Cold Remedy (FullMetal Alchemist, Edward Elric x Winry Rockbell, 44)
Title: Cold Remedy
Author/Artist: Satai_Aalann (a.k.a. Sabina-san)
Character/Pairing: Edward Elric x Winry Rockbell
Fandom: FullMetal Alchemist
Genre: Hurt/Comfort
A/N: None of the characters belong to me. They belong Hiromu Arakawa. There are spoilers for those who haven't seen the end of Brotherhood.
Theme: #44 Turpentine Kisses and Mistaken Blows
Winry stared out the front window of the home she shared with her grandmother, Pinako, watching the grey clouds drift slowly across the sky. Rain fell from the fat clouds, spattering on the window. Winry sighed, resting her chin on her hand, which was supported by an elbow sitting on the windowsill.
He's late…as usual.
As soon as she thought those words, a dark figure came down the lane that connected the Rockbell house to the main road of Risembool. She lifted her head off of her hand and let her arm fall to her side. Den, who had been laying beside her on the floor, sat up in alert, his ears perked up to hear the coming footfalls. Winry took note that the figure was moving slower than she was used to seeing, and she grew slightly concerned.
"It seems he's coming," Pinako said from behind her.
"Yeah…" Winry said, sounding wistful. After a moment, she realized how she had sounded and added, "It looks like he didn't take care of his leg!"
She continued to watch him come up the lane and when he was close to the porch, she opened the door as he started to climb the stairs. She noted that he didn't even look up at her like he usually did. She wondered what was going on in his head and if his trip to the West went well. He finally looked up as he came closer to the landing, and Winry took a step back in surprise. His eyes were glassy and almost lifeless.
"Ed…" she whispered.
"Hi Winry…" he said, his voice low and monotone.
"You're completely soaked!" Winry cried out as she grabbed an arm and pulled him inside.
"Yeah…well, it's a long walk from the train station," he replied with a sniffle.
Winry set a chair by the fire and pulled Edward toward it, pushing down on his shoulders to force him into a seated position. Pinako took his suitcase from his lax hand and began to rummage in it for dry clothes. Winry knew Ed wasn't feeling like his usual self because he would usually protest when someone went rooting through his belongings. Winry shook her head, knowing Ed wasn't the type to carry an umbrella and would brave whatever the elements could throw at him. Edward coughed, wincing in pain as he did so.
Winry squatted in front of Edward and began to take his coat off. She smiled, trying to make light of Edward's malaise. "I suppose you miss your alchemy now, huh?"
Edward barely shrugged, an ironic smile graced his lips. "No…not when I have Al back."
Winry had no response. She felt bad for bringing up the fact that he could no longer do alchemy and Edward had been stung by her accusation. She knew it had been at least 3 years since he had given it up for Al's sake, but she couldn't help but wonder if he missed it all the same especially when he used to use it for many things. Deep down, she knew what he said was the truth, and she felt guilty for bringing up old wounds. She finished pulling his coat off and went to hang it by the door while Pinako handed Edward clean, dry clothing.
"Go get dressed into these. We don't need you to get any sicker."
Ed took his clothes and without complaint, went to the bedroom he always slept in when he came to visit. The door shut softly behind him. Winry sighed and approached Pinako.
"I bet he's been running himself ragged."
"Of course he has. Those boys don't know how to slow down. Now, I need you to boil some water for tea and gather up all the cold remedies, including that rub."
Winry wrinkled her nose. "That stuff stinks."
"But it'll help him breathe so he can get some rest tonight."
Winry set out to do as her grandmother asked. Before long, Edward was out in a long white shirt and grey pants and sitting once more by the fire. He had pulled his blonde hair out of its customary ponytail and it lay limply on his shoulders, still wet from the rain. Pinako draped a blanket over his shoulders as he let out a vicious sneeze. Winry set out the rub on the table along with a hot water bottle to fill with the leftover water from the kettle to warm the sheets on Ed's bed and a bottle of herbal cold remedy. She then fetched the hot kettle and poured the steaming water into a mug with tea leaves. After a few minutes of steeping, she brought the mug over to Edward.
"Here…be careful. It's hot."
Edward took it with a small smile. "Thanks."
"Why didn't you have an umbrella with you?"
Edward just looked down at his mug. "I don't know."
"Don't jump all over him, Winry. He's ill and we need to make sure he feels better in the morning. I suspect he was already sick when he left the West and the walk here made it worse," Pinako said as she sucked on her pipe.
Winry sighed again. "Yeah…he'll want to leave soon."
She felt a little tug at her heart when she thought of Edward leaving just he came back. The memory of the last conversation they had before he boarded the train to the West played before her eyes. The endearing dusting of red across his nose and cheeks as he tried to awkwardly say he wanted her to be a part of his life. Then, her own embarrassment when she replied that he could have all of her life in return. Winry felt a little heat flush her face as she thought about his gentle hug as he thanked her for improving his mood before leaving Resembool.
How she had thought about that moment every day since he left! She wished over and over again that he would hug her once more like that, with tenderness and compassion. He hadn't said it, but Winry understood him all the same. He loved her and had loved her for a long time. The embrace only served as a physical reminder and confirmation for her. She knew that he knew she jumped all over him about taking care of himself because she did care for him.
"Finish up that tea and have something to eat, Ed. You'll need food to get better quickly," Pinako said as she went to make a bowl of stew for him.
Winry watched Ed take a careful sip of the hot brew before she came to his side and sat on the floor. They didn't speak, but she enjoyed their closeness all the same. Eventually, Ed looked down at her.
"It was cold on the train. The West…is a little bit warmer than Amestris."
"What's it like? Did you see any good auto mail shops out there?" Winry asked in rapid succession.
Ed smiled and coughed, wincing in pain once more. Winry grew concerned again and watched as he lifted a hand made warm by the tea to his throat.
"Sore throats are the worst," he croaked.
Winry hummed in agreement. "Don't worry…granny has a good remedy for that."
Ed wrinkled his nose. "It's not that rub is it?"
"Of course. It's the best thing for a sore throat and stuffy nose. It sounds like you have both," Pinako said as she handed him a bowl of stew with a spoon already in it.
Edward went to put his mug on the floor, but Winry took it into her hands so Edward could have both hands to eat his stew. Winry watched as he swallowed each spoonful.
"How does it taste?"
"Can't really taste…I'm too stuffed up. But, I know it would taste good."
Winry smiled and got up off of the floor so she could bring all of the tools necessary to help Edward feel better into his bedroom. When she came back out into the main room, Edward was taking his dish to the kitchen. Winry waited there for a moment until he came out to the main room and turned to walk toward his bedroom.
"You gonna take care of me?" he asked.
"Just get you settled into bed with the proper medicine," Winry stated matter-of-factly.
Edward nodded and brushed past Winry with a shuffle, and she knew he was feeling drained from his journey and his body trying to fight the offending germs within. He stood in the middle of the room with the blanket still wrapped around him. Winry bustled in and lowered the sheet and blanket to put the hot water bottle at the foot of the bed. She then looked expectantly at Ed as she straightened up from her bent over position. He let the blanket drop to the floor.
"Take your shirt off so I can put the rub on your chest," Winry instructed. Edward's eyebrow arched in discomfort. Winry sighed in exasperation. "C'mon, Ed. It's not like I haven't seen you shirtless before."
"Yeah, well…that was different," he grumbled. "I don't have an arm for you to fix anymore." The bridge of his nose and his cheeks began to turn pink.
Winry smiled, knowing Ed was trying to hide how he felt about her, even though they both were aware that the relationship had changed since they had last seen each other. She knew that Edward was more self-conscious about how she would react to him. Winry wanted to tease him about his body to make him feel a little more comfortable, but she knew that would be mean, especially since he was ill. She decided to placate him instead.
"Well, you can cover up if you're feeling insecure, but I just need to put the rub right between your shoulders on your chest, so leave that uncovered."
"Yeah, okay…" Ed said as he unbuttoned his shirt. Ed turned around modestly as he finished unbuttoning before sliding the shirt off of his shoulders.
Winry tried hard not to stare, but she couldn't help noticing that his body was still in very good shape with well-defined muscles. She felt heat rise in her cheeks with a little pride as she thought, shallowly, that this young man and his body were hers. No other woman would get this privilege because Edward had expressed that she was the only woman he was interested in. This made Winry very happy. Edward crawled into bed, coughing as he did so and sniffling, before he lay down on his back and pulled the blanket and sheet to just below his shoulders. Winry came over to the bed as she unscrewed the lid to the rub and sat down on the edge of the bed. Edward wrinkled his nose in disgust.
"What's in that stuff anyway?"
"Turpentine," Winry stated as she dipped her pointer and middle fingers into the stuff and getting a good sized glob on her fingers. She looked up to see Ed's expression of incredulity and chuckled. "Oh, it's only enough to open up your sinuses and soothe the sore throat. It won't hurt you."
The pair was silent as Winry added the glob of rub onto Ed's chest. She saw his body flinch in discomfort at the cold temperature of the rub. She whispered, "sorry" as she continued to spread the stuff across his chest. Edward couldn't help but inhale deeply at the scent, and she could see him relaxing, his golden eyes closing to rest.
Her eyes drifted over to his right shoulder where a slightly faded scar remained from where machinery had once stood in place of the flesh and bone arm he now had, thanks to Alphonse's sacrifice. She knew the scar as well as the auto mail leg served as a reminder of his arrogance and the pain he caused and had to endure because of it. Winry frowned, trying to fight back some tears that threatened to fill her eyes. She didn't want to think of those years…she wanted to focus on the new beginning the brothers were creating. She wanted to keep moving forward: a mantra the brothers had used for those years when things seemed hopeless.
"How is your leg?" Winry asked as a way to escape some of the melancholy thoughts that had surfaced.
A brief beat passed before Edward stirred and answered. "Fine. I even oiled it like you said."
Winry smiled. "I'm glad." Winry stopped her ministration, her palm resting in the spot on his chest where the rub had been applied. "Ed?"
Edward opened his eyes fully to look into hers. She closed her eyes to steel herself for what she was about to say. "I'm sorry…for what I said earlier. It wasn't fair. I didn't mean it…I didn't think about what I was saying."
Another moment passed as Edward processed what she was referring to. When it dawned on him, he closed his eyes, his expression blank. Winry quailed, wondering if he was going to explode in anger or handle her apology in a mature fashion. He then opened them after a few seconds and reached a hand up to rest it gently on her cheek.
"Don't be. You're right…I do need to take better care of myself. I used to rely on my alchemy so much to help me. I forgot…how to be like everyone else," he paused. "At least…I have you to remind me," he added tenderly.
"Oh, Ed…" Winry stated as she bent over, removing her hand from his chest to replace it with her cheek.
Edward seemed startled at first by her movement, but he then smiled and rested his hand on top of her head. They sat there in silence, listening to each other breathe. The quiet atmosphere was occasionally broken by a cough that Edward tried to suppress to keep Winry from being disturbed too much by the sudden movement of his chest. Eventually, Edward drifted off to sleep, feeling the warmth and relaxation that he only experienced being in the Rockbell home near the one who had stolen his heart.