(A/N: Hey, any of you who are still paying attention to this story! Yes, it has been forever. I don't know what else to say, except to repeat that I am not going to abandon this story, much as it seems that way sometimes.)

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It was around four in the morning when Envy arrived at the tavern. Disregarding the large 'closed' sign hanging over the lately-repaired doors, Envy entered to find Monique closing up shop for the day.

He was expecting another bout of haggling with Monique as to where Greed was situated at the moment. However, the world wasn't working the way Envy was used to as of late. Upon seeing the homunculus, Monique merely grunted – downright friendly, as far as Envy was concerned – and threw something small in his direction. Catching it, Envy saw that it was a room key, numbered 16.

"Told me to give it to you when you turned up." Monique said, by way of explanation. "Now you're his problem."

Envy didn't know what to say, so he left without further comment.

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The door to Greed's room was shut and locked this time. Envy hesitated outside the door for a moment, as though having forgotten how to use one. It would have been hard to say which impetus was stronger, to turn the key and enter, or to throw the key and run, run far away, back to some version of reality which made sense.

On a whim, Envy shifted from male to female. True to the spirit of the game which Kimblee had laid out for them, Envy dutifully sustained sexuality and the accompanying frustrated desires from earlier. It was no easier to bear as a female, but overt arousal was much less obvious. Also, Greed always seemed slightly off-balance when Envy was female, and Envy was willing to take any advantages she could get.

"There's no way there's no way." Envy muttered, a bit ruefully, as she unlocked the door and entered.

If Envy had felt slightly disoriented by the situation in which she found herself, the scene she walked in on was utterly bewildering.

Room 16 was much smaller than room 242, equipped merely with a double bed and a small desk. Greed was sitting at said desk, which was spread corner to corner with a chaos of paperwork.

"Took you long enough." Greed said, grinning at Envy.

"You're working?"

"Don't tell anyone you caught me at it. I have a reputation to uphold."

"No one would believe me if I did." Envy said, then, "I can come back later if you…"

"Nah, I've been meaning to take a break." He tossed down the fountain pen he had been holding and stretched, arching his lanky body and giving Envy a perfect view of his diamond-chiseled physique. "Although if you're here for that date I don't know what we could do," he said, through a yawn. "Everything's either closed for the night or not open yet for the morning."

"It's not that." Envy suddenly wished it was. Even that would be easier. She walked around and sat on the edge of the bed closest to Greed's desk. If they were going to have this talk, might as well do it right.

"I wanted to talk to you…about Lust."

Greek cocked his head. "What about her? You want her in on –"

"No! No no no! What, you think I wanna be the family bicycle?!"

"Hey, don't get bent out of shape. She's hot. Unless you're only into guys…?"

"I don't know." Envy said, sliding from irate to pensive. Envy placed so little significance to gender in and of itself, the question had honestly never occurred. "I think if Kimblee were a woman, I'd feel the same way about 'her'. But my feelings towards Lust aren't like that."

Greed fondly contemplated the idea of this female incarnation of Envy and a hypothetical female Kimblee, before filing the thought away for later.

"Then what did you wanna talk about?"

"How will Lust feel about all this? I know she's seen you hump everything that'll stand still, but she's the only one of our kind you've–" Envy shot Greed a sharp look – "Isn't she?"

"Yes. And since when do you care how she feels?"

"Who says I care? I just don't want to get sliced and diced every time I run into her for the next, oh, I don't know, eternity."

"I vote we not tell her." Greed said. "Might avoid some drama. And it'll save us both from having to eat quite a few words about each other."

"Can we, though?" Envy had no qualms about secret-keeping among the family; the only flaws she saw in that plan were the technicalities. "I'd have thought Pride already told her if he thought it might piss her off."

"I have enough leverage over him to keep a few secrets here and there. Nothing too big but it does come in handy."

Envy could only marvel at that – privately, of course. The fact that Greed could have any leverage, big or small, over Pride. There were some things about her older siblings that Envy would never understand.

"If we can keep it under wraps, that's fine with me. It's not even much to hide. Just one little night, not like we're eloping. Assuming I agree in the first place, of course."

"Of course." Greed said with the slightest of grins.

"And that means you can't mock me for it after."

"I wouldn't, regardless." His eyes met hers and held them. "I'll never demean you for being with me. Wouldn't make any sense, to my way of thinking."

He was suddenly so earnest. It caught Envy off-guard, that uncharacteristic sincerity. And, just as suddenly, Envy remembered her own body. She was glad she'd gone with the female version of this; a raging hard-on was the last thing Envy needed right then.

"That's surprisingly courteous of you." Envy muttered, unconsciously crossing her legs.

Greed smirked. "You'll find I'm full of surprises."

Would she? Even now, the thought was so strange. Yet it didn't seem that Greed would give her time to mull it over. With predatory grace, he shifted the few feet from the desk chair to the edge of the bed.

"Something wrong?" He asked, as he took a seat beside Envy. "You seem a little distracted."

You're a little distracting…

No, no, Envy would not sink to that level. Perhaps to distract herself from her body's troublesome cravings, her thoughts branched out, as though trying to gain purchase on any idea which was not of him, of herself, of both of them together.

"Even if she doesn't find out," Envy blurted, "how would she react, to this?"

Greed leaned back slightly, perplexed both by the question itself and the fact that Envy was asking it.

"Not overjoyed." He said.

"I know that."

"She'd probably just tell us we're both idiots." Greed said. "Which, let's face it…"

"I think she'd have just a smidge more to say than that." Said Envy, rolling her eyes.

"Do you?"

"Do I really need to explain how women don't like it, when they're ex gets with their sister? Or are you going to tell me I'm being 'overly sensitive'?"

"Usually the ex in question isn't their brother."

"You say that like it makes it better." Envy said with a grimace.

"No. Just different. If you really want to know, infidelity was never the issue between us, way back when." His voice was soft, colored with some unfathomable remembrance, but the moment was short-lived. "So while I know she wouldn't be thrilled, it wouldn't be salt in any old wounds."

"So you say." Envy rolled her eyes again. "But it's all a moot point anyway, I guess."

"Admit it." Greed said. "You do care how she feels. Just a little."

"It wouldn't stop me."

"It wouldn't stop most people, from going after what they want. Not much does." Greed gave a soft chuckle. "Look at me, messing up on the basics. Never talk about one girl to another, they say. Now I've gone and ruined the mood."

"No, I'm…glad you told me." Envy smirked at him. "And who says there was a 'mood' to begin with?"

"Please. You were any wetter I'd have to change the bedclo-"

Envy punched him into the wall. "You're disgusting!"

"Maybe I am." Greed was suddenly on top of Envy, pinning her to the bed with carbon-shielded arms and hands. Underneath Envy's shriek of surprised protest, she was intensely relieved. This struggle, at least, was almost normal for them.

"Disgusting." His grin was insufferably smug. "But not wrong."

Envy thrashed about, although vanity kept her from altering her humanoid body. It was nothing more than Envy's typical physical insecurity, but Greed took it for encouragement. He had been prepared to court Envy, but this was so much more their style, brawling and clashing. He wanted that, Envy, true to form.

"Yes, yes, this is so you. I love that fight. No one gives me a run for my money like you do."

And it was a run for his money, no doubts there. Even though Envy wasn't bringing out the shape-shifting, her strength was still a match for his. She couldn't get away, but it took everything he had to prevent her.

Arms and legs grappling, the contact, the sensation of his body on top of Envy's own, combined with the closest thing to flattery Envy would have believed from him….Ever so gradually, the fight went out of her. She was overwhelmed by herself as much as him, her desire for him. That was the fight she lost.

"Hmm?" He purred when she finally lay still beneath him. He leaned down and nuzzled the crook of her neck, then grazing with his teeth ever-so-lightly. "Ready to give it up?"

It was, as far as he was concerned, a rhetorical question, although he wouldn't mind if Envy fought him further. He bit down on the neckline of Envy's shirt, ripping it to gain access to her collar bone.

"It's…not because of you." Envy managed. "Damn human got me all riled up before I left and wouldn't do anything for me."

Greed laughed. "In that case, he has only himself to blame when I finish what he started."

With hands no longer busy pinning her arms to the mattress, he ripped away the rest of her shirt to reveal her small but distinct breasts, which he investigated with enthusiasm. The sensation was like nothing so much as flying – or falling. Dizzyingly intense, leaving her reeling.

But the sudden acceleration elicited in her a feeling of vertigo. So much, so fast, and suddenly it was more than she could handle. It felt good, yes, and all at once so bad at the same time. Envy didn't care to analyze the wave of stomach-turning negativity which shot through her. Mostly, it was the old fear, the ingrained memory of so many unwelcome hands, so many invasive bodies, which she had been made to endure. And, perhaps, a hint of guilt to galvanize the fear, that regardless of what Kimblee asked – or didn't ask – of Envy in terms of monogamy, what she was doing still felt wrong. Disloyal. Even if she was the only one of the three who saw it that way.

The crux of the issue was, however, that Greed was simply not the one who could allow Envy to forget all that, or at least to move past it. She couldn't lose herself in the free-fall of desire, not with someone she didn't trust. That was what Envy realized. Much as she wanted him, with that wary discord resonating through her, suddenly he was just a foreigner all over her, another enemy storming the gates. Envy wanted him, but had no faith in him.

"Stop…"

He growled low in his throat. "Don't play with me."

"I'm not, please –!"

Envy was startled by how quickly he pulled away. Still above her, he scrutinized her face very closely for a brief moment, just long enough for shame to nip at Envy's heels. How weak she must seem, how pathetic. Envy, whimpering in protest like some feeble little virgin.

Then he pulled away entirely, sitting as before on the side of the bed. Envy turned away, curled up on one side, unable to look at him, more disappointed than relieved.

"You alright?" He asked after what seemed like an eternity of silence.

"Yeah, I'm swell." Envy's voice was flat.

"Was it something I did?"

"No." The one time Envy might have meaningfully slighted him, insults were far from her mind. Finally, she raised herself, sitting on the opposite side of the bed, still facing away. She wished again that she was far away, although had just enough decency not to bolt and leave him hanging.

There was another long stretch of silence. For Greed, it was surreal. Envy, who was in his face, in his way, all the damn time…was now so distant, seemingly unreachable. It was truly a horrible feeling, to have what he wanted so veryclose and yet inaccessible.

"Do you…need to talk about –"

"No." Envy might be considering Greed as a lover, but certainly not a confidant. She took a deep breath, then, "Look…I do want you. Hell, you know that well enough." It was easier to say when she was facing away from him. "But…I can't, without him. It just feels wrong."

He shifted, from sitting on the edge of the bed to lying down on it.

"Hey." He flicked her back.

Envy looked over her shoulder at him, too dejected to even be very annoyed.

"Don't look so down in the dumps. Love is a good thing."

Envy managed to work up a decent glare. "Love is a stupid thing."

"Lucky intelligence was never your strong point."

She reach around and karate-chopped his solar plexus. "Just pure, unadulterated violence."

"Point taken." He groaned, not having raised his shield quite fast enough. Not one to be much bothered by pain, however, he grabbed her hand and pulled her down backwards, so she was lying more or less across his lower stomach.

"So if you want me, and you need him, why are you taking so long to do something about it?" He released her wrist, and she sat up straight once more. "Go tell him you've agreed already. Or I'll hold you down and have my wicked way with you, your agreement not withstanding."

Envy left the room quickly, before she did something stupid like let him.

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(I'm getting kind of bored with the romance stuff, to be honest. Ishbal is coming up. Oh, and in response to Shade40, if you're still reading, I hadn't planned it when I began the story, but there is actually going to be some pretty interesting interactions between Pride and Kimblee near the end. One of the reasons why I'm so dead-set on getting that far.)