LIKE PROMISED, IT WAS AS IF THE COUNTDOWN TO THE NEW YEAR NEVER HAPPENED. The only indication in the Walsh household that there had indeed been a party to celebrate was Remy's constant complaining about the group of pre-teens that he had somehow learned to despise in just two short days.

"—what's even worse is when they're in that age range and they agree! It's like they're completely oblivious to the fact that they're actually completing what I said, they think they're somehow more mature because they're aware of what all the 'problems' everyone their age has and how awful they are while completely forgetting that they're the people I'm talking about! It's like they're fulfilling the point they think they're agreeing with me on."

Nicky blinked as he sat across from the talkative eleven-year-old, two ice cream sundaes sat between them in front of the ice cream parlor Tony had driven Remy to in an effort to appease Birdie who was worried about Remy's well-being.

"Am I being dumb?" the boy asked, realizing that Nicky was just staring at him.

The man shook his head furiously, sitting up straight. "No! No, in fact, you're actually making a lot of sense. How-how did you come across this information, you said that you were annoyed by these pre-teens at this New Year's Eve party you were at?"

Remy sighed, leaning back. "They started to agree with me and they started saying that 'oh, we were born in the wrong generation' and 'all those other kids, they just don't get that they're ruining society.' If you're in that age range and you agree with me that the people your age annoying, then you're probably the annoying one. Most people go through that phase around that age and grow out of it when they're around fifteen or sixteen, some don't, but most do, you're supposed to be disgusting so later on you hopefully won't be."

Nicky pressed his palms against his eyes, starting to laugh. "How-how old are you?"

"Eleven," Remy replied, taking a large bite of his sundae, "How old are you?"

"I'm twenty-seven," Nicky laughed, "Pretty young for a psychologist, but I was kind of a genius child."

"You don't act like one, that's nice," Remy commented, and Nicky put a hand over his heart, turning to look at Tony, looking highly complimented.

Remy didn't seem to notice and continued, "I'm not saying I'm any better, but I'm going to acknowledge that I'm gonna be disgusting, so there's no avoiding it, so I'm just gonna try my best."

Nicky dropped his chin onto his fist, looking highly fascinated. "What do you think is the cause of this, because not all pre-teens fall into the niche of going against the mainstream, and while those kids do have their problems, why do you only focus on the ones that try to be 'snowflakes,' as you put it?"

"Because I'm more likely to end up like them than I am the other kids," he shrugged, "I'm not trying to be like 'oh, I'm weird, no one gets me,' because that's annoying, but I'm being realistic about it. If I learn more about what I'll become and figure out what's wrong with them, maybe it'll be easier for me to stomach it when I turn into one of them."

Nicky scoffed in disbelief, running a hand through his hair, turning to Tony. "This is fascinating."

"We're not here for you to experiment," Tony drawled, rolling his eyes, giving Nicky a pointed look, reminding him of why they were there.

"Right, I know, but still," Nicky exclaimed, shaking his head, "Anyways. Remy, did you come across this online, did you read discussions, do you just watch people?"

"A little of everything," the boy replied, "I can't keep focused on reading stuff for very long, I'm not smart enough for that and I can't focus enough either."

Tony noticed a shift in Nicky's demeanor and the man quickly scribbled something onto the notepad he was keeping under the table, hidden from view.

"What makes you think you're not smart enough, because from what I can tell, you're an exceptionally bright boy, and a very observant one at that," Nicky asked, and Tony could instantly see him shifting from excitable twenty-six-year-old to curious psychologist, and it was such a subtle change, Remy had to have noticed it too.

Sure enough, the boy narrowed his eyes suspiciously. "Why do you wanna know?"

Tony didn't know how to convince the boy to be nice to Nicky and to remember what he promised, agreeing to just go with the flow, but Nicky seemed to know what he was doing.

"Because I can't understand why you would think you're not smart enough to read something online, when you're smart enough to completely compartmentalize an entire group of people "

"That doesn't mean I'm not not smart," Remy argued, and he seemed to be agitated that Nicky wasn't agreeing with him on his stance that he wasn't smart.

"Why do you want me to think that you're not smart?" Nicky inquired, and he was pushing, pushing the limits and Tony wasn't sure if they should be doing this here, because he knew how Remy could be.

"Because I'm not, and what the hell do you know?" Remy shouted, slamming his small fists onto the table, and startling everyone around them, causing most to turn and stare.

"Okay, time to go," Tony coughed, adjusting his sunglasses and reaching for Remy to carry him away, but Nicky shot out his arm, stopping him, which surprised him more than anything else.

Tony paused and watched as Remy glared at Nicky who just looked at him, not patronizing, not cautious, but not blank. He looked at him in a way that Tony couldn't read, but Remy could, and he could only watch as the boy slowly calmed down enough to the point where he could sit down. He was still upset, but he had calmed down.

Tony blinked, grabbing Nicky's arm and tugging him towards the side, both of them keeping an eye on Remy. "What did you do?"

Nicky shook his head. "Nothing."

"Do you have psychic powers you haven't told me about, have you been messing with me—?" he demanded, but Nicky clasped a hand over his mouth, looking him in the eye.

"Remy can calm down on his own, you just need to give him time," Nicky said, and he sounded so sure of himself, so professional, that Tony couldn't say anything else.

"Look, I'm not the right person to go to if his mom wants to know if he should be back on his meds, and while I'm not the right person for the job, he does need to see someone, because he's got this backwards idea of who he is and that's not something you want him dealing with when he gets older, I think that's why he hates these kids so much,"

"You're telling me that his complaining about those kids is because he hates himself?" Tony asked, and Nicky scoffed.

"Of course not, what I'm saying is that he probably doesn't like these kids because he resents them for ostracizing themselves when all he wants is to be accepted, at least that's what I've gotten so far, but I'm positive that this kid has never been given the chance to think through anything, why do you think he talks so fast and thinks he's stupid? All those other kids have a victim and god complex, and he hates that. He hates it, because doesn't that sound like something he might end up having?" Nicky was breathing heavily by that point, clearly agitated by what he had discovered in the time he had been speaking with the boy.

"What are you telling me?" Tony finally asked, sighing, "What do you want me to tell his mom?"

Nicky turned back towards Remy who had gone back to eating his sundae, and was reading over Nicky's notepad which the man had left on his seat when Tony grabbed his arm. When he caught them looking, he looked Nicky dead in the eye, not quite glowering, almost challenging him, holding his gaze for an uncomfortable amount of time before glancing back down before they could get accustomed to it.

"Tell his mom she should find a psychologist that specializes in children. Or even a therapist, make sure they're good and won't hurt him more than help, I can find you some names if you want," Nicky said, and he looked so earnest that Tony felt at ease knowing that at least he had something to report back, even if it's not what Birdie would be happy with.

"I can't understand what you mean, are you sure you even know what you're doing?" Remy asked, and he was speaking just like how he had spoken to Tony that day when he had lashed out, and he couldn't help but worry about how it would affect Nicky.

"I mean, I do have a PhD and graduated from grad school summa cum laude, but I don't know, you are an eleven-year-old, so who knows, right?" He shrugged, and it took all of Tony's power not to nod in approval, because even he had to admit, that was good.

Remy looked embarrassed, ducking his head and staring at his hands, and Nicky softened slightly. "Just trust me, Remy, I know what I'm talking about."

The boy sighed and took a deep breath, puffing out his cheeks before blowing the air out slowly, turned away from both Tony and Nicky. "I don't like you."

Nicky nodded and shrugged. "That's fair."

Remy scoffed. "You don't like it when people don't like you."

Nicky nodded again. "You're right, I don't, but I'm not gonna lose sleep over this."

That seemed to give the boy enough control and he settled back and continued to eat his ice cream. "I don't like you, but if what you're saying'll keep my mom from coming into my room every five minutes, then say what you want."

Nicky smiled, settling back into his chair and picking up his own spoon. "I'm glad we can agree on something. Though, if I'm being honest, I agree with you about those kids."

Remy raised his eyebrows, trying not to look as surprised as he was. "Seriously?"

Nicky shrugged. "Yeah, why wouldn't I, I was in high school when I was that age, I didn't have the cultural environment to be like them, but I could watch the effects of it on my classmates."

Remy tilted his head. "Wait, so it's an environment thing?"

Nicky nodded, leaning forward and taking a bite of his ice cream. "Oh, definitely. I mean, think about kids who grew up in the early 1900's, they didn't have the resources or any particular reason to wish they grew up in 1879 and listened to whatever music was back then, and that's only kids in the U.S., because the internet wasn't there to give people a chance to connect further. I think all the things we have currently are amazing, because, suddenly, geographic profile doesn't matter if the internet can connect all these people."

Remy looked a little confused and seemed to be spacing out, but he seemed to struggle so much to try and understand exactly what Nicky was saying, his eyebrows furrowed in concentration, and Tony could only watch as the scene played out, pulling out his phone and starting to record.

It was better that Remy report back to Birdie himself, anyways.

º º º

"You need to relax."

It was well into the night and Birdie was seated on the couch with her laptop, procrastinating her preparations for a case in favor of looking up psychologists and therapists for Remy to see, her eyes straining against the brightness of her laptop which was already halfway lowered.

Tony had stayed for dinner and to report back to her when Remy was taking a shower, and wrangled the boy to bed while she thought over his words and planned out what she was going to do next. He decided not to leave until he was sure she was asleep, but it was evident she wasn't going to be sleeping any time soon.

"I have to—" she started to argue, but he shushed her and plucked the reading glasses from off her face, closing them and hanging them off his shirt, ruining all her chances of continuing.

"You are going to go to your room and leave your laptop here, so you can sleep and work in the office," he said, taking her arm and leading her down the hallway.

"Since when are you telling me to sleep?" she asked, and he paused, realizing her point. Then he shrugged, because this wasn't the time for her to question his moral standing.

"Just get some rest before you have to find a psychologist yourself," he sighed, opening her door and motioning for her to step inside.

She bit her lip. "How did you meet him anyways? That man, I mean. Remy did not like him." She laughed at that, remembering how the boy had complained about Nicky all through dinner, though he did it in a way that let her know there was a chance he could grow to like him.

"His name's Nicky, he's kind of my sugar baby, but instead of sex, he gives me emotional support," Tony deadpanned and Birdie choked, caught between a laugh, a gasp, and a scream.

"I wish I could say I was joking," he continued, and Birdie chose to laugh, covering her mouth, glancing down towards Remy's room.

"Do you have his number?" she asked, now serious, though still keeping her tone light, "I might-I might go see him. Maybe. Probably not, but just as a safety. Maybe if I need a consultation on a case."

"I can get you his card," Tony promised, and she smiled, whispering a soft, thank you, finally stepping into her room, pausing a few steps in.

"Do you want to stay the night?" she asked, "I could stay on the couch, it's a long way upstate."

Tony opened his mouth to deny her offer and to say that it was no trouble, he could get home, but he would be lying if he said that her question hadn't made him fully aware of just how tired he was. After the events of that day, he just needed to lie down.

"I can take the couch," he said instead, because he wasn't about to take a bed that wasn't his, and Birdie didn't seem too eager to argue with him.

"Good night, Tony," she whispered, moving to close the door.

He smiled, just standing there for a moment. "Good night, Birdie."

Like promised, it was as if the countdown to New Year's never happened. Because that bridge had already been crossed, but they were building another one, and there was no need to go back.

AUTHOR'S NOTE

Ya'll thought that Remy's little rant was a one and done, guess again, it's part of his perception of himself as a person, and I'm not gonna apologize for the dialogue heavy chapter, because this was basically just a casual therapy session/evaluation.

And like stated, the countdown to new year's never happened because in the grand scheme of things, it was just a recall to what happened before and really doesn't affect what happens to them now.

Also, Remy doesn't like Nicky, and I felt like it was an important addition because Nicky's not the only psychologist in New York and also not everyone is gonna like everyone, so I just wanted to show that, since I'm trying to make this realistic.

Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed!