Fantastic Four/Sunshine Cross-Over
Part 1 of ?
Rating: PG-13
Pairings: Johnny/Capa, Mace/Capa, Sue/Reed
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Sue Storm was looking at her brother strangely. "Who was that, Johnny?"
The Human Torch didn't answer right away, he was still looking after the man who had just passed through the room. Then he shook his head, "Nobody. He's nobody."
Another man entered at that moment, but Sue definitely didn't have to wonder about his identity. "Nobody?" Reed asked, "Johnny, that was Robert Capa – he's the leading astrophysicist in the world." As if Johnny should have known that.
"I know who he is," Johnny said. "I was just surprised to see him here, the world's leading astrophysicist and all..."
"Kid acted like he'd seen a ghost," Ben added with a chuckle.
Reed looked impressed that Johnny had been that impressed by a scientist. "Well, we may be seeing a lot more of him soon."
"Yeah? The interview was good, then?" Johnny inquired.
"No, that wasn't an interview. You don't interview someone like that for a job. I was trying to convince him our project was worth his time," Reed explained.
"Ah. Hmm. I guess I better get going. Things to do, you know! Publicity, important-type things." Johnny excused himself from the room.
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He hurried to the elevator, hitting the down button repeatedly in his impatience. The verbal abuse against the machine's slowness began approximately two seconds into the wait. After a perfectly reasonable amount of time, which was far too long, the doors opened for him.
"Thank you!" Similar violence was leveled against the P – parking garage – button and the Close Door button. The elevator mercifully made no further stops in between, and Johnny arrived at his destination shortly.
His frantic scurrying transformed into a smooth, dignified gait as he approached his target. He came upon him abruptly. "Hi."
"Johnny," Robert Capa breathed in surprise. "I, uh- I'm sorry I didn't say anything in there. I didn't know if you would want me to, in front of your friends…"
"That's fine," Johnny shrugged, "I was just surprised to see you. It's been a long time."
"Yeah, yeah it has," Capa agreed.
"So how have you been? Reed tells me you're the leading astrophysicist in the world."
"Apparently," Capa nodded. "I've been good. I'm going to be researching the cosmic rays that transformed you guys. The TV makes it look like you're having a pretty good time. Is that accurate?"
Johnny grinned. "Yeah, having super powers is not so bad."
Capa smiled. "Good. I'm glad you're doing well."
"So listen, do you want to catch dinner with me? I'd love to hear about whatever mad science you and Reed are getting into." No he wouldn't, but he was willing to listen in order to get him into conversation.
"Johnny… I should probably tell you, since I'm going to be working around you soon, I'm seeing someone."
"Oh. Well, lucky guy. Or chick, I guess, I mean, I don't know if you…" He cleared his throat. "Do I know them?"
.
"Sue! Do you want to know who Robert Capa is fucking?"
Sue made a face. "Not really…" Johnny could be so weird sometimes.
"Mace! He is fucking living with Mace!"
"Who's that?"
Johnny's head snapped to the side. He hadn't even realized Ben was in the kitchen. How do you miss a literal ton of brightly-colored rocks? Admittedly, the ton of rocks had been sitting quietly by himself eating cereal.
"It's our fucking brother! Our lame as fuck brother who— just—" Johnny couldn't find words to finish his sentence.
"Johnny, ease up on the language," Sue chided.
"What, another one?" Ben asked. "Don't tell me there's another hothead walking around out there!"
"Oh, I am nothing like him! He's much worse!" Johnny exclaimed.
"Nothing like you, huh? I think I might like this guy." Ben was trying to joke, but Johnny wasn't able to be amused at this point. "Why does it matter if the new brain is dating your brother, anyway?"
"It just- I don't want to be around the guy. If Robert's going to be here, he might bring Mace here," Johnny said.
"Maybe that wouldn't be such a bad thing…" Sue suggested carefully.
Johnny sighed in frustration, threw up his hands, and left the room.
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He needed to talk to someone who wouldn't… be shocked or know how to make fun of him for it. And someone who wouldn't go to the papers with his juicy little secret, either, which ruled out most of his friends.
"Reed, did Sue ever tell you about our brother?"
Reed looked up from the formula on his screen. He had no hypothesis about why Johnny might suddenly want to talk to him about his family. "The older one?" he asked anyway.
"Yes, that one."
"She mentioned him," Reed supplied.
"Well he's sleeping with your new science partner," Johnny said.
"Robert Capa?" Was this going to complicate Reed's life? One Storm brother in his building caused a measurable amount of disruption in his work. And Sue had indicated to him that this other brother was estranged from them, which meant a reintroduction had a high probability of leading to her spending long periods of time explaining her emotions to Reed.
"Yeah, him. And it just drives me crazy!"
Reed wasn't sure what to say to that.
"I'm going to tell you something, and you can't tell Sue, alright?" Johnny requested.
"Okay…" Reed agreed hesitantly.
"I'm pissed because I used to date Capa," Johnny confessed.
Reed hadn't known Johnny was attracted to men. Was he supposed to be surprised, or was this normal and predictable? "How long did that last?" he asked.
"I don't know, a little less than three years."
Now Reed genuinely was surprised. He'd never known Johnny to have any kind of long-term relationship. He wasn't even able to get the younger man to pay attention to a 60-second set of instructions – he'd have to find out how Robert had managed to hold his interest for multiple years. "Wow, that's…"
"I know, right?"
"How did Sue never know about this?"
"Well I was trying to be an astronaut at the time, and that group's pretty much the military, even if they aren't the military, so we just kept it a secret. From everyone."
