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Priority One for Johnny Storm following his sister's disappearing act had been to secure — and hide — as much of her research as he could find. Done and done. Priority Two had been finding her, which… had not gone so well. Even if he hadn't had an appointment to keep with a bunch of school kids that afternoon, he was pretty sure he'd still have come up empty.
It's really easy to disappear when you can literally disappear.
Now it's after dinner and he still hasn't eaten. Johnny's well into pacing another lap around the living room, ruffling his hands back through his hair as he goes. He is trying not to panic, and it isn't going so great.
"…called Aunt Margay but she hasn't been by, or called, or anything," Johnny reports. "I even called Aunt Petunia. Nothing! This isn't like her," he says worriedly, wheeling around to pace back towards Reed. "Ben didn't see her on campus, but of course he didn't, she's — she's invisible, we're not gonna see her…"
*
It took a while for Reed to take the edge off after all was said and done. Not that he isn't still mad, but… he's let some of it out now, so he can at least manage to appear calm. Right now that means closing his book with his finger as a mark so the can gesture towards Johnny with it.
"You need to try and settle down," he advises. "Seo can take care of herself." Mostly. Hopefully. Yes, he's worried, about a thing he can't do anything about. Unless…. nah. Well… maybe. "If she isn't back by morning we'll take more drastic measures. I think she just needs a little time to sort through it."
*
Speak of the devil and she should appear. Or not appear, as the case may be. The elevator dings quietly and the door opens. But no one comes out.
Silent movement floating atop a force of psionic energy, brings a very invisible Sue Storm into the apartment. She's gotten increasingly better at disappearing her clothes as of late, or perhaps, it's the not thinking about it that somehow makes it easier.
She remains unseen until she glances between the pair of men lingering together. She floats a little closer to Reed and watches him a moment, thinking over the chat she'd had with a large Russian man in Westchester. She inhales a deep, not-quite-so-silent breath before she stops bending the light around her and lets it hit her normally. And suddenly there's Seo in all her glory. The navy dress she's wearing matches her Fantastic Four uniform — if she were wearing it. Her appearance is otherwise, altogether unscathed, save for the smell of liquor on her breath.
Which, Reed is about to get a good whiff of.
She takes a single step to close the distance between them, lifts her hands to cup his cheeks, and, assuming he doesn't do anything to intervene, aims to press her lips against his to kiss him soundly.
*
"I know she can, normally, but this is — Reed, she is not okay," Johnny insists, and the look he gives Reed is profoundly open. "I don't know what she's going to do. Being responsible and in control are kind of her thing and -"
Johnny's words cut off abruptly when the door opens and he practically trips over himself in his rush to get a vantage on the entryway, where he sees… nothing. Which… might be good? "…Seo?" he says hesitantly, completely unaware of the fact that she's gone rrrrrright by him. "Is that…"
Sniff. Squint. Johnny knows that smell. That smells like a bar. He whips back towards Reed, raising a finger and starting to open his mouth.
*
"If she isn't back by morning," Reed repeats, "then… I'll find a way." Yes. That. He's already thinking about it anyway, now. By morning he might have a workable idea, and…
"Is what what?" Reed asks, just a touch testy since Johnny's been fretting at hism probably since he felt fit for polite society again. And then: "Se—mmmmmmmpf!"
You know, ambush predators are some of the most effective hunters in the ecosystem. And now Reed has a personal anecdote to that effect. The shocked flailing that in no way stops any of it from happening anyway would be kind of amusing in other circumstances.
*
No amount of flailing prompts Sue to release Reed from the kiss until she's done. Her hands drop, stopping the kiss almost as abruptly as it had begun. Sue takes a single step back, nods, and offers, "Now that that's handled," as if it were just another point of business. She turns on her heel, casts a glance towards her brother, and then steals another one towards Reed before lifting a single hand in the air. "I'm home," she declares bluntly as she extends an arm into the air triumphantly before rather purposed (and not very straight) steps drive her towards Reed's room.
*
It's probably good that Johnny is just as shocked as Reed is, staring dumbfounded with his jaw roughly halfway to the floor. When Sue finally comes up for air and looks his way, he finally blinks once and closes his mouth with a quiet click.
Once again, Johnny begins to open his mouth, but he stops short and very slowly cocks his head to one side as he studies the way his sister is walking. Oh. Ohhhhhhhh. He lets out a brief, relieved-sounding laugh. "She's just drunk," he says, one hand coming up to grasp at his own chest. "That explains it."
Wait.
<WHERE THE HELL HAVE YOU BEEN.>
*
Reed is precisely where Sue left him, eyes unfocused. It's well after Sue has staggered down the hall when he finally stirs, more than a little disheveled. Drunk Sue kisses are not the sort of thing one stays unmussed through, apparently. News to all of us. He blinks a couple of times before his eyes find Johnny.
"What," he asks, pausing, and then trying again. "What just happened?"
*
If Sue hears Johnny yell at her, she doesn't really react beyond a simple <Here and there> before disappearing into Reed's room. It's impossible to know her intentions in the matter — whether she means to go into it or whether it's merely intoxication that has her confused. Regardless, she enters it and gently closes the door behind her. Evidently the conversation, from Sue's perspective, is currently over.
*
<Here and — nunim, WE WERE WORRIED SICK!> Aaaand the door closes. Johnny just gawks at the door to Reed's room, one eyelid twitching. "AISH!"
And then, with noone else left, Johnny turns to Reed. Slowly, he brings up a hand and points at him, eyes narrowed into slits. "Nothing," he hisses. "Nothing happened. Say it back to me, Reed," he says firmly, taking two quick steps closer to Reed.
*
Reed rubs his face, his palm causing his skull to deform. What is with his life lately. He blindly reaches for the blanket folded over the back of the couch. He's just… sleeping here tonight. Like a Reed. Which he is. Because that is his name. Someone mistook him for someone else. Smoochy McKissface, apparently. Who is not him. That he knows of.
He raises a tired hand. "In the morning, Joon. At least she's home."