It had been a month since Roy had been with Ed. Things had gotten less awkward between them, a fact for which Roy was grateful. He would even say they had been able to attain the particular closeness that comes from living with someone once more. But Roy was…uneasy.

It had been a month since Roy had been with Ed, but it had also been a month since Roy had been with anybody.

It wasn't that he didn't try. More than once he had walked around, entered bars and clubs, done everything he could to find a partner for the night. But Roy couldn't do it. No one seemed quite attractive enough to him, or if they were, they were too boring. He ended up comparing every prospective partner to Edward.

Even stranger, Roy had been feeling odd towards Ed since that day. It wasn't the sex; he was used to that, and didn't really find it too awkward. The General found himself worrying over Edward, his feelings and the scrapes he sometimes came home with from a fight that broke out with the Ishbalans (which happened only rarely, but rather disheartened Roy). He wanted to be not only polite to Ed, but downright nice, overly so. Roy still teased him, but never to the point where the blonde went from irritation to anger. He felt as though every waking thought was about Ed, at the very least in a roundabout way.

Roy wanted to say he had no idea what these feelings were, but he would be lying to himself. He had seen enough women act the same way towards him to know what was happening.

Still, it was hard to believe one night in bed could make him fall in love with Edward Elric.

Regardless of the absurdity of the situation, Roy was always one for action. And so he set about making Edward love him back.


"'m back," Ed called, half-mumbling his words. He started to take his boots off, when Roy came into the entryway and stopped him.

"No need for that. We're going out to eat tonight."

"Oh…kay?"

Roy was not encouraged by Edward's unenthusiastic response. "Unless you'd rather eat here…"

"No, no I want to go, I was just surprised. You—we—haven't eaten out since I got here…" Ed trailed off, still confused.

"Well, let's go then." Roy led the way out the door, with Edward turning and following the way he had just come.

They didn't walk for long, but it was a pleasant trip. The light was just fading, so the sky was a myriad of colors. Edward couldn't help but stare as they walked, and as such, he didn't notice where Roy was leading him until after they had arrived.

"N-no way!" The blonde couldn't stop the words from tumbling to his mouth, even as he froze in place.

His roommate turned to him. "What?"

"This place is…expensive." Ed didn't understand. Roy was notorious for two things; being a womanizer (or rather, being with men all the time now, as Edward reminded himself with a small blush) and being cheap.

Roy sighed good-naturedly. "Look, Ed, I feel like being generous tonight. That's a rarity, so I suggest taking advantage of it while you can."

Muttering something about how Roy had lost his mind, Edward entered the door that his roommate held open.

Once inside, they were seated right away, and Ed found himself only growing more nervous. "Roy," he hissed, once the waiter had left. "We are the only two people here who aren't…you know, together. Look, everyone else is on a date."

Roy smirked, looking around surreptitiously. It looked like the restaurant was living up to its reputation as the hot spot for couples. "It would seem so." He took a moment to enjoy the red tint that was creeping onto the blonde's face. "Come one, Ed. You've been though worse situations that this. Surely you aren't that embarrassed."

Edward was that embarrassed. He knew everyone else was probably thinking they were together—especially judging from the strange looks some of the people were giving Roy, no doubt they knew he was supposed to love women—and he couldn't stop little flashes of memory from that night from creeping up. Still, no way was the blonde going to let Roy know how uncomfortable he was. "Yeah, I'll be fine. I just thought it was weird, but whatever."

Ed ordered the cheapest thing on the menu, some vegetarian dish, figuring his roommate would regret this later. Roy only grinned and ordered him a side dish that he had never heard of, but was delicious when he tried it. Roy seemed to be enjoying his lack of knowledge and discomfort immensely, or maybe it was just the food.

In any case, it was late when they arrived back at the house. Edward was contemplating heading to bed, when Roy again stopped him in his tracks. "Come on; don't be so eager to get away from me. Want a drink?"

Ed was really beginning to think tonight was just a dream. Roy was acting too weird. Still…his roommate never let him get at the alcohol; he said the blonde was likely to blow something up while inebriated. He accepted hesitantly, snorting at the miniature glass Roy handed him, and sat on the couch.

Roy started to talk. It seemed he went on for forever, but Edward wasn't really paying attention. He reached up to re-tie his hair, pulling the string out when…

"Hey, Ed, I've been wondering. Why'd you stop wearing your hair in a braid?"

Edward was confused by the question, pausing with his hands by his shoulders. "I dunno, it just happened I guess. Braiding it took so much longer, and I thought maybe just pulling it back would be more mature, maybe…" he trailed off. He had never really thought about why he had stopped braiding his hair.

Roy tilted his head and smiled. "I don't know about mature, but I like it better in the braid."

The blonde hesitated, before sighing and braiding his hair with surprising speed for someone complaining about how long it took. "Like that?"

"Yeah," Roy's grin was more sincere than any Ed had seen. "Just like that."


Not long after, Edward went off to bed. The next morning, he came into the kitchen with his hair once again in a braid. Ed toyed with it constantly, maybe a little self conscious, but left it plaited.

In that moment, Roy knew he could win his roommate's heart.