Chapter Text
He hated this job. He hated it with a fucking passion but at least, unlike his previous jobs, it actually paid the bills. He had a lot of bills to pay, what with the house and his brother in hospital and then living expenses on top of that… it was kind of hard to get well-paying jobs as a teenager, especially one who looked younger than their actual age, so the fact he’d found something that actually paid well enough to support him and Al both was kind of a miracle.
There were things he liked about the job, to be honest. Not many, but there were some.
One was that he had flexible hours, and so could work a second job when he had extra bills.
Another was the free coffee and end-of-the-day pastries. He was studying as well as working, he practically lived off caffeine.
There was a third thing he liked about his job, and she had just walked through the door.
Pink hair, green eyes and lithe muscle all belonging to one deceptively pretty young woman named Sakura. He’d never say that she was ‘deceptively pretty’ out loud, though. Even if she didn’t hear him, Winry was vicious with her spanners and would find out eventually that he’d said something that sounded derogatory.
But what Ed meant was that she wasn’t just pretty. She was – from what he’d heard when she was in the coffee shop with her classmates – incredibly intelligent. Like, genius-level intelligence. Ed would be willing to bet she was as smart as (if not smarter than) him.
And, as usual, she was here at 6pm for her pre-shift caffeine. From the bits of conversation he’d heard, and what she’d let slip, she was an intern at the hospital as well as finishing her studies.
“Evening,” he greeted, his small concession to the forced manners of retail and customer service.
“Hi,” she greeted in turn, a smile curling her lips up just a bit.
“The usual?”
“Yes, thank you.” She handed over her cash as she spoke, and once the transaction was completed Ed set about making her drink – triple-strength espresso shot with a shot of melted chocolate and topped up with skim milk. “Busy day?”
He could manage small talk, and with her he didn’t even mind it.
“A little. Normal for a Friday, really,” Ed shrugged, frowning as something in the coffee machine gave a loud ‘clunk’ and the beans stopped grinding. “Goddammit. Are you in a hurry?”
“No, I don’t start for another hour.”
“Well this shouldn’t take that long to fix, just give me ten minutes.”
“No rush,” Sakura replied, and took a seat on the chair closest to the counter. The rest of the store was empty and quiet, and Ed didn’t bother censoring his mutterings as he dug out the maintenance kit for the monstrosity of a machine he had to work with.
He was almost elbow-deep in the damned thing when the door to the shop opened, and his automatic glance up revealed a hoodie-wearing man – not unusual considering the proximity of the coffee shop to the town’s university campus.
“Just a minute,” he called, and turned his attention back to the coffee machine.
The click of metal on metal made him look up again, and he almost swore vehemently at the sight of a handgun pointed his way.
He was still elbow-deep in the coffee machine.
“You aren’t going to move, right?” the hoodie-wearer demanded, and Ed scowled. He would definitely move, but he wasn’t alone in the store. He might be confident about getting the handgun away from this dickhead, but he wasn’t sure he could do it without causing said dickhead to target Sakura.
“Right,” he ground out. Hoodie Guy nodded and turned his face towards Sakura, although he didn’t take his eyes off Ed.
“You, girl, get behind the counter and open the till.” Sakura glanced at Ed, who nodded, and the pink-haired young woman stood slowly. “Get a move on!” Her hands came up.
“I’m going,” she said calmly, and started moving past the wannabe robber towards the till.
What happened next was not at all what Ed had expected.
As she moved past Hoodie Guy, Sakura’s steps slowed. She turned slightly, and then in the space of a few seconds her hands lashed out towards Hoodie Guy multiple times.
First she knocked his arm sideways, the other hand grabbing the handgun and twisting hard enough to force him to let go. Then, before he could react to losing his weapon, Sakura’s left hand swung towards his face in a fantastic left hook. Hoodie Guy staggered, knocked completely off balance by the sudden attack.
Sakura swung her right arm around in another hook, this time hitting the other side of Hoodie Guy’s jaw, and as soon as there was room between them her left leg swung straight up – and came crashing down hard on Hoodie Guy’s shoulder.
He crumpled to the floor, all but screaming and clutching his shoulder – she’d probably broken his collarbone – and Sakura kicked out one more time. This time her heel hit his jaw, and he was sent sprawling across the floor unconscious.
“Idiot,” Sakura muttered into the suddenly-silent air of the coffee shop, turning back around to face Ed.
He was pretty sure he was gaping at her – that was no amateur self-defence training at play, that was for damn sure!
Sakura blushed, ducking her head, and Ed realised that yes, he was gawping at her.
“That was awesome,” he blurted out. She looked back up, and he grinned as he finally extracted himself from the coffee machine. “Seriously, I haven’t seen anyone move like that since last time I sparred with my teacher. That’s some impressive stuff.”
“Thanks. I’ve been taught since I was little. My most recent teacher is about my size and has been teaching me how to hit hard despite being small.” She was babbling a little, but it was kind of… cute.
So she was attractive, intelligent and a trained fighter – he might just be in love.
“Thanks for the save. Anything I can get you?”
“How about a date?” Sakura blurted out, just as he’d blurted his praise earlier. Ed blinked.
“Really?” Her cheeks were red. That was pretty cute too.
“Yeah. I… keep meaning to ask whenever I come in but you’re kind of intimidating.”
“Oh.” That was a bit of a shock. Not that he was going to say no. “How’s tomorrow for you? I finish here at 1pm.”
“Oh! Wait, you’re saying yes?”
“Yeah.”
“Oh. Um, well, I’m busy til 12.30 but I can get here by 1pm if you want to meet here?”
“Sounds like it’s a date.”
Sakura blushed again.
“It’s a date.”
…
“I should probably call the cops and an ambulance.”
“Yes, probably. I think I broke his collarbone.”
“Nice.”