A/N: Oh my gosh, guess who I got a hug from at Otafest. Yup, ENVY! (And not the one in my head!) I also saw some other awesome FMA cosplayers, and one of my friends went as Lust. I didn't see my favorite cousin there, so that made me sad, but I got to hang out with Kanda and Allen from D.Gray Man and Near from Death Note, and I rode the bus with L, also from Death note, and a Yuki Cross (of course of which anime was from has completely escaped me), which was totally awesome.

Sorry for the long wait for an update. I've been so tired and worn down, and now it's almost time for finals and I'm getting really stressed out. Also, I'm working on a final project for World Religions that's killing me for creativity. Literally. I have to get a manga done on all the religion's we've learned about this year, and I only have two more weeks left (since I wrote this note)

Disclaimers: Arakawa-sensei owns Edward and Envy and all those other guys, and my brother owns most of the story-plot. Not that there's much of a plot to begin with.

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Chapter Four: AA

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"WHAT!?" roared the blond. "You can't just decide these things, Envy!"

"Yes I can. I already signed you up, so you are going."

You could practically see the steam blowing out Edward's ears as he stomped and raged and begged and argued with the Sin to change his mind. Of course, Envy was completely steadfast and immovable and refused to let up on the poor young blond.

And so, that's how Edward wound up practically tied to a chair with fourteen other AA members.

"Envy, can't you just untieme?" whined the blond as others began to pick their own chairs. Most others, including the lanky old man with a pink and yellow mohawk with a bajillion different piercings, took chairs that were halfway across the room. Edward felt a blush heating his cheeks and wished desperately that he hadn't agreed to letting the emerald-haired psychopath live with him.

"Nope." The thick ends of Envy's hair tickled Ed's shoulder as the Sin rested his chin on the young boy's head.

"Damnit Envy!" snarled Ed, "Can't you cut me a break once and a while?" A shrug from the Sin only made Ed more angry. Then a thought made Edward pause. "How did you get the money to pay for this?"

"I got it from you."

Edward began to thrash about in his chair, screaming profanities and curses at the sin behind him. When he was all out of rude English vocabulary, he began another round in all the other languages he knew. Which, admittedly, wasn't that many. Finally, exhausted and out of words, Edward gave up. He glanced around the now full room to see that every eye was on him.

"Are you done?" Asked a rather large woman. She wore a nametag that said, 'Hello, I am your instructor, MEGHAN WEEBS'

With a weak nod, Edward groaned. He hoped that he hadn't made a bad impression ...

"Well, we'll start then. Welcome to AA. Lets start by going around the room and sharing our a little about ourselves and our reasons for being here." The woman eyed Edward evilly. "Lets start with you, Mr. Anger-Management."

Edward groaned again, but sat up, dislodging Envy. "My name's Edward Elric. I'm a college student, currently paying for rent and food for both me and this jackass behind me. The reason I'm here is because the palm tree forced me to come, in case you hadn't noticed the whole tied-to-the-chair thing."

A couple people sniggered, a few subtly shifted away from the Edward and Envy, and others sat forward in their chairs, intrigued. Meghan Weebs nodded in approval, even though she frowned at Ed's description of Envy, then asked the person to Ed's left to speak next.

The man, heavy set and strong-looking, stood. "I'm Hardy Bearspaw," the man grunted. "Unless you cannot tell, I'm Ishballan. I'm here because I need help. Badly. See, I grew up in a traditional home, learning about the religion of my people. But, when I reached high school, I took an interest in alchemy. It's only gotten worse as I've gotten older. Now, I can't even fix the most simple things without using alchemy." Hardy sniffled and wiped his eyes. "I'm hoping I can rediscover a better way to live." Then, finished, he sat down.

"Wait," interjected Edward before the next person could speak. "This isn't Alcoholics Anonymous?"

Many people frowned, and Meghan Weebs cocked her head to the side with a sickly sweet smile. "Of course not," she crooned. "This is Alchemists Anonymous, silly!"

--

"See, that wasn't so bad!" Envy slung his arm over Ed's shoulder, who shrugged it off.

"I'm not speaking to you," growled Edward angrily. He stomped ahead of the emerald-haired man. With a sharp left, Edward attempted to put a little distance between him and the object of his anger. When Envy fell back into step beside the young alchemist, Edward came to a dead stop. "Why are you here?" he asked.

A frown tugged at the corners of the Sin's mouth. "Because I want to be around you." The Sin sighed, not understanding why Edward was so angry with him.

"Not that," growled Edward. "I meant, why are you living with me instead of with someone else?"

"Oh," said Envy. He shrugged and went ahead of Edward, folding his arms behind his head and walking while looking at the sky. Edward quickly trotted to keep up with Envy as he strode down the street, seemingly upset at the question. By the time the pair had reached their apartment, neither had spoken, the sky had begun to sprinkle rain on their heads. Once inside the building and alone on an elevator to be taken up to their floor, Envy broke the silence. "There are two reasons for your answer," said the emerald-haired man. "If you still want to know why I'm living with you."

"Er, yeah. I do," replied Edward awkwardly. The elevator came to a halt on their floor and the doors pulled open, revealing several people wanting to go somewhere else. Envy didn't finish replying until they were safely back inside their two-person suite.

"Edward, do you know my situation with Father and the others?" The blond boy frowned, shrugging, not quite understanding what Envy was trying to tell him. With a sigh, the emerald-haired boy sank into the couch. "I take that as a 'not really,' then." Envy waited for Edward to sit before proceeding. "You know how Father had two lives, right? Well, since I was part of one family, and you were a part of the other, I got really jealous when I found out. I wanted, more than anything, to just get rid of you, to have Father all to myself. I was a big prick when I was younger, I'll admit that."

"You still are," growled Edward, sitting on the opposite end of the couch from the Sin.

With a glare, Envy mostly ignored the comment. "But, when Father left our family to live with yours, and my Mom got sick, I decided that I would live on my own. For a while it was okay. Well, not really. I lived in a really crappy house with several other people and I had to run a little drug ring in order to pay for my room." The Sin tilted his head at an uncanny angle, eliciting a loud cracking noise. This caused Edward to twitch in annoyance, but the Sin went ahead and did it to the other side of his neck. Then, he proceeded to pop all his knuckles. He grinned at the blond while he did this. "Needless to say, I've been through a lot, Edo-kun."

"Yeah, you have," admitted the blond boy. "But that still doesn't explain why you're living with me and not one of your other relatives."

"Honestly, I wanted to get closer to Father. And I thought that getting closer to you would help me do that. Besides, I'd heard that you had a temper on you that was close to my own. In short, I thought that you'd be fun to be around." Envy grinned sheepishly at Edward. "And you are."

Clearly embarrassed, Edward mumbled something about unfinished homework, then dashed off to his room. Maybe AA wasn't so bad after all.