"She Loves You" and Other One-Shots Regarding the Beatles.

The Beatles Daycare: a One-Shot

Is it a one-shot or an one-shot?

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Dedicated to phillypotter for giving me the idea in the first place.
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The daycare was not having a busy day, but it was not exactly empty, either. The only residents were four young boys and a woman who was supposed to be watching over the boys but was instead flipping through a magazine with a photograph of Frank Sinatra on the front. The children were rather young, with six years as the oldest and three as the youngest. Despite this, the four boys were getting along, well enough. That was until the youngest had been rewarded with a biscuit and the only one to be rewarded with such a treat. That had been before the worker had whipped out the magazine, before she had decided to sit and do the exact opposite of what she had been assigned to do. It was not before she had decided to let the children do whatever they wanted; that had seemingly been the plan all along.

Ringo, the eldest child, had spotted the stuffed octopus doll almost immediately after having been left at the daycare by his mother. Now, he clutched the purple octopus with a sense of possession. He kept sending glances at the other boys, his curious blue eyes passing over each of their faces with interest. Truth be told, he was just a tiny bit jealous of the youngest boy. Ringo watched as the youngster ate his reward biscuit. Ringo tried to remember his name. It had began with a g, had it not? Or was it a j?

Definitely a G, Ringo thought. Too bad it's not an H for hungry. He smiled. His eyes skimmed across the room until they met the eyes of another boy, who was looking at everything in a perspective that practically screamed, I'm just waaaay too sassy for this sort of thing.

The boy said to Ringo, "Hello." It was friendly, not the bossy, stuck-up tone he had been expecting.

"Hi." Ringo smiled and made the octopus wave a tentacle.

The boy giggled. "I'm Paul."

"Ringo."

"Ringo?" Paul repeated. "That's an odd name!"

"Every time I go to the jeweler's I always look at the rings; he let me try on some, too, once." Ringo smiled at the memory.

"Do you really?" A new voice joined the conversation.

At first, Ringo thought his octopus had begun speaking, but he realized the thought was incorrect when he noticed Paul's eyes were on someone behind him. The boy was the tallest out of all of them, but Ringo knew he was the second oldest. The thought amused him, rather than angered him, to see a younger boy be taller than him.

"Yes," Ringo said.

"Well. That's different." The boy did not offer a handshake, but said, rather bluntly, "John."

"I'm Paul," Paul said before Ringo could introduce himself; Paul did that for him. "That's Ringo."

"Who's the pipsqueak?" John pointed to the youngest biscuit-eating boy.

Ringo shrugged. On the contrary, Paul said, "George. I heard his mother say goodbye to him."

"Ah." John declared, "Let's take the biscuit."

"Why the biscuit?" Ringo was still clutching the octopus.

"Well, why did he get one when we did not?"

"For good behavior," Paul sneered.

Ringo looked at his octopus then back at the two boys. A strange, amusing thought hit him: the stuffed, mute toy was much nicer than his two companions. But Ringo did not say anything. Honestly, he wanted a biscuit, too, and thought if the three did take away the biscuit from 'pipsqueak' then they could split it among themselves.

"We have been ," said Ringo, "on good behavior."

"Tell that to her." John thrusted a thumb to where their caretaker sat, engrossed still in her magazine.

"No, thanks."

"Aw, Paul, Ringo here thinks he can steal a biscuit with us, but can still be all nice when it comes to our sitter." John laughed.

Even though Paul did not, the action of John laughing at him - that he was making fun of him - still made Ringo uncertain about the biscuit-napping. But he changed his mind and dropped his stuffed friend. A moment later, the three had walked over to where the youngest sat, and Ringo forgot completely about the octopus.

The youngster did not look up, not even when John, Paul, and Ringo sat down beside him. He still had half the biscuit to eat. John looked at the biscuit with interest; it seemed he was looking at the kid himself with a hungry interest. It was not well-intentioned, Ringo assumed, because John wanted to see the boy's good behavior turn into the opposite. Ringo knew that, but he had walked over with John and Paul anyway. Why, he did not know. All Ringo wanted to do was fit in, for a day. Little did he know he was doing the complete opposite.

"Hey, pippy," John said in a friendly tone.

The boy looked up. "What?"

"I said, Hey pippy. You know, it's short for pipsqueak."

"Like yourself," Paul agreed.

The boy's eyes skimmed over the three of them. He did not say a word.

"So, Pippy, is that biscuit any good?" John looked at Pippy.

"Yes," Pippy said, not quite catching on. "It's great!"

"Can we have it?"

John looked at Paul, an angry gleam in his eyes. "Not so soon!"

"Yeah, sure," the boy said.

"What? You can have it," Ringo spoke up for the first time.

"No, no, I'm full," the boy said.

"Your name is full?" John asked in disbelief.

"No, it's George."

"I'm John."

"Paul."

"Ringo."

George smiled.

"You know," said Paul, "you still have not passed over the biscuit."

"Oh. Sorry." George held out the biscuit, and waited.

All at once, the three boys made a grab for it, but George put it out of their reach.

"Why, Pippy, why?" John asked.

"I said my name in George."

"Why, George, why?" Paul corrected.

"Because, since you all are concerned about my age, I have the advantage."

"What advantage?" John said loudly.

"The trick," George answered.

"He's playing with us." The disgust in John's voice was present.

"He really is," Paul agreed.

"Wow," was all Ringo said.

The three looked at George to confirm it, but he only did one thing: put the biscuit in his mouth and bite it.

"No!" John and Paul cried!

Ringo just stared.

And, for their caretaker, she just turned the next page in her Frank Sinatra magazine, oblivious to it all.