YAY! I had a nice Christmas… and I have learned to play Wake Me up When September Ends. I taught myself! I'm going to try and update everything today, which is only like 2 stories now, but I thought of some one-shots, and I'll add those. This is kinda a filler chap, because I need to give a little time in between this and chapter 9. So, the next chapter will be a better one…I hope…

(*)

"Hey, you have multiple ear piercings." Edward rested his head on his hands. He was watching the magic of the 'creation' of food. Better yet, an apple pie. Winry's pies were like a bit of heaven, as if Ed believed in any of that crap.

"Did you really just notice that?"

"Yeah," Edward said defensively, "sorry I don't stare at your ears all day. Why did you even do that to your ears? One per ear isn't really that bad, but what, four in one, two in the other? That's self-mutilation!"

"How?"

"You're stabbing your damn ears!"

Winry cocked her eyebrow. Edward seemed frantic. Could ear piercings really freak him out so much?

"Maybe I'm just holy." (Sorry, I wrote this after I saw Harry Potter. Best one yet, faithful to the book…they'd better not screw part two up, though…)

"Really, Winry? That's worse than Carl Azuz.(CNN Student News Anchor)"

"Are you blaming me for the fact that Mr. Anic makes us watch that? At least he isn't as bad as Mr. Dodson; he says CNN stands for Communist News Network. And Carl inspires me."
"Carl's weird and Dodson's a gay, lonely guy that probably tries to… never mind. And I'm not sure that the fact that you're inspired by Carl Azuz is a good thing. And I know for a fact that the quote was coined by George Weasley."

"Would you shut up already? You dragged me to the freaking midnight premiere; don't complain that I'm quoting it."

(*)

Winry sat in Pinako's kitchen, banging her head against the table. Edward was at an XSU (Xerxes State…) lecture for promising medical students.

"Granny what am I going to do?"

"Start with stop banging your head. What's wrong?"

"Ed got a full fuc-"

"Language, Winry."

"Sorry. Edward got a full ride to XSU, the most expensive college in Amestris."

"How is that bad?"

"I can't go there! I checked my college account, there isn't near enough!"

"Well I can't help,"

"I wasn't trying to-"

"Listen, I can't help, but your parents can." Pinako said seriously.

"Granny, how can they help they're…gone."

"You think I don't already know that? When your mother found out she was pregnant with you, she and your father started a side account for college. They added to it every week, and I haven't touched it. The account you know about I started. The last time I checked, if both accounts were combined, there's more than enough to send you to XSU."

Winry jumped over to the short woman and hugged her tightly.

"Oh thank you, thank you, thank you!"

"You really are crazy about Ed, aren't you?"

Winry released Pinako and her cheeks turned slightly pink. She loved Pinako and was close to her, but there were some things that were so… awkward to talk about.

"Y-yeah."

"He's a good boy. He's got a stomach in him, and has a short temper at times, but he's still a good person. He really does care."

"Hardly."

"How? Everytime we talk, he always finds a way to route the conversation to one about you. He's never truly steered his anger at you, unless you make fun."

"As far as he knows, we aren't going to college together!" Winry shrieked. Pinako sighed. Even though she'd lived with Winry until quite recently, she never could get used to the shrieking, the squealing…

"Oh, that? Like hell. Ed's known ever since you two applied! He asked me if there needed to be any financial support for you to go there. I said no, that it was covered. Apparently, his mother left a lot of money for him."

"R-really?"

"You have too little faith in the boy."

"Granny, he isn't really that short. He's taller than me."

"I wasn't hinting that he was short. It's just that words like short and little are good ways to describe him."

(*)

And there you go… after this, I'll type the next chapter, which is better. This one kinda sucks… and after that, another few chapters. This is turning out to be longer than I'd expected. Now I'm feeling like I'm trying too hard with some stuff. Am I being paranoid?