Summary: Written for comment-fic at LJ. Prompt: wee!Eliot and wee!Lindsey, They are the cutest mischief makers their teachers have ever seen. "McDonald Boys" verse, very pre-series for both shows.

Double Trouble

Principal Fromme sighs and rubs his balding forehead. Those boys will be the death of him. He knows it. It's only the first day of school. And those hell spawn have only just started kindergarten.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

As is standard policy with siblings, the McDonald twins had been placed in different kindergarten classes upon enrollment; Eliot in Miss Leonard's, and Lindsey in Mrs. Reed's. They had, for lack of a better phrase, pitched a dual fit over being separated.

Mrs. McDonald had apologized profusely and somehow managed to extract herself from her children's grips. The remaining adults had gaped in amazement at the dramatic display put on by both boys, in ways that would later be recognized as characteristic of each.

Lindsey had realized the situation first. Or perhaps Eliot had, and Lindsey was simply reacting on some subtle sign from his twin. Either way, the big blue eyes had immediately filled with fat tears threatening to overflow onto cherubic cheeks, and the sweet little mouth had begun trembling, and...Oh Lord, not even the most jaded kindergarten teacher would have been able to stop the impending flood of complete and utter woe.

Eliot, on the other hand, had planted himself firmly in front of his brother and glared at any and all comers who tried to separate him from Lindsey. There were kicks, and there were punches, and there were even bites, but in the end, he had been torn, kicking and screaming, from the howling Lindsey and deposited in his own classroom.

Each boy had spent the rest of the morning sullen and silent, regarding the other children with perfect disdain until the bell had rung for recess and the boys were once again reunited. The tears had dried instantly and the scowl had turned right side up into the most adorable grin.

Miss Leonard and Mrs. Reed had heaved immense sighs of relief, and immediately started gossiping about this year's new students, while, of course, keeping an eye on the playground.

Miss Leonard had Sarah Cummings in her class, sweet little darling, whose sister Lucy had been in Mrs. Reed's class the year before, and then there was Jonah Ark - what a name, and speaking of names, what about that Lindsey McDonald? Oh, Lindsey. Yes, Mrs. Reed had had his daddy in her class back in the days before she had married Mr. Reed. Nothing like him, but it's only the first day, really. He won't be crying all year (God forbid!). And what about his brother Eliot? Oh, lord, Eliot. At least he hadn't picked fights with any of the other children, but goodness knows what he'll do tomorrow! These violent kids, it makes one wonder- Oh sweet Jesus, there goes the bell! How time flies.

Once the children file back into their respective classrooms, Miss Leonard and Mrs. Reed continue on with their lessons. Mrs. Reed, having set her students to tracing the letters of the alphabet with fat crayons, walks around the classroom, giving help when it is needed. She is the shining paragon of the perfect kindergarten teacher, the kind of teacher whose students come back to visit years, decades later to thank her.

Her eye passes over the McDonald boy, now diligently coloring the letter 'T' with a black crayon, and goes to little Ruthie Jones...then returns to Lindsey...who is sporting a red mark on his right forearm. That's odd, since he hadn't had a mark on him before recess, and he hadn't done anything to warrant such a bruise during the break. His brother, on the other hand...

Her eyes narrow, and she puts her hands on her hips.

"Eliot McDonald!" she barks.

As expected, the little troublemaker jumps, startled, and looks up at her with a bewildered expression.

"I'm Lindsey," he then says, blue eyes curious under the most adorable frown. "It's okay, Mrs. Reed. Ev'ryone's always mixin' us up."

Meanwhile, Miss Leonard is attempting to herd the boy whom she thinks is Eliot into putting a puzzle together with another student. The boy glares and scowls with his little arms crossed most forbiddingly, but eventually, he sits down and starts putting the puzzle together with alarming accuracy and speed.

Just as Miss Leonard is about to praise him for putting the picture together so quickly, Mrs. Reed storms in with the other McDonald boy held firmly in her grip.

"Miss Leonard, a word please?" she says politely, but her tone belies her anger.

As the younger teacher crosses the room, the twins grin at each other, and one of them, Lindsey, presumably, begins giggling, starting the rest of the class off. The other boy somehow manages to slip out of the enraged Mrs. Reed's hold and sits next to his brother. Putting their identical curly heads together, they whisper, even as Mrs. Reed's voice rises so as to be heard by the entire class.

"And this boy, these boys - " She cuts off and looks from one boy to the other. "Which of you is which?"

The twins grin and point to the other. "He's Eliot," one says, while the other one replies, "I'm Lindsey." Then they giggle and start over again. "I'm Eliot," "No, I'm Eliot. He's Lindsey."

It's like watching a carefully rehearsed Abbot and Costello skit. By this point, Miss Leonard's class is rolling in laughter, and both teachers have turned quite purple.

Finally, Mrs. Reed grabs the arm of the closest boy and examines it. "This one is Eliot," she proclaims, triumphantly holding the tiny appendage as high as it will go, "He has a bruise from this morning."

Then the other boy smirks and holds out his arm. "Ya mean this bruise?"

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Principal Fromme rubs his head again. Yes, those boys will definitely be the death of him. He can see it in his future, seven years of this living hell, until the day when he can turn the McDonald devils over to Dan Rucks, the principal of the middle school.

Mrs. Reed has already threatened to retire, and Miss Leonard, although she has been teaching for only two years to Irma Reed's forty, is claiming likewise.

Perhaps Miss Tallway will be able to handle them. In the same class. For a whole year. Yes, Miss Tallway is a very capable young woman with a bright future ahead of her (or else). Oh yes, he'll put the both of them in Miss Tallway's class.