Draped in Wires
by. Poisoned Scarlet

Theme 014: Train of Thought

Winry stepped out of the shower with a towel wrapped tightly around her, making sure to cover herself fully before exiting the bathroom. She peeked out suspiciously, nodding when she saw no Edward Elric crouched stealthy on the ground to get an x-rated glance at her.

She quickly entered her room and shut the door, swiveling around and sighing in relief when she saw no trace of the gold blond sitting on her chair, a sandwich in his hand and gaping at her like before when she had come back from Briggs.

She walked to the window, looked through it to see two figures on the ground throwing hits and kicks.

She giggled when she saw Al lift Ed off the ground, throwing him across. He rolled, quickly springing up on his feet and darting to the younger Elric once more. He no longer had his automail arm nor his alchemy so there was only so much damage he could do to himself and most of it was in his mechanical left leg, which, she saw with a cringe, he had now grown fond of using as he blocked a punch from Al with the calf plate she had custom-built to suit his needs.

As long as he doesn't break it, she thought, wincing when Al sprung back to avoid a blow from Ed's foot. It's okay...who am I kidding? I bet its broken already! She rested her forehead against the glass, groaning at the thought of having to yet again fix a glitch or dent due to Ed's rough handling.

I should use my torque wrench, she mused darkly. That'll keep him in line! But constant use of her precious torque wrench on his thick skull would only prove to kill him so that was out: she didn't want to kill him, just knock some sense into the often irrational man.

She opened her eyes, surprised to see him looking up at her. Her eyes flashed to Al, who was with Mei and chugging down some water, and then back to Ed, who had a white towel hanging over his neck.

He was still looking at her.

She wondered why.

She shifted and froze.

Her towel!

She hastily backed away from the window, tightening her grip on the towel and feeling her whole face flood red. A brief flash of Ed's wondrous but embarrassed face appeared in her mind and she plopped down on her bed, shaking her head of the image.

She had been shocked when she saw Ed kneeling on the ground, openly staring at her like she was the most interesting alchemy book he had ever read. She wanted to be stared at by him like that more often but not because she had accidentally flashed him!

Ugh, I wonder how much he really saw? She groused inwardly, rather vengeful and feeling thoroughly cheated. He saw her naked but what about her? All she got were him in boxer shorts and that was nothing new! Idiot, she huffed, resting a cheek in a palm as she slumped forward. But he does have nice abs... But she was more interested in his ass, personally.

He had the best ass she had ever seen.

Too bad it was always covered up with loose slacks or shorts. When he had worn those leather pants, she used to love just standing behind him for the sole reason of being able to stare without looking too suspicious. It was even better when he walked and it was those times that she allowed herself to thank his energetic and 'unable-to-stand-still-for-longer-than-five-minutes' personality.

If only she could touch it or better yet grope it then she would be able to die without any regrets.

There was a knock on her door. "Hey! You decent?"

Winry bolted up, face red from her naughty thoughts. "I – er – don't come in! I'm not done changing yet!" She rushed to her drawers, taking out a few garments and quickly slipping them on; pulling on an oversized pink shirt and securing some sweatpants on her waist. Her hair was still wet, dripping at the ends, and she decided combing it would only make it worse so she threw a towel over her head. "Okay! You can come in now..." She furiously towel-dried her hair, nervously listening to his dissimilar steps enter her room.

"Granny went to the market to buy some food and Mei and Al are making gooey faces at one another," he whined. "Are you going to make something to eat?"

"I thought you said granny was getting some food?" Winry rose a brow, wrapping the towel over her head. If she took it off, Ed would never let her see another day without him teasing her about her wild hair. "Just be patient!"

"But I'm hungry!" he groaned. "You saw me down there – I haven't worked out like that in weeks so I'm hungrier than usual!"

"What do you want me to do about it?" she snapped, shutting the drawer with her hip. "You have two working hands, go make your own food!"

"Win!" Ed whined. "I'm dying here! C'mon!"

She rolled her eyes. "You're so lazy! I can't believe you'd come all the way up here just so I could cook you something!" She pushed past him, Ed following close behind.

"But everything tastes better when you do it!"

She paused for a moment. "Of course it does!" she grinned, knowing fairly well he was only praising because he was starving. "That's what you get for buying take-out all the time! You're lucky you've got a fast metabolism or else you'd be really fat right now!"

"WINRY!"

She laughed, opening the fridge to browse what she could use to cook. "I see you still can't take my jokes," she grinned, earning a roll of the eyes from Edward.

"I can. They're just not funny," he scoffed at her.

"Hmm, maybe I was wrong..." Winry took out some lettuce. "Maybe a salad will do for your lunch today!"

His eyes rounded in horror. "I was kidding! You're hilarious!"

She grinned, smugly. "That's what I thought!" and she grabbed a package of ham and turkey and watched him sigh in relief.