Violet cat-like eyes studied the girl in front of them. Long blonde hair was pulled back with elastic and a bandana. Blue eyes the color of the Xingese Ocean were narrowed with concentration, studying the useless scraps of metal in front of her with undivided attention.
He wondered what she was thinking. Why was she studying the fragments of broken metal so intently? They weren't going to turn into automail like that. Envy decided not to ponder on a question that will never be answered and went back to watching her.
Her hips shifted involuntarily and rhythmically to the music coming out of her old beaten up radio that sat on the far end of her work bench. Far enough that it wouldn't get in her way, but just close enough to be able to reach across to table and fiddle with the dials. Her hair swished to and fro at the same rhythm as her hips and the music.
Envy closed his eyes and listened to the music spewing out of the radio. Loud piano, strong screeching violins, wailing brass instruments, whistling woodwinds echoed through the room; filling in the silence left by Winry and himself. He himself didn't enjoy classical music, but after many futile attempts to change radio stations in which he always ended up needing to regenerate, he learned to leave to dials alone.
He opened his eyes and looked back at Winry. She had connected three of the pieces she had been analyzing earlier and was now fiddling with some odd doohickey that Envy had never seen in his life, all 200 years of it. She hummed lightly along with the piano; a small smile playing at the ends of her lips.
She really was something to him. All his life humans had always been creatures with too little ambition and too much time on their hands. But she was quite to opposite of that, out ruling everything he knew about humans. She was always working, always trying to make each of her creations better than the rest; never boasting about her work, only trying to find ways to make it better. Taking personal care of each of her customers made her very popular here in Rush Valley. She was perfect to him in that strange imperfect way. He was infatuated with her.
It also could be the ways she looked and dressed. She beautiful, but that had yet to show. The life of a mechanic often left looking well-dressed cast to the side. But to him that was what made her look even more radiant. She didn't care about the way she looked. She went along her day with all the pride of being an automail mechanic shown in her attire.
He looked at her now. Today was no exception to all other days. Grease was spattered across her face. Her hair, despite being pulled back, was tangled and scattered across her back in every which way. She wore torn cargo pants that had worn out through many years of use. A single black halter top covered her chest, the black material hiding all that stains that had been buried in the fibers of the cloth over the years. Her olive green bandana was ensnared in the metal point of one of her many earrings.
Envy stopped momentarily to look at them. She never seemed to wear any other earrings. She just always wore the same seven earrings every day. He wondered why. Why did she have so many piercings? Why did she always wear those plain metal studs? Most of the human woman he had interacted with over the years had various pairs that they wore on different occasions, matching different outfits. Each ear only carrying one hole. Why did she do differently?
Deciding that he was bored enough to distract her from her work and ask he spoke up. "Hey, pipsqueaks mechanic, why do you have so many piercings? You do realize they make you look like some kind of prostitute or something. Not that I mind the short top or anything, but what's up with that?" Envy asked refusing to address her by her given name or any other correct manner.
"Why do you care? I have had them longer than you've known me? Why are you asking this now?" Winry replied, annoyed that he had made her lose concentration and momentarily forget her mental blueprints of her design.
"Just curious. Most proper women wouldn't have that many holes in her ears."
"Do I look like a proper woman to you?" Winry asked gesturing to the grease on her face and the mechanical arm she was building.
"No, but it that the reason you have so many scraps of metal buried in your skin?" Envy replied with a smirk. He would get an answer from her sooner or later.
Winry sighed and put down the screwdriver and arm base she was working with. She pulled off her gloves and pointed to the single pearl stud on her left ear. "This was one of the earrings my mother wore on her wedding day. My father gave it to her. I mentioned to Granny that I wanted to have my ears pierced like Miss Hawkeye and she gave me this earring, but was unable to find the other one."
She pointed to two metal studs on her right ear and the two small metal hoops that sat on the upper area of her left ear. "These were given to me by Alphonse. He and Edward used it as a bribe to not get punished for breaking my automail."
"And these," Winry said gesturing to the two smaller hoops on her right ear, "Were given to me by Edward. They were once again used as a bribe but this time Ed picked them out."
Envy blinked. So the Fullmetal pipsqueak bought his mechanic earrings to avoid getting physically injured. Yet it seemed every day Colonel Mustang sent him on missions to stop wanted criminals. That or he would get injured for sticking his nose in information about the philosopher's stone, getting into fights with the other homunculi. Either way always led him to his mechanic who would be more than angry about the damage to her recent work. His girl must have quite to throwing arm for Edward to have to bribe her not to impale him with another wrench.
"You didn't answer my other question," he said when he saw that she was returning to her project.
Winry set her tools back down with an exasperated sigh. Why did it even matter how many earrings she wore? "I have them all in at the same time 'cause all of them bring back great reminiscence of the people I love. The most important people to me gave me these earrings. I put them all in 'cause they remind me that I am loved my all these wonderful people," Winry said once again turning to her work. "Happy now? Did that satisfy your great curiosity?"
"That's a waste of time. It reminds me that I am loved, what bullshit." Envy said, an amused grin plastered on his face.
"You wanted to know," Winry said lifting the prototype to analyze it.
"The most important people in your life, huh?" Envy said under his breath so she couldn't hear him.
Winry walked into the workshop early the next morning. She set her tool box down and turned the lights on. Once she made it over to her work bench, after grabbing a few items from one of the many cabinets, she noticed a small velvet box sitting on top of a hammer she had forgotten to put away.
She picked up the box studying it for a second then opening the top. Scribbled on the inside of the lid, in the most illegible handwriting Winry had ever seen, she made out the words "from Envy".
In the box was a pair of matching rhinestone earrings. Each plastic jewel had a silver incasing that held the jewel to the metal base. They weren't big, they were actually relatively small.
Winry tried not to think of the form in which he had got them. For Envy had a tendency to not care very much for the wellbeing of humans. He was still infused with sin and never tried to hide that he was. He idea of him injuring someone in the process of getting the earring was not one she wanted in her head. So, she decided to focus on the though put into the simple act.
"Well would you look at that," Winry said to herself with a smirk, "He got jealous."
Envy looked up at Winry. His line of vision slowly strayed to her ears. On the lobe of each ear there was a small rhinestone earring right above the other studs she had.
Envy moved his arm so that his head was now resting in the palm of his hand. He moved his fingers to cover his lips; to hide his smile.
A/N: The reference to how Winry got her piercings is found in the OVA "Simple World" But I made up the story behind her first earring. Man, I'm tired. I need to sleep after typing 1,506 words. My longest yet for a drabble.
Review!