I have had this weird idea in my head ever since I wrote the chapter in Not and Ordinary Family where Bruce and Darcy find Mark. And I finally wrote it! You don't exactly have to read Not an Ordinary Family, but it probably would help.
When he was little, everyone thought the Mark just had an imaginary friend. He first showed up when the boy was three. Almost right after he learned to walk. He still needed help getting around long distances, but he loved to move around, staying standing with his walking sticks.
The first time Mark saw his friend, was in the car with his parents. Mark would point to an empty street corner and, say 'look at that man daddy, he's dressed funny.' Bruce would look over at Darcy with a questioning look, but play along. Darcy thought it was good for Mark to have an imagination.
It was always the same man, Mark described him with black hair and dressed in green. When asked his name, Mark would tell whoever was asking that the man was called Trickster. Thor smiled and played along as everyone else did, but he was wary and did not understand was an imaginary friend was.
Trickster would be sitting there, in the living room, or next to Mark on the floor of his bedroom. He wouldn't say anything, he wouldn't play with the boy. He would just smile.
"Does he scare you?" Darcy asked her son one day. He was four and would point out when his friend was in the room. "Your friend, Trickster?"
"No." He replied simply, not even looking up from his toys. "It's not a scary smile, it's a nice one. Like he's happy to see me. Like when daddy comes home."
"Does he talk?"
"Not usually, but he has a funny way of talking, like Uncle Thor." Darcy nodded and thought nothing of it. He was little, little kids had imaginary friends all the time. Thor was an interesting character, why not base a play mate after him?
When the boy was six, Trickster showed up less and less. Bruce asked his son why. Not wanting him to grow up too fast, and for Bruce himself to get older.
"He said his fathers mad at him."
"Why is his father mad at him?" Bruce silently hoped it wasn't about him. Mark was old enough to know something about Bruce and the Other Guy, but he never fully understood and was never scared when he saw the Hulk on TV.
"For coming here to see me. Trickster said its not my fault though, he wasn't supposed to be coming here anyway. Tonight's the last night I get to see him. For a long time, he said."
Bruce nodded. "Well, tell Trickster that we'll miss hearing about him when he leaves."
When the morning after Mark's friend left came he seemed sullen. But he went right up to his Uncle Clint. "Trickster said that he is sorry." He told the older man like it was an everyday thing. He had the four year old Amelia on his lap while he laughed and played along.
"And why is he sorry?"
Mark just shrugged. "I didn't ask, he wanted me to tell you."
"I forgive him." Clint told the boy.
"Good. He was nervous that you wouldn't." He slowly made his way to the table and ate breakfast. Trickster didn't show up again for a long time.
Mark turned fifteen somewhere, his imaginary friend forgotten. He could walk almost anywhere, short distances without the canes, but a small limp plagued him if he chose not to use his walking sticks.
"Dude, we are going to be late. Can you hurry it up?" Mark heard one of his cousins, Phillip, who he grew to be close to over the years, shouting from outside the bathroom.
"Perfection doesn't happen overnight!" He yelled back and he slicked a hand through his messy hair from his place on a stool in front of the mirror. Anyone who saw either of Marks parents could instantly tell he was adopted. Both Bruce and Darcy had dark brown hair and eyes. While their son had pitch black hair and light blue eyes, which Amelia swears have a bit of a reddish tint to them.
"Ha!" Phillip sarcastically laughed. "Just get in the car before I make you walk to school."
"I could just get Pete to drive. You know." Mark explained as Phillip threw his backpack at him.
"Nerd's going to some lab today with the senior class." Phillip joked as they walked into the elevator and through Stark towers very own car garage. "Look at genetic mutation or something."
Mark nodded as they climbed into one of the cars. He glanced at the side view mirror and saw a flash of a figure leaning against the side if the vehicle. Mark quickly turned around in the seat to look, but no one was there.
"What?" Phillip asked nonchalantly as he backed out of the parking spot, noticing his cousin's behavior.
"Nothing, just, thought I saw someone."
"Ooh, was it Bloody Mary again?" The older boy teased, recalling a prank he pulled when they were younger.
"Shut up, that freaked me out."
"It was a little legend." Phillip laughed as he leaned across the steering wheel.
"You guys left me in the bathroom." Mark rolled his eyes accusingly. "I was seven, I couldn't run after you guys."
"Look, I apologize. It was Peter's idea anyway."
"Whatever." He slouched in his seat and they two turned into the high school.
"But don't worry, maybe you're just going crazy." Phillip yelled before they parted ways.
Mark walked into his family's floor in Stark tower to find it empty. "Jarvis, estimate a time?" He asked the AI, inferring Bruce and Darcy were working or something. The boy just wanted to know how much time he had before he actually had to work with his father in the lab. He walked over to the kitchen, fixing a sandwich.
"You care for them, even though you know that you are not truly theirs." A voice spoke up from behind him, making the teen jump and almost fall over from turning too quickly. Seeing a man in a rather fancy suit and scarf sitting on the couch in the living room.
"What the hell!" Mark exclaimed, leaning against the counter top. "Jarvis-"
"Please, there is no need for that." The dark haired man cut him off, now standing. "I have not come to harm you." He continued, seeing Mark's freaked out/confused expression. "I don't suppose you remember seeing me, from when you were younger."
"What? No. What-what are you doing here?"
"Are you aware that you are not related to your mother and father by blood." The man pushed on, ignoring Mark's question.
"What? Yes, I know that. Why are you in my house?"
"What if I told you something about one of your 'family' members, he had a brother, the brother was punished for a crime he committed. To give up his child, send him to Earth."
"Are you talking Thor's family or something?" Mark interrupted, but the man continued as if he heard nothing.
"The brother tried to hide his child away, but his father, the one chose the brothers punishment, found his grandchild. He cursed the infant with a disability and sent him away to Earth, supposedly to die. The child was found, though, by a man and woman, who ended giving the child a life he deserved." The man stopped of a moment, emotion in his eyes. "The brother was never allowed to be with his child. But he broke rules many times when his son was young, hidden from the people around him, passed off as an imaginary figure. It worked out well, until the brothers father found out. The brother was stripped of his ability. Until now, I'm breaking rules again Mark. I am the brother, Loki, and you are the child, Fenrir."
Mark looked at the man, Loki, not saying anything for a long time. It couldn't be true, could it? He has heard stories of his uncles brother, but knew he was supposed to banished for something he did a long time ago.
"OK, I'm about 60% sure you are insane. So you have like, ten seconds before I scream. And a shit ton of angry people are probably going to kick your ass."
Loki sighed sadly. He did not expect the teen to believe him, he just had to tell him the truth. "Very well."
He started to walk away, to where Mark didn't know, but he stopped and turned around. "You are probably much better off here, then you would have been back, where I come from."
"But just ask my brother if you truly wish to know whether I'm lying or not this time." He added over his shoulder before evaporating into thin air, leaving Mark alone again.
I actually did it! I actually wrote down an idea in my head! This is terrible but I had to do it, it was haunting me! I might (probably not) add another chapter to this where basically Mark asks Thor "WTF is up with my biological family" and, yeah.
Review with your thoughts, feelings, and/or criticism even!