What Ed Did On His Holiday

Breakfast at the Elric/Mustang household: they sat opposite each other, quietly sipping coffee. It was a blessing to be with a partner who was as grumpy in the morning as yourself, and Roy, once he was capable of forming the thought, thanked whatever higher power might be out there for it.
Ed was waking up to the point where his plate became interesting, he raised somewhat from his slump and picked up his fork. Roy took another sip of black coffee. His memory jogged him, he remembered who he was again, what he did and what he was supposed to be doing.
"Ah, yes," he said. "I forgot to tell you yesterday; I'm going on a trip to Harung next week, inspection of Western Headquarters."
Ed peered at him. For a moment it looked like he was wondering who the hell Roy was again but apparently he came to the right conclusion in the end. "How long is that going to take?" He frowned a bit, spearing more on his fork than ought to be humanly possible.
"A week, perhaps two, I suppose," Roy sighed. On the one hand: nice trip, meeting new people, getting them to fawn on him. On the other, two weeks with no Ed. That evoked images of an endless desert, dried out bones and tumbleweeds.
Ed chewed and swallowed. "I could come along," he offered.
It was an attractive idea but Roy just couldn't fit it in. "In what capacity?" he asked. "You'd have to come as one of my staff and it'll be a pain to get alone together." He braced himself for what he knew was coming. "I hope to gain support for my cause while I'm there and don't want any suspicion about my person. Central is different, people here tend to be pragmatic. I don't know enough about the West to take chances."
He carefully glanced over at his lover who appeared frozen, fork poised halfway to his plate. Roy kept an eye on that, ready to dodge if necessary. Ed let go of the thing, it clattered to the table with an ominous clang.
"If this is you main concern," he said, in a voice that would be a snarl later in the day. "I could just leave altogether. I don't want to be in your way, if all this is inconvenient there is no need..."
"Shut up," Roy interrupted the tirade. "You know better. I don't want to hear it, you know what? Why don't /I/ quit? We'll be free to do whatever we like, or whatever you like anyway. No more social responsibilities, no more political manoeuvres. Screw the country, why should we care at all?"
"Don't be stupid," Ed slumped, hand on his forehead. "Of course you have to go on. Damn, you think I'd have anything to do with the military at all if it wasn't for you?"
Roy was taken aback, Ed bitched about the army all the time but he had never stated his reasons to stick to the military this clearly before.
"I can't take you along," he didn't manage to keep the pleading out of his voice completely.
Ed took a deep breath, released it again. He narrowed his eyes in thought for a moment.
"I know!" he announced, recovering the abused fork. "I'm going west on my own. Nothing to do with your trip. We can have secret meetings, it'll be fun."
Roy smiled at his enthusiasm. "It sounds lovely but I'm afraid I won't have the time to plot rendez vous."
"You don't have to," Ed waved the fork around cheerfully. "Leave it to me. I'll meet up with you, all totally discreet like. Nobody will even know I'm around."
"Ed, you're quite well known," Roy felt he had to point this out though he hated to dampen the infectious enthusiasm. He loved seeing Ed's eyes shine and his grin being a real smile.
"Don't worry about it," Ed devoured his eggs with renewed vigour. "You think I can't lie low? I do it all the time. Harung won't know what hit it."
Roy looked at the plan from all angles and though he saw several flaws he couldn't resist. Ed was happy, disaster averted and he would probably have enough space to spin potential damage to his advantage.
"We can at least travel together," he offered.
"I'm looking forward to it," Ed grinned around his last mouthful. "Hell, it'll be like a vacation."
Continued here.