She found him on a rooftop at sunset, looking down at the streets as the nighttime life of the small city began to swirl into the open, more fluid and frenetic than daytime life. She had a few moments to examine him before he turned to face her, and took advantage of them with some curiosity. He was tall and built more powerfully than most of them. And he held himself differently. He draped himself against the air, with none of the tension she was used to seeing in her own kind. Insouciance wrapped around him, from the pointed toes of his boots to the furred collar of his vest. He could really have been human.

The thought lasted until he turned, and she caught his eyes.

His eyes blazed with the insane desire they all shared, one way or another. They matched his smile perfectly.

“Well, hello there,” he drawled. Her mouth crooked at the light in his eyes as they stroked down her body. She could tell the moment he focused on her orouborous; his glance sharpened and flicked back up to her face. “Who are you?” he asked, a good deal more coolly.

“I am called Lust.”

“Suits you,” he observed, eyes wandering again, though his bared teeth were not precisely inviting. “Do I need to ask why you’re here?”

Lust shrugged. “Tonight I’m merely here to see you. I haven’t received specific instructions yet.”

His brows flicked up. “Just sightseeing?”

“I suppose.”

He looked at her narrowly for a long moment, and then chuckled. “Old bat’s messed up again, I see. That’s nice to know. Well, I’m Greed, so pleased to meet you.” He ambled across the roof to her, grinning lazily. “How old are you?”

Lust glanced up at him from under her lashes. He couldn’t possibly be as careless as he looked. “I’m told that’s not the sort of thing you should ask a woman.”

He brushed his fingers against her cheek. “You don’t have to worry about wrinkles, though, so what’s to worry you about it?”

He did have a point. “About ten years, I think.” Lust shrugged, laying a hand casually on his chest, fingertips tapping against him.

Greed’s grin turned fierce. “She really is losing it, if one as young as that’s already curious instead of just obsessed.”

She studied him. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“You will,” he predicted, low voiced, hand slipping under her hair and down her back. It was warm.

“What are you doing?” Lust asked, still unsure whether to be cautious or amused at his maneuvering.

The grin tipped sideways into an unabashed leer. “Taking advantage of the opportunity, what else?”

Lust was startled to a laugh. Was he really that simple, this one she had heard stories about? Of course, the sketchiness of those stories was what had drawn her here tonight. Gluttony wasn’t good at noticing details, and Envy’s comments about Greed tended to be brief. “Idiot,” “Impractical,” and “More balls than a herd of bulls” came to mind.

Previous to this evening, she had thought Envy meant that last metaphorically.

Well, and he probably had, she decided as Greed pulled her a little closer against him. But perhaps not just metaphorically.

“So? Are you going to try to carve my heart out or not?” Greed asked.

A good question. She was a little inclined to, just to avoid entanglements. On the other hand, she rather liked the urgency of his body against hers. And it had been a very long time since she did something just because it felt good. She was getting the impression that Greed lived for things that just felt good. There was something to be said for that, provided it didn’t leave you sealed for a century and a half.

The gleam in Greed’s eyes said that he might not care, even if it did. And that piqued her interest.

“Not tonight,” she answered.

“Good enough.”

Greed’s mouth moved on hers with no hesitation or uncertainty. There was none in his hands, either, sliding over the lines of her back, her hips. One warm palm moved up her ribs to cup her breast and his thumb stroked the bare skin just above the line of her dress, drawing a shiver over her flesh. Lust sighed. There was a roughness in the confidence of his hands on her that she found herself enjoying. It heated something inside her. She slid a leg along the side of his and buried both hands in the spikes of his hair, laughing at the low growl in his throat. He had good legs, under that leather, she could feel.

A brief thought flickered through her mind, wondering where her standards of good legs had come from, but she brushed it away. It didn’t matter. What mattered was that the leather was in the way.

“It wouldn’t be a good idea for your humans to see me here,” she said, elliptically.

“Really?” Greed murmured against her neck, and shrugged. “All right.” He lifted her up, easily, into his arms.

Lust raised her brows, slightly nonplused, and then had to stifle an actual grin as Greed sprang down off the side of the building to land on a ledge below and swing both of them through the open window. He did like to show off, this one.

“Very nice,” she told him, quellingly, and twisted out of his arms. She lifted her own to run her hands back through her hair and inhaled deeply. While his attention was riveted she let her clothing absorb back into her body and stood in the dim room naked, smiling, challenging.

“Very nice,” Greed purred back to her. He shrugged off his vest and skimmed the pants off his hips, and black retreated to show pale skin. It was warm against hers when he wound his arms back around her, walking them both back towards the bed.

She let him lower her to the cool, smooth sheets and stretched against them, reaching up to pull him down as well. His solid weight on her was almost soothing, anchoring her to the moment. She drew him tighter against her, pressing her mouth to his shoulder, breathing in the rich, flat-sharp scent of him. It was the scent of immediacy. And after years of chill manipulation the weight, the scent, the strength of him covering her leached the tension from her shoulders, made her breath come a little deeper.

Greed’s hands gentled, stroking her side, her leg, petting back her hair until she let him kiss her. “You’re fragile,” he said softly, in her ear. “You should be careful.”

She pulled back far enough to look down her nose at him. “Excuse me?”

Greed gave her a long look before shaking his head a little, mouth wry. “Not what you think. Never mind.”

He lowered his head and she felt his mouth, serious and hot and wet, on her breast. His teeth scraped faintly against her skin, and she arched her back, sighing. Her breath caught in a light gasp as Greed slid a hand under her, caressing the skin over her spine, and licked further down her stomach. She flexed her hands on his upper arms, liking the density of his muscles. He worked a hand down the inside of her thigh and glanced back up the line of her body, the wicked glint in his eye wanting to know what she would do. Lust felt her lips curling up in answer. As if she would be here if there were any doubt; besides, his hand kneading her thigh was turning her own muscles lax and liquid. She parted her legs so he could settle between them. He arched a bit, himself, when she trailed her foot up the back of his leg, and laughed.

And then he bent his head again, and his tongue moved against her, velvety and rough, hot and insistent. His fingers stroked against her, gliding across her wetness, coaxing her to spread her legs further open. Lust tossed her head back and moaned low in her throat.

“Ah, so you are enjoying yourself,” Greed murmured, lips brushing against her. “Good to know.”

“Mmmm,” Lust agreed, eyes dropping shut with the bright heavy heat swelling through her. She was impatient, though. Normally she would savor the pleasure—and she did. But the wildness in Greed teased her, and she shifted, holding out her arms when he looked up. “More.”

“A woman after my own heart,” he remarked, baring his teeth as he moved up to lean over her.

Lust traced her nails over his chest, pleased at the shiver that ran through him. “Not at the moment. Not precisely,” she whispered, and wrapped a leg around his hips and pulled.

A low sound, half a groan and half a growl, wrung out of Greed as he slid into her. Lust laughed again, breathless. He felt so good, smooth and hard inside her, just like the tension of his arms and back under her hands. His eyes were heavier on her, now, intense, and she gave him an encouraging smile from under her lashes as he drew back and drove in again. She pressed up to meet him, and it was almost enough. Almost as wanton and powerful and wild as she wanted. She leaned up and nipped at his ear. “Harder.”

The sound he made was harsh and pleased and understanding. Strong arms wrapped around her and Greed rolled over, pulling her on top of him. This time, Lust’s smile showed her teeth. She planted her hands on his chest and arched up, pushing herself back onto him, feeling him sink deeper inside her. Greed’s large hands moved, sure and easy, over her shoulders and breasts, down her ribs to settle on her hips, and lifted her a little higher.

When he thrust into her it stole Lust’s breath. “Yes,” she gasped. “Greed…” The long lines of his face were intent now, mouth open on quick breaths. Lust realized that she was panting, too. The thick slide of him inside her, hard and fast, drove silky pleasure over and through her. She flexed against his grip, pushing down to meet his thrusts, and surprise flickered over his face for a second. As if he had forgotten she wasn’t a human woman, forgotten that the same power ran through her body as through his.

His grin flashed again, and Greed trailed a thumb down her stomach. Lower. Until Lust cried out, losing her rhythm for a moment, and he stopped there, thumb circling, rubbing sparks to dance down her nerves. She drove down against him, demanding, and Greed met her with a gasp.

“Lust… oh, yes…” His voice was hoarse, breaking over the want and pleasure that blazed in his eyes. He thrust into her just that tiny bit harder that Lust needed, and fire surged through her, tightened down, surged out again. Over and over, spreading wider each time, and Lust moved with it, reveling in the heat and tingle of power and slow, sharp thrill and… oh, yes. A choked off cry from Greed answered her, and she savored the hardness of him inside her, still moving against the clench of her body. She sagged into his hands’ grip as the tide of pleasure retreated again, fingers stroking his chest, coaxing him to follow her.

He wasn’t long behind.

When his hold eased, Lust slumped down onto him, bonelessly, resting her head on his shoulder. His hands still stroked over her, soothing, encouraging her to stay there.

“Delightful,” he sighed.

Lust made an amused sound. “And you,” she murmured, sliding a hand down his arm to feel the texture of him, “are… satisfying. I don’t say that often.”

A laugh rumbled through his chest. “I can imagine.”

“You realize,” she added, conversationally, “that the next time we meet I’ll be pretending it’s for the first time? Just to be on the safe side.”

The hands moving over her never flinched. “Doesn’t surprise me. The old bat’s a real bitch if you cross her. And you haven’t even figured out what you want, yet.”

Lust sniffed. “I want to be human,” she informed him.

Greed snorted with what sounded like exasperation. “Naïve.”

Lust stilled. “Are you saying it isn’t possible?” she asked without lifting her head. He was the second oldest of them; he might know.

“I’m saying you’re shopping in the wrong store.” Greed turned them over, settling his weight on her again, and Lust made a small, agreeable sound even as she eyed him, narrowly. Was he trying to turn her away from that person and toward himself?

A second later she almost rolled her eyes at herself. Of course he was; he was Greed. The question was whether he was telling the truth in the process.

Greed wove his fingers through her hair, gently, his expression weary. “You’re more human now than the old bitch has been for centuries, Lust.”

Her mouth twisted. A lot of good that did her.

Greed chuckled, and buried his face against her neck, inhaling deeply. “You smell like the sun at noon, you know.” Lust made an annoyed noise. “All right. I don’t think you’ll understand yet, but listen up.” He raised his head and looked down at her, sharp, wild light back in his eyes and smile. “A long time ago, I talked to an alchemist who worked with plants. She said that sometimes you don’t need a seed or even a root; sometimes just a piece of plant will start to grow into a new one, especially if you feed it with power. Sometimes just a scrap.” Greed’s fingers closed on her chin. “Just a scrap, Lust. Remember that.” He kissed her, slow and wet and tempting.

Once they untangled their tongues again, Lust gave him a cool look. “You’re satisfying and entertaining, both, Greed, but I think Envy might be right; a hundred and forty years in that array did something to your mind.”

Greed threw back his head and laughed. “Probably. Not that Envy’s got room to talk, the little psychotic. Just remember, all right?”

“All right,” Lust agreed. “And I’ll be waiting for you the next time you break out of your seal; perhaps we can do this again.”

“Gee, thanks,” Greed muttered. Then he lifted her fingers to his lips, shooting her a look from under heavy lids. “Be nice if I could get a little help with that project, of course.”

“I have no intention of ending up inside one of those myself,” Lust said, firmly, sliding out from under him with a bit of regret. But it was getting late.

“That would be a waste,” Greed allowed, gaze passing over her body like another hand. “In that case, do you have to leave so soon?”

Lust shook back her hair and reformed her clothing. “Gluttony will be wondering where I am.”

Greed blinked, lounging on the tangled sheets. “Not like he’ll say anything to her.”

“Of course not,” Lust waved a dismissive hand. “He’ll just worry. And then he’ll start eating the furnishings.”

Greed, for the first time all night, looked startled. And then his smile returned, too wide and bright and saw-edged to be human. “I’ll be damned. I was more right about you than I thought.” He came up off the bed in a loose-jointed surge, as cocky and casual as he’d been when she first spotted him, and swept her up against his body, laughing. Lust sighed, and speared a fingertip out to skree off the sudden shield across his throat. Greed barely seemed to notice. “You do whatever you need to,” he told her, “and I will, too. And we’ll see, hm? Now,” he let go and his own clothes raced over his skin, “get on back to your friend.”

Lust shook her head, giving up on trying to figure out what he was on about. She did hope he would return to be sealed instead of resisting enough that they had to kill him, though.

Greed flung himself back across the bed, propped up on his elbows, and grinned at her. “And if we both make it, maybe I can keep you next time.”

Lust raised a skeptical brow over her shoulder as she left, but she was smiling when she reached the street.

Maybe.

End

A/N: “Hageshii” is the word Lust uses when she’s describing Greed after his death. It has connotations of both violence and intensity. The best parallels in English might be “furious” or “tempestuous”—violent because it is the nature of the thing to be extreme and intense.