Chapter Two
Juggling Responsibilities
By end of his first day at school, Ed realized he was exhausted. This was going to be a lot harder than he imagined keeping up with this schedule. He came into the house and dropped his bag by the door. He went to the living room where Al was sitting in his chair watching TV. Ed came in and patted him on the shoulder.
"Everything alright while I was in class?" he asked as he sat down on the couch beside the chair.
"Everything has been fine, brother," Al said, smiling at him. "My hands have been cooperative this afternoon."
"I'm glad to hear that, Al. I have to get some sleep; will you be alright for a couple hours?" Ed was afraid he was going to fall asleep sitting up if he didn't lay down for a little while.
"Oh, of course, brother. I'm enjoying watching some shows I haven't seen before," Al told him with a slight smile.
Ed nodded and stood up. "I'll set my phone alarm for two hours from now, so I can check on you again. If you need anything before then, just come pound on the door."
He kissed Al on the head and went into the room he'd claimed as his own. It still smelled a bit musty, and the whole place was covered in a thin layer of dust, but it was good enough for him. He fell into the bed, finding it was comfortable if old. He soon drifted off to sleep and into dreams he rather not think of.
The dream that visited him was an old one. It had been a common thing for him to see behind his eyelids during the nights of his most stressful days. He was at home, and it was not long after their mother died, perhaps a couple of years. Al was there, but he wasn't really in the dream. Ed could just sense his presence and know he was there.
Their father was drunk. This meant bad things for both Ed and Al. He'd been drinking much more since their mother had died. He often got physically violent especially with Ed. Ed had a tendency to step between his father and his brother. To the eleven-year-old boy, his father looked like a monster to him. It was of course a memory for Ed, one that Al didn't know had happened. He would keep Al from knowing what had happened at all costs.
Ed didn't know what had caused the reaction. He had no idea why it had happened, or what his father had been thinking in his drunken state. He just remembered being hit, falling to the ground, then being pushed down with their father over him. He didn't know what to do; he had just frozen. He remembered pain, and utter humiliation at what had happened. He didn't want anyone to know, and when his father was sober, he told him no one could know, or else Al would pay the price. So, Ed stayed quiet, and when it happened again, he still kept it from everyone. Who would have believed him in any case? His father was a good man, well respected. How would anyone believe that he'd so horribly abused his own son?
Things shifted to the night of the accident, like they always did. Ed was trying to calm his father down, but he wasn't calming down. Al had been looking for something to eat, and not finding anything in the house. For some reason this night, when Al said something about it, their father had gone off. He'd been drinking most the day, and Al's comment seemed the last straw.
He'd told them both to get their coats and come with him to the car. Neither Ed nor Al wanted to go with their father, but he grabbed Al by the arm and pulled him along with him. Ed was forced to follow so he could stay with Al and make sure nothing happened to him.
Things went fuzzy for a while, but their father was yelling at them, telling them how they were the cause of everything that had happened in their lives. Al was sobbing by that point, and Ed didn't know what to do because they were weaving in and out of the lane as they drove. He begged his father to stop, to just stop. But he wouldn't. Then they were flying off the road, and everything turned into red pain and black darkness for Ed.
He sat up with a gasp and put a hand to his chest. He heard the phone alarm going off and he shut it off quickly. He swallowed and crawled out of bed, still wearing his clothes from class. He hadn't even thought of changing them. He would be changing for work in a few minutes. He made his way into the kitchen with an exhausted sigh.
Ed numbly went through the motions of fixing dinner for Al. The dream was making him feel sluggish and slow. Dream, he thought. It was more than that, it was memories that wouldn't leave him alone. He swallowed thickly as he sat down a plate for each of them.
"Ready, Al," he called and sat down himself.
Al seemed to be having a good day because he was using the hand control pad to move the wheelchair around. Ed was glad of that. He deserved to have as many good days as possible.
"It smells good, brother," Al said as he pulled up to the table.
"Thanks, Al," he answered, taking a bite and thinking that he still had to go talk to his new friends upstairs once he got Al settled for the night. "Um, I have to go in a little early tonight, so do you mind if I get you settled for the night a little bit earlier?"
Al nodded. "That's fine. I'm kind of tired anyway, so it might be good to get some sleep earlier tonight."
Ed released a sigh of relief. He had worried that Al wouldn't be okay with going to bed early. "Okay, that works out well, then."
They ate for a while in silence. Then Al smiled and spoke up again.
"Brother, how is your school going?" he asked.
"Oh, it's fine. A bit exhausting, but good. I have a couple classes I really like, one with a nice teacher named Hughes, and another with a guy that's a bit of a jerk named Mustang. But that's okay. I have Mustang first thing in the mornings, so I have to make sure I get there on time. He's a stickler on punctuality." Ed paused, though, remembering the other way he'd seen Mustang and felt a blush creep up his face. He cleared his throat. "But that's boring. I talked to the doctor about the surgery again, and everything seems to be on track for next fall as long as there are no delays."
"That's wonderful, brother. I'm so excited to see if they can help me walk again! Then I can go to school like you and do something with my life!" Al was always excited by the prospect of being able to go to school again. He could technically go now but he refused because it would have put more work on Ed.
After they finished with dinner and Ed had cleaned up the dishes, Ed got Al ready for bed. He was running about half an hour early, so that would give him time to go upstairs and check on his uninvited guests. If they were still there and he wasn't losing his mind. He went ahead and dressed for work, taking the time to put on his makeup and his coat. He made his way up the stairs again, wondering if he was going to see anyone there at all.
Everything was empty and quiet, and for a minute, Ed just stood there, wondering what to think. He was about to turn and go back downstairs when he felt a hand on his shoulder. He started and turned around to face the one that had called herself Lust.
"Oh, you are here," Ed said with a gasp at her.
"Of course, I am, we all are," she explained. "The others are around, but we thought since we overwhelmed you before, we would only come out one or two at a time."
Ed nodded. "That's very kind of you…" he mumbled.
"You are going to work," she said as she looked him over.
"Since you already know, it isn't worth it to hide it from you." He shifted uncomfortably as he stood there.
"You do a fine job with your looks, it would seem," she told him. "But something bothers you a great deal about your work."
"I don't want others to find out what I do. That's why I like the Lotus Blossom. I can work masked, and don't have to worry about being found out by others," he told her with a sigh. "It's legal, you know, and other people do it for reasons like I do, but I just like keeping that life out of my real life."
Lust nodded. "I was always proud of my position. I never hid what I did from anyone. Perhaps I am supposed to help you become comfortable with your profession."
"It's not my profession, though. I don't want to do this forever. Being a Kagema is easy, fast money, and that's what I need now. I'm paying for a special surgery for Al that might give him his legs back, and I have to do something that pays enough to support us and put money toward that." Ed sighed. "I didn't even want to get into this to begin with…"
Lust crossed her arms over her chest and gave him a sad smile. "How did you end up working as a Kagema, then?"
Ed swallowed hard and shifted his weight off his false leg. "I was with a friend that went to one. But they weren't really a friend. It turned out they were a recruiter of sorts for a place called The Gilded Lily. I don't know why so many brothels have names of flowers in them. Anyway, the owner of the place decided he liked my look and convinced me to stay the first time." He looked at her with a hollow look. "I didn't want to do it, not really, and I ended up getting hurt by the first guy I had because I tried to get away from him. Even with the money it promised, I decided that I couldn't do it. But that place…" Ed's gaze went far off for a second before returning to Lust. "I didn't get away from him, and there was another client, and another, and I was bruised when I was done. I didn't want to go back."
"But you did." Lust's face had taken on a softer look.
Ed nodded slowly. "The money was too good, so that's why I went back. I already was paying this doctor here in Central City for the surgery, but working at the brothel, I could afford to pay our bills and send enough money to the doctor that I'd have the surgery paid for by next year."
"How'd you end up at the Lotus Blossom?"
"Ling Yao was in the place one night. I thought he was just another customer, but he was scouting for his brothel here. So, he bought me and then took me to the back to talk to me about leaving and becoming a Kagema for the Lotus Blossom. He thought I'd play the part well, and he said my eyes would be a selling point. It was also near the University." Ed touched his face gently. "I had to come to Central City on the train several times and leave Al with someone else. I learned how to do the makeup that looked best behind the masks, and how to dress properly, how to hide my arm and leg."
Lust reached out and cupped his face, giving him a long look. "I wonder how I'm supposed to help you."
Ed shook his head. "I don't know, but it can't be staying at the Lotus Blossom. I don't wanna do that forever."
"I only know that we have to figure out how to help you in some way. You haven't told anyone about us, have you?" Lust asked as she pulled her hand back and stared at him.
Ed shook his head. "No. Who would believe that my house is haunted by seven cursed ghosts?"
Lust smiled at him, a gentle thing. "You're right. It does sound outlandish."
"I have to go. I guess I'll see you again soon. Can you go downstairs?" he wondered as he looked out over the railing.
Lust nodded. "We can go anywhere inside the house. We just can't be seen by anyone except you. No one else will know we're there, or be able to hear us, so you don't have to worry about your brother noticing us."
"That's good," Ed said and turned to go back down the stairs. "Um, just tell me if you have anything to talk about. I can listen to your stories, too, if you ever want to tell them." He headed down the stairs
Lust watched him go. "He's got quite a story, doesn't he?"
"Yeah, the pipsqueak's had it tough," Envy responded as he stepped out of the darkness. "But what he said at the end…"
"I know. No one has ever asked to hear our story before," Lust agreed. "Maybe this means something."
-oooooo-OOOOOO-oooooo-
Ed sighed as he hung his coat on the hook. He was still sleepy, so he hoped he didn't fall asleep during his shift on the sofas. He waved to Owner and Matron and headed out to sit and wait for customers to show up tonight. He sat on the end of one of the sofas next to another of the Kagema workers, a brown-haired young man named Randal. Randal was petite and slender, but rather non-confrontational. He was a rather quiet person and didn't do a lot of talking.
"How have you been doing, Randal?" Ed asked as they sat beside each other.
He smiled under his mask. "Been doing really well lately. I have been getting a few steady clients."
"That's good. I haven't had too many repeat visitors, but there's been a lot of first timers on my client load," Ed told him as he noticed a group of three coming down the aisle. "Maybe these are for us."
Ed watched as they stopped and talked to the girls at the front. They were loud, though, making more noise than was necessary as they tried to impress the workers. Ed shook his head and pulled his legs up tighter on the sofa. He hoped they found their choice for the night and went on their way. They were the type that made a show when they came into the place. He hoped they weren't drunk or something. They hadn't had an incident where someone had to be asked to leave in quite some time.
The three guys came closer to the sofa that Randal and Ed were sitting on. They came closer to them, one of them, a tall one with brown hair in a faded undercut, stepped to their side of the aisle.
"They really do have guys that dress up like chicks," he muttered, staring at Randal and Ed.
The other two came up beside him. "They said they're called 'kagema' or something," the second one, with long blond hair pulled back at the base of his neck.
"Are you girly boys any good?" the first one asked.
Randal glanced at Ed, then looked at the client. He cleared his throat. "We offer the services listed at the front."
"That's not what I asked. Why would I pick up one of you over those chicks up there?" he continued, narrowing his eyes at Randal.
"It just depends on your preference," Randal tried. He adjusted his kimono where it laid over his lap.
The third one, a shorter man with beady eyes and messy black hair, reached out and grabbed Randal by the arm, hauling him up to stand. "What's so special about you?"
Randal tried to keep his face neutral, but it was obvious the guy was scaring him a little. "Just different than the girls," he said, stumbling a bit as he got his balance.
"Hey, let him go," Ed said as he glared at these three. "You can't manhandle us like that. It's against the rules."
The first one leaned over and reached for Ed. Ed managed to avoid being grabbed and stood up instead. "What are you trying to do, shorty?" he growled at him.
Ed's one weakness was his height. He stepped closer to the guy and snarled, "What'd you call me?"
"I called you shorty, got a problem with it?" he did grab Ed by the arm this time.
Ed winced, feeling the guy's nails dig into him through his kimono. The guy had to be at least a foot taller than him, but it didn't intimidate him at all. He was too angry at him right then. "Yes, I got a problem with it…" Ed started.
"Now, what's the problem here?"
Ed glanced over and saw Matron coming toward them with the older bouncer, Fu. He looked like he was too old to do anything, but the truth was he was an expert fighter and more than capable of handling anyone in the Lotus Blossom. The one holding onto Randal shoved him backward, sending him tumbling into the sofa. Ed tried to pull his arm out of this guy's grip, but he had his flesh arm. He knew better than to use his automail arm because he could actually hurt this guy. That would look bad for the brothel, so he let his anger go. This was enough of a scene as it was.
"I'm afraid that I must ask you to let my worker go," Matron said with a cold edge to her voice. "Manhandling them is not allowed on the show floor."
Fu crossed his arms over his chest and glared at the one holding Ed's arm still. Matron wasn't looking too happy at the way things were going. The man gripping his bicep threw his arm back with a snort. Ed clipped the edge of his mask with his hand and felt it shift. He was too worried about what was happening to fix it.
"Sorry, just wanted some answers and your boys didn't seem to be too talkative," he said.
"They're not required to engage you in conversation unless you've paid for their time," Matron informed him. "If you're so interested in what they have to say, I'm sure that either of them would be more than happy to speak to you at length. Once you've paid their fee."
He looked annoyed at her answer, but Ed knew that she wouldn't budge on her position. Time was money in this business, and right now, these three were wasting both.
"Not like I'm a homo anyway and want some pansy boy," he said. "Besides, how do you know anything with these stupid masks on."
To Ed's surprise he reached out and snatched his mask away. Ed's eyes went wide and he reached for it, only to have it be held out of his reach. The guy held it over his face and looked at his friends before he tossed it toward the sofa.
"I'm going to have to ask you to leave," Matron said finally.
Ed had grabbed the mask and replaced it as quickly as he could, but he gave a stiff glare to the one that had taken it.
"That's fine. Not like you have anything special here," he mumbled and walked back toward the door with the other two trailing him.
Matron looked at both Randal and Ed. "Are you both okay?"
Ed massaged his arm where he'd been grabbed and already felt the soreness from a bruise. He swallowed and nodded, though. "I'm fine."
"I'm okay, too. Just shaken up a little," Randal said as he adjusted his clothes where he was sitting still.
"If they come back again, and cause another disturbance, I'll deal with them permanently," Matron said and turned on her heel to go back to the front.
Ed let out a shaky breath he hadn't realized he was holding and slid down into the sofa again. "Those bastards," he mumbled. "How dare they."
Randal turned toward him and smiled. "You know how it is. Sometimes there's the bad ones, even in a good place like this."
"Have you worked somewhere else?" Ed asked him as he watched another man start walking down the opposite side to speak to some of the girls.
Randal shook his head. "No, but I've heard there are some very bad places out there."
"There are," Ed said as he stared at the new client that was walking away with one of the girls. "I worked at one where guys like that were a nightly thing, except they didn't do anything about it. I had a lot of bruises when I worked there. That's where the Owner found me, and he offered to give me a job at his place."
Randal nodded. "I've been lucky. I've almost saved enough money to get my sister moved into Central City with her son." He looked at Ed with a sad smile. "I guess we all have our reasons for working this kind of job, don't we?"
Ed sighed and straightened his braid on top of his head. "Yeah, I'm paying for a surgery for my brother and keeping us in a place to live." He glanced back over at Randal. "I don't think there's anyone here that doesn't have some kind of reason."
"Oh, there's another one, maybe he'll come down here," Randal said as another man came down toward them.
-oooooo-OOOOOO-oooooo-
Ed was early for his next class with Mustang. He was determined to make a good impression on the guy and show he was serious about his school. He only had two classes on the day he took Mustang's class, so he was glad of that. The other one was taught by a Professor Hughes who had spent most the first class talking about his daughter. The class didn't mind the distraction, though. It was psychology, so Ed was looking forward to finding out if today they actually talked about the subject or not.
He took up a seat toward the back, just on the off-chance Mustang ever could recognize him. He would be mortified if he ever did. Having a teacher know what he did every night… However, he also knew that Mustang visited the Lotus Blossom, so that was something in his favor. It wasn't like it was illegal or anything. The Lotus Blossom was a higher-class brothel, too.
Mustang came into the room when the class was about half filled up and sat down at the desk in the front. Ed was reminded what a good-looking man he was, and kind of hoped he came back to the Lotus Blossom again. He certainly wouldn't mind spending more time with him. He felt his face heat up at the thought and looked down at his notebook again. He couldn't be thinking of that right now. He had to concentrate on the class and what was going on right now. Keeping up his grades was the second most important thing to him right after taking care of Al.
The class went well, and Ed found that he liked the way Mustang taught it. It was interesting and engaging. Ed had worried that the class would be a little dry and boring, but it seemed that Mustang was able to throw a good spin on the information. He gathered his things at the end of class and headed off toward the psychology room. He wasn't paying much attention to who was around him, so when someone grabbed him by the shoulder and slammed him into the wall, he was surprised.
"What?" he gasped as he looked up to find himself staring directly into the face of the guy that had caused a fuss at the Lotus Blossom.
"I thought it was you," he said with a wicked looking smile. "Couldn't mistake that pretty face, even without makeup."
"Let me go," Ed tried. "I don't know you."
"Oh yes you do, don't lie. The mask is a good cover, but your eyes give you away more than anything," he said. "I think you are the type that doesn't want people to know what you do at night, aren't you?"
Ed swallowed and shook his head. "What…what do you want?"
He could see the other two were with him too. The blond one smirked at him. "Jesse, what do we want?"
"I know what we want," the short one responded, moving to lean against the wall beside Ed. "Right, Damian?"
Jesse still had a hold of Ed's arm tightly. Again, he'd grabbed he flesh arm. It was just by chance he kept grabbing him by that side instead of his automail side. He squirmed against him and noticed the blond, Damian he guessed, was blocking his way beside this Jesse.
"Right, Gerald," Damian said as he crossed his arms over his chest. "We want you to be good and do what we say."
Jesse smirked, squeezing Ed's arm tightly. "Please," Ed begged, looking around and seeing no one else in the hallway right then. "Don't."
"Don't what?" Jesse asked as he leaned closer to his face. "You see, if you want us to keep your little secret, you're going to have to do something for us. I wonder how a whore that works at a brothel could pay us?"
Ed's eyes widened when he realized the implication of what he was saying. He shook his head. "N-no, I won't do that, that's not something I do…"
"Gerald, he says he doesn't do that kind of thing," Jesse said, turning to look at the short, beady eyed guy beside him.
Gerald reached a hand out and brushed it over Ed's automail arm. "Hey, something's weird about his arm," he said and grabbed him by the wrist.
"Stop!" Ed tried but he shoved his sleeve up nearly to his elbow, revealing the metallic limb.
"Oh, so he's got a fancy arm, now does he?" Jesse said with a smirk. "That's unusual. I didn't think there was a tech yet to so closely mimic a real arm. How far up does it go?"
Jesse pushed his sleeve up as far as it would go, and seeing that the limb continued up under his shirt, he grabbed Ed's collar and pulled it down until he could see where the metal met the flesh of his shoulder. Ed reached up and grabbed his hand with the automail one, using the extra strength it offered to pull his hand away.
"I see. But little Ed, wasn't that your name from the first day?" Jesse asked still with the smirk plastered to his face. "Yeah, that's your name. You have a problem. We know your secret. And we're going to make sure everyone finds out about your job."
"It's not illegal," Ed snapped, trying to get them to just leave the issue alone.
"No, no it's not. But it would be embarrassing to have everyone in school know that you were a whore on the side. Especially since you're a guy. There aren't a lot of those, you know. Far more acceptable to be a girl and a whore professionally. For a guy, well, that just means you are just a slut to start with." Jesse's closeness was getting to Ed. He wanted to just shove him away, but he also didn't want to get in trouble for hurting someone with his automail if he could avoid it. Winry would kill him if he did something to it that required fixing, too.
Ed was desperate for someone to show up, but no one seemed to be in he hallway right now. It was empty. "Look, I just want to be left alone," he tried as he pulled on his arm to get it out of Jesse's grip. He was going to have another bruise from him at this rate.
"You aren't gonna be left alone because you are going to have to give us something, so we keep your little secret," Jesse snarled at him, still too close to his face.
"What do you want?" Ed asked, truly afraid of what that answer was going to be.
Jesse's face morphed into a smile. "Services."
"What?" Ed asked, eyes wide.
"Your boss chased us out of your little workplace, and said if we ever come back, we'll be watched closely. I don't like that, so you're going to give me for free what I was there to buy since it's your fault we got kicked out," he said simply.
Ed clucked his tongue and shook his head. "I can't do that. We're not supposed to take clients outside the brothel!"
"We're not clients, though. You're giving us services for free. There's no exchange going on here at all. You give, we take. Just like we would with any regular whore that doesn't get paid to lay on their back." Jesse's smile was still plastered to his face.
Ed didn't know what to say. These guys were blackmailing him, and he didn't know how to handle it. Should he let them tell others, or did he need to do what they wanted? He swallowed convulsively for a second and closed his eyes tightly. What should he do?
"It shouldn't be that hard of a choice, Ed," Jesse said as the other two chuckled. "You're going to meet us at the back alley behind the school at three o'clock. And you're going to give us what we want or by tomorrow everyone is going to know what you are."
"What's going on here?" a voice finally in the hallway. Ed opened his eyes and stared over to see Mustang standing there.
"Oh, nothing, sir, just having a little chat with our new friend Ed, here," Jesse said as he stepped back, letting go of Ed's arm finally.
"Your chat looks less than friendly," Mustang commented, crossing his arms over his chest and glaring at the three of them.
"We were done, anyway," Jesse said and stuffed his hands into his pockets before he turned and headed down the hallway. Gerald and Damian smiled at Ed before they turned and walked away.
Ed just stood there against the wall for a moment until he felt someone touch his shoulder. He startled and gasped, looking into Mustang's face.
"Sorry!" he finally managed.
"It's okay. Were those guys bothering you about something?" Mustang asked, looking genuinely concerned.
"Ah, no, it's nothing, really," Ed managed and straightened back up. "Um, I have to go to my next class. See you later, sir," he said and escaped down the hallway toward his psychology class.
Mustang stood there staring after him for a few minutes. The way those boys were crowded around him, and the look on his face… He knew something had happened there. He didn't know how to deal with the strange emotions that were associated with that boy either. He turned and went back into his classroom to sit down. It was bad enough that he slept with a student, but now he found himself truly worried about him. His attempts to put distance between them had failed miserably.
