100 themes FMA

Theme: 71: Paint

Characters: Edward Elric, Winry Rockbell

Universe: Manga/Brotherhood

Words: 544

Warnings: Pie

"Can you reach now?" Ed asked, carefully shifting his shoulders to raise Toby a little higher and very carefully not shifting his feet on the rickety ladder at all.

"Yeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaahhhh..." Ed could hear Toby straining to reach up to paint to right under the roof. Winry had decreed that it was about time that the building got a fresh coat of paint, and so he and Toby were spending the day on the ladder with brushes and a couple of buckets of light yellow paint. Decorating was apparently "men's work", while the women got on with the mechanics.

"Down we go, then," Ed said, swinging Toby under his arm and descending the ladder with the giggling boy clutched to his side. "Right, let's get to work on that third wall."

"Daddy?" Toby said thoughtfully. "When Uncle Al and Auntie Mei wanted their house a different colour, they didn't use paint. Uncle Al just clapped his hands an' patted the house an' whoosh! Different colour." Toby waved his arms on the whoosh for emphasis. "How come we gotta use paint?"

"Because Al's cheating," Ed muttered under his breath. Toby looked confused. "Al used alchemy to change the colour of the house. I can't do alchemy."

"Weeeellll... why don't we ask Uncle Al to change the house, then?" Toby asked, picking up his brush and following his father around the house. "We wouldn't hafta paint!"

"I am not getting my little brother to do my job for me," Ed grumbled. "He did it with his own two hands, and so will I. Just... differently."

"Besides, because he used alchemy, it didn't take him very long," Winry said, leaning out of the window. A delicious smell wafted out with her, stopping the pair dead. "But you've earned apple pie for your hard work! How about a lunch break?"

"Yay, pie!" Toby cheered, about to drop his paintbrush, before catching his father's eye and carefully setting it down on the lid of a tin of paint. "I'm hungry!"

"Let's go get cleaned up, then," Ed said, setting down his brush and following Toby inside, closely enough to catch the boy and drag him into the bathroom before he shot into the kitchen.

"Daddy?" Toby asked thoughtfully. "So, alchemy's like an easy way of doing stuff, right?"

"Kind of," Ed said, not wanting to discuss the meaning of alchemy with a five-year-old. Not like he'd been older when he'd started using alchemy, but he hadn't understood what he was getting into.

"But... you don't get pie if you do stuff the easy way," Toby said, with the air of one reaching a great epiphany. "If you do stuff the hard way, you can earn pie."

"More or less," Ed laughed, turning off the tap and reaching for the towel. "Here you go. Dry 'em good, you don't want your pie to slip out of your hands."

"Kay!" Toby dried his hand carefully, and then randomly hugged his father around the legs. "Anyways, if you'd done it with alchemy, we wouldn't've gotten to play!" He let go, tearing down the hall. "C'mon, pie!"

"Be right there," Ed promised, drying his hands and grinning. The long way really wasn't that bad, he reflected, following the scent of pie down the hall.

I love thinking of Ed as a dad. I just know he'd be a good one. He'd really love his kids.

I don't own any of the rights to FMA. Sadly, Arakawa-sensei's lawyers aren't as thick as Yoki.