Chapter Text
1
“My sister’s coming to stay with us for a few weeks.”
Johnny blinked a few times, his toast in mid-air, fixing Reed, who was placidly drinking his coffee and reading the newspaper like he hadn’t just dropped a bomb upon his family.
“Which one of your half-sisters?” He asked, sneakering, trying to pull himself together, trying to mask his uneasiness, because yes, Reed had three half sisters (plus a half-brother, all from different women), but only one had always had the distinct capacity of making Johnny Storm uneasy: Megan.
Megan- Meg– at twenty-four, was the youngest of the Richards siblings; when her mother had died, it had been Reed to take her in and help pay for her studies, their father busy being an adventurer and escaping responsibilities who knew where, and maybe that was the reason she and Reed were so similar.
Johnny… Johnny had always treated her the same way he treated Ben, only, he had always been a little more hurtful with her, because Meg was a nerd, and so shy that, with her plain brownish hair, she had always looked more like a mouse than an actual woman.
And that was how he had always called her, with two sole exceptions: Reed and Sue’s wedding. He still remembered when he had asked Reed, right before the ceremony, where his little sister was, just to have Reed look at him quizzically while indicating a cute girl in the bridal party. That time, Johnny had remained speechless, because dressed up, with some make-up and her hair down, Meg had been cute.
No, he told himself: Megan had been stunning, and for the first time ever since they were teenagers, Johnny had actually acknowledged that Megan Richards was, indeed, a woman, and even a sexy one on top of that, if she wanted to. He had been tempted to make a move on her, despite the supermodel he had been with, but then Johnny had looked at his sister, and he had remembered that now Meg was family, and he just couldn’t play with her the same way he did with all his other conquests.
And then, there was that other time.
"Meg," Sue replied, keeping it short and giving her brother a dirty look. She knew that, as a kid, Johnny had been particularly cruel to Meg, almost bordering on bullying, and she didn't want that to happen again now that they were both adults. “Her place is under renovation and besides, she has a couple of job interviews in the city.”
“Cute,” He answered, faking boredom, trying his hardest to forget the last time he had seen her, one Christmas, when they had both been barely twenty years old and he had done something that was very, very stupid, hiding behind the excuse of old traditions and a joke.
She had slapped him in the face, that time- and had actually cried, making him feel like a jerk. Sue had seen the red imprint, had asked him who it had been, bit Johnny had kept it silent, and since neither Reed nor Ben- who cared about the scientist like she was his own little sister- had actually tried to kill him, he guessed that Meg hadn’t said anything to a living soul either.
After that time, she had avoided him like the plague, and now they were going to live in the same building.
Well, at least the Baxter Building is so huge that we may very well never cross paths, the young man hoped.
And yet… yet Johnny felt something in his guts, it was like he could smell danger- a kind of danger that he, the Human Torch from the Fantastic 4, wasn’t truly interested in, for once.
He didn’t know why, but he had the distinct impression that Meg Richards would have been trouble.
Megan sighed, looking at her brother and his wife, Sue, having breakfast like any other normal family, lightly reprimanding their two children, Franklin and Valeria. For maybe the first time in her life, she was actually envious of someone- or rather, of something.
She envied them- not their uncanny abilities, the adventures they were always on, the access to astonishing technology she could barely dream of, but, rather, the relationship they had built, the family they were creating together, all of their accomplishments…
And it wasn’t just Reed. Ben- Reed’s best friend since they were little kids, who loved Meg as she was his own blood- was finally getting married to the love of his life as well, the talented and beautiful Alicia, and suddenly Megan had found herself the last child-less, unmarried woman standing.
And… she didn’t want any of that for herself. She wanted to have what Sue and Reed had, what she had lacked growing up and always wished for.
At first, she had been reluctant to admit it out loud, but the cross of her existence was her biological clock. She and Trevor, an old childhood friend, had been dating for a few months now, and Meg thought he was just perfect- perfect husband material, perfect father material- and was sure it was time to put a ring on it if she wanted for things to go as planned… the marriage, a baby after one year together, and after four years the next one, preferably a boy and a girl, and she had already chosen the names and the schools, too.
Only, Trevor seemed to be only interested in being the eternal boyfriend. Being with her, he said, made it so that he knew he would never have to fall into temptation because, in his words, he had "a safe harbor to return to."
A port, that's what she was to him, a damn port.
She wondered if acting like Sue, and taking matters into her own hands, would be an appropriate solution to her issues. Only, Sue had seduced Reed with both her mind and her body, and Meg, despite having been blessed by nature and genetic with Reed’s same intelligence, was rather plain and just didn’t know how to be feminine, having been raised by a single man, no one there to teach her how to dress, walk in heels, put on make-up… or conquer a man’s heart.
And yet, now she knew- she felt in her heart- that she had to somehow make it right and become someone Trevor would be attracted to.
Only, she didn't know how, until one day, the week before, she had gotten a glimpse of a gossip magazine while she was having breakfast at the Cat’s Eye, a cute cafè run by a Japanese couple near her current job.
On the cover, literally flying in his car, there had been Reed’s brother-in-law, and Sue’s kid brother, Jonathan “Johnny” Storm, in the company of some arm-candy, a wannabe starlet of some kind.
She shouldn’t have been surprised; despite their innate differences and their tumultuous relationship, even she had to admit that Johnny was rather handsome and had a way with women. Any woman: Johnny always got the girl, it didn’t matter who got his attention, every week he was dating this or that model, actress or whatever, leaving behind a trail of broken hearts.
It was looking at that image that Meg had had the worst best idea of her life… who better to advise her on how to lead a man into temptation and make him capitulate than a hardened playboy like Johnny? For years he had made a show of remembering Meg's existence for the sole purpose of teasing her, and even at Reed's wedding he had made jokes about her looking like a log dressed as a girl, but there had been a moment, that Christmas a few years earlier, that had given her hope--and if for a split second she had appeared as a woman in Johnny Storm's eyes, perhaps she might have appeared that way in Trevor's as well. Only, forever.
After all, he knew women- and he knew what women needed to win over a man’s heart.
Come on, Meg, don't be a coward, go to him and ask him to help you, she told herself, attempting the same speech for the umpteenth time. All it would take her were two steps- the distance separating them in Sue and Reed’s kitchen- and then she would be next to him, ready to ask for help.
Only, she feared Johnny would mock her for her total inability to conquer men, and her lack of certain assets.
She sighed again. She’d be back home in a couple of weeks, and she and Trevor already had a dinner date scheduled up, barring some work emergency and Meg wanted to make it clear she was ready to move things along and build what her brother was sharing with Sue.
And if words would fail her…there was always seduction, even if she had no idea how to do it.
And she doubted she’d get the strength to actually ask for help. Especially to Johnny.
She needed to find a way, and do it on her own.
After all, wasn't that what she had been doing all her life?
Apparently, Johnny Storm had everything in life-money, fame, super-powers, a Manhattan flat, and a different woman on his arm every time he went out-but after his latest break-up with Skye, he felt something had changed.
He felt empty, as if the ground was suddenly missing from under his feet, and he had suddenly understood that, even in a crowd, he was always alone.
People wanted The Torch: nobody but his family truly cared about Johnny at all.
Johnny sighed, letting his feet sink into the soft carpet, losing himself in the wonderful sight that was the sunset over the skyline of the city, and he lazily threw behind him the magazine he had been attempting to read.
He sighed, moping.
He was starting to envy Reed and Sue - and Ben and Alicia too - and it wasn’t good.
Also, he had hoped to avoid Meg, and instead, she seemed to always be around, and… he had noticed her looking at him, from the corner of her eyes, and it wasn’t good.
He didn’t want her to remember Christmas, or that moment at Reed and Sue’s wedding.
"Be careful where you throw things, moron!" He heard a growl from a very unfeminine voice behind him. She threw the magazine back in his direction, scolding him, with ehr stern gaze. Meg seemed furious, her hands on her hips, her body swaddled in her typical jeans and oversized sweaters.
He thought about ignoring her, but she looked at him silently, with a raised eyebrow, as if she wanted to challenge him in some way-as if she wanted to see if he would give in first. Well, he certainly wasn't going to, although teasing her was fun and was one of the few things that made him feel alive and that, for a moment, allowed him to focus only on the present and not on everything else that was going on in his life.
"Want to watch the sunset with me?” He taunted her, hands crossed behind his head as he didn’t move an inch from the couch.
He swallowed, hard, realizing he had talked first, succumbing to curiosity, giving her his attention, even though he had promised himself that he would make her give in first. Only, he had been utterly unable to resist the temptation to find out what she wanted.
She did not respond, and he looked away, blushing from head to toe.
Victory, Johnny thought, smiling satisfied, aware of the effect he still seemed to have on her. Meg, however, braced herself and looked him straight in the face, slightly hesitant and still with a slight blush on her cheeks. Her soft expression was having a strange effect on Johnny, making him have strange... thoughts, thoughts that he shouldn’t have had for a member of his family.
"I’m pretty sure Reed told you I’ll be living here for a while," She pouted.
"I have better things to pay attention to than Reed’s announcements," he snickered malevolently, before complaining that he had received a blow to the head.
"Let me guess, things with long legs and huge plastic breasts?” She growled at him, clenching her fists at the sides of her body. And what a body it was, despite what he had often told her (and what she seemed to believe): yes, she didn’t have a feminine bone in her whole body, but her belly was flat, her legs long, and her breasts didn’t have anything to envy to the bimbos he so liked to date - and he was pretty sure they were natural.
Johnny swallowed hard, almost in tralice. There he was again having those thoughts about Meg, his brother-in-law's sister!
"No date tonight?" She asked him, coldly, trying to appear disinterested. Not that it worked with him-despite everything, he knew women, even the bookish, librarian-like nerd like Meg.
"Do you wish to be the lucky one, Megan?” He asked her. “Or maybe you want your turn at trying out the… merchandise?" Johnny couldn't resist teasing her, knowing full well how she would have reacted.
Yes, she was a tomboy, bookish and a nerd, but Meg was also a tender innocent.
And Johnny was starting to wonder if she wasn’t completely innocent and pure.
Meg did not answer him, and Johnny stared at her, surprised by her lack of response.
“Something wrong?” He asked her, a little annoyed, to mask something burning in his chest. Concern, perhaps?
"I may need your help." She said in one breath, after the longest time.
"My help?" Johnny reduced his eyes to two slits, not understanding what Meg was trying to tell him. "Sorry, sweetheart, but I don’t think I could help you with anything. Besides, let’s be honest- we can’t stand each other."
Meg stiffened, eager to strike him again like a novel goddess of vengeance. "You don't even know what I want to ask you."
"Whatever it is, I’m sure it’s something I can’t do so..hasta la vista!"
She sighed, shaking her head slightly, and a sweet and delicate scent of vanilla hit Johnny’s nostrils. He felt a stirring in his nether regions, and he swallowed hard again, gritting his teeth to get those damn ideas out of his head.
No, no, and then no! Not Megan! Not his brother-in-law’s sister! He mentally repeated to himself. She had a nice body, but she wasn’t feminine and didn't know how real women behaved- and he had always gone after real women!
"I want you to teach me how to seduce a man." She whispered, biting her lip and looking down at her feet, clad in modest sneakers..
He stared at her open-mouthed, his eyes bulging out of their sockets. "You... you want me to..."
He couldn't even finish the sentence: had that really just happened? Did she really want that -- and then, what exactly did she mean with-- what had she just asked him to --and why him of all the people in all of the universes…
Suddenly, his mind was flooded with very explicit XXX-rated images of him and Reed’s kid sister, the kind of thoughts Reed and Ben would kill him for. He cleared his throat, rearranging himself to make the bulge at the crotch of his jeans less noticeable.
"Yes," she replied, dropping to his side on the couch and straightening her shoulders, looking straight ahead and refusing to meet his gaze. She huffed, annoyed, although her cheeks were still slightly flushed. "Look, Johnny, I'm twenty-four years old. Almost all of my former high school classmates are in relationships, my siblings are almost all married, and I want to be, too."
"You do want to get married." The word came out of his mouth almost as if it had been a crime: what was so great about marriage, about binding oneself forever to a person without having the certainty that it would last? Maybe it worked for someone, like Reed and Ben, but it had never worked for him. "What's wrong with being single?"
"Well, excuse me so much if I am not like you and I want more than just one-night stands! I want to get married and have a family!"
Johnny kept looking at her with his eyes out of his head, massaging his neck. Exactly what did she want from him? He and marriage were polar opposites!
"So ... what do you want? For me to teach you how to catch some unsuspecting random guy?" he asked her, mischievously, about to burst out laughing.
"No!" she blushed. "No, I-I already have someone."
Johnny's eyes became two slits again as he delved into the depths of his mind to see if he might have heard of Meg’s potential husband, but no one came to mind. "Does Reed know him?"
"Um...maybe, I'm not sure." Meg put her finger under her chin and thought, concentrating. "Trevor Wisdom? He works for the same company as me, so they could have crossed paths, but I don’t think so.”
The name didn’t tell him anything at all.
"Well, the thing is, Trevor and I have been dating for a while now," she said coyly. He wondered if Trevor actually knew he was dating Meg, who, yes, had an enviable physique, but didn't know how to exploit it and had the same sex appeal as a sack of old potatoes. "And I think it’s time we talk about taking the next step.”
"By seducing him." Johnny punctuated the words, as if he were talking to a child. "You want to convince him to marry you by seducing him."
"I may not be a bombshell, but I know that relationships are supposed to be passionate, and Trevor treats me like I'm a porcelain doll, and I'm sick and tired of this! That idiot needs to get it through his thick skull once and for all that I am a woman made of flesh and blood with needs, and not something frail to protect at all costs!" She told him, gritting her teeth, resolute and slightly angry.
Just slightly.
Or maybe a lot.
Johnny sighed. If she thought she could seduce Trevor with that attitude, she was off to a bad start. It was certainly not by addressing him like that that she would win him over!
"And you..." punctuated Meg, snickering malevolently. "As much as it pains me to admit it, you know how to win someone over. Everyone knows that you take a different girl home every night! So, I want you to teach me what to do to get the boy and keep him!"
Johnny sighed, repeating what Meg had assumed was completely obvious. "You, Megan Richards, want me, Johnny Storm, to teach you how to seduce your boyfriend."
"I want that jerk to see me as a woman! He is supposed to come back from this work jig in Tokyo in a couple of weeks, and I want to take the opportunity to let him know it's time to take it to the next level!"
Johnny raised an eyebrow, trying to figure out how the hell the wheels were turning in that girl's brain. "But, excuse me, why don't you just ask him? You're a modern girl, nowadays it's not a scandal if it's the woman who initiates things!"
"I'm not going to beg him to marry me!" She hissed, convinced. "Trev wants to marry me, I know, but he hasn't realized it yet, and I don't know where to start. That's why I need your help!"
Johnny sighed. "You're slightly crazy if you think I would be able to make you a master of seduction in less than two weeks."
"You're right," she lifted her chin, her eyes shining. "Maybe you're not as good as I thought. I must have been wrong."
"Take it back now!" Johnny practically gasped, unable to take a blow that would hurt him where it mattered most, in his ego.
He stared at that mischievous smirk, those big hazel eyes and unruly hair, and for the first time in a long time, as he argued with her, he felt.... Alive. Excited. Curious. Like when he went into an adventure.
"All right," he agreed, almost shouting the words, as if his pride had been wounded . "I'm in!"
At the height of her joy, Meg threw herself at him, her arms around his neck, squeaking, chirping, showering him with thanks as they both fell onto the couch, in an equivocal position that caused them to fall on top of each other, with the woman's breasts in direct contact with his chest, covered only by a red T-shirt, and she practically straddling him, risking realizing what effect that close contact was having on the young man.
Red in the face and embarrassed, Meg stood up, continuing to thank him, and all excitedly jumped back to the room reed and Sue had given her, hopping like a cute little rabbit, while Johnny lay down on the couch, still feeling her perfume in every cell of his body, almost as if she was still there in his arms.
He shook his head, whimpering, cursing himself for his damn pride and the effect that "little girl" had on him.
But what kind of trouble had he gotten himself into?