A/N: The second in my cuteness series for Taisa. This one is Roy and Hughes friendship.
For as long as Roy and Maes could remember, they would always use the weekend to get drunk together at the local bar. Or rather, spending Friday getting drunk enough that half of Saturday was gone recovering from the hangover and then repeating the process, only at one of their residences instead of at a bar over a game of cards with Havoc, Fuery, Breda, and Falman. The subject of those discussions over copious amounts of alcohol varied and often blurred together after a night's worth of inebriation, but there was one topic that Maes brought up every time. He was always telling Roy to find love.
When he had first begun dating Gracia, Roy remembered never hearing the end of it. He could probably draw a picture of her after ten minutes of talking to Maes and that was before even the first photograph emerged from that wallet of his. It amazed Roy how Maes never ran out of things to talk about on the subject of her, week after week, month after month, while Roy's girlfriends came and went. And even though it could be a bit irritating at times, Roy could never quite find himself to actually get angry, because he felt it would be wonderful to find someone like that, who he could never stop talking or thinking about, even in his darkest of hours. He remembered how Maes seemed to glow when he told Roy of his engagement to her and during his wedding, and it amazed him that even after that seeming pinnacle of their relationship, Maes still never ran out of things to say about Gracia. Eventually his gushing moved on to the product of his love for her, Elysia, but it was still the same—the pride and joy in his voice never once faded and Roy could only continue to admire Hughes for it, as the months turned into years, and he had no less to say about Gracia and Elysia than he had on his first date with his future wife.
"…Hughes, let's be reasonable here—she's not going to be an artist, a veterinarian, and a chef."
"No, I suppose not," Hughes conceded with a chuckle, "But she'd be great at any of them! And she could do the others as hobbies!"
"Whatever you say, Maes," he answered, giving his friend an indulgent smile. He reached toward his second drink of the evening, knowing that he was going to need a lot of the alcohol to listen to Hughes's ramblings for the rest of the night with a smile the whole time. He felt it was merited in this occasion, though—Hughes had had his anniversary yesterday (they had even postponed their usual Friday thing for it) and Roy was not about to ruin Maes's good mood.
"So Roy, you're coming to Elysia's second birthday party next week, right?"
"I doubt you'd forgive me if I didn't," he answered with a grin.
Hughes mirrored Roy's grin and patted his best friend on the back a bit. "Aw, Roy, you don't have to put it like that."
Roy finished off his second drink and ordered a third. "I'll come, don't worry, Maes."
And then the topic shifted to the Flame Alchemist's least favorite subject in these little get-togethers they did every week.
"Really, though Roy, you ought to get yourself a wife—or at least a steady girlfriend—before you head off East." As Roy sighed at the dreaded sentence filtering into his ears, Hughes grinned and cheekily added, "And I'm not letting this go—don't try changing the subject on me this time just because we're both getting drunk."
A long pause, and then: "Hughes. We've talked about this. Enough times that I've lost track."
"Which is why you should know why I want you to," Maes responded with a smirk.
"I do, but—"
"C'mon, Roy, you're going all the way out east; you're gonna need some support while you're there."
"That's why Hawkeye, Havoc, Fuery, Falman, and Breda are coming with me, remember? And it's not as if I'm dropping off the face of the earth or something; we're still keeping in touch by phone, Maes."
"There are some pretty shifty characters out east, though. If you don't—"
"All the more reason not to get someone else involved, right?"
Hughes heaved a light sigh, knowing that Roy had him beat on that point, and changed arguments.
"Listen, Roy. I know getting to be the Fuhrer's a long and dangerous path and all and getting seriously involved with someone might not be on your agenda right now…But when you finally get there, it won't mean as much if you don't have someone special to share it with, right? Reforming the state is all well and good, but don't forget about the important things in life while trying to do that, all right?"
The colonel stared at his best friend oddly for a moment, not sure why he would say something like that, or how he managed something that profound when he was about two drinks less sober than him.
"Nonsense. I have you, don't I, Maes?"
Maes chuckled. "Aw shucks, Roy. That's sweet. But you know what I mean!"
Roy mumbled something incoherent in response, and reached for his fourth drink of the night. It suddenly felt like his brain hurt and decided that he would either try to change the subject or keep his mouth occupied with the consumption of alcohol so he wouldn't have to think about it.
"What about Hawkeye?"
Roy choked on his drink.
"Wh-what?!" he spluttered a few moments later, after he had caught his breath.
A devious grin alighted upon the investigations officer's features. "Hawkeye. I mean, come on, you can't deny that she's attractive, right? And you've known her for ages—she's been watching your neck along with me since all the way back in Ishbal."
"H-H-Hawkeye?! B-but she—I-I—we…we're not—I can't…"
Maes chuckled and patted his suddenly tongue-tied friend on the back. "What's wrong, Roy? You do like her don't you?"
Roy tried to swallow the lump in his throat, which suddenly felt very dry despite all the liquid he had consumed that evening. "...Of course I do. If I didn't like her, I wouldn't work with her and I certainly wouldn't have requested her to be transferred to East Headquarters with me."
Maes simply raised an eyebrow behind his glasses, which Roy could swear were gleaming more brightly than they had been a moment ago. "It's just…well…that kind of thing—with a subordinate—is…frowned upon, isn't it? It would just be awkward and uncomfortable for the both of us and I see no need to complicate a perfectly good professional relationship."
The other man laughed out loud this time at his friend's attempt to look serious and authoritative as he said that, and at the slight pink flush that crept up on the younger man's cheeks that was not entirely due to the alcohol.
"You make it sound like you're trying to seduce her against her will or something. Just ask her out to lunch sometime—see what she says."
"But Maes—"
"Come on, if you really were worried about keeping a 'professional' relationship with everyone you worked with in the military, we wouldn't be getting ourselves drunk off our asses and playing cards every weekend, now would we?"
As much as he hated to admit it, Roy knew Maes had a point there. Finishing off his fifth drink of the night, Mustang rose from his seat beside Maes, not wanting to discuss the matter further and deciding miserably that he was not looking forward to the headache he would have in the morning.
"Aw, Roy," his friend called, feigning indignance, "If you're going home to sleep now, you'll be more sober than the rest of us at cards tomorrow!"
"I'll have another drink or two tomorrow morning, then, does that sound fair?" he answered with a bit of a weary smile.
"What is it?" Maes asked, tone suddenly completely serious, "Are you worried about the transfer? Or the Elrics, or is it Scar? Or…are you thinking about Ishbal?"
The colonel gave him a bit of a grateful grin for his concern. "Probably a little of all of those, Maes…but I think I'm just tired. Or possibly not drunk enough yet to be out of it completely. Anyway I'll…I'll see you tomorrow. And I won't forget about Elysia's party, I promise."
---
"Just a minute!" the ring of the doorbell was answered quickly by Maes to find Roy awkwardly standing at the entrance in his regular street clothes instead of his usual military uniform, holding obtusely shaped gift that had more scotch tape on the wrapping paper than wrapping paper.
"Hey there, Maes. I'm…not too late, am I?"
"Of course not!" the proud father declared gleefully, the investigations officer for once oblivious to Roy's awkwardness. "The party's just beginning—let me take you to Elysia!" He turned and prepared to walk towards the room where Elysia was, but was suddenly struck by an idea.
"Orrr! I can take her to you! She can walk now, you know. And she even talks a little—she's a little genius, I'll tell you!"
"Either way, Maes," Roy answered with a grin, still in awe of Hughes's ability to talk about his loved ones with that bottomless well of things to say.
A few minutes later, a little girl with blond pigtails toddled into the room. Roy knelt down so as to be at eye level for her.
"Elysia, say hello to your uncle Roy!"
"Hello, Uncle Roy!"
"Happy birthday, Elysia," Roy attempted in return, ruffling her hair a bit and handing her his present as he straightened.
"Thank you!" she chirped gleefully, a grin that reminded him a great deal of her father's stretched across her face.
"Does Uncle Roy have kids too?" she asked him innocently.
Roy stiffened. "Er…no. I don't."
Maes chuckled a bit. "See Elysia, Uncle Roy is a bit too stubborn for his own good and hasn't yet found someone like Mommy. But he'll come around one of these days, and then you'll have even more people to play with than your big brothers Ed and Al."
"Yayyy!"
"Hey, Elysia, why don't you go and open that present?"
"Okay!"
He watched as she scampered off with the gift, and then turned back to his friend. "You sure are persistent, Maes."
He saw that glint in Maes's eyes again as he pushed his glasses up his nose slightly. "Not at all. I'm not trying to tell you how to run your life, Roy. I'm just saying to sit down and think about what you find important one of these days. And don't look so glum, you're at a party! At least have some fun while you're here."
And then he was gone, disappearing into a room in the same direction that Elysia had went and leaving Roy with only his thoughts and his best friend's words ringing in his ears.
---
Later that week, Riza Hawkeye surprised most of Central command by taking her first personal day in years.