Chapter Text
When Trisha Elric woke up that morning to her darling daughter Eden and her son Alphonse, she wasn’t expecting this.
“I’m the older brother!” Eden yelled, in the middle of trying to wrestle a book out of Alphonse’s hands. She was losing, but definitely trying.
“What do you mean Eden?” Trisha asked “You're a girl aren’t you?”
“Yeah, but Alphonse is my brother, so I’m his brother!” Eden then continued to try (and fail) To get the book out of her brother's hands.
“Yes, well,” Trisha paused, trying to figure out how to explain this. Eden was smart, no doubt about that, But in terms of societal things, it’s like she couldn’t even bother. “I’ll explain later, ok?” Trisha turned to her husband looking for answers but he just smiled.
After her husband left Trisha with a freshly turned 6 year old Eden and 4 year old Alphonse, she didn’t know what to do. She especially didn’t know what to do when Eden started using male pronouns with contempt. Or what to do when Alphonse copied this. When she asked, Eden responded, “He left. Not everyone will be like that but anyone like Him will.”
“Well,” Trisha started, “ What about jimmy? He’s nice and he’s a boy?”
“They’re not like him.” Was all Eden responded. For some reason, Trisha knew that anyone referred to with more masculine pronouns didn’t escape the ire of her daughter or her son.
****
Alphonse didn’t quite know why dad left, but they did know that anyone labeled with a he or a him was bad. One of the worst. Their father was a he so it had to mean something bad. When they asked their older brother Ed, she said “I don’t know how else to explain it, Al. At the top we have strong people like Mom or Granny, they all respond to a she or her. Then for strangers, we have a they or them. At the bottom we have people like Him, And he is a he. It’s a respect thing. If you like someone , you call them she.”
Then, when Alphonse had questions about titles, thankfully, Ed had answers “We’re brothers. That means we’re family and we love each other. Two she/her’s will often refer to each other as sisters. Then-” and Ed made big circles with her hands as she always did when she got excited, “ The parents of a family, The mom is the more dominant one, and the dad is the submissive one.” “Like winry’s parents?” Alphonse asked. Ed nodded, “Exactly like Winry's parents. Her mom is in charge right? And her Dad is more submissive because she knows the mom is incharge. It’s like husband and wife. The wife is the strong one.”
Alphonse told mom this of course, to make sure, But mom just stood still then laughed. She put down the laundry basket and leaned over putting her hands on the laundry line pole, and struggled to catch her breath after laughing so hard. After taking a breather, mom looked at them with mirth in her eyes. “Who told you that?” She said with a smile. “Ed did.” they answered. Mom wiped a tear from the corner of her eye. “I really need to get you two books about things other than science.”
****
Winry was confused. When Ed and Al showed up claiming to have made a breakthrough she expected an alchemy breakthrough. Not for them to tell her about this system they’ve figured out. She was even more confused when, based on their logic , she agreed with them. It made sense, every person she's met that was referred to as a she was pretty respectable, granted the list wasn’t long, Winry was like, 7. So she quite likes this system anyhow. Plus, now she had a new insult.
Winry was shopping with the brothers down at the farmers market when a person bumped into Ed. The person stopped and knelt down trying to help Ed get up, saying, “Sorry, there young lad I didn’t see you.” Her and the brothers froze at such a blatant insult, but like most things Ed adapted quickest. “ ‘s alright,” she said.
Winry was confused on how Ed could take such an insult so easily. I mean insulting someone you just met and bumped into was… gutsy to say the least. Al Walked forward, helped Ed, effectively stopping this person from touching her, and simply smiled and said, “It’s ok sir, have a nice day.” Al then grabbed the slack jawed Ed and Winry and dragged them away. Once they had reached a distance ( and Ed and Winry recuperated), They had some questions. “WHAT THE HELL AL, WE DIDN’T EVEN KNOW THEM!” Ed screamed. Winry swiftly followed up with, “I really can’t understand why people think Al is the polite one out of you two. It’s clearly Ed!” Al smiled and said, “I didn’t like him.” This, of course, started another uproar, and a problem that Ed would try and fail to get out of her brother.
****
Mom was getting sick. Eden knew, just like they knew that people with longer hair were to be respected because they could take care of it. They knew because they had eyes. Eden knew they had limited time with their mother. Eden wasn’t sure what they could do. They had his books, but he walked out on them almost two years ago. But, Eden would do anything for their mom. Even when at the funeral, hugging Al close, and not seeing him, they knew what they had to do.
Eden was going to find a teacher.