Chapter Text
“No no no nono GOD no!”
William tore out of Mark’s hold and scrambled backwards, barely even noticing the rough pavement scratching the heels of his hands. Rocks embedded in his palms but he had to get away from this… this not-Mark.
“You’re one of them. One of those other Marks—”
Not-Mark had the gall to look hurt. His smile dropped into a gentle frown as soon as William scooted back across the ground and his hands were left hovering in the air where they’d been wrapped around him just a moment ago.
William couldn’t even begin fathom why his best friend’s evil twin from another dimension was pretending to comfort him. Not after what he did…
He swallowed back bile, eyes darting instead to Mark’s bloodstained face. No. He didn’t have time to think about Rick. If he wanted even the tiniest chance of surviving, he needed to focus and not collapse into a babbling mess.
Who knows? Maybe this Mark was friends with him in his world too. That’s why he’s still alive… right?
“William.” Mark raised an open hand in a feeble attempt to placate him. Well, William considered it feeble given the fact that he was still covered in his boyfriend’s blood. “It’s alright. I’m not like those other Invincibles, I swear. I would never do anything to hurt you—” He moved forwards again, reaching out hesitantly like William was some kind of cornered animal.
William scrambled away from the proffered hand. Eyes glued to the dried blood staining his fingers. Underneath his fingernails…
Everything coming out of this Invincibles mouth was utter bullshit. He was soaked in blood, no doubt from slaughtering innocent people and destroying cities like those other hims he’d seen briefly on the news. Before they were forced to run with the crowds screaming for their lives. And this Mark had murdered Rick, then openly admitted to it without an ounce of shame or guilt.
He had no disillusions that he wouldn’t be next. And there was no fucking way he was going to let this twisted version of his friend toy with him for his own sadistic amusement.
“Stay away from me.” His breath came in a ragged gasp and he threw the doppelgänger a hard glare. Struggling to get his legs underneath him so he could stand. He had to get up. Had to run. Would it save him? No… but it might buy him a few extra seconds before his head is squashed like a grapefruit.
Mark reacted with a jerky movement forward as soon as he managed to get to his feet. Eyes wide, Mark stepped closer, but William matched each step forward with an awkward stumble backwards. He refused to take his eyes off his would-be killer for even a second. A second was all it really would take.
“William. Please, don’t try to run.” Mark’s gaze was heavy, attached to him. He took another step, regardless of William’s obvious fear. His voice was also thick with some emotion he couldn’t identify but didn’t really care to at that moment.
“You’re telling me not to run from the psychopath that just killed my—” He stumbled, stuttered, swallowed hard. He couldn’t finish his sentence, but apparently Mark had already connected the dots.
The deep frown on his face flattened into something hard and unyielding. His eyes suddenly cold. He raised his chin the slightest amount and looked down at William with his fists clenched by his side. William’s breath caught in his chest and he froze in terror. This was it. He was about to have his head sliced from his shoulders, or his heart ripped out of his chest—
“Your boyfriend.” Mark’s low tone broke through his spiralling thoughts and oh god he looked murderous. “William, that thing wasn’t your boyfriend.”
“Thing?” William said in a breathless, shaky laugh. Half hysterical. He was about to die anyway, so why did he care? “HE wasn’t just a fucking thing! Is that seriously how you view people? What kind of fucked up version of Mark are you that you think of us all as just things?” William snapped, shoulders heaving with the effort it took to breathe while holding back the clawing panic in his chest.
Mark advanced on him. Feet leaving the ground before he drifted closer. The extra height from his elevation meant the glow from the burning college lit up Mark’s face and set it alight. The fire reflected in his eyes, and the blood across his face.
It didn’t even look like his best friend. He looked like a monster wearing his best friend’s face.
Before William could even consider his plan to run, Mark grabbed his arm in a steely grip. William let out a shout, squeezed his eyes shut, and waited for the sharp movement. The crack. The tear. The inevitable searing pain. Figured he wanted to torture him first, it was just his luck. But Rick hadn’t even gotten that much…
A sensation like a fist squeezing tight seized his chest and he shook with a stifled sob.
Great. He was about to die and he was crying and trembling like a little kid.
It just wasn’t fair it was his best friend’s twisted, chilling expression that he’d last see. It wasn’t fair that it was his hands that were going to rip him apart.
Then, a gentle touch brushed against his cheek. Feather-light, almost hesitant. It directed his face forwards and he flinched back with a sharp inhale when he felt a warm breath of air. His eyes flew open again, wide, and terrified. For a moment, he expected to see his Mark, the real one, right in front of him. But it was that same bloodstained face. Now sporting an exasperated smile.
“William, you’re not just…” Mark sighed, moved his hand down to hold William’s other arm as well. Effectively trapping him in place. “You’re not like them. You’re different.”
William didn’t move. His limbs were locked up as this Mark leaned in close. Too close.
Why hadn’t his arms been torn from his sockets yet?
Mark seemed to notice his terror because he frowned, tilting his head to the side and softening his expression.
“I meant it when I said I’m not going to hurt you.”
“You’ll understand if I don’t believe a single thing that comes out of your mouth.” He replied in a rush of words. His heart was pounding but as the stalemate between them dragged on he began to feel… confused. Was this alternate Mark really that sentimental that he didn’t want to kill his best friend? That was assuming they were friends in… wherever he was from.
“I know.” Mark sighed again. Slid his grip down to hold William’s wrists instead. But his eyes didn’t leave his face. “I know. I’m sorry. He didn’t tell me you were here and alive. If I had known I would have come straight here.”
What?
“I don’t know you.” His voice was strained and he tried to rip his arms away without any luck. They didn’t budge an inch in Mark’s grip, like iron shackles. “You’re not my Mark—”
“Your Mark abandoned you.” Mark snapped, eyes narrowing, he released one of his arms to gesture to the burning rubble around them. William used the opportunity to shove at his chest but if he noticed at all, he didn’t show it. “You could have died William, and where was he- would you stop that?” Mark huffed, grabbed his hand again and William gritted his teeth as fingers pressed against his skin hard enough to bruise. He let out an involuntary hiss through his teeth, frustrated and still scared shitless, especially when fixed with this Mark’s searing glare.
But then the hand around his wrist relaxed, dropped away from his arm, and moved instead to his side.
William blinked in confusion.
“I’m sorry.” Mark muttered in a low tone, eyes fixed on his wrist with an expression that looked… guilty? “I didn’t mean to hurt you, it’s just… I can’t believe he would leave you defenceless.”
“Defenceless? Are you serious?” William attempted to take a step backwards and was relieved for a moment when the grip around his other arm fell away. But then Mark just followed him closer and tried to wrap a careful arm around his shoulder. William shoved it away with both hands and a stifled curse. “I had Rick!
“And you can see how well that turned out.” He said it in a low, bitter tone, but it had an immediate effect.
William threw a punch. He didn’t care at that moment if his hand shattered on impact. He just wanted to see him in pain. To wipe that condescending, exasperated look off his stupid face.
His fist connected with Mark’s jaw and anger bubbled in William’s chest when he didn’t even flinch. It felt like punching goddamn concrete. He aimed a punch at his chest next with a yell of frustration, but his fist was caught before it could make contact again.
“William, stop! You’re going to hurt yourself.”
“I don’t care. I don’t CARE!” He yelled, struggled against the iron grip around his wrists. Then aimed a kick at Mark instead. “You’re just gonna kill me anyway!”
“How many times do I have to tell you that I’m not going to hurt you?”
William ignored him. Aimed another kick at his knee, only to cry out as his legs were suddenly ripped from under him. He flailed briefly, grabbing on to whatever he could, and found his fists clenched in the material of Mark’s suit. His first instinct was to let go, push away from the murderous superhero. But then he looked down.
Oh god oh god oh god.
Usually, he loved flying with Mark. At least the few times that he’d been given the opportunity to. Mark always complained and made it into a big drama, usually weaselling a meal out of it from William even though he would point out it wasn’t like he had to pay for gas. But he loved it every time. The wind whipping around him, the dizzying drops, and all the tiny people down below them. But this was vastly different.
“Jesus Christ!” He panicked, clawing at Mark’s shoulders as the ground dropped out from underneath them and left his stomach along with it. He was gonna throw up again. Mark was going to drop him—
“Are you done trying to break your own fingers?” Mark said in an actual amused tone. Like William was the one being ridiculous. His left arm supported his back while the right supported his legs as they hovered above the burning wreckage below. He was being carried in a goddamn bridal hold.
“Put me down.”
“No.”
His glare hardened and he leaned away as much as he could without releasing his death grip on Mark’s shoulder. Falling from a great height to become a puddle on the ground was most definitely on his list of top five worst ways to die.
“Put me down now Mark.”
“It’s great to see you love flying as much as you did back home.” Mark muttered with a roll of his eyes. But a look that was still undeniably fond as he pulled him a fraction closer to his chest. “Don’t worry, you’ll get used to it.”
What the hell was that supposed to mean?
The air pressure changed around them, and he realised quite suddenly they were moving. Mark was flying away from the college, who knows where, but with him still trapped in his hold.
“Where are you taking me?”
“Home.”
William’s eyes narrowed.
“Let me get this straight.” He ignored Mark’s small sigh. “You destroy cities, kill probably thousands of people—”
“City.”
William paused. “What?”
“City. I only destroyed the one.” Mark explained in an oddly quiet voice. There was a far-away look in his eye as he stared ahead into the night. An expression he recognised well from whenever Mark would talk about his dad, or Amber, or even college. A guilty sort of regret. In return, William threw him the most loathing glare he could muster while shooting through the air far above the ground.
“I do not fucking care Mark! You killed my boyfriend!” He shouted and shoved at Mark’s chest again without thinking. Thankfully, his grip didn’t loosen. Instead, it tightened enough to be noticeable. Especially at the word boyfriend.
“That GDA surveillance drone wasn’t your boyfriend, William.” The words were muttered under his breath. William forced himself to rein in his reaction. It was easier to pretend he hadn’t heard it than make Mark any angrier than he already was. What was Rick’s life worth if he tossed his own away like nothing?
“You did all that,” He said slowly, “and now you’re just going to take me home?”
He glared at his ‘friend’, trying his best not to squint as the wind whipped around his head. How Mark was handling it without a mask or goggles, he had no idea.
“Of course.” Mark looked down at him and his expression visibly softened. A small smile played over his lips, replacing the scowl at a speed that was unsettlingly fast. “Why do you think I came here? I wasn’t just going to leave you there. If any of the others had found you first…” He raised a tentative hand and chased William’s cheek when he leant away. “You should be glad it was me who found you.”
“Oh, I should be, should I?”
Mark raised an eyebrow at his sarcastic tone, then he did something unexpected. He moved his hand to ‘lightly’ grip William’s chin. Fixing his head in place with a cool expression.
“Don’t be like that.” He tightened his grip the slightest amount and William swallowed hard. It was easy to forget who, what, he was talking to when he had the same face as someone he knew so well. He could usually read his best friend so well, could tell exactly which stupid thing he was about to do. But now, he didn’t know if this Mark was about to crush his head to paste on a whim.
“I know you think you have an idea of who I am, but I’m still the same Mark who spent all his time with you William. You know how I feel about you.” Another fond smile and Mark’s hand moved to cup his jaw instead. William wasn’t even given a warning to prelude what was about to happen. Mark leant in with a smooth movement, and brushed a chaste kiss against his cheek.
William just stared back at him with wide-eyed shock, mouth agape. He was pretty sure his brain just stalled.
Yeah, okay. He didn’t know this Mark at all.
After a moment, Mark finally seemed to catch on to the fact that William was frozen in his arms. He frowned, tried to brush a finger against his cheek again. But William flinched back with a sudden jerk.
“What?” This Mark actually looked confused. Tipping his head to the side like a lost puppy. “What’s wrong?”
What’s wrong? Was he serious?
“What the hell was that?” He asked in a strangled voice.
“Has your Mark not kissed you before?” Mark questioned with a chuckle, like it was a joke and William was the one acting strange. Then he paused, watched William more closely, and parted his lips in a soft ‘Oh’. “He hasn’t, has he?”
William stared at him in stunned silence for a prolonged moment before he found his voice again.
“No!” His voice broke with the exclamation. “Why the hell would he? He’s dating Eve!”
Mark’s face soured into a grimace. “Her? Really? I mean, I guess I did think this other me was an idiot for letting you have a ‘boyfriend’.” He smiled before nuzzling his cheek against William’s hair. Something he really didn’t appreciate. “But choosing her over you? That’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard.”
William really was too stunned to even absorb that. The thought of being in a relationship with Mark Grayson, with his best friend? Under any other kind of circumstances, he would laugh hysterically. But these weren’t normal circumstances and this wasn’t his Mark. Not that he cared apparently. But with the tight grip this other Mark still had on him, and the dizzying height they were still at, he decided to swallow his words. As it was, they were flying a bit slower now that they were over the suburbs. William looked down at the pattern of rooftops that were a patchwork blur beneath them. The dry wind stung his eyes when Mark swooped lower, and a death grip wasn’t tight enough to stop his heart climbing up his throat.
“Listen, William.” Mark’s voice was gentle again and now that William realised why, he felt physically ill. “You know I didn’t mean to scare you, right? I’m just trying to keep you safe.”
They halted in mid-air over a rooftop he didn’t recognise. Mostly because he didn’t spend a lot of time flying over houses to look at them from above. There was still enough height to kill him if he fell though, so he didn’t unclench his fingers from where they gripped Mark’s suit.
“And this is supposed to be safe?”
“It will be once we’re back.”
“Back where?”
Silence.
“Back where Mark?”
Mark’s eyes seemed to be everywhere except on his own.
He said he was taking him home, right?
“Mark, where are you taking me?”
“Somewhere safe, like I said.” Mark murmured, his grip tightened around his shoulder and legs so William was forced to stack one leg on top of the other to avoid being crushed against him. Mark barely seemed to notice. “Back to my world.”
William’s blood ran cold for the second time that night.
“What? What- what about your own William?” He scrambled to collect his thoughts enough to make a case for staying in his own world.
“He’s… I lost him.” A lengthy pause, “A long time ago.” For a moment something very soft and very vulnerable flashed over Mark’s face. Dark eyes weighed down with a depth unlike anything he’d seen on Mark’s face before. There was a yawning pit inside his eyes that led to something ugly. Something which just leaning over the lip of, just catching a glimpse, made goosebumps pepper William’s back. He couldn’t help but shudder, prompting Mark’s hand to smooth down his arm unconsciously. Eyes still vacant. “It was my fault… and I’d do anything to bring him back.”
William swallowed the sharp panic that threatened to fry his brain. He’d endured more than he thought he really deserved for one night.
“You- you can’t just kidnap me and take me back as a damn replacement!”
“Why not?” Dark eyes found his again and crinkled at the edges. Apparently, he snapped out of whatever depressive episode he’d been steeped in.
“Because!” William snapped, throwing out a hand for emphasis. “Because I belong here! I have my own friends, my own Mark—"
“But you’re not dating this world’s Mark.” He grinned with fond amusement.
“That doesn’t mean I’m fair game! My life doesn’t revolve around you!”
“But mine does.”
William stilled in his arms. He leant away slowly, as much as the arms around him would allow. But Mark just continued speaking, his gaze laser-focused on William’s face.
“You don’t understand yet William. The day I lost you? It destroyed me. I wanted…” The words shrivelled and died. He sucked in a shaky inhale, then tried again. William focused on trying not to squirm too much and increase the already painful grip on his side. “I have you back now. And I wouldn’t give that up for all the galaxies Angstrom could offer me.” He whispered, burying his face into William’s hair again with his eyes squeezed shut. “Not like the others.”
Others? Angstrom? Wasn’t that the guy with reality-powers Mark was telling him he killed? Was he the reason there were other Marks here?
Mark had described being sent from reality to reality, alternate versions of their world, or something like that. It had sounded equally as awesome as it did terrifying. Mostly terrifying. Especially when he had described what Angstrom had done to him, Debbie, and his brother. Mark had spared the heavier details, but it was clear enough to paint a horrifying picture. Angstrom was a monster. But then why the hell did he bring other Invincibles here if he had tried so hard to kill him and his family?
Were they working with him?
“You’re working for Angstrom?” William drew the horrifying conclusion. Mark lifted his face from his hair with a reluctant frown to look him in the eye again.
“With him. But only temporarily. It’s not like I enjoy it… although, I have to admit it’s been fun getting to let loose without having to worry about consequences. Plus, I have to travel pretty far back home to find people I can fight without killing too easily.” He hummed and looked away in thought as he spoke. One of his hands was also rubbing small circles onto his shoulder, which William opted to ignore.
“You realise that makes you just as bad as him, right? William grimaced and wrapped his hands around his arms, tugging them in to his chest. “Why would you kill thousands of people for him? Just for fun?”
Mark let out a chuckle and tilted his head to the side, lips tugging into a small grin that showed just the tiniest amount of teeth. “I did it for you. Obviously.” He smiled, oblivious to the horror and disbelief clawing at William’s chest.
For him?
A city was destroyed for him?
Thousands were dead for him?
Rick was killed…
“Angstrom said that if I helped him with his revenge plan against your world’s Mark, he would give me you.”
Oh god.
William’s hand flew to his mouth and he cursed himself internally as his eyes filled with tears again. What was wrong with him?
No. What was wrong with him?!
“Hey! Oh, William I’m sorry.” Mark grabbed his wrist with a gentle iron-clad grip and pulled it away so he could see his face. “I know Angstrom is evil, but it was the only way I could save you. You understand, right?” He leant down to press feather-light kisses to the knuckles in his grip.
Rick had died because of him, killed just because William was dating him. He hadn’t even been given a chance. Some evil version of Mark comes here looking for him, and how many were killed for being in the way of what he wanted? William squeezed his eyes shut and felt tears run down to his jaw. He didn’t want to see sympathy, or affection, or anything else on this doppelgänger’s face. It didn’t matter that they were still flying. He had to get away from him.
Now.
“Let GO of me!” William attempted to tear his hands out of the hold. The grip around them fell off, but he suspected it was just because Mark decided to let go.
A sigh, then, “Really? I thought we were over this.” Mark frowned before wrapping an arm around his shoulder, then pulling him upright. Flush against him. William’s stomach turned and he grabbed for Mark’s shoulders before he realised what he was doing. Then immediately retracted them as if they’d been burned. The doppelgänger’s satisfied look made him want to hit him in the face again. But he didn’t know if it would be worth the broken fingers.
“Listen William,” Mark adjusted his grip and William froze in fear as fingers curled around the back of his neck, fixing his head in place, “I don’t want to scare you, or force you to do anything.”
The fingers squeezed in warning when William tried to create some space between them, so he stopped trying to do that.
“But I also love you.” Mark leant in and placed a kiss under his right eye. “And I need to keep you safe.” Another along his brow. “You understand, right?”
A soft smile laced with vulnerability, everything monstrous neatly tucked away, and Mark almost looked normal.
“William, tell me you understand.”
“I understand.” Choked words, the grip on his neck was too paralysing to rebel against. He hated having those bloodstained hands on him.
“Good. That’s good.” Mark said with a sigh, and his hand moved up to the back of his head. Fingers carding through his hair, then gently pulling him closer. And before he even had a chance to process…
“Shh.” A soft exhale against his mouth and Mark pressed their lips together in the approximation of a kiss.
The immediate instinct was to recoil, shove him away and try to punch him in the face again. But Mark seemed to have accounted for his reaction, and wound his hair around his fingers, keeping him at his mercy.
William could scarcely breathe as gentle lips worked against his. A soft brush, another warm exhale, Mark tilted his head to find a better angle, then pressed forward again in a firmer kiss.
Mark’s face was pushed flush against his to the point where he could feel his eyelashes twitch against his cheek. Smothering him, suffocating him. Arms wound around him like he was trying to crush their bodies together.
It felt like something inside his chest was withering away as the forceful kiss continued.
And his arms creaked like they were about to snap from the grip.
“Mark—” He tried to speak, beg, but it came out muffled. For a long moment Mark acted like he didn’t hear him, then came a slow hum, the ghost of a breath against his cheek.
And finally, Mark pulled back just enough to look him in the eye with an achingly tender expression.
“Sorry. I didn’t mean to get carried away.”
William’s heart trembled in his chest as Mark pulled his head forward again to press their foreheads together. Fingers still firm in his scalp. He didn’t dare move.
“It’s just been so long…” Another sigh. His thumb smoothed the skin under his eye, following his cheekbone, and William swallowed thickly. Revulsion curling in his gut.
Mark just kept looking at him like that.
“I missed you. So badly.”
It was like the words caused him physical pain.
“Mark, please.” William’s voice came out as a weak, shaky thing. Barely audible. He just wanted him to let go.
Why wouldn’t he let go?
“Please, just put me down Mark.”
“William.” Mark tilted his head to the side with a bemused smile. “I think you know deep down that I’m doing what’s best for you.”
The arms around him squeezed tighter and William couldn’t swallow the whimper as he heard his shoulder pop.
“Once I’ll bring you home, you’ll be safe.” Mark’s smile turned into a full-blown grin, his eyes shining with excitement. He spun them around in a way that had William clinging to him with trembling hands. “Then we’ll be free to spend the rest of eternity together.” Mark laughed.
He fucking laughed.
“Please…” William exhaled in breathless terror.
If he heard him at all, he gave no indication of it.
“Come on,” he pressed a firm kiss to William’s lips again. Lingering a moment, taking advantage of his paralysed state. Before he leant away enough to sigh against his lips.
“Let’s go home.”