He'd just received his job, everyone agreed it was best if he took care of this seeing as he had an expert skill of stealth. So, he waited. Hidden in the corner of the box cluttered closet, his shadows flicking around his feet. Pride remained silent as the 17 year old state alchemist entered the room, and promptly collapsed at the desk near the bed. For the next two hours the alchemist studied over and took notes of a book. A book that was imperative Pride snatch away.

Humans were fickle though, and eventually he'd tire and fall asleep before he'd discover the deeper context of the book. That would be when Pride would make his move. It took another hour before Ed's head began to bob, and his writing slowed and began to stop. Pride sighed mentally to himself, this was a very boring task. But Father ordered him to do it, so he would. Ed was now, Pride hoped, asleep. So he sent his shadow's out. He was gonna have to pull an Indiana Jones move here, lift FullMetal's head and arm up, take the book and notes and slip others under him to set him back down without getting caught. Pride was doing it, gently his shadows lifted FullMetal's head moving slowly and cautiously, before working on moving his auto mail arm that was next to his head on the book.

'Almost done...' Pride thought as he began to slip the book and notes towards the side of the desk. Suddenly the door bursted opened, Pride immediately recoiled, dropping Ed and holding his breath.

Ed hit his head against the desk, immediately jerking up and groaned.
"Ow..." He groggily whined.
'I must've fallen asleep... Crap that hurt...' He inwardly complained as he looked over to the door. Seeing none other than the füher and Mustang. He was no fool, they were here for the book. Ed did steal it from Bradley's office which the Colonel was supposed to deliver to the füher's private library. the homunculi figured it out quicker than Ed had anticipated though.

"Sorry to wake you," The president said, in his false kind presidential voice.

'I better not get a bruise from that, Mustang will never shut up about it...' Ed thought, before speaking. His voice a bit groggy and rough from the few minutes of sleep.

"No it's fine. To what do I owe the pleasure of you both barging in?" Ed asked, doing nothing to hide his mild annoyance.

Pride was infuriated this was his job, his task entrusted to him by Father! Pride clenched his fists. Perhaps Wrath saw him incompetent?!

"I believe you borrowed a book of mine FullMetal..." The president replied, stepping over to the desk. Followed by Mustang who shot Ed a are-you-absolutely-stupid Kind of look. Ed felt he kinda deserved it.

Ed was about to refuse that true accusation when his window opened and in stepped Lin- Greed.

"Sorry I'm late." he said, stepping into the room through the window. If Ed wasn't annoyed before, he was now.

"It's quite alright Greed. I trust you've been informed of your orders?" Wrath replied.

"Yep, Father told me em' before I came here." He replied nonchalantly.

Ed was confused now, at least until Bradley continued.

"It seems Alphonse and that mechanic of yours have disappeared..."

That was somewhat true, Al was taking Winry to Xing to get her out of this mess.

"So Greed has been assigned to monitor you, a watchful eye if you will." Bradley finished.

"Wait, so you're saying I'm being placed under surveillance?!" Ed snapped. As Bradley calmly collected the book, forgetting to even think of the notes.

"Yes, precisely. I trust we won't have to resort to... Harsher motives to keep you out of trouble." He spoke, a threat hinting at the edge of his words. He then turned, and with Mustang left the room.

A few seconds passed, before Ed clicked his tongue and stood up.

"Go away greed." He sighed, grabbing his notes, thankful these weren't confiscated as well.

"No can do kid, geeze you look like crap. When's the last time you slept?" Greed poked, following Ed around the room, until Ed went into the very closet Pride was hiding in. Ed yawned deeply, reaching up to grab a suitcase, before exiting, and shutting the closet. Pride went unspotted, he nearly had a heart attack.

"I dunno, a few nights ago." Ed replied offhandedly as he placed the notes into the suitcase, as well as some clothes and research materials.

"Planning on going somewhere?" Greed asked, sitting in the desk chair, watching boredly.

"None of your business." Ed snipped at him, clicking the suitcase shut.

"Well, it kinda is. I've orders to not let you leave Central." Greed snapped right back.

Ed set the suitcase down. Turning to Greed who stood up, taller than Ed and looking down at him.

"Well that's just dandy and all, but I frankly don't care. Take your orders and shove them up your-" Ed was cut off, as Greed quickly yanked him forward, tripping him and pushing him onto the bed. Ed was livid now. But he didn't get the chance to even lift himself up, before Greed had him wrapped up in his arms, pressed into his chest. His legs were trapped and wrapped in Greed's.

"Ya know what, you're being a bit of a crab. Just go to sleep." Greed said to the angrily cursing blonde.

"Screw you." Ed snapped. His head being trapped under Greed's chin.

"Uhh huh, truth be told kid I'm pretty tired myself. I've been running all over on orders and now I have to babysit you. So why not cut me some slack huh?" Greed said.
He was pretty sure Ed just called him whiney.

"Just shut up.." Ed muttered, sighing. He was tired, besides the trains wouldn't be running this late anyways. He shifted a bit. "stop trying to strangle me Greed.." Ed muttered, and Greed eased his grips up a bit once he was sure Ed was't going to try and escape or run off. Ed relaxed, he hadn't been able to sleep much without Al there to watch over him, and as odd as it was, he was comforted by Greed's presence. It wasn't long until Ed was asleep, having fallen asleep in Greed's embrace.

Greed spoke out then.

"You can come out now Pride." He said, a bored expression on his face.

Pride sighed, of course Greed knew he was here. the xing prince was able to sense homunculi.
Pride stepped out, clearly displeased.
He looked at Greed, who was facing him with FullMetal buried in his chest. It wasn't a secret that Greed as of late had been rather possessive of the alchemist. Father seemed to be egging it on as well, it would be hard for the alchemist to go hidden or off the grid if Greed took a special interest in him.
'That at least, explains Greed's part in all of this...' Pride thought to himself.

"Why did Wrath interfere?" Pride spoke in his usual, authoritive tone.

"I dunno. maybe you were just taking too long." Greer reply, shrugging his arm, before draping it back over Ed, a subtle way of Greed saying mine.

"Well Wrath left over half of it here. The fool." Pride said, walking over to the suitcase Ed had set down on the desk earlier. He clicked it opened, and took out a plump stack of notes.
"He was recording the book's contents and Bradley almost allowed him to figure them out." Pride said, he then closed the suitcase, notes in hand.
"I am, despite your ridiculous beliefs Greed. Very capable of dealing with my orders." Pride turned, shooting a dark look. "I can easily take care of such a minimal task like him." Pride nudge his head at Ed. Not missing the threatening look growing in Greed's eyes. Pride just scoffed.

"I think... While you believe you're able to control the alchemist for Father.. Father is actually controlling you through the alchemist. It's quite funny, actually... I'll be on my way then." Pride said, a smug smile on his childish face as he left in the shadows. Leaving Greed to mull over what that monster just said.

'In a sense, he's right you know...' Ling said from inside Greed's mind.

'Oh shut up.' Greed said back.

A few hours later, Ed woke up. He had to carefully roll over so he could see what time it was on his alarm clock without waking Greed up.
'4 a.m... I can get into the office now, I should actually go talk to Sheska maybe she's read the book before, I also need to get train tickets and begin heading North, meet Armstrong's sister like he suggested...' Ed thought to himself. He started to try and detangle himself from Greed, but it was proving to be difficult. He was wrapped up in Greed's arm and his legs were a tangled mess with his. It took him about 10 long minutes to get free, but he did it and he made sure to slip out of the room quietly as to not wake Greed up. Exhaustion hit him like a train though, those few hours seemed to have drained him rather than replenish.
He dragged his feet all the way to the case files department, and asked the front deal lady to see Sheska. The woman gave him a worried look, probably because he looked like utter crap, he felt like it too so it isn't like he was offended.

'Right, think... Armstrong gave me the letter of introduction, that's in my pocket still... though now it's probably crushed a bit. I have to take the next train heading North, Al should be able to meet me there about two days after my arrival..' Ed thought to himself

"Edward? Ed you alright?" Sheska said tentatively, as Ed eyes snapped opened in time to straighten up as he had been, what looked like, dozing off on his feet.

"Oh, yeah I'm fine. Listen Sheska, you said you've read all of Tim Marco's works right?" Ed asked, waving off her concern and getting right to the point.

"Y- yeah I have.." Sheska said politely, nodding.

"Great, I need a copy of his last and final book. The one about desserts." Ed said, not at all looking forward to decoding all of that.

"Oh! Yes of course, come by in a few hours, I should have it done by then!" Sheska replied happily, eager to be of help.

"Thanks, I appreciate it a lot. I'll write out a check later for your work." Ed said, giving her as much a smile as he could muster before heading off to get his train ticket.

'If I hurry I could actually go back to bed for a few hours...' Ed thought to himself, he only forced himself out of his thoughts when he found himself hoping Greed would still be there. Once he got to the station, he got a ticket for the North area that left in the evening. It was the earliest train, not a lot of people headed North. By the time he got back to Central HQ it was 6 a.m. And it was bustling with business. Ed managed to mutter a good morning whenever he ran into someone he knew. He decided to check up on Sheska's progress, his throat was starting to hurt and a headache was beginning to accompany him on the way to the office. When he reached Sheska's desk, she handed him the large folder with all the notes inside, he grinned smugly feeling like he just one upped the president.

"Thanks Sheska, I really needed these. Here, for your troubles and service." Ed quickly wrote out a check, and tucked the notes under his arm before leaving. Despite the small victory, he was feeling like utter crap. He sniffled a bit, his eyes feeling strained and heavy as he went through his mental check list of things that he needed to do. He got the ticket for Briggs, got the notes, now all he had to do was somehow disappear and get the humonculi off his trail. If he did that it was a green go at his next move of undoing their plans. He felt a twinge of sadness when he realized Greed fell into that category of ditching. He'd gotten kinda close to the homunculus over the past few weeks, since they met, really. Either way, Ed knew he had to prioritize his mission over his mess of emotions. Speaking of the devil, Greed stood outside the dorm a frown etched on his face when he saw Ed.

"You're really stupid you know that?" Greed scowled at him, meeting him halfway down the hallway.

"oh shut up." Ed snapped at him, going to walk around him only for Greed to block his path.

"You went and got a copy of the book, didn't you?" He asked, grabbing Ed's chin to make gold eyes meet purple ones.

"So what if I did... The president didn't say I couldn't get a copy." Ed said, staring into Greed's eyes. They held each others gaze for a drawn out moment, each lost in their own thoughts. Greed's hold on Ed's chin turned more into cupping it and brushing his thumb over the alchemist's fevered cheek with a light frown.

"I see now that I should have." Said a voice at the end of the hallway.

Ed quickly snapped out of whatever kind of daze he was in, spun on his heel, turning to see none other than the füher himself.

"I'm afraid I'm going to have to confiscate the copy as well, and suggest you keep yourself out of business that doesn't concern you, FullMetal." Bradley said growing in annoyance.

Ed narrowed his eyes a bit, he wasn't going to give up the notes. Not this time.
"I don't have it." He said firmly, and dumbly he might add as he clearly had it in his stupid hand, and just literally admitted to getting a copy out loud. Boy he was on a roll today. He was tired and just wanted to get on the stupid train with the stupid notes and get away from stupid Bradley.

Maybe he should just make a run for it, that honestly seemed to be his best bet at the moment.

So he did. Ed ducked around Greed and ran like death was chasing him. He quickly rounded the corner, almost slipping before he ran straight towards the next hallway.

'Exit, where is the stupid freaking Exit?!' Ed mentally panicked, he'd never really taken this way in the Central Headquarters, he never had any reason to and was severely regretting it now. He was way too tired for all this crap. He quickly rounded the next corner, smacking right into Greed's chest, if he had been looking forward, he'd of probably broke his dang nose.

"Greed, damn it!" Ed snapped, immediately going to rush off, but Greed grabbed his wrist with one hand and his chin with the other.

"You sure are dead set on being a pain today, huh?" Greed asked, eyes narrowing at each other and both trying to predict the other's next move. Ed didn't notice Bradley had, at his own gentle and unconcerned pace, caught up with them and the wrist locked in Greed's hand was relieved of the book before Ed could comprehend what just happened.

"Thank you, Fullmetal. I'm afraid I'll be revoking you library and research privileges til I see fit starting now." Bradley said, but Ed lunged, snatching the notes, and nearly causing him and Greed to end up on the floor as he ducked free and began to run. Luckily he made a turn he did know, and began to navigate at a fast and dire pace towards the exit, tight chest with sickness and exertion.

But the second he busted outside the doors a hand snatched his wrist and Ed nearly ended up flat on his ass. He was spun around, chest slammed against the side of the concrete building and hands held tightly behind his back.

"I take back what I said. You exceed an idiot." Greed sighed, as Ed clenched his auto mail hand tightly against the folder.

"C'mon Greed, thought we were pals." Ed grumbled.

"Still on opposite sides, kid." Greed replied, tightening his hold on him as Ed did on the files.

"Let go, end of the line and all that shit," Greed said, and Edward might have actually done so if he was holding the file with his flesh hand, but since it was his automail one, he felt like he wasn't exactly at such a terrible disadvantage.

At least he thought so until Greed began to twist his arm. "Ow ow ow ow! Hey you prick that frickin hurts!" Edward hissed at Greed, trying to tiptoe a bit for some relief on his arm. Bastard was gonna pop his shoulder out of socket.

"Let go of the file," Greed said, sounding extraordinarily bored. "Sick of playing this game of yours," he grouched.

"Fine! Fine take the damn thing, dammit!" Edward hissed, before swallowing down what he was sure a coughing fit.

He felt the file being plucked right out of his hand, before a pair of lips were almost right against the shell of his ear, "good boy," Greed said in a husky voice, one that made Ed's face, for no rational reason, explode into a red hue as the file officially left his grip.

"Excellent job, Greed" Bradley said, turning the corner and seeing the situation, though Edward was praying he didn't exactly hear that last little bit of what was said.

Greed handed over the file, and just shrugged, "I'm taking him back now," he said, "sick of running around your damn play palace." With this, he let Edward's arm free, who hissed a bit and shot the sin a rude look as he rubbed his shoulder.

"Very well, FullMetal I should hope I dont have any more issues concerning this," he said, which Ed truly believed was an absolute waste of his breath because he was already planning on getting that damn book before his train arrived.

"It wont happen again or I swear I'll actually break your arm," Greed said, annoyed as he placed a hand on Edward's shoulder, being to push him towards the door to the halls so they could go back to the dorm.

"You try! I'll kick your nose right off your face," Ed hissed, shooting him another glare. How many times had he glared at this bastard now? Probably more than he gave him normal looks.

"Yeah, yeah, maybe if you hadn't of drooled on my shoulder I'd be a little believing of that threat," Greed chuckled and Ed had to physically restrain from the urge to not stomp on the bastard's toes with his metal foot.

When they arrived at Ed's dorm, the blonde opened the door and kicked his shoes off, obviously a little annoyed before flopping onto his bed.

Greed stood there, unimpressed as he closed the door, watching the blonde. "Get in the damn bed, bastard," Edward grouched, "Can't sleep without someone watching my back and un-fucking-fortunately I trust Ling," he said, mumbling into his pillow.

"Yeah?" Greed chuckled, "that's why you cuddle?" He grinned, a grin that only grew larger when Ed shot him a look full of murder. Still, he slipped into the bed with the grouchy brat, and they both shifted together until they were finally comfortable. Ed was laying on his side, one arm across Greed's chest and his non-metal leg draped against one of Greed's. He had his face practically buried against the side of the sin's neck, which he would never voice, but Greed found extremely endearing. Ling did, evidently as well, because he wouldn't shut up about how the alchemist trusted him enough to sleep against him.

"I can hear you and Ling thinking shuddup," Ed grouched, and Greed simply rubbed the brat's back, which effectively got the blonde to shut up. He fell asleep a lot faster than Greed anticipated, but Ling piped up and mentioned he was probably getting sick judging by the fever and coughing. Not to mention how he gave up a bit too easily earlier.

Greed ended up falling asleep not long after, a function he didn't often partake in, but, well, he was bored and Ling had gone quiet to meditate so Greed decided to doze. Besides... He was keeping the kid out of trouble, so, a nap felt to be an appropriate treat...

The End