By the time Edward made his way back into his room, it was dark. Envy was waiting for him on the couch—he would just grab a quick change of clothes and—

"Brother."

Ed could not suppress a shiver, having never heard Alphonse speak with so much disapproval. He hadn't forgotten about his brother, necessarily, he had just been…distracted. Honestly, Edward had been hoping Al would have fallen asleep.

He turned, trying to be casual. "Hey, Al."

Alphonse simply stared at him. Ed dared not to say anything, and finally Al spoke. "Explain?"

"Explain what?" he asked cautiously. He didn't know how much Alphonse knew, and really didn't want to give up anything he didn't have to. Looking back on it, Edward should have thought about this before he decided to do all that with Envy…and on the couch no less.

"Brother!" Al hissed. "You know what I'm talking about! I wanted you to make up with Envy, not make out with him!"

Edward blushed at Alphonse's bluntness, hoping against hope his brother didn't realize exactly what their "making out" entailed. Immediately he was on the defensive. "Hey, you're the one who was so eager to have him here, and invite him to dinner at the beginning of your little project, and you wanted me to be nicer to him. Now we're getting alone fine."

"There's a difference between being nice to someone and sucking their—"

Ed slapped a hand over his brother's mouth. "Fucking hell, Al, were you watching?"

Alphonse wrestled his face free, his voice a monotone as he responded. "You guys are really loud."

Edward took a deep breath to calm himself. "Okay, well, I'll admit we got a bit carried away, me in particular. But I'm really do like him, Al! A lot…" he trailed off.

"Brother, it's dangerous."

"Oh, right, like you have any reason to talk!" Ed's voice rose. "I told you he was dangerous first thing, and you didn't listen. Now that he's better, suddenly he's a threat in your eyes!"

"I meant being in a relationship with him," Al said, infuriatingly calm. "He is improving, but that doesn't mean you need to get that involved with him."

"Look, if I like Envy, I'm going to be with him. You can't tell me I'm not allowed, I'm older than you."

"Age isn't everything, evidently I'm way smarter—" Alphonse was interrupted by the window just beside him shattering, a heavy rock thumping to the floor.

The brothers ceased their argument, and looked outside. Standing in their yard was a small group of people; Edward counted seven, six standing behind the last one. With a jolt, Ed recognized Greed. At the same time, Al gasped, "That's Wrath! The one who cut me! These…"

"They're all Envy's siblings," Edward whispered, voice hard. "And I'll bet the one in front is his father."

Without another word, Ed rushed out of his room, heading for the front door.

"Brother, no! You can't go take them all on—"

"I'm not interested in all of them, I'm just going to go pound the shit out of that dickwad who dares to call himself a father."

"Am I missing something?" Al asked, following Ed onto the porch.

He never got a response, though. Edward was struck into silence by the scene before him: Envy's father, backed up by his six other children, and Envy…

Envy standing in front of them all, staring his father down.

"W-what are you doing, Envy!?" he finally choked out, running down to the green haired boy's side, despite Al's efforts to stop him (and his mutters of "I told you he was dangerous, you're going to get yourself killed for him").

Envy didn't address him, instead speaking to his father. "What're you doing here, shit face?"

His father sneered, but thankfully didn't move towards Envy. "Who the hell told you you were allowed to just fucking leave? Those two?" he pointed to Ed and Al. "I had Wrath here take care of the one. He's a good son. You should get your sorry ass back home before I decide to do anything else."

Envy stood tall, shoulders back. Edward saw the most shocking difference in the green haired boy; before, he had always acted sure of himself, but what Ed saw now was real confidence. "No," he said simply.

"You little fucker! You don't tell me no!" the man roared, lunging towards Envy, who ducked to avoid a blow.

"Yes," he responded, violent eyes gem-like, hard and gleaming, "I do. You're a sick bastard, and I'm fucking done with your shit." This time, he wasn't so lucky and was hit in the side. Envy doubled over, gasping, and Edward moved to defend him.

But as soon as Envy had his breath back, he was talking again. "You taught me nothing but pain and envy. With you I was nothing, but I know better now. I'm know what happiness is, and I'm not about to give it up for a jackass like you."

Again, his father moved towards him, and Envy dodged, kicking him in the crotch. While the man was down, he finished his speech. "Al has helped me a lot, and he's a good friend, and Ed gave me hope and I like him. I've never gotten to feel something like that before, and I'm not turning back from it."

"I'll kill them," his father wheezed, "I'll kill them and make you watch!"

Envy held up an object, which Edward recognized as his cell phone. "Three numbers. I punch in three numbers and the police are here in minutes. You might have us dead by then, but you'll get caught, because I'll tell them who you are. I'll have enough time to do that just on the phone. But I'll make you a deal: if you leave now, and never come back—or send anyone back here—to hurt me, or Al, or Ed…I won't call the police. I won't tell anyone what you've done. You can keep at your shitty little life. Your choice."

Ed prepared himself to fight, sure that Envy's father would never agree to this. Surely a man who was capable of what he had done wouldn't care about the threat of the police…but the man was backing down. He was walking backwards to the road, his children following suit. The man's eyes were full of hate, but Envy didn't back down.

And just like that, they were gone.

"Unbelievable," Edward breathed.

"Why did he leave?" Al asked.

Envy laughed. "He was arrested once—just once. He escaped, but he met a man, Roy Mustang. I swear, this Mustang has it out for that bastard, and I hear he's more than happy to get into the shady side of the law to take down someone he has a grudge against. I think Mustang's the only person my asshole of a father is actually afraid of."

Edward couldn't help himself; he hugged Envy, relieved that everyone was safe. Alphonse coughed behind them.

Turning around, Ed glared at his little brother. "Don't start that again, Al. I told you, this is my decision, and I want to stay with Envy."

"I know," Alphonse sighed. "And considering he just chased all those people off, I can't really say he's dangerous right now—"

"Oh, I'm still dangerous," Envy interjected.

"—so I won't argue. Just, Brother?"

"Yeah?"

"No more on the couch. Please."

Edward blushed to the roots of his blonde hair, while Envy snickered, apparently unabashed. "Yeah, yeah, okay," Ed muttered, wanting to stay away from the subject.

Envy looked about, a wide grin on his face. "Well, I guess this is happily ever after, motherfuckers!"

Al and Ed looked at each other, smiling at Envy's wording. "Happily ever after."