"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.

Where Remy would be jumping back and forth, searching for only a moment in certain areas, jumping back if he thought he had seen something but generally just switching around, Marc spent his time on one larger plot of grass, carefully pushing back pieces of grass so as not to disturb anything around, hands slow and heavy whereas Remy's were quick and light.

"Found one!" Remy crowed, reaching out with his finger to let a ladybug crawl onto it.

Funnily enough, Marc had found one too, but had been planning on holding it and just showing it to Remy, not feeling the need to speak. He smiled at the boy's enthusiasm though, especially when he immediately rushed over to show Marc rather than showing his other friends.

Of course, it was only two of them there, but he appreciated it nonetheless.

"I found one too," he said, and he wished his accent wasn't so sharp in contrast to Remy's. It wasn't heavy by any means, but a boy of his age, he wanted to fit in as much as possible.

Remy gasped, eyes wide and sparkling as he reached out, pressing their fingers together to let the ladybugs stand next to each other. "We gotta make a wish now that we caught 'em."

Marc tilted his head. "Why?"

"If you catch a ladybug they're good luck, so you can make a wish on them," he explained, hoping Marc wouldn't ask anymore questions as he had just gleaned that fact from BUDDY when he asked him to tell him cool stuff.

"Oh," Marc said, and he tilted his head at the ladybugs, wondering which one he had caught and which one Remy had, "I guess we get two, I don't know which one is mine."

Remy smiled and closed his eyes, tilting his head back and trying to come up with something to wish for. There were many things he wanted to wish for, but he used all his dandelion, 11:11, and eyelash wishes on it that it just wouldn't be fair to use a wish he shared with Marc on the same wish.

So he wished for a friend.

That used to be his old wish, the one he wished for before he decided that he didn't need friends. He figured it would an okay thing to wish since Marc was new so he would probably want friends too, if he didn't already have them.

He opened his eyes to find Marc looking at him and he instantly looked away, feeling stupid for doing something so silly while he was there. But Marc didn't say anything, instead just smiling and cupping the ladybugs in his hands.

"I wished for something," he said softly, and Remy instantly felt so much better about himself, sighing with relief.

"Well, cool," the boy said, staring at Marc's cupped hands, "We should stick them in a water bottle or something."

"I have one in my bag," Marc said, rising to his feet, "Let's go get it."

Some wishes take years to come true. Remy's took no more than two minutes.

º º º

Birdie was going to have a heart attack.

She came home early, too panicked as she waited for Mark to come home with Remy, pacing around her room as her mind raced with all the questions she would never be able to voice. She could only hope that whatever was happening was good.

There was a knock on the door.

Jumping, she took a few steadying breaths, pushing back her hair and walking towards it, Jayne's comforting words replaying in her mind as she reached out to open the door. She steeled her gaze and looked straight forward, pulling the door open.

She was greeted with the street and the sound of her son's voice.

"Mom, what the heck, you made us walk all the way here, where were you, where was Stacey?"

Blinking wildly, Birdie looked down and found her son with his hands on his hips, frowning up at her, a boy standing next to him with a hand on his backpack strap, looking up at her curiously.

"I-I thought your father was picking you up," she breathed, stepping aside to let the boys in, glancing at the clock, relieved to see that it it hadn't been long since school got out, less than an hour.

Remy made a face. "Why would he be picking me up, I haven't talked to him in forever. Do we have any snacks? Oh, and this is Marc—with a C—his mom said that he could hang out here for a while, he lives super close by."

It took a few moments for everything to click.

"Oh..." she whispered, nearly collapsing with relief, "It's nice to meet you, Marc."

"Nice to meet you too, Mrs. Walsh," the boy replied, holding out his hand for her to shake with a small smile, and she had to say, he was already better than her ex-husband.

"I found some chips and some soda, we're gonna do our homework in my room, okay?" Remy said, his arms filled with chips, standing on the foot of the fridge to reach for the large soda.

Before Birdie could rush to stop him before something fell on his head, Marc was right next to him, taking a few bags and pushing him back, standing on the foot and reaching for the soda, just tall enough to grab it if he tried. Closing the door softly, he turned back towards Remy, then towards Birdie, silently asking if it was alright for them to take the chips.

"Don't eat too much, you'll ruin your appetite," was all she was able to say, though she never would have told her son and a friend they couldn't eat snacks, she didn't have the kind of will power to tell a child that wasn't hers what to do.

"We won't," Remy said, already leading Marc into his room and closing the door.

Birdie sighed, slumping against the dining table. "Wow."

º º º

"—BUDDY, how do you spell, um...Remy what do you call the place where people live, the—" Marc made a motion with his hands, pointing to where he was trying to write sentences for their homework.

"Neighborhood?" Remy tried, reading over his words.

"Thanks. BUDDY, how do you spell neighborhood?" Marc called out, sitting up from where he and Remy were splayed out on the floor.

"N-E-I-G-H-B-O-R-H-O-O-D."

"Thank you," Marc said idly, already going back to writing.

"You're welcome, Marc," BUDDY replied, before going back into sleep mode.

The boys had been working for the better part of a few hours, often getting side tracked with some of the things Remy had in his room. An entire hour was dedicated to Remy introducing Marc to BUDDY, the boys playing Jeopardy with him as he was linked up to the game show and could ask questions from the categories of the most recent game.

They had known each other for the better part of not even half a day and Remy could proudly say that Marc was the first person he'd befriended easily without any pain or regret. He didn't know it, but Marc felt the exact same way, if the way he had forewent sitting with Gage in favor of sitting with Remy during lunch was any indication.

The knock on the door broke them out of their focus, the two raising their heads to see Birdie peering into the room with a small smile. "Marc, do you have any allergies or something against spaghetti for dinner?"

The boy's eyes widened as he looked between Remy and his mother. "You don't have to make dinner for me, I should call my mom again and see when she's picking me up, I—"

"No, please, it's okay," Birdie said, unable to keep from smiling at the boy who seemed so appalled at the idea of forcing her to go out of her way to make something for him, "I was cooking anyways and there's going to be a good amount of food since we're having another person joining us for dinner."

Remy brightened, about to ask if it was who he thought it was, only to pause, glancing over at his newfound friend, wondering if he would be able to keep the little secret that was Tony Stark knowing them. Thinking better of it, he decided not to say anything for the time being.

So the boys just continued to work, but not before Marc thanked Birdie, offered to help cook, then gave her his mother's phone number so she could tell her that he would be staying over for dinner. Needless to say, Marc had won over the entire family.

"Whoa, when'd you make all of those?"

Marc raised his head and looked towards his stack of paper cranes that Remy was ogling. The boy had shown him his pile of scrap paper and sticky notes that he didn't use but want to throw away and Marc decided to put them to use, folding them whenever he wanted to take a little break or do something while reading the directions of his homework.

"While we were working," Marc said, smiling as the boy reached out and picked up the red one, crossing his eyes as he perched it on his nose.

"I can make paper boats and that's about it," Remy confessed, handing the crane back.

"I can teach you," Marc offered, picking up another piece of paper, "It's easy when you learn."

That was how Remy's floor ended up being covered in paper cranes and airplanes and boats, surrounding the two boys as they began to deplete Remy's scrap paper resources. But it was worth it when Marc made the boy a paper hat and stuck it on his head.

"Time for dinner!"

The boys jumped to their feet, nearly falling over as they tried to maneuver around their mess, Remy taking off his hat and placing it carefully on his bookshelf by the door before following Marc out, closing the door.

"I'll help you clean up," the taller boy promised, and Remy could hear his mother's gasp from the kitchen.

The boys took their seats, Birdie handing the bowl of spaghetti to Marc who gave her a grateful smile, pouring a respectable amount of pasta onto his plate before handing it over to Remy who struggled to balance both in his smaller hands, passing it to his mother quickly once he finished, taking the proffered bread from Marc.

"So where are you from, Marc, I spoke to your mother briefly, she says you're new to the school," Birdie asked, trying to fill the silence since Remy didn't know how.

As Marc replied in his soft voice, the two listened intently, Remy wanting to learn more about his new friend and Birdie wanting to know everything about the boy who had somehow found himself tangled up with her son, glad he had finally found himself a friend.

It was while he was answering that the doorbell rang.

Birdie and Remy jumped ever so slightly, sharing an apprehensive look as the woman stood up to open the door for their last guest, Remy glancing over to Marc who watched with curious eyes as he paused eating, waiting for everyone to return before he resumed.

When Tony stepped into the room, the boy didn't even flinch.

"Oh," the man said, startling when he caught sight of the boy, "Hi. Are you Remy's friend?"

"Yes, I'm Marc, it's nice to meet you, Mr. Stark," the boy said, standing up and holding out his hand, and Remy near passed out.

Tony only barely missed a beat. "Nice to meet you too, kid. I haven't heard of you before, wanna tell me about yourself?"

Needless to say, by the end of dinner Marc had won over everyone.

As the boys went back to Remy's room to clean up before Marc had to go home—it took a whole three minutes to dissuade the boy from insisting that he help Birdie wash the dishes— the two adults decided to talk in the kitchen.

"Sorry for just dropping by, I..." Tony trailed off, stopping himself before he admitted that the reason he came by was because he didn't want to be alone.

"I don't mind, you're welcome here any time," Birdie said, and she would never admit that she was glad he stayed not only to talk to Remy, but to talk to her, because she, too, didn't like being alone.

They had to wonder how they got here in such a short amount of time. In less than a month, the lines that were their lives began to intersect, finding themselves tangled in a knot of their own design.

"So he's got himself a friend," Tony said, motioning towards the hallway, "That's good."

Birdie sighed with relief, dropping her head and smiling. "Yes. Yes, it's so good. And this boy, he's so nice, I'm so happy, this is so good."

Tony smiled. "See? You didn't completely fail."

Just as Birdie scoffed and lightly swatted his arm, the doorbell rang again, saving Tony from having to figure out how to react to that action and saving Birdie from trying to regret it and take it back.

"I'm going to hide," Tony said, motioning to where he stood in the kitchen, crouching down and hiding.

Birdie snorted and walked towards the door, glancing towards the hallway when she caught sight of Marc and Remy walking out, racing towards the door.

"Hey, wait," Remy called out, stopping the boy before he could leave. Lowering his voice, he asked, "You won't tell anyone else about..." he trailed off, glancing towards the kitchen where Tony had moved around the kitchen, now peeking out around the island, only his hair being able to be seen.

Marc laughed softly at Tony before turning back to the smaller boy, nodding solemnly. "I promise I won't."

Turning to Birdie, he smiled. "Thank you for letting me come over, and for the dinner. I really appreciate it."

With that, he opened the door and raced out, not giving his mother any time to speak to anyone, grabbing her hand and tugging her away. While an odd turn of events, no one decided to question it, Birdie and Remy just waving at the two before they disappeared around the corner.

As the two closed the door, they turned to find Tony stepping out of the kitchen and into their line of sight, adjusting his clothes idly, smiling at them when he saw they were looking. The two looked at each other, nodding in silent agreement.

Marc with a C was much better than Mark with a K; and so was Tony Stark.

AUTHOR'S NOTE

Meet Marc. I would die for him, I love him so much, I don't know how he came into existence, but I'm so happy he's here, because Remy now has a friend and we're gonna backtrack to his first ever friend, because Ethan is a good kid too. But Marc is also amazing.

Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed!