Ed looked out the window at the cats prowling around. He was nervous about the text he'd sent to Roy. He should've thought it through a few times, but when he'd opened the door to feed the damn stray per Al's request and found that the number of cats had quadrupled overnight he'd thought Roy would find it funny.

It'd been over half a year since they'd been exchanging texts. It started out with Roy sending a picture of stew along with a message rubbing it in that he was enjoying Ed's favorite food while Ed was in some rinky dink town eating bad hotel food. Since then they'd exchanged light banter, the occasional funny picture, and (mostly) work related things (which Ed didn't give two shits about but they were great excuses to chat with Roy) but Ed still questioned the reception of his texts.

In person, he never hesitated to share a thought or a funny story but texts were different. Texts happened after work hours and crossed into the realm of personal, which admittedly they were…but at the same time not. Although Roy was privy to things in Ed's life that no one other than Al knew, there was still a distance between them that appeared when work ended. It seemed to Ed that everything said at work was safe, but after it all just felt too personal. Maybe that's why sometimes Roy didn't text back. Ed often wondered if he just couldn't think of a reply or didn't care for a text from a subordinate fourteen years younger in spite of their closeness at work.

Roy POV

Roy's cell phone pinged at the arrival of a new text message. He finished scooping his eggs onto a plate before opening it. Hawkeye's nagging could just wait, thank you very much. But instead of a threat to not be late to work he was surprised to see it was from Ed, and he'd be damned before he admitted it made the day just that much better.

It was a picture of four cats with the caption, "HELP they've multiplied!" And no amount of control could keep the smile from spreading over his face. Like every other time, it didn't escape him how good it felt to receive a text from Ed. Texts from Ed meant the young man was thinking about him even if just in passing, although Roy wished it was more. He wanted Ed to be consumed with thoughts of him the way he was. He'd exulted when he'd received a text that said, "This reminded me of you." because God knew that at this point they knew each other well enough that everything could remind him of Ed and he wanted the same to be true in reverse.

It was hard to tell when things had changed really, but after working on something together almost a year ago Ed had started coming by the office more and more and they talked about work less and less so that before Roy knew it they'd surpassed the realm of coworkers and acquaintances, and had it been anyone else Roy would have said they gotten to be close friends. Except for the distance outside of work that Roy maintained. He wondered if it confused Ed. If he'd even noticed.

Roy was just about to type in a reply when he heard footsteps and instead put the phone away so that by the time the redhead walked in he was just sitting there finishing his breakfast. He pretended to listen when she plowed ahead with her plans for the day and dutifully kissed her good-bye when she left for work, all the while telling himself it was better this way and for God's sake he didn't prefer blonds.