"Lieutenant Hawkeye?" Al asked, making sure he'd heard correctly. "You were on a date with Lieutenant Hawkeye? How old is she? 30?"

"Pipe down. It's a Sunday. Are you trying to bother the whole neighbourhood?" Ed replied, placing his finger in front of his own lips. "And she's 27. Big difference."

"That's still more than 10 years older than you. Did she know it was a date? It doesn't count if you didn't tell her. Was she undercover?" Al continued, still not really sure where to begin.

"Of course she knew it was a date. Well, not at first I mean." Ed explained. "I didn't actually know it was a date at first either. But then we decided it was."

"But why would she want to have a date with you?" Al asked, scratching his helmet of a head with a metal fingertip from his left hand.

"And what's that supposed to mean?! Why wouldn't she?!" Ed barked. Keeping his temper wasn't among his better skills.

"Because you're small, and you're still a teenager, and you have a bad temper. She's tall, elegant, mature, and a grown up woman. It doesn't make any sense that she would want to go on a date with you."

"Perhaps it is our mutual insecurities about such things that make us so perfect a match. Ever consider that?" Ed said through gritted teeth, fist clenched at his side.

"I didn't mean it like that, brother." Al backtracked.

"It sounds like you are a little jealous, if you ask me." Ed said, grinning slightly.

"No I'm not. I still don't even believe it's true. I just assumed Lieutenant Hawkeye would want to be with someone like Colonel Mustang and-"

Ed immediately interrupted. "Mustang? That jerk? You've got it all wrong. She told me just yesterday she's not interested in him. Right around the same time she told me I'm handsome and intelligent." He exclaimed, closing his eyes smugly.

"Well now I know you're just making all this up." Al said, crossing his arms.

"Hmm… Would you look at the time." Ed replied, checking his pocket watch. "I think I might swing by command and see if Riza is nearly done for the day. I guess you can come with me, if you like being proven wrong." Ed said, getting more arrogant about this by the second.

Ed and Al made their way to Central Command where Hawkeye was doing some paperwork. She was in Colonel Mustang's office, but he was nowhere to be found on a Sunday.

"Hey, baby." Ed said, sitting himself down on the corner of Riza's desk, winking at her as she looked up.

"Ed, I didn't hear you come in. Oh, and you brought Al with you." She said, smiling in Al's direction.

Whilst Al's metal body made him incapable of blushing, he certainly would have had he had his old body back.

"I tend to go where I want. Sometimes Al tags along." Ed answered, cracking his knuckles, and a certain boastful swagger to his voice.

"Ed? Are you feeling ok?" Riza asked, trying to hide her laughter.

"Just fine, especially now that I'm here with you, baby." Ed continued, his attempts at being 'cool' becoming more painful by the second.

"Brother says you went on a date with him, and you are his girlfriend now. But I can see he made all that up." Al said, picking up on Hawkeye's laughter.

"No. Ed didn't actually make that up." Riza replied, biting her lip to mask her amusement.

"He didn't?" Al asked, making sure he'd heard this right.

"No. We went out for some noodles last night, and Ed told me he liked me very much, and I said I liked him very much as well. Especially when he's BEING HIMSELF." She said, putting extra emphasis at the end, though smiling all the while.

"Eh, sorry. Must have got a little carried away there." Ed replied, cringing a little.

"Oh no. Don't think you can just call me 'baby' and expect me not to laugh at you for it." She said, not even trying to hold it back any longer. "That was very cute though."

"Alright, alright." Ed said, frowning. "It was dumb. Do you still need some help walking Black Hayate later this evening?" He asked.

"Need? No. I'm pretty sure I can walk one small dog around the block by myself. I wouldn't mind some company though, if that's what you mean." Riza answered. She was a greatly independent person; a trait that seemed to radiate from everything she said and did.

"Wait, wait, wait. I'm still confused." Said Al, waving his arms. "Why do you want to go on dates with someone like Ed just for being himself? You're beautiful. I'm sure lots of men are themselves around you all the time, and they're bound to be much taller than Ed."

Hawkeye could almost see steam erupting from the side's of the Fullmetal Alchemist's head. "That's very sweet of you, Al." She said with a smile. "But you'd be surprised by how many people struggle to be themselves, and who everyone is on the inside isn't always as endearing as who Ed really is. For what it's worth, I don't really mind a man being shorter than me either." She continued, twisting Ed's ponytail through her fingers. "I appreciate your concern though, Al. If you just keep being yourself, you'll find someone just right for you very soon. Now if the pair of you wouldn't mind leaving me to finish this work, I shouldn't take any longer than half an hour."

"Ok. I'll kill some time and meet you outside." Ed replied, waving as he walked towards the door.

"No problem, baby." Riza replied, wiping a couple of tears of laughter from her eyes.

"Aww come on. That was a cheap shot. You better not plan on bringing this up all the time."