Hello, everyone! I'm back with a quick one-shot, written for 503 Week- Day 4/Nerds! I took "nerds" a bit loosely, but I had a lot of fun with this fic. Unfortunately I couldn't cover the whole week, but I hope you all enjoy this!

Pairings: EdWin

Timeline: Post-series

Warnings: Language

Other: This is sort-of a follow-up to my fic Replacement. You probably don't need to read it to follow what's happening, but they're in the same post-series universe I've set up and this references Replacement a couple times. And the alloy mentioned later in the fic is a real one (Magnalium). Yay science!

"Dressing professionally" had a different meaning in Rush Valley than it did anywhere else. In Central, or any of the cities, you'd expect full suits or long dresses, maybe even silk scarves or hats. In the smaller towns and villages, it meant your nicest shirt you owned and wearing the shoes that cost you a month's savings and you saved just for formal occasions.

In Rush Valley, it meant coveralls.

Ed eyed Winry as she pulled the open the closet and began rummaging. The call had come late in the evening before. A man had had his leg amputated at the hospital and had requested an automail mechanic. And so the hospital had called a dozen mechanics to come offer their services.

It was Winry's first real competition for a new client. All her others had either been inherited from Granny, ones she'd picked up working under Garfiel, or recommended to her from other mechanics. This guy was fresh off the boat and Winry's work would have to do all the talking.

The worksuit she pulled out was functional- the heavy green cloth, plenty of pockets, and still firmly pleated. But unlike her other dozen suits, this one was clean. No stains, no tears, no scuffmarks. Even Ed, who'd only been in the Valley for two years at that point, could tell it was the "professional" suit.

Winry began to pull it on over her clothes. Her sample cases were already out in the living room, waiting to go. The two of them had spent hours cleaning and polishing her leg show pieces and getting all the pricing paperwork together. Ed had even offered at one point to come with her so she could show off his leg, but she'd turned him down. This was between mechanic and potential client, and it was private.

"You can handle the shop?" Winry's question cut into his thoughts and Ed blinked once. He'd woken up at the crack of dawn with Winry, but he hadn't quite finished waking up.

"Yeah." Ed swallowed, stretched, and stood from the bed and Winry finished zipping up her worksuit. "I'll call, get everyone rescheduled." The hospital had called after the shop had closed and there was no telling how long Winry would be out at the hospital. They'd decided to clear the whole day's appointments, just to be safe.

Winry nodded, pulling on the sleeves of her suit. She was nervous, Ed could tell, so he took her hand in his and tugged her out the bedroom. "This guy's an idiot if he doesn't pick you," Ed declared, continuing to tow her down the hallway and to the door. "Seriously. You're a pro at legs. I should know!" He tapped his bare metal foot against the coffee table as they passed.

That got a snort out of Winry and she collected her cases, heaving the straps over her shoulder. "I think you might be a little biased."

"Probably." Ed grinned. "But am I wrong?"

Winry couldn't keep the smug look off her face. "No."

And with that, she headed out and Ed made for the kitchen for breakfast. He brought the plate down with him to the shop, careful not to spill his orange juice on the stairs. Technically, food wasn't allowed in the shop- too much potential for mess. But since they were technically closed, Ed figured it was fine.

Days in Rush Valley tended to start early, so Ed had no worries he'd accidentally wake someone with his calls. If anything, the clients scheduled for the morning would be up already.

The was no problem- Mrs. Yven was more than happy to reschedule and was quite effusive about how proud she was that Winry had been pulled for a new client. Ed finished his entire helping of eggs before they actually got around to rescheduling. Odjen was far less effusive and tried to push his way into a next-day appointment.

"We're full tomorrow. And- oh, we have an open spot Tuesday. Does that work?" Ed asked, flipping through Winry's appointment book. Technically, there was a half hour slot tomorrow towards the end of the day, but Odjen was slated for a wrist upgrade and would need more time.

"No. I need to come in tomorrow."

Ed scowled and took an aggressive bite of his bacon. He considered hanging up, but Odjen's wrist upgrade was very expensive and Winry would likely be less than pleased over losing a client. He looked over the schedule again, staring at their two-hour lunch break.

"Tomorrow, lunch?"

"Lunch?" Odjen sounded surprised at the offer. Rush Valley as a whole shut down during lunch to avoid the midday heat. Sacrificing it for work was a rarity.

"Yeah, you want it?"

"I- Yes. I will be there."

Ed mournfully scribbled in Odjen's appointment as they hung up. He really hoped keeping the customer had been worth it.

Three more calls went by without any problems. Most people in Rush Valley were understanding, Ed was slowly discovering the longer he lived there, and save for an emergency, were willing to shuffle around schedule problems.

The last one of the day proved to be a problem. "Are you sure I can't come in today?"

Ed rubbed at the bridge of his nose. "Winry's doing a consultation up at the hospital. I don't know when she'll be back."

Over the line, Rell sighed audibly. "My train leaves this evening and I'll be out of the country for weeks, I really need to get in."

Ed had to swallow his own sigh. He was so close to finishing the calls. Then he could finally get around to his own work. His metallurgy notes weren't going to compile themselves.

"I can… see if I can get you in somewhere else?" It hurt to offer, but it would solve the problem. He reached into the top drawer of Winry's shop desk and fumbled around for her contact book. Handing him off to another mechanic for the day would hurt but it was better than nothing.

"I just need a cleaning."

Ed's hand froze and he glanced down at Rell's file. Right leg, knee. This was a terrible idea, but-

"I can clean it for you."

Dubious silence echoed down the line and Ed tried to not be offended that he had that much of a reputation already. Sure, he'd been dumb about it before, but since Winry had opened her own shop her time was much more in-demand. Ed had picked up on daily maintenance and cleaning not long after they'd moved into their new home and his wife spend nearly ten hours down in the shop.

"Uh, are you sure you couldn't recommend me to someone? I don't want to be an inconvenience-"

"If you're here in an hour, I'll shave half off your total."

Another beat of silence. "Sure."

They hung up and Ed stared across the workshop at the exam chair. He knew how to do this. Rell was a student at West City and wasn't nearly as rough with his leg as Ed had been. There'd be scuff marks, probably, maybe a joint in need of some oil. He'd done all that on his own leg a hundred times over. He could do this. He was Edward Elric! He could dump some oil on an ankle joint!

"I'm fucked," Ed informed the workshop.

Ed had taken his plate back up to the kitchen and ducked into their bedroom to get changed. He hadn't expected to actually work in the shop that day. He had his own worksuit, given to him by Winry after he'd started hanging out in the shop as he worked on his rehab for his new leg. Originally, he'd been down there so she could watch him, make sure he didn't tear his port upstairs and bleed to death in the middle of the kitchen. But he'd gotten bored, and slowly worked his way into actually helping out.

It'd started with cleaning, then helping her set up for the day, running the desk, and, eventually, actually helping her with projects. He was still leagues behind her, and if you asked him how the wiring actually translated brain impulses to the automail limb, his answer would have been a vague handwave. But he could clean parts, was halfway decent at cutting metal.

(Really, Ed had to admit that he really just liked their giant metal saw. It was huge and made an impressive amount of noise.)

(Getting to spend all day with Winry was a bonus, too.)

So Winry had gotten him a custom-fitted worksuit, in red, naturally, for their first anniversary, half as a joke and half as a serious offer to work with her.

That had been over a year ago and Ed was proud to admit that he wasn't constantly almost running his fingers through drills anymore.

Rell showed up almost exactly an hour later. Ed had set out all the tools he'd need and decidedly ignored how outright nervous Rell looked. It wasn't like he was going to disconnect anything!

"Take your shoes off," Ed said and pointed to the chair. They both knew how this worked.

As Ed suspected, Rell's leg was almost perfectly fine. The toes were rough, probably from him running around barefoot, and nothing that couldn't be buffed out. There was some creaking coming from his ankle that would need to be oiled.

And so Ed went to work. Just as he could laser-focus on his books and notes, he'd tuned Rell out within minutes.

It turned out that cleaning someone else's leg was far easier than cleaning your own. Trying to oil the underside of your knee or inbetween your toes meant you had to either contort yourself to get a clear view or just go in blind and hope for the best. Not actually being attached to the limb in question was so much easier.

The ankle took a little more work- there were some pebbles wedged in there. But this was hardly new. Given how Rush Valley's location and sheer amount of sand in the canyons, everyone was picking debris out of their joints. Ed brandished the bottle brush like a knife and proceeded to scrub.

An hour later, cens changed hands and Rell left, still looking like he'd survived a train wreck and couldn't believe he wasn't dead. Ed waited till he rolled the shop door closed to scowl after him. Really, people had no faith in him.

With a huff, he went back to start cleaning up. He had made a bit of a mess with the polishing oil and it'd take some scrubbing to get it all out. Ed scowled, twisted to crack his back and grabbed a cloth.

It was nearing lunch when door to the shop slid open and Winry stepped in. Ed froze, halfway through wiping off the exam chair.

They stared at each other for a long moment as Winry slowly put down her cases as if she half-expected him to spook and bolt.

Ed licked his lips and decided to just go for it. "Rell needed his leg cleaned."

"And you cleaned it?"

He nodded. More silence.

Then Winry smirked. Ed felt himself going red and he chucked the rag at her when she started to giggle. It only made it halfway across the room, but it made him feel better.

"You got it?" Ed asked and Winry nodded, puffing her chest out.

"Yep! And-" She pulled a sheet of paper out of the binder and held it out for him. Ed crossed the shop and took it. "-He offered to test the new magnesium-aluminum alloy we've been working on!"

Ed's eyebrows rose as he looked up from the blueprints Winry had handed him. They'd been working on finding the right balance for that alloy in the hopes of finding something more durable for automail. It was still a work in progress and had been the source of at least a dozen all-nighters for them so far. He grinned. "Good thing the shop's closed for the day."