[July 13] [Fullmetal Alchemist] By the Will of The Air

[lilacfield.livejournal.com]

Title: By the Will of The Air
Day/Theme: July 13/the ones that are never said and never explained
Series: Fullmetal Alchemist
Characters/Pairing: Hohenheim, Trisha
Rating: G

Fullmetal Alchemist © Arakawa Hiromu, et al.


Al cried louder than Ed had when he was teething; Trisha swaddled him in layers of clothing and carried him outside, where the cold night, Hohenheim thought, seemed to either lull or stun him to sleep. He watched from the nursery door as she put Al, now reduced to nothing more than a sniffling bundle, back to bed, the syllables of her lullaby swollen with yawns. She tucked Ed's blanket, which had slid all the way down to his knees, around his shoulders. Then she straightened up, a shadow among other, less substantial shadows.

"Thank goodness they're never seriously ill," she stage-whispered. When she was being playful like this, his heart seemed to swill around inside his ribcage, sluggishly, like thick liquid. "But you'd know what to do, wouldn't you?"

"Not really, no. I never had to raise kids before."

In the dim light of the nursery, it was impossible to tell precisely whether she was pleased, skeptical, or dismayed. She knew there must have been other women before her, and she could not picture him walking out on any child of his own. The implications in his reply, however, were not things that could be leisurely contemplated at one o'clock in the morning, so she said instead, "If only I could make Al understand that he might feel better in the morning."

She went across the room and pulled the door shut. He stepped back while she listened for the smallest signs of distress. Later, she would be delighted that they were experiencing parenthood together for the first time; he, too, was delighted, although for reasons different from hers, ones she might never need to know.