Draped in Wires
by. Poisoned Scarlet

Theme 023: "Rules Don't Stop Me"

Pinako Rockbell prided herself in being a disciplinary woman. She did not take any sort of unruly behavior and she most definitely did not tolerate any inappropriate behavior around the house. She had always been aware of the budding romance between her precious granddaughter and the equally loved young boy she saw as her own.

She had been more concerned during their two year stay a few years ago than now, to be honest. However, Edward had been more caught up with the progressing physical and psychological development of his younger brother in his human body than her sweet granddaughter. They both had, she remembered, and so they had both neglected each other until the very end. But by then it was too late to begin anything worth mentioning.

They both knew the rules, however, so she was not very worried of Edward breaking them although he had the reputation for being a rule bender. Her granddaughter was more than apt enough to set him straight as she would know better than either brother just how much of a hard ass she actually was.

Pinako admitted, though, she had never let the thought of her granddaughter actually breaking rules cross her mind.

Maybe she should have.

"Alphonse, go upstairs if you're sleepy!" Pinako told Al, who was dozing on the couch. Mei had long since retired to her bed. "You'll get a bad kink in your neck if you sleep like that and I'm too old to carry you back up!"

Alphonse yawned, forcing himself on his feet. "Alright, granny...g'night!" He sleepily made his way back up the stairs, his grandmother's firm "good night, Alphonse!" distant as he stumbled into his room and fell face-first into his own bunk; forgetting to check his brothers bed as he was too tuckered out from the days events.

Pinako followed Al a few minutes later, after checking all of the locks on the doors, and headed up the stairs slowly. Her ankle joints were killing her from walking all over town so much and her eyes felt scratchy. She honestly just wanted to snuggle into her sheets and sleep it off. She blew out her pipe and had been about to head over to her room when her granddaughters door caught her attention.

It was closed.

That wasn't normal.

Her granddaughter always kept her door open.

Curious, Pinako hobbled her way to the bedroom door. She was about to open to peek inside, as sometimes Winry slept with her door closed, but paused when she heard sheets shuffling and soft sounds come from inside. They didn't sound inappropriate, she comforted herself with that, they sounded...like words? Pinako vaguely wondered who she was speaking to when a particularly inappropriate noise jerked her still.

Suddenly, it all made sense.

Pinako allowed an evil smirk to crawl on her face. Although she could not say she was not impressed that the runt had managed to muster up enough nerve to both start something with her granddaughter and break her golden rule, that did not mean it would exempt him from punishment.

You wanna' play with fire, Pinako thought, preparing her pipe. You better be prepared to get burned, boy! She threw the door open, pressing her lips in a disapproving line when both Ed and Winry started on top of the bed.

She saw her granddaughter squeak out, "Granny!" and try to pull her shirt down desperately while Edward swore loudly and hastily stumbled off of Winry, landing on the floor beside her with a bewildered expression. He was, to her surprise, shirtless although she saw no sign of a shirt lying around so she assumed that he was in his sleeping attire, the thought encouraged when she noted the loose sleeping pants.

How fitting, Pinako thought with a shake of her head.

"And just what," she began, thunderously, "did I tell you both not to do?"

"G-granny," Winry's pitched voice caught her attention. She noticed the red of her face and wondered if this humiliation would prevent a second take. "We..um..."

"Oh, you don't need explain yourselves!" Pinako growled, pipe held threatening in one hand. "I know exactly what you two were building up to and I repeat again: what did I tell you two in the beginning? Now you're both gonna' get it!"

"Granny!" Edward groaned, getting on his feet with his face beet red. "We're twenty! Don't tell me we can't at least—!"

"Hell no!" Pinako cut off bluntly. "Not under my roof you can't!"

"But we weren't even—!"

"Don't lie to me and say you weren't gonna'." Pinako crossed the room and, even though Ed towered feet above her, managed to catch his ear with her fingers. "You'll get your earful in a bit, Winry, don't you think you're getting out clean!"

Winry groaned and let her face fall in her hands. She knew this was a bad idea from the beginning but Edward had a way, a way she had recently discovered, of seducing her into trying out the most dangerous of things – such as convincing her they would be able to trick her grandmother into thinking they were sleeping..

It seemed that his thirst for adrenaline had yet to die.

"OW! What the—lemme' go—Okay! Gentle, that hurts—damn it, I need that thing to hear, ya' know!" Ed cringed when Pinako only twisted his ear, dragging him out of the room with a huff and walking him all the way back to his own bedroom.

She shoved him inside, snapping out: "If I catch you in there again you'll get more than an ear-pulling, son!"

"WE'RE TWENTY ALREADY!" He blew up, holding his throbbing ear in one hand.

"And I'm seventy four but you don't see me goin' around bringing random men into my room!" She retorted.

"Aw, gross, Pinako!" Ed groaned, shaking that awful mental image from his head.

"What's going on?" Al growled out, raising his head and blinking sleep-clouded eyes at them. "Why are you guys making so much noise so late at night?"

"Your brother here just got caught with his hand in the cookie jar!" Pinako narrowed her eyes. "Specifically my granddaughters cookie jar!"

"Ooh, you're in so much trouble, Ed!" Al giggled sleepily.

"ALPHONSE! NOT HELPING!" Ed snapped, glaring at his brothers drowsy grin.

"Now you stay in here and think about what you've done, boy," she emphasized disdainfully, "because you ain't getting another taste until you get yourself a job and go out and buy yourself a house!" She slammed the door, ignoring the bickering brothers within, and marched over to her granddaughter's room.

"Winry?" Pinako asked, closing the door behind her. "I know you're awake."

"I know, granny, and I am so sorry," Winry apologized morosely. "I knew it was a bad idea from the beginning but—Ed—I'm sorry, there's no excuse for what we did!"

Pinako heaved a sigh. "I expected this to happen nearly four years ago, when those two boys had just returned home and let their hormones finally eat them up. Honestly, you two never cease to surprise me!" Pinako chuckled, tapping her pipe against the door softly. "Just keep it outside the house, alright?"

Winry rose her head from her hands, curiously asking: "Y-you mean you're not mad?"

"Well, I'm upset you two had the guts to think you can get away with it." Pinako began. "But I'll be damned to suppress mother nature!" She grinned at the red flood of her cheeks. "Besides, I can't say I wouldn't have done the same – that boy got his mothers looks, alright!"

"I always thought he looked more like his dad," Winry muttered.

"He does but his dad sure as hell wasn't as handsome as that boy is! Trisha's got some good genes in her and so did Sara!" Pinako smiled, genuinely. "I can only say you two would have gorgeous babies!"

"GRANNY!"

"Hush! Mei is sleeping next door!" Pinako chided, nonplussed. "Leave it outside, got it?" She reminded, turning to leave the room when she received a meek nod of her head.

"Okay... g'night, grandma..."

"Night, Winry."

Pinako only shook her head when she heard Al's teasing laughter and Edward's enraged shouting from the room down the hall as she headed into her own bedroom for the night.

A/N: Prompt belongs to the song Rules Don't Stop Me by We Are Scientists. It's an okay song. The weirdest things inspire us authors.

Review!

Scarlett.