Invincible X William Novels & Stories

Honestly, I'm always a bit skeptical when I see new pairings for Mark, especially ones that aren't canon at all. But I stumbled across one that had Mark and William trying to navigate college after everything that happened in the show, and it wasn't about romance initially. It was about the sheer awkwardness. William knows Mark's secret now, right? So a lot of these stories dig into that weird power imbalance and the lingering fear.

William is just a normal guy suddenly best friends with the most powerful being on the planet, who also happens to have a family history of... well, planetary conquest. The fics that work for me are the ones where William's humor becomes a defense mechanism, and Mark's guilt over dragging him into danger makes him overprotective in a way that strains their friendship. It explores if a bond forged in trauma can actually survive normal life.

Some writers use it to give William more agency, having him get involved with tech or using his brains to help, which I find more interesting than just making him a damsel. The relationship, whether written as platonic or romantic, ends up being a mirror for Mark's humanity—his need for a connection that isn't about being a hero or a Viltrumite.

Alright, look, the 'Invincible' fandom is still pretty fresh, so the central pairing between Mark and William isn't overflowing with content like some older ships. That said, you can definitely find it if you know where to dig.

Archive of Our Own is your absolute best starting point. Use the relationship tag 'Mark Grayson Invincible/William Clockwell'. Filter by kudos or comments to find the popular ones. I've noticed most of the stories there tend to explore the 'what-if' scenarios post-season one, playing with the tension of William knowing Mark's secret but Mark not knowing William's... situation. The dynamic shifts from classic best-friends-to-lovers into something more fraught and interesting.

You can also check Fanfiction.net, but the tagging system is a nightmare. You'll have to wade through a lot of gen fics or other pairings. Search for 'Invincible' and then manually scan summaries for William's name. It's more of a treasure hunt there, but I did find a cute coffee shop AU that completely ignored the superhero stuff, which was a fun change of pace.

Tumblr and Twitter are good for finding fanart and shorter snippets that might lead you to longer works. Sometimes writers will post previews or links there. Honestly, half the fun right now is watching the tag slowly grow as more people finish the show and get inspired.

So the thing about exclusive content for that pairing is it's a bit tricky. I've seen a lot of 'Invincible' fandom stuff, especially around Mark and William, concentrated on Archive of Our Own (AO3). It's not exclusive in the sense that it's the only place, but the tagging and collection system there means you can filter with incredible precision. I've found works there that I haven't stumbled across anywhere else, simply because the authors prefer the control AO3 gives them over their work.

Sometimes writers will post a story to both FanFiction.net and AO3, but occasionally you'll find an author who's had a bad experience with one platform's moderation and decides to post solely on the other. I remember this one really nuanced slow-burn fic that explored William's perspective after learning Mark's secret; the author said they kept it on AO3 only because they felt the comment culture was more conducive to the kind of discussion they wanted. It's less about a platform hosting 'exclusive' content officially and more about creator choice funneling certain stories to specific corners of the web.

If you're really hunting, I'd also lurk on Tumblr. Some writers use it as a microblogging platform and will post shorter pieces or 'drabble threads' exclusively there, tagging them carefully. You won't find a centralized library, but it's a different ecosystem of content that feels more immediate and conversational.