1 day after Mark gets his powers
You awoke the next morning to Nolan, fully dressed in his Omni-Man suit. "Rise and shine, y/n! You still want to watch Mark and I train, don't you?" You sat up without hesitation. "Of course I do." Your voice was still groggy, and overall the feeling of sleepiness gripped you as you got up from the couch, collecting your bag and heading over to the bathroom. After you got ready, you met up with Mr. Grayson outside, and soon after, Mark as well. Due to his cape, Nolan couldn't give you a piggyback ride, so he had to carry you bridal style.
"Welp, goodbye dignity. It's been good having you." Nolan rolled his eyes as he shifted his hold on you. "It's not that bad." You went limp in his arms. "No- it's horrible, Mr. Grayson! I have a reputation to uphold!" Holding a hand out above you like the dramatic character you are, acting out the death of your "dignity," you fake cried. Mark laughed, only for his father to smile and quirk a brow. "Well, when you're done "grieving," hold on tight." You sat up. "Why's that?" The question was answered for you as he shot up in the air, you letting out a yell as you gripped onto him. Once at a healthy roaming altitude, you caught your breath, trying to keep yourself from panicking. "Not. Cool." You practically growled as Omni-Man looked down to his son. "Come on, Mark! I have a spot picked out for us." Mark took a deep breath before jumping up from the ground, launching himself towards you and Nolan. The two of them then set off, your grasp unrelenting as you kept holding onto whatever you could.
Omni-Man got straight into the lesson, starting with the feeling of flying, since they were already in the air. He looked back to see Mark's sloppy flying. "It's kinda like how you walk, and you don't think about balancing anymore, but when you were a baby, you did. You're a baby flier right now. You have to focus on staying upright, focus on going the direction you want to go." He watched as Mark fumbled through flying, trying to keep himself steady. "Understand?" Mark wobbled for a moment, but was able to get himself comfortable and stable. "Yeah, I think I got it." Nolan, after watching Mark, replied, "It doesn't look like you do." He then turned, flying off in another direction, further into the rolling fields that he had chosen to train Mark in.
Mark had trouble keeping up, muttering a small, "No, no-" as he tried to follow. Omni-Man backed up, offering another piece of information. "You can wear yourself out flying. Moving fast is like tensing a muscle. You're much better off if you relax that muscle from time to time, and using the momentum you're building to carry you forward." Mark was now at his father's side, with his hands out in front of him, boosting himself further ahead. Omni-Man, frowning, flew forward to catch up. "Okay, you don't want to fall, so you're gonna have trouble relaxing. It's kind of like peeing your pants on purpose." You laughed, while on the other hand Mark looked at his dad as if he were crazy. "What?" The both of you had exclaimed, but in varying tones. "Peeing your pants on purpose." Nolan confirmed. "You know, you spend your whole life trying not to pee your pants, so letting go- peeing your pants on purpose- it's next to impossible." Mark held a bewildered look. "How do you know this? Who would try that?!" You thought about it for a moment, and unable to hold back your grin, you agreed. "I mean, it makes sense when you think about it." Mark gave you a mean look, while Nolan nodded approvingly. "See? Also, you are far better than you should be. Late night practice? Is that why you're so tired?" Mark's frown shifted onto his father. "Don't try to change the subject." His voice was a little shaky. Nolan, scanning the area below him, nodded to a spot in the field. "Land over there." He began to make his way down, careful to keep you steady as Mark tried to fly down behind him.
You saw as Mark flew down past you, flying much faster than his father. Nolan, sped up, trying to keep up to an extent. "Slow down." Mark's concern grew, and his speed only increased. Luckily for you, Omni-Man kept at the speed he was already going. "Land. I said land! Why aren't you slowing down?" Mark's concern turned into fear. "I can't!" You watched him fall in a dive, your panic for your friend catching up to you. "Mark?!" Nolan watched as his son continued to speed up. "Stop. Just stop!" You heard Mark yell, and for a moment you felt yourself ready to jump from Mr. Grayson's arms. He held you tight of course, raising a brow. "What are you doing?" You took a breath. "I'm concerned, okay?" Your head spun back towards the ground as you heard a thundering bang. Mark had collided with the grass and dirt, a small crater around him. "Holy shit!" Omni-Man made his way towards his son, reassuring you. "He's fine, y/n. What happened to him is similar to a baby falling over while trying to learn how to walk. It's natural." That definitely helped reassure you, but you still couldn't peel your eyes away from Mark's laying form. "Oh, well okay then. Whatever you say"
Nolan landed on the grass around the crater, setting you down. "Okay. I guess that still counts as landing. Get up." Mark groaned in response to his fathers words, getting up and climbing out of the crater. You laughed softly, not able to hide the concern that lace your tone. "You good?" He smiled slightly, giving you a thumbs up as he rubbed his back. You crouched down, grabbing his hand and helped pull him out from the crater. "Come on, we're gonna try something else." Nolan walked away from the crater, gesturing for the two of you to follow. Mark, wiping the dirt from his shoulders, spoke with uneasy confidence. "I'm actually getting used to this a little." Nolan, without missing a beat, replied, "That's not good.
"Try to hit me." Nolan said, giving Mark a small poke to the chest. Mark was obviously surprised by the statement. "Really?" He asked, making sure his father meant what he had said. You were a little bit surprised too, but didn't say anything. "Yeah." His father replied, tone unchanged. Mark then got into a video-game esk fighting stance, and tried to punch his father. Omni-Man dodged with ease, hovering again as Mark tried to throw another jab. Again, Nolan dodged. "Use your whole body." Mark tried twice more, only for his father to move out of the way and fly around to his back. "You can punch with your arm, but if you punch with your shoulder, your hips, and your legs as well, it'll be much more powerful." You perked up, since you were knowledgeable in the expertise of throwing punches. Finally, something I can help with. "Yeah, Mark-" He turned towards you as you approached him, Nolan watching you with slight irritation- irritation that you ignored. "When you punch, you have to put your whole body into it. Also, your stance is horrible." He stood, coming out of his pathetic fighting stance. "How would you do it then?" You smiled. "I'm glad you asked." You got into your own fighting stance, one that still felt natural to you, even with how long it had been since you had fought. "Copy me." Mark tried to copy you, so you walked over to him, helping in correcting his form. "Your stance is too wide. And your thumbs need to be on the outside of your fists, not the inside or the top- I feel like that should be common knowledge.
"You're not guarding yourself that well either, your arms need to be out but also down, but not too far out." After shifting his feet and angling his arms, you nodded. "See, that's better." You went to stand in front of him, holding out your hands to catch his punches. "Now, try to use your entire body to throw a punch." He seemed nervous to do so, swallowing a ball of saliva that had been stuck in his throat, but did end up punching. "That's good, but you need to use the turning force of your hips, and push off your legs too." He did what you said, and this time his punch actually hurt. You hissed, although smiling, shaking out your hand. "Much better. But obviously apply a lot more force when you're in a real fight." Mark nodded, smiling somewhat, but still held worry in his eyes. "Yeah, thanks- but is your hand okay? I didn't mean to-" You shook your head, waving your hands out in front of you. "No- no! Dude, it's fine. You did good! And my hand is completely fine, see?" You held up your hand for him to see, the palm a little red. "Just a little sore- it'll be fine in a few minutes."
"How did you know that?" You looked up to see it was Nolan who had asked you that, and now his expression was full of pleasant curiosity, rather than irritation or annoyance. "Oh, well I was in kick-boxing for a while, and I've taken a few self defense courses over the years." Mark tilted his head towards his dad. "Yeah, they used to talk about kick-boxing all the time, dad. Don't you remember?" Nolan stared for a moment before shaking his head. "Must have forgotten." You waved your hand. "That's fine- it has been a couple of years." He hummed in response, seeming to think about something before then immediately moving to change the topic back to him training Mark.
"Now, with us, we can freely move ourselves through physical space. That's how we fly. So we don't have to pivot on our feet and push off the ground. We can literally push off anything. We can create our own leverage." Your eyes narrowed as you frowned. How is that possible? 'Cause that doesn't sound like a biology thing, that sounds like bending the laws of physics or something. As much as you wanted to ask your questions, you decided against it, not wanting to interrupt their training anymore.
Mark pushed off from the ground, pivoting and using his body's leverage and momentum to help him try and take a few jabs at his father. Nolan, of course, was still dodging with ease. "Good... but try it a little more like this." Mark quirked a brow, smiling somewhat. "Like what?" Without warning, Omni-Man's expression hardened as he reeled back, and hit Mark square in the chest with a blow that would break all of your ribs if launched at you. All of the air was knocked from his lungs as you jumped, shouting for him as shock coursed through your veins. "MARK!" You ran towards him as he fell, laying on his side and clutching his stomach. "Dad... You... hurt me." He rasped out, still gasping for breath. "Deep breaths, man." You whispered to him, squeezing his shoulder as you turned towards Nolan. "What the hell?! Are you fucking kidding me- why would you do that!?" You yelled at the man, watching as his expression softened. "I know." He flew down, standing before the two of you with an apologetic expression. "Son, I didn't... I didn't mean to hit you so hard. I'm sorry." You could tell that the apology wouldn't make up for the amount of hurt Mark had been caused- physical or emotional. "Why did you do that?" He cried, voice still broken and rasped. "Mark... if you really wanna do what I do, you have to be prepared for anything.
"No one's gonna pull their punches."
_______________________________
You followed Mark through the door, stopping when he beelined up the stairs. Debbie, upon seeing her son's upset and conflicted expression, she was concerned- although it didn't show much in her expression. "So... how badly did that go?" Your eyes flickered between Nolan, Mark, and Debbie. In the end, you mouthed, 'I'll talk to you later' and then rushed upstairs after your friend. Nolan watched you for a moment as you left, before turning back to Debbie. "I pushed him pretty far. It's what he needs." Their voices faded as you entered Mark's room, the boy sitting at the edge of his bed with clasped hands and furrowed brows. "You good, man?" He sighed, remaining silent as you leaned against the doorway, the two of you still able to hear the faint voices of his parents.
"Did you maybe push too far?" Debbie asked.
"Are you questioning me?" Nolan's tone put fear in you.
"What the hell has gotten into you?" Thank goodness Debbie knew how to deal with her husband.
"I don't know. I... I'm sorry. Mark got his powers so late, I wasn't prepared for this. It changes things.
"I can't help but think, maybe our lives would be better if he hadn't gotten them at all."
You winced, frowning as you shut the door behind you. "That's enough eavesdropping, don't you think?" Mark's face only expressed more anger, but you could tell he was hurt, and more than likely a little scared. And you were too. "Hey..." You sat next to him, not able to find the words to comfort him. So instead you wrapped an arm around him, enveloping him in a gentle side-hug. Mark leaned into you, pain becoming more apparent as he hung his head. You took a deep breath. "I have no idea what you're going through, or what any of this is like in general- but I'll do my absolute best to try and understand. And if you need help, or to even simply talk about any of this stuff, I would be happy to listen." A moment of silence. "So, basically the same policy we've always had when weird shit happens." Mark said, bringing you to let out an airy laugh. "Yeah...
"But I mean it, seriously. I owe you after you've dealt with all of those years of me venting to you about my parents."
"Thanks, y/n."
You smiled. "Anytime, man.
"Anytime."