I am really happy with the reception this story has gotten! I wasn't sure how it would be taken, but if you know me, you know I like odd pairings, I am an odd shipper. Haha, well anyway, thanks so much you all! Enjoy more Envy!Kitty~
Chapter 3
The next morning, Envy was gone, Riza didn't know if this was reliving or worrying, but didn't let it bother her as she got ready for work and headed out. She had more important matters at hand, like making sure the paperwork was finished by the end of the week. The day passed by without incident, until she got home and found the homunculus on her couch, laying upside down with his head on the floor having a staring contest with Hayate. The dog was staring him down, not acting the happy puppy he usually did, she guessed he knew Envy wasn't a normal guest and was trying to see if he could intimidate the larger and more dangerous homunculus, it was cute in a way and rather amusing, she just hoped Envy didn't get angry at the puppy and hurt him.
"You were gone a long time," Envy said not looking away, Hayate yipped at her in greeting, and she sighed and went over to the two of them picking up the puppy, who whined a bit, Envy whined too.
"Hey we were busy!" he said and she shook her head a bit, this was odd, Envy slid off the couch and onto the floor before getting up and following her into the kitchen.
"All you ever do is work and sleep and walk your dog, how boring," he told her and she sighed, really too tired to reply.
He pouted, not liking the silence, he didn't like being ignored, "What do you do at work anyway?" he asked, and she took off her jacket before answering.
"Look over paperwork for the Colonel to sign and then do my own paperwork mostly, and then make sure everyone else is doing their job instead of screwing off, and then send singed papers off to the proper departments," she said and he looked at her wide eyed.
"And they say I'm crazy, doing that would drive anyone batty," he said and she blinked before laughing a little bit, smiling tiredly.
"Oh yeah? And what is it that you do?" she asked, curious despite herself, he shrugged staring at her, though she wasn't sure why.
"Whatever my Father wants me to do, I'm here to serve him," he said and cocked his head at her, she was frowning.
"And what is that?" she asked and he smirked, his eyes glinting dangerously.
"I'm sure you really don't want to know," he said lowly and she pursed her lips, that was probably true.
"Why do you keep coming back?" she asked and he hopped onto a kitchen chair, leaning on the table.
"Cause," he replied and she stared at him wryly waiting for more and sighed when nothing else came. She turned and grabbed some more left overs, sitting at the table, fully aware that he was still staring at her.
"Am I really that interesting?" she asked looking at him and he grinned cheekily, blinking at her innocently.
"Maybe," he replied ambiguously, she rolled her eyes, and stood up to grab a glass of water, self-consciously aware of his eyes following her, she sat back down and then looked at him in return.
"You said you're here to serve your father, is that why you're following me too?" she asked and he blinked at her, his brow furrowing a bit.
"No," he said and then bit his bottom lip, "I'm not supposed to do stuff like this," he said sounding somewhat like a child caught in a toy store without their mother's permission.
"I see," she said taking another bite of food and then drink of water, "Then why are you?" she asked and he looked at her, he didn't seem to know the answer.
Despite not knowing why he came to her, Envy came back to her place often, whenever he was gone for a long period of time Riza assumed he was off doing what his father wanted of him, she thought it odd that he had a father, maybe he had a mother as well, but he never talked about her if he did.
He came by as often as he felt even if she wasn't up for it, he wasn't really up for bowing to her personal needs he wasn't even aware he needed to. But when he did come, they talked, and that honestly wasn't a bad thing, they talked of little things, nothing truly important, but it must have been enough for Envy, because he kept coming back.
She wasn't sure when or how, but eventually they started talking about things more deeply and long into the night, he would talk about his siblings and how he missed when they treated him like a sibling instead of like a soldier, like they did now. He said he was a soldier essentially, but that didn't mean he had to like it. He complained about Wrath, who was his younger brother but thought he had the right to boss him around, though he refused to tell her who he was. And then they talked about their likes and dislikes, he found out she liked mystery novels and plays, he had never been to one before and she promised on her next day off they would go to one together, he seemed very excited for that. They also spoke of people and places, she was rather interested in all the places he'd been to, and was impressed by how much he seemed to have picked up, he knew three other languages, Drachmanian, Cretian, and Aeurogian. He taught her a few words in Drachmanian and then refused to tell her what they meant, she had a strong suspicion of what they meant so decidedly never used them. He also spoke of people, of how they were the same everywhere all selfish, but he supposed that's what made them human. They were different from him, they could do what they wanted whenever, he couldn't when Father called him, he had to come, he didn't think of breaking off, not after what happened to Greed. It was too scary.
They were on her bed late at night, he'd shown up as she was getting ready for bed and she didn't want to get up so he'd hoped on her bed too, he was laying on his stomach kicking his legs back and forth while she read a book, he was thinking about something making faces as he did so. She looked at him curiously.
"What is it?" she asked, and he frowned before letting out a deep sigh.
"What would you do if I killed someone you knew?" he asked and she gazed at him for a moment, then she thought.
"I...I'm not sure I guess," she said, "I've never thought about it, but I suppose all I can do is deal with it. You do what you have to do because of your father, yes?" she questioned and he nodded slowly.
"Right, and all the people I know are deeply involved in...things, so it's an occupational hazard I guess," she said and he nodded.
"Okay," He said and then he bit his lip, "I..." he started and then made a face, "I'll try not to kill anyone you know," he said and she looked at him surprised then she smiled.
"Thanks," she said, chuckling and he smiled back, beaming at her response, she wondered if anyone had ever thanked him before.
"Envy?" she asked, a thought occurring to her suddenly, he hummed to show her he was listening, "What do you do for fun?" she asked, "And I mean you, not what your father lets you do," she clarified and he frowned. His first answer had been, toying with humans, proving his superiority. But that wasn't really his thing to do, he did that because of the great influence Pride and Father had had on him.
"I like..." he concentrated, taking a long moment to think before answering, "I like watching people," he said finally.
"Really?" she asked and he nodded, she was a bit surprised by the sincerity of his answer, but was pleased by it.
"Humans...they're so selfish, I've realized. Humans are selfish, but that's what makes them human. Children and adults, they want so much, and then get it by any means, they do it for themselves...when we do that...we do it for Father." he said and then blinked and blushed turning away from her, he obviously hadn't meant to share so much, but she smiled, she liked the fact that he had. He was relaxed enough around her to let things slip.
"I don't know...I've seen humans who are anything but selfish, but I suppose if you look at it from your perspective, just living is selfish huh?" she asked and he nodded grinning, glad she had saved him.
"Yeah, you should stop that," he grinned, his eyes twinkling happily, she rolled her eyes but she smiled in a pleased way and then went back to her book.
For an impromptu friendship, it really wasn't that bad.
Riza was fairly surprised when Envy came prancing into the office one day, in the guise of a black cat of course, he hopped on her desk and mewed. She blinked at him, as did all the others in the office, until they started laughing.
"Looks like you've made a friend Lieutenant," the blond second lieutenant laughed, chewing on the end of his cigarette, she gave the man a look and the cat mewed again and bumped her hand with it's head.
"What?" she asked giving him a look and he flipped his tail, and blinked at her, his eyes went to the door and back to her, she shook her head discreetly and tapped at the paperwork. He stared at her and then took a few measured steps forward, the pads on his paws not making a sound, and then he dropped down on top of the paperwork.
She looked annoyed, "Off," she told him and he simply flipped his tail a few times, crossing his forepaws over each other and mewed quietly.
She huffed and then picked him up and moved him over, he stared at her, looking offended, she smirked wryly at him, and then started on her paperwork again, that was she tried to anyway. But he had grabbed her pen and now had it in his mouth, he leapt off the desk and went to the door.
"En-" she started but knew she couldn't call his name in the office, "Cat! Get back here!" she demanded and he gave a muffled meow and then dashed out the door. She grumbled and followed him out just as Roy came out of his office.
"Lieutena...nt..." he blinked and watched as her coat tail went out the door.
"I'll be back!" she called, he gaped at where she had been and turned to the others, who were all laughing.
"She's following a cat," Fury said and Roy looked at him incredulously and then gave a bark of laughter.
"Oh I have to see this," he said and then followed her out, he didn't have to go far, he heard her voice coming from a nearby empty office.
"Envy, you can't just come into the office and bother me whenever you like," she said and Roy peeked into the room to see her setting the cat on the desk, his eyes widened as he watched the cat transform into a scantily clad girl...or was it a boy? He couldn't tell, but he did see the ouroboros and immediately knew what this person was. She had also called him 'Envy,' this didn't look good.
"Aw, why not? You looked like you needed a break," he said with a laugh, kicking his legs back and forth twirling her pen between his fingers.
"I did not," she scowled at him and made a grab for the pen but he held it away, smirking.
"Oh really, then why is it that you came after me when you had three other pens on your desk?" he asked and she crossed her arms.
"I have a system, I use one pen at a time, I'm still using that one," she said and he rolled his eyes at her.
"Your life must be dull if you have to do things like that to entertain yourself," he said sighing at her pityingly.
"Oh and you've taken it upon yourself to change that have you?" she asked and he beamed at her.
"Yup!" he sang happily and she sighed and then snatched her pen back, he pouted at her and made feeble attempts to take it back, but she held him away with a hand on his face.
"Give it back," he whined, grabbing at it and she rolled her eyes and flicked his forehead, he pouted.
"If you promise to be good I'll let you stay in the office," she said and he bobbed his head several times.
"I will!" he said excitedly, and then turned back into a cat, he mewed just as excitedly, and she rolled her eyes but picked him up and headed for the door, Roy had left by then and was back in his office contemplating things.
He saw her holding the cat as she walked back into the office and set it on her desk, she sat down and started working on her paperwork and once she was suitably distracted the cat turned it's yellow eyes on Roy, they glinted and gave the man what was unmistakably a smirk, he'd known the man had been outside the door listening. Roy glared at him and slammed his office door closed. This was not good, not good at all.
The cat was with her again, every single day now, he had tried talking to her about it once but the cat had followed her into the office and had made himself at home on Roy's desk, Roy had glared at it, and had nearly snapped his fingers at it but Riza had grabbed him off of the desk and held him in her arms before asking what he needed, and he didn't want to discuss it with him there so he had given her some finished paperwork and sent her off again. He didn't know why she was doing this, surely she knew what that being was, why was she being so reckless? It worried him greatly, and he wanted it to stop. Immediately.
"Riza this is not wise," Roy said seriously, his brows furrowed and his dark eyes troubled as he looked at his long time friend and subordinate.
Finally she had come to work alone, and he had called her into his office without any cats following her in. He was gazing at her, Riza didn't show any of her own emotions.
"It depends what you mean, sir," she said and Roy exhaled and stood, he walked around his desk and took Riza's hand in his own.
"Riza, I'm talking to you as a friend, not a commanding officer. I'm worried about you, this...this fraternization with the homunculus is unhealthy," he said cautiously and Riza frowned at him and took her hand back, she didn't know how he had figured it out, and it didn't really matter, she still felt it was none of his business.
"I appreciate the concern Roy, but Envy isn't as bad as you make him out to be, he just wants someone to listen to him, he seems almost human," she replied and Roy scowled.
"But that's just it, he isn't human, he's one of the enemy!" he said running a frustrated hand through his hair, making it stick up in odd ways. Riza sighed and gentled her demeanor just slightly and sighed.
"Roy, I am perfectly capable of taking care of myself. Please don't worry about me, I know what I'm doing." she said and Roy's lips pursed he obviously wanted to say more but the way Riza was looking at him, he didn't want to incite her wrath.
"Fine, you can go back to work," he sighed then sat back down, she nodded and went to the door, she turned and looked at him, smiling.
"Thank you for the concern Roy, it means a lot," she said and then she left, closing the door behind her gently. Roy sighed, he knew this was going to end badly, he just knew it.