invinciblevariant

[invinciblevariant]

chapter 5 isnt showing up in the tags , so here it is ! heavy tw for gore !

[invinciblevariant]

chapter five . . .

heavy tw for gore in this chapter !

“Man, I am so fucking sore.” Maverick settles into the sleeping bag set out for him on the Graysons’ living room floor, taking care not to bump his bandaged thigh against the table. “The next time Stedman decides to send us on a mission that tough again, I’m just gonna say ‘fuck no’.”

Miles rolls his eyes, cradling his arm, which is set in a sling. “Well, at least we worked together without wanting to kill each other for once, namely you two.” He points directly toward both Malachi and Maverick.

Maxwell finishes up with applying fresh gauze to Mercury’s stomach wound, the other smiling down at him in thanks. “Yeah, and at least we all came out of it alive… not unscathed by any means, but alive.”

Mark comes down to check on his variants, looking around while mentally counting them. “Uh… where’s Mason?”

Malachi points a casted thumb toward the backyard’s window, where the aforementioned variant is sitting in the grass, looking up at the stars. Mark goes out and joins his counterpart, sitting beside him.

“Everything alright, Mase?” he questions, cocking a brow as he looks over at him. Mason startles a bit, then fiddles with the bandage that covers his left thigh.

“Uhh, y-yeah, I… I guess.”

“Anything you wanna get off your chest?”

A moment of silence, then Mason sighs. “I just miss my own William… seeing yours with that… guy earlier today made me realize just how much I miss him.”

Mark hums in acknowledgement. “Wanna talk about what happened with yours?”

Mason immediately shakes his head. “Not right now, please… I’m not comfortable with reliving that…”

“Okay, man, I won’t force you or anything,” Mark reassures, shooting a smile over at his counterpart, “but when you’re ready, I’ll be here. And… my mom will be, too.”

Mason gets a hint of sadness in his eyes at the mention of Mark’s mother, but he hides it well as he nods and gives him a smile. “Thanks, Mark.”

“Anytime,” Mark makes his way to the door, “now get some sleep, ‘kay? We got a long day ahead of us tomorrow, remember?”

Mason nods, catching a glimpse of Oliver, Mark’s little brother, in the kitchen, grabbing a glass of water before floating up to bed. He sighs and gets up from his spot, going back inside and heading into the bathroom to get ready for bed.

By 10, all the lights are off and the 18 variants are sound asleep, but soon, one starts to stir in the throes of a nightmare…

“There you are,” William almost immediately hands a fussing Elodie over to him as Mark enters through the window, “I just can’t get her to sleep. The minute I laid her down, she started screaming like she was hurt.”

Mark holds his “daughter” close to his chest, going over to the bed and sitting at the edge before beginning to rock back and forth. “Hey, Edie girl. It’s okay, Daddy’s right here, sweetheart.” He kisses her forehead and continues shushing her, and within minutes, she’s calm again.

“How in the hell do you do that?” his partner asks, crossing his arms.

Mark smiles sheepishly and looks down at Elodie, who’s staring up at him but not showing any signs of wanting to sleep. He lays her down on her boppy pillow at the foot of the bed, grabbing one of her toys and playing with her in an effort to wind her down.

It works like a charm, and within a few more minutes, she’s out like a light as Mark holds her close against his chest, deciding to just sleep with her on top of him instead of risking the transfer to her crib. William lays beside him and wraps an arm around his waist, and they both drift off to sleep.

Mark wakes up after a few hours, still cradling Elodie; however, William is nowhere to be found. He rubs his eyes with the back of his hand, looking around tiredly. “...Will?” he asks softly into the darkness of the room.

A loud BOOM! is soon heard, but his “daughter” doesn’t react; in fact, she’s not even “breathing”, making Mark panic even more. “Fuck, what’s going on?! Edie??” he calls out, touching her to see if she’ll react. Nothing.

Still holding her close, he rushes out to the parking lot of the college, but… something’s different. It’s no longer the parking lot, it’s… his neighborhood?? Not feeling the weight of the baby in his arms anymore, he looks down to see that she’s just… gone.

‘What the fuck is happening right now?!’ he thinks, looking around at his surroundings. Catching a glimpse of William’s car, he flies over quickly, but the overwhelming smell of blood makes his stomach churn the closer he gets…

…and his eyes fill with tears as he sees his boyfriend’s lifeless body, head torn clean off and blood still spurting from the fresh stump. Then his grief combines with rage as he soon sees his father, holding William’s head in his hand.

“What the fuck did you do?!!!” Mark screams, stopping a few feet away, fresh tears staining his cheeks. Nolan merely grins maliciously before crushing William’s head right in front of his son, then launches himself at him.

Mark tries to dodge, but his father’s way faster than him, and he feels himself gasping for air as Nolan grabs him by the throat.

“He was weakening you, Mark,” he growls, anger and hatred in his eyes, “and the Empire doesn’t tolerate weakness. I taught you this from Day One. Now that you’ve been corrupted by this mere human, I’m afraid I have no choice.”

Before Mark can react, he feels his father’s clenched fist push through his abdomen, and he coughs up blood, the tang of iron hitting the back of his throat.

His vision blurs, but he musters the strength to plunge his own hand into his father’s chest, the feeling of Nolan’s beating heart making him grin weakly before everything goes black…

Mason shoots up in his sleeping bag, gasping heavily as his eyes sting with unfallen tears. He feels someone stir beside him, looking over to see Maxwell looking at him with concern in his eyes.

“Hey,” he whispers, “everything alright there?”

“Yeah, I just… had a bad dream.”

The hallway light upstairs turns on, and Debbie comes down the stairs, looking as concerned as Maxwell does. “Mason, are you alright, sweetheart?”

Huh… he must have been a little loud. Mason nods and runs a hand through his hair. Debbie wordlessly goes into the kitchen to get some milk out, warming it up and handing it to him.

“It’s sometimes what helps Mark sleep,” she explains with a gentle smile on her face as Mason hesitantly takes it from her, “and works wonders with staving off nightmares.”

“Thanks…” Mason cocks an eyebrow as he hesitates, the word ‘Mom’ hanging on his tongue like a fish on a hook.

“It’s okay, honey, you can call me ‘Mom’. You all can,” Debbie assures, wiping a lone tear from Mason’s face with a gentleness that makes more spring up in his eyes.

Before she knows it, the maskless variant of her son launches himself at her and buries his face in her chest, sobbing. She runs her fingers through his hair in comfort, then gently pushes him back down into his sleeping bag after a few minutes, giving him a peck on the forehead.

As she gets up, she ignores the whispered sneer of “Mommy’s boy” from Maverick and ascends the staircase. The hallway light turns off, and the variants are sound asleep again.

[invinciblevariant]

ive decided to start crossposting 'unmasked' to ao3 now as well as trying to finish up w the badthingshappen card !

[invinciblevariant]

chapter four . . .

“There you two are,” Rick grins as he sees William enter the boba tea shop with the stroller. Walking up to grab the diaper bag, he kisses his boyfriend on the cheek and coos softly to the baby, leaning down to give her a soft smooch on the forehead. “Was getting a bit worried something might have happened.”

“Really?” William quirks a brow, looking over at him. “Like what?”

“Car accident.” A slight shrug.

“Rick!”

“I’m kidding,” Rick laughs, grabbing William’s hand and rubbing small circles with his thumb. They sit down at a table, and William grabs up the tea that’s set in front of him.

“Okay, so… thought of any names so far?” he asks, sucking up a particularly stubborn boba ball.

“A few,” Rick looks over at the baby with a smile, adoring the way she gets excited at that and starts cooing, “but I wanna hear yours first.”

“Well, there’s Meredith, Jo, Cristina, Addison–”

“Anything that’s not blatantly from Grey’s Anatomy, babe?”

William laughs. “Was wondering how long it would take for you to catch on! Didn’t take long at all!” He clears his throat, sucking on his drink before continuing. “Uh, we could call her… Mary-Ann?”

“Mm…” Rick takes a look at the baby, soon shaking his head. “She doesn’t look like a Mary-Ann. Sorry, babe.”

“Okay, uhh… Sarah?”

“Veto.”

“Iris.”

Another head shake from his boyfriend.

“Riley?”

“…Cute, but no.”

“Okay, well, what do you have in mind?”

“I was thinking maybe… Emily?” Rick smiles innocently. “I know it’s kind of… I dunno, too common, but the minute I saw her, I just couldn’t get that name out of my head.”

William takes a moment to think it over, and then he nods. “Emily it is. Middle name now. What do ya got?”

“…Judith.” Rick’s voice is filled with longing when he says that name. “After…”

“…Your aunt…”

A solemn nod. William reaches over and grabs Rick’s hand, beginning to rub circles into it, but then…

…he notices a little girl, only about 6 or 7 years old, waltzing up to them. She peers into the stroller, standing up on her tip toes. William smiles at the scene, but Rick, who also takes notice, is staring warily at the girl. The girl, without acknowledging them, then bounds over to who William guesses is her mother, asking her something.

Before they both know it, both the mother and little girl are making their way back to the two. The mother looks into the stroller, smiles, and then… begins attempting to take the baby out, right in front of the two.

“Hey, what the fuck do you think you’re doin’, lady?!” William shouts, barely able to contain his anger.

The woman reels back, looking like someone struck her. Rick takes the opportunity to pull a screaming Emily away, holding her tightly in case the woman or her daughter tries to take her.

“Mommy, I wanna hold the baby!!!” the little girl shouts.

“It’ll only be for a few minutes,” the mother tells them, having the utter audacity to try and bargain with the two.

“No, absolutely the fuck not! I don’t recall her asking us first!” William yells, hands slamming down on the table.

The girl’s face turns pale and her eyes go wide, the mother blinking owlishly before turning to face her daughter.

“Lindsay, did you ask them if you could hold her?”

A tentative shake of the head.

“But you said you did.” She looks up to Rick, who’s still holding a screeching and squirming Emily, and he shakes his head, as does William. She then turns to her daughter and grabs her by the arm, apologizing to the two men before storming out of the shop, giving little Lindsay an earful about lying to get her way.

If William hadn’t experienced it, he would’ve felt a bit bad for the girl. He turns to Rick, who’s trying to console their baby, rocking and bouncing her and talking softly to her. Jesus, that woman… maybe I should ask Mark to find her, teach her a lesson. He shakes that thought from his mind, knowing violence will only get him — and Mark — in trouble with the law… or worse, Cecil. “She alright?”

Rick nods. “She’s just scared.”

William hums in acknowledgement, looking around at the other customers who are now looking in their direction. Great, we caused a scene, he thinks dejectedly, now we’ll probably be remembered as the couple who almost got into a fight with a lady and her daughter… “Wanna get outta here? Maybe a change in scenery will get her to calm down some.”

“Yeah, let’s go to the park.” Rick gets up and straps Emily into her stroller, William trying to distract her by shaking a little toy hanging by the handle. Her screams fortunately die down gradually, and by the time they’re in the car and driving to the park, she’s calm again.

“I’m tellin’ you guys,” Maverick says, flying faster to keep up with Malachi, Malcolm, and Mason, “I think we should’ve kept Angstrom’s body so we could find out how to travel between dimensions! You guys were just too chickenshit about the possibility of jail time to do that!”

“God dammit, would you shut the fuck up before I ram a dick down your throat?! We killed him, buried the body, we’re stuck here, it’s fucking over!” Malachi snaps.

“Nah, man, I kinda agree with Maverick,” Malcolm retorts, “we shoulda done somethin’ with the freak so we could go back.”

Maverick turns to Mason, who hasn’t said anything yet. “What about you? What do you think?”

A shrug. “We did what we thought was right at the time, now we have to live with the consequences.”

“He just doesn’t wanna stop seein’ William and playin’ Mommy and Daddy with a doll that ain’t even his,” Malcolm sneers, jabbing the maskless variant in the side with his pointer finger.

Mason grabs him by the shirt, teeth bared and eyes narrowed, but before he’s about to reel his fist back to throw a punch, Mathayus and Mylo appear.

“Remember what Cecil said, you two,” Mylo scolds, “play nice with each other or we’ll all have to do mandated therapy and anger management classes.” He looks pointedly at his mohawked counterpart. “All of us.”

“Where the fuck were you with that reminder when this dipshit was grabbin’ me by the collar a couple days ago?!” Maverick shouts, pointing toward Malachi. “He even threatened to toss me into the sun! Bet Stedman heard it all, too, that geriatric bastard.”

“Ugh, would you let that shit go?! Thought we resolved that the same night!” the caped variant snaps, crossing his arms. “Besides, I wouldn’t have gotten so angry if you hadn’t stolen my thunder during that mission to retrieve those drug dealers.”

“You weren’t even threatening them the right way! ‘Oh, we can do this the easy way or the hard way’,” Maverick mocks, “I thought you were better than that, man! Talk about a B-movie level threat. Next time, you should threaten to rip their intestines out through their assholes and make the other guy eat ‘em.”

“Whoa, dude,” Magnus laughs, appearing with Maxim, Maxwell, and Mercury, “that sounded sick. I’m stealin’ that next time I decide to kill that immortal fuck.”

Mathayus gives a heavy, exasperated sigh. “Sometimes I wonder how we’re all the same person yet so different from one another.”

“You and me both, man,” Maxwell replies, shaking his head.

“We should head to Markus’ home to start our afternoon patrol soon,” Mercury addresses, “we don’t want to be late. The others are already there.”

“He’s right, guys,” Cecil orders through their earpieces, “head over to Mark’s and I’ll tell you what to do from there. The mission tonight is gonna require all 19 of you guys, so this is the perfect time to start learning how to work better as a collective group.”

“Copy that,” Maxwell replies as he gets ahead of the group, “we’re heading over now.”

Mason gazes down at the Earth below them, purposely trailing far behind the rest, when he spots William and Rick with the baby, strolling along a path and clearly engrossed in conversation. He lowers himself to see them better, giving Rick a glare when he sees that the baby is strapped to his body in a baby wrap.

She should be my baby, he thinks, not his.

“Catch up with the group, Mason,” he hears Cecil say, snapping him out of it, and he quickly does as he’s told.

“That was a nice little walk,” Rick holds the door to the dorms open for William, “and it got our minds off the… incident at the tea shop. Great idea, babe.”

“Mm, let’s not bring it up again,” the other man shakes his head fervently, “that was so awful. I’m probably not gonna get boba from that place for a long while.”

Emily lets out a little whimper, seeming to express her agreement in that. Rick looks down and smiles at her, planting a soft kiss to her cheek before taking her out of the sling and handing her to her papa.

William straps her into the stroller, handing her a toy to distract her before taking the diaper bag from his partner, and gives Rick a kiss goodbye before heading to the elevators.

He gets Emily to sleep in record time and decides to chill out by listening to an audiobook while focusing on studying for his Physics exam coming up on Friday. Around 8:45, he decides to get himself ready to sleep, glancing over at the window to see if Mason will show up like he always does around this time.

Hm… not tonight, I guess…

[invinciblevariant]

i need your guys' opinions on something relating to the next chapter . i plan to have a dramatic scene in this chapter , but im unsure if i want it to be either an older guy harassing william and rick about smth (possibly thinking they adopted or smth similar) or a parent trying to get them to let their young kid hold the baby ... ik the first idea may come across as insensitive , esp during pride month , so i would like some feedback before anything is set in stone . i absolutely do not want anyone to feel uncomfortable with reading this next chapter , esp with violence against lgbtqia+ ppl still being v much prevalent . let me know your guys' thoughts !

[invinciblevariant]

ideas for chapter four of 'unmasked' will be appreciated ! <3 my initial idea will be a chapter between willrick where they discuss baby names on a little outing .

[invinciblevariant]

ohh , btw , ref for the willmark beb (elodie) is taken from this amazing artwork ! <3

[invinciblevariant]

chapter three . . .

William walks out of the bathroom to see Mason, still in his suit, sitting at the edge of the bed and trying to soothe the baby with a pacifier. She keeps spitting it out, though, getting fussier as the minutes go by.

“Okay, what the fuck?! How the hell did you get in here?!” he shouts.

If Mason had animal ears, they would visibly perk up at the sound of William’s voice. Completely ignoring the question, he simply greets him with a loving “Hi there” before turning back to the baby.

“Seriously, how did you get in here?!”

“I think she might be hungry. I take it she hasn’t eaten yet? I’ll make her a bottle.”

William blocks him from getting to the diaper bag to get a bottle out, but Mason just kisses his forehead before gently picking him up like he weighs nothing and moving him out of the way. He finally notices the window… which he swears was locked before…

Going over to it, he inspects the frame and windowsill, and… it’s been unlocked. Of course it has.

“How did you unlock the window?” William asks. “It can only be locked and unlocked from the inside!”

“I have my ways, babe. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got a hungry baby to feed.”

As Mason makes his way into the bathroom to fill the bottle with water, William grabs his phone to text Mark, but stops when he thinks of something…

“So, uh,” he asks, sitting down on the bed, “did you and your own William do something like this?”

He sees Mason’s eyes go wide and then shut tightly, a sharp inhale of breath being taken, and the maskless variant’s grip on the faucet’s handle tightens. He wonders if he may have struck a nerve, so to speak, but then Mason calms down and turns to him, smile coming back.

“Yeah… yeah, we did.”

Perfect, William thinks, distract him as long as you can.

“What was it like? I wanna know what I’m getting myself into.”

Mason looks at him for a long while before smiling softly and setting the bottle down, a genuine smile, but with a hint of forlorn longing to it.

“It… It was amazing… made me realize that I wanted a family with him someday…”

“You just had to miss the most important class this morning, didn’t you, Marky?” William asks teasingly, poking Mark’s cheek with his pointer finger. “Your dad really wants you to train almost 24/7, huh?”

Mark smiles warmly, but is quickly overcome with surprise when he sees the stroller. “Will,” he enunciates slowly, using the nickname that William bestowed only he be allowed to call him, “what is that?”

“Markus Sebastian Grayson,” his partner says before removing the pink and white muslin blanket from the car seat with a dramatic flair, “meet our daughter.”

Mark gasps softly upon seeing the tiny bundle nestled comfortably and seeming to sleep peacefully, a smile soon forming on his face… until he takes notice of something…

“Will, she’s not breathing!” he frets, voice sounding panicked. “Why isn’t she breathing?!”

“Hey, hey,” William says in a hushed tone, grabbing his boyfriend’s shoulders as Mark looks frantically from him to the baby, “it’s okay, Mark, she’s a doll.”

“W-What?” Mark stutters in disbelief. “No way, she can’t possibly be-”

William shoves a pamphlet into his partner’s hands without a word. Mark looks down at it, raising a brow when he sees the words ‘Baby Project Guidebook’ on it.

“Oh…”

“Mhm,” William nods, taking hold of the stroller’s handle. “Now let’s go get something to eat. Burger Mart sound good?”

“Always,” Mark replies, smooching his boyfriend on the cheek and following him out the doors of the college’s small coffee shop, a hand securely placed on William’s hip.

Mark has to admit that this little bundle of wires, sensors, and silicone is… kinda growing on him already. They got back from eating and had been just lounging around their shared dorm, waiting for the baby to awaken, and she did after a few hours, squirming and letting out a soft cry before opening her eyes.

“Ohhh,” Mark had whispered softly, in awe of how much she mostly looks like him but has William’s gorgeous blue eyes, “she’s… perfect… so, so beautiful…”

William can’t deny that his partner looks extra hot when he’s just mesmerized by something; however, something about this particular moment, the way he tenderly picks their “daughter” up and cradles her so gently, as delicately as one would an actual newborn baby, and the way he ever so slowly lifts her up so he can plant a gentle kiss to her forehead… it makes him look even more attractive.

“I’m already so in love with her,” Mark continues gushing, holding her against his chest and kissing her forehead, “like, she could ask me to destroy the entire Earth and I’d do it in a heartbeat…”

His partner lets out a small nervous laugh, then checks out what’s in the diaper bag. He finds the standard necessities: diapers, bottles, pacifiers, two small cans of “formula”, a small towel for bathing, some infants’ medicine (Mark had made a worried sound upon seeing it), and some toys like a rattle and stuffed animal (a wolf).

“What’s the medicine for?”

A sigh. “The pamphlet will most likely tell us what it’s for.”

Mark grabs it up and skims through it. “She can get sick… oh, my God, Will…”

William can’t help but roll his eyes and snatch the booklet from his boyfriend, who looks down at their baby, now worriedly. “Calm down, it most likely won’t be that often, and she probably won’t get anything more than a simple cold. Jeez, babe, you’re already going all mother hen on her.”

“How do you know that, though?”

William groans, then sits down on the edge of the bed. “Because why would they make us go through a severe illness? Doesn’t make much sense for a bunch of college students to be expected to take care of infants who can get, say, RSV or something like that.”

Mark still looks concerned, but visibly calms down a bit. He shifts the baby to lay in his arms, looking down lovingly at her.

“I know we haven’t thought about names, but… what about Elodie? Elodie Deborah Grayson-Clockwell…”

William looks up from putting the last of the things back in the diaper bag, a soft smile gracing his features. “I love it. I also bet your mom’s gonna be-” He freezes when he remembers that Mark’s mother died during childbirth, him having been raised solely by his father and growing up hearing only stories about her.

Mark gives him a weak grin, sadness in his eyes. “It’s fine.” His cell then goes off and he sighs, handing Elodie over to her papa before answering.

“Hey, girly.” William smiles gently down at the bundle in his arms. “You’re already so loved by both of us, y’know?” A gentle boop to her tiny nose makes her wrinkle her face up. “Yeah, you are…”

Mark comes back into the room after a while, visibly upset. “That was my dad,” he says, voice tinged with irritation as he makes his way over to his partner, “I have to head back. He says he’s going to teach me more about Viltrum’s customs.”

William sighs, then gives him a long kiss. “We’ll miss you,” he says when he pulls away, holding their daughter up and pressing his cheek against hers. Mark smiles and gives her a lingering kiss to her forehead, then turns and heads out the door.

A boom sounds from outside the college, indicating his taking off, and William sighs before focusing on Elodie, who apparently got a bit frightened by the noise and started fussing.

He knows, though, that Mark always comes back to him after being with his father… always.

William leans back onto the bed and watches silently as Mason scoops up the still-fussing baby and begins to feed her, an eyebrow cocked.

“No wonder you seem like such a natural at this,” he states nonchalantly. Mason looks over at him, giving him a smile.

“I loved it,” he says, “and… despite my father constantly needing me seemingly every day, my bond with her only grew.”

William can’t help but feel the tiniest hint of a smile creep its way onto his face, and as he watches Mason feed his and Rick’s baby girl, he also can’t help but notice the slight twinge that his heart gives.

This variant of Mark has murdered and destroyed, is ruthless and cold, the blood of many innocent lives forever staining his person no matter how hard he tries to clean it off… but… he can’t help but wonder, if it wasn’t for his father in his home dimension teaching him the Viltrumite way, would he have turned out to be good?

Then William finds himself thinking that perhaps… having him around won’t be so bad…

[invinciblevariant]

the next chapter of 'unmasked' is my personal favorite to write right now , as it starts the occasional flashbacks of willmark from maskless' dimension + their little bebe ! also idk why it's not showing up in the tags , but chapter 2 is right here .

[invinciblevariant]

chapter two . . .

“Wait,” Mark questions when he sees the stroller William pushes into the bowling alley, inspecting the baby inside with a cocked brow, “they’re doing this in college? It looks freakishly real, holy shit…”

“Yeah, apparently our Child Development prof wants us to study how parenting affects us on top of classes and stuff,” William quips, “though why they didn’t have us babysit some other person’s kid for a couple weeks is beyond me.”

“Maybe because that’s more creepy than having to care for a doll,” Eve replies, making a little wooden rattle with her powers and giving it to the baby with a gentle smile on her face. “She really looks like the two of you, it’s almost uncanny. You guys decide on a name yet?”

Rick shakes his head, William and Mark getting up to go and get their bowling shoes. They see Malachi and Maverick outside the window, arguing about something before Malachi grabs his counterpart by his suit collar and shoots up into the sky.

“Jesus, those two.” Mark rolls his eyes and sighs deeply. “Sometimes I wonder about this whole arrangement with Cecil about letting all of them stay. Doesn’t help that it’s always something, especially with them specifically.”

“Well, at least they helped out with rebuilding what they destroyed.” William nudges his arm and smiles over at him, Mark smiling back and then grabbing their shoes and heading back to the group.

The first round starts, with William winning almost every single time he’s up like usual. This one goes on without interruptions, but the second round is where things get a bit… hectic.

As Rick is getting ready to bowl with William by his side, the baby decides that this is the perfect time to start fussing, causing Rick to lose focus and roll the ball into the gutter.

“Uhh…” Mark stares at the baby in a slight panic before scooping her up from the stroller, bouncing her up and down gently.

Surprisingly, despite her not recognizing him, she calms down, and William and Rick are given a thumbs up from him to let them know that everything’s all good. Eve grins at her boyfriend being gentle with the baby, leaning over to coo at her, giggling when the baby turns to her and reaches her little hands up.

Rick goes up to them after his next turn and takes the baby from Mark, settling her in one arm as he and William watch Mark and Eve take their own turns.

The baby was thankfully calm the rest of the time there, and she even fell and stayed asleep for the last two rounds and on the car ride back to the dorms.

“I’ll take her this week,” William says as Rick walks the two of them up to the dorms, “I know you have that big Chem test on Thursday. Wouldn’t want you to lose any sleep.”

Rick nods, then kisses his boyfriend on the lips and their baby on the forehead before turning and walking toward the stairs.

“Home sweet home, girly,” William whispers, walking into his room and setting the diaper bag down by the front door as well as folding up the stroller.

He grabs a boppy pillow and sets the still-sleeping baby down on the bed, but as he’s getting ready to turn in for the night, she fusses again, crying loudly. He tries to rush his getting dressed so he can get her and find out what she needs.

However, as he’s done pulling on his shorts, he hears the window open and close and then a familiar voice shushing her…

Mason??

[invinciblevariant]

chapter one . . .

One thing William is shocked (and admittedly very annoyed) to see when he first walks into the classroom of his Child Development course is… baby car seats, covered by blankets. He lets out a heavy sigh and sets his bag down just a bit too hard on the floor by his chair, sitting down forcefully and resting his chin on folded arms.

Rick walks in soon after, as does the rest of the class, and gives his boyfriend a puzzled expression, head cocked to the side before gesturing to the car seats, and William merely shrugs, sighing again. They then both hear the groans and protests of the other students as more file inside, some complaining that “this shit is supposed to be for high schoolers”, “there is no way we’re being made to take care of robots in fucking college”, things like that.

“Maybe this won’t be so bad,” Rick whispers to him, making his head perk up a bit, “there’s a chance we could get paired together.”

William gives his partner a smile before sitting up straight as he notices the professor, Dr. Lee Davis, walk in. The overly-enthusiastic man claps his hands together, smiling brightly like he does every single morning.

It both amuses and annoys William at how someone who deals with so many students in one day can be so chipper and jovial. He once joked to his friends that he’s gotta be doing drugs or something because “no one can be that happy to see the same exact students every single weekday”.

“Now,” his voice is sometimes so irritating to William’s ears, “you may be wondering what all this”–gesturing to the car seats behind him–“is about. As you may recall, we studied the various stages of both physical and mental development in infants and toddlers last week, so now is the fun part. You get to study that more in-depth and also how this affects both you and a partner, individually and as a ‘couple’.”

He pulls off a random cover, revealing a scarily lifelike doll. This causes some of the students to let out gasps of surprise.

“Now, don’t be too alarmed,” Dr. Lee reassures, noticing the horrified look on some students’ faces (including William’s), “these may look real, but they’re not. I would never kidnap a bunch of babies for a project. I’d ask their parents first.”

He laughs at his little joke, but no one else does. After a moment of awkward silence, Davis then tosses some sorts of figurines toward the students, yelling a simple “Catch!”. William instinctively grabs for one, opening his hand to reveal a pink ceramic heart. A car seat is placed by his seat, the professor giving him a wink before continuing.

“Now, these babies will ‘awaken’ in a few moments,” he hands them a pamphlet and birth certificate along with a diaper bag, then goes back to the front of the class and pulls up a chart that has their names on them, “so here are the lucky parents. Congratulations, your new bundles of joy can’t wait to meet you.”

William’s eyes scan the chart and he mentally cheers when he sees that he and Rick have been paired together. His excitement is short-lived, however, as he realizes he won’t be able to fully enjoy the next two weeks due to caring for a doll.

“Oh, and this will last for the whole term instead of the standard two weeks,” Davis adds, lengthening William’s dread and causing him to voice it in an exasperated groan.

Unbeknownst to the class, a figure clad in blue and yellow, resembling one Mark Grayson, floats outside the window, watching William with curious eyes before flying away into the sky after two other figures also resembling his best friend…

“I can’t believe we have to do this for five whole months,” William complains to himself, practically slamming the car seat down on the floor of his last class, Biochemistry, and glaring at the baby inside.

She’d been relatively calm for the past few hours, passively looking around at her surroundings and cooing occasionally, but the professor told them this is quite literally the calm before the storm. Hopefully she’ll be good for this last class before he takes her to his dorm room, already furnished with the necessities fully paid for by Dr. Lee and the rest of the health department of the school.

He wonders how long the supplies are gonna last him… diapers and formula aren't cheap by any means, and hopefully this won’t add to his and Rick’s already mounding student loans if he has to pay for anything using his own money.

His glare softens a bit when she looks up at him and then sneezes, feeling a bit sorry for her when she hits herself in the face with a tiny clenched fist. Fortunately, she doesn’t cry, so it must not have been as bad as it looked.

The professor, a strict young woman by the name of Dr. Lucia Presley clears her throat when she comes up to him, handing him his test from last week.

“I trust the doll won’t be a distraction, Mr. Clockwell? If so, you will not be able to make up the quiz we have today.” God, William hates her voice more than Dr. Davis’, a stark contrast to his jolly-at-all-times tone.

“No, ma’am, she’ll be a good girl for this class,” the young man replies, letting the little doll suckle on his pinky finger. Dr. Presley merely scoffs lightly before continuing down the aisle.

The baby, as predicted, is good, but the professor seems agitated at how loudly she coos sometimes. William also is a bit distracted during the quiz, shushing her when she’s being a bit too noisy. Luckily, though, he does finish it, almost in record time, too.

After Dr. Presley dismisses the class, William meets up with Rick outside the small cafe, who greets him with a kiss and then bends down to greet the little doll with a soft, almost caring “Hello there”.

“So where to?” William asks, shifting the diaper bag over to his other shoulder.

Rick looks up from giving their “daughter” little pecks on her cheeks, relishing the squeals and coos for a moment. “Bowling? Remember that we agreed to it earlier this morning with Mark?”

“What about her, though? What if she starts fussing or needs something?”

“We’re her dads, we can handle it,” looking back down at the baby and cooing, “can’t we? Yes, we can, cuz you’re gonna be a very good girl for Daddy and Papa.”

William can’t hold back a soft grin at the way his boyfriend seems almost smitten with their baby already. Rick chuckles when she coos back at him, swearing that she smiled when she did it, making William roll his eyes and shake his head playfully. They then head off to the bowling alley, with William sitting in the back seat with their baby while Rick drives, now more careful than before.

[invinciblevariant]

Omg do you have an A03 account?

I'm so looking forward to that WillMark baby fic!!!

i do ! aww , im excited to write and post it so you can enjoy as well ! working on getting chapter 3 completed as we speak . <3

[invinciblevariant]

sorry if yall saw the fic and then it *poof* disappeared . lol i decided that i wanna get to ten answers on that poll in the previous post before i make a decision . ;; edit : ... okay , six is more than half , so it's convinced me , lol . i won't be posting it to ao3 just yet , tho , as i do wanna actually complete the bthb card before i post there .

[invinciblevariant]

js wanted to announce i have been writing a willrick feat. maskless mark fic called 'unmasked' ! it's a chapter fic where rick and william take care of a realistic baby doll for their child development class , and ... maskless mark kiiiiiiiiiiinda stalks william and "helps out" w the baby during the night (this will also feature flashbacks of willmark from maskless' dimension doing the same project) ! im super excited to post it , but the question is : should i post what i have so far now or wait until ive completed the badthingshappenbingo card ?

i have two chapters written , working on the third , but it's kinda slow as i also am writing an actual novel that i plan to have published later this year ! but this fic is currently so fun to write as i get to explore my personal take on both maskless mark and his relationship with his william as well as write about my favorite thing : the high school baby assignment that everyone loathed back then , lmao . also when i write , the babies are a lot more advanced technologically , sooooooo ... >:) *cue evil laughter*

[invinciblevariant]

hayloooo , everyone !! im super sorry i haven't been active lately , i js got back from a day-and-a-half trip ( as well as battling a stomach virus that's still kicking kinda but slowly getting better ), but im back home , i see your asks and i promise to get to them soon ( i esp see you , two nonnies who rq'd sinister and bald cap mark <3 ) . i am also in the ( admittedly long af bc writer's block ) process of writing the next badthingshappenbingo fic ( the markeve feat. powerplex one ;) ) .

[invinciblevariant]

Hefty do you still wanna write for invincible? You're like the only person I've seen write anything for bald cap, and the invincible variants we don't get to see talk....

helloooo !! ofc i do !! i js haven't been active bc im in the process of job hunting and writing a book rn . go ahead and request anything ! <3

[invinciblevariant]

letting you guys know right now because it’s becoming too common, if i find out any of you little shits run my fics or posts through AI or make AI bots of my stuff i will waterboard you and put you through the iron bull.