Categories > Anime/Manga > Full Metal Alchemist > Jean Havoc: A Work In Progress
Spoilers for Ch. 38 of Manga: The aftermath of chapter 38 told from Jean Havoc's point of view. What is life like afterwards and how does he come to terms? Please leave a review! They're like ca...
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Chapter 5: Cooperation
Gracia and I got back to the house, I got into the house without incident and Gracia let me know that she had to go out and get groceries and do a few more errands.
"Jean, would you mind staying here and waiting for Elysia to get dropped off from her play date? You'd be alone for a few hours tops," Gracia smiled as she said this.
I think she could tell I was dying for some alone time to sort through the morning's happenings.
"That would be fine, I'm a big boy, and Elysia won't be any trouble. We're good like that. Besides, if anything does happen, like you said, there are those guards outside. Don't worry," I said. "Oh, and hey...what's for dinner? I'm famished."
Gracia just rolled her eyes at me, left and I settled onto the couch to write until Elysia got home. I had been writing for about an hour when there was a knock on the door.
"Wonder who that could be? I'll be there in a minute, hold on!" I shouted and rushed to get off the couch, into the chair and to the door.
Shit... can't see who it is through the peephole... it's too tall.
"Who is it?" I asked, a little nervous.
Jean Havoc, former big strong man, was at the door like a little old lady with the ten locks on the door and twenty cats.
"Delivery for Jean Havoc from High Street Men's," said the voice on the other side of the door.
"OH! Right," I thought out loud and opened the door.
I needn't have worried; it was only my clothes being delivered.
The delivery boy came in, gawked a bit and just stood there. I realized that I should probably tell him where to put it all, and then tip him. When had I forgotten the basic social graces?
"It'll be fine if you just put them down right in the living room. Thanks for the delivery," I said, and then reached for my wallet in my back pocket, remembered I'd put it in the bag, retrieved it and pulled out a few cens notes for his tip. "Here, for your trouble."
The boy hesitated a bit when I offered him money, but took it and thanked me nervously. I decided not to read too much into his hesitation at the tip. It could have been any number of things, it was probably me, but I was already driving myself nuts over-thinking things, why add paranoia about tipping delivery boys to the mix?
*
I began putting away my purchases. A few trips into the bedroom later, it was done. Things sure took a lot longer now, but even with the effort I noticed I wasn't as tired as I had been, and Gracia had been right about the clothes. I should have had her dressing me before all of this. I would have had a real chance against Mustang.
Just as I finished Elysia came home with art projects and the announcement that she was going to die from hunger if she did not get a snack.
"Jean, look at what I made at school today!" she said as she thrust a concoction of glitter, feathers and construction paper into my lap.
"Wow, it's gorgeous, what is it?" I asked, wondering just exactly what this multi-media extravaganza was. By now I was covered in glitter.
"You silly Jean, it's a parrot! See the feathers?" Elysia said, like it was the easiest thing in the world to guess what this thing was. "See the beak?" she said and pointed to a small triangle of orange construction paper.
"Oh, now I see it. We should hang this on the icebox so Mommy can see it when she gets home, and you did say you were starving, me too. Want a snack?" I said.
"YES!" Elysia squealed.
"Well, what should we have? Your Mom left apples and cookies, and I think there is some cheese in the fridge," I said, amused that I was playing at house.
"We should have peanut butter and jelly sandwiches Jean," Elysia said, as if this was the most obvious answer in the world.
"I agree Princess Elysia, those would taste really good. Want to help me make them?" I asked.
Of course she wanted to help me make them. Elysia loved helping in the kitchen doing big girl things. So we got to work.
"Ok we need bread, jelly, peanut butter, oh plates, and a knife. Do you want milk to drink?" I asked, thinking if there was anything out of my reach.
I busied myself getting the ingredients for our snack. I went over to the icebox, opened it, got out the bottle of milk and decided we should pour it at the table so I didn't make a mess. Putting the bottle between my knees I rolled over to the table, and set it there. One task accomplished.
Next I realized that Gracia would probably frown upon us drinking the milk straight from the bottle. I never minded at the bachelor pad, but Gracia was civilized, so I went to the cupboard for two glasses. It was a stretch, but I made it and soon our glasses were on the table as well.
Elysia watched and waited patiently from her seat at the kitchen table.
Next was the bread. Check, that was easy. It was on the counter. Jelly; also easy that was in the icebox. The knife for spreading our peanut butter and jelly was also easy enough. I was pretty good at this cooking thing.
"Ok Elysia, where is the peanut butter?" I asked.
She pointed to a cupboard that was just out of my reach. This was no good. I wracked my brain thinking of ways we could get to that peanut butter. We had come too far to have plain jelly sandwiches. I had an idea.
"Elysia, you're going to help me get the peanut butter, ok? Because neither of us can reach it by ourselves," I said, trying to sound cheerful.
Elysia nodded eagerly, ready to help.
I was kind of put out but put on a brave face for the Princess. I couldn't even reach peanut butter for fuck's sake.
"What you're going to do is stand on my lap, and I'm going to hold you around the waist so you don't fall and then you are going to be able to reach that peanut butter."
It went off without a hitch. Mission accomplished. The peanut butter had been retrieved. But we had no plates, and they were in a higher cupboard too. I decided that we were not going to tempt fate and so we would have to improvise.
When Gracia got home she found Elysia sitting on my lap, eating what was quite possibly the messiest peanut butter and jelly sandwich ever off of the cutting board I had commandeered from the counter and used as our communal plate. I had a similarly sloppy sandwich and it was one of the best things I'd ever tasted.
Gracia stood in the kitchen entryway for a bit just smiling.
"What is it Gracia? Something wrong?" I said as I looked up at her.
"No, Jean, absolutely nothing wrong. You just have a little something..." and she fell into a fit of giggles and gestured at her nose.
I put my hand to my nose and discovered I had a big glob of peanut butter there. I wiped it off and licked my finger to clean up and grinned from ear to ear.
*
After our snack adventure I was a little tired so I excused myself to go have a nap in my room. This needing to rest business was annoying but today I'd at least done something, gone somewhere, and not fallen asleep in the middle of something. I supposed that this was progress.
An hour later Elysia came in to let me know that dinner would be ready in about a half hour. I was grateful for the advance notice as I had a few necessaries to take care of before dinner.
"Thank you for getting me up and being such a good helper. Tell your Mommy that I'll be out soon," I said.
With that Elysia scampered off and I prepared myself to get to the bathroom. I stretched a bit, transferred and handled all the bathroom business without incident and was ready for dinner.
Dinner was blessedly uneventful and as always delicious and Gracia made good on her promise to let me help dry the dishes.
I noticed that during my nap she'd moved the plates to a lower cupboard. She truly always thought of everything.
*
After dinner we all moved to the living room. I took up my now favorite spot on the couch and Elysia took her favorite spot, which was my lap. We all sat and talked until it was time for Elysia to get ready for bed. She went to get ready without complaint and like clockwork came down with her "Frog Prince" book.
I sighed as I opened it and thought to myself, "Jean, you may as well pay attention to the story so that next time you verbally spar with Sciezka you are better armed."
We read the story, I got my goodnight hug and kiss and Elysia went to bed.
Gracia came down and again offered tea. This was a good routine. I had been writing while she tucked Elysia in and Gracia nodded and smiled.
"So Jean, what do you think of the notebook idea, do you like it?" Gracia asked.
I hesitated, and closed it, thought a bit and finally answered.
"I thought you were seriously nuts when you gave it to me last night. I mean how is me making chicken scratch about what is going on around me going to help any of this situation? But I think it's helping, a little bit. I may actually have written down some feelings."
I averted my eyes, thought better of it and then said, "But don't tell anyone. This will be our secret, right? I mean between the injury, the cooking, if you can call snacks cooking, the new clothes and this 'Dear Diary' thing, you are turning me into a total girl."
Gracia just rolled her eyes at me, smiled and said, "Jean, what am I going to do with you?"
Then she got up and hugged me around my shoulders and said, "You should get to bed, big day again tomorrow. Jim gets you back for therapy and I'm sure he's going to kick your ass as you so eloquently put it."
I groaned in agreement and went to get ready for bed.
Gracia and I got back to the house, I got into the house without incident and Gracia let me know that she had to go out and get groceries and do a few more errands.
"Jean, would you mind staying here and waiting for Elysia to get dropped off from her play date? You'd be alone for a few hours tops," Gracia smiled as she said this.
I think she could tell I was dying for some alone time to sort through the morning's happenings.
"That would be fine, I'm a big boy, and Elysia won't be any trouble. We're good like that. Besides, if anything does happen, like you said, there are those guards outside. Don't worry," I said. "Oh, and hey...what's for dinner? I'm famished."
Gracia just rolled her eyes at me, left and I settled onto the couch to write until Elysia got home. I had been writing for about an hour when there was a knock on the door.
"Wonder who that could be? I'll be there in a minute, hold on!" I shouted and rushed to get off the couch, into the chair and to the door.
Shit... can't see who it is through the peephole... it's too tall.
"Who is it?" I asked, a little nervous.
Jean Havoc, former big strong man, was at the door like a little old lady with the ten locks on the door and twenty cats.
"Delivery for Jean Havoc from High Street Men's," said the voice on the other side of the door.
"OH! Right," I thought out loud and opened the door.
I needn't have worried; it was only my clothes being delivered.
The delivery boy came in, gawked a bit and just stood there. I realized that I should probably tell him where to put it all, and then tip him. When had I forgotten the basic social graces?
"It'll be fine if you just put them down right in the living room. Thanks for the delivery," I said, and then reached for my wallet in my back pocket, remembered I'd put it in the bag, retrieved it and pulled out a few cens notes for his tip. "Here, for your trouble."
The boy hesitated a bit when I offered him money, but took it and thanked me nervously. I decided not to read too much into his hesitation at the tip. It could have been any number of things, it was probably me, but I was already driving myself nuts over-thinking things, why add paranoia about tipping delivery boys to the mix?
*
I began putting away my purchases. A few trips into the bedroom later, it was done. Things sure took a lot longer now, but even with the effort I noticed I wasn't as tired as I had been, and Gracia had been right about the clothes. I should have had her dressing me before all of this. I would have had a real chance against Mustang.
Just as I finished Elysia came home with art projects and the announcement that she was going to die from hunger if she did not get a snack.
"Jean, look at what I made at school today!" she said as she thrust a concoction of glitter, feathers and construction paper into my lap.
"Wow, it's gorgeous, what is it?" I asked, wondering just exactly what this multi-media extravaganza was. By now I was covered in glitter.
"You silly Jean, it's a parrot! See the feathers?" Elysia said, like it was the easiest thing in the world to guess what this thing was. "See the beak?" she said and pointed to a small triangle of orange construction paper.
"Oh, now I see it. We should hang this on the icebox so Mommy can see it when she gets home, and you did say you were starving, me too. Want a snack?" I said.
"YES!" Elysia squealed.
"Well, what should we have? Your Mom left apples and cookies, and I think there is some cheese in the fridge," I said, amused that I was playing at house.
"We should have peanut butter and jelly sandwiches Jean," Elysia said, as if this was the most obvious answer in the world.
"I agree Princess Elysia, those would taste really good. Want to help me make them?" I asked.
Of course she wanted to help me make them. Elysia loved helping in the kitchen doing big girl things. So we got to work.
"Ok we need bread, jelly, peanut butter, oh plates, and a knife. Do you want milk to drink?" I asked, thinking if there was anything out of my reach.
I busied myself getting the ingredients for our snack. I went over to the icebox, opened it, got out the bottle of milk and decided we should pour it at the table so I didn't make a mess. Putting the bottle between my knees I rolled over to the table, and set it there. One task accomplished.
Next I realized that Gracia would probably frown upon us drinking the milk straight from the bottle. I never minded at the bachelor pad, but Gracia was civilized, so I went to the cupboard for two glasses. It was a stretch, but I made it and soon our glasses were on the table as well.
Elysia watched and waited patiently from her seat at the kitchen table.
Next was the bread. Check, that was easy. It was on the counter. Jelly; also easy that was in the icebox. The knife for spreading our peanut butter and jelly was also easy enough. I was pretty good at this cooking thing.
"Ok Elysia, where is the peanut butter?" I asked.
She pointed to a cupboard that was just out of my reach. This was no good. I wracked my brain thinking of ways we could get to that peanut butter. We had come too far to have plain jelly sandwiches. I had an idea.
"Elysia, you're going to help me get the peanut butter, ok? Because neither of us can reach it by ourselves," I said, trying to sound cheerful.
Elysia nodded eagerly, ready to help.
I was kind of put out but put on a brave face for the Princess. I couldn't even reach peanut butter for fuck's sake.
"What you're going to do is stand on my lap, and I'm going to hold you around the waist so you don't fall and then you are going to be able to reach that peanut butter."
It went off without a hitch. Mission accomplished. The peanut butter had been retrieved. But we had no plates, and they were in a higher cupboard too. I decided that we were not going to tempt fate and so we would have to improvise.
When Gracia got home she found Elysia sitting on my lap, eating what was quite possibly the messiest peanut butter and jelly sandwich ever off of the cutting board I had commandeered from the counter and used as our communal plate. I had a similarly sloppy sandwich and it was one of the best things I'd ever tasted.
Gracia stood in the kitchen entryway for a bit just smiling.
"What is it Gracia? Something wrong?" I said as I looked up at her.
"No, Jean, absolutely nothing wrong. You just have a little something..." and she fell into a fit of giggles and gestured at her nose.
I put my hand to my nose and discovered I had a big glob of peanut butter there. I wiped it off and licked my finger to clean up and grinned from ear to ear.
*
After our snack adventure I was a little tired so I excused myself to go have a nap in my room. This needing to rest business was annoying but today I'd at least done something, gone somewhere, and not fallen asleep in the middle of something. I supposed that this was progress.
An hour later Elysia came in to let me know that dinner would be ready in about a half hour. I was grateful for the advance notice as I had a few necessaries to take care of before dinner.
"Thank you for getting me up and being such a good helper. Tell your Mommy that I'll be out soon," I said.
With that Elysia scampered off and I prepared myself to get to the bathroom. I stretched a bit, transferred and handled all the bathroom business without incident and was ready for dinner.
Dinner was blessedly uneventful and as always delicious and Gracia made good on her promise to let me help dry the dishes.
I noticed that during my nap she'd moved the plates to a lower cupboard. She truly always thought of everything.
*
After dinner we all moved to the living room. I took up my now favorite spot on the couch and Elysia took her favorite spot, which was my lap. We all sat and talked until it was time for Elysia to get ready for bed. She went to get ready without complaint and like clockwork came down with her "Frog Prince" book.
I sighed as I opened it and thought to myself, "Jean, you may as well pay attention to the story so that next time you verbally spar with Sciezka you are better armed."
We read the story, I got my goodnight hug and kiss and Elysia went to bed.
Gracia came down and again offered tea. This was a good routine. I had been writing while she tucked Elysia in and Gracia nodded and smiled.
"So Jean, what do you think of the notebook idea, do you like it?" Gracia asked.
I hesitated, and closed it, thought a bit and finally answered.
"I thought you were seriously nuts when you gave it to me last night. I mean how is me making chicken scratch about what is going on around me going to help any of this situation? But I think it's helping, a little bit. I may actually have written down some feelings."
I averted my eyes, thought better of it and then said, "But don't tell anyone. This will be our secret, right? I mean between the injury, the cooking, if you can call snacks cooking, the new clothes and this 'Dear Diary' thing, you are turning me into a total girl."
Gracia just rolled her eyes at me, smiled and said, "Jean, what am I going to do with you?"
Then she got up and hugged me around my shoulders and said, "You should get to bed, big day again tomorrow. Jim gets you back for therapy and I'm sure he's going to kick your ass as you so eloquently put it."
I groaned in agreement and went to get ready for bed.
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