Fullmetal Alchemist Fan Fiction ❯ Expect the Unexpected ❯ Lifestyles of the Rich and the Famous ( Chapter 3 )
[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]
By: LadyRiona 
Mostly Al's and Winry's POV...The drive to the diner; Al spazzing out when he sees Winry.
Anime/Manga: Fullmetal Alchemist Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Romance | Type: Other | Uploaded On: 10.11.2005 | Updated On: 11.05.2005 | Pages: 1 | Words: 2.9K | Visits: 295 | Status: Completed
Mostly Al's and Winry's POV...The drive to the diner; Al spazzing out when he sees Winry.
Anime/Manga: Fullmetal Alchemist Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Romance | Type: Other | Uploaded On: 10.11.2005 | Updated On: 11.05.2005 | Pages: 1 | Words: 2.9K | Visits: 295 | Status: Completed
Disclaimer: Don't own Fullmetal Alchemist. And the song title, Lifestyles of the rich and the Famous, I don't own either. It belongs to Good Charlotte. And, it is a play on Al-kun's thoughts near the end of this chapter.Chapter 3-Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous
Winry sat in the front passenger seat of her bodyguard's car, arms crossed over her chest and a formidable scowl written on her features. It was still raining as hard as he had claimed it had been when he ran into her gate and dented his car. Like she cared. She was beginning to really dislike the man sitting beside her. First, he had accused, indirectly, her butler of being the one behind the ordeal of the threat notes. Then he had, indirectly again, accused her family and friends of the same thing; used her older sister as an example for the culprit; invited himself and his brother to live with her; and finally, bodily removed her from her own home to eat at some unknown place a half an hour away. Some bodyguard. She was beginning to feel bruises.
"For all the fuss you put up about your makeup, you aren't applying any," he said from beside her. Casually, like he hadn't just tossed her over his shoulder effortlessly and hauled her to his car in the pouring rain.
"Do you treat all your clients like that?" she demanded, glaring at him.
"Like what?" Although he kept his eyes on the road, she saw a perplexed expression become visible on his features.
"Rudely...forcing them to eat lunch with you and your brother?" she supplied.
Ed blinked. "Oh." He paused and negotiated a turn. "No. You're my first bodyguard assignment. Usually I work undercover, finding information out about wanted criminals."
Winry quickly bit her lip to keep the very impolite words in her mouth. So instead, she opened her makeup kit and began to apply, as it was more easily put. She did her best to coordinate her makeup with her outfit. She'd had very little time to ready herself at the house so she had changed into a pair of loose black slacks and a black tanktop, despite the autumn chill in the air. Atop that, she had her baby blue kitted sweater duster. It was a very warm jacket, no matter what anyone said. It was comfortable. Therefore, wearable.
"Not as girly as I thought," she heard the obnoxious driver murmur.
Winry spared him a look before putting on midnight blue eyeliner. "Hmm?"
"I said, you're don't dress as girly as I thought you would," he repeated a little louder.
She scoffed. "Mainly because someone didn't give me--"
"Bump," Ed interrupted.
On instinct, Winry pulled the pencil away from her eye and looked at him. "What?" Immediately after, the car jolted rather roughtly. "Oh."
"Don't need a trip to Central General Hospital because of a makeup incident." A hint of a smile came over Ed's lips.
"Anyway, since someone didn't give me enough time to get ready," she continued as if she hadn't heard him, "I grabbed the first thing I saw and changed." She reached for her eyeshadow palete.
She heard Ed snort in mock laughter. "You put up a fight against a gentlemanly offer of lunch." He spared her a brief look. "And most girls would jump at the chance to go out to lunch with me." He smiled insolently.
Winry rolled her eyes. "So, what type of place are we going to eat at?" she probed.
"This little place that opened about half a year ago in downtown Central, about ten minutes from where I live. Al and I know the woman who owns it really well. I have a feeling she'd be ecstatic to have you eat there," he answered. "We'll be there in about fifteen minutes, so be quick."
Again, Winry rolled her eyes and reached for her mascara. She saw Ed wince out of the corner of her eye. "What?"
"That thing looks painful," he said, tilting his head toward her.
"It's just mascara," she said, unimpressed.
"I should suggest it as an interrogation device," he thought aloud.
Winry scoffed. "You would offend women if you did," she warned. "Best not."
Ed muttered something about feminists as his cell phone rang. He swore under his breath and growled about his "sixth sense" tingling. Blindly, he searched his coat pockets until he procured the ringing item. "Yeah, Hughes?"
"Do you check your caller ID or do you just guess?" the detective asked, sounding very curious indeed.
"I just know. What do you need? I'm on my way to meet Al for lunch and the weather is still bad." Ed slowed the vehicle at a stoplight.
The excitement was very obvious in Hughes' voice when he spoke. "Did you meet her? What'd you think? Is she as pretty as her pictures?"
Ed growled. "You know, it's still raining quite hard. The last time I was talking to you, I ran my car into a gate," he muttered and shot Winry a look before driving again. "And I don't think my passenger would be very pleased with me if I ran into something with her in the car."
Winry glared at him. "You do, you have no more job--anywhere," she threatened.
"Oh, was that her?" Hughes asked rather loudly. "You're taking her to lunch already? How cute. Where are you taking her?"
Ed hung up the phone before he heard anymore. There was a distant rumble of thunder a few miles off. Winry couldn't help but feel slightly amused as she shut her makeup pallet. "That was an interesting semi-one-sided conversation," she threw out casually.
She saw him visibly tense. "One of her many fans," Ed muttered.
"Are you not?" she asked sweetly.
"My brother plays your music when he works in the basement. I hear it after dinner if his muses suit him," he returned shortly.
From the expression he had, Winry supposed she wasn't going to get any more positive answers from him. Not that she wanted to. She didn't even want to eat lunch with him. Yet here she was...sitting in his car, on the way to some diner in a thug infested part of Central. Well, what part of Central wasn't thug infested, actually? It was just sheer luck that people made it though without being mugged.
She stole another look at her bodyguard. His expression was quite grim, almost pained. What could be bothering him?
Another thought came to her. When she'd been thrown over his shoulder, his shoulder hadn't felt like skin. It had been cold and hard...kind of like metal. But that had been through his thick coat and his shirt, so she was probably mistaken. It could have been anything...the stress of the moment of being tossed around or some police-like gear he had to wear all the time. And she couldn't ask, because she wasn't sure at all if she had really felt metal. She didn't want to sound like an idiot their first day of meeting. Her hair might have been blond, but his was too. She knew well enough not to ask when she didn't have enough details to wonder in the first place.
When Winry looked up, it was when they Ed parked the car in front of a cornerside diner. The place was slightly dingy looking, but it could have been the dirty windshield and the rain she was looking through. She had definitely dined in better. As she squinted through said rain and windshield, she saw a person standing beneath the overhanging roof, rubbing his gloved hands together. She looked at Ed and saw him shaking his head.
"That freezing person would be my brother...he's too polite for his own good," he murmured as he rooted around the messy backseat.
"What are you looking for?" Winry asked softly, wanting to touch his arm out of curiosity, just to see if it was metal.
He didn't answer for a few seconds until he held up some object. "An umbrella for you. Don't need you to be soaked as we cross the parking lot..." he said. "Stay in your seat." A serious look came over his face before he climbed out of the car.
Winry had no clue what was going through his head until he rounded the hood of the car and stood beside her door. She watched him open the umbrella and reach for the door handle. Old fashioned chivalry, she thought. How many men opened doors for women anymore? And open umbrellas so they didn't get wet in the pouring rain?
She offered him a smile. She would never know how much it inwardly and subconsciously affected him.
-------------
Al peered through the rain at his brother and almost fell over. His brother, the cold-to-anyone-outside-their-small-family-network was being polite to a complete stranger? More so, where had he found said complete stranger? It wasn't like Ed to show kindness to someone he didn't know. Unless there was something in it for him, that is. It was shallow, but Al couldn't make his brother do anything.
With a closer look, Al stumbled over his own feet. That wasn't just some stranger. It was Winry Rockbell! He literally felt his jaw drop. Edward hadn't told him WInry would be with them for lunch! Al had merely dressed in a sweater and nearly holy jeans! That was nothing to wear to meet someone famous.
"Hey, Al," Ed announced when they were all on the sidewalk. "Winry, this is my brother Alphonse, better known as Al. Al, Winry Rockbell." He gestured between both of them as he spoke.
Al smiled nervously. "It's an honor to meet you, Miss Rockbell," he said as politely as he could.
"A pleasure, Al," she replied. "Just call me Winry, please. Ed has told me plenty of good things about you."
They both looked at Edward. Al was more curious. "Oh, really?" Edward immediately fumbled and rubbed his neck, blushing.
"Let's go inside. It's cold and rainy. I don't need Miss Rockbell getting sick," he muttered, still blushing as he headed towards the entrance.
"Oh yeah?" Winry smirked. "You look a little warm. Your cheeks are flushed. Maybe we should be worrying about you getting sick," she called at him.
Ed didn't respond. He merely opened the door and disappeared inside. Al and Winry grinned at each other. She seemed like a very nice person, he thought. All of the attention her being famous brought hadn't gone to her head, it appeared. Al was happy. One of his friends that hadn't breathed in too many toxic metals might turn out to be someone famous. How ironic... It brought a smile to his face.
"Well, he's right. If we stay out here, we'll catch our death," Winry said, breaking into his thoughts.
Al nodded and started towards the door. He opened it for the blond woman with a smile. When they were all sitting down at a booth, Al watched his brother study the menu fervently. A little while later, Ed shoved the slip of lamenated paper down the table to Winry. It wasn't like they needed to look at the menu; they had memorized it long ago. Al knew his brother was thinking the same thing when he pushed his hair back from his forehead.
"Brother!" Al exclaimed suddenly. Ed looked at him, surprised. "What happened to your forehead?"
The golded-eyed man reached up to touch his forehead. He winced when his fingers came in contact with his skin. It took him a moment to remember what had happened, it seemed from the way he hesitated. "Oh. I ran my car into Miss Rockbell's gate and banged my head on the steering wheel." He shot Winry a look.
"There's a bruise there already," Al pointed out.
Edward rolled his eyes. "Lovely. Who knows what comments the guys will make about it," he grumbled.
Winry leaned over and looked at him. "Wow, there is a bruise. That must have just come up since you parked your car," she mused.
"It'll go away soon," he growled.
Then a new voice entered the conversation. "Well my, my. Look what the storm blew in," a sultry voice said. Then the possessor of the voice became visible. "Edward Elric, I haven't seen you in quite a while."
"Hey, Quintus." Ed looked up at the woman and smiled warmly.
Al caught his breath at the same time as he looked up at Quintus. She was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. She had long, full black hair that hung down below her waist. Her skin was pale and only looked more so against her dark makeup. She had a low, silky voice that could make a man mad if she willed it. But she wasn't the best person to forge a relastionship with, and Al knew that just from looking at her. Though there had been something - Al didn't know what exactly - between her and Ed. Al could tell for two and more reasons, those two being that Ed and Quintus had seen a lot of each other about four months ago. And, there was this almost tangible connection between them. Anyone who could miss that could also miss hitting the broad side of a barn with a large rock.
When Al tuned back in, it was to see a grumbling Edward sitting across from him. Al looked at Winry, who was smiling, and then at Quintus. She looked a little surprised, or at the very least taken aback, to have Winry Rockbell sitting in her diner.
"It was raining, okay?" Ed suddenly spoke up. So they weren't discussing Winry's presence. They were discussing Ed's driving abilities. "And it still is! See?" He gestured with his right hand towards the window. Then time seemed to slow down as the button on his sleeve cuff came undone. It was a natural reaction for people to look where someone was gesturing, and Al had no clue if his brother had told Winry about his...condition.
It seemed Edward noticed his cuff, too, since he brought his hand back in quickly, shooting a quick gaze at Winry and then at the table as he buttoned his sleeve. There was an awkward silence before Ed cleared his throat, a sure sign to get anyone's attention. "Well, are you two ready to order?" he asked.
"Right." Winry looked at the menu. She seemed to understand something odd had happened, but hadn't been sure what it had been exactly. It appeared they hadn't gotten around to Ed's limbs yet. Al doubted they would, since Edward didn't like to talk about that subject, even with his younger brother. "Um...a salad?" Winry asked, smiling at Quintus.
"A salad it is," the obviously older woman said and wrote it down. "What type of dressing would you like?"
"Italian, please."
"And you, guys?" Quintus looked at them.
Ed and Al exchanged looks. "The usual," they said simultaneously.
"All right. I'll be back with your orders soon. And Edward," she said a little louder to gain his attention. "I'll bring out something to cover up your bruise." She winked at him.
Al looked at his brother and saw him sink down in his seat, grumbling. It was really a funny sight. His brother was twenty-one-years old. Occasionally, he acted his age, but usually he acted like a teenager. It was pretty amusing most of the time since Ed still looked like a teenager. Which that was a good thing for him...if it wasn't for his boyish looks, then Edward would have a hard time finding someone to settle down with because of his foul attitude. Sometimes Al even wanted to yell at him from him being so obstinate.
A few minutes and some small talk later, their food was brought out. Quintus set a stool beside Ed and pulled a little zipper bag from her mini-apron around her waist. "Don't eat yet," she started to say, but Ed had already grabbed his hamburger and taken a bite out of it. The other people at the table laughed at him.
"Oops." He offered a grin over his full mouth and continued chewing. He was so intent on his food that he didn't realize what Quintus was doing until he felt a sting on his forehead. "Hey now! What are you doing?" Al looked at her and saw a little palete of skin colored cream. She held a spongey looking mat in her other hand.
"I'm covering up your bruise since you were complaining about it earlier," she informed him. "Now be quiet. And wipe your mouth."
Al and Winry laughed at them. But Al couldn't help noticing the way that Winry kept looking between them. She noticed their connection, too. Did it bother her? If it did bother her, why would she have a problem with it? It didn't appear that she liked Edward overmuch. Or did she?
Winry sat in the front passenger seat of her bodyguard's car, arms crossed over her chest and a formidable scowl written on her features. It was still raining as hard as he had claimed it had been when he ran into her gate and dented his car. Like she cared. She was beginning to really dislike the man sitting beside her. First, he had accused, indirectly, her butler of being the one behind the ordeal of the threat notes. Then he had, indirectly again, accused her family and friends of the same thing; used her older sister as an example for the culprit; invited himself and his brother to live with her; and finally, bodily removed her from her own home to eat at some unknown place a half an hour away. Some bodyguard. She was beginning to feel bruises.
"For all the fuss you put up about your makeup, you aren't applying any," he said from beside her. Casually, like he hadn't just tossed her over his shoulder effortlessly and hauled her to his car in the pouring rain.
"Do you treat all your clients like that?" she demanded, glaring at him.
"Like what?" Although he kept his eyes on the road, she saw a perplexed expression become visible on his features.
"Rudely...forcing them to eat lunch with you and your brother?" she supplied.
Ed blinked. "Oh." He paused and negotiated a turn. "No. You're my first bodyguard assignment. Usually I work undercover, finding information out about wanted criminals."
Winry quickly bit her lip to keep the very impolite words in her mouth. So instead, she opened her makeup kit and began to apply, as it was more easily put. She did her best to coordinate her makeup with her outfit. She'd had very little time to ready herself at the house so she had changed into a pair of loose black slacks and a black tanktop, despite the autumn chill in the air. Atop that, she had her baby blue kitted sweater duster. It was a very warm jacket, no matter what anyone said. It was comfortable. Therefore, wearable.
"Not as girly as I thought," she heard the obnoxious driver murmur.
Winry spared him a look before putting on midnight blue eyeliner. "Hmm?"
"I said, you're don't dress as girly as I thought you would," he repeated a little louder.
She scoffed. "Mainly because someone didn't give me--"
"Bump," Ed interrupted.
On instinct, Winry pulled the pencil away from her eye and looked at him. "What?" Immediately after, the car jolted rather roughtly. "Oh."
"Don't need a trip to Central General Hospital because of a makeup incident." A hint of a smile came over Ed's lips.
"Anyway, since someone didn't give me enough time to get ready," she continued as if she hadn't heard him, "I grabbed the first thing I saw and changed." She reached for her eyeshadow palete.
She heard Ed snort in mock laughter. "You put up a fight against a gentlemanly offer of lunch." He spared her a brief look. "And most girls would jump at the chance to go out to lunch with me." He smiled insolently.
Winry rolled her eyes. "So, what type of place are we going to eat at?" she probed.
"This little place that opened about half a year ago in downtown Central, about ten minutes from where I live. Al and I know the woman who owns it really well. I have a feeling she'd be ecstatic to have you eat there," he answered. "We'll be there in about fifteen minutes, so be quick."
Again, Winry rolled her eyes and reached for her mascara. She saw Ed wince out of the corner of her eye. "What?"
"That thing looks painful," he said, tilting his head toward her.
"It's just mascara," she said, unimpressed.
"I should suggest it as an interrogation device," he thought aloud.
Winry scoffed. "You would offend women if you did," she warned. "Best not."
Ed muttered something about feminists as his cell phone rang. He swore under his breath and growled about his "sixth sense" tingling. Blindly, he searched his coat pockets until he procured the ringing item. "Yeah, Hughes?"
"Do you check your caller ID or do you just guess?" the detective asked, sounding very curious indeed.
"I just know. What do you need? I'm on my way to meet Al for lunch and the weather is still bad." Ed slowed the vehicle at a stoplight.
The excitement was very obvious in Hughes' voice when he spoke. "Did you meet her? What'd you think? Is she as pretty as her pictures?"
Ed growled. "You know, it's still raining quite hard. The last time I was talking to you, I ran my car into a gate," he muttered and shot Winry a look before driving again. "And I don't think my passenger would be very pleased with me if I ran into something with her in the car."
Winry glared at him. "You do, you have no more job--anywhere," she threatened.
"Oh, was that her?" Hughes asked rather loudly. "You're taking her to lunch already? How cute. Where are you taking her?"
Ed hung up the phone before he heard anymore. There was a distant rumble of thunder a few miles off. Winry couldn't help but feel slightly amused as she shut her makeup pallet. "That was an interesting semi-one-sided conversation," she threw out casually.
She saw him visibly tense. "One of her many fans," Ed muttered.
"Are you not?" she asked sweetly.
"My brother plays your music when he works in the basement. I hear it after dinner if his muses suit him," he returned shortly.
From the expression he had, Winry supposed she wasn't going to get any more positive answers from him. Not that she wanted to. She didn't even want to eat lunch with him. Yet here she was...sitting in his car, on the way to some diner in a thug infested part of Central. Well, what part of Central wasn't thug infested, actually? It was just sheer luck that people made it though without being mugged.
She stole another look at her bodyguard. His expression was quite grim, almost pained. What could be bothering him?
Another thought came to her. When she'd been thrown over his shoulder, his shoulder hadn't felt like skin. It had been cold and hard...kind of like metal. But that had been through his thick coat and his shirt, so she was probably mistaken. It could have been anything...the stress of the moment of being tossed around or some police-like gear he had to wear all the time. And she couldn't ask, because she wasn't sure at all if she had really felt metal. She didn't want to sound like an idiot their first day of meeting. Her hair might have been blond, but his was too. She knew well enough not to ask when she didn't have enough details to wonder in the first place.
When Winry looked up, it was when they Ed parked the car in front of a cornerside diner. The place was slightly dingy looking, but it could have been the dirty windshield and the rain she was looking through. She had definitely dined in better. As she squinted through said rain and windshield, she saw a person standing beneath the overhanging roof, rubbing his gloved hands together. She looked at Ed and saw him shaking his head.
"That freezing person would be my brother...he's too polite for his own good," he murmured as he rooted around the messy backseat.
"What are you looking for?" Winry asked softly, wanting to touch his arm out of curiosity, just to see if it was metal.
He didn't answer for a few seconds until he held up some object. "An umbrella for you. Don't need you to be soaked as we cross the parking lot..." he said. "Stay in your seat." A serious look came over his face before he climbed out of the car.
Winry had no clue what was going through his head until he rounded the hood of the car and stood beside her door. She watched him open the umbrella and reach for the door handle. Old fashioned chivalry, she thought. How many men opened doors for women anymore? And open umbrellas so they didn't get wet in the pouring rain?
She offered him a smile. She would never know how much it inwardly and subconsciously affected him.
-------------
Al peered through the rain at his brother and almost fell over. His brother, the cold-to-anyone-outside-their-small-family-network was being polite to a complete stranger? More so, where had he found said complete stranger? It wasn't like Ed to show kindness to someone he didn't know. Unless there was something in it for him, that is. It was shallow, but Al couldn't make his brother do anything.
With a closer look, Al stumbled over his own feet. That wasn't just some stranger. It was Winry Rockbell! He literally felt his jaw drop. Edward hadn't told him WInry would be with them for lunch! Al had merely dressed in a sweater and nearly holy jeans! That was nothing to wear to meet someone famous.
"Hey, Al," Ed announced when they were all on the sidewalk. "Winry, this is my brother Alphonse, better known as Al. Al, Winry Rockbell." He gestured between both of them as he spoke.
Al smiled nervously. "It's an honor to meet you, Miss Rockbell," he said as politely as he could.
"A pleasure, Al," she replied. "Just call me Winry, please. Ed has told me plenty of good things about you."
They both looked at Edward. Al was more curious. "Oh, really?" Edward immediately fumbled and rubbed his neck, blushing.
"Let's go inside. It's cold and rainy. I don't need Miss Rockbell getting sick," he muttered, still blushing as he headed towards the entrance.
"Oh yeah?" Winry smirked. "You look a little warm. Your cheeks are flushed. Maybe we should be worrying about you getting sick," she called at him.
Ed didn't respond. He merely opened the door and disappeared inside. Al and Winry grinned at each other. She seemed like a very nice person, he thought. All of the attention her being famous brought hadn't gone to her head, it appeared. Al was happy. One of his friends that hadn't breathed in too many toxic metals might turn out to be someone famous. How ironic... It brought a smile to his face.
"Well, he's right. If we stay out here, we'll catch our death," Winry said, breaking into his thoughts.
Al nodded and started towards the door. He opened it for the blond woman with a smile. When they were all sitting down at a booth, Al watched his brother study the menu fervently. A little while later, Ed shoved the slip of lamenated paper down the table to Winry. It wasn't like they needed to look at the menu; they had memorized it long ago. Al knew his brother was thinking the same thing when he pushed his hair back from his forehead.
"Brother!" Al exclaimed suddenly. Ed looked at him, surprised. "What happened to your forehead?"
The golded-eyed man reached up to touch his forehead. He winced when his fingers came in contact with his skin. It took him a moment to remember what had happened, it seemed from the way he hesitated. "Oh. I ran my car into Miss Rockbell's gate and banged my head on the steering wheel." He shot Winry a look.
"There's a bruise there already," Al pointed out.
Edward rolled his eyes. "Lovely. Who knows what comments the guys will make about it," he grumbled.
Winry leaned over and looked at him. "Wow, there is a bruise. That must have just come up since you parked your car," she mused.
"It'll go away soon," he growled.
Then a new voice entered the conversation. "Well my, my. Look what the storm blew in," a sultry voice said. Then the possessor of the voice became visible. "Edward Elric, I haven't seen you in quite a while."
"Hey, Quintus." Ed looked up at the woman and smiled warmly.
Al caught his breath at the same time as he looked up at Quintus. She was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. She had long, full black hair that hung down below her waist. Her skin was pale and only looked more so against her dark makeup. She had a low, silky voice that could make a man mad if she willed it. But she wasn't the best person to forge a relastionship with, and Al knew that just from looking at her. Though there had been something - Al didn't know what exactly - between her and Ed. Al could tell for two and more reasons, those two being that Ed and Quintus had seen a lot of each other about four months ago. And, there was this almost tangible connection between them. Anyone who could miss that could also miss hitting the broad side of a barn with a large rock.
When Al tuned back in, it was to see a grumbling Edward sitting across from him. Al looked at Winry, who was smiling, and then at Quintus. She looked a little surprised, or at the very least taken aback, to have Winry Rockbell sitting in her diner.
"It was raining, okay?" Ed suddenly spoke up. So they weren't discussing Winry's presence. They were discussing Ed's driving abilities. "And it still is! See?" He gestured with his right hand towards the window. Then time seemed to slow down as the button on his sleeve cuff came undone. It was a natural reaction for people to look where someone was gesturing, and Al had no clue if his brother had told Winry about his...condition.
It seemed Edward noticed his cuff, too, since he brought his hand back in quickly, shooting a quick gaze at Winry and then at the table as he buttoned his sleeve. There was an awkward silence before Ed cleared his throat, a sure sign to get anyone's attention. "Well, are you two ready to order?" he asked.
"Right." Winry looked at the menu. She seemed to understand something odd had happened, but hadn't been sure what it had been exactly. It appeared they hadn't gotten around to Ed's limbs yet. Al doubted they would, since Edward didn't like to talk about that subject, even with his younger brother. "Um...a salad?" Winry asked, smiling at Quintus.
"A salad it is," the obviously older woman said and wrote it down. "What type of dressing would you like?"
"Italian, please."
"And you, guys?" Quintus looked at them.
Ed and Al exchanged looks. "The usual," they said simultaneously.
"All right. I'll be back with your orders soon. And Edward," she said a little louder to gain his attention. "I'll bring out something to cover up your bruise." She winked at him.
Al looked at his brother and saw him sink down in his seat, grumbling. It was really a funny sight. His brother was twenty-one-years old. Occasionally, he acted his age, but usually he acted like a teenager. It was pretty amusing most of the time since Ed still looked like a teenager. Which that was a good thing for him...if it wasn't for his boyish looks, then Edward would have a hard time finding someone to settle down with because of his foul attitude. Sometimes Al even wanted to yell at him from him being so obstinate.
A few minutes and some small talk later, their food was brought out. Quintus set a stool beside Ed and pulled a little zipper bag from her mini-apron around her waist. "Don't eat yet," she started to say, but Ed had already grabbed his hamburger and taken a bite out of it. The other people at the table laughed at him.
"Oops." He offered a grin over his full mouth and continued chewing. He was so intent on his food that he didn't realize what Quintus was doing until he felt a sting on his forehead. "Hey now! What are you doing?" Al looked at her and saw a little palete of skin colored cream. She held a spongey looking mat in her other hand.
"I'm covering up your bruise since you were complaining about it earlier," she informed him. "Now be quiet. And wipe your mouth."
Al and Winry laughed at them. But Al couldn't help noticing the way that Winry kept looking between them. She noticed their connection, too. Did it bother her? If it did bother her, why would she have a problem with it? It didn't appear that she liked Edward overmuch. Or did she?