Disclaimer: Everything belongs to Arakawa. Also, warning! Spoilers for chapter 108!

Thicker than w a t e r

People in Resembool gossip. A lot.

It's not something that should particularly surprise Ed, he knows how small the town it is and how little there is for its residents to do, nor is it something that he is not used to, he is, after all, quite famous in his own right. Still, it puts him slightly on the edge and maybe it's because of the blunt and honest way the people do it there. He has become far more accustomed to the subtle, sneering insults of the military.

Winry, on the other hand, does not seem to be overly concerned by it, even as Mrs. Peters whispers to Mrs. Williams 'Mm-hm, but my that Rockbell girl is growing wild. Did you hear about how she left her poor grandmother to go study automail? The nerve! Why my Susan would never dream of doing something like that!' after Winry purchases some apples from her in order to make an apple pie for Al.

"Winry," he whispers urgently, "Don't you hear what they're saying about you?"

Winry just shrugs nonchalantly and replies, "Oh, they'll always be talking about something or another. I'm actually kind of flattered that I'm considered exciting enough for such attention. Now, come on," she smiles brightly and takes his hand (ignoring his bright red blush), "We need to buy some milk for the stew tonight!"

The next time they come to Mrs. Peters' store, however, the whispers become worse until even Winry starts looking a little uncomfortable.

'And then, there was always that way she threw herself after the Elric brothers, after they got themselves into that suspicious business with the military…Used to travel with them sometimes, and I of course told my Susan that I did not think that was proper, no indeed, what with them being two teenage boys and her a teenage girl. And now, of course, they're living in her house and you never see her without the eldest, which makes you wonder if something is going on between the two…'

Ed feels his cheeks burning red and even Winry looks a little flustered.

'Oh, I wouldn't doubt it, nope not at all. Though, if you ask me, that Rockbell girl better be careful, becoming more and more like his father each day that boy… Poor Trisha, I remember she was such a sweet girl and then to get pregnant by such a good-for-nothing like the man… And then he left her with those two boys, such a shame…'

Ed's cheeks are no longer burning red from embarrassment but from barely contained fury, and his fists clench into tight balls at his side. Winry recognizes the warning signs, and tries to steer him away from the store, but she's not quite fast enough.

'Oooh, and then did you hear how they buried him here, right next to Trisha? His death itself was odd, no word about it and no saying of what he died of… 'Course, I personally think he drank himself to death, he was always a bit of drinker and he seemed like a bum to me, and I guess they thought it was a mercy to-'

But what Mrs. Peters' thought it was a mercy to, Mrs. Williams never finds out, because in the next moment Ed loses all control and punches Mrs. Peters straight in the face.

"Don't you ever mock my father," he says through gritted teeth, and he takes Winry firmly by the hand and storms out of the store.

And it doesn't matter if Mrs. Peters is probably over 40 and he was extraordinarily lucky not to have broken any of her bones, and that word will probably go all over town that he is violent and unstable and willing to attack harmless old ladies, and that he'll definitely have to apologize for the whole incident later, because, damnit, that felt good.

Even if Winry exasperatedly shakes her head and declares that she will never be able to take him out in public again.

A/N: So wow, this was a little plot bunny that wouldn't leave me alone, so I wrote it all in about an hour. Sorry if it is awful and unedited because of that! Not much else to say about this, except that I don't actually support punching 40+ year old woman, but Ed is Ed... So yeah. Hope you enjoyed it anyway!