(A/N: I realized I should have named Monique's pub. Its basically Devil's Nest before Devil's Nest, because I imagine Greed would want a place to get away from the family, even before he left in earnest. I'll probably go back and slap a title on it later.)
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How long will it take, only time will tell
Before the chains o' damnation drag me down to hell
But in the meantime, I'll take the women and wine
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The pub was much different in the daytime; dark inside, with chairs upside down on top of tables. Beams of light sliced the musky gloom, catching dust motes as they hung suspect in the still air. The sound of Envy's footsteps were loud in the silence, a silence only deepened by the memory of what took place there nightly. The floorboards were still broken where Envy had smashed Greed's head against them.
Monique stood behind the counter, smoking a cigar as she washed out the last few dishes from the previous night. She looked less than thrilled to see her visitor.
"Can I help ya?"
"Is Greed here?" Envy asked, drawing level with the bar.
"If he is?"
It was infuriating, the way this human showed no fear of it. Envy forced a smile, and replied in a would-be cheerful tone,
"Then tell me which room he's in, and I'll stop bothering you."
"Dunno what kind of establishment you think this is, but I don't give that information out to anyone who asks."
The smile dropped away from Envy's face. "Either you give me a room number, or I break down the door of every room in this place looking for him. And don't," it added, "even think about reaching for that shotgun. It'll only make me mad."
"Room 424." Monique said with a scowl. Greed might be a customer, but he wasn't paying her to be a bodyguard.
"Thanks a bunch." Envy said in the previous saccharine tone, turning and heading towards the stairs, ears pricked all the while for the click of a trigger.
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Up at room 424, the sound of several voices emanated from within. Two or more female by the sound of it, along with Greed's unmistakable growling baritone. Envy heard them all quite clearly, for the door stood partially open, obstructed in its frame by someone's discarded pants. Sloppy, just like Greed. Then again, why bother with shutting and locking doors, when he carried the ultimate defense around in his own skin? The only vulnerable ones there were the human pets, and what did he care about them?
Envy paused on the threshold, uncharacteristically shy. After letting itself be so stomach-turningly vulnerable with Kimblee, it felt raw. Exposed. And Greed would probably pick up on that too, as damnably perceptive as he was when it came to Envy's weak points. Envy wasn't about to turn tail and run, though. It wanted answers, no matter how much dignity it lost or how many horrible spectacles it had to walk in on.
It took a deep breath, and kicked the door open. It led into a tastefully wallpapered entryway with a bathroom door on one side and a closet on the other. A few more clothes were scattered throughout. Envy continued on to what appeared to be the main room, and that was where Greed was to be found, seated in a hot tub with a female human on either side of him. Envy was thankful for the bubbles which obscured everything from the waist down.
Upon looking around, Envy realized it could have saved itself the trouble of intimidation by simply asking Monique which was her largest and most lavish room. The sitting are itself was bigger than Kimblee's entire apartment, to say nothing of the kitchenette and, further back, a partially obscured bedroom area with a bed that could have fit five people.
"Greed." Envy said with a nod of its head as it came to stand in front of the hot tub, fastidiously ignoring the two females. "Classy as always I see."
"Envy." Greed smirked, intertwining one hand absently in one of the women's hair. "Come to get nailed again?"
"I was considering returning the favor. But right now I only want a word."
"I'm kinda in the middle of something."
"Do I look like I care?"
"Don't ask me to describe what you look like."
Envy wondered of the gritting of its teeth was audible over the rush of the tub's jets.
"Barbs aside, I have questions."
"And I have two ladies in a hot tub."
"When don't you? But fine – you wanna finish up, I will literally be standing. Right. Here." Envy fixed all three of them with its best sour glare. "Have fun."
The two women looked at Envy in horror, but Greed was unwilling to back down.
"Think a bit of voyeurism's too much for me, leviathan? I don't mind putting on a show."
"I didn't say I would be in this form. How's that for a show?"
Greed sighed. "Ladies, I hate to say it but it seems we need to take a break for a while."
They seemed glad enough to go at that point. Envy turned away, more in distaste of their nudity than for the sake of their feminine modesty. When they had wrapped themselves in bathrobes and towels and departed through a door which seemed to lead to an adjoining room, Greed fixed his attention on Envy.
"This had better be important."
"I'll make it quick. Did Kimblee really turn you down for me?"
Envy knew it should have come at it with a little more finesse, but it didn't feel like games for once. It just wanted to get an answer and get out, and leave Greed to his toys.
"What if I don't tell you?"
Apparently Greed was up for game-playing though, perhaps as revenge for Envy interrupting his other kind of play.
"Then I will assume there's something you're hiding, meaning he was lying and you were behind it."
"What if I've decided I wanted him instead, and I'm deliberately cock bl - getting in your way?"
"Then you should know better to let me leave here thinking he lied to me, because I would kill him." Envy walked up to the edge of the tub, grabbing a wine bottle balanced thereupon and taking a drink.
"What if I'd rather see him dead than with you? What if I decided this will be my first lie? I can at any time you know, I simply choose not to."
"You hate me that much?" Envy contemplated emptying the rest of the bottle over Greed's head.
"Maybe I loved my cars that much."
"You nailed me to a wall for a week!"
"And I still don't have them back, do I?"
"You deserved it. You deserve that and more, you insufferable asshole!"
"Right back at ya, sweetheart."
"Don't call me that." Envy growled.
"Fine. Envy. What you should ask yourself, before you interrogate me, is how much you're willing to throw away just to spite me."
The question referred to more than just the matter at hand, a good deal more.
"To spite you?" Envy's hands curled into fists. "Is that what you call it, when someone isn't clamoring to be your possession?"
"No. That is what I call it when someone is too wrapped up in their own shit to know a good thing when they see it. Would you kill him because of something I said? If so, you oughtta give up and walk away right now."
"You're a fine one to give advice on relationships."
"Take it or leave it. On some level, you know I'm right. Probably ignore me anyway though. Never listen to a word I say except the insults."
"That's because you don't say anything else!"
"Regardless, I don't have to be an expert to know that the two of you should work it out on your own." Greed removed a glass of wine from the side of the tub, taking a sip. "You can either trust him or you can't. I don't figure into it."
"Bullshit! You're the one that made that idiotic bet with him for one thing."
Greed choked on his beverage. "You know about that? Fuck, is he still alive?"
"He's fine."
"Lust promised not to tell you."
"Gee, it's like she lied or something. Guess she's not as 'yours' as you thought she was."
"And you seriously didn't kill him?"
"Didn't do anything to him." Okay, so that was a lie, but it was true insofar as that Envy hadn't 'hurt' him… "And if you're really worried about what I'd do to him when I found out, why'd you tell Lust in the first place?"
"I didn't. She asked."
"But…wait, why would she…?"
There was a split-second of confused silence, then, at the same time,
"Pride!"
"He must have been eavesdropping when we bet –" Began Greed,
"And when it seemed like Kimblee and I were getting too friendly, he let something slip to Lust, who asked you –"
"– And promptly told you, and Pride would know you would resort to an act of unprovoked violence –"
"'Unprovoked'? Since fucking when?"
"What, you think it's a crime that the human was interested in you? I think it is, but I figured you're smart enough to know luck when you get it."
"I don't call getting bet on like a race horse or a hand of cards lucky."
"Apparently I was wrong then. If you're too stubborn to take him, I will."
"Who says I won't?"
"Please. A guy couldn't pry your legs apart with a crowbar."
"Just my skull."
"Thick as it is."
"I fucking hate you so much."
"What else is new?" He frowned. "Actually, what's new is for Pride to give a shit about who any of us go to bed with. Why the hell would he care enough to sabotage you and Kimblee?"
"He didn't want another sibling falling to disgusting habits I guess." Envy said, shrugging. "Such a considerate big brother, always looking out for us. Fuck, I was stupid not to see it all along. Go kill the human, Envy, he says. Don't be like Lust and Greed, he says. I should've been waiting for him to try something sneaky!"
There was a moment of silence in which Envy glowered and Greed stared at the glass of wine in his hand without really seeing it.
"He chose you over me." Said Greed, abruptly.
"Pride - ?"
"Kimblee, idiot. Now listen closely, because I'll only say this once: he turned me down. Twice, in fact. And it wasn't as though he wasn't interested, either."
Envy just stared. Greed snorted.
"Yeah, I was surprised too. You know I'm not lying when I say you've got a good thing going."
Envy knew no word to describe how it felt, as though a giant hand were using its innards as playdough.
"…Why are you telling me this?" Greed was honest, yes, and he used that truth as a weapon. It was unprecedented for him to tell Envy anything it wanted to hear, anything good.
"Because I'm not like Pride."
"I know." Envy said softly. It was the nicest thing Envy had said to him in several decades.
"For one thing, he doesn't have two women waiting to jump back in the tub with him." He splashed a few drops of water onto Envy. "So get the hell out, unless you still want that show."
Moments of amity could never be allowed last long between them. Neither would know what to do if it did.
"Already on my way."
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(A/N: Song excerpt is Chains o' Damnation, by All the Apparatus, because it reminds me a lot of Greed. Thanks for reading!)