Author's Note: This is for LeFay Strent, because she is awesome and reviewed on the first story I did of Elricest. I thought she deserved this, so here it is. (And I honestly don't know if you are a he or a she, LeFay, so if I just horribly offended you, I'm sorry!) Enjoy!

I stare at my feet again, watching as the toes flex and curl around themselves. I smiled to myself, happy that I even had toes to watch curl. Then I slip out of the bed, wrapping the blanket around my shoulders as I stumble down the pitch-black hallway. I know I shouldn't be up, but some part of my mind still hasn't gotten back into the whole "sleeping" concept. Ed says that I should just shut my eyes and let it come to me. I tell him that it isn't that easy, and that all I want to do is to simply watch the stars and feel the cold night air on my skin. He always laughs and says that it's my sleep I'm messing with.

So, tonight, I'm shocked when my eyes are having a hard time staying open. My eyelids are heavy and even walking down the oh-so familiar hallway takes a lot of effort not to crash into the walls. At first I am concerned that there is something wrong with me. I wonder if it's some side effect that the Truth decided to add into my body just to screw with us again. Then, Ed is at the end of the hallway, coming blindly out of his room as well.

He calls down to me, asking if everything is all right. I nod, whispering that I think it is. He only catches the word "think" and is at my side in a second. He's asking me what's really wrong, and why I thought I could lie to him. I look up to him, blinking twice with heavy lids. I say that I think I might be dying because I can't walk straight or hold my eyelids open. He chuckles, scooping me up into his arms and continuing down the hall to his room. He tells me that I'm fine, that it's just sleep trying to get to me. At first I want to make some come back to that, say something to make it sound like I knew that and this wasn't an idiotic mistake. But then, my head falls all-too-comfortably against his neck.

My eyelids fall shut to the sound of his light laughter.

Nii-san, Nii-san, I call, running through the grass to get to him. He looks up, the hammer in his hand slamming down on his thumb with shock. He growls a few curses of how dare that damn hammer get him like that, and I just have to laugh as he rants to the inanimate object. I reach his side, watching as he stands and looks to me with question in his eyes. He wants to know what was so important that I just had to make him hit himself with a hammer.

I look to him with slight curiosity in my eyes, and then there is slight concern. The pit of my stomach keeps growling, I tell him, and I don't know what to do. He laughs, nearly dropping the hammer on his foot next. He's cut off by an obnoxious growl from my stomach and a wince of pain from me. He stifles his laughter while wrapping an arm around my shoulder, still laughing even though I am no glaring to him. He says that I've just been so well fed recently that I don't know what hunger is. I tell him I do, but that this isn't it. He laughs again, then saying that yeah, it is, just a more intense hunger than I've felt since getting my body back. I have to accept that, because in reality, ever since I've gotten my body back, I've never gone without food in my mouth.

So I ask him what he wants for lunch. He rolls his eyes, placing the hammer down on his workbench as he runs a hand through his hair. He says that he was going to go get Winry and make sure she remembered her promise of apple pie. I smile, immediately brightening. I say that I'll help too, and then that I really want to have that sometime soon. He smiles, his arm back around my shoulders as we start to walk back to the house. He says that I never should have had to wait, and that he was going to make sure that I got all the apple pie I ever wanted now. I laugh, pulling out of his grasp as I run ahead of him.

I say that since he's grown so much, it shouldn't be an issue for him to beat me to the house. He curses that damn right he's grown, and then who am I calling so short he could ride on the back of a grasshopper. He takes off in a dead run, glaring over his shoulder as I call for him to slow down. He pays no mind, saying that he isn't short and that he can beat me now. I laugh, pushing my speed to catch up with him.

He beats me, but he says it was only cuz I was hungry. I laugh at the look of guilt on his face, happy that he feels bad because he actually beat me.

Then Winry comes out with an apple pie, and I forget all about it.

Ed lunges for me, his hand ready to throw a punch. I block the punch, my leg whirling out to knock him to the ground. He obviously knows me too well, because the next thing I know, he's doing the same move and I am on the ground in a heap. I gasp as I hit the ground, a stab of pain lunging through my spine. I try to sit up, rubbing at the base of my hips as Ed celebrates his victory over in the corner of my vision. Then my vision blurs and something wet is sliding down my face.

Ed calls to me, asking if I wanted a rematch. I find that I am unable to answer, my shoulders are shaking and the liquid is still escaping. Ed whirls to me, seeing that I was crying. He asks what's wrong as he comes to my side. I shake my head, wiping away the liquid with the back of my hands. I tell him that I don't know what's going on, and then he smiles. He tells me that I was crying and that somehow he was happy that I didn't ever remember crying. It meant he had done his job as big brother and protected me. I said I did remember, but why did I start crying now. He smiles even more, leaning in to wipe the tears off of my face as they dwindle and stop. He gives me a playful glare and says that I'm crying because I lost.

Then a wrench connects with his head. He falls back, shouting curse words at Winry. I laugh, wiping away the rest of my tears. Winry calls to me, asking why I was crying and what did the alchemy freak do now? I say with a smile that it wasn't him, that I was just getting used to my normal body again. She pauses, eyeing Ed and me with uncertainty. Ed growls from his contorted, pained position on the ground that that was not the reason at all. He says it was because he beat me. I laugh, getting up and rubbing the base of my back still. Winry turns on her heels, shouting over her shoulder that he better not lose her wrench, otherwise he'll be buying her a new – and more dangerous – one. He cringes, stuffing the wrench into his pocket with a grimace.

He walks over to my side, wrapping me in his arms as he pulls me against his chest. I gasp, blush shading my cheeks. He whispers in my ear that he's sorry he made me cry and that the next tears would be of joy. I stutter out that isn't that what he said to Winry? He pulls me closer, his breath now hot on my neck. He says that it was, but can't he make the same promise twice?

I say that yeah, he probably can.

I wanted to get Ed something nice for his birthday, but every time I hinted at a present, he said he didn't need one. He said that he had me back, so what else could matter. I would always respond with the simple statement of it's his birthday and he should want anything and everything he didn't have. Winry was with me on this, saying that he was being just a stubborn as always. He said that he didn't want anything, that he was happy just with things just like they were. Winry left the room, mumbling something about the stupid law of exchange, or whatever it was called. Ed sighed, getting up from his seat at the table and moving for the door. I rushed to it first, placing myself in front of it so that he couldn't leave. I say that I won't leave unless he tells me one thing that he wants this year.

He looks down to me – yes, down, he's grown a lot since then – and says that there isn't anything. I say that there must be, but he's just not telling me. He runs a hand through his hair with an exasperated sigh and says that, yeah there is something, but that it's too wrong to ask for. I say that I would give him anything, and that all he had to do was tell me. I said that I wouldn't judge. He says that I probably would anyway, that it was too outrageous to say. The look of sorrow and guilt on his face has me worried, but most of all if has me ready to give him whatever it is he wants no matter how wrong. I tell him then that I won't judge, no matter what, cross my heart and hope to die.

He snags my hand away from my heart when I go to complete the action that went with my words. He leans in, inches away from me with his eyes glowing an intense gold. He says that I should never hope to die, says that he never wants to hear me say those words again. Then he says that all he wants is my happiness, and so long as I'm happy, he's happy. I glance to our hands, noticing how our fingers are intertwined. I blush, then pulling him into a hug with our hands still conjoined at our sides.

I tell him that whenever he's ready, he can tell me what he really wants. Then I move out of the way and walk upstairs, noticing that I never hear the door open or close.

It's three days until brothers' birthday, and I still have nothing. I've been racking my brain, trying to figure something out. Finally, when I was watching Ed spar, I got an idea. He still used his right arm like he had his Automail blade at the ready. So, since I could still do transmutations, I decided to make him a little bit of a reminded. I made him a gauntlet that had his alchemy symbol on it, and then it had our symbol on it. We made that symbol a long time ago when we were still in school, still somewhat living a normal life. Mom was still alive, and she had laughed at our cartoonish drawing and helped us make it look a bit more official.

He still hadn't said anything about our little exchange the other day by the door. He kept avoiding close contact to me though, and somehow that hurt deeper than it should. Winry had seen that there was something wrong, asking if she could help. I told her that she couldn't, that it was a thing between us. I told her she probably wouldn't even understand if I told her. She glared, saying that why did we think she was such an idiot? She said that she could take care of herself, and that she was really good at puzzles. I told her that this was more than a puzzle, and then walked out of the room to the dreary and rainy outdoors. She shouted after me to be back in time for Ed's birthday dinner.

I smiled at the thought of a completely milk free meal, something we did especially for Ed. Although he did like stew, so Winry and I had made a special batch just for him. I looked up into the rain drops as I rubbed the silver gauntlet on my wrist idly. I decided not to wrap it, that it would be better if I gave it to him in person. That was when he walked up behind me, simply saying my name. I replied by nodding and saying his name as well, not sure what else to do. I stopped in my tracks, watching as he did the same a few seconds later.

I told him that he was being stubborn and that I didn't want anything to get in between us. I said that I had something for him, but if he was going to be stubborn that then I wouldn't give it to him. He laughed lightly, tilting his head back with the action. He looked back to me, sincerity in his eyes. He told me that maybe it was me who was being stubborn, and then I snapped back that I wasn't the one who wouldn't tell anybody what I wanted for my birthday. He stopped smiling then, his eyes shocked at the amount of anger in my voice. He said that he was sorry, that maybe he was being stubborn. I laughed at the word maybe.

I took a step closer, taking the gauntlet off of my arm and grabbing his right hand. I snapped it on, not paying any attention to the small indications of refusal he was giving. I intertwined our fingers again, locking eyes with him as blush crept up both of our faces. I asked him did he remember drawing the symbol. He smiled, saying that yeah he did. He looked down to me, watching me carefully as his eyes flitted to the gauntlet as well. He said that it was a nice present, that it was something he would cherish forever. He said that it was nice, but not what he really wanted. Before I could fume at my wasted efforts, he had me crushed against his chest and our faces were mere inches away.

He said that this is what he meant was wrong. He said that he didn't want to ruin our relationship, and that this was wrong anyway, so I could stop him anytime. I whispered that I didn't want to stop, that if he wanted it, so did I. So when our lips connected, I wrapped my hands in his hair as his fell to my waist. I pulled him as close as I could as he did the same, then pulling away only when we both needed air.

I told him that maybe I should give him a birthday present more often. He laughed, pulling me in for another kiss as soon as the words "I love you" were whispered. I felt the tears start again, only this time I knew they were tears of happiness. He felt them too, puling away to stare at me with concern. I told him that he kept his promise, and that these were happy tears. He smiled, kissing the edge of both of my eyes to kiss away my tears.

He said that he was happy he could give me something as well. I smiled and asked him if he really like the gauntlet. He chuckled, pulling away to link our hands as we walked back to the house. He said yes, he did.

But then he said that the stew would be better.