Chapter Text
In the middle of a busy city, where superheroes struggle to maintain peace and villains run rampant, there is a small park nestled in between a handful of dilapidated apartment buildings. In this park, past the old playground, behind the benches, and near a water foundation, there is a glass greenhouse.
Inside this greenhouse, various types of greenery flourish. Potted herbs and wildflowers rest in near rows on shelves lining the glass walls. Large ferns and shrouds in ornate ceramic pots decorate the floor. Small fruit saplings sit silently around the greenhouse. Some remain in corners, others in the middle of the room, creating a divide in the space. Hidden amongst the leaves, vines creep along in the spaces left unclaimed. Lanterns hang overhead, casting a warm and inviting light over all they touch.
Not long ago, this place was in disrepair — abandoned until a superhero stumbled upon it one day. Since then, they’ve made regular visits to this greenhouse under the cover of darkness, gradually tending to it until it became a place worth re-visiting.
At the far end inside the greenhouse, opposite to the door, is said superhero — You.
You're sitting on a small stool, staring at a bonsai tree. With a pair of pruning shears in hand, you gingerly cut a branch from the ficus.
Snip.
It hasn’t been very long since you left Guardians of the Globe. After what happened between Cecil and Mark, it didn’t feel right to stick around.
As you continued pruning, you couldn’t help thinking of the day’s events.
Earlier that day, you and Rexsplode were meant to stop a robbery uptown. It was supposed to be simple, easy — even without the help of the GDA. But things went wrong. The bad guys got away, which meant you and Rex had to stay behind to clean up the mess left behind.
You bring your shears to another branch.
Snip!
It not unusual for heroes make mistakes, but with the limited time and energy your team has, every mistake is another instance where resources are wasted fixing something that should have never happened in the first place.
It’s frustrating to admit, but when you left the GDA, you left behind most of your resources as well.
You spot a dead branch and swiftly severed it.
SNIP!
You put your shears down and stand up as you let out an annoyed huff. You came here to relax, thinking about this stuff only made you stress. The only thing to do now is to figure out how to deal with the current situation.
It’s a good thing I already know a way to do that, you think to yourself.
You’ve been practicing your new skill for some days now. You’ve just about got it down.
A light knock at the door interrupts your thoughts. You jump slightly, your head swivels towards the sound. You weren’t expecting company, especially so late at night. You finger twitches, ready to defend yourself if you come face-to-face with an enemy.
Cautiously, you call out to the door. “Who’s there?
“Can I come in?” Mark’s voice was somewhat muffled, but you recognize it.
Your caution shifts to pleasant surprise before you reply, “Door’s open!”
From where you stand, you can see Mark peak his head in as he opens the door. His eyes scan the foliage, probably looking for you. He fully steps inside a moment later, closing the door behind him on the way in. You see he’s wearing a familiar dark green long sleeve shirt with khaki pants and white Jordans. In each of his hands in a milkshake from BurgerMart.
You remove your gardening gloves and apron, making a mental note to clean them later, then wipe down your hands on your jeans, more out of habit than anything else. From behind your fruit tree saplings, you step out to greet him.
When Mark’s eyes find yours, the corners of his mouth pull upward, his eyes brightening. A faint heat runs across your face and down your neck and shoulders.
Mark has been your best friend since forever. Your friendship found its start in elementary — when he caught you using your powers to grow wildflowers during recess. Thankfully, he swore he’d never tell anyone them. He bombarded you with questions about your powers for days after. The new interest in you was overwhelming at first, but eventually, you grew to enjoy it. Ever since then, you and Mark been attached to the hip, your bond only strengthening when he told you about his Viltrumite heritage in middle school.
But recently, things started to change between you two. Touches and glances lingering longer than usual, you seek each other out more often, and miss each other intensely when the other isn’t around. You’re not sure exactly when or how it started, but…
You feel a strange tingling feeling evade your palm.
You wipe a hand on your jeans again.
“Hey,” Mark smiles sheepishly, snapping you out of your thoughts. “I was hoping you’d be here.”
“I’m hardly ever anywhere else,” you say lightly, and return his smile with one of your own.
He vaguely gestures with his occupied hands.
“I brought milkshakes.”
“I can see that. You got my flavor?”
You already know the answer, but you ask it anyway as you make your way over to him, carefully stepping around the potted plants on the floor as you go.
“Of course, yeah. What kind of friend would I be if I didn’t?” He holds out one of the milkshakes to you.
You accept the sweet treat happily. Your finger swipes some whip cream from the top to bring to your mouth.
“Mm, what’s the occasion?”
“Nothing,” he says with an easy shrug, “It’s just we haven’t talked in a while. I wanted to see you.”
Another wave of heat passes over your neck.
“Oh, well, I’m was just finishing up, but we can hang out here for a while, if you want.”
“Cool,” Mark’s shoulders visibly relaxed as the word leaves his lips. You knew he liked coming to the greenhouse almost as much as you did. After all, it’s beautiful and quiet here, and aside from you and him, no else really knows about this place either.
The private nature of greenhouse reminds you of your new technique. Now would be a good time to show him.
“Oh, wait, before that,” you pause, considering your next words. “I’ve been working on something. You wanna see it?”
“Sure, but what is it?”
Your lips form a grin. “Have patience, Marky. You’ll see soon enough…”
Mark grimaces at the corny nickname, but follows behind you nonetheless. You lead him back behind the saplings and direct his attention to the bonsai you were trimming.
Mark looks between you and the plant, visibly confused.
You chuckle at his expression. “Hold on, I’ll show you.”
You put down your milkshake to take the bonsai into hands, positioning it so Mark has a good view. He eyes the bonsai before lowering himself to sit in the small stool you were sitting in earlier.
You step back, your lower back meeting the table.
“You know how powers are plant-based, right? I can control plants, grow them however and wherever I want? And how exposure to light and water strengthens my powers?”
Mark nods his head, sipping his milkshake.
“Well, I found out I can do something else, too.”
You remove one hand from the bonsai’s pot. You flex your fingers before gripping the base of the small tree with your full hand.
You take a deep breath, focusing your stare on your hand.
Slowly, a numbness flows down your arm, through your palm, and to your fingers.
The plant flinches.
A cracking sound rips from the bonsai, piercing through the calmness.
And then in an instant, the plant shrivels.
The leaves rapidly turns into muted green then a dull brown. The bark, originally an earthy light brown, mutates into a sickly, pale grey. The bark appears wrinkled, as if every drop of moisture was sucked out of it.
Spreading from your hand, the leaves, the branches and the bark gradually lose their shape, decaying into a fine black powder. The dust falls to the floor, unceremoniously, some of it scatters mid-air.
Your hand opens to let the rest of dust fall away.
A familiar tingling feeling enters your palm. The sensation nips at your nerves and spreads to your fingers, more intense than before.
You resist the urge to scratch at your hand.
In your peripheral, you see Mark has stop drinking his milkshake. He instead stares, his mouth partially open, at the empty pot.
Without saying a word, you produce a seed, another ficus, from your pocket and bury it in the soil. The soil feels dry and dead, like sand under your touch — so much so that you question if you can pull this off.
But you’ve done this before. And you’re determined to do it again.
Focus.
You dig your fingers around the seed, refocusing your energy and attention.
A pause.
Nothing happens.
But then —
Pin pricks of warmth blossoms in your hand.
The sensation quickly replaces the numbness in your fingers.
It gradually grows more and more intense until it feels like your hand is hovering above a hot stove.
When the warmth reaches your finger tips, the seed springs to life. It breaks through the soil, starting as a sapling before growing tall enough to brush the underside of your hand. Its stalk transforms into a sturdy trunk, growing thicker and stronger as your finger stay planted in the soil. From the trunk forms long and healthy branches, ending in small vibrant green leaves.
A huff of satisfaction leaves you when you reclaim your hand. Your eyes find their way to Mark.
“Whoa...” He gales at your hand in complete awe.
You try your best to fight back a grin.
“Pretty cool, right?”
“Uh, yeah that’s cool! How’d even find out you could do that?”
“Last week,” you rub your neck shyly. “It was actually an accident at first, it happened while me and Amanda were fighting Kursk — I threw a punch at his face and, uh, melted some of his skin off.”
You avert your eyes towards flowering shrubs some feet away as you say explain. You didn’t mean to hurt him so severely, and you still felt bad about it. You try to bury the lingering guilt and carry on.
“Anyway, I had no idea how or why I could do it at the time. But then, when I thought about what happened, I figured if I could control the growth of plants, then maybe I control their decay, too. And if I pulled that off, maybe I could remove and transfer that growth or decay from one plant to another.” You put the bonsai back down on the table as you finish your explanation.
You pick up your milkshake again and take a sip, your favorite flavor meets your tastebuds.
“Have you tested on other stuff? Like, on animals?”
“Oh, uh, no. It’s still a pretty new technique, and I don’t want to use it unless I absolutely have to. Especially not on sentient life.”
You pause.
“But that’s enough about me,” you swipe your tongue across your upper lips. “Anything new going on with you?”
“Nope.”
The response comes out so nonchalantly it catches you off guard.
“What, really?”
“Yeah, really. After Powerplex — ” he briefly pauses, wincing at the mention of the name. “… After what happened a few days ago, things have been really quiet for me. There’s still work to be done here and there, but it’s been surprisingly peaceful.”
Mark looks down at his milkshake in his hands.
Your eyebrows crease upwards at his shift in behavior. The words themselves sound like they should be good news to anyone, you knew better. You lean over from against the table to rest a reassuring hand on Mark’s shoulder. His conflicted eyes look back into yours.
“That’s good to hear, Mark. After everything you’ve been through, you deserve to finally have a break.”
Mark looks away without replying. But that’s okay. The best part of having a best friend who knows everything about you is that sometimes, things can be left unsaid.
You and Mark finish up your milkshakes and get up to leave the greenhouse, tossing them in a trash can by the door on your way out.
A cool breeze passes by as you and Mark stand in front of the greenhouse. A comfortable silence remains between you and him. You look up to see that the night sky is peppered with small stars. They look decorative against the vastness of outer space.
It’s pretty late. You don’t have a car and city buses have long stopped running by now.
Mark breaks the silence first.
“You want a lift home?”
You smirk, turning your head to look at him.
“Do you really need to ask?”
******
Mark hovers in front of your bedroom window, his arm securely wrapped around your waist. With his free hand, he opens the window for you.
You climb inside noiselessly, careful not to disturb your parents who are likely sleeping already. You turn back towards the window to look at Mark. A indescribable feeling suddenly arises up in your chest. You know he has to go, but you don’t want him to.
For reasons unknown to you, your arms shoot out and pull Mark into a deep hug. You feel him stiffen, seemingly caught off guard at first, but he quickly relaxes enough to return your embrace. His strong arms envelop you in warmth as he fully melts into you. A hand comes up to caress your upper back, and he fully rests his chin on your shoulder as he lets out a soft breath. You squeeze him tighter.
“I missed hanging out with you,” you say quietly against his ear.
“I did, too,” his voice is just above a whisper.
Slowly, you separate from Mark enough to peer up at him, your hands rest on his biceps. His body is outlined by the moon.
Mark brows furrow minutely. “What’s wrong?”
“I don’t want to say goodnight, yet,” you say quietly, voice is mournful. “I want to spend more time with you.”
I wish we could just spend all day together…
Mark’s grip on you tightens. He returns your gaze with softness in his eyes.
“I can find time the day after tomorrow. We can hang out again then.”
“What do you want to do?”
“I don’t know yet, but I’ll text you as soon as I do.”
He flashes you a smile.
You absentmindedly wipe a hand down the side of your clothes at the sight of it. It’s embarrassing to admit how comforted his words make you feel.
“Then, I guess I’ll see you then.”
Reluctantly, you pull away from Mark again until your only hand remains tucked into his. He gives your hand one fleeting squeeze. And then he pulls away too.
He backs up slowly, his eyes still on you, getting ready to leave. You’re about to close your window before you pause.
“Goodnight, Invincible,” you say, emphasizing his superhero name.
Mark looks at you with surprise and then he chuckles — it’s a warm and genuine sound. And something you rarely hear anymore.
“Goodnight, Juniper,” He echoes back.
You watch as he turns and flies away into the night. When he becomes a speck in the distance, you slide the window close.
******
The next hour flies by as you do your nightly routine, quietly, so you don’t wake up your parents sleeping down the hall from your bedroom.
A new message from Mark’s number catches your attention when you’re about to go to sleep:
MARK: “U still awake?”
You click on the notification to reply:
YOU: “Yeah why whats up?”
MARK: “Seance Dog pop up shop happening downtown. U in??”
You read over the message again, causing you to laugh mutely. You were a causal fan of Seance Dog, but it gave you and Mark something to bond over. It’s been forever since either of have had a chance to actually read a comic book, though.
You type out a reply to his message:
YOU: “Hell yeah. W/ milkshakes too?”
MARK: “Obviously we’ll get some on the way!!”
YOU: “Cool 8) meet up at your place noon?”
MARK: “Yess see u then”
You read his last message and turn your phone off, rolling over to sleep as you smile to yourself. Life has been rough recently, and you’re not sure how long this lull in chaos will last, but you hope it’s for a while longer.