Chapter 7

It wasn't long before Ed made his presence known in the Gryffindor common room, he had been invited there by several students and he liked the social interactions. Envy followed out of curiosity, however he usually didn't let anyone know he was there disguising himself as an odd student or an animal, tonight he was actually there as himself. He was sitting on a windowsill gazing at all of the human children in wonder. But he was more focused on a blond who was sitting and chatting with some of the other students.

Envy watched intently as Ed interacted with them, he was very well liked and he learned very fast, Hermione was attached to Ed like a parasite and Envy didn't want to think how jealous that made him and he had no reason to be jealous, it's not like he was friends with Ed or anything. They barely talked anymore, well Ed would talk and Envy would just grunt in response while they sparred. Ed had worried at first but when Envy wouldn't humor him and talk about it he stopped, Envy almost wished he would care.

But then that would be counterproductive wouldn't it? The whole point of Envy acting distant was so it would remain that way between the two of them, he didn't want Ed to notice that he was acting differently towards him; he didn't want Ed to think anything about him. Well that wasn't entirely true, if Envy had his way Ed would think about him and only him, but that was foolish, why would Envy want that? It was Edward Elric for the gate's sake, Ed was a sacrifice, he wasn't meant to live past the end of Father's plan.

He had to remind himself of that many times, and each time he was even more confused as to why.

Envy sighed and he leaned his head back, his eyes still on Ed who was laughing and enjoying his time spent with kids his own age, he seemed to really get along with two red headed twins, and at the moment they seemed to be conspiring something. Envy hoped it didn't involve anything falling on his head, he might have to hurt someone if that happened again.

Envy had no idea why he was so interested in Ed, in all rights he shouldn't be, he should still hate him, but now he really couldn't bring himself up to work up the animosity.

"So is Ed all you think about?" A voice said next to him and he jumped, Hermione was next to him now, smiling slyly, much more so than an eleven year old should.

"I do not think about him at all," Envy replied curtly, hoping she would go away, but she sat down next to him despite his glare.

"Mhmm," she said smiling, and he snorted at her. "That's odd because you look at him all the time, what are you thinking about if not him?" she asked and Envy narrowed his eyes at her.

"I don't think that's really any of your business," he said coolly, it was taking a lot more than usual to hold back his temper these days.

"No it's not but I can tell that you're thinking about him...do you like him?" she asked slyly and Envy stared at her trying to decide if she was being facetious then snorted.

"As if, I can't 'like' anyone, it's not possible," he said scoffing and Hermione looked confused.

"Yes you can, all you have to do is let yourself feel," she said and then was called over by Ron for some homework help. Envy watched her with glazed eyes. How he felt, huh? It would help if he could feel more than just anger and glee and jealousy. But then there was that tickle of something else that felt like compassion and kindness when he thought about Ed, but no it was just his imagination running away with him again.

"I can't feel," he scoffed, but he wasn't entirely sure if he believed it. Not anymore anyway.

Envy was so absorbed in his thoughts these days, Ed was almost beginning to worry, Envy would stare at things for hours, unmoving and only when something was thrown at his head did he react to things, and even then he would usually only glare, give a scathing retort and then continue with whatever he'd been doing previously.

But still he had to wonder, was this who Envy really was? Was he really someone who thought about things? He'd always seemed really impulsive to Ed before now. He was distant these days, they'd used to banter and call each other names while they sparred. And Envy would usually drag Ed out on the grounds and attack him mercilessly into the ground, but now Ed had to egg him into it. It was so strange, maybe...maybe he was scared of getting too close?

Ed's eyes widened, was that it? Had Envy ever really been close to anyone before? Was he worried he would mess it up? Or maybe he thought he didn't deserve a friend? Ed thought hard about that, was that true did he really not deserve friendship?

No, everyone deserved to have a friend, crazed inhumane psychopath or not, friendship was something that had to be.

"Envy?" Ed asked, the figure hunched in the window looked up, his eyes flashing through several colors before finally settling on a mimic of Ed's own.

"What?" he returned softly, like he didn't want to disrupt anything.

"I was wondering...you...have a family right?" he asked, and Envy blinked.

"Yeah...why?" he asked, his voice still quiet, calm even, something Ed was somewhat unused to, it was almost soothing.

"I was just wondering, you seem kind of...lonely," he said shrugging, Envy's eyes widened just slightly.

"Why would you say that?" he asked, sounding surprised.

"Just how you've been acting, you seem lonely," he said and then sat up straight, "I know how you feel," he said not giving the sin a chance to reply. "It's been weeks- months since I've talked to Al, I wonder about him, I hope he's not too worried..." he mumbled.

Envy stared at him in confusion before he finally spoke, "You and your brother are always together it seems, it would be strange for you to be separated for so long," he replied and Ed nodded and seemed to be waiting for more, Envy sighed. "I don't see my family too often so it's not a big deal for me," he said.

"Do you wanna talk about it?" Ed asked and coughed when Envy just raised a single brow at him, "Right." he said and then went back to his book.

Envy stared at him for a moment before looking back out of the window. Talk? What an odd thing to offer, when he was upset, he usually killed something, but he couldn't do that here...there was a village nearby though maybe he should pay them a visit, not probably couldn't do that either...so people were off limits, which was no fun, they were the most entertaining. There were some animals in the forest, maybe he'd go find them, yeah that sounded good. But still he was so bored!

Envy was sitting in the sill when they came in, he remained perfectly still, they didn't notice. They were too absorbed, wrapped in each others arms. Their mouths connected, it seemed like they were trapped in an intricate dance, they stumbled through the door and collapsed on the couch. They were making noises, like they were caught up in rapture. They were pulling at each others clothes and when they were finally naked, they connected and there was even more noise, moans that almost sounded like misery, but had an edge that was the complete opposite.

It was strange how they moved, and moaned and connected, Envy had never seen it before, never even heard of it.

It seemed the end came too soon for them, they called out loudly then lay with each other. Whispering and giggling, then they got up quickly dressed and then fled the scene. Leaving behind a strange scent, Envy's nose wrinkled.

Humans were so strange...he would have to look into this.

"Edward." Envy looked at the blond who hummed but didn't look up from his book, he sighed then tossed a pillow at him. Hard.

"ACK!" Ed pulled the pillow from his face and frowned at Envy, "What?" he grumbled.

"What is it when humans touch each other and do...strange things with their clothes off?" he asked, Ed's eyes went the size of dinner plates. The one time Envy starts the conversation and it's about that?!

"Wh-what?" he squeaked, his face was bright red, "Envy...what are you...do you mean...s-sex?" he whispered, Envy's head cocked to the side.

"Sex? Is that what they did?" he asked sounding curious, "There were two people who came in and did stuff on that couch," he pointed to the one adjacent to the chair Ed was in. The blond scrambled as far away from it as he could.

"You're telling me that two teenagers were in here? Hot and horny?" he squeaked, "Oh...Ew!" he flailed.

"Ed?" Envy asked, blinking, "Wait was it a bad thing? It looked like they liked it." he frowned, "I'm not really sure..." he mumbled.

"Wait! Were you in here when they-?" he gulped and Envy nodded.

"They didn't notice me." he shrugged, "I watched, it was so strange..." he muttered.

"Voyeur..." Ed mumbled.

"What?" Envy blinked, "Was that bad?" he asked.

"Well...um...okay, how do I explain this?" he bit his lip, "Humans...well when we have s-sex it's usually for..two reasons, to have a baby or to show someone we love them." he explained, Envy nodded slowly.

"So...it's natural?" he asked and Ed nodded, Envy frowned and seemed to be thinking hard, "What's it like?" he asked, "They seemed really happy."

"Ah...well..I don't exactly...know. I've...never..." he blushed, Envy hummed.

"Oh..." he thought again, "Can we try?" he asked and Ed's eyes nearly exploded they were so wide.

"What?! Are you-? WHAT?" he squeaked, "I-! I've never, I don't!" he was panicking now.

"That's okay, I was watching them, I think I know what to do," Envy said, taking Ed's panic for something other than what it was. Ed gulped.

"Envy...I don't...think... We just...don't know each other well enough for that," he said trying to calm himself.

"Oh." he frowned again, "I see...so we just have to get to know each other then?" Ed sighed.

"Well...no, I mean...we don't love each other so...it would be hard for us," he said carefully, Envy seemed to think about this hard and was silent for a long time.

"So...I'll never be able to," he concluded and Ed frowned, "Homunculi can't really love," he said and then turned back out the window.

Ed stared at the back of his head, he didn't believe that. From what he'd learned Homunculi were pretty close to human, so he should be able to love, he wondered why Envy said that.

"Who told you that?" he finally asked, Envy glanced back at Ed then went back to the window.

"My Father, he said we can't reproduce like humans, and you said they do it to make babies, so by that logic we can't love either," he said and Ed's eyebrows furrowed, that didn't seem right.

"He lied, you can love, of course you can, if you feel and I know you do, you can love." he said firmly.

"Prove it," Envy said sounding highly skeptical. Ed blinked, well crap how was he going to do that?

"I will, I'll find you a friend." he finally declared, and then tried not to make a face, how the hell was he going to do that? Envy was not the friendly type, oh well, he would get there

"Sure," Envy said mockingly, "Well, I'll be here," he said and then rolled his eyes.

Ed clenched his fists, he was going to prove to Envy he could love, he was determined to, because even he deserved that.

Ed had already tried several times, but Envy was hard to crack, people were nice, or mean, dirty or clean, smart or stupid and Envy had scared all away. So instead he'd thought he might as well try to get to know the real Envy, kind of like interview him and see who he'd get along best with. It was not exactly Ed's cup of tea, but he refused to give up. It was hard that was sure, but Ed was not a quitter. Envy was being as stubborn as Ed could be at times, maybe moreso.

"Envy I can't try to get to know you if you only grunt like a caveman!" Ed threw his hands up in exasperation after a week of failed attempts at neutral conversation, Ed knew he had to start small.

"What's a caveman?" Envy asked. Ed flapped his hand dismissively.

"I dunno, I read it in one of the books, but come on, at least try...there's nothing like a self-fulfilling prophecy." he said.

"A what?" Envy asked sounding bored, Ed shook his head.

"Can't you just talk to me? I mean I know we can, we have before, and you haven't even tried to kill me in weeks, that's progress," he said and Envy hummed.

"You're right, how negligent of me." he said and then grabbed the back of Ed's jacket and dragged him out of the castle and onto the grounds which were getting colder by the day.

"Aaah! Not what I meant!" he flailed and then yelled when Envy threw him to the ground.

"Come on pipsqueak, I'm not going to hold back," he said and Ed grunted as he stood and then sighed, well he was feeling a bit out of shape.

"Fine." and then they lunged for each other, it honestly didn't last too long, Ed cut and jabbed and dodged but it was all he could do to remain standing, Envy was merciless and threw everything he could at him, he even went so far as to transforming into Mustang.

Ed was tiring quickly in the cold and ended up on his back with Envy pinning him down and looking down at him looking a bit disappointed.

"That all pipsqueak?" he asked and Ed's eyes narrowed and he growled then he used all of his strength to turn the tables, he pinned Envy to the ground and then smashed his lips to Envy's the homunculus froze in shock. Ed didn't do anything else, it was a light kiss nothing more, but it was enough.

Ed sat back and smirked, "Score one for the Alchemist," he said and Envy just blinked but finally made a face and then pushed Ed off.

"Yeah, sure." he said and then stalked off, Ed sat on the cold ground and wondered if that had been the right thing to do.

Apparently, it had. Envy would talk with him now, but not too much, he would pointedly change subjects if he felt they got too close to home, literally, anything concerning his family or what it was they were doing was ignored and refuted. But other than that, they talked a lot, about anything really. As it turned out, Envy knew a lot of history, probably because he'd lived through it, but that was a minor detail. He also seemed to like mechanical things, his interest in automail made Ed think he'd get along with Winry. He would say "Something good actually coming out of humans and their desperate thirst for creation," Ed never really knew why he said that, but hey they were talking, what did he care?

Envy also knew several languages, Xingese, Drachmanian, Cretian, and Aerugan, he had to for his 'line of work', he said. And Ed understood that, he could turn into anyone, how lame would it be if he gave away his disguise just because he couldn't speak the right language?

They also talked about people, philosophy and even books. "Gotta do something in between jobs," Envy replied to the look of amazement Ed gave him, it was strange and there were things that they both never talked about but, it was something, and it was good. Ed was sure that Envy could probably get along with people if only he let them. He was closed off and that made it a bit hard.

Ed had more or less given up trying to get Envy to talk to other people, it just seemed like a lost cause. Ed didn't mind Envy really, he wasn't so bad when he wasn't trying to kill him, he was witty and full of knowledge and he liked to argue with Ed, they could talk about almost anything, almost.

Ed sighed and looked at the homunculus, he hadn't said anything about the kiss, so neither had Ed, maybe he didn't know what it was? But...he'd seen those kids having- being gross, on the couch...so maybe he did.

Ed grumbled something incoherent under his breath, maybe he needed to try more? But what else could he do? Not that he wanted to kiss him again! That had been a fluke of course only a spur of the moment thing. He had no intention of doing so again, ever.

His eyes swung over to Envy, or more specifically Envy's lips, they weren't really that attractive, thin and pale pink, nothing extraordinary, but Envy had an odd taste to him. He'd only gotten a grain of it before, it hadn't been bad, it was...electric. Ed was somewhat curious as to see if that was really how Envy tasted.

Suddenly he blushed, what the hell was he thinking? Tasting Envy? How stupid! Aaah, what was he doing? What was he going to do?

Envy was his friend! Nothing more! He stopped for a moment, Envy...had become his friend, he'd actually succeeded in what he'd intended to do, it hadn't exactly been what he'd wanted, but there was friendship. But he was thinking of non friendship stuff, that wasn't right! Now...what the hell was he going to do?

He honestly had no idea.