Chapter 9

Only a Child

"No"

"Come on you can do it!"

"I don't know how!" Berwald and Mathias had been arguing for a while now. Mathias was trying to convince Berwald to use his newly gained cuteness to talk to Lukas but Berwald didn't think it would work. He knew nothing of how to act cute and he had never been good at speaking, unless it was a debate of some sort, so how he was supposed to charm Lukas was a mystery to him. Tino and Emil had been watching them for a while but when Mathias didn't have any luck, Tino sighed.

"Please Ber? Right now it's the best idea we have" Tino looked at him pleadingly which made Berwald torn between his will of making Tino happy and his instinct of not letting Mathias win even an argument.

"Fine" He stuck out his tongue towards Mathias before he walked towards the front door. They saw him slowly struggle to get up the few stairs just outside the door. Berwald knocked on the door and it took a few minutes but they saw how the door slowly opened and how Lukas looked outside, still suspicious of basically everything.

"Hi, uhm, we'd like to talk to you if that is okay?" The others saw how Lukas looked down and gasped when he saw the small child looking up at him. All of the tension disappeared from Lukas body and he crouched down to look him in the eye. A bomb could go off right at that moment without Lukas noticing. He reached out a hand and pinched one of Berwalds cheeks and when he felt it's softness he let out a small squeak.

"You weren't kidding, he is adorable. Lukas is completely charmed" Emil looked at the others that chuckled before he turned towards the door again. Then they saw how Lukas picked Berwald up, went back inside and locked the door again. "Maybe a bit too adorable" They flew up from the ground and stared each other.

"Did Berwald just get kidnapped by Lukas?"

"I think calling it kidnapped might be a bit harsh but, yes" Tino looked over at Mathias and added "Well we got one person on the inside at least" Emil felt like he was getting a headache. This was all just getting weirder by the minute and he felt like laughing at the same time.

"What do we do?" Mathias was rubbing his temples trying to figure something out. He knew that Berwald wasn't actually in any danger and that Lukas would probably just stare at him for a while now, which might be a bit creepy for Berwald but he would have to bear with it.

"We should wait for a while and see what happens" Emil turned towards the others "Berwald might still be able to do this" The other nodded, they had reached the same conclusion, and they sat down in the grass to wait.

Inside the house, Berwald tried to not freak out as Lukas was staring at him while he would randomly pinch his cheek now and then. "Ehm, do you think the others could come in too?" Lukas frowned a bit but he seemed like he was considering it. Berwald put out his lower lip and tried to look pleading before he added "Please?" Lukas closed his eyes in an attempt to clear his thoughts and when he opened them again he nodded.

"Okay, fine. Just… Do one little thing for me?" Lukas stood up and waited for an answer.

"Okay?" Berwald agreed and saw how Lukas disappeared up the staircase. He considered just walking over to the door and unlock it but he realized that he would lose the trust he had somehow built up. Instead he waited to see what it was Lukas wanted him to do, it couldn't be that bad could it? When Lukas came downstairs again holding a small sailor costume he immediately regretted not unlocking the door himself.

.

"Why did you all have to come?" Arthur glared at the others as the plane started descending. Alfred had been asleep most of the way and Francis was currently sipping on some wine while Matthew was sitting in a small basket covering his ears against the loud noise. "And how did you sneak him in?" he added as he looked at the small cat.

"I have my ways" Francis winked and giggled at Arthurs blush as the grumpy man leaned back in his chair. The flight was almost over and he hoped that he would get some research done tonight already. They heard how Alfred snored as he had most of the way and Arthur sighed.

"Well it seems he can still make some noise" Francis chuckled at the comment and looked out the window. He saw the ground get closer. The thud from the landing made Alfred wake up and look around still a bit disoriented. He rubbed his eyes and took out a small whiteboard he had found deep within a closet at Arthurs house.

"Are we there?" He wrote on it and stretched out his stiff body as he saw the others nod. Matthew was relieved, the sound had really been hurting his oversensitive ears. They finally got off the plane and received their bags before they went outside and was met by a chilly breeze. Cabs were lined up right outside so they got into the closest one and gave the driver their location.

"Oh, that's not too far away, only a 20 minute drive or so" The cabdriver said in a heavy Norwegian accent after taking a quick look on her map.

"Well that's good since were a bit in a hurry" Francis that sat in the front seat smiled towards the cabdriver that suddenly looked really serious.

"I'll get you there in 13 minutes" Without checking the rearview mirrors she pushed the pedal down as far as it could go and rocketed out into the road. Alfred had managed to grab hold onto Matthew at the last moment and Arthur felt himself get thrown around in the backseat. Francis managed to look back at the others and his face said what they were all thinking. They weren't really surprised considering their luck but they had indeed ended up with a really crazy cabdriver. After 9 minutes and 24 seconds they skidded onto Lukas lawn causing dirt to fly everywhere and three people to quickly jump up from the grass.

"What the?" Tino said just as the nations stumbled out of the cab. Francis payed and thanked the driver and they saw how the cab carefully turned around and drove back the road without any hurry. Alfred looked green and was trying hard not to throw up while he still held the trembling Matthew in his hands. Arthur looked like he was fighting hard to not start screaming random swearwords while Francis just tried not to laugh at their whole situation. "Do I even want to know?"

"Let's just say it's been a long day" Arthur looked around "Why are you standing outside?"

"Well…" When Emil had once again told the story of the day that had passed, as well as added the recent events, the nations was quietly thinking things through.

"How long have you been waiting?" Francis asked thinking that maybe it was time to think of another plan.

"Only about 20 minutes or so."

"Can't we just brake through a window?" Alfred wrote on his whiteboard and was rewarded by a smack in the back of his head.

"We can at least try to look inside to see what's going on" Mathias sighed. It had been quiet inside of that house for far too long and they needed to act soon. They slowly made their way towards the front porch to try and look through the window right next to the door. Just as they were taking their first steps up the stairs they heard how the lock on the door turned and Lukas carefully looked outside. When he saw the extra people outside he quickly retreated back inside and locked the door again. They were now close enough to hear the two nations talking inside.

"You promised to let them in"

"Yes but there's even more people outside."

"We had a deal"

"But…"

"Then I guess I'll just take off-"

"Fine, I'll let them in" Once again they heard the door unlock and saw how Lukas opened. "If you try something I'll kick you out" They followed him into the living room where Berwald was sitting on the couch and when they say him they let out an audible gasp. He was dressed in a small blue and white sailor suit with a matching hat that had a small anchor pin nailed to it.

"One word Mathias, I warn you" Mathias had to bite himself hard in his tongue to not start laughing, he didn't think that he had ever seen anything so cute before and the threat only made him even more adorable. Emil was the only one in the room that looked terrified as he remembered that he was the one that had to wear that suit before. Arthur was the first one to break the silence that followed.

"Aha, I see" He walked over to Berwald and tried to ignore the glare he received from Lukas before he knelt so he got into eyelevel with him. "I don't think you just turned into a child you know" The confusion that filled the room was almost touchable.

A/N Reviews are always appreciated and has actually made me pull over while driving to read them.