Hetalia is owned by Hidekaz Himaruya, this fanfiction is owned by me.

A toddler stood before his parents, his glassy brown eyes gazing in wonder up at the two towering males, well, as far up as his toddler eyes could reach. Timidly, unsure of what to make of these beings, he did his best to survey the taller of the two men first, bumbling awkwardly towards a pair of legs wrapped tightly in neat cream puttees, finished with matt-black ankle boots.

The man bent down to the toddler's level, and softly greeted, "Hey there, little Carlos."

Carlos was put strangely at ease by his new view of the man's face. His eyes, sparkling like two jades under sunlight lit his face, and the gently tousled look of his soft brown hair, coupled with an earnest smile silently told the tiny boy:

You can trust me.

Carlos slowly raised one chubby toddler hand, and he pointed at the man's face and declared, "Papa!"

"That's right, I'm your Papa!" the man confirmed proudly, his smile widening. "Arthur, aren't you going to introduce yourself to our son?" he asked the man stood beside him, standing back up to full height.

"Of course, Antonio," Arthur responded coolly.

Carlos looked quizzically at this 'Arthur' figure, as though he were gazing upon an alien creature. The olive green trousers he wore were tucked neatly into a pair of shiny black knee-high boots, and the toddler giggled as he saw a distorted version of himself reflected in them. When Arthur bent down to his level, his giggling stopped for a minute, and the boy took note of the features on the new face. The pale, unblemished skin. The face that seemed to be set in an eternal frown, the stony eyes, like two emerald coals...And then Carlos noticed the ridiculously bushy eyebrows capping them. This man looked so odd!

"Papa?" the toddler tried again, cocking his head to the left.

"How about calling me 'Daddy' instead?" Arthur offered.

"Daddy..." Carlos tried. "Daddy...Daddy!" the toddler decided happily.

Arthur stood back up to full height, and Carlos stepped back, inspecting the two men once more.

"I think he likes the sound of that," Arthur said proudly, turning back to his husband.

"I do too," Antonio agreed.

Carlos studied both men once again, this time noticing a stray piece of fabric sticking out of one of his Papa's neatly tied puttees. Cheekily, the toddler bumbled towards Antonio again, grabbing the piece of fabric and tugging on it like it was an annoying garden weed, unfurling the puttee and leaving it in a neat little pile around his Papa's ankle.

"Carlos, that wasn't nice," Antonio sighed, hurrying to re-wrap his calf, as the toddler exploded into laughter.

"I can tell this one's going to be a handful," Arthur remarked, as he recounted everything the two had been through to get this little brat. The panels. The countless hours of meeting with adoption agencies and social workers, the matching process, the assessments, the weeks, turning to months, in fact, it had taken just over a year before they could finally call the mischievous little creature stood before them, known only as Carlos, their son. Oh, how they'd fought tooth and nail for the now maniacally laughing toddler. Stupid paternal instinct, Arthur cursed to himself. Having a kid was Antonio's idea. Antonio had always loved the idea of having his own little family, and though Arthur had been less than excited about adding a child to their lives at first, he'd eventually relented, and the two had wound up with a two-year-old boy from Spain.

"There. That'll have to do," Antonio grumbled, as he finished wrapping the puttee.

Noticing the scornful looks on his Papa and Daddy's faces, Carlos' laughing fit came to an abrupt stop. He liked his new parents, and it hurt the tiny toddler, seeing how annoyed they were with him right now. He didn't want his new parents to hate him...

"Sorry, Papa," he whispered ashamedly, "Sorry, Daddy,"

Antonio sighed and gazed into his son's glassy brown eyes, which, at this point, were full of regret. "It's alright, little one. Just don't do that again, alright?" he offered, and the toddler nodded affirmatively, his short mop of black curls bouncing about his head.

Arthur gently picked up Carlos, the toddler becoming giddy with delight as he was taken into his Daddy's arms. Antonio gently snaked one arm around his husband's waist and grinned like an idiot as he thought about the many wonderful adventures the little family would have together...