Chapter Text
“Good morning New York” Bright lights hit a recently steamed suit, while the camera flash reflects on gelled hair, a wide smile joining the casual greeting “Thank you once more for joining, Hush and Tell, in this beautiful day for more exciting news about our local celebrities, today we have hot news” The host takes a seep of his coffee, flinching back as the hot drink meets his tongue.
“Even hotter than usual” The man says with a wink towards the audience. Fake laughs feel the auditorium.
“Our sweethearts, the Patterson’s, meet a flaming hot obstacle in the middle of their otherwise dream romance, the rumors about a supposed affair were confirmed last night, through a tweet posted by “Pattershome” the official Patterson’s account as Scott, we supposed, confirmed Lori’s already suspected affair, asking for privacy as they deal with the situation as a family” The host holds his hand in front of his mouth, whispering, as if to tell the audience a badly kept secret “However we have acquired some steaming secret information just for you”
The room erupts once more in celebration, as the man laughs and stands up from his chair, a little hiccup on his step as he approaches the camera placed right in front of the audience, making a shushing motion towards its lens.
“We got confirmation that Lori’s affair partner was no other than one of the New York heroes, Johnny Storm, Human Torch, member of the Fantastic 4” Gasps fill the audience as interest picked up thickening in the air.
“Our sources place the Torch and our Juliette in the same club the supposed night of the events, witnesses say they the two met eyes once across the dance floor and disappeared at the same time, as if on cue”
The audience gasps once more, sitting at the edge of their seats, completely enthralled by the story.
“The Torch’s ‘promiscuous’ behaviour has never been a secret, his charm drawing in numerous partners, but to pursue a married woman? A new low for Johnny, and after last week’s pool incident” A chuckle interrupted his rant “Well let’s just say that perhaps the bottom of a hot tub was a foreshadowing of how deep he was willing to fall!”
Fake laughs.
“I mean please Johnny, one of the most sought after bachelor’s going for the one he couldn’t have?”
Disapproving snarls.
“But honestly what else could we expect from Narcissus? You can’t expect quiet from a rooster, am I right?”
Laughs.
“Could the public animosity, displayed by Storm, be just a trick in order to tear attention away from his objective? Could our Juliette be the newest victim of the fiery casanova?”
Gasps.
“Our poor Lori, so innocent and naive, we know her through her stories, she invited us to her house, her soul, being so vulnerable with us through her songs, always so quick to open her heart, just for a player to take advantage of her”
Sad coos.
“Lori made a mistake, Johnny made a conscious decision”
Gasps.
Laughs.
Boos.
…..
Sue paced the lab, hand on her forehead, pressing her fingers into her temples in an attempt to calm herself.
“What could have possibly possessed you to do that?” Sue asked in a monotone voice.
Johnny sat across from her on a chair, still in his pajamas, the Human Torch themed blue pants and matching white shirt, hair wild and out of place and tired eyes from a slumber just interrupted.
“Sue, what are you talking about?” A yawn cuts him off “I literally just woke- you literally just woke me up, give a man some time to fuck up jeez…” He said lightly.
Rapid footsteps cross the room reaching for a newspaper casually lying on Reed’s desk, Sue grabbed it roughly before opening a page and passing it to her brother.
Johnny grabbed the paper, confusion clear in his stance, rolling his eyes and mentally preparing for his most recent unintended fuck up.
“JOHNNY STORM INVOLVED IN ROMANTIC AFFAIR WITH LORI PATTERSON”
Well that’s unexpected, he wasn’t aware he was involved in any affair, much less with someone like Lori Patterson.
“Eh yeah no?” Johnny said confusion clear in his voice, as he smoothed his hair with his hand.
“What is that supposed to mean?” Sue asked, glaring at him.
“Um it means no” Johnny throws the newspaper back to his sister, who catches it with easy never taking her eyes of his little brother “Like that did not happen”
Sue pins him with her intense blue eyes, arms crossed over her chest.
The doors of the lab opened abruptly, Reed stood there as Ben fell in, as the door was no longer there to support his weight. Both men sporting equal deer in headlight looks.
“Um we were not listening” Said Reed carefully.
“But in case we were” Said Ben as he stands up from the floor “Thank God you didn’t do it”
Sue’s piercing eyes remained unmoved on their victim, as if trying to extend her powers to see through his own head. And perhaps she could, if there was a comfort in this situation is that his sister could read him like a book, when she was paying attention.
Her eyes softened as her posture dropped, a relieved sigh scaping her lips.
“Ok…” She closes her eyes and presses her fingers into her eyes “Ok, that’s a relieve”
“See! Told you he still had some sense in him” The thing says, standing to his side and dropping his arm around his shoulder, making him stumble under the weight.
“Why would you even think I would do that, like first of all not my style” He says freeing himself from Ben’s arm “Second of all, you know I can’t stand Lori”
The current beef between Johnny Storm and Lori Patterson was New York's favorite casual joke, nobody really knew what happened or why, but Johnny held a strong and firm dislike for the singer, both her music and her person as a whole.
If you were to ask Lori in public about their rivalry, she would only give you a sweet stare and deny any accusations.
If you were to ask Johnny he would give you a joke and laugh it off to distract you from the topic.
Even with their denials, it was very clear that the two of them held a less than pleasant relationship, barely tipping into enemies territory. From glares when nobody was looking to clearly avoiding each other every time they could, it was the worst kept secret of the decade.
“Yes but she is pretty” Said Ben, offhandedly.
Johnny’s eyes filled with hurt for a moment, this has been a theme lately, as in the last four years lately, it was like his family had also adopted the perception the media had on him.
Johnny was the youngest of them, still a wide eyed kid at the time of their now famous incident, not even having his driving permit yet. He was still in school, had no friends and definitely lacked any real life experience.
Their lives turned upside down, practically overnight, school replaced with online tutoring, the long hallways before covered by lockers were now filled with cameras, paparazzis and interviewers. His family home in a quiet neighborhood, was now a retro modern apartment in the heart of Manhattan. Everything changed, not even his clothes stayed the same, having to exchange everything for fireproof fabrics.
Johnny loved the attention at first, it was funny seeing how his every move caused an uproar, he paid no mind to them, kept moving on, learned how to charm the public with a smile and a poorly thought out joke. Quickly earning devoted fans and the most add deals out of the four of them.
He thought everything was fine, sure sometimes the pressure was too much, and some of the ads he got hired for felt… weird and the people hiring him were not great a lot of times, and he had now business deals and conferences pulling him out of math, and strict diets to make sure he kept his figure for the ads, and what if he now couldn’t eat without counting each calorie in his head, so what if some of the fan mail he got scared him, so what if everyone had a thought on every single thing he did.
Who cares? He has everything he could have ever asked for.
So what if Sue no longer had time for him, she had an important job now.
So what if the only thing he caused Reed now was annoyance, as his time became monopolized by his job.
So what if Ben, in the same boat as him, had been drifting away from him as he struggled to fit into his new life as well.
He was fine.
Even when his first parking ticket had been a column in the New York Times, his first date a first page scandal and when, that one time, he was having a particular bad day and he wasn’t super friendly to a cashier-
Like for fucks sakes he wasn’t even rude, he just didn’t really engage in conversation, God forbid he couldn’t bring himself to give an excited answer to how his day was going, when it was in fact going fucking horribly.
-the gossip podcast of the hour dedicated a whole 45 minute segment about how he was a spoiled brat with an attitude problem.
The media frenzy eventually settled, he had made an effort to recoil from the public eye and it paid off. It took a while but when he finally spent a week without some kind of media coverage, he was happy.
Then the ad deals started to dwindle, he no longer had business deals, no fan meet ups, no photoshoots, nothing.
He found himself with time, his previously completely booked evenings suddenly free, with the free time he was able to easily catch up with his high school program and graduate on time, after all there wasn’t much to teach to a guy qualified enough to go to space as an engineer.
His family started to ask him what he was going to do with himself, and Johnny started to feel useless, he had no friends, no goals or dreams, he didn’t have a life, the only relevant thing about him was the Torch.
Johnny didn’t exist without scandals, but the Torch? the Human Torch was a hero, member of the fantastic four, a fun guy, passionate, good heart, good looks, sure he was also stupid, reckless, impulsive and a casanova.
But unlike Johnny the Torch existed, the Human Torch was a star meant to be admired, and Johnny was what was left of it when the star burned out.
So he started to present himself as so, if Johnny was that undesirable then he would blow him out like an overflowing candle.
Who needed a meek spark when you could have the sun.
Things started to move again, the deals were back, the fans were back, and so was everything negative that came with them, including a new fact.
That his family now only saw the Torch as well.
A small price to pay in Johnny’s humble opinion, after all there wasn’t much to Johnny anyway, why waste their time on something destined for obscurity.
And sure, some days he felt like he couldn’t breathe.
Some days getting out of bed felt like a betrayal to his very soul.
Some days eating was a challenge.
Some days he asked himself if it was really worth it.
And some days the mere fact of being alive felt like a curse.