Broken Lullaby ▷ Tony Stark | ✓

4 - A DANGEROUS GAME

TONY DIDN'T REALIZE KIDS COULD BE SO TALKATIVE. He stared down at the boy—he couldn't tell if he was five or fifteen, he seemed to be in the middle of that somewhere—who was still holding his hand in the middle of the sidewalk, talking faster than even he could.

"Kid, where's your mom?" Tony interrupted, holding up his free hand, still unsure why he wasn't pulling away; maybe it was the fact that the kid was out and about on his own and he didn't want to be responsible for something bad happening to him.

The boy—Remy, he had called himself—rolled his eyes, sighing. "Like I just said, she's sleeping right now, she's a lawyer. My babysitter is supposed to pick me up and take me home, but she's gone, so can you take me home?"

"Why did your babysitter leave?" Tony asked, frowning down at the boy, trying to understand why he had just approached a random stranger, asking them to walk him home.

"I told her my mom was picking me up," he said, shrugging, and it immediately occurred to Tony that maybe this boy wasn't as naive as he expected him to be.

"When did you tell her that?" he asked slowly, now more unnerved by the kid than he had been originally.

"When I saw you walking by," he replied, "Now, c'mon, I wanna get my homework done." With a sharp tug, he began to walk, Tony having no choice but to accompany him, wondering if he still had the chance to call Happy while on the move.

"So how old are you?" Remy asked, never letting go of his hand, pausing at the crosswalk, despite the people next to them who just continued to walk, paying them no mind.

"How old are you?" Tony countered, barely waiting a moment to start walking once the light turned, now his turn to tug the boy forward, wanting to be rid of the problem as soon as possible.

"I'm eleven," he answered smoothly, though he didn't seem too pleased with the attention being placed on him, "Now, how old are you?"

Before Tony could answer, there was a sharp shout of, "Remy!" which caused the young boy to sigh and let go of Tony's hand, turning on his heel to cross his arms up at the girl who was barreling towards them.

"Your mom just called me to make sure I was picking you up, what were you thinking?" she hissed, tugging him away from Tony, pausing briefly when she realized who he was.

"I won't tell her that you just believed me if you don't tell her about this," Remy said quickly, grabbing her arm, forcing her to look at him. It was almost comical, the way the young boy had such a commanding presence, despite being so small.

The babysitter chewed on her lip, glancing between Remy and Tony, finally deciding that she didn't want to get on the bad side of Iron Man when she said, "Okay. Fine. But you're going to suggest that she give me a raise."

Remy sighed as she pulled him away, looking over his shoulder and waving with his free hand. "See you, later!"

Tony raised a hand in goodbye, glancing at it before stuffing it into his pocket, wondering what he had just been coerced into.

Stiffly he pulled out his phone, texting Happy to come pick him up.

To say that encounter was strange was an understatement. Brief, but strange.

º º º

If Remy's feet could touch the ground, he would be tapping his foot. He was chewing on his pen, a habit that everyone and their mother had tried and failed to stop. He knew he should have, as it seemed to get him too upset, gnawing until his teeth hurt, but it was impossible to stop.