AN: After much thought based on messages and reviews, I have decided that I will not be continuing this into a second and third arc. After I finish writing this I will probably be taking a break from writing for a while. Huge thanks to; Le Confidant, KarmaHope, ecmwrites, RockingCass12, StoriUrahara, bloodynessie, xIcyChanx, sarabethloves, Mikigotagun, midnightstardust, MiraculousTaboo, Rumia, Tairulz, Poopfeast42, Schisalda, Sokkasm, shadizsato, xxloverx, Lyson, and VampirePrincessofDarkness the wonderful reviews. I truly appreciate knowing what you guys are thinking about the content, good or bad.
Disclaimer: No rights to FMA.
For some reason, despite always being a temperamental riser, Edward had become conscious quite early, and without any of the typical irritation he normally experienced. Being awake for a few minutes, Ed heard a loud exhale of air as Winry woke with an apparent jolt. Tightening his grip around her in response, he wondered if she was still as sure about him in the morning light as she had previously been in the dark. Staying stock still, he decided to close his eyes and not let on that he was cognizant yet. A quiet shuffling nearly made him look to see what she was doing, but instead he focused on breathing evenly. After a few seconds, he thought maybe she had fallen back asleep, until he felt her soft hand running over his exposed skin. Trying not visibly tense, he did his best remain completely open to her touch. This was a new sensation for him. He had dated before; even had some fairly intense encounters, but every time the woman began to take things further, the sight of his marred flesh terminated all intimacy. Until Winry.
Winry had been undeterred by his imperfect body, she had even seem attracted to it as much as the rest of him. Actually, she treated him like he was a whole man standing in front of her, and not the poorly pieced together puzzle that he was. When she had looked at him last night, he felt not one ounce of hesitation as her warm mouth had kissed where most were disgusted to even set eyes. She was flawless, truly, he would never be good enough for her, and now he didn't think he would be able to go back to his hollow existence if she figured that out. The reality was that soon he would have face that fear head on and explain his past to her. Edward had never talked to anyone who didn't already know about what happened, and he was more than reluctant to broach the subject with her. The possibility of her never wanting to speak to him again was highly likely. This was the thought that led to many sleepless nights. How could he tell her about his mistakes? If she believed that there was anything of value within him, the revelation of his youth would eliminate that idealization on the spot.
Fingers being slid downward immediately broke his train of thought, as a low groan escaped his mouth thoughtlessly. His body already roused into wakefulness was showing that fact blatantly, so in a move to prohibit her from noticing this he rotated and fit his leg between hers. He realized the attempt to face his groin into the bed was a complete failure when he still felt her soft hip pressing against him. Eyes flying open at the contact, he was inches from bright sapphires staring back at him. Knowing that she had to feel him, his cheeks grew pink under her unwavering gaze. Winry's face matched his, which confused him until he realized that she was probably embarrassed to have been caught touching him. Despite their mutual abashed reaction, they continued looking directly at each other until what started as small smirks turned into equally large grins.
"Morning." Speaking into Winry's ear, he kissed gently behind it, causing a shiver to run through her. Last night he had learned just how responsive she was, to say it drove him crazy was an understatement. Stopping her from continuing their intimacy had taken every bit of self-restraint he had.
"Good morning, Ed." Her husky voice was arousing in a way he couldn't even describe. How could one woman possibly have this much of an effect on him? Since he already had an arm around her, he pulled her against him, deciding that he wasn't ready to get up after all. Her long, shiny blonde hair was slightly disheveled, but he couldn't help leaning in to enjoy the smell of her still floral scented locks. The first time she had worked on his automail he had noticed her enticing scent, wishing he could close the ten inch gap to better appreciate it. When the door flew open a second later neither was ready for it as half of their group of friends barged in.
"Wake up already!" Chucking a pillow in the direction of the intruders, he practically growled in irritation at the invasion of their privacy. Winry was hardly covered, and though the former lothario next to Paninya claimed to only be interested in Riza, he still didn't want anyone seeing her like this, but him.
"Fuck off!" He glared daggers at the dark haired man who made no effort to avert his eyes, and was nearly ready to help him with that. Wow. Cringing internally, Ed realized that he sounded jealous.
"Still a morning person I see?" The sarcastic reply came from Roy, who looked amused at the scene before him; Winry wearing his oversized shirt from last night, and his clearly possessive demeanor. He could just hear the conversation about his 'sex life' that would be coming in the none too distant future. Apparently he wasn't the only one to make this connection because Paninya began snickering to Riza, who had also come right into his room.
"Alright, I think we've disrupted them enough. Come on you two." Grabbing both Mustang and Paninya's ears, the petite woman drug them out of the room, despite their many protests. Finally the door shut again, and he relaxed back into the bed. Winry remained sitting by the edge stiffly. Was she upset that they had been seen together like that? When she turned to face him a second after, he saw that she was holding back laughter, biting her lip to keep the sound contained.
"Oh, you think that was funny, Ms. Rockbell?" A wry smile curved his lips as relief washed over him. She hadn't been upset by being walked in on, in fact it had humored her. Leave it to her to never react as he thought she would.
"Yes sir, I do. Your expression was priceless. Did you know that when you get really embarrassed even the tips of your ears turn red?" Without meaning to, Ed's hands went to cover them to hide his blatant tell from further scrutiny. Was there anything she didn't pick up about him? He found it alarming that in such a short time, she was able to ascertain so much about him. More concerning than that was how she had managed to so thoroughly crush his resolve to avoid her. Then again, maybe that wasn't so bad - seeing her in his shirt, slightly ruffled from the night before was possibly the height of his existence. These type of moments are also what scared him the most, they made him vulnerable to her. He had learned just what it meant to lose at a young age. His mother had been damn near a saint in his eyes as a child. Sensing his melancholy creeping in, Winry turned to cage him in her arms. "Something on your mind?" Though she had tried to sound casual, her tone belied her genuine worry.
"I was thinking that this is the happiest I've been in a long time." The uninhibited expression that shone in her ocean eyes before she enveloped him in tight embrace, was staggering. In the beginning of their acquaintance, he had searched for flaws to exploit within her, only to come up empty. Now, he was starting to wonder if she had any at all. She was like the Spring; colorful, fresh, and exciting.
"I am pretty great." Laughing, she placed small kisses up his neck, successfully dispelling the worries and doubts that had been invading his mind.
"Apparently you are also quite humble." At his retort, they both began laughing when another request was yelled through the door for them to come out already. Looking to incredible woman that was in his bed, he was loathe to leave the warmth that she was radiating. "I guess we should get dressed before they come in unwelcome again. I'll just grab some clothes and change in the bathroom so you have some privacy."
"Edward, you can change in here, if you want." Touching Winry in the dark was one thing, but being able to see all that creamy skin in the brightness of morning was enough to send a nervous flutter through his stomach.
"O-oh okay, right." Way to sound mature about it, Elric, he thought snidely. Briefly his eyes flickered to hers, and he saw the pink color her cheeks, giving away her own apprehension. He was comforted by the knowledge that she was just as new to everything as he was. "Do you want to borrow some of my clothes or are you fine wearing what you did last night?" Picking up her dress, she assessed the garment for wrinkles and nodded her head at his offer.
Opening his dresser, he tried to pick stuff that he used to wear before his growth spurt. Turning to toss the pants and black tank to her, he stopped dead in his tracks at the sight of her in nothing but her bra and panties, if you could even call the lacy scraps that covered her such things. Feeling his mouth pop open audibly, he couldn't help but stare at her perfect body; shapely, long legs, flat, toned stomach, and full, soft breasts being framed by silvery blonde strands. "Win, you're perfect." The words had escaped without consent, but the rosy flush that he now knew encompassed her whole body when she was flustered was worth the admission. For a moment, neither of them spoke, just stared openly at each other. When she crossed the space between them to grab his proffered clothing, she stood in front of him and slid her fingers up his abdomen until they were touching his scar tissue. Pressing herself against him, she tucked her head under his chin as she spoke.
"So are you, for me." Hearing her say that to him in her sultry morning voice, set his pulse to pounding in his ears, and it was then that he realized how deep in he was with Winry...he loved her. This recognition shook him to the marrow of his bones, Winry Rockbell was the world to him. On the heels of this awareness came the resounding fear that she now had the power to destroy him. He prayed emptily that she wouldn't. Tipping his lips to her hair, he tenderly kissed the crown of her head. In turn, she placed a kiss on the union of his flesh and the metal she had carefully crafted for him.
"Brother! If you aren't out here with us in five minutes, I will let Paninya come back in after you!" That was a threat that didn't appeal to him in the slightest. Grabbing the clothes from his hand, Winry began dressing, as did he. Once they were done, he took her hand and led her out to join everyone else.
"About damn time you two finally got up!" The dark skinned tomboy skirted around the table to come behind them. Draping an arm around each of them, she continued. "So, Winry, I just have to put this out there, you have some nice legs chick!" His student blushed furiously at this comment.
"PANINYA!" Both him and Alphonse scolded the audacious woman.
"WHAT!? I can't appreciate something that I don't have a pair of myself?" This drew the mechanic's attention.
"What do you mean?" Releasing her arms from around them, Paninya leaned down to pull up her pant legs and showed the gleaming metal underneath. Truthfully, if he hadn't found out about her having automail, they may not have become the good friends they were. "OH MY GOSH, who does your mail!?" And just like that Edward had been forgotten. Not that it bothered him, the look of pure excitement on her face was enough to draw a smile from him. Catching this, Mustang gave him a knowing smirk as he joined the guys in the kitchen. Sheska and Riza were sitting at the table talking about football, which apparently, the other blonde also enjoyed. Hearing them tossing stats back and forth was simply comical. Who could've guessed the two of them were both part of fantasy football leagues?
"So Elric, care to kiss and tell?" Leave it to him to know exactly how to ruffle his feathers.
"I'm not you, bastard." Al shot him a disapproving look at his use of 'cuss' words, though on occasion he was guilty of using a few himself.
"No need to get defensive, I was simply asking." Taking a drink of coffee, Roy watched him over the rim of the mug.
"If you genuinely wanted to know, you could have asked tactfully." Huffing indignantly, Ed couldn't help but cross his arms in irritation.
"Point taken." Dropping his voice to nearly a whisper, he spoke again. "It seems like things are going well between you two now." Somehow despite knowing that Roy was more sincere than he let on still took him by surprise. Al grabbed his glass of milk and maneuvered his chair towards the table, with one hand, reminding him of the subject he hadn't broached with Winry.
"Yeah, I think so, then again I haven't talked to her about my past yet." Glancing quickly in her direction, he saw that she was still gushing over Paninya's automail legs.
"My advice is to tell her sooner rather than later. The longer you wait, the more upset she will likely be. Women tend to favor full disclosure, where men are generally content to leave some things unsaid." For someone he had always considered a player, maybe he actually had learned some things about the fairer sex.
"Easier said than done unfortunately, could you picture having to explain something like that to Riza?" Keeping his face intentionally neutral, Mustang answered.
"I never said it would be easy, but if you care for her then it is only right. She deserves to know." As if knowing she was the subject of their conversation, Winry looked over to them, giving him a dazzling smile. "Who knows, maybe she will take things better than you are anticipating." Snorting in response, Ed doubted that highly.
"Are you guys bringing the food to the table or what?" Paninya inquired rudely, gaining a laugh from the others. Picking up the bowls of food, Roy and him headed towards the table.
"Yeah, yeah mouthy, here you go." Without saying anything, she began filling her plate immediately. "You're welcome." Saying in a loud, sarcastic voice, Edward sat down next to Winry and scowled.
"Thank you, Edward!" Paninya's hand shot out and ruffled his hair as she spoke.
"You little shit!" Reaching across the space in an attempt to grab the instigating woman, he was quickly admonished.
"Edward Elric, we are at the table!" Alphonse exclaimed chiddingly. The room went silent before their group burst out laughing at Al's reaction, earning a frown from his younger brother. Looking around to everyone, he squared his shoulders and sat up haughtily. "Well, we are." This drew another round of laughter, and even Al couldn't keep a straight face now. As they ate, Edward couldn't help but relish in the sounds of happiness that surrounded him. Taking his hand under the table, Winry never paused in her conversation as she did so, almost as if the action was as natural as breathing. Watching her talk animatedly, he felt completely satisfied with his life, for the first time since he was a child.
AN: Hope you guys liked the chapter, let me know what you think!