Lessons Learned
Disclaimer: I do not own Fullmetal Alchemist, nor am I affiliated in any way with the copyright owners of Fullmetal Alchemist. Fullmetal Alchemist's story line and characters are copyrighted to Hiromu Arakawa and the various companies who produced the manga, anime and merchandise.
A/N: Oneshot. Complete. Originally part of Random Ficlets, which I decided to delete. I wanted to post each story contained there as its own story. Originally posted forever ago. This was inspired by the glass of chocolate milk I drank and a FoxTrot comic I read once upon a time.
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"You can kick and scream all you want, Edward. You're still drinking it," Trisha Elric looked down at her oldest son, who was currently throwing a temper tantrum because his latest prank had backfired.
"I don't want to! Why should I? It's Al's anyway!" the young blond crossed his arms, still thick with baby fat, across his chest and pouted.
"You brought this on yourself, so I don't want you having a fit. When you misbehave, you have to accept the punishment."
"But it's gross," came the weak argument.
"No 'buts.' It wouldn't be so gross if you hadn't done that."
Color rose to the five-year-old's chubby face. "But it was going to funny," he mumbled. "It was a joke."
"That wasn't a joke, it was spite. I know that sometimes you're jealous of Al, and you're upset because Daddy's gone, but there was no need to take it that far."
"I'm not jealous!" Edward insisted. "It's just..."
"I don't care. Drink it," the brunette replied sternly. "You like milk, remember?"
"Yeah, but, Mom..."
"You don't get dessert and you don't get to leave the table and go to bed until it's gone."
The little blond blanched as he glanced at the full glass on the table. "Al didn't get in this much trouble when he broke those plates."
"That was an accident. You did this on purpose. Don't tell me you didn't. I saw what you did," the boy's mother crossed her arms and stared at her son.
"But, I..."
"Drink it," her expression softened and she smiled gently as she put hand on his head and ruffled his hair a bit. "Look at it this way, the more quickly you get it done, the faster it will be over with," the woman picked up the glass, the contents swirling from the motion, and put it in Edward's small hands.
The child gulped nervously as he stared at the glass he held. "Do I have to drink all of it?"
"Yes, all of it."
The boy whimpered as he brought the glass to his lips and swallowed. He grimaced as the tainted beverage passed over his tongue. "Ugh!"
"Keep going."
Edward tilted the cup further, drinking the opaque white fluid, gagging as he completely drained the vessel. "Gross," he shuddered as he felt the last grainy drops slide down his throat.
"That's my brave boy. Now, what do you have to say?"
"I'm sorry."
"And, what did you learn?"
"I'll never put salt in Al's milk again."
"Very good. You may go now," Trisha smiled much more broadly as she patted her son on the head again. "Be sure to apologize to your brother, too."
"Yes, Mom," Edward said. As he trudged to the room he shared with Al to do as his mother instructed, he vowed that he would never drink milk again.