After playing that odd little game with Envy, and having his first shower since arriving at the hospital Edward felt…fresh. Not healed, not free of his thoughts, but better for the first time in a long while. At the very least, he had been able to forget, momentarily during the game, how…horrible Envy was.

And while he was in such a comparatively good mood, Ed wanted to go for a walk.

"Please?" he begged the nurse he had called in.

"I can't let you go without an escort," she insisted.

Envy snorted in the corner. "What, don't I count?"

The nurse looked him over, and Edward read disapproval in her gaze. Now that he thought about it, Roy had probably only been able to sneak the homunculus in due to his position in the military. "No," she answered shortly. "You aren't staff."

"Why do I have to have staff around?" Ed pouted. "Can't it just be someone I trust?" His heart jumped into his throat at the ironic implication of his statement: that he trusted Envy.

Judging by the homunculus's grin, he had caught the slip.

"No," the nurse said again. "With all due respect Mr. Elric, you're not in your right state of mind. Just because you trust someone," she glanced at Envy, "doesn't mean they should be trusted."

Normally, Edward would have argued, but considering who was the topic of discussion, he really couldn't. Instead, he changed tactics. "What about my brother?"

The nurse considered him carefully. "I suppose I could allow that."

Ed grinned widely. "I'll just wait for him to come in then." The nurse nodded and left.

"I love it when people think I'm a threat," Envy muttered, stretching.

"You can hardly blame them, Envy," Edward responded.

Rather than continue the conversation, the homunculus noted something. "You know, it's weird hearing you say my name and not be angry. I'm used to you screaming at me."

Ed rolled his eyes. "What else am I supposed to call you? Palmtree?"

"Shorty."

"Transvestite."

"Pipsqueak."

"Am I interrupting something?" Alphonse poked his head in the doorway, eyes betraying both amusement and apprehension. Edward couldn't help but gulp, having not yet spoken to Al about his affections for Envy.

The homunculus answered him with a wave of his hand. "Nah, we're done. This shrimp doesn't have any other insults to throw at me."

Try as he might, Edward couldn't, in fact, think of anything else. After all, Envy would probably take "homicidal maniac" as a compliment. He turned to Alphonse. "Hey, you feel like being my escort on a walk? The nurse won't let me outside unless you're with me."

"Yeah," Envy interjected, pouting. "She doesn't trust me."

Al ignored the homunculus, and Ed wondered if he really was the only one who could, would talk to Envy normally. It wouldn't surprise him, but still, it was a little strange to realize. "Sure, Brother."

"Excellent!" Edward stretched his legs, and slid off the bed, suddenly painfully aware of how small his gown was. "Eh, Alphonse?"

His brother snickered slightly, but his smile vanished as he spoke. "They saved the clothes you were brought in," he muttered awkwardly. "Uhm…a lot of them were covered in blood, but I think your coat might be okay…that way you can at least cover up."

Edward tried to ignore his guilt as he watched his brother walk over to the closet and bring out his well-worn red coat. He smiled at it fondly, slipping his arms into the sleeves and holding it closed.

Ed walked out the door just behind Alphonse, but stopped when he realized Envy wasn't coming. He hesitated; he wanted the homunculus to come, but didn't want to show how much he craved Envy's company…"Envy?"

Rolling his eyes, Envy started forward. "You sure are needy."

Edward turned around to face his brother's back once more, smiling just slightly.

The courtyard in the center of the hospital was small, but furnished like a park, full of trees and flowers and benches for patients and their guests/escorts to sit on.

As soon as he stepped outside, Edward grinned, stretching upwards. The sun was so pleasant, so warm. He'd only deprived of it for a couple of days, but it still felt like a long time.

Ed began at a brisk pace around the courtyard, matched by Alphonse. Envy hung back, arms crossed behind his head.

"Brother," Al hissed, keeping his voice low.

"What?" Ed murmured back, trailing one hand along a nearby bush.

"Envy?" Alphonse asked simply. "He's the one?"

Edward blushed and glanced back to make sure said homunculus was out of hearing range before answering. "Yes," he muttered guiltily. "I know it's crazy—I told you that before—but he's the person I was talking about."

"The person you fell in love with," Al stated blatantly.

All Ed could do was nod.

Alphonse sighed. "I don't like it, Brother."

"Neither do I."

Envy was getting bored of the two brothers whispering in front of him. He sped up, and placed an elbow gently (had he ever thought that word before? Hell, had he ever needed to?) on Edward's head as he walked beside them. "Yo, you can't bring me out here and then leave me by myself back there."

To his surprise, the shrimp did not move out from under him. "You could have just walked a little faster, Envy," he said. "Also, I'm not an armrest."

"But it's so cozy," Envy whined, unable to keep from grinning.

"Envy," Alphonse warned. His voice was clipped and harsh. "I suggest you not upset my brother, because I will beat the living shit out of you."

Envy couldn't help but laugh at that, removing his arm from its blonde cushion to clutch his stomach. "If you say so."

Another surprise; Edward actually came to his defense. "Al, it's okay. He's not hurting me."

Was Envy crazy? Okay, that was definitely possible, but still…he didn't think he was hallucinating.

The pipsqueak continued. "Actually, do you mind hanging back a bit? I want to ask Envy something."

Oh, this was just too good. Envy allowed his glee to show, but not his curiosity. What could Ed want to know? Alphonse glared at him, glancing exasperatedly at his brother, and sat down on a bench the trio had just passed up.

Envy slid an arm around Edward's shoulders, just to irritate the younger one. "So, whatchya wanna know?"

The shrimp ducked out of his grasp, face heating up. Envy snickered.

"Calm down, it's just an arm."

The pipsqueak shook his head. "You're insane. I just wanted to know…why you bothered coming here. Why you made up that game, why you're being so unusually…civil."

Envy widened his eyes in mock horror. "'Civil?' I've been being a hell of a lot more than civil!" He did this to buy time. What was he supposed to say? That he was coming undone at the seams and actually felt bad for Ed?

"I'm serious, Envy."

Envy debated for a moment about what to say, and came to a simple conclusion: being a jackass all the time hadn't really worked out for him. Actually, it had gotten him almost killed on countless occasions. Besides, he'd already opened up way more than he wanted to that morning with that stupid ass game of his.

"Honestly, at first it was because I thought it would be a great opportunity to fuck with you. You were asking Mustang to come get me. Because you wanted to see me—by the way, do I ever get an explanation for that?"

"No."

Envy stuck his tongue out, but continued. "It was a bit of a shocker to see that you were cutting yourself. That's…maybe the one thing that actually makes me queasy. It hits too close to home, I guess. And it was just wrong for someone as fucking perfect as you do that, so…"

When Edward didn't respond, Envy turned to look at him. The shrimp's face was closed off, careful, but his eyes were shining.

"Thank you," he whispered.

The moment might have been beautiful, if Envy hadn't noticed Ed's hand pressing, this time, violently into his opposite wrist. He grabbed it immediately, turning the shorty around.

"Ed, don't do that. C'mon, let's go, you're gonna need some new bandages now."

Edward seemed to not have noticed what he was doing, or at least, that's what he pretended. "You know, I don't think I'll cut again. The aftermath is just such a hassle."

"Edward fucking Elric."

The pipsqueak looked up at him in shock, held in place by Envy still holding his hands. "You listen to me. You shouldn't cut because you have people who care for you. You have your brother and Mustang."

Ed turned away then, and whispered, so quiet Envy was sure he was not meant to hear: "Yeah, but the one person I want to care the most is just out of my reach."