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Johnny Storm, the hottest guy in any room, usually burned at 416° Celsius.
Getting control of his flames was a craft he would never truly learn, sure he could choose when and where, but that heat always slipped out when emotions got high - he’d been pretty high strung since he was a kid, so it wasn’t really his fault.
Apparently, he even got hot sometimes too, which is a discovery he’d made in front of his bathroom mirror as he observed himself. He’d dressed in the standard costume, Reed having been literally bouncing about alerting the group that there was trouble in the city, already missing his comfy, non confining clothes that had managed to not get burnt yet.
He’d slept at a pretty normal time, so he was a little confused at his slight eyebags and paler composure, but just ended up figuring he must have slept pretty lightly, something about REM cycles or the like that Suzie loves to prattle on about.
He felt warm , like the humidity was cranked up and he’d stuck himself in an oven, but an oven didn't compare to what his flames usually held at - if he wasn’t affected by them, why would he be feeling like this?
Shaking it off and splashing cool water on his face, he dried it and hurried on as he could hear Ben complaining.
“Take all the time ya’ want ya’ princess!”
Reed fumbled with the fantasticar as Sue climbed on, Ben leaning on it with an impatient expression. Johnny flipped him off.
“Some of us dont have rocks for skin ya big gub! When's the last time you had to style your hair?”
Ben narrowed his eyes at him, eager to reply as both of Reed's stretched hands pinched them by the cheek.
“Oh knock it off you clowns! There’s been some tremors downtown that caused leaks near the fire station. Their water supply has been cut off, we oughta fix it quickly in case more tremors actually endanger people.”
Johnny stuck his tongue out at Ben before flaming up, floating beside the car that Ben was climbing inside. In retaliation, Ben managed to grab his ankle and yank him a little before letting him go, chuckling to himself as Johnny yelped.
“Oh there’s no use with them. As long as there's no punches thrown I’m ignoring it.”
Sue sighed, resting on the car as they took off to their destination. The city didn’t seem too disturbed, but a fire station not being available for emergencies was never ideal. However, it was good to know this wasn’t exactly a saving the world from galactus mission, a more relaxed day was good for the soul sometimes.
It was an average yet pretty looking day, featuring a blue sky with scattered stratus clouds and locals busying themselves, ignoring the not too irregular tremors. Johnny loved to soar above it all, not constrained by the lack of control he had when he needed to use the car, and able to flash the odd smile when someone looked their way.
He still felt off though, unable to pinpoint exactly why. He had control of his flames, but at times it was close to faltering, which isn’t exactly ideal when you’re 50 feet in the air, but he brushed it off as himself being groggy from waking up not too long ago.
“Closing in, you see those hydrants below? We need to stop the leaks before the supply is depleted!”
Mr Fantastic called out, extending his arms to point to the general locations of the hydrants that had ruptured, water spraying and metal scattered. Ben rolled his eyes.
“This really coulda’ been done by yer’ average repairman stretcho.”
Reed turned to face the Thing, a furrow in his brow as the vehicle descended onto the ground.
“The public's been pretty unsettled with us ever since you got yourself hypnotised Ben, small acts like this should help us appear more… human to them?”
Johnny descended to join them and laughed.
“First time being human Reed? You looked constipated saying that!”
Sue whacked him lightly on the head and pointed to the hydrants along the street in question.
“Focus boys, me and Reed have dinner booked and I’d rather not miss it. Think you could smeld the hydrants so the leaks stop?”
Johnny observed the bent metal spraying water and pondered it.
“Easy, but all the water coming out will cool it too fast and take out my flames”
He looked to her in question, then to Reed, cause they always seemed to know the answer, and Reed gave a trademark smile that guaranteed he knew.
“Ben could crush them down, at least enough that most of the water can't get out, and then you could smelt it to hold it in place? New hydrants will eventually be installed anyway.”
Ben had already dandered over to a nearby hydrant, grimacing at the large puddle of water surrounding it.
“No problem for ya’ blushin’ blue eyed Benny!”
He grabbed both sides and easily crushed it down close to the ground, small spouts of water still spurting but nothing like before.
“All yours kiddo.”
Johnny flamed on, hovering over the hydrant and placing both hands in front of him so he could aim and concentrate his flames. Not his greatest feat, he’d admit, even tired he could pull it off with his eyes closed. He pulled a thumbs up when he finished.
“Perfect! Me and reed will mark all the ones we can find and come back with our map, you two get busy. Try to be quick, we have to get ready for later!”
A pattern was formed between the working pair as they took turns with each hydrant, even experimenting with each one to see who was really doing more in this situation.
“Oh please rocks for brains, I have to be careful and pay attention with my role! All you’re doing is what you always do!”
“Yeh’ runt, I do all the hard work and yer’ silly little flames, that could be replaced with a blowtorch, fix it up and take the credit!”
Stuck arguing over their last hydrant, Sue and Reed sat in the fantasticar not too far away as they watched the scene unfold.
“Big kids, the pair of them. Have you got your outfit planned honey? This is a nice place, wouldn’t want to show up in a dusty suit.”
Sue leaned against Reed, smirking up at him as his own confident smile faded to a slightly panicked one.
“Well, uh, not a specific one per say -”
“I’ve already had your favourite suit dry cleaned dear, gosh, you're hopeless at this stuff.”
Reed gave a nervous but lovesick smile, his wife always having the answer when he didn’t. The scene could have been perfect, had the volume across the street not risen again.
It seemed the compromise had been they… swap roles? Johnny was crouched on the ground, heaving to push the sides of the hydrant together and Ben laughed at his peril.
“Not so easy huh! Now you’re the one that looks constipated!”
Torch had a flush to his face, eventually giving up and resting his head on the cool hydrant. His knees and below were soaked, forehead now too, and that warmth from earlier had only intensified, but at least this was the last one.
“Well I don’t see you producing any flames! How you gonna meld it!?”
Thing pondered, before shrugging.
“No blow torches on me, so I can’t. Reed won't let ya’ go if ya’ don't meld it anyways!”
“Should have figured you wouldn’t hold your end, why don’t you go all caveman and throw some flint together? You look rehearsed in their ways!”
Ben lightly kicked his back so he fell forward onto his hands, away from the hydrant, and cracked his knuckles.
“Keep talkin’ matchstick, this is how a pro does it!”
Like before, he crushed it down, then turned with his hands on his hips, smiling. Johnny rolled his eyes, starting to get up as a group passed by them, snickering. They kept their voices low, but one clear voice said nice ass as they hurried off. He didn’t connect it to himself, not until mid getting up he considered his pose and went a little red again. Not the worst he’s had said about him, but seldom few did so in person. He got up pretty quickly after that.
He was hungry, sore and tired, and now a little embarrassed, so he spared his cheeky comment and went to smelt it. He held both hands out, leaned over, flamed on and -
Got what felt like a punch of water right to the face, knocking him backwards as Ben managed to grab hold of his arms from behind so he didn’t hit the ground.
Ben belted out laughter, shaking as he tried to give Johnny balance again.
“Oh Johnny, are you ok!?”
Sue called out, jogging over. The sight was funny, she pondered as she held in her laugh, but it looked like pretty high pressure water, so she sought to check her little brother was okay first before making fun of him.
“Ugh…”
He broke away from Ben, leaning his head down as he checked and confirmed a bloody nose. Just his luck! He was already iffy with his flames today, and now they’d for sure need to refuel for a day or two. He found he was always pretty affected when his flames were forced off - it was like turning on a gas stove without igniting the flame.
“Aw, kids’ gotta bloody nose. You a tissue sue?”
Ben asked, calming down with the odd chuckle and forcing the hydrant shut again.
“Oh you dolts! Get to the car now, you won't be able to fly like this Johnny. I’m sure there's bandages there you could use as a makeshift tissue.”
Neither risked a sly comment, instead heeding her command and returning to where Reed had fished some bandages and thrown them to Johnny.
“Try not to get blood on the seat lad…”
“No promises!”
He squished in beside Ben, both seated in the back whilst Reed and Sue sat in the front. That warmth felt even worse, and between balancing it and his dizziness from the incident he was just about done with that day.
“Me and Reed will need to get ready and leave shortly once we’re home, I trust you’s will manage dinner fine on your own?”
Thing smiled and held a thumbs out.
“Don’tcha worry Suzie, Old Benji’s got this covered with mama’s good ol’ casserole! So long as we got tha’ stuff fer it.”
Johnny sighed and leaned back into his seat.
“Screw that, I’m ordering in! That casserole does nothing but stick to the roof of your mouth.”
“Are you insulting mama grimm’s -”
The pair continued to argue till they got back, the car unloading and Reed patting them on the back.
“Please don’t clobber or burn anything whilst we're gone, order in or eat casserole, I don’t care, but keep the fighting to a minimum, and don’t touch any of my stuff.”
“Any incentives for that?”
Reed wasn’t impressed.
“The incentive is that a 19 year old and 38 year old man can successfully not act like children around each other for a single night.”
Sue chimed in, dragging Reed away for them to get ready. This left the pair standing there, locking eyes.
“A chinese -”
…
Argument not yet resolved, Ben resided on the sofa as Johnny returned to his room. He would have fought his point all night had he not felt like crap, but there was no helping his competitiveness around Ben, so he got far enough to not cave into that stupid casserole.
“Alright you two, we’re heading on, have a nice boys night!”
Sue called out, dragging a mumbling Reed as he was torn from his lab entrance. Ben and Johnny called out their own goodbyes, and soon it was just the two in their respective spots.
Johnny found himself in front of the mirror again, his breath from even afar steaming up the mirror in front of him. And looked at himself closer. Ben had made fun of his disheveled look after he flamed off from the hydrant, but part of him suspected that wasn’t the problem at play here.
He still felt faint, and now his face was starting to go red. It felt like, well, he was on fire? But from the inside this time.
He hopped in a quick shower, hopping to wave it off, but just found he felt even more faint with all the condensation even with just a lukewarm temperature. He stammered out having done the bare minimum, similarly skipping most steps of his fancy creams and oils.
Then came his wet hair, that he really didn’t have the energy to dry. Normally he’d just light it up and it was dry (although unstyled) quickly, but his flames were recovering at the moment. But god, he would risk it if it meant that he could be in bed within the next minute.
Using all his effort, he did his usual and found that the risk was not, in fact, worth it. He felt his knees hit the ground and a whine spilled from his lips as he did so, only getting messily half dry hair in return, but it was better than nothing.
To stop the spinning, he leaned his head against the counter in front of him, relishing its cool touch as the fuzziness faded.
“- alright matchstick, I’m comin’ in!”
The door crashed open as Ben stood in the hallway.
“What the hell!? Get out you big lug!!”
Johnny went red with annoyance and embarrassment, looking up at Ben as he tried to puzzle why on earth he would break his bathroom door down. So much for ‘not breaking anything’.
“What, you weren’t answerin’ me fer’ ages! What if ya’ slipped in the shower or somethin’?”
Thing crossed his arms in huff, concern still lacing his rocky features. Johnny was still on the floor, and realised this as Ben raised an eyebrow.
“Ya’ didn’t hear me at all? Benji’s not hard ta’ hear is all I’m sayin!”
Ben extended a hand as Johnny motioned to get up, him sighing as he took it and stumbled up, leaning on the counter for support after his episode. He felt no better, a groggy tired mess who couldn’t control his own flames, but the room was no longer spinning.
“Jeez kid what’s wrong witcha’? Casserole can’t be that bad.”
“I dunno, I’m probably just tired, I’ve been like this since earlier - Though, I could at least use my flames then without paying the reaper a visit.”
Ben’s face contorted in thought, unsure how to deal with a situation that Reed would be the first to solve. It did remind him however of when he was a teenager, babysitting for neighbours to earn bits of cash to help with home, and a little girl he’d been looking after got all feverish. She was fine, but it freaked him out a little to have to look after a sick kid who was just upset at everything.
“Maybe yer sick, you’ve gone all red in tha’ face. Kind of hard to take ya’ temperature though…”
Johnny’s face fell, and old Benji felt 15 again, when the girl’s lip had wobbled at the news she might be sick because ‘Sick people have to go to the hospital!’.
“I don’t wanna be sick! You can be so dramatic, you know that?”
Ben heaved a sigh, mourning the loss of Reed and especially Sue to put up with Flame boy when he was being uselessly stubborn. Not much he could do anyhow, may as well just keep Johnny in his sight and finally sort dinner out.
“Fine, fine! Don’t come cryin’ to me when ya’ feel even worse. Now, howsabout’ some dinner?”
Johnny smirked, happier at the prospect of food. As Ben had spoken he approached with a hand outstretched, eventually gripping Johnny by the shoulder to lead him out of the bathroom, and Johnny pondered where to order.
“Now you're talking big guy! I’m feeling Taco Bell.”
“You’re always feeling Taco Bell! And yer’ roastin’ through yer shirt Mr I’m not sick, is this yer’ equivalent of burnin’ up?”
They spoke as they walked out of Johnny’s area and into the living room, Johnny taking note he wasn’t being given much of a choice in just hiding in his room, but not complaining so long as food was on the table.
“I’m the human torch genius, I’m gonna be plenty hot.”
Johnny flopped on the sofa as Ben turned the TV on, collecting the remotes to stick on the coffee table and fake gagging at Johnny’s comment.
“You not gonna fight me for ‘mamas casserole’?“
“I’m fightin’ ya’ on one thing already tonight, I ain’t gonna keep it 2 if I can help it!”
Smirking in response, Johnny grabbed his phone to order the food in question as he made himself cozy in the middle. The living room was an open but comforting place, with warm lighting contrasting the sleek furniture that consisted of whites, greys and blues. It was quite a modern look, but the constant adjusting of the housewares necessary to fit all four of them meant that they couldn’t really just pop into a furniture store to find what they wanted.
It needed to be fireproofed, durable texturewise and weight wise - Sue and Reed didn’t have difficulties with such things, but acknowledged the importance of these requirements after the third sofa in the first two weeks of new powers. Being a tall building, the Baxter estate had plenty of windows to afford a good look of the city from above, displaying how it lit up at night.
“What’s your Taco bell order again?”
The couch dipped beside him as Ben laid back, focused on scrolling the channels on TV.
“I dunno, I usually jus tell whoever’s orderin’ ta get me what I’d like, so long as there ain’t no goddamn pickles.”
“Wait, there's a food you don’t like!?”
Ben pushed him over in response. He didn’t sit up again, instead choosing to rest his legs across Ben and lean on the arm of the sofa. He was tired enough to give up on ordering, but Ben would surely riot without the promised takeaway.
“Says it should be here in an hour. You ever gonna pick something?”
“Some of us are actually gonna’ watch what we put on ‘ere smartass, an ol’ Benji here has good taste!”
Ben smiled as he found what he deemed appropriate and stuck it on at way too high a volume, something called ‘The Goonies’ which sparked an argument on whether or not it was a classic. Fighting was a familiar pastime for the pair, both ready to jab the other at any moment for no real reason. Johnny found it funny getting Ben to react, and Ben loved to see the kid face consequences for it - not really a fight you could win.
“Food’s here and the drivers too scared to take the elevator up, go get it Blue eyes,”
Ben groaned and pushed Johnny’s legs off his lap, heaving upwards towards the corridor that held the elevator.
“I’d make ya’ go down yerself’ but I need a break from those matchstick legs of yers’, just as warm as the rest of ya’! We're gonna need to bring that temperature down after eating.”
Johnny rolled his eyes as he left, and soon Ben was plating the food up in the kitchen.
“We oughta stick this in the microwave, it’s gone all cold. The kid took his time!”
Feeling under his burrito and agreeing with the lukewarm notion, Johnny signalled for Ben to stop in his tracks.
“The microwave will just make it go all soggy, give it here and let the master do his work.”
He held his hand out, waiting for Ben to surrender it so he could reheat them both to be nice and crispy. Sure, he still felt like crap, but this was important stuff. Ben gave him an unimpressed look.
“You an idiot? Yer’ sick and usin’ yer’ powers like this?! Jeez, you’ve the survival instincts of a rock. An inanimate rock.”
“Fine then! Keep your cold soggy burrito bowl you nincompoop!”
As Johnny said so, he warmed the burrito in his left hand gently and deemed he was still in the same condition as before. Ben folded his arms, and his expression didn’t change.
“ See , you overdrama-”
Suddenly the entire burrito lit on fire, with the flames sourcing from up to his shoulder, burning the sleeve of one of his favourite shirts and causing his eyes to go wide. He threw the burrito as he got that same burst of dizziness from earlier and stopped them as he leaned on the nearby countertop.
“... You absolute idiot !!!”
Ben stomped on the fiery burrito till it was no more than a crisp, and the fire alarm went off, soaking the pair briefly, designed to go off when something other than Johnny was on fire in a room. Johnny just looked at Ben as the spraying stopped, trying to manifest an easy way out of this as Ben looked back in remorse.
“Sue’s gonna kill us, maybe even Reed…”
Johnny spoke, wiping the hair off his face as he looked around the smokey, soaked kitchen with the smell of burnt taco bell invading the place.
“I swear to god kid, I’m gonna kill you one of these days.”
The smaller just pouted in response, checking the time of the wall.
“They said they’d be home for like 9, we can totally get this cleaned in an hour!”
No amount of tiredness could make him willingly experience Sue’s wrath, so determination filled him as he stopped leaning on the counter and stood upright, looking for the cupboard with the cleaning supplies. Ben grabbed him by his arm and led him out the kitchen instead.
“We’ll sort it soon, with you usin’ yer’ powers there ya’ should take five before ya’ go all cinderella. Take note ya’ can’t use yer’ powers like this, something I thought we’d already established .”
Johnny accepted the support till he was back at the sofa, flopping onto it as he contemplated his unsteady relationship with his powers. He hated whatever this was.
“If I’m not sneezing I’m not sick. And don’t forget you broke down my bathroom door, we need to fix this stuff!”
Ben grimaced as he remembered the door, and considered the kitchen situation.
“Maybe we could get that H.E.R.B.I.E to help us, he’s plenty’ smart.”
Seeing as it was Reed’s brain in a small robot, the help wouldn’t go amiss. Surely it had some super vacuum or something useful amongst its many contraptions, so Johnny pressed the button on the small remote on the coffee table to summon it. It seemed to appear out of thin air from around the corner, whirring along with a smile on its robotic face.
“Do you require my assistance?”
…
Having explained their situation, H.E.R.B.I.E scampered to the kitchen to witness the mess. The pair soon followed.
“I believe I can assist in the cleanup, but with no access to my current tools I cannot do much more than help wipe down the surfaces and mop the ground.”
Ben creased his brow in confusion.
“What’s wrong witcha’ gadgets?
“Reed has limited your access to my full profile, citing that I am not to be ‘exploited’ by the pair of you and any unnecessary demands. I understand the kitchen is essential, but I am not allowed to use larger functions beyond basic help here, especially as a prototype.”
Johnny sighed in annoyance at Reed’s lack of faith in them both, fishing out rags from the drawers that he intended to attempt to dry with and handing them out. H.E.R.B.I.E chirped happily and got to work.
“Can you believe that! Stretcho doesn’t trust us!”
“To think I've known him since high school. Treatin’ us like children he is! Ol’ blue eyes here don't like the sound of this.”
As Ben said so, a strange sparking then shuddering sound came from the floor. The pair looked down to see H.E.R.B.I.E powering down, his face showing an error system message quoting that water had damaged the main system. Oops.
“... Did we just kill H.E.R.B.I.E!?”
The pair made eye contact, realising just how done for they were.
…
Hand in hand with Reed, Sue pondered the success of their dinner date happily. Being a fighting force meant quaint nights like this were rare, where they could spend time together talking about normal couple stuff like having babies and reminiscing about the disaster that was their wedding (Although their disaster wasn’t quite relatable).
The restaurant was only a 20 minute walk away from home, so they hadn’t bothered with a car, but her heels had begun to dig into the back of her foot and she found she regretted the decision, as they walked back from Reed’s favoured Italian diner. She remembered however that Johnny had loved Tiramisu when he was young, and figured she'd order an extra portion to bring back to make up for the busted nose.
Reed carried it, and soon they stood outside the doors to home.
“Do you think they had a nice night?”
Sue laughed and considered it quickly.
“I’m sure they had whatever their version of a nice night is, so long as Ben caved and ordered in. I sympathise with Johnny on the casserole, I’ve never liked it even when our parents used to make it.”
Soon they were on the elevator up, and the doors opened to a strangely empty living room. Seeing as it was Ben’s favourite spot, and Johnny loved to annoy Ben, it was unusual for it to be empty at a time like this. Just as Sue went to call on them, a shout sounded out from the kitchen.
Rushing to it, Sue stood in the doorway beside Reed and took in the sight of Ben and Johnny. Johnny’s hair was frizzy, eyes wide and face red as he was half climbing on the counter. Half of his shirt was burnt off, and he was soaked to the bone. Ben, also soaked, had wide eyes and was tiptoeing, hands also on a nearby counter.
Speaking of soaking, the kitchen was practically flooded, with a strong burnt smell of something and food scattered around the place. Taco bell, figures .
“ What the absolute - !!! ”
“H.E.R.B.I.E!!”
Reed cried out, and Sue noticed the robot glitching out on the floor. She looked back up at the pair and raised an eyebrow, prompting one to talk first. They looked at her, then each other, and Ben sighed.
“Johnny’s sick an’ tried to heat up his burrito but ‘he accidentally set it on fire, the sprinklers went off when he threw it so we asked H.E.R.B.I.E to help, but he couldn’t so he started cleaning an’ short circuited because of the water, but when he short-circuited he ended up electrocuting all of us. Also I mightah’ ripped Johnny’s bathroom door off the hinge.”
Reed looked up from H.E.R.B.I.E with a grimace and smelt the kitchen, looking around the place dejectedly.
“... I’ll call Tony in the morning and ask if he knows any good cleaners to help get rid of this smell. For now I’ll set the vents on so they dry up this place, like you could have done before, and I’ll have the pair of you fix the door in the morning.”
Johnny got off the counter and avoided eye contact, knowing full well Sue was glaring daggers at him.
“ One night we leave. Not even a full one! Do we need to have Agatha babysit the pair of you!?”
Ben quietly answered no as Reed picked up H.E.R.B.I.E, evaluating the damage.
“And how did you burn the burrito and your shirt! I thought you had control most of the time of your powers?”
Johnny shrugged.
“That parts not my fault! My powers have been feeling weird since earlier!”
Sue considered how he looked again, noting his red face and tired demeanour, and connected it to Ben’s comment.
“You said he’s sick?”
“I’m not sick .”
“I can feel he’s burnin’ up from ‘here!
Ben answered, now trying to leave the scene of the crime to fetch towels.
“What part of the human torch don’t you get biggie?”
“Shut up Johnny and come here.”
He did as demanded, standing in front of Sue and felt five years old again. She always did have a way of making everyone around her seem so immature by comparison, and having needed to raise Johnny since she was young, could never let go of her maternal instincts toward him.
Feeling his forehead as he swiped her hand away, she knew it was different from normal, as although he had a tolerance for 416°, his body temperature wasn’t too far above average usually.
“Reed, what does it mean if Johnny’s burning up?”
He furrowed his brows, walking out the room with them in tandem and setting H.E.R.B.I.E on a towel to dry on the coffee table.
“When was the last time you got sick Johnny?”
He thought about it, sitting on the sofa and recalling he hadn’t had a cold or anything of the sort since before becoming the human torch, so for around a year or so. A pretty normal timeframe for him considering he had been an outside kid, able to build a tolerance towards sickness since he was young.
“Uh, just before the accident last year probably.”
Reed hmm’d and felt Johnny’s forehead for himself, and stood tall.
“If my hypothesis is correct, you should be fine lad. This may be your equivalent of a flu, but your altered biology means you’re experiencing it differently - namely your body is trying to keep up with your rising temperature, which in turn is ‘burning’ you out and causing your powers to go haywire. I’ll do some testing tomorrow, but it's getting late and rest is the best treatment besides cooling you down.”
When Reed said something it was a fact, not a theory. So the reality of being actually sick was here and punching him in the face, and part of him was annoyed Ben had been right.
“We still ain’t eaten…”
Ben interjected as he picked up his phone, practically a tablet with all of its modifications.
“Don’t order, the kitchen should be dried up - I’ll make something simple just in case his stomach flips.”
Sue gave Johnny a once over, judging his condition for herself before she left as she held the tiramisu, intending to only give it if he reacted fine to whatever she whipped up. Some surfaces were still damp, but the ventilation had worked well enough. Trust the pair to end up like this the moment we leave, but in fairness to Ben, Johnny could be a handful when he was sick. Caring for him as he grew up included lots of colds and bugs, which more often than not resulted in him acting out in frustration at being kept inactive.
She never resented him for his temper, especially when sickness wasn’t in his control, but it stressed her to no end when he refused to stay in bed.
Reed stayed still for a moment longer, ensuring his own confidence in his theory as Johnny gave him a weird look.
“Does this mean I can choose what’s on TV?”
Reed would have happily said yes, never one to be too picky over the TV, but he looked to the side awaiting Ben’s surefire response. They had regular fights over the remote; it wouldn't have even surprised Reed if Ben had said no.
“Howsabout’ we both choose. Ya’ can pick some real crap sometimes, and this time yer’ delusional with sickness, so god knows what you’ll put on.”
Johnny rolled his eyes and flopped down on the sofa, now laying across it as he scrolled through channels.
“Only delusion here is you thinking that only fools and horses is the greatest program to ever exist.”
Ben lifted his legs as he sat down, leaving them in his lap as he petted the space beside him for Reed to sit. Reed had taken off his suit jacket and draped it on a nearby chair, and decided to indulge Ben for once and joined him. They settled on a random hospital program, not wanting to put another movie on.
“Hopefully this is enough, It’s just a spread of cheeses, crackers and grapes. It's that garlic and chive cheese you like Ben, so don’t worry.”
Sue entered carrying a large platter filled with what seemed like a random selection of foods, but in truth this was a familiar spread. The Storm family had brought it to Reed and Sue originally, but now it was a team favourite so they kept the ingredients around. She had wanted something easy to eat but familiar, so this seemed pretty obvious.
With how their faces lightened up it was a good choice.
Johnny sat up, eager to finally eat but tiredness gnawed at him, having nearly dozed off when he’d laid down. Sue sat on his other side as they all picked at the tray, Ben and Johnny indulging more than the other two as they’d already eaten, meaning half of it went to Ben.
There was also a small bowl filled with ice and a rag on the tray, and Johnny knew what was to happen when he was done eating.
“There’s some tiramisu we brought back from the restaurant, if you want to try it?”
Reed offered, looking to Johnny who’d laid back, seemingly done with the spread. It took him a second to register what Reed had said, but the word tiramisu had perked up his ears. Part of him desperately wanted to just eat it now, god knows he loved it, but all he wanted to do was sleep and stop feeling so fuzzy.
“I think you should wait until the morning for that.”
Sue had said, running a hand through his hair as he sunk further in the sofa. Johnny just nodded in agreement, closing his eyes and soon in haze feeling the cool touch of a practically frozen rag, which was quick to warm up a bit.
As the chatter around him grew quieter, pertaining to the doctor’s genius in the show and comparing it to Reed’s, Johnny was able to note his slumping toward Ben as he felt his head rest on that rocky side, but he couldn’t bring himself to care so long as the hand playing with his hair didn’t stop.