Brief
Commentary:
My computer, a Windows 2000 (old as hell, I know), is currently infected with viruses, and there for is so screwed up that I can't use it at all. Why not get a computer virus protection, you might ask? I can't. The damn computer is too old. As explained on my DA account, don't expect too much out of me until I get a new computer, which, at the rate my family is considering it, could be a millenia or so from now. If I'm lucky, I'll be able to access my mother's laptop (which I am doing now) and update/add new stories, but the process is going to be slow. Sorry. Don't get mad at me. I blame the fucking viruses. Please review or what ever suites your fantasy.
Reasons
Not For Your Ears
Chapter Fifteen
Neither Edward nor Winry dared to look each other in the eyes as Pinako bustled around in a distressed manner for the correct medical supplies; both were quite afraid of what they might see there. After what seemed like hours, but had really been only seconds, Pinako asked Winry to lie down on the floor so that her work might be easier to do. With extreme pain and difficulty, Winry did so. Her eyes widened in surprise as her grandmother began to roll up her shirt, exposing her bloody, shard-speared stomach.
"Baa-chan," she whispered through gritted teeth, "He's right over there."
"If he looks, I'll shoot him," Pinako assured her darkly, managing to get her arms out of the sleeves and pull it over her head. Winry sucked in a breath and dared a glance over at Edward, who, she realized with relief, had stubbornly turned his head away from her and the bloody mess that was her upper body. ...she blinked; was she imagining a blush on his cheeks?
A sudden pull at her nerves shattered the thought as Winry cried out in the pain accompanying the removal of a shard. Another wave of nausea nearly overtook her, but she managed to force it down as Pinako held up a piece of the bloody porcelain that was a few centimeters longer than her middle finger and as nearly as wide at its base as the palm of her hand. Had that really been in her stomach? Discarding it onto the floor, her grandmother continued her work, mercilessly pulling out piece after piece after piece...she grimaced at the pile of porcelain building up at her side, and nearly jumped at Pinako's warning growl. Glancing up, she thought she glimpsed Edward suddenly turn his head, face crimson. She blushed as well. Had he been looking?
The thought, again, was lost as Pinako pulled a few more pieces of the bowl out, before declaring her granddaughter fine, and that she would just need some bandaging.
"Two beat up teenagers in one apartment," she thought she heard her grandmother mutter, but dismissed it quickly as she was roughly pulled into a sitting position. To conserve her dignity, Winry shuffled into a position where her back was to Edward. Pinako smiled approvingly at her before reaching for the bandages.
"How do you feel?" she asked after she had finished.
"Like a mummy," Winry answered honestly. It was true. Her stomach and two arms were almost completely covered in gauze, only stopping at her chest and shoulders. Her face was contorted with discomfort and exhaustion; she felt almost certain that her eyes were rimmed with dark circles. Pinako allowed herself a chuckle, but tried again.
"No, seriously; does it hurt at all?"
"Yeah," she said, quickly amending with, "But that's okay."
Her grandmother rolled her eyes.
"Get a painkiller if it gets worse. Anyway, since we had no luck with the soup, I suppose we'll be trying something else for breakfast."
Putting the slightest emphasis possible on the word 'soup,' she glared pointedly at Edward, who still had his head turned away. He didn't seem to notice, only shrugging indifferently.
"And Winry, go put a new shirt on," she added as she wandered over to the tiny refrigerator.
She felt her face burn crimson as she remembered that, despite the excessive bandages and the simple white bra covering her upper-torso, she could very well be considered half-naked.
"R-right. Um, okay."
Winry quickly retreated to her room, closing and looking the door behind her before slumping onto the floor, her mind racing, her body exhausted, her muscles spasming from pain, and her cheeks red. She stayed like that until she was certain her blush had disappeared, before she shuffled over to her dresser and opened a drawer containing rumpled, unfolded t-shirts. Selecting a several-times-too-large gray one, she awkwardly pulled it over her head and slipped her arms into the sleeves, wincing as she did so.
Hastily brushing her long, straw-colored hair - What a boring color, she thought to herself - it was pulled into a careless pony tail at the nape of her neck at the expense of her pained arms. Her ears were able to make out the sound of another argument between her grandmother and Edward, and, suddenly nervous, she unlocked and opened her door before making her way back out into the kitchen/family room.
The argument could have been much more serious.
"I thought I just said that I hate milk, damn it!"
"Shut your mouth - you need milk for this kind of thing!"
"No, you don't - water is just as fine, you old bat!"
"With water it tastes like shit, you miserable little bastard!"
"What the hell was that?!"
"You know what, I don't give a fuck any more! There's going to be milk in this!"
"What the fuuuuck?!"
Ignoring him, Pinako glanced up at her granddaughter as she approached them, nodding her head and offering Winry a half-smile.
"You put your hair up," she noted. "Arms hurt?"
"A little," the younger Rockbell admitted. It was actually a fairly severe understatement.
"Need a painkiller after all?" Said understatement had been realized and hit on the head with a hammer.
She shook her head. Her grandmother grinned.
"You're a regular, strong young Rockbell woman, Winry."
Winry smiled in response - this was always an uncommon compliment. Suddenly curious, she asked,
"What's for breakfast?"
"Pancakes."
She blinked.
"Pancakes..."
"Yes, pancakes," her grandmother said, a tinge of impatience coloring her voice.
"But...pancakes?"
"Winry, for God's sake, is it so hard to imagine me making pancakes in the morning? I've done it plenty of times before."
The blonde teenager chose to glance purposefully over at the sulking Elric help explain herself. "You said soup before. So I was thinking it would be something more...um...not solid?"
Pinako chuckled.
"That was just to piss him off," she jerked a thumb at Edward. "It's a little-known fact that soup tastes awful in the morning."
She gave her grandmother an odd look before awkwardly padding over to the chair she usually sat in at the small table. Placing her arms unsteadily onto the wooden surface, she lowered herself into a sitting position and crossed her legs in a 'boyish' manner as she waited.
The pancakes were ready within the next few minutes, and it was with surprise that Winry realized how ravenous she actually felt. Reaching for the stick of butter on its plate, she quickly used her knife to cut a clumsy chunk out to smother her pancakes with before they were soaked, customarily, in syrup. After that, she had little memory of how quickly she actually ate, but her bites were anything but dainty or neat. From the slightly disgusting sounds emitting from the general direction couch, she was able to assume that this applied to Edward as well., as much as he apparently disliked the addition of milk to any meal. Pinako only watched them both in amusement.
"Seconds, Baa-chan?" Winry offered her her empty, syrupy plate.
"That's all I made, Winry. Sorry. Up for a bagel?"
She made a face and shook her head.
"No thanks."
There was a snort of agreement from the golden-haired boy lying on their couch, and he shifted so that his back was to them.
"Anyway, Winry, I have to go to the convenience store to pick up more supplies - the both of you have too many wounds as it is and we're pretty low on our gauze. You two will remain here and be civilized, understood? And Winry, if he does something stupid, you have my permission to worsen his condition; also, please clean the bandages again afterwards."
This time Edward emitted a barely audible growl, Winry only staring at her grandmother in surprise.
"Um, okay..." she glanced uncertainly at him, nearly jumping as their eyes met, and looked sharply back to Pinako. "I'll do that, then."
"And if he does something he shouldn't be doing, then you have my permission to kill him," the plain tone in the older Rockbell's tone made it obvious that she was open the the chance that Edward might commit some perverted action towards her granddaughter. Both teenagers blushed furiously, Edward grumbling in a projected manner,
"Why the hell would I do something like that anyway? You have a disgusting mind, midget hag."
"I'm fairly certain yours is worse," Pinako retorted. She smirked when she noticed his lack of response. Winry only sat slumped in her chair, fingers clenching at the edge of the wood seat.
"Again, Winry, you can kill him if he does something stupid."
"R-right, Baa-chan," she said quickly. "Uh, why don't you go ahead now?"
"Fine, fine, if you want me out of here so badly," her grandmother gave her a knowing grin.
"Baa-chan, it's not like tha-" she was interrupted by the sound of the front door slamming. With a sigh, she slid quietly out of the chair, taking her syrupy plate with her towards the sink to wash it; Winry made a quick detour to fetch Edward's plate, which he had left on the floor. He merely glared at her as she passed, and she did her best to ignore it.
She had just finished scrubbing the second dish when he called her over, his tone miffed and impatient. Shutting the running water off and placing the still wet plate into the sink, Winry complied and walked silently over to him, prepared for a complaint about more bleeding or a loose bandage. Instead, Edward surprised her with a haughty glare and a sulky,
"We need to talk, Rockbell-san."
Hope to update at least twice more during this lovely Spring Break, if I can get my hands on my mother's laptop again...let's just hope and pray. -sigh- I'm going to sleep now. It's 2:42 AM. Good night. Morning. Whatever. I'm too tired to remember.
