Summary: Al knows best. In which two idiots fight and finally deal with their feelings. (Canon!verse, post promised day)

A/N: A fic for the prompt @kilmartin85 sent me some time ago! I hope you’ll like it! Please enjoy and review 🙂

Words: 1800+ (and I wrote all of them today damn)

Genre: I give you one guess 8) (is this candy floss, kilmartin?)

Warnings: swearing because we are talking about Edward Elric here.

---

“And don’t
forget to maintain the automail every day!” Winry repeated the sentence that
had become so familiar to Ed during his years of traveling. Only this time, she
didn’t say it to him. Ed peeked through the window curiously and saw his long-time
friend/mechanic standing on the porch talking with one of her patients. His
eyes narrowed when he noticed that this time the patient was a young man,
probably a couple of years older than him, and the type people usually found
attractive.

“Don’t
worry, I wouldn’t dream of it,” the man chuckled.

“That’s
good to hear. One of my clients doesn’t understand the importance of
maintenance, and I have to be fixing his automail all the time. Between you and
I, it’s getting a bit frustrating.” Winry didn’t know what made her say that,
but she felt a small twinge in her heart once she realized what she had just
blurted. First of all, it was rather unprofessional. Second of all, this was
her – for lack of a better word – friend she was talking about. After their
return, Ed and Al had finally opened up about most of their adventures to her,
and it had sounded like most of the automail issues had been results of
accidents in dangerous situations. But that didn’t mean Ed was allowed to
ignore her instructions!

“I’m sorry
about that. Some people can be quite ignorant.” Winry’s client pulled her back
from her thoughts.

Winry answered
something Ed couldn’t hear from the kitchen, but he imagined her agreeing and
probably adding something insulting. He wasn’t stupid, he knew she was talking
about him. She and her damn automail maintenance instructions…

The man
finally turned to leave, and Ed could hear him saying: “Alright, I’m off now.
See you in a month!”

“Bye!”

Winry waved
at the guy for a moment and turned back inside. She could only stare in confusion
when something golden stormed past her in the hall and banged the door shut
angrily. When she went to the kitchen to get something to drink, she got an
idea what might have happened. The window was open, which meant Ed must have
heard what she was talking about with Mr. Smith. But had he not heard what she
said right before he left? Why was he so angry?

---

On the
yard, Ed found Al lying under a tree and reading something.

“Hey, lazy,
let’s spar!” Ed said more eagerly than usually and got Al to raise his gaze
from his book.

“Brother,
what’s the rush? Is something the matter?”

Ed
proceeded to tell what he had just witnessed through the window while they were
sparring. For some reason, he found it easier that way, although his constant
talking meant he wasn’t focusing on the battle 100% and soon found himself
lying on the grass, defeated.

“Are you
sure you aren’t overreacting?” Al asked when he helped his brother to get up. “You
guys are always at each other’s throats, you have probably said way worse
things about her.”

“Yeah, to
her face, not behind her back! Besides, who knows what is really going on
between those two and what else they have been talking about…”

“Oh, I
think I can see now what’s really going on. You are jealous, brother.”

“What, me,
jealous? No!” Ed swung his arms furiously trying to deny it, which in Al’s
opinion only confirmed he was right.

“Pffft. You
should see yourself right now. It’s time to accept you like her.”

“Why are
you like that?” Ed growled.

“Why are you like that? Hey, brother, don’t you
notice?” Al asked suddenly, seeing Ed was walking weirdly.

“Notice
what?

“You’re
limping. Something’s wrong with your automail.”

“Oh fucking
hell… why did this have to happen now? She’s gonna kill me.”

“The sooner
you take the hit, the sooner it will be over,” Al said and patted Ed on the
shoulder.

“That isn’t
helping, Alphonse.”

Ed managed
to break the news about the automail leg to Winry with little brain damage
(something that surprised him), but unfortunately, he still hadn’t forgotten
the scenario with Winry’s patient earlier. That’s why, when Winry continued her
nagging about the proper automail treatment while she was fixing the leg, Ed
couldn’t control his tongue anymore.

“Maybe, if you had done your job better, it
wouldn’t have broken that easily!”

“What? Oh
so it’s my fault now?! I can’t believe you! All I’ve ever…”

She
couldn’t finish her sentence because she was crying now. She threw her wrench
onto the table and run from the room before Ed could say anything else.

Ed buried
his face into his hands and sighed deeply. This wasn’t how this appointment was
supposed to go. Why couldn’t he ever shut up when needed? Sure, he had been
upset, but he absolutely hated making Winry cry, and he had gone totally
overboard with his accusation. It was never
Winry’s fault when his automail broke down. Heck, once his automail arm had
been broken really badly, but he had still been able to move the fingers thanks
to Winry’s skillful work. Al and his sparring session had simply been more
intense than usual due to his anger and he hadn’t noticed he had hit his leg on
something hard.

After
attaching a spare leg to the port (Winry had left before finishing his
automail), Ed went to find Al. For some reason, the little brother always knew
what should be done in this kind of situations.

---

“First of
all, apologize. ‘I’m sorry’. Think
you can do that?”

“Yeah,” Ed
mumbled.

“Second of
all, explain her why you were acting like that. And if it really bothers you
that much, ask her if there’s
something going on between her and that guy. Although, I know the answer to
that one, but you’re not listening.”

“Huh? What
do you mean?”

“Brother, you
are so blind sometimes.” Al shook his head. “But doesn’t matter, just please,
go talk to her. You’ll be surprised to see that it can actually help.”

“Fine. But
you are taking the full responsibility if she beats me to pulp.”

“Don’t be
so dramatic. Just go now.” Al pushed Ed forward before he could protest more.

---

The older
brother stood behind Winry’s door for a while before finally managing to knock
it.

“Who’s
there?” asked a watery voice, and Ed’s heart clenched painfully. Had she been
crying this entire time?

“Some idiot
who wants to talk to you. Please, Winry.”

“Fine, come
in. But remember, I have a wrench,” the mechanic warned.

“I think my
skull has already developed a defense mechanism against it,” Ed tried to joke
with poor results. “Listen, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have ever claimed you are
doing your job poorly. It isn’t true at all. Your automail is the best out
there, and I mean it. The limbs you’ve built me have saved me countless of
times.”

“Then why
did you say something like that?” Winry asked, swiping her tears.

“I just… I
heard you talking with your client. I knew you were talking about me, and for
some reason… hearing you say those things about me to that guy… it made me damn angry.”

“That was
wrong of me,” Winry admitted, “and I didn’t mean to say it. I’m sorry. But I’m
still a bit confused. We insult each other all the time, and you never seem to
mind it. What’s so different about this time?”

“Well, you
usually say those things to me. I
know I can be an asshole sometimes, but that guy… Why were you complaining
about me to him?”

Winry
finally understood what the root of the problem was, and she couldn’t help but
smile a bit.

“Edward.
Are you jealous?”

“Not you
too!”

“What? Who
else has asked you that?”

“Al. He seems
to think that…”

“Go on, Ed.
I’m getting curious.”

Ed took a
deep breath and blurted quickly: “AlseemstothinkIlikeyou.”

“I’m sorry,
I didn’t get that,” Winry said even though she did hear him perfectly. She just
loved teasing Ed.

“Al seems
to think that I… like you.” Ed’s face was now red as a tomato.

“He does?
Well… do you?”

“I… hey, it’s
not fair that only I have to answer! It’s supposed to be equivalent exchange. What’s
going on between you and that guy?”

“You really
can be stupid sometimes. He’s my client.
Well, technically you are too, but…”

“But what? What
about me?”

“Maybe you
understood if I drew it to you. Or rather, encrypted it like you alchemists. Edward
Elric, you can be a real pain in my ass sometimes – like now – but I love you. Have loved for years,
probably. If you had listened to my conversation with Chad…”

“His name
is Chad?”

“What does
that have to do with anything? Anyway, if you had heard everything, you would
know I also told him that you might be ignorant when it comes to your automail,
but deep down you are a very sweet and caring person… in your own way. Why did
I tell him that? Because he’s been sending me signs that he wants to go out
with me, but I don’t want to do that. And I believe he got the message because he
never asked me. There’s only one person I want to date, and he’s standing right
in front of me right now.”

“W-what?
You l-love me? And want to go out with me?” Ed repeated, almost in shock, as he
was trying to process the information.

“Yes, you
alchemy geek. But you never answered my question, now’s your turn!”

Ed seemed
to think of something for a while, before he finally said: “You know, I’ve
always believed actions speak louder than words. So…”

Winry
stared with wide eyes as he got closer and closer… There was a weird kind of fire
in his eyes, one that she had seen only a few times before, as he approached his
destination… Usually she saw it when he thought she wasn’t watching, perhaps pretending
to focus on the automail or a book instead. Now he was so close she could feel
his breathing, and he wrapped his arms behind her neck. When Ed’s lips touched
hers, her brain stopped functioning and she pulled him closer, getting a better
access to his lips.

The kiss
was very Edward like; intense, a bit sloppy, testing, trying to figure out what
felt the best and what Winry enjoyed the most. She encouraged Ed to open his
mouth for her, slipping her tongue in, and for a moment Ed thought he was going
to faint. Was this really happening?

When the finally
pulled apart, Winry said, slightly out of breath: “I think that answers my
question. But that leads to one more question: what are we? Us?”

“Yeah, I
think we are us now.” Ed smiled and pulled Winry for another kiss.