And They Were ROOMMATES

It looked like a normal house. Well, relatively normal. It was small, one bedroom and one bathroom. A living room and small kitchen with a laundry closet. Only a little bit bigger than a one bedroom apartment. Nothing fancy. It wasn’t ridiculously close to campus, but it was within reasonable biking distance and in a decent neighborhood. So why was it so cheap?

The rent for this house was so cheap it would almost end up being less expensive than living in a dorm, even with paying for utilities, and it didn’t look nearly terrible enough to justify that. As far as he could tell the AC and electricity worked fine and the water wasn’t brown and didn’t smell weird. He didn’t want to ask the landlord why the rent was so low out of fear that that would prompt them to raise it, and he didn’t want to look into the property’s history because he was pretty certain that even if he found out that every single previous tenant had been murdered here in their sleep with an ax he’d stay anyway. He was just so tired of looking for a place to live.

He’d lived on campus for his first semester but his dorm was a small cramped space lacking all but the barest amenities and with a bathroom that had to be shared with way too many other people. And on top of that he and his roommate had caused plenty of problems for each other. Also, he’d found it was impossible to get any homework done or get any sleep with everyone around him loudly partying or drinking or screwing or setting off the fire alarm or doing all of those things at once. One Saturday he had awoken to find that someone had ripped the exit sign out of the ceiling and he’d known at that moment that he needed to get out of there. The next semester he had moved back home and tried commuting but it was too far to ride his bike and the public transportation in the area was unreliable, crowded, prone to breakdowns, and generally filthy. Plus, it gave him motion sickness.

Finding this place had been a godsend, he’d be able to bike to campus without having to wake up so early he’d have to skip breakfast and end up passing out on on the sidewalk on the way to class, and he’d always have a quiet space where he could do his homework and sleep at night. So, all in all, Ling Yao was pretty sure wild horses couldn’t drag him out of this house.

After his friends had helped him move in and he had gotten everything unpacked he still had a few weeks of summer break left to settle in and enjoy doing nothing before the fall semester started. He hadn’t found any glaring problems with the house while he was getting everything set up and he had decided not to actively search for them, not wanting to look a gift horse in the mouth. As he sat on the couch eating leftover pizza and scrolling through Netflix to find something to watch he came across the paranormal thriller show that the Elric brothers had insisted on watching when they took a break from unpacking to eat lunch. Ling had nothing better to watch so he put it on.

So a couple of hours later when the lights in the house started flickering wildly he jumped but told himself he was being paranoid. If some wiring problems were the only reason the house was so cheap then that was perfectly fine by him. He got up and turned all the lights off, the tv was bright enough to see the room by anyway. He sat back down and resumed his show. A few minutes later the lights turned themselves back on and flickered more before turning themselves off.

“Okay. I’m going to bed. And no more spooky tv.”

Ling all but collapsed on top of his bed, it had been a long day and he was more tired than he thought. But after getting comfortable he found himself a bit anxious at the thought of closing his eyes.

“Of course I’m nervous.” He muttered to himself. “First night in a new house, first time living on my own, I just need some time to get used to the place. There’s absolutely nothing to be scared of.” He closed his eyes and tried to drift off into sleep. After a few moments he opened his eyes again.

“Dammit.” He jumped up and unscrewed all of the lightbulbs in the room before getting back into bed.

He lay there a moment and again tried to sleep. The room was dark enough to keep him from seeing anything and it was pretty quiet too. Dead quiet. Ling could practically hear his own heartbeat. He angrily tried to get it to slow down.

Then a floorboard near his bed creaked and he let out an embarrassingly high pitched noise of surprise. He muttered some curses to himself and pulled the covers up over his head. Then he reached over to his nightstand drawer and felt around until he found the small stuffed animal he kept there purely for sentimental reasons. He held the little lion close to his chest and pretended he was still in his childhood bedroom in a house full of people who could protect him instead of all alone. Then he was finally able to fall asleep.

……

He woke up the next morning after dreaming that he’d had to fistfight a ghost and vowed to never again watch anything in the supernatural horror genre. As he was walking to the kitchen to get breakfast he heard his phone start to ring, and answered it.

“Hey…Yeah, the house is fine so far…Just some trouble with the lights but it’s nothing compared to the trouble with everything that I had living on campus…No, it’s okay, I can handle it…I don’t need anything…I will…I know…Yeah…You too…Alright. Bye, Lan Fan.”

As he was about to hang up a burst of static screeched through the speaker, making him drop the phone in surprise. He clenched his teeth and purposefully ignored this, picking his phone back up and grabbing a bagel. The lights in the kitchen started flickering as he walked towards the toaster so he turned around and walked to the couch. He put on some reality tv and ate the bagel untoasted. The rest of the day passed without any more unusual occurrences, but he still avoided the electronics in the kitchen just in case.

……

The next day he started feeling cold spots. He got a blanket out from the closet. The lights kept flickering. He took out all the lightbulbs and let the house be illuminated by just the tv and sunlight from the windows. The creaking of the floorboards and door hinges and the rattling of the pipes made strange and sinister noises, and they often sounded like laughter. He started playing loud music to drown them out. He opened the fridge one morning to discover that all of his eggs had been smashed. He had been reluctant to try using the stove anyway. He also learned quickly to expect any can of soda he kept in there to have been shaken violently just before he opened it. He started drinking more water. The coffee maker was unplugged and stored in a cabinet under the sink as a precaution, he never once attempted to use it.

One time, when he got out of the shower and wiped the fog off the mirror he thought he saw a quick glimpse of a shadowy figure with a monstrous red face standing behind him. He yelped and turned around but saw no one. He started to avoid looking into mirrors as much as possible and did his best not to react the times when he did see the figure behind his reflection again.

If I can deal with 6:00am fire drills and 3:00am actual fires then I can deal with this. Ling thought to himself. I can’t let myself leave the most convenient house in the world just because it’s spooky and I’m stressed and overreacting.

He continued stubbornly ignoring all of the strange activity and pretended like everything was normal.

Ling took a long gulp of the coffee and hoped it would help either his tiredness or his headache.

“Whoa, someone hasn’t been sleeping well.” Ed commented
and sipped his own drink. They had met up at a coffee shop in between Ling’s new house and the place where Ed lived over the summer.

“Speak for yourself. I’m not the one who got a drink with a lethal number of espresso shots in it.” Ling deflected.

“You’re exaggerating.”

“The barista was legally required to ask if you had a heart condition before she gave it to you.”

“Yeah, well, I’m getting a head start on the homework for my advanced science classes, what’s your excuse?”

“Um…” Ling started, embarrassed. “I’ve just been having some problems with the house.” This was definitely an understatement. Ling’s nights had been fraught with stress fueled nightmares, and more often than not he found himself too anxious to go to bed until he was about to pass out. The volume of the noises the house made and the amount of weird activity in general both increased after sunset, and it left Ling feeling like he shouldn’t let his guard down. He was working hard to keep himself from falling into a nocturnal schedule that would be hell to undo when the semester started.

“Oh, not up to living alone after all? If you want to move back into my dorm you’re out of luck. Al claimed the top bunk and all that’s left is the couch.” Ed teased.

“No, no, it’s nothing that serious.” Ling tried to cover up the nervousness in his voice with a smile. “Just normal house problems, y’know. Trouble with the electricity and some weird noises from the pipes.”

“Is that why you insisted we meet here instead of there even though it meant you had to take the bus?”

“Yeah I, uh, just needed to get out for a bit. I’m sure I’ll get the problems fixed or just get used to them before classes start, but it’s nice to have a break for a while.”

“Yeah, well, you better get it taken care of soon, people are gonna want to visit you eventually.”

“Yeah, I wouldn’t want to be stuck with the weird spooky house that no one ever wants to go near and end up becoming some kind of friendless hermit.”

“Ooh, maybe it’s haunted!” Ed laughed. Ling made himself laugh too.

……

On his eighth day in the house Ling pulled a load of laundry out of the dryer and discovered that some of his shirts had been nearly shredded, he told himself it was just something wrong with the dryer but the holes looked indisputably like giant claw marks. He didn’t bother folding the laundry, just left the basket sitting on the floor and walked away. He tried to distract himself with tv, putting on one of his favorite historical political dramas. After about ten minutes the tv staticked out for a second and then switched channels to the start of a heist movie. Ling used the remote to switch back to his show. The tv switched back to the movie. This happened a few more times before Ling threw down the remote in frustration and began yelling at the empty space around him.

“Come on! The tv too?! Can’t you just leave me the tv?!”

After this outburst the house was filled with the sound of menacing laughter, much clearer and louder than he had ever heard it before. It echoed around him and shook the walls. After the noise subsided Ling stood up silently and walked out of the house. He locked the door behind him, walked calmly down to the end of the street, and screamed in fear. Then he screamed again out of frustration. Then he walked back into the house, silently sat back down on the couch, and watched the heist movie.

It was a decent movie, the thieves ended up filthy rich and successfully escaped the pursuing law enforcement. As the credits started rolling Ling turned off the tv and took his laundry basket to his bedroom. He folded and put away all of his clothes, even the ripped up shirts, and then let himself flop face down on the bed. He let out an annoyed groan into a pillow.

Ling knew that this had been hurtling towards “white guy in a horror movie” levels of stupidity for days now. But by this point he wasn’t ignoring the fact that something was going on here, he was just being too stubborn to let it drive him away from the house. Trying to find a place to live had been awful and there was no way he’d find anywhere else this close or this cheap, especially with just a couple weeks left before he had to start going to class. He’d just have to not let any of this get to him, it still wasn’t as bad as living in the dorms with Ed had been. After all, nothing had caught on fire yet. He got up, took a deep breath, and walked out of his room to go get some dinner.

Written, in what appeared to be blood, on the wall of the living room were the words: ‘THIS HOUSE IS MINE’.

Something inside of Ling snapped. His face shifted into one of flat determination. He walked into the kitchen, opened up a drawer, grabbed a pad of paper and a pen, and sat down at the kitchen table. On the top of the page he wrote in big letters ‘Roommate Agreement’.

The disembodied voice that had laughed at him before returned, but this time it just said “HUH?”

“Listen up, whoever you are! This is your house? Fine! But I live here too and we need to set up some ground rules.”

“YOU’RE…NOT GOING TO LEAVE?” Now the voice sounded confused rather than angry.

“I don’t plan on it. Not anytime soon, at least. And I doubt there’s anything you could do that could change my mind.” In response to this declaration the entire house began to shake and a loud thundering noise could be heard along with an angry shout.

“I DON’T SHARE!”

The words on the wall started to drip and ooze, as if to emphasize their message. Ling looked completely unshaken, he continued talking in a calm, even tone.

“I’m not going to be spooked out of this place. And if we have to live together don’t you think it’d be better for both of us if we at least tried to get along and respect each other? Wouldn’t that be better than having to deal with a string of new people moving in one after another and having to scare them into leaving over and over? ” Ling got no response. The shaking didn’t stop but it didn’t get worse and the voice didn’t yell anything else. He figured that maybe he had at least made it pause and think. Time to use the ace up his sleeve. “And of course, if I do leave, I’ll be taking the tv with me. But if I stay, you’ll get watch whatever you want on Netflix whenever I’m not home.”

All paranormal activity abruptly stopped. Ling unclenched his fists and teeth, internally sighed in relief, and smiled. That strategy had worked when negotiating with his last roommate and he’d had a feeling it’d work here too. “Alright then, let’s establish some boundaries.” Ling looked down at the piece of paper. He’d made a roommate agreement before with Ed when they had lived in the dorms last year, but he wasn’t sure what exactly should go into an agreement with a ghost. He thought back to every horror movie he’d ever watched. It honestly wasn’t a very long list, and the list of ones he’d actually paid enough attention to for it to be of any help to him now was even shorter. He realized that he’d probably have to rely mainly on Ghostbusters. Well, he thought. Probably best just to start by working from experience.

He wrote ‘No writing on the walls.’ At the top of the page. The words on the wall slowly disappeared and a thick red check mark appeared on the paper next to what he’d written. He followed it up with ‘No trying to scare me into leaving.’ Another red check appeared. So far so good.

“Alright then.” Ling said, and continued writing, talking aloud as he did. “No messing with the food or kitchen appliances, this one is non-negotiable.” Another check. “Okay, no damaging or breaking my stuff.”

The booming voice returned, sounding angry. “EVERYTHING IN THIS HOUSE IS MINE!”

Ling shouted back, “If you can’t pay for a replacement then don’t break it!” There was a pause, some low grumbling from the voice, then slowly a check mark appeared next to the rule. Ling continued writing silently.

‘No making the lights flicker at night.’

“ONLY AT NIGHT?”

“The entire point of this is compromise. And you can add things too.” Ling said. A check appeared, and then big red words started to appear on the paper below where Ling had been writing.

‘I GET TO VETO ANYONE WHO VISITS.’

“No way.” Ling said. More words show up on the paper.

‘I GET TO VETO ANYONE WHO VISITS AND STAYS THE NIGHT.’

“Alright, reasonable.” Ling replied and drew his own check mark next to the words. This gave Ling an idea. He wrote ‘You have to leave when I have people over.’ but it was almost immediately crossed out by a thick red line. The voice spoke to him again but quieter this time, sounding like it was coming from a point beside him rather than all around him.

“I can’t leave.”

“Can’t?”

“Can’t.”

“Okay then.” Ling wrote ‘You have to keep a low profile when I have people over.’

“Better?” He asked, and a check mark appeared. Then, below it, more red words.

‘YOU CAN’T HAVE PEOPLE OVER EVERY DAY.’

Ling crossed it out. “Nope, too vague. Let’s decide on a number. How’s three times a week sound?”

‘YOU CAN’T HAVE PEOPLE OVER MORE THAN THREE DAYS A WEEK.’

Ling put a check mark next to the words. Then he thought of something he probably should have thought of earlier.

‘You can’t hurt me.’ He then hastily added ‘Or kill me.’ A red check appeared next to the statement and Ling allowed his shoulders to slump slightly in relief.

‘YOU CAN’T HURT OR KILL ME.’

Ling was a bit surprised by this one. “Wait, aren’t you already dead?”

The voice answered him. “Oh, I’m not a ghost. I’m a demon.”

“Okay.” Ling said, managing to keep his voice even through sheer force of will. Process this later. He thought. He put a check mark next to the demon’s words.

‘No trying to hurt or kill any of my guests.’ Check

‘LISTEN TO BETTER MUSIC.’

Ling crossed that one out. “Nope. Nothing that subjective.”

A tense moment of silence, then the demon answered. “Fine.”

Ling continued writing. ‘No weird mind games.’ This one got crossed out.

“What does that even mean? Be more specific.”

‘No trying to corrupt my soul, or the souls of any of my guests.’ Check. And an exasperated sigh.

‘No psychological torture or manipulation of me or any of my guests.’

“This standard roommate agreement stuff?” The demon asked with rising annoyance.

“You can’t blame me for wanting to be thorough.”

“Guess not.” Check.

‘NO USING MAGIC TO TRY TO CONTROL ME.’ Check.

‘No using magic to try to control me.’ Check.

‘No going into my room when I close the door.’ Check.

‘NO SINGING SHOW TUNES IN THE SHOWER.’ Check.

‘No going into the bathroom while I’m in there.’ Check.

‘YOU ALWAYS HAVE TO WEAR CLOTHES WHILE IN THE LIVING ROOM AND KITCHEN.’ Check

‘No trying to scare me or anyone I bring over.’

“Didn’t we already cover scaring you?”

“That one only said you couldn’t try to get me to leave by scaring me.”

“Oh,” The demon sounded impressed and amused. “You’re a smart one, kid. Alright.” Check.

‘No buying anything with my money without my permission.’ Check.

‘No using demon powers on the tv.’ Nothing.

“If you break it I don’t have the money to buy a new one.”

Check.

‘Exceptions to these rules must be agreed upon in advance by both of us.’ Check.

Ling tried to make sure he wasn’t forgetting anything and started to sign the paper before he remembered one more precaution he should probably take.

‘No demonic possession.’ There. Now he was at least guarded against everything Ghostbusters warned about.

The demon scoffed.

“What, is that not a thing?”

“No, it’s a thing.” The demon said. “It’s just that if I’m going to possess someone I prefer to go for someone dead. If I’m gonna have a body, I want to have it all to myself.”

“Okay, understandable.” Don’t stop and think, Ling told himself. Just catalogue the information unemotionally and focus on the task at hand. “It’s staying on the list though.”

“Fair enough.” And a red check mark appeared next to the last rule.

Ling signed his name at the top of the page. The demon started to write there as well.

‘THE DARK AVARICIOUS DESIRES DWELLING IN THE HEART OF EVERY HUMAN MADE MANIF—’

“Come on, I’m trying here. You have to have something that at least resembles a name, something I can call you.”

The demon crossed that out and wrote ‘GREED.’

“Okay, better. And you’re the only one here? Besides me I mean.”

“Yep. I’m something of a solo act. And it’s not like I could contact anybody to invite them over even if I wanted to, not while I’m stuck here.”

“Okay, good. And I can trust you to follow these rules?”

“Yeah, if you keep up your end. That was the whole point of putting it in writing, right?”

“Yes. Wait.” A frightening possibility occurred to Ling. “Wait, is this thing, like, magically binding? Did I just sell you my soul?”

“What? No. I just…” The voice spoke with conviction despite the hesitation. “I just think it’s important to keep my word. It’s not like a hard and fast rule for all demons but it is for me. I don’t lie.”

“Well, that’s good to know.” Ling replied. Something in Greed’s tone made Ling feel inclined to believe him even if common sense made sure he was still wary of trusting anything the demon said. He tore the paper off the notepad and set it aside. “And now that we’ve established the basics,” he titled the next page ‘TV Schedule and Quiet Hours’ and began making a chart.

……

They ended up arguing more over the schedules than they had the ground rules, Greed seemed determined to live up to his name. But eventually they worked out something they could both agree upon.

“That should do for now, it’ll have to change if my class schedule changes but we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.” Ling said through a yawn. “Right now I need to get some sleep.” Ling gathered up the papers and headed towards his room.

“Okay. ‘Night, roomie.” Greed said, sounding amused.

“Goodnight, Greed.” Ling replied, and got ready for bed while filled with a sense of accomplishment. It was only when he woke up the next morning that the reality of what had happened the previous night fully hit him. He lay awake in bed awhile, just processing.

The supernatural was real. Demons were real. There was one in his house. And he had made a roommate agreement with it.

Ling got up, opened the door to his room, and stuck his head out. “Um…Greed?”

“Yeah?”

Ling sighed. “Just checking that last night wasn’t a weird dream.”

The demon laughed. “Sorry kid, you aren’t that lucky.”

This was going to take some getting used to. Well, first thing’s first. He thought, and put all of the lightbulbs in the house back in their sockets.

Later that day, after lunch, Ling sat at the kitchen table and stared at the pile of dishes that need to be washed.

“Y’know…” Ling addressed his invisible roommate. “You could do some of the chores every once in awhile since you live here too.

“Ha!” Greed answered. “Is that right?”

“Listen,” Ling said. “Just to keep things fair, maybe every so often you could take care of the dishes.”

“Nope. Sorry, but that’s not actually fair.”

“Why not?”

“Because I don’t eat. You’re the one using the dishes so you should be the one cleaning them.”

“Damn, that does make sense. Hmm…” Ling thought for a moment. “I guess the same excuse applies to laundry as well, and you can’t take out the trash because you can’t leave…What about cleaning? Like sweeping and dusting?”

“I don’t have guests coming over to keep the place looking nice for.” Greed said smugly.

“Well, that is true…but…” Ling said. He’d had an idea.

“But what?”

“Well, it’s just…you’re some kind of greed incarnate thing right?”

“A demon of avarice. What’s your point?”

“I just figured that you’d like having nice things.”

“Of course.”

“And since the house is one of your things you’d want to keep it looking nice.”

“I see what you’re trying to do here, and it won’t work, you manipulative little shit.”

“Listen, if I’m in charge of cleaning I’ll hardly ever do it and I’ll put in the bare minimum amount of effort. Is that really the condition you want your house in?”

“...Fine.” Greed gave in.

“Perfect!” Ling said with the biggest cheekiest grin possible.

“I am really starting to regret letting you stay here.”

“Oh, look at the time! It’s your turn to use the tv.”

After a pause the tv switched on and Ling heard no more complaints.

……

Ling was perched atop the back of the couch. He had suddenly yelled in shock and scrambled up there, not even bothering to pause the show he was watching. Now he was balancing on one foot and taking off one of his shoes.

“Okay,” Greed said. “What the hell are you doing and why the hell are you doing it?”

“Look!” Ling yelled and threw his shoe in the direction of a very large spider running across the floor, just barely missing it. “Damn. Greed, do something! Kill it! Before it gets away!”

“What? It’s just a spider.”

“Exactly!” Ling said while starting to take off his other shoe.

“You got a problem with bugs or something?”

“You don’t?!” Ling paused, balanced on one foot as he held the other in his hands, shoe half off. “I figured you’d squish any bug that dared try to live in your house the moment you saw it.”

“Naw, they’re not really bothering me so I don’t see why I should bother them.”

“When I first moved in you tried to bother me so much I would be too scared to stay here!”

“What’s your point?”

Ling rolled his eyes and finished pulling off his shoe.

“Never mind. I’ll take care of this my—Oh, dammit! It got away! Ugh, I’ll never find it now.”

“I still don’t get why it’s a big deal.”

“Because it’s a bug in my house!”

“Ahem.”

“Your house, sorry. I get that a disembodied voice might not see that as a big deal but I do. It could get into my food or spread germs everywhere, and what if it bites me? Did you see how big it was? It could be venomous!” Ling sank down until he was sitting atop the back of the sofa rather than standing. “Plus, it’s just creepy.” He realized the irony of saying something like that about a spider while he was living with a demon, but he didn’t care. At least Greed didn’t have too many legs or too many eyes.

Greed sighed.

“Fine, if you’re going go be so whiny about it.” The nearest window suddenly opened and the spider was gently but firmly ushered outside from under the couch by an invisible force before the window shut again.

“Nice.” Ling said, sliding down from the top of the couch to sit on the cushions again. “How’d you find it?”

“I’m bound here. That means that, in a sense, this house is part of me. I can sense every living thing that crosses the property line and I know what it is and where it is.”

“So you could keep all bugs out of the house?”

“Yep.”

“But you don’t?”

“Nope.”

Ling accepted that the mind of a demon was just too alien for him to ever understand.

“Well, could you start keeping all the bugs out?”

“What do I get if I do?”

“Uh, how about an extra hour of tv on Saturday mornings?”

“Sounds like a deal. From now on I’ll make sure that the only pest living here is you.”

“Thank you.” Ling said, annoyed. But the insult and the lost hour of tv were well worth the promise of never having to see a bug in his home again. It looked like having a demonic roommate actually came with some advantages.

……

Ling and Greed settled into a routine surprisingly quickly, and within a few days were cohabitating in relative harmony. Greed might complain a lot but he always followed the rules of the roommate agreement. And, while he clearly still resented having to share his house, that sentiment was noticeably outweighed by the novelty of having someone actually talk to him and listen when he talked. And getting to watch tv, of course.

The idea of demons being real, and of having a benevolent (or at least, not actively harmful) one living with him definitely took some getting used to, but Ling started to find himself strangely grateful for the demon’s presence. He had never actually lived alone before and there was a part of him that was a bit relieved not to really be living alone now.

Even if everyone else thought he was living alone and he couldn’t tell them that they were wrong. He figured anyone he told about Greed would either think he was crazy for believing in demons or, if they saw proof that Greed really existed, would think he was crazy for staying in the house. And with classes starting soon he’d have plenty to deal with already without his living situation becoming a problem again. Still, Ling was a bit annoyed and saddened by the need to censor himself and lie to his friends and family about his roommate’s existence. But, all in all, he was pretty sure that lying would be easier to handle than telling the truth.

On the night before classes started Ling spent the day making sure that he had everything ready, and then settled down on the couch with his dinner.

“Greed, if I’m not awake by 8:00 AM tomorrow you have my permission to come into my room, turn on all the lights, and yell at me until I get up.”

“Haha, alright roomie. Sounds like a plan to me.”

“And no buying movies on demand while I’m gone. And use the remote to control the tv, not demon magic.”

“Alright, alright, jeez. You’ve only told me like a thousand times. That stuff’s in the agreement, so just chill out about it.” Said Greed, obviously annoyed.

“Sorry, I just want to make sure everything for tomorrow is taken care of. Now, what movie do you want to watch?” Ling said as he turned on the tv and began scrolling through options.

“I dunno. Something actiony, and fun.”

“How about this one?”

“Never heard of it, what’s it about?”

“Looks like robots punching aliens in the face.”

“Sounds perfect.”

Ling paused before playing the movie, obviously considering something.

“Hey, Greed…it’s kind of weird not having anything to look at when I talk to you. Can you, like, make yourself visible?”

The whole house fell silent for a moment, even the hum of the refrigerator seemed to quiet, and then,

“Are you sure, kid? I don’t exactly look like a person.”

Ling thought back to the shadowy red figure he’d caught quick glimpses of in mirrors when he’d first moved in, but he’d already considered that Greed would probably look pretty monstrous.

“It’s fine, besides I’m starting to feel a little crazy just talking to the air.”

“Okay, but don’t go regretting this.” Greed said, in a grouchy tone. And then he appeared in front of Ling.

“...Yeah I’m gonna need a minute.”

“Do you want me to—”

“No, no it’s fine. Just give me like one minute.” Ling put his head in his hands. If he was being honest the demon’s inhuman appearance was definitely a shock, but not as much as his outfit.

Greed had blood-red skin pulled tight across a hairless head with blank white eyes and a mouthful of large sharp teeth. He was also very muscular, which Ling could see because instead of a shirt he was wearing a short open black vest with a white fur collar. Greed was also wearing black leather pants and shoes with…Ling snuck another look at the ground to be sure…Yep, Greed’s shoes had curled pointed toes. But in a way Ling was grateful for the ridiculous outfit, it was distracting from the aspects of Greed’s appearance that were frankly terrifying rather than hilarious. Like those teeth, the almost glowing bright red lines, and the sharp gray claws at the ends of his fingers. Over the past couple of weeks a part of Ling had forgotten that the entity with which he shared his house was potentially very dangerous, and being given a visual reminder brought back some of the fear he hadn’t felt in a while.

But Ling reminded himself that Greed hadn’t tried to hurt him yet and had stuck to all the other terms of the roommate agreement as well. Besides, it wasn’t as if Greed would be less dangerous if Ling couldn’t see him. Ling took a deep breath and then looked back up at Greed.

“No, okay, I’m sorry but the vest is too much, I can’t deal with that.”

“Aw, seriously? You’re insulting my fashion sense?” The demon whined.

“Please just get rid of it. I swear I’m not even going to be able to watch the movie, I’m going to be way too distracted by that thing.”

Greed shrugged out of the vest and dropped it, it disappeared before it reached the floor.

“We good now?”

“I meant get rid of it and put on a shirt .”

Greed sighed, obviously exasperated, and a black tight sleeveless shirt materialized around him.

“Perfect. Now come sit down and watch the movie.”

“You’d better watch yourself ordering me around like this, kid.” Greed grumbled, letting his frustration show in his voice and his posture as he walked over to the couch and sat down heavily. “I’m letting you get away with it for now because I know you’re nervous about tomorrow, but don’t forget that I’m still the one in charge here.”

“Yes of course you are.” Ling replied placatingly and played the movie.

It was a good movie, and was able to draw a lot of Ling’s attention away from the fact that he was watching it with an extremely dangerous looking literal demon sitting next to him. But there were times when his gaze would drift to the side and he would stare at Greed’s teeth and claws and unnatural hue. Once, they were both laughing hard at a joke in the movie and Greed reached out to put his hand on Ling’s shoulder as he doubled over. Ling instinctively flinched away from the demon’s hand. Greed’s eyes went wide at this. They both stopped laughing. It was hard to tell exactly how Greed was feeling since the rest of his face was mostly teeth but he didn’t try to touch Ling again.

Later, during a particularly sad scene, Ling noticed that Greed had started breathing sharply in a short, hitched fashion and rubbing at his eyes. Ling’s jaw dropped, he paused the movie.

“Are you…crying?!” Ling asked, shocked. It was difficult to tell since Greed’s expression was hard to read and Ling wasn’t sure if the demon could produce tears, but that was sure what it looked and sounded like.

“What? Don't be ridiculous.” Greed’s voice was all the confirmation Ling needed. He was obviously fighting back sobs.

“That’s not a denial.” Ling snarked

“Listen. I am a powerful, menacing demon.” Greed tried to sound and look intimidating.

“You’re a softy! You’re a big softy and you’re crying!”

“Just play the movie.”

“Okay, but…Bro, do you need a hug?” Ling could barely contain his giggles as he said this.

“I could eviscerate you!” Greed seemed desperate to retain his scary tough-guy image.  

“That would violate the roommate agreement.” Ling responded with a smirk as he played the movie.

The rest of the evening was a lot less tense. When the movie ended Greed stood up and turned away.

“Well, you should be getting to bed. You have an early morning tomorrow, right?”

“Greed, wait.” Ling grabbed Greed’s arm. Greed turned back, his eyes cautious and confused. “It was good to finally get to see you and meet you properly.” Ling held out his hand and flashed a wide grin. Greed’s eyes seemed to be grinning in response as he took Ling’s hand and shook it.

“Yeah, it was. ‘Night, roomie.”

“Goodnight, Greed.”

Ling having classes during the day and homework to do during the evenings changed things, but the two roommates settled into a new routine just as quickly as they’d settled into the first one. Ling soon discovered that although Greed rarely asked to hear about Ling’s day and would probably never admit to caring, he usually genuinely wanted to hear about it. Ling supposed that Greed must be bored stuck in the house alone all day with nothing but the tv to entertain himself with. Bored…and maybe lonely.

Greed had seemed, in general, a bit less happy now that Ling was gone for a lot of most days. It was hard to tell, the demon was dead set against talking about any of his feelings and he didn’t exactly have a face that could be easily analyzed, but Ling had, in the short time he had known Greed, gotten rather good at reading the tone of his voice and the shape of his blank eyes. And, no matter how much the demon snarked that he couldn’t wait for Ling to leave in the morning so he could have the house (and the tv) all to himself, Ling could tell that Greed was happier seeing him get home than seeing him leave. He started to think about how unfair it was that Greed was trapped in the house.

Possibly unfair. Greed was a demon, and Ling didn’t know what had led to his imprisonment. And he was pretty sure he wouldn’t be able to stop thinking about it until he found out.

……  

“Hey, Greed?” Ling asked one evening after finishing up some homework on his computer, and the demon made himself visible in the chair across the table from Ling to answer.

“What is it?”

“How long have you been here, in this house?”

“Uh, like four-ish years maybe. Why do you want to know?”

“Just curious.” Ling paused for a moment, unsure if continuing this line of inquiry would upset his roommate. “How…how did you end up here? And unable to leave?”

“Jeez, kid, do you really want to talk about that? Why? It’s not exactly the most entertaining story.” Greed sounded a bit reluctant to continue.

“It’s just…we’re always talking about me and what I do, I thought you might like the chance to talk about yourself.” Ling hazarded, hoping to appeal to Greed’s ego.

“Well, you’re not wrong. Alright, so here’s what happened:” And it worked. “A while ago some mage with some big plans moved in here and made it his dark lair or whatever. He summoned me and bound me to the house so I would guard his work. Then, after a couple years, he was done with the part of his plan that required him to live here so he left and uh, didn't bother to set me free or take me with him. So I was just…stuck. And have been ever since”

“That’s awful, Greed.” Ling said sympathetically.

“Eh, he was a bastard anyway.” Greed responded with forced nonchalance. “I couldn’t be more glad that he’s gone. Especially since it means this place is now one hundred percent mine.”

Ling was used to Greed casually dismissing the legitimacy of his claim to the house so he ignored it. “Is there any way to…to unbind you from the house? To free you?” He asked, a bit hesitant.

“It would take some extremely powerful magic, and it’s rare to find someone strong and skilled enough to even bind a demon correctly in the first place. If the unbinding was done wrong it would most likely just unsummon me completely.”

“And that would…?” Curiosity prompted Ling to ask.

“Essentially it’d kill me. Pull me out of this world and send me back to where I came from.”

“And that is…?”

“Probably a bit different from what you think of when you think ‘Hell’, but I still definitely prefer the land of the living. And it’d take a whole lot of time, power, and luck to get back out here again without someone summoning me specifically, which isn’t likely and wouldn’t be easy.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah. So I don’t really expect to be getting out of here any time soon.”

“I’m sorry, Greed.”

“Eh, don’t be. It could be a hell of a lot worse.”

Ling was relieved that the decision was out of his hands. Greed seemed like a decent person but he was a demon. A part of Ling was still freaking out about the fact that he was casually living in the same house as Greed and wasn’t more scared of him. And, however unjust it seemed that Greed was trapped here, Ling had no idea if freeing him was smart or safe. So he was glad it was impossible, at least for him.

……

Ed was visiting. By now Ling had people over often enough that he almost wasn’t even nervous about it at all. Still, the possibility of Greed’s presence being discovered was always a worry in the back of his mind. He didn’t even want to think about how Ed would react to him knowingly living in a haunted house with a dangerous entity. He’d probably be too busy deciding that Ling was insane to even take the time to freak out about the existence of the supernatural.

“I need something to take my mind off of advanced chemistry or my brain is going to melt.” Ed said as he flopped down onto Ling’s sofa and grabbed the remote.

“Why did you even decide to take that class?”

“Ling, it’s not your job to question my life choices. Your job is to provide me with a place where I can ignore my responsibilities without having to deal with my brother’s judgemental lectures.”

“Ah yes, of course, that’s what friends are for. How silly of me to forget.” Ling joked. “This is exactly why us being roommates didn’t work out, when we weren’t arguing we just enabled each other too much.”

“Well it’s not like you’ve ever had a better roommate right?”

Ling was a bit thrown off by the realization that he actually had. And still did. But he couldn’t say anything about it. Luckily Ed was distracted by something in Ling’s Netflix history before Ling had to come up with a response.

“Hey! You watched more of my favorite show! Did you like it?”

“Absolutely not. It just made me paranoid and gave me nightmares, I’m never watching it again.”

“Paranoid? About what?”

Shit.

“Oh, you know, it was just that being alone in the house at night felt kind of creepy at first, before I’d fully settled in.”

“Oh yeah, didn’t you mention right after you moved in that you had trouble with like, flickering lights and weird noises?”

Shit shit shit.

“Yeah, at first. But like, just normal house stuff.”

“I don’t know, I’ve felt some cold spots in here a couple of times. Maybe we should look into the history of the house, see if anything weird ever happened here.”

Fuck.

“What, do you suddenly think you’re some kind of expert ghost hunter now just because you watched a tv show?”

“I can’t believe you’re going all Agent Scully on me! I’m not saying I definitely believe there’s something here, I just thought it’d be fun to look into it!”

“It wouldn’t be fun! It’d be stupid and pointless and a waste of time!” Ling was starting to sound a bit desperate, he needed to reign it in, be a bit less extreme.

“Why are you getting so defensive about this?!”

“Why don’t you just drop it?!”

“Oh, wait a minute. I get it now.”

“What?”

“You’re not being a skeptic, you’re scared! You’re afraid to find out that you live in a haunted house!”

A way out, thank god. Ling did his best to make his response sound unconvincing. “That’s ridiculous, I’m not scared!”

“Yes you are! You watched one spooky tv show and now you’re terrified that there’s a monster under your bed!”

“Okay, that’s definitely overstating things.” Ling said with absolute sincerity, a bit annoyed at how much fun Ed was having mocking him. Ed started laughing. Ling’s frown deepened. “Alright, well, you’re not the one who actually has to live here so I’d appreciate it if you wouldn’t look into this. Please, for the sake of my fragile psyche.”

“Okay, I wouldn’t want you finding out that someone died here and getting so spooked that you had to move back in with Lan Fan and her granddad. I’ll drop it.”

“Thank you.”

Ed left a few hours later and after closing and locking the door behind him Ling leaned against it and let himself sink down to the floor.

“Oh my god, I’m so glad that’s over.”

“Yeah, for a while there things were getting pretty tense.” Greed added, appearing before him.

“Hey, Greed?”

“Yeah?”

“You’re definitely a better roommate than Ed was.”

“Ha! Of course I am!” Greed said, sounding very pleased with this. “That little twerp is a complete idiot!”

“Well, that might be a bit unnecessarily rude, but I wouldn’t say that you’re wrong.”

Ling had tried to put the issue of Greed being freed out of his mind since it wasn’t a decision he had the power to make, but there were times where the question of whether or not the demon should be unbound from the house if possible wouldn’t leave him alone.

“Greed…” Ling started one night while they were both sitting on the couch, having just finished watching a movie. “What would you do…if you could leave the house?” Ling asked. Greed looked a little caught off guard but didn’t object to discussing the topic.

“Well…” Greed looked pensive for a moment before continuing. “There are a couple of people I’d definitely like to take revenge on, the bastard who bound me here included, but after that I guess I’d just go back to doing something like what I did before.”

“And what was that?” Ling hadn’t really thought too much about Greed having a past beyond this house.

“I ran a bar that served as something of a sanctuary for people with nowhere else to go. Mostly humans touched by the supernatural in some way and other paranormal creatures. I gave them a home, and they gave me their loyalty and service; helping me acquire more power, money, material possessions, anything I wanted. I wanted everything, and we were damn good at getting it.”

“Wow. Honestly, that is not what I expected you to say.”

“What were you expecting? Wanton destruction? Manipulation and corruption of the innocent? Buying and selling human souls on the infernal stock market?”

“Well, not exactly, but—Wait is that last one really a thing?”

“No. Listen, kid, I’m a demon of avarice. Everything I do is going to be about either getting more stuff or protecting what I already have, it’s as simple as that.”

“I guess that makes sense. So what happened? Did you get pulled away from all that when you were bound here?”

“Naw, this was way before I ended up here. It had been over for a long time by the time the bastard summoned me.”

“So then what happened to your bar? And your friends?”

“First of all, they were my henchmen. Not my friends. Secondly…” Greed’s tone became a bit somber for a moment. He turned away from Ling and looked off into the distance. “Not all demons feel the same way about the world as a demon of avarice does. I love this place so much, it’s where all my stuff is and it has so much more in it for me to acquire, I want it all. But some demons just want to destroy, or to hurt. Most of us tend to hate humans too, but I always thought that was stupid. You’re not going to be able to get what you want from someone if you’re too smugly superior to admit they have anything that you want in the first place. And you humans definitely have things that I want. The things that you make, the skills that you have, the knowledge that you accumulate, it’s all amazing! And on top of that the more people I have working for me the more things I can get! Loyal humans are some of the most useful possessions of all!”

Greed had gotten more and more expressive and enthusiastic while describing his desires and his views on the world and humanity but now he became subdued again.

“Anyway…a lot of other demons didn’t like how chummy I had gotten with mortals, felt like I was betraying my own kind and ruining their image or something. One day one of them decided to teach me and everyone else in my bar a lesson. A fatal one.”

“Oh.” Ling was unprepared for such a violent turn in Greed’s story.

“Y’know…I could almost forgive it if they had just attacked me, roughed me up a bit, I can deal with getting stabbed every now and again. But they killed my henchmen too. That’s the same as stealing from me, and I’ll never tolerate anyone stealing from me.” Greed was so angry he practically growled these last words. Then he paused and sighed. “Then they sent me away from this world and back to home sweet home so I couldn’t cause them any more trouble.”

“Greed…that’s terrible.” Ling said, with sympathy and sadness heavy in his voice. He wasn’t sure what he had expected the past of a demon to be like, but it certainly wasn’t this.

“Hey, don’t worry about it.” Greed put on a cheerful tone once more after turning to look at Ling’s face. “That’s all in the past. I’m still going to own everything in the world one day and nothing’s going to stop me!”

After hearing all of this Ling still wasn’t entirely sure how to feel about the possibility of Greed being freed. But he felt like he could probably trust that Greed meant what he said about what he’d do with his freedom if he had it, so far the demon had lived up to his declaration of honesty. Sure, he worked to hide his true emotions a lot of the time and was probably deceiving himself about a few things, but Ling had never caught him in an outright lie. Mostly, what he learned that night just made the demon seem more human. Greed was a person who’d had a past, a life, and people in that life. And he’d lost those people. Ling felt like maybe he understood a bit better why Greed had been convinced to tolerate Ling’s presence in his house so quickly and easily.

Greed stared at Ling for a moment then continued talking.

“You know, when I say I want everything…” He averted his eyes from Ling’s face. “That includes this house. I wouldn’t just abandon it…And…” The demon seemed a bit nervous about saying this. “You’d make a pretty good henchman too, Ling. You’re smart, capable, determined, and you don’t freak out easy. I would definitely want to keep you and let you work for me.”

Ling honestly didn’t know whether to feel worried about this or just offended. Strangely, there was a part of him that felt almost…flattered. He suspected that this was how his roommate said he enjoyed someone’s company. He decided to just go with it for now, while everything was still hypothetical plans for a nearly impossible future scenario.

“Well then, why don’t you tell me more about your old henchmen, so I know what sort of standards you have and whether or not that’s really a compliment…If you want. If you think it’ll drag up too many painful memories and you just want to leave it in the past then—”

“No, it’s fine.” Greed interrupted. “You were right before about me not talking about myself and my life enough, especially considering it’s so much cooler than yours.”

“Oh, is it?” Ling smiled.

“Absolutely. Like, there was this one guy who worked for me, a werewolf named Dolcetto, and one time we —”

“Stop. Werewolves? Those are real?”

“Yep.”

“Okay…Okay. Continue.” Ling was starting to get good at processing stuff like this quickly and taking it in stride. He wasn’t entirely sure how he felt about being good at that.

……

A few days later something occurred to Ling. He shut his laptop and looked over next to him on the couch where Greed was watching tv.

“Wait, Greed, how did you run a bar when you look so inhuman? Didn’t people freak out when they saw you?”

“Oh, I was possessing some dead guy.” Greed responded casually.

“Oh.” That response made Ling wonder if he really wanted to know more details but curiosity prompted him to continue. “How does that work anyway, were you just a walking corpse?”

“No, that’d be gross.” Greed paused his show and gave the conversation his full attention. “You see, when a demon possesses a body long-term it changes, becomes less human and more demonic. Especially an otherwise unoccupied body. So I wasn’t some rotting zombie, the body functioned like a living one, but I did look a bit strange compared to regular people. And because the body wasn’t really alive in a mortal way I didn’t have to eat or sleep at all, which definitely came in handy.”

“So what did you look like back then?”

“I don’t know, a person.” Greed said, shrugging. “Best looking man in the room.” He added with a cocky grin.

“Maybe I can find a picture of you online, what was the name of your bar?”

“I doubt it, this was way before the whole internet thing was really, y’know, a thing. Plus it was when booze was illegal so I didn’t really do a lot of mainstream advertising.”

“Wow, I didn’t think it was that long ago.”

“Yeah, I’ve been around for awhile.” Greed started his show back up. “But if you want to try looking through old newspapers or whatever, the bar was called Devil’s Nest.”

……

Ed approached Ling one day in the campus cafeteria.

“Okay, so you know how I told you I wouldn’t look into the history of your house?”

“I really don’t think I’m going to like where this is heading.” Ling replied around a mouthful of his third sandwich.

“Well, last weekend after I finished studying for my advanced chemistry test I still had over an hour left before I had to head to my Saturday morning class. Not enough time to sleep but too much time to just head out early.”

“Every single word that you just said makes you sound like an insane person. That test wasn’t even until yesterday.”

“I like to be prepared, Ling.”

“Your study habits are just so inconsistent.”

“I only slack off on the unimportant stuff. Anyway, I was bored and I decided there wouldn’t be any harm in me looking into the house as long as I didn’t tell you what I found.”

“And yet here you are, telling me.” Ling kept his tone casual. There wasn’t any reason to be really worried until he knew what Ed had found.

“Yeah, because what I found is important. I spent days fact-checking everything and putting this all together.” Ed took out a folder full of papers and put it on the table between them. His tone and face were intense. “I think you might be in actual danger.”

“What?” Now there was definitely a reason to be really worried.

“Look.” Ed opened the file. “Over the past couple of years a bunch of different people have all moved into that house and then moved out within a few weeks. You’re the first one who’s stayed longer, that must be why the rent’s so cheap. And the former renters that were willing to talk about why they left were scared. Really scared. They mentioned a bunch of strange things happening that are all commonly considered signs of paranormal activity.”

“Isn’t every strange thing considered a sign of paranormal activity?” Ling did his best to sound flippant.

“Listen, Ling! I’m serious! Look, the last guy before you who lived there longer than a month was seriously shady. Always paid rent in cash, used a fake name, left suddenly without giving any indication why, and he left behind a bunch of occult books and materials. Right after he left is when people started having problems. I think he brought something evil into that house, and it’s still there!”

Ed did sound serious about this. And seriously worried for Ling’s safety. This wasn’t just a game for him anymore and he was getting close to the truth. Ling would have to pull out all the stops to deter him.

“Listen to yourself, you’ve become obsessed with this paranormal bullshit. It’s not real! I’ve been living in that house for more than half a semester, if there was something there I think I’d have noticed it.”

“But you did! The flickering lights and the weird noises!”

Not for the first time, Ling internally cursed the fact that he’d complained to Ed back before he and Greed had officially met and worked things out.

“Those things happened once or twice when I first moved in and I haven’t had any problems since then so just stop! Let it go! Do you have any explanation as to why something evil in my house would be ignoring me?!”

“No, but—”

“Then forget all of this.” Ling stood up, grabbed the folder, and threw it and its contents into the nearby trash can . He then left to go put away his dishes, muttering swears and shoving another sandwich into his mouth as he did so.

Ling felt guilty for lying to Ed when he seemed genuinely concerned for his safety. Especially considering Ed was right. There was a demon in Ling’s house. And Ling felt like he had just chosen it over his friend. But the only other option would be to tell Ed the truth and with the way he was acting now it was clear he definitely wouldn’t react well to that. Ling hoped Ed would just finally listen to him and drop it.

……

It was well after midnight but still hours before the 8:00am deadline when Ling finished his homework. He submitted it, shut his laptop, and got up from the kitchen table. He took about three steps and then just let himself sink down and lay face down on the floor. It was Saturday, so he at least wouldn’t have to get up early in the morning, but at the moment even walking over to his room and getting in bed seemed like too much work.

“Why don’t you take easier classes, kid?” Greed inquired. Or rather his voice. Ling wouldn’t have been able to see him anyway so he hadn’t bothered being visible.

Ling answered.

“What? I can’t understand you through the floor.”

Ling rolled over onto his back but kept his eyes closed and seemed on the verge of unconsciousness. “I said, I need a business degree.”

“Why?”

“It’s kind of a long story.” Ling complained. He wanted to be done talking and pass out as soon as possible.

“Oh come on, you know my past, you can tell me yours.”

Greed sounded so genuinely curious that Ling just sighed and tried to focus his exhausted mind. “Okay...well...I guess it starts with my father. He runs one of the largest corporations in the world.”

“Oh, nice!” Greed said, obviously impressed. “I bet you grew up living the good life then?”

“Not exactly, he and my mother were never married, and in all likelihood he just has too many illegitimate children for it to be feasible for him to acknowledge or support all of them.”

“Oh.”

“But my mother was in charge of one of the corporation’s subsidiaries so we were still pretty well off. The thing is, my father’s company isn’t exactly run ethically. He’s rich enough so that he can make sure the rules don’t apply to him and he encourages some very fierce competition among his employees. So someone as powerful as my mother would be in danger pretty often, especially since her position meant I might become my father’s heir one day. People were always pretty motivated to make her disappear and…well…when your life’s on the line all it takes is one mistake to lose the game permanently.” Sadness had started to creep into Ling’s tone and outweigh the tiredness.

“Listen, kid, if you don’t want to talk about this—”

“No, it’s fine, it was a long time ago. And you’re right. You told me your past, you should know mine.” Ling took a deep breath before continuing. “She had bodyguards, of course, two of them. A married couple. The wife’s father had worked as my mother’s bodyguard before her until he retired, and they were considered close family friends. So when they all went on a skiing trip together I was left with the retired father and the bodyguards’ own child. She’s just a little over a year older than me so neither of us would have been able to ski very well back then. Plus I’ve always hated the cold.”

“...What happened?”

“The police ruled it an accident but…” Ling sighed. “I honestly don’t know. No one came home from that trip. Me and the bodyguards’ daughter were both raised by her grandfather after that.”

“I’m sorry, kid. I didn’t know it was gonna be this kind of story.” Greed replied sympathetically.

“It’s okay, your past was sadder than I thought it’d be too. Anyway as soon as I get a business degree I can take over my mother’s old job and then work my way up to the top.” Ling said with fierce determination.

“You want to run it all?” Greed said with a smile that could be heard even though it couldn’t be seen.

“Yes.” Despite his fatigue Ling’s voice became more energetic. “I want to control the entire company so I can make sure things are run better. Make sure people get held accountable for their actions. Protect people.”

“Wow, if you want all that then you’re almost as avaricious as I am.”

“Ha! I’ll take that as a compliment.”

“I meant it as one. Now, you should go to bed. Trust me, I saw enough passed out people in my bar to know that the floor is a shity place to sleep.”

“Ugh. I don’t want to get up.”

“Come on, Ling.”

“Ugh.”

Ling rolled back over so he was face down. Suddenly an invisible force lifted him by the arms and shoulders and set him on his feet. An instinctive rush of panic started fighting off his sleepiness.

“Um…I didn’t scare you, did I? I wouldn’t want to break the roommate agreement.” Greed said nervously.

“No, no. It’s fine, I just…I forgot you could move things without visibly touching them like that.”

“Being bound to the house means I can control everything in it.” The demon said with a hint of pride in his voice.

“Including me.” Ling said flatly.

“Um…yeah…I guess.”

“Okay…Okay. I’m going to go sleep in my bed now. Goodnight, Greed.”

“…‘Night, Ling.” Greed sounded worried. Ling would have to do or say something in the morning to assure Greed that he wasn’t scared of him, but right now he was just too tired.

Ling went into his room and crawled into bed. If this had happened within the first several weeks of him living here then he would have been way too terrified to sleep and would have instead spent the night trying to figure out if there were any dangerous loopholes or oversights in the roommate agreement. But now, after the initial surprise-induced panic had faded, he really wasn’t afraid. He trusted Greed not to hurt him. That’s what really had him shaken. Ling didn’t know if he was just being stupid and careless in trusting a demon or if the demon bound to his house just really was a decent guy, but either way this served as a reminder of just how weird his situation was. And how quickly the weirdest things could start to seem normal.

Well. Ling thought before drifting off to sleep. At least it’s not boring.

“I still don’t get it.”

“What’s not to get, Greed?” Ling had decided to go all out on breakfast. He was making eggs, french toast, hash browns, the works. Currently he had some bacon sizzling in a frying pan.

“I’ve seen you eat cereal straight out of the box with your hands.” Since Ling was keeping his attention on the food Greed had decided to stay a disembodied voice instead of appearing visibly. “Why put so much extra effort into this meal?”

“I’m treating myself.”

“How the hell does food count as a treat? Eating is something you have to do and it’s not like you get to keep the food if put more work into it.”

“Some experiences are worth having even you don’t get to keep them forever.” Ling said with a grin as the bacon began smelling heavenly.

“You mean like getting drunk?”

“I suppose.” Ling said hesitantly. At least Greed seemed to get the concept. “Isn’t there a food that you like enough to put effort into making it? Or spend extra money buying it?”

“I’ve never actually needed to eat so it’s not something I did very often.”

“What?!” Ling was shocked. “Not even for fun?!”

“Nope.”

Now here was something that Ling found incomprehensible. Both his immense love for food and the large amount of it he ate on a daily basis were so well known that everyone even slightly acquainted with him outright refused to ever offer to pay for his meal. Ed had actually gone so far as to buy a lock for his dorm’s mini fridge when they were roommates.

“Okay then, what about drinking? Were there certain drinks you liked better than others?” Ling inquired as he started moving the bacon to a plate.

“Well, I know the stronger stuff gets you fucked up faster and that all beer sucks. But that’s mostly from observation. Being able to get drunk required putting more energy into how well my body functioned and it took a lot of alcohol so I didn’t do it often.”

“Oh.” Ling tried to think of something else to relate eating to but Greed continued before he could.

“But uh, there were a few fancy cocktails I could mix up back at my old bar that the customers seemed to like a lot.”

“I’m surprised you mixed any drinks yourself, I thought you’d leave that to one of your employees.”

“Yeah, well, bartending is a job for the most charming person on the staff so sometimes sacrifices had to be made.”

Ling laughed at this. Greed paused for a moment and then continued.

“Y’know, there was a certain satisfaction in mixing a drink and then seeing someone enjoy it. The feeling that you succeeded in making something good, something high-quality.”

“That’s exactly it!” Ling said as he carried the food to the table. “And if I cook it for myself I get the satisfaction from making it and the enjoyment from eating it!”

“Ha! You and I don’t think so different after all.”

“Heh, I guess not. Do you want some?” Ling gestured to the food.

“Naw, I wouldn’t be able to taste it at all now.”

“Aw man, that’s too bad.” Ling replied. He then began shovelling the food into his mouth at an alarming rate.

“...I might be too classy for eating anyway.”

When Ling walked through the front door of his house there were many things he could expect to see, including a demon with terrible fashion sense, so it took a lot to surprise him. The sight of Edward Elric pinned to the wall by an invisible force several feet off the ground with a sock stuffed in his mouth as a gag was enough to make Ling drop his take-out. He took a moment to be thankful he hadn’t gotten soup before he spoke.

“What the fuck is going on?!”

Ed tried to yell a few words around the sock. Ling looked around and saw not only a huge mess but also an open window. “Ed, did you break into my house?!”

“MY HOUSE!” Greed was once again using the loud echoing voice that sounded like it was coming from all directions at once, the one Ling hadn’t heard since their first conversation. Ed let out a muffled scream. Ling sighed.

“Well, let him down so I can talk to him.” Greed dropped Ed unceremoniously to the floor. While he was picking himself up and getting the sock out of his mouth Ling continued talking to Greed. “I know that intruders are kind of uncharted territory but you could have just laid low and let me know what happened later.”

“THAT WAS MY PLAN UNTIL HE TRIED TO BREAK SOMETHING.”

“What?” Ling looked back down at Ed, who was staring at Ling with a look of shock and growing betrayal. “What did you try to break?”

“THAT LOCKED DESK DRAWER IN YOUR ROOM.”

“Why? There’s nothing in there except the roommate agreement.”

“Roommate agreement?!” Ed asked angrily. “Wait. Just let me get this straight. There’s some kind of evil spirit here—”

“DEMON OF AVARICE.”

“Thanks, Greed, that's very helpful.” Ling added sarcastically.

“There’s a demon here and not only did you know that, not only have you been lying to me about it, not only are you on friendly terms with it, but you made some kind of deal with it?!”

“I didn’t sell my soul or anything, jeez.” Ling replied, annoyed. “I made a roommate agreement with the person I’m sharing my house with.”

“No! No no, you do not get to act like you’re the one being rational here! What the fuck, Ling?!”

Ling sighed, this was exactly the kind of reaction he hadn’t wanted to deal with.

“Ed, why did you break into my house—”

“MY HOUSE.”

“Our house in the first place?”

Ed stared at Ling with a face full of angry hurt.

“I thought you were in trouble and I could help. Everything I found in my research pointed towards a powerful malevolent presence in the house and I was just going to look around and see if I could find anything in here that suggested paranormal activity.” Ed sighed. “You were so against even acknowledging the possibility that something supernatural was going on that I figured I’d have to do it without you knowing. The EMF was off the charts,” Ed pointed to a cobbled together looking device laying on the floor near him. “And it was strongest coming from that drawer, so I thought that maybe that weird former tenant had left something nasty in there. I looked around for the key for a while, but I couldn’t find it.”

“I suppose that’s what made this mess?” Ling said, sounding a bit subdued. He was starting to feel guilty.

“That, and when I tried to force open the drawer your pet monster started throwing things at me.”

“You did what?!” Ling yelled at Greed.

“I DIDN’T BREAK ANYTHING.”

“You almost broke me, you bastard!” Ed was now angry enough to address Greed directly.

“SORRY, I MEANT TO SAY I DIDN’T BREAK ANYTHING THAT BELONGED HERE.”

Ed looked like he was about to throw another insult back at the demon but then he just sighed and continued talking to Ling. “I figured if there was something evil in there and if I got rid of it you wouldn’t care that I had broken in, I thought maybe you were still dealing with a bunch of paranormal activity bullshit but were just too stubborn to leave or acknowledge it. I had no idea you had gone and joined the fucking dark side.”

Greed chuckled.

“WELL, HIM BEING TO STUBBORN TO LEAVE NO MATTER WHAT I DID IS HOW THIS ALL STARTED.”

“Greed, shut up and let me deal with this!” Ling yelled.

“Whatever.” Ed said and started walking towards the door. “I guess I was wrong. I guess I was very very wrong about this entire situation!”

Now Ling had started to feel even more guilty. “Ed, listen—”

“Y’know, my options right now are to believe that you’re really stupid or secretly evil or both and at the moment I don’t even care, I’m just not going to spend another second in a house with an actual demon in it.” Ed went to the door and tried to open it but it wouldn’t budge.

“Greed, I said let me handle this.”

“OKAY, IF YOU SAY SO.”

The door opened and Ed half stormed, half sprinted out of it. Ling followed him.

“Ed! Wait!” Ling yelled desperately. Ed stopped at his car and turned around to face Ling. He seemed to be almost completely out of patience.

“What? What could you possibly tell me to make this okay?”

“He’s…he’s not a bad guy, not really.” Ling realized how unconvincing that sounded but he didn’t know what else to say.

“He’s literally a demon.”

“Yeah, but listen, he hasn’t really done anything bad…I mean I’m pretty sure there’s been some illegal activity in the past and the trying to scare everyone off more recently, but he hasn’t hurt me. Or anyone else.” Ling added, trying to somehow get Ed to understand.

“How do you know? How do you know he isn’t going out every night and slaughtering people?” Ed was still skeptical.

“Because he can’t leave the house.” Ling was keeping his voice confident, hoping the force of his conviction would accomplish what logic never could.

“You’re sure about that?”

“Yes. He’s definitely trapped.”

“Okay, but then what’s stopping him from hurting you, huh? Maybe he hasn’t yet but he could kill you in your sleep at any time!”

“Well, he’s followed every other part of the roommate agreement.” Again, this wasn’t very convincing but it was the truth.

“Seriously.”

“I’m being serious, I swear. He seems to think it’s important that he keeps his word, and we’ve been getting along really well since we worked out the rules.”

“Oh god, I can’t even believe what I’m hearing you say right now!” Ed sounded like he was at the end of his rope. He slammed his fist down on the roof of his car in frustration. “Why don’t you just leave? Why don’t you just get in my car with me and we can drive away from this house and never come back? We’ll find you a new place to live and just chalk all of this up to temporary insanity.”

A part of Ling considered it. A part of him that had been yelling in the back of his mind the entire time he’d lived here, saying the exact same things Ed was saying now, and becoming more and more upset the less he listened to it and the more he began to like and trust his roommate. The more that this became the new normal. But that part of him had been getting smaller and weaker every day and he wasn’t going to start listening to it now. Getting to direct his response at another person besides himself actually made it easier for him to stand his ground.

“You’re not going to find me a better place to live than this one, not one that I can afford anyway. And I like living here, Ed. I know that sounds crazy but it’s convenient and it’s cheap and I like not living alone. It at least makes it feel less pathetic when I just stay home and do nothing all weekend.” Ling joked, trying to bring some levity into the conversation. Ed looked like he was about to interrupt but Ling kept talking. “Besides, I think he’d get lonely if I left.”

“The demon? Would get lonely?” Ed somehow managed to sound even more incredulous than he had already been sounding.

“Yes! Ed, he’s been trapped in that house alone for years and he’d never admit it but I can tell that it’s left him desperately bored and lonely and he wants friends!” Ling put as much conviction into his voice as he could muster, it was a formidable amount. He left out the fact that he was pretty sure that he’d miss Greed at least as much as Greed would miss him, though.

“I know he’s a demon, but why does that mean he has to be bad?” Ling continued. “What proof do you have that he can’t just be a person? I’m the one who’s actually spent time with him! I’ve lived here for months and if he wanted to hurt me or manipulate me or do anything else evil he would have done it already! He’s just a guy, and he’s actually a really great roommate.”

Ed sighed, he seemed to consider Ling’s argument. “I’m not going to be able to change your mind about any of this, am I?” He said, defeated.

“No, you’re not.”

Ed sighed. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Because I knew how it’d sound. I mean, honestly even I think I’m crazy and stupid for living here sometimes. I knew you’d try to get me to leave and I really really didn’t want to have to find a new place to live again. ”

“Okay, yeah, that makes sense in the dumbest way possible.” Then Ed laughed. “I thought we agreed that I’d be the first one to die in a horror movie.”

“Heh, yeah. Guess you never really know.” Ling added with a bittersweet smile.

“It’s not my fault though. If you do die.”

“No, it isn’t.”

“I tried to save you!”

“Yes you did, very valiantly.”

“You were just too dumb to listen!”

“Truly a lost cause.”

“Exactly!” Ed sighed again and sounded more somber. “Damn, I really hope you’re right about this.”

“So you’re not going to drag me out of this house by force?”

“As much as I want to, no. You’ve been living here for months and you’re not dead yet so you’re probably not in any immediate danger and I’m not your keeper. I can’t make your decisions for you no matter how stupid the ones you make for yourself are.”

“And you’re not going to tell anyone?”

“Of course not, they’d think I was crazy…Although we might have to tell Al. I told him about all the weird stuff I found out about the house and he won’t believe that I stopped looking into it.”

“That’s fine. Your little brother is usually a lot more mature about things than you are.”

Ed glared at Ling who just gave him a cheeky grin.

“Okay, I’ve got one more thing left to say to this asshole.” Ed charged back into Ling’s house and Ling followed him. “Listen up you demonic bastard! If anything bad ever happens to Ling, anything at all, I’m going to come back here, burn this place to the ground, soak the ashes in holy water, and salt the entire property! You understand?!”

“UH, YEAH, SURE.”

“Alright! Ling, I’ll see you in class tomorrow, or else!” And then Ed left.

“Damn, kid.” Greed switched back to his normal voice. “I hope you don’t have to call in sick any time soon.”

“All things considered, I think that went really well.”

“He stepped on your take-out.”

“Fuck.”

……

A couple of days later Ed approached Ling after their last class of the day. “Alright. We need to tell Al, he knows I’m keeping something from him and he won’t let it go. Plus, I don’t want to lie to him. But I’m not telling him without proof because then I’ll just look crazy. So we’re all going over to your house.”

“Alright.” Ling replied. “If you’re sure you want to tell him.”

“What I want is to forget about all of this so I can just focus on my classes but that’s not going to happen so he needs to know.”

“Okay, let’s go get him.”

On the car ride over Al tried to get them to start explaining but Ed insisted on saying nothing until Al saw what was in Ling’s house. Once they got there Ling stopped the Elric brothers just outside of his front door.

“Okay, let me go in first and explain. Just wait here.” Then he went into the house and shut the door behind him. “Hey Greed?”

“Yeah?”

Ling gave a rushed explanation.

“Before Ed broke in he was telling his little brother, Al, about his investigation and now he won’t stop asking questions so we need to tell him about you but he’s not going to believe it without proof, so just do something demony when they come in, alright?”

“Uh, sure.”

Ling opened the front door. “Alright, come in.” He said to the Elrics.

As they stepped into the house the door slammed shut behind them seemingly of its own accord. Then the lights started flickering and menacing laughter echoed around them. Ed and Al both jumped in surprise.

“WELCOME! WELCOME MORTALS TO THE DOMAIN OF GREED THE AVARICIOUS, DEMON OF IMMENSE POWER AND—”

“What the fuck?” Ling asked.

“YOU SAID TO DO SOMETHING DEMONY.”

“Yeah, but I didn’t mean go full haunted house! Seriously, you could have just introduced yourself.”

“THAT’S WHAT I WAS DOING!” Greed protested.

“Wait.” Al said. “Wait…there’s a real supernatural presence in this house? An actual demon? That’s what this has all been about?” He sounded shocked.

“Yes.” Ed replied, still a bit shaken from Greed’s grand entrance. “And now that you know that we can leave and never come back.”

“I don’t know,” now Al sounded skeptical. “I might need a little bit more proof. Accepting that the paranormal is real is a big ask and all of that stuff was kinda too showy.”

“See, I told you.” Ling said to Greed.

“OKAY, OKAY. UH, WHAT DO YOU WANT ME TO DO?”

“Hmm…” Al thought for a moment. “Maybe make a dish fly into the wall?”

“BREAKING THINGS IS AGAINST THE ROOMMATE AGREEMENT.”

“Roommate agreement?”

“Ling will explain that later.” Ed said, sounding more annoyed than shaken now. “Now let’s just leave before it starts throwing things at me again.”

“Oh, I know. Why don’t you just show yourself?” Al suggested.

“ALRIGHT.” Greed made himself visible a few feet away from where everyone was standing by the front door. Ed and Al both screamed and Greed started to laugh. Then he was hit in the face with a prosthetic arm. “Ow! What the hell?”

Ed opened the door with his one remaining arm. “Okay! We’re leaving! Now! And never coming back!” He pushed Al out of the door by his shoulder and hurried out after him, turning around to pull the door shut behind him.

After a second of silence Ling burst out laughing. “Oh my god, the look on Ed’s face was priceless! I wish I had taken a picture so I could tease him about it forever.”

Greed picked up the prosthetic arm off the ground and examined it. “The little shit managed to punch me in the face from five feet away. Why did he already have the hand folded up into a fist?”

“Ed mainly uses that arm for punching.”

“Of course he does.”

Then Ed yelled through the closed door. “Ling! Get out here and explain all this to Al! And bring my arm!”

A couple of weeks passed and Ed didn’t mention Ling’s roommate, but he stopped coming over to Ling’s house. Also, he tended to look relieved whenever saying hello to Ling and worried whenever saying goodbye. Then, one afternoon, Ling heard a furious knock at his front door. He opened it to find Ed, who stormed past him without any introduction.

“Ed! What are you—”

“Al’s in our dorm, my professor is in the library, and I need to be anywhere where no one will talk to me about that stupid essay I have to write.”

Greed began to address Ed smugly.

“WELL, WELL, WELL, LOOK WHO—”

“Shut the fuck up or order a pizza! We’re watching Star Wars!”

“...WHICH STAR WARS? THERE’S LIKE A LOT OF THEM RIGHT?”

“The good ones!” Ed still sounded fed up and furious.

“AND WHICH…And which ones are those?”

“You don’t know which Star Wars movies are the good ones?” Ed sounded somehow even more disgusted by the demon than he had previously.

“Well, I've never actually seen any of them. Sci-fi’s not really my thing.” Greed admitted.

Ed’s face changed completely, he went from intense anger to blank shock. “You’ve…never seen Star Wars?”

“Nope.”

“At all?”

“Never.”

“ Any Star Wars movie?”

“How many times do I have to say ‘no’ before it sticks in your head, you little twerp!”

Ed uncharacteristically ignored this comment, he was more preoccupied with other things at the moment. “And you don’t know which ones are good? So you don’t know what they’re about? Do you know anything that happens in them?”

“Uh, I’d guess it’s about space battles and stuff. Oh and there’s this whiny brat that’s the main guy, right? And he has a laser sword and fights like some robot guy with asthma?”

“Okay, we are watching the first Star Wars movie right now.” Ed said, grabbing the remote.

“Wait the first one or the first one?” Ling asked.

“We’re definitely not watching Phantom Menace unless you want my mood to get even worse. We’re watching the real first one, episode four.”

“Huh?”

“I’ll explain later, Greed.” Ling assured the demon as he got out his phone to call pizza hut. He had a feeling that this situation could play out in everyone’s favor without him having to interfere too much.

“Alright, you demon fuck!” Ed said as he set up the movie. “You had better pay attention, you’re about to witness the greatest piece of cinematic art humanity has ever created!”

“If you say so, brat.” Greed grumbled. And then “Do I have to read all this?” As the opening scrawl began.

“Yes.” Ed insisted seriously.

Time passed.

“Is the whole thing just these two stupid robots?”

“Shh! Just wait.”

“Jeez, okay.”

More time passed.

“Han Solo is the best fictional character in existence.” Greed declared with certainty as the credits rolled.

“I thought you might feel that way.” Ling said with a smile.

“Really?” Ed asked, skeptically. “Even though he did the selfless thing in the end?”

Greed scoffed. “Nothing ‘selfless’ about it. He liked that Luke kid and wanted to keep him so he had to protect him. Letting your possessions get themselves killed is just negligence.”

“Luke was his friend .”

“Friends are possessions.”

“Wow,” Ed sounded disappointed. “That’s the most immoral way I can think to frame it. Guess I shouldn’t have expected more from a demon.”

“Hey, speaking of that annoying, whiny, stupid, little brat Luke, I think I get why you like this movie so much, Ed.” Greed snarked back.

“Screw you, I’m just surprised that you weren’t rooting for Vader!”

“Are you kidding me?! Killing the people who work for you if they mess up is no way to run an effective organization!”

During this argument Ed started setting up the next movie.

“Um, Ed,” Ling chimed in. “Shouldn’t you be getting home? Don’t you have an 8:00am class tomorrow?”

“This is more important.” Ed assured.

“Nice!” Greed seemed almost as excited for The Empire Strikes Back as Ed was. “Does Han get the princess in this one?”

“Just watch and see.” Ling said with a smirk as he got up to make more popcorn.

They watched the entire original trilogy, and after Return of the Jedi ended Ed discussed and debated about the movies with Greed until he passed out on the couch. Ling tossed a blanket over him before heading to bed himself.

“So, you think this means Ed’s gonna be more cool with you living here with me now?” Greed asked as Ling walked to his room.

“I don’t know, Greed.” Ling said through a yawn. “But it’s certainly a start.”

Ed slept through the alarms on his phone the next morning but when he did wake up he almost immediately shot straight up into a sitting position and started panicking upon realizing where he was.

“Congratulations.” Ling said from where he was sitting on the couch next to him. “You’re not dead.” He handed Ed a mug of coffee and took a sip from his own.

Ed took a long drink. “So, I guess I missed class.”

“Yep.”

“I’d better get going. And call Al to let him know I’m okay.”

“Alright.”

Ed gulped down the rest of the coffee in one drink and left only slight rushing, which Ling considered to be a small victory.

……

After that night things between Ling and Ed were a lot more normal. Ed was still reluctant to visit Ling’s house but no longer completely unwilling. And he was still an asshole to Greed when he did come over, but then again Ed was at least a little bit of an asshole to almost everyone. Ling had high hopes though that his friend and his roommate would learn to at least tolerate each other given time.

Ling’s extra ‘just in case I sleep in way too late’ alarm went off. He reached over to grab his phone and silenced it. He wanted to just close his eyes again, he’d tried and failed to get out of bed enough times to know he wasn’t going to make it to class today, but seeing the time he figured there was something he needed to do before he could let himself wallow in his sickness in peace. He grabbed his phone and texted Ed.

‘Not dead. Have a cold. Cancel whatever revenge plans you’re making.’

Ling figured now he could count on nothing else disturbing him. Then there was a knock at his bedroom door. He groaned in disappointment.

“Hey Ling, you awake? You’re usually ready to leave by now.”

Ling felt too shitty to answer. He rolled over in bed. He felt cold air cling to the newly exposed sweat on his back as he did and made a pained noise.

“Kid? You okay?” Greed was starting to sound worried.

Ling tried to say something but his throat was sore and dry. He managed to reach over and take a drink from the water bottle on his bedside table, but the effort was painful and exhausting.

“Hey, can I come in? I’m worried you’re not okay.”

“Nnnn.”

“...Was that a yes?”

“Yeah, yeah come in.” Ling said and Greed opened the door. “I’m fine, I’m just sick. I was hoping I could make it through the end of the week before it got this bad so I didn’t miss any class but I just couldn‘t make myself get up today.”

Greed walked quickly over once he saw the heavily dishevelled state both Ling and his bed were in and started re-arranging pillows and blankets to make him more comfortable. “Jeez kid, forget about class, you gotta take better care of yourself.”

“I have some cold medicine in the bathroom.” Ling said and started to attempt to sit up. Greed gently pushed him back down.

“I’ll get it. You just stay here.”

Greed left and returned with the DayQuil, as well as tissues, cough drops, another water bottle, and an extra blanket. Ling, in his fevered state, hadn’t remembered he even had some of those things. Greed arranged these items around Ling before leaving and returning carrying the tv, which he hooked up so it faced Ling’s bed. He tossed Ling the remote.

“Here, put on something dumb but entertaining to hold your attention while I go heat up some chicken soup.”

“Greed…you don’t have to do all this.”

“Course I do. You’re sick. You can’t do it yourself and watching you try would be too pitiful and pathetic.”

Then Greed walked off, presumably to the kitchen. Ling took some DayQuil and turned on the tv. He had assumed that he would have to deal with this illness alone. He’d never had to before, he’d had Lan Fan and Fu to take care of him when he lived at home and while he was living in the dorms there’d been Ed, who was, despite being rather rude and just about as irritable as a person could be, as caring and nurturing as a mother hen beneath his tough exterior. Ling hadn’t been looking forward to not having help, and it was a huge relief to have Greed looking after him. It was also yet another reason to be grateful he wasn’t really living alone.

After awhile Greed returned with cold Sprite and a mug of hot soup and then reclined next to him on the bed. They watched tv like that together throughout the rest of the day. Eventually Ling made himself get up and go shower, and after changing into some not sweat-soaked pajamas he saw that Greed had put fresh sheets on the bed for him. He crawled back under the covers and drank some NyQuil.

“You need anything else or are you good?” Greed asked.

“I’m good.” Ling responded through the haze of exhaustion and and fever and cold medicine. “Thank you for taking care of me, Greed.”

“Well, I can’t just let you suffer. You’re my roommate so I gotta get you back in top condition as soon as possible. It’d reflect badly on me if I didn’t. Plus, Ed might kill me.”

“Heh, I know what you really mean when you say stuff like that.” Ling said, half asleep and smirking smugly.

“Huh?”

“You just don’t want to admit that I’m your friend and you care about me, so you try to make it sound like you’re still being selfish whenever you do something nice.”

“Well, you’re obviously delirious and need to get some sleep.” Greed said as he covered Ling in another blanket.

“Hmm, whatever you say.” Ling said through a yawn. “Goodnight, Greed.”

“‘Night, roomie. I’ll check on you in the morning. Yell if you need anything before then.”

“I will.”

……

Ed and Ling were sitting in the library studying. Ling let his head fall into his books.

“Ugh, this is too much. I can’t get caught up on what I missed and keep up with the new stuff.”

“You should have done more work while you were sick.” Ed said, chewing on the end of a pencil and typing something into a calculator.

“Please, I doubt I would have actually retained anything I read, if I thought I could have really focussed on anything for more than two minutes I would have made myself go to class. By the way, if you happen to talk to Lan Fan or Fu they think that you came over and looked after me while I was sick.”

“What? Why?”

“Well, Lan Fan called and when she found out how bad I was feeling she asked if I needed her to come over and I couldn’t tell her that my secret roommate was the one taking care of me.”

“Wait, I thought she had come over, are you telling me that…” Ed dropped his voice to an even-quieter-than-normal-library-talk whisper and leaned across the table. “That Greed, the demon, actually took the time to help you when you were sick for three days?”

“I keep telling you, he’s not as uncaring and self-centered as he tries to make people believe. I’m certain he genuinely cares about me. We’re friends.”

Ed thought about this for a moment. “Honestly, that’s really fuckng weird. That you’re friends with the demon that haunts your house.”

Ling shrugged. “Yeah, but I’ve gotten used to it. Sometimes I almost forget that nothing about this is normal.”

“That’s even weirder.”

Ling sighed. “Yeah. It is.”

A couple of days before winter break Ling approached Ed outside of the library.

“Edward! My very best friend!” He greeted Ed in a bubbly tone.

“Oh god, what kind of favor do you want? I still have one final left.”

“It’s nothing you’ll have to worry about until long after you’re done with that.”

“Okay…” Ed sounded skeptical.

“Over break you and Al are going to be a lot closer to campus then I am since we’re going down to the family cabin…”

“And?”

“And on top of that you’re going to be back here earlier than I am…” Ling seemed reluctant to get to the point.

“And?”

“And…I was wondering if maybe you or Al could…”

“Could what?” Ed was starting to get really frustrated.

“Could possibly check in on my roommate once or twice while I’m gone?”

“No.”

“Please!”

“He’s not a cat, Ling! He’ll be fine on his own.” Ed started to walk away. Ling circled around in front of him and blocked his path.

“Yeah, but I don’t want to leave him stuck in the house completely alone for that long!”

“Do you remember—” Ed stopped short and pulled Ling over to the other side of the building where there was less chance of them being overheard. “Do you remember what happened to me the last time I was alone in your house with that thing?!” Ed half-whispered furiously.

“He only did that because you broke in! This time you’ll be there as a guest!” Ling was really laying on the bubbliness. “So you’ll fall under the protection of the roommate agreement. That means no hurting you, scaring you, killing you, psychologically manipulating or torturing you, or trying to corrupt your soul.”

“...I don’t know whether to think that it was smart of you to put all of that in your roommate agreement or extremely dumb of you to stay even though you thought it was necessary to put all of that in your roommate agreement.”

“Oh, he probably wouldn’t do any of that anyway.” Ling said dismissively. “Besides, he likes you a lot more now that he knows you better.” He worked hard to sound as convincing as possible.

“What possible reason would your demon roommate have to like me?”

“The only other person he ever talks to is me.”

“That does make it more believable.”

“Listen, you don’t have to be his best friend or spend all day every day with him, just stop by a couple times and talk to him for awhile so he doesn’t get too lonely.”

“Ugh, fine. But this is the only christmas present you’re going to get from anyone in my family this year!”

“Al and and Winry are still going to bake me a batch of christmas cookies and you know it.” Ling said smugly with a beaming smile.

“Yeah, I know. Al’s so nice like that, it gets so annoying.”

“I’m sure he feels the same way about you for the opposite reason.”

“You’re welcome, asshole.”

“Thank you, Ed. Really.”

“Yeah, yeah.” Ed sounded like he already regretted agreeing to this.

……

While he was gone Ling was surprised at just how often he thought of Greed. Not just worrying about him being in the house alone or fighting with Ed, but also just missing having him around. He hadn’t fully realized just how much he enjoyed Greed’s company until he was gone for so long. Greed was his friend, not just his roommate. He was friends with a demon. Good friends. Probably better friends than he was with almost anyone else. There was a part of him that still freaked out a little bit at that thought, but that part was continuing to get smaller and smaller.

……

Meanwhile, Ed was keeping his promise.

“Alright fucker, if you do anything to hurt my brother while we’re here I swear on my life I’ll find a way to kill you and I’ll do it as painfully as possible!”

“Yeah, yeah, I get it.” Greed replied, exasperated.

“Okay.” Ed continued, walking over to the couch. “I don’t know why Ling thinks you need a babysitter but I told him I’d check in so I’m checking in.

“Probably just wanted to make sure I didn’t get too used to having the place to myself.” Greed grumbled as Ed turned on the tv. He made himself visible in one of the chairs by the couch which earned him a small startled squeak from Ed.

Al sat down next to Ed on the couch as he found a show on Netflix and started it.

“Um, brother, don’t you think it’s a bit rude to watch a show about demon hunters while there’s a demon here?”

“Yeah, it’s kinda passive aggressive too.” Greed added.

“There’s nothing passive about it,” Ed replied. “This is my favorite show and watching something about all the different things I can try if I ever need to end you is the only thing that makes being here without Ling bearable.”

“Oh come on, we could talk about Star Wars.”

“No way.” Ed responded. “Ever since you saw the prequels all you want to talk about is how the jedi are evil.”

“They don’t let you have anything! How is that not bad!”

“Oh yeah, sure, the guys trying to save the galaxy are the bad ones as opposed to Team Murder and Fascism.”

“Actually,” Al chimed in. “I thought the point of the prequels was to establish how deeply flawed and harmful the jedi ideology was.”

“Ha! Your brother agrees with me!” Greed exclaimed triumphantly.

“Whatever. You can’t say that the prequels have a point when they’re so much of a dumpster fire that they’re almost not even worth watching. This, on the other hand, is definitely worth watching.” Ed resumed the show.

After a moment Greed scoffed. “This show is garbage too.”

“Shut up!”

“That’s not how shapeshifters work at all!” Greed complained. Ed paused the show. Both him and Al look at Greed in shock.

“What…What do you mean?” Ed asked.

“I mean that’s not how shapeshifters work! One used to work for me back before I was stuck here so I should know.”

“So, how do shapeshifters work?” Al asked.

“Wait. Let me get a pen and some paper, I want to write this down.” Ed said and ran off to search for writing utensils.

When Ed got back Greed put on a show of being exasperated and annoyed at being bothered as he started his explanation but in reality he was rather enjoying answering the Elric’s questions. His ego couldn’t resist having people want to hear him talk. The brothers listened attentively and asked follow-up questions until Greed had told them pretty much every single detail he knew about shapeshifters.

“Alright, that’s everything I got.” Greed said a bit dismissively. “You can go back to watching your little show now. Or leave.”

“Wait,” Al said. “Do you know things about other supernatural creatures?”

“Yeah, or about magic?” Ed added. “And wait, we haven’t even asked any questions about demons! That’s where we should have started!”

Greed looked over at the Elric brothers with an appraising
and suspicious glance.

“Why do you want to know all this stuff?” He asked. “For the most part it’s got nothing to do with you and not likely that it ever will.”

Ed and Al shared a look. They nodded at each other in understanding. Then Ed spoke.

“Listen, when I found out that Ling was living with a demon I mostly focussed on the fact that my friend was doing something stupid and dangerous. I barely even thought about the fact that it meant that the supernatural was real. But then you said that thing about shapeshifters and I realized…Al and I, we’re both majoring in sciences, we want to understand how the universe works. And now we know that there’s more out there than what we can learn from our classes, that the rules are different than what everyone thinks they are. But I’m not going to let that throw me off balance.” Ed said with smug determination.

“Me neither.” Al agreed.

“So even though it’s less than ideal to be getting my information from a demon, right now you’re the only source we have for learning more about all of this.”

“And we want to learn everything we can.”

“So we never end up missing an opportunity or being unable to help someone just because we don’t know enough.”

Greed considered this for a minute. “Alright,” he said, smirking. “I guess I have to respect such a strong avarice for knowledge.”

“Hey!” Ed interjected, offended. “Don’t try to make this sound selfish, we’re not like you!”

“Justify it however you want.” Greed said with a laugh. “Whether it’s craving enough money to make sure you never have to work again or being desperate to save absolutely everybody you can, want is want. Everyone wants something they don’t have, and that is my domain.”

Ed looked like he was considering Greed’s words and they frustrated him.

“Interesting philosophy.” Al commented, more thoughtful and curious than anything else. “So would you say you don‘t consider yourself to necessarily be evil, even though you are a demon?” This piqued Ed’s curiosity enough to at least get him to look back in Greed’s direction.

“Heh,” Greed responded. “I think I’ll let you two decide that for yourselves after you’re done taking notes. Now, what’s your first question?”

The rest of this and the subsequent visits by the Elric brothers over the holiday season were spent mostly in a series of impromptu lectures, with Ed and Al asking any question about the paranormal that they could think of and Greed greatly enjoying the sound of his own voice as he answered them.

……

Ling returned to his home feeling relieved to be back and excited to see his roommate. “Greed! I’m back!” He yelled out after dragging his suitcase through the front door and closing it.

“Well, someone’s in a good mood.” Greed said as he appeared before Ling. “Was your holiday that bad that coming back here’s so exciting?”

“No, it was wonderful. I just missed you and I’m glad to see you again.” Ling said with plain candidness prompted by his long absence and with a smile.

Greed’s eyes got as wide as Ling had ever seen them. He looked absolutely flabbergasted. “Oh, um, well of course you did. I’m amazing, so much better than everyone else you know.” Greed paused. “I, uh, I guess I missed you too, kid. I mean, it gets boring when you’re not here.”

Ling figured that was about as close as Greed ever got to admitting he cared about others.

“Did Ed stop by a couple of times like he said he would?”

“Yep. He and his brother stopped by and stayed for the whole afternoon like five times.”

That was honestly more than Ling had been expecting. “Did you guys get along okay?”

“Actually, as soon as they realized they could get me to tell them monster stories that were a lot more accurate than what they could find on tv we got along great.”

Ling laughed.

“Perfect! I’m so glad you’re getting along with them now! It’s good that there are other people for you to spend time with when I’m not around.”

“Yeah, well, either way…” Greed said, looking at the floor. “I still prefer it when you are around.”

Ling smiled widely, Greed must have really missed him if he was being this open about his feelings.

“Thank you, Greed.” He said, voice and face both full of sincere gratitude.

“Yeah yeah, don’t get all mushy on me.” Greed put a hand behind his head in such a quintessentially embarrassed gesture that Ling started laughing. “What?”

“Nothing, it’s just…really good to be home again.”

Ling opened the pizza box and grabbed a slice. The cheese was still hot and stringy. He eagerly bit into it and ate the entire slice standing by the kitchen counter before he got out a plate and some napkins and brought the food over to the couch where Greed was sitting.

“So.” He said as he sat down. “You’ve never had a fully developed sense of taste?”

“Nope. The trade off for possessing a body that’s dead is duller senses. I channeled my power into making sure I could still see and hear fine but everything else was working at half capacity or less. I’d have to be a lot more powerful, have very different priorities, or possess a living person to get 100% taste capacity.”

“Huh, okay. Guess that helps explain why you don’t care more about food. And you’ve never done that? Possessed a living person?”

“Not long-term. There’s been a couple…incidents over the years,” Greed said, he looked reluctant to elaborate. “But always short-term, less than a day, and eating was never really a priority at the time.”

“Not that I’m not glad you didn’t go around wantonly stealing people’s bodies, but I’d think someone like you would value getting a full sensory experience.” Ling replied as he started in on another pizza slice. “Because, really, you are seriously missing out.” He said around a mouthful of food.

“Well, it all comes down to what I value about having a body. It takes a fair amount of power to completely suppress the consciousness of a living person, and even if I did that they’d still be in there so it’d always be like the body was never fully mine. And, as I said before, I don’t like to share. Ever.”

“You share this house with me.” Ling retorted.

“That’s different…You’re different. You understand me. We get each other. So I gain more than I lose by letting you live here.” Greed said. He looked vulnerable, and refused to look directly at Ling.

“It’s a mutually beneficial arrangement, then?” Ling suggested.

“Yeah, I guess. If you think you’re getting more than you’re losing by living here with me?” Then he did look at Ling. His eyes were curious.

“That depends.”

“On what?”

“On if I can convince you to do the dishes for me.”

“Oh shut up, you brat!” Greed responded while laughing.

“It was worth a shot.” Ling said with a cheeky grin.

……

It had taken Ling months but eventually he found one mention of Greed’s bar in an article in the digitized archives of an old newspaper. It had made the front page, “Massacre at Devil’s Nest Exposes Local Speakeasy!”

Twenty five patrons and a dozen staff members had been slaughtered, brutally. Many of them were found in pieces. And eight of the murder weapons had been found still inside the body of the proprietor, pinning him by his hands, shoulders, waist, and neck to the wall of the underground escape tunnel where most of the bodies of staff members had been found. That image had a clear implication if you knew it would have taken more than those wounds to kill him, whoever had done this made him watch while they killed his employees. The authorities had never seen so much carnage before caused all in one place at one time by blades rather than guns.

The article provided sketch artist renditions of those of the dead who were unable to be formally identified, along with descriptions of what they had been wearing in hopes that someone reading would recognize them. It was easy to tell which one was Greed, not only because Ling knew he’d been the proprietor but also because he’d been wearing the same stupid outfit Ling had first seen him in except with the addition of a gray tank top, a bunch of black bracelets, and some stupid small round sunglasses. He definitely would have stood out in the 1920s.

Everything about him looked sharp. His hair had been short, jet black, and spiky. Too spiky to be natural, Ling wasn’t sure if hair gel existed back then or if it was the result of demon magic but either way it definitely wasn’t a common style at the time. Greed had had a prominent nose, large and slightly pointed ears, and extensively sculpted eyebrows. His eyes had been reddish purple. He’d had a medium build, broad shouldered and muscular, and looked to be in his late twenties or early thirties. There was an odd scar on the back of his left hand, a circle with a bunch of triangles in it, and all of his teeth were as sharp as those of a shark. His fingernails were long, gray, and pointed, and he had also had scars on his chest, neck, back, and face; thick lines reaching around and forming an almost circuit-like pattern.

Ling could easily imagine that face smirking as Greed made a shitty joke, smiling as he casually flirted with the bar’s customers while pouring them a drink, laughing as he celebrated a successful heist with his crew, and screaming in helpless frustrated agony as he watched the people he cared about die.

Greed was insistent that those who had worked for him were just his possessions, but Ling could tell from the way he talked about them that he had deeply and truly cared for them, and Ling suspected they had returned the sentiment. He shut his laptop and walked out of his room.

“Greed.”

“Hey Ling, I know it’s your turn to pick the movie, but I would like to beg you, please, no more historical dramas. They’re so boring.” Greed’s expression and tone changed to serious concern when Ling looked over at him. “Whoa, what’s with that face? Something happen?”

Instead of answering, Ling just walked up to Greed and threw his arms around him in a tight hug.

“Greed, I’m so sorry.”

“Huh?”

“About what happened in your past, at the Devil’s Nest. You didn’t deserve that.”

“Oh. Uh, thanks. Thanks, Ling. But don’t get all sappy on me now, ‘kay kid?” Greed said, his voice thick with suppressed emotion. He teasingly ruffled Ling’s hair and succeeded in ruining his ponytail.

“Alright,” Ling composed himself so he sounded more cheerful. “You make some popcorn and I’ll set up a movie. Something not boring.”

“Heh, sure thing, roomie.”

“So.” Ed said to Greed. “Crossroads deals, selling your soul, is that real?”

“Yeah, but it’s really rare and I personally was never really into anything like that.”

Ed wrote something down in his notebook. “Was it because you weren’t powerful enough to give people anything they’d be willing to sell their soul for?” He said with overt antagonism in his tone.

“Hey, Ed, what does it say about you that Ling would rather live in a haunted house than have you as a roommate?”

“I think it says more about you. Like that you’re either really weak or a fucking wimp.”

“I think I liked it better when you were still scared of me, you brat.” Greed practically growled, annoyed.

Ed put down his notebook. “Hey, I was never scared! I was just worried you would hurt Ling!”

“Oh please, when you first broke in here you cried for like an hour when I wouldn’t let you leave.”

“If I cried at all it was just because I was worried that the sock you gagged me with wasn’t clean, you bastard!”

“Wait, you didn’t really have him stuck up on the wall for an hour, did you?” Ling asked.

“Naw, it was like twenty minutes tops.”

“That’s still a pretty long time.” Ed grumbled.

“Well, to be fair, you did break into our house.” Ling retorted.

“Whatever, I thought we were past all that.”

“Well, you definitely got scared when you first saw what I look like.” Greed continued.

“I was…startled. And can you really blame me? I didn’t know it was possible for anything human sized to have teeth that big!” He pointed at the aforementioned teeth. “I bet Ling screamed too when he first saw you!”

“Nope!” Greed answered smugly. “He kinda freaked out for a minute, though.”

“That was mostly because of your outfit.” Ling added teasingly.

“Again with this nonsense about my outfit not being amazing. I can’t believe you made me change it.”

“Wait, you can change what your clothes look like?” Ed asked, picking his notebook back up and starting to write.

“Uh, yeah.” Greed said, a bit thrown off by the sudden shift in tone and topic.

“So can you change what all of you looks like?”

“Um…yeah.” Greed sounded reluctant. “But it takes a lot more energy to look different from my true form than it does just to accessorize it.”

“Fascinating…” Ed was writing as quickly as he could. “Could you demonstrate that? Making yourself look different? For science?”

“I just said it takes a lot of energy!” Greed was getting more and more annoyed.

“Oh, come on! What else are you gonna use that energy for?”

“I don’t know! Stuff!”

Ed gave Greed a look that was half pleading and half daring.

“Okay, okay, fine!” Greed got up from the couch and stood in front of where Ed and Ling were sitting. Then he took a deep breath and his form seemed to go a little out of focus. Then, starting with his hands and moving up to the rest of his body he started looking more human. He kept the claws, his teeth were still sharp (but significantly smaller), and his eyes were still blank. He also had red lines on his face and body that matched up with the brighter red seam-like markings that his true form had.

But other than that he looked like a normal human man. He kept the same general build and it looked a lot like skin had just grown over his true form. Ling realized he recognized Greed’s human face from the old newspaper article about the Devil’s Nest and that he was wearing the same outfit the newspaper had said he had been wearing during the massacre. The red lines matched up with the scars the body had had, but scar on his hand was missing.

“Okay, so this is more or less what I looked like the last time I had to blend in around humans. I could make myself look exactly like I did back then, but that would take even more energy and you’re pushing your luck with me as it is.”

Ed had dropped his pencil and his mouth was open in shock.

“...Sorry…Ling was right, that vest is going to take some time to get over.”

“What is so wrong with my vest?!”

“I will say it definitely looks better on you like this than it does in your true form.” Ling chimed in. “Now that you’re wearing a shirt underneath it.”

“You guys just wouldn’t know good fashion if it bit you on the ass.” Greed said as he walked back to the couch. “Let’s watch tv.”

Greed stayed in his more human appearance for the rest of Ed’s visit, but when Ed got up to leave Greed said,

“Hey! Don’t expect me to look like this every time you come over, this was a one time deal.”

“Oh yeah, of course. I get wanting to save your energy for other things.” Greed nodded and turned away, but Ed continued. “Besides, your true form is so badass. I’d probably want to look like that all time too if I could.”

Greed looked completely caught off guard.

“Huh?”

“It looks so cool and dangerous! Like no one would be crazy enough to try to mess with you! You could win fights on intimidation alone!”

Greed smiled, and on this more expressive face it was easy to tell that it was a genuine one.

“Ha, yeah. I guess I could.”

“Bye, Ling!”

“Goodbye, Ed.”

“Bye, demon asshole!”

“See ya, brat!” But Greed’s voice was a lot more playful than malicious. And as a matter of fact so was Ed’s.

After Ed shut the door behind him Greed used his power to lock it without having to get up from the couch and then turned to face Ling, but wouldn’t meet his eyes. “So, uh, what do you think about this form versus the other one?”

Ling looked at Greed for a moment, taking in the humanity of his appearance before answering with complete sincerity. “Well, it’s been pretty cool seeing you like this, but honestly it’s kind of weird too. I miss your real face.”

Of course, Ling did think that one major advantage of a more human form was that he could read Greed’s expressions so much easier, including the absolute surprise that was slowly being replaced with a sly grin.

“Well, if you insist.” And the human disguise slowly faded away to reveal Greed’s real appearance. Ling could tell from Greed’s eyes that he was still smiling.

“Good,” Ling said with a smile of his own. “Now you really look like you.”

One evening Ling walked into the house looking particularly distracted.

“Hey, roomie!” Greed greeted him casually. “Anything interesting happen today?”

“Yeah…Yeah something interesting definitely happened today.” Ling said flatly as he sat down on the couch.

Greed immediately dropped the cheerful tone and got serious. He walked over to the couch and stood in front of Ling, crouching down to be eye level with him.

“Whoa, what’s wrong? Ling?”

“When I left this morning I saw a man on the corner watching the house.” Ling’s tone wasn’t scared, more just unsettled. “It seemed a bit odd but I didn’t think too much of it until I saw him again on the way home. He was standing in the same spot, still watching the house. And this time I got a better look at him. He looked strange, Greed. Everything about him looked faded. His hair, his skin, even his clothes. It’s like they were washed out. And something about him gave me a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach that I couldn’t explain. Almost like the kind you get at the zoo if one of the tigers walks up to the glass and stares at you.”

“Tell me more about what he looked like.” Greed said, he seemed more worried than Ling was at this point.

“White, long blond hair, yellow eyes, judgemental look on his face, wearing a white suit—”

“Dammit! That’s him!”

“Who?”

“The bastard!”

“The bastard? The one who summoned you here?”

“Yeah.”

“Well, why’s he back?!” Ling was starting to sound more and more panicked.

“I don’t know, maybe he wants to clean up loose ends?” Greed said, pacing in frustration and nervousness.

“Greed, are you in danger? Am I in danger?”

“Listen, Ling.” Greed stopped pacing, looked at Ling, and spoke in a tone full of conviction and reassurance. “He shouldn’t be able to do anything with magic that would affect me without coming into the house. And I might still be bound here but I’m not beholden to him anymore. If he sets foot in here I can kill him, and I will.”

“Okay.” Process your feelings on your roommate’s murderous intent later. Ling told himself. “Can you think of any reason he’d have to hurt me?”

“Not unless he wants the house back and I don’t see why he would. Everything he left here got cleared out a long while ago. Well, except for me.” Ling put his head in his hands and Greed put a hand on Ling’s shoulder in an attempt at a comforting gesture and continued. “I can protect you while you’re in the house. I’m not letting the bastard take away anything that’s mine and that includes you, roomie.”

Process your feelings on your roommate thinking that you belong to him later. “Thanks, Greed. I think…I think right now I just need to go to bed. This is a lot to…it’s just a lot.”

“Okay. ‘Night, Ling.”

“Goodnight, Greed.”

Ling got into bed and pushed his face into his pillow in frustration. Just when his life had been going really great something crazy like this had to show up and complicate everything. And there was also Greed’s intention to murder the man who had bound him and abandoned him. Ling knew it should have upset him more than it did, but judging from everything Greed had told him the bastard probably deserved it. It should have also scared him more, having a roommate both very willing and easily able to kill someone. But Ling had believed it without a doubt when Greed said he would keep him safe. There was even a part of him that was glad that Greed had identified Ling as his, he knew how protective the demon was of his things, and with a danger present so far beyond what he could handle by himself he was glad to have anyone looking out for him for any reason at all.

Ling took a moment to consider that if someone in a horror movie had reacted this way then they’d be considered unbelievably stupid and would probably die really soon. Whatever. Ling told himself. My life isn’t a horror movie. If it was I’d definitely be dead by now.

In the morning Ling had a decision to make. And not an easy one. On the one hand, if the bastard did try to get into the house and Greed made good on his promise to seek vengeance then Ling did not want to also be in the house when that happened. For several reasons, not the least of which being that he would probably need a good alibi. On the other hand, if he left then the bastard would be able come after him if he wanted. But if he missed too many classes then he might get behind and fail. He muttered a curse and got out of bed.

Greed, however, had other ideas.

“You need to stay in the house.” The demon told him as he got ready to leave.

“I can’t do that. I can’t just put my life on hold because someone might have some reason to want to to hurt me. We have no idea why he’s back or what he wants, so far he hasn’t done anything directly threatening, and even if I stay now I will have to leave at some point eventually, if only to get food. I won’t lose all the work I’ve put into this semester if I don’t have to.”

“I can’t protect you out there! If you leave and he comes after you there’s nothing I’ll be able to do about it!”

“Did you consider that since he’s probably here for you or the house it might actually be more dangerous for me to stay here?”

“No! I can keep you safe here! I’m powerful enough to make sure he can’t hurt you!”

“Are you sure you’re more powerful than he is?”

Silence. Ling cursed internally. He had been hoping Greed would say yes.

“Well then. I’m going.” Ling tried to open the front door, it wouldn’t budge. Ling sighed. A part of him wanted to give in. To stay inside the house where the danger couldn’t get to him without going through Greed first. But another larger and more stubborn part of him felt like that'd be letting the bastard win.

“Listen, Greed. I know you just don’t want me to get hurt and technically there’s nothing in the roommate agreement that says you can’t keep me here but…please. Just trust me. If he even takes a single step towards me I’ll run back into the house as fast as I can because, believe me, I’m scared too. But until we know more about what he wants or what he’s going to do there’s no reason for me not to try to keep my life as normal as possible. If he’s doing something else besides just looking over here when I get home I’ll stay inside and we can figure out what to do but just…just let me go to class today. Please.”

The doorknob turns in his hand and the door opens.

“Thank you, Greed.”

“You’re a stubborn idiot.”

“You knew that from the start.” Ling said, smiling. “It’s why you couldn’t scare me into leaving.”

“And now I can’t get you to stay.”

“...Yeah.”

“Something you should know before you leave. Talking to you like this, just a voice, doesn’t use too much energy. But manifesting visually uses a lot, And I feel like I should start saving as much of my energy as I can in case I need it. So for now you’ll just have to find some way to get by without seeing my pretty face every day.”

Ling ignored Greed’s attempt at a joke. He could tell the demon’s heart wasn’t really in it anyway. “Yeah, that’s…that’s probably a good idea. Saving your energy.”

“Ling…Be careful out there.”

“I will. I’ll see you after class.”

“Yeah. Later, roomie.”

……

The bastard was standing in a different spot this morning, but still just watching the house. Ling wasn’t sure if that meant he had left and come back or if he just wanted a different view. Ling tried to ignore him as he was biking to campus but he could have sworn that the bastard’s gaze shifted slightly to look at him as he left. It made him feel like he was full of ice water. He thought about telling Ed what was going on once he got to campus but didn’t think he could deal with the level of freaking out that would cause, it was already difficult enough to keep himself from freaking out, and it’s not like Ed could do anything to help that Ling couldn’t do himself.

All day he felt like he was being watched, he was worried that every time he turned a corner the bastard would be there, that he was lurking right behind him, or that when he got home Greed would just be gone, dead. He saw the bastard again on his way back home and this time the man actually turned his head away from the house to look specifically at Ling. His face was cold and detached, casual and observational, which somehow made it more menacing. For a second Ling froze and nearly fell off his bike. Then he started pedaling faster. Ling got himself inside as soon as he could without looking frantic.

“Greed?” Ling called out.

“Yeah?” The demon answered. One of the many knots of tension in Ling’s chest relaxed and he could breathe a little bit deeper. He told Greed what had happened and how he felt like he’d been watched during the day.

“Listen, kid, I’ll be able to tell the second he sets foot on this property. There’s nothing he can do to let him be here without me knowing, no matter what kind of fancy magic he’s got. So you don’t have to be scared anymore, alright. He’s not about to jump out at you.”

“Thank you, Greed, really. The feeling I had today might have just been paranoia but…I think I’m going to stay in the house until this situation is resolved, just in case.”

“Good.”

“So…How are we going to resolve this situation?”

“I…I don’t know.”

“Greed, do you know anyone who might be able to help us deal with this guy?” Ling asked.

“No. Sorry. All my old contacts died decades ago, I don’t know anyone you haven’t introduced me to. ”

“Okay.” Ling composed himself, pushing all of the fear out of his voice. “If he’s still here tomorrow morning then I’m telling Ed what’s been going on. We need some kind of help and he’s our best option.” Ling felt better having at least something he could do, even if it might not help and was far from being a real plan.

“What’s Ed going to be able to do about a magical threat?”

“I don’t know, probably just punch him. At least he knows that magic exists unlike anyone else I could tell. Listen, Ed’s smart and stubborn, he’ll come up with something. We don’t have any better choices anyway.”

“Alright.” Greed conceded.

“Now, I’m putting on the tv so I don’t have to think about this anymore.”

“Sounds good to me.”

After about five minutes Ling paused the show he was watching, he hadn’t been able to pay any attention to it.

“Greed?”

“Yeah?”

“I know you’re holding off on manifesting visually but…I need something to let me know you’re still here. I was so scared all day that when I got home the bastard would have killed you and there’d be nothing I could do to get you back and I’d just be here alone. So, can you just talk to me? For a while? Tell me another story about the Devil’s Nest or something.” Ling wasn’t usually this emotionally vulnerable around anyone, so he had been a bit reluctant to ask this. It took a lot to really scare Ling, and when he was scared he usually focussed on doing something about it. It had been a long time since he had felt truly helpless.

“Yeah, yeah sure, kid.” Greed seemed a bit surprised at Ling’s open fear, but he took it in stride. “Okay, so one time I made a bet with Roa that I could…”

Ling listened to Greed talk for hours before finally going to bed.

Since the plan was to get help the next morning, of course everything went to hell that night. As Ling was laying in bed, failing to get any sleep and considering just going back into the living room to talk more with Greed or watch tv, he suddenly heard a frantic knocking on his bedroom door and Greed’s voice sounding panicked on the other side of it.

“Ling! Let me in! Now!”

“Greed? Yeah, come in.” Ling said and turned on his lamp.

Suddenly the voice was in the room with him.

“The bastard’s going to set the house of fire!”

“What?!”

“He’s going to burn down the house! You need to get out of here, now!”

“Wait—” Ling started, as he got out of bed.

“He’s by the front wall so if you climb out your window then go through the woods he won’t see you. Then just keep running.”

“Wait—”

“Go to Ed’s dorm or something, just get as far away as you can and don’t let him see where you go.”

“Wait! Greed! What about you?!”

There was a brief tense pause, and then Greed spoke softly and sadly.

“This is goodbye, kid. There’s no way for me to make it out of this.”

“No!” Ling said, sounding as obstinate as he could, which was very obstinate. “I won’t leave you!”

“If you stay he’ll just kill you too!” Greed shouted angrily. “Look, maybe I can stay alive long enough to take him down with me. Then I’ll get my revenge and know he won’t be able to go after you. That’s enough for me.”

“I can’t just let you die!” Ling shouted. Anger and desperation could both be heard plainly in his voice.

“You don’t have a choice!” Greed yelled back. “You can’t unbind me from this house, can you? No, I didn’t think so. So just leave and forget about me! Move on with your life!” Greed’s tone softened. “This can all just be a weird story you have about the year you lived in a haunted house…the kind of story you only tell people when you get really really drunk.”

“I’m not going to leave without you.” Ling declared, his face a picture of uncompromising determination in the dim light.

“Why not?!” Greed shouted, clearly frustrated and running out of patience.

“Because you’re my best friend and I care about you, you asshole!”

Greed was shocked into silence for a moment.

“I could throw you out of the house by force.” He said.

“If you do I’ll just run right to the bastard and start punching him in the gut. I’m not gonna stop fighting this until we’re both safe or both dead.”

Greed yelled in frustration so loud the walls shook. Ling ignored this and continued talking.

“Look, there has to be something I can do, anything I can do.” The anger was spent, his tone was pure pained desperation now. “What if…what if you were bound to something else along with the house?”

“I mean, that would work, but you still know jack shit about magic and I don’t know how to bind myself to anything except—” Greed stopped short.

“Except what, Greed?”

“Never mind.”

“Tell me!” Ling yelled, determined to hold onto to anything to make the situation feel less helpless, to make him feel less useless. Greed gave in.

“When…When a demon…When a demon wants to possess someone long-term they bind themselves to the body. That’s the only binding spell I can cast.”

“Oh.”

“So y’see it’s nothing that’s of any use to—hey wait what are you doing?”

Ling walked over to the desk where he kept the roommate agreement. His face was blank but steady, it was almost like he was in a trance, but more deliberate. He unlocked the drawer, pulled out the papers, and looked at the list of rules. He looked at the last one. He tore up the entire page and threw the crumpled remains into the trash. Now was not the time for rules, it was the time to trust that he didn’t need those rules to protect him. Now was the time to really fully stop being scared of how far he was willing to go, of how much he cared for the demon he shared his home with, and of how completely diametrically opposed to normal and reasonable this entire situation was. Right now he could either do the smart thing, the thing he should do, and run away, or he could save his friend’s life. And that wasn’t really any choice at all. Ling spoke without even a hint of doubt or hesitation.

“Do it.”

“Kid, you don’t know what you’re getting into.” Greed warned. “This isn’t easily reversible, if I bind myself to you then you’re stuck with me for a long time. Maybe even the rest of your life.”

“Okay.” Ling said with flat acceptance.

“It’s a rough process. It’d change you physically.”

“Okay.”

“And it’d hurt. A lot.”

“Okay. I don’t care. I can guarantee it won’t hurt more than losing you would.” Stubborn uncompromising resoluteness had started leaking back into Ling’s voice and face. Then there was the sound of a crash and the sinister rushing noise of fire catching and spreading. Suddenly everything was a lot more urgent. “Listen!” Ling continued. “We don’t have time to argue about this. Whatever the risks, whatever the downsides, I accept! Just…Just let me do something! Let me save you!” Ling’s voice was strained and his eyes had begun to fill with tears. “I’m not leaving without you so we can either both die in this fire or we can get out of here together.”

A second of silence seemed to stretch on for hours.

“Okay.” Greed said. And then he appeared visibly before Ling. “If you’re sure about this?”

“I am.” Ling met Greed’s gaze unwaveringly.

“Then give me your left hand.” Ling held out his arm and Greed took a claw and carved a symbol, a circle with a bunch of interconnected triangles in it, into the skin on the back of his hand. Ling showed no reaction to the pain other than a slight twitch in his mouth. Greed then started carving the same symbol into the palm of his own left hand.

“Tell me,” Ling said, trying to sound casual but just sounding mostly nervous instead. “Is there any kind of upside for me in this?”

“Well,” Greed replied with a similar tone. Smoke was starting to find its way into the room. “You’ll be about as close to immortal as a person can get.”

“That’s…That’s definitely an upside, holy shit.”

Greed ignored this response and grabbed Ling’s hand again and held it at the wrist. Then he turned his blank eyes to look directly into Ling’s black ones.

“Listen, your body is instinctively going to fight this, you can’t stop that. But try not to let your mind fight it too.”

“Okay, got it.” Ling nodded.

“You ready?”

“Yes.” Ling wasn’t sure whether or not that was a lie. He didn’t care.

“Don’t blame me if you end up regretting this. It’s not too late to call it off.”

“Not a chance.” This, at least, he knew was the truth. There wasn’t a single part of Ling that was even considering backing out. The last vestiges of the part of his mind that thought he was acting crazy and stupid had been burned out of him. Too much was at stake, there just wasn’t time for unimportant doubts and worries.

“Okay. See you on the other side, kid.” Greed said.

“Um, the other side of what, exactly?”

Greed tapped Ling gently on the forehead with a clawed finger. “You.”

“Oh.” Then Ling started laughing, and after a moment Greed joined in. The last several minutes had just been too tense for them not to share a bittersweet laugh.

“Okay.” Ling said, stopping himself before he got hysterical. “Okay, I’m ready.” And now Ling felt just a bit more confident that that was true.

Greed looked at him and nodded. “Alright.”

And then he put his left hand over Ling’s own.

For a moment Ling thought they had taken too long and the fire had already reached them. His vision went red and it was like his blood was as hot as molten iron and his lungs were filling with smoke. No, with water. No, with hot, burning blood. Blood started dripping out of his mouth as he fell to his knees and every movement of every muscle felt like it was ripping him apart and then it was like all of his insides were trying to rearrange themselves and then he wasn’t even aware of his body anymore, which would have been a relief except that now all that he could feel was falling, falling fast and rough through endless burning hot red void and and he was desperately reaching out for something to hold onto to keep from being lost forever in the swirling chaos and—

“Ling. Let go.”

He hesitated for less than a second, then he leaned into the fall.

At first everything was still just dizzying nonsense but after a couple of moments he found himself on solid ground. Or at least stillness. He could tell which way was up, which was a major improvement. After a second he could feel his body again. He was no longer in pain but it felt like pure adrenaline or lightning or something strong and wild was coursing through his veins. Then he could also hear the fire, smell the smoke, taste the blood on his tongue; but it all felt almost vicarious. There was a barrier, a filter, in between him and the sensory input. A presence surrounding him completely.

“You alright in there, Ling?”

There was Greed’s...voice?....thoughts?...something in between?...again. The words felt like they came from all around him and inside of him all at once and they carried a feeling of worry. Ling made an attempt to answer but as he tried to speak he felt himself start to fall and burn again, he started to panic.

“Hey, just think, okay. Just think the words you want me to hear and think that you want me to hear them and I will.”

“Okay?”

“Yeah, like that. You alright?”

“I…think so. Everything stopped spinning.”

There was a sense of relief.

“That’s good. Now we should probably get up off the floor.”

Ling could suddenly see what was around him and then he felt his body move under someone else’s volition as Greed sat up and looked around the room. Ling tried to adjust to being in the backseat of his own life. It was a lot like sleep paralysis. There was that same instinctive panic that accompanied trying to move your body and not being able to, but there was also the completely new kind of panic that came with your body moving when you weren’t telling it to. In addition to that, every time he did try to move for himself things started to get dizzying again and it felt like he was swimming against the current of raw power in his veins. The part of Ling that ran on instinct wanted to keep trying, to throw all of his strength behind the effort until he had control again, but he forced himself to calm down. He knew that the person who was in control was someone he trusted. He stopped trying to do anything and settled into just observing. The harsh force of the current faded into a distant hum.

“You’re handling this really well, kid.” Greed told him. “I’m honestly kind of surprised you’re not panicking more.”

“Well, I’m trying my best. I’m sure once we’re out of danger and everything quiets down I’ll have some sort of freak out.”

“Well, for now just keep doing what you’re doing. Let me take care of everything.”

“Okay. I can do that.”

Ling felt his mouth curl into a smile in response. Greed closed his eyes for a moment and took a deep breath. Then he opened his eyes and looked down at Ling’s hands. He started slowly curling and uncurling his fingers. It seemed like Greed was still adjusting to the situation too, it had been a long time since Greed had truly had a body, and even longer, if ever, since he’d had one with fully functioning senses, and alongside getting used to it he was also revelling in it. Ling could tell that Greed was feeling invigorated and practically giddy. Ling thought that feeling the secondhand rush from that might have actually been kinda fun if they hadn’t still been in danger.

“We should leave before the fire gets to this room.”

“Oh, right. Yeah.”

Greed got up off the floor and started to head towards the window. Then he stopped. Ling could feel Greed’s frustration and reluctance so strongly it was almost indistinguishable from his own emotions.

“Greed, what is it?”

“Everything’s going to burn, I’ll be left with nothing.”

“You’re not going to lose anything that can’t be replaced, now we need to leave before we burn too.”

Greed stood still in agonizing conflict for a few seconds. Ling could feel that the demon was able to use his power over the house to slow down the fire’s spread but with each inch of the house the flames consumed his hold weakened.

“Dammit.” Greed said aloud. Then he grabbed Ling’s backpack and emptied out the main pocket onto the bed.

“What are you doing? We have to go!”

“Just a few things, essentials.” He said as he tossed a hairbrush, a book, Ling’s wallet, and a phone charger back inside. “Then we leave. Just give me one minute.”

He grabbed a couple of Ling’s shirts at random and shoved them into the bag, followed by Lings laptop and phone. Then he took the jacket sitting on the back on Ling’s desk chair and the empty coffee mug sitting next to some unfinished homework. This seemed to be enough to satisfy him, he took one last look around the room but before he could head to the window his eyes landed on the bedside table and he felt a sharp pang of sadness from Ling that once again stopped his exit.

“What is it, kid?”

“There’s one thing I wish we could take…but it’s lost and there’s no time to look for it, just go.”

“What, that stupid stuffed lion you had in the drawer? What makes it so special?”

“Nothing really, but…my mother gave it to me on my last birthday before…before she died.”

“Oh. Well then. I’ll find it.”

“No, there’s no time.”

“Shut up and let me concentrate, kid.”

Greed gathered what was left of his power and extended his awareness, feeling every part of the house that still remained and then feeling the presence of every object in the house until he found what he was looking for. It was weird. Ling could feel that Greed was aware of the house without truly feeling it. The fire eating away at the house didn’t hurt, but he could tell which parts of the house were getting burnt up.

Greed ran to Ling’s bed, snatched the toy from where it was stuck in between the bedframe and the wall, and shoved it into the bag. Then he blocked out his awareness of the house. Even if the fire didn’t hurt him it was distracting and he was already overwhelmed enough by the input from Ling’s body.

“Okay, now we can go.”

Then he jumped out of the window. Or rather, through the window. He hit the ground hard and face first.

“Ow. Pain sucks.” Greed said after spitting out a mouthful of dirt. He started picking himself up off the ground.

“You could have opened the window first!”

“That wouldn’t have looked as cool.” Greed responded as he got to his feet and began brushing himself off.

“Yeah, well, when you get hurt I feel it too so I’d appreciate getting some say in the decision next time.”

“Whatever, we’re fine. Just some minor bumps and scrapes.” Then Greed’s hand caught on a large shard of glass that was stuck deep in his arm. “Oh.”

“Holy fuck!”

“Relax, this is nothing. We’re gonna be fine.”

“Wait, wait, you’re not supposed to pull it out, we’ll just bleed more.”

“Just trust me, alright.” Greed grabbed the end of the shard and then yelled in pain again as the edges cut into his hand.

“Yes, because all of this is truly inspiring great amounts of confidence.”

“Shut up!” Greed said aloud as he quickly ripped the glass out of his arm.

“Bad idea! Bad idea!”

“Calm down and look, Ling!”

A faint red light appeared around the cut and it stopped hurting and began closing. Ling realized that all the other scrapes on…his?…or Greed’s?...or their?...arms and face had already fully healed. Greed wiped the excess blood off on the ground and started running.

“Now we really gotta get out of here before the bastard sees us.”

Ling was still preoccupied with their healed injuries.

“So this is what you meant when you said immortal?”

“Yeah, I can’t heal everything, and not too many things at once, it takes up a fair amount of energy, but it’s gonna be pretty damn hard for anyone to kill us without magic.”

“Huh…So what’s the plan now?”

“Getting the fuck away from here and finding a place to lay low for the night.”

Ling realized that Greed was running in the direction of campus. Probably acting on Ling’s subconscious instinct and muscle memory.

“Ed still our best option?”

“Pretty sure he’s our only option, kid. Him and his brother are the only ones that know about me and anyone else would have too many questions. We could just sleep in the woods, but I figure if the bastard looks for us tonight that’s where he’s gonna look first.”

“True.” Then Ling laughed, or felt like he was laughing. “Ed’s gonna kick your ass when he realizes what happened.”

“It’s your ass too.”

“Shit.” Then, after a long pause, Ling continued. “Um…Greed?” Ling’s words had a tinge of nervousness to them now.

“Yeah, kid?”

“Will I ever be able to be in control of my body again?”

“Yeah, sure.” Greed responded casually. “I can let you back in the driver’s seat whenever I want.”

The wave of relief Ling felt at this was so strong that Greed nearly tripped. “That’s really good to know.”

“Wait, did you agree to this assuming you wouldn’t be able to?”

“I hadn’t really considered it until now. We were kind of pressed for time.”

“Still, seems like an important thing to consider…You want back in control now?” Greed asked with a hint of reluctance.

“No, this is fine. After everything that just happened I think I need some time to just process and rest a bit.”

Greed smiled again and spoke out loud. “You got it, kid. Leave all of this to me.”

Honestly, Ling should have found Greed’s tone and words to be a bit sinister. He should have been worried. He should have felt the need to demand to be in control just to make sure Greed would really let him. But Ling didn’t do anything else he should have done tonight or, if he was being honest, for most of the last year, and so far it had all worked out okay…or at least relatively okay. So he didn’t feel worried. He didn’t even feel worried that he wasn’t worried. He was done with all that shit, there just wasn’t any room for it anymore. He tried to figure out how he did feel and found mostly shock and adrenaline. A full assessment would have to wait until things had calmed down a bit more. For now he just enjoyed not being the one having to actively deal with the situation.

They managed to arrive at the dorm building just as someone else was leaving it so they didn’t have to call Ed to let them in. And luckily no one seemed to care that they were in pajamas and barefoot and smelled like smoke and had a fair amount of dirt and dried blood on them. It was a different building than the one Ling and Ed had lived in last year, a better one, but this was still a college campus and most people considered a little weirdness to be par for the course. This gave Greed and Ling some extra time to figure out how they were going to explain things to Ed. Or, more accurately, it gave them some extra time to argue about it.

“I really think you should let me do the talking, Greed.”

“I can handle this.”

“This is a bad idea.”

“Shut up!”

Greed knocked on the door to Ed’s dorm. Loudly. The lights inside turned on. There was some grumbling and cursing and then Ed opened the door. He looked still half asleep. He was in pajamas and his hair was unbraided.

“Ling? Are you okay?! What happened?!”

“Um...about that…” Greed said in a voice that was obviously not Ling’s.

“Wait…Greed?!” Ed suddenly sounded fully awake.

“Listen—” And then Ed punched him in the face. “Yeah, that tracks.” Greed said as he hit the wall of the hallway.

“Told you so.”

“Well maybe now that he’s gotten it out of his system—” Another punch to the face. “Ow! What is that arm even made of?!”

Ed pinned Greed to the wall with one arm against his throat and the other ready to keep punching.

“You asshole! You think I’m not going to keep my promise?! I’ll burn your house to the ground right now!”

“Sorry to say,” Greed just barely managed to get the words out, his voice straining around the pressure of Ed’s arm. “But someone beat you to it, brat.”

“What?!”

“You should really let me take over.”

“Yeah, okay, you were right.” Greed conceded.

And suddenly Ling was back in control. It was like being thrown forward when a car stops suddenly. He could still feel Greed’s presence but now it was like Ling was surrounding him rather than being surrounded by him. Ling took a short moment to adjust to the shift.

“Listen, Greed!” Ed practically growled. “I swear if you don’t—”

“Stop hitting us, Ed!” Ling yelled, his voice back to normal. Or rather a strained version of normal. Ed loosened his hold.

“Ling? Is that you?”

“Yes.”

“How can I be sure this isn’t a trick?”

“Either way can we talk about it inside? With less violence?” Ling pleaded.

“Yeah,” Al chimed in from back in the dorm. “Pretty soon people are gonna start calling the cops.”

Ed reluctantly backed away and let Ling off the wall. “Okay fine, come on in. You’re just lucky that this is supposed to be quiet hours.”

Ling picked his backpack up from where it had fallen and walked into the Elrics’ dorm.

“So how did you know that I’m possessed? I mean I know Greed’s voice is different but—”

“The red eyes really give it away.” Ed said nonchalantly.

“Red eyes?! I have red eyes now?!”

Al pointed Ling towards a small mirror. “And your teeth are kinda sharp too.”

Ling examined his eyes and teeth. “Oh god, they are. Look at them.” He began checking the rest of his face for more changes but found none.

“I think they look cool.”

“Shut up.”

“What?”

“Not you guys.”

“Okay, so,” Ed started. “You said, or I guess Greed said, that the house burned down. That explains the general dishevelment, but why is there blood on you? Did you get in a fight? Are you hurt?”

“Uh, no, there wasn’t a fight, it’s all my blood. But I’m fine, I’m not hurt. It’s just…well…when Greed possessed me it was a bit…rough, on my body. And then he jumped through an unopened window. But everything in me that broke put itself back together and I’m not still like seriously injured or anything.”

“Wow, you really are so much better at making Ed not want to kick my ass.”

“Oh shut up. The punching has stopped so it’s still a win.”

“Uh huh.” Ed said, with his arms crossed skeptically. “And why don’t you seem angry about your demon roommate taking over your body?”

“Because…Um…Because I told him to.”

“That is the stupidest thing I have ever heard you say, and that’s really saying something!” Ed practically yelled, he sounded more disappointed than surprised though. “Why would you do that?!”

“It seemed like a good idea at the time.” Ling said and shrugged.

“If I could clap sarcastically—”

“Be quiet!”

“Okay,” Ed said. “I think it’s time you explained to me exactly what happened in as much detail as possible so I know just how much more I need to kick your collective ass before I start trying to find a credible exorcist.”

Ling sat down on the Elric’s small couch and started from the beginning.

……

Ed was pacing.

“You should have told me.” Ed muttered.

“If it makes you feel any better the plan was to tell you in the morning.” Ling tried to placate.

“You should have told me from the start!” Ed said, angrier.

“And what could you have done about it?!” Ling shot back.

“I don’t know! But maybe I could have thought of something or done something to make it so that things didn’t end up like this! This,” He gestured to Ling’s now possessed body. “Could not have possibly been your best option!”

Ed’s tone was starting to make Ling angry. He was a bit offended that Ed had so little faith in his decision making skills.

“It was! It was either this or let Greed die and if I had to make the same choice again I wouldn’t change it!” He said, fiercely uncompromising.

“Even if Greed had been unsummoned we could have found a way to—”

“No!” Ling cut him off. “That chance wouldn’t have been worth the risk! This is the best way things could have turned out and nothing you say is going to change that!”

Then the conversation was interrupted by a knock at the door.

“Guys? Guys, open the door or I’ll open it myself, I have a key.”

“Oh shit,” Ed said. “It’s the night-shift RA.”

“What do we do?” Ling asked.

“Open the door?” Ed replied and shrugged. “Just try to act normal.”

Ed went to open the door to reveal a tired-looking young man with dishevelled blonde hair.

“Hey, Denny.” Ed said, trying and failing to sound unconcerned. “What’s up?”

“Listen, Ed. You guys can’t be this loud this late at night or you’ll have to pay a—Wait, who’s that?” Denny asked, looking over at Ling.

“Oh, uh, this is…”

“Our friend who lives in another dorm.” Al cut in from where he was sitting on the top bunk. “He lost his key at a party and we were going to let him sleep here until he can get a new one in the morning. He really didn’t want to wake up his building’s RA because this is, like, the third time this has happened.”

“Huh, okay.” Denny seemed to accept this. Ed and Ling let out a quiet sigh of relief. “Wait…” The relief was short lived. “Wait, is that blood on your face and clothes? And where are your shoes?”

“It was a really wild party.” Ed said, slightly panicked. “Well, we really should be getting back to bed so we don’t oversleep and miss class, or wake anyone else up.” He started to close the door in Denny’s face.

“Uh, okay. Just,” the door closed and the end of Denny’s sentence was muffled. “Be quieter in the future.”

Ed sighed and sat down on his bed.“Okay. So what’s the plan from here?”

“Well, I was thinking we could crash here for the night and then head out in the morning. I’m not sure where we’ll go but if we stay here we’ll just be putting you in danger. If I don’t figure something out we’ll just pick a direction and start walking. We have no idea if the bastard knows that Greed survived, or that I did. He might be looking for either or both of us…And I guess now looking for either of us is looking for both of us.”

“Hey, wait a minute! No way, you can’t just run off on your own! How are you going to survive out there?” Ed protested.

“I’m a resourceful guy, Ed, and I’m a hell of a lot more durable now than I was yesterday.” Ling replied with a smile. “Plus, I’m not exactly on my own anymore either.”

“That doesn’t matter! You’re my friend, Ling, and goddammit but Greed’s my friend too! If you’re in trouble I want to help! And if you do end up leaving then I’m going with you!” Ed declared with stubborn determination.

It was more help than either Ling or Greed had expected to have and it left them both a bit shocked. And shocked lead easily to tired.

“Okay.” Ling conceded. “I’ll stay for now and we’ll come up with a plan together in the morning. Right now I definitely need some more sleep, getting possessed by a demon is exhausting.” Ling grinned cheekily.

Ed got back into bed. He threw a blanket at Ling. “If you try to sneak out I’ll punch you again.”

“I don’t doubt it.” Ling started making himself comfortable on the couch. “Oh, one more thing, it might be too much of a risk for me to contact anyone directly right now, so could one of you guys tell Lan Fan that I’m not dead? Just, whenever you get the chance to without it looking too suspicious.”

“Sure thing.” Al said as he shut off the light. “But only if you don’t sneak out.”

“Wow, devious.” Greed commented.

“Sounds like a fair deal to me.” Ling said through a yawn.

And then he closed his eyes and blocked out the outside world. In doing so he felt himself lose control of his body. It seemed like Greed being in charge was the default. Ling was a bit surprised to find that he didn’t really mind that, not right now anyway. The space inside of Ling’s mind where his awareness resided when he wasn’t in control was pretty conductive to falling asleep. And he could feel Greed’s happiness at being in control, but it didn’t feel sinister, it was closer to an innocent joy at finally being free. Overall, Greed’s presence felt about as far from malevolent as something could get. And, as crazy as it sounded, having Greed wrapped around his own consciousness made Ling feel safe. Safe and not alone. Which was something of a relief after all of the paranoia and fear caused by the bastard. Ling was sure he was going to sleep better tonight that he had in days. At least in this moment, they were both comfortable like this. Which was a good thing considering their situation was unlikely to change anytime soon.

“Wow, I did not expect that brat to ever call me his friend. I mean I get why he wants to help you, but he hates me.”

Greed’s comment turned Ling’s attention away from his own thoughts.

“He hates everyone, Greed. Especially his friends.”

“So are we? Gonna sneak out?”

“I don’t think so. If for no other reason than we probably need too much sleep for us to wake up before they do, I’m completely exhausted. Let’s give them a chance to help.”

“Alright, I’ll go with your call on this one.”

“...Hey, Greed?”

“Yeah?”

“I’m so glad you’re not dead. And I meant what I said before, you’re my best friend.”

“Yeah…well…I’m glad I’m not dead too.”

“Oh come on, don’t be coy with me. We share a head now, remember? That means I can see right through all of your aloof bullshit. Not that I couldn’t before, you’re pretty shitty at hiding your feelings.”

“Alright, alright! You’re my best friend too, kid.”

“Thanks. Oh, that reminds me,”

“Yeah?”

“We’re going to need an entirely new roommate agreement.”

They both started to laugh, and the the two feelings of laughing echoed and reverberated off of each other inside of their head so much that Greed almost started laughing out loud. And in that moment Ling was completely sure that everything was going to be alright.

“Goodnight, Greed.”

“‘Night, roomie.”