Swapped Around

Nine~ Parenting

(First A/N in this whole book: WTH I HAVE OVER 300 READS ON THIS ALREADY?! Gahghh! Okay, fangirl over. Thank you for reading and stuff, and don't do drugs! 😉)

I wake up just as the first rays of the sun are seeping through the shutters of the window, illuminating America's face as he snores. Slowly slipping my feet out of bed, I pad across the room to where the others sleep, adjusting their blankets and pillows if they appear to be uncomfortable.

I place a soft kiss on France's forehead and the young nation rolls over in his sleep, smiling. Taking the keys from a rickety table by the door, I insert them into the keyhole and step outside. The corridor is filled with the sounds of the residents in the inn. The doors are thin, so the sound seeps out easily. I mostly hear, snoring, but there were some disturbing groans from the room next door and a crying baby further along. I decided not to investigate.

The streets are dusty beneath my feet as I walk through the nearly deserted town. Shutters are closed over windows and the clothes lines that hang across the street from upper storeys are devoid of clothes. Fabric curtains fall over market stalls, blowing the dust off their coloured pelts as they ripple in the light air.

Birds which I only ever see when I come across the Atlantic to here fly in a v-shape across the already bright blue sky. It's so nice in Spain...

Speaking of Spain, the brunette nation sticks his head out of a window, stretching in the warming sunlight and grinning to himself.

"Hi Spain! What are you doing today?" I call up to him, waving my hand energetically to grab his attention. His olive green eyes blatantly ignore me and are soon blocked from view as he withdraws back into his house. I sigh dejectedly, muttering to myself as I turn away and walk back to the hotel. The others should be waking up soon.

I find myself sticking to the shaded areas of the street as I return. Due to living in a cold climate, even the cooler temperatures of further south countries cause me discomfort, and I have an unwanted desire to peel off my clothes. Even if no one is out and no one would notice me if they were, I couldn't stand the indecency of it, and made it back to the pleasingly cool Inn without stripping.

I creak up the stairs and reach the door of the room we share. Hesitating before I unlock the door, I listen in to the commotion going on inside.

"No France! Stop it, you're hurting me!"

"France, let go of it, dude."

"Onhononononon!"

"France, I'm warning you..."

"No! Stop it! Stop it!"

"Onhononononon!!"

"FRANCE! Something's coming out!! Stop it!!"

I had enough. Bursting through the door, my eyes meet a scene which I honestly wasn't expecting. England sat like a teddy bear on the floor, rubbing his eyes with his fists as he whimpered. America stood between the two children, trying to comfort the littler one whilst stopping the older, who stood on a chair holding a cuddly toy, the stuffing leaking out of one of its arms.

"Canada! Dude, a little help?" America asked desperately, looking over his shoulder at me.

"W-what happened?" I reply, before picking up France off the chair and setting him down in the floor.

"F-f-France stole my teddy and he broke it!" England wails, breaking into a fresh set of tears. America hastily wipes his tears away, whispering soothing words to him as he scoops him up and rests him on his hip.

"France?" I ask , turning back to the blonde haired boy. France looked up sheepishly. "Y-yes......?"

"Did you break England's teddy?" I ask sternly.

He looks away guiltily. "........."

"Did you?"

"Oui....." He whispers, clasping his hands in front of him. I feel bad for doing this but I know we have to at least try to raise them well.

"That was very naughty, France." I scold. France remains quiet, staring determinedly at the floor.

"What do you say to England?" I press, making him look me in the eye.

"........... I'm sorry England." He replies obediently. I smile, patting him on the head like a puppy who just learned a trick. "Good boy! Now shake hands and make up!"

"What?!" The two children exclaim indignantly, looking with horror between each other and me.

"I don't want to shake hands with 'im~" France whines.

"I will if you give me back my teddy." England replies sullenly, turning away and clinging to America.

Me and America share an exasperated sigh and set the two kids down in front of each other, handing England back the broken teddy before connecting their little hands. The pair instantly pull away with a scowl of disgust on their faces.

"Was zhat good enough?" France asks, innocently beaming up at me.

I sigh, smiling softly, before letting them off. The two grin adorably up at us before proceeding to chase each other in circles around one of the beds, screaming childlike insults at each other.

"Remember when we were adorable like that?" America asks me teasingly, elbowing me in the shoulder.

"Ouch! I do remember that." I reply grouchily. "Although you weren't that adorable."

"Was too! I was the cutest nation there's ever been! And I still am!" America retorts indignantly, stamping his feet. "Except for maybe those two." He adds as an afterthought, gesturing at the two play fighting kids. "You can't go wrong with two four-year-olds who hate each other's guts."

"Are they actually four? They look more like three."

"Oh yeah... I hope they're not three, cause I'm not potty-training them in a million years." America growls.

"If you're not going to bother actually caring for them, go give them back to Germany and let those two do the dirty work."

"Nononononononononono! I promise! I promise I'll look after them! Don't give them back to Germany, he'll turn them into muscular, sausage-loving drunkards!" America begs, shaking me by the shoulders desperately.

"You're creative as ever with your insults, America. But please learn to take a joke." I sigh, facepalming.

"I-I.... It was a joke? Oh....oh yeah, I knew that, I was just, um... Testing you! Yeah, I was testing you! Hero thingy activate?" America stammers, trying and failing to cover up the small mistake. Out of the corner of my eye I spy England's ears prick up, before he dashes over to my brother and grabs onto his leg.

"Wha- oh, hi Iggy." America grins, trying to extract the clingy nation from his leg. "Whatcha doin' down there?"

"Are you really a superhero?" England asks, his eyes big with wonder as he looks up at his parent figure. "Are you really? Can you do magic? Can you? Can you?" He rushes, shaking America's leg.

"Whoa, calm down kiddo. Of course I'm a superhero!" America lies, picking up England and spinning him around in a circle. "Although I only use my superpowers when it's really important, so I can't show you right now."

"Aww...... You can't even fix my teddy bear?" England asks, pushing the broken toy into America's chest.

"Well...maybe if you give it to me now, then tomorrow it will be all fixed up, okay?" He replies, smiling, taking the toy carefully into his spare hand.

"Really? So you can use magic? Can you teach me? Can I be a superhero too?" England exclaims excitedly.

"Sure thing, dude." America grins, ruffling the child's scruffy blonde hair. "You can be my little hero!"