(A/N: So, I'm sick and confined to my house. Un/fortunately, I have nothing to do but write! I'm considering going back and consolidating the several short chapters leading up to these into fewer, longer chapters. So, if the chapter numbers suddenly seem weird that would be why.)

.

.

Envy woke to silence, punctuated only by the distant hiss of a running shower. He knew with eyes still closed that Greed was no longer beside him, and felt that old surge of bitterness when he opened them to find the left side of the bed empty.

He willed the feeling away. He sensed that this truce was a once-in-a-lifetime occurrence; all the more remarkable for an immortal. If a return to their usual state of affairs was inevitable, Envy was not ready for that yet. He wanted to pull the night closer around him like a quilt, hide in it from the predestined dawn.

There were no clocks in the room, lending a feeling of timelessness. Kimblee was still out cold, however, so Envy assumed it hadn't been very long. He smiled at the sleeping human, leaning down and placing a soft kiss on his temple. If he was there, Envy reminded himself, it didn't matter where Greed was. Envy could – and presumably would – wake up every day for a hundred or a thousand more years without Greed, and Kimblee was the only thing which made the thought bearable.

Envy shifted to a female form, rising with the intention of finding food. The suite was equipped with a kitchen, which adjoined both the sitting area on one end and the bedroom on the other. It proved well-stocked, as she would expect of any place which Greed lived. There was a bowl of fruit upon one counter, and Envy selected an apple, biting into it with a wet crunch. Had any apple ever tasted so good?

"If it isn't Eve and her apple."

Somehow she had failed to notice the running water cease, or his approaching footsteps. Greed stood in the doorway, towel wrapped around his hips, water still beaded on his skin and glistening in his hair. Envy was a bit flustered at the sight of him, but managed to play it off.

"Adam and Eve and Steve?" She asked, taking another bite.

"Hell yes. Now that's an original sin I can get into." He walked over to her and leaned down, taking a bite of the fruit in her hand.

"There are like five more." Envy said, more amused than annoyed.

"I want this one."

However, he opted to taste her mouth instead, and after a moment the half-eaten apple dropped from Envy's hand, quite forgotten. Her body remembered itself, back arching forward and nipples tightening to almost painful hardness as their bodies pressed flush together.

"I want a word with you." He said after a time, voice low and husky against her ear.

"Is that what they're calling it these days?"

"I want that too." He kissed her once more, before pulling away. "But there is something we need to discuss."

"Okay." Envy said, confusion competing with arousal. "Should I…" She glanced in the direction of the bedroom.

"Let him sleep for now. This is a family matter."

"Oh." She sighed. "Talk about a mood-killer."

"We'll see." Greed was now searching the cupboards for something. "How about you wait for me in the hot-tub."

"Fine. It's a bit cold out here anyway."

"You're just glad to see me." He swatted at her backside as she left the room.

"This gets drained after each use, right?" She called through the doorway, and could almost hear him rolling his eyes as he answered in the affirmative.

The hot water was pleasant around her, raising goose bumps on her skin where it was not submerged. She sank deeper, trying not to think about all the humans who had occupied this space before her.

Greed himself was a welcome distraction from that dismal train of thought. He carried two long-stemmed wine glasses carefully in one powerful hand, an open and chilled bottle of white wine in the other.

"For you." He handed Envy one of the glasses and filled it with practiced ease. What should have been an act of hospitality or even romance instead made Envy apprehensive. Why such formality? It wasn't like him.

He filled his own glass and set both it and the bottle on the side of the tub, before making a show of stripping off his towel and descending slowly into the water. Envy snorted at the performance, even as her eyes were glued to him, every perfectly chiseled inch; each detail she had worshiped and despised for what seemed an eternity.

"A toast?" He said when he was at last seated across from her, gesturing with his glass.

"To what?"

"New friends."

Envy snorted again "Cheers." She clicked her glass against his own and tasted it. She found it very agreeable, sweet, with a bright, complex flavor. How like him; torment Envy for decades and then perfectly predict in advance her preferences in wine.

Impulsively, Envy set the glass aside and half-crawled, half-swam over to him. Taking the glass out of his hand and setting it on the rim of the tub as well, she wrapped both arms around him and kissed him fervently.

"Good wine?" He teased, somewhat bemused by her forwardness even as it set his blood once more on fire.

"Shut up." She dragged his lips back to her own once more. Her words were interspersed between kisses. "We'll only…fuck things up…if we try…and talk about them."

"Hell, you're probably right." He pulled her closer still, encircling her waist with one arm and raising the other to bury his fingers in her hair, and for a moment it seemed he was going to give her exactly what she had always wanted. Then he pushed her away, holding her at arm's length.

"Just hear me out. You can laugh in my face if you want, but hear me out."

She was brought up short by the seriousness with which he spoke. Since when did he pick talking over screwing?

"…Alright." She resumed her seat across from him, feeling slighted and frustrated and uneasy and curious in spite of everything.

Greed was silent for a moment, eyes distant as though straining to hear sounds far away. Envy realized with mounting disquiet that he was checking whatever sixth sense which connected them for Pride.

"He wouldn't be here." Envy found herself saying, softly. "Wouldn't deign to watch all that."

"That's what I was counting on."

Envy eyes narrowed slightly. "What do you mean?"

"Call it killing two birds with one stone." Greed took another sip of his wine. "If we all got the ride of a lifetime…it's an added bonus if you and I can speak in private."

"So spit it out."

"Right. I know I'm not the only one thinking we make as good of partners as we do enemies."

"For one night." Envy hedged.

"What if it was more than that?"

He fixed her with a look of such intensity she found she could not withstand it, dropping her eyes from his and muttering into her glass,

"What, like a weekly special?"

"Like you and me, on the same side, tonight and every night. For all the issues we've ever had, I would treat you better than dear old Daddy."

Envy had known on some level what was coming. All the same, the shock of hearing it out loud was like a slap in the face.

"You're talking treason." Her voice was small, and deceptively level.

Greed made a scornful sound. "It's not treason if you don't owe him jack shit. What has he ever done to deserve our loyalty?"

"He made us." Envy said. "He's not like a human man, fathering children because it's easy –"

"No, he purged us from him like the shit he treats us like. All we are to him is flaws, mistakes, albeit with a certain level of useful –"

"Stop it!"

"Don't you dare tell me I'm wrong."

Envy knew he wasn't wrong, and that was the problem. But she couldn't bring herself to say it out loud.

"Hey." Greed was suddenly very close to her, cupping her face in both hands as though it was something fragile and precious. "I know. I know it sucks to hear." He brushed his lips against her own.

"I'm not saying you're wrong." Envy managed. "But I do exist, and I owe that to him, whatever he cares or doesn't care for me."

"So what?" Greed pulled back a little. "So let's say you do owe him for that. Haven't you paid that debt about a thousand times over? I know what he's asked you to do for his cause. You and Lust. It's fucked up. I'd turn on him for that alone." His voice was a low growl of disgust and contempt.

Envy was rendered speechless. You care?

Quick on the heels of that revelation came a still greater one, however, incited by the mention of their sister. Envy remembered Greed's words about her, about their past together, 'infidelity was never the issue with us, way back when.'

No, Envy realized. The issue must have been this. It would have been years ago, when they were still together, when Envy had still been young. Envy had little recollection of that time, barely enough to know they had had a relationship at all And yet the epiphany played out as though Envy had borne witness to every word. Greed: rebellious, self-seeking, wayward. Lust: dutiful, loyal, and above all else determined to keep their family together as such, no matter what it took or what it cost her. The trouble had not been between them, but with everything else, the world into which they were born. He had wanted her to leave with him, and she had wanted…family.

Envy also realized how stupid she had been not to realize all of this sooner. Hell, Lust had even said as much. It wasn't about ownership, not for me. It was about getting him to stay.

Envy's world wobbled on its axis. She felt out of place, more of an imposter than ever. Lust should be the one…not Envy…this was all wrong.

"Lust didn't turn her back on me for your sake." Envy forced herself to say. "I find I'm not so monstrous as to repay that with betrayal."

"She went after what she wanted." Greed said, evenly. "That's the most anyone can do. In the end, you have to live your own life. No one's gonna do it for you." He smiled, although it was slightly better. "And I know it's a hell of a thing to ask you, because you were never meant to live. None of us were. Only to exist, to serve." All hints of mirth died on his face. "Since the day you were made, there's only been one choice you've made for yourself, independently of Father's wishes."

"What?"

"Not what. Who. And I know Dad wasn't thrilled, and Pride even less. But you've come to enjoy it, haven't you? Being treated like a person with thoughts and feelings, rather than a tool. Your judgment isn't half bad, when you let yourself use it."

Envy simply nodded, not trusting the tightness in her throat with words.

"That's what I'm offering. I'm not saying things would be easy, or that we would always get along. I'd still be in charge, but I'd be a hell of a nicer guy to work for than Dad. Because no matter how pissed off I ever am at you or how much we disagree, I know that you're just like me. Not a thing, not a weapon, not a means to an end. You're a living creature who wants things, and maybe we want some of the same."

The silence after he spoke was so deep it seemed to resonate within itself. Envy stared into the water, feeling as though she were lost at sea; dazed and disoriented. How many times had she longed for something like this? A weak point in him, a chink in his armor physical or psychological to exploit, something more valuable and vulnerable than any vehicle to smash to pieces.

And yet she found no spite with which to respond. How could the many years of festering hatred be wiped so clean that she could not find a single cruel word to throw at him?

Indeed, she could think of no response, cruel or otherwise. Her mind was still reeling from all he had said. She found she could not tell right from wrong, fact from fantasy. It was all too much, the foundation of Envy's entire world toppled on its head.

Would Greed be a better leader than Father? Envy could scarcely picture it. They were a study in opposites; Father aloof and detached, Greed driven and consumed with predatory focus. Perhaps Greed did have more compassion for Envy than Father, but was more than nothing enough?

And, Envy shivered as she thought of him, what of Pride? Envy feared him more than she feared Father. She feared to go against him, and yet also feared to be his ally. She thought of Kimblee. Antagonizing Pride would certainly jeopardize his life, and yet Pride threatened him often enough when they were on the same side.

And what about Lust? If she would not defect for Greed's sake, would she for Greed and Envy's both? And perhaps Gluttony would follow her, but then all of them would need to flee the country, because of Wrath…

"I can't tell…" said Envy slowly, "if you're making me the offer of a lifetime, or if my standards are painfully low."

"Both." Greed said, promptly and bluntly. "We were all dealt a shitty hand, no matter how you play it."

There was another long silence.

"You can think about it if you want." He said. "I know I've put you in a hell of a spot."

"I don't need to think." She closed her eyes, unable to look at him. What should be sweet revenge was so very, very bitter. "I know what Father thinks of me. That he would see me die and not blink if it suited his purpose. But I want what he's offering me. You like the world as it is, and the world likes you." She forced herself to meet his eyes. "That's not the case for me. For me or for him." She inclined her head in the direction of the bedroom. "We don't fit in the world as it is right now. He says he wants to see it change, and I agree with him. That's what I want too."

He held her gaze for a long moment, and then sighed. "Thanks for hearing me out."

"R-really?"

He shrugged. "I said it myself, you have to go after what you want. I'd be a hypocrite if I asked you to do otherwise."

Perhaps, and yet Envy wished he would nonetheless. She didn't want to say yes, but wanted to want to. Envy wished he would argue, wanted him to beat down every last objection or shred of common sense she had. Wanted him to want her enough to object.

"How can I want what Father offers me, and what you do as well?" She buried her face in her hands. "Your greed is rubbing off on me."

His arms were around her once more. "Who knows? It might be for the better. We might be at each other's throats every day for the rest of our very short lives, if we did something so crazy."

Maybe. So why did Envy still want that? Why did such an abbreviated life seem so much more alluring than Envy's current nearly-endless one?

"Of course," Greed said conversationally, "you totally owe me consolation sex now."

Envy laughed in spite of herself. "Of course. Leave it to you to go from dead-serious to pornographic just like that." Any other time Envy would have found it annoying, but under the circumstances she was fervently glad of it.

He kissed her very deeply, pressing her against the side of the tub. In the heat of their sudden embrace, Envy's wine glass was knocked off the rim and shattered on the floor.

"Oh shi –"

"Leave it." He began to kiss a line down her neck towards her chest, then hesitated. "Should we wake him?"

"The deal was, I believe, anything I do with you I have to do with both of you later." She spoke as much to assure herself as Greed. She wanted a moment which belonged to only the two of them, and while she didn't think that Kimblee would object, Envy still felt guilty for it. "He'll have more fun later if we let him rest for now." She justified further.

"Fair enough."

He dropped down so that he was kneeling on the base of the tub while Envy sat upon the seat, hips hanging slightly over the edge. As he kissed her neck and breasts, his other hand roamed down, rubbing her vulva with the palm of his hand before parting her labia and gently toying with her clit.

"Harder." Envy said, her hips bucking against his fingers involuntarily as little surges of pleasure ran up her body at the masterful action of his fingers, growing more intense as he increased the pressure. He might not know a woman's body quite as a woman would, but he had experience enough for comparable expertise. He switched tactics, stimulating her exteriorly with his thumb while his sliding his index and middle finger inside her, searching for that sweet spot. After a moment of probing he found it, and with a come hither motion of his two fingers elevated her pleasure even further. She moaned into the crux of his neck, all previous agitation forgotten as his fingers undid her.

Then, using every ounce of her will, she gripped his hand in both of her own, drawing it away from her.

"Please." She whispered against his ear, before running her tongue along the edge of it.

He didn't ask, please what? Shifting so that he knelt on the bottom of the tub and pulling Envy's hips so that they overhung the ledge on which she perched, he lined himself up. Envy made a sound low in her throat as his fingers were replaced inside her with something harder and so much larger.

"Will you…stay like that for a second?" She asked in an unsteady voice. More than her need for completion, she wanted to savor this. Even as she was letting him go she wanted to preserve the feeling of having him entirely. Whatever horrible things had or would happen between them, nothing could take this away from her.

He obliged her request, perhaps even sharing her sentiment. Who could know? After a time, though, he couldn't fight his body's demand for motion.

"I'm kinda going insane here." He said in a slightly strained voice.

"Go on."

The both moaned as he began to move inside her, angling just so as to rub against that honeyed place which made her shiver inside. Even as the sensations of her body overwhelmed her, she fought to memorize each detail of their coupling, the harsh sound of his quickened breath, the scent of his body so close to her own, the way the water lapped and splashed over the sides of the tub with the motion of their bodies.

He was strategic about it, beginning with slow, deep strokes, working the tension in her body to a delicious, excruciating head, working her up and up without giving her enough to bring her over the edge. Then, just when she thought she would go mad from the build-up, he quickened the pace, plowing into her with fast, sharp motions; she matched him, her frantic need mirroring his own.

With a final shudder and cry, everything shattered. Paroxysms of delight spiraled though her, upward from the nexus of her legs and turning all her insides to liquid bliss. It seemed to go on forever, wave after wave of bliss breaking upon her. He rode out her orgasm in one final display of resolve, until with a final deep rumble of pleasure he burst inside of her.

They remained frozen like that for an indeterminable time.

"I –" Envy began, feeling an urge to break the silence, to say something like thank you or maybe even I'm sorry.

"Shh." He pressed on finger against her lips. "Don't say anything yet."

Envy found she was glad not to. She let her eyes slide shut, savoring the calm after the storm. The swish and drip of the water settling around them, their mingled breath as it leveled out, his heartbeat against her own as it regained its normal pace.

.

(A/N: Gah, this was so hard to write because I wanted Envy to say yes, damnit! However, I'm not prepared to write that kind of AU. I also feel quite sorry for whoever has to clean that room DX Thanks for reading!)