FMA: 31 Days: The Spirit of Giving
Title: The Spirit of Giving
Day/Theme: April 8 [2008]: Sleeping with ghosts.
Series: FMA
Character/Pairing: Rose, Winry, Ed (Onesided Rose/Ed, in a way? And sort of but not really Rose/Winry?)
Rating: K+
A/N: Written for
31_days. Manga!verse, spoilers for Chapter 81. I’m not sure what the heck I was thinking when I wrote this. (Also, this is wreaking havoc on my tags system. Do I tag it winryxrose? edxrose? edxwinry? Does Rose have a confirmed last name in the manga? Arrrrgh the compulsive filer inside of me is frothing.)
She’d never admit it, but she missed Ed. She couldn’t help the way disappointment flared inside of her when she realized Al had companions that did not include his brother, and as happy as she was to see Al she was also a little bitter that the brother’s paths had diverged so wildly.
It was a fantasy so close to fruition - when Ed had last left her she’d been a mess, her city and her hopes in ruins, and now that things were starting to look up again she badly regretted not getting a chance to thank him properly. As cruel as his words had seemed at the time, they had been what she’s needed. She’d thought of him every night as she returned home from work, her legs weary and sore but still standing proud and accomplished.
Her legs. Her accomplishments. Because of him.
Not that he’d ever let her thank him anyway. In the tales she’d heard as a child, the damsel always threw her arms around her hero’s neck and kissed him, but when she imagined doing that to Ed - not even in a romantic way, just in a grateful way - his reaction was never one of understanding but one of embarrassment, or more commonly, anger.
The closest she can come is taking care of this girl Al had brought along with him, and it was much to Rose’s relief to find out that she liked Winry even more than she felt obligated to. It helped when she found out during their discussion that Winry was the one responsible for Ed’s automail, was the one who enabled him to come to Lior in the first place, and for that alone Winry earned a permanent place in Rose’s heart. A bath and some clothes and a little dinner are the least she can spare.
Dinner was the reason she’d gone to pull Winry away from the window in the first place; she’d gone into the sitting room and found Winry tangled up in the curtains, looking intently out the window.
“I was looking for Al,” she answered in reply to the questioning look Rose threw at her. “I’m not sure… what he wants to do now. If he wants to stay with his father or go back and find Ed or…” she trailed off and mouthed for a moment and then blushed and returned her eyes out the window to the street below.
For a moment she looked so worried and… lonely, Rose thought, and her heart went out to Winry because she understood those feelings, and it didn’t seem fair that someone who had done so much for her (even indirectly) should face that burden, but she didn’t know what to say.
The savior of our savior. That’s what she had called Winry when they had talked earlier, and a sudden swell of gratitude sprang up in Rose, reaching its crest right as Winry turned to face her.
So Rose kissed her.
It wasn’t a hungry kiss, or a patient kiss, or even a particularly romantic kiss. It was just the gentle brush of her lips against Winry’s before she was reeling back and blinking rapidly and trying to figure out how to explain what she’d just done.
It was also the closest she would ever come to thanking Ed.
Winry was still looking at her, the tiniest crease between her eyebrows and the faintest blush across her cheeks. Rose mouthed at her wordlessly before blurting out, “Th-thank you. For everything. For…” she swallowed hard and added, “for Ed.”
Winry blinked, and pursed her lips, and then, to Rose’s eternal relief, smiled. She didn’t look embarrassed or angry. She looked like she understood.
Rose was so grateful she wanted to thank her again.