[al/winry; g] Growing Up
Fandom: Fullmetal Alchemist Title: Growing Up Author: emilie_burns Pairing: Al Elric/Winry Rockbell Rating: G Word Count: 1200 Disclaimer: Fullmetal Alchemist (Hagane no Renkinjutsushi) is copyrighted by Hiromu Arakawa/Square Enix. Warnings: Excessive Al-brand cuteness and shmoop. Author's Notes: Written for dejla for the First Kiss Meme. Although I write Al/Winry as part of an Al/Winry-Winry/Sheska poly relationship in Like a Heartbeat, this is the first time I ever tried to write just Al/Winry, let alone a first-kiss scenario. I hope I did all right. They are so full of cute and dorky win. XD I love them. Summary: He was going to die. He was going to be mauled with wrenches while melting into a gooey puddle of blush. Of all the ways he could die, why did he have to be dying stupid?
Growing Up
He and his brother had always had a friendly competition of sorts going on in everything. They worked together as a unit, an unbreakable team, so often, and at the same time, they turned to each other to spar, to compete, to push each other to get better, stronger, faster. They had to, if they'd wanted to reach the goal they'd finally accomplished after five too-long years.
But...that was in alchemy and hand-to-hand skills. Girls were a different sort of territory, even if they had fought over who'd get to marry Winry when they were younger. It was always kinda figured, at least in Al's mind, that despite it all, his older brother would be the one to settle down in Rizenbul and marry Winry. Just like they'd always kinda assumed before everything took a turn toward hell and back again.
The problem was, he wasn't entirely sure if Ed was still interested in Winry, at least like that. Asking him point blank was out of the question, because while his brother could be very, very dense about some things, he knew Al. And if he thought that Al was interested in Winry, he'd step aside, regardless of what Ed himself might want. A life, a future, a home -- Ed would give up anything for Al, and he knew it.
He had tried not to be obvious about his crush, but somehow, Ed saw through it. Because of that, Al was now escorting Winry around Central as she paid a visit to the various tool shops and picked out new toys. That was all. Nothing more. Just a shopping trip, like the ones she always went on whenever she was in Central visiting them. Only this time, Ed stayed home, crying off on the trip, claiming there was too much work waiting for him.
She'd been disappointed.
Maybe his brother stood aside, but what if Winry liked his brother more? Hands in his pockets, he kicked at a rock on the sidewalk as he waited for her to finish paying the vendor. Maybe this was all a really bad idea.
"What's the matter?" Winry asked, then her expression changed to a look of chagrin. "You don't really want to be out here, do you?"
"No, no! It's not that at all," Al hastily assured her. "It's uh... it's nothing."
"Nothing?" Her expression was one of disbelief as she crossed her arms.
It didn't help matters any that he still looked a couple years younger than he really was, than he should have been. He wasn't as young as he looked, honest! In fact, if Al were forced to admit it, he would have said he was older than he really was, which was true enough. Like his brother, he'd stopped being a kid when they activated that transmutation circle.
Al rubbed the back of his neck and tried to come up with another reply. "Uh, hey, look! That lady over there is selling oranges! Want one?"
"Sure. I guess." Her gaze was suspicious as she followed him to the fruit cart. He managed to avoid looking at her, which wasn't easy as she was very insistent on trying to catch his eye.
"There's a park over there! Let's go sit down and eat our oranges!" Al suggested, shoving the second orange at Winry and making a quick retreat before she could protest.
That was smooth. Real smooth. Dear self, stop being such a dork. Just... say it or do something or something! Anything. C'mon, what's the worst she could do? Well, she could hit me with those wrenches she just bought. Now I see why Brother hasn't been on a date yet. This settles it. I've got to find him a girlfriend. I will not be suffering this alone.
"Al!" Winry jogged to catch up with him. "What has gotten into you?"
"We've got to find Brother a girlfriend." Wait, what, no. That wasn't what he'd meant to say. How could I face homunculi and... gah. Way to go.
"Huh?" Winry crossed her arms. "Why do you say that?"
"Because... uh. You- I mean, I- uh, we- no, I just..." He scratched the back of his head and rocked on his feet, looking everywhere but her and why did his face feel like his skin was about to burn off?
Oh, crap.
He put his hand on her shoulder as he suddenly turned to face her, and only after he moved too close to be doing anything else did he realize that he really hadn't thought things through. He'd still not quite caught up on his height yet -- now I understand how Brother felt -- and Winry was tall for a girl. And those shoes she wore didn't help.
He was going to die. He was going to be mauled with wrenches while melting into a gooey puddle of blush. Of all the ways he could die, why did he have to be dying stupid?
She looked at him, her eyes wide and startled for a moment, and then a bright red flush spread over her cheeks and the bridge of her nose.
He lowered his hand while wincing in preparation for any heavy impact. "I'm sorry, Winry, I- I- don't kill me too bad, please!"
She blinked. "Shut up, you dummy."
"Huh?" That was all he had time for as she grabbed the front of his jacket and pulled him back as she lowered her head and pressed her lips to his.
They both froze after a moment, the realization of what they were doing sinking in. The kiss was at an uncomfortable place between having stopped and neither of them pulling back, as if by standing very still and holding their breath the awkwardness would go away.
It wasn't working very well.
"Uh." Her voice was barely audible, and neither of them quite managed to look at each other. "W- was that what you were trying to do?"
"Yeah."
"Okay."
Another completely uncool minute ticked by. It was either pull back or do something, and at that point, doing something felt like it held far less potential for dying by blush puddle than drawing back did. He moved his hand to the back of her neck and pressed his lips to hers again, more firmly than before, the kiss growing decisive as his heart rate picked up into double time.
She was shaking a little when he finally pulled back, and he tried to tell himself he wasn't. "So. Uh. Yeah. That."
"Yeah." Winry swallowed hard and tucked her hair behind her ear as she looked away, but her hand came down and her fingers laced with his. "Is this why Ed said he wasn't coming along today?"
"Yeah. Are- are you mad?"
She shook her head. "No. No, I- it's just... this is new." She laughed, a quick and nervous sound.
"Do you mind?"
"No, you dummy. Of course I don't."
"Good." He sighed in relief and looked around the park then glanced back to her. "Hey. We still haven't eaten our oranges yet," Al pointed out, grinning a bit as he pulled her toward one of the picnic tables.
The initial weirdness of change was already starting to fade. The only thing left to worry about was being teased to death by a pesky older brother.
- end
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