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Year: 2030 | Earth: 19999 (616) | 3 Years After Doom
“Once upon a time,” Reed Richards says to his children, much later in his life, “There was a very arrogant man who did something very stupid.”
He thinks that somewhere along the way, along the journey across dimensions and time, his children have forgotten that their parents were not born in the 2000s, or even in this world. He wonders if they remember their once home– before it was consumed and the Fantastic Four lost everything they’d ever known because of one single man’s arrogance. But these are questions that Franklin and Valeria don’t need in their lives now– not yet.
For now, it can just be a simple tall tale to lure his kids to sleep at night, but Reed’s voice wavers on certain parts and he relives the sensation of losing his entire family in that wreck as Franklin and Valeria gasp in wonder.
When Franklin asks him if the arrogant man was ever happy, in a sleepy voice, it takes everything in Reed to not say ‘Of course not. He never slept again.’
Year: 1960 | Earth: 828 | 3 Years Before Galactus
Everyone knows the story of the Fantastic Four. Four astronauts go up. Four astronauts come back down. They are never the same.
But before that story. Before the press and the fame, before the powers and the Baxter Building and Reed spending late nights in his lab, trying to undo what had been done over and over again: Reed Richards was a man with a dream.
A dream to touch the stars, a dream that could change the world. He’d convinced himself that this dream was worth everything he had and that he’d wanted the people he cared about the most at his side when he’d achieved it. And what a stupid, arrogant mistake that had been.
They’d been dubbed the Fantastic Four before they’d even gone to space. The four astronauts that would be amongst the first to touch the stars– Reed, Sue, Ben, and Johnny. Reed had picked them because he’d wanted them by his side when his dreams came true, his best friend, his girl… her closest family member.
He wishes later that he had picked differently because maybe the guilt wouldn’t have torn him apart in the aftermath. For what he’d done to the three of them.
Reed had been the first of them to wake up after the crash, limbs spread across almost 20 feet of space. Ben nearby creaked underneath his own rocky body weight, letting out confused noises as he tried to stand up. Reed could hear Johnny shrieking in fear as his body lit aflame, staring at his hands as if transfixed by the notion that he could watch his skin peel away.
And Sue was nowhere to be found.
Reed forced himself into place for them. His limbs feel rubbery and weird as if they’re unable to hold his weight underneath him anymore, but he doesn’t have a choice. If he’s going to help them, his family, then he’ll do it the best way he can. And that’s by pressing his pedal to the metal and not letting up for a single moment until Ben and the others are cured.
He holds himself together as he tries with the scientists around him to get Johnny to stop burning, to coax Sue to reappear, to help Ben, to get them stable so he can begin to work on the cure. With every new step of progress made towards stabilization, Reed would collapse in his office afterward and try to gather his limbs underneath him for hours at a time. He’d had to hold his rubbery limbs together, heaving through ragged lungs, pretending he was fine to help his family and only in the privacy of his office could he fall apart.
Things get better eventually. Sue manages control over her powers and can be found at Reed’s side most of the time. She laughs when he kisses her and teases him by disappearing in the middle of their intimate moments, snickering when he eventually catches her and swings her around, watching as her lovely features shimmer faintly in a way that fills Reed with awe.
Johnny finds control and eventually, joy in his powers over fire. Reed remembers watching Johnny test flying for the first time and watches as he shrieks with amazement as he shoots into the sky, the first human being to fly with his own power and nothing else. Some of the weight drops off his shoulders and Sue squeezes his hand with joy as the little brother she’s been the only caretaker for her entire life twirls in midair, laughing as he paints letters in the sky.
Ben, though, is a whole different story than the Storm siblings. Sue and Johnny can pass for normal until she fades away and he dissolves into flames. Ben– He doesn’t get that luxury.
It was for Ben’s sake that Reed began what he likes to call: Operation: Formation.
The concept? To make sure that they were famous enough that Ben could live life somewhat normally. To make sure that Ben was known and not feared. To build themselves up as nothing more than celebrity scientists and occasional heroes, who just happened to have powers, and were nothing more than that. They were just an ordinary super-powered family.
For Operation: Formation, Reed crafts stories for the press about the discovery of their powers. About Johnny going skiing the day after the crash and burning through his clothes, about Sue turning invisible on a bridge running to work and Ben getting pooped on by a bird. But these are a kind falsehood of what it was actually like.
It was scary, but the Fantastic Four can not be scary. They need to be celebrities for Operation: Formation to work. Celebrities aren’t feared. They’re loved.
They need to be loved.
Reed moves them from Central City to New York, moves the rocket that gave them their powers to the front of the Baxter Building, opens the lower floors to the public, hosts talk shows and dating shows, and invites the goddamned press into their home just to make the world treat his best friend with a shred of the dignity that they should. Ben, of course, takes it all with a grace that Reed always worries about, but he can see beneath Ben’s blue eyes that his best friend is aware of what he is doing. And hates it as much as Reed does.
The only person who seems to revel in the showboating they’re forced to do is Johnny. But Sue tells Reed softly amongst the sheets that she’s worried her brother is throwing himself into the fame because he doesn’t think he can amount to anything else. As if he wasn’t one of the youngest pilots in the world, who earned his spot through hard work even before Reed snuck them all away to space. Reed makes an extra effort to be nice to Johnny after that. He can’t help but smile every time Johnny stares at him in shock when he offers the kid a compliment.
Sue’s a whole different story. She’s always been the most stable of them all, and Reed has no idea how he would survive this without her. He maintains a good enough front for the press, for Johnny and Ben, even if he’s pretty sure they can both see right through him, but Sue is different. He trusts her to offer her opinions always, and she knows they’ll always be taken into consideration.
“You need to rest at some point,” She said to him sometime within the first half-year, leaning against the door and watching as Reed stretches himself halfway across the room.
“Sleep doesn’t solve this,” he said immediately, trying to swipe at a file from nearby her.
She beats him to it, grabbing the file and swinging it back and forth with a smirk on her face, “No, but it could solve those bags under your eyes.”
“They’re needed,” He replies, turning to frown at her, “To solve this. To fix us.”
“You know, that there is a chance that this isn’t fixable.”
“I know,” Reed bites his lip, aware that there is a very very high chance that that’s true. That the cosmic radiation affected their genes enough to change them on a fundamental level that can not be reversed. But he has to try, he has to. For Ben.
Sue sighs, “Better sleep means you think better.”
“I don’t need to think better ,” he bites out, “I just need to have one good thought.”
“You can have plenty of “ good thoughts’,” Sue does ‘air quotes,’ “But you can do them after you rest. ”
He tries again, but Sue smiles and places the files he needs in a spherical force field with a lift of her eyebrow. Reed frowns at her, but she just shakes her head and says, “You’re cute when you pout.”
Reed goes to bed. Sue follows him there.
~
The next morning, Reed comes downstairs to the Baxter Building kitchen, well-rested and peppy. He greets both Johnny and Ben with a wave and a smile, ignoring as they exchange baffled glances at each other. He pours a very fancy coffee for himself and then beams even brighter at the two other Fantastic Four members.
“It’s a lovely day today, right?”
Johnny’s brows rise into his hairline, “This is terrifying. Are you scared, Benji? I’m scared.”
“Terrified,” says Ben, “This is more scary than Matchstick trying to flirt.”
“Hey!”
Reed looks at the two of them, Johnny’s concerned face and Ben’s shimmering confused eyes. His heart softens. They’re here, even if a bit altered. His family is here.
He claps his hands together, “Let’s make breakfast!”
Johnny laughs and shakes his head, “You know what? Sure?”
Breakfast turns out to be a lot of fun, a mindless experiment. Cooking bacon on Johnny’s arms was fascinating, especially since Johnny didn’t even flinch during most of it. But the grease did annoy him. He said it was like “slimy whatcamicallits” Ben wasn’t particularly helpful in that regard, since he just laughed at Johnny and offered cooking advice.
Sue comes downstairs to see the three boys gathered in the kitchen as the bacon burns and Johnny glowers at Ben as the Thing puts bacon on the top of Johnny’s flickering hair. She laughs out loud and sits at the table, watching as bacon grease gets in Johnny’s hair and he shrieks about it.
It’s the hardest Reed’s laughed in weeks.
~
Things are better after that. Not great but better. Reed makes a point to schedule himself out per a suggestion from Sue. She says he tends to get lost in his lab and lost in his head, but he does stick to a schedule and she thinks it’s important that he makes time for them, for their family. He agrees.
Every morning at exactly 8am, Reed gets coffee with Ben and Sue. Johnny is sometimes there, depending on his wacky sleep schedule, but more often than not, Reed does not see him. He goes to the lab, works until lunch, gets lunch with Ben at 12:30 exactly, and then stays in the lab until dinnertime. Every Thursday at 7pm, he and Ben go out for drinks or hang out on the couch. Every Wednesday at 7pm, he and Johnny go over the kid’s homework and sometimes do other things. He spends his nights with Sue and every Sunday, at 7pm on the dot, they have a family dinner.
Of course, sometimes these things fluctuate and Reed strays off this schedule. Sometimes, family dinner happens because all four of them are in the kitchen or Ben-time happens because Ben helps him in the lab or Sue-time happens because they need food and she wants to pick up her own groceries for once. But by placing designated times on his schedule for his family, it reminds Reed what he’s doing all of this for, and who he’s doing all of this for.
He started doing this because of Sue’s point earlier, but in the end, it’s weirdly Johnny who says the thing that moved Reed to act the most. Not that Reed didn’t expect him to because the kid can be smart when he wants to be, but because Johnny, like Ben, can cut through all the mumbo-jumbo that Reed knows he sometimes gets lost in.
Johnny had walked into the kitchen one day, flames flickering at the base of his hands to keep his coffee warm, glanced at Reed’s haggard form up and down, and said, “You know, what’s the point of doing all this shit if you’re not gonna bother to spend time with us too, Reed.”
And then walked out of the room as if that was something simple to say, leaving Reed completely gobsmacked in his wake.
So yes, the schedule. The Storm siblings tag-teamed him on this one and he’s gonna make damn sure that he sticks to it. He doesn’t want them to ever think he doesn’t care, just because he’s lost in his lab, trying to find the cure for them– for Ben. He doubts Johnny wants to lose his powers really and Sue seems to find hers fascinating, but Ben— Ben… Ben…
“Hey, Stretch.”
Reed turns towards the voice, spotting Ben’s figure in the doorway. He finds it in himself to smile as Ben lumbers over, his rocky skin grating as he moves over to him. Reed sets his tools away and pushes his goggles up on his forehead so he can fully lock into this conversation. Ben sits down on the concrete custom chair that Reed had made for him, since his best friend tends to break his chairs now.
“I just wanted to thank you,” Ben says, making Reed frown at him, “I’ve done nothing worthy of being thanked.”
“But you’re trying,” Ben says with a shrug, “That’s something.”
“I caused this.”
“And you’re fixing it,” Ben’s voice is warm, and his hand falls on Reed’s shoulder, “You’ll get there.”
“But–”
“No buts, Reed,” Ben gently flicks Reed’s hand. It doesn’t hurt. Reed wonders how strong his pain receptors are right now, since he’s pretty sure getting flicked by rocks should hurt, “I was mad before. But now, I’m just grateful I’m not alone. ”
“Of course, you’re not alone,” Reed says immediately, fiercely, “We all understand.”
Ben hums and nods, but he’s gazing at the door as Reed sets his hand on his best friend’s, drawing his attention. Idly, he wonders if Ben can even feel it, but the guy glances back at him and lets out a soft noise, “That’s a nice sentiment Stretcho, but as much as I care about y’all, none of you get it. I’m alone in that sense, but just not— physically alone.”
“I know–” Reed tries but Ben just sighs and runs a hand down his rocky face, “Sorry, Reed. This shit just gets to me, but I am grateful the rest of you are with me, I am.”
Reed looks away, biting his lip. They sit in silence for a bit but he eventually settles on, “I’m gonna fix it.”
“I trust you will,” Ben says after a moment, tilting his head and smiling at him, “I do.”
“I’m glad,” Maybe it’s stupid, but hearing that Ben trusts him takes the weight of the world again does make him feel better. A little.
Ben lets out a small huff of a sigh, standing up in one very impressive fluid motion that Reed commends. The rocky form in front of him turns to look at him, his grin wide, “Now, there’s a New York Giants football game today. I convinced Sue and Johnny to watch it even though neither of them care, and we’re going to bond like a real ass family.”
“You do know that I know nothing about football either, Ben.”
“Then I can explain it to you!”
Ben places his hand on Reed’s shoulder and steers him out of the lab for the first time today.
“Wait… why doesn’t Johnny know anything about football?”
“He was raised by his sister and his aunt, Stretch. They didn’t exactly turn that on on the weekends. He does know a weird amount about I Love Lucy and The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show.”
“Huh…”
Year: 1961 | Earth: 828 | 2 Years Before Galactus
“Ben,” says Sue, her face flat, “Why is Johnny on the roof?”
“Who?”
“Benjamin J. Grimm,” She says again, “Why is my little brother on the roof?”
Ben arches an eyebrow. It surprisingly works with his rocky brow, “Musta sleepwalked.”
“Ben.”
There’s silence. Sue and Ben stare at each other. Reed takes a slow sip of his coffee.
“ Ben. ”
Ben sighs and opens his mouth just as a loud shriek comes from the direction of the roof as Johnny wakes up. Sue and Reed watch in fascination as Ben turns towards the large glass windows of the Baxter Building with his coffee, just in time to watch Johnny fall past the window, shrieking in surprise as he plummets off the roof.
There’s a faint cry of “Flame on!” as Johnny saves himself from going splat on the concrete. His flickering features show up seconds later, as he floats in front of the Baxter Building’s windows, glaring at Ben. Reed can see faintly through the flames that Johnny had, in fact, not been wearing all non-flammable clothing last night since he’s shirtless now and only in boxers and a single sock.
Ben offers Johnny a cheery wave and then places a big piece of paper against the glass for Johnny to read. Johnny blinks at it, once, then twice, and then howls with laughter.
“What does it say?” Reed asks, watching as Johnny laughs so hard he cries (kinda), trails of vapor emanating from his cheeks. Ben just shrugs but there’s a teasing twinkle in his eyes as he turns the sign around to show him.
“Johnny pranked me yesterday,” Ben offers as an explanation, “Put whipped cream in all my clothes. Took forever to get it out of my skin.”
The sign? Says ‘Good morning, punk.’
Reed nearly chokes on his coffee.
~
“Theoretically,” Reed taps his pole against the chalkboard, pleased with the schematics of what he’s drawn, “Due to popular multiverse theory, there could be universes out there that differ in fundamental physics laws, constants, and understandings. We could have access to parallel universes right now and have simply no understanding of them because their development and the world’s understanding of quantum physics, spatial dimensions, or even life itself could be significantly different from ours.”
He taps the pole again, engrossed in his ramblings, “In quantum mechanics, there is a theory called the—“
For the first time in his lecture, a 7-year-old child raises their hand. Reed turns, delighted by the notion that someone in this audience cares enough about multiverse theory to ask a thought-provoking question about the concept. He should have known better.
“Mister Fantastic, can you show us the exploding soda can thing again?”
Again? Reed tries not to grit his teeth and just lets out a long sigh.
“Okay, kids, let’s blow something up again.”
The chorus of cheers makes Reed sigh in disappointment again . Who knew kids didn’t care about the concept of the wave function and the multiverse? He certainly didn’t know that.
~
“You’re terrible with kids,” Ben tells him with all the love in the world as they walk around the grocery store.
One benefit of having Ben with him when shopping is that everyone defers to the rock person when the chips are down. If Ben reaches for the last bag of chips, he’s gonna get it. It makes shopping almost 8% more efficient. Reed also likes hanging out with Ben, so that’s always a plus.
“Really, people too, Stretch,” adds Ben, peering down at a collection of tomatoes, “But especially kids.”
“I just don’t get why they wouldn’t be interested in the concept of the multiverse,” Reed says.
That’s been his newest venture in trying to reverse their rocket-ship-based fates. If he could stretch across the multiverse and look at a world where Ben never became the Thing, or better yet, a world where Reed had already succeeded in curing Ben, then Reed could figure out how to do it here in his own.
He hadn’t meant for that enthusiasm to jump into his latest lesson on Fantastic Science. But here he is, whining in the local grocery store after the recording day. Kids make no sense to him.
“Kids just like cool action shit,” Ben says, “And explosions. Why do you think they like Johnny so much?”
“Because he’s Jonathan?” Reed quips, making Ben laugh, “Nah, Stretch, it’s cause he seems cool to them. Even if we both know he’s a dork.”
Reed frowns but takes this in. In his opinion, Sue is the “coolest” of the Fantastic Four, but he also thinks he might be biased on that one. Significantly. Instead of voicing this, he just says, “Jonathan doesn’t strike me as role model material.”
“Because he’s 17 and barely not a kid himself,” shrugs Ben, “But disregarding Matchstick’s lack of maturity, I think you gotta stop presenting quantum mechanics to 7-year-olds if we’re gonna maintain this “Friendly Neighborhood Fantastic Four” thing you’re going for.”
That’s a fair point. Reed sighs, “I just think children should be educated on important matters.”
“I highly doubt many of them are going to be applying multiverse theory into their lives, though.”
“You never know!” But Reed knows it’s futile and he’s already lost this argument. Still, he tries to continue the argument, reaching for a small bag nearby filled with tomatoes so that Sue can make some spaghetti tonight, “Maybe someone in that crowd will be inspired to chase their multiversal dreams.”
Ben just makes a face, takes the tomatoes from Reed, and puts them back on the shelf. He grabs a different bag and says, “Not ripe.”
“Oh.”
“Excuse me!” Both members of the Fantastic Four turn around to see a group of people gathered there, staring at the two of them. In the front are two teenage girls, their eyes wide as they stare at Reed and Ben. In their hands, they’re holding a newspaper clip from their travels a couple of months ago, when the four of them crawled out of the back of a car, their eyes blown wide in shell shock as they stared at the world greeting them when they had just had their lives torn away.
Reed hates that photo.
“Are you the Fantastic Four?” asks one, as if there’s any other sort of people they could be.
Reed nods and Ben says, “ ‘Course sweetheart.”
“Can we get your autograph?”
“Um…” says Ben but Reed just offers a placating smile and says, “Sorry, not today. We’re a little busy.”
The girls’ faces drop in resignation but the people behind them scatter immediately, as if Reed’s rejection was enough to get them to finally buzz off. Reed’s known to be a bit more distant from the media attention, similar to Ben, so he thinks that this really isn’t much of a shock. The Storm siblings were media darlings, with their blonde hair and blue eyes and smiles, but Reed and Ben were the nerd and the giant rock creature. The bullied loser dweeb and the little Jewish boy from Yancy Street. They weren’t used to it.
It’s only until later, when they’re walking back to their home that the next words between them are uttered, as Ben adjusts his custom trench coat and stares at the nearby posters of the Fantastic Four on the walls lining their streets.
“If there is a multiverse out there, this sure as hell is the weirdest timeline.”
Reed opens his mouth to argue, to say that there’s probably a timeline where their mutations changed them in different ways to where they could never live normally again. Where they died. Where they didn’t even go up into space in the first place.
But he swallows his words and says, “But it’s not the worst.”
“No Stretch,” says Ben, “It’s not.”
~
This multiverse theory feels like it could go somewhere if Reed is honest. He hadn’t been certain when he was doing his initial digs, of course, but the more and more he examines and tests and tugs and stretches, the more certain he is.
The multiverse is real and Reed can use it to save his family.
He’s deep in his multiverse research, piecing together a theory that dreams are just glimpses into the other self when he hears a quiet conversation coming from somewhere else in the Baxter Building. Usually, he tends not to pick up on stuff like this, but he’d been in the middle of eating a well-deserved dinner (at 3am) when the murmurs began.
Most residents of the Baxter Building weren’t up at 3am.
Ben had a rigid schedule of sleeping at 10 pm and waking up at 7, especially now that he’s dating his new girlfriend, Alicia. Johnny kept strange hours that shifted almost daily, but he’d been in bed early today. Sue tried to keep similar hours to Reed but she’d been nose-deep in a recent study published about archeology when he’d left her earlier in the evening and had barely mumbled when he’d kissed her goodbye.
And H.E.R.B.I.E is a robot.
Reed lets out a small sigh and pulls his ear away from his head, stretching it into the vents. If it’s an intruder or some form of villain invading their home, then Reed might be the only one awake to deal with it. So while his ear is the first part of him to go, Reed carefully slides the rest of him into the vents after it, expanding his senses and the length of his body as quietly as possible as he hunts down the potential intruders.
Eventually, he finds the source of the voices, but it’s not intruders.
Rather it’s the Storm siblings stationed in the kitchen, Sue sipping from a glass of water and Johnny perched on the kitchen counter next to her, fiddling with his shirt. They’re talking in low voices, but from where Reed is in the vents, he can only see his girlfriend’s strained expression.
“I really don’t think this is a good idea, Johnny,” she says, tapping her fingernails against the counter.
Johnny’s voice is even as he replies, “I just think it would be easier for everyone.”
“We can help you, you know?” Sue says, “You’re literally in a home of geniuses.”
“That’s not the problem. The problem is I am starting to get mobbed at school,” Johnny replies, “And quite literally everyone knows where I go. It’s only a matter of time before Moleman or the Wizard decides that the best way to cause some damage is to attack my school directly.”
Now it’s starting to make sense. Johnny’s high school downtown had been caught in the throes of an attack recently by Alicia’s step-father, the Puppet Master, and the kid had been trapped as one of the puppets, accidentally burning a portion of the school with a wave of his hands
Sue lets out a soft noise and reaches out to take Johnny’s hand. He glances down at her and then squeezes her hand saying, “We’re rich now, Sue, we can just hire a tutor or something. I can still get my GED.”
“I just—” Sue sighs and runs a hand through her hair “I want you to have a normal high school experience, Johnny.”
“I think that was blown out the window when you decided to let me join you on an illegal space mission.”
“Yes,” Sue huffs a laugh, “But–”
“But nothing, sis,” Johnny waves a hand, “I just don’t think school is for me.”
Sue bites her lip, “That’s okay, Johnny. It is, really, I just–”
“I’m not you, Sue. Or Reed.”
“No, of course, you’re not. You’re Johnny Storm. And I just want you to be the best you can be.”
Johnny’s shoulders shake with emotion and Reed watches as his beloved girlfriend reaches her hand up to card through her little brother’s blonde hair. This moment feels like he’s intruding a bit like he’s seeing a moment between siblings that he’s not supposed to be privy to. Sue told him a lot about her and Johnny’s past, how she basically raised her little brother since their parents died and she feels obligated to care for him and maintain his safety.
Adds an extra fresh layer of guilt to the feeling he has of the time when he put Sue’s 16-year-old brother into a rocket ship and accidentally set him on fire for the rest of his life.
“I know you do,” Johnny mumbles as Sue fusses over him, “But this is my decision. It’s for the best.”
“Alright. But you’re still getting your GED,” She says eventually, “I will hunt you down if you don’t at least do that.”
“Everyone in this building would. I think Reed would have a heart attack if I didn’t get my GED.”
“He would tell you that you’re not living up to your full potential.”
“But he would add like fifty words in there that I don’t understand,” Johnny snorts so hard sparks fly out of his nose.
Sue lets out a short laugh, “It’s what makes sense to him.”
“What about making sense to me?”
With that, Reed tactfully retreats from the vents back to his office, considering himself to be intruding on a wonderful sibling moment, his head reeling. Johnny’s high school experience wasn’t something he’d considered that they could lose, but it makes sense that Johnny couldn’t attend a normal schooling environment anymore. The Fantastic Four was becoming bigger and bigger by the day, villains were beginning to target them in their civilian lives, and as evidenced earlier in the week, they could barely go outside anymore without being the targets of fans.
It’s exactly what Operation: Formation was meant to do to make them loved so they wouldn’t be feared. But now, Reed wonders if this wasn’t such a good idea. Maybe he’s just made misstep after misstep until he’s walking blindly into a forest of fame and he’s dragging all the people he cares for along with him.
Can he do anything right?
He buries his face in his hands and heaves out a heavy sigh, ignoring the continued conversation from the kitchen
Johnny drops out of high school the next day.
Year: 1962 | Earth: 828 | 1 Year Before Galactus
Reed and Sue get married in a private space with Johnny and Ben presiding, the press hounding them at the door. Things have only gotten worse in terms of the press and fame, so much so that Reed has hardly had time to work on his multiversal theories between jumping from press interviews, television shows, late-night talks and everything in between that Reed has barely had time to sit down and actually try to work on figuring out what’s he can do to cure Ben.
To be fair though, he’s not so sure that Ben’s cure is the top of his focus anymore, because it certainly isn’t Ben’s. Having Alicia has helped him so much, even if not all the way, and Ben no longer comes to him nightly for updates on the progress of the cure, now instead checking every once in a while.
Johnny’s already passed his GED with flying colors and is considering going to college, though Sue doesn’t think that pursuit will last. And Sue?
Well, they’re getting married, aren’t they?
Sue had insisted upon a private affair, reluctant to let anyone know of where the location they were being married would be. Of course, it had somehow been leaked, and now as Reed and Sue say their ‘I do’s’, the paparazzi pound on the door of the building they’d locked themselves in. Not exactly the dream wedding that Reed had always imagined, but the fact that he’s marrying Sue Storm-Richards?
Priceless. He couldn’t have imagined anything better for himself.
Sue and him can’t go on any form of honeymoon, they’re needed in New York, but Johnny and Ben have told them that they get to be on break from “Fantastic Fouring” for a bit and the two of them will just handle everything. Reed is so concerned about that, but mostly about Johnny on that front. He hopes Ben can handle the unruly teenager since he’s the only one of them who can even touch Johnny when he’s ‘flamed on.’
That just leaves him and Sue to lay in bed together all day for a week, talking quietly between well— celebrating their marriage.
“I haven’t been working as hard on the cure, Susie,” He confesses to his wife softly in the dark, running fingers through her soft blonde hair, “I’m certain the answer lies in the multiverse, but life’s been so good lately that–”
“Hm…” She says, her lips brushing against the faint beard he’s growing, “Have you ever decided to just– not look anymore?”
“I will always look,” But he doesn’t know if he believes it, “For Ben’s sake.”
“He’s happier than he’s been in a while,” she suggests, “He has Alicia and people… they love him. He’s the most popular of the Four.”
“He is.”
“But I can’t just stop looking, this whole thing… It is my fault. I can’t just stop looking if it would make Ben happier.”
“Of course,” her lips press hard against his chin and when she parts from him, her blue eyes are locked on his, “But I think you and Ben should talk about it, figure out what he wants and what you want, dear.”
Reed sighs and cards through her soft blonde strands, “Before we went up the first time, you couldn’t turn invisible, Ben wasn’t a rock, and Johnny never caught fire.”
“Ben has always been a rock,” Sue rolls her eyes, “Johnny is Johnny, and I.. am right here. Whatever life throws at us, we’ll face it together… as a family. ”
Reed lets out a soft noise but then watches as Sue realizes what he said and turns to look at him, her brows raised, “The first time?”
He winces, knowing that he probably shouldn’t have let that one slip but he knows better than to hide things from his wife.
“The multiverse,” he says, “To test one of my theories… We might need to go back to space. The four of us are the only ones I trust to do so, and there have been some cosmic fluctuations. I want us to go back and test those before I try anything relating to the multiverse.”
Sue bites her lip in worry, ducking her head to the side, “Last time–”
“Last time was different,” he argues, “We stole a rocketship and flew into a cosmic field without knowing what it was. We’re going in prepared this time. We’re going to have the backing of the government and all the training necessary.”
Sue stares at him for a long time, her eyes soft. She strokes the grey streaks in his hair, leaning over to press her lips to his. Reed lets his eyes fall closed as she does so, relaxing in the feeling of her against him. When she pulls away, her worry is still there on her face, “I still don’t like it.”
“I know.”
“But like I said,” She says, “As a family. ”
“As a family.”
~
“Happy Halloween, Benji!” says Johnny cheerfully, in a way that makes Reed want to check every single crevice around the house for whoopie cushions or worse.
“I got you something!”
“Please don’t do this at 7am, Matchstick,” says Ben, nursing a cup of coffee, “I can’t do this right now.”
“Look! It’s your costume for this year!” Johnny cackles, picking up a pile of red clothes with flames painted shakily all over them, “Now you’ll know what it’s like to be — hot. ”
“I’m going to murder you,” Ben says unseriously, as Johnny wheezes with laughter, shaking the costume that is definitely a Human Torch costume back and forth.
“You would never.”
“Maybe I’m already planning it.”
Johnny whistles in appreciation, “That’s pretty violent for 7am, Ben. I’m impressed.”
“Here’s the deal, Matchstick,” says Ben, steepling his fingers, “I’ll wear it, but you gotta dress as the Thing.”
“I’ll do anything to see you in that costume,” says Johnny seriously, “You’re on.”
~
Breaking the news to Johnny and Ben that they were going up again wasn’t that big of a deal, in the grand scheme of things. Johnny had been distracted when Reed had told him since he was in the garage working on the Fantasticar. Johnny’s hands had caught fire in shock and he had melted the car’s paint job much to his displeasure. He’d almost cried at the notion of leaving burns on his precious car, but he’d managed to fix it after a bit of finagling and staring at Reed.
“Sounds cool, bro,” is the conclusion Johnny comes to, offering Reed a thumbs up, “I’m excited.”
Reed does not understand Johnny sometimes.
Ben was a little more worried about it though, crossing his arms in front of his body and his chef’s apron and saying, “I’m not too fond of the idea of leaving again, Stretch.”
Reed opens his mouth and says “Well–” But Ben interrupts him, “I gotta good thing going with Alicia and I don’t necessarily want to go back up into space.”
“That’s understandable,” Reed says, “I just want to make sure of something before I try to create this multiversal transporter. We’ve been getting some odd readings cosmically and I want to ensure nothing’s going on. Sue and Johnny are already coming so I figured I would ask you too.”
Ben frowns, “Suzie and Matchstick are going?”
“Yeah,” Reed inclines his head, “As a family.”
Ben chews on this for a beat, before sighing and shaking his head, “Alright, I’ll come. Someone’s gotta keep you people in line.”
~
At least on the second mission to space, nothing goes drastically wrong physically. Instead, everything goes wrong in a “there is a primordial space entity coming to consume our planet” way. Which is not a way that Reed would have ever assumed, but it’s better than them coming home more irradiated than before, he supposes.
They have a year to prepare before Galactus hits them.
So of course, right after they return home, Sue finds out that she’s pregnant, that in the midst of an incoming apocalypse, Reed will be becoming a father. Johnny and Ben: uncles. Reed would be more excited about the entire thing, he believes, if he didn’t know that a giant monster that couldn’t be reasoned with or even fought was coming to devour his entire family and world– including his unborn child.
Of course.
This can’t get any worse, actually. At least going up to space yielded the results that Reed was looking for to perfect his multiversal transporter. He manages to finish the thing in a number of days once he has the results from his labs, which is good since he needs to be focused on the giant looming apocalypse that is coming for his family— for his unborn child. He can’t afford to be fucking off to another timeline when his world is about to be destroyed.
Reed spends every single second either in his lab or with his family, pouring over either equations or pregnancy pamphlets. Johnny and Ben do their best to cover for him with Sue while he pours over books to try and stop the incoming inevitability that is the force known only as Galactus.
Only it’s impossible.
It’s impossible.
“Love,” says Sue one night, as he runs his fingers over her growing stomach, fascinated.
He’s never felt such love for something he can’t see before, but his unborn child— he loves.
“Guess what?” says Sue, whispering as she presses her lips to his temple. Reed feels her smile against his head as she continues, “We found out the gender yesterday.”
“Oh?” Reed turns his head to gaze at her as she softens, rubbing her stomach, “ We?”
“Johnny and I,” She says with a huff, “We made bets on what you would guess, so I hope you can win me 50 bucks, Reed.”
“Hmm…” He pretends to consider, “I would hate to force you to give 50 bucks to your brother.”
“He needs them,” Sue guffaws, “His only income is his personal merch sales.”
“It’s still a lot.”
“Hm—“ Reed leans over and presses a kiss to her stomach. She lets out a soft noise and adjusts, her lashes fluttering as she relaxes, “So, what do you think?”
Reed blinks, considering. There are plenty of considerations when it comes to the differences in raising a son or a daughter. A son would be raised around boys, with two uncles and Reed himself, loved and adored. But the same could be said for a daughter, who would also be loved just the same.
Maybe— just maybe, Reed is overthinking this. So he says the first thing he can think of, his automatic want when it comes to their child, “A boy.”
Sue throws back her head and laughs loudly, her blonde hair flying around her face. It makes her whole body shake as she does so and Reed watches her with a sort of awed expression, a smile playing on his lips as he watches his wife express joy.
“Well?”
“I think—” says Sue, reaching to pull Reed into a kiss, “My baby brother owes me $50.”
~
Sunday at 7pm, the family gathers around their dinner table for their typical wholesome family meal. Johnny and Ben, the secret best cooks in the house, had partnered up for this one, whipping up a crazy amount of barbecue in a couple of hours. Johnny had forced Sue to sit on the side and watch, which she seemed to be fine with.
Instead Johnny and Ben had made a bizarre team in the kitchen while Reed and Sue drank juice on the couch, listening to the other two Fantastic Four members laugh together.
“You should add garlic!”
“I ain’t adding no garlic, Johnny.”
“Garlic makes everything better, dude.”
“I happen to know it doesn’t make anything better.”
“Oh?”
“‘Cause of that one time you put garlic in my coffee, Matchstick.”
“Oh yeah, I forgot about that.”
“That was disgusting, by the way.”
“Yeah… so I didn’t actually know what raw garlic tasted like— I just thought it would be funny.”
“Wait what?”
“I felt kinda bad about that one.”
“Well, good to know you have feelings, Matches.”
“Sad for you to think I didn’t.”
“Whatever,” Ben laughs his usual hearty laugh before he claps Johnny on the shoulder, “Now flame on, we got some meat to cook!”
Reed shakes his head and glances at his wife, leaning against the couch cushions with her hair askew and swirling apple juice in her wine glass like it’s the nicest chardonnay on the planet.
She meets his eyes and raises a brow, tilting her apple juice into the air, a smirk on her lips. Reed wants to kiss her so badly.
“To our family,” she says, placing a hand on her belly.
“To our family!” the boys automatically choir after her and for a moment, for a night, everything is alright in the world.
But only for a night.
Year: 1963 | Earth: 828 | Galactus
“Where do we go?” Johnny’s covered in soot, tears running down his cheeks as he stares up at the imploding buildings around them as their world falls apart.
Ben’s clutching Alicia close to him, her fingers laced around his rocky arm as she shakes from the force of the world around them shaking. Reed can’t imagine what it must be like to experience this blind. It must be horrific.
“Reed, love,” says Sue from next to him and Reed turns his head to look at his wife, grimy and sweaty but so lovely. In her arms is their son, Franklin, watching the destruction of the world that he’d been born into, gurgling happily, “You have to have some sort of idea.”
And he does. The transporter. The transporter can save them, he can save his family. Maybe. It’s not perfect, he doesn’t have the kinks worked out yet, but–
“I do,” he says, pulling out the transporter from the wreckage of their lives, “I can’t guarantee it will work but” Reed’s eyes slide to Sue and Franklin and he grits his jaw, “We have to try.”
He puts the transporter down in front of his family, all of them staring down at the device in front of them as it whirrs on. Around them, the world collapses, but in front of them, their entire world is here. The four of them– the Fantastic Four, Alicia, H.E.R.B.I.E and Franklin. Their world is doomed for now, but if they can escape, Reed believes they can save it someday.
It’s Sue whose resolve hardens first and she narrows her eyes and sweeps them along their ragged group. Her voice comes strong and steady even as Galactus swallows the entirety of New York around them.
“Together?” She asks and all at once, they all nod, stepping forward as a unit, “Together.”
Year: 2027 | Earth: 19999 (616) | Doomsday
“We have allies from all over,” says Sam Wilson to what remains of the Avengers, eyes sweeping across the room. The ragged Avengers stare tiredly at him as he turns to look at the new group of people entering the room.
An older man with tired eyes and grey streaks in his hair, a blonde woman with ragged hair and a worried expression on her face and a baby in her arms, a younger blonde man with soot staining his nose and a creature made of rock, guiding a redheaded blind woman. The four of them stand facing the Avengers as Sam turns back to them, dressed in the same blue jumpsuits with a large ‘4’ blazed on their chests. They look tired but determined, their eyes steely and fierce.
They look like they lost a fight.
“Avengers. I’d like you to meet– the Fantastic Four.”