After a bit of a poll on tumblr and far too many struggles with my head, I've decided updates for this 'verse will be short things, mainly a scene long, because chapters refuse to cooperate.

I'm marking this story as complete, but I'm not done with it. I'll keep adding chapters as they come up.

Ed startled awake. There was an annoying, far too loud shrilling sound coming from the nightstand. Grumbling to himself, he reached blindly for the phone and jabbed at the screen.

"What?" he growled, bringing the phone up to his ear. With some luck, he'd hit the button to hang up and could go back to sleep.

The pause gave him hope, but then someone spoke.

"Who are you?" It was a woman, one Ed didn't recognize.

"The fuck? Who are you?" Ed threw back, tempted to just hang up. Who the hell woke up people at who knew what ungodly hour in the morning?

"What are you doing with Roy's phone?" the woman demanded, ignoring Ed's question.

Roy's…?

With a jolt, Ed turned around in bed. Heart in his throat, he feared to discover he was alone.

Roy was there, on his side, somehow still asleep despite the racket of his phone.

"...Wait a sec…" Ed spoke into the receiver, dumbstruck.

Ed reached out with his free hand and ran his fingers down Roy's upturned cheek. Roy was solid. Real. Ed hadn't dreamt him up.

"Hey, Roy," Ed called him. There was no response. This was new. Roy used to be a light sleeper. Ed poked him in the shoulder. Hard. "Roy!"

Roy's eyes flew open. He looked around, startled and with his fingers poised in that old, dangerous near-snap of his, before his eyes fell on Ed. Recognition shone in them, and Roy relaxed. He lowered his hand.

Roy smiled, tempting and far too ruffled from sleep for comfort. Ed nearly threw the phone away. Being a responsible adult could be so annoying…

"Phone," Ed said, offering the device to Roy.

Roy's hand wrapped around Ed's for a moment before Ed reluctantly let go of it.

"Yeah?" Roy asked in a sleepy voice.

Ed would bet Roy still needed coffee to function in the morning. He'd already proven he was addicted to the stuff again.

"None of your business," Roy told the woman at the other end of the line. He sounded annoyed, but not particularly angry. Familiar, in a way.

Ed turned on his side to look at him better. Fuck being polite and giving him privacy. This was Roy, flesh and bone and with very messy hair, on his bed.

"I'm not going," Roy said, an edge of finality crawling into his morning voice. "No. I'm fine. I'll send you the history notes later, okay?" A pause. "It's none of your business, Rebecca," Roy repeated, and then hung up.

"Catalina?" Ed asked, remembering one of the many things they'd talked about yesterday. Roy's best friend this time around.

"It's Johnson now, but yes." Sighing, Roy turned on his back and covered his eyes with his free hand, then dropped the phone on the mattress. "I'm not gonna hear the end of this."

"What happened?" Ed asked, though he could guess at least half of that conversation had to do with their current circumstances.

"Rebecca dropped by the dorm to check on me. She was there when I lost consciousness and it scared her." Roy uncovered his eyes and turned his head to look at Ed. "She was very curious to know who'd answered the phone."

Ed snorted.

"Figured as much. It's not my fault you're a heavy sleeper. It's weird. Almost as weird as seeing you without scars," Ed admitted. Last night, he'd found himself stopping whenever his hands ran over smooth skin on Roy's left side instead of that familiar burn scar, or whenever he'd seen Roy's unscarred hands.

"I know. I keep expecting to find an automail leg."