Prompt 137, Firelight, "New Perspective"
Title: New Perspective
Author: Kyo-chan
Series: Manga
Disclaimer: Arakawa's, not mine.
Characters: Ed, Al, Winry, Mei
Word Count: 866
Warning: PG-13 for the hints of a loving couple
Notes: I'm sorry this is a few minutes late. Please let this still be okay. I completely scrapped what I was originally going to try and just went with my gut on this one. I'm also sorry that I've NEVER written for this pairing before, so it might suck terribly. *laughs* I'm okay with that. I tried.
Being surrounded by such opulence grated on Ed’s nerves. Ling had assured him that he would be made to feel at home. But Ed’s home sat on a sprawling landscape in the middle of nowhere, where alchemy and metal were the scents he was most familiar with. It certainly wasn’t this palatial scene of crimson and gold, with incense reeking everywhere he walked. Al seemed to fit in just fine among the multicolored lanterns and all the pampering a man could want. Ed would be twitchy until he got on the train back into Amestris. The guys back at HQ would call it fit for a king, but he thought it was overkill. A lion’s pride with an alley cat’s sensibilities.
Even now, he paced back and forth in the suite that had been prepared for him and Winry. An hour before, his brother and Mei had shown up, and the small girl’s arms had been ladden with a pile of wrapped boxes that almost obstructed her view. Before he could ask her if Yule had come early, she had whisked Winry away to one of the adjoining chambers and shut the door, leaving him alone with Al. That had been all well and good, Ed perfectly content to be in Al’s company, but with the “grand feast” Ling was throwing in their honour getting closer, he started to show his usual impatience.
“You have no idea how much I’m looking forward to showing up and eating everything in sight on his dime, for once,” he commented idly, glancing once more towards the chamber door behind which the girls were doing...whatever it was girls did right before dinner. Usually, Winry was working on the newest mechanical breakthrough, but he highly doubted that there was an automail workroom stashed somewhere in Ling’s palace.
Al ran his hand along the gilded mantle adorned with bearded dragons, mouths open and hungry. Like Ed was. “It figures you would, brother. And the food is really good too.”
“It oughta be, what with him being emperor and all.” Ed paused, putting his hands on his hips. “Who would’ve thought, y’know? Fuhrer King Mustang and Emperor Ling Yao. Kinda makes you wanna defect to Drachma, doesn’t it?”
They shared a laugh between them, knowing better. Both men were dragging their countries through change, fighting every day as if it were the Promised Day all over again. Except instead of fighting with alchemy and guns, they fought with compromises and political tactics. All the things that Ed would never be good at no matter how hard he tried. So that only left him to tease them to their faces, but stand up to anyone that threatened to get in their way. Like all things involving tact and long-term strategy, it was slow, and Edward was impatient.
Much like now. “What are they doing?”
Al laughed at his brother’s slightly put out expression. “We still have time. They’re getting ready. You know how girls are.”
“No. I don’t know how girls are,” came Ed’s touchy response. “‘cause Winry’s not a--”
“--what, Edward?” Winry said, her voice carrying that curious tone that usually promised a wrench to the head if he didn’t have the right answer.
Any other time, he could have come up with something, but as he whirled to give his most creative cover (or perhaps dig his own grave deeper), he suddenly couldn’t speak. He could finally see what had been done behind closed doors, and it sent his jaw plummeting to the floor. He could vaguely hear Al’s chuckle near him, and the more distant bell-like giggle of his companion, but he didn’t care. Winry occupied his vision, his brain, chasing away anything but the sight of her. Red brocade clung to her shape like the most perfect wrapping, blazing golden phoenixes dancing over her shoulders, down her sides and over her hips, the decoration shimmering in the glow of the lanterns.
How different she looked here. Feminine, graceful, all the things he never would have thought to associate with her because...well, because he just wouldn’t! This wasn’t her well-loved pair of work pants or the scant top that left her arms free to work. Like everything else around him now, this attire was foreign, but she was so familiar to him that all it did was make her prettier. His mouth worked and no sound came out. Had her hips always been so curvy? He knew them by feel, the warmth of her underneath him, but she radiated warmth now from across the room, turning his skin hot. And her chest. He didn’t really think about those when he touched them. Well now he was thinking about them. And he wanted to touch them. Now. Right by that mantle Al was currently in the way of, blocking the firelight he wanted to see on her skin when he peeled her out of that dress. Praying he would be able to get her back into it, he stalked over to his wife with burning eyes.
“Get out, little brother,” he growled on his way past.
Al both laughed and sputtered indignantly. “But dinner--”
“Out.”
Ed never heard them leave.
Author: Kyo-chan
Series: Manga
Disclaimer: Arakawa's, not mine.
Characters: Ed, Al, Winry, Mei
Word Count: 866
Warning: PG-13 for the hints of a loving couple
Notes: I'm sorry this is a few minutes late. Please let this still be okay. I completely scrapped what I was originally going to try and just went with my gut on this one. I'm also sorry that I've NEVER written for this pairing before, so it might suck terribly. *laughs* I'm okay with that. I tried.
Being surrounded by such opulence grated on Ed’s nerves. Ling had assured him that he would be made to feel at home. But Ed’s home sat on a sprawling landscape in the middle of nowhere, where alchemy and metal were the scents he was most familiar with. It certainly wasn’t this palatial scene of crimson and gold, with incense reeking everywhere he walked. Al seemed to fit in just fine among the multicolored lanterns and all the pampering a man could want. Ed would be twitchy until he got on the train back into Amestris. The guys back at HQ would call it fit for a king, but he thought it was overkill. A lion’s pride with an alley cat’s sensibilities.
Even now, he paced back and forth in the suite that had been prepared for him and Winry. An hour before, his brother and Mei had shown up, and the small girl’s arms had been ladden with a pile of wrapped boxes that almost obstructed her view. Before he could ask her if Yule had come early, she had whisked Winry away to one of the adjoining chambers and shut the door, leaving him alone with Al. That had been all well and good, Ed perfectly content to be in Al’s company, but with the “grand feast” Ling was throwing in their honour getting closer, he started to show his usual impatience.
“You have no idea how much I’m looking forward to showing up and eating everything in sight on his dime, for once,” he commented idly, glancing once more towards the chamber door behind which the girls were doing...whatever it was girls did right before dinner. Usually, Winry was working on the newest mechanical breakthrough, but he highly doubted that there was an automail workroom stashed somewhere in Ling’s palace.
Al ran his hand along the gilded mantle adorned with bearded dragons, mouths open and hungry. Like Ed was. “It figures you would, brother. And the food is really good too.”
“It oughta be, what with him being emperor and all.” Ed paused, putting his hands on his hips. “Who would’ve thought, y’know? Fuhrer King Mustang and Emperor Ling Yao. Kinda makes you wanna defect to Drachma, doesn’t it?”
They shared a laugh between them, knowing better. Both men were dragging their countries through change, fighting every day as if it were the Promised Day all over again. Except instead of fighting with alchemy and guns, they fought with compromises and political tactics. All the things that Ed would never be good at no matter how hard he tried. So that only left him to tease them to their faces, but stand up to anyone that threatened to get in their way. Like all things involving tact and long-term strategy, it was slow, and Edward was impatient.
Much like now. “What are they doing?”
Al laughed at his brother’s slightly put out expression. “We still have time. They’re getting ready. You know how girls are.”
“No. I don’t know how girls are,” came Ed’s touchy response. “‘cause Winry’s not a--”
“--what, Edward?” Winry said, her voice carrying that curious tone that usually promised a wrench to the head if he didn’t have the right answer.
Any other time, he could have come up with something, but as he whirled to give his most creative cover (or perhaps dig his own grave deeper), he suddenly couldn’t speak. He could finally see what had been done behind closed doors, and it sent his jaw plummeting to the floor. He could vaguely hear Al’s chuckle near him, and the more distant bell-like giggle of his companion, but he didn’t care. Winry occupied his vision, his brain, chasing away anything but the sight of her. Red brocade clung to her shape like the most perfect wrapping, blazing golden phoenixes dancing over her shoulders, down her sides and over her hips, the decoration shimmering in the glow of the lanterns.
How different she looked here. Feminine, graceful, all the things he never would have thought to associate with her because...well, because he just wouldn’t! This wasn’t her well-loved pair of work pants or the scant top that left her arms free to work. Like everything else around him now, this attire was foreign, but she was so familiar to him that all it did was make her prettier. His mouth worked and no sound came out. Had her hips always been so curvy? He knew them by feel, the warmth of her underneath him, but she radiated warmth now from across the room, turning his skin hot. And her chest. He didn’t really think about those when he touched them. Well now he was thinking about them. And he wanted to touch them. Now. Right by that mantle Al was currently in the way of, blocking the firelight he wanted to see on her skin when he peeled her out of that dress. Praying he would be able to get her back into it, he stalked over to his wife with burning eyes.
“Get out, little brother,” he growled on his way past.
Al both laughed and sputtered indignantly. “But dinner--”
“Out.”
Ed never heard them leave.