A/N: So this chapter is totally devoted to the growth of Edward's and Roy's relationship. It also introduces an Ed/character-that-isn't-Roy interaction. It's actually very important to where this story goes in the future. Ed/Roy is still the main ship have no fear, but this pairing will be present in the background.

OoOoOoOoOoOo

"Do you ever go home?" Asked Roy as he closed the office door.

Ed looked up at the blunt question.

He decided it deserved an honest answer.

"I'm not much of a sleeper." He admitted. "I can function on four to five hours quite comfortably, and I work better at night."

"So that's a no then."

"I try to go home between three and work start at nine."

"So what time is breakfast?" Asked Roy sceptically.

"Between three and four… Anna's only been here two months. She needs access to central's library for a project. I tend to just crash in the dorms in that case."

"That doesn't sound healthy."

"This place is a lot friendlier to research at night… Before Al left for Xing I went home a lot more, but now…"

"Now your friends are within military walls, at least after hours."

"Well… Yeah." Ed shrugged.

Roy was silent a minute and Ed almost thought the conversation over, sipping his coffee, before Roy spoke quietly.

"I'm glad you're finally putting down some roots."

"I'm pretty shit at it." Ed agreed. "Central is becoming my home… I'm not sure if I like it or not yet."

"Home being central, or having a home?"

"Having a home." Ed admitted. "I've survived without one until now… and I want to travel again."

"You're concerned about the ties."

"I think it will hurt more, this time."

"It probably will, you've always been a nomad… I don't think anything could hold you still to be honest, no matter what the ties. You should look at it more positively. You have people to write to now, beyond family. You have a reason to come home. A safe place."

"I know those are good things." Ed acknowledged.

"Do you want out, after this case?"

Ed looked up sharply.

"If you want a long haul I'll throw you one. It won't be too long, not our specialisation, but I can get you out for a month or two?"

"If you can spare me I'd like that." Ed admitted.

"I'm not going to lie and say it isn't a pain in my arse." Roy admitted. "But I know I get off very easily for having an alchemist among my officers. That usually isn't allowed. There's no point to making you unhappy for the sake of a month or so fullmetal. I'll cut you loose. Expect the worst long haul I have in my possession though."

"I wouldn't expect anything else." Said Ed with a ghost of a smile.

He glanced at the door, checking it remained closed, before speaking again.

"When'd it end with Lee?"

Roy jumped visibly, hackles rising in response to the question. A moment later he relaxed slightly. In anyone else's hands that question was enough to ruin his career. In Ed's hands it was just genuine curiosity.

"It isn't all that obvious at all." Ed offered soothingly. "I'm reading into things because I possess more information than the norm."

Roy swallowed around the lump in his throat, levelling his voice to ask the question.

"How did you know?"

"I'd actually noticed it before." Ed admitted. "You cross your arms when you speak to him. Everyone takes it as standoff-ish, but it's actually protection. I hadn't the context to see that before more recent conversations."

"You know accusing a general of homosexuality is enough to get you shot?" Asked Roy mildly.

Ed smiled a little.

"I do, but I'm not accusing. He's made it quite clear himself."

Dark eyes shot around to look at him.

"I turned him down." Ed said, scrubbing his face. "Unhappy or not he has a wife and two very young children. I don't ruin marriages. I know what that does to kids."

Roy knew immediately that he was talking about his own unhappy upbringing.

"He actually propositioned you?"

"Yes." Ed admitted, frowning. "That's odd?"

"Lee is common knowledge, among those in a position to know."

"You find out after you've incriminated yourself." Ed agreed.

"He usually waits for people to come to him these days. He was quite taken with you, to step forward and take that risk."

"I thought so too." Ed agreed. "Has he always been like that?"

He already knew the answer but wanted to know more.

"No." Roy stated. "He's gotten more and more careful. A combination of marriage and rank."

"You were together before that then."

"Ishaval." Roy said quietly.

"You were only a kid." Said Ed, already knowing where this was going.

"A sergeant." Roy agreed. "A year in the military. The general was a major at the time."

Roy shook his head.

"We couldn't bring it home, I know that now, but I lashed out at the time. He was harsh with me. While I have no interest today I'd imagine it does still colour our interactions."

"He was mean."

"Crueller than was necessary. He's apologised since then."

"Cruelty from fear, rather than from malice."

"That's it exactly." Roy confirmed with a slight nod. "I was only a child."

"You were only a couple of years younger than I am now." Ed reminded.

"You've been in the military since you were twelve fullmetal. You're aware you've served longer than three quarters of the current colonels and almost half the current generals?"

"I haven't been a child since my mother's death." Ed conceded.

"It's why you said no."

Ed inclined his head in agreement. It really was. There was no denying Lee was an attractive man, and he was truly quite kind as far as the generals went. Ed genuinely liked him. It was only his experience with the man eating machine that was the military, and his own unhappy childhood that had kept him clear of that situation. Sleeping with a general would get him thrown in prison when it went rotten. Lee would throw him to the dogs if it meant his own career was unharmed and Ed knew that, where fresh faced, naïve Roy Mustang hadn't. It was hard, to align his commanding officer with someone who could be so easily hurt like that. Who didn't understand how the system worked and how unforgiving it was.

"I think, in a way… Growing up in the military afforded me a lot of slack." Said Ed, scuffing his toe off the ground as he thought.

"I'm trying to imagine what it would have been like… To arrive here from idyllic Resembool at eighteen. It would have been pretty awful…"

"I don't know. You spent your teenage years under a microscope."

"Ah. But I knew by fourteen that the military chews up and spits out men like me. I wouldn't have known that arriving at eighteen. I may have heard, but I wouldn't have understood it. I would have said yes to Lee, just like you did."

Roy nodded with a sigh.

"You knew, at fourteen?"

"I'd admitted it to myself at fourteen. I knew at twelve."

He spotted the look.

"It's not hard to spot. You're at least somewhat bisexual I'm assuming?"

Roy nodded.

"I'm not. It becomes pretty clear pretty fast."

A slight grin touched Roy's lips.

"Who?"

"Pardon?"

"Who did you crush on at twelve years old?"

"No way Mustang! I'm not telling you that!"

"Was it me?"

"No."

"Then it was someone I know. You're too defensive. Tell me."

"It's mortifying."

"It can't be that bad. Twelve year old crushes are all about inspiration and hero worship."

"It can."

"I'll share if you do."

"No way! Your first crush was probably a perfectly respectable female. Didn't you live with Hawkeye?"

Roy gaped.

"See!?" Said Ed amused. "No way Mustang, that's not equivalent exchange."

"Alright first male crush."

"I won't know them." Ed countered.

"Alright alright first male partner."

Ed pulled up short.

"It wasn't Lee?"

Roy snorted.

"I was a teenager once upon a time."

"Do I know them?"

"Perhaps. Spill. Who taught you you were gay?"

"Maes." Ed muttered, burying his face in his hands as Roy burst out laughing.

Ed's ears reddened. He'd never heard Mustang laugh like that before. The most he'd ever heard was a short sharp burst of amusement. This was full on belly laughs, and while it was a nice sound it only made Ed groan. It was at his expense.

Roy seemed to get it and got his laughter under control.

"Sorry." He gasped. "Sorry. But could you have gone with more of a parental figure?"

"Fuck you Mustang." Ed snapped, turning away.

"Hey. Hey! Ed I'm sorry. I didn't mean it. You just caught me by surprise. I mean I was expecting Havoc, or maybe Furey."

Ed glowered at the floor.

"Actually… Maes was a kind of sweet choice."

Ed glanced his way before turning away again.

"My first male crush was Tazman Harkins, and you're right, you don't know him. He was Hawkeye's first boyfriend."

Ed's eyes popped open.

"Yeah. Talk about stupid. She found out too."

"So Hawkeye knows?"

"No. It was put down to being a kid. She's always been more suspicious for it though. My first partner was Brigadier general Mathers."

Ed's eyebrows shot up.

"You didn't know?"

"No, I did, he just didn't hit me as your type."

Roy shrugged.

"What about you?"

"Can't you guess?"

Roy frowned.

"I should be able to?"

"I would have thought so… Maybe not. Ling."

Roy's jaw fell open.

"You are joking!"

"I'm not you know." Said Ed with a shrug.

"But that means!"

"I was just barely fifteen." Ed agreed. "Ling was sixteen, though he looked older. We were as illegal as each other."

"How the hell did I miss that?" Asked Roy, rubbing his face.

"I can be pretty subtle when I feel like it." Said Ed defensively.

"Evidently." Said Roy. "I was… 100% convinced he was straight."

Ed snorted.

"He is, or so he'll tell you. We were horny teenagers Mustang."

Roy snorted.

"Oh like you didn't do just as bad if not worse."

"True." Roy conceded. "This conversation never leaves this room fullmetal."

"Of course." Said Ed rolling his eyes.

"Most men are like Ling." He offered. "Given the right partner."

Ed nodded without thinking.

"I genuinely can't tell you." He offered at the raised eyebrow.

Direct subordinate then, which actually made whichever member of his team it was Ed's direct subordinate too.

"Was it worth it?"

"It was fun, and we just waved it off." Said Ed with an easy shrug.

"I was sleeping with Miles, while we were sorting out Ishaval."

"I already knew, though I'd written it off as innocent." Ed offered with a half-smile. "Caught him leaving one night. I'm actually surprised he never told you."

"Obviously you didn't seem like all that much of a threat." Roy mused. "I must ask though, if we ever cross paths again."

"It was a friendly parting then?"

"Neither of us were under any illusions. It was never anything serious."

Ed shrugged, sitting up on his desk and swinging his legs.

"Have you ever had a serious relationship?" Mustang asked, curious.

"Define serious."

"Long term, genuine care, not necessarily monogamy. A partner."

"One." Ed admitted. "It's nothing serious. Just something that…"

"Happens." Roy supplied.

"Exactly. Do you favour either way?"

Roy frowned thoughtfully.

"I find both the male and female forms attractive. Probably to the same level. I tend towards men long term and women for shorter encounters. I do favour that way I suppose. What about you?"

"I'm pretty fundamentally gay…"

"But you've slept with at least one woman."

"One." He agreed. "I don't… reject the female form, that isn't how it works. I'm kind of… immune to it almost."

"So this woman has one hell of a personality."

"You could say that." Said Ed amused.

"You're very fond of her."

"I am." Ed agreed. "She's been my only long term partner."

"A woman?!"

"Funny how things happen." Ed agreed. "I tend to choose the unobtainable, it's not surprising."

"Does she know?"

"We've never had an overt conversation about it, but I'm pretty sure she knows. She doesn't mind."

"Why not?"

"Because it's irrelevant."

Roy's eyes narrowed.

"This isn't Miss Rockabell then."

Ed laughed genuinely.

"Nah, she'll marry Al, if he ever gets his act together. How'd you guess it wasn't Winry?"

"She's too attached to you, and it's too rooted in your childhood. What you're describing isn't attachment like that."

"No. It's a friends with benefits situation I suppose. It's just steam, does that make sense?"

Roy nodded. He had more than one partner he'd go to to let off steam.

"Why pick a gay man?" Said Roy thinking. "You can let off steam with any willing partner."

"I have other attributes." Said Ed frowning at the other man.

"Of course you do, I'm just trying to pick on which ones she'd like and in what combination that she can't get elsewhere."

Ed waited.

"No strings, massively powerful, stupidly argumentative, extremely discreet."

"You're on the right track."

"There are plenty of men in the military like that."

"Maybe she can't have a military man." Ed offered.

"But you are military- She's in a position of power." Roy answered himself.

It all clicked together at once.

"Olivier Armstrong?!"

Ed shrugged.

"Wow." Said Roy scratching his head with an amused smile. "That makes so little sense and so much sense all at once…"

"It does?"

"It's perfect in some ways. She's never going to settle down, ever. She's basically designated herself asexual among the briggs ranks because they're her officers. You both love a challenge. The only thing off about it is your sexuality but if you can put that aside it actually makes a massive amount of sense."

Roy smiled a wicked smile.

"What's she going to have to say about your new uniform?"

Ed snorted.

"Please. I haven't been allowed step foot in Briggs without a uniform since I hit majority. She's a lot faster imposing martial law than you lot. No doubt it will involve something about you finally making me your bitch." He rolled his eyes and Roy choked on a laugh. That was exactly what Olivier would say.

"You know her well. How long is this going on?"

"Since I turned eighteen."

"You never ask to go North."

"It's not like that." Ed shrugged. "And even if it was I wouldn't need to. You're always sending me out there because everyone else is shit scared of her."

Roy snorted, genuinely amused.

"It's a long time since I sent you North last."

"About a year." Ed agreed.

Roy nodded, thinking. Ed knew his mind was on his current cases awaiting attention.

"I've got nothing." Roy admitted. "First case in you're going."

"You won't be doing me any favours if you hold off on a case on her waiting for me to return from another."

"Possibly not. First you're available for then. Olivier Armstrong." He muttered shaking his head in amusement. "You don't do anything by half do you?"

Ed rolled his eyes, yawning and checking his watch.

"It's late."

"No shit Mustang. It's three in the morning."

"Bed time."

"I'm going to crash in the dorms. You should too." Ed stated. "Your house is a thirty minute drive. Not worth your while."

Roy grimaced.

"Don't you have your own private dorm?"

"I waved it." Roy admitted. "I never sleep here and they're always short for higher ranks."

"Maybe there'll be a few empty, never know."

OoOoOoOoOoOo

Occupied. Almost all of them.

"How'd you know that one would be open?" Asked Roy quietly.

"I always sleep in the same one. People leave it open for me if they can." Ed admitted. "It's two bed, if you want in, better than joining one of the eight beds."

Roy shuddered at the very idea.

"Thanks fullmetal."

"Hey, it's not actually my room."

"Except it is, for all intents and purposes." Roy countered. "If the officers leave it vacant for you it's been written off as yours."

Ed shrugged easily.

He kicked off his shoes as he entered, padding across the room in the darkness.

Roy just about saw him reach the back, flicking a switch and flooding the room with the fluorescent light of the bathroom.

He pulled his hair down, absently running his fingers through it before tiredly fumbling buttons.

Roy turned away to examine the bed, unwilling to tempt himself. One was rumpled. There was a blonde hair on the pillow that marked it as Ed's usual choice. A book on the locker said that despite his arguing Ed was pretty sure the room wouldn't be disturbed.

Light the fire, I'm closing the door and the bulb is gone in the overhead. Ed called.

"Why don't you call maintenance?"

"It's just a bulb. I keep meaning to get one."

Ed let him move to the fire before closing the door with a soft snick. The shower started a moment later.

He was fast. It was the shower of a man who had never used it as his place of thought or solitude. Ed had never had the time…

He clapped as he left the bathroom, removing the water from his hair. He smiled slightly. Roy had stolen his book and was reading by light of the fire.

"It's all yours if you want it." Ed tossed his head back towards the bathroom. "Cleaning put fresh towels in."

Roy jumped, slamming the book closed.

"It's kind of cool, right?" Ed referred to the text.

"Pointless, but amusing nonetheless."

"Not pointless." Said Ed with a smile. "No alchemy is ever pointless."

"But why would people go to the effort of learning it? It's so complicated."

"That's why." Said Ed with a smile. "It isn't about making stained glass. It's about the level of skill it requires. Those transmutations are among the most complex taught as a trade in amestris. They're damn near impossible. To a craftsman they're a livelihood. To a state alchemist just a fun way to test yourself. I've been failing hard for two months now."

"Really?" Asked Roy surprised.

"They seem straight forward, until you try to draw them or make your own." Ed offered. "I can manage the basics but can't throw in any alterations. Apparently it's about the way a trained alchemist thinks. All the craftsmen and women learn this as their primary alchemy, and even then women are roughly twice as successful as men."

"That's incredible."

Ed shrugged a bare shoulder.

"I'm going to sleep. Don't stay up to long. You don't hit me as a four hour kind of guy."

"Excuse me?" Said Roy amused.

"You don't miss out on your beauty sleep- Ow!"

Roy had smacked his arm with the heavy book.

Roy's smirk was dangerously close to a smile and it made Ed smile in return, shaking his head.

"Night Mustang."

Ed crawled in to bed as Roy headed into the bathroom. Fifteen minutes later Roy collapsed into his bed, pulling on a glove he clicked, lowering the fire to warming embers.

"Cheers." Said Ed sleepily, only half awake.

"Goodnight full metal."

OoOoOoOoOoOo

"Mustang." Ed whispered. "Mustang…"

Nothing.

"Roy." He whispered, shaking his shoulder lightly.

He barely had time to gasp before finding himself pinned to the mattress, an arm at his throat.

"Woah. Hey it's just me!" He choked out.

All traces of sleep disappeared from Roy's eyes immediately and he withdrew the arm from where it was squishing the blonde's wind pipe.

"Sorry."

"S'okay. I should have known that'd happen." Said Ed rubbing his throat and sitting up a little.

Roy deflated, sitting down on the edge of the bed again.

"I'm sorry." He apologised again.

"Not your fault. That was pretty impressive Mustang. "I hadn't a chance."

"Paranoid." Roy muttered to himself, shaking his head.

"Don't." Said Ed touching his shoulder. "Really. I'm okay. I'm pretty damn paranoid too. You're a seriously heavy sleeper."

"Maes joked that I could sleep through a raid when we were in Ishaval."

"I'm the complete opposite. Drives Liv nuts."

"Why?"

"Briggs is never quiet. I never sleep through. You talk in your sleep you know."

"I what?" Said Roy surprised.

"You hadn't anything interesting to say, just gobbledygook. I had a feeling you didn't know."

"Why?"

"It had all the markings of deep REM, and you probably would have warned me."

"Hmm. I'm still surprised nobody's ever told me that before."

"I think it's a deep rest thing. You were dog tired last night. How often have you shared a room with another person that tired and slept that deeply?"

Roy thought about it. He had slept like a log actually, and fullmetal was right, that wasn't something that normally happened with company in combination with that exhaustion.

"You're probably right." Roy conceded. "Did I keep you up?"

"I woke the first couple of times. Tuned it out after that. It's half seven by the way. That's why I was waking you. You arrive at work for eight don't you?"

"Yeah." Said Roy, rubbing his face. "I'll go in for quarter to nine. The only person that knows that is you, because you're usually in the canteen when I go looking for caffeine. Quarter to nine is plenty of time to head Hawkeye off."

"Oh. You could probably go back to sleep a while then."

"We missed dinner. We should go for breakfast when it starts properly at eight."

As if on demand Ed's stomach rumbled.

"Sounds like a plan." He said, wincing with a slight blush.

Roy fell quiet and it took Ed a minute to realise what had his attention.

He was examining the automail, face completely open in his curiosity. He'd forgotten Ed was there completely despite the fact that it was his arm he examined.

It didn't really bother the blonde. Most people were curious about it, and Roy'd never been up close with it before. It was the meeting of skin and metal that seemed to hold most of his attention. His eyes mapped the scars that crept from beneath the metal. Lingered on the connective bolts.

His eyes gradually travelled a little higher and he jumped, wincing badly when he realised he'd been staring.

"The bolts twist into sockets drilled into my collarbone." Said Ed, making the older man's head snap up. "The sockets themselves are secured with a type of cement. The burring is one of the worst parts of the operation. Most of the scarring is actually from that." Ed admitted. "The bolts themselves can twist out. You need a wrench to do it. The nerve connection is the bit that hurts like a bitch if something goes wrong. These things here." He pointed at a series of metal tubes. "I'm due an upgrade soon."

"You are?"

"I've been putting it off. I haven't had a brand new automail since I was sixteen. It's just over an inch too short." He held both his arms out to illustrate.

"Why wait so long. You stopped growing years ago."

"A combination. I've been busy, besides, I like this arm and Winry is attempting perfection with the new model. I'll change my leg first."

"You've had that lengthened."

"I'd walk with a real limp otherwise." Ed agreed. "It was a temporary fix though, they're more necessary when you automail a kid, especially a kid's leg, because they grow so fast. I need a new model still. Apart from anything else this one isn't designed to take the weight of a grown man."

"Why put it off?"

"It hurts a lot worse to remove than the arm." Ed admitted. "The nerves are a bit dicier and I do it less often so I'm pretty sensitive to it. It's a bigger deal than my arm personally too. It involves Winry getting… fairly up close and personal. I've always hesitated over it. I lost my whole leg, right up to the hip."

He pulled down the elastic of his boxers just a little to flash the metal. Winry gets very very nervous working that high."

Probably understandable, Roy acknowledged mentally. If Ed had lost his whole femur then the bolting was probably pretty extreme in location.

"How did she secure it?" Asked Roy frowning. "The outer thigh is secured to your upper pelvis but that doesn't work for the inner."

"Titanium plate." Ed replied. "Feat of genius if you ask a gear head about it. Win is good at what she does."

Roy nodded, eyes wandering back to the meeting of skin and metal.

"You can touch it if you like."

Roy jumped.

"I prefer, that people ask about it. "If nothing else it's safer for me, for people to have a vague idea of how it works. Makes me feel like less of a freak too." He said quietly.

Roy carefully touched the metal.

His surprise must have shown in his face.

"The places in constant contact with skin are usually quite warm." Ed supplied.

He flexed each finger so Roy could trace the movement of the suspension.

Roy's attention was drawn back to the meeting spot.

"You should be able to slip a finger under the edge where it meets skin- yes." Ed agreed when he felt the finger.

"It's a strange sensation. I'm not used to feeling anything in that arm." Ed offered. "I can send motor orders to the hand, but I don't receive any sensory input. That's why I'm always breaking things."

"It's heavy." Roy agreed.

"Tell me about it. I've hit myself in the face more than once."

"So how do I fix it? If the nerves pinch? That's the biggest problem right?"

"Winry built in a disconnect because of how many times it was happening by force. It's a series, so that I can't do it by accident."

Roy watched intently as Ed walked him through how to do it. This was something that was truly worth knowing. The pain was excruciating when the blonde trapped a nerve.

It was complicated, purposely, but three walk-throughs later Roy had it.

"Thanks for learning." Said Ed quietly.

"Thank you for sharing. I did attack you…"

"I asked for it." Said Ed with a half-smile, rubbing the back of his head. "We should go get breakfast."

Roy nodded. It was getting late.

"We should."

OoOoOoOoOoOo