Hello, fellow FMA fans! This is place where I shall be dumping any FMA oneshots that come to mind. Therefore updates will be completely random. The stories may center on romance or adventure, angst or humor. Who knows? I sure as Hades don't. What I'm starting with is AlMei Week 2016! So, without further ado, here is AlMei Week 2016 Prompt 1: Senses.

Note: I describe Mei's eyes as brown, because in the anime they're shown only to be a dark color. Perhaps they're more of a navy blue, but I went with brown, because I have a friend with brown eyes, but their eyes look like Mei's when the light hits them right. So Mei has brown eyes in all of these. Deal with it.

Disclaimer: Fullmetal Alchemist does not belong to me. If it did, Al and Mei would have gotten together.

Senses

See: "Alphonse-sama!"

Al lifted his head from the alkahestry textbook he was studying upon hearing the cheerful voice of a certain Xingese alkahetrist.

"I'm ready to head to the palace!"

"Alright!" He folded the page in the book and placed a bookmark where he'd left off – one could never be too careful when it came to books – and placed it on the table in front of him. He stood, brushing off his suit jacket as he did so before making his way towards the sliding door. As he walking he heard a loud thump! from down the hall. "Mei?" he called out. "Are you okay?"

There was a muffled curse and a mutter about how stupid heels were, and that she didn't care what Ling said, she was wearing flats. "Yeah, I'm fine! Technical difficulties!"

He chuckled at the tiredness in her voice. Despite her long day, she was still determined to come with him to the palace. The Emperor – Ling – was holding a fancy dinner for all of the ambassadors that had come to Xing from other countries. This unfortunately included Alphonse, since he had been temporarily appointed as Amestris' ambassador. Colonel – no, Brigadier General –, he corrected himself, is taking too long to choose who to send to Xing. Al was too polite to say anything, but he was tired of having his training with Mei interrupted by so-called 'duties' of the ambassador. But whether he liked it or not, he was stuck in the position until Mustang made his decision. And therefore he was stuck attending the dinner. Ling – being Ling – had also ordered everyone to bring a Xingese date. Something about trying to improve Xingese relations…? Al snorted. Yeah, the Emperor just wanted an excuse to bring Lan Fan as a date instead of a bodyguard. Thankfully, Mei had agreed to accompany him so he wouldn't have to ask a complete stranger…

*Flashback begins*

"Um, Mei?" the blonde Amestrian said nervously. "Can I ask you something?"

The black-haired girl's cheeks turned pink. "Oh, um, of course, Alphonse-sama! Is something wrong?"

He massaged his temples, chuckling as he did so. "One could say that."

"What's the problem?"

"The Emperor."

"You know he insists you call him Ling."

He snorted. "The moment some official catches me doing that, I'll have a cell with my name on it."

Mei rolled her eyes. "You're being silly. So, what has Ling done now?"

"Well, he's holding this stu – a lovely dinner for all ambassadors, and he wants us all to bring a Xingese date, so…"

She beamed at him. "Do you want me to accompany you, Alphonse-sama?"

He sighed in relief. "Yes. But only if it doesn't trouble you, of course."

"I'd love to!"

One thought ran through his mind. Oh, thank Truth.

*Flashback ends*

Alphonse was already quite aware that Ling would instantly jump to conclusions and practically start planning the wedding for him and Mei. But if either of them were asked about any sort of romantic feelings for the other, they would heavily deny anything. Al had just reached the door when Mei appeared from an opposite hallway. The first thing he noticed were the simple red flats on her feet. The second thing made his jaw drop.

The petite princess was clad in a stunning red Xingese silk dress with golden dragons embroidered on it. Her long black hair was pinned up on her head in a bun, held in place by a pair of chopsticks that had small red and gold dragon figurines dangling from the ends. Basically… She was beautiful.

"M-Mei…" he stuttered, speechless.

The girl blushed. "I hope I'm not overdressed…" She gave him an uncharacteristically shy smile.

He turned a bright red. "I – uh…" He took a deep breath to calm himself before continuing. "You look great." And that's an understatement, he added in his mind.

Mei's blush deepened. "E-Enough flattery!" she suddenly said, grabbing his arm and pulling him out the door. "We need to get going or we'll be late!"

Al laughed and allowed himself to be pulled out the door. People would definitely assume they were a couple. That was certain. But maybe he had no reason to deny it now.

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Hear: Al yawned, waking up to the sound of soft music. How nice… He rolled over to look at his watch on the dresser. He squinted, sure he was misreading the time. Wait… 5 AM?! Why was he waking up so early?! And then he remembered. The music… Who in their right mind is playing music at 5 in the morning?! He sighed, rubbing his eyes. Well, he was awake now, and there wasn't any way he was going to be able to return to sleep. Curiosity may have killed the cat, but it had never caused any harm to an alchemist-slash-alkahetrist. Or rather, alkahetrist-in-training.

The blonde Amestrian swung his legs over the side of the bed and quietly tiptoed out of his room and into the hall. After pausing and listening closely, he determined the music was coming from the north. He looked down the hall and sighed. Unfortunately, there were a lot of rooms to the north of him, seeing as his room was at the end of the hall. But it doesn't matter. No longer was Al truly angry at whoever it was for waking him so early, but now more interested in why they were playing music at 5 in the morning. He couldn't think of any practical reason, so he figured it had to be personal.

Al frowned. The music had suddenly stopped. He cursed internally. He hadn't found its source yet! What was he supposed to – Aha! He was such an idiot. In his defense, no one's brain was at its sharpest at 5 AM. He closed his eyes, concentrating. He wasn't training to be an alkahetrist for nothing. The music stopping was a minor setback. He took a deep breath, relaxing and merging his chi with his surroundings. He could suddenly feel dozens of other chi around him. And then… There it was.

Music did not necessarily have a chi of its own, but it had a tendency to disturb any chi around it as it traveled from place to place. He was easily able to detect the path the music had come from, seeing as there was no chi in that area. A smirk crept onto his lips. He'd gotten a lot better at alkahestry recently, and this was just further proof. Mei often called him "Mr. Prodigy", claiming he learned even faster than she did. The short-haired blonde alchemist smiled at the thought before following the path of disturbance, determined to find the music's source.

It took Alphonse maybe five minutes to completely find his way to the music's origin. He'd had to backtrack a few times, not to mention completely turn around at least twice. I should I have expected that. Sound doesn't go in one direction and one direction only. Finally, he reached his destination. The porch? Well, that would explain why the sound had been so faint. But who was it? He peeked through a window above the sink that overlooked the porch and saw the culprit. Mei?!

The Xingese girl was sitting cross-legged on the ground, a delicate wooden flute in her hand. Needless to say, Al was surprised. Has she been the one playing it? He noticed her lips were moving. He pressed his ear to the glass, curious as to what she was saying.

"That try was certainly better than the last. Don't you think, Xiao Mei?" he heard her ask.

The tiny panda squeaked in agreement, causing Mei to giggle. "How sweet of you."

The panda made another noise, this one less enthusiastic.

Mei sighed. "You're right. I can't stop now. I've got to perfect this before I show it to Alphonse-sama!"

Al smiled softly at her words. He took his ear away from the window, instead choosing to watch her place the flute just underneath her lips and start to play again. Despite the occasional missed or off-key note, he thought it was beautiful. And not just the music. Her spirit, too.

"Dang it! I messed up again! There's no way I can show Alphonse-sama if it stays like this."

He chuckled to himself. That's Mei for you. Always pushing for perfection. But you know… Al smiled, watching the Xingese girl try again. I think she's already surpassed it.

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Smell: Al was exhausted after a long day. Or rather, he was exhausted after dealing with Ling with three hours. Next time, Lan Fan is not leaving the room. She's the only one who can keep him calm. All the blonde Amestrian wanted to do was relax and just read one of his many alkahestry books. Unfortunately, the one he was reading was currently in the bathroom. A bathroom that was occupied by a certain Xingese princess preparing to shower. But Al was not feeling particularly patient that day. He wasn't rude about anything, instead he just couldn't sit still and wait.

He knocked on the bathroom door for the umpteenth time. "Mei? Are you done yet?"

Inside, Mei sighed in exasperation. "I haven't even gotten in the shower yet!" she replied crossly. "You need to be patient, okay? I find no pleasure in you knocking on the door every five seconds!"

Al sighed, then had a bit of an epiphany. Aha! "Well, if you haven't gotten in yet," he said, starting to turn the doorknob, "surely I can –"

"ALPHONSE ELRIC," Mei screeched, "DON'T YOU DARE –"

It was too late.

He opened the door to reveal and absolutely mortified Mei, her face a brilliant crimson, a towel wrapped around her body in such a way that made him assume it had been done in great haste. What made him think this? Mostly the fact that he could see a great deal of her slim legs and the towel was showing off a fair amount of cleavage. His first thought was: I am now going to be considered a pervert, and then it turned into, Ed is never going to let me hear the end of this.

Al then realized he'd been staring at Mei the whole time, who was now hugging the towel to her as tightly as possible. His cheeks turned scarlet. He immediately averted his eyes, partially out of respect for the quivering girl – Is that rage or humiliation? he wondered – and partially out of embarrassment, since the towel around her left very little to the imagination. "Um..." he began. "Maybe I shouldn't have –" He stopped suddenly, sniffing the air. What's that smell? It was… Nice. He sniffed again. Hmm… That's definitely vanilla, and is that… Jasmine, maybe? "Mei, do you have some sort of perf –"

"Get out!" the black-haired girl practically shouted, her face even more red than perhaps only ten seconds ago. "Get out of here! Right now!"

Al realized that he was still in the bathroom with the scantily clad girl. "I, uh, sorry!" He quickly took his leave, Mei slamming the door behind him. He heard the familiar click as she locked the door. I suppose I deserved that. He waited a moment to calm himself down before knocking again.

No answer.

Fair enough, he thought ruefully, a small tugging on the corners of his lips. He hesitated briefly, but then knocked again. From outside, he heard a sigh come from in the bathroom.

"What do you want?" she snapped.

He could still hear embarrassment in her voice. "I just want to ask you something."

"Well, make it quick. I want to shower, you know."

He didn't miss a beat. "What was that smell just now? The jasmine and vanilla one?"

Inside the bathroom, Mei's cheeks heated up again. "That's – That's none of your business."

"It was really nice! I'm just curious."

She sighed. "It's a perfume Lan Fan gave me while we were hanging out today, okay?"

Oh, so that's where Lan Fan was, he realized. Then he smiled. "I like it."

"G-Glad you did."

"You should keep using it."

"WOULD YOU LET ME SHOWER IN PEACE ALREADY?!"

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Feel: Al checked his watch. 11:37. Where was Mei? She was normally up bright and early, but she hadn't once left her room yet that day. He was starting to get a little worried about his alkahestry teacher. This was completely out of character for her. Then again, he said to himself, she might be meditating. The Xingese princess did on occasion remain in her room for extended periods of time meditating. He'd disturbed her once, and it hadn't been pretty.

*Flashback begins*

Al knocked on Mei's door, worried something had happened to her. "Mei?" he called out. "Are you feeling okay?"

Her door flew open, and an extremely ticked off Mei glared angrily at him. "I'm trying to meditate," she snapped. "It helps with detecting the Dragon's Pulse. So if you want me to continue to teach you alkahestry, don't bother me again!"

At that, the door slammed in his face.

*Flashback ends*

He shuddered at the memory. Of course, she had apologized to him the next day, explaining that not only had she not meditated in a while, but she had also been on her… 'Grumpy Time', as he and his brother had ever-so-fondly nicknamed it. Al smirked at the thought of his brother having to deal with an angry Winry at such a time. Poor him.

He was distracted from his thoughts by a tired-looking Xingese princess slowly walking into the main room. He grinned. "I'm glad to see you're awake!"

She ignored him, stumbling around and bumping into the couch and the table and a dozen other pieces of furniture.

He frowned. "Mei," he said, the concern in his voice clear, "are you feeling okay?" You're acting… Strange, he added in his mind.

"Oh, I'm fine," the girl responded dazedly, her voice an octave higher than usual. "Just a bit… Tired…" She proceeded to trip over a table leg and fall to the floor.

Al jumped up from his seat on the couch, alkahestry book sliding off his lap, forgotten. He dashed over to her. "Mei!"

"Fine, fine, I'm fine," she said airily, waving her hand dismissively. Her voice was still much higher than usual. "I just wasn't paying… Attention… To where I was… Going." She stared at him with glazed eyes, then burst into a fit a giggles. "There are two Alphonse-sama's! Yay!"

He looked over her worriedly. Did she have something to drink last night that I didn't know about…? He noticed how pink her face was. Glazed eyes, pink face… Are those symptoms of a hangover? His fingers accidentally brushed her forehead as he moved her bangs out of her face. He instantly pulled his hand back. She was burning up! Glazed eyes, pink face, he thought grimly. Not necessarily symptoms of a hangover, but when paired with a fever, not to mention how tired and dizzy she was… He could come to only one conclusion. "Mei, I think you've got a cold."

"No, no," she said, smiling tiredly at him. "I'm perfectly fine. I haven't… Been in the rain… Or anything."

Yeah, Mei was definitely sick if she couldn't remember how a person caught a cold. Al gave her a stern look. "Rain has little to nothing to do with catching a cold. A cold is a type of viral infection. You can catch one anywhere, in any sort of weather."

"I don't… Have… A cold."

He almost laughed at the black-haired girl's stubborn refusal to admit that she was sick. "I think you do, Mei."

"I can't… Have a cold," she tried to explain, evidently exhausted. "I've… Got stuff to do… I can't… Let myself… Get behind…"

He gave her another stern look. "I don't want to hear it. You aren't doing anything today except getting some rest." He picked her up bridal style and carried her back to her bedroom, gently placing her on her bed. She tried to get out, but he held her down.

"Alkahestry is rest," she protested.

"Not when you've got a cold."

"But –"

"No 'buts'." Al smiled at the petite girl. "Today I'm going to take care of you, and there isn't anything you can do about it."

"Wuah… Fine."

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Taste: Al heard a crackly POP come from the kitchen, and he was immediately on alert. "Mei?"

No response.

"Mei?" he tried again. "Did something happen?"

Nervous laughter floated into the room. "Eheheheh… It's fine! I've got everything under control!"

He wasn't sure what do. Part of him was telling him to go see what was going on, but another part of him said to trust Mei because she was a perfectly capable 16 year old girl. That's right, he told himself. She's not a child I have to protect anymore. His attention returned to the alkahestry circle drawn by Mei on a piece of paper in front of him. She'd told him to break it down and analyze the components, and while he'd successfully broken it into two overlapping triangles inside a circle, he hadn't figured out much else.

A loud crash came from the kitchen.

Al frowned. "Mei?"

"Fine! Fine! Everything's fine!"

"Are you sure?"

"Yup! You just keep working out that circle, okay?"

He sighed but turned back around. The circle is complicated, he mused. I don't understand the purpose of having lines that extend as if they're going to connect from point to point but instead stop midway. To be honest… It looks like a gear.

There was a loud BANG, and then a familiar shriek echoed in the room.

That was it. Al jumped up, alkahestry circle forgotten. "Mei! What's going on?!"

"Fire! Fire! Quick, quick, come help me!"

At the sound of the Xingese princess' panicked voice, he ran into the kitchen, fearing the worst. What he saw was a frantic Mei desperately fanning at flames coming off of the stove, Xiao Mei doing her best to help her owner.

"Help me put it out!" she exclaimed.

He nodded, looking around for a fire extinguisher. Except there wasn't one. "Mei, do you not have a fire extinguisher?!"

"I never thought I'd need one!"

"Really?! Even though you live in a grass house?!"

"My house is not made of grass!"

"Close enough."

"Stop complaining and put it out somehow!"

He rolled his eyes. "Okay, okay. Do you have a bucket?"

"We've been using them for target practice, remember? They're all outside!"

Instead of responding, he clapped his hands together. Looks I'm going to have to do alchemy, even though I swore I wouldn't… Better than having her house burn down! He placed his palms against the base of the stove, transmuting some of the hydrogen and oxygen in the air above the stove into water. It fell onto the fire, instantly dousing the flames.

Mei sighed in relief, causing Al to laugh.

"What I want to know," he said, still laughing, "is why you didn't do that own your own?"

She blushed angrily. "Well, first off, I was just a little preoccupied by trying to keep the fire from spreading to the rest of the kitchen. Second, you of all people should know that alkahestry is not alchemy! We transmute to heal or to carry energy, not transform things."

He tilted his head, agreeing with her. "True. I can let that slide. Even so… I think you may have been overreacting a bit."

She scowled at him. "April 1st, Alphonse Elric. April. 1st."

He cringed at the memory. "Fair point."

She hmphed and turned away from him. "Now get out of here."

He frowned. "Hey, hey. Wait. I want to know what you were trying to cook and why it caught on fire so spectacularly!"

Mei blushed. "That is not something necessary for your survival. Leave."

Al sighed. "Mei, seriously. I just put out the fire. Consider telling me equivalent exchange."

"Stop bringing alchemy into our conversation."

"And you stop changing the topic."

She sighed. "Fine," she grumbled. "It was Qi Bai Ji, and some vegetables. It caught on fire because Xiao Mei knocked over pans and fell of the counter, so I went to tend to her instead of paying attention to my cooking. It proceeded to overheat and burst into flames. Happy?"

He chuckled. "I guess that's one word to describe it."

Mei sighed again, but this time it was one of sadness. "I'm normally not a bad cook. I just wanted to try something more complex. But I'm clearly not cut out for it." Her brown eyes were brimming with tears. "I just wanted to prove to you that I'm not only book-smart!"

Al suddenly remembered going with Mei to visit her parents and help her explain that she wasn't going to be available for any sort of 'events' because she was going to be teaching him alkahestry. He'd been in another room at the time, but he'd heard Mei's conversation with her sister loud and clear.

*Flashback begins*

"Mei," Tiānshǐ – one of Mei's many sisters – said rudely, "you've got to stop with all this 'smart' stuff."

Mei frowned. "What do you mean?"

Tiānshǐ rolled her eyes. "You know what I mean. You may be first in line for the throne in the Chang clan, but you aren't a real princess. A princess isn't so book-smart. A princess can cook, clean, and acts like a lady. You can't do any of those. You read books all the time, spar, and do that silly alkahestry thing."

"And your point is?"

"You'll never get anywhere in life with just book-smarts," Tiānshǐ sneered. "You're useless. That's my point."

*Flashback ends*

Al smiled softly at the petite girl. "Mei, I don't care about what your sister says."

"Y-You don't?"

"Well, why should I? I've only met her that one time, and I don't like her all that much. Besides," he said, grinning, "why should it matter if you're book-smart, street-smart, or any other type of smart?"

Mei wiped the tears out of her eyes. "Thank you, Alphonse-sama."

"I like you for you. But, if it makes you feel better…"

"What?" she asked curiously.

He gave her an even wider grin. "I'm sure that if the Qi Bai Ji hadn't burned, it would have tasted amazing."

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Alphonse Elric considered himself to be the luckiest man in all of Xing. No, he had to be the luckiest man in the world, for every day he woke up with the knowledge that his teacher, best friend, and girlfriend all in one was his to experience all five senses with. It couldn't get better than that.

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And that is Day 1 of AlMei Week 2016 completed. Hope everyone enjoyed, and I hope you all come back tomorrow for Prompt 2: Balance.