Disclaimer: I do not own Fullmetal Alchemist. I wish I was that smart.

Talking

"That wasn't necessary."

"What do you mean?"

"You overreacted."

"I did not. That guy was mocking me."

"He just asked what you were doing by yourself."

"No, he asked why a small kid like me was by himself. A small kid. He had it coming."

"You tried to punch him in the face!"

"Yeah, and I would have, if you hadn't pulled me back!"

"I had to! We're trying to get information from the people in this town. They need to trust us. We can't go around getting into fights with them."

"We'll be fine. We'll figure it out, even if we can't get any good information here."

"And what if you get your automail damaged—"

"Hey, don't act like I'm not talking."

"—you'll have to get it fixed, and then Winry will just worry more."

"…Whatever. I don't care what she thinks anyways."

"Heh."

"What? What are you 'heh'-ing about?"

"You i do /i care about what she thinks."

"What?"

"Just admit it."

"Fine, I care. After all, she is our i friend. /i "

"Mm-hmm."

"Knock that off!"

………….

"We didn't find anything. This whole trip was a waste."

"It's okay. You even said we'd be alright even if we couldn't find out anything here. We'll be fine."

"…"

"Brother?"

"I'm sorry."

"It's okay; I don't think anyone even liked that man you tried to hit, so that didn't affect our investigation at all."

"Not that! I'm not sorry about that at all!"

"Oh. Then, what?"

"For all of this."

"Brother…"

"No, don't. It really is. Everything fell apart because of me…and I can't even figure out how to fix it."

"I made the choice, too. I shoulder the blame with you; you're not alone."

"Hey…"

"You're my brother, and I love you. I won't leave you alone in this."

"…I love you, too. I'm glad you're with me."

"Heh heh."

"Huh?"

"I know who else you lo—"

"Hey, knock it off! Are you still on that?"

"You love Win—"

"I said shut up!"

"Hey! Brother, I'm going to get dented! Stop it!"

"Don't run from me! Get back here!"

………….

"Hey."

"Yeah?"

"You'll always stay with me, right?"

"Yeah."

"Thanks."