Edward's day wasn't too bad; he just wished that people would stop asking him if he was ok. The first was Mr. Havoc, though Edward can understand why he would be concerned, he was one of the few that saw how bad his face was the previous day. Then random students started asking him. Funny, how they will ignore the strangeness of him wearing a coat and pants when it was almost 100 degrees, but when he had a bruise on his face they couldn't stop asking questions. 'People only care if they can see,' Ed thought. As far as they knew, he could be covering up more bruises or cuts or anything, he wasn't, but still, it's the thought that counts.

Ed had just finished helping Mr. Armstrong put away the gym equipment and was heading to science class. "Hey! Elric!" Edward turned around to see who was yelling at him, it was Paninya. She was jogging to catch up to him, and once she reached him, she punched him in the arm-luckily, his left one- and said, "You didn't come to my party, Jerk!" She said jokingly, then she saw his face. "Oh, god, are you ok?"

Edward sighed. "Yes, I'm fine. I'm sorry I couldn't make it to your party."

Paninya smiled and linked arms with Ed, pulling him towards their classroom. "That's alright! Maybe we can have lunch together sometime, or hang out after school." She was practically dragging Edward; he tried to get away before she-

"Whoa." She stopped pulling on Ed's arm-his right arm- and looked at him. She had to have felt his automail. Ed's heart was beating fast, was she going to make a scene? Paninya smiled and winked, "You must work out." before Ed could say anything, she grabbed his left hand and pulled him into the classroom. She didn't let go of his hand until they had to separate to sit in their desks.

Ed didn't like her grabbing him and pulling him around like that, he wasn't sure if he even liked this girl. He got out a piece of paper and started to write down the questions Mr. Fuery had written on the board. Most of the student copied the question down and waited for Mr. Fuery to answer them, but, Edward had spent hours studying college science textbooks with Mrs. Curtis, so he already knew all the answers. Ed jotted down the answers quickly then sat and waited. Mr. Fuery gave everyone ten minutes to work on the questions.

He felt someone tap his shoulder. "Hey! Kid! You're Edward, right?" Ed turned around to the kid that was sitting behind him. He had long black hair that was up in a ponytail and he was wearing a white tang top and black pants.

"Yeah, I'm Ed." Edward replied.

"Name's Kimblee, Solf Kimblee, do you know the answers to this crap? Because I have no clue, and I have to pass this class this year or I'll have to come back again next year. How 'bout you help a brother out?" Ed looked at the guy; he did look a little older than the rest of the seniors. Feeling sorry for this guy, Ed decided to give him the answers.

"Hey, thanks. It would be a bitch if I had to see Fuery's stupid fucking face next year."

Ed frowned slightly; he didn't think Mr. Fuery was that bad... The kid sitting next to Kimblee looked up from his paper and hit Kimblee's shoulder. "Hey, Solf, who's your friend?"

"This is Edward, he's new, I think. Ed, this is my less than straight friend, Ling."

Ling extended his hand to shake Ed's. "Nice to meet you Ed. And seriously, Kimblee? Less than straight friend? Do you have to tell everyone we meet that I'm gay?"

Ed blushed a bit. This kid was gay, and open about it? And it was ok? Back in his old school, if you were gay and people found out, they would try to beat the shit out of you. That was why Ed was expelled. Ed told his ex-best friend Russel that he was gay, and Russel, being a homophobic asshole, apparently, went and told the entire school. Ed endured weeks of physical and verbal harassment before he finally kicked Russel's ass. School officials decided that Ed used his automail as a weapon, so they expelled him. Fucking bullshit, right?

"It's nice to meet you too, Ling." Ed said, then he turned back around to pay attention to Mr. Fuery who was going over the answers to the questions on the board. He was taking a few notes when a folded up piece of paper plopped right in front of him.

Ed unfolded the note and read it; the handwriting was messy and kind of bulky.

Ed,

Do you want to hang out some time? Kimblee always finds a good party, if you're down.

Ling

Edward sighed. This was the second person who had invited him to a party since he's been here. He really wasn't the kind of kid to party. He quickly jotted down a reply and tossed the note back to Ling. He said,

Sorry, Ling, but I don't really party much, I have other responsibilities.

Ling read the note and shrugged. He didn't bother answering him back; he wasn't going to push it. It was true that Ling thought Ed was cute, but he also highly doubted that he was gay, with the way Paninya was holding his hand and all. Oh well.

School was over and Ed was walking with Al and his friend Martel back to their house. When the brothers met up after school, Al asked if it was ok for Martel to come and hang out for a while, and of course Ed couldn't refuse.

"So did you make any new friends yet, Ed?" Al asked. Apparently Al was already the most popular junior in the school "It shouldn't be too hard for you, I hear girls say how cute you are all the time, especially that Claus girl. I can't believe a freshman has a crush on you!"

Edward sighed, he never told his brother that he was gay, and that's why Al didn't really understand why Ed got in so many fights up until his expulsion. "Well, there's this girl Paninya who kind of forced her friendship on me."

"Paninya is just like that, she doesn't understand personal space or anything like that. She's nice though, once you get to know her." Martel said.

"Yeah. Well, I met two other guys today, Kimblee and Ling. They seemed alright."

Martel stopped in her tracks at that, causing the two boys to stop and look at her. "What's up?" Al asked.

"Did you say Kimblee?" Martel asked.

"Yeah, why?"

"I wouldn't get involved with that guy if I were you, Ed. Ling is an alright guy, I guess, but Kimblee...he's trouble." Martel started to walk again, and the boys followed suit.

"Alright, thanks for the warning," Ed said, slightly confused. Sure, Kimblee gave off a creeper vibe, but he didn't seem to be so bad. Guess you can't judge someone so quickly.

The three reached the dinky apartment, and the two boys were listening to Martel talk, "Kimblee has always started trouble. Last year, he made a bomb and put it in the boy's bathroom; it didn't hurt anyone or do any damage, so he didn't get expelled. He flunked out though, so he had to come back, so I think that's punishment enough. He always has fire crackers or something to blow things up with; he was probably that kid that blew up his sister's Barbie dolls," She explained. "He also picks on lower classmen a lot, the jerk. His girlfriend isn't any better either."

"Girlfriend?" Ed asked. She must not have had the same science class as them.

"Yeah, her name's Nova, a real bitch too. She and he make a perfect team of evil. Rumor is she does cage fights for money, and Kimblee will bet money on her, so they get twice the amount of money-apparently she never loses."

She fought for money, how convenient for her. Edward tried to do the same thing, but they wouldn't let him. They said his automail gave him an unfair advantage.

There was a loud knock on the door. "I'll get it." Edward said, standing up from his futon, Alphonse, who was currently sitting on the floor, immediately took his place next to Martel. Ed rolled his eyes and opened the door. It was the landlord.

"Hey, Mr. Yoki, what do you need?" Ed said, stepping outside and closing the door behind him, he didn't want Al to hear this conversation.

"You know what I need, Mr. Elric. I agreed to postpone your rent, but the fact of the matter is, it needs to be paid. I'll give you until tomorrow, if you don't pay me by then, you and your brother will have to find some other place to live."

Edward sighed. "Of course, Mr. Yoki, I'm sorry. I will have it to you by tomorrow. I promise."

"Good." the man said, then he left. Edward went back into the house.

"What did Mr. Yoki need?" Al asked.

"He was just checking in on us, making sure everything was fine."

"Oh, that's nice." Al quickly bought the lie and went back to talking to Martel. He was leaning forward and actively engaged in everything she said, it was funny. Ed has never seen Al be so love-struck before.

Martel hung out with them and stayed until dinner, then left-much to Al's displeasure. Edward was still troubled by his money situation, he couldn't get kicked out; not when they just got here.

The older brother put on his black coat, opposed to the red one he usually wore. "You're going out tonight?" Al asked.

"Yeah, I'll be back in a few hours, but don't wait up for me, ok?" Al nodded. He knew that he couldn't get his brother to stay. He didn't know where Ed was always going, and he didn't like it, but he couldn't stop Ed, he didn't have that sort of power. Edward sighed and left the apartment.

It was still pretty warm out even though the sun has been down for a few hours, but Ed was used to it all by now. He walked fast, and paid no attention to anything but the street signs, and in twenty minutes he was at his destination. It was a big grey building that would have been completely unnoticeable if it weren't for the glowing neon "Open" sign over the door. Ed took a deep, shaky breath before entering the building; he hated this.

"Edward! Darling! I was afraid you weren't going to come back after that big, mean man hit you."

"Hello, Madame Lust," Ed greeted the woman. Madame Lust had long, black hair and was extremely sexy-if you were into women like that. She always wore a tight black dress that her boobs practically spilled out of.

"Eddy-boy, it's a good thing you came back, we have so many customers asking specifically for you. I don't know why, but you're the new favorite, kid." Ed knew that she meant that as a compliment, but he couldn't really take it that way, he was disgusted with himself when he came here.

The phone rang, and a big man at the desk-Ed secretly called him Gluttony because of how much the man ate- answered the phone, "Madame Lust's Whore House, we got girls and boys to be your toys." He always answered the phone this way. "Yes, the blonde boy with the metal parts is here, Sir, but I'm afraid you'll have to wait your turn."

Edward shuttered. People were calling here for him. "Your first customer is already waiting upstairs in your usual room. He demanded to have you first tonight; I swear that man is greedy. Good luck." she patted him on the back and Edward made his way up the old, creaky stairs. Ed knew exactly who Lust was talking about. This man had come to see Ed every night since Ed has been here. He refused to tell Ed his name, but, considering his actions and how he talks, Ed secretly called him Greed.

Edward entered the room and shut the door behind him. The room was dimly lit, and there was nothing more than a bed in the middle of the room, which the man was laying on, already naked. "It's about time." the man said. "I missed you yesterday."

Edward took off his clothes slowly, knowing what was to come. "Let's just get this over with."