3-DAY WEEKEND IN AMERICA, HUMANS~! You know what that means? MORE CHAPTERS! MORE WRITING! MORE FABTASTICALITY! ~*(^o^)*~ Celebration time! Either way, sorry for the incredibly late update, I'm behind on chapters, but I'll catch up during the weekend (hopefully) ^_^ So, without further ado, please do enjoy chapter 35! The story of the palm tree and shrimp starts to truly unfold... •O•

-Chapter Thirty-Five-

The week off passed with great romance and fluff and comedy, creating the best of memories for the palm tree and shrimp. Not a care was given to anything else other than the joy of being together, save for a couple of days that were reserved for completing school assignments; but even then, Edward and Envy couldn't help but be all over each other. One could describe their relationship as being exactly out of a fairy tale, full of pure love and affection and compassion and "absolute fabtabulosity," as Envy hilariously put it. The new year arrived, and now it was time for the private school students to return to their familiar campus. Technically, they were not due back to the school for a few days, but it was a smart idea to arrive early and get situated again. At least, that's what Ed and Al's father reasoned; the older of the two blondes hypothesized that he just wanted them to be gone a bit sooner.

Ed, Envy and Alphonse all lined up with their coats and scarves in front of the house, waiting for Hohenheim to come home and see them off. The tallest boy ignorantly questioned why bother; Alphonse kindly responded that despite his aloofness, they loved their father and wanted to see him before they left until spring. Envy nodded silently, contemplating what loving one's father actually felt like.

After only about ten minutes of waiting idly, Hohenheim's car pulled up and the blonde man stepped out to hug his sons.

"You'll call me for once this time, alright?" He asked in a very dad-like manner. Ed smiled a bit sadly, nodding slightly.

"Yeah, yeah," the shorter blonde boy said, rolling his eyes a bit. The father chuckled, then turned to Envy with a solemn look on his face; at the sight of it, the black-haired boy started to panic.

"Now, erm, Envy," he began. "You must remember when your father called at the beginning of the break." The tall boy's heart sank deeper than the Titanic.

"Yes, I remember."

"And you remember that I wouldn't tell you quite yet how I convinced your father?"

"... Uh-huh..."

"Well, your father requested that you take a train to your house-"

"WHAT?"

"- for the last two days of vacation. I'm sorry, Envy, but it was either that or you couldn't stay at all," Hohenheim looked at him sadly, his eyebrows turned up slightly from his apologies. "I really am sorry."

"Didn't that bast- my father get that I didn't want to go home?" Envy shouted not at Hohenheim, but just to himself. "God, he just can't get it through his fuc- friggin' thick head that there must be a problem if I don't want to go home!" The older man looked a bit startled at the boy's statement, his mind running through the possibilities Envy could have been getting at. "I'm not being beaten or starved, if that's what you're thinking, Mr. Elr- Hohenheim. He just... treats me like I'm 'less' than him, and it makes me sick."

Boy, can I relate to that, Edward thought as he stared anxiously at his boyfriend. Ed's father tried placing a hand on Envy's shoulder, but the spiky-haired boy recoiled by reflex.

"I just... ugh..." Envy held his head exasperatedly, while the blonde-haired man stood dumb. Then, the short blonde boy gently took the black-haired boy's hand in his and stared into his violet eyes.

"It's only for a couple of days; I'll be alright, Envy," he comforted, squeezing his hand. "And you will be, too. I promise, everything will always be okay." Envy's heart melted at the sweet words, pounding with emotion and happiness that such a fantastic person was by his side.

"I... oh, goddammit," Envy grumbled, blushing a bit and shutting his eyes irritatedly. "Goddammit, you make it humanly impossible to say no." Edward smiled, his cheeks red from both cold and infatuation. "Fine. I'll go, but for no more than two days." The shorter boy hugged him tightly, so tightly that Envy couldn't breathe properly.

"I'll miss you," Ed mumbled into the taller boy's chest. Envy rested a hand on his head and gently kissed his forehead.

"I'll miss you, too," he responded, his heart throbbing with a sense of doom. Hohenheim grinned lamely at them, and when they broke apart he held out a hand once again to his son's boyfriend.

"It was great meeting you, Envy," the blonde man said. "I'm... erm. I'm glad that, erm, my son has a... erm..." Hohenheim struggled to get his words out. "Has a good boy like you to be, erm, by his side." The effect on Envy was instantaneous: it was like the sun just came up on the gloomy wasteland his heart felt like. The boy took the hand and shook it firmly.

"Thank you, Hoheheim," Envy blushed. "It was great to meet you, too." Mission completed! He thought ecstatically. "Maybe I'll see you again next break," he proposed, laughing a bit.

"Perhaps you will," was all the stoic man said. With that, the Elrics and Envy said their goodbyes and walked to the train station with a somewhat comforting silence hanging over their heads. Upon arriving at the terminal, they retrieved their tickets (with Envy having to pay for his ticket, to which he commented, "Old bastard doesn't even care enough to buy me a ticket home."), and stood quietly in front of the archways that led to different trains. Alphonse had gone ahead, leaving his brother and Envy alone to say their farewells. Of course, it was only two days, right?

"I'm starting to rethink this again, Ed," the black-haired boy sighed, looking sadly at his little blonde boy. "I can just not go now and grab a ticket back to school."

"I don't want you to leave, either," Edward admitted. "But... please go. Sometimes we have to do things we don't like for the sake of family, even if we really dislike our families." The blonde couldn't bring himself to say "hate." "If you go now, then... you won't have to do it later, and you'll make your father happy or whatever." Ed squeezed his hand and his golden eyes stared into Envy's violet ones. "I love you, Envy. You can do this." A bell rung in the station that told all passengers to board their trains immediately. Envy swallowed, his skin sweating from nervousness.

"O-Okay," he said shakily. "I... I love you, too." Ed gently kissed him on the lips, took hold of his own suitcase, and broke away.

"I'll see you at school, you palm tree," the blonde grinned, waving goodbye. Envy waved back, his face forlorn.

"See you, shrimp," he managed to say, as he watched his beloved blonde boy head through the archway to the train back to school. Envy picked up his bags, turned towards the train that would lead him to his home, and reluctantly walked to it. Even though it was only a couple of days, the black-haired boy felt like it was actually a century.

Ed boarded the locomotive and instantly sat down in a chair, barely greeting his younger brother and hardly looking at Winry, who just boarded as well. The younger blonde and the taller girl looked at him worriedly, concerned for his well-being. The blonde-haired girl sat down next to him and hugged his shoulders, trying to make him feel better.

"It's only a couple of days, Ed," she soothed, rubbing his back in a way that reminded the boy of his mother. "Um... you... you can cry now if you want." Edward snorted, running a hand through his hair.

"I'm not gonna cry, that's lame," he stated, grinning a bit. "It's only a couple of days, right? He'll be okay." Winry nodded, glad that her non-blood-related brother wasn't depressed.

"Of course," she agreed. "Everything will go well, and you'll be back together in your dorms..." She quietly murmured something that sounded like "making out until your lips are swollen." "... in no time!" Ed laughed and crossed his arms behind his head.

"In no time, definitely," he repeated.

However, at the same time, on his own train, Envy was completely flipping a shit. He got a car to himself, since Ed's town was a quiet and reserved town where most people worked around where they lived, rather than traveling into the city. Especially since Envy's city was quite a ways away; the train travel time was close to six hours. Upon boarding his train, Envy practically threw his bags across the carriage.

"God fucking dammit," he grumbled, flopping down on the couch and squeezing his eyes shut. "This is going to suck. God, why didn't I just grab my free ticket to school and forget about my so-called obligations?" He pulled at his hair in frustration. Suddenly, the thought crossed his mind to try texting his blonde-haired boy, but upon opening his cellphone he found that there was no reception whatsoever.

"Fucking figures," he groaned, rolling his eyes. Past his outward forlornness, the black-haired boy really was quite irritated that he actually got forced, tricked even, to go back home. "Satan only knows I'll be kicking and screaming the entire way if that bastard comes to pick me up so I don't run away..."

And so the two separate trains departed to different places, bringing the three blondes back to school and Envy back to the home he called hell. As his train drew closer to the city, more and more people boarded the train, but no one dared to talk to the scowling boy; they were afraid he would simply growl at them like a wild animal. Which, to tell the truth, was something Envy really felt like doing at the moment. In contrast, Edward's stress was relieved by the ignorance to how Envy's father truly acted and the reassurance that his boyfriend would be back faster than he could even blink.

It would be a very, very, very long blink.