The Twelve Days of Christmas

THE SECOND DAY

Requested by: dragon-queen-809

Prompt: France and Mattie.  Mpreg, hurt comfort or fluff.

Francis sighed, holding the little blonde gently above the water level though it hardly seemed necessary considering how tightly Matthew clung to his shoulders in utter terror.  So many years had passed since Francis himself learned to swim but the Frenchman couldn’t recall being anywhere near as terrified of learning as the small Canadian boy was.  Matthew clung to him in tears, little nails digging firmly into the older blonde’s forearms as if the child feared being suddenly released to either sink or swim.  Alfred had told him quite the horror story of his own experience learning to swim with Arthur as his teacher.

“D…Don’t let me go!”

“I would never release you until you told me that you’re ready.”  Francis grinned but slowly sank a little lower in the water.  “Stop flailing your feet.”

“But I’ll drown!”

“We’re in three feet of water, Mattie.”

Slowly the boy calmed down and tentatively stretched his foot out to confirm that there was indeed a sandy floor within easy reach.  Even with both feet planted firmly on the lake bottom, however, he refused to let go of his papa’s gentle arms.

“You will need your hands and arms to swim, Mattie.  We can even practice here where it’s shallow if you’d like.”

At least the boy seemed reasonably reassured that he could touch the bottom of the lake here, but Matthew remained reluctant to let go of the older man, clinging to him until Francis gently removed his little fingers and instead held one of Mattie’s hands in his own much larger one.  It would still be difficult to swim but maybe he could coax the small boy into using his hands and arms a little.

“Do you know how ducks swim, Mattie?”

The young Canadian nodded but opted to hug his papa’s hand against his body as if afraid of being left all alone in the large lake.  What in the world had the little boy to the south told Matthew to make his little Canadian so fearful of being abandoned?  He really should have a serious talk with Arthur about it, but a tiny yet increasingly hard to ignore part of his brain wondered if maybe Arthur really did abuse the little boy in his care.  Matthew had told him on one occasion that he spent a week in Americaafter Arthur’s annual visit to care for little Alfred as his twin was hurt and unable to walk for three or four days without pain.

Francis bit back a frown and instead forced his lips to form a tender smile as he crouched down and gently laid his hands on Matthew’s narrow hips.

“Mattie, I’m going to hold you up and I want you to kick your feet like a duck, okay?”

“...Okay.”

Gently Francis raised his young charge in the water and waited for the child to kick.  After a moment’s pause, Matthew did as instructed, kicking his feet beneath the water while looking up at his papa for approval.

“Good!  That was great, Mattie!  Now can you use your arms and show me how a frog swims?”

This time the boy obediently swished his hands and arms in the water like a frog’s modified breaststroke.  It was clumsy but they could work on form later.  Who knows?  Maybe one day Matthew would compete confidently in the Olympics by his papa’s side.

“You’re great at swimming already.  Just like learning to read, right?”

“It’s not so hard but I don’t think I want to swim on my own yet.”  Matthew paused his paddling to look up at Francis with a small pout.  “Papa, can I teach Alfred how to read?  I really want to.”

“Of course!”  The older man beamed, hugging his adoptive son closer.  “I think that’s a great idea, Mattie.”

“Arthur doesn’t want him to learn.  Alfred says his papa tells him he’s going to get much bigger with children to take care of soon and there’s no need to learn something pointless like reading when all he’s gotta learn is how to have kids and take care of them.”

Francis stared down at Matthew silently for a long moment.  He knew, of course, that both Matthew and Alfred were young still but would soon be very fertile with the reproductive parts of both men and women.  Never, ever did he consider impregnating Matthew though for the sake of expanding his territories however.  That was madness!  It was borderline abusive to force their children to have babies so young simply to expand their colonies and power.  It was crazy and cruel and…

…And something he could easily picture Arthur doing.  Gods above, Francis wished he could help Alfred, but for now the Frenchman just sighed and wrapped his arms around the little blonde Canadian.

“I’m sorry, Mattie.  I promise I’ll never let Arthur hurt you.”

“Will you protect me?”

“Of course.”

“Always?”

Francis smiled gently and hugged the small boy tightly to his chest.

“I promise I will never lose you to Arthur.  Ever.”