Note from the Author: No Al in this one, sadly, but I thought this would be a really cute idea. I kinda wondered about this idea for a while, and when I couldn't find an answer, I wrote one! But, you know, Ed does not seem like the type who would like Valentine's Day.

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Full Metal Alchemist or any of the characters, no matter how much I may want to.

He couldn't take the pressure. So much pressure…So much doubt…So many options…On more than one occasion that day, Ed had run into the store, stood panting, and left- meaning, on more than one occasion, the poor clerk had nearly called the cops on a nine-year-old boy.

Today was Valentine's Day. Ed's least favorite day of the year. On a normal Valentine's Day, Ed would have put on a more cynical mood than his average self and made the entire world feel horrible about themselves. But this year, he couldn't do that. Winry's parents had died only a few months before. Ed wanted to cheer her up.

"Come on, Edward, be a man!" he encouraged himself, and charged the front desk of the little gift store.

"What do girls like?!" he yelled at the female clerk, grateful that a man hadn't been in her position. The woman stared at the little boy for a moment before smiling sweetly. How cute, she thought.

"Well…it really depends on the girl," the clerk began before interrupted by another of Ed's screams. He thrust his face into the palms of his hands and continued to groan loudly.

"That doesn't help me at all!" he whined, "You don't know Winry!! You can't help me!"

"Well, why didn't you think of that before you asked the question?!" the clerk yelled back. Ed groaned again and left the store.

All right, Ed, think, what does Winry like? Ed wondered, believing he had some idea, but not quite sure if it were true. He started kicking a little rock at his feet, hands in his pockets, when he saw it.

The perfect gift.

What Winry would love most.

What would cheer her up.

It lay in the window, sparkling like silver. Ed would never again feel the same excitement from such an item as he did in that moment. He quickly pulled out the money in his pocket. He had been saving up since the day he had heard Winry's parents had been killed. Sure enough, he was one dollar over.

Ed quickly ran into the shop and asked specifically for the thing he had seen in the window. That was the one that would make Winry happy. When he asked for it wrapped, the clerk looked at him oddly, but complied.

"Here you go, kid," he grunted, handing a smiley Ed a newly wrapped package.

"Thank you!" Ed called, pushing the door open with his back, hands preoccupied, and running to Winry's. He couldn't wait to see her face when she opened it.

When the house came into view, he could see the little blond girl sitting on the front steps, looking down at her feet.

"Winry!" Ed called, laughing with excitement, his face about to be ripped in two by his ever-growing smile. The girl looked up. Tears were in her eyes. She wiped them away as fast as she could.

"Hi, Ed," she greeted, trying to sound happy to see him. Ed didn't mind that she wasn't happy now. She would be in just a moment.

"Here!" Ed shouted unnecessarily, handing Winry the package, "Happy Valentine's Day!" Winry looked surprised as she took the box from Ed and set it in her lap. Ed never celebrates Valentine's Day, she thought, beginning to wonder if he was pulling some sort of trick on her.

"Hurry up, open it!" Ed complained with happiness. He began to bounce up and down very slightly. Suddenly, Winry's thoughts changed from trick to all the lovely possibilities of a present a girl could receive on such a day.

She began to unwrap. Flowers- not likely. Stuffed animal- well…maybe. Chocolate- could be. But inside she found a gift she would never forget. One she would never lose or replace. In her lap, lay the perfect wrench. Instantly, her eyes began to glow.

"Oh, Edward! Thank you so much!" she squealed, pressing the wrench against her cheek, feeling the cold, smooth surface against her skin. Ed smiled brightly in victory.

"It was nothing!" he assured, happy to see her back to her old self. The smile vanished when Winry turned her attention to him. She threw her arms around him and gave him a warm hug.

"Really, thank you so, so, so much!" she repeated, still holding her new favorite wrench. Ed felt himself start to blush.

"Y-yeah, sure thing," he rephrased, having trouble getting the words out.

"Ooh! I'm gonna use it right now!" Winry declared, letting go of Ed, hitting the back of his head with the wrench on accident and running into the house. Ed gripped the wounded area with his hand, but could hardly feel the pain.

He smiled, and ran home.