Rome grinned proudly, his posture suggesting that he was completely comfortable in his rather eccentric getup: a fluffy ballerina tutu in the same shade of red as his cape, the edges embroidered with cream and gold thread. There was a tiny gold tiara sitting atop his head, with a large, shiny ruby as the centerpiece. Red ballerina point shoes with golden laces clung to his manly calves, and on each of his arms was a puffy armband of red velvet with a silver button. A belt of bronze and silver medallions hung around his waist, with a tan leather pouch on one side and a leather sword sheath on the other side, containing what could only be, from Romano's point of view, the most girly, sparkly, damn shiny wand on the whole planet. The wand was about a foot long and made of a hard, dark wood, shaped like the spiral of a unicorn's elegant horn, with subtle tones of shimmering deep gold and blood red paint along the inner ridges of each spiral, and tapered off into a sharp point capped with a fist-sized, glowing gold star. The wand body also seemed to have been polished with some sort of shiny gold glitter, so that whenever Rome moved, the whole wand shimmered in a golden haze like some kind of weird mirage. The star appeared, from the Italy twins could see, to be attached to the rest of the wand by being haphazardly tied on with a very long, tattered red ribbon that appeared to have once been fabric ripped from Rome's cape, only the ribbon seemed to have been splashed with huge streaks and splotches of glittery silver and bronze paint, and a liberal sprinkling of tiny silver stars that winked in the late afternoon sun.

Feliciano seemed bewildered by their grandfather's strange clothing choice, and gave Rome a questioning look. Romano, as vocal as ever, chose to speak his mind instead."You look like a goddamn creepy pedo that escaped from the nuthouse to find little kids, Nonno! Why the hell are you even wearing that thing?" Rome merely blinked at him, eyes showing amusement. "Oh come on, Romano, you and Feli have seen me in worse and you know it~".

Romano wondered vaguely if this was where his idiot brother had gotten his ability to not mind cross-dressing. The thought was rather horrifying. The thought that this was also where he'd gotten the same ability (even if he would never admit it) was even more terrifying. Why the hell are all the old countries so damn weird?

His Northern counterpart, however, seemed less "weirded out" by their grandfather's sparkly costume, and promptly ran over, throwing his arms around Rome's muscular frame as he shouted happily, "Nonno Roma, you're here, you're here! We missed you so much, ve!". Rome smiled happily, returning Feliciano's embrace while reaching out a hand to grab a surprised Romano, yanking him close, in the midst of multiple curse words and sputters of "Put me down!", and wrapping them in a group hug. After a moment of half-hearted struggling, Romano gave in and leaned back against his brother and grandfather, admitting inwardly that the hug wasn't so bad.

However, the question had to be answered. "Seriously, Nonno, why are you wearing a fairy princess tutu? Did you lose a bet to Germania or something? Is there something you're not telling us?"

After a moment, Rome's carefree expression suddenly turned serious. Holding both his grandchildren at arms length, he motioned for them to sit down on the picnic blanket. Upon taking a seat, Rome handed Feliciano the gelato bowl and passed around several plastic spoons he pulled from the pouch on his belt. Romano dug in instantly, focusing on the cold treat to help ignore the fact that his grandfather was being so serious, something he and Feliciano had very rarely seen. The times that his Nonno had actually been discernibly serious had been rather worrisome, because nowadays, Rome rarely expressed himself that way unless something very big was about to happen. Romano could only hope that the "very big something" was not a bad thing.

"I'm your Fairy Godfather."

Feliciano dropped his spoon, globs of vanilla gelato and all, and Romano spat out his own mouthful of cherry gelato, spraying the checkered picnic blanket fabric with spit and gelato. "What!?"

Rome gave them no smile, no cheerful laugh, no hint of any kind that he had been joking. The Italy twins shared a look of confusion. Their Nonno was joking, right? Right?

"It's true, I really am!", Rome stated, pulling the wand from his sword sheath and holding it out to them, as if to prove his point. Feliciano poked the tip of the star with a cautious finger, as if to check if the bizarre accessory was real. The existence of said wand was proven a split second later, when the star's tip glowed like a hot iron and Feliciano received a strong shock to his finger, the pale digit still smoking as he snatched it away with an exclamation of "Ouchie! Ow ow ow, hot, hot!". Rome grinned wryly at his grandsons, uttering a slightly dry, "Well? Do you believe me now?".

Romano glared at Rome for a moment, before he grabbed his brother's hand, yanking the still smoking finger up to eye level and inspecting it; sure enough, the tip of Feliciano's finger was an angry red color. Muttering a curse, he promptly grabbed the still somewhat full gelato bowl and shoved Feliciano's finger into the cold vanilla and cherry treat; his twin let out a cry of surprise at the sudden movement, but instantly calmed down as the soothing feeling of the cold gelato reduced the stinging of his burned digit. "Dammit, Nonno, you know that Feli's an idiot! Why'd you let him touch that!?"

Rome merely smiled a bit. "You and I both know that Feli would've done that anyway. I let him touch the wand because it would prove to you boys what I just told you." Romano stared at him, utterly bewildered."What, that you're a nutcase?"

"No," Rome continued as if he hadn't heard the slight insult, "That I'm your Fairy Godfather. Your Tomato Fairy Godfather, to be precise." When his grandchildren merely gave him a continued look of confusion, Rome decided to explain. "I'm here because you two made a wish, and as your appointed Tomato Fairy Godfather, I'm obligated to grant it. This wand here," he held said wand up for emphasis, "helps me fulfill my wish-granting."

Feliciano scratched his head in confusion as he turned the answer over in his head. "So, let me get this straight...you're here... because fratello and I wished for a bowl of gelato?" Rome nodded. "That's so nice of you, Nonno, grazie!"

Romano wasn't as pleased. "What do you mean, appointed? Is there some lunatic out there that got you to do this?"

The old Empire shook his head. "No, Romano, she isn't a lunatic. The Tomato Goddess is actually a very nice, sane lady, and quite easy on the eyes, too." Romano stared at him; a Tomato Goddess? Really?...

Although that actually sounds pretty good. A pretty Goddess who makes tomatoes, hmm, not a bad idea at all...maybe I can make a shrine for her. Hmm, and all the offerings will be tomatoes, which gives me an excuse to grow more tomatoes. Yes, that could work...

His brother was concerned with other matters."You got appointed by a goddess to be our Fairy Godfather? That's amazing! What does she look like? Does she like pasta? Can you bring her some as an offering from me, please, please?" Rome smiled at his Northern grandson's enthusiasm, and nodded. "Yes, Feli, I can bring her some of your delicious pasta."

Romano felt a little annoyed; why didn't Nonno ask him if he wanted to offer some tomatoes too? He had the best tomato garden in all of Sicily, and he wasn't even being included?

Rome turned to him and added, "Well, I'll bring her your pasta, Feli, but only if Roma gives her some of his tomatoes too. You can't have great pasta without tomatoes!"

"Well of course you can't!", Romano stated proudly, eyes flashing in offense at the very idea. But both Rome and Feliciano noticed the slight, almost unnoticeable smile that he gave in thanks for being included.

"Anyway, that's not the only reason why I'm here today," Rome continued. "I'm also here because you two have another wish that I need to grant."

Both Romano and Feliciano blinked in confusion. "What wish, ve? We only wished for some gelato!"

Rome stared at them. "You mean, you haven't even made the wish yet? That's impossible! It says on my checklist for today that you two made two wishes, not one! Darn it, where did I put that checklist..."

The old Empire proceeded to open up the pouch on his belt and pull quite a few things out of it in his search for said checklist, including a pouch of sparkling golden powder labeled "Pixie dust, high powered: Everything else you need is faith and trust! (Joint Product of Neverland and England)", a very long collapsible brass telescope, a giant rusty anchor (which both twins jumped out of the way of when Rome threw it carelessly over his shoulder), a huge red and gold book stuffed full of old papers and multicolored sticky notes with a title in gold that was written in a language neither of the two Italies could read, and what looked to be a green glass rectangular wine bottle with a music box inserted into the hollow space at the bottom and a tiny metal shot glass for the bottle cap. Romano wondered if the pouch was bottomless; it would certainly explain why so much junk was able to be stored in it.

Finally, after several minutes of searching, Rome let out a triumphant "Aha!" and pulled out a little black book, spiral bound with lined paper the color of old parchment, and began flipping through it, muttering dates under his breath as his eyes sped over each page's contents. After a long moment, he finally stopped at a page, grinning victoriously as he shoved the notebook forward so his grandsons could see what was written.

The page was blank.

Romano blinked once, twice, and then shouted, "What the heck is this? I don't see a damn thing written on this page!" Feliciano peered at the open page, chocolate-brown eyes full of confusion as he called out, "It's true, Nonno, the page is blank! I can't see any words on it, ve!"

The Roman Empire blinked, appearing to be confused, before comprehension dawned in his eyes and he muttered a sheepish, "Oops. I forgot to tell you, you can't read it. It's only able to be read by Fairy Godfathers."

Romano slapped his forehead in frustration. Why, by God, did he have to be related to idiots?

Rome, who appeared to be unfazed by Romano's actions, read aloud the contents of the page for his grandsons' benefit. "On this day of Pasquetta, known by all as Easter Monday, I, the Roman Empire, being the appointed Tomato Fairy Godparent of the personifications of North and South Italy, do solemnly swear that I am to fulfill the following wish obligations...". Silence ensued he trailed off, eyebrows furrowing in apparent confusion.

"Well?," Romano asked after a moment. "What's the page say?" Rome squinted at the page, trying to make out the words. A few seconds later, he grinned and turned to both Romano and Feliciano, and said, "It says for you to go home."

Romano blinked in surprise, before an angry look settled over his features as he shouted, "What do you mean, it says to go home? That's ridiculous!" Rome repeated, "I'm not lying. That's what it says: go home. It says that whatever you two wished for is at home."

The old empire suddenly smiled again. "However, that doesn't mean I can't help you get there. Now hold still..."

Both Italies gave their grandfather a confused expression, which turned to alarm as Rome walked forwards and tapped them both on the head with the star tip of his wand. Romano began swearing profusely as his body began to glow golden, before vanishing. Feliciano began panicking as he saw his body glowing like a flashlight, taking out his old white flag of surrender and waving it around as he shouted that he didn't want to disappear. Rome merely waved good-bye as his grandsons vanished, the echo of Romano's enraged swearwords lingering in the air.

The abandoned picnic basket a few feet away caught his eye. Rome walked back over to the blanket and helped himself to the food. After all, it wasn't good to waste a perfectly good picnic, right?

He hoped his grandsons liked their wishes, although Romano, he knew, would probably skin him for his gift. Oh well, he knew that he and Spain would thank him later. Good luck, boys, you'll need it.