For Alpha: Trust
To: heiadenna
From: Santa
Request: Greed/Girl!Ed
Rating: NC-17
Title: Trust
Greed knew it was a losing battle. That was the point, after all, but he couldn't help his irritation that the boy was now just a little swifter, a little more agile than he was, and his own bulk was almost dragging him down. But even without the stones, even in the presence of his remains, he could still put up a fight, and he supposed losing to this kid, as losing went, wasn't as bad as losing to them.
Time was running out. Even his Shield was failing him, thanks to the boy's devious alchemy, and Greed wondered as he barely managed to dodge another deadly arc of the boy's blade what it would feel like when it finally pierced him, when Greed would finally be hurt for real.
He flipped backward, launching forward again from a crouch so that his fist sunk under his opponent's rib cage, the blade whistling over Greed's head. "You know," he chuckled, hiding his panting as he relaxed into readiness again, "this'd be a hell of a lot easier if you weren't so goddamned small."
Judging from the look in his eyes, Greed counted himself lucky that the boy still hadn't got his wind back. What he didn't express in words, however, he neatly articulated in action, and Greed avoided the blade only to fall prey to another alteration of his shield when the alchemist's hand made contact.
"It'd be a hell of a lot easier if you'd just tell me where my brother is," Ed growled as Greed hit the floor to dodge him.
Greed laughed behind the Shield, rolling to his feet again. "If you two had just answered my simple question about his soul, we wouldn't be here in the first place." He tried not to think of all he had lost tonight, partially on account of the Elrics' obstinance. "But I guess everybody just wants to fight me."
And betray me.
He slammed his elbow into the boy's back a little harder than he meant to when he sidestepped his next attack. The older Elric might be a convenient target for Greed's anger, but ultimately this wasn't his fault. It was Kimbley's--or maybe it was his own. He should have known better than to trust him, but trust was something Greed didn't have much experience with. He was seldom given the chance, or the time.
The boy spun around again quickly enough. After all, Greed's strength was failing, and he knew where this was headed. And he couldn't keep remaking the Shield indefinitely. Just a few more tricky advances, and it'd be through.
"You deserve it after what you did," Ed panted, dodging the swipe of Greed's claws as he dropped down, catching Greed's leg with his boot to send him onto his back. Greed tried to gain his feet again, but the blade finally caught him through the thigh, ripping pants and failing Shield as it did.
He thrust his other foot into the boy's chest to separate them, gripping his thigh once the metal was withdrawn and pitching forward with a growl of pain. "And they'd love for you to think that, too."
The boy must have been listening, even in the midst of Greed's following lunge. He was distracted enough by the implication of innocence in Greed's response that the homunculus' claws managed to rip all the way up his torso, drawing blood before Ed could dart back.
But not much blood. Greed was almost relieved that what he tore was mostly cloth: a loose black shirt and tighter bandaging beneath. Was he fighting wounded? He'll win even injured, Greed thought with some bitter humor.
"That conscience will get the best of you," he chided. "Trust me."
Greed crouched again and was about to beckon to the boy, but Ed was apparently too concerned about his ripped shirt to attack again. Greed frowned, stamping the foot of his good leg on the marble floor as he re-set his position. "Let's go, you wimp," he goaded.
But to no avail. Ed was trying to pull the ripped ends of the bandaging together again to repair them, but with the damaged automail, he couldn't seem to do it, and amidst the boy's apparent panic, Greed thought he glimpsed another reason for his awkwardness entirely.
Two reasons, really.
Greed laughed weakly, then again, almost staggering back from this turn of events. "Don't tell me you've been a girl all this t--"
"SHUT UP," Ed roared, and though Greed was familiar by now with Ed's energetic temper, the force of the yell was still surprising.
Greed straightened slowly. Ed finally gave up with the ruined strips of bandaging and just repaired the looser black material, but the chest beneath the fabric was unmistakable.
He let his Shield slip away, finally giving up the protection completely as he smirked. "Guess you'll just have to finish me off." He held out his arms theatrically. While he wasn't exactly ready for this, there was nothing left to grovel for--not that he would, anyway.
Ed remained where he--she?--was, holding the jacket together, still looking shaken. "What are you doing? I'm not just gonna cut you down."
"You're gonna have to." Greed smiled, trying to convince himself that he was satisfied using words rather than claws. "I don't hit girls."
"I SAID SHUT UP," Ed railed again, and without the Shield to guard him, Greed felt the fist under his jaw like never before.
* * *
Greed hadn't expected to wake up again, but he did, slowly. And when his eyes finally made out the vertical bars that surrounded him, he wished that he hadn't. He'd already come to the conclusion that death was the only freedom he had left, and as much as he wanted everything, he couldn't stand for everything to be taken away, again and again.
He tipped his head where he lay, scanning the walls beyond the bars. He could already feel that he was no longer in the same room as the bones, but he was still in the mansion. And he still wasn't well enough to break or bend metal bars. He didn't need to get up to figure that out, either.
He was just about to close his eyes again, hoping rest would be enough to regain his strength, when the sound of boots on marble drew his attention towards one of the room's doors. "Find him yet?" Greed teased half-heartedly, detecting in the harsh daylight that the kid's chest was once again flat. Where were Greed's sunglasses?
"You haven't told me where he is, yet."
"Tell you what," Greed mused, "I'll tell you where your brother is if you tell me why you've been masquerading as a boy, sister."
"I'M NOBODY'S--STOP FUCKING WITH ME," Ed yelled again, stomping forward to kick at one of the bars, but unfortunately doing nothing to compromise it. "Just shut up about it!"
Greed closed his eyes, smirking faintly. "Don't trust me? I hope to be dead soon. I won't tell anybody."
"There's nothing to tell," Ed growled. "And I'm not having this conversation. Where's my brother?"
Greed frowned finally. This kid was no fun. He--She was awfully violent for a girl, but then again, so was her teacher, and just as irrational. Greed couldn't even be sure where the other Elric was at this point, now that it was well after dawn--
"Martel," Greed exclaimed, sitting up. Martel would think he was dead by now, and even if he meant to be--even if he should be, even if he wanted to be, he couldn't stomach the idea of her thinking it too soon, leaving without him when he was right here.
"What?"
"Martel," Greed muttered, "she was one of the chimera, probably the last one left by now. I told her to give up on me at dawn--" But there he went again, trusting. "Look, I'll tell you all I know about where he is if you let me out."
"Yeah, fine!"
Greed clenched his jaw. This was the only leverage he had. "I let him go before I even got here. He probably waited with Martel in the forest near the front door until sunrise, and he's probably still nearby."
"You let him go? He's been out all this time? Why didn't you just--"
"It doesn't matter, just let me the hell out of here!"
But the look on Ed's face as he paused told Greed he'd made yet another mistake. "Wish I could. But after what you did to Dante, I'm going to find Al before I let you out."
Greed slammed his fists against the bars despite the pain it brought, baring his teeth as he growled. "Look, I didn't do that. We had a deal! You can't leave me here! YOU CAN'T SEAL ME AGAIN!"
Ed backed up a few paces. "Hey, hey! You've got nothing to worry about if I find Al, okay? Calm down. I promise you I'll be back--even if you were lying."
But Greed was tired of trusting, tired of fighting . . . just tired. He slumped to the cold marble floor again, speaking to it, futile as it might turn out to be. "Just find her. Tell her I'm alive. But don't let her do anything stupid."
Greed didn't look up again, but a moment passed before he heard the boots rapping along the marble on the way out, and he tried not to hope for anything more than sleep.
* * *
By the time he opened his eyes again, the early light of twilight had replaced the earlier glare, but it still reached him in vertical strips. The bars were still there. And though he felt a little stronger, he was far from regaining his old self. Without the stones, that was a long way off.
But at least he wasn't alone. He wasn't left here, not yet, and even if he couldn't trust his present company, he had at least come back, and may even have been waiting for some time.
He sat up and stretched, as much as the makeshift cage would allow his long arms, and let his eyes settle on the moody alchemist, currently sitting against the near wall.
"I take it you found him, just like I said," Greed muttered.
"Yeah," Ed replied, gold eyes looking dim as they studied the floor. "He's out looking for Martel--insisted, actually."
Greed smirked. That sounded like the tin guy, all right. "So why am I still in here? Trust me, kid, you've got bigger enemies than little old me."
Ed glanced away, appearing, at least, to consider this, but Greed couldn't be sure anymore, and he was even less sure as the moment stretched in silence.
"You talked about her like she was your friend."
"Is that so surprising?"
"No, it's just . . . . The others--"
Greed snorted derisively. "Don't you group me with them. I'm not on their side, it's what I've been trying to get through to you."
"Okay, okay." Ed sighed, meeting Greed's eyes again with some apparent difficulty. "I believe you."
"So let me out already. I'm starting to get cramps. Coulda made it a little bigger, you know."
"There's just one more thing." Ed stood up from the floor and drew a slow breath before advancing a few paces towards the bars. "About . . . about what you saw."
Ed's face colored, and Greed could only guess the subject, foggy as his memory of the fight was.
"I wasn't born like this."
Greed stared blankly for a moment before he snickered quietly. "I think they call it puberty."
The iron bars rang as Ed kicked them, then turned to sit against them. "That's not what I mean! Look, I don't want you to get any wrong ideas about me. It was an accident. In the Fifth Lab. Your friends--"
"I told you, they're not--"
"--okay, right, the others, they wanted me to--to complete the Stone, but there was an explosion, and there was this--this huge reaction, and when I woke up in the hospital . . ."
"You were a girl?"
Greed lifted an eyebrow. He couldn't claim to understand the details of what the kid was going on about, or how such a result could be possible, but he had, at least, been there at the time. He was thankful for that explosion. At least it'd given him a few days of freedom.
But Ed hadn't responded.
"You sure the doctors didn't do anything funny?" Greed continued. It wasn't easy to take this seriously, but the glare that Ed provided him helped.
"I had to fix all the charts, and threaten the life out of some of the nurses."
"So you're gonna keep this a big secret, huh? Good luck on that."
"Look, I covered my tracks at the hospital, and now that just leaves you, so keep your big mouth shut about it, or you'll wish you still had bars between us."
Fat chance, Greed thought, lips twisting in a cynical smile. But obstinance wasn't going to help anything. Much as he warned himself against making promises with alchemists, given all their type had ever shown him, he finally sighed in acquiescence. "I won't say anything."
Ed met his eyes again, gold to purple, then finally clapped his hands together and dissolved the bars.
* * * * *
It was no Devil's Nest, and he had decidedly fewer allies, but Greed made do with a temporary residence at the edge of Central--temporary because he was being realistic about his odds, despite Ed's repeated assurances that things would work out somehow. That was how the kid got through every day, after all. But Greed wasn't as optimistic, or as complacent. Ed might have wanted his brother's body back, and his own limbs back (not to mention his gender), but Greed wanted . . . well, everything, and he wanted it with a force that humans weren't accustomed to dealing with. Biding his time until the end, when what little he had would be taken away from him for good, was almost torture.
Almost. Through their shared secrets, Greed had to admit he'd made a friend in the kid, and as much as his experience told him he needed to be more guarded, he couldn't seem to push the kid away, not when his face flushed so easily at the mere mention of womanhood.
Though one or two times, Greed liked to think that flush was from more than embarrassment, and one or two times Greed found a sudden fist of metal connecting just under his jaw. It was a compliment to his company that the Shield was never present.
He smiled where he sat, boots up on the table, when he heard the approaching footsteps. They didn't worry him, never did: he wouldn't hear his enemies coming.
"Bring anything?" He barely turned towards the door with the usual inquisitive greeting, but Ed came into sight at the other side of the table, dropping a bag of food and a few bottles of beer onto it as his answer. Greed didn't need to eat, but wanting to was enough drive on its own.
Boots off the table, Greed sat forward to rummage, finding mostly produce, nothing very decadent. He satisfied himself instead with a beer, popping the top on his teeth. "Want one?"
Ed made a face, replacing his own boots on the table when he sat down. "No, thanks. That stuff's gross."
"Shoulda brought something else, then."
"Selection is limited to what's been confiscated from the dorms, you greedy ass--"
Greed chuckled to himself between swigs.
"Anyway. Things been quiet?"
Greed paused before swallowing, running his tongue through the mouthful, then set the bottle down with a dull clink. "A little too, actually." He paused again, folding his large arms on the table. "This ain't my scene." He was still sorely tempted just to return to the sordid heart of the city to start a new congregation, come what may, but any mention of doing so seemed to upset Ed, and that was more trouble than it was worth. At least that would get this over with more quickly, and he'd have more fun in the meantime. "You told him yet?"
The color rose predictably in Ed's face, which had by all accounts retained its boyishness, even if the rest of him had decidedly not. "For the last time, he'll find out sooner or later, and I'm banking on later."
"I'd rather be around for it, though," Greed answered, cocking a grin.
"Don't be a jerk," Ed growled, folding his arms over what Greed knew was still a tightly bound chest. "Besides, I'm sure you will be."
Greed snorted lightly. "To tell you the truth, I'm bored enough to go looking for them. Better that than being found. Of course, if you would just tell me that trick you did with your brother--"
"I already told you it's not that simple." Ed closed his eyes, brow furrowing between his brows in an expression that always made him look a few years older.
"'Cause you need a soul, right?" Greed narrowed his eyes, but his smile remained. It didn't bother him so much that he might not have one, but it bothered Ed.
"Because, you idiot, if it were all that great, Al wouldn't be so . . ."
"Empty?"
"Unhappy." Ed opened his eyes with a glare. "Just be satisfied with what you have."
Tipping the bottle, its neck between his fingers, Greed rolled its base on the table with a sly smile. "You're one to talk."
Ed rolled his eyes as he looked away. "Yeah, yeah, Al and I are great big hypocrites for not accepting the consequences. Heard it before."
"Not what I meant." Greed's lips smiled again, this time around the mouth of the bottle as he took another swig, letting his eyes drop pointedly to Ed's chest, and only because he couldn't see any lower under the table.
Ed pulled back his legs, looking as though he were about to kick the table in Greed's face. Instead, he got up, boots stamping to the floor before he turned on them. "Could you just drop that already?"
Though Greed's point had been made, his smile nevertheless faltered. "Look, it can't be that bad. I hear lots of girls actually continue living into adulthood by choice."
"Yeah, except I'm not a girl, and I'm not supposed to be like this!"
Ed whirled towards him to emphasize the sentiment, but Greed had already got up to tower over him. He bent down so that he was nearly eye-level. "I think you should just make the best of it."
"What," Ed growled, "with you?" He swung his fist towards Greed's face, and though the homunculus was agile enough to catch that, he didn't realize in time that the other fist was the real threat.
Suppressing the urge to curse while his vision was clearing, Greed caught that wrist with his other hand and pulled it down, then dodged the knee that was headed upward. Clearly, Ed was in no mood to talk about this.
Too bad. To save himself further injury, Greed forced the uncooperative alchemist off-balance enough to sit him in the chair again, then sat over his thighs, still gripping his wrists, to pin him.
"A little too defensive, considering I wasn't even suggesting that. Although now that you mention it . . ."
"What was it, then?" Ed retorted quickly, struggling under Greed's sheer weight before he finally focused his attention on the wall to their side. "I don't need to hear it, whatever it is."
What was it with the Elrics and not listening? Drawing a breath, he tried to be patient. He was greedy about his time, sure, but what else could he be doing now? Not much.
"So you're ashamed. But it's not the end of the world, and you can't spend your life avoiding all the things you could have. You should take them. Keep them. Hoard 'em, really."
"You're only thinking of possessions," Ed mumbled. "I know you."
"Yeah, well, take it as a metaphor for the important things, then."
Ed glanced side-long at him before turning his face forward again, frowning skeptically, but seeming to accept that Greed had at least said something useful.
Greed grinned jaggedly with the small triumph.
"Now kiss me."
It would be hours before Greed was conscious enough to appreciate it, but Ed could really throw a guy when he put his mind to it.
* * *
"You want to what?"
Greed hadn't even let go of the doorknob yet. He stood across the threshold from Ed, an eyebrow cocked while the alchemist's brow was furrowed with determination.
"I'm not gonna say it again."
Greed could only watch as Ed stalked past and stopped next to one of the old, worn chairs they'd tried to furnish the place with. But he didn't sit down, and his hands remained in his pockets.
Shutting the door behind him, Greed turned to lean against it. He wasn't about to argue with the kid, but he still wasn't sure he'd heard him rightly. "And what brought about this change of . . . heart?"
Ed turned enough to glance back at him, then resumed his faceless guard. "Al found out. Or I told him. Or I thought he found out and I ended up telling him--The important thing is that he knows."
"Oh. And?" Greed unfolded his arms to saunter a few steps closer. So the kid finally let it out. Long time coming.
"And . . . after all the other questions, he asked me--just like he asks me about everything else I do--what it was like."
"And you need me in order to find out?"
Ed glanced back at him again and opened his mouth to say something, then seemed to lose his conviction, finally dropping into the chair behind him with a small puff of dust. "I don't know. I don't know these things."
Greed smiled at the corner of his mouth. "Well, you can probably tell him it's just like being a boy, except for certain things, and you can find those out on your own."
Ed said nothing, but he squirmed briefly and looked away again.
"Girls do it too, you know," Greed added, smugly clarifying so that the color rose in Ed's cheeks. "And if you haven't yet," he went on, thinking out loud before he lost his verbal train of thought. No, that train just headed south.
"Let's just get this over with," Ed demanded quickly, then looked up again abruptly. "You can, right? I mean--"
"Yeah, it still works," Greed answered, grinning widely. It definitely still worked.
The abandoned flat didn't have electricity, and as Greed watched the alchemist pull off his jacket and shirt to show the binding beneath, he rued the hell out of the fact that the only light available to him by this time was a fire he'd managed to start in the sooty hearth. He could probably see better than Ed could, but it still wasn't enough, especially as the binding started to unravel.
It didn't take long for it to loosen like an over-coiled spring. Once enough of the strip was unwound, the weight of its charge pressed free of it, and Greed could hardly believe Ed was letting him watch this. But the homunculus' attention eventually triggered Ed's modesty, or maybe embarrassment, and his hands slipped under the bandaging to hide his chest.
One hand was soon removed, however, as the remaining arm tried to make up for it. "Fucking metal," Ed muttered, shivering briefly, but bravely lifting his eyes to Greed's.
Greed coughed quietly as he moved closer. At first thought, he wouldn't have expected that breasts on a man's torso would look at all appealing, especially on a torso honed by heavy fighting and acrobatics, but Ed's stature seemed to carry the addition naturally, and that was the cleanest way Greed could phrase it to himself.
"Here, cover me," Ed ordered, taking Greed's hands and putting them to his chest, then reaching down to fuss with his belt.
Greed blinked, doing his best not to move his hands. "You'd rather I touch you that look at you?"
"I guess," Ed muttered, but his tone was off-handed, and he thrust his hips up where he sat to push off the rest of his clothing, kicking his boots off with it. "Floor?"
Without even waiting for Greed's response, Ed slipped out of his tenuous grasp and dropped to his knees and elbows, facing the hearth with what Greed assumed was an attempt to keep certain things in shadow.
Greed scratched his head. "Look, kid, I'm not sure you're ready for this."
"How much more ready can I be?" Ed quipped, glancing at him before he returned his eyes to the fire, though it was probably too bright to watch comfortably in the darkened room.
Greed wasn't going to argue. He shrugged and kicked out of the human clothing he'd acquired, then let the less-human clothing ripple away. He knelt behind him, hands resting on Ed's hips.
He was a girl, all right.
"Are you ready?"
"I already said I'm--"
"I mean ready," Greed interrupted, exchanging the confusion of words for the directness of touch. He slipped a fingertip down the line between Ed's legs for a bit of warning before his finger reached the point of entrance. Despite the warning, Ed jumped forward with a small gasp, but Greed had found out what he needed to know. Ed seemed to have been ready for a while.
Rubbing the wetness between his fingers, Greed indulged himself in the smell of it for a moment before he licked it off. "There's a lot we can do first, you know."
"Just--just do what's normal," Ed muttered into his arm. Still on his elbows, he'd become still again, but his pelvis was inclined just a little more than before.
"Can do." Greed took him by the hip again, his other hand rubbing at the base of his cock. Considering this could be the last time he could do this, he wanted to take his time, get creative, really demonstrate the possibilities, but he wasn't going to press the issue.
Steadying himself, he nudged the head of his cock against the wet heat. He listened to Ed's gasp, and he felt the sigh of his body as Ed's chest dipped further towards the floor. Slowly, he pressed forward, and this time, Ed hissed softly.
"It hurts the first time," Greed mumbled, and he waited for Ed's resistance, but it didn't come. He supposed the kid was used to pain. He advanced, doing his very best to keep it slow, to stop his hips from rocking full-force into him. Ed groaned, the sound of it tight in his throat, and Greed swallowed an answer from his.
But Ed suddenly pulled himself forward. He was panting lightly. "I don't know if I can do this."
Greed clenched his jaw, but sat back on his heels. Maybe he could just talk him through it. "It doesn't hurt the whole time."
"I know, I just--" Ed glanced back at him, looking conflicted. "I think I should be on top. I'm just not--"
Greed waved his hand to concede, turning with a thump to his back. "Whatever you want." It wasn't like him to give in to what someone else wanted, but it was either this or he wasn't getting anything at all, not willingly, and he supposed he could understand the kid's reticence. Men were raised to give, not take.
Ed crawled to him, swinging the automail leg over Greed to straddle him, and strangely reaching again for Greed's hands to cover his chest again.
Greed snorted softly, gripping their weight gently. Ed looked skeptical, but said nothing, and merely licked his lips as though concentrating. Greed felt again the heat at the head of his cock, and this time he groaned aloud as Ed slowly worked himself down, taking less care even than Greed would have.
"Take your time," Greed said, closing his eyes. "It's supposed to feel good for both of us."
"It does," Ed muttered, but the slight intake of air afterwards suggested he hadn't meant to say it. He'd descended far enough to settle his weight on Greed's groin, and Greed couldn't help but begin to fondle the breasts shivering with Ed's breathing. His thumbs passed over the hardening nipples, and Ed writhed down with an uncertain moan.
Greed thrust upward. He couldn't help it, and he almost apologized for it, but Ed's gasp was not one of protest. Greed rocked upward again, and this time, Ed drove himself onto it. "Uhn--" Ed groaned, trying to match the rhythm that had begun stirring Greed's hips, "how do I--"
"That's fine," Greed breathed, but as expected, Ed didn't seem to want to top him. He was just reacting to Greed, striving for Greed's pace, and Greed couldn't lead very well from here. "It's good, but it'd be better if we just switched."
Ed paused his movement for a moment, meeting Greed's eyes. Greed expected him to buckle down and deny him, but instead, he nodded curtly and rolled to his back, dragging Greed with him until Greed was buried again between Ed's parted legs.
Greed caught a better glimpse of his face in the fire light from here. He was still panting softly between nicely parted lips, and some of his hair had already come loose from his braid. He could only keep the fingers of one hand trailing around a tight pink nipple now, but Ed didn't seem to mind the lack of cover. Instead, his hands reached up to grasp Greed's hair, and his legs, cool metal and warm skin, wrapped around Greed's waist.
"Oooh, holy shit," Greed muttered under his breath, and he closed his eyes to pace himself, lurching forward to make Ed groan again and driving his cock with slow but relentless force into the tight and un-plundered heat.
Every thrust stirred a tiny mewl from the boy's mouth until Greed's rhythm quickened. Ed seemed now to be holding his breath between the groans he tried to stifle, and Greed couldn't help lowering himself finally to kiss him, pressing his tongue past his own jagged teeth to find Ed's, uncertain but willing.
The boy gasped again, pulling his mouth away as he tipped his head back. Greed could feel it around his cock: the tremor, the pulse, and not a moment too soon. He'd wanted to last far longer than this, but he hadn't expected it to be as good as this, as tight as this, as hot as this.
Greed slowed for a moment, prolonging it, playing the boy's body like a bow on a tightly-strung instrument before returning to his own need, and the boy finally shuddered and convulsed under him.
"Oh, fuck," Ed stammered, "Fuck!" Fingernails and steel scraped Greed's back as Ed's body clung to him everywhere with the same desperation Greed felt as he came in answer.
It was a long moment before Greed got up again, pulling Shielded claws out of the floor. It might have been an eternity before he felt like it.
Ed was still panting gently. His eyes were closed, and his lips were again almost delicately parted. His breasts rose and fell on the uneven waves of his breathing, and he had lifted his knee to tip it over his other leg. It was a pretty pose. For all the foul language and attitude, Ed was pretty.
As though feeling Greed's attention, Ed opened his eyes and quickly folded his arms over his chest. He writhed awkwardly from the coldness of the metal again, then seemed to give up, letting his arms return to the floor with a flop and a dull clang.
"So," Greed began, trying not to pant himself as he grinned, "what is it like?"
Ed narrowed his eyes. "It's like you need to shut up," he muttered, closing his eyes again, but not before kicking Greed in the knee.
From: Santa
Request: Greed/Girl!Ed
Rating: NC-17
Title: Trust
Greed knew it was a losing battle. That was the point, after all, but he couldn't help his irritation that the boy was now just a little swifter, a little more agile than he was, and his own bulk was almost dragging him down. But even without the stones, even in the presence of his remains, he could still put up a fight, and he supposed losing to this kid, as losing went, wasn't as bad as losing to them.
Time was running out. Even his Shield was failing him, thanks to the boy's devious alchemy, and Greed wondered as he barely managed to dodge another deadly arc of the boy's blade what it would feel like when it finally pierced him, when Greed would finally be hurt for real.
He flipped backward, launching forward again from a crouch so that his fist sunk under his opponent's rib cage, the blade whistling over Greed's head. "You know," he chuckled, hiding his panting as he relaxed into readiness again, "this'd be a hell of a lot easier if you weren't so goddamned small."
Judging from the look in his eyes, Greed counted himself lucky that the boy still hadn't got his wind back. What he didn't express in words, however, he neatly articulated in action, and Greed avoided the blade only to fall prey to another alteration of his shield when the alchemist's hand made contact.
"It'd be a hell of a lot easier if you'd just tell me where my brother is," Ed growled as Greed hit the floor to dodge him.
Greed laughed behind the Shield, rolling to his feet again. "If you two had just answered my simple question about his soul, we wouldn't be here in the first place." He tried not to think of all he had lost tonight, partially on account of the Elrics' obstinance. "But I guess everybody just wants to fight me."
And betray me.
He slammed his elbow into the boy's back a little harder than he meant to when he sidestepped his next attack. The older Elric might be a convenient target for Greed's anger, but ultimately this wasn't his fault. It was Kimbley's--or maybe it was his own. He should have known better than to trust him, but trust was something Greed didn't have much experience with. He was seldom given the chance, or the time.
The boy spun around again quickly enough. After all, Greed's strength was failing, and he knew where this was headed. And he couldn't keep remaking the Shield indefinitely. Just a few more tricky advances, and it'd be through.
"You deserve it after what you did," Ed panted, dodging the swipe of Greed's claws as he dropped down, catching Greed's leg with his boot to send him onto his back. Greed tried to gain his feet again, but the blade finally caught him through the thigh, ripping pants and failing Shield as it did.
He thrust his other foot into the boy's chest to separate them, gripping his thigh once the metal was withdrawn and pitching forward with a growl of pain. "And they'd love for you to think that, too."
The boy must have been listening, even in the midst of Greed's following lunge. He was distracted enough by the implication of innocence in Greed's response that the homunculus' claws managed to rip all the way up his torso, drawing blood before Ed could dart back.
But not much blood. Greed was almost relieved that what he tore was mostly cloth: a loose black shirt and tighter bandaging beneath. Was he fighting wounded? He'll win even injured, Greed thought with some bitter humor.
"That conscience will get the best of you," he chided. "Trust me."
Greed crouched again and was about to beckon to the boy, but Ed was apparently too concerned about his ripped shirt to attack again. Greed frowned, stamping the foot of his good leg on the marble floor as he re-set his position. "Let's go, you wimp," he goaded.
But to no avail. Ed was trying to pull the ripped ends of the bandaging together again to repair them, but with the damaged automail, he couldn't seem to do it, and amidst the boy's apparent panic, Greed thought he glimpsed another reason for his awkwardness entirely.
Two reasons, really.
Greed laughed weakly, then again, almost staggering back from this turn of events. "Don't tell me you've been a girl all this t--"
"SHUT UP," Ed roared, and though Greed was familiar by now with Ed's energetic temper, the force of the yell was still surprising.
Greed straightened slowly. Ed finally gave up with the ruined strips of bandaging and just repaired the looser black material, but the chest beneath the fabric was unmistakable.
He let his Shield slip away, finally giving up the protection completely as he smirked. "Guess you'll just have to finish me off." He held out his arms theatrically. While he wasn't exactly ready for this, there was nothing left to grovel for--not that he would, anyway.
Ed remained where he--she?--was, holding the jacket together, still looking shaken. "What are you doing? I'm not just gonna cut you down."
"You're gonna have to." Greed smiled, trying to convince himself that he was satisfied using words rather than claws. "I don't hit girls."
"I SAID SHUT UP," Ed railed again, and without the Shield to guard him, Greed felt the fist under his jaw like never before.
* * *
Greed hadn't expected to wake up again, but he did, slowly. And when his eyes finally made out the vertical bars that surrounded him, he wished that he hadn't. He'd already come to the conclusion that death was the only freedom he had left, and as much as he wanted everything, he couldn't stand for everything to be taken away, again and again.
He tipped his head where he lay, scanning the walls beyond the bars. He could already feel that he was no longer in the same room as the bones, but he was still in the mansion. And he still wasn't well enough to break or bend metal bars. He didn't need to get up to figure that out, either.
He was just about to close his eyes again, hoping rest would be enough to regain his strength, when the sound of boots on marble drew his attention towards one of the room's doors. "Find him yet?" Greed teased half-heartedly, detecting in the harsh daylight that the kid's chest was once again flat. Where were Greed's sunglasses?
"You haven't told me where he is, yet."
"Tell you what," Greed mused, "I'll tell you where your brother is if you tell me why you've been masquerading as a boy, sister."
"I'M NOBODY'S--STOP FUCKING WITH ME," Ed yelled again, stomping forward to kick at one of the bars, but unfortunately doing nothing to compromise it. "Just shut up about it!"
Greed closed his eyes, smirking faintly. "Don't trust me? I hope to be dead soon. I won't tell anybody."
"There's nothing to tell," Ed growled. "And I'm not having this conversation. Where's my brother?"
Greed frowned finally. This kid was no fun. He--She was awfully violent for a girl, but then again, so was her teacher, and just as irrational. Greed couldn't even be sure where the other Elric was at this point, now that it was well after dawn--
"Martel," Greed exclaimed, sitting up. Martel would think he was dead by now, and even if he meant to be--even if he should be, even if he wanted to be, he couldn't stomach the idea of her thinking it too soon, leaving without him when he was right here.
"What?"
"Martel," Greed muttered, "she was one of the chimera, probably the last one left by now. I told her to give up on me at dawn--" But there he went again, trusting. "Look, I'll tell you all I know about where he is if you let me out."
"Yeah, fine!"
Greed clenched his jaw. This was the only leverage he had. "I let him go before I even got here. He probably waited with Martel in the forest near the front door until sunrise, and he's probably still nearby."
"You let him go? He's been out all this time? Why didn't you just--"
"It doesn't matter, just let me the hell out of here!"
But the look on Ed's face as he paused told Greed he'd made yet another mistake. "Wish I could. But after what you did to Dante, I'm going to find Al before I let you out."
Greed slammed his fists against the bars despite the pain it brought, baring his teeth as he growled. "Look, I didn't do that. We had a deal! You can't leave me here! YOU CAN'T SEAL ME AGAIN!"
Ed backed up a few paces. "Hey, hey! You've got nothing to worry about if I find Al, okay? Calm down. I promise you I'll be back--even if you were lying."
But Greed was tired of trusting, tired of fighting . . . just tired. He slumped to the cold marble floor again, speaking to it, futile as it might turn out to be. "Just find her. Tell her I'm alive. But don't let her do anything stupid."
Greed didn't look up again, but a moment passed before he heard the boots rapping along the marble on the way out, and he tried not to hope for anything more than sleep.
* * *
By the time he opened his eyes again, the early light of twilight had replaced the earlier glare, but it still reached him in vertical strips. The bars were still there. And though he felt a little stronger, he was far from regaining his old self. Without the stones, that was a long way off.
But at least he wasn't alone. He wasn't left here, not yet, and even if he couldn't trust his present company, he had at least come back, and may even have been waiting for some time.
He sat up and stretched, as much as the makeshift cage would allow his long arms, and let his eyes settle on the moody alchemist, currently sitting against the near wall.
"I take it you found him, just like I said," Greed muttered.
"Yeah," Ed replied, gold eyes looking dim as they studied the floor. "He's out looking for Martel--insisted, actually."
Greed smirked. That sounded like the tin guy, all right. "So why am I still in here? Trust me, kid, you've got bigger enemies than little old me."
Ed glanced away, appearing, at least, to consider this, but Greed couldn't be sure anymore, and he was even less sure as the moment stretched in silence.
"You talked about her like she was your friend."
"Is that so surprising?"
"No, it's just . . . . The others--"
Greed snorted derisively. "Don't you group me with them. I'm not on their side, it's what I've been trying to get through to you."
"Okay, okay." Ed sighed, meeting Greed's eyes again with some apparent difficulty. "I believe you."
"So let me out already. I'm starting to get cramps. Coulda made it a little bigger, you know."
"There's just one more thing." Ed stood up from the floor and drew a slow breath before advancing a few paces towards the bars. "About . . . about what you saw."
Ed's face colored, and Greed could only guess the subject, foggy as his memory of the fight was.
"I wasn't born like this."
Greed stared blankly for a moment before he snickered quietly. "I think they call it puberty."
The iron bars rang as Ed kicked them, then turned to sit against them. "That's not what I mean! Look, I don't want you to get any wrong ideas about me. It was an accident. In the Fifth Lab. Your friends--"
"I told you, they're not--"
"--okay, right, the others, they wanted me to--to complete the Stone, but there was an explosion, and there was this--this huge reaction, and when I woke up in the hospital . . ."
"You were a girl?"
Greed lifted an eyebrow. He couldn't claim to understand the details of what the kid was going on about, or how such a result could be possible, but he had, at least, been there at the time. He was thankful for that explosion. At least it'd given him a few days of freedom.
But Ed hadn't responded.
"You sure the doctors didn't do anything funny?" Greed continued. It wasn't easy to take this seriously, but the glare that Ed provided him helped.
"I had to fix all the charts, and threaten the life out of some of the nurses."
"So you're gonna keep this a big secret, huh? Good luck on that."
"Look, I covered my tracks at the hospital, and now that just leaves you, so keep your big mouth shut about it, or you'll wish you still had bars between us."
Fat chance, Greed thought, lips twisting in a cynical smile. But obstinance wasn't going to help anything. Much as he warned himself against making promises with alchemists, given all their type had ever shown him, he finally sighed in acquiescence. "I won't say anything."
Ed met his eyes again, gold to purple, then finally clapped his hands together and dissolved the bars.
* * * * *
It was no Devil's Nest, and he had decidedly fewer allies, but Greed made do with a temporary residence at the edge of Central--temporary because he was being realistic about his odds, despite Ed's repeated assurances that things would work out somehow. That was how the kid got through every day, after all. But Greed wasn't as optimistic, or as complacent. Ed might have wanted his brother's body back, and his own limbs back (not to mention his gender), but Greed wanted . . . well, everything, and he wanted it with a force that humans weren't accustomed to dealing with. Biding his time until the end, when what little he had would be taken away from him for good, was almost torture.
Almost. Through their shared secrets, Greed had to admit he'd made a friend in the kid, and as much as his experience told him he needed to be more guarded, he couldn't seem to push the kid away, not when his face flushed so easily at the mere mention of womanhood.
Though one or two times, Greed liked to think that flush was from more than embarrassment, and one or two times Greed found a sudden fist of metal connecting just under his jaw. It was a compliment to his company that the Shield was never present.
He smiled where he sat, boots up on the table, when he heard the approaching footsteps. They didn't worry him, never did: he wouldn't hear his enemies coming.
"Bring anything?" He barely turned towards the door with the usual inquisitive greeting, but Ed came into sight at the other side of the table, dropping a bag of food and a few bottles of beer onto it as his answer. Greed didn't need to eat, but wanting to was enough drive on its own.
Boots off the table, Greed sat forward to rummage, finding mostly produce, nothing very decadent. He satisfied himself instead with a beer, popping the top on his teeth. "Want one?"
Ed made a face, replacing his own boots on the table when he sat down. "No, thanks. That stuff's gross."
"Shoulda brought something else, then."
"Selection is limited to what's been confiscated from the dorms, you greedy ass--"
Greed chuckled to himself between swigs.
"Anyway. Things been quiet?"
Greed paused before swallowing, running his tongue through the mouthful, then set the bottle down with a dull clink. "A little too, actually." He paused again, folding his large arms on the table. "This ain't my scene." He was still sorely tempted just to return to the sordid heart of the city to start a new congregation, come what may, but any mention of doing so seemed to upset Ed, and that was more trouble than it was worth. At least that would get this over with more quickly, and he'd have more fun in the meantime. "You told him yet?"
The color rose predictably in Ed's face, which had by all accounts retained its boyishness, even if the rest of him had decidedly not. "For the last time, he'll find out sooner or later, and I'm banking on later."
"I'd rather be around for it, though," Greed answered, cocking a grin.
"Don't be a jerk," Ed growled, folding his arms over what Greed knew was still a tightly bound chest. "Besides, I'm sure you will be."
Greed snorted lightly. "To tell you the truth, I'm bored enough to go looking for them. Better that than being found. Of course, if you would just tell me that trick you did with your brother--"
"I already told you it's not that simple." Ed closed his eyes, brow furrowing between his brows in an expression that always made him look a few years older.
"'Cause you need a soul, right?" Greed narrowed his eyes, but his smile remained. It didn't bother him so much that he might not have one, but it bothered Ed.
"Because, you idiot, if it were all that great, Al wouldn't be so . . ."
"Empty?"
"Unhappy." Ed opened his eyes with a glare. "Just be satisfied with what you have."
Tipping the bottle, its neck between his fingers, Greed rolled its base on the table with a sly smile. "You're one to talk."
Ed rolled his eyes as he looked away. "Yeah, yeah, Al and I are great big hypocrites for not accepting the consequences. Heard it before."
"Not what I meant." Greed's lips smiled again, this time around the mouth of the bottle as he took another swig, letting his eyes drop pointedly to Ed's chest, and only because he couldn't see any lower under the table.
Ed pulled back his legs, looking as though he were about to kick the table in Greed's face. Instead, he got up, boots stamping to the floor before he turned on them. "Could you just drop that already?"
Though Greed's point had been made, his smile nevertheless faltered. "Look, it can't be that bad. I hear lots of girls actually continue living into adulthood by choice."
"Yeah, except I'm not a girl, and I'm not supposed to be like this!"
Ed whirled towards him to emphasize the sentiment, but Greed had already got up to tower over him. He bent down so that he was nearly eye-level. "I think you should just make the best of it."
"What," Ed growled, "with you?" He swung his fist towards Greed's face, and though the homunculus was agile enough to catch that, he didn't realize in time that the other fist was the real threat.
Suppressing the urge to curse while his vision was clearing, Greed caught that wrist with his other hand and pulled it down, then dodged the knee that was headed upward. Clearly, Ed was in no mood to talk about this.
Too bad. To save himself further injury, Greed forced the uncooperative alchemist off-balance enough to sit him in the chair again, then sat over his thighs, still gripping his wrists, to pin him.
"A little too defensive, considering I wasn't even suggesting that. Although now that you mention it . . ."
"What was it, then?" Ed retorted quickly, struggling under Greed's sheer weight before he finally focused his attention on the wall to their side. "I don't need to hear it, whatever it is."
What was it with the Elrics and not listening? Drawing a breath, he tried to be patient. He was greedy about his time, sure, but what else could he be doing now? Not much.
"So you're ashamed. But it's not the end of the world, and you can't spend your life avoiding all the things you could have. You should take them. Keep them. Hoard 'em, really."
"You're only thinking of possessions," Ed mumbled. "I know you."
"Yeah, well, take it as a metaphor for the important things, then."
Ed glanced side-long at him before turning his face forward again, frowning skeptically, but seeming to accept that Greed had at least said something useful.
Greed grinned jaggedly with the small triumph.
"Now kiss me."
It would be hours before Greed was conscious enough to appreciate it, but Ed could really throw a guy when he put his mind to it.
* * *
"You want to what?"
Greed hadn't even let go of the doorknob yet. He stood across the threshold from Ed, an eyebrow cocked while the alchemist's brow was furrowed with determination.
"I'm not gonna say it again."
Greed could only watch as Ed stalked past and stopped next to one of the old, worn chairs they'd tried to furnish the place with. But he didn't sit down, and his hands remained in his pockets.
Shutting the door behind him, Greed turned to lean against it. He wasn't about to argue with the kid, but he still wasn't sure he'd heard him rightly. "And what brought about this change of . . . heart?"
Ed turned enough to glance back at him, then resumed his faceless guard. "Al found out. Or I told him. Or I thought he found out and I ended up telling him--The important thing is that he knows."
"Oh. And?" Greed unfolded his arms to saunter a few steps closer. So the kid finally let it out. Long time coming.
"And . . . after all the other questions, he asked me--just like he asks me about everything else I do--what it was like."
"And you need me in order to find out?"
Ed glanced back at him again and opened his mouth to say something, then seemed to lose his conviction, finally dropping into the chair behind him with a small puff of dust. "I don't know. I don't know these things."
Greed smiled at the corner of his mouth. "Well, you can probably tell him it's just like being a boy, except for certain things, and you can find those out on your own."
Ed said nothing, but he squirmed briefly and looked away again.
"Girls do it too, you know," Greed added, smugly clarifying so that the color rose in Ed's cheeks. "And if you haven't yet," he went on, thinking out loud before he lost his verbal train of thought. No, that train just headed south.
"Let's just get this over with," Ed demanded quickly, then looked up again abruptly. "You can, right? I mean--"
"Yeah, it still works," Greed answered, grinning widely. It definitely still worked.
The abandoned flat didn't have electricity, and as Greed watched the alchemist pull off his jacket and shirt to show the binding beneath, he rued the hell out of the fact that the only light available to him by this time was a fire he'd managed to start in the sooty hearth. He could probably see better than Ed could, but it still wasn't enough, especially as the binding started to unravel.
It didn't take long for it to loosen like an over-coiled spring. Once enough of the strip was unwound, the weight of its charge pressed free of it, and Greed could hardly believe Ed was letting him watch this. But the homunculus' attention eventually triggered Ed's modesty, or maybe embarrassment, and his hands slipped under the bandaging to hide his chest.
One hand was soon removed, however, as the remaining arm tried to make up for it. "Fucking metal," Ed muttered, shivering briefly, but bravely lifting his eyes to Greed's.
Greed coughed quietly as he moved closer. At first thought, he wouldn't have expected that breasts on a man's torso would look at all appealing, especially on a torso honed by heavy fighting and acrobatics, but Ed's stature seemed to carry the addition naturally, and that was the cleanest way Greed could phrase it to himself.
"Here, cover me," Ed ordered, taking Greed's hands and putting them to his chest, then reaching down to fuss with his belt.
Greed blinked, doing his best not to move his hands. "You'd rather I touch you that look at you?"
"I guess," Ed muttered, but his tone was off-handed, and he thrust his hips up where he sat to push off the rest of his clothing, kicking his boots off with it. "Floor?"
Without even waiting for Greed's response, Ed slipped out of his tenuous grasp and dropped to his knees and elbows, facing the hearth with what Greed assumed was an attempt to keep certain things in shadow.
Greed scratched his head. "Look, kid, I'm not sure you're ready for this."
"How much more ready can I be?" Ed quipped, glancing at him before he returned his eyes to the fire, though it was probably too bright to watch comfortably in the darkened room.
Greed wasn't going to argue. He shrugged and kicked out of the human clothing he'd acquired, then let the less-human clothing ripple away. He knelt behind him, hands resting on Ed's hips.
He was a girl, all right.
"Are you ready?"
"I already said I'm--"
"I mean ready," Greed interrupted, exchanging the confusion of words for the directness of touch. He slipped a fingertip down the line between Ed's legs for a bit of warning before his finger reached the point of entrance. Despite the warning, Ed jumped forward with a small gasp, but Greed had found out what he needed to know. Ed seemed to have been ready for a while.
Rubbing the wetness between his fingers, Greed indulged himself in the smell of it for a moment before he licked it off. "There's a lot we can do first, you know."
"Just--just do what's normal," Ed muttered into his arm. Still on his elbows, he'd become still again, but his pelvis was inclined just a little more than before.
"Can do." Greed took him by the hip again, his other hand rubbing at the base of his cock. Considering this could be the last time he could do this, he wanted to take his time, get creative, really demonstrate the possibilities, but he wasn't going to press the issue.
Steadying himself, he nudged the head of his cock against the wet heat. He listened to Ed's gasp, and he felt the sigh of his body as Ed's chest dipped further towards the floor. Slowly, he pressed forward, and this time, Ed hissed softly.
"It hurts the first time," Greed mumbled, and he waited for Ed's resistance, but it didn't come. He supposed the kid was used to pain. He advanced, doing his very best to keep it slow, to stop his hips from rocking full-force into him. Ed groaned, the sound of it tight in his throat, and Greed swallowed an answer from his.
But Ed suddenly pulled himself forward. He was panting lightly. "I don't know if I can do this."
Greed clenched his jaw, but sat back on his heels. Maybe he could just talk him through it. "It doesn't hurt the whole time."
"I know, I just--" Ed glanced back at him, looking conflicted. "I think I should be on top. I'm just not--"
Greed waved his hand to concede, turning with a thump to his back. "Whatever you want." It wasn't like him to give in to what someone else wanted, but it was either this or he wasn't getting anything at all, not willingly, and he supposed he could understand the kid's reticence. Men were raised to give, not take.
Ed crawled to him, swinging the automail leg over Greed to straddle him, and strangely reaching again for Greed's hands to cover his chest again.
Greed snorted softly, gripping their weight gently. Ed looked skeptical, but said nothing, and merely licked his lips as though concentrating. Greed felt again the heat at the head of his cock, and this time he groaned aloud as Ed slowly worked himself down, taking less care even than Greed would have.
"Take your time," Greed said, closing his eyes. "It's supposed to feel good for both of us."
"It does," Ed muttered, but the slight intake of air afterwards suggested he hadn't meant to say it. He'd descended far enough to settle his weight on Greed's groin, and Greed couldn't help but begin to fondle the breasts shivering with Ed's breathing. His thumbs passed over the hardening nipples, and Ed writhed down with an uncertain moan.
Greed thrust upward. He couldn't help it, and he almost apologized for it, but Ed's gasp was not one of protest. Greed rocked upward again, and this time, Ed drove himself onto it. "Uhn--" Ed groaned, trying to match the rhythm that had begun stirring Greed's hips, "how do I--"
"That's fine," Greed breathed, but as expected, Ed didn't seem to want to top him. He was just reacting to Greed, striving for Greed's pace, and Greed couldn't lead very well from here. "It's good, but it'd be better if we just switched."
Ed paused his movement for a moment, meeting Greed's eyes. Greed expected him to buckle down and deny him, but instead, he nodded curtly and rolled to his back, dragging Greed with him until Greed was buried again between Ed's parted legs.
Greed caught a better glimpse of his face in the fire light from here. He was still panting softly between nicely parted lips, and some of his hair had already come loose from his braid. He could only keep the fingers of one hand trailing around a tight pink nipple now, but Ed didn't seem to mind the lack of cover. Instead, his hands reached up to grasp Greed's hair, and his legs, cool metal and warm skin, wrapped around Greed's waist.
"Oooh, holy shit," Greed muttered under his breath, and he closed his eyes to pace himself, lurching forward to make Ed groan again and driving his cock with slow but relentless force into the tight and un-plundered heat.
Every thrust stirred a tiny mewl from the boy's mouth until Greed's rhythm quickened. Ed seemed now to be holding his breath between the groans he tried to stifle, and Greed couldn't help lowering himself finally to kiss him, pressing his tongue past his own jagged teeth to find Ed's, uncertain but willing.
The boy gasped again, pulling his mouth away as he tipped his head back. Greed could feel it around his cock: the tremor, the pulse, and not a moment too soon. He'd wanted to last far longer than this, but he hadn't expected it to be as good as this, as tight as this, as hot as this.
Greed slowed for a moment, prolonging it, playing the boy's body like a bow on a tightly-strung instrument before returning to his own need, and the boy finally shuddered and convulsed under him.
"Oh, fuck," Ed stammered, "Fuck!" Fingernails and steel scraped Greed's back as Ed's body clung to him everywhere with the same desperation Greed felt as he came in answer.
It was a long moment before Greed got up again, pulling Shielded claws out of the floor. It might have been an eternity before he felt like it.
Ed was still panting gently. His eyes were closed, and his lips were again almost delicately parted. His breasts rose and fell on the uneven waves of his breathing, and he had lifted his knee to tip it over his other leg. It was a pretty pose. For all the foul language and attitude, Ed was pretty.
As though feeling Greed's attention, Ed opened his eyes and quickly folded his arms over his chest. He writhed awkwardly from the coldness of the metal again, then seemed to give up, letting his arms return to the floor with a flop and a dull clang.
"So," Greed began, trying not to pant himself as he grinned, "what is it like?"
Ed narrowed his eyes. "It's like you need to shut up," he muttered, closing his eyes again, but not before kicking Greed in the knee.