"So have you boys gotten yourselves summer jobs?" Angie Williams asked her son and stepson over her normal blonde coffee.
Matthew, her stepson, answered simply, "Hobby Lobby on Central."
"Good." She turned to her son, Alfred. "And what about you, Al?"
Alfred halted scarfing down his Toaster Strudel "What, I didn't already tell you? The daycare on Greenwood. Summer camp. In fact, I gotta get going right now."
"You'll fit right in," Matthew said under his breath.
Ignoring his stepbrother, Alfred gulped down the last of his apple juice and set the glass in the sink. "I can't be late for the first day. Ya'll have a good day and all. I'll be home by six." He jogged out the front door to his little Saturn and promptly took off.
Alfred and Matthew were both twenty years old and home from college for summer break. Their parents expected them to have jobs because loans don't pay themselves off. Matthew had no trouble finding his summer job; he wasn't very picky, and a job is a job. However, Alfred had had a more difficult time finding something that fit his interests. Then one afternoon, Rick, Alfred's stepdad and Matt's dad, dropped the classifieds section of the newspaper in front of a very sedentary Alfred.
And now Alfred was off to take care of kids under the supervision of a woman named Manon Peeters. He was sort of excited; he really enjoyed children. He had no idea how many there would be but hopefully there would be enough help to go around.
Helping Hands Daycare was a small inconspicuous building almost completely hidden from the street by trees. It was a well-kept looking place with a playground in the back and a small yard probably made from sod. There were already three other cars in the lot, along with a small bus parked towards the back. It was almost 7:30, and they weren't supposed to open until 8.
Alfred parked and walked in to see three young adults sitting at a tiny table in even tinier chairs. The only woman of the trio stood up to greet Alfred.
"Hi there! You must be Alfred! I'm Manon Peeters." She rushed over to shake Alfred's hand vigorously. She was very gorgeous, with honey-colored hair pulled back by a ribbon and dazzling green eyes. Her hair bounced as she shook Alfred's hand.
"Yeah, that'd be me. It's nice to meet you," Alfred replied, pleasantly surprised by his new boss's exuberance.
"Oh I'm so glad you could help us out this summer," Manon gushed. "It's so hard finding full-time staff for the summers. Sort of weird, seeing as how most people would have more time during the summer, right? Oh, of course, meet the others."
A young man with pale blonde hair past his chin waved. "Hi there, I'm Feliks. Welcome to the longest summer of your entire life."
A cheery-looking Asian guy grinned up at Alfred. "I'm Yong Soo, and he is absolutely right."
"So it's just the four of us?" Alfred wondered aloud.
Manon heaved a sigh. "Yeah, and sometimes it's a real handful. We get visitors sometimes, though. Older siblings, sometimes even a parent or two."
Alfred took a look around the main room. It was brightly decorated with posters and paintings. There were several bookcases filled with tubs of toys, a few more tiny tables, art supplies, a sink, and a media center. There was also a door leading to what was probably the rest of the facilities.
"So how many have we got?" Alfred inquired.
"Right now?" Manon picked up a stack of papers off the little table. "Umm…we currently have twelve registered. Two of them are siblings. Oh! I just remembered!" Manon smacked her forehead. "Could you boys put up a last few things for me?"
Alfred and Yong Soo ended up putting a few posters up on the walls while Feliks wandered off somewhere else.
"So," Yong Soo started while he was watching Alfred place a poster of two dancing dogs, "How old are you?"
"Twenty. This is a real fuckin' dumb poster, isn't it?"
"Watch your damn mouth," Yong Soo chided. "Where did you graduate high school?"
"Northwest. And you didn't even disagree with me."
Yong Soo gasped. "I knew I recognized you from somewhere! You were in my AP Calculus class!"
Alfred finished with the poster and turned to squint at Yong Soo. "Hold the phone. You're telling me…" Then his face lit up. "You're the guy that made everyone look bad!"
"Yeah, and you're the one who petitioned to change the school mascot to the Wombats." Yong Soo scoffed. "'When I say Wombats, you say what.' Classic."
Alfred beamed. "You actually remembered that."
"How could I not? It had its own page in the yearbook. If you were looking for attention, you certainly got it."
The front door opened and a voiced called "Hello!"
Alfred and Yong Soo turned to see a blonde man with a little blonde boy and an even smaller redhead boy.
"Hi there!" Alfred strode over and picked up the sign-in sheet and handed it to the man.
"I hope we're not too early, it's just that I've got a lot of work to get done. But look at this way: you won't be waiting too long for me to pick them up in the afternoon!" the man gushed while writing on the sheet. He finished and handed the clipboard back to Alfred. "This is Peter—" He gestured to the blonde boy "—and this is Oscar." He gestured to the redhead boy, who had…something on his face. "Peter is eight and Oscar is four. They're both very independent. Oh!" He stuck out his hand. "I'm Tino Väinämöinen. These are my sons."
Alfred shook Tino's hand. "It's nice to meet you, Mr., uh, Tino. I'm Alfred. Thanks for bringing the boys here."
Yong Soo took his turn to shake Tino's hand. "My name is Yong Soo, sir. It's a pleasure to be taking care of your children."
"Yes, yes! I'm sure you'll do a great job of it," said Tino exuberantly. "Just be careful, or they'll try and stage a mutiny against you." Alfred and Yong Soo chuckled, to which Tino replied, "Oh, you think I'm kidding? It happens all the time at home. Oscar may be young but he's got lots of fight in him. Anyway, I need to get going. Boys, you hear that?"
"Yeah, Daddy. Oscar, let go of Daddy." said Peter. Alfred noted silently that this kid indeed did look a little evil. Oscar let go of his daddy, and Alfred then noted that it might be impossible to get that perma-frown off the little ginger's face.
Tino knelt down and received kisses on the cheek from his sons, then dashed out after shouting "'Bye!"
While Oscar went to sit silently in the middle of the alphabet rug, Peter tugged at Alfred's shorts. "Hey, mister, how many other kids are comin'?"
"Ten more, little dude," Alfred replied.
"Hey, Peter." Yong Soo knelt down to Peter's level. "You can call me Mr. Y, and you can call him Mr. Al. Alright, buddy?"
"Yeah, sure, whatever."
Manon and Feliks came from the back to introduce themselves while Alfred and Yong Soo moved to the side to have their own conversation.
Alfred took a look at the sign-in sheet. "So, hold on. Peter and Oscar's dad signed their last name as Oxen-something, but he signed his own last name as Vuh-huh-whatever?" Alfred and Yong Soo looked at each other in confusion.
"Let's go find out, then," Yong Soo suggested, walking over to where the brothers sat. "Hey, Peter, tell us about your family." He knelt beside Peter and Alfred followed suit.
"Welllll…" Peter tapped his chin. "That was my daddy. He writes books for kids bigger than me and he can speak funny languages. He has a different last name. Then our Papa, well, I don't really know what he does?" Peter scrunched his face up. "It has to do with furniture. He's really tall and he wears glasses. He has the same last name as me and Oscar." Peter crossed his legs and added thoughtfully, "Daddy and Papa love each other a whole lot."
Alfred and Yong Soo looked at each other while mouthing, "Oh" in realization.
"I have uncles too!" Peter exclaimed. "Uncle Mat and Uncle Lu. They live together. Uncle Mat has a bakery and Uncle Lu plays music. My daddy says he went to school with my papa and my uncles and that's how they met. Daddy says Uncle Mat and Uncle Lu are married and love each other very much, even though Uncle Lu doesn't act like it."
"That's, uh, cool," Yong Soo remarked, unsure of what else to say.
"And we have a little dog named Hannah too! She's really cute and smart."
"Really? That's no fair," Alfred remarked with a fake pout. "I'm not allowed to have one. Anyway, we'll talk later, little dude, we got other stuff to do right now."
Gradually, more kids came in and Alfred and Yong Soo introduced themselves, followed by Manon and Feliks. By 8:30, they had a girl named Victoria, who commented on Manon's hair ribbon; a girl named Amira, who was very much attached to her father Sadik; and a boy named Michael, who would not take off his sunglasses. It was mostly quiet, until one family bustled in.
"Good morning!" the short brunette man practically shouted. With him, he had a boy of about twelve and a girl around six. "Name's Jett Cook, got Piper Cook with me here." He rested his hand on the little girl's scalp. "And you'll be getting Will here if he keeps acting up." He jabbed his elbow at the boy, who groaned.
"Jett, I'm not a child, honestly…" he sighed dramatically.
"Anywho," Jett continued cheerfully, "Piper's just my little sister, but you'll be seeing more of me than you will of our parents. Oh, and our stepbrother will normally be picking her up."
Alfred shoved Jett the clipboard while nodding frantically.
Jett signed for his baby sister, handed over the clipboard, and continued. "Piper fancies herself an artiste. She's not so bad for her age, but it's turn into some sort of weird obsession. But! I've got to get Will here to his own summer program. Piper, be nice and make friends. Rowan'll be picking you up this afternoon."
Piper sighed. "Why Rowan?"
"Because he's the only one who can, Pippi," Jett replied. "Now, off we go! Later, alligator!"
"After a while, crocodile!" Piper said cheerily.
"Not too soon, baboon!" Jett and Piper said together. Piper hugged her big brother and he left.
"Well, that was cute," Yong Soo said to Alfred in an amused tone.
"Absolutely heartwarming," Alfred agreed.
By 9:15, all twelve of the kids had been signed in.
Manon ended up playing "action men" with Michael and Javier. At first, she "wasn't allowed," but then she explained that she had two brothers and had played "action men" all the time when she was a kid. The boys found that permissible and soon agreed that Ms. M made the best explosion noises.
Meanwhile, Feliks was having his hair done by Victoria and Mei. The girls took turns yanking on their counselor's hair with Ms. M's hairbrush, then proceeded to tie ribbons into it while Victoria complimented Mr. Feliks on how well he took care of his "pretty" hair. Feliks hid his winces behind a huge smile; the girls were pulling pretty hard and he had a sensitive scalp, after all.
In the middle of the big room, Amira, Lien, Arjun, and Marcello were settled in front of the Barbie house as Yong Soo acted out (G-rated) K-dramas for them using Barbie dolls. Yong Soo had taken the time to dress all the dolls properly and was even using voices for each of his "characters." And apparently the kids were having an absolute blast.
In the back, Alfred was helping Piper, Peter, and Omar build a Lego castle around Julian. They ran out of Lego blocks and soon resorted to bigger blocks. And Oscar sat watching them with that same angry look on his chubby face.
When Manon called out that it was lunch time, Yong Soo's group was probably the most disappointed. "Aw, come on, the male lead just announced his pregnancy!" Yong Soo whined in response to Manon, while his tiny audience chorused "Yeah!" in annoyed agreement.
"He can have the baby after lunch," Manon announced with finality, and Yong Soo and his followers got up from the floor while pouting.
Feliks served the children "nachos," which were just tortilla chips bought in bulk with canned cheese sauce heated up on the stove (Alfred told himself to visit the kitchen very soon); and to drink was very sugary Kool-Aid. "Gotta keep it simple on the first day," Feliks told Alfred.
The food and sugar got the kids more hyped up, which meant they started begging to go play outside. Manon agreed without hesitating, and the other counselors sighed in relief because that meant they got to have a little break, even if it was about 90 degrees outside.
The four adults sat at the rickety wooden picnic table in the shade while the children ran around the relatively small playground screaming their heads off from the pure joy of just being alive.
"Manon, please help me get these goddamn ribbons out of my hair," Feliks muttered.
"We're going to have to start a swear jar, aren't we?" Manon chided, but complied.
"So what are you studying in school?" Alfred asked Yong Soo.
Yong Soo shrugged nonchalantly. "Marketing. It sounds really boring and easy, which it totally is. But it'll get me a job."
"Easy for you to say, dude. I'm studying physics,"
Yong Soo made a disgusted face. "Why in the hell would you do that to yourself?"
Alfred laughed a little. "That's the same reaction I get every time. I enjoy it, is why. I think it's fun and it gives me a sense of accomplishment."
Yong Soo scrunched his face in disgust. "That's absolutely unbelievable."
"Tell me, Yong Soo, is marketing really that fulfilling? To your heart? To your soul?"
Yong Soo made another face. "You disgust me."
After another twenty minutes of watching the kids run amok, it was time to go inside. The kids got water, and every single one of them proceeded to pass out from exhaustion.
"This is easier than I thought, "Alfred whispered.
Feliks made a sound that sounded like a snort. "Just wait until they start getting more comfortable with each other," he whispered back fiercely. "They'll start creating cliques and forming plots, and next thing you know, they'll be taking you down using Hot Wheels and paintbrushes."
"Well, if anyone does that, I think it'll be Peter!" Alfred remarked in the same hushed tone.
"Actually, no. Michael is giving me a pretty funny vibe already," Yong Soo cut in. "And is it me, or are Arjun and Omar already forming a rivalry?"
"Stop gossiping, and pick up the toys!" Manon commanded. So they got to work, picking up blocks and dolls and things while carefully stepping around sleeping children, then wiped down the tables and swept the floor.
Peter and Oscar were the first to leave around three o'clock when their daddy Tino practically burst in through the door. Not long after, a person of undeterminable gender showed up, and the counselors were trying to figure out who the person was when Piper groaned and stomped over; it turned out to be her stepbrother Rowan, who didn't seem that bad in the counselors' opinions.
Thankfully, all the kids went home by five o'clock, and closing time wasn't even until six. Marcello was the last to leave, his Italian grandpa being the one picking him up.
Before the counselors left, Manon requested that everyone exchanged phone numbers in case of emergency. They complied, and, after one last sweep over the building, everyone went their separate ways.
Alfred went home, scarfed down some cold leftovers out of the fridge, and proceeded to pass out in his bed.
A/N: Hello again everybody! I am back with more Kimchiburger. I randomly had this idea the other night, and I just couldn't get it out of my head. I promise it will pick up. I love, love, love writing children. This fic is going to be a lot of fun to write. There are going to be lots of character cameos, but hopefully not too many pairings. I've already outright mentioned two (SuFin and DenNor…couldn't leave DenNor out), but the ultimate goal is to get Al and YS together.
The other pairings mentioned will probably be some implied LietPol, a little PruCan, along with my favorite crack ship…you'll see, and probably laugh at me once you figure it out…
I'm using Oxenstjärna instead of Oxenstierna because I've seen a couple of Swedes use the first one and I like it better.
There's a lot of characters, so here is the current name key. You'll notice most of the kids are micronations:
Manon - Belgium
Oscar – Ladonia
Victoria – Seychelles
Amira – this one isn't a nation, she's Sadik and Katya (Ukraine)'s little one!
Michael – Molossia
Piper – Wy
Jett – Australia
Will – Hutt River
Rowan – New Zealand
Javier – my Puerto Rico OC
Mei – Taiwan
Lien – Vietnam
Marcello – Seborga
Julian – Kugelmugel
Arjun – India
Omar – Pakistan
And Al and Matt's parents are obviously OCs.
Stay tuned for more! And follow me on tumblr. My URL is meesterdinmark; sometimes I post spoiers and trivia about my fics!