Hello! I hope you all are having a fantastic week! I wrote this for Parental FMA week on Tumblr and decided to post it here too! I hope you all enjoy this sweet little oneshot!
I do not own Fullmetal Alchemist.
The dark streets of East City were silent except for the occasional passing car as First Lieutenant Hawkeye made her way back to her apartment. It was a nice evening, so she politely declined when her commanding officer offered her a ride home from Eastern Command. It was pretty late, but she didn't mind walking, especially since she had been stuck inside an office all day and most of the night.
The quiet evening was soon interrupted by metallic clanking.
"Lieutenant Hawkeye?"
Riza turned around to see Alphonse Elric. Her eyebrows rose at the suit of armor.
"Hello, Alphonse," she responded. "It's nice to see you. Isn't it a bit late for you to be out? Shouldn't you be asleep?"
Isn't it past your bedtime? She wanted to scold him, but she just couldn't. She didn't feel like it was her place.
She hadn't gotten a chance to talk much with the younger Elric. Edward had only been under Colonel Mustang's command for a few months now. She really didn't know too much about the boy in the armor except that he was much more quiet and polite than his older brother.
"I was just returning some books to the library for my brother while he's sleeping."
Her eyebrows rose even higher.
"Shouldn't you be doing the same thing?"
Al shifted awkwardly.
"No. You see…I can't exactly sleep."
The First Lieutenant was about to ask what he meant until she remembered what the Colonel told her. Al was just a soul bonded to a suit of armor. He tried to explain how the alchemy worked behind that, not even trying to hide that he was impressed Ed could do something so advanced at his age. However, she didn't really understand it.
She hadn't talked much with the boy before, but he seemed so sweet and gentle. It was so easy for her to forget that there wasn't a human body within the armor.
"I see."
She didn't really know what else to say. Luckily, she didn't have to think much longer.
"Are you going back to your apartment?" Al asked. "Do you want me to walk with you? It can't be safe for you to be out alone at night."
Riza grinned. She was beyond capable of taking care of herself. Everyone knew that, but that didn't mean she didn't appreciate the sweet gesture.
It was ironic, an eleven-year-old offering to walk her home.
She nearly declined automatically, but shut her mouth before she said a word. If Al didn't sleep, what did he do all night? With Edward asleep, he had to get lonely.
He might actually want the company.
"That would be lovely. Thank you, Alphonse."
The two walked back to Riza's apartment with Al chatting about the research he and Ed were doing on the Philosopher's Stone. She had to stop herself from laughing. Despite not having any facial expressions, she could hear the passion and excitement in Al's voice as he rambled on about his and Ed's research. The normally quiet boy couldn't seem to stop talking.
A thought came to her mind, though. Ed and Al had been studying alchemy since they were basically able to read. She wondered if Al had ever read stories, anything that wasn't science.
"Alphonse, have you read anything other than alchemy books?" she asked, interrupted the younger Elric.
The suit of armor stopped talking and seemed to be lost in thought.
"Hmm…I don't remember reading anything else. I always found alchemy to be so fascinating that I never stopped reading about it once I started."
A part of Riza's heart broke and she slightly frowned. She didn't like the fact that Al seemed to have done nothing but study alchemy all of his life. She knew both Elrics truly loved alchemy, but she couldn't imagine not at least reading a book for fun.
In her mind, everyone should read a book once in a while. While she would probably never admit it, she loved diving into a book and getting taken into a whole new world.
Sometimes, fiction was better than reality.
The two stopped in front of Riza's apartment.
"Would you like to come in?" she asked as she unlocked the door. "You can see my library. It may not be full of alchemy books, but I think you would like a lot of them."
"Okay!"
The two entered the apartment. Taking off her jacket, Riza led Al to her shelves of books, pointing him to some of her favorites and others she thought he and Ed might like.
"I didn't know you liked to read so much, Lieutenant!" Al commented as he looked through the shelves.
Riza chuckled as a few books fell to the ground.
"Sometimes I think I have too many books, but I keep buying more," she said as she picked them up. "I got these just last week at the new bookstore. It was just built about a month ago, but I've lost count of how many times I've been."
She noticed Al stopped moving. He seemed sad. How could she tell? She didn't have the slightest idea.
"Is everything okay?"
"Our mom loved books. Brother and I never read them, but I know she had a lot of them. We would always go with her when she went to the library or to the bookstore. I know it might seem silly, but one of my favorite smells was the smell of a new book. I kind of…miss it…."
Now she understood. The new books not only reminded Alphonse of his mom, but also what he lost the night Ed bound his soul to that suit of armor.
"Sometimes I wonder if I'll stay like this forever," he mumbled.
She reached forward and touched his arm. Even though he couldn't feel it, he could see her trying to comfort him and he appreciated that more than he could ever say.
"I know you're going to get your body back, Alphonse," Riza said sincerely. "Tell you what, after you do, I'm going to take you to that bookstore and you can pick out any book you want."
That definitely cheered Al up.
"Thank you, Lieutenant."
She let the young boy read one of the books he found particularly intriguing while she made herself dinner and then got ready for bed. Al was about to return the book and leave when she stopped him.
"You're welcome to borrow it, if you like. You and Edward are welcome to borrow any of my books anytime you want."
"Thank you again, Lieutenant!" he said as he left to head back to his brother's dorm.
She looked at the clock.
Midnight.
She smiled to herself. She was beyond happy that Alphonse may have found something to keep himself occupied when he was up way past his bedtime.
And there it is! I hope you all enjoyed a little bit of Parental!Riza. It was definitely new and out of my comfort zone to write, but it was so fun!
I hope to update The Cult later this week or this weekend. We'll have to see. Until then!