Preschool AU

He wasn't supposed to be here.

He was supposed to be back at the family estate playing with Aloin, Grand-pere's Growlithe, and sneaking into all of the rooms he wasn't supposed to go in. He should be drinking juice and eating the cookies that Miss. Louise made just for him so he wouldn't get hungry when he explored the backyard.

"Grand-mere."

His grandmother turned her attention away from the lady behind the counter and smiled down at him. "Yes? What is it, mon petit?" He glanced about the little front room with obvious distaste. "I don't want to stay here." He huffed with his patented pout. The older woman gave a weary sigh, finished up with whatever she was doing up on the tall counter, and turned fully to crouch in front of him. "Grand-pere and I are very busy this summer, so we need you to be a good boy and play here for awhile." Andre did not like this, not one bit. "I don't want to stay here." He repeated, though all this earned him was a frown. "Well I'm sorry, petit, but you are going to have to."

With that...she left.

Andre stood perfectly still, surprised that she had not given in and taken him with her. "...Grand-mere?" His bottom lip trembled. She just left him alone with a bunch of strangers! He was filled with a sense of dread and anxiety and before he knew it he was heaving soft, pitiful, dry sobs. "Ooooh, it's okay." An unfamiliar blonde haired woman blocked his vision of the front door and he felt a gentle hand on his shoulder. "She'll be back before you know it." He was not reassured in the slightest.

Daycare was a constant thing, his father didn't even drop him off. Vincent carpooled with the neighbour lady and the other kids who got shuffled off to daycare. Vincent's dad said it was because he had to work late and Vincent was too young to b by himself. The two children Vincent carpooled with didn't play with him much and the blonde didn't find he wanted to play with them, or anyone, anyway. They were mean. They stole the toys he was playing with and pushed him around when the sitters weren't watching, then he got in trouble when he tried to push them back! He didn't like them.

The blonde didn't pay any mind to what was going on around him. Instead, he was sitting off at a small table by himself, scribbling on a paper with his crayons. Sometimes he'd get scolded by the sitters for not playing with the other kids but he always got into fights... Vincent would rather just avoid them. He avoided his father at home because he was mean too.

Day care wasn't the worst thing that could happen though; he always got breakfast and lunch at daycare. Sometimes another kid would steal his dessert, but that was okay. At home his father forgot to make dinner most of the time. There were a few other nice things about being here too, it wasn't so bad. Besides, they always had good crayons to draw with!

"I think you're going to like it here, Andre." Marceline (The blonde haired woman from the front desk. He figured she wasn't so bad, she was nice and smelled like the flowers that his mother grew in the little box outside of the kitchen window.) told him with a kind smile and gentle hug. He, in response, simply huffed and tightened his arms slightly around her neck as she carried him into the playroom. "You made it in before snack time, we're having cookies and milk today~" That certainly had him interested, not that he'd let Marceline know that. He wanted everyone to know that he was not happy about being left behind with all of these strange children.

"Hello Vincent. Oooh, what a pretty picture." The five year old peeked out from where he had hidden his face in the woman's hair though he couldn't see who she was talking to. "This is Andre. He's visiting for the summer and I think he could use a friend." He made a noise of disagreement and kicked his legs a bit. He didn't need a friend, he was fine all by himself! Andre gave a little noise of alarm as he felt himself being lowered to the ground and clung to the older woman. "Andre." She laughed as she gently pried the boy loose and set him on the floor. "Why don't you play with Vincent? You could draw something nice for your grand-mere when she comes to pick you up." He didn't want to draw her something nice! He raised his arms with a pout, the universal sign that he wanted to be picked up. Marceline simply sighed and patted his head. "No, you need to stay here. I'll see you at snack time."

With that...another person left him alone with a bunch of strangers.

He let out a shaky breath, trying his hardest not to start crying in front of a bunch of people. He was a big boy and he...he...he...wanted his mum! Keening pitifully, he reached up to rub the tears away before anyone could see.

Vincent would have been content to keep to himself and his drawings but that wasn't the way daycare was supposed to work. He was supposed to play with other kids. But they were are all jerks! And this rich looking cry baby probably would be too! Huffing and looking down at his drawing, Vincent covered it up with his hands so the purple haired kid couldn't see it.

"... Stop crying," Vincent mumbled, glancing up at the kid. He didn't want him to cry mostly because it was annoying. He didn't want to admit he felt upset when other kids started crying, and that made him start crying! If he could make the kid stop crying before he really started, it'd be better for everyone and no one would think he was being mean. He wouldn't be mean as long as this Andre wasn't. He was dressed nicely though and nice clothes almost always meant snobby rude people... "You can sit down, in that chair..." he mumbled, gathering up his crayons and setting them in his lap so no one could steal them. They were his!

Andre sniffled quietly as he climbed into the chair beside the blonde. "'M not crying." He muttered as he pulled his knees tight to his chest and tucked them beneath his chin. The stupid shorts that his grandmother made him wear made it hard to stay that way, but he always sat this way when he was around strangers and he wasn't gonna stop just because of the stupid, uncomfortable clothes. He wanted to go home...or at least back to his grandparents' house where it wasn't so loud. He didn't like loud places, they made his head heart and his stomach do weird twisty things like the worms that crawled on the sidewalk after it rained.

He watched Vincent hide his picture and crayons, his eyebrows furrowing. "You're 'sposed to share." He stated, though he didn't make a move to do anything about it. It's not like he wanted to color or anything...and even if he did he wouldn't want to use the ones that Vincent was using anyway.

Sharing meant his things would get taken away and Vincent really didn't want to lose his crayons. He put the away, neatly, everyday, in his cubby! They even had his name written on them... there was no way he was going to hand over his crayons.

"You didn't ask for 'em," Vincent said, looking over and pouting at Andre. He had more paper and he probably could share a few crayons... just not the red one, that was his favourite colour and no one could use it but him! "Did your dad make you come here too?" he asked, watching Andre carefully. He'd never ever seen Andre, not even in school or on the playground. Where could he come from if not from there?

"I don't really want them 'nyways." Andre huffed, tightening his grip on his legs. Vincent was stupid and mean and he didn't wanna share crayons with him anyways. He could find his own crayons to use and tomorrow he'd make sure that if he came back he'd have even better crayons that he wouldn't share with the blonde.

"No." He replied after a bit. "Grand-mere made me stay here. My dad is in...in..." He scrunched up his nose as he tried to remember what his home was called. "Koodo...with my mum. I'm playing at Grand-pere and Grand-mere's house this summer, 'cept they brought me here 'nstead." His parents would never make him stay somewhere he didn't want to go, they always brought him with them.

"Good! These are mine," he said with another huff, starting to gather up his crayons and put them in his box. He took his time to make sure they were in rainbow order, since that was the best way to put them away and they looked pretty. He always put his red crayon in last because it was the most important and he had to make sure it was safe, between all the other crayons.

"Koodo? Where's that?" he asked, watching Andre again. He'd never heard of Koodo. "I live here with my dad," he said, nodding. He'd rather live at the daycare, but only if he was the only kid there. Other kids were mean. "My dad works lots, so I gotta be here. Are your Grand-pere and Grand-mere working lots too?" Maybe Vincent's dad knew Andre's grandparents! How many places could people work? Probably at least three places, so that meant they probably worked together.

The purple haired boy couldn't help but admire the way that Vincent put his crayons away. Like a rainbow...just like he did with his own crayons. Red must be his favorite color, he found himself thinking as he watched the other boy put them away with care. He knew this because he always made sure to put his green crayons in last just to make sure they didn't fall out of the box or get squished because green was his favorite color.

"It's over the ocean." He informed the other with a haughty sniff. "I got to ride a big boat and...and I saw some of the pokemon that live in there." Though he couldn't remember any of the names that his grandfather had told him. They were big words and it wasn't likely that he would really need to remember them. "Aloin barked at them, I don't think he liked being on the big boat." He pondered over the blonde's question before shrugging. "Grand-mere plays in her big book room all day and Grand-pere is a doctor I think. Is your dad a doctor?"

Vincent set his crayons down carefully on top of his drawing, patting it. He didn't want Andre to see his mega awesome drawing of a fire breathing Buneary. "The ocean? That's scary..." Vincent mumbled. He hated the ocean, he had seen it a few times when he was in his dad's car and he never wanted to go close to it. Boats were even scarier than the ocean and yet Andre had been on one! "You were on a boat?" he asked, voice squeaking. "What's Aloin? Boats are scary, so I bet he was scared..." Vincent would never ever go on a boat. Never.

"Umm..." Vincent tried to think about what his dad did. He didn't really know what the word for it was. "No, my dad is a... a builder. He makes houses n'stuff." Vincent hadn't been to a doctor in a long time. Not that he could remember at least, his dad said they were 'no good quacks', whatever that meant. "Can your Grand-mere read really good? I can't read really good," he asked, curious. Vincent always tried to pay as much attention as he could during story time so he could learn to read better, but it was hard for him. He couldn't see the letters very well in his own books.

"Aloin is Grand-pere's Growlithe." Andre explained, "He's super brave, I don't think he was scared. He made sure I didn't fall off the boat." He remembered how the pokemon had nudged him away from the railing whenever he went too close or would grip the back of his shirt between his teeth if he leaned over the edge. "He's my favorite part of coming to visit." He nodded firmly as he slowly lowered his legs.

"Oooh, there's lots of those at the big house. The builders are fixing one of the rooms I'm not 'sposed to go in." He said thoughtfully as he tugged on a strand of his curly hair. "I think that's why I'm here instead of there...even though I told Grand-mere I wanted to play in the garden today." He was still bitter about that. "Yeah, she reads real good. She reads me bed time stories sometimes...but Miss. Louise normany reads them."

"A Growlithe? I never seen one of those," Vincent said, trying to think if there were any Growlithes in the picture books they had in the day care. Maybe if he got lucky, Andre would bring Aloin and Vincent could see it! "I wanna see him sometime. Can you bring him?" he asked hopefully, trying not to sound too excited. He wasn't allowed to have pokemon or be around them usually, but whenever there was one at the daycare he got to see and pet them even!

"Ohhh... maybe my dad is workin' on that room! Is there secret stuff in there?" Andre looked like he was the kind of guy who had lots of money. His clothes looked so nice, like they were bought just for him! Vincent only had handmedowns from the neighbours. Even Andre's shoes look good. "So does that mean you can read good too? Who is Miss Louise Normany?" Maybe he had a sister! Vincent didn't have a sister, or a brother, just his dad.

Andre brought a hand up to press against his foreheard, "Slow down, you ask lots of questions. I don't understand French so good." He groused, but he smiled all the same. He liked it when people were interested in his things. That meant that he could talk about them without his grandparents telling him that he was talking too much. "A Growlithe looks sorta like a dog, but they can do fire tricks. Aloin isn't allowed to do those unless Grand-pere says so or if there's trouble though." He tried to explain. It was hard explaining what a Growlithe looked like without the other person having seen one! "He's real fluffy...and his fur is the orange and he's got these black stripes on his back and legs." He fluffed his hair up a bit to try and show the other just how fluffy the pokemon was. "I can ask Grand-pere if Aloin can come, he's real fun."

If Vincent's dad built things and fixed things then it was very likely that he was over at the big house. There couldn't be too many people that knew how to do such things since it was so hard. "Maybe." He conceded with a nod, "I didn't get to see any of the builder people since I'm not 'sposed to be in the room. I think that's where Grand-pere does his homework like Mummy does at her big desk that I'm not 'sposed to touch." He touched it anyways, but he was always very careful not to break or spill anything. He didn't want to make his mother sad or angry. "Mummy says I'm real good at reading, I read her a book 'bout a bee once. All by myself." He said proudly, kicking his legs a bit since they didn't quite reach the floor. "No, no, no. Miss Louise n-...normany..." He gave a frustrated sigh. "She normally reads to me before bed."

Vincent listened, nodding and trying his best to pay attention. He was pretty good at visualizing things, but he couldn't quite get the right picture in his head. When Andre said he'd ask if he could bring the Growlithe, Vincent grinned widely. "That'd be so super cool!" Vincent said excitedly, fiddling with his box of crayons. "I don't get to play with pokemon at home, m'not supposed to. I like when everyone else brings theirs!" it was one of the few times he made an effort to go be with the other students.

"Maybe I could ask my dad if he works there! If he does, maybe he'll know what a Growlithe is, maybe he knows Aloin!" Vincent honestly just wanted to get to see a Growlithe. Fire was cool and Bunearys didn't actually breathe fire as far as he knew.

So Andre could read! Vincent felt a little jealous, since he wasn't so good at it himself. He could ask Andre to teach him, but... no, he wanted to learn on his own. "I can read lots of books," he said, just to prove himself. He didn't care he was contradicting himself, he had to sound cool and smart too. "Ohh... normally... but then, who is Miss Louise? Is she your sister?"

"At home with my mum and dad I don't have any pokemon but at the big house there are lots and lots. They play in the garden when Grand-mere isn't lookin'." He was pretty sure that the pokemon didn't belong to his grandparents but he never told on them. He liked being able to play with them and if he told his grandparents they might chase them off! "Oooh, maybe he does! That would be nice, Aloin likes to make friends." At least, it seemed like he did. He was always very excited when he saw someone or something new.

"Maybe I can bring my favorite book from the big house and we can read it together." Andre offered with a shy smile. "It's 'bout all the kinds of flowers, my mum gave it to me. She likes flowers lots and lots and she lets me help her plant them in her little box." He explained. Normally people laughed when he told him his favorite book was about flowers but he really liked flowers! They were pretty and they smelled nice. "Noooo, I don't have a sister or a brother even. Miss Louise cooks at the big house; she's real nice and she makes me cookies when I go espl-...." He glanced around as if looking for something. "Expoloring."

"Wow... we don't have any at my home, not even outside... I think the neighbour lady has one though! Dad doesn't let me talk to her," Vincent explained, nodding. He didn't like Vincent talking to strangers, if he found out Vincent did then he'd be in a lot of trouble, and then he wouldn't get to go outside for a long time. "You think he'd wanna be friends with me even?" Vincent asked, reaching up and trying to smooth down his hair some. Even if it was just a pokemon, he'd try to remember to make his hair look better when Andre brought him. Good 'impressions' or something!

"It's about flowers?" Vincent asked, sounding a little off-put. He'd prefer something more interesting, like explosions and adventures and stuff... but if Andre said it was his favourite, then it must not be too boring. "I guess that's kind of cool... I hope it's gots pictures." he said. When Andre spoke again, then said a word in English, Vincent perked up. "You know English?" he asked hopefully. "I know English!"

"Why wouldn't he want to be friends?" Andre asked, eyebrows furrowing in confusion. "You're nice, even though you won't share, so I think he'd like you." It wasn't hard at all to get along with Aloin so he wasn't worried in the slightest. "We don't have any pokemon at my house either. Dad says they're lots of work and they're real busy with their books and homework so we can't have any." Even though he really wanted a fluffy Ninetails like one of his neighbors did.

"It's got lots of pictures! It's even gots little stickers that you can scratch so you can smell the flowers." He wiggled excitedly in his seat and kicked his legs. "Mummy got it special for me for Christmas." The book was his favorite present ever! Well...except for maybe the treats that his parents would bring home from their grown up school. "Oh!" He gasped in surprise, his hands coming up to cover his mouth. "You know English! Back at my home everyone speaks English."

"I 'unno, I don't really have any friends," Vincent shrugged like it was the obvious answer. He'd work extra hard to make sure Aloin wanted to be his friend too! He tried not to get too carried away imagining the adventures they could go on with a pokemon, but now he wanted to draw a picture of himself slaying monsters on the back of whatever a Growlithe looked like! "...I'll share a cookie with him if he's nice to me too. ...Maybe half a cookie." Cookies were good, he wasn't sure if he was ready to commit to sharing his whole cookie.

"Woah... that sounds like, like... magic," Vincent said, slightly amazed. He didn't know stickers could smell like flowers! Maybe he could get a smelly sticker of his own! If he asked really nice, maybe his dad would get him one. His dad said they didn't have Christmases, but maybe for his birthday... "My dad speaks English! He doesn't like French, but everyone speaks French here! You're so cool, you can speak two lan...lan...things!"

"Aloin isn't 'sposed to eat cookies. Grand-pere says they're bad for him." Andre said, his tone matter of fact. Though he gave the Growlithe sneaky little bits of his cookies when they explored. "But he's gots treats he can eat, you can feed him some. He likes those." If he could bring the pokemon with him then he'd be sure to bring lots of snacks for him to eat, it wouldn't be fair if they had snack time and he didn't.

"I don't think it's magic...it's prolly science." Andre said, relieved to be able to speak his native tongue. Speaking French was hard and he got words mixed up all the time! "French is hard." The purple haired boy echoed his thoughts with a slight pout. "I forget words all the time and then my grandparents can't understand me and they look at me like Mummy does when I do somethin' I'm not 'sposed to."

"Oh, right... treats," Vincent nodded, wondering if maybe he could find some Growlithe treats and bring them in. They seemed like they'd be easy enough to find! Who wouldn't want to give a Growlithe a treat? Only rude people, Vincent thought.

"Science, yeah... French is hard? Nuh uh, English, it is harder!" Vincent objected, though he'd been speaking English for as long as he'd been speaking French. All the books here were French, and everyone else spoke French, so Vincent got very little practice except for when he was at home. His dad always spoke English whenever he could, he didn't like French. "Maybe they think you were tryin' to say a bad word? I get in lots of trouble when I say a bad word. I could teach you, um... more French? I know lots of it! As many words as a book!"

"That's a lot of words." Andre said, his eyes widening in awe. "I...don't think I say bad words. Bad words make Mummy sad and Dad gets all grumpy." He thought his dad got funny when he was grumpy, he stomped around and talked to himself, but he never ever wanted his mother to be sad. He loved her too much to make her sad or worse...cry. "That'd be very very nice of you. I could teach you more English words if you wanted. I know lots and lots of English words." He tapped his chin thoughtfully and frowned a bit. "Maybe not a whole book amount though."

"Oh... what's your mum like? Is she like the day care people?" Vincent asked, head tilted. He'd never known his mother and had just assumed she would be nice, probably. But not that nice, since she'd run away and left him alone. That didn't seem like a nice thing to do at all. Vincent hoped his mother was nicer than his father at least, otherwise he was glad she was gone. "I am super nice, so I'll teach you. Maybe then we'll know all the same words! In French, but also English!" Vincent said, sounding excited but ducking his head when he smiled.

"Oh! Look, it's snack time- I mean, um... snacks!" Vincent pointed over to the door where one of the sitters had walked through, pushing the cart that had their afternoon snacks. Vincent stood and gathered up his papers and crayons, hurrying over to a row of cubbies and stashing away his goods. "We can't have snacks if we don't clean up our mess," he explained to Andre, glancing at his cubby with worry. "I think they'll make you a...a that, later." He said, pointing at the shelves with the brightly coloured cubbies.

"Oh! Mummy is really nice, she smells like flowers and she's super smart and she's got a pretty smile and...and long long hair but it's brown not purple, I gots purple hair from Dad, but she lets me play with it and put flowers in it sometimes." He gushed with a bright smile. "She's 'sposed to come pick me up at the end of the summer so maybe you can meet her! I think you'd like her, she's got pretty green eyes like you." His mother got along with everyone as long as they were nice to him and Dad, and Vincent was nice so she'd probably really like him too.

"We'll know lots of words, like...like two whole books!" Andre gasped and clapped his hands over his mouth in excitement. The mention of snacks had him getting even more excited, if that was possible. "I like snacks." He chirped as he followed Vincent over to the brightly coloured boxes. "I can have a...a coloured box?" He asked, inching closer to look at them more closely. It didn't seem like there was anything special about them...other than being pretty colours. "Could I have a green one?"