Eli: See, I've already got you hooked on the angst. You cannot fight it! And yes, I am going to make you suffer, especially if it earns me such yummy baked goods!
Woobatty: I am being amazing today. Your psychological health may thank me XD And well I'm glad that someone has written worse. Although my only solace in failure would have been that no one can fail so epically as I could.
Toki Mirage: How about I hurry up with another non-human Ed chapter instead? -cackles evilly-
Chibi'prince-sama: Don't we all. It doesn't make the readers happy to see him being unfaithful. And unhappy readers are scary.
secret25: When Hughes gives himself a mission, let nothing stand in his way. For the man is the Flame Alchemist's left hand terror for a reason.
bluecrystal angel: At least you haven't started making death threats yet to get me to update XD
Alex: I adore that movie. I do love Wesley, he amuses me with all his bravado.
egyptian1995: I love that you picked up on the eyepatch thing. I had a lot of fun writing that little teasing insert, just to see who'd notice. You get brownies!
Blessed24 7: Yes, Grand does not like to suffer if no one sees him suffering! And oh do you ever know Maes XD
Kimba Lionheart: May I follow you to listen to you be incoherent?
RealityDidMeIn: Yes, the play actually was loosely based on something. The mirror anyway, everything else was a fabrication of my being silly.
Barranca: Well you already know me so well, you know there'll be angst.
gali-o: Yummy! Cookies! And it definitely sounds like you are needing the chapters for your sanity. Read up.
cocopower1: Roy is glad for the ideas. Trust me, he needs them. He's not been doing so well with the dessert guessing.
moonstone: I almost had Ed go say hi to the donkey, but I chose against it when I realized the headache I'd give myself with all the different points of view and reality versus play. Or maybe I just got lazy.
accident prone: Yes, high five for slow development! And that would drive anyone crazy and away from the fanfics for a while. I'm guessing you're almost settled in now though. What's the college major?
Shinigami Clara: I'm glad you like Maes, I love writing the man. He can go so easily between cheerful and serious and it's fun for a writer.
MysticValkyrie: Sexual tension is fun! XD
Whispers of Silence: I've yet to regret those who ramble XD And I did love doing the convos Roy and Ed had during the play. It was one of the funnest parts. Aside from writing Maes... I'm an addict.
Ana Lilly: Why thank you! I've been having fun with it.
Soaha: And soon I shall do what I do best! Angst!
Tearful Red Angel: I do! And I have - wicked laugh - I totally would ship those two together if I wasn't still resisting against shipping anyone, for once. I doubt I'll last long with that.
So I woke up this morning and thought I'd do something amazing. I then told my facebook stalkers I wanted to do something amazing. So I hope I've done something amazing.
This chapter was quite fun to write. I got to play with so many characters. And I got to play with Hazel, I do love Hazel.
And being that I just had two days off of work to recover from the craziness... it only gave me more energy to write. So I give to you a present of my well-restedness!
I hope you enjoy the chapter!
Chapter Forty-One
Roy honestly wasn't sure just how much sleep he'd managed to get that night, but it was certainly not enough when he felt eager paws combing through his hair and gradually became aware of insistent and excited chattering in his left ear. "Hazel…" he moaned pathetically, and attempted to pull the blankets over his head to fend the furred demon off.
Hazel, seeing the oncoming problem, quickly curled up on Roy's face.
Roy spluttered for air, and abandoning the covers, instead snatched up the menace as he opened bleary eyes to glare at his pet. "I'm all for sleeping, but not there."
Hazel chattered happily, curling his tail around his owner's arm and waving his front paws towards Roy's face in want of more attention.
"You only think you're cute." Roy informed his pet, "but I still see you as the ragged mess I plucked from a storm drain."
Hazel squealed and began grooming the fine fur of his head with his paws.
Roy gave a lengthy sigh and his head flopped back down the bare inches it had risen. It was then that he realized he'd yet to hear anything out of Edward, which wasn't normal in the least. With a startled turn of his head, he quickly sat up when his eyes met only empty bed. A quick look around the room showed the ghost was nowhere to be seen.
"Edward?" He called out, just to be sure, but when his call was met with only an inquiring chirp from Hazel, he lowered his gaze with another sigh. "Edward…"
He had a feeling he knew where the ghost had gone. He had a feeling he knew why.
Setting Hazel down onto his blanketed lap he met the inquiring chirp with a weary-looking gaze and ran his hand down his pet's back as Hazel leaned boneless into his touch. "You should go find your friend… keep him company until I'm there."
Extracting himself out from under his blankets and pet both at once, Roy began making his way to the bathroom, only to have Hazel leap onto his head at the last minute. It took him only a moment to recover his surprise, and with a wry smile, adjusted the squirrel so he wouldn't tumble off and take chunks of hair with him. "Okay… I get it."
He could only imagine the looks and teasing that Edward would give him if the ghost saw this… and with a somewhat humored shake of his head that Hazel chattered admonishingly for, he closed himself in the bathroom.
"If you must be in here," Roy muttered as he plucked the squirrel from his head, "stay on this side of the counter, you unsanitary beast."
Hazel promptly scrambled onto the faucet head instead to perch there smugly.
Roy glared at the squirrel balefully, but didn't try and move him. Instead he looked up into the mirror, seeing the evidence in his eyes of a restless night. It had been hard enough to lay there pretending to be asleep after Edward had woken him with the words he doubted he'd been meant to hear… falling asleep for real had been even harder.
He didn't know what to do. For the first time in his life, he truly did not know what to do. Even though looking back, he could see how this would have happened.
All through the night as he'd laid awake, and even now, he tried to tell himself that Edward only felt that he'd become part of a family again. Roy's family. And that it had been so long since the ghost had had a family to belong to, that it was only natural he'd not recognize such feelings any longer.
He tried to tell himself that Edward only cared for him as a friend. His only friend. It was possible, for sure! He knew that personally, he and Maes had a deep friendship and if pushed he would grudgingly admit he loved the man… and Maes would probably have no qualms at all, damn him, about admitting the same, but that's what tended to happen when your best friend was truly your best friend.
…but he doubted Maes ever wanted to be held by him.
Roy made a face at the prospect and shuddered. There was no way in hell.
But Edward…
Roy slumped over the counter with a lengthy sigh, resting his weight heavily on his hands as he stared at the dull matte interior of his sink. "I've wanted to touch him so many times." He whispered in a pained voice, thinking of all the times he'd reached out to Edward, only to encounter nothing. To be able to hold Edward was just as much a painful fantasy.
But this wasn't about him.
This was about Edward… and he knew his friend needed him.
Yet he wasn't sure what he was supposed to do. He hadn't been meant to hear Edward last night. The only thing he could think to do was try and hint to Edward that it was nice to be in a family again. That's really all it could be, right? The ghost had never loved but for family and friends before, and it had been seven years since.
Surely some emotional amnesia was possible?
And as for himself… Roy looked up at Hazel sadly and shook his head. "It would have to be him, wouldn't it. But I can't let this continue… I can't put him through it. Take good care of him tonight, Hazel, for me."
Leaving it at that, and trying to ignore the painful stabbing in his chest that he felt at his own words, Roy began to strip for his shower and soon clambered into the scorching sauna the hot water was creating. Normally the hot water helped him feel better, but this morning he could barely feel it, and cranked the temperature up as far as it would go.
Edward was sitting on the roof, watching the last colorful rays of dawn light fracture against the thin clouds. It had always comforted him to come up here and watch the sunrise, and today was no different. There was just something calming about it... the way the sun always rose speaking to his own timeless existence. They would always be around together, and there was some comfort in that.
Last night had been confusing again for him, but he knew he'd do Roy no good by acting distracted. Just as it had been the night they'd spent visiting Daphne, by morning he'd shoved it away. It had helped that, around two in the morning, he'd thrown a miniature fit scolding himself for rolling around the bed curled around a pillow. He told himself that such actions were what conflicted girls did. And although he may be conflicted and rather confused, he was not a girl.
He was definitely not Winry. And he snorted to imagine his old friend doing such a thing.
So a while later, when Roy clambered up onto the roof, he looked over at the man with a cheerful smile. There was no point in making Roy worry about him, the man had too much to worry about as it was. "I see that Hazel did his job."
Roy found himself hesitating in well-concealed shock, before breathing a minor sigh of relief. It didn't seem like Edward was any different from normal… and he tried to ignore the faint pulse of sadness he felt at that realization. Instead he forced himself to walk towards the ghost, smiling back. "You missed it. You could have come to the terror's defense several times."
As Roy sat down beside him, Edward chuckled softly as he leaned his head into a hand to watch the man. "You wouldn't fear someone taking him away from you if you didn't love him, you can admit it." He teased with humor shining in his eyes.
Roy swallowed against the hardness that had appeared in his throat and offered a far weaker smile as he forced himself to look only at the next house over. "I wouldn't wish that devilish beast on anyone else."
"Even Grand?" Edward questioned with that same amused lightness.
"You've already laid claim, he wouldn't survive against both of you and then what would be left for me?" Roy joked and shook his head, finding it easier now to look at Edward. "Besides, soon he'll be gone, and Hazel hates losing toys."
"He'll just take yours again." Edward muttered, still not entirely over that incident. Sometimes he still couldn't get over the fact that he went to bed in the same room those things were kept in. Much less laid in the same bed they'd been used in. He really tried not to think about it.
Roy outright laughed at the expression on Edward's face, and smirking, got himself to his feet before offering a hand down to Edward. "Come on. I promise they won't come out and attack you or anything. But I really do have to get to work. Lecturing Hazel," and himself, "took longer than I thought."
"Can't go to work anymore without me?" Edward teased brightly as he made a grab for the hand even as he got himself up.
"I am a man of habit." Roy brushed the question off with a faint, saddened smile, before schooling his features back to normal and beginning to climb back down the side of the house. "Besides, you wouldn't let me go alone anyway."
"Someone has to keep an eye on you." Edward agreed and floated down to the grass to wait for Roy.
Not too long later they were leaving the house, and Roy pretended not to notice the way Hazel was looking at him in what could only be termed rodent reproach. As always, they chose a new way to get there, and eventually they did arrive along with the mass flow of officers they normally were able to miss. Between them, and those who were leaving after having been the rare few to stay overnight, they were unable to talk until they got up to Roy's office complex.
"I didn't expect you'd be in this morning." Riza greeted the man the moment he set foot through the door.
Roy finished getting through the door before shooting her a puzzled look as he closed it again as soon as Edward had floated inside. "Why? It's not a day I'd normally skive off from."
Riza raised an eyebrow, but said nothing to that, only raised up part of her morning paper to offer it to him. "It was just a hunch. I pictured you staying in bed all day with a massive hangover."
Edward tilted his head with a frown that Roy shared, before bounding through the air to get the first look at what Riza was holding out to the Colonel. And when he saw what it was, he burst into a grin and began to laugh. "Buy me a copy, Roy!"
Roy was still frowning as he made his way over rather more elegantly than Edward, and with a suspiciously inquiring look to Riza that she merely smirked back at, he snapped the paper open more fully to his eyes.
He was promptly greeted with a rather large headline proclaiming: "Flame Alchemist Alone at Theater Production Premier".
And based on the amount of exclamation marks he could see in the article following, it was a rather inspired piece. Quickly he scanned it, before getting to one sentence that made him roll his eyes, and he read it aloud. "This latest happening assures us that one of the most eligible bachelors of the Military is still available. We can only speculate the hidden message he is trying to send by having bought out so many seats only to have them remain empty."
"Oh they're onto something all right." Roy joked sarcastically and tossed the paper back to Riza who caught it with a smirk. "They're wrong about quite a bit though." He finished with a mutter, trying not to think about exactly which part the journalist had been the most incorrect about.
"There's nothing in there about you acting strange or talking to yourself, right?" Edward asked worriedly, not having even suspected anyone might have noticed them throughout the play. But if it truly had been that play's initial opening, it made sense.
Roy shook his head, under the cover of acting still indignantly amused about the entire thing.
Edward let out a sigh of relief.
"At least this is better than the articles they usually publish about you." Riza pointed out. "You were a main feature in one of them back in East City."
"I can't help it that I'm one of the few interesting people in the Military. Or that some of the women seemed to make it a game to see who could land me." Roy smirked at her, "if you'd get out more you'd have a few journalists stalk you yourself."
Riza's look turned utterly deadpan and serious. "I'd shoot them first."
Roy actually had no doubts about that, and raised a hand in parting. "Just aim for the knees, Riza. I don't want to deal with the paperwork it'd cause if you shot dead a civilian."
"Maes was in your office last night." Riza spoke up quickly, just as Roy turned for that same office.
Roy stopped where he was, but did not turn, his tone oddly light as he asked, "was he?"
"Yes."
Edward looked between them both with a frown, not quite understanding what was going on here, but knowing that if he kept quiet, he might learn something. By the look on Riza's face, it was important to her, and while he hadn't spent much time around the woman, he knew she was the sort of woman who'd not bother with idle chit-chat while wearing an expression as searching as that.
"Probably hiding pictures of Elysia everywhere again." Roy bemoaned.
Riza stood at this, causing Roy to turn at the noise, and she met his unreadable black eyes determinedly. "We both know it's not that, so don't play me for a fool. You're hiding things even from Maes… I dare not wonder how much that means you're hiding from me, from the rest of us."
"How much do you already know?" Roy asked instead, his tone level and neutral, not revealing anything.
Riza remained silent, not about to be roped into that game.
Roy didn't press her, merely gave a slight nod. "Good. That's all you need to know for right now. I can't put the burden on you just yet of how far this stretched, what I'm really up against. That's not knowledge I'd wish on my friends before it becomes absolutely crucial."
"But we're here to protect you!" Riza finally snapped, eyes flashing. "How can you expect us to protect you if you won't tell us what we're protecting you from?"
Roy's features softened, and slowly he turned to walk around her desk and place his hands on her shoulders. "Riza Hawkeye… you'll understand what I mean by this one day, so please don't take offense… but right now, you need to protect me from yourself. My end opponent isn't like anyone else, and I dare not let him suspect that you know him for who he is. I'm trying to protect you all from him, by keeping you in the dark until it's time. Just trust me that it will one day be time and you will know, and I know without a doubt that even on short notice, you are never off your game."
Edward had remained where he was, but he still said softly, "but even you didn't know about the Fuhrer until my father told you. You shouldn't use that as an excuse for everything else." And then, it came to him, as he watched Riza looking hard at Roy, as if determining his credibility. His silver eyes widened as he understood, "you don't intend for them to get involved. Like me, you're worried they'd get hurt. You're just going to go off one day to fight Grand and not tell them."
"Don't be a fool, Roy." Riza finally said, brushing his hands away from her. "No one here wants to tell your mother you got hurt because you were being stupid."
Roy gave a faint chuckle, "I wouldn't want to face her either. Trust me, Riza, I know what I'm doing. Haven't I always?"
"Three parts bullshit and one part brilliance." Riza sighed and shook her head wearily. "Go do your paperwork, sir."
Roy smiled and giving her one last bracing look, turned to herd Edward into his office where he firmly shut the door. Ready to hear the argument he knew was coming as he began to make his way to his desk.
Edward watched him go with a masked expression, and slowly he floated up to his favored corner to stare at the man. It seemed to be a silent battle between both of them, to see who would break the silence first, and Edward finally gave in. Telling himself he was being the bigger man for it. "You lied to her."
"I did not." Roy argued firmly, "I told her the truth, just not the whole truth. There's a difference."
"You're not going to tell them, are you, when you decide it's time to face Grand. When you've finally gotten him in your sights at that laboratory he's working at. You're just going to face him yourself and they're going to be worried sick about you when they learn what you've done!" Edward stated in confusion.
Roy smiled then, sufficiently shocking Edward. "You underestimate my team, but that's reasonable, you don't know them very well. If you think I even remotely pacified Riza, don't. She's good at acting to keep me from worrying, but I know her." Taking the paper Maes had left on his desk and turning it sideways in his fingers towards Edward, he smiled wryly. "Maes is with me, after all, and he has just enough information to do exactly what I need him to do when the time comes, even if he doesn't know I've planned out his role already. I already know that when he gives me the information I need, he'll start tailing me instead."
Edward tilted his head in confusion, but began to float down towards Roy.
"The moment I go near that laboratory, he'll call Riza. Riza will call everyone else. And sooner than you think, my entire team will be at that laboratory as backup. But that brief time delay it will take Maes to call Riza, and for all of them to gather, will be just enough time for me to remove the main danger to them."
Edward blinked widely at the man, his jaw having dropped just a bit as he stared. Roy had already planned for this? He'd been orchestrating this ending from the very beginning? "Roy… you –"
"I'm not nearly crazy enough to face the Fuhrer alone when he comes to survey the end result." Roy interrupted with a faint, reassuring smile. "I know better than to think I'd be in any condition to take him on the same day I battle Grand. He may not be very happy with me and what I've done, what I'll demand from him in return… but with enough witnesses, I'll be safe for the moment. Even a homunculus wouldn't risk annihilating so many people just because he may not be pleased I killed Grand for illegal activities."
"You can hope…" Edward murmured, but felt far better now than he had before. "But I'll be there, just in case. I could at least incapacitate him long enough for everyone to get away."
"Don't think about such things." Roy told him firmly, feeling an uncomfortable pit in his stomach at the thought of Edward doing that to himself again. "The Fuhrer doesn't know that your father told us who he really is. We'll be safe… for now. And with Grand gone, and me as Brigadier General, it'll give both of us more opportunity to try and take him down."
Meanwhile, outside of Roy's private office, Maes had just arrived to greet Riza tiredly but with a smile all the same as he walked in. It didn't take a request to make him walk over to her, sensing by the look in her eyes that she wanted to speak to him again.
"Isn't there anything you know that you can tell us yet?" Riza asked in a carefully lowered voice, as if she suspected that her Colonel was listening at the keyhole of his office door.
Maes had taken to leaning one hip on the edge of her desk, taking at least half his tired weight from his feet. And as Havoc entered, he nodded to the man in greeting before quirking a finger at him in summoning.
Havoc immediately ditched his overcoat onto his chair and walked over to the desk with a frown. "Is it about the Colonel?"
Maes nodded and glanced back to Riza. "I've been tailing his new target, the Brigadier General, almost since we got here. Roy's going after him, permanently."
Riza and Havoc both nodded, but said nothing.
"I don't know how much he's told either of you," Maes sighed, expecting it wasn't much, "but I don't care anymore, you need to know what I know." And he paused a moment before continuing with, "Grand's trying to create a philosopher's stone. Only this time you can bet Grand won't be sharing with Mustang, unless to try and destroy him. That's what Roy's working up to, a final showdown."
"Someone's already beating him to it, you've heard of all the accidents the Brigadier General's been having." Havoc pointed out with a small frown. "If you're tailing him you've probably seen some of them."
Maes frowned at this, his foot beginning to tap in impatience against the floor. "But that's what's strange, I can't find any way at all that Roy could possibly be involved. Whenever these things happen, he's never around even remotely. You know how good he's been about his paperwork lately."
Riza did know, and to be honest, it still unnerved her a little. "It's been strange, how focused he's been. I know he says it's all about finally being so close… but I get the feeling there's more to it."
"There's more to everything with that man." Havoc muttered wryly.
"Regardless of any of that though," Maes redirected them somberly, "if Roy's planning an alchemy showdown, there's no room for any of us to help in that battle of freaks. But I worry he's forgotten that he may need backup anyway. If he goes storming into enemy territory, there will be more than one enemy. He'll need us, even if he hasn't thought that far yet. Even though it's not nearly so far away anymore, I expect."
Riza slowly nodded, before palming a few extra clips for her gun and standing up looking determined. "I should get in some target practice then."
Both Havoc and Maes watched her go with equally amused expressions, and aloud, Havoc wondered, "doesn't she just tell the bullet where to go and it does it?"
Maes snorted, but did not try and absolve him of that idea. "I need to go talk to our fearless leader now. Fill in the others for me, and I'll try and find Armstrong later. We'll need another freak for the oncoming freak show."
Havoc watched as Maes drug himself towards Roy's office, noting that the man was looking rather more worn than usual. He could only begin to imagine what Maes was up to… could only begin to imagine the price that came with being Roy's best and closest friend.
Maes let himself into Roy's office after a short knock, and didn't look back as he closed himself inside.
"Did you get my love letter?" Maes asked cheerily as he walked towards where Roy sat at his desk looking faintly amused.
"Yes. Although I'm not sure how Gracia will feel about this." Roy lamented before rolling his eyes and waving Maes over to the remaining couch. "Sit. You look like you need to."
Edward's eyes had narrowed meanwhile, and looking between them suspiciously, asked, "love letter?"
Roy tried not to laugh at the tone of Edward's voice… tried not to feel pleased by it. But his eyes were shining even so as he quirked an eyebrow at Maes. "Did you find our honeymoon location yet?"
Maes had collapsed onto the couch, and looked at Roy wearily as he passed a hand over his face and back through his hair. "I can't say for certain yet. I think I have… but if Grand doesn't show up there, I can't very well tell you 'yes' and feel honest for it, even if there is something clearly wrong about it now."
Edward was glowering at them both, between feeling left out and not being pleased in the least that they were joking about eloping as some sort of code. He sat himself firmly on the table in front of the couch so that he could keep a good, hard eye on them both.
"What do you mean?" Roy asked as he leaned forward in his desk chair, his paperwork the farthest thing from his mind right now as he focused on his friend. As well as a certain ghost he was sure he'd have to pacify later.
Maes sighed and attempted to straighten himself a bit where he sat, but when he didn't have much luck, gave up. His body may still be quite functional, but in a relaxed setting with his best friend, it was hopeless not to show his current exhaustion. "I mean I was out there until nearly three in the morning with no sign of Grand, no sign of anyone, but the power is on. That laboratory was supposed to have been abandoned decades ago, it's still got condemned signs everywhere, but the power was on. Some of the lights inside were on at one point, though very briefly. The security cameras are working, and I could tell that inside the gates there were fresh tracks." And Maes frowned to himself, "but not any tracks I'm familiar with… they were too large for humans, too large to be anything I'm familiar with."
"Chimera?" Roy suggested thoughtfully. "Wouldn't be the first time we've seen them around after supposedly being decommissioned and destroyed. And Grand seems the type to keep some around. Another broken Military law wouldn't phase him."
"Unless the Military somehow managed to import rhinoceros without anyone noticing, then there's no way those tracks belong to anything I'm familiar with. Chimera or otherwise."
"What's a rhinoceros?" Edward asked of Roy curiously.
Roy smiled at the question, and renewed his decision to take Edward to the zoo one day. Although for rhinoceros, they just might have to travel to another country. But he could at least find a picture of one somewhere for now. "Well, if there are tracks, that means eventually we'll see what made them. And Grand will have to show up sooner or later, based on how close it sounds he is."
Maes somehow found the energy to sit up at that, and leaning forward he fixed Roy with a hard look. "When will you tell me who it is you're trusting with this? If it's not me, and it's not any of the others… Roy, the only one left who's close to you is your mother, and I know she's not involved. So who the hell is it? I'm worried about you that you find someone you trust this much, but won't tell us who it is."
"He'd probably believe you about me." Edward offered, but unlike with Daphne, he didn't push harder for Roy to tell him.
Roy sighed internally, he knew that Maes would probably believe him about Edward. The man had believed in him for far less before. But still something stopped him from it as he met his friend's searching look squarely. "I have no doubts anymore that despite my best efforts to keep you from knowing, you'll one day learn who it is. But it won't be today. If it puts your mind at ease any, my mother knows him and likes him very much."
Edward tried not to feel too pleased.
Maes's eyes widened, it was the most information on the subject that he'd ever gotten out of Roy. And all things considered… it was damn good information. "Your mother knows him?"
"Yes." Roy rolled his eyes at the look in his friend's eyes, he knew that look anywhere. "Even if you call her this minute and ask her about it, she wouldn't tell you anything."
"That's not exactly fair, Roy." Maes deadpanned in disappointment.
Roy smiled softly, glancing down towards his desk. "He tells me the same thing a lot."
"Because it's deserving." Edward agreed stoically.
Maes considered his friend closely, his jaw dropping slightly before he quickly snapped it closed again, lest Roy notice and question him on it. He knew he had to pick his next words carefully, very carefully, else he suspected he'd have yet another couch incinerated underneath him. "He sounds like he knows you well."
Roy gave Maes a pointedly stern look. "He likes to think so, anyway. Now you can stop fishing, I'm not about to tell you anything else."
"You know it's pointless to tell him something like that. Telling him even a little bit has just doomed you." Edward pointed out in dry amusement, feeling a perverse sort of pleasure that Maes would be tormenting Roy.
Roy knew the ghost was right, but he felt he'd needed to say it anyway… just for it to be said. And he had a suspicion that he'd be hearing from his mother later. It was actually a conversation he was looking forward to.
"Well if your mother is okay with him, then I suppose I'll have to be." Maes said, scratching at the back of his head as if he still wasn't entirely sure about it. Mostly, he just wasn't satisfied.
Roy linked his fingers together to rest his chin onto them as he gazed over at his friend. "If you weren't, I expect she'd shoot you for being ridiculous, and trust me, she hasn't lost her aim. I don't want to see what would happen if we put her and Riza on the same shooting range together."
"You have a tendency to surround yourself with scary women." Maes agreed with a half-hearted sigh and stretched tiredly before collapsing back onto the couch fully once again and closing his eyes.
"What do you think you're doing?" Roy asked as his eyes began to narrow suspiciously.
"Sleeping. And soon I'll be ignoring you as well." Maes muttered as his head flopped to one side. "Don't worry, Grand isn't a morning person remember, he won't be going anywhere important until after lunch. If he goes at all."
"You are not sleeping, get off my couch." Roy argued, and threw a pen at the man's head where it bounced off and rolled to the floor.
"Ignoring you!" Maes sing-songed in an effort to irritate him further.
Edward smiled as Roy began to scowl darkly, and he floated up from the table to insert himself in between them and pull Roy's attention. "Let him sleep. He did enough last night for right now. If you push him around too hard he might get sloppy, and that won't do any of us any good."
Roy glared mildly at the ghost, and when Edward only quirked an eyebrow at him, gave in with a sigh and slumped back into his chair. "Fine. But just for a little while!" He warned.
Maes made a mumbling sort of half-assed answer and flipped Roy off.
Roy quickly jabbed a finger towards the man and mouthed, "did you see that?" at Edward before rolling his eyes.
Edward smiled indulgently and floated over to hop up onto Roy's desk. "I didn't see anything you wouldn't do in return. Besides, I can keep an eye on Grand easily enough. Have some fun with it too."
But Roy shook his head, and picking up another pen began to write on a spare piece of paper before turning it upside down so that Edward could read. 'I'll send Falman to do that. I actually need Grand more mobile for a while. If he's close to doing what the Fuhrer wants, he'll go to that laboratory soon. But he needs to be able to move to do that.'
Edward sighed, and briefly thought he might promise not to hurt Grand in any way… but even in his head it sounded like an empty promise. The fact of the matter was, that since the first moment Grand had stepped into this office and spoken to Roy, Edward had been overcome with a fierce desire to protect Roy from him, and that desire ran deeply. "All right."
Roy smiled soothingly at the ghost, he knew Edward was disappointed. But he quickly wrote, 'don't worry. You can have at him again soon… provided I don't kill him first.'
"If he's dead I won't care if I don't get another chance to prank him." Edward muttered, "I just care that he suffers and pays for daring to think he can hurt you."
Roy nodded knowingly, his eyes soft as they looked up at the spirit, but eventually he turned away. He had Falman to summon and paperwork to do. Just because he was excruciatingly close to reaching his first goal did not mean he could take a moment to breathe now.
Edward watched Roy's quick discussion with Falman before taking a book and sitting down behind the desk at Roy's feet to read so that when Maes did awake, the man wouldn't see a book anywhere it really shouldn't be at that moment.
It entirely escaped their notice that one of Roy's hands had made its way down towards the ghost, or that Edward leaned his head slightly through that hand as he read, they were too focused on what they were doing to realize.
Eventually Maes did awaken, but he didn't give any indication of it at first. Instead he took the rare moment to take a good look at Roy while his friend had no notice of it. There was something different about him, very different. The usual annoyance at doing paperwork was there, but Roy looked at peace in a way he'd rarely seen the man, and certainly never at work. He even had a faint smile on his lips as he dealt with the bothersome files.
And Maes couldn't help but wonder, as he fumbled with what puzzle pieces he had, if this him Roy had mentioned was behind it.
"I can't believe you actually let me stay." Maes spoke up at last, shifting more upright on the couch and wincing as his muscles protested.
"Falman is covering you for today. Go home and get some rest, I told Gracia to expect you." Roy said, sounding amused as he lifted his gaze. "Don't let anyone ever say I don't do anything for my best friend. Now get out of here, before your ass imprints on my couch."
Maes blinked at Roy in surprise a moment, never having expected to be sent home to relax, but then he smiled. "You're really going to come to the school carnival, aren't you? I told Elysia you'd signed the paper with a 'yes'. She was really excited."
Roy rolled his eyes and threw another pen at his friend. "Go home. I'll be there on Saturday, although I might change my mind if you don't get out of here."
Maes stood, and tossed the pen back before offering Roy his customary half salute and wave. "Yes, sir, Colonel Mustang, sir!"
Roy scowled at him until Maes had gone, before turning down to look at the source of the laughter beside him. "That's 'Colonel Mustang, sir' to you as well, brat."
"Going to send me home as well?" Edward asked cheekily up at him.
"I dare not. You and Hazel would wreck the house." Roy decided as he swatted his hand through Edward's silvery hair. "It takes me long enough to clean it when it's just him."
Edward smirked at him, "still… that was nice of you."
"I'll need him soon enough, and on the top of his game." Roy replied and straightened in his chair once again only to tip it backwards as his hands folded across his stomach. "I'm not in the habit of wearing out members of my team right when it'll really start to matter."
"Think he knows you've got him on puppeteer strings?" Edward asked with mild amusement.
"If he does, he's long learned to trust the direction." Roy answered and tilted his head back so he could catch the barest glimpse of sky out the window.
Edward smiled up at him before closing his book with a flourish. "Aren't you ready for me to kick your ass at chess again yet?"
Roy fell back forward with a laugh, "forgive me for not wanting to rush towards the most masochistic part of my day."
Edward merely stuck his tongue out childishly. He knew Roy was joking with him, and stretching out on the floor by the man's chair, he began to tap idle tunes on the book as he waited.
The day passed without further event. Things were quiet from both Falman and Maes's end, but Roy wasn't concerned. It was when he started getting phone calls that he usually got worried. So he finished his paperwork in silence, only taking a short break for lunch where he snuck out past everyone else to wander down to a nearby café with Edward before heading back to finish his work so that they could play chess. Chess which ended just about as Roy predicted it might.
At least he was still winning at least one game each time. Although he tried to ignore the nagging feeling brought on by so many losses that Edward was letting him win. He really needed to introduce Edward to some new games, maybe then he might stand a chance, at least at first.
Edward had picked up poker alarmingly well on the train ride back from his mother's house.
It was on the walk back home that Roy was asked the one question he knew Edward would eventually ask… and the one he'd been dreading while trying at the same time to ignore it. It was what needed to be done, as much as it made him feel wrong.
Edward hopped over the fence without bothering to wait for Roy to open up the front gate, as usual, but still waited at the front door for the man to join him. "What are we doing tonight? Or," Edward paused as he thought, before quickly amending, "are you going out tonight?"
Roy knew better than to think he didn't hear that faint bit of hope in Edward's voice. The one that reminded him of how happy the ghost was each time he had said 'no'. But tonight was different. Tonight had to be different. And so he put on the mask he was so proud of as he fit the key into the lock and turned. "I'm going out, it's been too long and I can't let all those lovely virgins think I've forgotten about them!"
Edward forced himself to roll his eyes, even as his face fell. But he quickly ducked inside into the darkness to hide it, taking the moment he knew he'd need to act as if he was just disapproving. "If they're smart they'd have found better than you."
"After that article, tonight should be busy." Roy smirked as he followed Edward inside and locked the door before flicking on the lights. "It'll be just what I need." Just what he needed to try and forget how he felt about Edward. That urge to hold someone would go away, because by tonight he'd have gotten over this withdrawal he seemed to be under. And if those thoughts and words felt like ash, he only swallowed harder.
"Just spare me the details." Edward complained, before vanishing into the living room with summoning cries of "Hazel" as if the squirrel could hear him. And he stayed in the living room, sitting with his back to the couch and the squirrel on the table in front of him as he listened to Roy go upstairs.
"I've become so selfish." Edward admitted to the squirrel softly, now that they were alone.
Hazel twitched his tail, cocking his head towards his invisible playmate. Something seemed off about his playmate tonight, and he chattered in concern.
"I don't want him to go… but I can't ask him to stay." Edward whispered, knowing he'd said similar before to his furry confidant. "It never used to bother me that he'd go. Why have I become so selfish?"
Hazel chirruped softly, sitting back on his haunches and reaching his front paws out as he so often did to Roy.
Edward smiled lopsidedly, and reaching out attempted to stroke the squirrel's head. "I'm no good to him like this. I have to pull myself together and call him a manwhore and smile when he leaves tonight, right? Because he always comes back to us."
Hazel reached up towards the presence he could sense above his head, and chattered reassuringly before suddenly hopping from the table onto the back of the couch and then racing away to the upstairs whilst leaving Edward sitting on the floor with a forlorn smile.
When Roy exited the bathroom with his customary wall of steam he quickly got dressed. Whereas he'd agonized last night over what to wear, he barely noticed or cared what he pulled from the hangers and put on. He was about to leave the bedroom when he stopped, his eyes riveted on the carpet.
There, sat Hazel. Staring up at him with accusing eyes, as if he'd forgotten to feed the terror. But normally that would involve some sort of vocal reproach as well, and right now, Hazel was oddly silent. He just stared with accusation in his eyes.
"What did I do?" Roy wondered as he frowned at his pet, and reaching down, startled as Hazel whirled and ran back down the stairs with his back arched haughtily. "Great, am I going to have to give you puppy eyes now and beg for forgiveness?" Roy wondered, a bit amused, a bit sarcastic.
When he came downstairs, Hazel had just run after a large orange ball with bells inside, and it chimed musically as it bounced and was batted into the kitchen.
"He really likes to play with me." Edward said happily from where he stood in the hallway, looking up at Roy as the man descended the stairs.
Roy chuckled and as he stepped from the last stair, glanced towards where the furry menace had vanished to. "So he's not acting weird with you too?"
Edward blinked at Roy owlishly. "…no?"
"Huh." Roy gave a shrug then, "maybe he did decide to take offense to me telling him he wasn't cute this morning."
Edward snorted, but that snort turned to outright laughter as Hazel scampered back to him with the ball in his teeth, only to see Roy and give him a wide berth. "Roy, you may want to flatter him now and then. But later. Let him yell at you when you finally get home and then beg."
Roy harrumphed, but did not deny that he would. If it worked, he'd try it. After all, Hazel was his alarm clock. He hated to think what an angry alarm clock would do to him to wake him up, or how early he'd be woken up. He'd rather gotten used to the paws grooming him awake at a decent hour. So shaking his head in bewilderment, he met Edward's eyes. "You'll be okay while I'm gone?"
Edward knelt to take the ball from Hazel and give it another toss, sending the squirrel skittering past Roy once again. "Yeah, of course. You go be a manwhore tonight. It'll keep you from dragging those toys out any time soon and save me my sanity."
Roy smirked at the very lovely memory, ignoring Edward's pointed scowl. "Right. I'll be back a few hours after midnight. You sure you don't need anything before I leave?"
Edward shook his head, and pointed at the door in exasperation. "Either get out or stay and play with us." He ordered, trying to ignore how badly he hoped Roy might stay.
So when the man moved to the door, he forced another smile that didn't reach his eyes, and when Roy turned to wave goodbye, he only waved back, not trusting himself to speak. And when the door closed and locked behind him, Edward sank to the floor miserably as Hazel ran up to him again, without the ball.
"He's such a manwhoring bastard." Edward said sadly, not even knowing why it made him so sad. It seemed that lately he didn't know what he felt any more. Especially not when Roy was involved.
Hazel twitched his tail as his head cocked in confusion, before he darted away again, gone only for a moment before he was dropping the ball in front of where he could sense his invisible friend. Looking up, as he would for any human, Hazel chirped loudly and tapped the ball with one paw before bouncing back and forth and snapping his tail eagerly.
Edward couldn't help but smile as he realized that Hazel was trying to cheer him up. And picking up the ball much to Hazel's vocal support, he felt a rush of gratitude to the squirrel. "Thanks, Hazel." And he gave the ball another toss.
As he watched the squirrel bound after it theatrically, he kept smiling. Even if he didn't know what had him in such a mess over Roy. And he may not understand his feelings because he had died too young. He still had Roy, and he still had Hazel, and he didn't want to do anything to jeopardize that. He didn't want to become a burden to Roy… so he had to master these feelings and learn to live with them.
Because if nothing else, he still wanted Roy to always come home to him.