Mark Pov--
I always thought I was pretty good at noticing things.
Not, like, super detective good, but better than average. Living with Omni-Man kind of made it a survival skill. You learn to read moods, watch for tells. You get sharp, even when you don't realize you're doing it.
So how — and I ask this with all the self-loathing I can muster — how did I completely miss the fact that my best friend was a literal superhero?
Let's rewind.
It started during lunch. Normal table, normal day. Eve across from me, poking at her food with a fork like it had insulted her. William rambling about some game he'd rage-quit the night before. I was only half-listening. My brain was still caught on something from physics class.
Eve had answered a question before the teacher even finished asking it — rattled off something about resonance frequencies and energy dissipation — and I swear the whole class turned to stare at her like she'd grown a second head.
And the weirdest part?
I wasn't surprised.
It reminded me of Stephen.
The way she spoke without hesitation. The way her eyes lit up, not because she wanted to sound smart, but because she was and couldn't help it. It was the same look my little brother had when he forgot to pretend to be normal for five seconds.
For whatever reason, that calmed me down. Took the pressure off. I stopped seeing Eve as some untouchable "popular girl" and just... listened.
"Earth to Mark," she said, snapping her fingers in front of my face. "You alive in there?"
I blinked. "Huh? Yeah. Just thinking."
William smirked. "Dangerous."
Eve tilted her head. "What about?"
"Physics," I said.
She perked up. "God, finally. Someone who doesn't zone out when I bring that stuff up."
I grinned. "I zoned out a little."
Eve rolled her eyes and flicked a pea at me. It bounced off my shirt and landed on my tray. "Charming."
_ _ ♛ _ _
I'm not exactly sure when things started shifting between us.
It wasn't a big thing. Just... little moments. Like when she started sitting closer, leaning in when I talked, smiling longer than she used to. Or when we both started looking for each other in every class we shared — not out of habit, but because it made the day better.
And the weird part?
I didn't overthink it.
Maybe because I figured nothing would change. Or maybe because deep down, I didn't want to ruin what we had. Our friendship worked. It was solid. Comfortable.
Still, the more we hung out, the more I caught myself noticing things. Like how she rubbed her thumb along the edge of her notebook when she was thinking. Or how she always saved her least-favourite snack for last, like she was bargaining with herself to finish it.
Or how, sometimes, when she thought no one was watching, her whole face would go still. Like she was somewhere else. Somewhere far away.
_ _ ♛ _ _
We were walking home after school when she said it.
"You ever feel like... you're supposed to be doing something more?" she asked, quietly.
I glanced over. "Like with school?"
"No. Bigger." She hesitated. "Like... something's waiting for you. But you're not sure what it is yet."
I stopped walking.
Because — yeah. I definitely knew that feeling.
"All the time," I said.
She looked at me, and something in her shoulders eased. "Okay. Good. I thought maybe it was just me."
That was the moment I realized we weren't just friends.
We were the same kind of weird.
_ _ ♛ _ _
That night, I was walking back from the convenience store when I saw her.
And my brain short-circuited.
Pink glow. Red suit. Flying. Flying.
She arced across the sky like a shooting star, barely a blur against the dusk, and I just stood there on the sidewalk with a half-crushed bag of chips in my hand and my mouth hanging open.
Atom Eve.
Eve.
Eve.
My best friend was freaking Atom Eve.
_ _ ♛ _ _
I didn't sleep much that night. Every conversation we'd ever had replayed in my head like a mixtape on loop.
The vague excuses. The "family stuff." The bruises.
The way she'd always looked so calm when we talked about powers — not hopeful like me, not wistful. Just... knowing.
God, I was such an idiot.
_ _ ♛ _ _
The next day, I cornered her at her locker.
"We need to talk," I said.
She didn't even blink. "You're being dramatic."
"I know who you are."
That made her pause.
Then she smirked. "Took you long enough."
I gawked at her. "You knew I didn't know?!"
"You thought I was ditching lunch for dental appointments," she said, shutting her locker. "I didn't correct you."
I groaned. "I'm such an idiot."
"You're not," she said. Then she smiled. "Well. Maybe a little."
I stared at her. "So what, you just fly around after school? Go on missions? Fight crime?"
She shrugged. "More or less."
"While I'm flipping burgers."
"You make an honest living," she said, very seriously.
We both cracked up.
_ _ ♛ _ _
After school, she came over.
It was weird at first. I wasn't used to seeing her in my house — in my space. She sat on the couch like she wasn't sure if she could touch anything, even though she'd just told me she's literally one of the city's defenders.
And then my dad walked in.
Nolan Grayson. Cape and all.
Eve froze like someone had hit the pause button.
I turned to her. "Oh. Right."
"You're joking," she said.
"I wish."
She stared at him. Then at me. "Your dad is Omni-Man?"
"Yeah."
Silence.
My dad gave her the same look he gives everyone — intense, unreadable, like he's scanning for hidden weapons.
"You're part of Team Teen," he said.
"Yes, sir."
"You're holding your posture too tight."
Eve blinked. "What?"
"You fly. But your shoulders are locked. Wastes energy."
She blinked again. "...Oh."
He nodded once. Then left the room.
I turned to Eve, expecting her to freak out, but she just exhaled and said, "Okay. That explains... everything."
_ _ ♛ _ _
Later that night, we sat on the porch, passing a can of soda back and forth.
"I still can't believe you didn't tell me," I said.
"I didn't tell anyone."
"You told Team Teen."
"That's different."
I looked at her. "Why didn't you?"
She was quiet for a while.
Then: "Because I liked how it felt to just be Eve."
I didn't have a good answer to that.
But I got it.
_ _ ♛ _ _
Somewhere else, not far away...
Stephen was in the backyard, laying in the grass, staring at the stars. One hand behind his head. One arm outstretched like he was tracing constellations with his finger.
He had heard the laugh from the porch.
Mark's laugh.
He smiled to himself.
Didn't move. Didn't call out.
Just listened.
Because even if they never said it out loud — not really — he knew the sound of his brother being happy.
End of Chapter 20
(A/N: In the show I cant believe that eve and mark never spoke before, that would make no sense, so i thought ok, mark was a nervous wreck before getting his powers, and self aware a bit too much so, and self conscious, so he thought he wasn't worthy enough to speak to her, but in my book i decided, he had his family and eve's intelligence reminded him of his brother so ofc he became more comfortable speaking. and eve is widely known but she likes to be treated normal, not the popular pretty girl, not the fake laughs people give because they cant understand her jokes, not people just listening and not talking back, that's why they became friends as easily as they did.)