Chapter Text
During the four years of calm, the three teammates noticed Johnny’s strange patterns.
Ben was the first to pick up on it.
It started when Johnny was clearing out his office.
Ben had walked past it a couple times and knew just how messy it was thanks to the stacks of papers trying to decipher the strange language that was coming in. The blonde was just standing in the middle of the office that day, staring at the papers on the floor. Ben knew Johnny wasn’t the type to space out so abruptly, especially during a task.
The rocky fellow knocked on the open door and seemed to snap the blonde out of his trance. Johnny was quick to assure the other he was fine and after some playful banter Ben left it as that.
Sure, there would be times Johnny would stare off into the distance, throw himself on the line during missions a bit too often, snap at the others when they called Shalla-Bal as the Silver Surfer, or sit in his office in strange silence, but other than that he insisted he was fine.
Ben immediately pocketed that away in his head for later.
Then Susan started catching on to her brother’s behavior. She and Ben silently acknowledged it to each other but didn’t think to bring it up. After all, everyone had been coping their own way since the giant fight with Galactus. Maybe this was his way?
The two had spoken to each other about Johnny’s strange behavior and thought about ways to talk to him about it. They knew the blonde had a short fuse and rarely liked it when he was the one on the receiving end of a confrontation. After a week for mulling over it, the two agreed to talk to him about it after dinner that night.
Susan decided to investigate a bit further, hoping that this was just a strange phase of her brother’s. She quietly slipped in as she went invisible to see him slouched over his desk with his headset on. She looked over to see the record player playing what she assumed to be the recordings that he had spent months deciphering before Galactus’s arrival. In one hand was a pen he was fiddling with while the other had a thumbtack that he was slowly pressing into his thumb. He seemed really out of it as he just stared out of the window listening to the recording loop over and over.
”Earth to Johnny?” Sue chuckled as she sat on her brother’s desk, making herself visible.
The other let out a small yelp before shutting off the recording and taking his headphones off. He quickly yanked out the thumbtack and gave a hiss though tried to brush it off by sucking off the pinprick of blood. “Don’t sneak up in me like that dude.”
The older one chuckled as she ruffled her brother’s hair. “Anything on your mind?”
The younger one hesitated as he glanced from his sister then back to the city view. “Not much. I mean, besides the bad idea about seeing how flame resistant Ben is.”
”Oh come on.” Susan rolled her eyes, earning a chuckle from her brother. “I’m being serious right now.”
Johnny chuckled softly and shook his head. “I guess… Is it weird that I miss someone I barely spoke to?”
”You talking about the Silver Surfer?”
”Shalla-Bal, yea.”
There was a beat of silence before Susan spoke again. “In this case, I wouldn’t call it weird. You and her would’ve been a cute couple.”
Johnny rolled his eyes but had a smirk on his face. “Hell yea we would.”
Susan left the conversation at that, not thinking too much about what Johnny muttered at the end.
///
Reed was the last to catch onto Johnny’s behaviour. But unlike the other two, he didn’t realise it was something to not bring up to abruptly and so casually in front of the whole team during dinner.
HERBIE was whirring around cleaning the kitchen and helping feed Franklin while the team ate at the table. Tonight was a meeting night over something to do with Subterrea. Ben was sure as hell not paying attention to what Sue was on about (not in a disrespectful way, he loved listening to Sue), he was a bit too focused on Johnny.
Usually Johnny would have an appetite to one of a nation after a mission. Ben had even made lasagna with the extra cheese the flaming blonde loved so much. Yet tonight, he was just prodding at it and staring listlessly into the puddle of tomato sauce and meat on his plate.
”And you Johnny? How have you been?” Susan asked as she ran a hand over Franklin’s head.
Johnny gave a low hum as he looked up to his sister with a weak smile. “Yea I’m good.”
Susan and Ben looked at each other, both waiting for the right moment to try talking to Johnny about his behaviour but Reed beat them to it.
Terribly.
”I have been meaning to ask about what happened during the battle with Galactus.” Reed started as he set his fork on the plate. “I mean, seeing you try to sacrifice yourself to the giant was-.”
”Wait.” Susan interrupted her husband. “Johnny you what?”
At this, the flaming blonde gave a strained smile, though his eyes stared daggers to the man sitting across him. “What the hell are you talking about? That was nothing.” His eyes darted to his now wide-eyed sister. “I swear-.”
By now Susan was standing up, completely confused and somewhat furious with this new knowledge. “Johnny what does Reed mean by that? Do you have something to explain?”
Johnny slowly stood up with his hands up in defense as all eyes were now on him. “Please! I was doing what I had to do to save the team and-.”
”There has to be more than that!” The older blonde exclaimed once again as she slammed her hands on the table. None of the team was expecting this sort of reaction from Susan of all people. HERBIE gave a small squeak before rolling Franklin away from the dinner table.
Reed reached a hand out to Sue’s shoulder. “Sue, I thought you-.”
Now it was Ben’s turn for him to start freaking out. Well, it wasn’t a freak out, more like piecing the puzzle together and reaching to a terrible conclusion. “Johnny, you weren’t trying to..?”
Johnny stared at the other for a second before letting out a loud gasp and waved his hands around. “N-No! I never would want to-… to do that.”
Ben noticed Johnny’s shoulders slump almost immediately as he trailed off from his sentence. Reed scratched the back of his neck and attempted to give an apology, though he ended up rubbing his wife’s back as she stared at her brother with teary eyes.
”Johnny, why didn’t you tell me about that..?” She asked slowly.
The other sputtered for a moment as his eyes darted to where Franklin was sitting right before. “I-I did it for your kid! My nephew! And that was the only way to stop the giant freak from crawling out of the Bridge anyways if it wasn’t for Shalla-Bal!”
Ben shook his head and reached his hand to the other’s shoulder. “Johnny. That night when you chased the Silver Surfer-.”
”Shalla-Bal.” Johnny corrected Ben sharply.
”Right, Shalla-Bal.” Ben repeated. “When you chased her out that night, I remember you telling me about a deal you had tried to make with her. I thought that deal you were talking about could’ve been a joke but… were you really being serious about it?”
Johnny’s hands dropped down and balled into fists. He didn’t dare look at anyone in the eyes. He could already feel the fire burning on his head as he started storming off to the balcony. It didn’t help the fact that now Ben was chasing after him, trying to get him to explain.
”Johnny I just need to-.”
“JUST LEAVE ME ALONE!”
Johnny was now ablaze as he stared down at the three, all with mixed emotions on their faces. “Look, I’m sorry, but I just need some space, please.”
Ben was about to say something but Johnny had flown off by then.
///
Why couldn’t they fucking leave it alone? Stupid Reed had to be the one to notice everything and blab it off at dinner. It was for Franklin! I at least had to suggest being the sacrifice. It wasn’t like I wanted to… sacrifice myself because of that… right?
Johnny continued to reason with himself as he landed back at the Baxter Building’s balcony. By now it was basically one in the morning and he was expecting for no one to be in the living space.
But of course, big sister Sue was waiting for him right on the couch.
Great, of course she has the stupid ‘guilt-tripping mom face’ right now.
Johnny tried to walk past her to his room, but of course there was a force field that forced him to the couch. He looked like a brooding teenager sitting in front of his somewhat disappointed mom? Eugh, he hated this.
”You managed to get the other two to bed?” Johnny spoke first, eyes staring at the ground.
”Yea. I promised them that I’ll handle all this.” She chuckled softly. “I mean, I’m the one that’s dealt with you running off before.”
The younger one continued to stare at the ground while Sue spoke. She moved over to her brother’s side, knees bumping against each other and shoulders barely brushing. “Look, I’m not one to want to interrogate you. You and I both know that, I mean, Ben and Reed told me things as well.”
Johnny grumbled as he slumped over with his elbows resting on his knees. “Of course they would. Did Ben tell you about-.”
”You wanting to sacrifice yourself instead of Franklin..? Yea.” Susan spoke quietly, the type of quiet Johnny only associated with the time she had to break the news to him about their parents’ death. He didn’t like that.
What he wasn’t expecting was for her to pull him into a hug.
”Please Johnny. I know just how much you love Franklin, but that doesn’t mean you have the right to just go and sacrifice yourself without thinking about the consequences.” Susan whispered to him. Johnny felt even worse now hearing her voice shaking. “You say you are a doer and not a thinker, but even a doer would know where the limits are, right?”
Johnny just stared down. He didn’t have the heart to tell her what his thought process was like when he went and did the offer. But Sue brought her hands to his face and looked at him with the innocent look at she always did on him when she wanted answers. Johnny hated that it worked on him so well and Sue knew it the most.
”I’m tired Sue.” Was all Johnny could muster to say. “I’m so tired Sue. I guess I was tired of being a superhero everyone had to look up to then as well…”
”And..?”
”I guess… I miss her too.”
There was an awfully long pause of silence between the two siblings before Sue pulled him into a hug again. This time the younger Storm couldn’t help but cry. He buried his face in the crook of her neck, almost as if he was worried anyone else besides her would see him cry. Then from behind him he felt a giant pair of arms wrap around. Then he could only imagine a pair of stretchy arms pulling them all together in one final squeeze of a hug.
After what felt like forever, the four broke apart. Johnny felt too guilty to look at anyone at that point, but his sister lifted his head up. “Johnny, none of us are ever going to be perfect. Out of everyone here I was expecting you to be the one harping about that the most.”
That earned a chuckle from the younger Storm. He turned to look at Ben with the same puppy-dog eyes that Sue gave him before, though this time unintentionally. Clearly that was a signature look the Storm siblings could whip out anytime. Ben sighed as he rubbed his friend’s back. “Alright. It’s been a long night for all of us. How about we talk this through in the morning yea?”
Johnny wiped his eyes as he slowly got up. “Yea.”
Sue walked him over to his bedroom, though he insisted she didn’t. Once she watched him crawl into bed, Johnny tried to chase her out saying that he wasn’t a kid to be coddled after what just happened.
”You better not think about sacrificing yourself to some random space god next time.” The older Storm said, almost like a threat but in a playful way. “You gotta stay here and be an uncle for Franklin yea?”
Johnny attempted to look annoyed but couldn’t help the smile on his face. “Yea yea.”
”Johnny, you know I’m serious right? Promise you won’t do it again?”
Johnny hesitated for a moment before giving a nod.
”I… I guess I promise.”
That was enough for Sue for now.
”Night Johnny.”
”Night Sue.”