Still Am I King of Grief | Invincible Variants x Reader
🖊️ by @maskeddevotion
🏷️NSFW Choose-Your-Own-Adventure
King Arthur has vanished, and history is unraveling without him. Now Morgana has sent you across time to bargain with the mightiest of men -- just what will your journey uncover?
🔗 READ/PLAY HERE
📖 Episode 1 of 1
🌙 A Midsummer Night's Dream submission! ⸜(｡˃ ᵕ ˂ )⸝♡
Aka in which you figure out how similar the variant really is to the og.
Mark Grayson x Reader x Viltrumite!Mark
A/N: I remain making slice of lifes. I have like a mini list of plots I wanna write for still Mark. This is the longest standing fanfic energy I have.
Mark wasn't too keen on agreeing when you brought up the idea. A variant that leveled an entire city just... Living here? With the two of you no less? It was bad enough that he was kept alive but this one didn't hide the way he looked at you. Fixated, lingering.
At least the others that did see you had the decency to pretend like the mission mattered more. This one left the fight and blitzed straight at you that Mark thought you were going to be impaled on impact. That was the only reason he was still alive and not shot through Timbuktu or wherever Angstrom sent the others.
Now here the variant was, sitting on the couch Mark saved up for, wearing that stupid white uniform.
"Why even wear white when your whole culture is bloodbaths?" He snarked, arms crossed and standing over the lookalike that couldn't give two shits about him. No, he was still staring at you. And it miffed him to no end.
"Why're we even housing him? Did you forget what he did in New York?" Technically, it wasn't much since he completely bailed halfway through the fight to cling to you. Mark continues to talk to apparently himself while you remained preoccupied with making breakfast.
Fate and soulmates must really be a thing if he was this whipped in several universes. The fact this one didn't even live on Earth, didn't grow up with you, but was this obsessed with you? Inconceivable, incomprehensible, didn't make sense one bit.
"We're going on a comic run today, right?" You opt to change the topic, finally turning towards him with a sizzling pan. Disapproval plays on your expression when you see the table not yet set. When your lips part to complain, the air rushes and suddenly the tableware is placed neatly in three sets. A chair is pulled back and a white clad Markus stands behind it waiting.
Oh now he's done it. Was he trying to one up him right now? Your pleasantly surprised expression only furthers his bubbling need to evict this evil copy.
Pettiness prevails and suddenly Mark is sitting in the pulled seat. His reflection meets him from above, pulling the same resentful scowl. If only your laughter didn't defuse the situation, then maybe they could've duked it out and he'd have a reason to end this evil twin bullshit.
Your words finally register, and he's perked up like a dog hearing the word "treat." Comic day was your thing together. Where you two would just go to the comic shop and he'd pick up any new updates while you pray that the obscure niche you like magically gets stocked. And the best part, no stupid straight faced super soldier version of himself.
"You probably need to wear something more casual," you regard the aforementioned super soldier and suddenly Mark is slack jawed.
"No he doesn't, he's not going outside."
"Mark, we can't just leave him here alone."
"I'll leave some food and water, we're not gonna be gone for too long," he snickers at his own sass only get a look from you.
Your voice hushes slightly, rudely excluding the Viltrumite much to the human-raised Viltrumite's delight. "You want him unsupervised in our home? What if he like- ransacks the place?" Now it was your turn to treat him like a dog.
The realization instantly dawns on Mark and now he's agreeing. Too easy. Always too easy for you. But, you're right. What if he goes through his stuff? What if he goes through your stuff? What if he's just as much a creep and he tries to steal- The thought makes him glare at the man sitting across him in accusation. It hadn't happened, but if they were alike enough, he knew this guy wasn't to be trusted with even the concept of you.
Without further request, he's already standing and picking out jeans and a shirt to loan. When he comes back with a basic white tee, he's pissed again to see the chairs have inched closer together while he was gone. The shirt flies straight into "his" face and the sound of wood scraping on wood echoes as you're pulled closer to the empty chair he was in.
The look you gave him mixed between baffled and entertained. As you began to speak, someone decided to change his clothes at the dining table.
"Privacy- go aw- change somewhere else!" Mark exclaims, feeling like he was the one being indecent as he's made to watch himself give a strip show to the both of you.
"I was not aware that you have yet to couple." The variant says with a gloating lilt, eyes squinting as a smile that's charmed you since you were young played on his lips.
This only sets Mark off further. "Oh, we've coupled plenty!"
"Mark!"
"He started it!"
"This is quite tight," the unwelcome intrusion cuts in. From the beginning, you'd both believed that the variants were exact copies. Granted some had different haircuts and accents. Some were totally shrill too. But this one he'd believed just had a costume change.
No, apparently Viltrumite training and stone cold discipline made him leaner. Muscles rippled as he moved his now exposed arms and the fabric clung like he was in a wet Tshirt commercial. Mark had half a mind to actually throw water at him. He ultimately decided otherwise when he caught you staring at the variant's chest and chose not to further the thirst trap.
"Hey..." He tries to redirect your attention back to him with a whine, only for you to stand up and examine the other man up close. It vexed him to see such an expression on your face. Intrigued, curious, the same look you gave him when he first admitted, because you already guessed as soon as you saw that stupid haircut, to being a hero.
His alternate was obviously not opposed to the attention. Ignoring him completely, he was preening and ever so slightly flexing as you examined him. Markus, you had found out was how he went by, stared at you with a gentle adoration that Mark was very familiar with. Nothing could console him about the fact that you actually put your attention to another man. Regardless of whether he was identical.
A roughened hand reaches to touch your hair only to meet a baggier than his usual sweater. Petty, petty, but no way was he letting anyone near you. Not even himself. Throwing his arm over you shoulder, you're suddenly directed and marched out of the apartment. He didn't care to look back, feeling those eyes still glued to you.
"Won't people notice that an Invincible is walking around the city?" He half whines, still sulking even after you wrap an arm around him.
"They don't seem to mind when you walk around," was your rationalization.
"But how do we explain two exact copies of the same guy?"
"He's your hot younger twin brother."
"Why is he the hot one?" Mark scowls for the umpteenth time today.
"Okay, you're the hot one," your smile disarms him and in an instant he's clung to you like a velcro dog.
"You think I'm hot?"
The shit eating grin makes you laugh and he melts. He liked this the most, he thought. Just the two of you bantering. Teasing and close like you were all there was.
He catches his reflection through the comic shop's window and feels confusion when it glares back at him. Was he glaring? Wait-
Looking over his shoulder, there was his other self rippling with the same jealousy he had burned with earlier. Was he going empathize with him? Hell no. But he could almost understand the frustration. Markus didn't have what Mark had. Not with you at least. And with the way he flew straight for you, it was kind of obvious that's what he'd wanted most.
So boo hoo to that guy. He wasn't going to let him ruin comic run day.
•~•~•
You were always surprised when Mark relents to you. You'd grown up with his stubborn ass and knew he was so bullheaded. It still had yet to click that you were the exception. The unawareness of it all didn't stop you from trying. Which only pleased you every time he huffs with a defeated "fine."
This was no exception. You believed it was an absolute longshot that he'd actually allow Markus to stay, much less live with you. Contingencies were already being made. Would Cecil take him? Was he safe there?
For all the destruction he'd caused, you couldn't deny the lost puppy look he had. You were weak to it with Mark and there was no way you could pretend the variant couldn't make the exact same look. You were absolutely stupid for Mark Grayson.
For all his grumbling and nitpicking, you couldn't completely disregard his concerns. This was a dangerous person. This was a born and raised Viltrumite living with you now. He surely had a mission back home. What was stopping him from continuing that mission with the galaxy conquerors here?
But then he'll stare at you with a nostalgic, almost lonely look and suddenly you remember the kid with a missing tooth. The same one who'd come over to watch cartoons with you. The one who took you to comic conventions. The one you fell in love with after years of being the one you were stuck to. Then you're wondering what you were like in Markus' universe. Were you human? Were you like the Debbie to his Nolan? Why does his gaze hold so much devotion but underlies forlornness?
The bell chimes as Mark walks ahead, greeting the usual clerk with familiarity, before making a beeline to the new releases section. You turn to greet the same person as well, pausing at the glass counter to check on any new booster packs.
"Hey, do I know you from somewhere?" The clerk asks, looking not at you but the man ever hovering behind you.
You're quick to reply, with a snicker, pointing towards your boyfriend who's hunched over a line of Seance Dog issues. His eyes squint in scrutiny as if he isn't going to splurge on every last one he hasn't picked up yet.
"Didn't know he had a brother," was the almost astonished tone in reply.
"He doesn't want anyone to realize he's the evil twin," you joke.
"I heard that," Mark calls over, eyes refusing to look over and see his stoic face again. You can only laugh it off as always.
Roaming the store, you see the usual line up of publishers. The popular ones, some manga, a couple new names. The presence behind you never disappears and you can tell he wasn't looking at the titles.
"What are you looking for?" He makes small talk, breaking the quiet. You wonder again what he was thinking. What his intentions were.
"Nothing really, just browsing."
"Why come here, then, without intention?" He tries not to hide the crinkle of his nose in judgement but he was definitely judging.
"It's called hobbies and having a personality," Mark interjects from two shelves away. Still snarky and not wanting to be excluded despite separating from the group first.
You couldn't help but tease Markus a bit too. "Not much leisure time back where you come from, huh?" Your eyes drift down and see a copy of the first issue of Seance Dog that Mark had obsessed over since you two were in middle school.
Markus shakes his head, "in Viltrum, we maximize the time with training and discipline-"
"-lame," a voice coughs out and you finally scold him. Despite his act, Mark had managed to inch his way to where the two of you were.
"Well, on Earth, there's nothing else but time to waste," you continue the conversation. Reaching past the two of them, you finally pick up the reprinted issue of Seance Dog and hand it over to Markus. Your boyfriend makes a face of snobbish disapproval.
The sound of papers flutter as the hesitant variant skims through the story. "It's... pretty juvenile."
The grumpy one scoffs in response. "You just don't get-"
"Wait, that's how it ends? But they just introduced a new development." Suddenly, the cover is flipped on its back and pages are reskimmed in search for a conclusion.
Hook, line, and sinker. You didn't expect him to actually enjoy it. This was a pleasant surprise. "Mark has the other issues back at our place."
"I am not lending him my copies-"
"You gonna buy him his own?" you cut in before giving him your own puppy eyes. You notice Markus trying to keep an aloof expression but there was just an obvious sliver of desperate hopefulness on his face while waiting for Mark's verdict.
And once again you hear the relenting huff and you know you've won. While ringing up what you'd both picked up, you listen to Mark lay down all the ground rules about handling his comics. In between, there's a surprisingly lively conversation about the first issue and the set ups Markus has yet to see.
It's satisfying watching Mark have someone gush about Seance Dog with other than you and Kyle. Even if it's technically himself. The animated conversation gives you time to observe the both of them. Very much appreciating the eye candy. Who knew you were into twins. Variants?
In exchange for lending him the comics, Markus was designated pack mule for the shopping. A total of three comic books and an already opened booster pack. He didn't seem to have any complaints seeing as he contributed to nothing financially.
You stayed next to Mark as you walked home. Eyes glance up at him then forward at his lookalike. You linger just a bit lower.
So I haven't read the comics but I've seen so many spoilers that the only thing im missing is the details for some things and when they happen
But basically something kinda bothered me bout this panel
Or atleast how it can be interpreted?
Like if Eve is trying to comfort him like dude you dont need to tell him that than its not that bad
But it feels like people treat thus as if Mark plans describe the "act" that brought Marky into existence
Which yea dont really need to do that
But given how he was assaulted and Marky was the result of that and was raised by his mother its very reasonable to tell him since its a terrible situation and Marky deserves to not feel hated for no reason
Idk it just made me feel icky
If i sound weird please tell me
Im bad at communicating things so please ask if I am not making sense
I saw this panel once and it just wouldn't leave my head
Also no hate to Eve cause its understandable for her to assume that
But more the fact it wasn't written like a
"Wow mark your kinda oblivious sometimes lol" and it just felt odd
If I had a nickel for every time a boy with black hair and has worn/ wears a black and blue super suit with the surname grayson dated a superhero baddie with cool powers and red/ ginger hair I would have two nickles
