Fanfiction: Wildered With Reading (FMA)

[nebroadwe]

Title: Drabble: Wildered With Reading
Fandom: FMA (manga version)
Character(s): Ed, Winry
Pairing(s): None. For reasons that will become obvious ...
Rating: G
Word Count: 100
Warnings: None.
A/N: The title for this one comes from Henry Augustin Beers's sappy poem, "On a Miniature" and the inspiration from rereading the slightly overwrought prose of Baroness Orczy's Scarlet Pimpernel (though the heroine thereof is less inclined to faint than rush off to save the hero, thank goodness). Concrit welcomed with vouchers for Almack's. Crossposted from nebroadwe to Höllenbeck (i.e. hagaren_manga, fm_alchemist, fma_gen, fma_writers and fma_fiction).

---

      "You actually read that stuff?" Ed asks, noticing the dime romance peeking out of Winry's bag. "It's so ... girly."

      "I'm a girl," Winry reminds him. (Sometimes she has to.)

      "Yeah, but those girls are all helpless and frilly." He pokes the frilly, willowy figure illustrated on the cover and grimaces. "Screaming 'Unhand me!' at the villain and fainting onto the hero -- you wonder why anyone wants 'em." Looking Winry up and down, he adds, "Not like you. You'd throw wrenches."

      And he wonders why she reads romances. "How do you know so much about these things, Edward?" she inquires sweetly.

---

[Acknowledgments: Fullmetal Alchemist (Hagane no Renkinjutsushi) was created by Arakawa Hiromu and was serialized monthly in Shonen Gangan (Square Enix); two anime of the same title were produced by Studio Bones. Copyright for these properties is held by Arakawa Hiromu, Square Enix, Mainichi Broadcasting System, Aniplex, Bones, and dentsu.]

Comments

[evil-little-dog.livejournal.com]

Ed gapes as Winry goes on about her automail letting him down. "Wait, what? What?" Screwing up his face at all of the wrong in what she's saying. "Winry, I'm not kidding when I say your automail is the best. I wouldn't say that if I didn't mean it! Look!"

Going through a kata Izumi had taught him, Ed shows off his flexibility and range of motion. "See?"

[nebroadwe.livejournal.com]

Ooh, nice. Winry surely does appreciate the grace with which Ed manipulates her masterpieces. Some clients never quite get used to automail -- either they expect it to work exactly like the limb it replaces or they lug it around as if it were an unpowered prosthetic. But Ed knows exactly what he's doing, muscle and bone and pneumatics and steel all integrated and balanced and strong. "You're right," she sighs. "It's beautiful."

[evil-little-dog.livejournal.com]

Ed hears that sigh and the sound of it nearly distracts him but he catches himself before he does something stupid and falls down in a heap. Finishing the kata, Ed bows to Winry, trying to catch his breath.

"See?" He slaps his automail, as if showing off where a muscle would be. "This is your work."

[nebroadwe.livejournal.com]

Winry gets to her feet and bows in return. "Thanks," she says, because not every client can appreciate her work properly, either. And Ed's straightforward admiration of her skill is certainly more welcome than the my-you're-a-pretty-little-thing-for-an-engineer she usually hears. (Although the romance-reading part of her brain is inclined to wonder whether a) Ed thinks she's pretty, and b) if he does, will he ever say so?) "Nothing but the best for my best client -- my best friend," she amends, and grins.

[evil-little-dog.livejournal.com]

Best client? Before Ed can react to that, Winry says 'friend', and that's better but...

Maybe that's not what you want.

GAH! Why does that bastard's voice sneak into his head at the worst possible times?!

Ed's frozen in place, a grimace on his face, completely oblivious to his surroundings - and Winry - while he argues with that voice in his his head.

Ah, early 20th-c. gender relations ...

[nebroadwe.livejournal.com]

Winry's grin falters. Maybe she should have said "oldest friend" -- she's not sure she knows any boys who are "best friends" with a girl -- or stuck with "best client". Or maybe even "worst patient" -- he'd get the joke, wouldn't he?

At least in manga-canon, he never said "she's like my sister?"

[hands4healing.livejournal.com]

Still grimacing, Ed gives the Mustang-Voice-In-His-Head a couple of swears and obscene gestures, which just makes the Voice laugh and call him a child before retreating.

"NNG!"

And he realizes he's glaring at Winry and she's not who he's mad at.

...oops.

IIRC, he just went straight to reciting the periodic table.

[nebroadwe.livejournal.com]

And now he's glaring at her -- what IS it with him, anyway? Even if he doesn't think of us as best friends, we're still friends! Right? Or at least genius engineer and satisfied client. Her grin backs down to a practiced professional smile; she stoops and fumbles in her bag for the pad of invoices. "So, then, the usual fee for a check-up?"

And spat tea on an evil little dog....

[evil-little-dog.livejournal.com]

"Uh...yeah, sure." Ed's blinking, wondering just what the hell is going on here. And how he can fix it.

He blushes. "But...ah..." He's ignoring that voice that has reappeared in his head, determined to give advice. IGNORING. "Maybe we should...uh...go get you some...different books to read on your trip back to Rush Valley!"

Which explains so much about your relationship!

[nebroadwe.livejournal.com]

Oh, we're back to that, are we? "I don't think so," she says, licking the end of her pencil. "I like this one fine. The heroine is tall and smart, and the hero is even taller and loves her for her bravery and keen wits." She scribbles his name and the accommodation address he uses in Central onto the invoice. "And her brother is short and blond and handsome and a master swordsman ... who spends most of the book dressed up as a girl."

PFFFFFFFFT.

[evil-little-dog.livejournal.com]

Ed really wishes Winry hadn't licked her pencil like that. It distracts him from whatever it is she's saying - is it as important as getting his body under control? Damn involuntary reactions!

But one word catches his attention and Ed whirls on Winry, stabbing a finger at her. "WHO ARE YOU CALLING TOO TINY TO DRESS LIKE A MAN!?!?!"

...wait...what did Winry just say? What did he say in response? Oh, hell.

Hahahahaha!

[nebroadwe.livejournal.com]

Winry stares cross-eyed at his accusing finger ... then rocks back onto her heels, laughing. "Never mind!" she gasps between whoops and waves the invoice at him. "Here you go, you goof. Want me to lend you the book, too? You might learn something ..."

XD

[evil-little-dog.livejournal.com]

"I KNOW ENOUGH!" Ed snatches the invoice and shoves it in his pocket. "Girls like tall guys!" His antenna is quivering, he's so indignant. And Winry's laughing!

By the way, the novel Winry's reading? Heyer's "Masqueraders." 'Cause it's cool.

[nebroadwe.livejournal.com]

Winry finally catches her breath, though Ed with his hair all on end with fury is one of the funniest things she's seen in months. (Not to mention that the tension in his arm and shoulders brings his rather attractive musculature into prominence.) "Some do," she admits, still chuckling a little. "And some of us like guys who can make us laugh."

Oh? I'll have to see if the library has it. XD

[evil-little-dog.livejournal.com]

And just like that, Ed's rage is punctured, and he gapes at Winry, his accusatory arm falling at his side. What does that mean, anyway? "What the hell do you mean?" After all, she's laughing at him -

...oh.

Oh...damn.

Wait...maybe this is a good thing? And why did that stupid bastard's voice decide to shut up now?!

[nebroadwe.livejournal.com]

Oops. She probably should have led up to that more gently. Ed's poleaxed look is enough to set her giggling again, but there's a nervous edge to it that even she can hear. He was upset enough by the "best friend" thing -- he'd probably bolt if she admitted in so many words that, of all the guys who make her laugh, she likes him the most. She colors. "Oh ... well ... you know ..."

[evil-little-dog.livejournal.com]

Hey, wait, Winry looks...like he's caught her at something. Ed suddenly feels maybe he has an upper hand for the first time since he'd seen that stupid yellowbook romance in Winry's hands. "I know?" he asks, showing a few extra teeth to his best friend.

[nebroadwe.livejournal.com]

Oh, good, he's not bolting -- in fact, he's got that cocky smirk on his face, the one that means he thinks he's going to win. Instinctively, she rises to the challenge, standing up to face him. "You should!"

[evil-little-dog.livejournal.com]

Oh, ho, Winry's on the defensive, which means he definitely has the upper hand. A few more teeth came out as she glares - and why does she look cute when she's glaring at him? - and Ed almost purrs, "I should? Maybe you should explain it to me, Winry!"

[nebroadwe.livejournal.com]

Grrr. Fine, then: he asked for it. She snatches up the book and riffles through its pages, searching for an appropriate passage. "Oh, I'll explain, all right!"

[evil-little-dog.livejournal.com]

Ed grabs the book and holds it out of Winry's reach. "Uh-uh! I want to hear it from you! Not some cenz dreadful!"

[nebroadwe.livejournal.com]

"Hey!" Winry exclaims, swiping vainly at the novel. "That's mine! Give it back!"

[evil-little-dog.livejournal.com]

"Nope. I want to hear it in your words." Ed can dodge forever and he might not be taller than Winry - wait, maybe he's at least as tall as she is - but he's not giving the book back. Nope.

[nebroadwe.livejournal.com]

This is the downside of Ed's fantastic physical coordination: he's as good at eluding her at close range as she is at wrenching him from afar. "I already said!" she retorts, hands on hips, watching him narrowly for an opening. "If you weren't listening, it's your own fault!"

[evil-little-dog.livejournal.com]

Ed screws up his face. "What, that thing about making you laugh?" Surely that's not what Winry's talking about because if he makes her laugh - none of the heroes in books like these (Not that he's admitting he's actually, you know, read them or anything) ever got laughed at by the girl. And he can't remember Izumi laughing at Sig, or...his mom laughing at that old bastard. "That doesn't seem," and he wonders what he's going to say next, because his mouth is just running ahead of his brain, "good! It sounds like you're making fun of some poor slob!"