Snow Angels
Author: MoonStarDutchess
Oneshot
Disclaimer: I don't own Fullmetal Alchemist and gain no profit from this fanfiction other than writing practice and a cure from boredom.
Note: The bad grammar/misspellings in the kids' dialogue and thoughts are intentional because I want it read a certain way.
"Are we really really going out in that white stuff?" Maes asked when Riza finished buttoning his winter coat.
"It's called snow Maes, and yes we are."
"It's save?" Riza laughed and kissed the top of her little boy's head. They'd been living in East City since they were babies so this was the first time Maes and Maeve had seen snow. Leave it to their good fortune it was the first large snow Central had in ten years. Maeve was all for exploring the frozen environment while Maes was more cautious and would prefer playing with his toys in front of a warm fireplace.
"Of course it is. Would we put you in any danger Maes?"
Maes looked at his feet and shook his head.
Riza put his hood over his head and secured it before placing his gloves on his small hands. "You're all set little man. Go out with your dad and Maeve. I'll be out in a bit."
"O…Okay."
The little boy reached up to the doorknob and turned it. He crept out the door as if the outside environment was a ravenous monster filled with ice. Riza chuckled and closed the door he'd forgotten to shut in his state of cautiousness.
-/-/-
Maes paced lightly upon the walkway until he stood at the middle. He folded his arms and looked around him. "Okay," he said aloud. "I'm out and—" A large glob of snow hit him on the side of his head. "Ouchie!"
He turned his head when he heard a familiar giggle. His twin stood in the yard at his left, the snow reaching up to her knees. Her cheeks and nose were red with chill, her eyes were glistening and she wore a huge smile that made her cheeks puff up. "Got ya!"
"You hitted me! I don't belief you hitted me!"
She put her hands on her hips in a perfect imitation of her mother's stance when they did something she wasn't happy about. "It's justa snowball!"
"A what?"
Maeve reached down and gathered snow in her hand. She patted it and started to throw but it broke in her hands. "Daddy! My snows ball crumpled!"
Maes looked around. "Where is daddy?"
"He's getting the slave. We are going to ride the slave down a snowy hill."
"Come on you two!" Roy yelled. The two kids saw their dad standing beside a shed. He held the rope attached to what must have been the slave. Maes eyed the contraption made of wood and metal and cringed. If it could talk, it would tell him about the ouchies he would get.
"Kay!" Maeve said and rushed over to her dad.
"But I don't want to ride a slave." Maes pouted. He felt a soft hand on top of his head and looked up to see his mommy. She looked so pretty with her special snow hat and her red coat. If he were daddy, he'd love mommy too. Of course, he did love mommy but no one loved mommy as much as daddy. Uncle Havoc said so and Uncle Havoc was good and right in everything.
So was mommy and she wouldn't fib to him. "Mommy, is the slave safe?"
"Maes, you need to stop being so afraid of things. Your dad and I won't let anything happen to you. Riding a sled is a lot of fun." So it was fun but she didn't say it was safe. Yep, he prided himself of his duckive resining skills. Usually if Maeve wanted to do something, it meant he would end up with a booboo. She would too but she was tougher than he was.
"I'm supposed to be tough!" he yelled and stomped his foot down on the ground, ignoring the cold snow that got in the top of his boot. "Maeve is a girl. She's not supposed to be more tougher than me." He looked up at Riza and smiled wide when he realized his mommy was a girl. "Sorry Mommy!"
He rushed toward his dad, leaving behind a confused Riza. She followed her son and watched as he piled on the sled. "Giddy up slave!" He clicked his mouth like he saw the cowboys do on their horses.
Riza moved to stand beside Roy and Maeve, who looked unfazed at her brother's actions.
Roy leaned closer to Riza. "Scared to death isn't he?"
"Yep." She laughed. "He looks so determined. He doesn't want Maeve to show him up in courage."
Roy grinned. "Like you do with me?"
"Hush, I'm not the one who sealed his side shut with his own flames," she whispered.
"All in the line of duty," he whispered back before turning his attention to his daughter. "Maeve, why don't you get on the sled and I'll pull the two of you to the hill."
She crowded on the sled behind her brother. "Giddy up Mustang," Maeve yelled.
Maes laughed aloud. "Ha-ha! Daddy is a horsey."
Roy chuckled. He pulled the sled with his right hand while his left arm wrapped around Riza's shoulders. They made their way down the street and into the small park where Roy knew there were some hills the perfect size for safe sledding.
"Are yous scared?" Maeve asked her brother as she gave him a hug by wrapping her tiny arms around him.
"Nope."
"You're fibbing aren't you?"
Maes slouched. "Yep. Why aren'ts you ever scared?"
"I's am. But I saw on a cartoon that sometimes it's good to be scared and it means you're being safe and stuff but sometimes it's good to face your fears."
"Like the big pink bunny in the closet that eats our socks?"
Maeve squeezed her brother tighter. "No, we're still too little to face the bunny."
"Hows do we know when not to be scared?"
"Um… well when our doggies are around and when mommy and daddy are around. Our doggies and mommy and daddy won't let us get hurt."
"Our doggies aren't here. They are protecting their little doggies."
"But the little doggies will turn into big doggies and luv us too. Doggies will grow faster than us and we'll have more doggies to protect us until we don't need it anymore."
"Lots of big doggies so we can face the bunny."
"Right. We'll face the big bunny soon."
Maes' smile widened.
-/-/-
"Bunny?" Roy asked. "Do you know anything about that?"
She nodded. "I overheard them once. A bunny is hiding in the closet and eats their socks. He has a special taste for the orange socks. Maeve has a complete battle plan for vanquishing the bunny. She drew it out in crayon and explained it to Maes. He's in charge of weaponry, and now apparently the new puppies will be the army."
"Maeve's going to get to general faster than I did," Roy said, not sounding the least put out by the possibility.
"Wouldn't surprise me. She does look up to you and Olivier quite a bit."
"Daddy's little girl."
Riza let her lips quirk up in a smirk. "And who was it that said he wouldn't act like Maes if he ever had kids?"
Roy huffed. "Do you see me carrying pictures and cameras around?"
"Only because I hid them," she retorted before her expression turned serious. "Do you think that maybe we favor Maeve a bit more than Maes? I mean I don't love him any less of course, but it feels like we give Maeve more attention sometimes."
"I think it might be that Maeve gets around us more instead of us paying more attention. Maes likes to be alone. He is a bit slower than Maeve, but he has other smarts. Look at the way he puts together those model planes and helps you clean your gun. He took more after you than me."
Riza eyed him. "Are you saying I'm slow?"
Roy stammered. "No, no, not at all. I just meant that—"
"I know what you meant Roy. I was just teasing you." She leaned in to kiss his cheek when she saw a frown drift upon his lips.
"Cruel woman." He kissed her lips.
"Okay daddy and mommy! Horsies and birdies don't kiss each other outside," Maes said. Maeve giggled behind him like his words were the funniest thing ever.
Riza looked over her shoulder. "I'm a Mustang too."
"But you goes by Hawkeye at work," Maes said.
"But I'm not at work now."
"So right now you're a Mustang too."
"That's right. She's Mrs. Mustang. Which means I can kiss her all I want." He pecked her lips with his to add emphasis.
"Ewwwwww," Maes said.
-/-/-
They'd expected the park to be crowded so they were pleasantly surprised to see that wasn't the case. Roy spotted a hill void of people sledding and pulled them there. "Your mommy and I will show you how to slide down and then you two can do it."
Riza pulled away from him. "Excuse me."
Roy's eyes twinkled with mischief and he leaned forward, their noses brushing. "You didn't think I'd let you get out of sliding down the hill at least once."
Maes and Maeve giggled as they scampered off the sled. "Mommy is going on the slave!" Maes said.
Riza thought herself too old to go sledding, but upon seeing her children's eyes sparkling with excitement, she couldn't refuse. "Don't move from this spot," she said to them.
She and Roy walked to the top of the hill. He held the sled and let her get on it before sitting behind her, keeping his feet planted in the snow. "Ready?"
Riza nodded.
Roy lifted his feet to rest on the sled, gave a little shove with one of his hands, and they sailed down the hill with ease, the two laughing all the way to the bottom. Roy squeezed her around the waist and kissed the side of her neck. "That was fun?"
"Yes."
"Can we move now?" Maeve yelled.
Riza's pursed her lips and looked over at her children who were frozen in weird positions like they were statues. She looked at Roy. "She gets her smart ass comments from you."
"I won't argue with that," Roy said before directing his attention to his kids. "Come over here and try it."
Roy and Riza watched as their kids made their way through the snow, falling a few times before making it over to them. They got off the sled.
"Let's go you two. I'll take the sled to the top for you." Riza walked over to sit on a bench as Roy pulled the sled to the top, the kids following behind him. They piled on the sled and
Roy handed Maeve the rope.
"Okay, this isn't so bad," Maes said, quite pleased with his current position.
"We haven't even moved yet," Maeve said.
"Let me get to the bottom before you—" Maeve gave a quick jerk of her body and the sled moved, "—take off."
"Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee," the two children yelled as they rushed down the hill. Roy chuckled and walked down.
They stopped and Maes looked at Riza. "Mommy that was so super fun!"
Riza smiled so wide her cheeks hurt. There was something so beautiful and innocent in the excitement of a child. She didn't remember feeling that way when she was younger, so she was thrilled her children were so happy. "I told you."
"Let's go again," Maeve said.
"Okay!"
They grabbed the rope and began the process of tugging the sled up the hill. "You need me to do it?" Roy asked as he walked past even though he knew the answer already.
"Nope, we gots this," Maes said as they continued to easily pull the sled. "Go play with mommy. She's all by herself."
A memory sparked about their "playing" in the snow and it actually wasn't the perverted one. He walked over and sat down beside Riza. They watched as the twins went down the hill again, the ride drawing forth the same yells of joy it did the first time. When the two went back up the hill, Roy put his arms around Riza's waist. She leaned her head on his shoulder.
"My little angels . . . when they're behaving at least," she said.
"And when they're asleep." He gave her a sideways glance. "Speaking of angels, you know we haven't yet."
"We haven't done that in years Roy."
Roy tightened his hold. "We haven't been in snow in years." He winked at her. "What do you say? You want to."
She laughed. "You're impossible."
"I'll take that as a yes." He fell forward, taking her with him, and they landed in the snow. He heard his children giggling in the background as he leaned down and kissed her. He pulled away, and moved a good distance away from her before lying on his back and moving his arms up and down and his legs open and closed. She did the same. Both carefully got up and looked at their creations.
"Something's missing now," Roy said.
Riza turned her head to him. "Oh?"
Roy looked toward the hill and waited until Maes and Maeve were at the bottom before yelling for them. They walked over. "Stop," Roy said before they stepped on the two snow angels. "Walk around them."
The twins did as told. "Wow, angels!" Maes said.
"That's right," Riza said. "Snow angels. Your daddy and I used to make these every year we had snow around."
"But why don't they have baby angels?"
"We were hoping you could help us with that," Roy said.
"How?" Maeve asked.
"Laid down on the snow," Roy said.
The two did so. "Now move your arms up and down and legs out and in."
Roy and Riza helped them up after they completed their task and they looked at the two child angels between the two adult ones.
"Ours don't look like yours!" Maeve said sounding more upset than she should've been.
"You'll have to practice." Riza patted her daughter's capped head.
The kids went back to sledding for a while until they were getting slower in their movements. Roy and Riza stood and walked to the bottom of the hill.
"Maes! Maeve! Time to go home!" When they rode the sled down one last time, they remained on it. Roy took the rope.
"I'll make some cocoa when we get home," Riza said when she saw her kids were disappointed at going home despite knowing they were tired. Their demeanors instantly perked at the thought of chocolate.
"Are you sure about giving them sugar?" Roy whispered as they left the park, the sledding hill, and the family of snow angels behind them.
