#stubborn is winry's middle name

[andromeda3116]

Propaganda:

1. No one has managed this yet at this point in the story. The Homunculi are always listening, always knowing what the heroes are up to, always one step ahead. The only thing that has surprised them is Roy killing Lust, but that was only because she got cocky and left him to die instead of killing him outright. Olivier, in the middle of a massive attack on her fort by a creature behind her comprehension, finds a way to get the truth from Ed -- who has refused to tell her on the basis of Bradley's threat to Winry, and who we all know is a stubborn little bastard. She gets the answers, and she gets them without the Homunculi or the high brass guessing that she now knows their entire plan, and is high enough in the hierarchy of power to seriously damage them. For once, she puts the heroes a step ahead of the Homunculi.

2. Note that this is not Ling holding his own against Bradley (that's not underrated at all) -- this is the compassion and loyalty to his people that leads him to severely hinder his own escape because his servant is critically injured and he absolutely will not, under any circumstances, leave her behind. "A king is no king without his people", indeed.

3. Like Olivier above, Riza manages what has up to now been nearly impossible from right under Bradley's nose. She devises a perfect code with every name she needs and knows how to make sure Roy is getting it. Her intelligence and ingenuity absolutely shine, and she manages to also put them a step ahead of the Homunculi, from right under their thumbs.

4. Winry is a teenager who hasn't seen any medicine beyond what it takes to attach automail in years, but she draws on the textbooks she read -- which, aside, she was reading, comprehending, and remembering medical textbooks as a child -- delivering a healthy baby with no complications, alone.

5. Gluttony's belly is supposed to be inescapable, an entirely different plane of reality, and Ed looks at all of this surrounding him, says "I'm not dying here" and concocts a wild plan to get them out by repeating the ultimate taboo and throwing himself back through the Gate of Truth -- and it works.

6. Scar's brother is a scholar who has lived his entire life in a culture that despises alchemy. He knows only what he's read of it, and he not only recognizes that Amestris is a massive transmutation circle but also devises a circle that will counteract it, and hides that behind layers of code and the physical shape of the papers, so that only his brother can find it.

7. Riza cannot speak. She can barely breathe. She is bleeding to death. And she still refuses to allow Roy to betray himself. No words, no breath, no reason to believe she may yet live -- but she tells him do not save me at the cost of your principles.

8. Like Ling above, Roy's loyalty to his own people drives and commands and powers him. He never forgets about Jean, and the first chance he gets, he sends someone to heal him, even if it means staying blind for longer. There was no need to wait, except that he refused to put his people second to himself.

[kitsune024]

Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood & Manga, Fullmetal Alchemist Fanfiction

Songs of Another World by Thornsong

Bookmark Series

In the seven years since Edward Elric had last seen the Gate, he really felt he'd pulled his life together. He'd gotten married, had a couple of kids, and actually managed to settle down. But when his life is thrown into chaos, he finds himself suddenly waking up somewhere he's never seen before: 1927 Germany.

In the four years since Edward Elric had last seen the Gate, he really felt he'd pulled his life together. He'd managed to get Al adjusted to this world, got an apartment, and even found himself a best friend in Noah. But when his life is thrown into chaos, he finds himself suddenly waking up somewhere familiar: Amestris.

Part 1. The Other Side I Chapters: 18/27 I

In the seven years since Edward Elric had last seen the Gate, he really felt he'd pulled his life together. He'd gotten married, had a couple of kids, and actually managed to settle down. But when his life is thrown into chaos, he finds himself suddenly waking up somewhere he's never seen before: 1927 Germany. In the four years since Edward Elric had last seen the Gate, he really felt he'd pulled his life together. He'd managed to get Al adjusted to this world, got an apartment, and even found himself a best friend in Noah. But when his life is thrown into chaos, he finds himself suddenly waking up somewhere familiar: Amestris. Except... this isn't his Amestris. (Also known as "BH Ed and 03 Ed switch bodies and cause chaos in the other's life.")

Part 2. Beautiful Ghosts I Chapters 1/1 I

Noah has never known anywhere she's felt safer than in Ed's arms. Maybe that's because he's one of the few people in the world who will actually hold her without flinching. She's familiar with his own inner demons after spending so long looking into his memories, but she didn't think that confessing her love to him would make him freak out so bad he disappeared. Now a stranger wearing Ed's face has come home speaking a language she can't speak, ignoring her in favor of Alphonse, and making Noah feel more alone than ever before. (A companion fic to The Other Side, except from Noah's POV)

Part 3. I Am Your Way Home, You Are My New Path I Chapters 1/1 I

Winry always knew Ed's style was atrocious. She just didn't ever think it would apply to the baby names he suggested. Now they can't seem to find any sort of middle ground between normal baby names and picking names from the periodic table. Why is he so stubborn? (This fits in with the backstory for this series, but it also totally stands alone!)

Part 4. Alchemy Started in the Kitchen  I Chapters 2/2 I

A collection of recipes referenced in The Other Side, including the infamous "Fuck Yeah Stew."

“ She paused, her hand lingering on his shoulder and she looked over his outfit. Her fingers trailed down from his shoulder to the sleeve garter on his arm. “What are you wearing? It looks… nice.”

“Winry,” Ed hissed, the hairs on his arm standing up. He glanced over to Mustang and Hawkeye over on the sofa before adding, “Please remember which one I am?”

“Right,” Winry said, blinking and shaking her head like she was pulling herself out of a dream. ” 

The Other Side by @edisacornball, chapter 7

lo and behold, my first FMA fanart……! of course it had to be of a fic asdfdhgs

Please go read The Other Side! Basically 03!Ed and BH!Ed somehow end up in each other’s bodies/universes and hijinks are ensuing and holy crap the fic is so intriguing!!

and I gotta say, this is more fanart of this hilarious post by the author than of that scene in particular, but I think it still has the same energy pffff

[cityandking]

Dragonbone, Bronto Hide and Royale Sea Silk for Lira, Vesper, & Winry!

thanks dear!! // dragon age oc meme 

Dragonbone: What will those who fear your character have to say about them, and to whom will they express their opinions? 

LIRA — cold, unfeeling, brutal; emotionless, sociopath; they say she didn’t even flinch when she executed teyrn loghain; they say she murdered rendon howe in his own home for what he did; maker keep warden cousland’s eyes away from you. it’s mostly hearsay and hushed whispering. lira does her best to keep away from the spotlight these days––a warden cares not for such things, after all––but the rumors follow her, and she doesn’t bother to contradict them. there is a great deal of awe mixed in with the fear, and depending on where you are one outweighs the other. fereldens are proud of her; the common folk have their share of stories about how the warden has saved them. the nobility have the best grasp on the truth, and are also the most divided; those who backed the mac tirs are more given to bitching, and those who support the theirin bloodline have a tendency to sing her praises. still, the cousland name is a weighty one, and even without lands or titles of her own she carries a great deal of political clout, and so few are willing to outright voice their grievances. most who have opinions to share do it behind closed doors.

WINRY — spoiled naive brat doesn’t know a thing about the real world; lives in a fairytale; too much power too much freedom; magic exists to serve man. she has her fair share of opponents, especially outside Ferelden. sure the dog lords are proud of their pet warden, their hero, but the rest of thedas has plenty of those who distrust the warden commander on basis of her magic alone. still, few say it outright. she’s very popular, warden amell, and her defenders are fierce and everywhere.

VESPER — heretic. that’s the biggest one; she’s no fan of the chantry and it is perhaps the only opinion she’s clear about. libertarian mages call her turncoat and traitor and templar lover and playing at politics; loyalists call her rabble-rouser and part of the problem. laypeople and templars insist magic was made to serve man and a mage at the head of thedas’ most powerful organization will spark another conclave disaster. in the early days it was everywhere, whispers and comments and shouts dogging the inquisition’s growth. as the inquisition proved it could do what it claimed to—as vesper stepped up and proved her determination and skill and care and levelheadedness and all that jazz, as the people came to, if not love at least admire her—the fearmongering died away, and now most of that is shared in private, along with the ungracious admittance that yes, the inquisition and its inquisitor have done a great deal of good for thedas, but they had best watch they not grow too big for their britches.

Bronto Hide: What is the single stupidest, most bullheaded, “milord no; MILORD YES” thing your character had ever done up till now? 

LIRA — maybe this is a cop out but it’s definitely leaving to cure the calling all on her own. most of the time she’s bullheaded but in a duty-driven way, but that choice was drop-everything-and-vanish-into-the-deserts level stupid. if it weren’t for the correspondence she kept with alistair (and intermittently leliana, and even more intermittently morrigan and zevran) no one would know if she was alive. she took absolutely no one’s advice on that affair because she doesn’t give a fuck.

WINRY — winry exists in a state of “no messere YES MESSERE” so this is. really difficult. telling her not to do something/she can’t do something/it’s inadvisable to do something usually just encourages her to do said thing. you can’t broker peace between the dalish and the werewolves? watch her. you can’t solve orzammar’s succession crisis? bullshit. the temple of sacred ashes doesn’t exist? whatever. don’t bang the gong and fight the dragon? oh she’ll bang that gong alright. (that one… that one might actually take the cake, tbh.) honestly the circle is lucky she wasn’t particularly studious, else she might have tried some seriously fucked up magic just cause she could. (all those weird side quests messing around with the fabric of the universe in DAO? those were made for her.)

VESPER — vesper really isn’t the type to go in for bullhead decisions; she’s very careful about weighing the pros and cons of her choices. anything she did of the sort was probably in the name of helping someone—walking into a fight, walking out of something she was ordered to stick out, that sort of thing. leaving the circle comes close, but I think there was too much intent and necessity there for it to count as stupid or bullheaded. going after solas maybe

Royale Sea Silk: What are the three strongest, most honest, most flattering adjectives one can use to physically describe your character?

LIRA — compact, powerful, agile

WINRY — honeyed, hale, curvy

VESPER — willowy, graceful, lean

[edisacornball]

How Labyrinth of Shadows Started

So years and years ago, back in 2010, I had this idea. Just a simple headcanon, really. If Ed's style was so gaudy, if he couldn't even make a simple doorknob without turning it as gothic as possible, then he had to be equally bad and gaudy when it came to names. Which meant he had to be a nightmare when facing down the prospect of naming his own children.

My then-girlfriend-now-spouse thought this concept was hilarious, and we spent an afternoon laughing our butts off as we came up with all the horrendous names Ed would come up with and how he would justify them. At one point, they cracked a joke about how any child of Ed's would be in trouble if something happened to Winry before she got a chance to shoot down Ed's awful names. And from there, I came up with this idea for a scene where Ed surprises everyone by coming up with the really sweet name of "Aurora" because she's the "dawn of a new light in his life."

And then (in typical FMA style), it immediately switches to being ridiculous because he wants to make this poor child's middle name Borealis. Because pretty!

Me and my SO practically wet ourselves we were laughing so hard at this concept, and they begged me to write it. I tossed it back and forth for a while, but eventually said that I didn't really have a plot for it and it seemed more like a beginning than a stand-alone oneshot. I had a strong image in my mind of Aurora Elric being a willful, stubborn-headed teenager, but I didn't have a plot. And worse, I was only 19 myself and had no kids. I had no idea how to write a middle-aged Ed. So it got put on the backburner indefinitely.

But that simple idea of the rebellious daughter with the funny naming circumstance stuck around in my head for years, even when other ideas came and went. When I came back to fanfiction last year, I casually tossed out the headcanon that "Ed's terrible at baby names" in one of my stories, and was surprised to hear that people wanted to know more. It had been a headcanon that was sitting in my head for so long it had become completely normal to me, and I had forgotten that spark.

So I ended up writing a little oneshot revolving around Ed sucking at naming their future baby. And when I was tossing around ideas with my writing group, I casually dropped that "Oh, yeah, I had this other whole idea for it years ago, but I was too much of a kid to know how to write a parent, so I never wrote it." And I got hit with a response of "Well, you're not too young anymore, are you?"

And seriously, it was like a lightbulb for me. (Seriously, HUGE shout out to @mildly-nerdy for saying that. If you hadn't casually thrown that out there, I don't know if I would have thought to sit down and work on this again!) No, I wasn't too young anymore! I could totally write an adult parent at 30! I still loved this character who had sat unused in the back of my head for a decade and dammit, I was going to give her a chance to live! So I sat down and started planning. And reading Blackwell Springs, which totally influenced the plotting process. (This story probably also wouldn't exist without @liathgray because their stories gave me the life I needed to keep trying with this one,and you can see their influence in the very bones of this story, so definitely check their stuff out while you're waiting for Oct 3rd!!!)

And then the applications for the FMA Big Bang 2021 opened up, and I went. You know... You know what would give me the kick in the butt to ensure this gets finished after all these years? A deadline.

So finally, after over ten years... I'm so freaking excited to give everyone else a chance to meet this character that I love so much. I'm so glad she finally has her own timeline and lore to play around in, and I really hope you all love her as much as I do!

[zetalial]

FMA 03 - Brothers

Hey, here’s another post to round off the themes of family in FMA 2003. Here’s links to the first two: Mothers and fathers.

This one is focused on the relationship between brothers in the series (and, yes, I would have loved to have called this post Brotherhood... but I could not.) We meet quite a few pairs of Brothers throughout the series with our main characters being Edward and Alphonse, who’s relationship gets the most depth and development. I would be here all day trying to explore every facet of their relationship though! I’ll just try and briefly explain how their relationship can be compared to other brotherly relationships.

Let me start by looking at episode 38 - With the River’s Flow. 

Ed and Al are, as ever, travelling alone and getting into conflict. These two are both pretty headstrong (though Ed more so than Al) and this episode perfectly captures their relationship. 

They’re a bit stuck in their journey and they lash out at each other. Al’s irritated at Ed’s stubborness while Ed’s irritated at Al’s inability to express himself. Ed’s determined to go after Scar and the Philosopher’s stone while ignoring the proverbial elephant in the room that is the Homunculi - namely Sloth. Al wants to talk about Sloth but he is having trouble actually confronting Ed about it - he somehow manages to bring up Hohenheim of all people instead. In the end, they succeed only in getting angry at each other and storming off to sulk alone. 

This is far from the only time we see the two arguing, they’re often at odds with each other actually. And no brotherly relationship we see in the story is perfectly smooth either. 

Here’s a pair of Ishvalan Brothers. The younger brother is called Rick and the older brother is called Leo. Like Ed and Al they’re pretty close, possibly due to being orphans who have had a rough life so far and they have to really rely on each other. At one point, Rick has a PTSD flashback and Leo snaps him out of it, in a way that implies he’s used to it. In episode 24, the two of them are definitely in conflict over longstanding issues about their mother. Leo is angry that Rick cares so much about her as he has stubbornly convinced himself that she never really cared about them. Rick still has faith though.  

Despite their differences in opinion though, Rick and Leo’s bond is still very strong. When Rick gets kidnapped, his brother immediately goes with Scar and Al to help rescue him. He is keeping quiet about a painful memory so that Rick doesn’t have to learn the truth and ironically that’s a huge part of why they’re in conflict. This invites you to contrast it with Ed and Al’s own fight in this episode. Where Al has convinced himself that Ed doesn’t really love him because he’s just a fake and meanwhile Ed has been keeping quiet all this time about his guilt over whether Al blames him for his condition - for the human transmutation. It’s only when they have faith and confide in their worries that both their conflicts are able to be resolved.  

Speaking of Ishvalan Brothers, there’s another pair of them in this series who also struggled to relate to each other.

They are... an interesting pair. Scar’s older brother is dead when the series starts but Scar certainly thinks about him a lot. The two had trouble understanding each other with Scar’s brother being something of a heretic who performed alchemy - human transmutation and was... a little odd. Nothing like this crowning scene of him crying big tears in the middle of the day in the middle of a war and in front of his brother, while completely naked - right? 

Still, Scar seems to desperately want to understand his brother. Some of his first words in the series is wondering what his brother wanted him to do with his arm. Upon encountering Ed and Al in episode 14, he immediately says that Ed reminds him of his older brother and ends up emphasising with Al. Another conflict the two had was that apparently he had feelings for his brother’s great love - the woman who became Lust. Central to his conversations with the homunculus is his complex feelings about his brother. Some of Scar’s final words are again reflecting on the Elric brothers and their close relationship to each other. He wishes he’d managed a similar relationship with his brother and quietly says “brother, I love you”. 

Beyond their conflicts though, there’s also a theme of sacrifice. 

Scar’s older brother gave up his right arm (and this cost him his life) to save Scar’s life. That’s a pretty clear parallel to Ed giving up his own right arm to save his brother’s life. And later, Scar will give up his brother’s right arm to save Ed’s brother’s life. Yeah. Al really attracts sacrifice, okay? Al even starts developing survivor’s guilt over this. The series actually ends with Ed giving up his life to save his brother (though it only costs him the arm and leg he just got back. And to be stuck in another world...). And then there’s Al sacrificing himself to save his brother’s life.  

Now, Ed and Al are a pair of alchemist brothers, who learned alchemy from their father’s notes. That is strikingly similar to another pair of brothers.

Russell and Fletcher Tringham steal Ed and Al’s identity in order to pose as credible alchemists so they can research and create a Philosopher’s stone. They are skilled alchemists themselves. Russell is pretty cocky and wants to bring Xenotime to its former glory through the use of alchemy. He’s willing to do some pretty immoral things to achieve this though. 

Fletcher also wants to save Xenotime but he is more conflicted. However, he is scared to speak against his brother and has been reluctantly going along with things. Al emphasises with Fletcher and encourages him to confront his older brother, indirectly revealing some of the guilt Al feels for keeping quiet and going along with the human transmutation. Russell has been ignoring the warning signs, driven to believe he’s good enough to fix things. They’ve wound up on a similar path to the Elrics and the Elrics encourage them to find a new path even as they continue in their search. They see themselves in the Tringhams and warn them against it. 

There’s one other pair of brothers Edward encounters and they remind him of his own brother.

No. 48. A pair of serial killer brothers who were both bonded to a suit of armour. The two of them are very much in sync given how they fight together, trade a bit of banter and are willing to protect each other while Ed is fighting them.

They’re also more literally bonded by past deeds than the other characters on this list. They both have to live as souls bonded to armour and it makes them feel inhuman. Seeing their hate for their current existence motivates Ed into fixing his own brother. It really drives home the horror of Al’s experience, helping to justify the identity crisis Al has while Ed fights the slicer brothers. Of course, Ed is driven to win by recalling his devotion to his brother. It’s ironic.

Ed is distraught when the Younger brother chooses to take his own life, no doubt thinking of Al. The older brother understands his brother completely though and tries to be comforting towards Ed though it doesn’t really help much. Mostly this whole experience really shakes Ed up and an episode later, Lust kills the older slicer brother while threatening to do the same to Al.

...

Okay, there’s one other pair I want to bring up though they’re not actually related.

Roy and Hughes have been close friends for a very long time. Hughes even goes to visit Roy to find he’s very nearly performed human transmutation. He challenges Roy on the issue, encouraging him to live and move on. When Roy tells him he wants to be Fuhrer, Hughes is there to say he’ll support him. We don’t learn too much about their history, but its obvious they are very close and both of them are also close to the Elric brothers.

 A big reason to trust Roy in 03 is because Hughes cares so much about him. Hughes is the only person he reveals his worries and weaknesses to and Hughes really looks out for him. After Hughes is killed, Roy can’t bear to face Hughes’ wife Gracia, feeling some guilt and misery over his death. At Hughes’ grave, the piano version of Bratja/Brothers plays, as Roy mourns his dearest friend’s passing.

So, Episode 38: With the River’s Flow, begins with Ed and Al in a fight. Then the two of them go off to sulk alone for a while.

Ed’s angry and muttering about how irritating Al is but then he unthinkingly asks Al to pass the salt as he’s eating. Edward seems to realise that he’s driven Al away and he suddenly misses him. Immediately, he gets up and goes to look for him. The two of them are extremely codependent and can’t stay separated for long. Al, across town, is walking around, muttering about how stubborn Ed is to himself when someone taps him on the back and he immediately says: “Ed, where were you?” only to realise it isn’t his brother.

Ed has a flashback to when the two of them were kids and shows that they were close then too. They got into fights and they would run off but then Ed would come to his senses and go to look for his brother.

Ed doesn’t offer an apology out loud or anything. He just dismisses their fight, showing he’s forgiven his brother and Al smiles and runs after him. In the present, Ed finds Al at the river (which the episode is named for) and dismisses the fight the same way he did when they were kids. That’s very much Ed and Al’s dynamic. 

During Al’s identity crisis, Al runs away and Ed wants to run after him (ready to throw himself off the roof even, because Ed’s always freaking out over his brother.) But Al takes some time to think through things while Ed and Winry spend that episode looking for Al. Upon meeting up again, they make up. Whatever happens they always forgive and go looking for each other. 

Speaking of Brothers it would remiss of me to neglect to mention one other character.

A homunculus created by Hohenheim in an attempt to bring back his dead son. Envy. He’s essentially Ed and Al’s half-brother. This is only revealed in the final episodes and Envy is a rejection of all the prior brotherly relationships we’ve seen explored throughout the series. Envy hates his family and takes great pleasure in tormenting the Elric brothers. Ed’s so shocked by the reveal that it gives Envy the upperhand, and he takes the opportunity to stab Edward through the chest. He laughs about it in victory. 

Envy is a disaster but you can also see how he came to be the way he is. He’s never been loved by anyone, not his father who rejected and abandoned him and not Dante who uses and manipulates him to serve her needs. Envy does have reasonably decent relations with the other homunculi though - they seem to have bonded a little over shared circumstances. Envy gets on well with Lust and Sloth and at first seemed like a bit of an older brother to Wrath almost. He’s too mean and impatient to have a proper relationship though.

At the gate, Edward warns Envy not to cross through but Envy doesn’t listen and marches away, smiling. Edward’s face is covered in tears, both for Al who he’s losing and perhaps for Envy who could have been a better person were he not so bitter and full of hate. 

-

Envy is an exception to all these different characters throughout the show who have strong familial bonds that they depend on. These bonds are often the only thing they can rely on when they’re hit with life’s tragedies as all these characters have very angsty backstories. No bond is more explored more than Ed and Al’s relationship, so this overview has mostly revolved around them. 

Fullmetal Alchemist is the story about two brothers trying to regain what they lost and their relationship is central to the story. Through other characters we can see different aspects of it. The Tringhams, walking a dangerously similar path to them. Scar, who wishes his relationship with his brother could have been like Ed and Al’s. Roy, who is trying to do right and learn to live with the loss of his best friend. Rick and Leo, who are struggling together with each other and other Ishvalan refugees. And Envy, a chilling example of their antithesis. 

Ed and Al’s relationship is very much my favourite part of the series.

It’s why the ending is so tragic.

....

[luffywhatelse]

Simplify - chapter three

Words: 2361 Genre: Angst, Drama, Romance Pairing: Ed x Winry Rating: T Summary: this takes place during the time spent by the Elric brothers at Winry’s house after the Promise Day, then before the proposal. Ed and Winry are not dating or anything. — An old classmate calls home asking for Winry but it’s Edward answering the phone…And he could never stand that guy.

Previous: Chapter 1 - Chapter 2

CHAPTER 3 Ed was at Winry's bedroom door. He stopped and took a deep breath. He raised his hand, his fingers curled up in a loose fist, ready to knock. He halted the motion right before hitting the wooden door, though, almost changing his mind. He had to act quickly, there was no time to waver, he thought. So, without thinking, he raised his hand again and knocked. "It's me," he said, getting his face closer to the door. First he heard the sound of her footsteps approaching. Thank goodness, she's not already asleep then. However, the door didn't unlock, Winry's steps turned away. She had decided not to open.  ~ Edward had spent the rest of the night unable to sleep. He was literally consumed by the thought of her disappointed look and wondered if Winry was having trouble sleeping too. When he got out of the bed in the morning, he saw his reflection in the mirror and the deep rings around his eyes, realizing he couldn’t even get to be mad at her without feeling guilty about it. He felt guilty of hurting her with his words to such an extent that she hadn't wanted to give him the chance to explain himself, but heck, Al was right, Winry was too important and giving up wasn't an acceptable choice. No way. He would try to talk to her again. Even if he had to force her to listen to him. Yeah, but he didn't even know what to say.  He went to her. She was working, so he brought a cup of coffee. A hot beverage, unlike him, was always welcome.  He heard her voice, she surely was with a client. A man, actually.  He barely looked in and saw Russell hugging her.  His breath died in his throat and he almost ran the risk of dropping his cup of coffee.  "David-san..." she whispered and got away. San??? "Give me a chance, just go out with me once... I promise you that if you don't have fun, I'll take you home right away and won’t insist anymore." So in the end Winry refused his invitation. That stubborn bastard! "I don't..." she then said.  "Come on..." he urged, placing his hands on her shoulders again to regain contact with her.  Winry took a step back but he followed her.  How pushy! That idiot didn't want to give up even though she was clearly refusing him. How dare he impose himself that way?? That was enough. He had seen too much.  Edward came in, making noise, and put his coffee cup on the table.  "Oh, Elric." David said without taking his hands off Winry, who looked embarrassed.  Ed turned to them and raised his chin just like a tiny head nod, crossing his arms. He had no intention of leaving but not even of greeting that bastard and probably would have stared at him until that scumbag had thrown those grubby hands off Winry, like back in the old days.  But things didn't go that way. It was Winry who took his slimy hands off her shoulders. "I'm going to get you that thing for Akira, I'll be right back," she said turning to him.  Even his cat has a dumb name – Ed thought, watching Winry get out, and then stood there staring at him.  "Well, what do you want?" Russell blurted out with a snarl, finally showing his true nature. To be honest, the fact that Ed had watched him being rejected must sting like hell.  "Nothing, I want to stay here. If you got a problem with it, go away," the alchemist replied.  "I've always been fine with the fact that you were here too," he emphasised that "too" as if Edward had always been the third wheel.  They stared angrily at each other for a while.  "Tell me, Elric," he began again, "Did you do that, then?"  "Do what?" he answered with the minimum number of words he could find without insulting him. And if he restrained himself was only for Winry.  David laughed. "Don't play innocent. Or are you one of those spineless guys who don't talk about their private things?" Edward continued to stare at him, his anger was piling up.  "Oh man, that chick got a prime cut of ass..."  "Watch your mouth, bastard!"  "Not to mention her boobs, I can't wait to hold them in my hands," he continued, biting his fist pretending to feel a stirring.  "HEY!" Edward went toward him like a caged animal. He couldn't lay a hand on him or, he knew, it would end badly with Winry. "Get the fuck out of here, now," he ordered peremptorily.  “Or what, Elric?” the other growled. "She's not selling me that… I mean, that being goodie two-shoes... sooner or later she will say yes and you won't be able to do anything..." he turned away, touching the tools on the table and giving a half smile.  "Impossible, since she will never speak to you again!"  "You can be sure of that. I will not give her a chance to speak... I have already heard too much chattering and I'm going to do something totally different this Saturday."  Edward covered the distance between them, then he pounced on him, slamming his back against the wall, "Listen to me! Now turn on your heels, get the hell out, and I'll pretend you didn't say a thing!" Ed was holding him by the shirt while he, achy, giggled.  That guy seemed amused by his fury and, meeting Ed's wild look and tense expression, added: "Take it easy, I'm leaving," he lifted his hands feigning to surrender,  "I'll be careful not to hurt her too much when I fuck her like a little slut... "  Edward grunted, punched his jaw with all the strength he had and kicked him behind his knees making him crash to the ground with a strangled moan; he was more determined to kill him than to silence him. He kicked him again in the middle of his back, forcing him to fall forward. David dragged with him a whole shelf full of tools that crashed to the ground. But he was still giggling. "You know, I don't understand if you're worried about her or if it bothers you that you're not banging her-” Another fist hit him on the jaw as Edward jumped on him.  "ARE YOU STILL TALKIN'?" his wrath had exploded and a couple of left hooks landed on the other cheek.  At that very moment, Winry rushed in, "Hey, what the hell is going on here?" she shouted but Edward could hardly hear her. He felt like going on a killing spree, with one hand holding David by the collar of his shirt while with the other hand he kept punching him again and again.  "Ed! Stop it!" shouted Winry and Edward, in a shred of sanity, or better of humanity, stopped and stared at him struggling to calm down. But he didn't move from where he was and didn't let go of him.  "For heaven's sake, get off! Let him go! ALPHOOOOONSE!" Winry began to sob in fright.  He was unable to break eye contact with David, giving him a threatening stare. His arm was still clutching the other guy in a vice and he wouldn’t let him off the hook.  "Please Ed... let go, you're scaring me..." she said. Scaring me? – Edward blinked hearing those words. Flared nostrils, quick breath; he finally got up. Then he looked back at his opponent, standing still to regain his strength but also to look at him better.  David clung to a chair to get back to his feet, though stunned. "Don't worry, Winry..." he said, trying to wipe the blood off himself with his shirt sleeve.  "NEVER SPEAK HER NAME AGAIN WITH THAT FILTHY MOUTH!" Ed shouted.  Winry turned terrified, to David's pleasure. The girl's breathing was uneven while she stared at Ed without missing a single blink of his eyes.  "I'm fine," David reassured her in a harsh tone, "It's nothing, but thanks for stopping him," he added only to balm his wounded pride. Then he struggled to right himself, continuing to talk to distract Winry. He put a hand on her cheek and only then Alphonse came along, out of breath. Just in time, because Ed lashed out at David, moving Winry with one arm to get her away from him. The girl shouted reflexively; the violence of the impact almost made her lose her balance. Ed grabbed David, threw him to the ground and was immediately on top of him; the thud took David's breath away.   Alphonse promptly grabbed his brother by the shoulders and held him up by blocking his arms from behind. Edward wouldn't keep still, wriggling and howling his head off "DON'T TOUCH HER, PIECE OF SHIT BASTARD!" he yelled angrily.  Winry was too scared to even move.  "Winry..." David whispered. "It's better for me to go now. I've caused too much trouble," he grunted.  The girl turned to him when, until then, her eyes had been glued to Ed, as if he was the fierce animal to be afraid of. "Y-yes..."  David Russell hugged her when there was no possible way that she could stop him and, behind her, flashed Edward the vilest grin he could do. But this time there was also Alphonse to see him.  Edward freaked out, trying to shake his younger brother off "I'LL KILL YOU!" he said flailing his arms, but Al had always been stronger than him. Thank goodness.  When David finally left, Al released his grip on his brother, "So can you tell me what the hell is going on?"  Winry cried, visibly upset, "You scared me to death, I... I... that look of yours... it scares me, Ed!"  But the boy couldn't find any peace.  "That bastard... Al, you have no idea what he said!" and then, turning to Winry, he added, "You have to stay away from him, do you understand? You never have to see him again, don't speak to him! NEVER MORE! Do you hear me?"  Alphonse left them alone to argue and disappeared.  "But why... why are you doing this?" Winry frowned, clearly frustrated. "What did he say?" she spoke these last words slowly.  Edward took a breath to answer but couldn't say a word. He was too angry and embarrassed to repeat those sentences.  Winry shook her head, resigned but angry at the same time, while a tear ran down her face.  "Please, Winry, don't cry," Ed said, still panting but now worried about her, "You know I can't stand to see you crying..."  "You should have thought about that before..."  "You don't get it..." he mumbled as he approached her.  He watched her. She was like a delicate flower… beautiful even in tears. At that moment, he could barely think of touching her, like he was almost afraid of ruining her; how could that maggot have uttered such insults while he, Edward Elric, was helpless with that seething cauldron of emotions inside him just looking at her?  Winry screamed exhausted, moving away from him, with a lump in her throat.  She looked like she just couldn't understand how they got roped into those kinds of conversations. At that point, furious, she yelled, pointing at him, "So I'm the one that doesn't understand? And what exactly am I supposed to understand?"  Her beautiful, angelic face, with blue eyes and white skin was shadowed by bitterness, "You want to decide things for me, choose who I have to date, with whom I can or cannot speak!" she was shouting at him without even realizing what she was saying, "You're screwing up both my job and life this way: what's wrong with you men? One morbidly insistent who doesn't understand when it's time to stop and the other one possessive without any reason to be... who gave you the right to choose things for me?"  "Well, actually, YOU said that I wouldn't get rid of you so easily, so you can't get rid of me easily either," he retorted decidedly, not realizing that he sounded almost threatening.  Winry frowned and Ed couldn’t tell whether her heart was softened by the fact that he remembered her sentence pronounced long ago or she wanted to express her outright disagreement even more than before. "Don't you realize you're just like him?"  "What?" Ed blurted out, insulted and hurt, "WHAT? Ho-how could I?"  "You're not different and not even better, who do you think you are with your words, your temper…"  "You can't seriously mean that, Winry... it's crazy," he interrupted her.  "Indeed, it may be crazy, but that's the problem."  "That guy's face begs to be slapped! I wish you could have heard what..."  "Ok, enough of that already! I'll tell you, you... you're such an egotistical, selfish person! You think only of yourself!"  "I don't care what you think, because I will never let this bastard near you again!" and doing so he stepped across that intangible divide and abolished the physical distance separating them. Then he grabbed her arms harder than he intended, and Winry was pulled to Edward, losing her balance.   He wrapped her up in his arms as if to physically point out what he had said and Winry found her face pressed against his chest. Ed acted instinctively, without thinking, and squeezed her.  "What are you doing...?" she asked him, trying to withdraw, "Get off me!" she told him.  Edward immediately obeyed, feeling guilty, as if his rationality had suddenly awakened.  "Can't you see? You think you can just hug me to convince me to do what you want, you saved me but you don't even want to tell me from what! It's always like this, you expect me to understand while you're silently staring at me like that, or worse, you keep to yourself and get upset when I don't do it your way, as if I was dull and I couldn't get there on my own! Well, can you tell me exactly what is it that you want me to understand? I mean, what do you want from me? You can't just decide to control me! You can't!"  She sobbed convulsively, "You... you acted exactly like him... taking upon yourself a right that you don't have!" she severely scolded him before walking out the door, bitterly emphasizing the last three words.  "Winry!" he screamed but didn't try to reach her.

Next: CHAPTER 4 

[c-is-for-circinate]

Look, there is a whole extensive AU built around this idea (me and @mzminola had FUN yesterday), but they key, important, heart-of-the-issue image is:

Ed, Al, and Winry, growing up in the tiniest town in their sparsely-populated county in the middle of Iowa, barely supervised.  (Resembool is safe, and Trisha is sick, anyway, chronically sick, kept alive by doctors and pills and regular monthly trips to the hospital in the small city over the county line, and Pinako’s not getting any younger, and Winry’s parents have been spending ten months of every year doing Doctors without Borders in one country or another since she was about five, and these particular kids are good at keeping themselves busy, anyway.)

Ed, Al, and Winry who watch far too much Mythbusters at a young and impressionable age and understand very intimately that the difference between just fucking shit up and science is writing it down--or,  in modern terms, putting it on film.

Their shared Youtube channel hits 100k subscribers by Al’s twelfth birthday.

Winry’s all about building shit, which starts out with, like, an easy homemade air rifle out of PVC pipe and ends up with the barn-sized particle accelerator she puts together the summer before freshman year of high school, because why not.  Generally she’ll have a couple of videos about how she screwed and soldered and welded together the project of the week out of household junk, scrap metal, and $3 parts from the local Ace Hardware, and then the boys take over.  

Ed is, unsurprisingly, much more into taking things apart.  Explosively.  Of course.  But it’s not just about fire and demolitions--he started a lot of this messing around as a way to test out and learn things that their (admittedly relatively pathetic) sixth and seventh-grade science textbooks didn’t explain properly.  It starts with a bunch of experimental demonstrations of kinetic physics and moves on to electricity and magnetism, to heavy-duty chemistry, stripping the whole world down to the studs to see the scaffolding that underlies the universe.  Half the reason their channel gets so popular at first is because they are learning science and it’s helpful.  Then the science talk starts going over most people’s heads and college physics students watch their videos to study for exams while most of their other subscribers just hang out for the explosions.

Al is widely considered the sensible one of the trio.  He does a lot of the camera work and most of the editing.  (”We’re using this portable wind generator, Winry made it in our last few videos, if you haven’t seen them you can click on the thing--there’ll be a thing in the video, that thing where you click--” “Yes, brother, I’ll make sure there’s a link to Winry’s construction videos right here when it gets posted.”)  He also occasionally takes point in a couple of the investigation videos, usually when he’s the one who has a research question to begin with, and those tend to be fascinating, twisty in the way even Ed’s research explorations aren’t, and involve significant property damage as an incidental byproduct rather than a subgoal of the whole project.

Ed, Al, and Winry, in the same class in junior high and high school, sitting in the back row of their class of the same twenty-three kids they’ve been in school with since they were five and six, pouring over blueprints for solid-state lasers and completely ignoring the teacher trying to explain that force equals mass times acceleration.  It happens every single year, as every teacher tries to get them to pay attention and slowly gives up, and the only question is how stubborn the teacher is and whether they’ll succeed briefly in history or English class or not.

Riding their bikes up the gravel road from the Elric house into town to go to the hardware store.  Winry hanging out around the local auto shop in overalls and a head kerchief, learning everything she can and endearing herself to the mechanics until she can use them as a regular source for old parts destined for the trash.  Heading out into the hills between the Rockbell and Elric houses to set things on fire and send rockets up towards the sky, to make, to learn.

(Professor Roy Mustang, tenure-track chemist still trying to build a name for himself after his relatively brilliant PhD thesis set ripples of excitement throughout the chemistry community, finds out about them when one of his Gen Chem undergrads asks him snottily at the end of class, “Hey, didn’t you say last week that xyz theorem was unproven and unprovable?  Because I’m pretty sure a couple of kids on youtube just did.”)

[yoyo-inspace]

For the crossover ship game: Finley from Hustle Cat and Edward Elric!

Oh my god now that’s a combo. 

Alright, so let’s meet the players, shall we?

(I’m gonna go for this as end-of-series Ed, because it’s always difficult to pluck someone out of the middle of their character arc. And also older Ed.) 

It’s funny, because the more I think about it, they’re quite alike, aren’t they? They’re both very loud (and occasionally obnoxious). Finley is a bit more cheerful, due to not having the trauma that Ed has (obviously), but they’re both mischievous and does have a sense of pride and wanting to take care of their own issues. They both have trouble accepting help from others, but also sometimes feel underestimated. They’re also both total nerds, although about different things. 

Canonically, they both have love-interests that offers a more level-headed approach, are slightly more down-to-earth. They both argue with their respective partners about their independence. 

Finley is a lot more touchy-feely than Ed, obviously, and as I said earlier, a lot more upbeat. Ed is a bit more introspective. 

Thing is, I don’t know if they’d annoy the hell out of one another or have a glorious team-up. Because Finley would 100% be onboard with whatever weird plan Ed comes up with. Ed might be a little disturbed by Finley’s cheerfulness and energy though, and I think he might snap a bit (and she’d 100% call him short). 

Mostly I’m stuck with imagining a team-up battle between Hashtag Witch Vigilante Finley and the Fullmetal Alchemist. I don’t think anyone would be safe.

I think they’d tease and argue a lot, and get on each other’s nerves, but if they could bond over what they have in common, I think they’d make a great pair. Romantically? Possibly. I see it more from Ed’s side, since he has a precedence for liking the stubborn but hard-working kind of character, though I think it would take longer for him to fall for Finley than he did for Winry, and I think it would take a moment of seeing some seriousness from Finley for that to happen. Finley I see more as going “aw he’s cute” and then seeing how brave and determined he is would admire that and try to be more like that.

I think that if they overcame their differences they could actually support each other since they have similar insecurities (though Ed’s are more centered on the people around him doing better and him not being enough, while Finley’s are more centered on her insecurities about herself as a person). And I think Finley could cheer Ed up very well, and vice versa actually, because they would both know how the other felt when down.

I think personally, I’d find the idea of them in a relationship cute and funny, with some genuinely sweet moments, but it’s not the type of ship I’d generally engage in? It’s one very bubbly character paired with one very “come-at-me” type of character. I like both types, but I tend to pair those types up with more level-headed or serious or quiet character, instead of with each other. 

I’d love to see it though. 

Thanks for asking!

send me the names of two characters from two different fandoms, and I’ll tell you if I would ship them or not

[harpers-tartarus]

FMA Fic Rec List

Gold From Lead -Ed gets kidnapped by people who think Roy is his father

A Snowball’s Chance -a few mishaps happen on mission with the Elrics, Roy and Riza

Till I’m A Hundred, You Idiot -a collection of 100 drabbles featuring Parental!Roy to Ed

Dailies -a collection of one-shots that focus on the Elrics and Team Mustang with Parental!Roy galore

Likeness -Ed starts shaving and Roy realizes he’s more like Roy than he is like Hohenheim

Tempest -Ed doesn’t need a father figure but when an alchemist goes rogue he might already have one

Fragile Things -Ed and Al get Riza some flowers for mother’s day

Shadow of a Doubt -Ed and Roy need to inspect a mine but Ed’s worried of his fears becoming reality, features Parental!Roy and Ed being their usual selves

Open Wounds and Healing Scars -Edwin that features an automail customer getting fresh with Winry in the first fic and Overprotective!Ed in the second ready to commit murder in Rush Valley only to somehow get roped into rollerskating

Transient -Ed takes on a mission when he thinks he’s just down with the flu, but it ends up blowing up in his face. Parental!Roy moments at the end

Your Son -Ed ends up poisoned at a military event after downing Roy’s drink, the usual confusion of if he’s Roy’s kid comes up again Parental!Roy

Attitude adjustments -Al losing his temper

Crash -Roy and Ed get into a care crash in the dead of winter in the mountains

Stairway to Paradise -Ed’s been MIA for a few months and when they find him he’s been blinded, a fic mostly about healing and how it isn’t a straight line, Parental!Roy

Warmth -after a fall from a cliff fighting a Chimera Ed develops hypothermia. Parental!Roy and Royai hints in last chapter

Ishvalan Accords -if you haven’t read this, it should be at the top of your list, seriously. Ishvalan!Elrics and its so good. Ed, Al, and Winry come to Ishval when Ishval and Amestris are trying to hammer out accords a year after the Promised Day and run into a bit of trouble with a rogue alchemist that knows they’re half-Ishvalan

hanging in the stars series -Edling soulmate fic featuring Ed born without a soulmark and Ling having his killed off by the Emperor when he was young

red string of fate, blue dragon -Edling, another soulmate fic. Ed doesn’t care about soulmates, but he cares about Ling

This Lion is in the Garden -Edling arranged marriage AU featuring Ed as the prince of Xerxes who somehow actually likes his fiance. This fic needs more than 2 chapters tbh, ch1 is very cute and ch2 has a lot of smut

Cause for Concern -Jean Havoc meeting the Elrics for the first time

Almost Home -Edling, mutual pining, need I say more?

Skin Deep -Trans!Ed and all the struggles he has to deal with between misgendering military personnel, a stubborn father, and a Colonel that gave him the name Edward in the first place. The focus is primarily on Ed and its so good

we haunt ourselves -Ed has a soul array carved into his chest over his heart

Briareus series -a collection of stories that focus on different aspects of Ed’s personality, the one with the social worker is particularly good

Desert Gold -Ishvalan!Elrics au featuring great babysitter!Ed which is the most surprising thing

you’re the anchor (that i tied to my brain) -a purely text-based fic that I wasn’t sure I’d like but it was hilarious and long. Edwin, Royai, Lingfan, Almei, the good stuff

Tungs -Edling, modern au with Ling recovering from surgery with bestie Ed, high on painkillers and ends up confessing

‘cause the morning light paints you something beautiful -short Edling fic about Ling waking up Ed for some early morning kisses

talks like a gentlemen -Ling and Ed talking in the middle of the night while Greed sleeps, Edling

When the Flood Water Comes -a modern day au, Roy and Hughes are the gay dads Ed’s always wanted, he and Al have occasional spats, Ling is a rich kid with absentee parents and is surprisingly sweet, Edling as hell with a side of Winry being gay af and Ed literally running away from his family problems

Nothing Gold -Ling gains immortality, Ed doesn’t. An Edling fic certified to make you cry, bring tissues.

To Be Mortal -written to counter ‘Nothing Gold’, where that fic is a bad dream and Ed and Ling are older and still very much in love. Edling

so love me, brother -a roleswap au with Ed in the armor. It only has one chapter but its an interesting take on what could’ve been

no air in my lungs -Ling catches Ed vandalizing the principal’s car and offers him silence if he buys him dinner. Edling

who art in heaven -Ling meets Ed at an official function in Amestris and thinks he’s an angel. Edling

Without Flinching -in 24 hours the Fullmetal Alchemist is going to die, already buried 6 feet under in his little brother’s body

Distorting Equivalency -someone wants to know the secret to soul alchemy, features a lot of pain and a lot of Ed and Roy father-son bonding

One Little Flinch -its been years since Roy punched Ed in that alley, but Ed still flinches if he moves too fast near him. Parental!Roy

A Little Misunderstanding -the upsides to having a kid in the military is Roy, Ed, and Riza can pretend to be a family undercover

countdown confessional -everyone wants Ling to confess to Ed before he returns to Xing but the words never seem to come out right. Edling

The Golden Sun -Edling soulmate au that’s plot heavy and full of Parental!Roy feels at this point. Al was Ed’s priority, he didn’t need to worry about soulmates on top of everything else.

Blackwell Springs -Ed is sent to do a land inspection but there is something very strange about the town

when the bough breaks -Ed and Roy get caught in a cave-in during a mine inspection

Blues Upon a Whistle -Caught in a building collapse and unable to move, Ed must wait for help to come to him

The Clock Strikes Twelve -Ed learns that you can’t just walk off getting impaled through the arm

The Reorganization Efforts of Central Command’s Records Room -With his automail limbs destroyed and the parts on back order, Ed must spend a month off active duty and stumbles into a plot against the military senior staff, Parental!Roy

Holes -based on the Enigma of Amigara Fault wherein Roy and Ed investigate odd human-shaped holes

[enniewritesathing]

OC questions 10, 24 and 71 please :)

10. What does your OC keep in a special drawer?

John really doesn’t have much of a special drawer… and besides, it’s back at his mom’s house, and it contains things from his twin brother Jacob. There’s a small photo album of them starting when they were little, up until the middle of Jacob’s treatment. 

It was meant to be something of a progress thing, chronicling Jacob’s bout with aggressive brain cancer; ups and downs, but he was going to make it. The majority of those pictures took place in the hospital and they’re taking a nap with each other (or John is ‘guarding’ Jacob after treatment). Another thing kept in the drawer, is Jacob’s last letter to him. Even after all these years, John still hasn’t gotten through it. 

…and in a mood whiplash, Brian has a collection of toys in his special drawer. You name a type, he has at least one type of it. Does he use it? It depends on how saucy he’s feeling, but there’s mostly decorative and he forgets. So, when he goes through his, he’s like ‘ohhh shit, happy birthday to me!’ 

24. Who are the people your OC dislikes/hates?

John dislike people who are super arrogant. Like there’s arrogance and being hella confident and then there’s treating everyone like shit/beneath them arrogant. He’s had a few opponents that were this against him and honestly? Doesn’t have the time for it and he’s quick to humble them. He also doesn’t like people who’re like “omg you’re exotic looking, what are you??”, guys being creeps towards his mom, bigots, cougars…

Brian? Parents. By that, I mean the bad ones, negligent ones, or the ones who don’t really give two shits about their kid(s). Or the ones who are anti-vac, or insist on holistic approaches that have no medical basis (or exclusively holistic instead of like... working with modern medicine.) The people who don’t listen or super stubborn. Willful ignorance. Basically, the ones who really test his patience; John always compares it to a saint of some sort. Brian jokes that he’s gotten a lot of practice being with him.

71. What is your OC’s favorite movie and/or TV show?

John’s favorite movie is a very cheesy 80s movie called “Blood Rain”. The plot? Guy fights a whole damn city to rescue his girl. Only thing is that said guy is like this scrawny ass dude. Like Steve Rogers before he got the super soldier serum. A perpetual underdog and always underestimated. This dude has kicked ass and got his ass kicked but the love for his girl was SO great that it gave him the strength to fight when the situation looked impossible. And that? Hits John in the honey-nut feelios. He’s got every line memorized, and does like random trivia and does a running commentary; he loves it so much that he did an indepth analysis in high school as an English assignment, a full fledged power point presentation with clips... maybe a fanfic or ten...

Brian watches a lot of anime. Surprising? He doesn’t like to admit it because nerds are terrible (”omg you’re only watching because that guy’s hot!” “WELL DUH!”) and doesn’t have a specific show but he loves the slice of life, shojo and of course, shonen. And he reads the manga, the supplements, soundtracks... etc. Of course he’s written fics and attempts at fan art (and is often in rarepair/crack pair hell). He wants to do cosplay, but he doesn’t wanna do it by himself. Like I said though, he doesn’t admit to it completely because no one can’t see him as a big ass weeb.

Watching shonen is due in part John and it’s something they’d watch together if it’s good enough or has a bunch of plots and twists (something like Full Metal Alchemist -- and John would probably get a crush on Winry and then he’d point out ‘oh shit, I’m like Ed and you’re like Winry -- you’re always fixin’ me up when I’ve done stupid shit’ and Brian can’t exactly argue that lol). ...and then Brian gets the idea that they should cosplay them together. 

[purging-foxfire]

Prompt: Theme F: F is for family

Length: 1′191

Notes: Welp, this story is pure wish thinking. This one doesn’t really have shipping elements? I don’t really ship much in this fandom - I love the parental - family drama stuff too much, but once in a while the countless pairings are sweet, I guess. I’m already hyped for tomorrow’s theme, if I find time I might post two stories, but chances are they’re under 1′000 words... Which reminds, me one of today’s prompts! Born different... I might just write something little with parental!Roy!! I get too many ideas...

He closes his eyes for a moment, but opens them immediately once he hears footsteps.

Hawkeye comes in, holding two cups of something.

"Good evening, Alphonse," she says with a smile, giving him one of the cups - it's filled with hot chocolate.

He holds the cup, marveling at its warmth (he can feel it, with his two own hands) and replies, "Good evening, Hawkeye."

She sits down on a chair besides the bed and takes a sip out of the cup.

"Are they still...," he begins, and she nods at him.

“They are still fighting. Everyone is hiding right now, too scared to face them."

Then she sighs a bit tired - probably from having to deal with them, and Alphonse knows he will have to talk to his brother - and stares outside the window, at a landscape filled with glittering snow.

"I don't understand the Brigadier-General... Edward wouldn't possibly..."

For a moment, he has to remind himself that Colonel Roy Mustang is Brigadier-General Roy Mustang and then he speaks, "He would."

Hawkeye looks up startled, and Alphonse repeats himself, "Brother would stay."

"Edward... would...?"

And then Alphonse smiles, taking a sip of his hot chocolate and looks outside the window. He had years to observe humans - study them and their thinking process. That included his brother and the Brigadier-General as well.

He knows Mustang is worried - no matter how safe Resembool is - and he cares, he really does. It's something his brother also knows, because no matter how harsh and dense he can be at times, Edward isn't stupid - and never has been.

Of course, they have Granny and Winry - but Winry is in Rush Valley, being able to do what she loves and Granny is old, and shouldn't have to look after Alphonse, who still can't move very well and Edward who is pretty much getting used to his right arm.

And honestly? They have the best reason to stay.

  They were little and the world? It was so small. They didn't know anything but safety of Resembool and their mother's warm embrace. They spend days running around, playing with Winry and helping their beloved mother. They were a family -  and even their father's missing shadow couldn't change that.

But their mother's death could and did for a while.

Everything turned into a mess and Alphonse learnt to get used to sight of a grave and his brother’s hurt, but warm gaze, that slowly turned cold – and then they met Izumi and Sig. It was better for a while – and both could ignore the thoughts of taboos and ingredients for a human.

Until they couldn’t.

They returned and Al knew it was wrong. So, so wrong. But he wanted their mother back as much as Ed did, and the thought of loving green eyes and a warm smile, slowly shoved those doubts in the back of his mind.

And then there was circle in the basement and a taboo was broken. Dried blood and a deformed corpse was the reminder, as was Al’s body and the automail Ed wore. Al didn’t get to see the corpse – his brother was bleeding out after saving him, he hadn’t time to watch and observe a goddamn corpse (it wasn’t their mother after all, and Ed was alive). And before he knew it, Granny Pinako and Ed made sure he never would see it. A part of him was so grateful, another guilty (especially when he heard his brother scream, “Sorry! Forgive me, mother!” in the middle of the night).

But it made them family again, once the colonel visited them. Black eyes and words that could set fire – that did (Al saw it in his brother’s eyes after the colonel and his lieutenant went away, burning fire, determination). Al never wanted to thank a person so much.

They lived with Pinako and Winry – but Al knew, saw it. The way his brother made sure, that they hadn’t to depend them – cooking, baking, cleaning, sewing, name it – he learnt it all.

And Winry was there, cleaning his armor, laughing with him and telling him tales. Granny was there, telling him stories, telling him about dad and about everything. They were a family and Al thought it was worth it (but his body, no, his armor was a reminder and everyone knew it).

Ed didn’t scream when he lived through an operation, most grown men despised, he didn’t complain all the times it hurt and he fell – he always stood up, and Al knew he was the reason – the reason his brother was alive.

A year passed.

Fullmetal Alchemist.

No one knew how much this name really meant to them – it was their determination, their goal – it was a name Edward wore for only his brother, and not some Führer that found some things way too hilarious than he should.

Al knew that, his brother’s thoughts and his motivation. They traveled everywhere, anywhere – as long there was the mention of a red stone and a forbidden taboo. But they weren’t always away – couldn’t, or people would get too suspicious. On those days, they would stay in the office for once and learn.

About Havoc’s smoking problem, and his long (but funny) complaints about how his own commanding officer stole his girlfriends.

About Falman’s surprising amount knowledge and love for books.

About Fuery’s shy yet strong determination to help – to be.

About Breda’s fear of dogs, but love for any other animals.

They would learn and suddenly Alphonse didn’t register this people as coworkers or Mustang’s team anymore. No, they were family.

Especially the colonel and the lieutenant that had his back.

And Alphonse knew, that deep down, Ed felt the same – how couldn’t he, when Roy was there whilst their biological father wasn’t (Alphonse may be more willing to forgive and learn about their real father than his brother, but he shared the sentiments his brother had towards that man, even if only a bit)? How could he not, when Riza was always willing to listen, to help?

Family didn’t sound that distant anymore. It never did in the beginning – and both brothers knew that.

And now? Now he had his body back, everyone was safe, and the Brigadier-General on his way to the position he wanted.

And honestly, Alphonse would be damned if let the chance of family, this warm feeling, go, just because his brother was stubborn. They both needed them, those people that looked after them, still do.

He grabs the cup tighter, and Riza says his name in concern. “Al?”

At the same time, steps echo in the hall outside his room, the door is opened and both stare at the two standing there – Roy and Ed, just like Al expected.

Both walk in and Roy closes the door, whilst Ed steps nearer to Al and looks at him with a look that tells him everything.

“Hey Al… you wouldn’t mind… if we stayed in Central?”

And Al smiles, whilst Riza’s eyes widen and Roy’s smirk turns into a smile.

“Of course not, Brother. Let’s stay.”

With their family.

[edisacornball]

So I totally just posted a new one shot today that is absolutely an excuse for me to use the headcanon that Ed is terrible at picking out baby names. You know how we all make fun of his style? Picture that, but with baby names. That’s what this story is. 

Title: I Am Your Way Home, You Are My New Path

Rating: General

Fandom: Fullmetal Alchemist

Tags/Warnings: None

Summary: 

Winry always knew Ed's style was atrocious. She just didn't ever think it would apply to the baby names he suggested. Now they can't seem to find any sort of middle ground between normal baby names and picking names from the periodic table. Why is he so stubborn?

(This fits in with the backstory for my other story, The Other Side, but it also totally stands alone!)

[luffywhatelse]

Simplify

A/N: I was not quite sure I wanted to post this fic. Could you, please, let me know what you think and if you want me to post the next chapters? Words: 2274 Genre: Angst, Drama, Romance Pairing: Ed x Winry Rating: T  Summary: this takes place during the time spent by the Elric brothers at Winry's house after the Promise Day, then before the proposal. Ed and Winry are not dating or anything. --- An old classmate calls home asking for Winry but it's Edward answering the phone...And he could never stand that guy.

CHAPTER 1

"Hello?" Edward answered the phone.

"Rockbell residence?" a male voice on the other side asked.

"Yes. Who's talking?"

"It’s David Russell, could I talk to Winry?"

That David? He was an old classmate, yes, but where did he come from? And why did he have their phone number? "Hello," he greeted him icily, "I'm Edward. Edward Elric."

"...Elric?" he seemed surprised, "That Elric? What are you doing there?"

Seriously? The first thing that came to his mind was to ask what Edward was doing there? As if that was the weirdest thing. If anything, why that bastard had just called Winry? "I live here!" Ed said.

"Do you live with Winry?"

"Yup," He answered aseptically and a little triumphant.

"C’mon, I didn’t know…how are you doing it?" he was trying to be all friendly.

What an asshole – Ed thought. "Fine, thank you," and he wasn’t about to ask him the same; that guy was lucky if Ed just answered him.

"I'm glad. Can I talk to Winry?"

What a stubborn one. "No. Winry cannot answer," he lied. "Bye," it feels like they’re back at school.

"Hey Elric, just give her a message from me."

Edward remained silent on the phone and didn’t hang up just because he was curious to know where it was going.

"I wanted her to confirm our appointment for Saturday, I'll pick her up at 19. Bye," and he hung up.

The alchemist felt like he was sinking in a swamp. Literally. He stood there and didn’t even hang up, as if everything around him had become terribly dark. What he felt was a mixture of anger and disappointment, he didn’t even know against who. He felt like he got played and at the same time like he had lost his only grip in the middle of a storm.

"Nii-san?" Alphonse's voice surprised him, "Who was it?"

"Uh...?" Ed just whispered.

"What's up? You're white as a sheet! Is everything ok?

"No. Nothing is ok at all. It was David Russell on the phone and he wanted to talk with Winry."

"Who?" the youngest of the Elrics thought about it for a moment, that name reminded him of something, "Ah, the guy you couldn’t stand at school!" Then he realized better, "Why did he call, where does he come out now?"

Fortunately there was Alphonse who could understand him. "That's what I asked myself!" growled his older brother accordingly.

"What did he want from Winry?"

"An appointment, he wanted that she would confirm an appointment," he spat in one breath. "You had to hear him, so bragging, he told me to spite me…the hell I put her on! Bastard!"

"What do you mean, an appointment? When?"

"For Saturday night," he gritted his teeth. "Can you believe it? Who does he think he is?"

Alphonse didn’t know what to think, he was as surprised as Ed was. Winry hadn’t mentioned it. It was also true that, since they had grown up, she no longer opened up on them as they were kids, but he was convinced that she would have told them something like that.

Unlike Edward, who at that moment looked like a whirlwind made of anger, Al thought about it lucidly but, at the same time, he knew that it would be better to appease his brother's mind first, to prevent his head from exploding. "It seems very strange to me, nii-san." First of all, send the message to Winry as soon as she comes back in." Winry was in fact putting her washing out in the garden, "It's not nice you didn’t tell her but, at least, you could always rationalize telling her that you didn’t want to bother her."

"Don’t even talk about it! I won’t tell her anything!"

"Brilliant..." Al wryly commented, "So you'll find that guy out here anyway Saturday."

"Let him try showing up here, that bug!" he threatened angrily.

"Look, Winry will get angry if she finds out you didn’t tell her."

"SHE WHAT????" he shrieked in the highest voice he could do, "SHE’S NOT THE ONE WHO GETS TO BE MAD!"

"I know, nii-san, I understand your feelings, but if you think about it, you may have misunderstood, maybe we're worrying for no reason. Maybe Winry doesn’t know anything about it. Well, according to you this guy has always had a lot of nerve and he could have organized everything by himself... probably also to annoy you, since surely you have seemed nervous,” and he added this last part with the tone of someone who knows his brother so well that he could calmly picture the scene in his mind.

Edward looked at him sideways. He was contemplating the hypothesis that his brother was right and Alphonse had no doubt he would. He had always been a little vain, so the idea that the guy could say those things just to annoy him seemed entirely plausible to him. "In fact, he has always hated me as much as I hated him, the way I answered must have bothered him! What a total dick!"

Al also thought, to tell the truth, that Ed's descriptions - in cases there was some bitterness - were not so reliable, especially if Winry was involved. Alphonse didn’t know this Russell but, objectively, he had to acknowledge that his brother named anyone approaching her as a bastard.

"But honestly..." the elder continued, “If someone had called Mei, what would you have done?"

"I’d go to him and beat him up."

"DAMN, LET’S GO THEN!"

"There is a certain difference, though," said Al.

"What? What would it be?" he was really going out of his way.

"She knows what I feel for her, so she feels obliged to tell me certain things. In other words, I have a little right to know; you don’t. I'm sorry if I sound mean, but it's true."

As if it were possible, unlike any other human being who would have been depressed and saddened by agreeing with Alphonse, Ed became even more angry "AAARGH!"

"What happens here?" Winry arrived with a clean towel in her hands.

Alphonse nudged his big brother and Edward, reluctantly, mumbled something…that Winry couldn’t understand.

“What do you say?" asked Winry.

"Russell called," he repeated.

"Oh."

OH? Had she answered OH? No surprise?

Edward was literally losing his mind.

"And?...What did he want...?" she insisted on, waiting for the rest of the message.

"What did he want..." Ed just whispered mimicking her. "Don’t you already know what he wanted?"

That’s great. It started very badly – Alphonse thought, feeling guilty for having egged him on with Mei's example.

"How can I know?" the girl answered candidly.

"He wanted you to confirm your app..." he stumbled over the last word as if he had suddenly lost his breath. "He said you have to confirm that you can meet him," he decided to change course.

"Ah, does he still need it?" was Winry's comment at that point.

Alphonse's eyes widened, Edward was now a creature of fire and ice at the same time: the head wrapped in flames and clenched granite fists.

Attempting to mask his feelings, he inhaled deeply and opened the fridge with unnaturally casual air. "Oh, have you met other times before?" he asked in a whisper.

And then ‘he still need’ what??

"Sure!"

Only Alphonse, from his perspective, could see the smoke coming out of his brother's bubbling head – Or was it his soul abandoning him?

"And when would this appointment be anyway?" the blonde girl continued.

Edward was too wrapped up in his anger, so Alphonse, that looked like one who knows what he’s doing, replied: "Saturday at 7 pm, he will come and get you."

TRAITOR!!!!!! – Ed screamed mentally, sticking him with his eyes.

"Ok, great, thanks." she started to leave while Edward felt himself falling on his own knees but, suddenly, she exclaimed, "Saturday night…? But I don’t work on Saturday night!"

Alphonse, looking pleased, had a sip of his coffee, satisfied because he was right.

"Oh no! Is he still hang up on that?" the girl rolled her eyes.

"What are you talking about?" Ed immediately reawakened, showing his claws. "Do you know what all this means?"

Winry turned to him, "He's my client."

"Really? I didn’t realize that," he commented sarcastically. "And what is it that he misses? A leg? An arm? A foot? His head?..." and he decided to stop there so as to keep it clean.

“He doesn’t lack a thing. His cat is my client, actually."

"Awww," Alphonse’s heart was softened. Immediately Edward glared at him again.

"And what does this have to do with Saturday night?"

"Ed," the girl addressed him directly, "I don’t understand why you're making such a big deal, I know you never really liked him but he's still my client."

"A customer to whom you give your phone number."

Okay, now he's acting like a jealous boyfriend – Alphonse thought, wondering if he was the only one in that kitchen who had noticed it.

"Well, if I did it, maybe I needed to do it," but then, believing that her explanation could sound ambiguous, she added, "I've known him for a long time, he's a friend... he's not exactly a customer like any other.”

Winry... – That last sentence echoed in Ed's head like a time bomb. He thought that was the description that belonged to him alone. But perhaps he had never been her favorite client, the special one, as he thought. And then he became very demoralized. Even in this case, however, the fact of being cast down didn’t have the same effect on Ed that it would have on anyone else, but made him more aggressive than a grizzly.

"That bastard is your friend? But if he's always been an asshole!"

"Ed, you were always the one who was picking fights with him because you hated him."

"Of course, because he was a stupid asshole!"

"Not with me, he has always been kind."

"Oh, please…I wonder why," he muttered in a low voice.

"Do not grumble please, you know I cannot stand it, and anyway thank you for telling me, now I'll call him back."

WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT?? – Ed felt the urgency to stop her immediately, so, as soon as Winry grabbed the phone, he placed his hand on hers and put it back into place.

"What do you want to tell him?"

Winry, astonished, answered him with all the calm that she managed to recover, "That the appointment will obviously be during the day if he needs it, and that he misunderstood me."

But Edward didn’t seem to let go and, although he was trying to hide it, Al didn’t fall for it, understanding perfectly where he was getting at. "Misunderstood you?"

Two words to start apocalypse.

"Well... you know... he tried to regain confidence by remembering when we were children... As soon as he saw me, he hugged me-"

"Oh, he has also become a pervert! Not that I’m surprised, really," he interrupted her.

Winry ignored him, "Then, he kept coming and sometimes he didn’t really need it... When I saw that it went too far, I made him realize that I’m not interested but it seems he didn’t understand. "

"Went too far?" Edward took a deep breath, always pretending to be calm. Winry thought all his hatred was clearly and entirely addressed to that guy, so it didn’t seem strange to her at all.

"The usual stuff...you know."

"Um... no, really, I don’t know… and you, Al, do you know?" he played dumb bringing his brother into that but he was clearly provocative.

"You're kidding me, Ed, what's it, you don’t think a nice guy can flirt with me?"

"That idiot is nice?" he focused only and solely on that word and not on the fact that Winry was about to take offense seriously. When the problem was that Edward thought it could totally happen. That was precisely why he was flipping out.

"Oh, you know what I mean, and here’s a news flash: yes, it's possible, he brought me flowers, he asked me out, asked me out to dinner..."

"Pfft, flowers? What a loser!!" he laughed nervously. He was so mad with jealousy that he would have strangled him willingly with his own hands.

"Evidently I deserve them, even if you can find it ridiculous or impossible! He likes me and also a lot! Maybe I should reconsider him!"

"Yes, go ahead, he will also be a depraved jerk but, hey, after so many hours of work you can go out with someone who doesn’t need spare parts!"

It was a moment. Winry clenched her jaw, her eyes got big and slapped him in the face.

Then she stood looking down. When she raised up her head, through the tears that spilled out of her eyes, she saw Ed massaging his cheek. Did I ever make you think you’re a burden to me...? she wanted to tell him. But, instead, she whispered, with a lump in her throat, "You're right, maybe I should."

Winry was sure now, Edward didn’t really care about her, not the way she wanted. She had to stop expecting something from him. That was what – in addition to the sadness of his statement – made her cry even louder, to the point that she had to run away to avoid doing it in front of him.

Alphonse was so sorry and went after her, "Winry..."

"Leave me alone, Al..."

After she left, Alphonse was face to face with his older brother, "Nii-san, that was completely off the rails. Winry didn’t deserve it."

Edward found himself alone, wondering if he had deserved it in a way.

Next: Chapter 2 - Chapter 3 - Chapter 4