Winry didn't typically make house calls. It was against her policy, and when she made a rule, she stuck with it. Of course, with every rule, there were exceptions. The Elrics were qualified exceptions, often stomping on whatever sense of propriety she attempted to maintain. The three of them were like siblings, yes, but that didn't mean Winry had to love them unconditionally.

Especially when they made her come all the way out here, to dingy old Central City, in the rain, to resurrect the tools she valued more than their flesh and blood. That was not an overstatement.

Sighing, with her hair dripping and dark from the storm, she knocked on the door. She didn't quite know what to expect when she was on the other side. Then again, that was just a side effect of knowing the siblings. It was like being blind, and still expected to participate in everyday functions.

The area was modest, more of a hostel than a proper apartment complex, but within walking distance of Central Command. It wasn't like they ever stayed in one spot, so this didn't concern her. Eden and Alphonse had always been migratory, like birds in chronic flight. They wrote once or twice a year, phoned a bit more than that, and otherwise had learned to live without luggage.

The door opened with a crack of old wood on rusted hinges. She stood taller, her tool box in her cold hands.

"Oh, hello!" Alphonse said cheerfully, his voice frighteningly young inside the domineering armor. She had gotten used to it, over time, but that didn't mean it didn't perturb her. He was just a child in a costume. "Sister! Winry's here!"

After being welcomed inside, Winry shook her hair, looking around the place. It was cramped and discolored, from the toilet squeezed in one corner to the haphazard kitchenette. She smiled as a way of appeasing the fifteen year old locked away in iron. "Is she conscious?" she asked, half-sardonic and half-miserable with the thought that the automail might not be the only thing that needed resurrecting.

Alphonse nodded, his body a little too tall for their choice in living quarters. The plume on his helmet brushed the ceiling even as he squared the armor towards the floor. "Yes, she's fine. We had a, um - an accident. Really unfortunate, but don't worry!" he squeaked as she flipped the latch on her tool box threateningly. She had a good arm and a short temper. "Hospital only kept us a day."

"There shouldn't have been a hospital at all," Winry huffed, walking in the general direction of a door she suspected led to the bedroom. "Honestly, you two get in so many scrapes I don't see why I even care anymore." As soon as she opened the door, whatever she had been about to say died in her throat.

Eden didn't face her. Instead she stared out the small bedroom window, strangely pensive, with a thick and dusty book in her flesh hand. Her just-washed hair was down, framing golden eyes the shade of melting honey. Winry blushed red, unconsciously, when she realized the girl was only wearing a bra and loose gray sweats. It wasn't like she'd never seen Eden's breasts before, but not without asking permission.

That thought made the blush flourish a little brighter. "Knock knock," she said, rapping her knuckles on the door frame. Eden blinked, then turned to look at her, attention grasped. For some reason Winry could not determine, Eden did not look at all surprised or vexed at being seen half-naked.

Instead, the girl smiled grimly. "Yeah, I know. I deserve to be beaten to a bloody pulp."

"I hear you already were," Winry said, no humor in her tone. Her breath caught as she surveyed the damage. The arm wasn't gone, but that was hardly a blessing. Eden's automail arm looked to have lost most of its protective plating, nuts and bolts missing beneath. Some of the wiring poked out, shredded copper filling like the innards of a metal snake.

"S'it that bad?" Eden asked, guilty eyes flashing downward. "Whatever. Don't tell me. I know I fucked up."

"Yeah, you did." Winry pushed up her sleeves, not looking at her. She knew she wouldn't stay mad at Eden forever, knew that even now she was prodding fresh wounds, but she wanted to keep up the pretense of apathy. Let the Elrics open their mouths of their own accord. "Come on. Lay down. Let's see what I can do."

While Winry assembled her tools on a piece of thick leather, Eden stripped down, and she pretended not to watch. She enjoyed studying Eden. She enjoyed seeing the invulnerable, goddess of a girl go through daily routine, as if she was human. It wasn't perverse - Winry didn't think it was. It was an examination of character.

The way Eden attempted to unhook her bra with unpracticed fingers, finally just cursing and pulling it over her head. She shook her hair out, brow furrowed in concentration, automail sporting a dull gleam in Central's poor lighting. In Resembool, among the amber fields and cerulean skies, it glinted like pieces of silver in the sunlight, and Winry mourned for the loss.

Winry avoided staring at her breasts. They were both women, and it was a silly way to preserve modesty, but Winry knew that Eden detested her body. She thought she wasn't beautiful, thought she was just a mockery of a human being. Not even whole.

Eden went and laid down on the only bed in the room, on her stomach with her head on her folded arms. She puffed a breath of air at an annoying lock of golden hair, and then spoke in muffled tones. "Get to it. Tell me if you're gonna stick your crap anywhere sensitive."

Winry smiled grimly, coaxing the automail arm from beneath Eden's head and laying it flat on the bed. "That uncomfortable? I know you can't feel it in your arm, but is it straining your shoulder?"

"No," Eden grumbled.

"Just...tell me if you get sore," Winry said. She poked through the wrecked arm with a flashlight and metal tweezers, gathering the busted bits and dropping them in a small medical tray. The process was tedious but it was also pacifying. It cleared the air between them, let the poison simmer away into more innocent atmosphere.

For a long while, all she could hear was the sound of Alphonse bustling in the kitchen and the clink of scraps in the pan. Conversation ideas bubbled up and died, because Eden did not speak freely on anything but the most precise topics.

But she couldn't take it anymore. "Tell me how this happened," Winry said, nodding at the automail arm. She brushed stray hair behind her ear, trying to appear apathetic. If Eden thought she was concerned, even a little bit, those lips would stay closed. "Alphonse said it was an accident, but I know you better than that."

Eden's fist just clenched in the sheets, her gold eyes narrowing in a sleepy haze. Her words were mumbled and quiet, but Winry could still understand them. "Don't worry about it. Scrapes are scrapes. I'm alive, aren't I? Shouldn't that be enough?"

"It's not enough," Winry said calmly, scraping loose pieces of metal from the interior of Eden's arm. She untangled wires with her small biceps, clipping frayed ends and making mental notes about what needed to be replaced and what could be repaired. "It's never enough to know that you survived one battle, because with you and Al, they happen all the time. How am I supposed to know if you're dead or alive when you barely make contact?"

She saw Eden's shoulders tense, her breath hitching. She had struck a nerve, but she wasn't sure if she wanted to aim for any more. "You think I like doing this?" Eden snapped, raking her fingers through her hair in one fell movement. She kept them there like a claw, body taut as a rope ready to snap. "You think I like getting hurt, or having Al get hurt? I don't. But it's the only way."

"It's not the only way," Winry said, rummaging through her tools again. She began counting out screws, one at a time. "Neither of you are going to quit until you get your bodies back to normal or die, and honestly - please, don't take this the wrong way - I'm afraid that death is really the only possible outcome."

"I don't want him living like he does," Eden said, voice breaking. "It's not a life at all. If I have to die to give him the life he deserves I will, damn it."

"And if you did?" Winry said darkly, pausing in her count to let her hair fall in her eyes. "If you sacrificed yourself for him, Eden Elric, what do you think he'd do?"

She was silent.

"Probably sacrifice himself, and then you'd do it again, and so on, a never-ending chain of self-sacrifice. You can't do that, Ed. You can't keep beating on yourself for something you never intended to do. I won't let you." Winry finished appropriating the amount of screws, and then started to measure color-coded wire. The precision necessary distracted her from the tears that (for some reason) threatened to fall.

"Are you crying?" Eden asked, because she couldn't see for herself.

"No," Winry said evenly, managing a weak smile.

Minutes stretched into hours. The dreary pattern of rain on the off-white wall diminished into damp sunshine. Eden fell asleep, lashes like soft black fans against her face, and her body softened into the bedding. Winry relished the moment, accomplishing most of what needed to be done. She reworked the wiring, replaced every last bolt, and got a head start on the plating. The arm was practically finished.

Then she got distracted.

Winry had always been curious about women, but had suppressed those thoughts from a young age. She'd had a boyfriend, but the kisses had been awkward and she hadn't liked the way his skin felt. Too rough, too muscular, too domineering. Women were soft, they were flirty, they knew - they'd have to - how to please women. Perhaps because she'd been raised in a society where couplings always comprised of one man and one wife, she considered these thoughts abnormal.

And Eden was a girl - no, a woman - who had always entranced her the most. Maybe it was because she knew her so intimately. She remembered sleepovers, sharing a pillow with the girl and smelling her in the fabric for weeks afterward. Tumbling in the grass and feeling an intense need to get closer, to touch, to pin down in a playful game of chase. She remembered swimming in the river and being completely enthralled when Eden stripped of her suit and offered to let her explore for curiosity's sake. Were all girls the same?

Her blue eyes settled on the curvature of Eden's waist, the hourglass figure often hidden beneath hot overcoats. Her spine curved inward, like a riverbed, ending where it met the small of her back and the elastic waistband of cotton panties. Golden hair, still slightly damp from being washed, lay around her head in a mockery of a halo, or perhaps a physical manifestation of one.

Winry couldn't see her breasts. They weren't full, like hers, but less developed like everything on her body. A few years ago, Winry and Pinako had modified the automail so that Eden's feminine features had room to grow - at first, a plate had covered the right side of her chest, preventing the tissue from expanding. The result was awkward, a side effect of automail to begin with, but Eden had been grateful for it.

"What are you doing?" Ed asked, her voice annoyed but her eyes closed.

Winry looked away, shame brimming over. She had been caught staring, somehow, and for all the world she had no idea why she had become so enamored anyway. She and Eden were practically sisters, for all intents and purposes. They had been raised in the same household for years. They considered Alphonse their brother.

So why couldn't she stop thinking about her?

"Studying the automail, making sure everything's up to snuff," she lied, poking around inside the metal arm. "About to put the plates on. You're lucky I brought loads of spare parts. This is gonna end up costing you a fortune."

Eden just stared at the sun outside the window, eyes capturing the light and making it ashamed of itself. She always put up walls, made the world think she was a hard soul and that nothing would change that. And yet her face was so soft, delicate beauty framing pure gold. Her lips were always sad, always hard-lined, but the lips themselves were bowed and begging to be swept with a thumb.

Eden insisted she was ugly, that no one wanted her, that she didn't give a fuck if anyone wanted her.

"Do you have a boyfriend?" Winry wondered, suspecting the answer but asking it anyway. If Eden ever found love, Alphonse would be the first to know about it, and Alphonse would tell Winry. Still, a fuzzy sickness infected her brain, a vague fear that Eden had been taken from her. Which was an absolutely silly thought.

Eden snorted through her nose. "No. Do you?"

Winry shrugged. "I did. But I didn't like him much."

"Why not?" Eden asked after a moment of hesitation.

Winry snapped on the first metal plate, pulling and prodding to make sure it would not come loose. At first she didn't know what to say. She considered making up a story. That he cheated, that she was worth better, that he dumped her on her birthday. But then Eden would want to kick the guy's ass, and she'd be left naming some poor bloke in Rush Valley as the ex.

"Well, honestly," she said, snapping another plate into position. She licked her lips, not so much out of concentration but out of nervousness. Eden was not some stuck-up religious nut, but she had surprised her in the past and it was impossible to predict where she stood on most issues. "I don't think I'm all that into guys."

"Huh." Eden waited until the last plate had been installed, and then rolled over on her back. She put her hands behind her head, completely unaware or unperturbed that she was flashing Winry full-on. Winry blushed, hiding her screwdriver behind her back, trying not to think about the frontal view she was getting and enjoying.

"So," Eden said slowly, "you're into girls, then." It wasn't a question, it was a statement, as if Eden had been expecting the declaration and was just bored by it. She crossed her toned leg over the metal one, staring Winry down. She was a creature worth examining, apparently. She didn't mind it; didn't mind being looked over, surveyed, not by Eden. It didn't feel dirty.

"And - and you?" Winry stuttered, the words escaping her mouth before she could stop them. Her face was practically the shade of a pomegranate.

"Dyke," Eden replied offhandedly. "Complete and total dyke. Small world, huh?"

Winry felt her breath quicken in her chest, tightening her rib cage. She nearly dropped the wrench behind her back, sweat slicking the metal.

"Actually," Eden continued, eyes still roaming, "I've never...been with a girl. But you just know these things, I guess. You know what I mean? I just...if you - by any chance - ever wanna..."

Winry's brains imploded. The thought that this insane attraction to Eden could ever possibly be consummated was in and of itself remarkable; the fact that Eden might be attracted to her, Winry Rockbell, was another matter entirely. And here, right now, Eden was inviting her in, practically pleading for touch. Who was she to refuse? Could she?

"These feelings are new to me," Winry said. "I've had them before, but not this strongly. Not when it comes to you."

"So see if it's real."

Winry sat down on the bed, resigning herself to something vague and surreal. She wasn't sure what she was getting herself into. Without thinking about it, her head turned toward the door, and the possibility that someone might intrude.

"Don't worry about it," Eden said, eyes meeting hers, "Alphonse won't come in here."

Winry nodded. Pushed all of her doubts away in a single swoop. She studied Eden's features, the angle of her cheekbones and the dark shade of her lips, the way her hair fell into her eyes and made her blink. Then she came closer, never breaking the gaze, and took Eden's face in her hands. She closed her eyes and let their lips meet, warm and soft and real.

Winry wasn't sure if she wanted things to go too far, not at first. Her fingers tangled in Eden's blond hair, and she liked the feel of it, the texture and length. She could smell her distinctively. Like cinnamon and leather and something more feminine; citrus, maybe. She pressed closer to get another heady whiff of that scent, could feel more warmth. More body heat.

Eden leaned back into the mattress, and Winry realized she was now straddling the other blond's naked waist. She could feel Eden's firm body between her legs, her shorts allowing her calves to touch Eden's sides. Her skin was like silk, but beneath that were the hard rocks of muscles and training. Eden was a lithe machine, compact, durable, and yet appealing enough to be desired.

Winry parted Eden's lips with her tongue, no longer afraid, but slowly becoming entrapped by desire. She moaned softly, caressing the smaller girl's neck with her thumb before breaking for air; she dipped back in, their tongues meeting and sweeping, warm and wet. It wasn't entirely pleasant. Not like in those erotica novels. But it was nice to be inside, to feel the grind when pressed so tight together.

Winry thought about what felt good to her. She wanted to make Eden feel good, too. She kissed the girl's neck, shivers of delight curving down her spine as she heard Eden panting. She sucked a little bit, licking behind her ear, anything to hear more sounds of pleasure. Eden's eyes were dark and glazed when she looked at them again. She realized she must have looked the same way.

She ran her palm down Eden's front, feeling every shiver and tremor. Eden's hands had fallen beside her head, and she looked vulnerable, open-mouthed and sweating and watching to see what Winry would do next. Winry fondled the girl's breast, running her thumb in slow circles around an erect nipple; Eden squirmed and moaned, eyes rolling back before they closed.

Winry didn't hesitate, mouth closing on a nipple. She liked the way it was like a button, a trigger; every little lick, every flick of the tongue, made Eden rock her hips and moan. The sound was turning her on. She reached down to touch herself, fingers skimming the hem of her panties before diving in. Shock melted into euphoria as she realized how warm and wet she was. She felt waves of pleasure travel from her groin to her legs as she rubbed herself, her body shifting without her having to tell it to.

"Winry," Eden gasped, reaching for Winry's head and gently grasping her pale blond hair. "Winry, please...please touch me...finger me..."

Winry let up from the nipple, licking her lips, and then kissed her again. She used her free hand to lightly pet Eden through her soaked panties, eliciting several moans and pants. Winry had never touched another girl, not like this, and she felt inefficient. She could get herself off, but could she do the same for Eden? Would Eden be repulsed and never want to talk to her again?

"I've never done this before," she admitted, taking her hand out of her own underwear.

Eden just smiled. "Me neither. Don't worry about it."

With that careless reassurance, Winry inserted her fingers beneath the elastic band of Eden's panties, feeling around. She was surprised (and a little aroused) to find that Eden was shaved clean. She had never suspected Eden of being so meticulous with things like that. Winry used her fingers to stroke what she thought was Eden's clitoris - it definitely felt like it, and from the way Eden writhed, it probably was.

"Oh, God," Eden cried out, her face blooming scarlet. "Faster, faster, please."

She obeyed, watching the array of beautiful expressions that played on Eden's face. She stroked her, in slow circles, and then faster as she broadened the movements. As she felt Eden's abdomen tighten, her cries getting shorter and higher, she stopped, knowing how good it felt when she climaxed hard instead of quick and easy. Eden let out a little groan of frustration, but that stopped when Winry slipped fingers inside and started to pump.

At first Eden grimaced, but then a slow, bright look came in her eyes, and soon her hips were shifting to meet the thrust of Winry's fingers. She grasped the sheets in her fists, lips panting curses and cries, her body caught in a wave of ecstasy. When Winry began stroking her clitoris again with her thumb, the other digits still inside the warm cavern, Eden tensed up, biting her abused lip.

Winry felt Eden clench around her fingers, a final cry of pleasure escaping. When she removed her hand it was wet and smelled like Eden, but the scent was almost pleasant and she didn't mind. She licked her fingers, curious about the taste, surprised that it was slightly sweet, and slightly metallic.

"Your turn," Eden said, smiling, her breath still quick.

Winry hesitated, scooting back along the mattress. "But - the automail..."

"You can use things besides fingers, Win," Eden said with a cocky toss of her head, golden rivulets running across her shoulders. The sunlight danced in her eyes, bronzing them and making her appear all the more heaven-sent. Winry felt inferior, her pale tresses and snow-white skin contrasting with the golden hues of her friend.

Her lip wobbled, and she caught Eden's scent as the girl closed in for another kiss. Winry turned her head, just a fraction, so that Eden's lips brushed her cheek instead. A soft shiver melted into her nerves, turning her to mush. She wondered what she tasted like.

"Other things?" she questioned.

Eden smirked, her tongue wetting her lips. Her eyes shifted downward, implying sensual, unspoken intentions. When Eden ran a warm, soft hand down her thigh, Winry didn't stop her. She felt curiosity burning like a hot fire, one that emblazoned red when those slender fingers entered her. Her breath caught in her throat - it hurt, like she was being stretched out, and yet the fullness satisfied her. Left her wanton.

She made a sound she had only ever emitted when eating baked goods; chocolate morsels and hot apple pie. She thought about the potent scent of cinnamon and the sticky, apple-flavored filling, thought about the taste of sex. Somehow they were the same and yet completely different.

She laid down on her back, her top riding up in cotton waves to expose the full undersides of her breasts. She closed her eyes, letting sensation and sensation alone occupy her thoughts. The sight of Eden's ministrations was one thing, but the mystery of what she would do next was another. When she gasped in surprise as warm moisture enveloped her nipple, she knew she'd made the right decision.

She could feel Eden's hair, like silk, as it pooled around the owner's head and onto her bare skin. The feeling was erotic and made her stomach clench with longing. She fumbled as she grasped locks of Eden's hair, running her hands through it, looking down at heavy-lidded eyes and a pink tongue dashing between rosebud lips.

Eden left her too soon, and Winry heard herself whimper regret. She looked up to see what was wrong, only to see that Eden had shifted further down the bed. The older Elric's thumb was on the brass button of Winry's jean shorts, her expression asking permission. Winry just nodded, fascinated, as the button was unsnapped, the zipper unzipped, the shorts pulled down towards her ankles.

And then Eden's head was between her legs. Winry gasped at the strange sensation. Warm, wet, writhing. She tangled her hands in Eden's hair, steering her straight to her most sensitive places - gently, of course, without too much force. At first it was odd, messy-sounding, and then the tingling stirs of pleasure traveled from Winry's stomach all throughout her body.

She liked Eden's head there; her beautiful face, eyes closed, perfect lips and tongue massaging her intimately. Winry gave a little moan, hair sticking to her forehead. She felt hyper-aware of her surroundings, of ever touch. She wrapped a lock of Eden's hair around her little finger. She curled her toes and drank in the sunset. Felt the cool cloth on the mattress beneath her legs.

She climaxed suddenly. Her arms, legs, body clenched tight, and she panted her release, watching Eden every second of it. She felt hot, hotter, even, when those golden eyes met hers, and Eden's tongue worked her orgasm into a practical eternity.

Then she lay there, Eden's head on her chest, her fingers weaving through the golden girl's hair as if she were a pet needing affection.

The sunbeams were fading into obscure darkness.

"Do you regret it?" Ed asked after a time.

Winry thought about that. Things would change. They'd have to. Their relationship would certainly never be the same, but that didn't mean she preferred their old one. "No," she said, smiling weakly. "I haven't felt that good in a long time."

"Good," Eden said, heaving a sigh. She closed her eyes, tired and resigned to the idea of sleep. "Me neither."