Aka Edwin ice skating au!

Summary: More heart-to-heart between Ed and Winry after Ed’s birthday party

A/N: Sorry for the long-ish wait, I hope I’m making up for it with the longest chapter yet! This chapter was supposed to be fillery, but it ended up involving some pretty important stuff in it. This chapter is dedicated to @kittykatz009 who has been an amazing support to me and to whom I wish a very quick recovery. Please enjoy and review! 

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

Next chapter: [x]

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

Words: 3030+ (wow I really did break the 3k word line!) 

Genre: floof, some angst/hurt/comfort

Warnings: swearing, mentions of drinking, smoking and character deaths. Oh and Ed has a bit of a dirty mind.

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“Thanks,
Winry.” Ed said suddenly as the two of them were walking back towards their
hotel after the party. He had insisted he wanted to use his crutches because he
was getting tired of sitting around, so his teammates had brought them for him
sometime during the night. The rest of the gang had either left to sleep earlier
or continue their night elsewhere, so that left Ed and Winry alone. Even Al had
mysteriously disappeared before they had a chance to ask if he wanted to walk
with them.

“For what?”
Winry asked, confused by this ‘outburst’.

“I don’t
know. For tonight? For sticking with me? Not letting me be an asshole?” Ed said
sheepishly.

“Pfft, I
can’t take credit for all that.” Winry dismissed it with a wave of her hand.

“I think
you can. I wish there was a way to repay it for you.”

“I… think there
is one way you could thank me…” Winry was blushing slightly, her eyes twinkling
playfully when she looked at him. Her gaze moved back and forth from his lips
to his eyes, biting her lower lip lightly, letting Ed know what she wished.

“You sure?”
Ed asked quietly, and Winry just nodded.

He took one
step closer and started to lean in. He was now as close as he had been earlier
that day at the hospital before Winry’s phone had interrupted them… Damn it,
why did she look so cute there in the moonlight? Her shiny hair felt soft under
his fingers and her cheeks were adorably pink and warm in the chilly weather…
Ed closed his eyes, finally ready to connect their lips…

And just
like earlier, they were interrupted again. This time some guys Ed didn’t know started
whistling in the nearby smoking spot when they saw the couple. Winry recognized
them as the bobsleigh guys she had seen earlier at the Olympics and was about
to mention it to Ed when one of them spoke.

“Hey look,
isn’t that the Rockbell girl we met earlier? She went out with that runt? The
bitch’s got a bad taste.”

“Oh, so you
think me hanging out with someone who respects me instead of someone who calls
me a bitch is ‘bad taste’? You losers are just angry I didn’t let you get into
my pants.” Winry retorted and pushed her ponytail behind her back for a
dramatic effect.

“Winry!” Ed
felt he shouldn’t have been surprised Winry was perfectly capable of standing
up for herself, but he still hadn’t expected her to be that brave.

“Hah, what
pants? All you ever wear are skirts so short that I can see your underwear
under them,” one of the guys yelled.

“Ex-fucking-cuse
me?” Ed couldn’t keep his mouth shut any longer. “Do I need to beat the shit
out of you?” He growled and bared his teeth like a wolf that was ready to
attack. Winry hadn’t seen this side of him earlier, and she got slightly scared
of what might happen.

“Ed, it’s
not worth it! They’re just jealous. You’re in no condition to fight anyway!”

“Unfortunately,
you’re right,” Ed sighed, but waved his crutch threateningly at the men. “You
assholes can be happy that I’m using crutches because otherwise you’d be seeing
stars… This amazing woman here is worth about a million of you, and I’m not
afraid of fighting all of you if I ever hear any of you say anything
disrespectful about her again. I mean it.” He stretched his arm muscles and flashed
a bit of his automail from under the glove he was always wearing, making sure
his statement was effective.

“Now come
on, Win. Let’s go.”

“But Ed…”
she said when they were far enough that the guys couldn’t hear them anymore,
“aren’t you worried they’ll say something about your automail?”

“I know the
type of people those guys are, and they are way too coward to actually fight
back. Besides, they only got a glimpse of it, they have no proof of anything.
It might just as well have been a watch or something.”

“I have to
admit, though, what you said about me was very sweet. Thank you.” Winry rested
her hand on his shoulder for a moment.

“That was
nothing,” Ed rubbed the back of his neck again.

“Don’t be
so humble,” Winry said and squeezed Ed’s hand, the real one, before they continued
their walk.

The two of
them casually chatted as they walked towards the hotel, about the events of the
night, how Winry had gotten everyone’s numbers (Roy had been a big help), how
Winry knew the bobsleigh guys… For a while, they forgot where they were and simply
enjoyed the moment. That was, until Ed asked an innocent question.

“So,
individual competition soon? Are you nervous?”

“I… I don’t
know. I haven’t really been thinking about it much for the past two days,”
Winry admitted. It was true, she really hadn’t paid much attention to anything
that was happening in the figure skating world after her incident. Garfiel
would probably be angry when she’d finally show up at the training arena. In
her defense, though, there wasn’t much she could do, with her foot still a bit
tender.

“How’s your
foot? You will be able to compete, right?” Ed asked.

“Um, I
think so…” Winry shrugged. “It still feels a bit weird when I walk but the
doctor says it isn’t badly injured. Just needs some rest.”

“That’s
good, right?”

“Yeah… I
just wish I could practice. I don’t know you can handle not being able to play.
My problem is much smaller, but it’s still frustrating.”

“Trust me, I’m
about to explode any minute now. That’s how much I hate this situation. But I’m
lucky to have some awesome friends who have helped me to distract myself.” He
gave her a toothy grin.

“Oh? That’s
nice to hear.” Winry smirked happily, knowing that she was included to those
“awesome friends”.

Soon the
duo found themselves inside their hotel and started to make their way to their respective
rooms. Winry’s was farther down the hallway so she stopped in front of Ed’s to
tell him good night, but he was fiddling with his bag, apparently trying to
find something.

“Damn it! I
must have left my card key with Havoc when he went to get my crutches and I
can’t call him anymore, he has probably passed out somewhere.”

“Oh no.
Well, you can’t sleep in the hallway either, so…”

“Yeah? Do
you have something in your mind?” Ed asked curiously.

“Please
don’t get this wrong way…” Winry said, feeling slightly awkward. “Gracia and I
share a room, but she hasn’t stayed there for a single night because Maes has a
big bed, so… I guess there’s some space in mine… I mean my room! Not bed! Not
that I’d mind… Ugh please stop me from babbling more!”

“I say this
a lot, but you really are something else.” Ed smirked and raised Winry’s chin
to meet her eyes. His golden gaze was enough to make her get quiet. For a while
she thought he’d finally kiss her, but then he suddenly turned on his heels and
started to hop towards Winry’s room on his crutches.

“What? You coming?” he asked when Winry just
stood there, puzzled.

“You sure you are OK with this? I mean… I know
things between us have been a bit weird and I don’t want you to feel
uncomfortable…” she asked.

“Didn’t you just say there are two beds in your
room?” Ed rolled his eyes. “It’s not really that weird…”

Winry was a bit confused by Ed’s sudden change
of demeanor. One moment he was pushing her away, the next he was already
willing to share a room with her. Maybe… maybe this meant she had finally
managed to make a crack into his hard shell. That’s what she wished, anyway.

“R-right. Let’s go in then!”

When inside, Winry showed Ed which bed was his
and quickly pushed some of her underwear peeking from her bag out of sight
(this situation was awkward enough as it was, in her opinion). Then she told Ed
she was feeling kinda gross after a long day out, so she would take a quick
shower before bed. Grabbing her towel and night clothes, she left Ed alone with
his thoughts.

He soon regretted his choice to stay in Winry’s
room, because as soon as the water started running in the small bathroom, his
thoughts started to go to the wrong direction. That was Winry in there, wet and very much naked so close to him, with only a
thin wall between them.  

‘Stop it, Elric, you have absolutely no right
to think of her that way,’ he ordered himself in his mind. ‘She deserves to be
respected, not treated like I have treated her during the entire time we’ve
been together here.’

Pictures of water dropping into places he
should absolutely not be thinking about filled his mind, and he tried to think
of anything else that might cool him down. Roy being gross in the locker room. Armstrong
flexing his muscles in every possible situation. Periodic table. Perfect. That
seemed to work.

He would
have to tell her how he felt sooner rather than later, he knew that much, but this
was still too soon. Besides, Al had been right; she had the biggest competition
of her entire life coming, which meant he really shouldn’t mess with her more
than he already had. It just got harder and harder every moment to keep
everything inside him; they had been so close to kissing several times already,
and once that happened… it would be impossible to deny that something was going
on between them (obviously something was going
on, but in Ed’s opinion, they hadn’t quite crossed that invisible line between
friends and lovers quite yet.)

Ed’s
thoughts were interrupted by the opening door. Winry had thrown her towel
around her shoulders, wearing a satin top and shorts that were short enough to
make Ed’s mouth drop. He shook his head and tried to focus on her face instead
when he realized she asked something.

“Is…
everything OK? Is your leg hurting or something? You look kinda weird.”

“Huh, yeah,
it’s OK. Not hurting,” Ed stammered.

“That’s
good. I was getting a bit worried.” Winry said, totally oblivious to the effect
she had on him. “Hey, do you mind if I call it a day? It’s been quite a long
one and Garfiel is expecting me to be at the meeting tomorrow morning, so… “

“Yeah, I am
pretty exhausted myself…” Ed agreed and took his hoodie and jeans off, leaving him with his T-shirt and boxers. Then he laid down on his bed, pulling the
covers on him.

Winry hung
her towel on a chair and did the same. She was already nearly asleep when she
heard Ed mumbling ‘good night’ from the bed next to hers.

“Sleep
tight,” Winry murmured and passed out soon after.

Ed didn’t
sleep tight, though. A lot of thoughts were running through his head, most of
them making him confused. He had sworn after the Nina incident that he would
never get anyone too close again, but then this girl had just suddenly skated
in his life and not just broken but crushed the wall he had spent building for
so many years. It was too late to back down now, which meant either they’d keep
drowning in this weird tension between them, or… he’d have to make a move to
progress things.

Probably
two hours into rolling around in his bed with no sleep in sight, Ed heard Winry
mumbling in her sleep.

“Ed…”

She was
seeing a dream of him! Once again Ed’s thoughts started running too wildly, wondering
what exactly happened in that dream of hers, but then he heard her say
something else.

“Mum… dad…
no!”

OK,
definitely not the kind of dream he had first thought of, he realized quickly. Winry’s
movements got more restless, and something that sounded awfully like sobs and
whimpers could be heard from her bed.

“Winry? Are
you awake?”

No
response.

She was
quiet for a while, and Ed was about to pull his covers back on and try to get
some sleep when she started making noises again.

“No! Don’t
go there!”

“Don’t go
where?” Ed sat up again and reached for his crutches, so he could try to get
Winry to wake up.

“Winry?” He
sat on the edge of her bed and tried to shake her shoulders. At first gently,
then a little bit harder. Without a warning, a fist shot up and hit Ed on the
shoulder. Luckily, the hit wasn’t strong enough to throw Ed off the bed, but it
made him gasp her name loudly, finally waking her up.

“What are
you… Oh my god, I’m so sorry!” Winry exclaimed when she registered what must have
happened. Her knuckles were throbbing for hitting the automail port and Ed was still
rubbing his shoulder, looking slightly… surprised? Frightened?

“I swear I
didn’t mean to do that!” she hurried to add and gave him the most apologetic
look she could manage.

“I know you
didn’t, you were asleep…” Ed tried to calm her down, but that didn’t work.

“That doesn’t
excuse it… Are you OK?”

“I think I
can handle a hit to my metal shoulder…
it’s you I’m worried about.”

“Why?” She had hit him. Shouldn’t he hate her
or something?

“You were screaming
and thrashing around a lot before you woke up. I tried to get you to wake up
for a good while.”

“Oh…
Seriously, sorry, Ed, I didn’t…”

“Would you
stop apologizing already? If you think I’m scared of you… well, I might be, but
for entirely different reasons.”

“What do
you mean?”

“I can’t
tell you yet.” Ed stated seriously. “This… isn’t the right moment. Hey, are you
crying?”

“I’m sorry,
I guess I just got so overwhelmed…” Winry managed to say between her sobs. “Not
just about what just happened… This entire time I’ve been here has been quite
an emotional rollercoaster… I guess I really am quite nervous about the
competition, especially because I can’t practice at all… And I’m really missing
my parents. I just saw a nightmare about them… and you.”

There was a
time when Ed would have rather run away from a situation like this than faced
it, and if he was honest, he still itched to do that, but his conscience
started talking with Al’s voice and told him he needed to be there for his
friend. How ironic, he thought, that his little brother had become his voice of
reason. The Al in him pushed him to ask her about the dream, so he did:

“Do you
want to talk about it?”

Winry was
quiet for a while before answering: “I guess I’ve never told you the full story
about them… I was 10 when it happened. As you probably remember, my parents were
doctors, getting me interested in automail mechanics as well. One day there was
a big accident on the road near Resembool, a truck crashed on a bus and a lot
of people were injured. My parents, who were at home when the accident
happened, were called into the hospital because they really needed all the
extra hands they could get, and they of course were immediately ready to leave.
I don’t know why, but for some reason, I had a very bad feeling when I watched
them get into their car. And it turned out my instinct was r-right.”

She threw
her arms on his shoulders when she leaned to sob against his t-shirt. She hadn’t
let herself think about parents in a long while, so now the bottled emotions
all seemed to come out at once.

“T-they d-died
on a car crash on their way to the h-hospital. A d-drunk driver had driven to
the wrong side of the road… and you c-can probably g-guess the rest…”

“Yeah,” he
simply said, holding her a bit tighter and rubbing her back with his real hand
soothingly.

“This is
going to sound really weird, but… in my dream… you were with them in that car…”

Ed didn’t
know what possessed him to say: “That doesn’t sound weird at all… Remember when
you were in my room to see my automail and I just left suddenly? I… had a bit
similar vision. I could see what happened with Envy and Al in my mind, but you were
there too.”

That made
Winry stop sobbing and she raised her head from Ed’s shoulder to see him
better.

“You did?”

“Yeah… that’s
why I freaked out so much. I realized it meant… something.” He still couldn’t
say it aloud.

Instead of
trying to tiptoe around the topic, Winry asked directly: “Ed? What the hell is
going on between the two of us?”

“I really
don’t know,” Ed answered. “I’m a mess and you’re a mess and I’m not sure if I’m
ready to start anything yet… but that’s something I need to figure out,” he
said with determination, giving her the hope she needed.

“Thanks for
your honesty,” Winry said quietly and pulled Ed with her onto her bed
carefully, mindful about his leg, so that they were laying on their sides,
facing each other.

“Hey, cheer
up.” Ed wiped some of her tears away with his fingers. “I hate to see you
crying. The only tears I want to see from you are tears of joy.”

He inhaled
deeply, trying to get some courage, and finally added: “Listen, I’m sorry I can’t
tell you the things I want to tell you quite yet, I’m just not ready… But know
that I won’t be going anywhere any time soon. Some damn persistent woman has
finally managed to convince me.”

He was grateful
she had buried her face against his chest again because his face was rather red
when he said that.

“I’m glad,”
she said, wrapping her arms tightly around his torso. He kept brushing her hair
with his fingers, and they stayed like that until they fell asleep. No more
nightmares were seen on that night.