Disclaimer: I don't own FMA.
Notes: Here we are, ready for the next chapter! Thank you to everyone who has read, reviewed, alerted, and/or favourited!
Children
Colonel Mustang's unit had had parental figures long before the children of the group arrived. Of course, this is how it works in normal families as well, so it didn't cause too much of a problem.
Edward and Alphonse Elric weren't the easiest of children to take care of at all times. Edward openly insulted Colonel Mustang, allowing his rage to get the better of him. His undeniable obsession with his height made him hard to nurture, and although Alphonse would nervously wait for his brother to calm down, it always took time. Alphonse didn't seem to be the horror his brother was, on the surface, but somehow he always managed to get caught in the middle of the same big mess.
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Alphonse's eyes flew open at the sound of the wail beginning in the other bed. The room was dark, and there wasn't even the normal sliver of light shining through their doorway, where Mummy and Daddy left the door open a little. That meant that even the big people had gone to bed by now.
The shadows were tall and eerie, and it sounded like someone was tapping on the window. Lips quivering, Alphonse pulled the blanket covers over his head so that anything outside couldn't see him, and joined in his older brother's wail.
There was a creak, and he knew that someone had just pushed open the door to the room he and Edward shared. He clamped his mouth shut so that he wouldn't attract the intruder's attention. Alphonse's eyes were wide open, and he didn't dare shut them. His fisted hand held the covers down against his pillow as hard as it could, so that not even a little bit of him was visible. Maybe whoever it was wouldn't see him. He gasped as the covers were flung back . . .
And let out a cry of relief when the person looming over him was only his mother. Tears trickled down his face and he held his arms out for her to hug him, only just registering that Edward was standing beside her, clutching at the pants of her summer pyjamas like they were the only thing keeping him safe. Edward sniffed, wiping the back of his hand under his nose, and Riza reached out and picked Al up instead of just hugging him.
She settled him on one hip and ran a reassuring hand through Edward's hair. "Come on, you can sleep with me and Daddy tonight."
"Mmhmm," Edward hummed through another sniff, and Alphonse clung to his mother as she took the both of them out and through the lounge room into the room she and their father shared.
As they climbed into the big bed, their half-asleep father gave a moan of recognition. Riza climbed in after them, effectively putting a barrier between the children and the shadows. She closed her eyes to sleep, and Alphonse watched her for a moment with eyes accustomed to the dark, before snuggling into her side.
He had very nearly drifted off to sleep when a reedy "Daa-ad" from beside him brought him back to consciousness.
"Dad," Edward repeated a little more urgently now. "Dad!"
"What is it?" Roy finally replied in gravely tones. Alphonse could hear the sound of sleep in his voice, and knew that he hadn't been far from it when Edward had begun his call.
"I can't get to sleep," Edward sniffed.
"Have you tried counting sheep?"
"Doesn't work."
"What about singing yourself to sleep?" Roy suggested, both of his eyes still closed shut.
There was a pause, and Alphonse waited for Edward to burst out in his renditions of the Mother Goose Nursery Rhymes they had tucked into a book somewhere in the house. Instead there was another tuneless comment.
"Can you do it for me?"
A grunt emerged from Roy's direction. "Why can't you do it, Eddy?"
"Don't know anything to sing."
"Sure you do."
"Roy . . ."
This time Riza had spoken, her tone hinting at a warning. Alphonse recognised it as the sort of voice she used when she caught Edward trying to skip his bath-time. He felt her moving beneath him, rolling over onto her back, and he moved a little to get more comfortable.
Roy sighed, now somewhat awake, due to Edward's poking at his side. "Alright, alright. Let's see . . . There were four in the bed, and the little one said–"
"WHO ARE YOU CALLING SO SHORT YOU'D SQUISH HIM IF YOU ROLLED OVER!?"
Alphonse gave an involuntary whimper and put his hands over his ears. Edward was thrashing around in the bed, and Riza made an angry noise while clutching at the blankets so that Edward's movement didn't gather all of the sheets.
"Calm down," Roy was saying, much more awake now. "It's just a song! Besides, you're four years old – of course you're short!"
This did nothing to alleviate Edward's little tantrum, and Riza put an arm around Alphonse, drawing him closer so that Edward didn't hit him by mistake. "Don't provoke him, Roy!" she hissed. "You know what he's like!"
"He shouldn't get so riled up," Roy replied, sounding just as annoyed as he tried to hold Edward at arms' length, so that the boy's flailing fists couldn't reach their mark.
Riza reached over to her other son. "It's okay, Edward, Daddy didn't mean it. He's just being stubborn. Incidentally, unless he stops being like that, there'll only be three in the bed tonight."
The high pitched "What–!?" that emerged from Roy's mouth was followed by a grumble, but it seemed that Edward had calmed down a little.
"Ha ha – Daddy has to sleep on the couch!" Edward crowed, still kicking a little.
"Yeah, 'ha ha', very funny," Roy replied, countering "Unless you stop acting childishly, you're going back to your own bed."
Alphonse could see Edward poking his tongue out in the dark. It seemed that Riza had seen it too, because she soon said "Listen to your father, Edward. He's calmed down. So should you."
Everyone took a deep breath and settled back to get to sleep. It only took a moment for Edward to say "Where's my song?"
Roy sighed. "Okay, like I was saying before. There were four in the bed, and the little–"
"MUMMY, HE'S STILL CALLING ME LITTLE!! I'M NOT SHORT – I'M BIGGER THAN AL!"
It only took Edward's outburst to make Roy snap. "Just shut up! I wasn't calling you short!"
An uncomfortable silence hung in the air around the big bed, and Alphonse tried his best to shrink away from the argument by burrowing under the covers, eyes wide open.
"You do not yell at the children, Roy," Riza said in acidic tones.
"Daddy said a swear!" Edward proclaimed gleefully.
"And you know not to say 'shut-up' around them either," she added.
"But Riza, he–!"
There was a morbid silence, and Alphonse couldn't hear anything being said, but he knew that Mummy was giving Daddy one of her glares. It was one of the only things that made him go quiet all of a sudden like that.
"He just–!" Roy tried again, in vain, only to be met with Riza's evil glare again.
Finally, Daddy groaned, and Alphonse felt the mattress rise. He peeked the top of his head out from under the covers so that he could see, and watched Roy take one of his pillows and retreat out into the lounge room.
A satisfied cackle came from what was now Edward's side of the bed, and he sighed happily. "Mummy, can you tell us a bedtime story?"
There was silence, and Alphonse saw Riza's eyes train on her elder son, just as focussed as they had been on her husband moments before.
Edward's lower lip wobbled. "But it wasn't my fault," he whined.
The silent glare continued, until eventually Edward slid out of bed, grumbling, and stormed out of the room to head back to his own bed, stomping loudly every step of the way there.
When he was gone, Riza turned onto her side and closed her eyes, still looking a little put out. Alphonse felt slightly intimidated, but he snuggled closer.
". . . I love you, Mummy."
Riza sighed. "At least one of the three children in this house knows how to behave himself," she muttered, running a hand through Alphonse's hair.
Alphonse smiled, feeling better now that she looked happier, and he closed his eyes to sleep.
