The Setup
Part 2

It had taken quite a bit to set up, but it was all done, and the next day was March 31sth.

"So everyone knows exactly what they're doing?" Matthew muttered nervously. He and Prussia were sitting in his living room, going over everything for the eight-hundredth time.

"Don't worry! Everything is going to be perfect! Francis will be here tomorrow morning, and Arthur assured me he knows everything that needs to be done."

"I still can't believe we got them in on this too..."

"Well, who wouldn't want to be part in pranking Alfred, of all people? Everyone wants to get back him for something!"

Matthew smiled sheepishly, "I'm just nervous... So much of this rests on me, what if I mess up?"

"I've seen you act, you'll be fine!" Checking his watch, Gilbert snickered a bit, "Nine o'clock... Arthur should be calling him now!"

"I hope this all works out..." Matthew shifted a bit in his seat. Everything was going to start tomorrow night, at 11:45.

They had planned every detail, everything that could go wrong. They'd pulled several all-nighters just brainstorming, not to mention all the phone calls to Francis and Arthur, trying to convince them to take part in their scheme.

First, they made sure Alfred was constantly busy, between 'last-minute political relations meetings' with Matthew and nights out with Arthur. If he remembered the date or realized it was nearing April 1st, everything would have been for nothing. Second, they had to make sure he was somewhere in the general area of Matthews house, preferably about 20 minutes away. Third, once everything started, it could NOT stop. So far, everything had been running pretty smoothly. Alfred had literally no time to plan any pranks over the last two weeks (they prayed he hadn't planned something much father ahead of time, but it so far seemed like he hadn't), and he didn't even seem to notice that the dreaded first of April was approaching.

Matthew went over the plan one last time in his head before the phone rang, snapping him back to reality. Glancing at Prussia who nodded reassuringly, he answered, "Hello?"

"I just dropped him off at his hotel room. Told him I was going to your house to speak with you about some business. He looked exhausted, said he was going straight to bed. I'll be there in about 15 minutes. Is everything ready?"

"Don't worry, we're all good. Papa is already here. Now we're just waiting for you."

"Good, see you soon."

"See you soon..."

"One last thing, Matthew."

"Yes?"

"I've said it before, I know, but this is idea... It's bloody genius."

~o~0~o~

Alfred trudged into his hotel room, flung off his boots and coat and went straight for the bed. He'd been incredibly busy over the past month (much to his shock), and he was starting to reach his limit. Flopping down face first, he briefly pondered turning on the TV just for a bit of noise before deciding the remote was too far from his reach to really bother.

He wasn't exactly sure when he had dozed off, but when he opened his eyes again the clock read 11:40. At first, he wondered just what the hell had stirred him from his much-needed sleep, but then he heard the ring of his cell phone. Much to his dismay, he crawled out of bed and grabbed the obnoxiously ringing object (why the hell had he chosen 'America, Fuck Yeah' as his ring tone...?), flipping it open to look at the ID.

"Prussia?" He didn't bother hiding the annoyance in his voice, yet alone the obnoxious yawn that followed.

"Ja, hi there, dude," He voice shook a bit, which kinda threw Al. Gil always sounded ridiculously confident, but now he sounded almost... Scared. "Um... Hey, can you come over to Matthew's place?"

"Huh? Matt's place? Why?" The tone of the Prussians voice was starting to scare Alfred, which woke him up somewhat. He sounded really serious, and that was rather worrying.

"Well, I was over here hanging out, y'know with the conference coming up and everything. We planned on me staying over here for the next couple days so I wouldn't have to come all the way up from my place and... Well, anyways, England shows up. He says he wants to talk with Matthew about some important stuff, so they go into Matt's office for about ten minutes before the doorbell rings again. This time, it was France, who apparently found out England was here, God knows how, and decided he had a bone to pick with him. And I mean, you know how those two are, ja? They started getting into it like they always do, poor Matthew right in between them. It was kinda weirding me out, though, cause you know how he normally tries to break them up, calm them down? Well, he wasn't doing that this time. He was just standing there with this blank look on his face. And then he just... Well..."

There was a pause, and neither country spoke for what felt like hours. "Gil... He just... What?"

"He just... Snapped."

Author's Notes: The fun stuff is coming up! YAY! w