#the usual again: please do comment/reblog/etc bc that's the only 'payment' i get

[winryofresembool]

Hockey player Ed x figure skater Winry AU chapter 3

i.e. gdi Tia come up with a proper name already. 

Chapter 1 - chapter 2

Next chapter: [x]

Happened in the previous chapter: Winry teaches Ed and his teammates some basics of figure skating, but while doing that, she discovers something’s not quite right with Ed’s right arm.

A/N: thanks again for the feedback I got for the latest chapter, it’s what keeps me writing ♥ This chapter is dedicated to all of you who have supported me in writing this!

Genre: romance, bits of humor, some hurt/comfort later on

Words: 1550ish

@aquietkerfuffle

“Ed, what’s wrong with your hand?”

Ed quickly pulled his right hand from Winry’s and tried to think of a way to avoid answering her question. However, from Winry’s stubborn stare he knew that wouldn’t be easy.

“N-nothing?” he attempted lamely, but Winry didn’t believe that for one moment.

She decided there was no point in tip toeing around the topic, so she asked directly: “Do you… do you have a prosthetic arm?”

What surprised Ed was that instead of sounding slightly scared, like many of those who knew about his automail had sounded when they found out about it, Winry sounded curious. And maybe slightly worried, but that wasn’t so surprising.

Ed lowered his voice so only Winry could hear his answer: “Fine, I do, but please keep your voice down.”

“Huh? I thought your teammates know about it?”

“Yes, but in a place like this you never know who might be listening… Hell would break loose if people found out about this.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, can you imagine what people would do if they heard someone was playing with a metal arm on the national team? They would immediately roast me out of here.”

“Oh…”

Winry hadn’t considered someone could possibly have an issue with an automail, so she was embarrassed she hadn’t immediately realized it. Thankfully, Ed saved her from further embarrassment by continuing: “Yeah. My arm could cause someone some serious damage if I wasn’t careful, and not just that, it’s also a risk to myself. If I hit my shoulder in a wrong way and it got inflamed… that would be really bad.”

“But you’re still willing to take the risk?”

“Hockey is one of the few things that makes me happy, I’m not gonna give up on it just because of this… issue.” Ed looked at Winry darkly. “I feel I owe it to my brother who’s been rooting for me this entire time.”

“You’re doing this for Alphonse?” Winry asked in surprise.

“Mm. He’s the only family I really have left, and he’s reason why I didn’t quit when things got difficult.  He is expecting me to keep doing my best every day.”

“Wow. You know, you keep impressing me. I’m sorry, but my first impression of you was that you are probably someone who’s playing for the money or something of that nature. But sounds like I was wrong,” she added softly.

Ed was visibly flustered. He wanted to say he really wasn’t as noble as he had just made himself sound, but he didn’t have time because Winry asked:

“You know… this is gonna sound weird, but… can I see it? The arm?”

“Uh… I guess. But not here, let’s go to our locker room. It’s OK, no one’s there right now.”

Ed quickly informed his teammates that he’d take a short break and pulled Winry with him.

Back in the locker room, Ed took his hockey jersey off and rolled up the sleeve of his undershirt. A thick layer of bandage covered the arm made of metal, and he removed it too. He didn’t know how he had expected Winry to react to seeing his automail, but it hadn’t been like this: she started clapping her hands and made a high-pitched sound that couldn’t be anything but a squeal of excitement. Her eyes were shining brighter than he had ever seen so far.

“Um, so, here it is,” Ed said awkwardly as he lifted his arm, so Winry could see better.

“It is so pretty! One day I’m gonna build one of these!” she exclaimed happily as she examined the automail.

“Really?” Ed had a hard time imagining someone so graceful as Winry wearing overalls, oil and grease on her face and hands, but on the other hand, she hadn’t liked those stereotypical “girly” things as a child either.

“You’ll see! Oh, but… can I ask you… what exactly happened? Why do you have an automail arm?”

“It’s not something I like talking about… I was 11… and an accident happened. Afterwards I got a blood poisoning and it got so bad the entire arm had to be removed…”

“That… sounds… I’m sorry. I can’t even imagine how awful that must have been. But what made you decide to get an automail arm? I’ve heard the operations are extremely painful and difficult to do?”

“To be honest… It wasn’t really me who made that decision. Or it was, but Mustang helped quite a lot.”

“Your teammate?”

“Yeah, him. His organization had hired him to scout a few promising young players while he was scratched due to a lower body injury… And he came to Resembool. He had heard about me, but he didn’t know about my accident until we met. When he saw what had happened, he immediately told me about a surgeon who had helped one of his old playing mates in a similar situation.”

He stared at something Winry couldn’t see with an unreadable expression and continued:

“I didn’t make my decision right away, but Al encouraged me, so only like a month later I had my surgery, and after that I’ve been the most well-kept secret of the hockey world. There have been a couple of cases where someone has suspected something, but we’ve managed to make them shut up, and here I am.”

“What makes you believe I won’t tell anyone anything? Like you said, it is dangerous to play with that arm,” Winry asked curiously, even though she had no intentions to report him.

“I can’t say I know you very well, although I hope that’s gonna change…” He gave Winry a look that was supposed to be flirty. “… But I still got a feeling that you are someone I can trust. I wouldn’t have told you about this otherwise.”

“You are right, I’m not gonna report you to anyone…” Winry said and smirked slyly, “but on one condition.”

“Oh. What is it?”

“That you are gonna let me ask you questions about your automail – just your automail, you don’t need to tell me what happened to you if you don’t want to – and give it a proper check-up.”

“Huh? That’s an… extraordinary wish.”

Winry shifted uncomfortably on the bench, thinking that she was making Ed think she was a weirdo, but Ed didn’t seem too shocked when she finally dared to glance at him. Even so, she wanted to explain:

“This is going to sound like a very weird coincidence… But I want to become an automail mechanic when I retire from figure skating. You know, a girl’s gotta have dreams off the ice too… but yeah, how about it?”

“Well, if that’s all you ask… It’s a deal! Do you have anything to do tomorrow after lunch?”

Ed tried to not look too eager about this excuse to see Winry again, but couldn’t help but smile a bit when he asked his question.

“No, we always take our naps after the lunch, but if I’m honest, I’m not much of a daydreamer anyway, so that time sounds good to me!”

“Great! I’ll see you then. Oh, and by the way… you are not the only one with… unconventional off-ice interests…”

Ed had no idea what made him confess that, but it was too late to back out now.

“Hmm? What do you like then?”

“Biochemistry.”

“Edward Elric, the famous hockey player and the developer of a groundbreaking biochemistry theory… I like that,” Winry said, and rested her hand on his shoulder for a moment.

“Are you making fun of me?” Ed acted hurt, but Winry could see he wasn’t being too serious.

“Noo! Why would I? Chemistry nerd.”

“Automail freak.”

They both laughed at the names they had just given each other but realized then that they had spent too long in the locker room and decided to return to the ice. Mustang made an inappropriate comment about where he thought the two had been, but other than that, no one else made a scene about their lateness.

Winry continued teaching the guys the basics of spinning, and even complimented Ed a bit (Maes smiled knowingly on the background as she did that), and the duo finished the day by promising each other that after the season they’d have a skill competition at the Resembool rink.

The next day after the lunch Winry found herself in front of Ed’s hotel room. She knocked on the door once, but nothing happened. The figure skater didn’t think much of it; maybe Ed was in the bathroom or had fallen asleep on his bed. But when she knocked again after a minute and still heard nothing, she started getting restless. She was behind the right door, right? And they had definitely been talking about 12 o’clock?

“Ed! It’s me, Winry!” she yelled. Ed’s door stayed closed, but Roy Mustang had apparently heard her voice, and he peeked out of his hotel room.

“Uh, this is Ed’s room, right?” Winry asked him.

“Yeah.”

“Did you see if he came here after the lunch?”

“I was with Ms. Hawkeye so I’m not sure, but I believe he did because he always reads his chemistry books in his room on his free time…” “Oh. OK. Thanks!” Winry said, and Roy turned to go back to his room. But before he had time to close his door, Winry heard a bloodcurdling scream from Ed’s room.

#edwin #edward elric #winry rockbell #fullmetal alchemist #my fics #fma #ice skating au #edward x winry #the usual again: please do comment/reblog/etc bc that's the only 'payment' i get