"Paaaapaaaaa!" Alfred would be jumping up and down on his sleeping father, repeating his name with each bounce. His father, a rather irritable man who was grunting with the pain of his son's mass repeatedly landing on his abdomen, feet first, I might add, muttered, brow furrowed. "Alfred... Please stop..."
"Up! Up! Up! Wake! UP!" The gentleman's eyes, heavy with sleep, were forced open by the child's loud voice. "Igggyyyyyy!" Alfred was now pummelling Arthur's chest with his minuscule fists. "You said when the big hand's on the nine and the small hand's on the six I'm allowed to come and wake you up! So wake up!" Arthur reached over and smacked the body laying beside him around the head.
"Quoi...?" The zombie-like creature replied.
"Take care of your son... I'm tired."
"He's your son too, cher."
"But I sorted him out yesterday."
"But I sorted him out the day bef-"
"I'm still here y'know!" The tiny voice echoed throughout the room, and must've made its way down the hallway, because someone stirred in the other room.
"Merveilleux... Now Matthieu is awake..."
"P-papa...?" The quiet voice began to tremble.
"I'm coming, cher..." Francis hauled himself out of bed, and dragged his tired bones out of the bedroom and down the hall. Arthur would've gone in his place, if only he were fast enough. Anything to not have to deal with the troublesome Alfred.
"Bonjour, Matthieu..." The voice faded as he got further down the hall, and upon reaching the second son, he began to fluently speak French to the boy, and was replied to similarly.
"Now." Arthur shot a glance toward the young boy who had gone back to pummelling him, now in a one-on-one battle that was impossible to win. "What's this nonsense about hands being on numbers...?" The child looked hurt that their promise had been forgotten.
"You said that when the big hand was on the nine and the little hand was on the six that I could wake you up! And it is! Wakey wakey eggs and bakey!" Arthur looked confused.
"... I don't believe I would say something like..." Then the penny dropped. "Oh, bloody hell, Alfred." The child's head cocked, ahoge bouncing as he did so.
"What, Iggy?" Arthur sat up, Alfred rolling down him at the same time.
"I told you to not call me that..."
"But it's your name, Iggy!" The Brit pinched his brow.
"I'm not having this argument this early in the morning." He paused to check the clock beside his bed. "It's six bloody forty-five A.M!"
"So?"
"Alfred! This is almost three hours before we usually wake up! How did you even wake up this early?!" The Brit would be attempting to flatten his hair at this point, which was sticking up due to his frequent tossing and turning during the night. Jesus, Alfred stressed him out so much he couldn't even get a good night's sleep.
"I'm hungry! I'm hungry!"
"You're hungry."
"Yeah! REAAAAAALLY hungry, Iggy!"
"You're always bloody hungry..." He muttered to himself, now incredibly irritable, and heaved himself from the castle of warmth that was his bed. "I'll get you some cereal, but then you have to make some sort of attempt to go back to bed... I'm exhausted."
"Okay, Iggy!" The younger of the two practically threw himself off of the bed and ran to the kitchen, where Matthew was already sitting at the table with a small plate of pancakes thoroughly doused with maple syrup. He lifted a hand in acknowledgement, the other underneath the table and clinging to a polar bear plush he had named... What was it? Kumakichi? Kumacheerio? Kumakumquat? Something along those lines.
"Mattie!" Alfred waved enthusiastically to his brother with a big grin. Francis was standing by the stove, supposedly preparing more pancakes, but it seemed he was going to drift back to sleep at any moment. Arthur shook his shoulder lightly, making Francis' eyes snap open and his entire body becoming alert. He glanced at Arthur with a faint smile. "Morning, cher."
"You left me with the terror." This made Francis chuckle.
"I had to check on Matthieu."
"I could've seen to Matthew..."
"Ah, but you were too slow!"
"Shut up, frog." Arthur scowled as Francis draped his arm over his shoulder. "Get off."
"Cheer up, cher~!"
"Shut up." Francis smiled. His husband was not a morning person- at all. Arthur yawned, rubbing his eyes. "Make Alfred some, would you?" Then, he trudged back to bed, with the Frenchman watching and chuckling to himself as he went.
"Paaapaaaaa?" Alfred was now clinging onto Francis' leg, eyes large and hopeful. "Are you making me some pancakes, too?" He had just heard his two fathers having the conversation about Alfred getting pancakes, but he felt he had to double-check, so Francis would remember.
"Oui, you'll be getting pancakes too, Alfred. Ask Matthieu if he can get the syrup for you. I'm quite sure he's hidden it again..." With a quick glance toward the timid Matthew, who was smiling innocently, but with that forever worried look on his face, Francis' suspicions were confirmed. "He's hidden it."
"Non, I haven't...! Kumawhiskers hid it...!"
"I thought the bear's name was Kumacracker?" Alfred tilted his head.
"No... I'm quite sure it is Kumacheckers."
"Matthieu, where is the syrup, cher?" With a look of defeat, Matthew pattered over to a big box containing dressing up clothes, and rummaged around it. His hand grasping the glass bottle, he hauled it out, and handed it over to Alfred. He was obviously rather concerned about what would happen to his maple syrup.
"Thanks, brah!" Alfred shook the bottle with glee, while Matthew just looked on, completely powerless .
"Alfred, please be careful with Matthieu's sirop spécial." The Frenchman shook his head, while stacking a few pancakes onto a plate.
"Nu-uh!" Alfred practically tossed the syrup aside, which was deftly caught by Matthew, and began to pull at Francis' shirt. "Not that plate! Papa, I want the eagle one!"
"Cher, I-"
"No arguing! Eagle plate! Eagle plate! Eagle plate!" Alfred started up a chant, pumping his fists at the same time, while Matthew simply returned to eating his pancakes.
"Alfred, I've already put them on th-"
"Eagle plate! Eagle plate!" Alfred's chanting got gradually louder, now jumping. Then, a loud voice came from the other room.
"Give him the bloody eagle plate!" Arthur's sleep had now been disturbed twice, and he was on the verge of a mental breakdown.
"... Fine..." Francis swapped the plates around, Alfred clapping happily and changing his chant to "Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you!" in return.
"You're welcome, cher. Now go and eat with Matthieu, s'il vous plaît."
"'Kay!" Alfred sat himself beside Matthew, grinning from ear to ear. "Can ya pass the syrup, Mattie?" Matthew obliged, but was obviously in pain. "Thaaaanks!" Alfred violently shook the bottle, the thick, brown liquid oozing out of it. "Omnomnom!" He had practically drenched the pancakes, leaving only the tiniest scrap of syrup in the bottom. "I'll just get rid of that for ya!" Alfred stuck the bottle in his mouth and inhaled the last few drops of syrup, before giving a satisfied "Ahhh...". Matthew was on the verge of tears, and you could see it in his eyes.
"Oh, cher..." Francis picked Matthew up, patting his head while Matthew buried his head into Francis' shoulder, his bitter tears making it rather wet.
"What's wrong with Mattie?" Alfred cocked his head, frowning.
"His food was too hot, that's all, cher."
"Poor Mattie!" Alfred shuffled across the seats to rub Matthew's back. "It's okay, Mattie! You need to blow on your food!" Francis chuckled. Alfred grinned before going back to his pancakes. Matthew followed suit, but still sniffled, mourning his syrup. Francis had made himself some coffee, and was sitting on the couch, watching TV. He couldn't exactly go back to bed when both of the boys were awake- they might end up burning the house down! Well, Alfred might.
Arthur emerged about an hour later. Eyes still heavy, and hair still sticking up in clumps, he was obviously still not quite ready to wake up. His cup of tea had already been prepared, Francis had become quite adept at the 'Not-Putting-The-Milk-In-First' thing, so he usually made Arthur's in the morning. Arthur may have pulled disgusted faces while drinking, and there was definitely room for improvement, he still found it touching that the tea, or, rather the thought, was there in the first place. "Morning." The Brit grumbled, seating himself beside Francis. "Bonjour, cher." Francis leaned over and kissed Arthur's cheek. A flicker of a smile crept its way onto Arthur's face, before it was quickly dismissed. He took a sip of his tea. "It doesn't taste of horse piss today. I'm impressed."
"Do I ever fail to please?"
"Not really."
"I mean outside of bed, cher." The Brit's face flooded red, be it anger or embarrassment, he didn't know, and he elbowed Francis in the chest. "You git."
"Do you have a thing for gits, then, Arthur?"
"No, I do not have a thing for gits! ... I may or may have a thing for you, though. I'm leaning towards 'not' at the moment." With that statement, Arthur downed the rest of his tea, and went to put the mug in the sink. He would've preferred it in a cup, perhaps with a saucer, but he couldn't have everything. But, he did have a husband and two wonderful sons whom he loved very much, even if he didn't always show it.
"Bath time, you buggers!" Arthur let his hand graze the surface of the bath water before setting off to look for Alfred and Matthew. They both detested bathing. "Come on! If you do this, I'll make you some scones!" He sighed as he heard his sons scream and run further away. "Change of plans! If you do this, I'll take you out for ice cream!" Matthew appeared instantly, clinging at his leg. One down. "Alfred!"
"No!"
"Alfred!"
"Nu-uh!"
"Alfred!" The Brit's voice was growing increasingly less patient, and his brow began to furrow.
"Heroes don't take baths!"
"Yes, they do!"
"How do you know, Iggy?"
"How on Earth would Superman get Lois Lane to kiss him if he smelt like a homeless man?"
"Because he's a hero!" Arthur pinched his brow, sighing.
"Get in the bath, Alfred." There was a loud sigh from somewhere deep in the house, before the stomps began. He wasn't throwing a tantrum, nor was he sulking while walking, he was pretending to be a monster. "Sorry, I can't! There's a Godzilla in here with jet planes for arms! I, being the hero, must get rid of it!" Alfred began whizzing around the room, knocking various ornaments off of shelves as he went. "Pew! Pew! Oh, no! I've been hit! Mattie! Save me!" Matthew seemed to genuinely believe Alfred was in trouble, face falling, and mouth hanging open.
"Daddy...?" Matthew looked up at Arthur, lip trembling. Arthur sighed.
"Go and help your brother, Matthew! He sounds like he's really struggling!" The enthusiasm in his voice was obviously faked, and he didn't exactly give an oscar-winning performance- he may as well have been nicknamed Leonardo DiCaprio.
"Oui! I'm coming, Alfred!" Matthew ran as fast as his little legs could carry him to the lounge, flung open the door, and stared at what was going on. Absolutely nothing. Alfred was grinning, a dinosaur toy in hand. "Mattie!" Matthew looked confused. "I thought you were... Being attacked..." There was a great amount of relief in his voice, and upon hearing it, Arthur smiled. It was nice that the boys cared about each other. "What?! No way, dude! No monster would attack me! I'm a total hero! You can be my trusty sidekick!" There was a pause, where Alfred flung his arms out and grinned. "We could totally rule the world!"
"Yay!" A weak smile from Matthew.
The next twenty minutes or so were filled by the two boys playing Superheroes. They'd used cushions to make a 'giant skyscraper', which they had to guard, as Arthur was trying to tidy them away again.
"Nu-uh, foul beast!" Alfred pointed at Arthur, Matthew following suit. "You will not destroy the Empire State if I can help it!"
"Mmm! We'll fight you!" Matthew raised his fists, although, in reality was much too weak to fight back.
"Oh, really?" Arthur placed a hand on his hip, and looked down his nose at the boys.
"Uh-huh! Come at us, brah!" Alfred grinned. Arthur smirked, before practically lunging at both boys, and the boys shrieking in reply.
Francis returned home to Arthur sitting on both of the boys, with cushions scattered across the floor.
I hope you enjoyed Chapter 1! I'll be uploading the next chapter as soon as it's done, which should be pretty soon, so I hope all the tumbleweeds and such enjoy waiting for the next part! ◕ ◡ ◕