REMY WAS HAVING A CRISIS. He sat in his room, staring at the pink and red cardstock sitting around him, the flowers, paper cranes, and paper mâché basketballs strewn about haphazardly in a way that seemed to mimic how he was feeling: utterly disoriented.

"Remy, why are you so upset?" BUDDY asked from where he was blocking the sweater he made for Birdie, stretching it out along Remy's desk, seating it next to the wire necklace the boy had made for his mother in school.

Remy sighed long sufferingly as he watched his robot work, wishing he could be just as calm and monotonous as he was; though, to be fair, BUDDY was much more emotional than most robots, even going so far as to tell Remy that his words could hurt him when the boy made a particularly scathing remark during one of his bad days, something that left Remy feeling guilty for a full week.

During the upcoming weeks leading up to this day, Remy had been caught in a constant cycle of being severely overwhelmed by everyone around him.

His arms and legs were constantly throbbing and aching with a dull pain since he found himself wrangled into impromptu basketball lessons from Gage who, while loving Remy being their referee, really wanted the boy to join in and play with them, constantly afraid that he felt left out when he was the ref. Despite his attempts to explain that he didn't feel left out in the slightest, Remy, much too passive to say no, agreed to be taught how to play and, because of reasons he didn't want to get into, put in more than the required effort to do as best as he could.

His fingers had gotten much more coordinated, though there had been a period of time when they froze and ached, because he had gotten into the habit of making flower crowns with the girls whenever he could, though he never took any home anymore, but he tended to spend a good portion of his time with them, and he had to admit it was nice to be accepted by all of them, especially Stephanie, who he had seen turn away some other boys who tried to join in; granted, they were there to cause a ruckus, but the point still stood.

That had been his school life for quite some time now, and he could rarely be found anywhere near Ethan's class during lunch; of course, that had been seen for a while since he had been spending time with Marc, which was something that was also growing scarce; the two boys still spent nearly all their time together, but gone were the times when they hung down on the field by themselves.

Remy was glad to have more friends, and he finally felt like he was experiencing the average middle school experience, and he didn't have to lose any of his previous friends to do it. Yet, there he was, stressed out of his mind, and he had to wonder if it was worth it to care so much about people.

"Why don't you ask mom to help?" BUDDY asked, catching onto what Remy was so upset about, "She's already helped you with the candy cards for all of your classmates."

"Mom can't know," Remy said, and there was so much fear and desperation behind those three words that BUDDY immediately scanned through his database and searched for answers, understanding immediately.

"Mom isn't like that," he said, and he sounded like a real person then, like he tended to do more often than not, "And she won't get mad at you for telling her the truth."

Remy sighed, shaking his head. "You don't get it."

Unable to do anything else, BUDDY just watched as Remy continued to work, the boy barely paying any mind to the clock on his wall telling him that it was past midnight and he should probably go to sleep if he wants to wake up well enough to actually go to school and give his more personalized gifts.

The robot hadn't been told to go to sleep yet, so he just continued to work, watching and waiting until Remy laid down for just a brief moment, planning on just resting before getting back up to work again, only to fully fall asleep, unable to wake up.

Moving closer and reaching out, BUDDY carrying Remy over to his bed, carefully maneuvering around the scattered papers and objects, making sure not to jostle him awake as he tucked him into bed, making sure the boy was comfortable and warm.

Heading back down to the floor, he spent the rest of the night working on the presents, figuring that, since his battery was still at a respectable amount, he could stay the rest of the night and help out Remy.

If he didn't want to ask for help, he would just have to force him to take it.

º º º

"What's in that other bag, more things for your classmates?" Birdie asked as she drove Remy to school, the bag of cards on the floor of the car while another, smaller bag sat on the boy's lap.

"Mhm," the boy hummed, sitting still, bundled up in the clothes that BUDDY had set out for him the night before.

"What's wrong?" Birdie asked, noticing her son's uncharacteristic silence, but Remy didn't make any move to try and explain, so she dropped it, at least for the time being.

They drove the rest of the way in silence, parking inside the actual parking lot, Birdie climbing out to help Remy carry the cupcakes he had been responsible for bringing, the boy carrying the two bags of goodies.

"Did BUDDY pick out your clothes?" Birdie asked, motioning to the red parka Remy was wearing and the red shirt that peeked through when he began to unzip it.

The boy nodded, the two walking across the blacktop to the classroom, a few minutes away from being marked late, Birdie's high heels echoing through the empty campus, Remy surging forward down the hallway to push open the door to his classroom.

After setting down the cupcakes, Birdie immediately had to run, giving her son a kiss on the cheek, smoothing down his hair before giving his teacher a small wave before rushing out into the hallway and to her car.

"Do you have your presents for the class?" Ms. Kimberly asked, and Remy could see the small brown bags behind the desk and he wondered if they were for the kids who couldn't afford to bring goodies for the rest of the class.

"Yeah," he said, trying to hide the smaller bag from her sight, though it only drew her attention towards it.

She pursed her lips, raising an eyebrow. "Didn't I say not to bring presents just for your friends?"

"I brought stuff for everyone else, no one needs to know," the boy tried, looking up at her with wide eyes, "Besides, two of them are for people who aren't in this class, so it doesn't really count, right?"

She sighed, glancing around at the kids who were all chattering with the mailboxes they had on their desks, eagerly anticipating the start of their party, which wouldn't be until after recess, during lunch.

Finally, she nodded, relenting. "The other class is going to come over later once we finish passing out our own cards, you can give your special presents when we all eat our pizza and cupcakes. Okay? Now, just take a seat and hide them."

"Thank you," he breathed, rushing to hide his smaller bag inside his desk, pulling out the homework that was due, throwing himself into the lesson, focusing on nothing but the teacher, trying not to look over at the pretty red bows in Stephanie's hair that tied up her poofy pigtails.

Recess saw Remy helping the girls make flower crowns while watching the boys play basketball, Gage wearing a bright pink polo shirt and Marc wearing a warm looking red jacket, Stephanie in her pretty pink and white dress, all of them sending Remy into turning the same color as his parka.

As he continued to make flower crowns, he pulled his attention away from the game, mainly because Gage chose that particular moment to grin at him, and gasped at his findings.

There, on the dewy grass, was a ladybug.

Setting his crown aside, he reached out and let the bug crawl onto his finger, maneuvering it so he was cupping it his hands, looking over towards Marc who was waiting his turn to jump into the game.

After a few moments, Marc turned to look over at him and raised an eyebrow when the boy smiling at him, moving his hands up, trying to show that he had something in his hands, but Marc didn't quite understand, just smiling confusedly at him, but with clear amusement.

With a sigh, Remy glanced down at his hands before closing his eyes, trying to make a wish.

As he tried to come up with a wish, he couldn't help but be aware of the noises around him. Usually, he was able to tune them out, but without a wish to focus on, he couldn't help but hear everything.

He heard Stephanie's laugh and Gage's shout in unison just as he opened his eyes—for whatever reason, he would never know—his gaze landing directly on Marc who chose that immediate moment to turn and smile at him, and it seemed that all Remy could focus on were those three things, nothing else, his hands falling open, the ladybug flying away.

While he didn't know it, he had made his wish.

º º º

Remy couldn't focus on his pizza.

The other class had come in to visit their own, bringing in their own mailboxes filled with cards and candies, as well as their sweet treats and pizza so they could all share.

His nerves had been thrumming as he waited for the other class to come in and sit down, everyone laughing and chattering and talking about the different cards and candies they had, some people trading their candies and generally having a good time.

It also seemed he wasn't the only person to bring presents for specific people, which made him feel a lot better.

At least, for a few moments.

After he finally steeled his nerves, eating his pizza and deciding not to eat his cupcake, he looked around, grabbing the carefully made flower crown that transcended any of the ones he and the girls had ever made, as well as the paper mâché basketballs that, when opened, held a variety of candies. There was another gift in the bag, but that wasn't what he chose to focus on just yet.

However, as he stood to go give his gifts, he caught sight of something that made his heart sink.

Now, it was no secret that Stephanie and Gage were well liked by everyone, so it didn't come as much of a shock to see the two holding many more goodies than everyone else. But there was just something about the way Stephanie was whispering with Tommy B. with none of her friends around, and the way that Gage was whispering with Alex H. that had Remy slowly sinking back into his seat.

Now, Remy was never truly one to be upset when he didn't get what he wanted. No, he was the type to get upset when plans never went the way they were intended to. So he had to wonder why there was so much conflict that had his heart sinking and stomach churning.

So maybe this was what it was like to be crushed.

"Why aren't you eating your cupcake?"

Remy looked up to find Marc hovering above him, the taller boy crouching onto his knees to prop his arms on top of the desk, resting his head on top of them.

The younger boy instinctively looked back towards Stephanie and Gage who glanced over and smiled at him before turning back to the people they were talking to. When he turned back around, Marc was smiling at him sadly.

"I'm sorry," the boy said, because of course Marc knew.

Reaching into his pocket, Marc pulled out a folded up piece of paper, unfolding it carefully to reveal a paper hat, much more intricately designed than the one he had made when he first met Remy.

Reaching into his bag to give Marc his present, Remy paused, glancing down into the bag full of presents, then back up to his friend.

Inside his own bag was a flower crown, paper mâché basketballs filled with candy that the boy himself said were his favorites, and a tiny pink paper crane inside a small jar that hung on a chain.

Pushing the bag towards the boy, Remy took the crown from him, placing it onto his head and smiling. At least, giving Marc as much of a smile as he could.

"These aren't all for me," Marc said, pulling out the chain and nothing more.

Remy shook his head, pushing the bag of things that BUDDY had helped him make that night while he was asleep. BUDDY only ever knew who Marc was.

"They were always for you."

To say Marc was surprised was an understatement. A usually reserved boy, the shock was evident on his face, from the widening of his eyes to the parting of his lips. But it was a good surprised.

The kind that had him smiling the next moment, and Remy wasn't sure if his stomach fluttered or if his cheeks turned red, but maybe they weren't meant to.

"Happy Valentines Day."

AUTHOR'S NOTE

You like how I never said it was Valentine's Day until the last line? Yeah, so do I.

So look y'all I know that every time ya'll've been like "mArC aNd ReMy OmIgOd" I've shut you down, but it's because, at those moments, that wasn't the point. The point was Marc is a good friend, a great friend, an anchor, someone important to Remy that makes a new space for himself in his heart so the one Mark left can begin to heal.

And even in this chapter, Remy doesn't quite feel the regular puppy love crush he had on Steph and Gage, and that's because Marc isn't quite puppy love crush worthy. He's best friend love with something on the side.

And they're not gonna be in any relationship because they're legit 10 but I wanna show Remy's growth in terms of how society changes him as well as how he grows, as seen by how he's hiding things from Birdie now (minimal things) and he's got crushes and all that jazz.

So catch my drift. Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed!