Justify

He looks at his watch, scowls again, and decides that now they have definitely been gone long enough to justify his getting angry. He crosses his arms and glares out of the window, trying to ignore his stomach's persistent grumbling reminders. Ed is hungry- and when Ed is hungry, Ed must be fed. They went out to buy food for him, dammit; but he wouldn't be surprised if instead they took the opportunity to go shopping together, or wander down to the river hand in hand, or share an ice cream sundae, or something equally sappy and ridiculous. That would be just like them.

Not that Ed minds them being sappy and romantic as a rule- in fact, he finds it rather cute, although he would rather die than admit it- he just happens to passionately loathe and despise anything that comes between food, and his ever-increasing desire for it. Although he has got no taller over the years, his appetite is one thing that has been growing. He has always been a great fan of victuals, but the recent changes in his eating habits have been rather alarming to observe. The others watched the process avidly, noting his temper becoming yet more volatile at every mealtime, and his definition of a serving size enlarging rapidly, as Edward Elric became a slave to his stomach. Despite it all, he has kept up his active lifestyle, and he exercises regularly, so he knows that there is nothing they can really say to prevent him from consuming all that he wants to.

He has made sure to flout this freedom; and rather than try to change his habits, they content themselves with quiet jokes, and laughing, not-so-quiet observations that would prompt an angry response from him- had his mouth not already been filled with food.

So he huffs, and sighs, and notes wretchedly that the sun has already begun to set, which will make their journey back to the house even slower. Why did he ask both of them to go when he knows only too well how they distract each other from the task at hand?

So that they could carry more food, his mind supplies. Ed ignores it.

It is true, though, how besotted they are. Ed never before imagined that there was anything on this world that could distract Winry from what she has always loved above all else- her work. He never once suspected Al to be the romantic type either. Throughout his whole life, he has been fairly certain in his judgements of the two people he knows better than anyone else. Throughout their whole lives, those two people have also been fairly sure about their own personalities as well. It is strange- no, it is almost inconceivable- that such a minor happening as a person that they have always known suddenly becoming something other than a friend to them, can change their behaviour so much.

Now, Al gets a soft, melting look in his eyes whenever he sees her; and Winry is willing to stop her work in order to go for a walk with him, or sit in the garden with him, or even just have a chat with him, for God's sake. Ed would have thought they had looked at each other and talked to each other enough times for them to no longer get all droopy-eyed and smiley over it- but apparently not. He doesn't understand it at all; but when he voiced this thought to the two of them, it was merely met with an unsettling smile and the disturbing assertion that "believe me, some day you will".

Ed's stomach rumbles again. He winces, and glances out of the window for the hundredth time.

And this time he sees them, finally, rounding the crest of the hill leading down to the house. Al is riding his bicycle, and the handlebars appear alarmingly weighed down, with bags of groceries hanging off both sides, and Winry balanced precariously in the centre, her expression flickering between laughter and fear as they begin to pick up speed.

Ed flings the window open and yells exasperatedly at the pair of them and their bicycle, free-wheeling down the slope to the house. And as he watches them slide to a gasping, giggling halt in the front yard, he thinks that, despite how strange and bizarre and occasionally frustrating their behaviour is, he can't find it in his heart to be angry at them for long.

Author's notes: Written purely because the image of Al and Winry on the bicycle was haunting me and refusing to go away unitl I acknowledged it. I thought of drawing a picture of it, but I'm already hopelessly tangled up in a picture that involves a wheelchair. I don't need to draw any more pictures of impossibly difficult contraptions, thank you very much. So I wrote this instead.

On another note, moron!Ed/food is my new OTP XD

On yet another note, today is a very special day. Like, really special. Today, I am celebrating the following: 1) The end of my exams. Booyah. 2) The arrival of my three FMA novels, and the shipping of all my other merchandise. Yay. 3) The anime con I am going to later today. I'm so excited! There are hardly any cons in my country. . . 4) Reaching 50 reviews. Woo! -luffs you all- And, lastly, but probably most relevantly, 5) The one month anniversary of this series!!!

-wipes tear from eye- They grow up so fast. . .

Now, normally I don't do much to celebrate a landmark. Like, I leave a note here saying thanks or whoot or something. But today, as SO much awesome stuff has happened/ is about to happen, I just HAD to do something. And if you look on YouTube for "FMA 'Why Don't You and I': AlWin Tribute", you will find out exactly what :P