When I grow up…
Disclaimer: I do not own, nor ever will, Fullmetal Alchemist or the characters within.
Smart
Alfons sat at the table and peeled another potato. Four weeks he had been here now and he was still adjusting. Mrs Hughes and Elysia had taken him out of the house this morning and he had been completely overwhelmed. It had been so different to Munich. More open, cleaner, less noise. They had taken him to the closest market and they had both smiled at his wide eyes and wonderment at all the food. Not only were many new and strange to him, but the ready availability stunned him.
The short outing had tired him and he was more than willing to sit here and help. He was getting used to the way Mrs Hughes looked. Now he understood why Ed had always acted differently around various people in Munich. The resemblances must have been as disconcerting to him as they were to Alfons now.
Elysia sat beside him doing her homework. He watched with an amused smile as she chewed at the end of her pencil.
"I don't want to do this." She suddenly said as she frowned at the page.
"Why not, liebchen?"
"It's too hard." She pouted and bit hard at the pencil.
"It doesn't look that hard." Alfons said as he eyed the very basic sums.
"That's because you know how to do them." Her logic was impeccable.
"I had to learn, just like you."
"How did you learn?"
"My father taught me."
"I don't have a daddy to teach me."
"I know, but I can help you." He smiled at her. "We'll use the potatoes."
"Potatoes don't do sums, 'fons, that's just silly." She stared wide eyed at him.
"They can if we do it right." Alfons picked up one of the potatoes and sliced it in half carefully. "How many do we have?"
"Two."
Alfons picked up another and repeated the action. "And now?"
She pointed slowly, counting quietly. "Four."
"If I do that to all these other potatoes, how many are we going to have?"
Elysia frowned and looked at the potatoes. Alfons finished peeling the potatoes while she moved them around, and then he began to slice them in half.
"'fons?" Elysia suddenly said.
"Yes?"
"I've run out of numbers."
"How many have you got?"
"Ten."
"What happened to eleven?"
She held up her hands. "It won't fit on my fingers."
He put his hands next to hers. "Use mine."
"When I grow up, I want to be smart like you are."
Author's Note: Well… little felis is angsting all over my desk, my first-born is home sick from school, so I needed some fluff…
silken :)