"Mustang."

"Al hasn't come back," Ed said tersely into the receiver, turning to pace restlessly the short expanse of hall that the phone cord would let him.

"...Hello, Edward," Mustang began, but Ed cut back in before he could continue.

"It's been hours, way longer than it should have taken. Hours, Roy!"

There was a short silence on the other end of the phone.

"Edward...didn't you say Alphonse was going on a date tonight?"

"Yeah."

"And at his date's house, if I recall?"

"Yeah," Ed confirmed, coming to a stop at the window to peer out.

There was another short silence.

"What're you trying to say?" Ed pressed.

"Well, I'm trying to say that..." Roy started, sounding amused, but trailed off. "What I'm trying to say," he began again, voice now firm, "is that surely he's decided to wait out the storm."

"'Wait out the storm?!' It's a fucking blizzard, Roy!" Ed exclaimed, gesturing violently toward the window with the hand that wasn't holding the phone.

"That was rather my point."

"Don't you get smart with me, bastard," Ed snapped, spinning to stomp back down the hall in the other direction. "You can't wait out a blizzard, that'd take all damn night! Probably longer, if the guys down in the pub know anything!"

"Would that be the pub you promised Alphonse you wouldn't go to anymore?" Roy asked mildly.

"...That's not what we're talking about right now, shut the fuck up and tell me what the hell I'm supposed to do if Al's stuck out in a fucking blizzard!"

"He's not 'stuck,' Ed. He's just fine. Alphonse is smart enough not to risk anything in this weather. He's just going to wait it out, safe and sound, at the house of someone he knows. Even if it does take all night, no one would turn out a guest on a night like this. Relax, Ed."

Ed clenched and unclenched the hand not holding the phone, and glanced back out the window at the flying flakes of snow. Roy was probably right...but...

"Can't relax," he muttered. "Not while Al's out there like this, even if he's probably safe."

"Mmm," came Roy's voice over the line. The sound was low and comforting; understanding, and a touch affectionate...which pissed Ed off a little. The fucker. He knew he was a hopeless when it came to Al.

But that was just it.

Roy understood.

"I imagine not. But there's nothing you can do, for the moment. So at least try not to dwell on it, Ed. It won't do you any good."

"Yeah," Ed said with a sigh, making up his mind. "Yeah, all right. Talk to you later, bastard."

"Goodnight, Ed."

Edward did try to follow his advice after hanging up. He cleaned up the kitchen and did the dishes like Al had asked, but kept catching himself wandering back to the window to look anxiously out at the dark.

Just when he had run out of chores to busy himself with, there came a knock at the door.

Ed turned toward it, blinking in surprise, then frowning as he crossed the room to open it. It couldn't be Al, since he had a key; who would be when it was this bad outside?

He opened it to find Roy on the step, bundled up tightly against the wind and covered 360 degrees in a layer of snow.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Ed demanded in surprise as he pulled the man inside and slammed the door shut on the howling wind.

"I just couldn't leave you here to worry all night by yourself," he said as he extracted himself from his coat, boots, and other gear, and set them near the door. Then he turned to Ed, leveling his very best bedroom eyes on him. "So I came to distract you with more pleasant thoughts."

"Oh, you did, did you?" Ed said, trying not to smile and crossing his arms over his chest, but unable to put up any real pretense when he was so glad the man was there.

"Mmm," Roy purred, undeterred, as he approached and wrapped his arms around the shorter man. This time the sound was obviously meant to entice rather than soothe, but Ed liked it just as much.

"Well, knock yourself out," he said, looping his arms around his neck to let him press their bodies together.

"Don't mind if I do," Roy whispered, and then kissed him.

Yes, Ed decided, this was without a doubt better than waiting all night alone, sick with worry...

"Wait a minute," Ed said, breaking away to look at Roy's face, his brow wrinkling. "Isn't it further from your place to here than it is from here to-?" he began, but Roy quickly covered his mouth with his own again, slipping his tongue inside, kissing him passionately and proceeding to drive all other thoughts from Ed's mind.

...Until the next morning, anyway.

The End.