Disclaimers: Don't own FMA.

A/N: Winry's POV. (Any typos, please excuse.)

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Thoughts Exceeding Physical Age

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The school nurse put the last band-aid on Edward's left temple and let his hair fall into place. He was giving everyone the same dirty scowl, but maybe that was just the way his jaw was puffing up. He rested his elbow on his thigh and was keeping the frosty compress up against his orifice, staring at the woman in front of him darkly. She had previously had him lift up his shirt, only to reveal massive bruises already turning the deep shade of yellow.

He looked like a squashed banana and it made me flinch. I sighed shrilly and frowned angrily; crossing my arms and leaning back against the chair I was sitting in. The three of us had been moved into the nurse's office, the inferior to the superior level seven student who had the gift of age and was then credited with the principal's office for his injuries to be tended to.

Alphonse leaned in the corner of the office, near the door. The room was overwhelmingly white and smelled too clean for my liking. My frown deepened sharply. Edward glanced to me and his brows rose and then fell again. His left cheek was puffed out with cotton balls stuffed in to help the clotting blood where his teeth had apparently gouged out the inner flesh of his face.

I hunched down, holding my knees together to keep my pose ladylike. I wasn't about to make a bad impression of my own, though this scene was nothing new. The first class was almost over and soon it would be time for us to start history.

My heart was still pounding roughly in my chest. I pressed my lips into a tight line, eyes narrowing at the floorboards of the luminescent white room. I was still shaking slightly from my own temper flare. If I hadn't been paying attention to the boys, trying to make sure they didn't kill each other, screaming for someone to get a teacher so that the bastard who'd started this whole thing would be dragged off of Ed, I would have been clawing Sen's disgusting eyes out and yanking fistfuls of her stringy hair from her scalp.

She made me so mad sometimes. I couldn't believe what she'd started this morning. It was so utterly unfathomable of how nasty she could be; and, beyond all of this, I didn't even know she'd switched boys! How could she go from Seth to Christoph so indifferently?

Some girls I think should just die.

I snuck a glance towards Edward. He was gaping at his feet as intently as I was the floor. He looked like he was seriously contemplating something. The nurse brushed past Alphonse and out of the office, shutting the door loudly. I wanted to pinch the stupid bastard but I didn't.

In fact, when I looked at him, even with all the dirt and the blood and the band-aids, my stomach twisted and I felt my pulse quicken. I looked to Alphonse quickly. He was staring at his feet also. What was it with them? My eyes found Ed again and I hid my face with my hair, sitting up straighter and then hunching so that my arms rested on my thighs. I toyed with the hem of my skirt, fingering it where it was slightly tattered.

I drew in a breath and then sighed, trying to calm myself. Out of nowhere I was starting to get that feeling again, that feeling where I wanted to be left alone with him in my room so I could just stare at him and feel him pressed against me, feel his hands moving up and down my back and then inching to my hips as he tried to say something without speaking, feel his gaze boring into mine, making me shudder.

I shook my head rapidly. I told myself to stop it. I looked between the two brothers and then sighed so loudly and heavily and angrily that it turned into a shrill squeal. Both Elrics looked at me, startled and looking irritated, as if I had just done the rudest thing on earth – interrupting their thoughts.

"What?" I snapped, sliding down and kicking my feet on the floor. "God, you guys, don't talk all at once."

"Kind of in pain here," Edward barked, but it came out garbled and hoarse, like Kine ah pin huh.

Alphonse giggled and walked across the room to us. His shoes clacked on the oak floor and he took a seat in the chair next to me, eyeing his brother with a slightly disappointed gaze. I hid my face in my hands. My palms pressed against my eyelids and made me see stars on the black canvas of my mind. I sighed again, this time inaudibly. I could feel my chest tightening and I could feel myself getting funny down there. Again.

I was proud. I wasn't going to deny that. I felt horrible that I didn't beat that witch Sen to a pulp, but I was proud that Edward had reacted so severely; that he'd flipped out and gotten himself in trouble (again, that's nothing new) because somebody said something about me. About him. About us. I knew he wouldn't take any shit from people, and of course I wouldn't either. Sitting there, watching the dancing pins of light on the blackness of my eyelids, I realized that it made me feel so loved that he would do that. And it made me feel something so frightening and yet so alluring that I squirmed around in the chair.

"Winry, are you okay?" was Alphonse's response to my action.

"Yes," I squeaked from my hands, not moving.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes," I said again.

I heard Edward snort and I aimed a blind kick in his direction. The two boys laughed, and I guessed I had sent my heel into a range nowhere near the blonde battle hero. "Whatever!" I shrieked, and pressed my thighs together, wondering if that would help my current situation. Edward and Alphonse both erupted into laughter and I picked up on the click of the door opening, the clacking of someone's shoes, and then Mr. Wardell saying, "Alright, you guys, come into the office and we'll sort this one out."

I slowly lifted my head from my palms, peering after Ed and Al as they walked. Al hesitated, and then followed his brother and the principal out of the nurse's office. After a few seconds I rose to my feet and smoothed my dress down over my thighs, and closed the door after me as I left the room. The routine was Edward Go Into Office, Alphonse and Winry the Accomplices Sit Outside and When the Arguing Stops, Go In and Tell the Real Story Because Edward is Such a Troublemaker Mr. Wardell Has Trouble Believing Him.

I settled down beside Alphonse on the bench against the lobby wall. Mr. Wardell closed the door behind him, Edward and Christoph disappearing into the office. Al sighed and looked up at the ceiling.

I turned my gaze down to my fingers, curling and uncurling near my upper thighs. The lobby was absolutely quiet except for the clock on the wall, ticking with infuriating repition. My lashes lowered.

I found it really…hot. I wanted him to push me against a wall, as soon as he came out of the school office, and, with his recovering injuries and his sore muscles, I wanted him to press his hand against my waist and kiss me really hard and passionately; I wanted his other hand to go up my dress and into my panties (I was wearing the really nice pair today; black with a white band and bow, and very tiny ruffles near the leg-holes) so that he could get rid of this embarrassing but lusty feeling, wanted him to whisper into my ear that he wanted me to make him feel this way too; I wanted him to touch me in places that I know he wanted to, and that I know I wanted him too, I –

"Winry?"

I jumped, and my eyes widened. I felt myself blush like hell and whipped my face around to greet Al's worried one.

"Winry, do you think he's mad at me?"
"What are you talking about?" I cried breathlessly, slumping back against the wall.

"I don't know. Maybe he was just hurting."

I smiled and closed my eyes for a moment. Then I looked at him and tucked some hair behind my ear, my smile widening. "He was. He got hit pretty hard, hunh? He's just a stubborn idiot. But he can fight."

"He could have kept going," Alphonse agreed with me, copying me and leaning back against the wall. Then he tilted his head and leaned on me. My smile softened sadly and immediately I felt guilty and dirty for my thoughts. I peered at his cherubic face and his concerned frown, and then pushed some hair out of his eyes.

"Don't worry, Alphonse," I said after a moment, listening to someone's loud voice from within the office. "It's just Ed. He'll never change. I don't see any reason for him to be mad at you." I waited a second, my smile fading, and then bursting up again. I straightened up, nudging him with my fingertip. "Do you want me to come over after school to help with chores?"

Naughty, naughty, naughty, I hissed at myself. All you want is to corner Ed, you're dragging Al in with you, this is horrible, think of innocent Alphonse.

"That would be great," he breathed, resonating mock exhaustion. "Geez, Ed is just so lazy. I have to do everything again." There was a silence, and then he laughed and looked at me with a bright grin. "I sound like a parent! Again!"

I giggled and hugged him tight. He snorted and hugged me back. Sometimes I think that me and Al need each other, or else Edward would drive us both freaking insane. "Of course, I'll come over and I'll make dinner. Just don't tell Ed. He won't eat it; he'll think I'm trying to poison him."

Alphonse laughed heartily and nodded.

The thoughts hid in the back of my mind for later.