Broken Lullaby ▷ Tony Stark | ✓

15 - MARC WITH A C

"MOM, MARC IS COMING OVER AFTER SCHOOL, OKAY? I CAN'T TALK RIGHT NOW, BUT JUST SAY YES. BYE."

That was what Remy had said when he called Birdie sometime during his school day, talking in a hurried rush that left no time for her to try and decipher his vague statement, borderline request, that had her shaking the entire day.

Her son just called her to tell her that Mark was coming. The only Mark that she knew was her ex-husband and that was enough to raise a good few questions, Remy calling to let her know that he would be coming over after school was something all to itself.

"What happened?" Jayne asked, peering in after hearing her panic gasping.

She shook her head, lifting it from where she was bent over her knees. "I don't know."

º º º

It all started when Gage walked up to him during recess.

Remy had been fiddling with the stress ball that Peter had gotten for him the last time they had met up for tutoring, which had been a few days after their first one. It was Wednesday now and he didn't know what to do, Ethan having to stay in and take a test, so needless to say, he was more than a little bored.

"Hey, Remy!"

The smaller boy looked up from where he was searching for ladybugs on the field to see Gage walking over to him with a boy close by. Gage and Remy were in the same grade, but not in the same class, so it was common for him to see the boy with other people, though it was strange to see someone he didn't recognize.

"This is Marc," he introduced, motioning towards the dark haired boy who raised his hand in easy greeting, giving him a pursed lip smile, "He's moved here from France."

"Hi," Remy greeted, standing up and dusting off his jeans, unsure as to why he was being introduced to the boy who just so happened to share a name with his father, "I'm Remy."

"He spells his name with a C," Gage explained and Marc rolled his eyes behind the boy's back, though more out of friendly exasperation than real annoyance.

"Oh," was all Remy said, because suddenly Marc didn't seem as bad of a kid as he had imagined him to be; Mark had ruined the name for him, but he had never met a Marc before.

"He plays basketball," Gage continued, and Remy had to wonder why any of this concerned him. But then it made sense, "And he wants to talk to you and I have to sit in class because I was talking, so here, talk to him."

With that, Gage pushed Marc forward and ran back to the classroom, not wanting to earn another time out of recess for misusing his time to find Marc a new person to lead him around by playing basketball or goofing off.

The boys just stared at each other awkwardly.

Finally, Marc asked, "What are you doing?"

"Looking for ladybugs," Remy replied, falling onto his knees and starting to search, "I'm not sure if they're out in the fall, though."

Marc crouched down as well, looking at Remy for a moment before going to help search, pushing back the grass and squinting his eyes.

If one were to watch, one would immediately notice that there was something polarizing about the boys.

The two worked in silence and Remy, though mostly distracted with his work, kept licking his lips, trying to come up with a way to fill what he believed to be an uncomfortable silence. Marc, however, didn't mind the silence, actually reveling in the quiet, since he hadn't experienced it once since he was partnered with Gage to be his tour buddy.