The Same Coin

Put So Much Faith

Someone touched her shoulder, and Winry slammed her head against the wall as she violently startled awake. Her hands went to the fresh, tender spot and moaned softly. Now that she was awake, she could feeling the bite on her arm again.

"Be careful," Hisoka's voice whispered. "It took hours for me to calm down without you enticing me again so soon. What are you doing here?"

Her eyes fluttered opened, and it took her a moment to find his silhouette in the dark hallway. She should be scared — a few weeks ago, she would have been. A few weeks ago she had lived in perpetual fear of his mere presence. It was exhausting, however, to maintain a state of sustained panic. Fright came in waves now instead, and she was aware the worst had passed. What had transpired downstairs had been the wave breaking on the rocks, and now the water had receded back out to sea, leaving her sore and unhappy.

"I expected you to come back."

"Hmh. This isn't where I told you to go."

"I was more concerned about you reconsidering my opinion on whether you should kill Izumi, rather than you reconsidering if you wanted to kill me."

Hisoka took her hand and drew Winry up to her feet. His skin was cool, and his hands were calloused and rough. The black surrounding them was complete, and she hastily drew her fingers out of his grasp and instead put her hand against the wall to find her bearings. She felt the frame of Izumi's doorway, and knew where she was then. Winry took a blind step in the direction of her room, not even hearing her own feet she was so quiet, while keeping her hand against the wall and guarding her injured arm with her body.

"You shouldn't put so much faith in me." She flinched when he brushed a lock of her hair back behind her ear — and immediately decided that she did not prefer the dark if it meant that he could see her, but she couldn't see him in return. She sensed, rather than saw, him loom over her. "This is the second time in a matter of days that we've been in that predicament. "

"Stop instigating situations," Winry hissed, jabbing her finger against his chest.

"Come to my room," Hisoka invited solemnly, and Winry's face immediately puckered, "so I can make amends for my behavior."

"Absolutely not!"

"Your room instead?"

Before Winry could object, he put a hand on her shoulder and steered her down the hallway. He opened the door and nudged her in, where she found the oil lamp was already burning. There was a pitcher of steaming water waiting on the desk beside a bowl, a square of soap, and cloth.

"Sit."

That was not an invitation. Winry hesitated anyway until he put his hands on the back of the chair and pulled it out for her. He wasn't smiling. His face was drawn tight and serious, but there was something off. He tapped his hand against the chair, and all at once she saw this for what it really was. So Winry sat. She didn't resist as he drew her arm toward him to survey the bite mark he'd left.

"Hmh."

She winced as he cleaned the wound, but didn't pull away. His face stayed serious while he worked, his form of apology. The bite was deep — she could see where each tooth had punctured her skin. When he was done cleaning it, however, he didn't cover it with bandages. Instead he took a kerchief from his pocket and held it up.

"Watch," he whispered. Winry locked her eyes on it, feeling like she was waiting for a magic trick. Hisoka sighed and poked her head. "No. Watch."

Ah. He meant Gyo. So Winry focused her aura in her eyes and watched as he tossed the kerchief in the air.

It flew upward, then began to gently float down. She watched as he attached strands of bungee gum to each of its four corners, then realized that the bungee gum originated from her own arm. The cloth softly descended to land flush over her skin. How...odd. She could see his bungee gum, but couldn't feel it. Only the cloth.