The Jungle Book Effect (part 4)
“Put it back.” Jack didn’t even need to address the adult Elric by his name, or look at him for that matter. Bambi gave a snort and put the biscuit back with a huff before picking up a banana, trotting off to sit in the corner. Jack watched him from the corner of his eyes as the Edward split the fruit in half and handed the bigger piece to his Alphonse mate.
With a pleased smile he looked up from his paper work to the three others sat around the table, each with a stack of papers that needed filling out. It was a tedious task, but needed doing never the less.
“Alright it’s been four days and we still haven’t given the Kid a name.” Jack knew that before they even tried to make progress with the child, he would need some kind of name to respond too.
“Well I was saving ferocious pit bull for the Alphonse, but...“ Sonny trailed off with a smirk, indicating to his bandaged up hand where the Alphonse had first tried to take a chunk out of the young man’s hands.
“You’re arm might having something different to say.” He finished with a smirk, only to have his own arm clipped by Beth who had given such a disapproving look.
“I’ve still never known an Alphonse act quite like that, I mean, just look at Ally.” Amy looked over to where their resident Elric pair where sat chirping away at each other. The Alphonse was a few years younger than Bambi and was quite happy to sit and groom his mate’s hair; the presence of humans didn’t even make him jittery.
“Placid as a lamb.” Jack finished with a nod of his head as he sat up to stretch, taking the biscuit with him. Bambi had given him a hopeful look which had then turned into a scowl when the blue eyed human had popped the whole thing in his mouth with a smirk.
“They weren’t so bad this morning though.” He continued and the table murmured their own agreements, a smile coming to Beth’s face as she leaned back in her chair.
“He was waiting for that medicine you know.” Both she and Jack had gone to give the boy his medication in the usual way, only to find that the boy was sat outside the nest of blankets, waiting quite patiently near the door while the Alphonse had watched on from a distance. It had surprised the two but the red head still hadn’t wanted to take a chance and took the plank of wood with her still.
“He must know it’s making him better.” Sonny decided with a shrug and then swatted Bambi’s hand away from the box of biscuits on the table, sending the Edward to run off chirping back to his mate.
“Nah, I just think he likes the taste.” Jack gave a smirk as he rested his head on his hands, smiling at that tiny amount of progress that they had begun to make with the child.
“I know!” Beth said suddenly, making the other three turn towards her with raised eyebrows. “We should call him Forrest!”
“God help your children in the future.” Sonny had said with a laugh as Beth huffed, crossing her arms over her chest with a scowl.
“Well I have no problems with it.” Amy gave a shrug and a smile in the young college girls direction but she picked up her paper work and dumped it in front of Sonny. “Jack?”
“Well I wasn’t coming up with anything.”
----
Edward had sat himself by the door this time, tasting the long gone mixture on the roof of his mouth. He didn’t know what it was that the humans where giving him, but boy was it sweet. It was also making him feel sleepy and giddy at the same time and he was sure there was more of it to come.
<”Nii-San, what are you doing over there?”> Alphonse asked with a sleep filled yawn as he pulled himself out of the nest to stretch. Edward shook his head and moved away from the door with a sigh, they obviously where not coming back to him with the sweet liquid anytime soon. He had been about to move over to where the blue eyed human had left him a stack of books when something caught his attention.
He had spun around just in time to see an Elric pair duck their heads out of sight and hide behind the wall. This both intrigued and startled Edward making him give a distressed little chirp and Alphonse came over, the boy suddenly hiding behind his back.
<”What was it?”> Alphonse asked but Edward shook his head and tried to peer forward towards the picture window. As he did so, the other Elric pair raised their own heads, peering into the enclosure themselves.
<”I told you there was another Alphonse.”> Bambi said rather matter-of-factly but it only caused Ally to roll his eyes, balancing on his tip toes.
<”Yes Nii-san, but you never said what the other thing with him was; it’s certainly no Edward that I’ve ever seen before.”> The young Alphonse was more mild mannered than his own mate, happy to just go along with whatever he said. Sure it got them both into allot of trouble, but it was nothing compared to where he had been rescued from.
<”Jack says he’s a human, but no human I know acts like an Elric. Well...”> Bambi gave a little smirk and looked over at Ally, the young Alphonse merely nodded his head as he knew exactly what his mate was thinking.
<”But Jack grew out of his kitten phase, I wonder if this one will do the same?”> Bambi pondered as he pressed his forehead up towards the window, but this only aggravated the older Alphonse inside and it stalked straight up to the window and thumped his fist onto it. It didn’t shatter, but it certainly scared the two Elric’s, it even made Ally fall down onto his bum.
<”What was that for!”> Bambi demanded of the older Alphonse, but it did not give an answer, only growled in the most aggressive manner that made the brown pelted Edward glare. And then slowly it began to talk, but not about scaring his mate half to death.
<”Why have the humans not locked you away too?”> It questioned in a low threatening tone making Bambi shift uncomfortably. His eyes glanced quickly over to the weird Edward who had clutched onto his mate with his good arm, looking like a scared little kitten. He looked back up to the Alphonse and tilted his head to the side, trying his hardest to not look intimidated.
<”Because this is our territory. We do what we want and go where we please. Perhaps if you are good then Jack will let you claim some of the territory yourself.”> Bambi could not help but smirk at his words, feeling Ally’s hand grasp at his in sheer terror that a fight would break out. The thought never occurred to him that the sheet of hard glass and wall between them would help that fight never get physical.
<”Jack, is that the Fuery looking one.>” Edward peeped up as he clung onto his mates arm and Bambi’s golden eyes locked with his green ones, gave him a peculiar look and then grinned.
<”Do you like Jack, Kit?”> Bambi asked, completely ignoring Alphonse’s sudden growls, wrapping his arms protectively over the young boy so he wouldn’t get the sudden urge to bounce over to the door. Heaven forbid he broke out of that routine where he was supposed to scare the humans and anything else that came within a twenty foot radius of them both.
Edward bit down on his lip as he contemplated on what to say. This human, Jack, had not hurt either him or his mate and he had been leaving him books and enough food to last them through a cold winter. He wasn’t sure if he liked him, but he didn’t dis-like him.
<”He likes him enough to show him what we’re made of, now leave us alone.>” Alphonse has ordered of the brown pelted Edward, but Bambi was paying him no attention. All his focus was on the strange little human-Elric, wondering just what it was that made him think he was one of them.
“OI!” Came the sudden noise of a human’s voice, making all four of the Elric’s scramble backward; the wild ones to their nest and the residents up against the wall.
“What did I tell you about coming down this corridor? Shoo. No Bambi I am not playing around this time, you take Ally back to you enclosure and you stay there.” Jack looked down at the Elric pair in the corridor, watching them with narrowed eyes as they slunk past him hand in hand. He gave a shake of his head when they had gone and turned his attention towards the picture window of the boy’s enclosure. In his hand he held a kitten leash and in his pockets he had stashed some marshmallows, wondering perhaps if the sweet treat would entice the boy to behave more.
His arm and other limbs hoped the boy would behaviour more.
“Okie Forrest, let’s see if we can get you looking somewhat presentable before this troll shows up.” And with that he unlocked the door and stepped into the wild Elric’s enclosure.
Alphonse and Edward has pushed themselves in the back of the nest where they had both hidden in heap of blankets, the humans sudden loud voice had scared the pair of them.
Jack bit down on his lip and mentally kicked himself for shouting so near to the enclosure, hoping to God this would not cause a setback. He was quite glad none of the others had been with him for company, he would have either been clouted around the head or severely shouted at, that much he did know.
With baited breath he crouched down in front of the den and rustled in his pocket for the little packet of sweets. The scent of the fluffy food substance hit both of their noses and Edward started to purr.
“Hey there, I didn’t mean to scare you both.” He said in the most reassuring tone he could muster, but the young Doctor could be quite sweet sounding when he wanted to be.
“I’m not mad at either you for the other day you know, I’m sure everyone gets a little nervous when a syringe is stuck down their throat.” His bruised and bitten arm twitched at this remark but he continued on. Creeping a little closer to the opening he held out a couple of marshmallows on his palm, but still gave them enough room to dash out if they felt he was invading their space.
“How about a peace offering, hmm? Just don’t tell Amy, she’d kill me if she knew I was giving you sweets.” He had to laugh at himself a little, but he had decided very early on not to talk down to the boy. It wasn’t as if he was toddler that needed cooing to every ten minutes.
Edward slowly unravelled himself from his blankets and pushed them aside, nuzzling at Alphonse’s cheek.
<”I’m going to see what he has.>” He told him but his mate gave a little cry, reaching his hand out to hold loosely onto the back of his pelts.
<”Stop worrying so much, I don’t think he’s going hurt us.”> Edward reassured him and Alphonse looked at him for a few moments before turning his eyes towards the human. He gave a sigh and let his young mate go but not before licking at his ear.
<”Just don’t let him groom you...please.”> With a sad and plead filled look, the Alphonse slunk back into his nest but Edward gave a him a happy chirp, as if to say no such thing would ever happen. Quite warily, he crawled from his nest of blankets and crouched down in front of the blue eyed man. With a sniff, he looked down out at his out stretched palm and then up to the human who only smiled at him.
“There all for you, you know. You can give some to Alphonse too.” He wasn’t sure that tempting the adult sized Elric was such a good thing, but he seemed placid enough in the back of the nest. He had to admit that the Alphonse did take extremely good care of the boy, but a bath was still in order.
Edward crawled forward on the three limbs, his broken one kept firmly to his chest before he knelt some two feet away from the human, looking from his hand and back to his face. Did he dare reach out and take the sweet smelling offering or should he have stayed with his mate who he had been neglecting lately because of his injuries.
Slowly he reached out his hand and almost touched Jacks finger tips before he pulled it back, expecting the human to swipe out and strike him. The good doctor did no such thing though and just kept that placid smile on his on his face, waiting very patiently for his new charge to gain some courage. So, Edward reached out again and quickly pinched a small handful of sweets before scurrying back to the safety of the nest.
<“What are they?>” Alphonse asked, poking at the small white and pink things in his mates hands. They where squishy and soft like pieces of fruit, but soft and dry like dandelions all at the same time. Edward shook his head and raised one of them to his nose, sniffing at it before gingerly popping it into his mouth. At first it was dry and not very pleasant but then the sweet taste came and Edward purred with delight, brushing his cheek up against his mates who then took one for himself.
Jack laughed slightly and sat himself down on the ground with his legs crossed underneath him.
“I’ve got more over here if you want them.” Jack said in a soft tone, placing the bag in his lap so the boy would have to come directly up to him.
<”Whatever they are, I’m getting more!”> Edward had decided with a nod of his head, moving back out of the nest quite confidently, but he still had that wariness when he went near Jack. He crawled over to him and kept eye contact before sitting right in front of him, eyes down to the sweets in his lap.
“I’m not going to bite, which reminds me, your teeth’ll need doing as well.” That made Jack want to gulp, but he knew the Elric’s could sense fear just like other animals and with that in mind, he kept himself pretty calm.
Edward snaked his hand forward again and took another one of the sweets, popping it into his mouth happily with a chirp. Before he realised it he was beginning to purr and Alphonse had joined him, kneeling next to his smaller mate as the passed the sweets between each other.
“You’re a very odd pair, you know that.” He decided that it couldn’t hurt to take the Alphonse with him and put a hand in his jacket pocket to pull out an adult leash and collar he carried just in case. Amy had always commented on the amount of things her husband kept in his pockets, laundry day was always like an amusing ten minutes of show and tell.
Slowly he reached forward as the boy was distracted and slipped the kitten leash around his neck before pulling himself back, heart pounding just a little bit quicker in his chest.
“Easy boy.” He told the Alphonse who had suddenly frozen in his chirps and purrs as Jack had reached forward, placing the slightly heavier collar around its neck, but he retreated in the same way and sat with the leads in his hands for a few moments. They had both resumed their chattering and Jack was amazed to see how they communicated and maybe, just maybe, this boy could teach them more about the strange animal’s language. Truth be told, he had been trying to teach himself for such a long time but never got any where close enough to make proper conversation.
They where such a fascinating pair to watch as well and he wondered just how they had ended up as mates. Although it seemed wrong that the pair where most likely mating, he had to remind himself that this boy genuinely thought he was an Elric. But it saddened him, was it right to try and make the boy see he was really human, or was it wrong to just leave him as he was. These kinds of things would have to be addressed at some point, but for now...there were some lonely little rubber ducks in the bath tub that needed company.
----
The trip to the Elric’s wash room was quite luckily uneventful. They had both given Jack very disgruntled looks when the doctor had stood up and lightly pulled on the leads, but then they had followed. After all, he did have the marshmallows tucked back into his jacket pocket.
He closed the door to the large titled room behind him and went over to the deep tub and put the plug in. This was one of Bambi’s and Ally’s favourite rooms and where they usually found hiding in the corners when they didn’t want to do something, like go to the clinical room for their shots. However, his favourite little Elric adults where nowhere to be seen and he breathed a sigh of relief.
The boy and the Alphonse where chatting away to each other again in their strange little excuse for a language and Jack went about his business of turning on the hot water. The noise of the running water made both the boy and Alphonse stop in their chirping and stare at the bath tub. The Edward-boy took a cautious step forward and Jack managed to pull him lightly down with the lead and then watched him crawl next to him, place his hands up onto the rim of the tub and watch water beneath him.
“I’m thinking you’ve never had a bath.” Jack chuckled and gave a friendly tug on the Alphonse’s lead, brining him down next to Edward. He then reached up for the strawberry scented bubble bath and tipped a small amount into the hot swirling water and this didn’t half excite the pair.
<”Its smells like you can eat it!”> Edward had said happily and Alphonse had nuzzled at his cheek slightly.
<”I think we’re supposed to wash in it, we’ve been so long without a lake.”> The oldest Elric had admitted with a small huff and that only got a pout out of Edward. The boy hated baths, they were always so cold and he ended up sopping wet until someone transmuted him dry. It was allot easier when he was younger and his parents would do it for him, but when he left them...well, he remembered going quite a while without even bothering to step foot in a lake.
Jack watched the little conversation going on before him and he turned the cold tap on, just in time to turn around and too see that the Alphonse was undressing the boy. It made him chuckle as it was just like watching a father trying to get his stubborn child into the bath and apart of him held out hope that the boy was in some way the Alphonse’s adopted kitten. However, he had seen them grooming in the only way mates did and that little thought was soon extinguished.
Jack slowly placed his hands around the boy’s neck to remove the collar; the Alphonse gave him a wary look.
“It’s okie...keep your mane on.” He grinned and brought the collar away and then lent back slightly, watching as the Elric nuzzled the boy to get into the tub, which he did with a small growl. The sudden shock of the warm water on his small body made Jack want to laugh again, he seem so confused.
<”It’s warm!”> He chirped with a slightly miffed expression on his face and the Alphonse had lent forward, peeled of a white glove and sipped his hand into the bubble strewn water.
“Are you getting in too?” Jack asked the Elric, going to take his collar away and place it on the ground next him. He watched as the Alphonse threw off his own pelts rather unceremoniously and climbed into the tub next to his smaller mate. Their shocked reactions to the hot bubbly water made him clutch to the bath tub and chuckle but the pair of them had given him such a look.
“Ooo if looks could kill, I’d most likely have cancer. One of the not so nasty cases, of course.” But then he realised that was a rather horrible thing to say and gave a shake of his head, went into his jacket pocket and pulled out two marshmallows.
“Keep them out of the water, or they’ll be soggy.” He told them both, placing them on his outstretched palm and immediately the boy had taken them both up, popping the second one into Alphonse’s partially opened mouth. Luckily, the human-Edward had not yet put his cast into the water and jack bit down on his lip and reached forward to take it, causing the boy to whimper slightly.
“Shh Forrest, its okie. Keep it out of the water. You put that in there and the nice people at the hospital won’t half want my guts for garters.” The boy seemed to understand but his attention was soon on Alphonse who began grooming and cleaning his younger mater, chewing on the fluffy sweet happily.
Jack lent on the bath tub side, getting slightly wet by the sudden fling of hair from both the animals.
“Just great.” The doctor tried to blow wet hair from his head but only succeeded in making a funny face, much to the boy’s amusement. The blonde had giggled and a true human filled smile had come to his face, making Jack grin straight back.
<”I guess he isn’t so bad.”> Alphonse had finally admitted, brushing his fingers lovingly through his little mate’s hair, nuzzling in between his shoulder blades.
<”I guess that other Edward was right.”> The boy replied just as happily, a purr coming to his throat at the sudden attention he was getting from his mate and he pushed himself backwards, almost into his lap. They started to groom each other; Edward even managed to keep the hard cast out of the water as he did so.
Jack reached up for the jug and dunked it into the water before brining it up to run over the boys head, making him splutter slightly.
"Oh don't be such a baby." He laughed as the boy turned to glare at him. He took down the shampoo and squeezed an ample amount into his hands before taking the ends of the blondes hair, rubbing the green apple scented mixture into it.
<"What's that, sells like apples!"> Alphonse said excitedly but Edward only growled, crossing arms over his chest in a sulk as Jack worked into his long, scratching at the sides of his ears to show that he was a good boy and that this wasn't a punishment. He rinsed away the shampoo with the jug again and the boy gave small pitiful whimper.
"Nearly done." Jack gave him a smile and then he ducked out of the way as the Edward tried to shake the water from the hair. It made him roll his eyes and move back over to ring out before he gave the Alphonse a wide grin.
<"Oh no you don't!"> Alphonse scrambled backwards in an attempt to get away from Jack and his jug, but he wasn't quick enough and he too felt the doctors cleaning wrath. The brassy haired Elric had given a smaller whimper as his hair was washed in the same way and he growled at the fingers at his ears. With a shake of his head he rinsed of the shampoo and then allowed the two resume their own cleaning rituals, satisfied that their hair was somewhat human clean.
When they started to get a bit hands of with each other though, Jack had felt his face blush and he quickly moved forward.
“And I think that’s enough of that.” As a quick distraction, Jack plunged his hand into the water and quickly pulled out the plug and luckily it did get the boys attention, making him scoot over towards the plug hole, watch as all the water vanished to know where. Indeed Edward had been intrigued and peered over the bath tub side, only to find Jack peering back up at him.
<”But where did it go?”> He chirped and Alphonse did the same, looking around for the water.
“You two must be the oddest pair of Elric’s-sorry, half Elric’s I’ve ever seen.”
Jack had gone to fetch some towels from the cupboard but when he turned around he heard the familiar crackle of alchemy and the flash of the blue light. The Alphonse was drying of his smaller companion before applying the same technique to himself. The doctor just shook his head with a smirk and placed the towels back, watching as the two pulled their respective pelts back on. The Alphonse pulled his mate towards him and started to run fingers through his now shiny and fluffy hair, pulling it back it the distinctive Edward braid. The hair wasn’t as wire looking as the blue eyed man first thought, but it was blonder, darkening at the edges with maturity.
“Come on then.” He said after fixing their respective leashes and collars, much too both their disappointment. “Let’s see if we can get those teeth cleaned.”
A/N: My Alphonse doesn’t need transmutation circles -.-....shhh.
The next update will have more Forrest Background ;D
Edit: Put in washing their hair ><
With a pleased smile he looked up from his paper work to the three others sat around the table, each with a stack of papers that needed filling out. It was a tedious task, but needed doing never the less.
“Alright it’s been four days and we still haven’t given the Kid a name.” Jack knew that before they even tried to make progress with the child, he would need some kind of name to respond too.
“Well I was saving ferocious pit bull for the Alphonse, but...“ Sonny trailed off with a smirk, indicating to his bandaged up hand where the Alphonse had first tried to take a chunk out of the young man’s hands.
“You’re arm might having something different to say.” He finished with a smirk, only to have his own arm clipped by Beth who had given such a disapproving look.
“I’ve still never known an Alphonse act quite like that, I mean, just look at Ally.” Amy looked over to where their resident Elric pair where sat chirping away at each other. The Alphonse was a few years younger than Bambi and was quite happy to sit and groom his mate’s hair; the presence of humans didn’t even make him jittery.
“Placid as a lamb.” Jack finished with a nod of his head as he sat up to stretch, taking the biscuit with him. Bambi had given him a hopeful look which had then turned into a scowl when the blue eyed human had popped the whole thing in his mouth with a smirk.
“They weren’t so bad this morning though.” He continued and the table murmured their own agreements, a smile coming to Beth’s face as she leaned back in her chair.
“He was waiting for that medicine you know.” Both she and Jack had gone to give the boy his medication in the usual way, only to find that the boy was sat outside the nest of blankets, waiting quite patiently near the door while the Alphonse had watched on from a distance. It had surprised the two but the red head still hadn’t wanted to take a chance and took the plank of wood with her still.
“He must know it’s making him better.” Sonny decided with a shrug and then swatted Bambi’s hand away from the box of biscuits on the table, sending the Edward to run off chirping back to his mate.
“Nah, I just think he likes the taste.” Jack gave a smirk as he rested his head on his hands, smiling at that tiny amount of progress that they had begun to make with the child.
“I know!” Beth said suddenly, making the other three turn towards her with raised eyebrows. “We should call him Forrest!”
“God help your children in the future.” Sonny had said with a laugh as Beth huffed, crossing her arms over her chest with a scowl.
“Well I have no problems with it.” Amy gave a shrug and a smile in the young college girls direction but she picked up her paper work and dumped it in front of Sonny. “Jack?”
“Well I wasn’t coming up with anything.”
----
Edward had sat himself by the door this time, tasting the long gone mixture on the roof of his mouth. He didn’t know what it was that the humans where giving him, but boy was it sweet. It was also making him feel sleepy and giddy at the same time and he was sure there was more of it to come.
<”Nii-San, what are you doing over there?”> Alphonse asked with a sleep filled yawn as he pulled himself out of the nest to stretch. Edward shook his head and moved away from the door with a sigh, they obviously where not coming back to him with the sweet liquid anytime soon. He had been about to move over to where the blue eyed human had left him a stack of books when something caught his attention.
He had spun around just in time to see an Elric pair duck their heads out of sight and hide behind the wall. This both intrigued and startled Edward making him give a distressed little chirp and Alphonse came over, the boy suddenly hiding behind his back.
<”What was it?”> Alphonse asked but Edward shook his head and tried to peer forward towards the picture window. As he did so, the other Elric pair raised their own heads, peering into the enclosure themselves.
<”I told you there was another Alphonse.”> Bambi said rather matter-of-factly but it only caused Ally to roll his eyes, balancing on his tip toes.
<”Yes Nii-san, but you never said what the other thing with him was; it’s certainly no Edward that I’ve ever seen before.”> The young Alphonse was more mild mannered than his own mate, happy to just go along with whatever he said. Sure it got them both into allot of trouble, but it was nothing compared to where he had been rescued from.
<”Jack says he’s a human, but no human I know acts like an Elric. Well...”> Bambi gave a little smirk and looked over at Ally, the young Alphonse merely nodded his head as he knew exactly what his mate was thinking.
<”But Jack grew out of his kitten phase, I wonder if this one will do the same?”> Bambi pondered as he pressed his forehead up towards the window, but this only aggravated the older Alphonse inside and it stalked straight up to the window and thumped his fist onto it. It didn’t shatter, but it certainly scared the two Elric’s, it even made Ally fall down onto his bum.
<”What was that for!”> Bambi demanded of the older Alphonse, but it did not give an answer, only growled in the most aggressive manner that made the brown pelted Edward glare. And then slowly it began to talk, but not about scaring his mate half to death.
<”Why have the humans not locked you away too?”> It questioned in a low threatening tone making Bambi shift uncomfortably. His eyes glanced quickly over to the weird Edward who had clutched onto his mate with his good arm, looking like a scared little kitten. He looked back up to the Alphonse and tilted his head to the side, trying his hardest to not look intimidated.
<”Because this is our territory. We do what we want and go where we please. Perhaps if you are good then Jack will let you claim some of the territory yourself.”> Bambi could not help but smirk at his words, feeling Ally’s hand grasp at his in sheer terror that a fight would break out. The thought never occurred to him that the sheet of hard glass and wall between them would help that fight never get physical.
<”Jack, is that the Fuery looking one.>” Edward peeped up as he clung onto his mates arm and Bambi’s golden eyes locked with his green ones, gave him a peculiar look and then grinned.
<”Do you like Jack, Kit?”> Bambi asked, completely ignoring Alphonse’s sudden growls, wrapping his arms protectively over the young boy so he wouldn’t get the sudden urge to bounce over to the door. Heaven forbid he broke out of that routine where he was supposed to scare the humans and anything else that came within a twenty foot radius of them both.
Edward bit down on his lip as he contemplated on what to say. This human, Jack, had not hurt either him or his mate and he had been leaving him books and enough food to last them through a cold winter. He wasn’t sure if he liked him, but he didn’t dis-like him.
<”He likes him enough to show him what we’re made of, now leave us alone.>” Alphonse has ordered of the brown pelted Edward, but Bambi was paying him no attention. All his focus was on the strange little human-Elric, wondering just what it was that made him think he was one of them.
“OI!” Came the sudden noise of a human’s voice, making all four of the Elric’s scramble backward; the wild ones to their nest and the residents up against the wall.
“What did I tell you about coming down this corridor? Shoo. No Bambi I am not playing around this time, you take Ally back to you enclosure and you stay there.” Jack looked down at the Elric pair in the corridor, watching them with narrowed eyes as they slunk past him hand in hand. He gave a shake of his head when they had gone and turned his attention towards the picture window of the boy’s enclosure. In his hand he held a kitten leash and in his pockets he had stashed some marshmallows, wondering perhaps if the sweet treat would entice the boy to behave more.
His arm and other limbs hoped the boy would behaviour more.
“Okie Forrest, let’s see if we can get you looking somewhat presentable before this troll shows up.” And with that he unlocked the door and stepped into the wild Elric’s enclosure.
Alphonse and Edward has pushed themselves in the back of the nest where they had both hidden in heap of blankets, the humans sudden loud voice had scared the pair of them.
Jack bit down on his lip and mentally kicked himself for shouting so near to the enclosure, hoping to God this would not cause a setback. He was quite glad none of the others had been with him for company, he would have either been clouted around the head or severely shouted at, that much he did know.
With baited breath he crouched down in front of the den and rustled in his pocket for the little packet of sweets. The scent of the fluffy food substance hit both of their noses and Edward started to purr.
“Hey there, I didn’t mean to scare you both.” He said in the most reassuring tone he could muster, but the young Doctor could be quite sweet sounding when he wanted to be.
“I’m not mad at either you for the other day you know, I’m sure everyone gets a little nervous when a syringe is stuck down their throat.” His bruised and bitten arm twitched at this remark but he continued on. Creeping a little closer to the opening he held out a couple of marshmallows on his palm, but still gave them enough room to dash out if they felt he was invading their space.
“How about a peace offering, hmm? Just don’t tell Amy, she’d kill me if she knew I was giving you sweets.” He had to laugh at himself a little, but he had decided very early on not to talk down to the boy. It wasn’t as if he was toddler that needed cooing to every ten minutes.
Edward slowly unravelled himself from his blankets and pushed them aside, nuzzling at Alphonse’s cheek.
<”I’m going to see what he has.>” He told him but his mate gave a little cry, reaching his hand out to hold loosely onto the back of his pelts.
<”Stop worrying so much, I don’t think he’s going hurt us.”> Edward reassured him and Alphonse looked at him for a few moments before turning his eyes towards the human. He gave a sigh and let his young mate go but not before licking at his ear.
<”Just don’t let him groom you...please.”> With a sad and plead filled look, the Alphonse slunk back into his nest but Edward gave a him a happy chirp, as if to say no such thing would ever happen. Quite warily, he crawled from his nest of blankets and crouched down in front of the blue eyed man. With a sniff, he looked down out at his out stretched palm and then up to the human who only smiled at him.
“There all for you, you know. You can give some to Alphonse too.” He wasn’t sure that tempting the adult sized Elric was such a good thing, but he seemed placid enough in the back of the nest. He had to admit that the Alphonse did take extremely good care of the boy, but a bath was still in order.
Edward crawled forward on the three limbs, his broken one kept firmly to his chest before he knelt some two feet away from the human, looking from his hand and back to his face. Did he dare reach out and take the sweet smelling offering or should he have stayed with his mate who he had been neglecting lately because of his injuries.
Slowly he reached out his hand and almost touched Jacks finger tips before he pulled it back, expecting the human to swipe out and strike him. The good doctor did no such thing though and just kept that placid smile on his on his face, waiting very patiently for his new charge to gain some courage. So, Edward reached out again and quickly pinched a small handful of sweets before scurrying back to the safety of the nest.
<“What are they?>” Alphonse asked, poking at the small white and pink things in his mates hands. They where squishy and soft like pieces of fruit, but soft and dry like dandelions all at the same time. Edward shook his head and raised one of them to his nose, sniffing at it before gingerly popping it into his mouth. At first it was dry and not very pleasant but then the sweet taste came and Edward purred with delight, brushing his cheek up against his mates who then took one for himself.
Jack laughed slightly and sat himself down on the ground with his legs crossed underneath him.
“I’ve got more over here if you want them.” Jack said in a soft tone, placing the bag in his lap so the boy would have to come directly up to him.
<”Whatever they are, I’m getting more!”> Edward had decided with a nod of his head, moving back out of the nest quite confidently, but he still had that wariness when he went near Jack. He crawled over to him and kept eye contact before sitting right in front of him, eyes down to the sweets in his lap.
“I’m not going to bite, which reminds me, your teeth’ll need doing as well.” That made Jack want to gulp, but he knew the Elric’s could sense fear just like other animals and with that in mind, he kept himself pretty calm.
Edward snaked his hand forward again and took another one of the sweets, popping it into his mouth happily with a chirp. Before he realised it he was beginning to purr and Alphonse had joined him, kneeling next to his smaller mate as the passed the sweets between each other.
“You’re a very odd pair, you know that.” He decided that it couldn’t hurt to take the Alphonse with him and put a hand in his jacket pocket to pull out an adult leash and collar he carried just in case. Amy had always commented on the amount of things her husband kept in his pockets, laundry day was always like an amusing ten minutes of show and tell.
Slowly he reached forward as the boy was distracted and slipped the kitten leash around his neck before pulling himself back, heart pounding just a little bit quicker in his chest.
“Easy boy.” He told the Alphonse who had suddenly frozen in his chirps and purrs as Jack had reached forward, placing the slightly heavier collar around its neck, but he retreated in the same way and sat with the leads in his hands for a few moments. They had both resumed their chattering and Jack was amazed to see how they communicated and maybe, just maybe, this boy could teach them more about the strange animal’s language. Truth be told, he had been trying to teach himself for such a long time but never got any where close enough to make proper conversation.
They where such a fascinating pair to watch as well and he wondered just how they had ended up as mates. Although it seemed wrong that the pair where most likely mating, he had to remind himself that this boy genuinely thought he was an Elric. But it saddened him, was it right to try and make the boy see he was really human, or was it wrong to just leave him as he was. These kinds of things would have to be addressed at some point, but for now...there were some lonely little rubber ducks in the bath tub that needed company.
----
The trip to the Elric’s wash room was quite luckily uneventful. They had both given Jack very disgruntled looks when the doctor had stood up and lightly pulled on the leads, but then they had followed. After all, he did have the marshmallows tucked back into his jacket pocket.
He closed the door to the large titled room behind him and went over to the deep tub and put the plug in. This was one of Bambi’s and Ally’s favourite rooms and where they usually found hiding in the corners when they didn’t want to do something, like go to the clinical room for their shots. However, his favourite little Elric adults where nowhere to be seen and he breathed a sigh of relief.
The boy and the Alphonse where chatting away to each other again in their strange little excuse for a language and Jack went about his business of turning on the hot water. The noise of the running water made both the boy and Alphonse stop in their chirping and stare at the bath tub. The Edward-boy took a cautious step forward and Jack managed to pull him lightly down with the lead and then watched him crawl next to him, place his hands up onto the rim of the tub and watch water beneath him.
“I’m thinking you’ve never had a bath.” Jack chuckled and gave a friendly tug on the Alphonse’s lead, brining him down next to Edward. He then reached up for the strawberry scented bubble bath and tipped a small amount into the hot swirling water and this didn’t half excite the pair.
<”Its smells like you can eat it!”> Edward had said happily and Alphonse had nuzzled at his cheek slightly.
<”I think we’re supposed to wash in it, we’ve been so long without a lake.”> The oldest Elric had admitted with a small huff and that only got a pout out of Edward. The boy hated baths, they were always so cold and he ended up sopping wet until someone transmuted him dry. It was allot easier when he was younger and his parents would do it for him, but when he left them...well, he remembered going quite a while without even bothering to step foot in a lake.
Jack watched the little conversation going on before him and he turned the cold tap on, just in time to turn around and too see that the Alphonse was undressing the boy. It made him chuckle as it was just like watching a father trying to get his stubborn child into the bath and apart of him held out hope that the boy was in some way the Alphonse’s adopted kitten. However, he had seen them grooming in the only way mates did and that little thought was soon extinguished.
Jack slowly placed his hands around the boy’s neck to remove the collar; the Alphonse gave him a wary look.
“It’s okie...keep your mane on.” He grinned and brought the collar away and then lent back slightly, watching as the Elric nuzzled the boy to get into the tub, which he did with a small growl. The sudden shock of the warm water on his small body made Jack want to laugh again, he seem so confused.
<”It’s warm!”> He chirped with a slightly miffed expression on his face and the Alphonse had lent forward, peeled of a white glove and sipped his hand into the bubble strewn water.
“Are you getting in too?” Jack asked the Elric, going to take his collar away and place it on the ground next him. He watched as the Alphonse threw off his own pelts rather unceremoniously and climbed into the tub next to his smaller mate. Their shocked reactions to the hot bubbly water made him clutch to the bath tub and chuckle but the pair of them had given him such a look.
“Ooo if looks could kill, I’d most likely have cancer. One of the not so nasty cases, of course.” But then he realised that was a rather horrible thing to say and gave a shake of his head, went into his jacket pocket and pulled out two marshmallows.
“Keep them out of the water, or they’ll be soggy.” He told them both, placing them on his outstretched palm and immediately the boy had taken them both up, popping the second one into Alphonse’s partially opened mouth. Luckily, the human-Edward had not yet put his cast into the water and jack bit down on his lip and reached forward to take it, causing the boy to whimper slightly.
“Shh Forrest, its okie. Keep it out of the water. You put that in there and the nice people at the hospital won’t half want my guts for garters.” The boy seemed to understand but his attention was soon on Alphonse who began grooming and cleaning his younger mater, chewing on the fluffy sweet happily.
Jack lent on the bath tub side, getting slightly wet by the sudden fling of hair from both the animals.
“Just great.” The doctor tried to blow wet hair from his head but only succeeded in making a funny face, much to the boy’s amusement. The blonde had giggled and a true human filled smile had come to his face, making Jack grin straight back.
<”I guess he isn’t so bad.”> Alphonse had finally admitted, brushing his fingers lovingly through his little mate’s hair, nuzzling in between his shoulder blades.
<”I guess that other Edward was right.”> The boy replied just as happily, a purr coming to his throat at the sudden attention he was getting from his mate and he pushed himself backwards, almost into his lap. They started to groom each other; Edward even managed to keep the hard cast out of the water as he did so.
Jack reached up for the jug and dunked it into the water before brining it up to run over the boys head, making him splutter slightly.
"Oh don't be such a baby." He laughed as the boy turned to glare at him. He took down the shampoo and squeezed an ample amount into his hands before taking the ends of the blondes hair, rubbing the green apple scented mixture into it.
<"What's that, sells like apples!"> Alphonse said excitedly but Edward only growled, crossing arms over his chest in a sulk as Jack worked into his long, scratching at the sides of his ears to show that he was a good boy and that this wasn't a punishment. He rinsed away the shampoo with the jug again and the boy gave small pitiful whimper.
"Nearly done." Jack gave him a smile and then he ducked out of the way as the Edward tried to shake the water from the hair. It made him roll his eyes and move back over to ring out before he gave the Alphonse a wide grin.
<"Oh no you don't!"> Alphonse scrambled backwards in an attempt to get away from Jack and his jug, but he wasn't quick enough and he too felt the doctors cleaning wrath. The brassy haired Elric had given a smaller whimper as his hair was washed in the same way and he growled at the fingers at his ears. With a shake of his head he rinsed of the shampoo and then allowed the two resume their own cleaning rituals, satisfied that their hair was somewhat human clean.
When they started to get a bit hands of with each other though, Jack had felt his face blush and he quickly moved forward.
“And I think that’s enough of that.” As a quick distraction, Jack plunged his hand into the water and quickly pulled out the plug and luckily it did get the boys attention, making him scoot over towards the plug hole, watch as all the water vanished to know where. Indeed Edward had been intrigued and peered over the bath tub side, only to find Jack peering back up at him.
<”But where did it go?”> He chirped and Alphonse did the same, looking around for the water.
“You two must be the oddest pair of Elric’s-sorry, half Elric’s I’ve ever seen.”
Jack had gone to fetch some towels from the cupboard but when he turned around he heard the familiar crackle of alchemy and the flash of the blue light. The Alphonse was drying of his smaller companion before applying the same technique to himself. The doctor just shook his head with a smirk and placed the towels back, watching as the two pulled their respective pelts back on. The Alphonse pulled his mate towards him and started to run fingers through his now shiny and fluffy hair, pulling it back it the distinctive Edward braid. The hair wasn’t as wire looking as the blue eyed man first thought, but it was blonder, darkening at the edges with maturity.
“Come on then.” He said after fixing their respective leashes and collars, much too both their disappointment. “Let’s see if we can get those teeth cleaned.”
A/N: My Alphonse doesn’t need transmutation circles -.-....shhh.
The next update will have more Forrest Background ;D
Edit: Put in washing their hair ><