Logic of a Child 2: The Eyes of Young Men

Chapter 3: Hidden Talents

by: IMBSA

IMBSA: Sorry for the delay, but with school picking up again, I'm going to be a little swamped with work, so I may not update this for awhile. Just as a warning. And considering that I had to go help my mom fix her classroom, we didn't have much time to write. We're sure you can forgive us.

Disclaimer: "You're never too old to learn something stupid."

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The Colonel's office finally had some semblance of order. The papers were off the ground. Riza wasn't sure what would be the most efficient way to determine which reports were salvageable and which ones should be totally redone. Breda helped, but they were definitely going to need more manpower to wade through the paper chase as well as keep the boys occupied. Ed was using the ruined sheets in the wastebaskets to create playthings for the young fellows. He started with a pathetic looking origami crane. But when Maes showed him up by folding an origami crane that actually looked decent and could flap its wings, the boys lost interest in Ed. He thought he'd try something later. Both he and Al began discussing the findings and knew they needed to do more with the remaining apples. The little five year olds began scrambling for something to do, at which point Al decided to intervene lest they cause even more havoc (no pun intended) than they had before.

"How about drawing something, guys?" Alphonse suggested. The four boys were elated. They happily grabbed some paper and began their works of art.

Maes drew a picture of a throwing knife—three different angles of it to be exact. Roy was copying something he found in his pocket. Jean drew a large round lollipop and Fury made some indiscriminate lines before laying his head down and drooling on the paper.

"Look at my knife! It's so good! Such a sharp knife. Looks like you could really cut someone with it!" Maes proclaimed proudly, holding it up for all to see. He stopped suddenly at Roy's work, "What's that you're drawing, Roy?" Maes asked as Roy was carefully copying the red embroidered lines on a pair of white gloves he found in his pocket. Chibi Mustang stuck his tongue out in intense concentration trying in earnest to make an exact replica of the diagrams on the gloves.

"It's a design…on these things," Roy pointed out. Maes searched his pockets. He found no gloves. He was disappointed.

"Hey, can I borrow those too?" Maes asked, lying on his tummy beside Roy who was analyzing the lines on his design. Roy looked at Maes with narrowed eyes as Maes waited for Roy to answer. Maes pushed his glasses up on his nose, as Roy continue to contemplate his decision.

"Okay Maes…But don't lose them," Maes happily nodded and also tried to copy the design.

Feeling very satisfied with his masterpiece, Roy took the paper and carefully folded it and placed it in his pocket. Roy started working on another project. He scanned the room trying to find something worthy of drawing. A flash of yellow hair caught his eye. He looked at Ms. Riza for a second and decided to draw her. He began his drawing carefully, trying to capture her pretty face and blonde hair the best he could. Riza, although barraged with paperwork, caught little Roy staring at her and then at his paper. She waited until he was again looking at her and smiled. Roy smiled back and continued his work.

Jean decided to make a drawing of a flower for Ms. Riza. One hand possessed a crayon, the other was shoved in his mouth, thumb hidden from view. As best as his five year old fingers could, he drew a picture of a tulip. Breda looked up from his paperwork, rubbing his eyes. He took a glance at the boys who were quietly drawing. He was tickled by the pictures: A huge lollipop, a knife, there was even one of Alphonse. Breda smiled at the well behaved young men. Until he saw the one Maes worked on. Apparently Maes abandoned the design on the gloves and gave them back to Roy. He, like Roy, began working on portraits. His newest work had a pudgy man in a blue uniform and red hair. The soldier's build was so much like Breda's. But there was a huge wart sticking out of his nose. The eyes were those of a snake bulging wildly from the face. Roy looked over from his picture of Ms. Riza and saw Maes's artwork. Roy took the paper and added two huge fangs jutting from the large mouth adorned with a forked tongue. He drew two curved horns protruded from his forehead. Fire was spitting out of his mouth.

By now, Havoc also was in on the fun. He added a pitchfork in one hand and a cigar in the other. The community drawing was passed back and forth. Maes started laughing as he slid the picture back to Jean and Roy who began giggling too, trying to contain their laughter. They had not realized Breda had silently approached them.

"Whatchu got there, Maes?" Breda asked. Maes' spectacled eyes grew large with panic as he slid the incriminating work of art under one he had drawn of Alphonse.

"It's a drawing of…the robot…"Maes said quickly pointing at Al.

"C'mere…Lemme' see…"Breda instructed, crouching down. Maes approached him with a picture of Alphonse. As Breda scanned the floor by Roy, that insulting drawing, he was sure an effigy of himself, was no where to be found.

"Where is it, Maes? Hand it over!" Breda was starting to lose some patience, as he began lifting up the paper on the ground between the boys.

"Which picture are you talking about?" Maes asked.

"You know which one….Now hand it over!" Maes just stood there scratching his chin and then both hands went up to scratch the back of his head. Breda saw out of the corner of his eye, Roy watching him with quick nonchalant glances, still working on his picture of Ms. Riza. Those quick glances long enough to gather information he needed to assess the situation were so much like the Colonel. Fury rolled from his stomach to his back, exposing a part of the incriminating drawing that was hidden under a sheet he slept upon. Breda quickly walked over and picked it up before Roy or Jean noticed.

"This is what I'm talking about, boys! Who drew this?" Breda scathingly asked. Ed was chuckling at the picture that was unmistakably Breda, as Al tried hard to keep his brother from laughing.

"Lieutenant, you never looked so good!" Ed called out. Breda shot him a killing look.

"Big Brother!" Al hissed, trying to hush Ed.

None of the boys would lay claim to it. Roy looked at Maes and finally stood up, "I drew it…It was me…" Roy stated. Maes' face fell at this admission. Jean looked at his other thumb and put it in his mouth slowly witnessing the drama.

"You drew this?" Breda asked, not believing his ears. "But this doesn't look like your work…I can tell that much." The group was quiet. Maes broke the silence,

"I was the one who did it….I drew it," Maes said looking down morosely.

"We all did it," Little Jean said, pulling out his thumb to say his piece and nodding, only to have it find its way back to his mouth.

"So ALL of you drew this picture?" Breda asked. They all nodded slowly.

"We'll make a nicer one of you?" Maes interjected with a disarming smile, as if to soften the blow of punishment they knew they were to receive from the scary Breda.

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Alphonse picked up the drawings, and placed them on the coffee table on the way out. He and Ed had decided that it would be better if they conducted more apple experiments to determine the duration of the boys' condition, or even come up with a transmutation to reverse the regression. Knowing that they would never get any work done while in the presence of the boys, they had also chosen to leave, in order to have some peace and quiet.

Breda had made some decisions of his own: to disband the six-year-olds and separated them. The boys had a time out and stood spread out in one wall of the room where Breda could easily keep his eye on all of them. The children were standing up against the wall like a criminal line up. One thing an active boy cannot tolerate is to stay still without anything to do, a fact Breda knew from first hand experience. Every time he heard a sigh, Breda's eyes shot up in the direction of the boys, just to be sure they weren't conspiring again. Roy raised his hand. Breda had to do a double take.

"Mr. Mustang, why are you raising your hand?" Breda asked incredulously.

"How long do we have to stand here again?" Roy asked, ignoring Breda's inquiry.

"Fifteen minutes. Put your hand down." Roy complied. This time, Maes raised his hand waving it around so Breda couldn't miss it, no matter how hard he tried to ignore it. "Mr. Hughes, put your hand down."

"How long is fifteen minutes?" Maes asked, following Roy's lead. Breda stopped and sighed. They're supposed to stand there quietly. Breda thought, choosing not to answer the boy's question. He tried ignoring Maes' hand that was this time waving so wildly he seemed to lose his balance and stepped on Roy's toe.

"Ouch!" Roy cried out, loudly, "Gosh, Maes you're so clumsy!"

"Sorry. It was an accident!" Maes said still holding up his arm with support from his other hand and the top of his head, Maes was even tip-toeing.

"You don't have to tip-toe, fat guy can see you just fine!" Roy told still rubbing his foot.

"No he can't…That's why he hasn't called me!" Maes argued still waving his hand from side to side.

"He hasn't called you 'cause he doesn't wanna talk to you," Roy debated.

"Yes he does…He's just busy…"

"What are you a ballerina? Quit tip toeing, you're gonna step on my toe again!"

"No I'm not!"

"BOYS!" Breda finally called out.

"How long is fifteen minutes?" Maes repeated once he looked their way.

Breda rolled his eyes, rubbing his face as if to wipe away the urge to strangle.

"The long hand will be on the three," Jean called out suddenly.

"You can tell time?" Roy asked in amazement.

"No….." Jean said.

"I'll let you know when your time is up…Now stop talking or you're standing there for fifteen minutes longer!" Breda warned.

Two more minutes passed. Whistling commenced from the line up. Breda looked up from his work. But as soon as he did so, the whistling stopped. He looked down at his papers again. Like clockwork, the whistling started up. Breda's eyes raised and the whistling stopped. He looked at each of them. He definitely ruled out Jean who perpetually had a thumb in his mouth. He knew it was either Roy or Maes. Breda looked at his papers, but immediately shot his eyes upward, he caught both Roy and Maes with puckered lips ready to whistle a tune. He kept a steady eye on them. Roy started to whistle. Now he was sure which one was the perpetrator.

"Mr. Mustang, you now have fifteen MORE minutes tacked on," Breda announced.

"What? I wasn't talking. You said if I talked I'd get fifteen more minutes. I wasn't talking….I was whistling."

"Then quit your whistling and your whining or you'll be standing there ALL day and all night." Roy huffed a heavy sigh. They stood quietly. Someone started to whistle again. Roy and Maes looked at each other then looked at Breda. Jean shrugged his shoulders. The whistle was coming from little Cain Fury who looked wide eyed and bushy tailed. He started laughing at the astonished faces that surrounded him.

"Uh-oh!" Roy said sensing something wrong. Cain Fury giggled and started whistling again. Then stopped. Stared. Blinked his eyes. Giggled, as if he couldn't believe the noise that came from his little lips.

"I can whistle…Look…" he demonstrated his newly acquired skill. He soon dissolved into quiet giggles. Breda shot Fury a look of warning. Cain stopped, naturally, but not without another twittering whistle. Finally Fury stopped when Roy glared at him.

A few more minutes passed. Cain suddenly had this urge to cough. As if it were contagious, Maes coughed as well but in a deeper cough, as if he was trying to disguise it as an old man's. Jean followed too, only he made his cough sound like a baby's. Roy coughed, making his sound very dainty and lady like. The boys began to laugh.

"Look, boys, you—" Breda was interrupted by a knock on the door. Riza and Breda both looked at the panel of wood and then back at each other. As if some silent agreement had taken place, Riza stood and walked to the closed entrance even as a knock—a little more subdued this time—sounded once again. Carefully opening the door, Riza stuck her head out of the room to find a nervous looking Shezcka—not that she didn't look it normally—standing outside the door.

"Um, do you know where Lieutenant Colonel Hughes is?" She asked, pushing her glasses up her nose. "He said he would visit Colonel Mustang for lunch, but he hasn't come back. Is there a problem?"

Riza was silent, staring at the woman while the wheels turned in her head. Suddenly, Riza hit upon an idea. "You know, I believe we need your assistance in here."

Schezcka's expression—if possible—got even more apprehensive. "W-why?"

"You'll see." Was Riza's cryptic reply. Before the librarian knew it, Riza's hand was around her wrist and pulling her into the room.

Schezcka's spectacled eyes grew round and wide with shock as she stared at the line up of little soldiers standing against a wall before her. Lt. Colonel Maes Hughes scratched his neck. Colonel Roy Mustang stood with his hands in his pockets, suspiciously eyeing the new visitor. Master Sergeant Cain Fury was holding his left wrist in front of him resting his elbows on his hips, looking up at the ceiling as though transfixed. 2nd Lieutenant Jean Havoc had his thumb in his mouth watching Schezcka take them in.

"We need a little help in taking care of them. Do you think I can count on your services for that?" Riza asked.

"Lt. Colonel HUGHES?" was all his assistant could say in her shocked and astonished state.

"I'll take that as a yes. If you would just try to keep the boys entertained," Riza instructed. "Breda and I have a major project of sorting these reports out and I don't think we'll get done with more reports flowing back on my desk. So if you wouldn't mind…."

Schezcka nodded obediently, but with a tinge of reluctance.

Breda's rusty-haired head rose up from the piles of papers and staplers and said, somewhat sinisterly, "They all have about five more minutes...Then they're ALL yours!"

Schezcka gulped nervously as she humbly trudged to the front of the line up looking at her wristwatch. The four boys watched her intently, waiting on any movement from her lips for a sign. Finally, the moment came.

"O—kay," was all she had to say and the boys were in motion once again. Roy put on a pair of white gloves in his pockets and wanted to show the others.

"Look what I got!" Roy boasted, fingers twirling wildly in the faces of his friends. None of them had the same cloth accessories that Roy did. They looked in awe at Roy who continued to twist his fingers in many mysterious ways. "Hey! Let's play circus!" Roy announced, "I'll be the ringmaster!"

"I'll be the famous knife thrower guy!" Maes excitedly commented.

"I'm the whistling clown!" Fury announced with unbound enthusiasm and a whistle.

"I'll be the audience," Jean stated, sitting down and contentedly sucked his thumb.

Schezcka quickly fluttered over, having been unable to hear the previous conversation. "Well, what are you guys doing again?"

Jean took his thumb out. "Circus." He replied, replacing the digit in his mouth afterwards.

"Do you wanna play, lady?" Roy asked, squinting up at Schezcka.

"Yeah, she can be my faithful assistant!" Maes chortled with an epiphany, "What was your name?"

"Oh-my name is…Schezcka," she replied. There was a long pause as Maes looked down at the floor for a second, as if something down there would make her name any clearer.

"Huh?" he said perplexed, not believing what he heard.

"Schezcka," she repeated. Maes bit his lip in wonderment.

"What kinda name is that?" Roy asked bewildered by its difficult pronunciation for his six-year-old mouth. Schezcka looked down woefully,

"One my parents liked…I guess," she sighed. "Lady is fine," she conceded.

"Okay Lady, I'm the ringmaster so you have to stand over here so Maes the famous knife thrower guy can do his thing!" Roy instructed, taking her by the hand and leading her to the main door of the office.

"Now this is all pretend, right, guys?" Schezcka wanted to clarify.

"Oh of course, Lady...Maes wouldn't be using real knives," Roy said and went towards the middle of the room. "Ladies and gentleman! May I have your attention please! Welcome to the Mustang Hughes Fury and Havoc Circus…Announcing the very famous knife thrower guy Maes Hughes and his lovely assistant, Lady!"

Havoc and Fury played their part as the audience as they clapped, hooted and hollered gleefully with Fury happily whistling. Havoc was sacrificing his thumb by continuous clapping. Maes jumped out beaming with his hands in the air over his head as though he was just proclaimed champion of the world. Several fountain pens had filled his pockets.

"Wait! He won't be….." Schezcka began but was interrupted.

"Shh! Please…I must have complete silence!" Maes emphasized. Schezcka immediately felt she had no choice but to comply. Yet a burning question began to grate at her. Schezcka raised her right hand over her head to emphasize a point she wanted to make earlier and the moment she did, the sleeve at her wrist was handily greeted and held in place in the door by a well thrown pen. The audience of two and the ringmaster all gasped. She began a squeal of paranoia as she caught sight of a little Maes holding another pen in hand ready to throw. She began a whimper that gradually got louder. Maes threw and the pen nearly struck her in the eye and stuck with a thung! in the hair by the side of her face. She stared at it worrisomely.

"Please! I MUST have complete silence!" Maes said once again. And again Schezcka held her breath. This time the next thrown pen pierced her other sleeve and held it to the door as steadfast as a nail. Maes once again intensely concentrated. His hazel eyes narrowed as he carefully focused and was poised to throw another fountain pen when the door flew open. A loud scream of panic sounded from Schezcka's side of the door as the wall neared her face.

A tall beefy man stood sparkling, framed poorly by the doorway. His voice boomed out at the awestruck, gaping six-year-olds. "And just who might you be?" His voice boomed out at the awestruck, gaping six-year-olds.

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IMBSA: Hmm, I wonder who that could be. :pause: The sarcasm drips. Anyway, hope you liked the chapter! R&R!

Everto Angelus: Well, they all have their faults…but I'll have to make a wild pitch to left field and say that I'd rather have Havoc and Fury. They'd be easy to handle and sooooooooo cute! Not as cute as, say, Roy-sama, but, you know.

RW Grimm: Yay! I'll mark the days on my calendar! So they come out every month or so? I'm so happy, I've been dying without the manga.

SoulOmenspride: Neh! Chibi Havoc::huggles him. he just looks bored and continues to suck his thumb: Believe me, the damage will be much more than the girls managed to wreak.

The Feral Alchemist: NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO::notices that she still has plushie: Oh. Ok. :huggles plushie. looks up at TFA: You know, we can't have story if we don't have Maes, so you either give him over or we don't have a story.

DarkHeartKeyblade: Glad you enjoy it. Little Roy is, isn't he::huggles chibi Roy:

Presea Combatir: They would be the death of all babysitters in the world. I love Little Roy too.

The Celestial Tiger: Well, they're boys, and you know how boys are. I seem to always get compliments on my disclaimers. I get almost all of them from mutedfaith(dot)com it's a very good site and you should see it. Oh, and I meant to say this earlier: I don't know if I reviewed, but I am absolutely in love with your fic "In Your Heart of Hearts"! It's very good! I love the Rin/Fluffy-sama and the Miroku/Sango parts (considering that they're my favorite pairings in Inu-Yasha)! Neh! It's awesome!

Alias Adrianna: :turns green. runs to back of frame and begins (rather noisily) to throw up. after a few moments, comes back, wiping at mouth: I guess I'm paying for chugging it, eh? Thank you for informing me of that (I believe someone else also did the same) problem. I'm trying to fix it, but it's not working for me yet. It says in the live preview that it's there, but when I look up the story from the search engine, it cuts off.

alisalana: :quietly begins choking: Allright….Air…becoming…ISSUE!

Pichu172B: :grabs out at Pichu and grabs ankle: NO! MY CHIBIS! Be my guest and draw away! I want to see the pictures!

Winry the Alchemist: Oh, I know he's so cute! I wuv him! So much kawaii-ness! I shall not deprive you!

C.A.M.E.O.1 and Only: As I told crazyanimefreak15, you can already pretty much guess how Ed acts as a child, since he's barely out of his youth.

Tsunade-chan: :rolls away from Tsunade-chan, accidentally yet momentarily flattens Chibi Maes: Well, actually, Roy was a little more organized, making sure everyone had a turn watching them and all, and Riza may be able handle them by herself, but she just can't be bothered.

The Stone Wolf Alchemist: Roy just gives that vibe in the show anyway. Maes, I think, is a little too young to know about them.

kristanite: Thank you for warning me about that. I'm trying to correct it.

Maylin-chan: I love Roy and Maes, but they'd be just too tough to baby sit.

aNiMe-AzN-aNgEl: It's a little more difficult this time around, isn't it? Maes and Roy are just at that competitive stage. They're friends through thick and thin, but they spend a lot of time bickering all friendly-like. We're trying to have a little more Royai in this one since it seems the other one did not seem to satisfy you guys in that respect.

Reese Cup: They are harder to take care of since girls seem to actually listen to your commands. But boys are a little more willful.

The Crimson Comet: Sorry, Crimson. We don't have any plans to include a scene with them in it. But I'll see what I can do.

To crazyanimefreak15, Apparition7, Safferon, candidus-lupus-full Moon, Camille, My Dream's Shadow, ooOAnimeChildOoo, MetalWing Alchemist, butterfly-grl4, and Black Comet: Thanks for the reviews!