Disclaimer: I do not own the characters from Fullmetal Alchemist nor do I claim to.

Chapter 3

Edward was not having a good day. Envy turned out to be more of a pain than he'd anticipated.

"So what are we doing now?" Envy danced around Edward in the form of some random girl he'd seen somewhere before. Couldn't remember where. Oh well, who cares. It was irritating Edward and that's all that mattered.

"Nothing! And could you not use that form?" Edward glowered, averting his eyes from Envy who was in the shape of a busty blonde woman. He seemed to be enjoying himself, but Edward was not amused. "We are not doing anything, I am going to do some research which doesn't concern you," he bit out. All Edward wanted to do was get his brother's body back, and this homunculus was seriously throwing a wrench in his time-management. He was so close to discovering the secret surrounding the philosopher's stone.

"Why not? It's not like I can walk around in my preferred form. Someone might recognize me. I'm famous, you know." Envy huffed, his skin tingling with red alchemic energy as he shifted yet again into a different form. This time of a young man with straight, light brown hair and sparkling green eyes. He smirked a very unmistakably Envy smirk, which looked rather out of place on the face he'd chosen. "Besides, remember your promise! I get to do everything with you."

"Yeah, what ever. Lunatic." Edward grumbled as he sped up his stride, but Envy kept up easily with him. How long would he have to put up with this? Envy would have to get bored at some point, right?

The oh-so-happy pair finally made it back, and they were greeted by a rather flustered looking Alphonse. He looked guilty, like the cat who had canary feather's hanging from his maw. Then there was a distinct mewling sound coming from his armor. Ah, so that was it.

"Damnit, Al! I told you to quit bringing stray cats home!" Edward fumed, snapping at poor Alphonse. His temper was already on edge, so any little thing was going to set him off.

"I'm sorry, Brother!" Alphonse immediately responded, before realizing Edward had a friend with him. "Oh! Who's this? I didn't know you had any friends!" Alphonse sounded chipper, not realizing how that came out.

The vein twitched in Edward's forehead, and he slapped Envy none-too-gently on the back. "Yeah, Al." He said through clenched teeth. "This is.. uh," Edward stuttered, suddenly realizing he didn't know what to call Envy. He couldn't exactly just call him Envy. He wasn't about to explain this to Alphonse just yet. But, evidently, Envy had other plans.

Envy extended his hand graciously with a small bow to the tall suit of armor, simultaneously morphing into his most recognizable form. "Envy." He finished Edward's sentence for him.

Edward gaped, and Alphonse immediately assumed a fighting pose. "Brother! It's a homunculus! Watch out!"

Envy burst into laughter, nearly doubling over and clutching his middle as if it hurt. "Bahahah! Look at the tin-can go! If he had a face I'm sure it would have been priceless!"

Edward smacked his own face with his palm. "I know it's Envy, Al. Relax." He sighed, a little exasperated at this point. "He's going to be erm... staying with us for a while." He searched for the right words, his hand going to the back of his neck awkwardly as he talked.

"Uh...okay. If you say so. Are you sure we can trust him?" Alphonse body posture subdued finally, and he gave Edward an unsure look.

"No! Not even a little bit. But we made an agreement, and you could say this is my end of it." Edward rolled his eyes. He didn't want to divulge too much information, considering he made Envy promise not to hurt anyone if he let him hang around. Alphonse wouldn't be happy about that bit. Something about "negotiating with the enemy" blah-de-blah-blah.

Envy had since calmed down enough to where instead of experiencing violent fits of laughter, he was reduced to small giggles here and there. "You know I'm right here." Envy pointed out once he caught his breath, a little put off that the two were talking about him like he wasn't even there. How rude.

Meowing could again be heard from the armor, and Alphonse sweatdropped as he earned another glare from Edward. "I'll go put him back." Alphonse said sadly, sulking out the door cradling his midriff tenderly. "At least you got some milk, little guy!" Alphonse could be heard whispering to the cat through his armor as he made his way outside.

Edward sat on his chair and picked at his bandages absently.

Envy slithered over, quite literally, and inspected Edward's wounds. "You humans sure take a long time to heal. How inconvenient." He frowned up at Edward.

"Uh, yeah. No thanks to you." Edward grumped. "What is it that you really want? You can't be serious with this whole "wanting me" charade."

"What makes you think I'm not serious?" Envy looked taken aback. Why wouldn't the Pipsqueak just believe him? What more did he have to do? He figured he would have gotten the message by now. He did kiss him, after all. Humans really are stupid.

"Because! You're you! And you're a homunculus! What more reason do I need to think you are lying?" Edward growled, and started pulling off his bandages to put fresh ones on. Beneath were deep, purple bruises around his swollen ribs.

Envy's eyes widened. It didn't look like it was getting better. His broken ribs were probably out of alignment or something, Envy figured. Band aids weren't going to fix that, he knew that much at least. Stupid useless human bodies anyway. "Hey, O'chibi, maybe you'd better get that checked out." Envy was ignoring what Edward was saying now, warily eyeballing the damage he'd caused. He felt a pang of... something. Regret? He wasn't quite sure, but damn it felt uncomfortable. This sucked.

"Ugh. I hate doctors." Edward whined, and gingerly touched his skin. He winced, clearly in pain and withdrew his hand with a defeated sigh.

"Well, too bad! You're going." Envy took Edward's arm and practically dragged him to the door, right as Alphonse had returned.

"Move it, tin-can! Shorty here needs a doctor." Envy demanded, trying to squeeze by the large iron body.

"What? I'm coming too! I don't trust you alone with him." Alphonse stated defiantly, effectively blocking Envy off from exiting the door with Edward.

Envy groaned in exasperation, glaring up at Alphonse's stupid metal face. "Fine. Don't give a flying fuck what you do anyway. Just hurry up and get out of the way before he dies or something!" Envy huffed, finally shoving past Alphonse.

"Brother?!" Alphonse squeaked as he followed Envy.

"I'm fine, Al! He's just over exaggerating. God, change your form or something Envy! I don't need everyone seeing me with you."

Envy rolled his eyes, but obediently changed into the previous form he had concocted of the green-eyed boy. No reason to draw attention to himself, he figured. He wasn't doing it because Edward wanted it. Nope. He tried his best to ignore the small pang of hurt from the young blonde's blunt words. Was he embarrassed by Envy?

"Geez, let me go already!" Edward squirmed from Envy's grasp, earning a stern glare from the homunculus as they arrived at the hospital.

"You're so stubborn!" Envy complained, ushering Edward into the hospital before he could make a break for it.

It took a while to get Edward settled into a hospital bed, and even longer to take x-rays. After it was all said and done, he sat there with a sour look on his face and a thermometer sticking out of his mouth. They had put ice packs on his ribs, and he looked downright miserable.

Envy and Alphonse sat side by side in chairs next to the bed and they both stared at Edward.

"Are you okay, Brother? I didn't realize you were hurt this badly." Alphonse seemed regretful, and looked down in shame. Envy merely shrugged. "How are you supposed to know if Pea-Brain-Pipsqueak here doesn't tell you?!"

Edward flailed. "STOP CALLING ME PIPSQUEAK!" He shrieked, causing a smirk from Envy.

"Calm down!" Alphonse sighed, looking over at Envy after he lectured his brother. "Stop antagonizing him, Envy. You're not helping anything." He sternly scolded the homunculus disguised as a teenage boy with green eyes.

Envy pouted. "Don't tell me what to do, trash-can!" He retorted, and just as Edward was about to blow up again, the nurse walked in causing them all to sober.

She tutted disapprovingly, looking over Edward's chart. Everyone sat in silence, staring at her waiting for the verdict.

"The doctor has looked over the scans, and you definitely have at least three broken ribs. You are to stay here and have bed rest for a few days before we can release you. I've put you on a morphine drip for the pain until the swelling goes down. And do be more careful next time." She was short, to the point, and immediately took her leave from the tense room.

"But wait! I can't stay here!" Edward cried, but was ignored. "I have work to do." He sulked and looked at Alphonse helplessly.

"I'll bring your work here, Brother! Don't worry." Alphonse's cheerful voice rang, trying to make Edward feel better.

"Okay. Thanks, Al. I just hate staying in one spot too long, y'know?"

"I know. I'll be back soon to drop off your work." And with that, Alphonse left.

"Great, now I'm stuck here alone with you." Edward grumbled, causing Envy to pout. This wasn't nearly as fun as he had anticipated. He used to love annoying the Pipsqueak, but now he found himself wanting to make Edward like him, and want to be around him. This was not coming natural for him, but damnit if he wasn't going to try.

Envy scooted closer to Edward and adjusted the ice packs gently. He took the thermometer out of his mouth and looked at it studiously, pretending to know what he was looking for.

"Do you even know how to read that thing?" Edward chuckled, giving Envy a weird look. There he went, being all nice again.

"Of course I do!" Envy puffed out his chest, and read out the numbers as he squinted at the thermometer. "Ninety-nine point four." He said proudly.

"And do you know what that means?" Edward pressed further, a small knowing smile on his face.

"Uhh.. " Envy stuttered, his face flushing slightly. He really didn't. Damn the Pipsqueak for being so perceptive with him. If he could see that much, why couldn't he see that Envy wanted him?

"It means I have a slight fever. I guess it's a good thing you made me come here." Edward admitted, looking away and training his eyes on some spot on the wall.

"Well of course it is." Envy nodded confidently. He felt a strange feeling in his chest, a sort of tightness that wouldn't go away. He wanted to be near Edward, but when he was he felt flustered. Envy didn't understand the meaning of it all, but suddenly, he felt the urge to kiss him again.

Envy was already sitting close to Edward, but he scooted a little closer still. Edward was still looking away, before feeling Envy move closer so he turned to find the homunculus' face just inches from his.

"Whoa," he said automatically, a little surprised. The morphine was starting to kick in, and his brain felt a little foggy. He looked into Envy's brilliant, emerald eyes and for a moment he forgot who he really was.

Envy closed the gap and brushed his lips over Edward's softly, feeling electricity where there was contact. This was so much nicer than last time, and Edward wasn't even struggling.

Edward closed his eyes and relaxed into the kiss as Envy tilted his head with the intentions of deepening it. He wanted more, now that he'd had a taste of Edward he wouldn't be able to go without it.

Just as Edward began to part his lips to accept Envy into his mouth, he seemed to snap back into reality and pulled away slightly.

"What are you doing?" He murmured, his lips slightly swollen from the kiss and he had an attractive flush to his cheekbones.

"What do you think I'm doing?" Envy whispered, a little disappointed that Edward broke off but at the same time relieved that the small alchemist didn't flip his shit like last time.

"Why are you kissing me again?... I thought you hated me. I'm confused." Edward's eyes closed again, and he put his hand to his head. "Ugh. I feel high. Must be the morphine. How am I supposed to work like this?.." He was talking slowly, and was beginning to babble. He relaxed into his pillow finally with a small sigh.

Envy figured out Edward was much more agreeable in this state, and decided to push his luck even further with another kiss. Edward didn't respond at first, but after he felt the movement on his lips he began to kiss back slowly.

"Envy?" He said, his eyes glazed over in a drugged-up daze. "Is that really you?"

"Mmhmm." Envy responded, allowing himself to shift back to his most adorable form. His eyes went from bright emerald to deep violet in an instant, his hair sprouted up and fanned over his head. Edward stared at Envy, bemusement still quite evident on his own face.

"Don't worry, Chibi. Sleep it off. Envy will be right here with you." The homunculus leaned forward to whisper into into Edward's ear softly. Sleep took Edward quickly after that, and Envy just stayed next to him to make sure he didn't choke on his own tongue or anything.

Soon enough, Alphonse came back with a pile of paperwork and came clambering through the door. "Brother I'm-"

"Shhhhh!" Envy hissed, glaring at the loud ass tin-can. "He's asleep and high as fuck!" He whispered as he pointed to the alchemist who was indeed passed out. His hand was under his shirt rested on his tummy and his mouth was hanging open.

"Oh! Sorry!" Alphonse squeaked, placing the papers gently down beside Edward's bed and standing there awkwardly, his big leather hands folded in front of him.

Envy gave Alphonse one last, meaningful glare before returning his concerned gaze to the sleeping form of Edward Elric.

"You actually seem... worried about him." Alphonse observed, still whispering.

Envy closed his eyes and pondered briefly before answering. The last thing he wanted to do was explain himself to the tin-can, but he supposed he was important to Edward so if he wanted to get on his good side he would have to deal with his metal brother.

"You have no idea." He answered cryptically after a several moments pause, and Alphonse merely tilted his metal head at Envy in question.

"No, I don't." He answered thoughtfully. "If you actually care about my brother you should act more like it, instead of constantly trying to make him angry!" Alphonse said in a hushed whisper, border lining on quiet yelling, if one could do such a thing.

Envy glared murderously at the suit of armor which towered over him. Now the tin-can was actually lecturing him? This was absurd. So he merely rolled his eyes and began ignoring Alphonse. Envy knew he was right, but wouldn't admit it to him. The only one he had to prove himself to was Edward, he only had to put up with the brother.

Alphonse sighed as Envy turned away from him. Could he really be turning a new leaf? Did he really care about Edward? Alphonse wasn't sure, but he was definitely willing to give him a chance. He believed anyone could change for the better. That doesn't mean he won't keep his eye on Envy, though.

Dante began feeling anxious. What would happen if Envy did find out the secret? She would lose yet another one of her precious homunculi. The power was starting to slip from her grasp, and she didn't like it. What was his fascination with the Fullmetal Alchemist, anyway? Sure, he was his half-brother, and an alchemic genius, but what was the source of his obsession? Could his inherent envy really cause this sort of infatuation? With his own brother, nonetheless. Surely Edward Elric was oblivious to that fact himself. Envy wouldn't dare tell him, for fear of rejection.

Dante felt disgusted, and balled her fists, before suddenly coming to a realization. Maybe there was another way. If Envy were to indeed fall in love, and his feelings were returned, he would begin to change back. He would become human again. Dante didn't know for sure, but she suspected he would regain his original form in the process. She knew that would devastate Envy, and definitely ruin any kind of relationship he might have formed with the Fullmetal Alchemist once he found out the ugly truth.

She pondered all of this and grinned sadistically. She really was genius! All she had to do was sit back and wait for Envy to be the cause of his own demise. Watching him go through the agony he caused himself would be simply amazing, and so easy! Then she would simply kill him again, and make a brand-new Envy. She had been perfecting the art of creating homunculi, and thought she might even be able to erase his previous memories this time. That would solve all of her problems if she could accomplish that. She would have a perfectly obedient creation, quite unlike the current state of her eldest homunculus. He was unruly at best, and she was honestly getting sick of him anyway.

She decided she would leave Envy to his own devices for a while, not even calling him back. Would he even notice the absence in his Ouroboros? Probably not, he was not as smart as he thought he was, Dante thought to herself.

She just laughed and laughed.