"If you can't taste it, and you can't smell it, it really doesn't have much else going for it." Al switched the box from leather palm to leather palm, carrying it since there was no room in Ed's suitcase. The Elric duo was marching up the familiar road from Rizembool, once again having not called ahead.

"Well, you never liked it all that much anyway. You're more of a vanilla type…well, with ice cream, at least." Ed, on the other hand, held chocolate to be near the top of that rare group of concoctions that were acceptable or even pleasant despite containing ("vile!") milk. "Anyway, it's expensive, and I don't remember her not liking it, and besides, he said…"

"Well, Brother, he does know a lot more about women than you do."

Ed's brow darkened, but gratitude outweighed offense in this situation. "Thanks for asking him for me, Al. He didn't guess anything, did he?"

"I don't think so. Well, he did give me a funny look, but I guess that's to be expected." Al scratched his helmet in a habitual gesture, despite lack of sensation. "First Lieutenant Hawkeye might have heard, but you know she won't say anything to anyone."

Ed's suddenly apprehensive expression eased, but Al could hear him mumble, aside: "Colonel-woman-expert-bastard-so-sure-he-knows-everything."

Worried a little by the delicate situation his brother was in, Al asked him, "do you really think it will be enough? I mean, Winry's a girl, but she's also Winry, you know."

"I haven't got much to loose, right? It's more than likely I'm going to gain another wrench to the head. She takes everything the wrong way!" Ed's expansive gesture could probably be seen from the house they were quickly approaching, if anyone was aware of them yet. ("The same could be said of you, Brother!" Al thought. As it wasn't spoken, Ed couldn't catch the humorously pained expression that would have registered in the armored boy's voice.) Den was inside the house; they could hear him barking through the door as they covered the last few yards. Ed dropped his suitcase and snatched the package from his brother's hands, switching it from palm to gloved palm, much as Al had, but in betrayal of his nervousness.

Winry reached the door first, alone. Ed was relieved—better to get this over with quickly. The blonde mechanic's face lit up at the sight of her childhood friends, delighted at their all-too-rare visit. She immediately zeroed in on the box of chocolates in Edward's left hand, and a gleeful squeal left her lips as her blue eyes filled with stars and her hands came up to her cheeks. "Oh, Ed, is that for me? Oh, you shouldn't have, but, oooooh, you're finally learning how to treat a lady! How sweet! But what's the occasion?"

Ed's deer-in-the-headlights gaze turned to his brother for support, then returned to Winry as he gathered his courage. "Winry, I needed you…I, um…"

Still grasping the chocolates in the fingers of his left hand, he used that pinkie to draw up his right sleeve, revealing the mangled frame of his Automail. "I can't move the thumb…"

The wrench came out of nowhere. As the Fullmetal Alchemist crumpled to the dirt, Winry deftly reached out and caught the spinning box of chocolates from the air. Through gritted teeth, she advised a horrified (but not completely surprised) Alphonse to "Bring him in. I'll come find you when I'm not so…grrr, the Nerve!"

Al scooped up his unconscious brother, whose face Den had been enthusiastically licking. "Winry is still Winry," echoed a quiet whisper from the metal shell, "but that is why you like her, isn't it, Big Brother?"

The End