Summary: Doing your laundry can lead to unexpected confessions.

A/N: my part of the fic trade with @edxwin-elric! I used the fluff prompt “No, like…. It’s just, I can’t
believe you’re actually wearing my clothes.” for this fic. (I guess I could have taken this to an entirely different direction but didn’t :-D). And, since this is (another) confession fic, I also used @kittykatz009‘s prompt 

“I wanted to say “I love you” for the first
time without stuttering, but that failed.” because I really don’t think you’d want to read 23526436 confession fics from me. I hope you don’t mind me combining them, since this is kinda long-ish (for a one-shot). Please enjoy and review!!

Words: 2340+

Genre: ultra fluff (aka cotton candy, named by @kilmartin85). 

Warnings: swearing (Pinako ♥)

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“Edward Elric!
Where the hell are you? We are supposed to do laundry today!”

Up in his
room, Ed closed the book he was reading dramatically and let out a deep sigh. He
had beaten the god himself and saved the entire country, yet that didn’t give
him free pass on boring things like household chores. To be fair, though, Ed
hated being useless, so he didn’t actually mind helping around. He just found
bickering with Winry too enjoyable.

“Didn’t we
just do the laundry last week? Why do we have to do it again?” he yelled back,
preparing for an explosion.

“DO YOU
ENJOY USING DIRTY CLOTHES? I am NOT touching your underwear, you jerk!”

“Alright,
alright! No need to yell. Just give me a second!” He started piling all the
clothes he had thrown around the room onto his bed hastily, not wanting to make
Winry any angrier. For some reason, he had become a bit more careful about that
lately.

Al peeked
inside Ed’s room and snickered.

“I
recommend you hurry, brother. There might still be someone in Resembool who
didn’t hear about Fullmetal Alchemist, the hero of the people, having to wash
his dirty boxers himself.”

Ed threw
the closest piece of clothing (lucky for Al, only a T-shirt) at his brother and
fumed of anger.

“Laugh
ahead, Al. There will be a day when Winry and the old hag will decide you are
strong enough to be their slave as well.”

“You know I
would help them already if they let me. Unlike some people, I don’t feel the
need to complain about every chore I’m supposed to do.”

“Har de
har.”

Ed picked
up the pile of clothes from the bed and made Al a face when he handed him the
T-shirt he had thrown but left from the room without saying another word.

When he
sauntered into the laundry room (earning a pointed look for his purposefully lazy
appearance), Winry was already washing her own clothes in a huge bucket filled
with water and soap. Some richer families already had machines to do this job, and
Ed had suggested the Rockbells get one too since he had money to buy them one.
However, Pinako refused, saying that they were still perfectly capable of doing
this with their own hands so there was no need to waste money on such
unnecessary devices.

“Finally. I
was about to come and drag you here,” Winry noted, not lifting her gaze from
the overalls she was currently trying to scrub clean. There was no way she’d
ever get the oil stains off it, but that didn’t stop her from trying.

“Why is it so
important to you that I wash my
clothes? It’s not like you have to wear them or anything…” Ed grunted as he
filled his own bucket with warm water. Then he pulled his hoodie off to avoid
getting it wet, giving Winry a nice view to his strong, bare arms, and put the
rubber gloves on.

“Yes, but I
have to smell you,” she pointed out,
trying to not get too distracted by Ed’s appearance. “Clothes start smelling,
Ed, especially when you sweat a lot, and trust me, no one in this house wants
to deal with your stink.”

“I do not
smell that bad!”

“Then
what’s that weird stench that comes through your door every time I walk past
it?”

“I… it’s… I
don’t know! It’s probably Al!”

“Right.”
Winry sighed.

“How about
we just stay quiet for a while and finish this?” Ed pointed towards the
mountain of laundry, and for once both of them agreed on something.

Soon
enough, they had more clean than dirty clothes in their hands and Ed decided it
was safe to speak again.

“How’s your
apprenticeship going? Are you done with it soon?”

Winry was
genuinely pleased that Ed seemed interested in her work. Before Al and his
return, he had never asked about it.

“It’s going
nicely. I think I’ll be done within the next few months!” she exclaimed
happily. “Did I mention I’m gonna go to Rush Valley next week again? Garfiel
wants to see how I’ve progressed, and you guys don’t really need me here
anymore…”

“Don’t say
that!” Ed said unexpectedly. “Who will make me do my laundry when you’re not around?
Who will make me cook and clean and fix the broken roof and so on?”

Winry
frowned at him. “I know you would do those things either way, you’re just
pretending to be a tough guy whose job is to complain a bit first. And Granny
is always here to keep you guys in line if you suddenly forget how to function.”

“I… We just like to, you know, have you
around here,” Ed said sheepishly.

“Even
though I should probably be honored, I need to remind you that I’m only going
to be away for a couple of weeks. You guys were gone for years. How do you think I was feeling when I never even heard
anything from you?”

“Sorry,
Winry!” Ed squeaked before she had a chance to throw something at him. “We
needed to focus on getting Al’s body back 100 per cent, and besides, I thought
you’d understand. It was to protect you… and to avoid getting distracted.

“What do
you mean by ‘getting distracted’? I don’t understand you, Ed.”

“I’m really
bad at explaining this stuff, but… this place was the only home we had left,
and had we come back, it would have been so easy to forget our mission and get
too relaxed. Do you think we’d be here if we had slacked off?”

“No! But you
guys never called, never let me know if you were OK… Would it really have
ruined everything if you had talked with us two minutes on the phone?”

“You don’t
understand!”

“What do I
not understand?” Winry was practically yelling now. Here they went again, she
groaned in her mind. Why could they not have a civil conversation anymore?

Ed had
already passed the point in which he cared about what kind of consequences his
next words might have.

“Have you
ever considered that perhaps one of the reasons why I didn’t want to contact
you was that I cared about you too damn much? That when I heard your voice or saw
your face I was afraid I’d forget what I was supposed to do?! What if someone
had found out how important you are to us? What if someone had tried to find
out about our plans through you? They could have hurt you!”

“What?”
Winry stared at him with wide eyes. Was he really saying what she thought he
was?

“Don’t make
me repeat it.” Ed said coldly and turned away from her.

“You are
making me even more confused than I was before! Give me an honest answer to one
question: does what you just said mean that you have been in love with me all
this time?”

“I don’t…
they all say… YES.” He nearly yelled the final word.

“You
idiot,” Winry sighed and put the shirt she was washing back into the bucket, getting
up and sitting down next to Ed. “How long were you going to keep that inside
you?”

“I was
going to tell you eventually.” He still couldn’t look at her. “This wasn’t
really how I planned to do it…”

Winry set
her hand on Ed’s knee and said: “It’s OK. I don’t care. I… have been keeping
things from you too. I was scared you’d freak out if I told you.”

“What are
you talking about?”

“Edward
Elric, the youngest state alchemist ever, yet still so dense… Hey, could you
help me hang this sheet?” She suddenly suggested.

“Huh?
What…”

Before Ed had
time to react, Winry threw the damp sheet on them and pulled Ed up, setting her
hands on his shoulders. Ed couldn’t see much, but soon he felt something moist
that definitely wasn’t the sheet against his lips. It was warm and soft, making
Ed shiver a bit. The sensation was over too soon, but Winry’s voice said:
“Sorry… I just found it easier to do this way.” She took a deep breath and continued:
“I love you too, you weirdo. Have loved for a long time now.”

“Why haven’t
you told me earlier?”

“I think I
could ask you the same question,” Winry snorted and pushed some of Ed’s hair
aside so she could see his face slightly better under the damb sheet.

“Fair
enough. But, um, why are we still under this thing? It’s wet and cold!”

“This may
sound ridiculous, but in so many stories that I read as a child the prince and
princess or whatever kissed in the rain… and I wanted to try that. Well, it’s
not raining now so I had to improvise a bit.” Despite the cool cover, Winry
felt her cheeks warm.

“OK, but we’re
not kissing, in case you haven’t noticed.”

“Jerk. We
can always fix that!”

“OK.”

Lips met
lips again, this time more eagerly, and since he was now prepared for the kiss,
Ed took the lead. He snuck his hands into her hair and tilted his head to get a
better access to her lips. Just when he thought he had gotten the hang of it, the
door opened.

“Why is it so
quiet here? Are you two slacking off? OH!”

Pinako spotted
the feet under the sheet in the middle of the room and grinned at the sight.

“I was
starting to wonder when you’d make the move, pipsqueak. You guys have been
frustrating me ever since the boys came back, so it’s about time. Just make
sure you’re not having sex under my roof when I’m nearby! And for fuck’s sake, don’t
mess that sheet or you’ll get an earful.”

“Granny!” both
youngsters screamed and threw the sheet off them, rushing to hang it on the
clothes line.

The couple
continued doing their laundry in an awkward silence as Pinako kept observing
them. When they were finally done, Ed, who had noticed Winry seemed a bit cold
after getting her clothes wet, handed her the white hoodie he had worn earlier.

“Here. You
probably need it more than I do,” he said awkwardly, and Winry took the hoodie
happily, enjoying the softness against her skin.

“Thanks.”
Winry smiled and sighed of relief when she saw her granny finally leaving them
alone.

“About that
earlier…” she said quietly. “I think we should do that again sometime.”
“Yeah, when the old hag isn’t nearby.” Ed stated. It was the second time that
day they agreed on something.

…

Five days
later, Ed, Al and Winry were waiting for Winry’s train to arrive to the
Resembool station. Ed had secretly wished Al would let him walk Winry there
alone, but unfortunately the younger Elric had been bored and wanted to take
the opportunity to tease him mercilessly about his new relationship. Pinako had
of course told him about the events of the laundry room, and after that Ed’s
life had been a “living hell” (a couple of times Ed had thought fighting a Homunculus
was easier than facing both Al and Pinako who always had those knowing smirks
on their faces when they saw him, looking ready to taunt him). To Winry, Al had
told that he was happy for them, and that he had been wishing his brother would
finally admit the inevitable.

As they
were standing at the platform, Winry noticed that Ed was staring at her with a
weird look on his face.

“What?” she
raised her eyebrow.

“What what?”
Ed asked.

“Why are
you looking at me like that? Is something wrong?”

“No, like….
It’s just, I can’t believe you’re actually wearing my clothes.”

“Oh.”

Winry was
wearing the very same hoodie Ed had given her in the laundry room, not even
realizing there was anything weird about it. When she had picked her outfit for
that day, she had been pretty nervous about the upcoming evaluation with
Garfiel (although Ed had claimed she was already better than anyone in Rush
Valley), and the hoodie had seemed comforting in that moment. Maybe it made her
feel that way because it was Ed’s, she had concluded in her mind.

“It suits
you.” Ed said when Al ran a little farther to pet a cat that was walking by.

“Huh?”

She wasn’t
used to Ed giving her such direct compliments, but she definitely wasn’t going
to complain about this change.

“Do you
mind if I keep it?” she asked then.

“Naah, I
have plenty of them in my wardrobe…” Ed rubbed the back of his neck in a way
that had become familiar to Winry during the years they had known each other.

“Good. Oh,
I guess this is it,” she noted when she saw the train approaching the station. “Hey,
Al, I gotta go!” she yelled at her friend who was now holding the cat in his
arms and waved at Winry with its paw. “I’ll see you later! Please don’t
traumatize that cat!”

“You know I
wouldn’t!” Al yelled back and set the poor feline that had been meowing loudly
back down.

“See you, Winry,”
Ed said and snuck a kiss on Winry’s cheek when he saw Al wasn’t watching. When
Winry was lifting her luggage into the train, he took a deep breath and added: “And
don’t forget: I-I lo-love you.”

“What?”
Winry genuinely didn’t hear what he said because the train was whistling loudly,
signing the passengers it was about to leave.

“I wanted
to say “I love you” for the first time without stuttering… but clearly,
that failed.” He said much louder, not noticing Al was now in the hearing
distance.

“Silly. Love
you too,” Winry said before stepping inside the train and waving the brothers through
the window.

“Aww,
brother, I didn’t know you were so sweet!” Al said when the train disappeared
from their view.

“Fuck off,
Alphonse.” Ed growled, his face almost the color of burgundy.