Title: Precocious
Author: jordannamorgan
Fandom: Fullmetal Alchemist
Characters: Trisha Elric with kid!Ed&Al.
Setting: Pre-canon.
Rating: G.
Length: 528 words.
Summary: Being the mother of two young geniuses wasn’t easy.



Sometimes, Trisha Elric felt that being the mother of two young prodigies could be a double-edged sword.

On the one hand, Ed and Al’s intelligence and perceptiveness meant they learned to understand the need for many ordinary, common-sense precautions much sooner than most children did. Yet on the other hand… well, they were also intensely curious. That lured their minds and, inevitably, their little feet to wander far past the boundaries of what they were really mature enough to face, trying to explore and answer their endless questions on their own when adults failed to sate their curiosity fast enough.

Combined with the extraordinary early aptitude for alchemy they had inherited from their father, it couldn’t help but give Trisha pause now and then.

She did her best to keep those worries at the back of her mind. She trusted her sons, and they had never really given her any true cause to be anxious. They might sulk and protest when limits were imposed on them, but they always realized those limits were for their own good, and they never pushed too far.

Still, every now and then came a time like this: an hour much too late in the evening when the boys had still not come home from school, and Trisha’s heart could only gnaw itself in concern as she paced the front yard with a lantern, imagining every terrible thing that might have happened. An accident with a neighbor’s cart on the road, a fall into a ravine, an encounter with a farmer’s guard dog or even some random ne’er-do-well.

Finally, just as the twilight was becoming too dark to see, Trisha heard familiar young voices shouting to each other as they came up the road. A moment later, Ed and Al bounded into the yard—only to halt as they came face to face with their mother, the lantern-light capturing expressions of sudden guilt on their faces.

“Just where have you two been?” she demanded with all the sternness she could muster, even as she swept them both into a hug.

“We’re sorry!” Alphonse pleaded, his voice muffled against her apron.

“Yeah, we didn’t mean to be out so late,” Edward asserted sheepishly, squirming under the arm Trisha had wrapped around him. “It was just, Mr. Wymer got the call that his daughter’s baby was on the way—so he asked if we could stay after class and correct the other kids’ math papers for him.”

Trisha leaned back to stare down at the pair, her eyes widening; and then she let out a long, quivering laugh of relief mixed with amusement.

Only my boys.

“Are we in trouble?” Al queried pragmatically.

“…No. Of course not.” Trisha smiled, looking back and forth between them. “You were helping your teacher, and I’m proud of you for that. Just remember to call me next time, alright?”

The two boys glanced at each other, and then beamed up at her with grins that outshone the brightness of the lantern. “Right!”

“Come on now.” Wrapping her arms around their shoulders once more, she began herding them toward the house. “It’s time to wash up and eat your dinner.”

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2021 Jordanna Morgan