Marvel: Starting From The Bottom

[Year 1941]

"Ah, what a beautiful sunrise." Standing on the balcony and admiring the morning sun, the perfect way to start the morning. 

I am glad that my father left us this house.

"You look happy today." Mother wakes up early so her coming to the balcony in the morning was not unusual.

"Well yeah, I do have a surprise planned today." This raised an eyebrow at my grinning face. 

"You better not be planning something stupid, young man!" She said in a serious tone.

"Huh? Where did that come from?" That's weird. Did I upset her somehow?

"*Sigh* Why did you skip university, Marcel? I am not mad because you skipped it, but you could have informed me." Oops!

"Ah, well the reason I skipped classes is related to the surprise."

"*Sigh* Marcel, baby. You know I trust you, but please do not do something that might harm you. You are the only one I have left in this world." Her sad look pained my heart but I was not backing down now. What I am going to do from now on, will be extremely important if I want to see her happy.

"I will never let you down, mom." I gave her a quick peck on the cheek. "In three hours, you will be proud of me. I promise." 

She smiled. 

*Growl!* 

Both of us looked towards each other before my mother burst out laughing and I rubbed the back of my head.

"Looks like I am hungry."

She laughed. "I will prepare something for you, young man. Go and freshen up." 

…

…

"Joel are they here yet?" I called my trusted friend who laughed in return.

"They are on their way, they will be at your house in a couple of minutes or an hour at max." 

"Thanks, I will catch up to you later, buddy." 

"Yeah, man. See ya around." His voice came in before the phone clicked shut.

"An hour huh? I can meditate till then." 

Meditating helps me to control my powers well and it also provides many other physical and psychological benefits to a person.

Sitting down with my legs crossed, I started calming my senses. I felt fresh air entering my body and calming it entirely. 

Slowly activating my ability I try creating a sensory field around myself. 

I felt the voices of my neighbors ringing in my head but unlike a year ago. My current self can control and decide whose thoughts I want to hear. 

Doing that for mostly all my neighbors, I slowly turn it off again. While in a meditative state, the exhaustion from the mind-reading doesn't affect me. So whenever I try reading someone's mind, I always keep myself calm. The moment I panic, I feel the exhaustion kicking in. 

"That should be enough for today… For now, I should take a shower. Mother should be done preparing breakfast by now." And I was right, as I heard my mother's voice from the other room.

"Marcel, breakfast is ready. Go and freshen up."

"Alright."

…

…

I quickly dry my hair with a towel before putting on a white shirt and dark blue jeans. 

I wore glasses previously but once my powers activated, I didn't have to. When my mother found out about my improving eyesight, she was ecstatic. I remember her jumping in joy when I told her about it.

Walking towards the dining room, I see my mother putting on the plates.

"Want my help?"

"No, I am almost done. So sit down and enjoy your food." She said, giving me a soft poke on my forehead.

Looking at the food, I felt my mouth watering. We might not be rich, but we are no niggard when it comes to food.

…

**Ding**

*Sigh* It took them more than an hour but it looks like they are finally here. 

"I will go and take a look." Mother said and I didn't stop her. 

She went towards the door and slowly opened it.

"Is this Mr. Hanley's house?" A tall dark-skinned man asked. 

"Yes. May I know who you are?" She asked curiously and… with a bit of suspicion.

The man showed a sincere smile. "Ah, you must be his mother." She nodded. "You must be proud to have such a talented son." He kept the smile on his face.

"That I am… But may I know why you are asking for my son." That's my cue.

"Who is it, mom?" I walked towards them.

"Mr. Hanley! It is me, Jacob." He said, giving me a slight bow. 

"Mr. Austin, I was expecting you." I went towards him and extended my hand.

"Thank you, for agreeing to the meeting." He said shaking my hand.

One thing that I noticed in this world is that no matter what goes on... War, Pandemic, Poverty. Most of the things still go on, like school and a few other jobs... Which I find weird.

By the way, the first thing to keep in mind, while doing business. 

Never reveal your true feelings. Whether you are excited, nervous, or angry, never let those emotions show on your face.

"I am confused. What's going on here?" Mother said with a raised eyebrow.

Jacob looked towards me with a puzzled look. "You didn't tell her?"

Shaking my head, I replied. "I wanted to keep it a secret." 

"Ah." He smiled. "That was not a bad idea. If you don't mind, I can explain it to her."

I nodded which made him look towards my mother. "Mrs. Hanley, I am happy to announce that your son, Mr. Marcellus Hanley has accepted to publish his books at our company." 

My mother looked rightfully confused. "Book?" She looked at me. "What is this about, Marcel?"

I in turn smiled at her. "You know that I like writing, right?" She nodded. "Well… I sent one of my novels for a competition and it surprisingly won. Later, I was contacted by Mr. Austin-" I point towards Jacob. "That he would like to publish my book in their company."

My mother had her mouth agape at the revelation. "And you didn't bother telling me about this before?" Now she looked angry.

"*Sigh* It happened within the span of a week, that's the reason I didn't go to my university. And honestly, I wanted to surprise you with this." 

"And that's why I came here to discuss the contract." Added Jacob.

She was left speechless by the revelation. But after what felt like an eternity, she gave me a massive hug. 

"You make me so proud." She burst into tears which kind of made my heart ache. Jacob had a clam smile on his face while the men behind him gave me a nod.

After a little while, she dried her tears. "I am sorry, you came here to discuss important stuff and I started crying."

Jacob shook his head. "For any son, a mother's happiness comes above everything else, just like for a mother... her son comes above everyone else." He chuckled a bit. "And for Mr. Hanley, you are his top priority… at least that's what I can tell from his books."

Mother gripped my arm. "Thank you, Marcel."

"*Sigh* Why are you thanking me? If anything, I should be the one to thank you. If not for you, I don't know what would have happened to me after father's death."

She flinched at the mention of my father.

"We should talk about that later. Now you two should discuss your contract." She nodded.

"Mr. Austin." I looked towards my publisher who nodded in return.

…

…

"T-This- This, is this a printing error?" Mother was shaking when she saw the contract. "I think there are a few extra zeroes."

Jacob and I looked towards each other before both of us burst out laughing. 

"No, Mrs. Hanley. I ȧssure you, there is absolutely no error and this is the exact amount your son will be receiving."

She looked towards both of us to see if we were lying. "But i-isn't this a bit much?" 

I shook my head. "No, it is not. It is true that most authors bȧrėly get any money but if their novel is popular, they receive a higher royalty. And for some time I have been writing as an anonymous author and recently gave away my name. Thus when I submitted one of my novels for the competition, Mr. Austin recognized my name. So, since my novels were already popular among the masses, I got the contract with very little difficulty."

I already have quite a bit of money since McDonald's is starting to become popular… while the other two projects are still in development. 

Well, I am in no rush for now. Because I know, they will soon be successful. 

'This is perfect. Nothing can go wrong, now.'

[A/N: I made a discord Server: discord.gg/GwFen4t]