[ She absolutely was right to guess that amount of wise-ass in him. He even opened his mouth in that brief pause to say just that before she took the words out of his mouth. Her apparent mind-reading (non-magical at all, of course, just mom magic that's even further beyond his comprehension) just makes him pout, scowling at her, hanging in the air with his arms fully outstretched above his head. This is ridiculous. Even when she wiggles it, he just dangles limply beneath it. Alberto is nothing if not tenacious. ]

I wasn't not nice! You tripped me — I know you did! What's your problem, eh?! It's not like it's your stuff, either, why do you care!

[ He's never had an adult take this much interest in what he's doing — never had anyone take this much interest in what he's doing — much less a stranger. His short time with Massimo just felt... fun, and exciting. He wasn't doing bad things. He doesn't even consider what he's doing now bad. He doesn't even consider it stealing, in fact! Stealing involves sneaking. He's just taking. He doesn't know how to use his phone to use the cash app to pay for this stuff, barely understood the concept of money when he first learned about it a couple weeks ago even back home... In his mind, these lines are pretty blurry. ]