Chapter Text
Greed awoke sluggishly at first, then suddenly.
“Hey, calm down.”
He was breathing heavily. “Never really…been…unconscious…before.” As Greed adjusted to the feeling of waking up he looked over at where Ed was watching him studiously and somewhat warily. He had obviously been up for some time and was fully dressed with his hair braided.
“You’re Greed.”
“Uh, yeah?”
“Put Ling back in charge.”
“Nope. It’s my turn.” Greed flashed a somewhat sinister grin, just to annoy Ed. “Where’s your brother?”
“He went to class. It’d be too suspicious for both of us to say we got sick at the same time.”
“Makes sense. You got an extra toothbrush? My mouth tastes like blood, smoke, and dirt.”
“Probably not the best first impression to having a sense of taste, huh?” Greed added silently.
“No, but to be fair, it’s also probably not the worst.” Ling responded.
“Yikes.”
“It’s not really your mouth though, is it?” Ed said with a glare.
“Oh my god are you still pissed about this?” Greed asked, exasperated. “Whatever, it is my mouth right now and I guess I’ll just have to put your toothbrush in it.”
“Maybe don’t escalate things. I don’t want us to get punched again.”
Ling could feel Greed agree reluctantly. “Alright…I guess I don’t want to get punched again either.” Greed sighed and met Ed’s still hostile gaze. “Look, Ed, I wasn’t exactly thrilled about this situation either. Sharing isn’t one of my strongest attributes.”
“Then why didn’t you come up with another way out?” Ed crossed his arms.
“There wasn’t another way out!”
Ed paused. “This was always an option, wasn’t it?”
“Huh?”
“A way to let you leave the house. Why didn’t you just possess the first person to move in after the bastard left?”
“I didn’t want to be stuck with some random asshole.”
“You could have killed them first.”
“That’s not my style.”
“Okay, but you like Ling enough to let him live in your house. Why not possess him sooner?”
“It used to be against the roommate agreement.”
“Used to be?”
“Ling tore the thing to shreds last night.”
Ed sighed. “Of course he did. But you still could have tried to convince him.”
“I guess.” Greed answered reluctantly.
“So why not?”
“Because I never thought the stupid kid would actually agree to it and I…There was no part of me that even considered that if I did bind myself to him he’d end up actually being…okay with it.”
“But you were willing to do it last night anyway?”
“Look, I tried to talk Ling out of this but the stubborn twerp refused to just leave me to die!”
Ed’s eyes went wide.
“Wait…Did you really try to get Ling to leave you behind?”
“Yeah. I don’t lie, brat.”
“So you were willing to die to make sure he was safe?”
“I uh, I wouldn’t put it that way…” Greed’s embarrassment was only increased by the fact the he could feel Ling’s amusement at his reaction. “I thought I was gonna die either way, I didn’t even consider doing this until he insisted.”
“So possessing him was the only way to keep Ling from dying with you?”
“Yep.”
“Wow.” Ed said, considering this. “Ling is even more stupid than I thought.”
“Hey, I heard that.”
Greed grinned mischievously. “Yeah, that dumb kid sure is great at getting himself into trouble.”
“Hey!”
Greed chuckled quietly to himself. Ed seemed to mentally take note of that. Then he walked over to a stack of drawers and pulled out a toothbrush still in the package. He tossed it to Greed.
“Thanks!” Greed said with a grin. He walked into the bathroom. Ling’s voice could suddenly be heard for a moment through the door.
“Holy shit! When did my arms get this buff?!”
……
“This thing is still the tackiest jacket I’ve ever seen. I’m almost sorry I saved it.” Greed said as he picked up the bright yellow hoodie Ling had used as a pillow the night before. He’d brushed his teeth, washed his face, and made sure there wasn’t any broken glass or twigs in his hair. That was about as clean and presentable as he was going to get until he changed into an outfit that first of all wasn’t pajamas, and secondly didn’t have dirt and blood on it.
“Hey. That’s my favorite jacket, I’ve had it forever!”
“I’ve seen you wearing worse.” Ed argued. “Besides, it manages to look less awful when Ling’s wearing it. Although, maybe that’s just because he’s almost always wearing it.”
“Even during the summer?”
“I’ve seen him wear it without a shirt underneath.”
“Jeez.”
Ling grumbled about the criticism but Greed considered it fair payback for all of the comments about his own fashion sense.
Greed started looking through Ling’s backpack. “Damn, I wish I’d had time to grab more clothes. Although I don’t think Ling owned any pants that weren’t sweatpants anyway.”
“What’s wrong with being comfortable?”
“Looking classy takes priority.”
An image of Greed’s outfit from back when he ran the Devil’s Nest flashed through both of their minds. “Classy?!” Ling questioned, incredulous.
“I could let you borrow some clothes.”
“I’m pretty sure any of your clothes would definitely be too short on me.”
This comment earned Greed another glare.
“He’s touchy about his height.”
“Duly noted.” Greed replied with enough mischief in his tone to make Ling certain he wasn’t planning to avoid the topic.
“I could let you borrow some of Al's clothes.” Ed said through clenched teeth.
“Alright, sounds good.” Greed picked out a black button-up shirt and black slacks. “You sure your brother won’t miss these?”
“Are you kidding? I’m surprised he owns any black clothes at all. Do you want something to pull back your hair with?”
“That depends, you got anything that isn’t bright red?”
“What’s wrong with red?!”
“Kinda flashy, don’t you think?” Greed said, staring at Ed’s red jacket hanging on the coat rack.
“You’re calling me flashy?! You?!”
“Here we go again.”
Greed seemed to take Ling’s frustration into consideration. Not that Ling didn’t enjoy messing with Ed sometimes, but the situation was already pretty tense and there were too many other things going on. Besides, it was less fun when he wasn’t doing the teasing himself.
“Never mind, I think there’s a white hair tie in this bag somewhere.”
……
“Aw come on, why’re you staring at me now?”
“Sorry, I just don’t think I’ve ever seen Ling wearing a dress shirt without unbuttoning it.”
“Shit, kid, how do you expect to be able to take over a whole company if you can’t dress the part?”
“Once I graduate suits will be a burden I have to bear until I am powerful enough to rewrite the dress code.”
“Oh hey,” Ed tossed something at Greed. He caught it. “You should eat something.”
It was an individual chocolate chip muffin wrapped in plastic. Ling recognized it as being from the dorm’s lounge.
“Yes. You should eat.” Ling commanded sternly. He felt the force of his thought actually intimidate Greed. Also the sight of the food had alerted the demon to how hungry he was. He started opening the plastic.
“What about you? What did you have for breakfast?”
“Black coffee with a 5 Hour Energy and some protein powder mixed in.”
“...How are you not dead?”
“I’m too stubborn.”
It was at this moment that Greed took a bite of the muffin and tasted chocolate for the first time.
“Holy shit. Holy shit! I get it.”
“What?”
“See, I told you that you were missing out.” Ling’s words carried a sense of both happiness and smugness.
“You were so right, kid.” Greed said around a mouthful of muffin. “I totally get food now.”
“What exactly is going on here?” Ed said while watching Greed practically inhale his breakfast. “Jeez, you eat even faster than Ling does.”
“Hey,” Greed said as he stuffed the last bite into his mouth. “Get me another one!”
“What? No.”
“Do it, brat!”
“I can’t! They’re all gone. You slept too late for there to be any more left. You’re lucky they had any at all today, they only do this twice a month.”
Greed gave Ed an excellent impersonation of Ling’s pleading pout.
“Sorry, but if that look isn't strong enough to make me share my fries with Ling then it isn’t strong enough to make me go find you a muffin.”
The pout shifted from pleading to angry.
“Look, you can eat more at lunch, right now we need to figure out if the bastard is still coming after you.” Ed walked over to his desk and sat down.
“Okay, and how do we do that?” Greed said with obvious annoyance.
“Well, first we should check and see what the news has been saying about the fire.” Ed opened his laptop.
“How do you know the news is already saying anything?”
“Because two hours ago Ling’s phone started ringing like crazy over and over again.”
“Oh no.”
“Did you, um, answer it?”
“No, I turned it off. It’d be too risky to contact anyone directly until we know more about the situation.”
“When Lan Fan finds out I’m not dead she’s going to murder me.”
Greed’s face showed enough of Ling’s concern that Ed felt he should offer some reassurance. “Don’t worry, Al’s going to call Lan Fan from a payphone after his next class and tell her Ling’s alive. He’s going to leave out every single other detail of the situation though.”
“That’s probably for the best.”
“Yeah.”
“Huh?” Ed said distractedly.
“That’s probably for the best.”
“Although, I figure we have a day and a half at most before she shows up here asking many, many questions.”
“Can’t we just tell the Elrics to refuse to answer her?”
“I don’t think they could. She’s very determined, and a better fighter than Ed. Maybe even better than Al.”
“Shit…Wait, that kid fights better than Ed does?”
Greed realized Ed was staring at him.
“What?”
“...Nothing.” Ed turned back to his computer.
He was soon interrupted by Greed. “What is that smell?”
Ed took a deep breath through his nose and caught a familiar scent. “I guess someone ordered a pizza.”
“I need some of that. Right now.”
“No. It’s not yours.”
“Not yet.”
“Greed, you can’t just—Hey wait!”
Greed was already headed to the door.
“Greed, stop. This is not the time to be stealing a pizza.”
“But I want it.” Greed replied. And Ling could feel that want, that desire. It was such a strong emotion that Ling had trouble not giving in to it. But they needed to focus.
Ling put all the effort he had into reclaiming control of his body. He managed to slow Greed down enough that Ed could pull him back to the couch.
“Seriously. Stay here and listen.” Ed said.
“Fine.” Greed said, defeated. “Tell me what you found.” Then he continued silently to Ling. “We had better get to eat pizza soon or I’m going to be pissed.”
“Greed. I swear if we survive this we can eat as much pizza as you want but first we have to listen to Ed.”
“Fine.” Greed repeated. Ed ignored him.