81So, the idea for this story grabbed a hold of me a few days ago and has not left me since. I absolutely love fma college AU's and so when the idea for one of my own came to me, I just couldn't resist. I already have the first five chapters written and a pretty good idea of where I want the rest of them to go so if enough people are enjoying this story, updates should be pretty frequent. Hope you guys like it and let me know if you want me to continue!
PS: The title for this story came from the song Devil's Backbone by The Civil Wars that will actually be featured later in the story. Just so you know ;)
Winry Rockbell gulped as she looked up at the daunting building that would be her home for the next year. Powell Hall was one of the more run down dorms at Central University, but because she had taken so long to make her decision about where she wanted to go to college, she had been stuck taking whatever housing she could get.
Families with weepy parents and excited college freshman surrounded her as people were moving in and looking around at campus. Winry watched one girl hug her parents goodbye with a twinge of jealousy. The past few months had been a whirlwind of major decisions and life transitions that she had had to go through without the aide of her parents, who had passed away when she was a young girl. For the most part, Winry was living on her own very well, but seeing other kids her age go through high school graduation and heading off to college with their families made Winry sad that she was doing it all alone.
Well, not entirely alone. She had her Granny Pinako there with her, but it was noticeably different. Granny's health had been deteriorating lately, so instead of her grandmother helping her through this major transition, Winry mostly helped her grandmother stay alive.
That was one of the main reasons she had taken so much time figuring out where she wanted to spend the next four years of her life. There were no major universities near where she lived in Resembool, which meant that she would either have to move her grandmother with her or find a live in nurse to take care of her. She had decided on the former, figuring Central was a good place for her ailing grandmother to find a good nursing home and still be close to Winry. They had moved her granny in the week before and now it was her turn.
Yet another major event she had to do by herself. She groaned just thinking of the many trips up and down the stairs she was going to have to take to move all her stuff into her new room.
She took a deep breath and walked into the lobby of the large dorm. She waited in line to get checked in and receive her keys before she found herself standing in front of room 407.
This was it. This small dorm room would be the place she would call home until school ended in May. Whether or not she liked it, she was stuck here. She had better get used to it.
She opened the door and walked inside. The first thing she noticed was a pretty girl with olive skin and strangely colored hair folding clothes next to one of the two beds. The girl looked up when she entered and flashed a bright smile.
"Hi! You must be Winry. I'm Rose," she said politely as she extended her hand to Winry who shook it back.
"Nice to meet you. I take it you're my new roommate?" Winry asked as she set down one of her bags on the opposite bed.
"Yep!" Rose seemed nice. She was quite bubbly, which was something that Winry was a little worried about living with, but overall she didn't seem like a horrible girl to have as a roommate.
"Is that all you brought with you?" Rose asked as she looked at the two tote bags Winry had brought up with her.
"Oh, god no. I have a bunch of stuff in my car. Ugh, it's going to take forever to get it all up here," she said more to herself as she thought of the daunting task ahead of her.
"Aren't your parents going to help you?"
Winry inwardly winced at the question. Here we go…
"Uh, my parents died when I was a kid," she said, awkwardly awaiting the typical response that came from that bit of information. This was why she hated meeting new people.
"Oh my god, I'm so sorry," her roommate said sympathetically. Winry was used to this by now. It never made sense that people still felt the need to feel sorry for her after so many years, but here she was.
"It's fine. I was little when it happened, so it's not that big of a deal now. It does make moving onto the fourth floor of a dorm a bit more difficult."
"Yeah, I'll bet," Rose said, still wearing a sympathetic look. "Hey, you know what you should do?"
"What?"
"There are some guys downstairs that might help you out with your stuff. Apparently they're there every year. They consider it a good way to pick up young freshman, so I would be careful, but I'm sure they'd be willing to help you."
It was a good option, though Winry was a little weary of a bunch of jocks trying to flirt with her while they were moving all of her stuff in. Still, her only other choice would be to bring it up by herself and she was not in the mood to do that.
"Hm, I'll go check it out."
"Okay! I'll still be here folding clothes until eternity when you get back," Rose said with a smile.
Winry smiled back thinking that she had maybe just made her first friend at college before she went back downstairs much more at ease than she was when she had first arrived.
When Winry got downstairs, there was, sure enough, a group of athletic looking guys with a hand written sign that said 'Muscle Man Movers. Got shit? We'll move it!'.
Creative motto Winry thought to herself with a roll of her eyes before she walked up to them.
"Um, excuse me?" she shyly asked before one of them, a tall blonde with a shirt that said 'Central University Baseball', turned around and, upon getting a good look at her, flashed her a gorgeous smile.
"Hi there. Need some help?"
"Uh, yeah. I live on the fourth floor and don't have anyone else who can help move all my stuff. I was told you guys were good at that sort of thing."
"Well, sweetheart, you have come to the right place. The guys and I are pro movers and we'd be happy to help," the guy said, still sporting a smile that was to die for.
"Great. My car is just over there," she said, slightly uneasily, as she led the blonde and a few of his friends to where her car was parked.
As they walked, the guy introduced himself. "My name is Russell, by the way. These guys are some of my friends from the baseball team," he said as he pointed to the group walking with them.
"Nice to meet you. I'm Winry," she said with a polite smile. She was still a little nervous about what the true intention of these jocky movers was, but she was thankful they were willing to help.
When they got to her car, they managed to get all of her things between the four of them with a little help from Winry herself. Russell made more small talk that could only be interpreted as blatant flirting until they reached her room.
"Here we are," she said before she opened her door and let the four boys into the room. Rose looked on appreciatively as four baseball players walked into her dorm room behind her roommate. Everyone knew the baseball team was one of the best looking of all the sports teams at Central.
The boys placed all of Winry's stuff in the middle of the dorm room and then turned to her. She wasn't sure what they wanted, so she just assumed they were waiting for her to pay them.
"Oh, uh, how much do you guys want?" she asked as she grabbed her wallet from her purse.
"Oh we don't charge anything, though a little tip would be nice. We just ask one thing in return."
That didn't sound good. "What?" she asked them wearily.
"Next Saturday, I'm throwing a party at my house a few blocks from campus and you have to attend."
"What? Seriously?" she blurted out, thinking the proposition was absolutely ridiculous. Winry knew that parties were a big thing for young college students, but she had sworn to herself that she would have no part in it. She had too many things to do to spend her college career partying.
"Of course. We figure it's the least you can do for us after we just lugged all of your stuff up four flights of stairs for free," Russell said as his friends all nodded in agreement. All three of them had not said a single word the entire time they were helping her, which led Winry to believe that Russell acted as the ring leader for their group of friends.
"I'll gladly pay if that's what you want."
"That's not what I want. What I want is to see your beautiful face at my party next weekend," Russell said flirtatiously.
Winry spared a quick glance at Rose who merely shrugged her shoulders. It looked as though Russell and his friends wouldn't take no for an answer. And what was the harm of showing up at a college party to say hi and then leave? She sighed, figuring there was no other option.
"Fine," she relented. Russell grinned widely and then took out a small notepad and pen from his pocket. He quickly wrote down something and then tore off the piece of paper and handed it to her. "My full name is Russell Tringham. This is my address. Party starts at 8. Can't wait to see you there," he told her with a wink before he nodded to his friends and they all left the girl's dorm room.
"Wow. Sorry about recommending them, Winry. I didn't know they were going to ask you that," Rose told her.
"No, it's okay. It's just one party," she said, but Rose could tell that Winry was still unsure of herself.
"You don't have to go if you don't want to. Who knows how many girls that douchebag has invited today. And in a week, he's probably not even going to remember who you are. If you don't like parties, then don't go."
"Yeah, I guess you're right," Winry said before she made an attempt to shake the whole thing off and focus on the task at hand. She had a lot of crap and it would take forever to unpack it all.
Rose and Winry spent the rest of the day unpacking and getting to know each other better. The more she talked to her, the more Winry decided that she liked Rose. She was fun and easygoing and had lots of cool stories to tell. Winry knew they would live together just fine.
She was thankful that she lucked out with her roommate. That was one thing she had been worried about with college that she could safely say she felt good about. Now she had to move on and deal with the next thing she was worried about.
The first day of classes.
Well, what do you think?
