-.-.-.-.-. notes -.-.-.-.-.-.-

I do not own FMA, nor do I wish to.

General rating, language.

italics are inside thoughts.

-.-.-.-.-. story -.-.-.-.-.-.-

Ed knew Mustang would be looking for her this morning. She'd been low on sleep and handed in one of the worst reports ever last night and Mustang had already been in a particularly bad mood for the last few days. But where could she hide that he wouldn't find her? Obviously not her dorm room, not the library, not restaurants or cafes where coworkers would find her at lunch.

An idea popped into her head, with a little planning she could hide there all day and maybe get a little rest.

It was still early and Mustang wouldn't be in yet, if she could sneak in through the window the team wouldn't see her and she could sleep on the couch in Mustang's office, the one that had its back to the door and his desk. He wouldn't check his own office for her! It was perfect!

Ed arrived at the military offices and crept her way through the bushes at the base of the wall until she reached the office window she wanted, with a quick check to make sure no one was there she pushed it open and quietly slipped in. So far so good. She stashed her boots and made herself comfortable on the couch and she was almost asleep when she heard the door.

Mustang was in, the door closed and his footsteps moved to the desk, his chair squeaked as he sat down.

A moment of silence, then a grumbled, "What the fuck FullMetal."

She almost gave herself away before she realised he was talking to the report.

The squeak of the chair, footsteps, the door opening. "Let me know the moment anyone spots Ed, then have him brought here."

Footsteps, chair squeak, grumbling, "You're dead meat Ed. What even is this garbage?"

The grumbling continued but Ed couldn't make out any words. It looked like she was in the clear. Her body slowly relaxed from its state of cat-like readiness and she felt sleep pulling her under. She was so so tired.

.-.-.-.

Mustang was annoyed, he didn't want to deal with shoddy reports when it was coming up on the anniversary of Maes' death and he wasn't sleeping. He'd tried distracting himself with work, with drink, with women. It wasn't helping. He knew Riza was on to him but he wasn't going to talk about it. He didn't even know how and he wasn't willing to try.

He could try yelling at Ed, maybe the little shit would start a fight with him. If he could find FullMetal in the first place.

Hours went by, Mustang had left for lunch and come back but there'd still been no sign of FullMetal. Should he be worried? Usually someone would have brought Ed in by now. He sat down to do more paperwork and heard a small shuffling sound from his couch. He sat and stared at it for a while as his mind connected the dots but no other sounds were made.

Could it really be Ed? This whole time?

Probably.

He got up quietly and made his way across the floor to look over the back of the couch. Yep. There she was, passed out. It was a pretty good hiding place actually and Mustang couldn't stop the smile that slid into his face. She looked adorable when she was quiet, and Hawkeye was right, Ed was definitely a woman. Her clothes were slightly messed up and a bit revealing. He sighed quietly, Hawkeye had told him ages ago but since Ed herself had never come out and said so, he decided to keep the secret and he could easily think of multiple reasons why pretending to be a man in the military would be way more beneficial. So he hadn't been too angry about the lie, just annoyed she wouldn't tell him.

Mustang made his way around to the front and crouched down in front of her face. So their noses were almost touching.

He got himself ready for defensive measures and took one more look at Ed's sleeping face. She looked so peaceful…

"FOUND YOU!"

Ed bolted out of sleep into a sitting position. "WHAT THE FUCKING HELL!"

The team burst through the door as Mustang fell over laughing. He needed that.

Everyone looked confused except Ed, who looked frazzled and was trying to pull her clothes back together.

Hawkeye assessed the situation and kicked everyone out before approaching Mustang, "in here the whole time?"

He grinned up at his lieutenant, "looks like it."

She rolled her eyes, "I'll leave this to you then."

Riza left, she had a pretty good idea where this was heading and left them to it. She'd check up on them at the end of the day.

Mustang looked up at Ed from the floor, still smiling. She was nervously holding her coat tightly around her, legs pulled up to run if she needed to.

"It's fine Ed, i already knew."

She looked skeptical.

"You look comfortable though, mind if i sleep with you?"

He smirked at the blush colouring her cheeks and got up to sit beside her, then stretched and fell onto his side behind her. His back was against the back of the couch and he lightly placed his hand on her hip and pulled her down in front of him. His upper arm wrapped around her middle and he snuggled his face into the back of her neck. He couldn't save his best friend but holding Ed like this calmed him and made him feel like maybe the world wasn't all bad.

.-.-.-.-.

Ed couldn't stop the blush as Mustang curled up on the couch behind her, she felt like she should fight this on principle but didn't really want to. His arm pulled her back tight against his chest and she felt her tension slip away.

"Thanks for not being mad Mustang."

"Shhh. Sleep time. To make Maes happy."

Ed smiled to herself, Hughes would be happy if he saw them, a matchmaker even in death. She just felt so comfortable when Roy was around.

"I know, or you wouldn't have slept here all day."

She hadn't realised she'd said that part out loud.

"You did, but now shush, we've only got about three hours before Hawkeye comes back in here to wake us up."

But she was already asleep.