Oh! Oh goodness! Thank you oh so very much for all the lovely reviews! It really does make me update faster and I just absolutely adore knowing that people are enjoying the story. I'll try to set a personal goal for myself to update after every certain amount of reviews. Thank you for the motivation. Depending on how things go, you may get another chapter soon enough.
Things...Most definitely could have been going better.
Currently, Mathew sat on the floor in the living room with his back pressed firmly against the couch. Propped up slightly on his crossed legs was his brother, the child's cherub cheeks stained with a bright orange from the splattered substance. Thankfully, he'd thought to put a bib on the little American, which prevented his clothes from being too harshly victimized by what had transpired. Unfortunately, the same could not be said for Canada's attire. His simple red hoodie, somewhat a favorite of his, was now covered in quite a bit of orange, along with his left cheek and he could only hope that none had gotten into his hair. And things had started off so well...
He had opened up not one, but two jars of baby food. One of what looked to be some sort of applesauce, and the other a carrot based mixture. Mattie had decided that he would give the baby at least half applesauce, and then as much carrot as the child wanted. Using one hand to help support Alfred's back a little, the Canadian had made a divot in the small jar of applesauce by use of an almost comically tiny spoon. Holding the spoon up to the boy's lips, he watched with a smile as Alfred's eyes became a bit larger and he leaned forward, opening his mouth and closing it firmly around the spoonful of mush. A fairly pleased sound could be heard coming from the baby, only to be silenced as Matthew slid the spoon away to scoop up a bit more. This time when brought back to the child's mouth, Alfred had missed the spoon slightly in his excitement, getting more of it around his mouth than anything. The Canadian couldn't help but chuckle, using the spoon to collect the bit of spillover and deposit it dutifully into the baby's mouth.
Dutifully ferrying the sweet mush into the child's mouth, Matthew hadn't been able to help but smile even further. He most definitely saw the appeal in his brother appearing much more bearable and easier to manage than when he was an adult...well, that was before they got to the carrot and all of hell seemed to of been unleashed.
Simply put, Alfred wanted no part in it, resulting in the Canadian's current state of messy massacre. The baby had shrieked and flailed, using a surprising amount of strength in his movements. But now it appeared he was calm, babbling contentedly around a mush covered fist as he stared up at Matthew, eyes a little wider than usual, as if proclaiming innocence to anything that had transpired. Finding himself unable to get too irritated, the Canadian found himself giving a soft, exasperated smile as he let the small spoon clunk into one of the empty jars. "Naughty, Al...already a troublemaker." he spoke softly to his brother, who replied by giggling and squirming about, pressing his tiny bare feet against Matthew leg and pushing, as if attempting to propel himself onto the carpeted ground. "Nu uh.." Canada chuckled, slowly standing with the boy cradled against him, preventing the youngling's obvious desire to explore. "Should get you all cleaned up first, eh?"
Making his way into the kitchen, the elder of the two went over to the sink, setting Alfred down on the granite countertop and placing a steadying hand on the boy's back to help him sit up. Reaching over with his free hand, he plucked up a pastel orange dishcloth, dampening it before quickly setting to cleaning the young American's face.
"Ba!"
The sound of protest of course came from the child, who had set to fussing, nose crinkling as his hands clenched into small fists and he leaned back, attempting to move out of range of the unpleasant cloth. "Bhhh guh!" Trying to keep the baby from toppling off the counter, Matthew thankfully held quite a bit more power than that of a possibly eight or nine month old. "shhh..." the Canadian attempted to sooth, ignoring what sounded to be angry baby babbling coming from the infant and instead firmly continuing to remove the splattered food from Alfred's cheeks. "There..."
If possible, his now extremely younger brother looked fairly cross with him over what had just transpired...which Matthew simply found adorable in quite a few aspects. "C'mon, grumpy butt." Picking him up once more, Canada poked the baby's slightly chubby cheek as he made his way to his brother's bedroom, laying said sibling down onto the bed. He then went about rummaging around the contents of a few dressers before removing a simple long-sleeved shirt of a dark blue hue. Because of the similar build he shared with Alfred, granted being the bigger country, the shirt fit well enough. By the time he turned back around, he saw that Alfie had managed to roll over onto his stomach...before promtly falling asleep. With a soft smile and confident that the little one wouldn't be rolling off the bed anytime soon, the Canadian left the room for a few moments to take care of some things. He then returned and it didn't take long for him to gently position the infant so that he could protectively hold him as he fell asleep. It was already fairly late, Matthew having arrived at the house around six, and it seemed both were content to sleep till morning.
Matthew exhaled softly as he readied himself to make the call, leaning forward in the driver's seat of his car in order to go through the contacts list instilled in the built in touchscreen. He gave it a moment to load and connect via his blackberry, which was cradled in one of the cup holders. Finger hovering over the desired name, the Canadian hesitated for nearly the fifth time as he glanced over his shoulder to look at his now tiny brother. Just thirty minutes prior, he'd removed one of the larger boxes he'd left in his trunk from his trip to the baby store, setting up the car seat with just a bit of difficulty. The true struggle had been getting Alfred to stop fussing long enough to strap the child in; although it became easier once he'd nearly swaddled the boy in a blanket of soft blue and introduced a few plastic blocks. Which the child was attempting to currently nom on...
Shaking his head, Matthew turned his attention back to the screen and cautiously pressed the intended contact. Heart hammering away in his chest, the Canadian shifted the car into drive and added pressure to the gas petal as he waited for the ringing to end. After just a few moments, a voice echoed around the car, causing the child in the backseat to glance up from his previous focus of nomming on the plastic toy.
"'ello...?"
"England...? It's Canada...I-I...er...I need to know wh-"
"Who..?"
There was a moment of silence as Matthew instinctively glared in the direction of the panel, turning down onto one street, diligently gaining distance from America's home.
"That joke went stale over thirty years ago, Arthur..." responded the Canadian dryly, turning his gaze back to the road. There was then an immediate chuckle that reverberated from the speakers.
"Calm down, Lad. It's simply far too tempting on occasion...Now then, are you alright?"
Canada felt his lips quirk slightly as his view remained on the road. Not that Arthur would ever admit it, but Matthew and a few others knew that the man could be quite the mother hen without even realizing it.
"I'm Fine...I just need to know which hotel you and Francis are staying at for the upcoming meeting..."
There was a pause on England's side, although it didn't last long. "And what makes you think i'd know where that bloody frog is staying...!?"
Matthew slowly shook his head, hoping that the two hadn't had one of their usual falling outs. He could practically hear the sneer present in the Englishman's voice. "Dad..." the Canadian murmured softly, trying to let the other know just how important it was that he procure the information quickly.
Apparently, it worked. After a much longer pause than previously, Arthur huffed, seeming to catch on that time was of the essence. "We're at the Westing New York Grand Central..." he responded tersely, "Room 203 and 204.."
Matthew emitted a faint sound, along that of a sigh, glad that he was headed in the right direction. He also took that to mean that Arthur and Francis had conjoint rooms, as they were prone to do on occasion...not that a certain Englishman would ever admit to it. "Thanks, Arthur. I need to see the both of you so I should be there soon..." he trailed off, hesitance creeping into his voice. He didn't want to completely blind side them with the information concerning Alfred...but how could he possibly prepare them without Arthur going into a tizzy? "Ah...o-one more thing...eh...While I'm fine...Alfred sort of..i-isn't...So i'm bringing him with m-"
"What?!"
The Briton's shout seemed to almost vibrate throughout the vehicle, demanding to be answered. Unfortunately, the answer it received came in the form of a piercing wail coming from the backseat. The loud sound from Arthur had managed to startle the deaged American, who jolted at the noise before his lower lip began to tremble, tears not far behind before the crying started.
"What's that?!" the Englishman's voice demanded just a second later, just as shrill but twisted with a bit of confusion, "Matthew! Who's cr-"
"Please just don't freakout WhenWeGetThereOkayBye!" The Canadian lurched forward in his seat in his eagerness to press the end call button, cutting the other off, desperation overriding his usual Canadian politeness.
Trying to mentally recall the exact way to the named hotel, Matthew sighed as he took a glance into the rearview mirror, staring at the still wailing American. The child's face had tinted a light pink, hands clenched into little fists around the fuzzy blue blanket as he sobbed. With his infant mentality, the boy probably had no clue why he was still crying. Giving a soft exhale of resignation, the maple loving blonde was forced to pull over to the side of the road and console the distraught American until he'd calmed down enough for Matthew to resume driving.
Some time later, having finally managed to squish his car into a spot along the curb amoungst the crowded city street, Matthew found himself half leaning into the backseat of the car as he double checked over the contents of the diaper bag he'd been sure to fully stock. The bag itself was a pale green with equally light blue flaps and swirling designs along the lines of lady bugs, dragonflies, and butterflies. There were numerous compartments, including pouches on either side to hold capped baby bottles and the like.
Once satisfied, the Canadian swung the bag over his shoulder and leaned in once more, carefully removing the enthusiastically babbling American from his car seat and fixing the blanket that was wrapped around him. Locking the car door, Matthew held Alfred close as he made his way down the street in the direction of the hotel. The sooner he got this over with, the better. "Ah, Maple..." he mumbled as he curled the tiny American closer to himself in order to protect him from the biting wind. It was fall, and so the weather had managed to become a tad nippy as of late. Exhaling loudly, he watched as a small bit of frosted air puffed out as a result. Damn. Thankfully, he soon entered the destined hotel, the large sign making it hard to miss as he went about carefully not bumping into anyone walking about. He'd admit that the city had some appealing aspects...but it was just so very crowded.
Bouncing the American enough to earn an immensely please giggle, Matthew felt his smile grow at the absolutely innocent look on the younger's face. Taking a breath, he made quick work of figuring out which floor Francis and Arthur's rooms would be on, mentally preparing himself for what he would say.
Hopefully all this would go well...
A/N:
I'm sorry if it's not that long. I try to make them at least more than 2,000 words, which is easier said than done.
Anywho~ Hope you enjoyed. Also, I have another fic in the making that has more of a hogwarts theme as well as FACE family. Plenty of fluff to come from that. So if you want to check it out, just click my profile.