Wow, it's been forever since I updated this. It was only ever supposed to be three chapters long, but for reasons that elude me, the last chapter never materialised. I figured it was time to bring this little tale to a close.

The Last Day.

Romano didn't stick to Grandpas leg any more – the old man had barely opened his mouth to say hello to Bella when Romano ran off into the playgroup, latching onto a surprised Antonio. Bella just laughed while Grandpa got embarrassed, but Romano had more important things on his mind. He pulled on Antonio's shirt to beckon him down to his level, whispering consiprationally in his ear.

"I got some." the toddler told him.

"Got some what?" the teenager asked.

Romano took off his little backpack and pulled out his lunch box. He looked all around like he was in the middle of a drug trade, pulling something out. Antonio chuckled as the toddler pulled out a handful of cherry tomatoes.

"They're little ones." Romano pointed out "So they're better!"

"That's cool." Antonio agreed "They look nice too."

Y'know, for obviously shop bought.

Without another word, Romano walked off, throwing his bag onto the pile before going off to play.

Today was painting day, and if there was anything cuter than a bunch of little children, it was a bunch of little children in brightly coloured plastic aprons. It had been many years since Antonio had seen sugar paper and poster paint, the gritty feel and smell rousing nostalgia within him. Since he had bonded with the group over the last few days, he was asked to watch Romano, Lilly, Arthur and Ludwig. While the paint wasn't toxic, it still wasn't advisable to let the children drink it...

"That's a great horsey, Lilly." he noted as he sat with them, making swirls of dirt brown on his pink construction paper (no artistic talent whatsoever).

"It's a puppy." she told him "See, there's it's tongue."

"Oh, I thought that was a carrot." he apologised "I'm kinda dumb like that. You sure do like flowers, Arthur."

For which Antonio blamed Francis entirely, although the picture was actually pretty good for a five year old. Ludwig and Romano... not so much.

"So what you got there?" Antonio asked Ludwig.

"It's a butterfly." he muttered self-consciously, probably knowing it was no good.

"That's a lot of brown for a butterfly." the teenager tried to help "Why don't you put some more colours in?"

"They all ran..."

"Oh... well, how about another bit of paper? I'll show you a trick."

One of the few things Antonio did remember about his time in pre-school was the butterfly painting. Making sure the kids were watching, he outlined half the butterfly, filling it with generous splodges of bright paint, and folded the paper in half. After pressing down gently, he pulled the halves apart to reveal the full butterfly in the middle. The children 'ooh'ed in delight, immediately grabbing new sheets of paper to experiment on. A few minutes later, Antonio felt a tug on his sleeve. Romano's cheeks were rosy, eyes obviously pleading for approval as he presented his picture.

"It's finished!" he declared, holding it up for Antonio to see.

It's crap.

"It's great!" Antonio told the child "It's so colourful! Who are these people?"

Were they people?

"That's me." Romano told him, pointing to one of the splodgey figures "That's Grandpa and Feli, and that's you."

That was him? That was... really sweet. Despite the fact that the picture was awful, Antonio felt a swell in his heart – no little kid had ever drawn a picture of him before. He leaned down to Romano, who was still waiting for praise.

"Hey, can I keep this?" he asked.

Romano's face went full tomato, and one could swear they could see steam shooting out of his little ears. He turned away from Antonio, hiding his face.

"Do whatever you want, I don't care." he spat "Weirdo."

"So, how's he been?"

Mrs Héderváry finished sipping her coffee and put the mug down on the office desk. Mr Beilschmidt sat opposite, looking annoyed and pensive as always.

"Antonio is actually very good with children." she informed him "He can really get down to their level."

"Ja, he's kinda stupid that way."

She chuckled, used to him after so many years of him supervising the work experience kids.

"The children love him, too." she went on "We put him with Luddy and Arthur since they already knew him, but he even managed to get one of our difficult children to open up to him. It'd be a shame if he didn't consider childcare as a career."

"That frightens me a little, but okay." the ageing teacher agreed "He might consider taking the childcare GCSE."

There was a knock on the office door. They looked around to find a poster paint covered Antonio, and the pre-school manager covered her mouth desperately to stop herself bursting out laughing.

"You-!" Mr Beilschmidt stammered "What happened?"

"Kids are weird." the boy chuckled, barely above a whisper as not to wake the children in the middle of nap time "One minute things were fine, the next they're screaming and throwing paint at each other – it's totally nuts."

Mrs Héderváry just nodded knowingly, still trying not to laugh. The old man just sighed.

"Good to see you're having fun, at least." he said "Your placement's almost up – how have you found it?"

"It's a lot of work, but I really like it!" he whispered enthusiastically "Little kids are a lot of fun, you know?"

"Huh..." Mr Beilschmidt actually sounded a little impressed "This is by far the most awake I've ever seen you. This might be good for you after all."

They looked around as Bella appeared behind him, putting her hands on his adolescent shoulders.

"Sorry, but this one's needed." she told them "Romano's being grouchy again. Do you mind?"

The adults let him go, continuing the meeting without him, and Bella pulled him over to the side, where Romano was sat against the wall, hugging his knees, obviously tired. She left him to it and attended to the other children as he sat down next to him.

"Hey, buddy." he greeted "What's up? Not tired?"

"I don't want to sleep." the child sulked.

"Why's that?" he asked.

"You went away."

"Oh. Well, I'm here now."

Antonio smiled at the boy, who only pouted harder. Without a word, he flopped down, putting his head on Antonio's leg, and promptly fell asleep.

"I'm sorry about this again." Mr Beilschmidt apologised as they walked though the hallway of the pre-school "But this idiot is so clueless about his future, we had no idea what to do with him."

"Oh, that's no problem." Mrs Héderváry, the pre-school owner, assured "It's always nice to have an extra pair of hands this time of year."

"This guy has a bad attitude, though." the elderly teacher admitted "It's only because he knows the people here that we even considered it."

"Fuck you too."

They both stopped, looking back at 14 year old Romano, who picked his nose petulantly, looking out the window. Mr Beilschmidt groaned unhappily.

"I am so sorry."

"Don't worry." Mrs Héderváry just smiled "We have our secret weapon, after all."

She opened the door the to play room, the sound of children singing exploding into the hall. At the head of the class stood the grown Antonio, singing along and enthusiastically leading the actions to 'I'm a little teapot.' Romano audibly went 'urk', trying to back away into the hall, but it was too late – he had been seen. The second the song was over he pounced on Romano, wrapping the unwilling teenager in a hug.

"Romano~!"

"Let go! God, you're so gross! Get off! Prick!"

"Oi!" the elder scolded, pinching his cheek "No swearing in front of the children."

"Grandpa set this up, didn't he?! I hate you so much!"

He changed his tune pretty quickly when Bella appeared, hiding behind Antonio to hide his red face, making both childminders laugh.

"Some things never change." Mr Beilschmidt chuckled.

After so long since the last update, this ending feels awfully brief, but at least it's finished now. Please check out my other (and better) work if you get the chance!