5:29:57

Three.

Two.

One.

He was off duty.

Three (wait, four) minutes of intensive thinking had brought him to the inescapable conclusion that he really did owe Mustang this for two reasons.

One: Because Roy fed him. Strays are loyal to people who feed them.

Two: Because he had, in fact, been a total brat to the man. Being surprised or shocked was no excuse for that one. Mustang was so goddamn fragile sometimes and... well... Havoc had the sneaking feeling that the man had just broken.

Goddammit.

He flicked the cigarette away. Now or never...

He was knocking politely on Roy's door before he even realized it.

"'S open..."

"Good, because I think breaking and entering is specifically cited as being illegal," Havoc said easily, letting himself in. "And I doubt that even my roguish charm'll get me out of that one."

Mustang spun around, shock clearly written on his face. "Ha-havoc?" he squeaked, a precious moment of vulnerability before the ice prince mask slammed down again. "You were supposed to leave."

"H'm. I'm off-duty, so you can't order me around, even indirectly."

"It's still my house, so get the hell out."

"Nothing doing, Mustang. I've known you too long to be intimidated by a facsimile of your grouchy colonel persona. I owe you one."

"Doesn't matter."

"Doesn't it? How odd, I distinctly remember you saying that you wanted it."

"It's no use if you're not willing!" Black eyes flashed. Roy was angry, backed into a corner, his weakness so very open. But he wasn't down yet. "You don't give a damn if someone actually cares about you!"

Havoc shrugged, not nearly as casual as he appeared to be. "Sorry. I was trying to save your reputation." Not that bad of a lie. Let's see if he could make it slightly more plausible... "No one that I care about is going down because of me."

Roy gaped, the mask completely shattered. Havoc couldn't help but feel a bit smug; for once in his life, he had fixed something he had broken.

Two seconds later, he had a shaking, limp young man draped artlessly over him, hugging tightly and desperately. "You weren't supposed to stay," Roy mumbled into his shoulder. "You were supposed to go away and never come back."

"I told you," he said gently. "I owe you. But this isn't about that anymore is it?"

"No. It... it's not. I don't know..."

10:26:45

Roy was asleep in his lap, his mug of tea forgotten. The fire roared cheerily, warming the two men.

Havoc leaned back with a sigh. Four more minutes, and he'd wake Roy up to drag the man to bed. The man wasn't quite ready for anything intimate, neither of them were. But just being able to hold the defenseless and lonely man was enough. More than enough.

Payback times a thousand.

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Written as a sequel to Spades 44's drabble Four Minutes. She wanted a fic of mine where nobody was chasing after Havoc and... she got this. Hurrah.