thoughts of equivalency. Someday he would get her back. She was too damn good at making him look like a fool, the same as Al was, and he would not let himself stand for it.
She broke him out of his thoughts with a pull to his arm, and spun on her heel to lead him to a nearby table. Before he had a chance to protest, she began collecting armfuls of books, setting them in front of him in neat stacks.
"We can rent some out later, but it can't hurt to get started now," she said.
With that, they got to work. He caught on to reading with ease, and soon Winry was speaking aloud the contents of books on any subject she could find. Biology, history, literature, you name it. Ed took in as much as he could, moving through words slowly until they began to click with the sounds he was used to hearing. It was progress, and that was more than he could've asked for.
He hardly noticed as the windows began to glow with an orange light, shadows dancing across the tables alongside the warm hue. Without warning, Winry snapped her book shut, putting her hands over his own until he noticed what she was doing.
"What?!"
"Calm down, you nerd. We've been here all day, and I'm beginning to think this is a little one sided."
Ed paused, glancing up to look at her. "What do you mean?"
"I mean you have all this information to learn about our world, but I know next to nothing about yours. I didn't even know merpeople existed until a couple days ago!"
He understood where she was coming from, but she was treading into dangerous waters if it meant she'd be asking personal questions. A little briefing couldn't hurt though, he supposed.
"Fine. What do you want to know?"
She took a moment to think, chin resting on her palms. "What kind of place are you from? Is it just open waters… or some kind of community?"
Good, an easy one. "Al and I are from a place called Xerxes. There aren't many merfolk to begin with, so Xerxes is considered to be one of the largest and most powerful kingdoms. There's a few merfolk rumored to live alone in small groups, though, but that's a much harder lifestyle to lead."
She hummed and nodded, eyes alight with curiosity. "It must be pretty, then. I wish I could see it."
Ed wasn't sure what to make of that. He'd lived there his entire life, growing up among royalty. It was all normal to him, but to a human… it probably was as amazing as the surface was to him. His thoughts of the place had long ago shifted from fond to indifferent. With his mother, he remembered sparkling sceneries and a warmth that made everything look vibrant and wonderful. After her death, it all began to shift into a monotone blur, becoming cold and lifeless. Suddenly there were threats and fears, and he'd realized the only one he could trust was his own brother. After the accident, he wasn't even sure if he could trust himself.
He tried to think back to when things felt right, ignoring the memories that followed. "It is. It's more… extravagant than the town here." He gestured his hand around the dusty library. "Buildings shine like gold and curve around the reefs in different shapes, with the palace standing tall in the middle. There's no closed off spaces like there are here. It's... a little too perfect, honestly."
Winry gaped, leaning forward. "And you still would rather live here? In a place that's completely foreign to you?"
"Absolutely," he answered with no hesitation.
"Must not be as perfect as it sounds, then."
He shook his head, Winry seeming to understand his thoughts without needing to ask. She could read him as well as the books she was surrounded by, and there was no doubt her aura of kindness was genuine.
She stood with a start and began to tidy up the mess they'd created across the table. "It's getting late, and you said Al was coming tonight, right?"
"What happened to your questions? Got bored already?" he teased, earning an annoyed glare.
"Oh, I have plenty more, so don't think you're getting off easy."
Winry was apparently good at many things, and changing the tone of the room seemed to be one of them. The melancholy that had wrapped itself around his throat was quickly pulled away with no remorse, Winry keeping him in the present with an unwavering force.
"You act like I want to entertain you," he said. "I could leave right now if I wanted to."
"Yeah, emphasis on the 'wanted to.' Empty threats mean nothing when you're a bad liar."
He scowled, picking up his belongings and heading to the door on his own. After a few steps, he unceremoniously tripped over a stray chair, falling flat on his face with bags sprawled around him. Not his finest moment.
Winry broke into laughter, earning a glare from the poor librarian who'd been forced to listen to them the entire day.
Ed sat up, blowing his bangs away from his eyes with a frown. "Not. A. Word."
She held out her hand to him, and after a rather underwhelming staring contest, he finally grabbed it. She dragged him out of the library in a heap, holding his hand as they walked down the emptying streets of the market town.
The warm glow of the sunset made the rows of lights draped above them all the more beautiful, twinkling like stars. As he stopped to admire the view, he felt Winry gently squeeze his hand. Her eyes were trained on the sky, and as he gazed over at her, he realized with a startling sureness that this was his home now.
Pushing thoughts of Al's future teasing away, Ed couldn't help but smile as he squeezed back.
I hope the content of this one makes up for the lateness! I had a lot of fun messing with Ed, and we finally get to see Al come in soon! Once again, thank you so much for taking the time to read and leave such lovely comments! :)