Canada woke up rather early, a habit that he had developed during his colony days and never really stopped. The house was quiet - except for Prussia's snoring from the other air mattress - so he assumed that none of the others had woken up yet. He made his way upstairs to the rest of the house, trying to decide what to do. The girl, Kate, didn't have a very large house, and it wasn't very long before Canada found himself in the kitchen. He looked at the clock - almost 7:00. Canada shrugged and started rummaging around the kitchen for the ingredients to make pancakes.
The sounds of the rummaging woke Armistead, who opened his eyes and sat up, looking around for the source of the sound and realizing that it came from the next room. He got up from the sofa bed, trying not to wake Hancock, but doing so all the same.
"Lo? What are you doing?" The younger general asked.
Armistead shrugged, nodded towards the kitchen. "I'm going to see what's going on."
Sitting up, Hancock glanced towards the other room, also shrugged. "Alright, I'll come with you."
Both of them stood up and went into the kitchen, watching Canada in silence from the doorway for a moment.
Canada looked up, having a feeling that he was being watched. "Oh, hello," He said to the two generals, still a bit uncertain about them. After all, they clearly weren't from any reality that was recent in time to this one. And their uniforms had looked suspiciously familiar, although he couldn't quite put his finger on it. "I'm just making breakfast... You don't mind pancakes, right?"
"Not at all," Hancock replied, "Perhaps there is something I can do to help?"
Canada smiled. "Absolutely!" He checked the griddle resting on the stovetop - it should be hot enough by now. Spooning some of the pancake batter onto the griddle, he said, "Could you keep an eye on these and flip them when they need it?"
Hancock nodded and headed towards the griddle, glancing towards Armistead who followed him into the kitchen when he realized that before he could make pancakes, he needed to make a quick run to the bathroom. "Lo, keep an eye on them for a minute," he said, before leaving the room once again.
For a moment, Armistead stared at the pancakes, noticing something next to the griddle that appeared to be what one would flip the pancakes with. He picked it up and looked at it for a moment. While he had never made pancakes before, it looked familiar and so he stuck it under one of the pancakes and started to flip it over.
As soon as Armistead started to flip it, the pancake started to fall apart, then fall back to the griddle, splattering pancake mix all over the counter, the floor, himself (mostly on his face and beard) and Canada who was standing not too far away.
Canada hesitated for a moment, before glancing over at the embarrassed-looking general. After a slightly awkward moment, he laughed lightly. "You tried flipping it too early," he said simply, before grabbing a towel to clean up the mess. Kate's dog was busy eating the mix that had fallen on the floor, while Kumajiro just stared at the scene with an expression that bordered on amusement.
Kate wandered into the kitchen, woken up by the sounds of people walking around the house. She was still in her pajamas and her hair was a total mess, and she looked a bit out of it as she stared at the scene before her. "...Whatever. Need caffeine," She said after a long pause.
Armistead looked at the mass of pancake mix that was now a large lump on the griddle, then at the mix that was in his beard. Wonderful, just how he needed to start the morning...
"Sorry," he said after a moment, "I didn't know..."
Kate gently pushed Canada out of her way as she went to get a mug from the cabinet. "You might want to wash your face," she muttered as she filled the mug with water before dropping a teabag into it and putting it into the microwave.
Armistead glanced towards Kate. Her suggestion was a good idea, considering that he was wearing pancake batter all over his face. He went to the sink and turned on the water, sticking his face into it. It was at this moment that Hancock walked back into the room and stared at the scene in front of him. "Lo... what are you doing?"
"He got pancaked," Kate grumbled, staring at the time on the microwave. When there were fifteen seconds left, she lost patience and yanked the microwave door open and took her tea. Trusting Matthew to handle whatever came next, she sat at the counter and watched, trying to wake up.
Matthew paused in mixing batter and flipped the slightly mutated pancake. "It's all right," he said in his usual mild voice. "I jumped to conclusions."
When Armistead looked up, his beard dripping wet but at least minus the pancake, he glanced at the other three. "You jumped to conclusions?" he asked, "How so?"
Hancock paused, then entered the room, approaching the griddle as he figured out what had happened. "I thought you knew how to make pancakes, Lo..."
Canada shook his head. "I'm sorry," he apologized, mostly on principle. He glanced at the clock. Not very much time had passed since he had started cooking, so Prussia was probably still sleeping. It was interesting that someone who had been so militaristic was so reluctant to wake up early. "Um, Mr... Armistead is it? Gilbert's still asleep. He'll probably sleep through breakfast if left on his own."
Kate shrugged and put down her now half-empty teacup. "This could be interesting," she mumbled, deciding to go help wake up the Kingdom of Prussia. She smiled to herself, mentally added an 'awesome' before the title.
"I take it you want me to wake him up?" Armistead asked, glancing in the direction the countries had gone to sleep the night before. It made sense for him to do that after he'd made a mess with the pancakes. He wasn't much of a cook, although he did know how to make hardtack. That was a given being a general during the Civil War. He was used to living off of hardtack and other foods that could last for a while without spoiling.
Canada nodded, and Kate laughed. "Why do I have a feeling this is going to be great?" She asked to nobody in particular. After a brief hesitation, she added, "Um, Matt? Gilbert's not going to try to kill us for waking him up, right?"
Matthew shook his head. "No, he's not very violent when he's tired. Although he might start swearing at you."
Kate shrugged. "I can handle that."
Armistead smiled faintly. "Alright," he said, turning towards Kate. He didn't know the way around the house very well, and so he decided that he was going to follow her. It was better that way.
"This way!" Kate directed the General, bounding across the room and down the staris. She figured that Gilbert would either be woken up by the noise she made, which would save her some trouble, or he was a heavy sleeper, which could be amusing. Reaching the area of the basement that she had set up the two air mattresses in, it appeared that the latter case was true. Prussia was asleep, flat on his back, and snoring loudly. Kate had to cover her mouth with her hand to restrain a giggle.
Following Kate more slowly, Armistead moved to her side and watched Prussia for a moment. "He appears to be a sound sleeper."
Kate nodded slightly, knowing that she was grinning like a fool. Poking Gilbert's forehead yielded no real response, just a vaguely waved hand and some mumbling in German. Staring at Prussia, Kate tried to think of ways to force the former nation to rejoin the world of the living.
An idea hit her. It would quite possibly count as cruel and unusual punishment, but it also was practically guaranteed to wake up Prussia, if the comics had shown him accurately. Leaning over so she could speak in his ear, she adopted a slightly menacing tone and said, "Jó reggelt, Prussia..."
It worked. The albino screamed in what Kate noted was most certainly not an awesome way and fell off the mattress in his panic. His expression caused Kate to start laughing hysterically, leaning against the wall for support.
"Wha- bu- WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT FOR?!" Gilbert eventually screamed.
Not having any idea what Kate had said, since he didn't speak German, Armistead stood off to the side, watching with slight amusement, although he was certain that whatever had been said, was not very nice. But at least it had done the job, for Prussia was certainly awake.
"Good morning, Gilbert," Armistead said, deciding that he would use the human name instead of the country name. It was still strange to think of these people as countries.
Thoroughly annoyed, Prussia glared at Kate and Armistead. "That was a low trick," he muttered. And then something else occurred to him. "Wait. You speak Hungarian?!"
Kate shrugged. "I didn't mention it?" she asked, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. Admittedly, it was rather mean of her to do that, but she wouldn't admit it out loud. "Whatever. Canada's taken over the kitchen. He's making pancakes."
"Pancakes!" Gilbert shouted, charging up the stairs. Apparently any anger - or fatigue - at being woken up didn't stand a chance against the promise of food.
Armistead watched him go, before looking over towards Kate. "I thought that was German," he stated. A part of him wanted to ask what it meant, but he decided against it. He wasn't sure if he wanted to know what it meant.
Kate shook her head. "Nah, it was Hungarian. My grandmother taught me a few phrases." She started up the stairs again, motioning for the General to follow her. "And I couldn't really think of another way to get him to wake up quickly."
"What did it mean?" Armistead asked, deciding to ask anyway, even though he'd decided against it a moment before. He was curious as he followed Kate back up the stairs.
Looking back at the General, Kate could see that he thought that her comment had been less than polite. Laughing slightly at the assumption, she said, "It meant 'Good morning', actually. It's more that I was speaking Hungarian that freaked him out like that."
"What do you mean the pancakes aren't done yet?!" Gilbert shouted.
Canada glared back at him with a rarely-found intensity. "I meant what I said!" He snapped, voice still quiet. "You can wait for a few minutes."
Armistead paused for a moment when he heard the shout, just at the top of the stairs. "He's rather demanding, isn't he?"
Kate laughed slightly. "Only a little bit." Reaching the kitchen, she had to restrain herself from laughing outright at Gilbert, sitting at the counter with what could only be defined as a pout. "Everything going well, here?" She asked.
"You told me there would be food," Gilbert muttered, like a sullen child.
"Yes. Will. Future tense."
Smiling faintly upon that comment, Armistead watched the progress in the kitchen as Hancock turned to look at him and Kate. "I can see that you succeeded in getting him up," he stated, glancing towards Prussia then. "Your name is Gilbert, right?"
Prussia nodded. "Yeah, Gilbert Beilshmidt. Or Prussia. But if you call me East, I will punch your face in. Not even West can call me that."
Hancock stared at him for a moment. "Prussia is a country, you can't possibly be a country," he said, "And who's West?"
Canada glanced up at Hancock in surprise, while Prussia just hung his head. "Way to kill the awesome. Seriously. You still don't get it? Really?"
"Ah... West is Germany," Kate clarified, cutting in. "His brother."
"Germany and Prussia are countries," Hancock stated, "Not people. It's impossible."
Armistead watched him in silence for a moment. "A few days ago I would have said that coming forward years into the future was impossible too. But that happened. So they could very well be who they say they are. Even though it's crazy, I believe them, Win."
Hancock stared at him. "You have lost your mind, Lo. It's impossible."
Prussia groaned in frustration. "That's it. I give up. You just totally ruined the awesome that is the almighty Kingdom of Prussia. Seriously. You're even more of a pain than... Whatever. Are those pancakes done yet?"
"Not yet," Canada said, smiling a bit at the scene. If someone didn't want to believe that they were nations, it wasn't his problem.
Prussia grumbled something in German under his breath.
Armistead looked at Hancock for a moment, then shrugged. There was no reason why the two couldn't be the countries they said they were. After all, so many strange things were happening lately. "Is Star going to join us again?" he asked after a moment, remembering the other girl who had been clinging to him the day before.
"Oh, right! Star!" Kate exclaimed, having previously been distracted by Prussia's antics. "Good point. I should probably call her." Passing Prussia on the way to the phone, she poked him. "Don't let your ego get too injured," she told him, slightly mockingly.
Prussia made a 'hmmph' noise. Kate shrugged and picked up the phone, dialing her friend's number. "Okay, everyone, could you be quiet? Because I don't think she's really awake yet and I really don't want to think about what her brother might think if he heard you guys in the background in case he answers..."
"We can be quiet," Armistead said, glancing at Hancock who also nodded.
Kate trusted Canada to be quiet - really, it was practically impossible for him to be loud - and Prussia was too busy recovering from a bruised ego to really say anything. Holding the phone against her ear, she leaned against the wall and counted the number of rings under her breath. "Three... Four..."
"Hello?" The voice of Star's younger brother came through the phone. He was the only one up at the house, seeing as he was more of a morning person then the rest of them, especially Star.
Kate was sorely tempted to bash her head against the wall. Murphy's law strikes again, she mentally griped. Out loud, she said, "Oh, hey Brian. Is Star up?"
"No," he answered, "She's still sleeping. Who is this?"
Kate rolled her eyes. "It's Kate. You know, the crazy girl who lives down the street?" She shook her head, ignoring the others in the kitchen listening in on the conversation. "Anyway. Could you go wake Star up? Tell her that my kitchen is apparently property of Canada, and she's invited over for pancakes."
"But she's still sleeping," he insisted, "And what are you talking about? She usually makes pancakes at home for breakfast..."
"Yeah, but it's nice to have pancakes when you didn't have to make them yourself," Kate attempted to reason. "And I know she's sleeping. Wake her up. Please?"
For a moment there was silence. "But I can't wake her up; she never gets up this early. Why does she have to come over now? She was over at your house yesterday."
"Hold on a second," Kate said, before pulling the phone away from her head and bashing her head against the wall. "Stubborn, idiotic little..." She grumbled, but quietly so she couldn't be heard over the phone. Putting the device back to her ear, she continued, "Fine. Just tell her that my kitchen is property of Canada when she wakes up, okay?"
"What does that mean?" He asked, clearly confused as to what Kate was talking about.
"It's... an inside joke. She'll get it." Kate replied, after a moment's hesitation.
"Okay," Star's brother agreed before hanging up the phone.
Kate hung up the phone before yelling in frustration. "How does she even live with that idiot!" She shouted to nobody in particular.
"That didn't go well, did it?" Armistead asked, having heard Kate's side of the conversation.
Kate shook her head. "No, not really."
"I'm guessing you find her brother a bit irritating?" Canada asked, clearly amused.
"You have no idea," Kate replied. "He's stubborn, hopelessly naive, and always convinced that he's right about..." She trailed off, noticing Canada's expression. "Actually, you probably understand a lot better than I do."
Prussia laughed. "You just insulted your own country!"
"It's not an insult if it's true," Kate shot back. "...I think."
"So, she isn't coming over then?" Hancock asked. He wasn't entirely sure what they were talking about, but he had picked up something from what he had heard while Kate was on the phone.
"Not for a while, at least," Kate admitted. "Star's not exactly a morning person."
"Pancakes are done," Canada mentioned.
"So is she like Gilbert in that sense?" Armistead asked, looking slightly amused.
"Hey!" Prussia sounded a bit offended. "I'm perfectly fine with waking up early! Unless I don't have to." He brightened up. "I heard someone mention pancakes!"
"I'm right here..." Canada mumbled.
"I know, I'm just messing with you," Prussia replied.
Armistead shrugged. "I wasn't trying to offend you..." he said, glancing towards the pancakes. It was better food then he'd had in a long time. Living off of army food wasn't exactly the tastiest food around.
Kate took the hint, and started rummaging around in the kitchen cabinets and drawers for enough plates and utensils. "Help yourselves," She vaguely directed. "Just leave enough for Star once she shows up." Prussia immediately went to take more than just a few pancakes.
"Hey, you got any syrup?" The albino asked.
Kate looked in the cabinet, rummaging around for some syrup. "Eh... only the fake stuff. If that's okay?" She turned back to the others to see their responses. Prussia shrugged and took the bottle. Canada made a slight face, but said that he was fine with it.
Picking up a plate, Armistead selected a few pancakes. "I haven't had food like this in a while," he said, glancing towards Canada. "Thank you, Matthew. I'm sorry for dropping the other pancake earlier too."
Kate decided to wait until everyone else had taken pancakes before she did, so she hovered out of the way.
Matthew smiled. "It's nothing, really." After a moment's pause, he added, "I've seen a lot worse, anyway. Especially that time Arthur insisted on helping make breakfast."
Kate blinked. "The mind boggles at the possibilities," she commented, getting a laugh from Canada. Prussia looked a bit disturbed at the idea of England's cooking. Word got around, apparently.
"Who's Arthur?" Armistead asked, glancing towards Hancock, who was remaining silent, then looking back towards Canada. He was interested in getting to know these other people, or nations, whoever they were.
"England," Kate, Prussia, and Matthew all answered at once.
Behind him, Armistead heard Hancock say under this breath, "Countries can't be people..." But he ignored his friend and nodded. He was trying to make sense of the world that Canada and Prussia came from.
Eventually, everyone got their pancakes, although Prussia was roughly halfway through his helping before Kate sat down at the counter. She had to admit, it was definitely a good thing that Canada had gotten his cooking skills from France and not England...