AN: It's prom season for the Elric brothers.

Hope you enjoy!

Hit or Miss

Roy lifted a brow at the tense blond brothers, standing in front of him like they were soldiers asking for a whole month's leave with pay. The glossy card in his hand caught the light as he passed it to Riza, who silently stood behind the couch he sat on.

"We know you didn't have one," said Ed, solemnly eyeing the two adults.

"And… and we don't want to impose," continued Al, "We can pay for everything." He looked to his side at his brother, who nodded in response.

"We've been saving up."

"Swear you only need to sign and allow us to bring a plus one."

Riza breathed in deep and handed Roy the card back. "Pay for what, exactly?"

"The prom fees, our outfits, payment for our meals," listed the older Elric, "flowers for our dates… and transportation," he added hastily after taking a fleeting glance at Al.

Roy's brows shot upwards. "You already have dates?"

Al looked down at his feet while Ed stared off to the side. "We haven't asked yet," murmured the former.

"We were waiting for you to agree," said the latter. "We'll prom-pose after."

"You'll what?" questioned Roy, the word unfamiliar to his ears.

"Hold on." Riza bent forward so that her forearms rested on the back of the couch. "Just because we didn't have one doesn't mean we won't allow you to go." As usual, it was up to her to steer the conversation in the right direction even if she herself was unfamiliar with the word Ed used. Roy tended to ask a lot of questions.

The two teens' faces snapped up at their adoptive mother, hope clearly displayed on their features.

"As long as you promise to come home that night. No sleepovers…" Best chance to avoid teenage pregnancies. "But I'll adjust the curfew to 11 PM." She turned to the side to eye her husband.

"I'd say midnight is okay, too, but 11:00 it is," smiled Roy.

"Alright, midnight," she agreed with a sigh. As the boys got older, she found herself agreeing more and more to her husband's lenient tendencies.

Ed and Al's faces lit up.

"And don't worry about the fees," quipped Roy, "Just get yourselves dates so our money won't go to waste."

"Thank you!" Al produced his own prom invite and handed it to Roy. "We need you to sign at the back so we can submit it to our teacher."

That night, Riza curled against Roy in their bed. "Why didn't you go to prom again?" Her school didn't have one since they were deep in the countryside, but she was sure a city boy like himself would have been invited by other city girls.

He hummed. "There's this girl, you see… I bet she wouldn't have liked it for me to go out with other girls."

She lightly slapped his arm. "Oh, it's my fault, is it?"

"No, it's mine." He propped himself up on his elbow and kissed her soundly on the lips. "I should have taken you to a dance or other back then, if not prom."

He paused after, a thought making itself known to his consciousness. "So what is a prom-pose supposed to be?"

/-/ /-/ /-/ /-/

Truth be told, Ed Elric rarely felt nerves for anything. The last time he could admit to himself that he felt nervous was when Madame Christmas took them from school instead of their adoptive parents or their co-military personnel. Now, though, with his sweaty palms and twitchy toes, he could perhaps admit he was a little bit nervous.

He left a note in Winry's locker right before the bell signaling the end of lunch rang to meet him in the playground after school. Often filled with younger students whose classes ended much earlier, the place was usually deserted by the time the older students were due to go home in the mid-afternoon. He stood from his crouching position on the ground and wiped his sweaty, dusty palms against his pants. What if she wasn't able to see the note and went straight home?

Similar thoughts discarded themselves at the sound of soft footsteps approaching him.

"Ed? What's wrong?"

He turned to see the girl with furrowed brows and pursed lips, an expression reserved for when she expects trouble from him. Why, indeed, would he call her out in such an odd fashion?

Winry glanced at the sky. "If this weather keeps up, Mr. Sig might let me help him butcher."

Leave it to her to babble or nag. Ed smiled to himself. Adopted like he and Al were, Winry never fully transitioned to calling the Curtises like they were her actual parents but he knew the love was there.

"Ms. Izumi doesn't mind me using the larger knives even though I know papa Sig guards me closely when I do."

"You've become good at butchering," he acknowledged. He and Al once witnessed Winry smoothly butcher two chickens alone in rapid succession.

With a raised brow, she turned to him. "I learned too much about joints from you." After a pause, she added, "I need to get home soon. Shouldn't you be with Al?"

At the mention of his brother, who he refused to lose to, he stared at Winry…

"What?"

And stared. And kept staring.

"Winry…" He felt his brow twitch, his lips turn down in a frown as he scrambled for words. Why didn't I prepare a signboard like Al?

"What? Just say it if you have something to say."

He felt heat spread through his cheeks and ears and all the way up to his forehead. "Equivalent exchange! I'll give you half of my prom night and you give me your half!"

She opened her mouth and let out a big sigh. "Why do alchemists have to be like this? 'Equivalent exchange'? Ms. Izumi is bad enough."

Ed felt frozen, bracing himself.

"Are you crazy?!" Fists at her sides, Winry stomped her foot on the ground.

"What?!"

"You really are an idiot. Half? I'll give you the entire prom night!"

Heat had spread and reached down all the way to his toes. He was sure of it.

"This is how you ask if you'll be running with that equivalent exchange theory: go to prom with me and I'll go to prom with you!"

He furrowed his brows and murmured, "Go to prom with me and I'll go to prom with you…"

"Yes! One hundred percent, yes, you idiot!"

/-/ /-/ /-/ /-/

"I hope this works," Al murmured to Xiao-Mei, caressing her white forehead with his finger.

Xiao-Mei nodded as if she understood what Al was saying. He felt guilty, luring May's beloved pet like this and would undoubtedly cause her to worry, but Roy asked "do promposals have to be memorable?"

Al wanted it to be memorable.

He did wonder if Ed's straightforward approach would have worked better though.

Not one for theatrics like Roy, and not as reckless as Ed, Al thought the best recourse would be to get Xiao-Mei and have May hunt for her… only to end up with Al surprising her by flashing a signboard and Xiao-Mei comfortably seated beside a bouquet of flowers.

Al had lured the small panda with him with a box of treats and chose an empty science lab after school, knowing May would look through each and every room in the school for her pet.

He picked up the small panda and carefully laid her beside the bouquet atop the teacher's table. "Alright, Xiao-Mei, time to cry for your owner." He scattered more treats around the happy panda.

He held up the cardboard sign in his hands and waited. Once again demonstrating intelligence beyond his expectations, Xiao-Mei opened her mouth and started to wail in-between taking bites.

"Xiao-Mei!" The pitter-patter of feet Al had grown to memorize came close until the lab door slid open.

The panda was grabbed off the table with one of May's braids hitting Al's nose in the process. He barely felt the whiplash as nerves overtook him.

"Oh, I was so worried!" she rubbed her cheek against the small animal. "Where… have you been…" she trailed off as she caught sight of Al, food treats scattered on the table beside a bouquet of flowers with a sign that said "Will you go to prom with me?"

Xiao-Mei jumped from her arms and returned to the table to eat more of the treats Al left.

May straightened and pursed her lips. "She'll spoil her dinner."

"I was hoping to get her favor… and yours." He pushed the board closer to her as if she hadn't read what it said the first time.

"By kidnapping my pet?"

"I didn't —" kidnap… "Didn't hurt her." Nerves and guilt mixed and mingled and settled in his chest like an ugly experiment. He did kidnap the panda, even if said panda went willingly.

"Al…" May reached up and grasped his wrist, a tentative smile on her cute face. "She's safe and happy with you."

He nodded. There have been many times May left her pet with him whenever she had to go somewhere that the small panda wasn't allowed.

"But I would still need a heads up whenever you want to borrow her."

"Yes…"

"And yes."

"Huh?"

May moved to pick up the bouquet and cradled it in her arms like she often did with Xiao-Mei. "Yes, I'll go to prom with you. My dress for prom is pink. Baby pink, tell your mom."

/-/ /-/ /-/ /-/

"I wonder how their promposals went," said Roy offhandedly. He and Riza eventually found out that promposals were what the teenagers called the act of asking someone to be their date to the prom.

"Back in our day, you just asked," he commented to the boys the night before, to which Ed replied by telling him the difference between the current times and the past.

"We'll know when we know."

They heard the front door open followed by an "I'm home" from Ed.

Roy met Riza's awestruck face with shock. "There's no way Ed managed better than Al."

"Hush." She smoothed her expression before Ed entered the living room. "Welcome home," she greeted. The words "How did it go?" hung at the tip of her tongue, but her husband beat her to it.

"So? What happened?"

Ed found the ceiling to be an interesting piece of art to look at instead of answering the question.

Riza noticed the pink tint of the teenager's cheeks and shot a glare at Roy to hold his tongue.

"We're good," he said in a small voice. He cleared his throat and tried again, this time eyeing his mother, "I mean, she agreed." His cheeks started to color at the memory of how he asked Winry and almost biting his tongue to stop himself from letting it slip out. "I —" he cleared his throat, the color on his cheeks turning darker by the second until it spread throughout his face, "I asked loudly and she screamed 'yes' after correcting me."

"Pff —"

Riza elbowed Roy in the ribs. "Good job, Ed." Right as his neck started to turn red, Al's "I'm home!" broke through the awkward silence.

"Hello," greeted Riza, urging them both further into the room.

"May said yes." Al grinned and rubbed the back of his neck. "After she got mad at me for kidnapping her pet."

Roy stiffened at that. "Kidnap?"

Riza cleared her throat. "The pet wasn't hurt?"

"No, not at all! I think Xiao-Mei likes me."

"Xiao-Mei is the pet…" Riza leaned against her husband for support, processing the information. "What else did she say?" She thought it best to know everything now, in case their dates' parents decided to call regarding any issues.

"That… uh, to tell you that her dress will be baby pink."

There was no singular way to do any of it, but damned if the Elric boys weren't resourceful and quick on their feet. She smiled as she said, "Well then, boys, I hope you realize I won't be buying those corsages alone. You're coming with me."

AN: Heeeeey, it's been a minute. *nervous wave*

'Til next time!