Ed's fingers were too cold and stiff to fumble around with his keys, so he knocked instead. When Roy opened the door, Ed glared at him.

"I hate being cold, I hate giving reports to stupid Generals, and I hate sleeping on train seats," he declared, stepping in out of the biting chill.

• Associated Fanart: Roy in the Rain by Jedera

"I actually like rain, you know," Roy answered, tone reminiscent. "I used to go out in it all the time when I was little. Especially storms like this. Even when I started specializing, I still liked walking in it. It wasn't until later that it became," he paused a moment before finishing, "inadvisable."

Ed supposed there was some reason for the concern. Ed spent at least half his time at Roy's house instead of his own. His conversation had become peppered with Roy's comments even in the man's absence. And now Al was wondering whether his big brother was about to get his heart broken for him. Al thought that way.

On the one hand, the door was merely closed, not locked, and Ed had no intention of sharing this part of his life with anyone else, thank you.

On the other hand... well at the moment the other hand was Roy's, and it was tracing patterns up his back in a very tempting manner.

Ed woke up wondering why his pillow was such a strange shape.

Roy's hands came up to settle lightly on his back. "Edward, do you know what you're offering?"

That induced Ed to look up with a glare. "Oh, tea and cookies, of course, what else could I possibly mean?" he snapped.

His awareness of Edward's physical presence was really getting just a bit disconcerting.

When Hughes arrived at their house, mid-morning, with a gleam in his eye, Ed was positive he'd been targeted for something.

Ed's brother still regarded Roy as a threat that Edward should be guarded against, Roy noted. He smiled at Alphonse with approval. That was just the way it should be.

Three or four years ago he would rather have died, or at least would rather have eaten Winry's cooking, than admit that Roy's approval mattered in any way to him.