DISCLAIMER: Nope. Nope. And nope
WORDCOUNT: 597
SUMMARY: Normality, such a relative term.
DEDICATION: To Sharon, for reeling me in. You knew I wouldn't be able to resist, sweets, and you were right. This is SO your fault. :-P
NORMALITY
by Leni
Winry Rockbell is a normal girl. Well, a normal girl who likes metal parts more than dresses. And who has always had two boys as her best friends instead of another girl. And who treats them with a careful mix of impatience and tolerance that takes her to the edge of a psychosis. And…
Okay, not so normal.
But she has a secret. As a girl she's entitled to a couple of those, both the female and the mechanic parts of her intuition reassures her of that fact. That makes her normal. Kinda.
She wears her secret. Now, that isn't so normal. But this is Winry Rockbell and by now we've learned that she's entitled not to be that normal a girl.
It's a tiny secret, when you think about it. Size-wise, that is. She often doesn't think about it, or tries not to. She's too embarrassed and likes to hide it under her hair. It is that tiny. Ah, yes, her hair. The same blonde hair that is now tied back so it doesn't cloud her view of Ed's artificial shoulderblade. She examines the metal and forgets her secret, forgets her hair and that it can't hide anything now. Winry forgets everything that aren't ideas to repair whatever damage the silly boy has done to her precious work, again.
Yes, Ed is a silly boy. That's why he looks at her and sees. That's why he gets curious and asks. Couldn't he ask about what she was doing to his arm? Or why she was muttering murderously under her breath? No, Edward Elric had to look up and see and ask and now Winry is blushing. Blushing. Now we know she can act like any other girl, too.
And yes, he is a silly boy, because the blush, he doesn't notice.
"Must your earrings be metal, too?" Ed says, so carelessly. So very sillily.
Winry freezes, and suddenly fixates on a joining that doesn't need any fixation from her. She shakes her head sharply so that her hair comes flying forward. Not to hide her secret now, not only that. The red of her cheeks can't be visible between blonde strands, can it? But there's still a question to answer, and she has known Ed for her whole life and he never ever lets sleeping dogs lie. See? Silly boy.
"They are from my first automail," she mumbles, and raises a hand to feel the two small metal pieces at her right earlobe. Then she risks a glance to his face and breathes in relief when he simply nods and smiles at her to continue her work.
Winry Rockbell may not be that normal; but she is a nice girl, and nice girls don't lie. But this wasn't a lie, not really. Not a complete one, by any means. Half a lie, if you want to be exact. Because the upper earring does come from her first professional work. But the other one, the one she rubs when she's thinking or worried and never ever imagines of as her personal amulet (her personal secret), that one comes from the first automail Ed brought for her to repair.
But shhhh! That's a secret.
"Stay quiet, will you?" She tells him firmly when he starts fidgeting. He fixes her with a glare and she returns it with a sterner one. The blush has finally subsided, no more questions are asked and when she has to scream at him to Stop Moving Or Else, everything between Edward Elric and Winry Rockbell is back to…
Well, back to normality.
The End
03/11/05
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