A/N: As some of you know, I’m studying to become a librarian, so that means libraries are pretty close to my heart. Add that to my other passion, EdWin, and we get an AU that definitely inspires me. I currently have no idea what will come of this, it may or may not be continued (fair warning, if I’m gonna continue it, it won’t happen until I’ve finished my ice skating au because one au is enough to deal with at once), but a lot depends on your feedback. Let me know what you think, and we’ll see what happens! @edxwin-elric we already talked about a library AU so I’m tagging you here, in case you feel inspired to continue this with me!

Words: 1000ish

Genre: ? (gen/romance for now)

Warnings: none

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Winry
Rockbell, who was working at a library to earn some money for her mechanics
studies, was very ready to go home.

That day
had been one of the busiest that month, with people who were starting their
vacations coming to return their books and also trying to find some holiday
reading. The young library assistant had had to deal with several annoying
customers, including one refusing to pay her fees because she claimed she had
returned the DVD:s she had borrowed even though that wasn’t the case. After
Winry had checked half the library to see if the DVD:s had simply been
misplaced in the shelf, she had finally given up and said they would continue
to look for them, allowing the woman to leave without paying the fees.

Unfortunately,
that wasn’t the only mishap that day. Another customer needed some information on
a topic no one working at the library had ever even heard of, and he wanted a
book about it as soon as possible. It took Winry an entire hour to track one
down from a library on the other side of the country. And just when she thought
the rest of the day would be calmer, the only self-service lending machine in
the library decided to get a bug, and she had to direct the customers towards
the already long queue to the circulation desk. The customers naturally hated waiting,
not afraid to show it when poor Winry tried to serve them with her best skills.

And now,
the clock told her it was exactly 8 PM, time to close the library, and this guy in
the reading corner showed absolutely no sign of leaving! Didn’t he get Winry
wanted to just get home and sleep for 24 hours? She wouldn’t let him just sit
there, so hands on her hips, she marched to his reading spot and patted him on
the shoulder. Since she was tired and frustrated, she didn’t care about what
came out of her mouth.

“Excuse me,
we are closing for the day. If you have anything to borrow, I would appreciate
it if you dragged your ass to the circulation desk, so we can get out of here.”

“Wh-what?”
said a groggy voice from the chair.

“Were you
asleep?” Winry felt a tiny bit of sympathy towards this man. She would have
done the same if she had had an opportunity.

“Yeah, I
suppose… Must have dozed off while trying to find something…”

“Now that I
think of it, I’ve seen you a lot here this week. Do you even leave this library
ever?” Winry wasn’t used to speaking to her customers this directly, but admittedly,
she enjoyed it.

“Of course
I do!” the man defended himself. “I’m just… uh, you aren’t allowed to talk
about any of this to anyone, right? So, I guess it doesn’t hurt if I tell you,
you might be able to help…”

Winry
simply nodded, surprised that she had apparently managed to gain this person’s
respect by being snarky. What a weird man.

“You see,
my brother and I got into an accident a few years ago, and since then… he’s been having some
weird symptoms. The doctors he’s seen haven’t been able to help, so I’m trying
to figure out what it might be and how it could be cured by myself.”

“Oh… Well,
now that we’re being honest, I was kinda expecting to hear that you are here to
hit student chicks or something like that… I’m sorry, you just don’t look like
someone who spends his days researching…” Winry gestured towards the man’s
clothes.

She
estimated he was about her age. He was wearing black from head to toe, and he
had a couple of piercings as well. Winry could easily imagine him having tattoos
underneath all that leather. However, what really drew her attention was the golden
ponytail that weirdly suit him, and the equally golden eyes that were burning with
passion. Despite that, Winry had seen softness in them when he had been talking
about his brother. Something about his entire look felt so fascinating in her
opinion.

“As it
happens,” she continued before her staring got uncomfortable, “I might be able
to help. My parents were doctors and I learned a lot from them, but I’m also
aiming to be a mechanic for a new kind of prosthesis that will be connected to
the patient’s nerves, working almost like a real limb, and that requires quite
a bit of medical knowledge.”

“Wow, that
sounds like an ambitious goal. Why are you working at the library if you have
that kind of knowledge?”

“Because even
the brightest need to get money from somewhere,” Winry sighed. “It’s hard to
get a job from my field before I have studied enough, and besides, it’s not
that bad here. Actually, I quite like it most days, today’s just been an…
eventful.”

A small
smile played on her lips now, and she was surprised talking with this guy made
her feel better.

“I know
what you mean… Anyway, if I remember correctly, you told me to drag my ass to the
checkout so maybe we should do that. It’s 10 past 8 already.” He tapped his
watch with his fingers. Winry couldn’t believe she had been talking with this guy that long.

“So… Edward…”
She saw his name on the computer screen after checking his library card. “This
is probably unprofessional of me, but I should really get something to eat
before I pass out, and I’m kinda worried about your eating habits as well since
you’ve been here so many hours without leaving the building, so… what would you
say if I locked the doors and we went to grab a bite together? We could
continue the discussion about your research there.”

“I’d like
that,” he smirked, and she felt something warm spread into her stomach when he
kept staring at her with those annoyingly golden eyes.

“By the way, my name is Winry Rockbell,” she said, reaching to shake his hand. 

As they exited the library together, she couldn’t help but wonder if this was going to be the start of something interesting.