The next morning was a little hectic. The conference was being held in a high class hotel in the center of Paris at exactly eight am. That was a little too early for Francis, who much preferred to wake up at around seven thirty on normal days. Instead they had to wake up at six thirty, to have an hour before they left the door at seven thirty since they needed to be at the meeting a few minutes early.
Matthew had convinced Francis to allow Prussia to keep an eye on Alfred and Arthur. They had come up with the ultimate plan; to corner Prussia at the meeting and convince him to go back to the house with the kids. Both older nations decided to do this as quickly as possible, mostly for Arthur's sake. Scotland was going to represent the UK at the meeting, and they were afraid of what would happen when Arthur saw his older brother while in his child brothers hadn't had the best past in the world, and they weren't going to take any risks.
When they arrived inside the large conference room, only about half the countries were there since it was not beginning for a little while. Luckily Germany was there (He always was the first to arrive at meetings) so that meant Prussia would be there as well since he and his brother both came to meetings together. Ludwig's hands and lower arms were wrapped in bandages. Francis suddenly began to feel a little nervous.
"Er...why don't you go ask Germany where Prussia is, I'll take the boys and say hello to a few countries." Francis told Matthew, who gave a knowing sigh and complied. Francis then scooped Arthur up with one arm before taking Alfred's hand, leading them over to where Finland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, and Iceland were standing.
"Bonjour everyone!" Francis greeted them enthusiastically, moving of the other side of them before Germany could catch site of them. Now that Matthew was talking to him, the German would know that Francis was here.
"Hi!" Finland greeted back. "Aw, they're still little! Look at how cute they are!"
"Oui, they are very cute, are they not?" Francis replied, cringing as he saw Ludwig and Matthew look in their direction. Matthew waved him over, but France pretended not to see him, looking like he was in a heavy conversation with Finland. Finally Matthew gave up and began to walk towards their direction. Luckily Ludwig wasn't following them, as Feliciano had just come into the room and started a conversation with him.
"You know you cant hide from him forever right?" Matthew asked when he finally reached them.
"Hide from what?" Alfred asked curiously.
"Er, nothing Amerique" Francis said hurriedly. "So, did Germany say that he knew where Prussia was?"
"Yeah, he's with Antonio over there." Matthew answered, pointing across the other side of the room. "Should we go ask him to babysit before a lot of other countries get here?"
"Oui" Francis said. "Let's go."
Prussia was having a semi inappropriate conversation with Spain when they got across the room to him. Matthew cleared his throat, causing Prussia to stop talking and grin up at the Canadian.
"Why hello everyone! Ksesese, looks like you still haven't fixed the spell yet." He greeted them.
"That's why we wanted to ask you something. Can you do us a favor Gil?" Matthew asked him.
"A favor? Well I guess it depends...after all, I might be too awesome to do it."
"Well, the spell has affected Alfred and Arthur a lot more mentally...they wont be able to contribute to meetings, plus this meeting is going to bore them." Francis stepped in. "So we were wondering if you could just keep them bust for a few hours."
"Aw hell you mean like babysit?" Prussia asked. "But I was going to hang out here! Your meeting wont survive without my awesomeness!"
"It would just be for a few hours, and we'd even pay you. Well, as long as you didn't get them injured or killed." Matthew said.
"And Arthur's brother is going to be at this meeting. We don't want him to be scared." Francis whispered into Gilbert's ear so the little ones wouldn't hear.
"Well...I guess it could be fun watching the little devils" Gilbert finally decided, reaching down to ruffle Alfred's hair as he spoke. "So long as I get paid a high price. And you also have to allow me permission to bring them around Paris. I don't come here often enough and this city is exceptionally awesome so I wont be sitting in a house all day."
"Oui, oui" Francis agreed. "I'll pay you when the meetings over, and you can use my credit card while you watch them so long as you don't over spend. I also give you permission to bring them around Paris, but you must take my car since it has their booster seats. Mathieu and I will ask someone to bring us home. Also, no bringing them to bars or clubs of any sort, and remember to feed them lunch!"
"Okay, okay!" Gilbert agreed. "Now hand over your keys and credit card so we can get the hell out of here and have some fun!"
Francis sighed but handed them over. Gilbert smirked, looking down at the two small nations. Alfred was cewing on a thumbnail while Arthur gave the Prussian a look of disgust.
"Francis...your not going to leave us with him are you?" Arthur asked, though he already knew the answer.
"It will only be for a few hours. I want you both to behave for him. Also, you each have permission to hit them if he does something he's not supposed to." Francis said.
"Francis, don't encourage violence!" Matthew said. "But...I have to agree."
"Hey!" Gilbert whined.
"Sorry Gil" Matthew said with a chuckle. "But seriously please take care of them. Now you guys better get going before the other countries arrive."
"Okie dokie" Gilbert said. "Come on kids, it's time to start on our day of awesomeness!"
"You had better hope that nothing happens Mathieu" Francis growled as Gilbert left with Alfred and Arthur.
"It'll be fine" Matthew assured, though be began to feel nervous. "Let's take our seats."
Both countries sat down next to each other. Matthew shifted through both the papers for himself as well as Alfred's papers. Francis took out his notes as well. Suddenly out of the blue, something was slammed down onto the table in front of them. It was some sort of weird box that was sealed tightly.
"Your Sparkling FireCoconut" A very irritated German accent said. Francis jumped, turning around to look at Ludwig.
"Ah...Merci Ludwig" Francis said nervously. Ludwig only stared at him with an icy cold gaze for a moment.
"You must be very stupid to ask Italy to go inside a volcano and expect him to get it." He finally said. "The only reason I'm not going to seriously injure you is because we need America and England to get better, and you seem to be an important key to making the potion. However..."
Trailing off, Germany drew back a bandaged fist before letting it slam violently into Francis's face.
"However, I don't have a problem with knocking some sense into you." Ludwig finished, ignoring the gasps from Canada and a few others. He then nodded to himself before walking back to his seat. Francis sported a bloody nose, but he knew that he deserved it.
"Are you okay?" Matthew asked in concern.
"Oui, just peachy" Francis sighed, trying to tend to his nose. "At least we have one ingredient though."
"Yeah" Matthew sighed. "Now we just have to find illegal candy, a flower that Russia doesn't want us to have, a bubbletrout or something, and then a banana."
...
While Francis and Matthew were having a wonderful (Not really) time at the meeting, Prussia was just living the live driving Francis's cool car. Maybe this day wouldn't be so bad. Right now all the windows in the car were rolled down and really loud rock music was playing...except it was in French so they couldn't really understand what the song was about.
"Where are we going?" Alfred yelled above the loud music.
"Er...I'm not really sure!" Gilbert shouted back. Hmm, where exactly could they go? Francis said no bars or clubs, so that made his options limited...very limited. The albino glanced in the two kids from his review mirror, sighing in mild annoyance. How was he supposed to have fun with these two brats tagging along? Where could he take kids that would also be fun for him?
"Your not sure?" Arthur asked. "But Alfred and I are bored!"
"Well where the hell am I supposed to take you?" Gilbert asked impatiently.
"Over there!" Alfred spoke up again, pointing out the car window towards a small children's petting zoo. "Yeah!" Arthur agreed, both children starting to clap. Gilbert groaned. He didn't want to spend the day looking at small, cute, insanely adorable animals...then again, maybe they could stay for a little while, even just for a few minutes. He pulled into the parking lot of the little farm type place.
"I wanna see the pigs!" Alfred said excitedly as they made their way towards where other small children were crowding around little animal pens.
"No, lets go look at the goats!" Arthur said.
"Oh no" Gilbert shook his head. "Before we do anything else, we're seeing the llamas!"
For the next hour they spent their time petting all of the cute animals. Gilbert had to admit, this was actually sort of fun. Even hanging out with Alfred and Arthur. Once you spent some time with them, they could be sort of fun, in a cute little kid sort of way.
"Gilbert, I'm hungry" Alfred said a little while later. Gilbert checked his phone for the time to see that it was almost noon.
"Okay, why don't we go get pizza?" Gilbert suggested. He was feeling like something cheesy, so pizza would do the trick. He got Alfred and Arthur into the car and drove to a restaurant he'd seen on the way to the conference that morning.
Gilbert bought a lot of food. After all, Francis did give him his credit card to spend so he might as well make the most of it. Alfred ate about three whole slices, but Arthur only took two bites of his one slice before pushing his plate away.
"I don't want any...I don't feel hungry anymore." He said.
"Francis said to make sure you guys ate. I want my money, so eat your pizza brat!" Gilbert said, taking another large bite of his own. Arthur meekly took another small bite, looking at the pizza with distaste.
"What's wrong Arthur? We've eaten pizza before!" Alfred said optimistically. "It's almost as good as McDonalds!"
"I know, but I sort of feel funny" Arthur said quietly, more to himself then Gilbert and Alfred.
When they were done with lunch Gilbert decided to take them back to Francis's house and see if he had any beer there. The Frenchman didn't say he couldn't drink at their house, right? He only said not to go to any bars or clubs. Halfway back to the house, Alfred spoke.
"Gilbert, Arthur's crying!"
"What?" Gilbert asked, glancing back to see that it was true. "Why are you crying kid?"
"M-my tummy feels weird!" Arthur cried.
"Aw shit" The albino muttered. "What kind of weird? Do you feel sick?"
He got his answer three seconds later when Arthur threw up all over himself and the car seat, his sobs increasing. Alfred looked crossed between scared and grossed out, while Gilbert cursed silently. Francis and Matthew were totally going to blame him for this!
"Hold on, we're almost back to Francis's house." Gilbert said. What was he going to do? He didn't really have a lot of experience taking care of sick little kids. When West was younger he barely ever got something more than a minor cold. Hopefully this wasn't anything too serious. Like...maybe the pizza just didn't agree with him or something.
When they got back Gilbert had to carry Arthur inside, wrinkling his nose as he tried to avoid touching the kid's puke covered clothes. He also took the car seat out. The last thing he needed was Francis getting pissed because he left a vomit covered booster seat in the car.
Arthur was still crying when they got inside, so Gilbert seated him on the counter, taking off his jacket and shirt.
"Go get me a change of his clothes" Gilbert instructed Alfred, who then ran off to Arthur room as he was happy to help.
"You look kinda warm" Gibert said aloud, resting his hand on Arthur's forehead. "Shit, where the hell does Francis keep his thermometer?"
He finally found it in the of the cabinets that also contained medicine. After taking Arthur's temperature, Gilbert found out that he was right. Arthur did have a mild one, but it was nothing too serious...or at least Gilbert thought so. Soon Alfred came back with a new change of clothes.
"Should we call Mattie and Francis?" Alfred wondered.
"No way" Gilbert said. "The awesome me can handle this!"
Obviously now the option of going out was canceled. They would have to stay at the house. Besides, the meeting would be ending in about two hours anyway. Arthur had stopped crying once he was in a clean pair of clothes. Gilbert laid him down on the couch with a blanket and cup of juice, putting on the Tv and handing the remote to Alfred, who sat down in an armchair.
"I should probably give him some medicine..." Gilbert said, going back towards the cabinet in the kitchen. He went through some of the boxes but it all looked like adult stuff. 'No duh' he thought to himself. 'They only just turned into kids so Francis probably didn't think to get kids medicine.'
He finally decided to just let it go. If the fever got worse then he would figure out something. Actually, maybe he should call Francis and Matthew and tell them to pick up medicine on the way back. But then they would find out Arthur was sick and get worried...decisions decisions. Well they would find out anyway in a few hours. Gilbert shrugged, pulling out his phone and dialing Matthew's number. It rang a few times before he picked up.
"Hey Gil, is something wrong? Were in the middle of a meeting you know..." Matthew said.
"Well I was just wondering if you guys could pick up some kids fever medicine on your way home" Gilbert said, chuckling a little nervously.
"...Whos sick?" Matthew asked.
"Arthur threw up and he sorts had a little fever, but it's nothing big!" Gilbert said quickly. "I'm doing an awesome job, don't you worry!"
"Oh know" Matthew said worriedly. "We'll be home as soon as possible! Make sure to keep an eye on his fever, and that he's comfortable! And also-"
"Don't worry, I got this covered!" Gilbert interrupted. "Just get back the the meeting and let the awesome me worry about it."
"Okay, we'll be home soon." Matthew said. "Just please take care of him."
They hung up so Gilbert went back to the living room.
"I feel like I'm going to be sick again" Arthur said with a whimper.
"Dammit" Gilbert cursed for the fourth time that day, running back into the kitchen and coming back with a pot. It was a good thing that he ran, because he got back to Arthur just in time. He felt bad for the kid. Throwing up was the worst feeling ever...scratch that, being sick with anything was the worst thing ever.
"When are Mattie and Francis coming back?" Alfred asked.
"Soon" Gilbert replied. "Then I can get out of here and have a much deserved drink."
"My tummy kinda feels weird too" The blue eyed child said, eyes starting to water. Once again, Gilbert cursed as he snatched Arthur's pot and held it under Alfred's head, just in time as Alfred got sick as well.
"Aw damn, now they're both sick! Just my luck!" Gilbert moaned. "Maybe it would be better if Francis and Matthew got home. I cant deal with all this puke alone!"
An hour and a half later Francis and Matthew returned home.
"Where is he?" Francis asked frantically, a bottle of medicine in hand.
"On the couch" Gilbert said. "But now Alfred's sick too so they both need it."
Francis and Matthew got on it right away. Gilbert was thoroughly impressed that the two countries seemed so good with the kids.
"I don't feel good Francis!" Arthur began crying again. The Frenchman was quick to pick up the sick child, rubbing soothing circles on his back and whispering soothing words to him. Matthew was caring for Alfred as well, stroking his brother's hair and murmuring to him gently.
"Thank you for watching them Gilbert. I suppose I cant blame you for them getting sick." Francis said, taking his wallet from Prussia and then giving him 150$.
"Sweet! Thanks!" Gilbert said. "Well, I better get going. I hope they feel better."
"Bye Gil!" Matthew called from the other room.
Soon Gilbert left, leaving Arthur and Alfred in the care of Francis and Matthew. Normal childlike Arthur and Alfred were already hard to handle, so what was it going to be like tending to the two sick little nations? Hopefully this would end well.
a/n: Hey everyone! Sorry for the long wait, I had an English essay due, a project for Latin due, some Algebra homework due...basically I just had a lot of things that were due. This chapter was written little by little, day by day. Sorry if you don't like it.
Still, I would love to get some reviews but no pressure;)
Next chapter will be much better, and much longer.
Until then, have a good rest of the weekend!