An Annual Thing
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She didn't get them anything from Rush Valley, Winry said, so she bought Al a new pair of gloves on the way from the train station, and borrowed Mrs. Hughes' kitchen to bake him an apple pie.
Ed brought the treat to HQ to share, when he went there to give his report. Havoc got depressed all of a sudden, Breda started saying something about the spring season, and Hawkeye patted his shoulder with a pleased smile.
He attributed the weird reactions to their poor overworked souls, until the Colonel walked in with an unusual load of colourful boxes, in full gloating mode.
"Oh?" the man raised an annoying eyebrow, "finally someone else in this office is not going to be lonely tonight, eh?"
A communal growl resounded in the room, though Ed, in his confusion, was not contributing, until--
"...And it's the smallest of you, too. Ah, what does size -- I mean, age -- matter? Ahahaha..."
All the others were too cheerfully watching to stop the Fullmetal from bashing the Flame Alchemist, whose defense was severely impaired because half his concentration went to rescuing his precious gifts from getting all trampled in the rampage.
"That jerk. What was he rambling about anyway?" Ed wondered aloud, when said jerk had finally managed to escape to the relative safety of his office.
"Eh, you don't know?" Farman paused from peeling a chocolate bar that had fallen from the Colonel's pile. "Today is--"
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When Ed got back to the inn, Winry asked him if the others had liked the pie, and he found he couldn't quite look at her.
"What's wrong?" she frowned. "Did they like it?"
"Y-yeah... they did," he swallowed. "S-so... this had better not be a... an annual thing."
She looked at him strangely. "If you want to have more, Ed, just ask nicely."
"I don't--" Ed started to protest, but stopped in time.
Winry waited, but no other words came forth. She huffed. "Geez, what's wrong with you guys today? And I thought Al would like the gloves too..."
"N-no, Winry, I do like them..." A small voice came from the corner.
"Then," Winry turned to the suit of armour sitting sheepishly at the other side of the room, "why were you trying to hide them?"
"Eh?" Ed turned too.
"Uhm, no, I wasn't trying to--"
Winry proceeded to the wardrobe and took the gloves out from where Al had put it. "Hmm... could it be the colour? It's not even remotely pink... Maybe green is not the 'in' thing in Central?"
Ed, meanwhile, had made use of the opening to quickly scurry over to his little brother's side.
"Nee, Al... did someone, perhaps, say something to you?" he whispered.
Al perked up. "Nii-san, you too?"
"Yeah. Unlucky me, it was that insufferable Colonel..."
"Me too! It was Major Armstrong..."
"What about them?" Winry had suddenly towered over them, hands on hips. She was no longer holding the gloves.
"Eep!" scampered Ed.
"Nothing!" hurried Alphonse.
"Edward, why are you blushing?"
"Wha--"
"Nii-san! What a give-away!" Al whispered disapprovingly.
"Shut up, your armour is warming up too--"
"Eeeeh!" Al's hands immediately went to his face, but of course he didn't feel anything. "Can't be! You're bluffing!"
"Hopeless bunch," Winry sighed. "Fine, whatever. I promised the landlord to help him fix the laundry machine, so I guess I'll just go do it now."
The two boys breathed in relief as she headed for the door, but then--
"Oh," Winry turned suddenly, one hand paused on the door knob. "Could it be... is it about today being Valentine's Day?"
They shrieked in unison.
"Eh, and here I thought you two wouldn't know what that was..." She eyed Ed. "Especially you."
The bean flustered. "I-it wasn't like I wanted to know!"
"Gee, so that's why you've been acting all weird?" Winry looked amused. "I don't celebrate that. You guys are never around anyway."
With that, she opened the door and left the room.
There was a long moment of silence.
"Nii-san... we should visit Winry more often, ne?"
"...Ch. I'm not going to make one whole trip just for an apple pie."
"Well, it's not exactly for the pie, is it?"
"..."
"If you need an excuse, I'm sure the Major wouldn't mind making a dent or two."
"Wh-who needs--"
"But it may be a little inconvenient if he insists to tag along, so... hey, I can do that for you too, Nii-san! Just let me know, okay?"
Ed stared. "Al... you... I should watch over your education more carefully from now on..."
"Eh? Whatever are you talking about, Nii-san?"
Those sparkles were too eerily reminiscent of a certain someone for Ed's liking.
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"Colonel, please stop admiring the heap of chocolates and do your work."
Roy Mustang's smile was still charming despite the bruises and scratches on his face. "Ah, First Lieutenant. Would you like to have some? There are too many for me to finish by myself."
Hawkeye opened her mouth to decline, but thought better of it. "Thank you, Colonel," she said, and walked towards the desk.
"Eh?" Roy hadn't expected it.
He hadn't expected Hawkeye to produce a big plastic bag out of nowhere and sweep all the sweets into it either. "Ah!"
"I'm sure the others would appreciate your generosity, Colonel," she said. "It's a pity Valentine's Day is not recognized as an official holiday in the Army, but I think you can afford to relax a little and finish signing these papers by five o'clock instead of three."
"But--"
"Though of course, if you want to go home early to prepare for your date tonight, you can certainly speed it up. There should be no problem now that the distractions are gone." Her expression didn't change as she saluted, but Roy could swear her eyes were smiling. "Now please excuse me."
Roy watched helplessly as Hawkeye retreated from the office with the confiscated goods. He looked down at the menacing stack of folders and sighed, but the self-pitying breath was cut short as something caught his eye.
"Ara? There's one piece left." He picked up the lone box, wondering. "It isn't like Hawkeye to miss anything with that keen eyesight--"
He read the label, frowned. "Band-aids?"
Then he smiled.
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Author Notes:
Seems a little early for a Valentine fic, but non-Valentine is supposed to be the idea of this story, anyway. :D