"You're not supposed to look at other people's cards, you know."
"Why not? He's holding them at an angle, am I just supposed to ignore it?"
"Well- alright, they've got a point, Bido-"
Greed came up the stairs from the underground to the sounds of this conversation, and on another day he would've been happy to hear it, in an ordinary kind of way. It was nice and domestically charming to take a stroll around the Devil's Nest during off hours, listen to the chimeras (his family, though the word still scared him) play cards and goof off. He liked that they greeted him so warmly, offered to let him join, loved not only that they were such loyal possessions but also that they seemed to care about him as a person. It was almost everything he had ever wanted.
But something was a little off today- was Greed crazy, or was that Envy's voice he had heard? His little sibling never joined in the fun, it hated the chimeras, or maybe was just jealous of them the way it was with everything. And more than that, after last night he hadn't expected it to come back so quickly. He had thought it would take more time for itself to sort through whatever mess it had going on inside its head. And yet…
The main section of the bar was lit well by a late-morning sun, the kind of sun that struck through the window proudly and glanced off the bottles and dusty surfaces in a way that made even them seem bright. In the middle of the floor the card table was pulled up, and around it sat the unusual threesome of Bido, Dolcetto and, yes, his Envy, whose poisonous purple eyes darted up to meet his as soon as he stepped into the room. He wasn't sure what he saw in those eyes- something with a greater depth than what usually lay there. Wait, could it be- no, that wasn't possible.
"What's the game?" Greed asked, but he didn't care, what he really wanted to know was why the younger homunculus had ordained to play.
"Blackjack," Dolcetto replied, "though you wouldn't know it if you watched. Trying to teach that one-" the dog thumbed in the direction of the homunculus, "-how to play is a feat beyond my capabilities."
"Shut up," Envy replied, but it didn't actually sound very angry, and- what in the world- its lips were curled up at the sides into a tiny, sly smile. "The rules are stupid. Human games make no sense. But then, what else should I expect from inferior beings?"
Dolcetto laughed at that, and Greed felt breathless. He was certain now, he had seen it, that strange colour in Envy's eyes was contentment. A degree of peace. He had never seen such a thing on that face before, in that creature that was made of raw misery, and hatred, and pain.
Suddenly Greed realized that this- all of this, the bar, the table, the worn deck of cards, the chimeras and his lover and everything- was precious beyond belief. Richer and more beautiful than any amount of the nation's finest gold and jewelry. With ownership of the image of that little smile, he was the wealthiest man in the world.
"Pull up a seat then, why don't you," Dolcetto said to him, "give a pal a hand."
"Of course," Greed replied, and he did.