Words are Just Words Anyway

The sun was setting on Rush Valley as the train screeched to a stop. Edward Elric hopped off the train with a grateful sigh, ignoring the call of the station manager telling him it was dangerous to get off while the train was still in motion. He walked out of the train station, a strong grip on his suitcase. Ever since that incident back here a few years back with his pocket watch, he'd learned it was a good idea to keep his valuables close. He muttered a low curse when he realized how late it was, he was exhausted. Looking up at the crowded street, he groaned softly, where was Winry's automail shop? She had told him how to get there on the phone, but he couldn't remember. He sighed, might as well start walking, he'd find it eventually.
He had only taken a couple of steps when his leg let out  creak and stopped moving, causing him to fall on his face, dodging a puddle of mud and oil by inches. Luckily some Good Samaritan stopped by his side.  He couldn't see the person's face, but he could tell it was a man
"Hello there sir! Looks like you need some help!" he said cheerfully "Did your automail break down?"
Edward made a shushing noise "Don't use the A word!" he looked around; relaxing when he was sure no one had heard "Do you know where Winry Rockbell's automail shop is?"
"Of course, I was just there a minute ago!" the man said happily "You're one of her clients, right? She mentioned an important one was coming today, Edward Elric?"
He nodded "Who are you, and how do you know Winry?" He didn't look like he had any automail prosthetics; Edward couldn't help but feel that protective tug whenever something to do with Winry came up
"Winry helped out my wife a few weeks ago, gave her a new automail arm at half the cost since we were low on cash. I was giving her some food my wife cooked as a thank you" he helped Edward up and whistled when he saw the odd angle the leg was bent "I'll help you get to her shop, does that hurt"
Edward grunted as they started walking "I can't feel it, or move it, I wish it hurt"

Winry put the finishing touches on the small mechanical toy. She grinned, all that she had to do now was put some oil into it and see if it worked. She glanced over at the meal one of her clients had delivered; Mr. and Mrs. Jones were so kind. They helped out many people, not caring about getting something back, that's why Winry had made Mrs. Jones a new arm to replace the old one, which had been with all honestly a cheap piece of junk.  She glanced at the clock on the wall, wondering when Edward was going to get here. He said he'd get to Rush Valley today.
She distractedly dribbled some oil into the tiny toy, not really paying attention to what she did. Edward always showed up when he said he would, this really wasn't like him.  Sighing, she closed up the toy and wound it up; she placed it on her desk and watched to see if it worked -half her mind still on Edward. It seemed to be doing ok, the miniature dog was the size of a puppy, it didn't look like a dog yet, more like a metal skeleton with gears and motors inside, but she was working on its covering. Its ears moved, and it walked forward on its mechanical legs, every now and then the tail would wag. She smiled in success, just before the dog started shaking violently. Before she could duck for cover, the oil cap fell open and oil fell on her hands, face and clothes, she heard some things clatter and fall to the ground. She wiped the oil away from her eyes, just as the bell she'd installed on the door ringed, informing her that she had a customer.
"Ms. Rockbell, I found him on the ground, he says his name is Edward Elric" Mr. Jones said cheerfully
Winry groaned as she stood up and walked out of her shop room. Edward officially had the worst timing ever. Why couldn't he have gotten here when she wasn't covered in black smelly oil? There was nothing she could do about it now.
"Ms. Rockbell, what happened?" Mr. Jones asked in shock, Winry wished he'd kept quiet
Edward snapped up from his contemplation of the floor when he heard Mr. Jones, he didn't say anything as he looked her over, but the question was in his eyes.
"It's nothing, just an accident" Winry said brightly "Thank you for bringing him here, Mr. Jones"
Mr. Jones said goodbye, before leaving the store. Winry was sure the man was chuckling quietly all the way back to his home. Sighing, she turned to Edward.
"What did you do this time?" she asked in exasperation, before shaking her head "I'll just take a look at it in the workshop, come on" she started walking back; then glared when he didn't follow
"I can't move my leg" he said "it's been freezing up a lot lately"
Winry helped him up and half carried him over to the workshop, trying to not get too much oil on him. The walk to the workshop wasn't long at all, but it felt like an eternity to her, no guy had the right to have muscles like that. She glanced around the room and groaned: her chairs were all covered in oil. She helped him sit on the floor, noticing how the leg stayed bent.
Edward watched as Winry leaned over, examining the leg, before she opened up the kneecap and sighed in defeat. He wondered absently how it was that she worked on mechanics in a tube top; he also wished he knew how it was that all of this room was covered in oil, including her. He snapped out of a daydream when Winry stood up and looked around the room.
"Where did I leave my wrench?" she muttered
Edward cringed, he wasn't sure if the wrench was for him, or for his leg. "There's one over there" he said, pointing at a wrench on the wall, Winry shook her head.
"That's not my lucky wrench, that's the one I use for normal automail. I always use my lucky wrench when I'm working on yours" she looked around the oil covered desk.
"Why?" Edward asked absently, more focused on looking at her than on the question
"When I use it, your automail lasts longer" Winry explained "Maybe it fell when Spots exploded…"
That got his attention "Who exploded?"
She glared at a metallically thing that looked faintly like an animal and was leaking oil "He is, I was working on him a few minutes ago, but I forgot to screw the oil cap in and... this happened" she gestured at herself, then the room.
Edward frowned, Winry rarely forgot to screw things on, and she always double-checked things beforehand. "How did you forget?"
Winry's face got slightly red; she kneeled on the floor and looked around "Um… nothing I was just distracted, thinking about stuff"
Edward cocked his head to the side, what wasn't she telling him? "Stuff?"
"Yeah, I was… wondering why you hadn't gotten here yet" she said, it was true, she defended in her head, but it was only half true, she didn't really want to tell him the real reason. She was sure he didn't feel the same way. She glanced at Edward, having finally mastered her blush. Why was he so interested on that all of the sudden?
"Oh, the train got here late, I couldn't remember how to get here, then my leg stopped working, if it hadn't been for Mr. Jones, I wouldn't have gotten here at all" Edward said, he saw the glint of steel coming from under the desk "Isn't that it, under the desk" he pointed at it
Winry grinned and crawled over to the desk, stretching out an arm to grab it. "There's my lucky wrench!" she said triumphantly
Edward felt his brain lock. He couldn't help looking at her as she stretched out. From his position on the floor, he could see her every curve.
"Alright, now let's see what's jamming that leg!" she said triumphantly, looking back at Ed with a grin
Edward didn't offer any answer, he simply stared at her.
"Ed, are you feeling alright?" she asked, standing up and walking over to him, a worried look on her face
He shook his head to clear it, mentally chastising himself from thinking of Winry that way; she was his mechanic, his best friend: he shouldn't be entertaining those thoughts. Besides, she probably didn't feel the same way, then again… No, he shouldn't go there, he tried to focus instead on mentally listing the periodic table of elements, but he couldn't remember what came after oxygen. "I'm fine Winry, nothing to worry about" he assured her, hoping she didn't notice how his voice shook slightly
She gave him a look that told him she didn't believe him, but turned her head to his knee and began working on it.  "You should come for maintenance more often, Ed" she told him as she took out what had once been gears out of the knee area "You really did a number on these, they are completely worn" she went on listing the other things that had happened to his knee.
Edward half listened to what she said, mostly, he wondered what it would be like to kiss her. Maybe she wouldn't mind…
"Ed, are you sure you're feeling ok?" she asked, he had this intense look on his face
He focused on her again and noticed she was looking at him expectantly, his eyes went down to the wrench she was still holding by her side. He felt his face grow hot; did he say anything out loud? What had she asked him? He noticed she was sitting very close to him. It wouldn't be hard to just lean over and… He had to stop thinking like that. He tried yet again to recite the table of elements, but he couldn't even remember what the first element was. Hydrogen? Carbon? Helium?
Would it really be bad for him to just kiss her? If she didn't like it she would just his him with her wrench and he'd never do that again. If she did, then… who knew? He knew he had to do something soon, Winry was getting tired of waiting for him to answer her question, and he didn't even know what the question was.
He saw her hand raise the wrench and made his decision. He leaned over quickly and kissed her. He was surprised when she kissed him back. There was a clunk as she dropped the wrench and put her arms around his shoulders. When they finally ended the kiss, he stared at her for a couple of moments, trying to gauge her reaction. She smiled. It was a smile like he'd never seen before, because it was filled with an emotion… love? He wondered.
"I…" he started, not sure how exactly to phrase it, instead he looked her in the eyes, hoping she understood.
She smiled "Me too"
He felt the tension leave his body and he smiled, leaning in to kiss her once again.