Summary: Cheaper by the Dozen AU. Roderich and Elizabeta have eight children, all of which can be a little bit of a handful at times. When a new family all the way from the United States move in next to them, it gets harder to showcase themselves as normal. Pairings: Austria/Hungary, England/America, Spain/Romano, Germany/Italy and France/Canada. There will be mentions of others but these will be the main ones.

Many thanks to my wonderful beta, Spazzkitty!

Chapter 1

Sometimes Elizabeta wondered why she had such a big family. When Roderich had asked how many kids she wanted, she had been joking when she said eight. But eight was what they had, the last three by accident but nonetheless wanted. And there were times when Elizabeta loved being surrounded by her family and her husband standing loyally by her side.

That morning was not one of those times. For starters she walked in on her ten-year-old son doing something to the toaster, his blue eyes narrowed in concentration.

"Eiri, put those down. What have I told you about your science experiments?" Elizabeta scolded, fishing Lili's violin out from the fridge. "And where is Nat? If I'm going to make her a vegetarian snack then she has to be here to pick it up."

"I don't know." Eiríkur shrugged his shoulders and Elizabeta patted him on the shoulder as he went to the table with his toast, half of it charred black and the other barely toasted. Elizabeta noted that they would probably need to get a new toaster.

"FELICIANO! LOVINO! TIME TO GET UP!" Elizabeta yelled up the stairs and Arthur, walking down the stairs, winced.

"Mum, do you really have to yell quite so loudly?" Arthur asked in a long-suffering voice.

"It's the twins Arthur, of course I do." Elizabeta smiled at her second eldest. He was wearing the suit required for his sixth form, even though he was missing his tie at the moment.

"Mum, have you seen my tie? The red one." Arthur fiddled with the neck of his shirt, obviously uncomfortable without being fully dressed.

"I don't know, check the laundry. Or Feliciano's room, I think he wore it to go out with Helen on Saturday." Arthur scowled.

"I told him not to borrow my ties anymore, I need them for school," Arthur muttered before marching up the stairs again.

"Try to get Feli and Lovi up please!" Elizabeta shot after Arthur's retreating back. The second youngest, Lili, who had just turned eight two months ago, came out of the sitting room clutching several large books. Her long blonde plaits made her look younger than she was even though the books she was carrying were above her reading age. "Hi Lili. Are you okay?" Elizabeta smiled and her daughter smiled back.

"I'm fine. Thank you Mum." Lili continued her journey into the kitchen, no doubt in search of some food. Elizabeta stood for a moment and tried to remember why she had come into the hallway in the first place.

"Ah, Natalia," Elizabeta remembered and started to search the house. She found Nat in the garden, setting another rocket in place. "Natalia, no more rockets. It's a school morning, do you even have your bag ready?" Natalia shook her head slowly and moved away from the rocket. There was a crash from upstairs and some yelling from who seemed to be Francis. Elizabeta hurried off, finally remembering to poke her head in the playroom where she found her husband playing the piano in there. It was the one expense that they both agreed on even though Roderich kept insisting on moving into the living room, no matter how many times Elizabeta pointed out that there was no room and she was not having it in the middle of the floor. "Roderich, can you please help Lili get some breakfast? And make sure Eiri and Nat have their lunch cards, I think that Nat is forgoing lunch at the moment. I hope it isn't one of those crash diets."

"I'm sure it's fine Eliza," Roderich said reassuringly, stopping his piano playing for a moment. Elizabeta nodded and sighed.

"I know, she's a smart girl. I still worry." Elizabeta then refocused on her husband. "And make sure you go in to work today." Roderich sighed and nodded.

"I will Eliza. I just forgot, I got caught up in my music." Elizabeta smiled at her husband before going to see if Feliciano and Lovino had gotten up yet. At the top of the stairs Arthur and Francis were arguing with Peter, her youngest, hiding behind Arthur's legs.

"Is everything okay?" Elizabeta asked and her two eldest turned to her while Peter threw himself at her legs. She swung him into her arms.

"Francis was yelling at Peter this morning!" Arthur said and Francis sneered, flicking his blonde hair over his shoulder. Adopted when he was three and Arthur was two, he was the most glamorous of all Elizabeta's children and also the most rebellious. Arthur and he fought more than any of the others as well.

"Why do you care? You yell at Peter all the time." Francis retorted. Elizabeta felt Peter nuzzle into her neck slightly. He was very much the baby of the family but he also made a habit of annoying the older ones dreadfully.

"I tell him how to better himself. You were just yelling at him because you're in a bad mood. His date failed last night because she was in love with someone else and he's taking it out on Peter," Arthur said and Peter nodded into Elizabeta's neck.

"Alright, that's enough," Elizabeta said firmly. "It's time to go to school now, both of you stop fighting and get ready. Peter, you're not even dressed yet." Arthur and Francis stomped their separate ways while Elizabeta took Peter through to his room and put him down.

"Mummy, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to draw on Francis' picture," Peter said with a small pout on his face. Elizabeta was reminded of Arthur when he was younger and he thought he should apologise even if he didn't really mean it.

"Okay Peter. Now get dressed in your uniform for school." Elizabeta handed Peter his shorts and shirt before going to get dressed for work herself. After that she went to brush her teeth but gave up when she saw Francis and Lovino both standing outside the bathroom in a queue of sorts and took her toothbrush downstairs to use the sink in the downstairs bathroom.

In the kitchen Lili and Eiríkur were sitting down eating breakfast quietly while Natalia fished her lunch pass out of the bread bin.

"I put it in a safe place." Natalia answered Elizabeta's unasked question before sitting down at the table. Feliciano and Arthur soon joined the table, Arthur dressed in his suit with his tie while Feliciano was dressed in the uniform grey trousers and white shirt.

"Okay five out of eight, it's looking better." Elizabeta sat down and helped herself to some toast. "Lili I found your violin in the fridge for some reason, so you need to take it to school today for your music lesson. Your music bag is in the playroom beside the sofa. Nat, you've got your lunch card, remember to actually use it today. I don't want you going to the vending machines and eating rubbish. Eiri, remember to feed Mr Puffin and I really hope you've started your history project. It's due next week. Arthur, I've signed your trip sheet so you'll be able to go to the Victoria and Albert museum the week after. Feliciano, your art teacher is full of praises and says that you are getting a painting to be put up in the lobby." Elizabeta smiled at her excitable son. Feliciano grinned.

"What style did you do your painting in?" Roderich asked Feliciano as he spread jam on his toast. Roderich was always the more arty one of the two of them.

"Well I've been working with pastels lately." Feliciano started to talk enthusiastically about his painting with Roderich listening carefully. The rest of everyone's attention was drawn when Francis and Lovino came into the room, already arguing, with Peter trailing behind wearing a white shirt with a large red stain on it.

"Francis and Lovino, stop arguing, sit down and eat your breakfast. Peter, we have to get you a clean shirt. What on earth did you get on it?" Elizabeta was about to stand up when Roderich halted her.

"Eliza, it's okay. Arthur can you please go and find a clean shirt for Peter? Elizabeta you need to eat your breakfast." Arthur nodded and took Peter by the hand in search of a new shirt.

"You can't keep hogging the bathroom, other people need it too," Lovino was saying and Eiríkur stole a piece of toast off his plate while the older boy was occupied with Francis.

"You only want to spend so much time in the bathroom to impress the new girls at school." Francis pointed out and although Lovino sneered, Feliciano giggled as if he knew something the others didn't. His twin shot him a glare and Feliciano kept his eyes fixed on his plate.

"Frannie, Lovi, stop. Francis, you've ordered the prospectuses for the universities right? We have to start organising so you can go to the open days. Lovi and Feli, you guys are in your final year of GCSEs. I hear you are both trying really hard at art and music but please can you try a little harder at some of the other subjects as well? Nat, please no more violence. You won't be allowed back on the netball team until you stop tripping the opposing team." Natalia scowled and Arthur and Peter came back into the kitchen with Peter now clean as a whistle. "Oh Peter, your reading book is in the sitting room. Remind me to get it before we go."

"Okay Mummy," Peter answered before frowning at the lack of food left on the table. Arthur handed him the jam and Peter stole a piece of toast off Eiríkur who made a token complaint but dipped into his three other pieces of toast when his mother glanced at him.

"Ten past eight." Roderich said and the table immediately started to move. Bags were grabbed and possessions muddled through until everyone was out the door within five minutes. Feliciano, Lovino, Natalia and Eiríkur started to walk to the train station. Francis and Arthur, arguing again, would drive to school with Roderich in the car since Francis was still a learner driver and Elizabeta would take Lili and Peter to their primary school.

"Hey Mum, who are they?" Peter pointed to the house next to theirs, which so far had been empty with a 'For Sale' sign outside it. Now there was a large van outside and movers swarming in and out of the house.

"Someone is moving in next door. And it's rude to point," Elizabeta murmured as she craned her neck slightly to see if there were any sign of their new neighbours. "We'll have to go and introduce ourselves later."

"Why are they moving in so late? School started three weeks ago," Lili asked in curiosity, craning her neck as well.

"Maybe they couldn't find a house in time." Elizabeta said as they all climbed into the car.

"Maybe they're deli - de-lin-quents," Peter said enthusiastically and Elizabeta let her head drop against the steering wheel.

"Where did you learn that word Peter?"

"Arthur," Peter chirped back happily. "He called the boy who punched me in the face that." Elizabeta span around so fast that it made Lili, in the front seat, jump.

"A boy punched you in the face?" Elizabeta asked and Peter nodded.

"Yeah, but then Arthur and Francis dropped me off at school and told him that if he hit me again they would beat him up," Peter answered in a cheerful tone of voice. Elizabeta groaned. She was not looking forward to explaining to Peter's headmaster why one of his five-year-olds was beaten up by two teenagers.

"We will be talking about this, this evening," Elizabeta said before pulling out of the driveway.

This is set in the UK, so any confusion about terms, please ask. Lunch cards are paid for at the start of the term, so the lunch is paid for every single day and then the lunch card is used to get lunch. GCSEs are exams you take at the end of Year 11 (age 16) and you spend two years studying for them. They're important for jobs and university applications but not as important as A-Levels.

Eiríkur = Iceland, Lili = Liechtenstein and all the rest are official human names. Anyway, please enjoy and I'll try to update soon.