I do not own Hetalia, okay? I love all of you who have stuck with this story so far as long as it is in. I have an idea of where to wrap this up and where to start the sequel as there's lots of fun to have with this family. I'll try to update more often but way things are at work…. maybe once summer kicks in…. Anyway, enough of this A/N, on with the fic!

The air blew with a wind that let Alfred and Ivan know that the seasons were starting to change. This was it, something they knew was going to come for a while. The twin's first day of school. Sure, it was only a pre-kindergarten program as they would start kindergarten next year and Ivan and Alfred both wanted their kids to have a good start and good education. He knew they were smart but wanted them to have a great education to make them smarter, as Alfred would call it. They had spent half the summer just looking at pre-K programs and debating on if a private school was better than the local public school versus testing them for entry into a local magnet school for gifted children. Ivan had wondered himself if that would be better for Dimitri as he seemed to have an impressive knowledge of all things prehistoric for a child his age and could even pronounce the names of some of the eras surprisingly well, but Alfred had insisted the twins go the same school at least for the first few grades so that they could get used to it, having the belief that as twins the bond they had was very strong and they were still little so separation would cause lots of trauma. "They are also somewhat aware that they were taken from their biological parents. They know that Ms. Sherrie and Mr. Tom are not their birth parents."

"I suppose that you may have a point Fredka…." Ivan sighed as they finally decided on a program that the local school had after being assured many times by everyone from the principal of the school up to the superintendent that they were one of the top districts in the state and that they would do the best they could to make sure that both Nikita and Dimitri got a top-notch education. As they walked towards the school, Ivan sighed, remembering how he had to practically drag Alfred out of the superintendent's office feeling like it had gotten to a "good cop bad cop" interrogation on every single issue that came into Alfred's mind. Here they were, with two nervous soon to be four-year-olds on their first day of school.

"Is it okay?" Nikita asked.

"Yeah? Is school fun?" Dimitri sighed.

"Oh, is my little Niki scared of something?" Alfred laughed playfully.

"NO!" Nikita said defiantly, hating anyone to think her afraid of anything.

"And school is very fun. It is how you learn new things and become smarter." Ivan explained to Dimitri who smiled back at him.

"Just like Uncle Toris is right now?" Dimitri asked.

"Just like Uncle Toris." Ivan smiled. He still was skeptical about how Toris would be to Natalya, but he had proven to he a hard worker and helped out as much as he could with anything she needed since she started working at Lucille's firm. Ivan was skeptical as if this would be a good idea as the internship she had was supposed to have been at a very good and prestigious business to put on her resume and help her advance her career but after being told that all she was doing was getting coffee and dry cleaning while the men did the actual work, Ivan had to agree with Toris that maybe working with Lucille might be a better idea. He had seen how she could separate family from work how she handled the purchase and installation of her brother in the bed and breakfast. She did not cut him any slack or give him any special treatment as her older brother. Natalya went into the interview after calling Lucille and demanding to speak with her about it not expecting any special treatment. She was just Lucille's nephew's husband's little sister. Far too much removed from her unlike Francis but if she didn't give him special treatment, she wasn't going to give Natalya any. Looking at their children, Ivan and Alfred heard the school bell ring. "Well, it is time for you two to head to school." He said sternly.

"Okay Papa…." Nikita and Dimitri said simultaneously sounding both sad and sort of excited.

"We will be here to pick you up right at dismissal time." Ivan smiled hugging them both.

"And if you're good, we might get some ice cream after." Alfred said as he gave them a hug and pushed them towards the door where the new pre-k teacher was waving. Once inside, Ivan and Alfred sighed.

"So…house quiet again…." Alfred said as they headed back into the car.

"Da…. maybe able to get our work done easier…." Ivan replied. He could feel however this was not as good a thing as they would have thought of. Sure, it had been hectic trying to work with the twins in the house, but the nature of their jobs allowed them to do assignments at different times than the traditional 9-5 hours. Unless the company wanted them in the office at a certain time, then it didn't matter when they did what they did. They had help from various family members sometimes, but they had gotten used to juggling work and the twins and actually made both Alfred and Ivan pretty happy.

"Yeah…. there's that…." Alfred sighed as his stomach growled. "I guess I'm getting kind of hungry…."

"You hardly ate breakfast. Which is surprising." Ivan said.

"Don't tell me." Alfred sighed. "I was probably more nervous than the kids were."

"Da, but they are growing up."

"Can't they stay 3 and a half forever?" Alfred sighed. "I am starting to know how dad felt…."

Ivan pursed his lips and thought. Yes, he might not have gone in yet…I think Lucille doesn't have Francis start management duties until a little later if not well, we will see Katyusha again…. He flipped the turn signal and took a right.

"Ummmm…. Where are we going?" Alfred asked.

"Someone who might be able to help us deal with this." Ivan said.

"Who?" Alfred asked.

"Well, you know the saying 'ask someone who has been where you have been'" Ivan said.

"Dude, no way, Dad will not stop one of his classes for anything. Remember he wanted to start the new semester doped up on drugs when he had that gallbladder attack…." Alfred said.

"You have two fathers. And one who is house shopping towns about half an hour away and staying at Katyusha and Matvey's because he doesn't want to drive over an hour commute each day."

"Papa?" Alfred said. "I mean I guess he would be able to help I guess…."

"Although I think honestly your dad sent him to find the house so he wouldn't have to." Ivan sighed.

"Oh, I am sure that when they meet up again it is all sunshine and roses." Alfred rolled his eyes. "Absence makes the heart grow fonder…." Alfred said in a bad French accent.

"Yes. They are like that…." Ivan sighed. And so are you dorogoy…. Ivan thought as he looked over at Alfred and knew how that on days where he had to go to the office for the day, once he got back, Alfred was all over him going on about how much he missed him. "But when he isn't working, he helps Katyusha with the baby, and I frankly think that is doing her wonders. I was worried she would develop post pardom depression."

"She's a natural born mother." Alfred assured Ivan. "Fuck there's times where I think Matt and Katy have this parent thing down more than we do. Because ask anyone who knew me growing up."

"Well…." Ivan took a sigh. He had known that Alfred would hold nothing against him no matter how much they fought when they first met. He knew he had probably told Alfred about how he was when he was younger, but he still was afraid that one of these days, Alfred would stop being the husband who could forgive anything and everything saying, 'that's ancient history, today is ours!' with that sunshine optimism that he had that when they first met Ivan had hated saying he was unrealistic but deep down always loved.

"Is this about when you were in high school, your like goth death metal phase?" Alfred said.

"I was not just into the how you say, "scene", I was rather forceful then." Ivan sighed. "I got into many fights and was often in the guidance counselor's office. I could not give two shits what they said, because how could they know what was going on. Katyusha told me more of the struggles that had gone on with my velikiy dyadya's passing and that zhadnyy podonok that was his family, how they had chased us out of the comfortable home we had when they had never spoken to the man for a very long time before Katyusha, Natalya and I had come to this country! He had one day called up my Mat and found out what had happened and offered to take us in to provide us a good home with a warm roof over our heads, clean and new and warm clothes to wear and full stomachs. You see he was very caring and lonely then. His own family had practically abandoned him and cut off contact many years before. Maybe he thought he'd have lived longer than he did, I do not know, but because there was no will, it was easily contested what would happen. At 16 I knew we had to move out from that home and live in a very small apartment."

"Yeah…." Alfred said. He had known that he was much more fortunate growing up than Ivan was. "Didn't you say that Katy shared with Nattie until you went to college, and you only got your own room as you were a guy…."

"Da." Ivan nodded. "But I was very angry. Very. And I wanted the world that allowed such grify to take what I know velikiy dyadya wanted us to have if something were to have happened to him…." Ivan paused. "I wanted the world to pay and be mine so that no one could do that to anyone else ever again." They turned towards the street that Matthew and Katyusha lived. "I know Katyusha tried to hide it all, but it was much too obvious. She worked long and hard at jobs that wore down her soul and body to keep us with some semblance of a good home like she had something to prove. Like a young woman could take care of her younger siblings no matter what. I know she fought hard to get the help we needed out of them. She even managed somehow to get those bastards pay for mine and Natalya's college, even though Katyusha gave it up to take care of us. She tried to hide it, but we knew. I know I knew. I had ways of finding these things out I don't know if she knew that. I think Natalya had her own ways to find that out too."

"Well, I guess that explains why she is the way she is…." Alfred said. "I guess if I had spent most of my childhood struggling like that, you wouldn't like someone like me who had it kind of easy getting too close to those who you were that close to."

"That's why I hate when you two act so petty to each other." Ivan said.

"Hey! I'm trying." Alfred said defensively.

"I know you are." Ivan said as he kissed Alfred on the cheek. "And I know you both can be so stubborn that you forget. But at least you are both mature enough to not do that in front of the children."

"Dude, the kids come first. Like always. And because you'd been through that shit, you'd be a great dad. Your heart was angry at a total fucking injustice and well at 16 like hell you'll know what the fuck to do with that." Alfred reassured Ivan.

"It wasn't until one day Katyusha told me how disappointed she was she had gotten a phone call about my behavior while she was at work and how she got yelled at for it that it hit me that what I was doing was hurting her. In my quest to make the world pay for what wrongs were done to us, I wronged the wrong people." Ivan said. "And well you can be an annoying asshole at times too and it just rubbed me the wrong way when you first met me."

"Well so can you and I guess it did the same…." Alfred blushed. "Katy told me that she thought we were so alike…."

"And I noticed a lot of profanity coming from you in your attempts to help me reconcile my youth with my current life…" Ivan said looking at Alfred. "You haven't been swearing as much lately and now, that potty mouth?" He cracked a smile.

"Well, maybe it was backlogged because of the kids." Alfred blushed as Ivan laughed and kissed him again.

"Quite possibly." Ivan laughed. "Here we are."

"Looks like Papa isn't at work yet." Alfred said noticing the dented-up car. "No new dents. That's good."

"Oh!" Katyusha said as she headed out of the house with Charlotte over her shoulder burping her. She was now nearly 6 months old and more features of which parent she took after was showing. She had Matthew's violet eyes and wavy hair, but it was colored more like Katyusha's and Francis had sworn that she took more after Katyusha in the face. "Vanya, Fredka, I was not expecting you. Is everything okay with the twins? Are they having an issue at school? I know today was their first day."

"No Katy…." Alfred said as they got out of the car. "Ummmm is Papa home?"

"Ah yes," Katyusha said as she turned to get Francis out from the kitchen when he had come out of his own accord.

"Oh, Ivan Alfred!" Francis said as he took both men and guided them inside. "I had a feeling you two would show up today."

"Really?" Alfred asked.

"Oui." Francis smiled. "Call it paternal instinct."

"Really?" Ivan rolled his eyes.

"You may not believe me but seeing your little darlings off to school for the very first time is something that sticks with you forever. I still remember little Alfred and Mathieu's first day. It's a new beginning." At this Francis sat Alfred and Ivan down and looked at them. "Yet you know your child is growing up and eventually be an adult all their own."

"Nikita and Dimitri will be 4 in like 2 weeks…well little over two weeks…." Alfred said. "Some of the school wanted us to hold them back but I thought if they were smart enough, we shouldn't hinder them." Ivan nodded.

"I do not disagree with you. If only they could say grand-père instead of calling me 'grand pear'." Francis scoffed as Katyusha walked by laughing. "You too?" Francis moaned.

"It's cute. I am sure the twins will eventually pick up on the correct pronunciation." Katyusha assured him.

"Yet when they talk to and about Lucille, they can say grand-tante fine?" Francis said. "Maybe the first few times was childish mispronunciation, but I feel like they do it on purpose." He pouted. He noticed that Alfred and Ivan were holding back a laugh at his expense. "But back to the agonizing pain of seeing your children grow up. And you adopted them when they were older than when Arthur and I had adopted Alfred and Mathieu. It is like a part of yourselves going off into the world and you know they will come back each and every day, but it still hits your heart. You'll see them do projects, hang their drawings on the fridge, no matter if they are worthy of the Louvre or not."

"Hey!" Alfred said. "I worked hard on all those pictures you guys put on the fridge!"

"And if it were my call alone, I would have the Louvre hang them right beside the Mona Lisa." Francis assured him as Ivan laughed at Alfred. "But you know how the art community is."

"Nice save." Alfred sassed.

"But school is a big milestone to watching your little darlings grow up. You wish you could protect them from it sometimes, but you are there to teach and mold them and to make them the best they can be so that one day when they are all grown up, they will do right and make a good life of their own. So, you can help Nikita be the first girl in "the Majors" as you two say and that Dimitri becomes the paleontologist who makes the discovery that solves all of the questions people had about dinosaurs." At this, Kumajiro jumped on Francis's lap, "Ooooof!" He gasped. "I swear this dog is the size of a bear…."

"But he does no harm to Charlotte and is so happy when Matvey comes home. He's the perfect dog. He even puts up with twins when they get a little too grabby and play just a little too rough." Katyusha sad as she pulled out a box of dog biscuits and called Kumajiro over away from Francis. "There. Happy now?"

"Very." Francis sighed. "But the twins remind me so much of you two. It's almost as if somewhere the is another version of you two who may not have done like you two, they met and had children and made their way to you." Francis said. "Who knows. All I know is they are your children; they love you with all their hearts and honestly you two are the best who could have ever happened to them. Nothing against their foster parents of course, I had only met them at the court hearing, but they seemed to have taken good care of them. You two saved them from what could have been a very rough and bad childhood. You are not only Daddy and Papa, but their heroes." Francis said knowing how much Alfred loved that term as a kid growing up. "So, in a way, you did grow up to be what you wanted when you were the twin's age." He laughed.

"And you protected them from the system that could do them wrong, that I know you got in trouble for in high school…." Katyusha said.

"Yeah." Alfred said as he hugged Ivan. "We did save them, didn't we?"

"I suppose." Ivan said.

"We are their heroes and need to be there for them as they make the journey of life." Alfred said. "God I am getting ideas for a family Halloween costume when we take them trick or treating this year…."

"O Bozhe, net... nichego, krome togo, o chem ty dumayesh'... pozhaluysta, net..." Ivan said under his breath as Katyusha looked over him smiling.

"We need to ask the kids what they want to be for Halloween." Alfred realized. "Because I have an awesome family costume idea. We just need to find two sidekicks…. I mean I could be Batman and one of the twins Robin but that leaves you Vanya and a sidekick for the other twin…. I mean Superman doesn't have a sidekick…."

"How about we let the children decide and we match ours to theirs, Da?" Ivan asked.

"I am sure I could talk Arthur into being a pirate again." Francis laughed. "He could never do a good Jack Sparrow despite what he thinks. Antonio pulls that off better. Hell, Gilbert does it better…."

"Well, their birthday is closer, let's worry about that." Katyusha sighed, knowing how often Francis would talk about how much he missed Arthur while he looked for a house midway between their jobs.

"Yes." Francis said as he got up. "I have to get ready for work soon. I will see you boys later and always know I am right here. I have been where you are."

As he left the room Katyusha sighed. "Let me know if you need anything for the twin's birthday. I also have lunch cooking so please stay for a little while before you have to go pick up the twins." She dropped her voice. "To be frankly honest, I do not mind Francis too much until he gets a house for him and Arthur, but I wish he'd hurry up. There's some things I do not need to know he talks about so freely."

"Welcome to Mattie and mine's childhood Katy…. Never going into full detail of how much he loved Dad and what they do but just enough to weird us out." Alfred sighed. "But lunch sounds good."

"Good. It will be ready soon." She said as she put Charlotte in the swing and headed back to the kitchen.

Translation Guide:

Obtained via Google Translate:

velikiy dyadya-Russian- great uncle

zhadnyy podonok-Russian-Greedy scum

Mat- Russian-mother

Grify-Russian-vultures

grand-père-French-Grandfather

grand-tante-French-great aunt

O Bozhe, net... nichego, krome togo, o chem ty dumayesh'... pozhaluysta, net... -Russian-Oh dear god no... anything but what you are thinking...please no...

So how was that? Good? Bad? Short? Long? Let me know in a review. Like I said, I am planning to wrap this up with a holiday scene and then do a new story kind of time skipping 10 years. Because come on, would that not be fun? How long that takes to do that, I don't know. In both time and chapter length. But thanks all of you for reading, reviewing, faving and alerting and sticking with me though this. Hopefully work slows down soon and I can get a little more in sooner. So, in the meantime remember to read (well you just did) and review. Ciao for now,

Otherrealmwriter

Aka

Realm.