Disclaimer: I do not and never will own Marvel or any of its ideas/characters.
Summary: Reed's niece, Danica, has lived with him since she was nine. What happens when she comes along to space with her uncle and everyone else? She's known Johnny Storm for years, neither of them ever really being friends, and now they have been forced back into contact with one another. Is it a recipe for disaster? Future Johnny/OC
AN:: Just so we're clear, this story has been rewritten and reposted, brought over from another account. So if it sounds a lot like something else you've read here it's because you did - I wrote "The Difference" via an old account where I went as Miskit. This story began as "The Difference" and has now evolved into this.
Past in Present
Chapter One
Danica Richards hated fairy tales. Or, perhaps it wasn't the tale itself that she hated… it was more the beginning she hated: 'Once upon a time'. She hated 'Once upon a time'; to her all it translated to was, 'get ready to hear some major bullshit'. So, as one could imagine, Danica also hated classic Disney movies. She especially hated 'Beauty and the Beast'. The damn movie opens with 'Once upon a time in a far away land there was a castle, blah, blah, blah, rude prince, uptight enchantress, pretty poor girl with a crazy father… something about a rose and talking pots'. It was a flawed system, giving kids unrealistic expectations about life… and hair.
Have you seen the hair on the chicks in Disney movies? It defies all laws of physics, not to mention gravity. And has anyone else noticed how the characters' hair colors are exclusively made up of primary colors? Like Ariel… now there was a gal with a real problem; bright, candy apple red hair and a pink dress.
She should have just shot herself in the face with a harpoon.
And then there was Snow White: the freakish whore who lived with seven little men and tromped through the forest with a bunch of woodland creatures. Danica wondered with a vague sense of horror just how many kidlets ran outside in a makeshift gown made from their mother's freshly cleaned towels after watching that movie to lullaby a bunny into being their friend… only to be mauled by a squirrel.
Belle was into bestiality.
Cinderella was a slave.
Alice was a druggie.
Sleeping Beauty practiced self mutilation.
Jasmine was a spoiled bitch. She had a pet tiger for Christ's sake!
And Tinker Bell was the biggest slut of them all!
Danica was convinced that Disney was the devil and 'Once upon a time' was the unforgiveable sin that started it all.
Now, what did children's movies and fairy tales have to do with anything? At the moment? Nothing. Nothing at all, actually. She just really hated Disney… except for The Lion King.
Hakuna Matata really was a wonderful phrase.
A feather soft curl lifted the edges of Danica's pale lips as she began to hum the upbeat, catchy tune. She was sitting in an armchair, legs dangling off one side over the armrest and lanky body curled up around a book she had balanced in her lap. One of her feet began to bounce while she hummed, jolting her book now and then, but she wasn't really paying much attention to the thing so it was no big deal. She was mostly just staring blankly at the pages, flipping them when the time was right, in an attempt to keep all attention off of her while her uncle and Ben finished stowing their belongs away in their provided space cubbies.
"Hakuna Matata?" The laugh in Reed Richard's voice forced Danica to look up from the pages of her book to her uncle's face, "Since when do Disney sing-alongs have anything to do with cosmic energy clouds?"
"Nothing, most likely." Danica shot at him around a smirk, "But you're the rocket scientist, you figure it out."
The man sighed, shaking his head at the young woman, "…Always so sweet to your uncle, aren't you, Dani?"
"I do what I can," she chuckled and turned the page in her book. Her brow furrowed over hazel eyes as she focused on a sentence on the page, attempting to figure out just what it was she was pretending to be reading. It was a vain attempt; she had no idea what was going on.
"What are you reading?"
She felt the smirk on her lips widen, brow twitching, "Oh, you know… stuff."
"Stuff?" Reed arched a brow, "What kind of stuff?"
She chuckled this time, closing the book and setting it aside without a care. She'd been caught and she knew it and it was rather funny. "Evolution, cosmic clouds… you know, the usual."
"Right," Reed sighed again, playing at exasperated. "Remind me again why I had to argue with Victor for days to get you onboard this station?"
Danica shrugged, scratching her fingers through her short dark-brown hair, "Because if you leave me alone I might play in the lab, set a huge electrical fire in the Baxter Building and burn down the entire city?" She grinned cheekily at the look he gave her, "Or maybe just because I'm your favorite niece and you love me oh so much."
"Dani…" Reed laughed, "you're my only niece."
"Exactly," She pointed out to him. "How many people can say their uncle is a rocket scientist? Uh, me and maybe three other people in the entire world, that's who. And honestly, what kind of uncle would you be to take off to space and leave me on earth all by my lonesome?"
Reed and Ben shared a look, both grinning while Danica talked.
"A crappy uncle, that's what." She nodded, hand gesturing about with a flourish, "Going to space is a once in a life time thing. Would you really want me to miss out on such an outstanding experience?" She held up a finger, "Plus! I grew up with you and all your mad-scientist experiments, who better to have your back up here then me?"
Reed pursed his lips, playing along with his niece, and then pointed matter-of-factly at his bald friend. "Ben."
She frowned at the two men, "Sure, of course. But Ben's gonna be out walking amongst the stars-"
"And I'll have the rest of a very capable crew to help with all the work inside," Reed laughed at the aghast look Danica gave him. He turned to Ben with a surprised look on his face, looking far too pleased with himself as his niece fell silent and right out pouted. "Wow… Did I really just out talk Danica Richards? I think I did!"
"Careful, Egg-head," Ben warned with a chuckle. "You know as well as I do that hell hath no fury like Miss Danica Elizabeth Richards..."
Danica crinkled her nose, making a desperately disgusted sound, "Oh please, not the middle name, Ben."
"Elizabeth is a beautiful middle name," Reed argued. "It was your mother's name."
"Well, I wish she would have kept it." She grimaced again, "And for the love of god, please don't call me Danica."
"I hate to be the bearer of bad news," Ben jumped in, "but Danica is in fact your name, sweetheart." He chuckled out loud when her grimace only grew, "Ok, fine… what would you prefer to be called?"
"How about: 'the awesome-tastic, super-amazing Dani'?" She watched Ben and Reed both roll their eyes, scoffing at her, and laughed. "No? Then how about just Dani?"
"Fine, fine..." Ben shook his head.
Ben Grimm was just as much of an uncle to Danica as Reed was; the two men had been best friends for so long and Ben had been around the Baxter Building so often over the years that the broad, bald man was practically family. As far as Danica was concerned Ben was family and always had been. She could even go as far as to say Ben was really more of an older brother, guardian type figure rather than a second uncle. And Debbie, Ben's fiancé, well… Dani wasn't so close to her as she was to Ben, but she liked the woman well enough. Ben loved her with all his heart and she seemed like an alright lady, a little on the high maintenance side, but an all around alright lady. And Ben cared enough to be marrying her, so Dani had accepted her as family as well; a distant member, perhaps, but family nonetheless.
The group fell silent after that, each wearing a grin or hint of a smirk on their lips. Ben returned to rummaging through his duffle bag for a final check up and Reed went back to studying his graphs and notes. Danica looked to the other Richards and couldn't help the softening of her smile and the sigh that filled and compressed her lungs.
Reed… well, it was safe to say that as much as she hated Disney and fairy tales, Danica loved her uncle with the same intensity. He was her entire world. She'd lived with him since she was only nine years old, twelve long and happy years. She'd gone through a whole lot of crap back when she was little, back before a young twenty year old Reed showed up and whisked her away to the Baxter Building after her parents' deaths. Reed had given up a lot concerning his own future when he'd chosen to raise her in his elder brother's stead, and Danica would never forget that sacrifice, that selflessness. Most likely she even owed the man her life and Danica knew she'd never be able to repay the debt she owed him.
"Captain on the bridge!"
The humor in the lounge died down immediately as a male's voice barked out from behind them all. The commanding voice sent Ben straight up on his feet, stiff at attention in the blink of an eye. Danica didn't even bother to turn and look at the entering individual. She'd know that voice anywhere, even after a two year absence from it. The blinding flash of a camera brought Ben out of his hard military stance and Danica watched as his face flushed in anger with each step the blond man entering the room took.
"Digital camera – 254 dollars. Memory stick – 59 dollars. The look on your hard-ass former C.O.'s face when he finds out he's your junior officer… priceless." Johnny Storm gloated his way into the room, dropping his own duffle bag to the floor and settling down on the arm of the chair Danica sat in, nearly right on top of her legs.
Danica scowled at the back of the blond's head, adjusting her legs to put more space between them and the man. She sent a stealthy glance over the other, her own thoughts easily drowning out the majority of the by now familiar baiting and bickering, old junior-senior struggle of a twisted friendship Ben and the blond had.
Oh… Danica remembered Johnny Storm alright. How could she ever forget? The first time she'd ever met him Reed and Sue had been going on their third month together as a couple and Johnny had tagged along with his sister to her sixteenth birthday party. The blond had been nineteen at the time, bouncing from university to university, and had been on summer break the year they'd met. The age difference between them had been more prominent to him then to her; three years wasn't much of an age difference, but as far as Johnny was concerned it might as well have been a 30 year gap. Over the three years Reed and Sue had managed to stick together, she and Johnny had spent a lot of time in each other's company… she wondered how he managed to pull off finishing school considering just how often he was at home rather than on campus.
Danica had been a very skinny, gangly girl when she was younger and up until a few years ago her arms had appeared to be too long for her body and her face too sharp and angular; needless to say, Johnny had resorted to teasing her an awful lot when he wasn't too busy sucking face with his bimbo of the hour girlfriend. But that had been years ago and Reed and Sue had long since broken it off between them, and she hadn't seen Johnny Storm since she was nineteen, not since Reed and Sue had broken up.
She doubted the blond, blue-eyed egomaniac had changed all that much though. He certainly still looked the same as she remembered him being – handsome face, charming smile, trim body and sturdy shoulders. If anything, the only changes she could see were that he was a bit taller than she recalled, but by no means was Johnny a tall man, and his voice was a bit deeper… but they were very slight changes and she could very well just be imagining them. He was, if Danica was honest with herself, a very attractive man and always had been… and in that fact laid his downfall. Johnny knew he was good looking and he flaunted it. He was bold, brash, and in Danica's opinion, far too self gratifying.
And really, Johnny was a good looking man, but he wasn't [that]good looking…
Not good looking enough, in Danica's eyes, that she could just over look the ego and maverick attitude. Not to mention the bad blood that flowed between them.
On a scale of one to ten concerning the things she hated, ten being Disney and one being holiday music on the radio, Johnny Storm was about an eight.
"I can handle this ship. I can even handle Mr. Blond Ambition," Ben started, turning from Johnny to the mini closet in the room to tug out a blue spandex flight suit. "But I don't know if I should be flying or doing Swan Lake in these suits."
Danica couldn't help but chuckle, giving Ben a teasing wink. "Sexy, Ben. Blue is definitely your color." Reed gave a chuckle as well.
"Quiet, you." Ben grimaced at her, shaking his head as he inspected the suit. Obviously, the bald man was dreading the moment when actually putting the suit on was required of him.
Danica could have kicked herself for deciding to speak up now as her voice seemed to finally alert Johnny to her presence. He twisted his body at the waist, looking back and down at her with surprised blue eyes; like he hadn't noticed her sitting there on the chair until this exact moment. She blatantly ignored his stare, turning her head away from him with a tense jaw and irritable expression. She could practically hear the wheels in his head turning, struggling to put a name to her face; the way he looked at her proved that he at least recognized her, but was obviously drawing a major blank concerning how he knew her.
Good. Danica could only hope the blond would get distracted and forget to remember who she was. But he was still looking at her with that muddled look of his when Ben spoke again…
"Come on, I mean, who the hell came up with these?"
"Victor did," The group, minus a still pondering Johnny, looking up as Sue Strom walked in. She looked as dazzling as ever and Danica found herself smiling at the blonde woman; she had always liked Sue. Danica had liked her immediately back at the beginning, loved her even; she'd liked Sue more then she had ever liked Ben's Debbie and certainly more than the couple of other women her uncle had ever tried and miserably failed to date. Sue Storm was smart and beautiful, and, unlike the others, she and her uncle had genuinely been in love with one another – despite what either of them might say now. "The synthetics act as a second skin, adapting to your body's individual needs…"
"See, now that means it keeps the hot stuff hot and the cool stuff cool," Johnny added, snapping out of his stupor long enough to toss the comment out at everyone. It was typical Johnny Storm behavior. He even used his hands while he spoke; gesturing about like he knew what he was talking about. Almost condescending – just like Danica remembered.
"Putting high school chemistry to good use, I see." Danica bit out, turning another glance up at the blond still perched on the armrest. Their eyes met and Johnny frowned down at her, head tilting inquisitively and in utter confusion of her. His mouth opened like he meant to say something to her, perhaps ask her just who she was, but Danica's attention was swiftly and willingly stolen away by the sight of her uncle standing up from his seat and approaching Sue.
Danica winced. This wasn't going to end well; she could feel it. As much as she loved her uncle she couldn't deny that he was a bit of a schmuck – extremely inapt when it came to women and relationships.
"Wow. Fantastic," Reed breathed in wonder and Danica watched in dismay as Sue's face lit up like a candle in a dark room. She visibly winced when her witless-wonder of an uncle grabbed the blue suit Ben was holding – what kind of idiot grabs a suit when a girl like Susan Storm is standing, gorgeous and positively glowing, right there in front of him? "Material made from self-regulating, unstable molecules…"
Sue's expression deteriorated into an awkward sense of embarrassment and then into irritation that barely masked the extent of her anger beneath. Everyone but Reed, unfortunately for him, saw it.
"I've been working on a formula for this."
"Smooth move, genius…" Danica muttered under her breath, shaking her head at her uncle's stupidity with a hand braced at her forehead. She sighed heavily and watched as Sue placed a stiff hand on her hip. It was a stance Danica had seen many times before in the past and recognized it easily for the clear sign of anger that it was. It was a stance her uncle had never learned to a take a hint from.
"Great minds think alike," Sue looked pissed. She was the kind of woman who was very good at hiding negative emotions and she was doing an excellent job of keeping it in control now, but it was easy enough to spot by someone who knew where to look for it. And Reed just kept studying the suit in his hands, oblivious to the error of his ways and the tension everyone else in the room could feel and see. "Here, Ben." The blonde woman handed Ben a blue outer jumper, one of three she had carried in with her. She smile fondly at the bald man, affection for him leaking through the irritation and hurt she felt on account of Reed.
"Thanks, sweetie." Ben gave her an apologetic smile, taking the offered jumper.
"Reed." Sue tossed, or rather she right out threw Reed his jumper in no attempt to hide her current animosity towards him. Danica had to fight to hold in her laugh at her bone-headed uncle's expense – the look that had crossed his face had been priceless. She loved the man so much, but the poor old fool just really didn't get it. When Sue came to the chair and handed over the last jumper to her, Danica accepted it with a smile and took the hand the elder woman held out to her. "Come on, Dani. I'll show you where you can change…"
She tossed her legs up and off the armrest, catching Johnny in the back of the head with her heel and offering no form of apology for the mildly hostile attack on the blond man. She stood and left the room, hand in hand with Sue. A deep rooted satisfaction filled her chest as she glimpsed the blond man rubbing at the back of his head with an expression of discomfort.
The room fell into complete silence for a full minute after the two girls left, Ben and Reed both busying themselves with changing before a loud sound of alarm filtered up from the back of Johnny's throat. The two older men looked back at the blond, watching him point at the now empty doorway with wide blue eyes. Ben cracked a smirk at the shock on Johnny's handsome face.
"Did she say Dani? DANI?" Johnny exclaimed, "As in Danica? That was little Danica Richards?"
"Yes…" Reed regarded Johnny a little strangely, "That was Danica. What about her?"
Johnny snorted, "That was Danica? Since when?"
"Since when what?"
"Huh, hello…?" Johnny stood, looking utterly flabbergasted by what he had just seen and who he had just recognized. "Since when does Danica Richards look like that?"
Reed angled his head, brow furrowed, "….that?" He exchanged a look with Ben, the bald man looking irritated and Reed just confused. The scientist obviously didn't get what Johnny was getting at. "What's wrong with her?"
"Nothing! That's the point!" Johnny laughed, "Jesus, Reed, your niece is a FOX!"
"Watch it, playboy." Ben warned the blond before Reed could even manage to get his frowning mouth open, "You touch her and you're dead. Got it?"
"Easy, Papa Bear," Johnny flashed that toothy grin of his at the bald man, arms crossing over his chest. "Besides, who's to say she won't make the first move? I mean, did you not see that playful little love tap of her's?"
Ben's laugh was a rumbling bellow from low in the pit of his stomach, "Love tap?" Ben nudged Reed in the side, laughing still and shaking his head at the blond young man, "You mean just now?"
Johnny nodded, looking smug, and Reed chuckled this time as well. "Johnny… she kicked you in the head."
"Ah, no, that was definitely flirting."
"Flirting…" Ben snorted, "please… she's too smart to be one of your hooker-bimbos."
Johnny ignored Ben and turned instead to Reed, standing and looping his arm around the older man's shoulders, "So, what's the word with Danica anyhow? She attached?"
"Attached?" Reed's smile fell into a deep frown.
"Yeah," Johnny grinned cheekily, "Attached. You know… seeing someone?"
"You stay away from her," Ben thrust a finger in Johnny's face. "Danica's not sleazy enough for that sordid pallet of yours anyway. She's too good for a dog like you!"
"Now, Ben," Johnny feigned hurt, "that's not very nice."
"I don't care." The man snapped, "You just keep your hands to yourself, you hear me?"
"Whatever…" Johnny rolled his eyes. He looked back to the empty door way, lips pursing slightly and eyes narrowing, "Just answer one question for me… When the hell did that happen?"
"When did what happen, Johnny?" Reed sighed, looking rather amused by all of this.
"The Danica I remember was an annoying little gangly kid with long twig arms and a face that looked like a cross between a sailor and a weasel… when'd she get pretty?"
Ben scowled angrily and looked ready to deck the blond if it weren't for Reed speaking up, "Danica has always been pretty, Johnny. She was just young when you met her, awkward even, but she's always been pretty. Saying she wasn't isn't fair."
"No, I mean, she was cute… I guess. But now-"
"Time can change a lot about a person." Reed interrupted, "So can age."
"I'm just saying," Johnny continued, "she went from a 2 to, like, an 8 over night! You should be proud of her, Reed!"
Reed rolled his eyes, shaking his head at the zealous blond. He'd forgotten just how one-tracked Johnny's mind was.
"Keep it up," Ben warned again as he zipped up the front of his jumper over the flight suit with an aggressive tug. "You say one more word about her and I'm gonna over night your face to Taiwan!"
Johnny just laughed out loud.
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