Although Envy said the house had stood empty for some time, the dust of many years had been cleared away before Kimblee's arrival. The lace-edged curtains and thick, plushy carpets were faded now, and the silk upholstery was moth-eaten in places. Yet it nonetheless retained an air of dignified grandeur. He admired it in all its freshly cleaned and polished glory; even the silence seemed reverent of itself.

The house also retained it's original furniture, which was lucky as there were so much house to furnish. It wasn't the largest structure in that area; even so, it had more rooms than he could imagine what to do with, let alone fill. More rooms than all the places in which he had ever lived put together.

He didn't realize the full effect it had on him until he caught a glimpse of his own face in the entry-hall mirror. Envy found him there, staring at his own image as though he'd never seen it before.

"You alright?"

"Did I ever tell you I was born and raised in a single room?" He said, not taking his eyes off the mirror. "Me, my mother, and grandparents with everything we owned – which, granted, wasn't much. We shared a single spigot of running water with all the other tenants on our floor. But we were better off than some, because we had a stove that more or less worked."

"You having an attack of morality?" Envy said, looking at him with concern.

"Morality?" He spoke the word as though it was as unfamiliar to him as the house. "No. Disorientation. My mind can't keep up with how I got here from there."

He closed his eyes briefly, and when he opened them again Envy's face was reflected behind his own in the mirror.

"I know the feeling." Envy wrapped its arms around him from behind, chin resting on his shoulder. "Sort of how I felt on our first date. Unless you mean to tell me you don't like it."

"No. I've told you I'm an admirer of elegance and luxury. And yet I still feel out of place here. Won't people find it odd – what does a bachelor like me need with all this space?"

Envy shrugged. "Maybe you want like ten kids and a nanny for each of 'em, I dunno. Since when do you care what people think?"

He glanced around at the house he struggled to imagine as his. "Since I started living in a museum. Who lived here before, anyway?"

"I did."

His eyes found Envy's in the mirror, surprised.

"Not as myself, obviously." Envy amended. "You may have heard of the man who lived here, challenger for the seat of Führer-President fifteen years ago."

"Sort of rings a bell…Henry Valstar…?"

"Henrich Valsapart. Before your time."

"I remember something of a scandal." His brow furrowed as he tried to recall the details. "Valsapart was quite popular, until he…was…discovered to be accepting bribes from less-than-reputable parties, and possessing a large amount of child pornography. The scandal was the end of his political career, and eventually his life." He snorted. "At exactly what point did you step in?"

"All the scandal was me. He was actually a pretty square guy – one of the few I've seen in politics." Envy toyed with a button on Kimblee's shirt, seeming almost wistful, then brightened and went on, "You know, that was the first job Doctor Marcoh did for us, constructing the fake cadaver - I mean, Valsapart had been dead over a year at that point, there wasn't much left of his original body to use. But Marcoh wasn't as good back in those days; we had to wait for the fake to decompose just a bit, to make sure no one realized it was fake."

"I remember the headlines now. 'Found Dead in House; Suicide by Hanging'." He glanced at Envy. "The rear bathroom, with the beams in the ceiling?"

Envy grimaced. "The corpse-y smell goes away if you leave the window open a crack."

"I feel more at home here already."

.

It wasn't until they were eating dinner (a rather eclectic meal of rice, marinara sauce, canned green beans and mini-sausages – they were still in the process of moving and organizing the kitchen stuff), that he thought to ask,

"Did you like living here?"

Envy shrugged. "When you're on a stage, do you care about the backdrop?"

"Only to the extent that it affects the performance I suppose."

"Pretty much. The place is comfortable, but I was never comfortable in it. Even the most decadent human life becomes…claustrophobic, after long enough. They're all equally constricting. But you know that."

"Too well."

"It will change soon. That's what I tell myself; the only thing that makes it bearable."

"It helps. I can think of a few other things that do as well."

Their eyes met. Envy smiled and then slowly turned away, beckoning over his shoulder with one finger. "So come help me christen the bedroom. We'll both feel perfectly at ease here soon enough."

.

Envy sometimes slept, with him, but not that night. After Kimblee's breath had long since grown quiet and even, Envy carefully slipped from his arms. Clothes reappeared on Envy's body as he made his way towards the bedroom door, footsteps noiseless.

"Sneaking out on me?"

Envy froze, one hand reaching out for the doorknob. "I usually don't stay all night…"

"Yes." Kimblee turned over in bed, facing Envy, propping himself up on one elbow. "But you don't usually sneak out. Am I not invited on this date?"

Envy winced. "It's not a date." His eyes were averted. "It's…I've been thinking, is all. There's still a thing or two I want to discus with Greed. Involving another family member." Envy grimaced. "It's not gonna be romantic, I promise you that."

"So why are you tiptoeing around?"

"I dunno. It just…feels like I should I guess." Envy looked at him for the first time. "All my jealousy aside, don't you feel any at all? Its okay if you don't, I promise I won't get mad. But I would be going insane if you were going out to see him, no matter what it concerned or what you promised. It would always seem like something to be secretive about."

He stretched out one hand. "Come here."

Envy had an unpleasant flashback to many nightmares. And, just as in all the dreams, Envy came when called, hesitant, as though approaching a displeased Father. Once in bed, he pulled Envy closer, wrapping a white sheet around them both. Envy melted against him, his warmth. So lovely...

"If I'm jealous of anything between you and him," Kimblee whispered softly against Envy's ear, "it's not what happens in bed. It's that he's known you since before I was even a thought, longer than my human mind can comprehend. Seen sides of you that I haven't and might never."

"You wouldn't want to." Envy said, distracted. He was jarred when Kimblee bit down on his earlobe, hard, causing the homunculus to yelp with pain and surprise.

"I would, and you know it." He pushed Envy down with a ruffle and flutter of sheets and pinned him to the bed. "Haven't I told you enough times I want everything?" He claimed Envy's mouth in a kiss which made Envy's toes curl, before turning his attention to Envy's neck.

"You have everything." Envy's voice was a breathless whisper, which turned into a moan as Kimblee began sucking one of Envy's nipples. Envy's clothes receded from his skin like a dark, red-rimmed tide from an ivory coastline. "You've got...mmm...nothing to be jealous of. He's my past – and seriously, fuck that shit. You're…my future…"

Envy's words trailed away as Kimblee's mouth got where it was going. To Envy's dismay, however, he pulled back, leaving nothing but a chaste kiss on the tip of Envy's straining hard-on. Then he pulled back, grinning down at Envy with wicked smugness.

"I think we'll leave this here."

"Like hell!" Envy said, sitting up. "I thought you said you weren't jealous!"

"Exactly. If I were jealous of him, I'd pound the thought of him right out of you. I will never push you into something you don't want. But I want you to want."

"I take it back." Envy said, pulling him back down and wrapping his legs around Kimblee's hips, so their erections rubbed tantalizingly together. "You have a lot to be jealous of. I have feelings for Greed, soooo many feelings. So come on and give me that pounding."

"Nice try." Kimblee said, struggling out of Envy's embrace. "But I want you to play this game like the rest of us."

"I could cheat, you know." Said Envy, trying to sound aloof and cold while still obviously quite hot. "I don't have to feel this."

"Oh but you won't cheat. That would be like admitting you lose." His voice had been mischievous, yet a hint of sincerity crept into his words. "Let yourself feel it. Why not? Whatever you desire, you can have it."

"I want you."

"You can have me. Right after you get back from your date."

"It's not a date, damn it!"

"If it turns into one, go ahead and let it. Whatever you do with him, just be willing to do it with both of us later."

"Bastard." Envy said, getting to his feet and willing clothes to form on his body once more. "Have fun whacking it then."

Envy only wished he could say the same for himself. No matter the circumstances, Envy had a strong aversion to self-gratification as either gender, after so many years with no other option.

"No, I'll wait." Kimblee said. "Perhaps longer than you will."

"I'm not going there to screw him."

"We'll see."

.

(A/N: The stuff about the house doesn't have much point, just trying to establish the setting and whatnot. I tend to neglect setting in favor of characters, so...practice practice. Similarly, the stuff about Envy's past persona...meh, probably should have left if out, but I thought it was fun. And, no promises, but I'll try to be quicker about updates. I want to get to Ishval, imprisonment, etc. I haven't been writing much, but I've been drawing a little. I'll post a link to my DA account when I get around to scanning them. Thanks for reading!)