It's-it's just a phase, right?! I mean, taking care of the kids is exhausting, I've BARELY had enough sleep, so it makes sense that I would feel like something was wrong... right...?

Winry just wasn't sure at this point. She loved her kids; they were the light of her life. How could she not? Little Ariadne, with Granny's dark brown locks and Edward's golden eyes, taking after her father in her prodigious alchemical ability; beautiful Nicolas, a male carbon footprint of Winry herself, already learning how to use a wrench whilst learning how to read.

(Yes, her children may be a hassle, but any hassle was worth getting to see them smile, getting to see them grow.)

She loved Pinako, with her tough love and her delicious stew. Alphonse, the little brother she never had (at least, until he came), already a man and married to the love of his life. Which for her must be Ed. It must be Ed. The attraction was obvious. Wasn't everyone always so convinced we were in love? If others see it, then it must be true.

No matter how many times she said it to herself, her mantra couldn't change how wrong it felt every time she kissed him, how terrible she felt after first making love with him.

Like she was doing it with her brother.

(Edward Elric, ladies and gentlemen. He knew Winry so well, yet he didn't know her at all.)

•••The result of overlooking•••
some small but important details.
Leaving a person wondering how you never caught on

Oh no, Ed never caught on. That is a fact. He was absolutely, madly, deeply infatuated with his childhood friend, now his lover. This made Winry sick. It made her feel like a fraud, a fake. She knew her heart belonged elsewhere, and although she couldn't be sure to whom, the mechanic sure could dream. She went across all of the faces she's ever met in her life. One of them stood out more than others, but the choice was almost laughable. Chocolate hair, eyes like coffee, skin like polished wood. Paninya LeCoulte, smiling tauntingly, with the State Alchemist watch dangling from her fingers.

(But-but she's a GIRL!)

Winry didn't know why, she didn't know how, but suddenly she found herself nostalgic for the times when she met the thief, having such an immediate connection with her. A lasting friendship. But Winry had always been aware of her massive crush on the girl; no matter how long it stayed down, deep in the corners of her mind, it certainly rose up again whenever the mechanic visited.

Paninya was probably normal, though; and Winry probably needed medical attention.

Her thoughts were broken as the door to her home opened, revealing a tired Edward stumbling into the living room.
"Hey there, Win." He said, lazily giving her a kiss on the forehead. "Hey..." Winry said, feeling slightly dejected.

Now, the alchemist may have missed on a small detail, but he was mostly a very perceptive being. He picked up on his wife's gloomy demeanor right away.
"What's wrong? Did you miss me...?" He said, trying to lighten up the mood, but only earned himself a glare and a light slap on the arm.

This surprised the golden-eyed man. Now, full-on anger he could deal with, but dejected sadness was something that left him feeling awkward, tongue-tied, wrong. It was a subtle yet strong display of emotion, and Edward was never good at dealing with strong emotions aside from anger. "Winry...what happened?" He answered softly. He had witnessed her slowly withdrawing from him lately, the discomfort between them growing progressively thicker. At this moment, you could've cut through it with a knife.

"It's...it's nothing important. Just tired, is all." And tired she was. Just not for the reasons she wished she were.

So here we see our disappointed state alchemist almost insist, almost ask her once again what was wrong. He caught himself just in time, though.

At least they didn't fight.

With a steady sigh and a slump of the shoulders, his eyes losing a few watts of electricity, he nodded in resignation and trotted off to his room.

•••••••

"Are you telling me that one of your fictional crushes was a midget?"
"Um, you used to have a HUGE thing for Aang in-"
"Never mind, never mind!" Esther said, remembering that (y/n) had witnessed just as many of her embarrassing phases as she had (y/n)'s. They were both taking a break from studying (it was the weekend, after all).

The two best friends had started off watching their favorite childhood series, Avatar: the Last Airbender, and soon enough (y/n) became really eager to show Esther one of her other comfort TV series, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood. It had left a good impression on the older girl, her brown eyes gleaming as she nodded in approval. "Nice," she said, dark wavy locks swinging along with her head. "Has your judgement improved from then to now, your twenty-one-year-old self?" At that question (y/n) paled.
"Well...
"He's...he's hot."
And at that Esther burst out laughing. "Of course he is! But he's still too short!"
"He grows, you know!" (Y/n) said in a light tone, smiling. It was moments like these that made up for the long hours of studying. Did she like astrophysics? Yes. Did she like law? Definitely. Was she willing to work hard and become a lawyer for intergalactic space rights, preferably also working in the UN? Sure. But that didn't mean she wouldn't get tired of studying every once in a while.

And man, had she needed a break.

Time was spent like that, shoving comments at each other, back and forth. Thoughtful questions. Lame puns. A few suggestions here and there; you should change the color of the sky a bit for your scenography project, you should replace this word with that for your position paper, so on and so forth.

And soon (too soon), Esther had to leave, bidding (y/n) goodbye at the apartment door.

The student's apartment was pretty nice. It had a great view of the college she went to, (college). There was a nice local bookstore/cafe in front of the complex, and her friend Valerie lived right next door. (Y/n) found her life to be pretty nice. At times challenging, but she liked the challenge. It presented the opportunity for her to hone her skills of solving problems on the spot, a skill the aspiring lawyer would need to develop.

Her afternoon went as always; take out the trash, wash the dishes, check email, hope that maybe the United Nations replied to your solicitation of an internship in the organization. Like always, the (h/c) found nothing. Sighing in disappointment, she left to go to sleep, turning her nightlight on.

And she woke up to the face of a faceless man.