(Untitled)

[snapcrackleburn]

A whole hell of a lot has happened to Roy since he was last in the bar. The most notable event has, without question, been the return of Edward Elric to Amestris. For all that Roy's been trying to keep things under wraps for the sake of maintaining some sort of order and cutting down on questions, he knows from long and bitter experience that

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[kodachromic]

A heavy hand falls on Roy's shoulder, and Hughes uses his support to lean over and peer at the book the other man is reading. He's intentionally putting more of his weight onto Roy than he necessarily needs to.

"Anything interesting?"

[snapcrackleburn]

"Absolutely fascinating. And if you don't stop leaning on me like that, you're also going to find it interesting as well, because I'm going to hit you square in that pretty face of yours with it."

Words of a tiger, the purr of a kitten, apparently -- Roy's tone is pretty indicative of the fact that he does not, in fact, mind being leaned on. Or at least this should be apparent to one who's known him for as long as Maes Hughes has; even in his "old age," Roy still has the ability to make most people who don't know when he's joking wet themselves in defense and/or terror.

[kodachromic]

"I don't think you would," Hughes says, and he leans on further to prove it. "Because you like looking at pretty faces, and you'd spoil the view."

He grins.

"That is, if your eyes aren't shot by now, what with the advancement of years."

[snapcrackleburn]

"Says the man who's had to wear glasses the entire time I've known him." Roy treats Hughes to a glare. "And you're still older than I am, four-eyes, so you have absolutely no license to start knocking my age yet."

He refuses to make any further elaboration on the pretty face comment. Like Hughes' ego needs to be any bigger!

[kodachromic]

"Didn't say I wasn't an old man," Hughes says. He seems pretty cheery about it, in fact. "I'm in full acceptance of my advanced age and everything ir means. It's just fun to watch you in denial of it."

[snapcrackleburn]

"Thirty-five," Roy states firmly, "does not make me 'old.' It does not even make me middle-aged."

Then his attitude does an about-face, and he reaches up to ruffle Maes' hair.

"Haven't seen you around lately, old man. I've missed you; how have you been?"

[kodachromic]

"More than halfway to sixty. I'd call that 'middle aged.'"

Maes makes a face at his hair being ruffled, but he doesn't really mind. It's just another thing to pretend about, for the sake of pretending. "So cooped up I've started keeping notebooks on complete strangers. I think I need a hobby."

[snapcrackleburn]

"Hey, I don't plan to call it quits at sixty." Roy's the sort of person who could probably figure out a way to live forever, just to piss off those who dislike him.

"And stalking is a hobby. The only problem is that it's also a criminal offense." Roy grins. "Have you at least been getting good information on the people you've been tailing?"

It's not exactly a bad thing, to keep one's skills up to snuff, and Maes had been an ace at intelligence work back in Amestris.

[kodachromic]

"Lots of good information," Hughes says. "Lots of juicy information, too."

Not that he's inclined to share without some sort of special prompting!

[snapcrackleburn]

"Juicy, is it? Anything you'd like to share with an old war buddy?"

It can be a birthday present!