(Almost) Sibling Rivalry

Rated:K.

Humor/Family

Characters: Hong Kong [ called 'Maddox' here because it's an adorable name and I read a fic where he was called that once ] and baby!Sealand.

[ A/N:You know how sometimes you can't help the things that you write up? The things that pop into your brain and pester you until you do a table flip and destroy your English paper until they get done? This is one of those things. Purely baseless fluff with no historical background whatsoever...I need to do more mindless pieces like this. I forgot how much fun it was to write up at midnight. Also, Hong Kong's inner mind is hilarious and I need to write for him more often, especially when he's a little itty bitty kid.

I own absolutely nothing in this fanfiction, except for perhaps Maddox's fear of (spoilers!) dogs.

I hope you enjoy. ]

Hong Kong was not a very open child. His expressions went from 'bored' to 'hungry' to 'angry' with no real physical change in between them - the only hints being on how much (or how little) he spoke.

However, when Arthur brought home a cotton-swabbed blanket in which rested a baby, that all changed. The baby, whom Arthur had insisted was the personification of a war fort - something that no one had ever even heard of, let alone seen - Maddox's heart began to fill up with something. He wasn't even sure what it was at that moment, but if festered there and bloomed. After a few months of sleepless nights, filled with a baby's crying and Arthur's horribly burnt cooking - which was even worse then normal, due to the lack of coordination Arthur had - Maddox put his finger on the emotion.

It was a pure, unadulterated dislike for the baby. Not only was he fussy, unintelligible, and pudgy (Arthur insisted that it was baby fat, he was only an infant) - but he also took away Maddox's time with his caretaker. Now, normally HongKong couldn't care less about the Briton, but having that time he didn't care about taken away festered envy in his blood.

He didn't like it. He didn't like it at all. Arthur hardly had the time for him, especially since he was in the middle of a huge war and was constantly trying to take charge of a bunch of stupid, bickering old people.

It wasn't fair, not at all. Maddox hated it.

It was one of those days that they had been left to their own devices - Peter in his crib and Maddox on the floor of the playroom that they shared. The black haired child was sitting in the middle of his blocks - (he never even really had a fondness for blocks, they were boring and silly) - and the blond boy was laughing and gurgling in his crib, cuddling a stuffed rabbit to his chest.

Arthur had promised to be back as soon as he could be. He had a few meetings to run to, not to mention tea time with His Highness - (and Hong Kong rolled his eyes at that, all the time, because it was hilarious how they called it tea, it didn't even taste like Yao had made it) - and shopping for dinner. He had told Maddox specifically that he was in charge, and if Peter made any trouble, or if anything happened, there was a stupid frog that was temporarily living in the basement, and he should go get it if needed.

Though, Maddox didn't understand why he would need to get a frog from the basement. There were plenty outside.

When he had told Arthur that, the Briton had laughed and petted his hair, just like he did when HongKong was a baby and new to Europe, freshly snatched from China.

He had killed the moment, of course, when he had whisked Peter out of his crib and given him a fat, sloppy kiss. Peter had laughed and gurgled, and how it irked the older boy to no end!

They were playing by themselves now, Maddox was pleased to find out. Peter was always content with his stuffed rabbit (who he called 'Mister Buns', no matter how many times Francis insisted that it was originally called 'Hero-Bunny' and no matter how many times Arthur would go white in the face for that comment and smack the other) and almost nothing else. It made the time with him a little more bearable.

But only a little. And Peter was never content long enough before he began looking for other things to do.

"Mad'x!" Peter shouted suddenly, stumbling up from sitting on his rump and toddling over to the end of the crib, where he latched on the bars and grinned toothlessly at the older. "Mad'x, play? Play, play!" he insisted, reaching out for the other beyond the bars with one hand, his other arm latched firmly around the stuffed animal.

Maddox sneered. Why was this little war fort, some dinky thing on the coast of England, personified, anyway? And why did Arthur get such a happy look whenever Peter would gurgle or eat his cooking with a smile or poop it out?

Standing up, the boy toddled over to latch his hands on the bars of the crib, ignoring Peter's hands and trying to hatch up a plot of his own to get rid of the moocher. Maybe he would be able to find someone to pawn the baby off to...maybe someone who had a lot of dogs. Big, scary dogs. Maddox hated dogs.

Peter, however, was unaware to these thoughts because Maddox's face was passive, as always. The baby laughed and grabbed onto the silky black hair that Yao had been so prided in, and grinned. "Play! Play dress up! We play?" he asked, tugging despite the older boy's protested grunts.

Hong Kong pulled away after a moment of struggling, his brows pointed downwards in a rare bout of anger. "No! I don't want to play!" he objected, crossing his arms and 'hmph'ing to the other side of the room for no particular reason. He shot a glare at the baby, who just stared at him with absolutely no idea of what thoughts ran through the other's mind.

Dogs sounded good right now. Maybe he could toss Peter into the neighbor's garden, they had a really scary dog. It was furry and it licked a lot.

However, before Maddox could put that plan into action, a fuzzy plush was shoved in his face. The boy blinked for a moment before he realized that Peter was shoving his precious rabbit at him, grinning madly.

"Play wif me an' Buns?"

Maddox was about to protest, but he stopped short when an idea hit him. He yanked the bunny out of Peter's hands and cuddled it. "Yeah, I want to play with him," he said with a glint in his eye. "I want to play with him and sleep with him and he's mine now, okay? You can't have him anymore. So there."

Peter cocked his head to one side and blinked. "So we play?" he asked, squirming his body through the bars of the crib and onto the floor. He toddled after the older boy, smiling wide. "We play! Like friends!"

This, for some reason, angered Maddox even more. In a temper, he shoved Peter away from him with one hand, and the startled baby tumbled to the ground. "No! Leave me alone!" the black haired boy scolded, still holding tight onto the rabbit. "I don't want to play with you!"

The smaller boy blinked, obviously surprised at this rare showcase of emotion from the other. Peter sat up and rubbed his head. "But? But we play," he said, confused. "With Buns and me and you...?"

"No. I don't want to play with you," Maddox said coldly. "Just your rabbit."

"Why? Don't like Peter?" Peter asked, standing up and toddling to the other. "Just like Buns? Mad'x don't like Peter?"

Biting on his lip, Maddox looked down at the rabbit. It was hand stitched, and obviously old; a treasured artifact from long before either of the children were born. Arthur had made it, obviously.

And it infuriated the child.

In another fit of rage, Maddox threw the toy to the other side of the room and fussed. "No! I don't like you or your stupid rabbit!" he shouted, and with that he stormed to the corner of the playroom and sat down, hugging his knees to his torso and lowering his head in a whimper.

It wasn't fair. It just wasn't. Peter was the favorite.

After a few silent minutes, Maddox once again felt something soft and warm pressing against his forehead. The child looked up to find Peter holding Mister Buns out to him, blinking in innocence. "Heeh," he said, tucking the toy into Maddox's arms, which were curled around his chest. "We share. Share good, Fwansh said so." he nodded, plopping down next to the Asian child. "Buns is good friend. Share is good. Peter good. Mad'x good. So we play together?"

Maddox's chocolate eyes widened, if only slightly. Looking up, he studied Peter's honest expression for a long while. "Why?" he finally asked, almost curiously. "I'm not nice to you at all."

The blond did not miss a beat. He broke out into a grin. "Cos! We brothers, and brothers share. I like you, Afuh like you, Mister Yao like you. Buh I like you best, cause," he replied, holding his hand out to the other, "Cause Fwansh said brothers do that. An' you're big brother Mad'x," he said confidently, snuggling next to the other. "I's kay if Mad'x don't like Peter, though, cause I'm littler." he giggled, "Littler brothers are pests!"

Maddox swallowed, a lump in his throat beginning to build. Shaking his head, and rubbing a fist against his glossy eyes to prevent any tears from forming, he wrapped a tiny arm around the other and pulled him closer. "N-no, I like you," he said softly. "I like you, and I like your stupid rabbit too. Here," he said softly, pushing the toy so that they each had part of it in their laps. "You're my brother, so I...so I guess I have to protect you, huh…?"

"Puhtect?" Peter blinked, brows furrowed at the new vocabulary. "Whasshat?"

The older child almost smiled. Almost. He sighed and began to pat Peter's hair. "It means that I'm gonna be your big brother for a long time. Okay, Peter?"

The baby grinned at that. He bobbed his head up and down. "Yeah! Okay! I like that!"

"I knew you would...now, it's naptime okay? Go to sleep, and we'll shave off Arthur's eyebrows when he comes back. It'll be fun, okay? I'll teach you all that fun stuff."

"Okay! Night, Mad'x!" Peter replied cheerfully, snuggling up to the older child and closing his eyes. It only took a few moments for the boy to fall asleep like that, and Maddox couldn't help the smile that finally ghosted his face.

Maybe, he decided in silence, maybe Peter was too good for the dumb old neighbor dog. Maybe Maddox wanted to keep the blond child to himself, just for a little while longer.

-fin