FMA: 52 Flavours, Prompt 18
Title: Closing the Gap
Series: Fullmetal Alchemist
Theme no.: 18. Rage at rage unblest
Pairing: Ed/Winry
Rating: K+
Summary: Ed gets a firsthand glimpse of Winry’s life in Rush Valley. Naturally, he disapproves.
Notes: First half of an update for 52_flavours . It may not be the first fic about Ed seeing Winry’s life without him, but damned if I couldn’t get the picture out of my head.
18. Rage at the rage unblest
It had been a last minute decision to catch a late afternoon train out of Central instead of the red-eye like he’d been planning - had decided to check the books he’d been reading out of the library instead of wasting an evening parked in his favorite nook - and as he worked his way through the crowded streets of Rush Valley, pointedly ignoring the automail workers propositioning him, he couldn’t help feeling a little smug, excited about surprising Winry when she wasn’t expecting him until the next afternoon.
When he approached the shop, he was less than surprised to see the lights still on downstairs, though the sign on the door was firmly turned to ‘closed’. He was surprised, however, to find that the door was open, finally trying to jiggle the knob after knocking several times to no response.
What he had expected - Winry crouched over her workbench, swearing under her breath - was nowhere to be found. What he did see, however, was the workroom, rearranged with the benches and racks of tools shoved into the corners to make room for a round card table and the six people currently crowded around it.
Winry was seated across from the doorway, studying the cards in her hand. There was a cigar hanging from the corner of her mouth, drooping with her frown. Ed found himself staring at the thing in shock, gaping wordlessly as she threw down her cards and announced that she was folding.
One of the men seated next to her elbowed her. “Guess that means Paninya has a good hand, right?”
Winry protested the dig (“We hardly ever cheat!”), waggling the cigar at him and leaning back casually in her chair. Then she caught sight of Ed, standing shocked in the doorway.
For a moment there was silence, and then Paninya smiled easily at him and called, “Hi, Ed!” just as Winry stood up, the cigar falling out of her open mouth to plop onto the table as she stammered, “E-Ed! You’re early!”
Ed merely continued to goggle, utterly out of his element, and Winry, half-babbling with embarrassment, seized one arm and started to drag him to the stairs. “It’s far too late to get you into a hotel, let me get you settled upstairs-“
“What was that?” he demanded as she yanked him up the concrete steps. He’d not only found his voice, he’d found the blind outrage that came along with stumbling into Winry’s shop to find her acting utterly out of character. “Who were those guys? What are you doing?”
Winry was blushing, her teeth gritted as they navigated the dark hallway. “Shut up before you wake up Master Garfield,” she hissed. “And Monday is poker night. I wasn’t expecting you until tomorrow. What were you doing storming in here early?”
“I thought you’d be happy!” he hissed right back, his ire rising. “I didn’t expect to find you sitting around with those guys, acting like-“
“Like what?” she snarled, her eyes flashing. “Like I always do with my friends here?”
Ed fell into silence, and Winry flicked on the lights to the spare bedroom, holding the door open for Ed. “You have no reason to be mad at me,” she informed him curtly, before turning around and clattering back down the steps.
For a couple of minutes Ed sat on the edge of the bed, staring down at the floor and trying to figure out exactly what he was so mad at. He certainly hadn’t expected to be greeted in this way - but things rarely went the way he expected.
Which was probably where part of his problem was - there was very little in his life that was sure and secure, and Winry was one of the few exceptions. No one else in his life was such a reassuring presence - Winry and her smile, Winry and her familiar scent, Winry and her automail. He hadn’t even known that she’d had friends in Rush Valley.
That admission made him feel guilty - what had he thought she’d been doing? She couldn’t work on automail every single hour of the day, no matter how hard she tried.
With a sigh he stood up and softly made the trek back downstairs. Standing at the threshold, he took a moment to watch as Paninya took the pot, Winry giggling the whole time. Then she looked up and noticed him once again, and the frown returned.
Ed ignored her face, instead choosing to grab a chair. Paninya scooted, making room for him at the table, and he gratefully squeezed in, raising an eyebrow at Winry.
“Well, deal me in already,” he coolly ordered, gesturing to the cards.