A note on a particular turn of phrase in this chapter: Wrath uses 'she' pronouns for Envy but still calls her his big brother, mostly because they both feel that that's the relationship they still share. It's one of those tricky bits of terminology that are really personal.

And yes there are like a billion autistic characters in this. Shush.

TW: Abuse, bullying/harassment, ableism (esp. anti-autism/anti-developmental-disability), slurs, generally upsetting

Simple

Wrath isn't obsessive-compulsive, or a freak, or a crazy, like the people at school call him. He just likes things certain ways. He doesn't like it when things feel strange or sound strange. He doesn't like it when people want him to do two things at once. Sometimes he gets scared or lost and he doesn't know what to do.

But he's not crazy. Or even if he is, he's not sure why everyone cares so much. Even when he sits in the back of the class, people go out of their way to make him stop rubbing his hands or biting his nails, or rubbing his feet against the floor. Even when he hides in the bathroom, somebody follows him in to shove him around or call him names. He tries to stay home, but Mother pushes him out of the house anyway. Sometimes she has to drag him through the door.

One day, he comes home crying. Except Mother and Father aren't home – it's Envy and some of her friends. Wrath immediately shrinks into the wall, trying to hide his sniffles.

Envy turns to her friends and murmurs something to them. They nod and move into the other room – one of them, tall and black-haired, gives Wrath a quick smile. Wrath looks away. He doesn't know how to act around people.

"What's wrong?" She kneels down in front of him. He holds out his computer bag, unable to speak.

Envy gives it a look, and then glances up at Wrath's tearstained face as he takes the bag and opens it, pulling out the twisted remains of his computer. "Oh no…" Envy swallows. Wrath can't look her in the face, so he focuses on her throat, on the veins pulsing in it.

Envy puts it down and starts to sign. Was it an accident?

Wrath shakes his head and spells out a name. E-L-Y-S-I-A.

Why?

I don't know. Wrath tries to wipe his eyes, but he can't stop crying. He takes a deep breath and signs again. Maybe accident? Maybe not. Mother will be mad.

Envy sighs, and picks up the remnants of the computer again. The screen is shattered, and twisted halfway off of the keyboard. She tucks it under her arm. Maybe fix? Friends can help.

Your friends? Wrath gestures over to the other room. Envy nods, grinning.

Nice, I promise. Not know sign though.

Okay. I can try talk. If not, translate?

Envy nods, and stands up. "They're called Ed, Ling and Russell."

"Are they…" Wrath struggles with the words. He loves Envy to pieces, but he has a hard time with the terminology she's been teaching him sometimes. "Like you?" he finally says.

"Hm? How?"

"Um. Are they boys or girls?" He's speaking too quietly, he knows that. His throat hurts. He's worried he's going to hurt Envy.

"Oh, I see! Um, Ed's a boy. Ling is a Ling. But you can use boy words. And Russell's a boy."

"Okay," Wrath says quietly, and follows Envy into the other room, although he hangs behind while Envy explains the situation – or at least part of it to the two other teenagers. He studies them from a distance, curious about the new people in his big brother's life.

The blond is Ed, apparently. He's short, slim, with broad shoulders, blond hair in a long braid, gold eyes, tanned skin. There's something under his shirt that bunches up around his ribcage in strange ways. Combat boots, black skinny jeans. He moves like somebody in pain – Wrath understands what that's like, although he's not sure if he'll find bruises under all that clothing.

Envy gives him the computer, and Ed makes a horrified face at it. "Good god. Did someone step on this?"

"Yes," responds Wrath quietly, without thinking.

Ed looks up, startled. "Oh jeez. That can't have been good. Um, not sure what I can do. I'm not good with the physical part of things."

The black-haired one, the one who smiled at him, laughs at that. He's draped over the couch in a way Wrath knows Mother would hate, but it's oddly reminiscent of Greed as well. Still, he looks friendly enough. Wrath supposes this is Ling. He is tall, lanky. Fluffy blue scarf over a black turtleneck, another pair of skinny jeans but these ones have flowers embroidered on the sides. Wrath thinks they look pretty, but they must itch on the inside. "Use duct tape?" he suggests. Wrath's not sure if he's joking.

Ed shrugs. "Could work. Damn thing won't start though."

"But the screen's broken," says the third one with a frown. He's another blond, short hair, in a white button-up shirt.

"It'll still start, just won't show anything." Ed smacks the side of the computer with a scowl, and then he grins. "There we go! It was the cold, I think. Computers go to shit in the winter." He glances at Wrath and cringes. "Sorry. Uh, pretend you didn't hear that."

Wrath sniggers. There's a lot of people in the room, but he likes them. They're not as overbearing as some, and while he can feel the anxiety going up and down his spine, there isn't the same nervous energy as he gets when he's at school or around the rest of his family. "Okay." He wishes he could say more, but it's almost more than he can manage to speak at all. He wishes he could sign to them, but they might not be so nice then.

"Okay, looks like the screen's cracked, not completely broken. Look, it's still showing up." Ed shows it to Envy, who shrugs. "Take it to a proper repair place and they can probably patch that up. Duct tape should take care of the hinge – it's pretty broken, but as long as you don't force it to support too much weight it should be all right."

Wrath stares at his feet, suddenly overwhelmed. He thought he'd have to go the rest of the year without a computer, but he's going to get to keep it –

Want to talk to you, he suddenly signs to Envy. Envy nods, and waves her hands at the other three.

Outside, Envy looks worried. Okay?

Am I simple?

Who told you that?! Envy's signs are angry, and Wrath can see the hurt on her face. Hurt for his sake.

E-L-Y. Stepped on it when I left it on floor, called me lots of names when I told her to be more careful.

What kinds of names?

Wrath hesitates. He doesn't want to start crying again. Moron. Simple. "What kind of idiot leaves computer in aisle." Said I was packing. He pauses, and then continues with a little smile. Then said she was idiot for wearing miniskirt in January. She left.

Envy laughs at that one, worried face cracking into a smile. "Good for you," she says, but the smile doesn't last long. You go lie down, do homework, whatever. I and Ed fix together. I take to repair place. Mother never knows.

Thank you.

Don't worry. Envy gives Wrath's hand a squeeze, and then heads back into the room.

Wrath goes the other way, closing the door of his own room behind him. It's been a stressful day. He finds his MP3, he finds his blankets, he finds his book (rubbing the pages between his fingers – they're soft from years of reading) and finds his spot on the floor, and for a while it's like he's alone in the world.