Alphonse could barely keep himself seated in his chair, he was so excited. As it was, he could not stop his hands from fidgeting, his legs from bouncing, even though his neighbor was starting to look irritated. See, Al actually wanted to be here, at Troubled Youth. He loved helping people, and thought this was a great opportunity to assist other kids at his school (Central Public, or CP for short) who had it rough. In truth, Alphonse was probably the only person in the room who wanted to be there; the "bad" kids in his school were forced to attend, and the other honor students seemed to only be involved because it looked good, not because they wanted to.

Oh, well. Al was excited, and that was that.

The teacher at the front of the room continued to read off names in pairs, and slowly the seats emptied. Alphonse found himself nearly shaking in anticipation, and then his name was finally called, along with—

Envy?

Wow, that was a bit of a shock. Al leaped up from his chair, smiling widely at the green-haired boy he was paired with. Inside, he had to admit he was just a little intimidated—Envy was widely known as the worst CP had to offer. He did drugs, got arrested for violence all the time, and barely bothered to dress himself (right now, he was wearing his usual ensemble of a half-shirt, tiny short/skirt combination, and no shoes). He rode a motorcycle on the few days a year he came to school, and cursed so much sometimes it was hard to make out what he was saying.

In short, Envy was trouble.

As Alphonse expected, his grin was not returned. In fact, as he walked over to the other boy, Envy didn't even move, just glared at him, muttering a faint, "Fuck my life," as Al neared.

Ignoring this, Al forged ahead. "Hey, Envy."

The green-haired boy snorted. "Don't act all fucking friendly with me, dickwad. Look, I know you're just here to make you look all the more fucking perfect, so why don't you just let me go and we can pretend we've done the shit we're supposed to, okay?"

Alphonse, though sighing inwardly at how hard this was going to be, refused to be daunted. "Nope, can't do it. I'm not here to look good, I'm here because I want to be."

Envy stared up at him with disbelief. "Goddammit that's worse!"

"Too bad," Al held his ground. "Come on, get up, I want to get started."

Grumbling, Envy pulled himself up and stood tall, towering over Alphonse. He flipped his hair (which hung every which way about his face, Al often wondered how he managed that) and said, "Get on with it then, I don't want to be in this shithole all day."

Al led Envy out of the room silently, wondering how he would approach his assignment. They kept walking until they were out of the building, where Alphonse stopped and turned. "Alright, Envy, I know you're not going to make this easy, but I really do want to help you. So I have so rules that you will be following."

The green-haired boy smirked. "You wanna bet, bitch?"

Al stared Envy directly in his odd purple eyes. "Yeah, I do. You may have your knife, but I was trained in self-defense—and so was my brother. You can't hurt me, and you sure aren't going to change my mind."

Envy rolled his eyes. "Who's your brother?"

Alphonse was confused by this question but answered, "Ed. You might know him, he's in your grade…"

"Pipsqueak!" Envy laughed, delighted. "Oh, this is too perfect. He's the fucking best person to irritate, you know."

A plan started to form in Al's mind, slightly devious, but worth a shot. "If you work with me, we can study at my house. He's usually there."

Still grinning, Envy waved him off. "Fine, fine, lay it on me."

Inwardly clapping at his small victory, Alphonse began to list his rules. "Okay, no drugs, alcohol, or cigarettes for starters."

Already, this was an issue. "You have got to be motherfucking kidding me, I need that shit."

"No, you don't." Al was firm. "Next, you have to not only study with me, but actually come to school every day." He was answered with a groan. "And this last one is more of a request, because it doesn't matter as much, but…please put on some actual clothes."

"Uh, yeah, I don't think so. You're already taking away my shit, I'm not going to change my clothes."

Al had expected this, but still sighed, disappointed. "Fine. Just the first two things, then." He held out his hand for Envy to shake.

The older boy snorted, but shook. "I'd better have a lot of fucking fun messing with your brother."

Feeling slightly guilty that he had traded his brother's peace for cooperation, but nonetheless relieved, Al grinned. "You will. Now, c'mon, first lesson starts now."

"Oh, hell."

"Okay, capital of South Africa?"

"How the hell would I know? I don't even know where South Africa is."

Edward stood in his open doorway, eyebrows raised at the scene before him. "It's in southern Africa, Envy." He said, rolling his eyes as he got the finger in response. "Al, what's he doing here? And…why are you two in my bedroom?"

Al's eyes shone. "I was assigned to help Envy at Troubled Youth today, Brother! I thought we should get started right away, but he wouldn't study unless we came into your room, so…"

Ed breathed deeply, shaking his head. "So this is going to be a regular thing?"

"Hell yes it is," Envy answered, stretching out on Edward's bed. "Bother you, Shorty?"

"WHO'RE YOU CALLING SO SMALL HE COULD HIDE BEHIND A GRAIN OF RICE!?" Edward exploded, causing the green-haired boy on his bed to laugh. He scowled; irritated that he couldn't control the outburst…he just hated being called short. He was only a junior, he could still grow.

"Holy shit, that one was funny!" Envy wiped imaginary tears from his eyes as he calmed down. Alphonse, too, looked rather happy, though Ed couldn't guess why.

"By the way, Brother," he said, "I've invited Envy to dinner with us."

Edward took a moment, then replied simply: "Al, I've got to talk to you."

Once out of earshot, Ed began whispering in earnest. "Al, you know who Envy is, what kind of shit he gets into. Plus he's dangerous—do you have any idea how many times he's pulled that knife on somebody? I don't think you should go through with the project, or at the very least, don't invite him to dinner—don't be around him any more than is necessary."

"Brother, you know I can't quit," Alphonse rebuked. "And besides that, it's like I told Envy, he can't hurt me; I know how to protect myself, and so do you. We'll be okay. I want him to be around me as much as possible, Brother. I don't want this to just be some project, I really want to help him, and I think the best way to do that is to get him around better people."

Edward could not help but smile at his little brother's kindness. While he wasn't one to deny someone help, the ease with which Alphonse gave assistance out was on a whole different level, and it was something Ed greatly admired. "Fine," he said, "but be careful. I don't want him sucking you into his world."

Al laughed. "Don't worry so much, Brother!"

They walked back to Ed's room. Upon re-opening the door, they found Envy still on the bed, arms crossed. "So, what's for dinner?"

Edward sighed, ignoring Al's apologetic look. This was going to be a long few weeks.