Chapter Text
It was subtle at first. Mark hadn’t even noticed that the blood in his veins seemed to pump a bit harder now, his muscles flexing beneath the skin even at the most mundane of tasks. It felt like his body had started straining against itself, something desperate to split open his body and take over.
Then he had flung a trash bag into fucking orbit. Time had seemed to stand still as he watched it disappear far gone past the earth's atmosphere. Big dark doe eyes wide with confusion and…excitement. He had scrambled, legs giving away underneath him as he skidded against the asphalt. He nearly fell flat on his face in the process, using his hands to push himself up and forward again.
“Really?” His mom had asked, her voice raising an octave in tandem with her brows. Surprise. “That's great Mark,” She said with all the softness a doting mother should. When silence followed Debbie shot her husband a pointed glare. The cutlery on the table clattering as she not so subtly kicked his shin to force a response.
Nolan cleared his throat and gave Mark a tight smile that mimicked his wife’s. “That's great Mark,” He parroted Debbie's words. Tight and constricted like there was a proverbial gun pointed to his head in the form of her eyes. “We can start training then tomorrow.” It was said so coldly that Mark suppressed a shiver. His smile faltered. He watched his dad continue to eat like it was any other day. “Get to bed early, you’ll need your sleep.”
The reaction he received from his family wasn’t the one he had hoped for. His mom’s clear worry was thinly veiled behind a mask of enthusiasm, and his dad…He had never quite seen his dad’s eyes darken when looking at him. He should have been excited right? This was what they were waiting for, hoping for! God it’s the only thing he had heard from them for the last 17 years.
“
You’ll get your powers soon,” “Viltumites typically already have their powers.”
Every little remark that had subconsciously tore away at him bit by bit. He wanted to make them proud, make his dad proud. So why the hell did he seem…pissed? Even with the promise of training beginning first thing in the morning no one seemed pleased about it. Somehow he was left feeling like a disappointment yet again.
Mark tried to keep the initial enthusiasm he had when he burst in through the front door as he excused himself from dinner. “Yeah, sounds good.” He said, his words a little choked. The trek upstairs to his room felt heavier. His face fell as soon as the door closed behind him and he let out a strangled groan as he fell face first into the comfort of his mattress. He took a deep breath, filling his lungs with more air than he typically could. Like his capacity had increased. His body felt weird, second puberty? If puberty meant your body seemingly changing its human composition out for something entirely alien.
Rolling onto his back he shoved his hands deep into the pockets of his sweats, fishing around until he tugged out his phone. He caught a glimpse of his reflection in the fingerprint-smudged screen and grimaced before tapping the screen and basking his face in blue light. The corners of his lips quirked up at the sight of the message bubble icon. Unlocking his phone he opened his messages.
In bolded letters ‘William’ displayed at the top of the screen, accompanied by a less than flattering picture Mark had taken of him mid sneeze. William had begged him to delete it and Mark had promised he would…eventually. His eyes focused on the latest message in a long stream of them that William had sent him while he was at work, rambling and detailing his day for no real reason.
‘Clash Crash?’
God, he would any other night but the thought of it seemed exhausting to him at the moment. He wanted to hang out with his best friend, but more so in the way where he wanted to lay on the boys bed and just bask in the comforting familiarity of his presence. William would be proud of him if he knew. More support than he could garner from his parents. With a sigh he replied.
‘not tonight srry going through some shit’
The reply came instantly and Mark smiled properly at that. Always reliable.
‘ Oh shit, wanna talk about it man?’
‘too much to talk about ovr txt’
He sighed and closed his eyes before he could look at the next text that came in. He couldn’t tell him. Part of him had hoped the powers would never come so he didn’t have to worry about the logistics of telling everyone ‘Hey I’m actually a superhero alien and my dad is Omni-Man’. It was complicated and messy to put it lightly. But god if he wanted to tell anyone it was William. He cracked his eyes open to look at the screen again.
‘ Talk tomorrow then?’
No, not about this anyways. Mark was sure he could bullshit his way through something moderately believable to tell William. He groaned. Maybe he was a touch too codependent on his best friend but really it would be so much easier to see him right now. If not to talk about it, at least to distract himself. Frowning Mark typed out another response.
‘ can i come over actually?’
‘What? Right now? Dude its like 9’
‘and? its a saturday’
‘Your not walking and talking the subway at 9’
It was said so definitively that Mark almost relented. Sure crime rates weren’t high but the subway late at night just wasn't a good idea. He couldn’t defend himself from Todd at school. How was he going to stop himself from getting mugged…except, maybe he could now? He reached up, stretching his hand towards the ceiling and flexed his arm. It didn’t look impressive but he sure did feel a lot stronger. He clenched and unclenched his fist a few more times. Another thought struck him, why was he even worrying about it? He didn't have to take public transport.
‘no im not, see you soon’
His phone lit up a couple more times, likely texts filled with Williams protests and confusion but he paid it no mind as she shoved it back deep into his sweats and stood up. He padded across his room to his window, forcing open the glass and crawling out onto the sturdy section of his roof. He could do this right? Sure he didn’t know what to tell Will when he got there but no big deal right?
Mark shuffled closer to the edge of the roof. His stomach plummeted as he looked down. Sure it wasn't that far off the ground, far enough he would probably break a bone if he fell though. He wouldn’t fall. His body wouldn’t let him, that's what his dad said. “Oh god,” he mumbled, the ground swirling beneath him as he looked down into his backyard. “It’s okay, you got this, just…step off, it's fine.” He assured himself quietly as he moved his feet forward just a half an inch more. Toes hanging off the ledge now as his balance teetered unsteadily.
This was stupid. With another deep breath Mark lifted his leg and moved forward off the edge of the roof. His eyes squeezed tight as he waited for the impact…It never came. Slowly he forced open one eye, then the other. “Oh shit!” He exclaimed in a laugh. He was floating, holy fuck he was floating. A goofy grin cracked out over his face as he kicked his feet out.
Okay, nope it wasn’t like swimming. He breathed in deeply, face scrunched up in concentration. He lifted his foot like he was pushing himself off a hard surface and suddenly he was up. Wind whipping against his skin, cold and biting. He winced, covering his face with one arm as he tried to use the other to balance his body out. Shit, this was infinitely harder than his dad made it look. Everything around him felt wobbly and for the life of him he couldn’t stop the way his body kept twisting, like it didn’t know which way was up or down. This had stopped being fun approximately two seconds after he had lifted off. He felt like he was going to be sick. It was like teetering off the edge of a rickety boat. “Fuck, fuck,” He hissed as flexed his muscles, straining to balance himself.
Finally the air cushioned him, holding him upright. He dropped his arm that was shielding his face, eyes squinting as he looked below him at the sprawling city. His vision was blurry, a combination of going too fast and the tears burning the corners of his eyes from the wind currents he was battling. Where did William live again? Following the subway route was easy, but from this view nothing made sense.
He was going faster, picking up speed he didn’t intend to. He needed to slow down, he needed to land and get his bearings. He tensed his body in an attempt to pump the brakes, it didn’t work. “Oh god.” With a harsh jerk he managed to change his trajectory, turning himself back around towards what he was pretty sure was the direction of his house. Everything was disorienting up here.
Pivoting his body he angled himself downwards to lose elevation. Slowly everything got less blurry. Yes great, this was his neighborhood, he just needed to slow down. Why wasn’t he slowing down? The ground was approaching and too fast. He was plummeting towards the earth, body burning from the speed. “Fuck!” He exclaimed as he barreled into the ground.
Everything went dark, he could feel the ground shift beneath him, bones grinding together and layers of skin scraping away from his exposed face and arms. It felt like he had just been thrown through a meat grinder. The breath knocked from his lungs as he lay in the crater he had created. His ears were ringing. In the distance there was a symphony of blaring car alarms and barking dogs.
He groaned, rolling over onto his back. His chest heaved as he greedily drank in as much air as he could once the locked up feeling in his chest subsided. Nothing was broken, thank god for freaky viltrumite strength huh? He gave a weak chuckle as he shakily pulled out his phone. The screen had been mostly cushioned by his body but one harsh jagged crack blemished across it. “Great,” He drawled, voice shaky and breathless.
Opening his camera he examined the scraping along his face, red welts blooming where bruises were sure to follow. “Idiot,” He reprimanded himself softly. He swiped open to his two unread messages from William. Blinking to focus his vision against the bright screen.
‘
What are you doing? Why do I feel like it's something stupid?’
‘Do you just want me to come get you?’
Mark swallowed. William had a car, he could drive. How the hell had he forgotten that? Too caught up in the anticipation of what his body could do now and the innate desperation to go see his best friend he hadn’t stopped to consider the more logical answer to his solutions. Typical. Slowly he managed to type his response out.
‘nvm actually not feeling good’