Summary: Amestris vs Xing continues. And something else happens too 😛

A/N: This is a long ass chapter. It’s quite a rollercoaster. Just read it (and review, please :3) (Just a fair warning, the next chapter might take a bit longer bc I have another fic I need to work on, and we are going back to figure skating, which is gonna be a challenge)

Next chapter: [x]

Previous chapters:  1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 5.5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15 pt 1

Companion pieces (note: these are all post Olympics happenings so reading the main fic first is recommended): 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

Words: 4200+ (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! what. even)

Genre: this has it all. Fluff, humor, hurt/comfort, a bit of angst

Warnings: swearing, character deaths mentioned (nothing you don’t know about at this point tho)

---

The second
period was even more eventful than the first one. 3 minutes in, Havoc finally
got to show he was still capable of scoring when Mustang sent him a pass that
was hard to miss and put the puck into the net. Not long after, though, Team Xing
scored and got the control of the game to themselves. However, that ended when
one of their players lost the puck too close to his own goal line and Hughes
didn’t miss his opportunity to score. The Amestrisian crowd
cheered loudly as he was hugging his linemates enthusiastically and waving to
the crowd where, Winry believed, Gracia was sitting.

“Fuck yes!”
Ed yelled loudly as well. “That was a damn important goal!”

“But the
Xingese are good too, don’t think this decided anything yet!” Al tried to calm
him down.

And he was
right. Only a minute later Amestris got shorthanded because they had too many
men on the ice for a moment, giving Xing a powerplay. One of their defensemen
had an amazing slapshot, and when Ling Yao made an amazing screen in front of
Armstrong, he had an easy job getting the puck behind the huge goalie.

“Told ya,”
Al said, a little too smugly.

“Hey, whose
side are you on?” Ed growled, frustrated he couldn’t be on the ice to help his
team.

“Boys, calm
down, the game is on again,” Winry tried to keep the peace between them.

The speed
in this game was much, much faster than Ed remembered it being against Drachma.
One moment the puck was in Amestris’ defensive zone, the next moment it was in
Xing’s. The players focused way more on the offense than defense, resulting in
the third goal for both Amestris and Xing before the period ended.

“I could
barely breathe out there,” Ed said during the intermission. “It’s so much
easier when you get to play, because at least then you can try to help your
team. This is fucking torture! Remind me to never break my leg again.”

“Can’t make
such promises for you.” She threw her arm on his shoulder, continuing: “But
relax, at least they are not losing!”

“How can
you be so calm?” Ed asked with disbelief.

“Not calm,
just having faith in your team. Unlike someone.”

Winry
wasn’t so calm about five minutes later when the third period was on and Xing
had scored 2 more goals. Both she and Ed had covered their eyes with their
hands after Armstrong picked the puck from behind him for the fifth time.

“I’m sure
they’ll get over this,” Al tried to calm them down, but earned only enraged
looks from them. “What! What does the win even matter, they’ll be in the
quarter finals anyway!”

“It has a
huge difference!” Ed exclaimed. “If they win this either on the regulation or
overtime, they’ll win their group and get to play against the supposedly easiest
opponent in the quarter finals! If they get 0 or 1 points, they’ll be second in their group and the opponent will be tougher.”

“Alright,
alright! I believe you!” Al said and ignored the swearing next to him.

For a good
while the situation looked bad for Team Amestris. They didn’t seem to get the
game into their control no matter how hard they tried, and it didn’t help at
one point Roy accidentally shot the puck into the audience from his defensive
zone, getting a penalty for delay of the game. Somehow, the team still managed
to kill the penalty and got new confidence from it. Unfortunately for them,
though, they only had 5 minutes left of the regulation.

The game
changed its direction when Bradley asked for a time-out a good two minutes
before the end of the period. Armstrong stayed on the bench when the team
played with four forwards and two defensemen, scoring only 15 seconds after the
time-out ended. The Xingese nearly caused Ed, Al and Winry a heart attack soon after,
though, when the puck missed the empty net in Amestris’ defensive zone only by
a few inches. 

Winry noticed she was gnawing her finger nails when there were
only 10 seconds left of the period and Amestris still hadn’t scored. Havoc
passed to Roy who passed to Fuery who passed back to Havoc… Suddenly Havoc
managed to trick a couple of Xing’s players and got face to face with the
goalie, noticing he hadn’t remembered to close the space between the leg pads…
And only 2 seconds before the end of the period, the puck was in, and the game
was tied.

“Goddammit,
Havoc! Remind me to buy you a beer or even two when I get a chance again!” Ed
yelled and spontaneously hugged Winry who was jumping next to him, equally
excited.

“Oh my
gosh! I was so sure they’d lose!” Winry shrieked, trying to get her voice heard
over the roaring audience. “Fucking awesome!”

“Yeah, but
let’s not forget this game isn’t over yet,” Al reminded the others, and once
again Ed stared at his brother with disbelief.

“Don’t ruin
our fun!”

“Just
stating the facts, brother.”

Team
Amestris got new strength from the late-period goal and when the overtime
started, they looked like they were ready to win. A couple of times Winry had
to look away when team Xing’s players (usually Ling Yao in the lead) crossed
the line to their offensive zone, but every time the situation ended with an
Amestrisian tackling them cleanly yet powerfully and taking the hold of the
puck. Only two minutes later, Breda shot the puck towards Xing’s goalie, who
made the save, but the puck was still in the game, and Havoc put the rebound into
the net. The game was over.

“Only Havoc
would manage to score a hat trick when hangover,” Ed laughed-cried while
holding Winry for support. “I’ll have to buy him three beers!”

“I’m gonna
want to see that,” Winry laughed. “Remember to invite me too!”

“I will!”

Neither of
them noticed Al’s cheer after the goal was louder than either of them.

---

Several
hours later, when Ed was already laying in his bed waiting for the sleep to
come, he noticed his phone was vibrating on the night table, indicating a new
message. He opened the lock screen and saw the message was from Winry.

“Can’t
sleep. Are you still up?” she asked.

He quickly typed
the reply:

“Yeah”

From the
three dots on the screen he saw that she was typing again and waited.

“Good. I
hope I didn’t wake you up or anything.”

“Nah, I
couldn’t sleep either,” he replied.

After a
minute or two, Winry sent another message.

“Would you
like to come over? Idk, I just find it easier/nicer to talk face to face.”

Ed’s cheeks
flushed when he took the message in, wondering if these nightly visits had a
deeper meaning. Was she expecting something? Did she already consider them a
couple?

“I guess I
could…” He answered carefully, not wanting to sound too eager.

“Great.
I’ll see you soon then?”

“Yeah” he
typed and sat up on his bed, starting to look for his clothes. His hotel room
was rather warm, so he only wore boxer briefs and nothing else when alone in
there. Finding his Amestris green college pants and a black T-shirt that was a
bit too snug for his liking from the chair next to his bed, he pulled them on before getting up. He also snatched his crutches, phone and the card key that wasn’t lost anymore (how would he
explain this to Al tomorrow, he wondered) and hopped out of his room, cringing
when he realized the crutches might make a lot of noise in the quiet hallway. The
teammates living closest to him could easily hear and no doubt use the
information against him later on. He just had to ignore that now, he had
already promised he would visit her.

Apparently
Winry had heard the crutches too because she opened the door before Ed had time
to knock.

“Hi,” she
smiled widely at him from the dimly lit room.

“H-hi,” Ed
stuttered, wondering why he couldn’t talk normally to her even though they had
literally hung out together only a few hours earlier, and everything had gone
just fine.

“Come on
in,” she moved aside so he had space to get into her room.

“Was there
something specific you wanted to talk about?” Ed asked, sitting down on a chair
next to the desk and leaning his elbows on his knees.

“No, not
really.” She shrugged. “I just wanted to tell you I had a good time tonight
with you guys.”

“That’s…
good to hear. It was fun seeing you getting so excited, I didn’t know you were
such a big hockey fan.” he said with more confidence.

“I told you
I used to play hockey when I was younger,” she reminded him.

“Right…”

There was a
long silence, filling the air with thick tension. Both youngsters knew what they
wanted to say but couldn’t find the courage to do it. Finally, after fiddling
with her hands for a good while nervously, Winry spoke.

“Listen…
You were honest with me yesterday so I’m gonna be honest too. After all, it’s
fair we start the game from the same line, right?”

Ed couldn’t
help but smile a bit when he got the hockey reference. “Right.”

“Or I don’t
know,” Winry continued her babbling, “I’ve heard some chemists… or were they alchemists?
I don’t know, I haven’t really studied chemistry so much… why am I rambling
like this? Um, anyway, they say they believe in equivalent exchange… and I
don’t know, I guess it makes sense…”

“Wow… I
never thought I’d hear you say those words aloud,” Ed said, his eyes suddenly
burning excitedly. “I have sworn in the name of equivalent exchange for longer
than I can remember.”

“You have?”

“Absolutely.”
Ed nodded eagerly. “You were about to say something else, though.”

“Yeah… It
isn’t that important, though.”

“I think it
is if you are that nervous to say it,” Ed stated, surprised that suddenly he
was the more confident one in the room.

Winry swept
her sweaty hands against her pajamas, taking a deep breath. “Ok then… You remember
how you said you needed to figure some things out? Well… I think I have my own
thoughts figured out now.”

“And?” Ed
tried to encourage her, although he himself was feeling nervous too. What if
she was going to say she didn’t think seeing him wasn’t a good idea, after all?
He might have said those exact words to her earlier but regretted it now. He was
already too damn fond of this woman.

“I am… I
think I’m starting to fall for you.” She finally blurted, her heart feeling like
it might jump out of her chest any minute now, face heating dangerously.

“You…
what?” Ed asked stupidly, his mouth forming a huge “o”.

“Do I need
to spell it to you?” She got a bit frustrated, crossing her arms against her
chest. “I don’t believe in l-love at first sight, but somehow… I think something
strange is going on here.”

“Winry…”

Ed’s mouth
was still hanging when his phone suddenly started ringing.

“If that is
my idiot of a brother, I swear to… What the fuck?” He swore out loud when he
saw the name on the screen. “It’s not Al. Hang on… As much as I want to turn
this thing off and throw it out of the window… he never calls. Gotta find out what…” His tone changed entirely, to
100 degrees cooler, when he answered. “If it isn’t my good-for-nothing father…
Why are you calling at 11 fucking 30 at night?”

The voice
from the other end of the line said, calmly: “Hello to you too, son. I tried to
reach you earlier, but you didn’t answer.”

“That’s not
true. I don’t have any missed calls…” Suddenly Ed recalled something. “I did
turn off my phone during the game, though, but are you really that stupid you’d
try to call me when my team is playing?”

“That’s why
I tried to call you. I saw on TV that you weren’t
playing and wanted to know why.”

“… Al
didn’t tell you before he left?” Ed asked, genuinely surprised.

“I believe
he didn’t.” Van Hohenheim said sadly. Ed exchanged confused looks with Winry.
Was his father really expressing sorrow?

“That’s not
like him. He tells you way more about our lives than I do,” Ed stated
matter-of-factly.

“I won’t
disagree with you on that. But could you answer my question now? What happened
to you?”

“If you
must know,” Ed said with a venomous voice, all the times his father hadn’t cared in his mind, “I broke my leg when someone tackled
me against the rink side in the first game. You would of course have known that
had you actually watched that game.”

“You know I
am busy, I was at the laboratory making some very important research during
your first game.”

“Right,”
the younger man spat, “that and the fact that you don’t actually care about the
wellbeing of your sons.”

“I am
calling you now! Doesn’t that prove…”

“It doesn’t
prove a shit!” Ed was yelling now, making Winry a little scared. “You didn’t
even bother to check any headlines about that game, otherwise you would have
known what happened! You didn’t ask me or Al how my game had gone, and hell,
you didn’t even remember yesterday was my 18^th birthday! Stop
pretending you care because clearly you don’t!”

“I, uh… it
was your birthday? Happy birthday, Edward.”

“It’s too
late now! Just leave me alone.” He breathed heavily, clenching his automail
fist.

There was a
long silence again. Ed was just about to hang up when his father finally spoke.

“Edward. I
think there’s something you should know.”

“Well?” he asked, not even bother to hide his frustration.

“There are
two reasons why I’ve been so distant ever since…” Hohenheim couldn’t finish his
sentence. What had happened to his wife still hurt him more than he wanted to
admit.

“… Mum
died. You can say it out loud, I’m not a baby anymore,” Ed snarled.

“The first
reason is that you… you remind me more of her than you probably realize.”

Ed wanted
to point out how stupid that sounded, but his curiosity took over. “But how? As much
as I hate to admit it, I look just like you.
Al is the one with mother’s eyes and stuff.”

“No, it’s
not the looks.” Hohenheim shook his head, even though Ed couldn’t see him. “You
have inherited some of your most visible traits, your persistency, strong will and
loyalty from her. When you speak, I
can hear her say those exact same things.”

“Father…”

“It makes
my heart ache so much. Hearing her words but knowing we can’t ever get her
back.”

That was
the last straw for Ed. All the bottled emotions demanded to get out, and he
couldn’t hold them any longer. He was shaking and clenching his fist even
harder than before.

“And you fucking
think I don’t know how that feels?! I LOST HER TOO! I LOST
HER AND I LOST NINA AND I LOST YOU TOO BECAUSE YOU WERE NEVER THERE WHEN I
NEEDED YOU!”

The
memories of the 5-year-old him came suddenly back to him. He could see himself peeking
into his father’s room through the keyhole and seeing his father just staring the
wall apathetically. When he went inside to ask him if he could cook something
because Al was hungry, he said nothing. The boys had ended up going to the Rockbells
for the dinner that night, and the little girl there had comforted him… For a
brief moment Ed wondered if Winry remembered that. But then the frustration and
anger took over again.

“DO YOU KNOW
HOW IT FELT LIKE TO BE 5 YEARS OLD, HAVING JUST LOST MY MOTHER, AND THEN I CAME
INTO YOUR ROOM, TRYING TO ASK YOU TO HELP ME WITH SOMETHING… AND YOU DIDN’T
EVEN NOTICE I WAS THERE? DON’T YOU UNDERSTAND?! WE NEEDED YOU. WE STILL DO. YOU
HAVE TO GET OVER YOURSELF AND ACCEPT THAT THERE ARE STILL PEOPLE WHO WISH YOU TO BE THERE FOR THEM.”

A single teardrop
fell down his cheek when he finished, in a calm and cold voice: “To be honest…
I’ve learned to live without you a long time ago… but Al still wishes you’d
notice him.”

“Edward…”
Hohenheim said quietly, Ed’s words still echoing in his head, “if you think I don’t feel guilty about everything… every
single moment… you are wrong.”

“What are
you talking about? You have never shown any guilt or regret to us!”

“I
constantly feel that I should have noticed the signs of illness from your
mother earlier. I constantly feel I should have found a cure for it. I am constantly
aware I should have been the father you boys deserved. The reason why I have
avoided watching your games or reading game reports is not because I don’t
care. It’s just, the first thing that comes to my mind when I see the news
about you is ‘my son is doing so well. And he’s doing it all without my help.’ And
the guilt gets nearly unbearable.”

Edward was
quiet for a while. Suddenly, he realized he and his father had more in common
than he had thought. After the incident with Nina, he had systematically gotten
rid of the objects that reminded him of her and shut the guilt of not being
able to save her deep inside of him. The pain had gotten so great he had
decided he would not let people to get close to him again. Except… He had
failed in his plan. He glanced at the girl next to him briefly, wondering what
she was thinking about.

“You idiot
of a father,” he said suddenly, his voice missing the earlier fire, “what
happened to her was out of your control! But you were a coward not being able
to face us like you should have. Anyway… You can’t get the lost years back… but
you can still be there for us!”

Hohenheim
seemed to be considering it for a moment before answering: “I… I’ll try my
best.”

“That’s all
I’m asking for,” Ed said more calmly. “So, what was the other reason why you
have been like that?” He might have understood his father a bit better now, but he
wouldn’t still let him get away with his past misbehavior that easily.

“I’ve been
doing research on the disease your mother died of… And I think I’m finally
close to finding a cure. Yes, we can’t ever bring her back, but we can at least
make sure no one else has to suffer the same fate.”

“That’s
good.” Ed would have wanted to say much more, ask why Hohenheim hadn’t told about
all this years earlier, but suddenly he remembered he was still in Winry’s room
and decided it was better if he didn’t push it any further. Either way, the
phone call had already changed his view of his father a bit.

“Uh, listen,
I’m with someone right now and she’s probably gonna kick me out if I continue
my yelling much longer, so… I should probably go now.”

“She?”
Hohenheim asked curiously. “Do we need to have the long-delayed talk now?”

“Don’t you
dare to pick this moment to suddenly become a real father!” Ed growled, afraid
Winry might have heard.

“OK, OK. I
guess you are old enough to make your own choices…”

“You bet I
am!”

“Either
way, it makes me happy to hear you are making progress with other people. Don’t
think I haven’t noticed you have been isolating yourself from others, minus
perhaps Al, ever since… that incident
happened.”

“Well, that
makes us two.”

“Fair
enough,” Hohenheim sighed.

“So, bye
now… And father?” Ed didn’t know what made him add: “Please call more often.”

“I will.”

He finished
the call, feeling the poison that had been swimming in his veins for too many
years slowly leaving his body.

“That… felt
good.”

“I haven’t
ever seen you like that… It was your father, right?” Winry asked, looking at
him with a weird expression. Ed thought it looked like half scared, half admiring.

“Yeah… He
and I… We haven’t exactly had the easiest relationship. Sorry about yelling like
that. The people in this hotel are really gonna hate me, aren’t they?”

“I admit it’s a possibility,” Winry said teasingly.

“Right.” Ed
was rubbing the back of his neck again, his cheeks getting some extra color.

“So, before
my dad called… You said some things. I’m really bad at this stuff and I don’t
quite know what I should say to you… I mean, don’t get me wrong, you are
awesome, and I can’t believe you just told me you… but like I already said, I want to be sure I
can do this. I don’t want to hurt you, Winry.”

“How long
do you think figuring it out might take? You know I won’t be able to wait
forever,” Winry asked sadly.

“I know. My
head’s just so damn full right now.” He turned his back towards her, not able
to face her at the moment. “The injury, my past, my father and now this… But
you know, Al and some others have been trying to tell me…”

“What did
they tell you?” She asked when he didn’t finish his sentence. Ed didn’t get a
chance to explain, though, because suddenly Winry noticed a small red foil
package peeking from his back pocket “Hey, Ed! What the hell is in your
pocket?”

She
wouldn’t have asked if she hadn’t been almost sure about it.

“It’s
nothing!” Ed panicked, realizing what she must have seen.

“Did you
fucking come here thinking you’d score
tonight? Have you just been playing hard to get all this time?!” Winry was
practically yelling now, aiming a pillow at him.

“No!
Absolutely not!” he denied immediately, face red and hating himself for
forgetting to leave the condom package into his room. “It’s not like that,
Winry!”

Then what
is it like?” she asked sharply.

“Al gave me
this as a birthday present yesterday, as a
joke. I… When I went to change my clothes this morning, I must have stuffed it into this
pocket without thinking anything, but I swear I did not plan this! I just
pulled on the first pants I got into my hands when I came here!”

Winry
studied his body language for a while, finally deciding he wouldn’t be that
shocked if he had truly planned this.

“You have
been honest with me so far, so I want to believe you. But should I really
believe that you haven’t ever thought about doing it?” She poked him on the
chest accusingly.

“Is this a trap,
woman? Yes, I have thought about it, is that what you want me to say?”

“So you have thought about it.”

“Newsflash,
you are infuriatingly hot,” Ed growled. “But I would never fucking ever do
anything without your consent! And I wouldn’t do anything even with your consent
before I have even told you I answer to your feelings!”

That finally
quieted Winry down. She hadn’t noticed she had forced Ed to back down against
the wall and was now staring right into his eyes, only a few inches between
them. She set her hand on his shoulder as a calming gesture.

“Sorry. I…
shouldn’t have freaked out like that. It’s just… those idiots the other day…
and it has happened in Rush Valley too… The guys keep thinking I’m some kind of
prize to be won… They just notice my looks, not what I’m underneath all that!

“I would
never think that way! You’re smart and talented and you keep challenging me
like no one ever has!”

“You really
think so?”

“Y-yes,”
suddenly a bit embarrassed by his confession.

“Ed?”

“Hmm?”

“Kiss me.”

“What? No!”

Ed used
Winry’s distraction to jump farther from her.

“What?
Didn’t you just say you had…” she asked, confused.

“Yes, but
after yesterday I made myself a promise.”

“A
promise?”

“That I
wouldn’t kiss you or anything else of that nature until I can be sure I can
commit myself into a re… relationship.”

Was this
really the same guy who yelled obnoxious things to his opponents on the ice and
kept pushing people away, Winry wondered. “Wow… that’s actually really sweet…”

“I didn’t
know I was capable of being sweet,” Ed smirked, “but I’ll take it. Listen, it’s
been a long day and I am getting tired. I should probably go now.”

“How about…
you stay here? No kissing or anything, just sleeping. I slept better when we
were sharing the bed…”

“No
offense, but do you really trust me after what just happened?”

“Yes. I
trust you.”

“OK… In
that case, I guess it would be OK.”

“Good. For
your information, I’d kick your ass if it came down to it.”

“I have no
doubts about that.”

Not much
more was said. Ed laid down on Winry’s bed and she settled next to him,
wrapping her arms around his torso. Not long after, they both fell into a
peaceful sleep.