HyuRoi Fic: Can't Take It

Title: Can't Take It With You
Series: AU anime
Word Count: 566
Rating: Er... G? PG for angst?
Summary: Maes is a right bastard. (He told me I had to say this.)
Warnings: Hughes/Roy, right-bastard-y-ness?

Maes Hughes lay in bed, glasses off, and watched through the slit in the curtains as the dark indigo sky slowly, slowly lightened to gray. Roy was asleep next to him, huddled against the wall like always, as if they didn't know each other. His back was pressed against Maes' upper arm. Maes could feel the curve of his spine, the slow rhythm of his breathing, and the warmth of his bare skin.

The gray crept toward light blue. Birds chirped to each other, stirring in the eaves, and somewhere in the neighborhood a window scraped open. The smell of some early riser's bacon and coffee floated in on the soft, cool breeze.

Goosebumps rose on Maes' chest, but he didn't move to close the window next to their bed. He didn't pull the sheet up. It seemed better to lay there and feel cold. It seemed right.

He wondered what Gracia was doing right this moment. She was probably still asleep. She didn’t know he was here.

Roy stirred, and Maes' stomach tightened painfully. He kept his eyes on the window, feeling guilty for praying for ten more minutes of relative peace, but praying anyway. There were no gods in Amestris, not anymore, but that didn't keep Maes from silently calling to someone, anyone, for assistance.

If the sky was any gauge, the alarm clock would go off soon. In a matter of minutes they would be moving around the tiny military apartment, making small talk and getting ready for work, Maes acting like nothing was wrong or different about what they were doing. Trying to pretend like everything was okay, that everything was fine.

Trying to pretend he wasn't hiding his engagement.

He shut his eyes as the alarm clanged into life and Roy rolled over with a noise of sleepy protest. Dread for the day to come slid over Maes, making ugly knots of his stomach’s previous unease. He'd made his decision. What he was doing now... it was just stalling.

The alarm rang on, loud in the small room, and Maes forced himself to move arms stiff with the morning’s chill. He took hold of the clock and shut it off, replacing it on the nightstand. It ticked once in irritation, then settled into silence. Maes waited, anxious, trying to keep even more still than he’d been before. The room spun back into quiet, only the birds and the sounds of other people getting ready filtering through the drapes.

For a moment, it seemed as if Roy would sleep on. Maes contemplated slipping out of bed, dressing and sneaking out of the apartment before Roy even had the chance to raise his sleep-tousled head. He could be well on his way to work and free of the morning’s unpleasantness, saving himself a whole day of frustration and guilt. And he could stop. He could stop coming here, keep his promises to Gracia, and never have to lie to anyone again as long as he --

The mattress creaked, and the bed itself moved. Roy raised himself up on his elbows, blinking dazedly at the window. “We late?” he asked.

The light that had spread through the bedroom fell away as though someone had switched it off. Maes forced himself to look at his lover’s face, dismayed to find that he no longer found it beautiful. “No. Not yet. We still have time.”