(moved from this thread)

chiisaikintsukuroi:

When he showed up Roy didn’t seem quite right. Strained, would be the best word Ed could think of, so he watched a little closer. Something was off, he knew that, but wasn’t sure what. It was when the older had been out of the room more than ten minutes when it was meant to only be a moment that he went looking. He’d felt the shoulders slumped, heard the tone in Roy’s voice, and just knew.

Everyone had their days, this one was Roy’s.

Ed knew how his own worked but had only caught real glimpses of Roy’s before, he wasn’t sure what to do for them now. Quiet and thinking he slowly moved to come around to the side, hand still on a shoulder, and looked his friend over briefly, “….what do you need me to do?”

His first instinct was to tell Ed to leave. To get out and leave him to his misery. That’s where he belonged, and preferably by himself where he couldn’t spread it to someone else. Instead he turned his head slightly, and looked at Ed. Roy closed his eyes, counted to five, and then opened them again.

He felt so exposed with Ed staring at him like that. So much that Roy could hardly look his friend in the eyes. Maybe he should’ve told Ed tonight wasn’t a good time to visit.