Tea and Ice Cream
By KatsyKat aka SuziKat
Winry finishes work one night and thinks on Ed & Al as she enjoys her favorite snack. Friendship. (I don't own any of the characters - duh.)
Winry set down her socket-wrench, stretched her arms and rolled her neck to work out the kinks.
She was surprised to find that several hours had passed since she last checked the time and it was now late into the night.
She'd been lost in the land of automail, and she knew her Granny would razz her in the morning for staying up so late 'unnecessarily'.
Winry stomach rumbled, protesting the long hours of working after dinner. She smiled as she packed away the things in her workshop.
Since it was so late in the evening already, she may as well go enjoy a snack before bed.
She padded to the kitchen and put on a pan of water on the stove to boil. Taking out a tea bag, a spoon and a bowl, she laid them side by side on the counter before turning on her heel to open the freezer.
See, while some may find it odd, Winry loved hot tea and ice cream.
Together.
She could see the peculiarity.
Tea was to help you wake gently on cold mornings, or to relax late in the night with a book. A cup of tea was something warm and solid to wrap your hands around when you were thinking deeply. Soothing. A little bitter without sugar, but Winry liked the way it made her mouth pucker a little.
Ice Cream was good as a mid-day snack providing just a little sugar boost. It was always sweet – a treat for the tongue. The best time to enjoy it was outside in the summer. It's invigorating coolness was perfect to bring about a smile or sate a hot temper.
Winry wasn't sure exactly when she began enjoying the treats together but she'd done it for pretty much as long as she could remember.
Her grandmother would shake her head, when she saw Winry scooping a healthy serving of ice cream into a bowl while her tea steeped, claiming the girl would get a headache.
But Winry never did.
To her, there was nothing like sipping tea while eating a bowl of ice cream. The tingling of her mouth from hot to cold... left her feeling so clean... refreshed.
She liked to eat them evenly; enjoying a bite or two followed by a sip of tea.
If she ate too much ice cream at once, her tongue would get so cold she wouldn't be able to taste it's sweetness. So she'd have to take an extra long sip of tea to slowly warm her mouth.
Too much tea – and she could burn her mouth. Then she'd have to place a spoonful of ice cream to melt on her tongue and sooth her abused taste buds. Or perhaps her ice cream would melt before she could eat it all.
Yup, tea and ice cream were the absolute opposites of the temperature spectrum but she couldn't imagine them anywhere but together.
A little like the Elrics, she supposed suddenly.
The thought caused Winry to pause and tap her ice cream spoon against her tea cup. She listened to the happy clink and smiled.
Oh she knew that most people who saw the brothers, assumed they were much alike. But to someone who knew them as well as she did, they couldn't be more different.
Ed was like her tea – hot tempered, a little bitter if steeped too long... or allowed to brood over one thing, but he could be oddly comforting. He had the ability to make you feel like everything would be ok because he would make it so. He was dependable.
Al was like ice cream. Winry smiled. Much more cool headed than Ed, but with more energy and excitement. He was also refreshingly innocent, and so sweet it made things feel better just being around him.
Having too much of one or the other was similar too.
Being around Ed for too long would often mean screaming obscenities – or throwing wrenching in anger. As his harsh outlook could hurt feelings without realizing.
Too much time around Al could by almost as bad. He was just so full of life he could run circles around you and still want to play – and he was so sweet you found it hard to say no, long after you were tired.
Winry supposed she shouldn't be so surprised she liked tea and ice cream together.
Because like tea and ice cream, it was the only way she could imagine her best friends.
Together.