"What is that?"

"It's a fortune-teller," Roy said, utterly bland, like it should be inherently obvious. "You put it on your fingers and let it tell you your fortune. Alicia Hughes sends this with her fondest regards."

Ed gave him a narrow-eyed look. "I think you've finally lost it," he announced. "How the hell does a little paper thing tell you your fortune?"

"The same way weathercocks predict the weather," Roy said. "Children always have these little toys and games. Didn't you?" He raised an eyebrow.

Ed scowled. "What's that supposed to mean?"

Roy looked at him thoughtfully, then sat up in his chair, picking up the little fortune-teller and setting it on the tips of his index fingers and his thumbs. "Pick a color, Fullmetal."

"Huh?" Ed looked at him blankly.

"A color," Roy repeated, patient, and held up the fortune-teller. "It's not that hard, is it?"

Ed stared at him for a long moment, then, with a long-suffering sigh, reached out and tapped his finger against the red panel, shaded garishly bright from a child's crayon. "Fine, red."

"R-E-D. Pick a number now." Roy tipped the open flaps towards Ed, who only looked more disgusted than before. "Go on, Fullmetal."

"You're fucking insane." Ed rolled his eyes and tapped one of the numbers without looking. "There, are you happy?"

Roy glanced down -- the number seven -- and counted it out, flexing the small paper flaps, then held it out a third time. "One more time, Edward."

"Look, Colonel, I've got work to get back to --"

"Humor me, Fullmetal." Roy didn't break eye contact.

Ed rolled his eyes so hard it was almost audible, then tapped another random panel. "Here, okay, that's --"

Roy pulled up the small paper flap, and looked down. "Your presence will be necessary tonight," he said. "Outside the main office at six, in fact."

Ed blinked, and then his scowl deepened. "Wait a moment --"

"Yes, Fullmetal?" Roy looked innocent. "Is there something wrong with your fortune?"

"You --" Ed narrowed his eyes. "Wait a moment, what the hell are you playing at? You --"

"Perhaps you should heed its suggestion, Fullmetal," Roy said, and put the fortune-teller down. "Tonight, at six?"

"Look, if you're going to send me off somewhere weird, you can just tell me now --"

"Nowhere weird, Fullmetal," Roy said calmly, leaning his elbows on the desk and lacing his fingers together, so he could rest his chin on them. "Not unless you count the Blue Dragon a weird place."

Ed blinked. "The Blue Dragon is --"

"I'll have you know, it was extraordinarily difficult to get reservations at that particular restaurant," Roy added, still deadpan. "You could at least be a bit more appreciative."

Ed just gaped. "Wait, what? You just -- look, I'm not interested in going out with a guy, and you've got a whole list of women who're panting at your heels, I'm not --"

"I didn't make the reservations for dinner because I wanted to take a woman there," Roy said quietly, and waited. It was fascinating, the rapid pace of emotions flickering across Ed's face. He almost said something else, to put Ed out of his misery, but refrained at the last moment, waiting.

After a long moment, Ed sighed, his shoulders slumping. He didn't look quite resigned, though there was something in his expression that didn't quite fit with anything else, which made him look older, less in some peculiar in between of man and child. "You really are a piece of shit, you know," he muttered. "You make things way too fucking complicated."

"Not deliberately, I promise," Roy murmured. "Though there is something to be said about subtlety. Will you come, tonight?"

For a moment, he thought Ed would still say no. He even braced himself for it, patiently waiting for it. And then, to his surprise, Ed reached down and picked up the fortune-teller himself, turning the paper scrap over in his fingers.

"You're paying?" he asked.

Roy stared at him for a long moment, then allowed himself a small smile. "I'm paying," he agreed.

Ed nodded, then tossed the fortune-teller at him, with an almost practiced carelessness. "Then I'll see you at six," he said, "Colonel."

Roy just smiled, returned the salute Ed gives him, and went back to work.

But first, he moved the fortune-teller to a safer spot for later. Just in case.