This is for Agirlofmanyfandoms101, who requested a story (from my Hetalia AU series Worth-It) of Alfred breaking his leg while Ivan is away on a business trip. I hope she, and everyone else, enjoys this!
Ages in this: Francis is seven, Toris and Feliks are six, and Arthur is four.
A Cracked up Week:
"Don't go fa'ter!"
"Papa no!"
"You like, can't abandon us!"
"Seven days is too long!"
Ivan smiled as all of his children begged him to stay. It was a wonderful feeling to be loved. Unfortunately as much as he wanted to give in to their wishes, his work prevented him to. Their accounting company was being combined with another, and it required his boss, him, and the other co-managers to travel out of state and attend an important business meeting.
That meant he would be gone for at least six or seven days, much to the horror of his family. Well, Alfred was taking it well, but Ivan could tell that he was dreading it. And his children...well, the result was before him.
Together Feliks and Toris kept hold of his suitcase to prevent him from picking it up. Francis yanked harshly on his arm, while little Arthur clung tightly to his leg. Alfred himself just stood by and let the kids get away with it.
"Sunflower, a little help?" Ivan hissed to his American lover while trying to pry Francis's fingers from his sleeve. Alfred sighed loudly and dramatically, but finally stepped in.
"That's enough guys. If you let go then maybe he'll bring back presents for us all, right Ivie?"
That caught their attention.
"Presents? Like, cool ones?" Feliks asked curiously.
"Yes! Wonderful presents! But only if you promise to be good all week, and also if you let go of me and my things." Ivan said quickly, not even shooting Alfred his usual glare whenever bribing was suggested.
There was a brief silence, until…
"Yay!" Arthur squealed happily, letting go of his father and jumping up and down. The rest of them followed suit, and Ivan was able to move again.
"Now please go and play for a bit while I talk to your daddy," Ivan told them. Very much wanting to be behaved, they did so. Ivan turned back to look at Alfred with a serious expression.
"Alfred my darling, are you sure you will be able to handle them for an entire week all by yourself? They've been acting awfully rambunctious lately."
"Of course I'll be able to handle them! Kids are always full of energy during the summertime!" Alfred assured him.
"All the more reason for me to be concerned," Ivan said. "Since it's summer vacation they won't be in school, which means you'll need to be in parent-mode twenty four seven."
"Relax Ivie, I've got things handled. It's only seven little days. Just 168 hours...that's nothing babe." Alfred assured him.
Ivan tilted Alfred's chin up, staring into his eyes intently "Listen to me Alfred. I'll go, but if anything happens, anything at all, then you must tell me. I'll come home straight away. Work is important, but family more so. Promise me, okay?"
"You worry too much," Alfred said, pecking him on the lips. "But I guess that's why I love you. I promise alright?"
"Good. Well, I suppose I should say goodbye to the children now. The sooner I leave, the sooner I can get back."
Alfred was beginning to wish that he'd never allowed Ivan to go on this business trip. It was day three of his husband's absence, and things had gone down the gutter. The house was an absolute mess. That was because it was Wednesday, and it was usually his day to shop while Ivan cleaned the house and watched the kids.
Earlier he'd taken the kids to the grocery store all together, which was something he and Ivan generally didn't do. It always resulted in havoc each time, which was exactly what had happened. Feliks and Toris had thrown whatever caught their eyes into the cart while Alfred wasn't looking. Francis had caused an entire shelf of glass vases to fall. As for Arthur, he'd tried to carry a big milk carton all by himself, which resulted in him dropping it and making a mess everywhere.
In the end, Alfred had to abandon his full cart and get the kids away from there before the manager turned into a fire breathing dragon and killed them all. No groceries mean that it was just chicken nuggets and fries for dinner. Francis, as usual, didn't like those and wouldn't eat anything. Since they were out of apple juice, Arthur ended up having a meltdown and threw his fork at Toris, who now had a small bump on his head. Feliks, who was protective of 'his Toris', had called Arthur a, "totally dummy-head baby".
The result of the evening was that three out of four of the kids were in their room. Francis for being rude, Arthur for being violent, and Feliks for using profanity. Toris was on the couch watching Spongebob, holding an icepack on his boo-boo. Alfred meanwhile, was attempting to clean the house before it was time to bathe the kids. He'd only managed to fold the laundry before he'd heard a loud crash from downstairs….and discovered that the kids had snuck out of their rooms.
"Shit," He muttered, dropping the laundry basket and making a mad dash for the stairs.
Unfortunately he didn't see the hot wheels racecar track that was set up at the top of the staircase. His left foot caught under it and he was caught off balance. Flailing his arms to steady himself, Alfred was unsuccessful as he toppled down the staircase. He head a sickening crack, felt white hot pain in his leg, and then the world went black...but only briefly.
"Daddy! Wake up Daddy..I wan' my daddy!"
"Mmm, Artie?" Alfred mumbled, and then hissed in pain when he felt a searing pain in his right leg. Then he remembered what had occurred only moments ago and silently swore. "Artie buddy? Calm down, okay?"
The four year old was crying loudly, one small hand pressed against his cheek. At the same time Alfred spoke, Francis came running in.
"Père, Feliks and I accidently knocked over the….Père? Père!" Francis panicked at seeing his parent laying on the floor clearly in pain. At the sound of the seven year old's frantic voice, Toris and Feliks came in. Pretty soon Alfred, who was in severe pain, was surrounded by four frantic and crying kids.
"Guys? Hey, listen to me!" Alfred ordered weakly. "Everyone stop crying. I'm okay but I need some help. Francis bud, go get the phone for me. Right now please."
Once Francis left to do what was asked of him, Alfred turned his attention to his injuries. He saw a little foot step over him, running up the stairs. "Artie? Arthur come back!"
"Daddy you're hurt! Like, badly hurt. It's our fault isn't it? We left the room and like, you were coming down to get us and you fell. We're awful kids. Please don't send me back, I've only been your son for a year, and I really love you, and please-" Feliks rambled, before bursting into tears and clinging onto Alfred's arm.
Alfred found it hard to focus, but he reached up and ran a hand through Feliks' soft hair. "Feliks, it isn't anybody's fault. And we wouldn't ever send-"
"Yes it is…" Toris interrupted him. "You tripped over the racetrack, didn't you? It was mine...so please don't send Feliks back! I won't ever play with it again, I promise!"
"Toris, hush," Alfred stopped him. "Nobody's going anywhere. All of your are our babies, and that means you're staying here till your grown up...and maybe even longer than that."
It was hard to talk, but at least it helped his focus go away from his leg, which was beginning to make him feel nauseous. Man, where was Francis with that phone? Then Arthur came back down the stairs, holding a familiar box of Scooby-doo band-aids.
"Make the ouch go'way!" He repeated the words that Alfred usually told him whenever he had an 'ouch', offering the box to his daddy. Alfred felt his heart swell and took the box.
"Thanks Artie, that'll help me feel better."
Thankfully Francis had finally returned with the phone, handing it to his parent quickly. Alfred thanked him and then proceeded to dial a very familiar number.
"Aw shit, that looks awful! I bet they'll have to amputate it or something. Ksesese!"
"Dammit Gilbert, don't fucking swear in front of my kids!" Alfred ground out from clenched teeth, barely able to think straight through the pain. "Why couldn't Mattie make it again?"
"He had to take Nat to the dentist today, but he brought Luddie and Feli with him too because afterwards they're going to that new bowling alley down on Sanders Avenue. You know, the one that just opened up last weekend? Personally I'm not a bowler, but I guess if Mattie wants to take the kiddo's then who am I to stop him?"
"Yeah, yeah, just help me out to the car okay? We n-need to get to the hospital." Alfred told him, wincing as he attempted to move the injured leg. "And you should still call Mattie! Trust me, he'll be pissed at you if you don't let him know that I'm injured."
"Alright, I'll call him on the way there," Gilbert said, and then turned to the children. "Hey kiddo's, we're going on a little trip to the hospital. Go get in the car, okay?"
"Will the doctors make him better?" Francis inquired fearfully.
"Sure, sure. Now hurry!"
Once the kids left to get in the car, Gilbert grasped Alfred under the armpits and hoisted him up. Alfred used some crude language one more, but slowly and surely the duo made it to the car in the garage. Thankfully all the kids were buckled in. Gilbert reclined the passenger's seat before helping his brother-in-law sit down in it.
"Yo, Mattie babe? How's the bowling going?" Gilbert asked once he'd dialed his husband's number. "What's that? Lud got a strike? Awesome! Oh hey, your brother broke his leg so I'm taking him and his kids to the hospital."
There was a silence, and then angry shouting on the other and of the phone. Gilbert winced and pulled his cell away from his ear. "Jeez, I didn't think it was important enough to have to inform you abo- okay, okay!"
With that, Gilbert hung up and sort of half grinned half winced. "Mattie said he'd meet us at the hospital."
It was a short but painful ride from Alfred. His kids were uncharacteristically silent, which made him feel uneasy. Gilbert made some poor attempts at conversation, but Alfred was in too much pain to answer him.
When they got there, a nurse with a wheelchair was waiting to help since Gilbert had called the hospital ahead of time. While they rushed Alfred into the emergency room, Gilbert gathered the kids and was escorted by another nurse to the waiting room, where he was given a very large pile of paperwork.
"Aw man!" The albino grimaced to himself.
"Where did they take Daddy?" Arthur asked in panic.
"Huh? Oh, they're fixing him."
"How?" Toris asked.
"Um...with glue." Gilbert replied, a little unsure himself of what the doctors were doing.
Francis asked in confusion, "Glue?"
"Yup. How else will they put the bones back together again?"
Before Gilbert could further explain his explanation, the waiting room doors opened and Matthew rushed in with he and Gilbert's own children.
"Gil! Where is he? How bad is it? Why the heck didn't you call sooner?"
"Oh thank gott!" Gilbert sighed in relief, thrusting the pile of paperwork at his lover. "He's fine I think. In pain, but fine."
Matthew took the papers but before he could do anything he was mobbed by his nephews.
"Unc' Mattie! Daddy got hurt!" Arthur whimpered, holding his arms in demand to be picked up.
"He tripped over my racetrack!" Toris confessed, looking like he was ready to be put on death row.
"But it was because I scared him by knocking over the bookcase," Feliks added.
"And I was the one who dared Feliks to climb it!" Francis informed him.
Matthew went into 'uncle-mode', picking up Arthur and rushing to assure the children that it was only an accident. In the end, he convinced them that nobody was in trouble. The three older children became distracted by their cousins and the bin of waiting room toys. Arthur was exhausted since it was now past their bedtimes, so he passed out in Gilbert's arms while Matthew filled out as much as he could of the paperwork.
Two long and terribly boring hours later, a doctor came out and informed them that they could come and see Alfred now. His leg was very much broken indeed, but no surgery was required. He needed to wear a cast for about eight weeks, but were keeping him overnight as a precaution.
All of the kids plus Gilbert were now passed out. Matthew gently shook the albino awake, ordering him to take the kids back to their own house and put them to bed. Matthew himself was going to stay here with his brother.
Alfred was fine, but drowsy from the medicine that they'd given him.
"Hey Alfred. How're you feeling?" Matthew asked his twin softly as he came into the hospital room.
"Not bad. Whatever they gave me sure is helping." Alfred replied with a sleepy grin. "Where are the kids?"
"Gilbert took them home. It's almost midnight." Matthew informed him.
"Ah damn," Alfred sighed. "Of all times this had to happen…"
"I'm going to call Ivan tomorrow. He'll be home in no time, so everything will be okay." Matthew said comfortingly. To his surprise, Alfred's eyes widened.
"What? No, don't do that dude! Ivie's on a business trip! I'll be fine, it's just a broken leg!"
"Just? Just a broken leg?" Matthew asked, appalled. "You need more help than just me Alfred. Gilbert can't afford a day off from the shop right now, and I alone can't look after you, your kids, and my own kids all at once."
"When did I ever say that I needed your help?" Alfred asked, a raised eyebrow.
"You can't be serious. Alfred, you're leg is broken! When you go home tomorrow you need strict bed rest for at least a week, doctor's orders. Now you either have call Ivan, or I'll call him myself," Matthew said, glaring stubbornly at his brother. "I'm going to get a coffee. Make a choice by the time I get back."
As Matthew left the room, Alfred sighed. Why oh why did something this terrible have to happen? He would never forgive himself for getting in the way of Ivan's trip. He didn't want to be the damsel in distress...the weak one who wasn't able to handle things for one little week.
What was he going to do?
Part two is coming soon!
