Part 3 of the Marcus Reprogrammed series

Summary: Marcus, originally being built as a 15 year old android, never really had a childhood. So Daniel is determined to give him one.
Rating: General
Warnings: ---
Publish date: May 28, 2020
Words: 2,157

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I was walking down the hallway from lunch, but I stopped short beside the doorway to the living quarters. Daniel and Spin were inside sitting on the floor, staring at a piece of cardboard on the floor.

I poked my head in and stared at them, "Whatcha doin'?"

The two paused and looked up at me, "Playing Sorry." Daniel said, "Want in? We were just starting."

I walked into the quarters and sat down on the couch that was behind them. "Playing Sorry?"

They nodded, "Yeah..." Spin said, confused by my confusion, "Yknow... The Game Of Revenge."

I nodded slowly, "A game... like tag?"

Daniel shook his head, "No, Marcus. Like Candy Land."

"Ok now you're just spitting nonsense."

"You've never played a board game?" Spin asked, bewildered. "No way!"

Daniel put his hand on Spin's shoulder, "I mean it would make sense." He explained. He looked up at me, "You never had a childhood, did you? Being built at 15 and then pressed under rubble most of your life?"

I nodded, "Yeah, I guess you could say that..."

"Y'know!" Daniel stood up and looked at Spin, "We can play sorry later. Today, we should give Marcus a childhood!"

"Guys I'm nineteen-" I started, but Spin interrupted me, "It's never too late to have a childhood!"

"YEAH!" Daniel and Spin high-fived. "Come on, Marcus." Daniel said, grabbing my arm and dragging me out of the quarters, "We're gonna be CHILDREN!"

I saw no real reason to object. I mean, they were right, I never really did have a childhood. I was already pre-programmed with everything Douglas thought I would need to know, and apparently childhood memories were not a necessity.

Daniel, though. He had had a normal childhood, with his own normal family. He's probably the only person in this academy that knows how childhood even works.

"Wait." Spin said, right as we got on the Hydro-Loop, "I know today's supposed to be about childhood and all but... you know how to drive, right?"

- -

Our first stop was apparently the mall. "The mall has SO many childhood memories for me." Daniel said, as Spin and I looked around in awe. "Like the little bitty rides, and the taste or Sweet Frog at the food count, and hiding in clothes racks..."

"So where to first, Mr. Child?" Spin asked, (despite being the youngest).

Daniel shrugged, "I say, if we wanna act like children today, we should at least look that part!" He said, before grabbing my wallet out of my pocket and sprinting toward a children's clothing store.

"Wait, no!" I shouted, running after him, "WE'RE ON A BUDGET!"

"Relax!" Daniel shouted, somewhere on the other side of the store, "This is all part of being a child!"

I smirked, "Well in that case...!" I spotted him through all the other people in the store and stared chasing after him. He squealed and tried to hide behind Spin, who honestly looked like he just wanted to shop.

"Gimme that!" He said, snatching the wallet out of Daniel's hands. He picked up the first three shirts he saw, and went to the checkout to pay for them.

"Now change." He shoved two of the shirts toward Daniel and I. One was purple with blue hearts all over it, and the other was a turquoise shirt with green stripes. I snatched the turquoise one before Daniel could, and he shrugged and said, "My mom always said I was the more feminine one."

Surprisingly, my shirt fit me. "Kid's shirts can come in adult sizes, too." Spin said, now wearing a red tee with two singular purple stripes.

On our way out of the store, there was a lady handing out flower crowns to the children leaving. She handed a pink one to Daniel, and a blue one to Spin, completely leaving me out (probably because I looked 19). Spin tried to try his own, but gave up and just handed it to me.

"Next up!" Daniel shouted, "The jungle gym!" The jungle gym was a huge climbing structure that was in the middle of the kid's area of the mall. It had climbing walls and monkey bars, as well tunnels and slides.

"Looks fun." I stated as we walked towards it.

"Really?" Spin commented, "Looks dangerous. I think I'll sit this one out."

"Come on." Whined Daniel, "You need a childhood, too!"

Spin shrugged, and Daniel sighed, "Fine..."

Once we were close enough, Daniel ran toward the jungle gym, me right on his heels. Just as I was about to jump into a tunnel, though, a guard got in my way. "Did you read the rules?" He said, "No children over 12 allowed."

I stared at him for a second, "I... am twelve..?" I lied. He raised an eyebrow. "Early bloomer." I established, shrugging casually. The guard nodded and let me through.

"WHOO-HOOO!" I shouted, diving head-first into a tunnel.

"Hey Marcus!" I turned to see Daniel, at the very tippy top of the structure, "Betcha can't climb up here!"

"I am TWICE YOUR SIZE!" I shouted back, pointing at him, "I can get up there TWICE AS FAST as you did!"

"Then do it!" Daniel shouted.

I nodded and started jumping from ladder to ladder, skipping three steps at a time. "Oh come on!" Daniel teased, "You can't just use the ladders!" So I didn't. I hopped onto the monkey bars and swung over them, so I could walk on top of them. If my training taught me anything, it taught me that an obstacle is only and obstacle if your using it as one.

I didn't only get to the top of the structure, no, I was on TOP of the structure. On the roof that was above where Daniel was standing. "What was that about not being able to get here?" I said, smirking.

I hopped down so I was level with Daniel, and he said, "Oh, but I bet I can beat you to the bottom!"

"Challenge accepted!" Him and I ran down the steps, pushing each other in and out of the way. Once we were about 7 feet above the ground, I decided to just hop the railing so I could make it down before him. Daniel saw what I was doing and grabbed in to my back just as I jumped.

So we ended up a jumbled mess on the ground, laughing our butts off.

I sat up and saw that everyone within a 10 yard parameter was staring at us, including a couple of mall cops that looked like they were just about done with our crap.

I mean, understandable, since we just look like two teens wrestling.

"I'm sorry!" Spin spoke to the people staring, "They're mine! We'll leave!"

He rushed over to us and hissed, "You're gonna get us arrested!"

Daniel shook he head, "All we did was have a brotherly competition!"

Spin nodded hard and helped us up quickly, "Yeah, well, you're 13 and 19. Your 'brotherly competitions' look really out of place."

"What's next?" I asked eagerly, "And I gotta say, I'm really enjoying this whole childhood thing!"

"Anna's Bakery!" Daniel said, pointing to a little shop a couple feet away, "The best pies! They even smell like childhood!"

"What does childhood even smell like?" Spin asked.

"Hopes and dreams and... these pies!" Daniel answered, strolling into the bakery.

The girl behind the counter immediately recognized him, "Oh hey, Daniel!" She greeted, handing the pie she was topping to her co-worker, and walking up to us to give Daniel a hug. "I haven't seen you here in forever! Busy times, eh?"

Daniel shrugged, "I guess you could say that."

"And who are these?" The lady said, pointing to Spin and I.

"Oh!" Daniel said, stepping back so she could get a better look, "This is my big brother, Marcus, and this is my friend, Spin. I'm giving them a childhood!"

Surprisingly, instead of questioning the childhood thing; "I thought you only had a small sister?"

Daniel nodded and shrugged, "He's my real brother. Poppy's my adopted sister." He explained.

"Marcus, Spin," Daniel addressed us, "This is Anna. She's my adopted mom's friend AND she makes pies! What a human being, right?!"

I nodded, smiling at Anna.

"Now, what do you want today, Danny?" Anna asked, "I'll give you and your friends a 25% discount, too!"

"Sweet!" I said, and Spin punched me lightly in the arm.

"Just a cherry pie, with lots of whipped cream of course." He responded.

Anna laughed, "Per usual, yes." before going back behind the counter and starting our pie.

"I gotta say," Spin started as we sat down at a small, round table, "This whole childhood thing is wearing me out! I might just take a nap..." He laid his head on the table .

"But you didn't even do anything!" Daniel objected, "Marcus and I were running around and you were just... sitting!"

"Yeah well, sitting can be tiring, too." Spin defended, closing his eyes.

Daniel sighed and turned to me, "He's the youngest one here and he's the one acting like our dad!"

I shrugged, just as Anna walked by and handed us our pie personally. You couldn't even tell it was a pie, because of how much whipped cream it had on it.

We all cut a slice for ourselves. Daniel and Spin were pretty responsible with how much they decided to cut. But me, not so much. My slice was probably about three times as big as Spin's.

I didn't really know where to start. I've had food before, of course, but not a cake or a pie or anything of the sort. Was I supposed to eat it all at once? With my hands, or with a fork? The crust before the inside, or what?

Spin and Daniel started eating their slices, but the thing was, they ate it differently. Daniel used his fork to scrape off the whipped cream to save for later, and Spin just cut his into thin slices to eat.

So I concluded that pie-eating varies from person to person, so it really shouldn't matter how I eat it. Right?

I took my finger and decided to try the whipped cream first. I scooped up a bit of it with my finger and plopped into my mouth.

It was so. good. I don't know what I was expecting, but it definitely wasn't that. I looked from my pie to Daniel, who was now licking the whipped cream off his plate.

And, between how childish I was feeling and how childish Daniel was acting, I decided to just... PLOP my face into the whipped cream on the pie.

"MARCUS!" Spin yelled, with a mix of amusement and anger in his voice .

Daniel fake sniffed and said, "He takes after his little bro..."

"I'm sorry." I laughed, pulling my face out and scraping it with my hands, licking the whipped cream off them. "It's just... that is REALLY good."

"I KNOW RIGHT!" Daniel yells in agreement, "Mom always told me that licking my plate was immature, but that was NOTHING compared to what you just did!

I laughed and finished wiping my face, "I don't know man. It just tasted like... completely and utter happiness."

"Oh come on." Spin groaned, "You can't taste happiness."

"And you can't smell it either." Daniel finished for Spin, before turning back to me. "You missed some." He reached out and scooped the whipped cream from off my hair, licking his hands afterwards.

"That-... ew." Spin shook his head. "I think we should go back now. You guys are getting out of hand."

"Awwwww..." Daniel and I both whined at the same time.

"You're acting like children!" Spin pointed out.

"That was the whole point!" Daniel defended.

"I know, but real children have adults to keep them in order."

Daniel and I exchanged glance, before staring at Spin. "What?" He said, before realizing what we were implying, "I- ohhhhh. Either way!" He stood up and threw our plates in the trash, " We're going home! "

"Fineee." We groaned.

We got back to the academy, and were immediately greeted by Bree, "Hey guys- woah." I realized we were still wearing our kids shirts and leis.

Daniel shrugged before she had a chance to say anything more, "Just tried to give Marcus the childhood he never had."

Spin groaned, "And I was their adult supervision."

Bree glanced at the three of us and started laughing, "Well, I guess it could've gone worse. At least you don't look like clowns."

"Oh! But Marcus did-"

"SHH" Spin and I both shushed him.

Bree walked away and I turned to the boys, "Thank you guys." I said, "Really. I know I may of gotten slightly out of hand, but I really do feel like I had some sort of childhood today."

They nodded and Spin said, "Just remember," he patted me on the shoulder, "You're nineteen. Not five."

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Note:
The ending kinda sucked but this was SO FUN TO WRITE.