Disclaimer: I don't own anything you recognise.
Written for Prompt 319 in the FMA Fic Contest on Livejournal.
Thanks for the heads up that the format was messed up. This is my second attempt.
Interrogation
For a long time Roy Mustang had thought he would never have the opportunity to marry the woman he loved and have a family. It was funny how things turned out in the end. Parenthood was great, but it was very hard work too. Like in the office, he and Riza worked well together. Riza would make breakfast, while he would wake up their little boy. Not that Maes Mustang was so little anymore.
Just like any other morning, Roy walked into his son's bedroom. "Good morning!"
He opened the curtains to let the sun in the window and looked back over his shoulder. Maes hadn't stirred and was still covered by the bedclothes. Roy chuckled. He was a Mustang alright. He turned around and made his way over to the bed, where his son made a ball of the blankets in his sleep. All that was visible of Maes was one leg sticking out at an angle.
"Come on, Maes." He proded the lump of blankets with his finger. "Get up lazy bones. Your breakfast is ready."
Maes slowly peered over the blankets, "I don't feel well."
Roy felt his son's forehead;. "You don't feel feverish, and you were fine last night when you ate my portion of dessert along with your own."
Maes sat up in the bed with a scowl,"Dad!"
Roy ruffled Maes' hair and sat down on the bed next to him, "You can't lie to me, kid. You've got a tell."
"What?"
Roy smirked, "I almost always know when you're lying." He tapped his head. "You can't kid a kidder and I'm a pro."
"No you're bluffing," Maes protested. "I don't have a tell, Dad."
Roy raised a supercilious brow, a look that had worked wonders on a young Edward Elric and probably still did.
He watched with satisfaction the indecision on his son's face and could tell the moment when he had won.
"I don't do I?" Maes bit his lip and Roy was reminded of Riza in her teens tackling a difficult arithmetic problem.
Roy locked eyes with his son, "So, you admit you were lying."
Maes' eyes widened before he turned his gaze to the duvet instead
"No- I.." The boy trailed off looking anywhere but at his father.
Roy put his hand on the boy's shoulder, "Despite your greed last night, your mother and I could tell something was bothering you. Is that why you don't want to go to school this morning?"
"No!" Maes' response was a little too quick and high pitched to be believed.
"If you don't want to talk to me, can you at least talk to your mother?"
Maes sighed, "There's this boy at school and he's mean to me. Sometimes, he steals my lunch."
"Did he take your lunch yesterday?" Roy asked.
Roy kept his temper in check as he listened to his son's story, though he wasn't quite sure how. Stealing lunch was only the half of it. Roy wanted to find the little bastard and teach him a lesson. He stopped outside the door and leaned his head against it for a moment to make sure his boy was finally getting dressed. He clenched his fists and decided that the school principal needed a strict talk to also about leaving bullying happen in her school. His boy was hurting and he didn't know what else to do other than shout at the people responsible.
Riza was sitting at the table with a bowl of porridge, the spoon hovering in front of her mouth.
As soon as she saw his expression, she dropped the spoon back into the bowl, "Did you talk to him? What's wrong?"
"He's being bullied," he said and plopped into the chair facing her at the other side of the table. "You were right."
"I wish I was wrong." She rubbed at her forehead. "What did he say?"
Her concerned eyes met his and he reached across the table and squeezed her hand. "Some kid's been stealing his lunch, pushing him around and calling him a teacher's pet."
Riza's mouth was in a fine line, "How long has this been going on?"
"A while as far as I can tell," Roy replied, "but it seems to have gotten worse recently. I think I remember that little creep from the Solstice fair last year."
"Roy," she chided, "Don't forget we're talking about a little boy here, who probably doesn't know any better."
She gave his hand a little squeeze before releasing it and returning to her breakfast.
Knowing Riza like he did, he could tell that her mind was working beneath her calm exterior. He was the passionate one, slave to his emotions, and she tethered him to reality.
Roy picked at the toast on the plate in front of him."Maybe Maes can teach him a lesson? He's a Mustang after all."
He tore a piece off his toast and chewed it slowly. He looked over to see Riza was glaring at him. 'I'm not having our son brawling in school."
"What do you suggest we do then?"
"We talk to the principal and his teacher. Don't worry Roy, I have no intention of letting this lie. There are more creative ways of getting revenge."
She stood up and took her plate and mug to the sink. She ran the water letting the sink fill up. She turned around and leaned her back against the sink. "Besides, violence is not the way to sort this."
Roy stood up and dropped the remains of his toast into the bin. "You need to stand up to bullies."
Riza rolled her eyes, and turned around to turn off the tap. "Remember what happened when you resorted to violence to stop someone bullying me?"
"Yes," he said with a sheepish grin.
'Well it didn't end very well for you did it? You ended up with a black eye and a sprained ankle."
He wrapped his arms around her waist, "As I remember it, that was the first time you kissed me. So, I considered it a victory of sorts."
"Of course you did." She leaned back and gave him a chaste kiss on the lips.
The kitchen door creaked open and Maes entered the kitchen, "You two are disgusting."
The end.
I hope you enjoyed this.
