This chapter is really short, BUT...I didn't want to leave you guys hanging. In a few hours I'll be leaving for Tokyo and I'll be gone for two weeks, so the next chapter won't be up any time soon, but I just wanted to let you know I AM NOT DEAD!!!
One day Edward looked up from his musing over an ancient book to find Tar-tar staring at him, tail twitching in slight annoyance. Alphonse had left to get the kitten some gourmet cat food, remarking airily that "Tar-tar deserves the best" when Edward had raised his eyebrows skeptically. It occurred to Edward that Tar-tar looked very different from the last time he had actually paid attention to the cat...lost awkwardly between the stocky stunt of kittendom and the sleek grace that came to cats with age.
"Envy, I think the cat's grown."
"That is generally what they do," Envy answered flatly, playing with the magic trick rings Edward had bought to keep him busy.
"Ugh, you're impossible. I just meant...I mean, wasn't he just a baby?" he turned to look at Envy, who only hummed an uninterested reply. Sighing, Edward turned back to look past he cat, lost in his thoughts.
So the kitten had grown. That meant he, Edward, had grown as well. Even if it didn't show, he was constantly growing. It's just what happened. Cells replicated, pulled apart, added mass and weight and numbers...
And yet, his little brother stayed the same. A body that doesn't exist can't grow. It was almost like the whole world, Edward included, was moving past Alphonse. Ed's heart fell heavily. The thought made him beyond depressed. He glanced at Envy. Was the Homunculus stuck still in time as well? Did he grow as time wore on, only to reshape himself into his preferred form? Or was he like Alphonse, where his mind, memories, even feelings grew, but his physical being remained untouched and inhuman? Both, monsters who suffered so horribly due to another person's mistake?
"O'Chibi," Envy's voice sounded from far away, bringing Edward back from his reverie. The Homunculus was only inches away from him, a bewildered look on his face, "O'Chibi, you're crying."
"Am not!" Edward barked defensively before bringing his left hand to his eyes. When he felt the tears hot against the side of his palm, he was stunned.
Envy cocked his head to the side. He didn't snort or raise an eyebrow, as Edward expected, nor did he look worried or shocked...it was plain curiosity, the same type of curiosity that got Envy into so much trouble, over and over again.
"Chibi..." Envy murmured, leaning forward to lick the salty tears off Edward's cheeks, "don't cry, your Envy's here..."
"I know," Ed half-laughed, half-shuddered, closing his eyes as Envy licked at the lids like a kitten. Envy crawled into the alchemist's lap and strung his thin arms about Ed's neck, lapping at his flesh and mewling in contentment.
Ed's hands traced the ridges of Envy's spine, spread across the sinewy muscles of his sides and grasped at the sharp hipbones underneath the black skirt. They were kissing now, hot and heavy and deep, and Edward thought he was going to cry again, though he didn't know why. He was sure Envy sensed it, because the arms wound tighter around him and the kisses became more needy and reassuring. But still the tears came and covered both their faces in hot glaze.
"Why do you cry, O'Chibi?" Envy murmured against Edward's lips, his hands snaking into Ed's unbraided hair.
"I don't know, Envy," Edward whispered back, feeling the desperate need for Envy to hold him tighter, "Just...please..."
Envy seemed to understand, and his grip on Edward became almost fierce with possession and the kisses traveled down to Ed's neck, to his chest, to his stomach...And before Edward knew it, he was on his back with Envy placing hot kisses onto his lengthening erection, each lick and peck taking away whatever pain Ed had been feeling.
"Aaah...Envy..." Edward groaned, tangling his hands into Envy's hair, grasping and pulling at the long strands, "Yes..."
Envy placed his hands neatly on Edward's bare hips, relishing the noises that the alchemist made and the thrashing of the powerful body beneath him. Slyly, he moved from between Ed's legs back to his lips, kissing him deeply before the alchemist could groan out his protest.
Alphonse came in on a very interesting scene. His brother, sans trousers or boxers, and Envy, on the floor. Envy on all fours over Ed, kissing him deeply, his rear end high up in the air. His skirt was much too short to hide anything, and his shorts too tight to leave anything to the imagination. Alphonse gasped soundlessly and ran back into the hallway, shutting the door behind him.
Sometimes this relationship was hard on him.
The evening found Edward and Envy content in bed, protected from the chill by snuggling deep into the covers. Edward was sound asleep, curled up against a pillow, and Envy was trying his best to get to sleep as well. He wondered how Ed could sleep so deeply...probably because he read so many books.
Too many books, Envy thought. What was so great about books anyway? They kinda smelled, in his very professional opinion.
He sighed and glanced over Edward's head toward the window. The night was dark blue outside and drops of rain gathered on the dirty panes of glass...but below the window, he caught a glint of red.
The window was propped open, ever so slightly, and on the stained sill beneath rested a handful of Red Stones. Envy's eyes widened and he felt his stomach go cold. It couldn't be possible, but there they were. The color of blood and shining in the muted lamplight from the street outside. The light almost danced within them, drawing him in, beckoning him to taste them, and with them, he would be complete once again.
Before he knew it, he was scrambling to the window, he held the precious gems in his hands, felt their smooth surfaces pulsing with the heat and life that would soon be pulsing within him...
He was suddenly and violently jerked backwards, and the Stones flew from his hands and clattered to the floor in all different directions.
"No!" he shrieked and squirmed out of the iron grip, turning around with wild eyes to face Edward, whose skin was pale in the darkness.
"Envy, you can't have those!" Edward reached out to grab Envy's wrist, pulling him further away from the shining gemstones.
"Why not!?" Envy snarled back, his wrist shaking in Edward's hand, "I'm not a dog, and you can't tell me what I can and can't have!" he lunged toward the floor at the Stones, pulling Edward down with him, and with his hands desperately scrabbled to pick them up. Even just touching them made him feel stronger than he had lately, able to transform and heal and fight like he rightfully should.
"Envy!" Edward screamed, locking his arms behind Envy's and wrestling him backwards, away from the stones. He managed to flip the Homunculus over on his back and pin him down, "Envy, please stop!!"
"Why?!" Envy growled again, struggling, "you want me to be weak?! You want me to suffer?!"
"No, Envy! But I saw what those things did to Wrath, they can change you! I don't want you to..."
"To what?!"
"To stop loving me!!"
They stared at each other for a moment, each shocked with the words Edward had spoken. He sat up on Envy's waist once the Sin had stopped struggling, and still gazed down at him, his face red. Envy's mouth twisted into a bizarre hybrid between a sneer and a pout, and all the while his cheeks were tinged with an unmistakable pink.
"I never told you I loved you."
"Yeah...I...I know...I just..."
"Do you love me?"
"What?"
"It's not that difficult of a question, Chib! Do you love me?"
Edward threw his head to the side, blushing intensely.
"...could be. Do you love me?" he muttered almost soundlessly. Envy watched Edward, and felt his heart swell again with those damn human emotions he once swore he didn't have.
"...could be."
Edward looked at Envy, then back at the Red Stones blinking threateningly in the dim light, and finally, back at Envy, with desperation in his eyes and his voice.
"Envy, I love you. I love you so much. And I don't want those things to change you...please, Envy..." he leaned forward as if he could press his whole being into Envy, be absorbed into him, "please..."
Slowly, Envy wrapped his arms around Edward and held him as close as he could.
He was loved. He was finally, FINALLY loved. Dante couldn't give that too him, nor could any of the other Sins, nor could any stupid crimson rocks.
"I love you too, O'Chibi..." he brushed back Edward's flaxen bangs and kissed the alchemist's full lips, and felt that Edward was crying again, the tears falling hot on Envy's flesh. He kissed more passionately and felt the tears prickle at his own eyes, but he would not cry. He was Envy and he didn't cry. That was for humans.
He would, however, hold Edward and kiss him desperately, to remind the boy how much he needed to be loved, to feel like he was part of something. He wanted to be involved in Edward's life, because he loved him and it WAS a life...something so much more than whatever shallow half-existence he'd been trudging through the past 500 or so years.
They held each other, and they loved each other, but they couldn't rest easy because they both knew, from experience, whatever happiness either of them had would inevitably be taken away.