You’re a hero. So is Mark Grayson. You didn’t know that.

You and Mark Grayson had been inseparable since childhood—best friends in the truest sense of the word. You grew up side by side, sharing scraped knees, late-night confessions, and dreams that stretched far beyond your hometown. From twelve years old to now: same age, same college, same life trajectory. There was very little you didn’t tell each other.

Almost nothing.

Except the truth.

That you were both heroes.

At first, it didn’t seem like it mattered. Just another secret in a life already crowded with them. But that illusion shattered quickly. You hated Invincible. The arrogance, the cheap humor, the careless confidence—it grated on you in a way you couldn’t ignore. And the feeling was mutual. When masked and in costume, you and Invincible couldn’t stand each other. You talked past one another, clashed whenever forced into the same space, and more than once it nearly escalated into something physical.

Civilians saw heroes.

You saw a rival.

---

After the fight with the escaped criminals, Cecil assigned you and Invincible to assist with cleanup. The battlefield was still littered with shattered concrete and twisted steel—too much for the cleanup crews to manage alone.

You stepped toward a slab of debris half the size of a truck, bracing yourself to lift it and haul it away.

A blur of motion cut in front of you.

Invincible grabbed the debris first, hoisting it effortlessly onto his shoulder.

“What’s taking you so long?”

His voice was light. Casual.

You didn’t need to look at his face to know the expression he was wearing.

That shitty grin.

The one that always felt like a challenge.