1: Arguments


Summary: Fathers have left but it's okay- they have their children to protect their honor.

Time: Sometime before Trisha's inevitable death, Hohenheim has left in search of mortality and Winry's parents have gone off in the Ishvalan war. Note: I've read the manga so I use that. Also I recall reading somewhere that Winry is older than Ed by a bit, however if that's wrong feel free to correct me!


"No!"

Young Edward Elric, aged five, was currently engaged in one of the fiercest opponents he had ever faced before—he longtime friend and enemy: Winry Rockbell.

Glaring fiercely with bright golden eyes, he scowled, "No! My daddy's way cooler than yours!" She was truly a commendable opponent, but still a enemy and in Edward's young mind that meant that she needed to be defeated.

Huffing in a way seemingly only girls could master, Winry gave a fearsome stare in return. "No—my papa is so much better than you!" She proceeded to stick out her tongue—the child equivalent of a 'your mom' joke, thereby being the utmost insult to Edward.

"Oh yeah?" the blond grumbled, "Well my dad is cooler than yours! And he's super-duper strong!" He proclaimed proudly, the 'duper' clearly putting aside any confusion that Winry may have had that his dad was the coolest in Edward's mind. Nodding resolutely Edward grinned, "And he does this," Edward clapped his hands together and spread them apart dramatically, "and fixes stuff! Y'know, cuz Al is so clumsy and always breaks stuff!"

Still not convinced, Winry muttered something under her breath, and then pulled the fatal card. "But I'm taller and older than you, so what I say goes!" Winry smirked proudly at this argument.

However, the later-to-be Fullmetal Alchemist hadn't grown his irritation in one night—no, it was a deep-seated sore spot for the blond alchemist.

"What? Who're you calln' short?!" Edward screeched in a tone only those who poked at his height ever heard (in other words, most people he knew). "That's it! I'm asking Mom and Granny!"

Trisha Elric sat patiently on the porch in front of her house, watching serenely as her son and Winry shouted agitatedly about matters only children worried about. Sighing contentedly, Trisha looked as a shorter woman stepped out of the house, brushing her aged hands on her apron.

"Ah, Pinako are the cookies finished?" She smiled pleasantly. She made to get up when she felt the blond-haired bundle on her lap rustle and settled back down.

Chewing on her pipe absentmindedly, Pinako nodded, "Mhm, I put them on a cooling tray. Oh look, Ed and Winry seem to be running up here fast."

"Brother?" Al asked moving from his mother's lap, voice still rough. The whole reason they were cooking with the Elric's decently-conditioned stove (ever since Hohenheim had left it had suddenly become all that much harder to fix items that had once seemed simpler to fix before with a clap of the hands) to make cookies was due to Alphonse catching a cold which had always been seen as a worthy cause to make treats in the Elric household. That and Ed and Al could never get enough of their mother's cooking.

But when Edward came up to his mother with the most serious face he could muster with his still-chubby face his question was not about the delicious scent waffling from the kitchen. "Who's dad's cooler?" He pointed in emphasis between Winry and him. "I keep saying daddy's cooler but she keeps saying that her daddy is." Glaring in a way that made Trisha's heart melt, she focused on relaxing her face into an equally solemn expression that was worm upon her son's face.

"Well you see . . ." Dodging the question with all the skill of a mother, Trisha gave a bright smile, "Well you look at that! It seems the cookies are cool enough to eat!"

Despite his serious expression, Edward still had the attention span of a child and he too brightened at the thought of the gooey chocolate-chip cookies that his mother specialized in.

Winry followed Trisha and a sleepy Alphonse inside, not before sticking out her tongue one last time at Edward. "My dad's still cooler shortie."

"Why you- !"


A/N: Okay, other than procrastination, I do honestly want to have a whole Hohenheim/Trisha (most under-appreciated canon ship everr- seriously internet I'm ashamed) and family one-shot series since I find them all so adorable (seriously there should have been more canon stuff about them).