Self-Control

Winry loved her friends. She really, really did.

It had been a boring Saturday afternoon. She hadn't a date with any of her clients, so she was rather free from her job. The hot weather in Resembool was the typical one of those summers where you thought you could melt anytime.

And that was one of the reasons why she was preparing fresh lemonade for her and Al, since Ed and her grandmother had left to do some grocery shop. Well, more like Pinako dragged Ed. The boy sure was getting a bad time with the automail of his leg.

"It's... done!" Winry exclaimed as she put two glasses over the table, one for her and one for Al. She smiled sweetly a the younger Elric.

It's been a year since he got his body back thanks to Ed, so he was half-way of recovering. She was filled with joy everytime he made a step towards it. Knowing him since he was born, she felt as he was her own little brother.

But she just couldn't picture Ed as her brother. There was no way -no. What she felt for him was beyond a siblings bond, it was pure and truly love and there was no way for her to deny it. She was still waiting for him to realize it, though.

"Thank you, Winry" Al said, his voice soft.

They kept talking about nonsense, drinking the beverage and eating some cookies Pinako did that morning, laughing and telling embarrassing things about Ed.

But some knocks in the door interrupted them. Crossing a curious glance, Winry decided to stand up and open it. And she didn't expect what she found.

Her school friends. The five of them; Lucy, Rose, Harley, Charle and Juliet. They were smiling brightly at her, some of them giggling.

"Surprise!" they shouted.

To say Winry was surprised was an understatement. She was shocked -her blue eyes wide, mouth gasping. It's been months since the last time she saw them, considering she's been busy with automails and helping Ed take care of Al. And it was strange for them to show up at her house, specially in the middle of summer.

"Guys!" Winry said. "What got you here?"

"Well," Harley started. "We miss you, Winry! It's been years since the last time we saw you!"

Winry rolled her eyes. "You're overreacting. It's been a while, but I'm pretty sure it wasn't years. Besides, I've been really busy,"

"We thought you were avoiding us!" Charle said.

"Don't be silly," The Rockbell girl said. "I would never do that."

"Winry?" Al's voice echoed in the house. The girls outside the door frowned at the unknown voice, curiosity filling her eyes. "Who's that?"

Winry snapped out her shock and let her friends inside the house. They walked in, their obvious glares directed towards the boy sitting in the dinner table. They shamelessly started to gossip right there, as if Al couldn't hear them. They're so silly sometimes, Winry thought.

"Al, they're Lucy, Rose, Harley, Charle and Juliet, my school friends. Girls, he is Alphonse Elric, an childhood friend." Winry introduced them.

"Nice to meet you all," Al said, his voice fond and his dark golden eyes soft. It made Winry smile too. He was such a nice person. She wondered how the other Elric would react to have 'his' house invaded for strange girls.

"Alphonse Elric? Could you be... The Fullmetal Alchemist's brother?" Lucy asked, truly intrigue dripping from her voice.

Al smiled. "Yes, it's me."

"Woah," Lucy said. "I've read in the magazines all what he's done. He's very incredible,"

Winry's eye twitched. Sure, she knew Ed was great and all that, but did all the country's women knew? It wasn't like she was jealous or anything... but, argh.

And of course, Edward Elric was a perfect timing. Just in that moment, he decided to open the door violently, his expression gloomy as he held a lot of bags full of grocery as Winry's grandmother entered behind with a mischievous smile. Winry knew Ed wasn't mad about carrying the bags, but because Pinako forced him to. She chuckled to herself at the image.

Ed's gold eyes widened at the sight of the unknown girls in the living room. He straightened up, but he still seemed bored.

Winry puffed her cheeks. He didn't even react to a bunch of pretty girls in his house -because, Winry had to admit, her friends were quite beautiful. And probably she should feel relieved that he didn't seem to notice them, but what chance was left for her? He was the most obvious sixteen years old boy she'd met.

"Oh Winry, you have visits," Pinako said, a sweet smile that she knew her grandmother only used for her. "I'll make something then," she said. Discretely, Pinako kicked Ed for him to move, and thankfully, he took the sign correctly: to leave the bags in the kitchen

.

Winry saw how Ed rolled his eyes as he made his way up the kitchen. She took that time to admire how his muscled, strong arms clenched as he held up around twenty bags. The old sleeveless dark purple shirt let her see some of the muscles of his back too. His golden, silky hair shone with the sunrays pouring in through the window. Winry's heart beat faster and faster until she felt it was out of her chest as his eyes fixed on her for just a brief moment.

Her heartbeats recovered just when he was out of her sight. She sighed. Ever since the Elric's returned and started living with them, her love for him only grew stronger. There wasn't a day where he wouldn't make her knees go weak or take her breath away. And she wanted to hate him for it, but it seemed an impossible task.

She noticed the amused sparkle on Al's eyes and she blushed. That damn boy just knew.

"Oh my God!"

Winry's head snapped towards her friends. They were in a round, their eyes excited and her cheeks pink, and Winry immediately knew what they were thinking.

"Did you see him? He's soo hot!" a voice Winry recognized as Juliet's squeaky one.

"He was! His arms are so muscular!" Rose whispered a little too loudly.

"His hair seemed so soft!" Lucy added. Winry had the urge to shout "I've touched it, you have no idea!" but she thought she would be considered the most idiot around, so she bit her lip instead.

"Woah, Winry, I can't believe you live with him and you didn't tell us!" Harley said, her green eyes over excited. As much as Winry loved them, she just wanted to throw her wrench at them.

She chuckled nervously. "Well... Ed and Al started living here like a year ago,"

"What?" the five of them said in unison. They seemed to have forgotten Al's presence, who looked too amused for Winry's taste. If he told Ed what was happening... she wouldn't be able to look into his beautiful eyes ever again.

"That's why you never let us come over?" Lucy asked.

Yes. "Of course not! You know I'm always busy with automail and the house's always a mess," she said. "Don't invent stupid excuses,"

"Well, I think we have a lot of things to talk about. I'm glad we came," Rose said.

Winry gave them a tense smile, unprepared for the questionnaire she was going to be through. She didn't want to give them information about how she spend the days with him alone, those night either of them could sleep and they stayed all night up in the porch stargazing and telling stories about all the years they weren't together. She didn't want to share with anyone that time she was scared because she thought he was leaving again, and he comforted her with sweet nothings, his arms wrapping her up and how in the blink of an eye, he kissed her forehead before putting his chin over the top of her hair, not letting her see his flustered face. He didn't notice she could feel his heartbeats from how close he held her.

Those were her private memoirs and although she loved her friends, she wanted to keep those only for her.

So, when Al stood up and left the room, not without shooting her an mocking smile, her friends sat at the table with her and started with their random questions.

"How did you meet?" "How did become an alchemist?" "Why is his name Fullmetal?" "Was he always this hot?" "Wasn't him shorter when he was young?" "Can you present us next time?"

Winry answered them with half the truth, since she didn't want to share with them Ed's most reserved secrets -after all, she was no one to do it.

It was a great thing that by the time they left, Winry had not exploded and kicked them out of her house earlier. After the questions, they started to shamelessly drooling over him and his good looks and Winry couldn't help but get irritated. Ed was so much more than just a handsome face and sculpted body.

She just prayed he hadn't hear the conversation from his room upstairs, or that Al kept his mouth shut.

It was only when dinner was ready that the Elric's brothers came down, and in the middle of it, Ed asked;

"Who were those girls, anyway?"

Al spoke before Winry got the chance. "Winry's weird friends."

Ed's gaze directed to her blue eyes. She looked at him back and frowned when a smugly smirk crossed his thin lips. "Well, they had to be weird to be Winry's friends."

Her cheeks heated up from irritation. It was a bad thing she left her wrench out of her reach at dinner. "Shut up." she said, though she thought they were really weird, too.

But Winry loved her friends. Really.

A/N= I hope you enjoyed it, though it didn't come off as I expected. It's my first time writing FMA, so please go easy on me. Forgive any grammar mistakes. Thank you for reading, it means a lot!