“Shousho?”

Roy looked up to see Ed leaning in the doorway of his office. “Still here, Edward-kun?” he asked, surprised.

“Hawkeye-shousa mentioned you were still in here, and didn’t seem to be coming out any time soon. I said I’d check.” Edward sauntered in, kicking the door shut behind him.

Roy reflected on the immutable nature of certain things, one of them apparently being his door’s collection of scuff-marks, courtesy of Edward Elric.

“So, what’s all this?” Edward wanted to know, flinging himself onto the couch and nodding at the volumes on Roy’s desk.

Roy sighed, leaning back. “I’m starting to think Marsh wasn’t acting of his own initiative when he interfered with some of the State Alchemists’ work. Since I managed to transfer him he’s been spending more time than I like with Forsythe, who would dearly love to take over Research himself. I’m looking through the reports of the Alchemists in question to see if I can find what might have interested him.”

Ed made a face. “Well, hand one over then.” He held out a hand.

Roy raised a brow. He’d hardly expected a volunteer. “There’s no need for that, Edward-kun, I’m more than half-way through already. Though I appreciate the offer.”

Edward snorted. “If you’re only half-way through, you’ll probably be here another five or six hours with the rest of it. And then you won’t get enough sleep, and Hughes-san will worry about you.”

Roy glared. Ed smirked.

“Even Hughes doesn’t have quite the concern for me, or hold on me, that Alphonse has on you, Edward-kun. Speaking of which, surely Alphonse will be still more worried if you don’t come home on time.”

Edward’s smile turned even more smug. “I called already. They know I’ll be home late.” He wiggled the fingers of his outstretched hand, imperatively.

Roy was torn between annoyance at conceding and a strong desire to finish quickly. Expedience won. “On your own head be it,” he proclaimed, and tossed over one of the reports.

Ed pulled out his reading glasses and promptly stretched out full length on the couch, until all that Roy could see of him were his boots, propped on the far arm, and a tail of gold hair trailing off the seat and almost to the floor. Roy shook his head.

No lover of his will ever be able to keep their fingers out of that hair.

He stomped hard on the thought, as he’d quashed the several similar thoughts he’d surprised himself with recently. His awareness of Edward’s physical presence was really getting just a bit disconcerting. He blamed it on the growing extent to which he was able to relax his perpetual wariness when he was with Edward. After all, Ed already knew a great many of the things Roy had to be careful to keep from nearly everyone around him.

Not that that was any excuse.

Though it would be wonderful to have a lover he could relax with, as he couldn’t with any of his little flings.

Stop this foolishness, he admonished himself sternly. There was no way he could betray the trust of someone who followed him, knowingly and willingly followed him at that, just because it would be nice to sleep with someone who actually knew him.

Ed had become a good partner in his work, and unless Roy was very much mistaken he was becoming a friend as well. That was more than enough.

Roy turned his eyes firmly away from the gleaming fall of gold and back to the report he was supposed to be reading.

TBC