Title: strange noises
Rating: G
Genre: Soft and fuzzy.
Word Count: 434
Author's Note: Written for the prompt "strange noises." Also thanks Mariah!
Mmmm, more glasses!Ed.

:x:x:x:

Winry was cleaning off her workbench when she heard a loud thump from below.

There's something in the basement! she thought, and bolted upstairs to find Ed. Normally she wouldn't have been afraid of something as silly as a mysterious thump, but she hated the basement and all its creepy shadows.

Ed was holed up in the guest bedroom he'd taken over as a study, engrossed in a thick leather-bound book. He looked up as Winry entered. "Ed there's something in the basement it thumped go find out what it is," she said, all in one breath.

He removed his glasses and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "Winry... there's nothing in the basement."

"But it thumped! I heard it!"

"Nothing can get into the basement."

"There's a window..."

"Doesn't it have a lock?"

"...well, yeah, but--"

"So nothing can get into the basement."

Winry put on her best puppy-dog-pout face. "Please go look? For me?"

Ed rolled his eyes at her. "Oh, good god. All right. You're coming with me, though."

She followed him all the way to the door to the basement stairs and then froze. "What?" Ed asked, turning around to look at her. "You can't still be scared of the basement."

"So what if I am?" she retorted defensively.

"Winry..."

"All right, all right! Just -- go!" she exclaimed, and stayed close to him as he opened the door and strode easily down the stairs.

The basement was dark, its lone lightbulb having burned out several months previously. Winry reached the bottom step and refused to move any further as Ed stepped out into the center of the room and alchemized the lightbulb to work again.

Crouched in a little wet lump on the shelf below the room's one window was a tiny kitten.

"Ohhh!" Winry exclaimed, instantly going starry-eyed. "Ed look..." she hurried across the room and scooped it up; it mewed pitifully at her and hid its face in her shirt.

"Winry..." Ed started to say.

"Oh let's keep it," she said, spinning around to face him. "Please Ed? Look how tiny it is, it's just a baby! The window must have come loose and it crawled inside..."

He sighed. "No chance you're gonna let us give it away, are you."

"Nope."

He sighed. "Fine."

She positively lit up with delight and half-bounced back across the room, pausing to brush a kiss across Ed's lips as she passed him. "Thank you," she said, smiling, and then she was gone, up the stairs and back into the kitchen.

Grinning, Ed shook his head and turned off the light.