It was raining as he walked down the scuffed sidewalk, looking intently inside each shops brightly lit windows, searching. He tightened the grip on his red fleece coat, shivering slightly as the patter of rain beat down on him, the freezing cold water seeping into his skin. Damn, if it wasn't for the office party tomorrow, he wouldn't even be out in the rain!

He hated last-moment shopping.

He cursed quietly as he gazed into another window, none of the objects displayed on the oak shelves catching his attention. Moving slowly and sluggishly to the next bright green and red colored store, he pause at the window, trying to focus his rain-blurred vision on the swarming colors. Finally able to focus, he blinked slightly at what he saw.

Clay… flowers? There was a group of flowers in a line connected together by a small barely noticeable dip of molded clay, as the petals of the flowers instead of a flat surface, formed a three dimensional pattern. They were painted soft pastel colors that blended well with each flower and on every curve and dip of the small object, there was change of colors as the pale yellows, blues, reds, and tans turned to a darker, warmer color.

It only took a moment for Edward to realize he needed to get a closer look.

The soft jingle of bells chimed as he opened the door, walking into the warm, cottage-like shop. The room smelt strongly of gingerbread and cookies, and Edward sighed contently as he stepped further in the open room, overtaken by the comfort that felt like home.

Removing his jacket, he hung it on a small coat rack that, in bold handwritten letters said:

WE MAKE EVERYTHING HAND MADE. DON'T BE AFRAID TO ASK FOR SOMETHING CUSTOM AND SPECIAL.

Edward chuckled lightly at this, thinking for a brief moment that this trip would be anything but the 'special' they were talking of.

Quickly remembering what he was here for, he quickly glided over to the table that the flowers were displayed on and carefully took one in his hand. It was astounding how beautiful a piece of work can be. It was plainly obvious that whoever had made them had many years of practice.

'Practice makes perfect.'

And it was true, the clay formed flowers was everything perfect and more. But… what where there purpose? Why did the maker create such an item?

"Are you getting them for a girlfriend?" A thick, raspy voice whisper from behind.

Edward turned, facing an aged old woman in tattered red and white checkered shirt, a smile gracing her lips as she shifted her gaze from him to the multi-colored flowers in his hand.

He chuckled, seeing no threat. "No ma'am, just looking for a present for a woman at work." He paused, considering the thought that the old women may know what the flowers purpose are. "If you don't mind me asking, what are these used for?"

The women laughed, gently grabbing the clay in his hand, flipping it over to reveal a long metal double sided rod that was firmly clasped against the clay with a metal ball in the curve of the metal, keeping it in place. With one gentle click, the metal swung down, hanging limply to the side. The women grinned up at him, her eyes twinkling with delight. "Their hair clips."

Ed blinked, picturing Hawkeye with these flowers in her hair instead of her usual barrette. He smiled, grinning at the women. He had just found the perfect gift for Hawkeye. Thanking the women, he walked up to the cash register, paid for the three clips he picked out, and left the comfort of the kind shop, into the raging storm.

It was cold and late. The storm was raging hard in his eyes, forcing him to look down just to be able to open his eyes, and he worried that the bags hanging from his sides holding the precious gifts would have water seep inside and damage the presents.

Damn. Damn. Damn.

Only one person left to get a gift for, and had no clue whatsoever of what to get him. He had considered everything from something fancy to plain, but could find nothing that would suit the dark-haired bastard of a man.

And he couldn't get anything simple and small for the man, because he had been told that the older had bought him a fairly pricey present, but Ed had no clue what. If Edward gave Roy a small and rather unimportant present, the equivalency would not balance out, and Ed would be in dept to the man.

God he hated equivalent exchange sometimes.

He sucked in his breathe as he sudden caught his foot on a rise in the sidewalk, and stumbling, he fell half-way to the ground before catching himself, the bags remaining safely upright. Bending his legs once he regained control he hunch down to sit on the cold hard ground, clutching a sign post for support as he tried to regain from the shock of tripping. Steadying himself with the help of the pole, he brought himself up from his crouched position, glaring down at the concrete in accusation.

He had to get out of this rain soon or he would get sick. Walking in a daze to the closest shop, he opened the heavy door, having to push a bit harder than usual to open the over weighted large door. Flinching as bright lights met his unaccustomed eyes, he turned away from the flashing lights, inhaling the smells of evergreen and pine in a deep breath.

Once his eyes had adjusted to the lights, he stepped into the main part of the room, taking in all the bunches of trees and different types of evergreens such as hollies, wreaths, and mini-sized Christmas trees that covered the entire area of the shop.

Noting the ornaments and objects that hung in the trees and wreaths such as candles and candy canes, he crossed over to one of the trees, taking its pokey branch with his left hand. Feeling the softness of the plenty watered plant, he realized that these plants must have been taken real good care of.

Slowly walking around the room, he took in all the beautiful trees, some bare, other filled with ornaments or special designs of crafts. He sighed, coming up to a basket filled to the top with branches of green with a ribbon tied around each one.

Picking the evergreen up, he turned it over in confusion of to what it is. Still holding the branch in one hand, he picked up the faded tag that read what the object in his hand was. In small script, one word was written in perfect cursive handwriting: Mistletoe.

With a click, everything snapped into place, and Edward grinned in triumph. This had to be the best gift to get the Colonel. He could picture it now, the womanizer using the mistletoe to flirt and flatter the women into a kiss. It was perfect, and the man was sure to love it.

Taking the mistletoe over to the cash register, he pause and quickly jerked back as he saw something to make tomorrow even more exciting. Matches. Grabbing the red box without another thought, he placed the mistletoe on the counter, holding the gag gift in his automail hand.

Tomorrow would be interesting.

"Here Riza, I hope you like them." Ed smiled, handing the brightly shimmering present over to the lieutenant. She gently took the present from his outstretched hands, a small smile gracing her lips.

"I'm sure I will Edward, thank you."

Now that his hands were empty except for the box of matches and a green wrapped present, he had only one more person he had to give his present to, and that one person was the one that made him so nervous.

Walking over to the Colonel, he couldn't look the man in the eye as his hands started to sweat and his heart sped into hyper drive. The dark ebony eyes bore into the top of his head and he could only imagine the smirk that was sure to be plaster over across the man's pale face.

Looking down as he stopped in front of the man, he admired the dress shoes the Colonel wore, before his shaking left hand came out, offering a small box of matches in the palm of his hand. "Here… Colonel Useless." He managed to stutter out, his usual malice lacking as the name passed his lips.

He felt gloved fingertips brush up against his upturned palm, ghosting against the sensitive skin of his hand as the weight of the matches vanished along with the hand.

"Matches huh?"

The voice alone was enough to bring Ed into reality. Looking up, Edward's eyes flashed, all signs of discomfort completely vanishing as a familiar smirk made its way across his lips. "Hell yeah… I noticed you never had matches around and you never know when you have to start a fire."

A silence remained until both man lost their act, and burst into laughter. Stifled by laughter, Roy grinned down at the younger. "So Fullmetal, very funny but is that my present."

Edward instantly stopped laughing, and tapped his bottom lip with his hand thoughtfully. "Hmm… no that was your present." But all the same, he handed over the present to the man. Grinning at everyone as he made it towards the door, he nodded towards to Hawkeye whose hair now held a flower clip and fell around her shoulders, and in response she nodded back, confirming that she liked his gift. "Well I better head out, Alphonse and I have some things we need to handle. See you tomorrow!"

"A mistletoe?" Roy asked in awe as he held the pine in his hands, a mass of wrapping paper surrounding him as the plain white box landed with a thud on the floor. Inside, there were no instructions or notes as of why the teen had given him such a thing, and to what it meant.

Well, as always he had to do what he did every year with every present he received and by no means would this be different.

"I'm late, I'm late, I'm late!" Edward shouted in desperation as he ran down the sidewalk, searching for the familiar tip of the gate of the Military Head Quarters, his red coat flying behind him in the wind as his platform shoes thudded against the pavement.

Checking the time on the clock tower to the right of him, he yelped and put more 'umph' in his sprint as he realized he had only two minutes to be in Roy's office.

Thud. Thud. Thud.

His boots beat against the concrete. Once meeting the stairs of HQ he quickly glided up the stairs before regaining his normal pace.

Click. Stomp. Click. Stomp.

Finally the door was in sight, and giving his all in the last meters, he slammed the door open.

"I'M HERE!" He bent over at the waist in the threshold of the door, trying to catch his breath. Breathing heavily, he panted as he placed his hands on his knees, hating the fact that he was breathing so hard.

"You're late." The sternness in the voice was enough to make Ed straighten his back and look up at his superior officer, surprising himself when the tip of his nose brushed up against the blue military jacket of the Colonels.

"Uh… Colonel?" He questioned, arching his neck to look the Colonel in the eye.

"You know Ed, in my family we have a tradition each time we get a present." Roy smirked, placing both hands on the teen's shoulders.

"Ya don't say." He looked curiously at the hands on his shoulders.

"Every time we receive a present, we show the person that gave it how we used it." He grinned down at the blond, his eyes flashing with something unknown.

Ed paled at his words, his eyes widening. 'Oh shi-'

"Ed…"

He looked up.

"Mistletoe." Roy slowly brought his lips down to gently press against the soft flesh of Ed's mouth in a kiss. Flicking his tongue out to graze Edward's bottom lip, Roy caught the teen by shock as he gasped out, opening his mouth in the process. Taking advantage of that, Roy deepened the kiss, exploring the caverns of the blond's mouth, the sweet taste of chocolate rolling off his tongue.

Stepping back, Roy smiled at the flushed and breathless state of the blonde, holding carefully onto one of Ed's elbows so Edward wouldn't collapse as he took out a small rectangular flat box from his pocket. "You left before I could give this to you." He smiled pushing it into Ed's automail hand. "Open it."

Obeying, he curiously tore open the paper, opening it to reveal a small silver necklace with a black ring on it. "It's… beautiful but…"

Roy gently took the necklace from Edward, placing it around the blond's neck, flicking the braid out from underneath it.

"Edward Elric, will you go out with me?"

Shocked, Ed smiled before leaning up to claim those perfect lips as his own.