Broken Lullaby ▷ Tony Stark | ✓

32 - EMOTIONAL EDUCATION

REMY WAS STARTING TO GET CONCERNED WHEN HE WALKED INTO THE LIBRARY TO ONCE AGAIN FIND SOMEONE OTHER THAN PETER SITTING AT THEIR USUAL TABLE. He and Peter had been having much more frequent sessions, as Remy's grades were still rather subpar, though they didn't go on for as long as they used to, but since before Valentine's Day, something had come up, so there had been substitutes, which had bothered Remy greatly, as he craved stability and needing warnings early on in advance, but it wasn't as if he didn't necessarily enjoy their company.

The first day, he had been tutored by a girl who mostly read her books and perused through the shelves while he worked, occasionally chatting with one of the volunteer librarians, but always going back and helping him with his English and taught him a lot about current events in the short amount of time they had together.

The next day was a fun boy who, according to him, was Peter's best friend and somewhat of a sidekick, and when he finished helping Remy with his science they talked about video games and superheroes. Not much homework got finished that day, but Remy did enjoy himself.

The last day, he was taught by a boy who clearly did not want to be there, but claimed that he owed Peter a favor. He was very intelligent from what Remy saw, and he found that the two got along rather well, despite the initial disinterest the boy held towards him, as he realized that his tutor wasn't naturally smart, like his other tutors; it was nice to see someone smart who had to work hard to do it.

Today, however, was another girl who was supposed to help him with his grammar, as he had a test that Monday. She had hair so blonde it was almost white and was wearing a silver band on her left ring finger, which let Remy know that this was Peter's infamous girlfriend.

"Isn't it a conflict of interest that you're the one tutoring me?" was the first thing he asked, because he would be the first to admit that he was rather fond of Peter, and meeting his girlfriend for the first time wasn't necessarily high up on his list of things he wanted to do.

Instead of a scathing response, he got a laugh and a smile, the girl making sure she pulled out the chair he always sat in, patting the seat. "Peter's alright at grammar, but it's not his forte, so he sent me. He'll be here for your next session, but he wanted me to explain that he had to deal with an emergency than tell you himself."

"Why didn't he want to tell me?" he asked, climbing onto the chair and pulling out his books, still not ready to warm up to her entirely.

"Because you scare him," she said, and she smiled, "I'm Diana, by the way."

"I'm Remy," he replied, opening his binder, "I want a good grade."

She smiled, looking over his practice test. "Oh, don't we all..."

º º º

It was a few hours later and Remy came home to his mom preparing for her cross which would take place first thing the next day. He had been dropped off by Tony, who promised to drop by later, though he had been avoiding the house since Valentine's Day.

"How was your tutoring session?" Birdie asked, reading glasses perched on her nose, just barely glancing up from her work.

"I met Peter's girlfriend," he said, toeing off his shoes and moving to sit on the couch, his mother seated at the counter.

"Did you learn something?" she asked, half paying attention, scrolling through an article.

Remy licked his lips as he thought back to his conversation with Diana. In some way or another, she had wound up telling him about the death of her parents, and how she didn't blame Tony, at least not anymore. It had all stemmed from Remy grumbling about how he hated Mark. She explained to him that he didn't have to forgive anyone if he felt they didn't deserve it, but that if he wanted to, it was okay if he did.