#cherry-jamm

“Why do they need my blessing? All they did was sneeze?”  Nolan scoffs. His arms cross over his chest and his eyes roll with enough force you thought they might get stuck. 

“It’s the polite thing to do.” You tried reasoning. Your hands wrapped around his biceps softly, attempting to end his bitterness on the topic. He huffs, but looks you in the eye. 

“I don’t see the purpose.” He finally speaks. Giggles spill past your lips and you lean forward to hide your laughter. Your head is comfortably rested on his chest when your laughing fit dwindles. You were supposed to be teaching him how to fit in with humanity, but you just couldn’t help finding the humor in his commentary on it. Your 6’ 3, absolutely massive boyfriend not understanding the point of saying ‘bless you’, is objectively funny. 

“Can you at least try being polite, for me?” You hum, not even lifting your head. His arms wrap around you as he sighs. 

He scoffs once again. His warm hands rub small circles into your back. “Humans are weak.” He muttered into your hair. 

“Nolan.” 

“I’ll be polite.” He finally concedes. It seems even alien men are affected by the sassy man apocalypse. “I’ll bless whoever sneezes. Anything else I should know?” 

“Like one more page.” He dragged his hands down his face, stretching it cartoonishly. He rested his head on the headboard of his bed, his chest rose and fell as he took deep calming breaths. 

“That’s not bad.” You crawl closer to him. You move the laptop off his lap, assuring it stays safely on the small bed. You cradle his face in your hands, his lips were pulled into a pout and his warm brown eyes trailed over your face like he was committing it to memory. “That’s like, home stretch.” 

“No,” He whined. He was stuck between wanting to tear away from you dramatically or nuzzling himself further into your hold on his face, so he simply sighed loudly. “I ran out of things to say like five paragraphs ago. I can’t repeat everything for the third time.” You bite your lip to avoid cracking a smile at his dramatics. 

“Oh no, whatever will my sweet boy do?” 

“Don’t mock me! I need this to pull my grade up.” You roll your eyes. Maybe you would take him more seriously if he actually did his work when he said he would. “I’m gonna finish it.” He nods. “Get away from me, tease.” He pulls himself from your hold and grabs his laptop once again. With a shrug, you back away from him to return to your side of the bed. You barely made it an inch away before he grabbed onto your leg to keep you in place. You raise an eyebrow at his antics. He doesn’t say anything but you see him struggling to contain his smile. 

You tug your leg back and curl up in your spot on the bed. For a while everything is peaceful. You scroll on your phone while Mark types away diligently. However, all good things come to an end. Before you even realized that Mark had shut his laptop he had grabbed onto you by the legs and tugged you closer to him. You yelped and curled a hand into his hair in surprise. “Mark!” You shrieked. 

He wrapped his arms around your waist with a nonchalant smile, paying no mind to your hand in his hair or how your surprised yell was cut off by a fit of giggles. He pulled you into his lap and pressed you close to his chest with a heavy exhale. His warmth blanketed you and you felt yourself relax into him. You could feel the defined musculature beneath his loose shirt and it sent a pleasant shock through you.

“I thought you were finishing your essay?” You hummed, making no moves to get off of him and let him work.

“Shh, let me have this.” He whispers into your ear. He tucked his head into the crook of your neck, his warm breath fanned over your collarbone. Once again everything was peaceful, and once again Mark had to disturb the peace. His hand wandered further down your body until it rested itself on your ass.

“What are you doing?” You pull away just slightly to look at him. He shushes you again, his eyes shut.

“Sorry.” He murmured. Despite that he doesn’t move his hand an inch. If anything he tightens his grip. 

“You aren’t sorry.” You huff. He nods and a small smile spreads on his face. 

“I’m not. Just let me have this.” He repeats. “It’s comfy.” You narrow your eyes at him. His eyes are lidded and tired but he looks back at you with a playful expression. 

“You’re a pervert.” You sigh as you lay back down on him. His muscles relax at your warm body on top of his.

“I know, I’m the worst.” He smiles into your hair. With one of his hands still gripping your cheek the other rubs soft circles into your back. You feel your breathing begin to even out as you lose yourself in the softness of the moment.

✮ ⋆ ˚｡𖦹 ⋆｡°✩

You weren’t sure how much time had passed since you had fallen asleep but you woke up in an entirely different position than you had fallen asleep. When your eyes opened you were on your back with Mark nuzzled into your chest. His arms were still around your waist while yours rested around his shoulders. Sunlight streamed in through the window, kissing your face and giving Mark’s almost jet-black hair a warm glow. You threaded your fingers through his hair. He had been working so hard, both as Mark Grayson and as Invincible, he needed rest. 

Just as quickly as you had the thought it was interrupted. A loud, blaring alarm cut through the room, leaving you scrambling to find the source before Mark woke up. The source was, of course, Mark’s own phone. 

Essay

His alarm read. You half smiled as you closed out of the alarm. Alas, it was too late.

“What was that?” He croaked.

“Your reminder to write your essay.” You laughed as you carded your fingers through his hair. He sighed loudly as he rolled off of you. 

🍒 Nolan Grayson who bullies himself inside of you, but holds your hands so gently

🍒 Nolan Grayson who whispers praises in your ear while forcing you into the most degrading positions

🍒 Nolan Grayson who could rip you apart just as easily as he could caress you

🍒 Nolan Grayson who knows that no amount of gore could bring him the pleasure that your needy whines and soft whimpers do

🍒 Nolan Grayson who hates himself for wanting to be soft for you

Invincible slowly lowered himself to the ground beside you with a smile you easily returned. “You did great!” He congratulated, gripping onto your shoulder and shaking it. A new wave of nausea overtook you at the sudden movement. “How are you feeling?” 

“I’m feeling good.” You lied. You weren’t sure exactly why you lied, but for some reason you couldn’t admit to your charming and incredibly handsome teammate that you actually weren’t alright and that you were really a few minutes away from collapsing. So you plastered on a smile and gave him a thumbs up. He raised an eyebrow but didn’t push you much further. “Alright, now that we got that finished up, let’s head back.” 

You felt the ground hit your cheek before you even realized you were falling. You shut your eyes in a mixture of embarrassment and pain. “Jeez! You sure you’re alright?” Mark’s concerned face filled your hazy vision as he crouched down by your side. You wanted nothing more than for the ground to open up and swallow you whole. You silently shook your head, feeling small pieces of debris cut into your cheek. Mark chuckled. “Yeah, you look kinda banged up.” 

“Thanks.” You mumble sarcastically. At that Mark only laughs more before fumbling to flip you onto your back.

“No like,” He looks down at you. You couldn’t see his face beneath his mask but you could feel him scanning you. “I think you might be concussed or something.” He bites his lip as he drags his thumb gently over your forehead and as he pulls it back the pad of it is covered in sticky red blood. You groan. 

“Am I gonna live, doc?” You tilt your head. Suddenly the sun above him seems much too bright and you squeeze your eyes shut to lessen the splitting headache that pulses behind your eyes. 

“Probably not.” He responds playfully. There’s a long pause as you try to steady your breathing, your eyes still shut. You fight the urge to smack him as Mark pokes your cheek. “I’m pretty sure you have to stay awake after you get a concussion.” He muses. You look at him, mustering up as much distaste as you can to glare at him. “I mean, I saw it in a movie?” He stumbles under your hard gaze. 

“Mark.” You whine. Suddenly all the attraction you felt towards him was replaced with irritation. You throw your head back as best you can as you lay on the concrete. 

“Don’t shoot the messenger.” He huffs frustratedly. “I’m just trying to make sure you don’t get like permanent brain damage or something.” You remain thoroughly unimpressed by the fact. Your eyelids ached to shut just for a moment. It was a losing battle against your own body. The brief moments your eyes closed to blink felt like pure bliss and it was only a matter of time before you were falling asleep once again. 

“Hey, hey!” Mark picks your head up. Your eyes crack open to him frowning down at you like a disappointed mother. “What’s the square root of nine?” 

“What?” 

“The square root of nine?” He asks again.  His hands tuck under your arms to lift you off the ground. After a short while of trying to get your limp legs to stand his hand wrapped around your waist and he took a step forward. 

“Three?” Your head lolled to the side to rest against his shoulder. He tightened his hold on you. 

“Good. What’s six times seven?” 

“I don’t know, leave me alone.” You purposely shift more of your weight onto him to irritate him. 

“I’m trying to keep you awake.” He looks down at you resting your aching head on him. “You won’t be sick if I fly you back right?” You shake your head (slowly to avoid another bout of sickness). “Good.” He tightens his grip on you. But he doesn’t take off and instead an awkward silence grows. “Could you, uh… do you mind if I?” His other hand hovered over your body awkwardly. 

“Just grab me.” You roll your eyes. Having to stay awake when you would much rather sleep your way back to base was getting on your nerves. You barely even registered that you had essentially volunteered yourself to be manhandled by Mark. He nodded and quickly picked you up to an awkward piggy back ride. 

“If you wrap your legs around me this is a lot easier.” He frowned. 

“At least buy me dinner first.” You tease, but oblige. He held onto your thighs and you felt your cheeks heat up slightly but quickly pushed it down. He takes off with a start and as you feel the stability of the ground getting further away your stomach twists. “How do you do this all the time?” You hide your face in the crook of his neck, shielding your face both from the wind and the ability to look down. 

“It’s just like walking, I guess.” You feel his shoulders tense as he shrugs. 

“Walking.” You repeat incredulously. “When the ground is that far beneath you?” You have to raise your voice to be heard over the growing noise of wind. Mark just laughs. Your legs unconsciously loosen around his waist to which Mark grips them tighter. 

“I mean, you have it easy right now. Just hold on tight and don’t look down.” 

“And that’s so easy.” Actually it was becoming much easier to not look down. It was becoming easier to not look at anything as you felt drowsiness overtake you. You feel the urge to dig your heels into his stomach but think better of it. Probably not the best decision to irritate the man keeping you from falling out of the sky. 

There were a few minutes of silence and you had to dedicate all your willpower to not falling asleep against his shoulder. “We’re almost there.” Mark announced. “You only gotta hang on for a little longer.” Despite the good news you were still impatiently waiting to get out of the sky and fall asleep without Mark’s interruption. 

“You know what they say about home stretches.” You sigh. Your eyelids slowly became heavier to the point you could barely keep them open anymore. Your body went almost completely limp as your vision grew heavy. 

“What do they say?” Mark asked. However before you could answer, sleep forcefully overtook you as your head slumped against his back. Mark let out a small gasp, pausing in the air. “No, no, no.” He muttered. He held one of your thighs even tighter (if that was even possible) while the other one went up to poke your cheek again. When you didn’t wake up immediately Mark groaned and switched to pinching your cheek, then your thigh until your eyes opened. Once you realized that he was no longer holding both of your legs it was like a bucket of cold water had been dumped on you as you suddenly scrambled to hold onto him as tight as possible. 

“Mark!” You yell frustratedly. He returned his hold on your legs and began moving in the air once again, albeit slower this time. 

“Thank god you woke up gracefully, because I totally would have dropped you.” He smirks. You gripped onto him tight enough that it started to hurt. 

“Mark!” You yell again, more panic in your voice. “I’m never flying with you again, this is the worst!” 

“Only because you’re concussed.” His voice raised in pitch as he tried to defend his honor. “You know, you shouldn’t anger the guy who’s holding you right now.” He pouts.

“My apologies, your majesty.” You concede. You relax in his hold once again and for a second you feel the muscles in his back tense to sense if you had fallen back asleep. “‘M awake.” You mumble into his suit. You feel him nod. 

It wasn’t much longer until you were landing. Somehow the landing was worse than taking off. Mark helps you stand on your own two feet again, his hands wrapping around your forearms to ensure you wouldn’t fall on your face again. All the while you were fighting the urge to puke as your stomach had dropped to your feet and had yet to return to its original position. You had to close your eyes to steady yourself again and get your shit together. You took a deep steadying breath. 

“Thank you, Mark.” You said earnestly. Ignoring the way black crept into the edges of your vision, he looked good like this. His hair was windswept and messy and his hands still nervously held onto you. You couldn’t help the way you naturally blushed. 

“Yeah, I mean you did most of the work in that fight back there, it's only fair.” He trailed off as you stepped closer to him and pressed a chaste kiss to his cheek. 

“Thanks.” You repeated. 

“Anytime.” He smiled a crimson blush rising on his cheeks. That was the last thing you saw before your eyes shut and you slumped against him once again. The last thing you heard before you fell asleep however was him groaning, 

Each second that passed only served to intensify Mark’s pain. The rubble underneath his hands cut into his palms like small knives. Every slow drip of hot blood down his face burned his already bloody skin. Any attempt at movement was futile. His body screamed at him, all of his instincts warned him to get up and fly away as fast as he could. Yet, he couldn’t. His cheek dug into the cracked concrete below. Even the ground was hot as he laid there, like he was in a frying pan. 

The ground shook as Conquest landed near him. He didn’t even have to look to see the grin on the man’s face. There was no use trying to escape, but he did anyway. With the little movement he could make he attempted to crawl. He didn’t get very far before one of Conquest’s large hands came down on his shoulder. He flipped the boy over like a piece of paper and smirked down at him condescendingly. There was a stream of blood coming from his nose, but he didn’t seem to care. 

He raised one of his fists. Mark didn’t even have time to try defending himself before the punch collided with his face. The last thing Mark heard was a sickening crunch, likely from his nose.

⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘

When his eyes finally opened he was back on his couch, a controller in his hand. Your warm legs were thrown carelessly over his lap while you talked about something Mark couldn’t quite remember. William was there as well, responding to something you had said sarcastically. 

It was as if his head was underwater. He could see, feel, touch, but everything was still so distant. No one else seemed to notice, carrying on with their conversations like it was a normal day; and at that moment it was. This was before everything. Before the entire world changed. 

“No, I think being pretentious about movies is a huge turn off.” Your voice finally rang out. “I’ve seen your Letterboxd, your top favorite is a French movie from the 1940s. I didn’t even know they had movies that old on there.” Your statement was interrupted by giggles, both yours and William’s. 

“You have Cat in the Hat in your top three, I don’t think you should have opinions on movies.” He scoffed.

“I’ve never not been entertained by Cat in the Hat!” You tried to reason, much to William’s unamusement “You could probably benefit from watching a fun movie every once in a while, instead of turning on La La Land whenever we try to have a movie night.” You huffed childishly. “I cried, man.” 

“I remember that, you did cry.” William chuckled. He turned to Mark, finally acknowledging his presence. “Please tell them that watching a serious movie won’t hurt them.” 

What did he say here? His mouth was moving but he had no idea what he was saying, like a muffled, garbled version of his own voice. Despite not knowing what he said, you seemed pleased by whatever it was. You stuck your tongue out at William who groaned loudly. Then you looked at Mark. 

His heart stopped in his chest at the look in your eyes. Your cheeks had to hurt from how hard you were smiling. 

“I knew you were my favorite friend for a reason.” You wrapped your arms around his warm body in a tight embrace. 

Mark Grayson was your favorite 

✮ ⋆ ˚｡𖦹 ⋆｡°✩

His surroundings fade and blend like watercolors. It’s like floating.

He hadn’t even realized that his eyes were closed when he opened them. This time he was in a car, your car. The two of you were parked away from town, near an old church and a gas station. The sun had begun to set, casting an orange glow over the spring sky. The windows were down and the faint smell of smoke from burning fields battled the cherry blossom scented air freshener in your car. 

The sun kissed your face as you looked at him. “I love you.” You breathed. “I know it sounds stupid, and- and this might ruin everything, but-” Your knees were resting against the steering wheel and you looked away nervously. “But I do, love you.” You hid your face in your hands. Silence hung in the air. 

Mark tried desperately to remember what he said as he watched you fluster even more in the quiet. He didn’t say anything.

“I’m sorry, I’ll drive you home.” You mutter. He saw the way your fingers trembled as they hid your face from him. 

“I love you too.” He finally found his voice. A small smile graced his face. “I’ve loved you, for so long now.” His sentence broke off with a laugh. You took your hands away from your face, looking at him with a bewildered expression. 

“Really?” Your eyes were lit up like a child’s on Christmas. A smile matching his broke out on your face. The two of you both started to laugh. “I-I thought you were going to reject me.” You giggled. “I was so scared.” You sucked in a deep breath of air, finally relaxing. 

“I didn’t know what to say.” Mark shrugged. “I thought I was dreaming.” Neither of you knew when you had gotten so close but now your faces were mere inches away from each other as the setting sun illuminated your faces. You made the first move. Your eyes closed and you tilted your head ever so gently. When Mark leaned in as well it was like nothing he had ever felt. It wasn’t like the nervous, inexperienced kisses he’d had before; this felt natural and right and perfect. 

“I love you.” He whispered against your lips as the two of you broke apart. 

Mark Grayson loves you 

✮ ⋆ ˚｡𖦹 ⋆｡°✩

“I don’t want you dying out there.” 

For the first time Mark can hear before he can see. When he came to, he was in your room. Your plush blankets were underneath him and your head rested against his shoulder. He laid on his side. The side not against the bed ached dully. You were pressed against his chest, holding him while being overly mindful of his injuries.

You were shaking. Your hands gripped onto him like he might disappear. “I-I know that you’re invincible or whatever and I am so proud of you for being out there and doing good,” He noticed a small patch of wetness on his shoulder where your head rested. “But I need you here.” If it was even possible you held him tighter. One of his hands held the back of your head as he pressed his lips to the crown of your head. 

“Shh, baby, I know.” He whispered into your hair. “I know, I’m sorry.” In any other context you’d have found his cooing degrading. “I’ll be more careful next time.” You didn’t stop shaking though. Instead you continued to mutter panicked ramblings into his skin, your tears continuing to soak his suit. 

“I don’t want to lose you. I can’t lose my boyfriend.” You sobbed, your words finally loud enough for him to understand. Her hand ghosted over his side, not enough to hurt, but enough to remind him why he was here. You were the one to patch him up. Mark could remember it clearly now.

Your first aid skills were elementary at best, and if Viltrumites scarred as easily as humans the stitches themselves would fare worse than the original gash. But in the moment that didn’t matter, all that mattered was you. You were there for him.

“At the end of the day I need you here with me.” 

“And I’ll be here, at the end of every day.”

Mark Grayson would always be there for you