#091- Birthday

There was a faint buzzing noise in his ear and it was really starting to piss him off.

Edward frowned slightly, eyes still closed, and shifted from his back to his side. There was a brief pause, and then the buzzing increased in volume.

"Damn fly," he mumbled, fishing a hand out from under the bedclothes and swatting at the fly's general direction. The buzzing morphed into a yelp, and the fly swatted him back. "Ow!" Edward grunted, sitting up to rub at his smarting ear. "What the hell?"

"Brother!"

"Al?" Squinting in the darkness, Edward could make out the blurry outline of his brother's armor. He scanned the hotel room, blinking sleepily. There was nothing out of place. Sighing, Edward turned to Al. "It's the middle of the night. What the hell are you waking me up for?"

"Brother, something's wrong," Al pressed urgently.

"Wrong?"

"Yeah-"

"Al. Are there any homunculi lurking around?"

"No-"

"Did you suddenly find the philosopher's stone?"

"No, but-"

"Is there any milk in the room?"

"No, there isn't, but-"

Edward's eyes narrowed. "Then what was so important that you had to-"

"Brother, it was Winry's birthday yesterday."

Edward stared. "…shit."

Al wrung at his hands. "We didn't even call," he half-wailed. "We're such horrible people to forget-"

"Al."

"-and she'd been going on for forever how she wanted a new power drill-"

"Al."

"-didn't even send a card-"

"Al!"

"SHE HATES US."

"Dammit, Al! Shut up! I have a plan."

Al brightened. "You do?"

Edward grinned. "It's foolproof."


Pinako awoke to the sound of the telephone ringing. "Who on earth is calling so early?" she grumbled.

She heard Winry rush to pick up the hall's phone (that girl barely slept), answering excitedly. Her cheer wore off relatively quickly, however, and she began to give monosyllabic replies. Frowning, Pinako fumbled for the phone on her nightstand. Edward's voice filled her ear.

"-and the time zones are all off here, Winry. It's nearly noon and we've only just finished. We were studying these texts for so long, we haven't even gotten any sleep-"

"Brother," Pinako heard Al hiss. "Your plan was to wait and make up excuses?"

There was a muffled noise and a yelp. Edward's voice came back on the receiver. "I hope you're not mad, Winry. We've been working so hard…"

Pinako rolled her eyes. The boy was laying it on extra thick.

There was a feminine sigh in response. "No, I'm not mad. Tell Al to stop sniffling in the background."

Pinako grinned to herself, quietly hanging up. Winry's voice drifted clearly across the hallway.

"Mhm. Really, I understand. No, Granny's asleep. Okay, then. Yeah. And by the way, Ed. My birthday isn't until tomorrow." There was a long pause. When Winry spoke again, Pinako could hear the smirk in her voice. "I want the best, most expensive power drill you can find, 'kay?"

Pinako chuckled. "I've raised the girl well."