'The fact that I am now Mark Grayson is something else…'
Mark stood in front of the high school, having just arrived. He was having trouble believing any of this was real. The impossible, the fictional, it had all become his reality.
He headed inside, confused. He'd never been American, and he didn't know which class he was in. But thank God for smartphones, he found his classroom easily enough.
When he got there, he looked around. A student in the same class raised his hand and called out his name.
"Mark, over here."
Mark looked at the guy and approached him.
'He must be his best friend.'
Jokingly, Mark asked in a knightly tone, "What's your name again, sir?"
The guy smiled and replied in a knightly voice, "I'm William Francis Clockwell."
"Cockwell, sir?" Mark said, wanting to see how far the "best friend" status went. He decided that since he was going to live as Mark, he needed to figure out what kind of best friend William was.
"Dude, are you gay? What made you think of 'cock' right now?" William shot back.
Mark heard his retort and smiled. So that's how their friendship worked.
"Ah, shut up," Mark replied as he sat next to William.
"Are you free today? A few of us are gonna hang out," William asked.
"Let me see." Mark checked his phone chats, then said, "I can't. I have a shift today."
"Too bad. Our schedules are never synced," William said, as if this happened often, one of them free, the other busy.
"True," Mark agreed.
. . . .
When school ended, Mark headed straight to the burger chainrestaurant where he supposed to work. As he arrived, he was reminded of a joke from his past life.
'Put the fries in the bag, bro.'
He chuckled. The slander on Izuku was strong.
'I would've become Deku if I'd argued with that guy. Thank God I argued for Mark. I would've been cooked.'
Then one of the employees called out to him.
"Mark, thank God you're here. I can finally leave. Good luck, dude, the manager's on her period."
Mark was confused by that warning. But when he entered, changed into his uniform, and started his shift, he finally understood.
The manager was handling the cashier job since they were short-handed. And when she saw him, she said, "Take care of this, Mark."
Mark nodded and took over the cashier work. He didn't struggle much, he'd done this kind of job before, even if the system was a little different.
He got through his shift until it finally ended. Then he changed back into his clothes and walked home.
"I wonder when I'll get my powers," Mark muttered. He didn't feel anything changing in his body.
He started thinking about what he should do to attain them. It was better to prepare for the worst.
'I guess I should join an MMA gym to prepare myself for future fights.'
With that, he searched for the closest place that offered both MMA and a regular gym, and found one that did both. The price was a bit steep, but he'd have to manage.
When he tried to check his bank account, he forgot that he didn't know the username or password.
"I need to go to the bank tomorrow," he said, since it was already late and most banks would be closed.
After a few minutes of walking back home, he got bored and started kicking small pebbles. By accident, he kicked one too hard and broke it apart into smaller pieces, but he didn't notice at all.
When he arrived home, he knocked on the door and said, "I'm back, Mom."
"Wait."
The door opened. Deborah Grayson, Debbie, his new mother, let him in.
"Welcome back." She greeted him with a smile, looking at her son returning home from his part-time job.
As he entered, she asked, "How was your day?"
"Normal," Mark said.
"Go take a shower. Let's eat dinner together." Debbie walked back to the kitchen to put the food on the dining table.
"Alright," Mark replied.
He headed up to his room and cleaned himself up. When he came back down, his mother was already seated at the dining table. He sat next to her and asked, "What do we got here?"
"Rotisserie chicken, bread, and steamed vegetables."
"Smells pretty good."
"Is there something you want, Mark?" Debbie looked at him with a smirk.
"What do you mean?" Mark was genuinely confused. He was just trying to be a good son.
"You sat next to me and started complimenting my food. You usually don't do that without a reason."
"Do you need a reason to show love to your own mother?"
Debbie didn't trust his words. She said with a smile, "Go eat."
Mark just smiled and began eating. She did the same.
WOOSH!
A muscular middle-aged man with short hair, white streaks on the sides, and a mustache arrived at the dining table. Nolan Grayson, Debbie's husband and Mark's father.
"Sorry I'm late. There was an enchanted flood in Egypt. I had to deal with it on the way here."
Mark was so surprised by Nolan appearing out of nowhere that he coughed while drinking water.
"You okay, son?" Nolan asked, worried.
"I'm fine." Mark hit his own chest. The words that appeared in his mind as he looked at Nolan's face were: 'Omni-Man.'
"Next time, please give me a warning," Mark said, acting normally.
"Alright," Nolan said with a smile.
"How was school, Mark?" Nolan asked, wanting to know about Mark's day.
"Pretty boring," Mark said. He had to go to school again.
"So, do you have a girlfriend yet?" Nolan wondered about his son's personal relationships.
"No, I'm pretty unpopular at my school. They're not my type," Mark said. At the back of his mind: 'They're too young.'
"What's your type?" Nolan asked.
"Milf," Mark said with a straight face.
"Ahem." Debbie warned them not to talk about that at the dining table.
Mark and Nolan saw her expression and stopped talking. They continued eating like a normal family.
But sadly, this family was not normal at all. If people didn't know what was going on, they'd say they were a happy family. All of that could change if Mark said the magic word.