Title: Somebody To Count On

Summary: AU Sometimes family friend Roy babysits for Trisha, and this day he notices Alphonse seems a little down. Apparently, kids can be cruel. Parental!RoyAl.

Disclaimer: I do not own FMA.

IIIII

People who treat other people as less than human must not be surprised when the bread they have cast on the waters comes back to them, poisoned - James Baldwin

IIIII

Ten year old Alphonse wasn't in the best of moods. When he arrived at Roy Mustang's house, instead of giving the man a hug like he usually did, he managed a feeble smile and followed his elder brother into the home.

It was a nice two story abode with cream colored walls and mostly black furniture. The boys had their own room, for when they would stay nights. Their bedroom was upstairs and while Edward went to go play a first-person shooter on the Xbox ("Nothing M rated, Ed! Your mother would kill me!"), Alphonse had gone straight to the room. He threw his backpack down beside the door and laid down in his bed, staring up at the ceiling.

He let out a long-winded sigh. Why couldn't things go his way, just once? Why did people have to be so cruel? They teased him to the point where he was ready to cry, which would be all the more embarrassing. Of course he never cried; atleast, not in front of them. They would only make fun of him some more. If he could, he would never go back to school again. Except he had to, his mom made him.

Al had stopped complaining of the abuse a long time ago. As far as his brother and mom knew, it stopped. He figured they didn't need to be drawn into his misery. Edward would only try to intervene, which would make it worse. The bullies said if he tattled they would take it up a notch and start picking on his older brother. It was enough to scare Alphonse into silence. They did hit him sometimes, throwing him against walls or kicking him into submission, but he successfully covered up the bruises. He knew that if his brother knew he would go into overprotective mode and take the bullies head on. Luckily (or maybe unluckily) Ed was a grade ahead of him so he didn't have the same recess time as him.

Al decided to examine that day's damage. He lifted up his pant legs and checked his legs for blemishes. He had a fair sized green/purple bruises on his left shin and on the back of his right calf he had a couple more.

It was almost as if he had a flashing neon 'KICK ME' sign pasted to his forehead. Was he really so vulnerable that every bully decided he was a good target?

He stupidly poked at his bruises and found that they still stung. It would take atleast a few days to fade, so no shorts. It was a bummer that he couldn't wear shorts; it was getting very hot out.

"Alphonse? Are you alright, kid?"

Al was too startled by Roy's entrance to pull down his pant legs. This meant Roy saw the bruises, making him crinkle his eyebrows in concern.

"Where the hell did you get that?" Roy asked, his tone severe. He marched to Al's side and started to examine the boy's legs, lifting up his right one and seeing even more bruises. He got a very angered expression and inquired, "Did Edward do this? Because if he did--"

"No, no! It wasn't brother. Um, don't pay it any mind, Roy. It's--it's nothing."

"It isn't 'nothing'. I see bruises. That means someone kicked you hard enough to really hurt you," said Roy. There was an angry undertone to his voice, but he looked deadly calm. "Do you have bruises anywhere else?"

"No," said Al nervously. "Like I said, it's nothing. Just some little bruises."

"This--" He motioned to the one on his shin "--is not little."

"Okay. Wrong choice of words . . . "

With a gentler tone, but no less urgent, he said, "You should tell me who did this to you, Al, so I can help you. If you protect that person you're only letting them get the best of you."

"I--um--well, Roy, please, I don't want to talk about it."

"Is it an adult?" When Al shook his head, Roy let out a sigh of relief. "Well that's good. Now that that's out of the way, I understand it must be another kid. I know you've had some problems with the kids at school. Which one of them is it? We can face them and--"

"No!" The idea of facing his enemies frightened Alphonse out of his wits. He didn't want things to become any worse, especially if it meant that his brother was going to get hurt. He would be able to bear it if the bullies went after his brother just because he couldn't handle a few measely bruises. "I mean, I don't want to do that."

"What's gotten you so scared, Al? I know you aren't confrontational but you usually stick up for yourself."

"I . . . " He had no response for this. He really had no response to anything Roy was saying. He hadn't planned on being found out, and in the slim chance he was found out he always thought he could beg the person to not tell. But Roy seemed dead set on making trouble for him.

It's only because he cares about you, said an inner voice of Al's. You shouldn't be worrying him like this. You're only causing more trouble.

"I can handle it," said Al, finally summoning his courage to push forward. "I've handled it up until now. I can take it."

Roy ran a hand through his hair and let out a frustrated grunt. "Al, there's no reason for you to have to 'take it'. This is clearly abuse, and I'm not going stand by and let them abuse you. Kids can be so damn cruel."

"I . . . I don't want to face them," said Al bashfully. "They . . . they said they would hurt brother like they've hurt me."

"So I see. They used your one weakness, your brother," sighed Roy. "But hurt Edward?" He laughed out loud. "You realize your brother has been taking karate lessons, right? No one could beat him up. He's quite the little martial artists, I've heard."

"But there's five of them and only one of him. Besides, you can't fight at school, he'd get into trouble!" said Al.

"You worry for him too much. Your brother can definitely hold his own," Roy assured him. "But who I'm worried about is you. You're too nice, Al. You need to toughen up. Why don't you start taking karate lessons? That way you can protect yourself when they come after you."

"They don't just hit me," admitted Al. "They call me all sorts of names, too. Stupid, idiot, nerd, and ugly . . . "

Roy put a comforting hand on Al's head and ruffled his hair slightly. "Al, you're the cutest kid I've ever seen. Don't tell your brother I said that though, he may get jealous. And as for the stupid and idiot thing, you're very smart and you know it. And the nerd thing? Own it. You read, but so what? It only proves your massive intelligence. They're the stupid ones, Al, for not realizing what a great person you are."

"Then how come I don't have any friends? They say I'm a loser for just having brother . . . "

"You're very shy, is all. You'll eventually find someone who will be your friend, you just have to keep at it. Don't let them get you down, kid, because we all know how remarkable a kid you are. You're kind, gentle, caring, funny, and fun to be around," said Roy, using his fingers to count off his good qualities. "What I wouldn't give to see you beat their asses. Have you told Edward about this?"

"No."

"Your mother?"

"No."

"So you've suffered alone. Oh Al, when will you learn that we're here to help you? Geez," sighed Roy. "Although I can understand you're scared for your brother. That was a low blow, threatening him like that."

Al said, "I don't want brother involved. I know he can hold his own, but they're really tough. And he's even smaller than I am . . ."

"I promise not to tell him you said that," chuckled Roy with a smile.

"Do you really think I should take karate?" asked Al sheepishly. "I don't know if I'd be any good at it."

"You'd do fine. If Ed can do it, so can you." Roy sat on the bed next to his young friend, and put an arm around his shoulders. "You can do anything you put your mind to."

"But those guys--"

"Who gives a crap what they think? They're bullies, Al. They're just trying to make you feel as bad as they feel about themselves. They're so insecure about themsleves that they have to pick on someone else to make themselves feel better. They're pathetic. If they were any older, I'd kick their butt myself, but I can't lay a hand on minors so . . . "

"You're not going to tell them, are you?" asked Al, a terrified tone in voice. "Please, Roy, I can take care of it. I don't want Mom or brother worrying about me."

"They always worry about you. You're Trisha's son and your brother's brother. It's only natural to worry about those you care about," said Roy. "Believe me, you're giving them a gift by confiding in them. They love you, kid. So do I. We don't want to see you hurt by anyone and we'd do anything to protect you. You realize that, don't you?"

Al blushed lightly. He leaned in slightly to Roy's half-embrace and smiled. "Thanks, Roy. I feel better now."

"That's good," acknowledged Roy. After a moment's pause, he added, "So what are we going to do about those bullies?"

"Ummm . . . I don't know. I don't want to deal with it."

"Not dealing with it only makes things worse. Don't you want people to see you're not a pushover?" inquired Roy.

"I don't want to be a pushover. It's just hard to fight back against five guys."

"Tell you what, you stick up for yourself tomorrow and tell me how it goes, okay? And we'll get you signed up for karate lessons. You'll be a butt-kicking machine in no time."

Al nodded. "Okay."

IIIII

Alphonse, during recess, tried his best to avoid his bullies. He hid by the back of the school where almost no one was. Unfortunately, they knew all of his hiding spots, and found him not even five minutes into recess.

"What's up, Elric? You gonna fight back today, or be a pansy like always?" asked Douglas, the leader of their little group.

Gathering up all of his bravado, he said, "You're not gonna scare me today. A-And I'm not going to let you beat me up, either."

All of them laughed. Then Kyle, a stocky kid, pushed Al against the wall. "Whatchya' gonna do about it, you moron?"

"I'm not a moron!" snapped back Al. He remembered what Roy said about him yesterday and it gave him strength. "I'm better than you, I know that."

"Oooohhh. Lookie here, he's got some fight in him," laughed Kyle. He got in Al's face and whispered, "You want your brother to get hit too?"

"He could whoop you," retorted Al.

This was the wrong thing to say. Kyle grabbed him by his hair and threw him to the ground. "Idiot! We're tougher than that little shrimp! There's no way he could beat us."

Douglas nodded. "You're so pathetic, Al. If your brother found out he would be ashamed to call you his little brother."

"Y-You're lying," said Al. "Brother loves me and nothing could change that."

Douglas kicked him in his gut and laughed. "Brotherly love. Nothing as stupid as that."

Al held his gut and coughed. He started to get up but Douglas pushed him back down. Every time he tried to get up, the same thing would happen. Getting frustrated, Al kicked out at Douglas, hitting him in his shin, making him double over in pain. It was a very satisfying thing to know he finally got a good kick in.

"You little--" Kyle picked him up by the front of his shirt and pulled a hand back, ready to strike him, but something stopped him.

A hand was holding his fist back.

It was Roy. Who had a look of utmost anger on his face, scaring Kyle into dropping Al immediately.

"W-Who are you? You can't come on the playground!" squeaked Kyle. The rest of the boys huddled together, not knowing who this formidable stranger was.

"I can do whatever I want," said Roy. "I came to check on my little buddy Al, is all. I'm fresh out of prison and was wondering what was going on with him. And, to my surprise, I find him being beat up on by a bunch of brats. Which doesn't make me very happy, and you wouldn't like me when I'm mad."

"P-p-prison?" asked Douglas, his voice a couple octaves higher. With the dangerous look on Roy's face none of them doubted he had been in prison (which his what Roy had been counting on. He silently congradulated himself for thinking up that on the fly). "What were you in for?"

Examining his fingernails nonchalantly, he said smoothly, "I can't contain my anger sometimes. If someone crosses me, or someone I care about, well, let's just say I'm ready to castrate someone."

Al held back his laughter. Roy had these kids in the palm of his hand. How did he do it, acting so intimidating? When he did he become an expert at this menacing thing? It was something he would have to learn so he wouldn't get picked on so much.

"I suggest that you leave him alone," said Roy finally letting go of his fist. "It would be in your best interest. Unless, you know, you want to limp your way home."

"Um, yeah, let's get out of here guys," said Kyle. He looked at Roy and said, "We--we'll leave him alone. So leave us alone, k?"

"I'll be checking in on him. If he says you're bothering him then I'll have no choice but to do something about it," said Roy. With a completely innocent tone, he said, "Did you know that bones aren't that hard to snap?"

This one sentence sent them running. Alphonse finally started laughing, partly out of relief and partly out of humor, when they were out of range. Roy helped him off of the ground with a smile.

"How good was I? Tell me the truth," said Roy.

"Pretty convincing. I think one of them peed their pants," responded Al, getting all of the dirt off of his shirt and pants. "So, um, why are you here?"

"To make sure you were standing up for yourself, of course," said Roy. "You did a pretty good job but they were overwhelming you so I decided to step in."

"Thanks, Roy, I . . . I was getting really frustrated at the end there. But now I'm determined to protect myself better," said Al with resolve.

"We'll get you signed up for that today after school," said Roy, ruffling the young boy's hair. "Now I'll let you get back to your recess. I'm not supposed to be over here, anyway, since technically I'm not family. Just promise me one thing."

"What?"

"That you'll tell me if they bug you again. I have no problem scaring them."

Al considered lying, saying he would go to him if they did but not actually meaning it, but he had the perfect reply.

"I don't think I'll need you to do that again because if they bug me, next time I'll be the one scaring them," said Al courageously.

Roy smirked. "Good answer."

IIIII

Just a fluffy one-shot. It's deticated to my very best friend, KateKate, because she's been wanting a Parental!RoyAl fic since forever.

I'm also planning on writing more AU fics like this, so watch out for them!

REVIEWS, please? It'll only take a second of your time! They keep me writing. Let me know if you want more AU Parental!Roy's or not.