Broken Lullaby ▷ Tony Stark | ✓

11 - TO BE YOUNG

BY SATURDAY, REMY WAS PRACTICALLY BOUNCING OFF THE WALLS. His fever completely gone and his homework already caught up on, the boy was ready for an adventurous weekend. With Birdie trying to catch up at work, needing to prepare for a case that would be taken to court, she didn't have much time to spare to appease her excitable eleven-year-old.

Which meant that Remy was going to get into some trouble.

"What's the plan for today, Remy?" BUDDY asked, his usual wake up call for whenever the boy asked him to be his alarm.

"We're gonna do something illegal!" Remy declared, his voice quiet and conspiratorial, "Stacey's as good as gone and mom's too busy, so I'm gonna do something."

If BUDDY were a person, he would be tugging at his shirt collar. "Are you sure that's a good idea? Illegal things have pretty heavy consequences."

"Don't be lame," Remy drawled, tugging out of the sweatshirt and sweatpants combo that had been his staple for the week, jumping into a pair of jeans and a polo shirt.

"It's cold outside," BUDDY said, and Remy grabbed a jacket, holding it until he got outside, "What are you planning?"

"I don't know," Remy hummed, sitting down and pulling on his socks, "But it's gonna be something illegal."

"Why do you want to break the law?" BUDDY asked, almost sighing; for an AI, he seemed to have a very broad range of emotions.

"Because only people who break the rules do anything interesting," he explained, grabbing his backpack and slinging it over his shoulders, "If I don't break some rules, then I'm not gonna be anything."

"That is only if the rules are unfair," BUDDY pointed out, but the boy had already stopped listening, calling a goodbye to the AI, already set on his goal for the day.

"Have fun, Remy," the AI said to the empty room before shutting down, waiting for him to return.

º º º

Remy wasn't sure where he was going, but he found himself in Times Square with no clear plan, but a very wide pool of opportunities.

"Well, I'm not stealing from someone..." he mumbled to himself, wondering just how angry his mother would be if she found out he was in one of the busiest places in New York all by himself; she would be very angry.

He didn't want to cause any real damage, but he wanted a rush. Some kind of thrill at the idea of being caught without actually doing anything bad. Like stealing something, but throwing it back into the store and letting the security guard just chase him out. That seemed like a fun plan, he liked that one. After all, he was small and it would be fun to bother some people without actually hurting them.

This was what most kids his age did for fun, they caused copious amounts of annoyance to the greater population. If anything, his mother should be thankful that he was trying to fit in.

The Disney store was two stories and most people cared about the top floor, so he couldn't do as much damage there. But the M&M's World was big and, while two stories, had a lot of room for a lot of damage.

That was how he found himself squeezing his way into the overcrowded and overpriced building that was filled to the brim with tourists and M&M merchandise. He made a beeline towards the merchandise, looking around for the security guards, trying to catch their eye; it wouldn't be any fun if they didn't try to catch him.

"Remy?"

The boy jumped, whirling around to find a taller boy looking at him, smiling brightly, glancing back towards his parents for a moment before walking towards him.