The Jungle Book Effect (part 5)
Nearly thirteen years old, the blonde Edward had cowered underneath an old birch tree, shivering from the cold that was slowly settling in around him. The next few months where going to be some of the hardest he’d ever had to endure and he still had no idea how to turn his alchemy “on”. He had thought perhaps that his parent’s first litter was sickly, that’s why there was only him and no Alphonse brother or another Edward Kitten to play with when he was little. Maybe he was just broken and with a sad sigh he realised that no Alphonse would want a broken Edward for a mate. How would he be able to protect him from predators? Oh sure he was fast and could quite easily pin his parents to the ground when play fighting, but such creatures like Mustangs where not going to be play fighting, that much he did know.
With a sigh and a shiver he pulled his old red pelt further around his cold little body. It was on such a whim that he had left his parents, simply got up one day and left without even a good bye but he was still in his kitten pelts and they where proving to not very efficient in the cold winter months.
He would die.
----
Toothpaste. Jack had decided toothpaste was now one of the funniest things on the planet, along with scatter cushions but they were in a different kind of category. Forrest had given the toothbrush such a distasteful look and then when it had been put into his mouth he had given the greatest cry of distress, causing the Alphonse to growl over at the blue eyed man.
Jack had given the Elric’s collar a little tug and warning glace to show that he was not going to be intimidated so easily. With that, the Alphonse has let the noise is his throat die away, but he still did not avert his gaze which was good enough for Jack.
He took down his own toothbrush and showed the boy what to do, squeezing some of the white and green gloop on to the brush and then rose it to his teeth to brush. Forrest had looked at him like he was insane and gave a snort, as if to say: well I’m certainly not doing that. But Jack had firmly taken the boys hand and guided, with the toothbrush, back to his mouth and started to help him brush his teeth.
<”What is he doing?”> Alphonse asked as he cocked his head to the side, but he saw that his mate was in no immediate danger and decided to let the human carry on his strange little act. Forrest had not been so calm and had glared up at Jack with such venom in his eyes, a small growl erupting from his throat. Whatever was in his mouth stung, it tasted awful and made him want to throw up. He gagged though and spat the strange mixture out into the sink and jack breathed a sigh of relief to see that none of it got on the floor or down his pelts.
The doctor spat out his own toothpaste and filled a cup up with water, swirled the water around his mouth and then spat again before handing the cup over to the boy. The teenager looked down into the cup of water, sniffed it and then arched an eyebrow at Jack before copying him. Gingerly he rose the cup to his mouth and took a few sips, trying his hardest not to spill it and Jack could feel his grin getting larger.
With screwed up eyes, he swirled the water around his mouth and then spat back into the sink, rested the cup on the side and looked up at jack with an inquisitive stare.
“Well done!” and noticing the human wasn’t angry at him caused Forrest to grin happily and he turned to his mate with that smile before nuzzling close to his chest.
<”What a bizarre human.”> Alphonse had concluded and Jack was pretty sure he had just been insulted by the way they were both looking at him, but he laughed it off and gave a gentle tug of their leads, making them both follow him out of the wash room.
Now, did Jack risk losing all the built up trust with the pair if he put the Alphonse back into his enclosure on his own, without the boy? Yes, he knew very well he would and with a sigh he lead them both down the corridor and into the main part of the house.
“Jack?” Amy was carrying a pile of clean washing in her arms, Ally trailing behind her trying to catch the odd socks that would sometimes slip from the dark woman’s arms.
“Method to my madness.” Jack said as he led the boy and Elric into the living room, but not before Ally had a good sniff of them and then went to hide behind Amy again. She watched with a bemused smile as her slightly eccentric husband took the animals into their sitting room and started to pull the cushions and throw blankets from the sofas, arranging them in one the corners like a little nest. He muttered something about “Bloody scatter cushions” under his voice and then led the confused boy over to it, taking his collar and leash off to throw onto the sofa.
<”Why is he making us a nest?”> Forrest asked with a tilt of his head but Alphonse had no answer. Was this strange human perhaps a Gunbu like they first thought, he knew all too well that those kinds of creatures liked to travel in packs. Was he trying to make him and his Edward part of the pack too?
“Forrest you sit right there. Sit Forrest!” Jack told the boy, gently pushing down on shoulders so he would sit down in the little make shift nest of blankets and cushions, causing him to look as confused as he felt.
Ally looked up at Amy in the exact same manner but the dark skinned human just shook her head and retreated from the room.
“I have no idea Ally, let’s leave Jack to his madness and go fold these socks, hmm.”
----
The social worked arrived at 1pm on the dot, and Jack felt like gulping at her precise note to time. However, he decided she was in his territory and if she started anything, she’d be out by her ears.
Listen to yourself, you sound like an Elric all over again. He gave a shake of his head and went to answer the door and greeted the woman with his best fake smile that he could muster.
“Ah Doctor Hayes, good afternoon.” She was rather polite, Jack noticed, but there was that underlining of distaste in her voice; that she would like to do nothing more than strip Jack of his guardianship of the boy.
“Good afternoon, Miss. Spencer was it?” He asked, shaking her out stretched hand with was gripped with some Elric like device and then let go just as quickly. She gave curt nod of her head and peered around the hallway as she stepped into it, looking down at her clipboard and for a moment, Jack thought she would start to scribble away on it. But she moved her eyes away and smiled at him, following the man through the house.
Bambi and Ally, with allot of protest, had been shut away in their enclosure as not to start any trouble. They could be handfuls when they wanted to be and most people, most normal everyday not-working-with-Elric people, tended to think that the savage beasts would attack. Actually, the most Bambi would do was probably sniff at her and walk away in boredom, but he supposed humans would find that very insulting.
“You’ve had no problems with the child then?” She asked and Jack looked over her shoulder with a shake of his head, his arm twitched at this though.
“Nope, He’s as good as gold actually, tea?” He offered as they made their way through to the kitchen, Amy had offered to sit in with the boy and Alphonse and so he didn’t have to worry about them turning his living room upside down. God forbid they should try and disturb Amy’s candles that were never to be lit. “They’re ornaments!” She would protest to his snickering.
They took tea in the kitchen while Miss. Spencer went over her files, trying to get as much information out of Jack as she possibly could about the boy. He was starting to feel bad about getting off on a bad start with her in the hospital but he had a large dislike for people in her line of work and old grudges could sometimes be hard to bury.
“So have you got a name from the boy yet?” She asked after jotting down their assumed age for the feral teenager; fourteen. Jack set his cup down and shrugged his shoulders.
“Not directly from him but one of our young college interns did pick a name, and he seems to responding to it.” He admitted as she looked up from her papers.
“Oh.”
“We named him Forrest.” There was silence between them for a few moments and Jack was sure the social worker was about to laugh, but she didn‘t and instead scribbled down the name Forrest next to a section where his name had been previously left blank.
“I suppose it’s better than some parents naming their children after Elric’s and Gunbu’s.” She gave a small laugh and Jack gave a small smile back, reminding himself to never to let slip that his middle name was Edward.
“I once had a little boy in my files with the name Pride; of all the things you could name a child.” That distaste was soon returning back in small doses but Jack allowed himself to give a small smile and a shrug of his shoulders. People named their children after nature all of the time, how was Pride or Edward any different from Robin and Griffin.
“So where has Forrest been sleeping then?” She asked with a curt smile and Jack felt himself gulping before scratching at the back of his neck.
“Well, this is something I wanted to discuss with you actually.” He braced himself for the worst and began to tell how it would not be very wise to split the boy up from the Alphonse.
“You see, it could cause uncontrolled damage to both parties. We would end up with a very angry little boy and a bereaved Alphonse. Neither of which I want to have to deal with so...We’ve been letting him stay in one of the Elric enclosures, with the Alphonse.” Jack finished, keeping his eyes with Miss. Spencer, but her expression was very hard to read.
“I see.” She finally said, scribbling something down that Jack couldn’t see, and he supposed she wouldn’t want him to read it.
“Where is the child now?”
Jack led her through to the living room to find that Forrest had curled up in the Alphonse’s lap and was being slowly groomed by him, his eyes still flicking up to Amy every now again who was watching them with a small smile. She stood up though when she saw the woman and held her hand out.
“Amy Hayes, Jack’s wife.” They shook hands and then Amy excused herself as there were other animals that had to be fed, plus she had to check in on Ally who had been acting rather oddly.
“Is he safe there with the Alphonse?” Miss. Spencer asked it was then that he realised that the woman really had no idea what the animals were like. He decided against telling her that they where technically mates, albeit a rather odd pair.
“Elric’s are very loyal animals; they rarely attack their own kind, unless it’s to do with territory.” He crouched down in front of them and produced an apple from his pocket that he had brought with him from the kitchen. Forrest looked up with blurry eyes and a sleep flushed face, but that was until he saw the fruit and gave a large grin, reaching out to take it from the doctor. He sat up in the nest with the blankets pulled up around him and his legs tucked underneath, before he bit into it, eating it just like a human child would. He peered up at the new human with caution, shifting back in the nest a little.
“Hello there Forrest, you don’t have to be afraid of me, my name is Marie.” The social worked leant forward towards the boy, speaking in loud slow words that the boy neither understood nor cared about. He gave a snort and handed the half eaten apple over to his Alphonse mate who was sat with one arm resting on his raised leg, leaning against the wall for support.
“If you’re waiting for a reply, then you may be here a while.”
“He has no understanding of the human language?” She asked and Jack shook his head, sitting more comfortably in front of the boy and soon the two mates acted if the other two were not there, resuming their grooming.
“No but, it’s fascinating really, he seems to have perfect understanding of what the Alphonse says.” Jack let a smile come to his face but he then heard the social worker give a small tut and jot something down on her clipboard.
“Dr. Hayes, I know Elric’s are your specialty but even I know that Alchemical’s have no concept of language.”
“Oh on the contrary” Jack replied in a cool voice, his eyes still on the pair in front of him. “I think it’s we humans who have no concept of their language.” He let a smirk come to his face and Forrest looked over at him, looked him dead in the eyes before copying the smirk. It was as both he and the doctor had shared the exact same thought and it made Jack want to swell up with new found pride.
“Well he certainly seems to know how to mimic.” Came Miss. Spencer’s sudden voice, and with that the small fire that had been dancing around Jacks head quickly fizzled out.
“Hmm.” He replied as she crouched in front of the pair, taking her pen in her hand.
“Forrest, do you think you can follow the pen for me?” She cooed at him, but the look he gave her wanted to make Jack clutch to something a laugh. Instead he covered it up a small cough as the human Edward continued to give her a look that clearly said: Are you possibly retarded.
<”What could it possibly want me to do with that?”> He asked Alphonse who merely shrugged his shoulders, wrapping arms around his mate before resting his head on his shoulder.
<”I don’t have a clue about these humans anymore, I’m bored and we haven’t mated in days because of your injuries.>” The brassy haired Elric sighed and nuzzled at his mates cheek, licking up his ear in rather suggestive manner.
“Erm, I think it’s nearly time for them to be fed.” He lied, but luckily Miss. Spencer had not noticed and straightened her out.
“I shall contact you in a few days Dr. Hayes, but next time I come around I would proffer to see the boy on his own, and possibly not in Elric pelts.”
----
There was no possible way too stop them from mating, that had been what Jack had concluded with the greatest of sighs. What was he supposed to do, put them in separate rooms and listen for the pining for each all night! He remembered having to do that with Bambi and Ally when the brown pelted Elric had caught the flu and the good doctor hadn’t wanted it to spread to his mate and their first little of kittens.
“We’re just going to have grin and bear it.” He decided and hoped that it never got to Forrest’s social worker of what the sanctuary was letting the boy get up too. If the boy had really been an Edward then there would be no problem, but DNA said otherwise so he had to abide by human law. Which bright spark has come up with that logic!
And so, very willingly, he left them too it and retreated back to his own “nest” of sorts, with so much paper work to sort through. He was starting to feel more and more like a Mustang with each passing day.
<”Admit it, you don’t mind it here.”> Forrest grinned up at Alphonse as he straddled his lap that night, nuzzling his cheeks against his with a soft purr rolling in his throat. Alphonse snickered before purring too, licking up the side of his mates ear before nibbling at it.
<”They make you do things and you pull such cute faces.”> The brassy haired Elric teased and watched as his young Edward threw his bottom lip out into a pout.
<”That isn’t very funny Al. That stuff tasted awful!”> Forrest did not like brushing his teeth, not one bit! It made his gums hurt and his teeth felt so weird afterwards and that taste had not left his mouth until he had eaten something meaty.
<”You’re still so cute when you pout.”> That earned Forrest a nuzzle to the nose and a press of lips, enveloping the pair in a long and much needed kiss. They pulled at each other pelts, murmuring and chattering away in their little own language, quite unaware of two little sets of eyes watching them from beyond the door.
<”Nii-san, didn’t Jack cuff you once for trying to do that to him?”> Ally asked his brown pelted mate who had his eyes glued on the scene in front of him, wondering why the human and Alphonse where mating each other and why the human Edward had not cuffed the other Elric.
<”Ahuh, before you where my mate. I always thought Jack was going to be my mate, but he cuffed me when I tried.”> So Bambi couldn’t understand why this human kitten had not cuffed the Alphonse he was straddling, perhaps he really was an Elric, just a different breed. That kind of thinking apparently had to wait though as Ally started to tug on his mate’s sepia coloured pelts.
<”Instead of watching them mate, you could mate me, hmm Nii-san. NII-SAN!”> Ally did not like to be ignored by his Edward, who seemed to be so engrossed in this other pair. It made him huff and nip at the blonde’s ears before storming off down the corridor.
<“Al? What was that for? Oh Al, come on! I wasn’t watching them!”> Bambi gave a laugh, as if to say whatever his Alphonse was thinking was severely warped, but he found his eye’s drifting back towards the nest in the locked enclosure. He watched with his head tilted as bare skin pressed up against each other, body’s moving together with that rhythm he knew only too well.
<”NII-SAN!”>
<”Epp! Coming!”>
----
The next morning, Jack had decided a different take on breakfast was in order. He took the usual tray of fruit and vegetables to Forest and Foe’s enclosure and set it down in its usual place. Forrest bounded happily out the den and made a small chirp at Jack who crouched down next to him. Foe, as they were now calling him, watched his smaller mate from the edge of the nest but he was slowly losing interest in Jack after he realised that he posed no real threat.
“Forrest.” He paused and waited for the boy to acknowledge his name but he was too engrossed on whether the strawberry or carrot sticks where going to be first.
“How about we let Foe eat this, and we get you something different, hmm?” The boy ate more than the recommended daily amount for fruit, which was really a good thing for a boy his age. However, if they were really going to try and integrate back into the human way of life, then he would at least need to learn how to use a spoon.
He got up and left them too it for a few minutes, making his way down to the kitchen to fetch the things he had already set out. On his way there though he came a across a rather sulky looking Edward who was slouched outside his own enclosure.
“Bam?” he asked as he neared the brown pelted Edward, pausing briefly to take a glance into his darkened enclosure. There was a small Alphonse shaped lump in the nest and Jack shook his head, ruffling his favourites Edwards hair.
“Kicked you out again, huh? What did you do this time?” He asked, Bambi looking up at him with large pleading eyes before he started to trail into what had happened, little chirrups and mutters, growl and whimpers and the only thing Jack could do was nod his head in the appropriate places.
“Well, whatever it is, he sounds as if he’s in a real sulk with you. Best leave him a few hours.” He patted Bambi on his head again before moving on towards his original destination until the small creature had grabbed him around the waist and nuzzled into his chest with a soft purr. Jack gave a sigh and scratched the creature behind the ear before taking his hand and leading him off towards the kitchen.
“You can do something useful then and help me teach Forrest to use a spoon.” He gave a sly grin as he picked up a box of cheerios, the milk from the fridge and a bowl and spoon up off the side. Bambi cocked his head to the side as he was passed the sealed box of cereal and was led back to the end enclosure.
“Okie little man.” Jack said as he sat down in front of the boy who tilted his head to the side, made a few chirps at the adult Edward and then looked over at his mate. Bambi had turned his nose up at the milk and turned the other way, making Jack chuckle and shake his head.
“Well, it’s not for you so stop worrying.” Jack told him with a nod of his head and shook a few bits of cereal out into the bowl. Alphonse snuck over and draped his arms over his mate’s shoulders, nuzzling his cheek and then chattered something to the Edward and Jack noticed the questioning tone he used.
“When you’ve all finished being impatient, I’m going to show you.” He poured a small amount of the milk onto the cereal and suddenly Forrest had pushed himself forward, balancing with one arm on the ground, his broken one still firmly held at his chest.
“It’s going to be like brushing our teeth again, ‘cept you might like this.” He took the spoon and showed the boy it and then dipped it into the bowl, brining out a small spoonful. Jack gave his trade mark half grin and put the spoon into his mouth and then pulled it back out, the food had vanished. Forrest had gasped and leant forward, sniffing about to see where the food had vanished to. This tickled Jack to no end and he swallowed the cereal before opening his mouth to show him he had eaten it.
“Do you want to try?” He offered the spoon to Forrest, who sat back on his bum and took the spoon gingery. He chirped something to Bambi who muttered something, which sounded like encouragement, back. Then the boy had looked at his Alphonse who sniffed around and gave a nod of his head. This kind of interaction fascinated Jack; if only Ally wasn’t in his foul mood he could have had them all at it.
Forrest lowered the spoon as steadily as he could into the bowl and then brought it back out with a small bit of milk and cereal on it before glancing between the Edward and Alphonse. They both chirped at him and he took this as he cue to pop the spoon in his mouth, bring it back and then swallow. The grin that followed made Jack laugh and nod his head, moving to scratch the boy behind the ears, but only for a couple of seconds as the Alphonse has wrapped his arm possessively back around his “mate.”
The boy put the spoon back into the bowl and took away another spoonful of cereal and then too his amazement, he offered it to Jack.
“Hack!” The boy said with the biggest grin he could muster, and Jack felt himself choke on nothing.
“W-what did you just say?”
A/N: MWHAHA....
“H” as in horse....btw =3