Title: Handiwork

Author: S J Smith

Rating: Teen

Summary: It's just a bunch of wood.

Disclaimer: Arakawa owns all. I just play here.

When Edward started, it was a bunch of wood.

Nice wood, oak. Blond. Good grain, or so he'd been told. When he'd first seen it on the train platform, he'd been overwhelmed. Maybe it wasn't such a good idea, after all, carpentry was, in its own way, as difficult as automail. It sometimes involved the same kinds of tools, and Edward knew those tools were dangerous. Winry always wore thick gloves and goggles, and covered herself up and tied back her hair when she worked with her machining tools, or welding. Even when she was hammering stuff.

He tried not to think about peeling her out of her coveralls at the end of the day, and sliding into a warm bath with her.

But the wood…

At least he had a pattern when he started out, though he was glad he took Mr. Coyle's advice, and tried cutting it on spare pieces of wood first, to make sure he could handle a jigsaw. And it wasn't that he was going to be adding any carving – well, that had been his thought at first, oak was a dense wood, and hard to dig a tool in to. And Edward really didn't want to screw this up.

After all, oak was fucking expensive. Edward was glad he'd ordered a couple of extra pieces – again, Mr. Coyle's advice – because he fucked up a piece, and it was bad enough he couldn't turn it into something else. But he could use that to practice carving, because he'd seen a nice design, and thought Winry might like it.

Carving sucked. Digging into the grain of the wood – or against it – was a fucking hard job. But it was kind of cool, Edward had to admit, seeing a pattern emerging from under his hands. And then, Mr. Coyle suggested using pegs instead of nails, and that seemed to work with the wood, but was a fucking bitch, getting the holes and the pegs to match up, and Mr. Coyle thought making the pegs out of a contrasting wood would be pretty – well, that hadn't been how he'd said it, but it made sense at the time, but walnut was nearly as expensive as oak, and just as hard to work with.

Fuck.

At the rate he was going, he wasn't sure he'd finish in time, but finally, after a lot of cursing, and kicking, and having to leave the shop to take his frustrations out on something other than expensive wood, and slamming a rubber mallet into his thumb too many times, he was done.

Mr. Coyle sucked on his cigarette, giving a slow nod. "Good work, Ed." He offered his hand, and Edward took it, grinning.

X X X

Winry stared at it, her eyes wide. "This? This is what you've been working on?" Reaching for it, she ran trembling fingers over it. She traced the design in the headboard, a trailing vine with leaves and berries, a less elaborate version of it carved into the footboard.

Shifting his weight from one foot to the other, Edward shoved his hands in his pockets. "It's okay, isn't it?" He watched as Winry inspected it, leaping forward to catch her elbows when she decided to get on the floor with it.

She batted at his hands absently. "I'm not made of glass, Ed!" It didn't mean Winry refused the offer, or didn't let him help her down. Bending as best she could, she peered at his handiwork with a critical eye, Edward crouching behind her, his elbows on his knees, watching her as she checked it over from footboard to rocker.

"It's varnished with vegetable oil," Edward babbled as she studied his work, "and I went from sixty grit to two-forty grit to give it the smooth finish. I picked oak because it's a strong wood, and Mr. Coyle thought the walnut pegs would look good next to the oak, because the coloring is so different. He taught me now to bend the wood – did you know how much you can bend wood using steam?"

Winry sat on the floor with a little grunt, pushing lightly at the cradle to set it to rocking. "Oh, Ed."

It was a good thing he'd gotten used to the mood swings, and could handle Winry crying now. Wrapping his arms around her, Edward cradled her against his chest. "That better mean you like it."

"I do!" she blubbered into his chest, wiping at her eyes. "It's the nicest th-thing you've ever done. It's amazing." Winry's kiss tasted of tears, but also pride and love, and a lot of joy.

"It's just a bunch of wood," Edward mumbled, rubbing her swollen belly. "This is the really amazing thing. Yours and mine, we made it together."

X X X