Tired, sore, and limping, Edward walked back home with three hundred bucks in his pocket. The money was dirty, he was dirty. He hated facing his brother after he did this. A car slowed down and stopped next to him. "Hey there, beautiful, got a minute?" Ed turned to look at the car, and almost gasped. It was that Greed guy. He stopped walking and stared at the man in the car.

"...What do you want?" Ed asked timidly. He had already had a turn with Ed tonight, one, long, hour and a half turn, and yet this man was looking at Edward with those same, lust-filled eyes.

"Well, to be honest, kid, I think I would like to go another round."

"Sorry, I'm off the clock." Ed turned around to leave.

"Wait! I know that that bitch Lust takes a percentage of whatever you make, I will pay you double and you get to keep all of it. We can just drive my car into that alleyway there, you can let me fuck you crazy, and then we can part ways, no more, no less. If you refuse me, however, I can always just follow you home." The man grinned wickedly.

Ed looked down at his feet, resisting the urge to vomit. "...How much would you pay me?" Ed had to choke the words out.

"For that ass? How about two hundred? Plus tip, for working off hours?" Edward gasped, that was way more than double the usual, but then again, Ed didn't know how much Madame Lust took out of what he made...

Edward sighed, and opened the passenger door, getting in. Greed smirked, "That's my boy."

Roy Mustang was taking a late night walk, trying to clear his mind. Being a principal of a high school did have its disadvantages, like constantly being caught up in stupid high school bullshit. It was a headache when he was in high school, and it was bad now. He was suddenly very grateful of his high school teachers and how patient they were with him. Dealing with a pyromaniac with anger issues wasn't the easiest thing in the world, after all...

As he turned a corner, a blonde head caught his eye. After squinting his eyes in the darkness for a bit, Roy confirmed that the blonde a few yards away from him was, indeed, Edward Elric. 'I wonder what he's doing out here this late at night...' Roy wondered. He was about to go and confront the boy when a car pulled up next to Ed, and the guy in the car started talking to him. The driver didn't exactly look like a good guy. Edward looked really uncomfortable talking to this man, but he ended up getting into the car, his whole body was shaking. What the fuck? The car drove into a dark alleyway-one Roy knew was a dead end-and he heard the engine shut off. What was going on?

Concerned, Roy sat on the wooden bench that was next to him and waited. He didn't want Edward to think that Roy was following him, and Roy really was curious as to why Edward was out so late, so Roy waited… and waited. He sat there for about an hour before he saw the car pull out of the alleyway and leave, and a minute after that he saw Edward emerge from the alley. His hair and clothes were messed up, and he was walking with a limp. Roy saw the boy count money, and then put it in his pocket.

Roy gasped. No, it couldn't be! This had to be something other than what it obviously was. Roy felt sad, this kid, this cool, smart, fucking beautiful kid was selling his body to support his brother and himself. He was so young...this was the time where he was supposed to be discovering love and sex, not sex as an object to give away. He was learning it all wrong. How was he supposed to ever trust and build a relationship with someone if this was how his sexual experiences have been? It was too crude...that poor boy.

Edward was walking away, probably heading home, and Roy could see his shoulders shaking. Ed was crying. Roy felt so much pity for the teen. No kid should ever have to go through this. Roy suddenly wanted nothing more than to show Ed that sex can be more than an object, and that it was something you could share with someone as an act of love and passion. For a second, Roy wanted to do this so badly that he completely forgot Edward was his student...

Edward was tired, and glad that he was almost home and could get a few hours of sleep before having to go to school. It was really late, so he expected Alphonse to be asleep by now, but as he approached his shitty apartment, he noticed the window glowing with light. Edward sighed in annoyance. 'Didn't I tell him not to wait up for me?' he thought. He was not in the mood to deal with his brother right now.

Ed entered the apartment, ready to tell Al off, "Al, it's a school night, why are you still-?" Ed stopped at what he saw in his living room, sitting next to Alphonse on his futon, "...Awake..." Ed finished, stunned. He couldn't believe it.

"Hello, Edward," Van Hohenhiem said, standing up to greet his son. "Wow, you've grown up so much."

"Yeah, it happens," Ed spat, "what the fuck are you doing here?"

"Brother!" Al snapped, standing up from the futon. Then he turned to Hohenhiem, "Sorry, Ed's not so good at being polite."

"He doesn't deserve my polite side!" Ed growled. "Now tell me what you are doing here!" This was the last thing that he needed right now.

"Maybe you can explain to me what happened to my house," Hohenhiem shot back.

Ed wasn't expecting that question. He touched his right arm instinctively, "There was an accident..." he mumbled, looking down. He didn't want to do this right now, he was already drained of most of his energy; he just wanted to sleep...

Alphonse saw the distress in his brother's eyes, and piped up, "There was some sort of electrical fire. The police concluded that mice or something chewed up wires or whatever." As Al spoke, flashbacks of the accident ran though Ed's mind.

"Alphonse!" Ed coughed through the smoke, "Al! Where are you?" He burst into the room they shared, covering his mouth and nose with his sleeve."

"Edward saved me," Al continued, "I was unconscious from the smoke, and Brother dragged me out of the house."

"Al! Stay here, I have to get something!" Ed said to his barely coherent brother before running back into the house.

"He went back into the house to get that picture of Mom," Alphonse pointed to the slightly charred picture frame hanging on the wall. "While he was in there some of the house collapsed on him, pinning his arm and leg down. If the firemen didn't get him when they did, he would have died; he got lucky."

"They had to amputate my arm and leg, Al, I wouldn't call that lucky," Ed said bitterly.

Hohenhiem looked at his eldest son, "Mrs. Rockbell fix you up with some automail?" Edward nodded. "Must have been painful."

"It was, not that you were there to help me through it." He hated this man; he wanted him out of his house so he could get some damn sleep. "You've never been there," Ed clenched his fists, "you've never helped out in any way!"

"That's not true, Brother, what about all the money he's sent us?" Hohenhiem's eyebrows knitted together in confusion. Edward sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose with his thumb and forefinger.

"I never sent-"

"Right, the money!" Ed said loudly over him, "I almost forgot." He shot Hohenhiem a look, silently telling him to keep his mouth shut if he knew what was good for him. Thankfully, he got the message.

"Right...I've sent you money." Hohenhiem didn't understand why Edward would lie about something like that, but he also didn't know how his son was really getting money.

"Now, will you tell me why you're here?" Ed asked through clenched teeth. "He should have exposed Hohenhiem for the useless, no-good shmuck he is, but he didn't want Al asking questions.

"Well, I heard you guys were living on your own, and I know how hard it can be, so I am here to offer my home to you. I know I haven't been there and I regret it. I want to get to know my boys. I would love it if you would come to live with me. I live in this city, so you wouldn't have to change schools or anything."

Edward couldn't believe what he was hearing. Was he for real right now? Did he really think they would even consider living with him? Ed was about to tell him this, but stopped himself When he saw Al's eyes light up with excitement and hope. He couldn't really want to live with this bastard, could he?

"I'll give you some time to think it over." Hohenhiem said, sensing Ed's tension. He handed Al a card. "Here's my number, give me a call if you decide to take my offer. You boy's get some sleep, Goodnight," and with that, he left.

Al turned excitedly to Ed, "Brother! Can we-?"

"We'll talk about it tomorrow," Ed said firmly, walking over to his futon and making it into a bed.

"Okay. Goodnight, Brother."

"Goodnight."