Whoot, March is up! I do not own Hetalia, yo.

"Daddy?"

"Hm? What is it, Alfred?" Arthur Kirkland asked, looking up from his book and over at his son. Alfred, who was supposed to be finishing his homework, was sitting at the dining room table, an empty worksheet laying in front of him. Arthur gave a slight sigh. "You're supposed to be doing your homework, love."

Alfred scrunched up his nose. "It's too hard."

Arthur smiled. "Nonsense, Alfred. You just told me you knew how to do all of this."

"Duh," the boy retorted. "That's what kids are supposed to do; say stuff they know their parents want to hear."

Arthur raised his large eyebrows. "Oh? Is that so?"

"Yeah. But, I really, really don't get this!" He grabbed his homework and made his way to his father, who was sitting at the other side of the table. Arthur marked his page with his bookmark (one Alfred made for him when the child was in first grade, actually) and glanced over at the worksheet. "It's fractions, Dad, and it's impossible!"

The Briton laughed. "It's not impossible, Alfred- you're just not trying hard enough." He took Alfred and set the boy on his lap, then faced the 'impossible' homework. "Now, look, son- all you do is add the top numbers together. See, what's 3+4?"

Alfred stuck his tongue out in concentration. "Uh, is it 7?"

"Great! Now, what do you do with the bottom number, that 10?"

Grabbing the pencil, Alfred carefully wrote a 7 as he thought about his father's question. "D-Do you add those two 10's together?"

"No. Come on, Alfred, think."

Of course, Alfred figured that thinking it through was just much too difficult. "I don't get it!"

Arthur sighed again, though he still kept a calm smile etched upon his face. "Watch what I do, okay?" He took the pencil from Alfred and drew two circles on the back of the worksheet. Each was divided into tenths, but he colored three parts of one and four parts of another. "Pretend these are two pieces of pie."

"What type?"

"Is that really important?"

Alfred gave him a serious stare. "Dad, you know I don't like pecan pie. So, it can't be pecan. I also don't like your meat pie."

The older man gave a chuckle, ruffling Alfred's dirty-blond hair. "Silly boy, I make a most delicious meat pie!" Alfred laughed with him. "Okay, how about we make it a chocolate pie, then?"

The grin on the boy's face was dazzling, Arthur noted. "Yeah! Chocolate pie!"

With that decided, Arthur pointed to the two circles on the paper. "Back to business, now. Okay, Alfred, you already said you'd get seven slices of pie, correct?" Alfred nodded in confirmation. "However, since we had ten to begin with on both, how much will we get at the end?"

He realized he explained it wrong when Alfred counted out every piece. "20!"

Dang, teaching is really much harder than I figured it would be. "W-Wait, I'm just confusing you." Arthur quickly erased one of the circles, and the shadings in the leftover. "Let's forget what I was doing. So, here we have a circle with ten slices of pie-"

"Chocolate pie."

"Yes, chocolate pie. You're going to be eating three and I'll be eating four, okay?"

"Hey, how come you get more pieces than I do?"

Arthur's shoulders sagged. "You can have four then." Ignoring Alfred's 'yippee' of joy, Arthur continued. "So, Alfred, shade in the three pieces of pie for me and the four for you." Once Alfred finished this task, Arthur said, "There. Seven slices between us. How many slices are there, though, in all?"

"Ten," Alfred responded, almost instantly.

Arthur nodded. "Yes. Because we're adding the fractions, the bottom number will stay the same."

Alfred looked as if Arthur's rather awful explanation cleared a few things up. "Oh! So, it'd be 7/10?"

For his correct answer, he received a quick kiss to the cheek. "Excellent job, lad! Now, continue working on it while I make us something for dinner."

As he walked into the kitchen, he heard Alfred yell, "No meat pie, please!"

Later that week, Alfred came home with a gold star on his hand and announced that he'd been on his best behavior and did all of his homework. Seeing the young boy so happy filled Arthur with joy, so he celebrated this small event by driving Alfred down to the park.

His little jitterbug could barely stand still. "You're really gonna buy me some ice cream later on?" he asked, grabbing his father's hand as they walked down a trail.

"Most certainly," Arthur responded with a grin. "You deserve it, Alfred. I saw that you received pretty good grades on all of your assignments."

"Yep! Fractions aren't that hard, are they?"

Deciding to omit the fact that they were impossible to teach, Arthur agreed. "Of course not." He also left out the little 'I told you so' and opted on another smile. "You're a quick learner, though. I was surprised."

Alfred giggled. "It's 'cause I'm so smart!" he exclaimed. A soft breeze came around and Alfred stuck his hands in the pockets of his light jacket, scooting closer to his father. "Look at all of the leaves!" he pointed out, staring up at the trees.

Arthur followed suit. "Yes, they are growing back quite beautifully, aren't they?" He, too, always loved watching the winter melt away into spring, and he was overjoyed that Alfred seemed to share the same enthusiasm for nature. "Soon, all of the trees in our yard will be filled with leaves again, right?"

With a sigh of relief, Alfred responded, "As long as they don't fall back down. I hate raking up those leaves."

"Well, sometimes it just has to be done," Arthur replied, chuckling. "You're very good with yard work, Alfred, so why do you complain?"

"Because it was cold!" Alfred gave his father a pout. "I hate the cold."

"You like snow perfectly fine."

"That's different."

Arthur wasn't quite sure how exactly it was different, but he decided not to push it. Alfred's way of thinking had already proved to be quite odd and random some of the times, so Arthur never really pushed it. Besides, most children had some very strange thoughts that never made any sense whatsoever. Might as well let it go until they matured enough to have realistic thoughts. "Oh, okay," was all he said.

They walked in silence for a few minutes. "Hey, Daddy?"

"Hmm?"

"Did you know that Saint Patrick's Day is on Monday?"

"I did."

"Can I wear green to school? If I don't, all of the other kids will tackle me and pinch me." He frowned. "I don't wanna be pinched."

Arthur took Alfred's hand in his own. "Now, now, Alfred, no one will pinch you if you don't wear green."

"They will, too!" Alfred argued. "Lovino told me! He said that everyone gets pinched if they don't wear green!"

Sighing, Arthur answered, "Alfred, Lovino is just trying to mess with you. He's done this before, remember?" Alfred gave a small nod- Lovino had always been somewhat of a bully to him. "But, yes, of course you may wear green."

This put Alfred's worries at ease. "Really? Phew, that way I won't be pinched! But, I need to wear a lot of green, just to be sure I'm safe. Do we have any green pants?"

"We might."

"Okay, I need some of those. And, I already have a shirt that's green. Ooh, Daddy, can we stop by the store and grab a green hat! That way, no one will pinch my face 'cause then I'll have green up there, too! And, I also need some socks-"

The older man rolled his eyes. "Alfred, you do not need to wear all of that green."

"Daddy!"

"We'll go buy you a hat and look for some pants, but that's all I'm going to buy, understand?"

Alfred wrapped his arms around Arthur's waist. "Thanks, Dad! You're the best!"

"I know," Arthur teased, giving his son a small tickle as they exited the forest. "Now, how about you go play on the playground some?"

"Okay!" Alfred yelled with glee, running quickly toward the swings.

Arthur chose a spot to sit where he could keep an eye on Alfred, but wasn't especially pleased when an albino man sat down next to him. "Yo, Artie, my man!"

"Hello to you, too, Gilbert," Arthur responded coldly.

Gilbert was a constant customer to the bookstore which Arthur owned. He was always messing around, and just loved bringing in stacks of journals he had apparently written to ask if he could sell them. Quite honestly, Arthur wondered who the hell would buy such crap, but he had to be polite to his customer, so he usually just responded with a clear 'no'.

Arthur was certain Gilbert just liked annoying him on a daily basis. Quite like a certain Frenchman, the Briton thought, wondering if the two of them were somehow devising a plan to get on Arthur's last nerves.

"Ah, I see young Alfred is running out and about as usual, being quite the little Energizer Bunny."

"Obviously."

"Man, you really ought to lighten up some!" Gilbert laughed and leaned back against the bench they were sharing. "You should be more like me!"

Arthur raised an eyebrow. "A crazy lunatic who enjoys nothing more than getting drunk and acting like a complete bonehead?"

"Harsh," Gilbert commented. "I was going to say a relaxed, happy man!"

Rolling his eyes, Arthur replied. "I'm quite relaxed and happy, thank you very much."

He could feel those odd, red eyes studying him. "Francis was right- you are pretty tense."

Ah, so he IS in league with Francis. Bloody wanker. "What are you even doing here?"

Gilbert shot him a grin. "Parents went out of town, so I'm babysitting precious little Ludwig here." He pointed over to his little brother, who was slowly swinging, looking quite mature for his age, as compared to Gilbert. "Hey, isn't he in the same class with Alfred?"

Arthur nodded. "I believe they are."

"Awesome!" Gilbert laughed, though Arthur honestly didn't see what was so 'awesome' or funny about it. Really, sometimes Gilbert was just too much to understand. "Man, they're cute, aren't they?" Arthur agreed and Gilbert continued. "Back when I was a kid, I was also quite adorable! My parents loved me, and when I moved out, my mom cried for days and days." He smirked. "I guess they just weren't prepared to let such cuteness leave. But, I had to explore the world!"

"I'm certain that most parents would become upset when their child wishes to leave," Arthur muttered, feeling a headache coming on. "It's not just you."

"Boy, you're really scared to admit that I'm freaking adorable. C'mon, Artie, you know you love all of this!" He gestured to himself, and Arthur just narrowed his eyes.

"Believe it or not, Gilbert, I'm not all that interested in you."

The albino just laughed some more. Seriously, Arthur thought. Why in the world is he laughing? "Don't deny it, don't deny it, Arthur!"

Arthur merely gave a groan. "You're the sole definition of annoying."

"And awesome. I'm sure if you look in the dictionary at the word 'awesome', it'll say 'Gilbert'."

"I'm pretty sure it doesn't."

"Yeah, well I'm pretty sure it just depends on what dictionary you're using!"

With a sigh, Arthur sat back. "I use the Webster dictionary, and it says nothing about Gilbert being awesome."

Gilbert shook his head. "That's because you're using the wrong one."

"Webster's dictionary is now wrong?"

"Yeah!" Gilbert folded his arms behind his head and grinned. "I use Urban Dictionary."

Arthur smiled coldly. "That, Gilbert, is filled with user-submitted definitions, meaning it can't be true. Almost like Wikipedia."

"Dude, Wikipedia is legit!"

Such arguments went on for nearly another hour before Alfred came running up to Arthur, out of breath but grinning. "Daddy, I'm ready for some ice cream now!"

Gilbert shot out of his seat. "Ice cream! Can I come?"

"No!" Arthur snapped to the other man. To Alfred, he said, "Okay, let's go." They walked off, ignoring as Gilbert made loud cries of protests, most of which included the phrase, "Artie, stop ignoring me!"

The ice cream shop was slightly empty, which eased Arthur's growing headache just a little bit. However, he was getting irritated when he realized how long it was taking for Alfred to choose the flavor he wanted. "Why not just get chocolate like you normally do?"

Alfred sighed. "Daddy, I like trying new stuff." Finally, he pointed the the green-mint ice cream. "That one, please!"

They sat down together, Arthur slowly eating his bowl of vanilla and Alfred licking his own mint ice cream. "Since when do you like mint?"

"Since now!" Alfred shot back. "Hey, do you think I'd be safer from pinches if I smeared this all over my face?"

Arthur groaned. "Oh, please don't do that, Alfred! It won't help at all- it'll just make your face sticky." Frankly, Arthur wasn't in the mood to clean up one of Alfred's messes.

The young boy just giggled. "I wasn't going to, don't worry, Dad. I don't wanna have a green face, anyway. It'll make me look too much like a frog." He grinned. "You don't want a frog for a son, do you?"

"I don't know. He'd be a lot less noisy, for one."

Alfred stuck out his tongue. "I'm not that noisy."

"I beg to differ."

"No, no, frogs are noisier! They go RIBBIT! RIBBIT! RIBBIT!" He imitated a frog the best he could, earning glances from the others around them. Usually, Arthur would have scolded his son and told him to quiet down, but he now just gave a soft smile.

"That is true. But, they don't talk and ask silly questions."

"My questions are not silly!" Alfred exclaimed. He earned himself a poke to the forehead.

"Okay, your questions may not be silly, but you most certainly are."

Alfred gave another giggle. "That's why you like me, isn't it?"

"Mm, I guess it's one of the reasons." Arthur leaned over and took a lick from Alfred's ice cream. "Hey, that's really good. Here, why don't you let me finish the rest?"

Alfred quickly pushed him back. "Oh, no, Daddy! You eat your nasty vanilla. This is mine!"

Freaking fluff galore! See, my last story was kinda angsty, so I just wanted to make a plain cute one. I didn't add as much on St. Patty's Day as I originally planned, and I REALLY wasn't expecting Gilbert to pop up (I just write- I don't think), but whatever. Please enjoy and review!