AN: Hello all, it's been a long time hasn't it? Unfortunately, I've lost interest in this story and can't continue writing this. It belongs to a really specific time in my life and that time has passed. I wrote this junior year of high school and regularly scavenged details from my life. Only, I'm applying to PhD and masters programs. I really enjoyed writing this and I'm so glad that all of you loved stuttering Ed. You all been very lovely and the best reviewers ever.

There will be one more update after this one. In that update I'll summarize what would have happened between the end of this chapter and the end of the fic as planned. I'm doing this for all my fics too. Just Stuttering is the one that has the largest unfinished chapter.

(y'all get this: development . inputnine archive / antares / site / res_antares_mansions . php Which turns out to, surprisingly, since I just found it and didn't think a ranch type house would ever have a sweeping staircase, work quite well)

Chapter 13

Envy's house looks like a rich person's idea of a ranch style house. Easily the size of old money mansions, the house lacks all sense of grace and proportion. Grandiose, bloated, stretched to dimensions far greater than the blueprint suggested, it barely looks like a house, more like a gathering of shapes. It is a study of architectural excess.

And it makes Envy shrink. Shrink as he walks up the cement and brick pathway; shrink as he pauses, feet barely touching the pristine doormat. Shrink as he fumbles with the keys. His whole body shrinks with silent apologies.

I hesitate, hover nervously in the background, just waiting for him to open the door so we can—what? Go up to his room and become even more awkward? Attempt to make small talk in my stupid, staccato speech? This situation isn't going to get better. It's just going to be uncomfortable and I don't know why I agreed to it in the first place.

Envy finally unlocks the door. Quickly, he turns to me like he's going to say something. Mouth open, he looks at me before turning back and opening the door.

"Hopefully, Gluttony's in the kitchen, I don't think that Greed or Lust is home, Mom should be out," Envy babbles. I shrug and follow him. My feet sink into the plush carpet. "We'll just go up to my room and…"

"Should I t-t-t-take my shoes off?" I ask. It seems like the type of house you would do that in. It's huge, meant to over-awe the visitor. The high vaulted ceilings, marble floors, and conspicuous artwork give it the feel of a ancient manor converted into a museum, like Darcy's Pemberly estate.

"Ah," Envy says and glances at my feet. "You're supposed to, but I never do so…" He looks anxiously at the sweeping staircase that would look equally at home in the Tsar's Winter Palace. "Let's just go upstairs before we—"

"Envy," a child-like voice croaks. Envy jumps and winces at me. His shrinking apology is back.

"Ah, Gluttony," he says, turning to a short and stout man with a doughy face. Envy looks at me worriedly. I try not to stare, but it's hard. The man barely comes up to Envy's chest, my shoulders. He's fat, almost obese. "I'm kinda, ah, busy at the moment…"

"Not too busy for cake?" the man—Gluttony replies. He looks hopeful. "Never too busy for cake." He grabs Envy by the hand and makes as if to drag him off. I just stand there. I think, I really think, that this Gluttony isn't … completely there in the head. Envy looks at me, an undecipherable look on his face.

"Actually, Gluttony," he says, trying to wriggle out of Gluttony's grasp. "Ed and I—"

Gluttony stops and lets go, looking at me like he didn't even know I was there.

"Ed, Edward?" he says, looking confused for a moment. Then he turns back to the direction he was facing (direction of the kitchen?). "Edward wants cake too."

Envy smirks at me. He leans over to whisper:

"Okay, now we can just—"

"Envy!" a loud booming voice says. Envy's face falls and he looks extremely irritated. "What are you doing home so early?"

"Greed," Envy says through gritted teeth. "Just leave us alone, we're—"

"Oh and you brought a friend with you too," Greed says, an insane grin on his face. My first impression: he has entirely too many teeth.

"Greed…"

"It's Edward," Gluttony chimes in. Envy scowls. I edge closer to him, dragging my bag with me. "Edward's his friend. And we're going to eat cake!"

"Edward," Greed says, smiling at Envy. Then turning to me: "Edward, it's so nice to finally meet you. ("Greed," Envy growls, warningly.) Envy's told us all so much about you." Envy looks positively murderous at that last statement.

"Ah, nice t-t-to meet you t-t-too," I say, hesitantly offering my hand. Greed shakes it energetically.

"Okay, introductions over," Envy snaps, grabbing my arm. "Ed and I are going to go up to my room—TO STUDY!" Envy shouts, glowering at Greed. I don't even want to know what Greed was implying or going to say.

"But no cake?" Gluttony asks, disappointment written on his face.

"No cake!" Envy shouts at Gluttony. Greed's face darkens. Envy drags me to the stairs.

"Everyone!" Greed shouts suddenly. "Envy's brought a friend home! And it's Edward Elric!"

"No cake?" Gluttony says again. He looks like the world has ended, like a puppy got run over in front of him. "You don't want cake? You don't like cake?"

"Fuck you," Envy mutters, glaring at Greed.

"What's going on?"

It's Lust and she doesn't look happy. "Envy are you being—hi Edward," she interrupts herself, smiling at me before looking at Envy. "Are you being mean to Uncle Gluttony?"

"No," Envy mutters looking away. "I—we have to study and he's being stupid."

"Envy's being a big fat meanie," Gluttony says pointing an accusing finger at Envy. I glance at Envy, expecting him to look annoyed, fed up, pissed off, anything other than stricken. The look is gone within seconds and he's as pissed off as I expected him to be.

"I'm not fat," Envy spits out. "And that's really rich coming from—"

"Envy!" Lust says. "That's not nice."

"Yeah, Envy," Greed says with a smirk, showing most of his fangs—teeth. "Be nice."

"Fatty!" Gluttony shouts. "Envy's a fatty!"

Envy clenches his fists at his sides. "Then I'm definitely not going to eat your stupid cake!"

Lust turns and whispers something to Greed, who slinks off into the hallways. He winks at me as he walks away. I ignore him. This is just too weird.

"But Edward wants a fat Envy!"

Envy turns a violent shade of red and sputters. He doesn't look at me and I don't know what to say at all.

"Shut up!" Envy shouts.

"You're too skinny," Gluttony says, poking Envy's arm. He slaps the hand away.

"Don't touch me."

"Nobody wants a bony bitch," Gluttony mutters turning away. Envy recoils slightly, he still won't meet my eyes. I'm lost.

"Gluttony!" Lust hisses, grabbing his arm. "Who taught you that word?"

Gluttony fidgets and looks away. "No one," he answers in a singsong tone. "Learned it myself."

"Gluttony," Lust says, her eyes narrowed. "I'm not going to ask again."

"No one," he answers and blows a raspberry at her. "Bony bitch, bony bitch, Envy's a bony bitch!"

"Envy, why don't you take Ed up to your room," Lust says, not looking away from Gluttony. "Gluttony needs a time out. Bad day."

"Come on," Envy says in a defeated tone. He slumps up the stairs and I follow, bursting with questions. Who is Gluttony? Uncle? What's wrong with him? Why didn't Envy fight back? Why does he care so much about the bony bitch comment? And… the question I don't want to think about. Why does everyone know my name in the household?

"I'm really sorry about that," Envy says once we're in his room. "That's exactly what I didn't want you to see. Should've gone through the back door, but I guess I'm stupid as well as bony." Envy looks up and attempts a laugh. It comes out bitter.

"It's, ah, it's okay," I say trying to reassure Envy.

"Don't lie to me," Envy says, turning his computer on. "Chibi."

"Don't call me short," I retort, then add: "Kawaii."

I know kawaii is a Japanese insult. Al always says it with such a disgusted look on his face. It has to be an insult. Only thing is, Envy doesn't look insulted. He blushes a little and looks away.

"I didn't know you cared," Envy says. He drops his bag on the floor and slumps against the bed. He looks up at me. "So, what do you want to do? … Oh." I sit down next to him, close enough so that we're almost touching. Envy scoots closer. I smile at him shyly. My heart is in my throat and I want to just lean in and—

"I'm sorry about Gluttony, he's not normally that bad," Envy says, sighing and looking away. "It's just, well, if you're not used to it, it can be kinda a lot at once. And," he looks back at me, "I don't talk about you that much. Gluttony's just being stupid and Greed's an ass."

Envy draws his knees up to his chest. He looks so dejected. Even his hair seems to droop. I take a deep breath and reach out to stroke Envy's arm. My fingers run down his upper arm and over his fishnet covered hands. He stares at me, terrified look on his face.

"What ah—"

"You're not bony," I say and wrap my arm around his shoulder. He leans into me and I can feel his heart race. It's pounding just like mine. I run the fingers of my other hand through his hair.

"Mmm," Envy says, curling into me. I feel his body start to relax. He wraps his arms around me, playing with the end of my braid. His head is on my chest and there's no way he can miss the rapid beat of my stupid heart. If he—if he just looks up I could lean down and, and kiss him. Envy sighs again and crawls over my legs to practically lie across me. I bite my lip, trying not to gasp. "Mmm, keep doing that."

"Wha-what?"

"That," Envy says, undoing my braid. He runs his fingers through my hair. "Don't stop." I keep petting his hair, really what else can I do? I sigh too. It's oddly relaxing, just holding him, even though he's sexy. Even though he likes me.

He curls up in my lap. Envy's taller than me, but he manages to fold himself up like origami until he fits perfectly. He buries his nose in my neck and I shiver because it's so much like The Dream. He moves until he's comfortable. We sit there, still for what feels like forever until he wraps his legs around me and pulls back to look at me.

Envy smiles. "Thanks for that." I shrug. I'm not entirely sure what he's referring to at this point. He's looking at me and I want him so badly. "I just—my family can be a lot to handle at times—Ah, most of the time." I nod. If I lean forward… Envy smiles again and leans—he's leaning forward!? I'm drawn in to him, like magnets. And he—he's going to—he's going to kiss me!

We bump foreheads and Envy doesn't move closer. His lips are curved in a mysterious smile and he's flushed and his nose is dusted with miniscule freckles, shades darker than his pale skin.

He grins and touches my hair again. His hands cup my face.

"We should do some homework," Envy says, and pulls away from me. He glides into a standing position and offers me a hand. I grab it and he pulls me up against him easily.

"Here," he says and leans away. I'm stuck standing there until he pulls a book off the shelf and hands me a book. "You should probably start reading this. We're already up to Dis at least and you should probably be up to there by Monday, otherwise Kärki will through a fit." Envy says and now he's turning his computer on.

His computer is one of the newer iMacs—I think. The flat ones all look the same to me. There's also a green, boxier Mac in the corner of his desk. It's not a new one and he doesn't turn it on. I open the paperback book and start reading.

The language is strange and it's hard to get used to at first. It doesn't read like a book at all. The paragraphs are in groups of three sentences and it almost feels as if it should rhyme. I look up at Envy and meet his eyes. He's been looking at me.

"You say something?" Envy asks, smiling a little. The corners of my lips turn up in response. I've never seen him this relaxed before.

"No," I say and quickly add. "But isn't this s-s-supposed to rhyme or s-s-something?"

Envy smiles, "Yes actually." Then his eyes widen. "You said—" He leaps up from his seat and darts across the room, prying a leather-bound volume off of a top shelf. "This is the Inferno, in its vernacular."

I just stare at Envy. I don't know how to read Italian.

"Nel mezzo del cammin di nostra vita mi ritrovai per una selva oscura ché la diritta via era smarrita Ahi quanto a dir qual era è cosa dura esta selva selvaggia e aspra e forte che nel pensier rinova la paura!"

It sounds beautiful. The language is rich and almost musical. And the poem really does rhyme.

"The whole poem is like that," Envy says, closing the book. His fingers caress the cover. "It's written in Terza Rima and Dante keeps that up throughout the entire poem."

My eyebrows rise. I'm impressed. Even though this is Italian and it's almost impossible not to rhyme it. Though maybe that was part of the challenge, not rhyming. Envy sets the book down on the desk.

"Dante brought that back from one of her trips to Italy," Envy says quietly and I don't think he's talking about the poet. "She didn't get us all gifts that matched either or that had to do with our sin." His fingers curl around the book. "I was seven. It's why I wanted to learn Italian." I don't know what to say. Not that there is much to say. Nothing really to do except listen.

"So that's that." Envy says, setting the book down on the desk. "I can read more of it later, if you'd like to hear. I mean if you want, you certainly don't have to listen to me talk if you don't want to—"

I cut him off.

"I'd llllllike that," I say, grinning at him. He blushes and goes back to the computer.

"You should probably read some more," Envy mutters, his ears still tinged pink. I read to the translated version of Dante's Inferno.

I set the poem book down. I can't understand much more of this. It barely makes sense as is and now with the last few cantos swimming together in my head… I can't keep everything straight and I have about a million questions to ask Envy. Like why was it a good thing that Dante got back and kicked that man? Who was he even? And why does Dante faint at that one part? Why doesn't the man want him to cross the Styx? What's going on?

Envy looks over at me. He stops typing.

"Have you gotten to Dis yet?" he asks. I shake my head.

"No," I say. "It's confusing and—"

"I'm kidding," Envy interrupts quickly. He twirls a strand of hair around his fingers. He's smiling a little too. "There's no way you could read all the way to Dis before dinner." I smile back at him.

"S-so now what?" I ask, looking up at Envy. He saves whatever he just spent the last hour and a half typing and gracefully slides out of the chair.

"I don't know," he purrs softly. My eyes widen and I blush, I know I blush. "You tell me."

There's the sound of footsteps racing up the stairs but that's nothing compared to the sound of my heart pounding in my chest. I lean forward, hoping I'm not making a terrible mistake when—

"Envy! Are you okay!?" Sloth says loudly as she flings the door open. Envy whips around and his hair brushes across my face. His cheeks are bright red and he doesn't look happy at his twin's interruption. That's a good sign, but damn so if Sloth hadn't shown up I would have—we would be…fucking hell.

"Yes," he growls at her. "I'm fine."

"No you're not," she retorts. Then glancing at me. "Oh hi Ed, I—Iya Iya didn't see yuh-yuh-you there." She breathes deeply and looks at me with a strange expression. I can't tell what she wants from me and I don't know why she's making an effort to stutter around me. Neither can Envy from the puzzled look on his face.

"Hey Ss-s-s-slllloth," I say. She smiles at me.

"So, what have yuh-yuh-you two been working on?" Sloth asks, still hovering in the doorway. Envy doesn't look thrilled at the sudden interrogation.

"Homework," Envy answers in a surly tone. He glares at Sloth. "Why are you back early? Shouldn't you still be at practice?"

Sloth shrugs elegantly. "It was a, a, a short, uh, uh, short practice, the instructor's daughter has the flu and the choreographer is giving blood." She gives Envy a searching look. "Lust is downstairs with Gluttony, cooking. Yuh-yuh-you did remember to tell Lust that Ed's staying for dinner, right?"

Envy crosses his arms. "Yes, she knows he's spending the night, and eating here. Don't you have homework?"

Sloth grins. "Yuh-yuh-yes. We have that history project to work on, right Ed?" She winks at me. Her smile is more frozen this time. I sympathize. She can't just say what she wants to anymore. I glance between her and Envy. I don't get what they're playing at.

"We're working on Dante's Inferno," Envy snaps. "Ed was just about to start editing what I wrote, right Ed?"

I nod quickly and shrug at Sloth. Her grin just widens. "Just making sure," she says. "I'll just leave you two amore ucceelli alone then."

"We're not! Don't even! Non c'è modo che mi piace così, puttana."

Sloth ignores Envy's protests and slams the door on her way out.

"What did she s-s-say?" I ask the second she's gone. I'm curious. They're probably both speaking Italian, I don't really know. I'm not familiar with the sounds of different languages, but I'm pretty sure it's not French.

"Uh," Envy says, blushing a deep red. "Nothing important, just something really stupid." He smiles nervously at me. "Um, sorry about that. She's normally—actually she's always like that but I just didn't mean to talk like you weren't here, you definitely don't have to edit my stuff right away either."

I touch his shoulder lightly.

"It's okay, I am the editor f-f-f—f-ff-f-f—f—"

I can't block! I can't! I haven't stuttered as violently today and especially not after that with Envy. "F-f-f—for the group." There. I finally said it. Though it's not like Envy's going to be paying attention to what I'm saying. He's just going to be worried because it sounds like I'm choking.

He does give me a concerned look and places his hand carefully on my back.

"Yes, but it's just been typed out. It has to age a bit and then I'll edit it the first couple of drafts. Just because you're the editor doesn't mean you have to do everything from the rough draft on," Envy says. He looks like he's about to say more too, though I'm not really sure what he could possibly go on about.

"S-so, if we're not going to do editing now," I say. "What are we going t-to do until dinner?"

Envy smiles mysteriously, his motive unreadable. "Well," he says and he leans in close. "I don't know. What do you want to do, Edward."

I shrug and smirk at him. According to Wrath, he likes me. Wrath and all the evidence so far. "Well, you could explain to me exactly what I just read."

Envy's hopefully look vanishes and he sighs.

"Yeah, it's always confusing the first time you read it."

After Envy goes over the last couple of cantos with me it begins to make slightly more sense. I say slightly because Envy's strong point isn't clear, concise explanations or summaries. That's more of Winry's thing. She's the one who's extremely good at breaking things down into sections and drawing the main points out. I think she thinks in bullet points. Envy however…

"And it's really amazing to think about why he wrote it and all. He was banned from Florence and that must've been like death to him because that was his identity and then his sentence got computed a couple of times. Eventually, it got down to serving public penance but he refused. He was rather proud and then there was one where he would have to just um," Envy pauses and furrows him brow. I really quite honestly have no idea what he is talking about. I nod anyways. "Well, basically, it was pay a fine and apologize and then never ever return to Florence again, I believe the alternative was a death sentence which was computed to house arrest, but he never went back."

"That's interesting," I say, but I really don't see how it relates to the rest of the book, err, poem.

"Yes," Envy says and then he's off again, "So that's why a lot of his enemies appear in hell, like certain popes he dislikes, oh! And anyone who ever did anything bad to Rome, or the people that became Rome. That's why the dude from the Odyssey are punished because they sacked Troy and the Trojans escaped and settled in Italy where they became Rome. And it really ties in with Dante's politics, as he deeply loved Rome and the Church and the Pope, only they turned against him and this whole thing was supposed to expose the rot of the Church. And isn't that interesting?"

I don't really see how this relates to the Fourth Circle of Hell, which is apparently where some strange sort of jousting match between those who squandered their wealth and those who hoarded it is supposed to be happening. However, when I read it, it sounded more like an eternal match of tug-o-war.

"Then they reach the Fourth Circle," Envy says. Finally, he'll explain it and then it'll all make sense. "But it's rather boring since they don't talk to anyone and there's just a bunch of crap about Fortune and all that jazz."

"So, how are they being punished?" I ask. I'm honestly confused. This whole tug-o-war/jousting match doesn't seem to symbolically punish them much. It doesn't represent how their sin affected them spiritually.

"Well, first off, they have to push these huge weights against each other and uh," Envy pauses. He twirls his hair around a long and pale finger. "And then, they're struggling against their opposites. So, someone who hoarded stuff has to push the weight—er the burden of his former material desires against someone who spend lavishly and is also cursed with that weight. Because, um, it's really the same sin, appreciating material stuff too much, only it's expressed in different ways. Sorta. Savvy?"

No. No that does not make sense. So far it's been easy to see why they are punished. Lust is punished with the whirlwind, which represents how it storms the mind and clouds the sense of reason. But this… this is just punishment.

I shrugged. "I guess, s-s-s—so," I stutter. I don't understand this poem.

"Well, the main point is that he had to include this and it gives him a nice way to talk about Fortune," Envy says. "Moving on to the Fifth Circle…"

I start tuning him out. I'm already completely lost and Envy, I'm learning, likes to focus on the small details and the implications of this word and that phrase. He also really seems to enjoy the tangents and the whole scheme of the political context actually seems to make sense to him. I don't get it.

I sigh and try to look attentive. It can't be too much longer until dinner. I'll just ask Winry for her notes tomorrow or something and then look the whole thing up on Spark Notes. Then all of this detailed stuff might make more sense.

I keep staring at Envy anyways. His mouth is constantly moving to shape and form the words. He's very excited about the book and he keeps gesturing with his hands. I lean up against his bed, just watching him. He's talking about how Dante had to learn to toughed up and that the fainting meant that he really had too much sympathy for those suffering in hell and he had to get rid of it. And that was what made the part where he kicks the other man important because that shows that Dante is losing sympathy for the damned. Which, apparently is good.

There's a knock at the door. Envy jumps, hair fanning out as he spins around.

"Who is it?" he demands, slowing rising from his cross-legged position. He does so in one fluid movement, without using his hands to balance.

There's giggles at the door.

"Gluttony, if that's you, you can—"

The giggles stop.

"No," a quite voice says. "I'm not Gluttony."

Envy sighs. "Come in Wrath." The door opens slowly and Wrath darts in.

He sits down before standing up again. He bites his lip and picks up something from Envy's desk. Envy watches him like a hawk.

"Put that down," Envy says. Wrath gives him a startled look and sets the object, a small paper weight, back down on the desk. He looks surprised that it's in his hands to begin with.

"Sorry," Wrath says before sitting down next to Envy. He sighs. He doesn't look at me. Envy doesn't look exactly thrilled to have his younger brother in the room with him.

"Well," Envy says, "What do you want?"

Wrath blinks. He rubs his hand before sighing and looking at me. "Oh, hi Ed." I smile. I have no idea why Wrath is here. In fact, I've had no idea what's going since I got into Envy's house. It's like a mad house. No one in here is sane.

"Wrath, did you want to talk about something or not, because Ed and I have a lot of school work to do," Envy says. He runs his fingers through his hair fast. They tangle at the bottom and he jerks them through. "Well?"

Wrath looks at Envy. He chews his lip. His eye flick to me and then back to Envy. He takes a deep breath. "How can you tell if someone's gay?"

That was not what I expected Wrath to ask. At all. I didn't know what to expect from him at this point or any point really, but honestly, if anyone would be able to tell if someone's gay, wouldn't it be someone who is in fact gay?

Envy gives him a dumbfounded look.

"You seriously," he trails off. He sighs heavily. "Why are you asking me?" Wrath shrugs.

"Who else? Greed? Lust? Sloth?"

"Yes," Envy says. He sees nothing wrong with Wrath bothering his siblings. "You don't have to ask me."

Wrath glances at me and then gives Envy a petulant look. "But you're the only one who has a—"

"Fine!" Envy says cutting Wrath off. He's blushing too, the color rising in his cheeks. "Fine, who do you want to know? I should charge you for this."

Wrath glances at me again and smiles. "Well, I can't tell you his name."

Envy makes a frustrated noise and yanks his hand through his hair again. "Then how do you expect me to help you?"

Wrath stares at Envy as if he's trying to convey something through his eyes alone. Somehow, Envy understands, but I'm clueless. "Ed, I have to talk to Wrath about something, just stay here," Envy says getting up and dragging Wrath out of the room.

Fin.

Translation:

Midway upon the journey of our life
I found myself within a forest dark,
For the straightforward pathway had been lost.
Ah me! how hard a thing it is to say
What was this forest savage, rough, and stern,
Which in the very thought renews the fear.

amore ucceelli—love birds.

Non c'è modo che mi piace così, puttana—He doesn't like me like that, whore (Though Google translator says "There is no way that I like it, bitch" )

And then I stopped writing. Argh. I don't remember the details of this at all. I don't understand the poem anymore. I'm also completely lost. Do you know how weird and disorientating it is to not know what's going on in the world you created?

Anyways, so this is the last update ever of actual story. I'm not going to write anymore of it. However, there will likely be one last update alert for it. And that is when I condense all of my typed notes on the story into something that makes to people—as opposed to something that currently only makes sense to me.

Review Form (for old time's sake)

Is Ed in Chapter 13 in character as compared to the Ed in Chapters 1-12?

How boring was the bit about the poem?