The Expecting America

Chapter Twelve: Cravings

Ivan and Alfred sat in their living room, Alfred a bundled burrito being snuggled by Ivan. They were lucky enough to get a break from all the territories, New Jersey and California had come to pick them up for a day out. Ivan gently held Alfred close to him, caressing his belly and head.

"This is nice, it had been a while since were all alone like this," Alfred smiled and Ivan nodded in agreement.

"Da, I wonder when it will end,"

Just as Ivan uttered that sentence, their door was kicked in. Alfred jumped and yelped in surprise, Ivan catching his bundled lover and preventing him from falling.

"Guess who wants to see his little man!!!" Arthur shouted as he happily entered. Francis, Yao, Ludwig, Lovino, and Feliciano followed close behind. Yao immediately went to Alfred's side, seeing Arthur had scared the poor boy.

"Aiya! Lower your voice, Arthur!" Yao gently cupped Alfred's cheek and smiled, "poor thing, Opium should have knocked, aru," Feli ran over and looked at them.

"Ve~ Are you ok Alfred?" Alfred was shaking slightly but nodded.

"Totally fine, dudes. Y'all just startled me," Alfred sat up, struggling slightly while wrapped in his blanket burrito. Ludwig and Ivan helped him, both with soft smiles upon their faces.

"Ve vanted to check up on jou since jou're almost to term,"

"I'm doing peachy, just hungry a lot," Alfred then looked to Ivan, "speaking of which, do you know if we have any more black licorice? I'm craving some with pickles and twinkies," Ivan's face fell as he remembered they had run out of black licorice.

"Nyet, we have to go buy more,"

"Awwwwwww~" Alfred whined as his upper body draped itself over his baby bump, "but I need itttttttttt~"

The group looked at each other with looks of determination and Francis stood up, clenching a fist.

"No need to worry, mon lapin! We, ze resident members of ze APS, will fetch you your food!" Alfred looked up and sniffed.

"R-Really?" his voice cracked. The members nodded and all stood up, except for Lovino.

"You all go shopping, I'll stay with Alfred," he told the group, winking at Ivan. He knew the poor man needed a small break from the constant stressing over Alfred.

"Right then, off we go chaps!" Arthur and the group left the house, as Lovino held Alfred protectively in his arms.

After a lengthy car ride, the group finally pulled up at the best Walmart. They happened to be in Guilderland, NY. So they drove all the way to Albany's Crossgate Commons, where the largest Walmart in the US happened to be.

As the nations entered the large establishment, they couldn't help but gawk at the size.

"Aiya, we're going to get lost in here,"

"Ve~ Ludwig, what are we going to do?"

"Bloody hell, this place is huge,"

"I 'ave never seen such a large Walmart before,"

"Alright, we stay together, da? The produce is all in one area, we shall stay grouped together unless I say otherwise," Ivan commanded. The group nodded and followed the larger man.

As they approached the isles of food, Italy couldn't help but be the curious and oblivious shit we all love.

"Hey, Ivan. What other weird cravings has Alfred been having?"

"Feliciano!" Ludwig scolded. The group laughed and Ivan shrugged.

"It is alright Ludwig, it is a legitimate question," Ivan began to think, "well, he has grown extremely fond of pickles and ice cream. He loves pepperoni pizza with chocolate sauce, but sometimes he uses vegetable pizza instead. His most prominent cravings are red velvet cupcakes, hot chocolate, and nachos with pepper jack cheese. He has grown sensitive to while milk, which has been annoying him,"

"Ok, well, we're coming upon fresh produce. Let us get some fruits so that we can make him some smoothies. We can sneak in some protein by adding milk," Arthur suggested. The group nodded and picked up some fruits and put them into bags. They then went to the deli to get fresh pepper jack cheese. They moved down the isles towards snacks.

"Ah! Perfect!" Ivan took a large bag of black licorice and a bag of mixed gummies, "Fredka has also been craving gumdrops,"

"Is there anything we should stay away from, aru?" Yao asked as he turned down the aisle. Feli's nose twitched and he ran off quietly.

"Da, do not go near herbs and spices. The smell of them makes Alfred very sick," Ivan turned down the next aisle to see Feliciano holding a bunch of herbs containers, smelling the oregano and basil.

"FELICIANO!!!" the group yelled.

"Hehe, oops~" they all facepalmed and spent the next hour getting everything they needed. All while trying to get the smell of herbs off of Italy.

When they checked out, Ivan made a meal plan for each nation to cook. After all, they planned on staying there until Alfred was deemed healthy enough to return to work.

China and England were in charge of breakfast, Germany and France were in charge of lunch, the Italies were in charge of dinner, and Ivan got the snacks and dessert.

The first day of their duties was weird. 

Breakfast was Eggo waffles with hot sauce and sprinkles, a small cup of banana and strawberry smoothie, and a cup of black tea. England did get a good laugh when his son asked him for more tea, after all, coffee was always the younger's preference. But when pregnant, Alfred was able to consume more tea than coffee, so he opted for quantity over taste.

The snack between that was a bar of white chocolate, which creeped out everyone since Alfred normally despised white chocolate.

Lunch was a bowl of stew with freshly toasted bread. Which would've been normally had Alfred not asked for his bread to be charred black. Francis could only watch silently in horror as he watched his perfectly soft bread be burnt and his son eat it whole with NO sauces.

The snack between that was a few apple slices, which everyone found nice. It was the only thing Alfred didn't taint. But their hopes of a normal snack were dashed the moment Alfred pulled a mini ketchup packet from his pocket.

Dinner was a steak dinner with some sauteed garlic spinach, which was delicious. Alfred didn't taint anything about this meal at all. Though Lovino and Feliciano nearly had a stroke when he asked for his steak to be done medium-well. Lovino especially found it strange since Alfred normally loved his meat as raw as they could healthily get it.

Lastly was dessert, which was ice cream. As Ivan prepared Alfred's ice cream, the team watched as he added pickles and whipped cream. The 'cherry on top' was a few pieces of black licorice and some potato chips.

Cravings are weird, right?