|
  |
*
It's been a rather slow day at the Baxter Building. At least, as far as the Fantastic Four portion of the building goes. Ben has been puttering about the living area, either reading or, more recently, preparing food. Well, more like ordering it, for the most part. He has ordered in a few Korean dishes that he knows Sue is fond of. He figures that if she's going to be back tonight, he might as well have some comfort food for her, and what's more comfort than food you were fond of when you were a child?
Having put the food on platters and placed them in the oven to keep them warm, he awaits her arrival, just hoping that she's hungry. The smell of the food has, by now, filled their home. On the couch, he reads a giant book on aerospace engineering, occasionally taking notes on a notepad that lays next to him.
*
The familiar ding of the elevator announces Sue's presence before she enters the apartment. Considering she'd disappeared for days, she looks relatively well. The pallor of her skin, and dark lines under her eyes are the only indication that perhaps something is amiss. Her peasant blouse and dark slacks make her seem even more put together as she moves. She looks relatively well.
The smell of food, however, draws her attention immediately upon entry, and she cranes her neck to peek at what has been laid out an who has put together the very considerate spread. A tight, tired smile plays on her lips as she steps towards Ben. "This is lovely," she states with a measure of warmth in her tone. "Thank you."
Pause. "Unless all of it's for you," she teases.
*
When the elevator announces its arrival, Ben marks his place in the book and places it down on top of the notepad. He looks toward the kitchen and elevator, smiling when he sees Sue. "I was hoping it'd you." He says in a soft, rumbling voice. He chuckles softly and shakes his head. "While you know my appetite, it's certainly not all for me."
He stands and walks to the kitchen. "You were missed here, the days you were gone. I wanted to make sure you felt right back at home." He tells her, while placing a hand gently on her shoulder. "I'm glad you're back, Sue."
*
There's another twitch of a smile at the comment, although it still has a sad edge to it. "I…" Sue manages another small grin, "I appreciate it." There's a small nod at the words, and Sue reaches up to squeeze the rocky hand on her shoulder. 'I missed you guys." There's a sweetness in reunions. "I… I'm sorry I took off. I needed," her eyes turn downwards. "Time. I guess."
"
*
"Listen to me," Ben's gravely voice rasps. "You don't owe us any explanation. None. Any of us would have reacted the exact same way! Only difference is, if it'd been me? You guys would have found me in no time! It ain't exactly easy to hide a big rock man walking around New York!" He chuckles softly. "We're you're friends. We're basically like family. We're here to support each other. Sometimes that means giving each other space, and tme. Sometimes that means making sure you have food ready for when someone comes home."
*
"Joon… Johnny," Sue's smile flickers as she forces her gaze upwards. "I hurt him. By leaving. Not on purpose. I know you two give each other a hard time, but," she swallows hard. "I appreciate that you held down the fort too. I assume you made sure Reed ate," her eyes roll. "He would forget without having food set in front of him. Sometimes, I swear he doesn't even know what he's eating…"
*
"Johnny's a danged fool sometimes, but he's a good kid." Ben tells her. "He'll survive. He's the youngest of us. He hasn't lived as much as the rest of us." Sure, they'll all still young, but there's something about Johnny being the youngest that sometimes makes Ben a bit more protective. "He'll get over it. He's just used to you being the stable one. I don't think he quite understood that you deserve to have a meltdown every now and then." He gives her a little playful wink. "But hey. That's what I was here for. Someone has to be the surrogate mother, so to speak, when you're not around. And I guess that was me!" He chuckles.
"I definitely made sure Reed ate. Even when it meant I sat there, staring at him, until he began to eat." He rolls his eyes. "He's just as bad now as he was when were were in college together. I swear, his eating and research habits haven't changed a bit!"
*
"Johnny is going to be okay," Sue agrees quietly. "We're okay. I worked it out, but he needed reassuring." Her teeth toy at her bottom lip. "If," she begins slowly, "it ever comes to it that — " she needs to be unstable for awhile " — the circumstances become something that I can't help, I need you to really look for him.He needs that. I know he's an adult. And I know he's young," she lifts a hand, "but we lost our parents early. I've been looking out for him ever since. He just needs to know he's not alone. Not ever."
There's a flicker of a smile at Reed's eating habits. "Good. He gets so distracted by whatever he's working on…" her cheeks flush lightly, "sometimes it seems like he doesn't notice whatever is right in front of him." She smirks, "I take it he forgot to eat in college?"
*
"I know you can't help it, but don't worry about Johnny. He'll always have someone to look out for him, whether it's an Invisible Woman, someone who considers himself a lil Mister Fantastic, or…" He waves his hand up and down himself, "Or a Thing. There will always be someone there for him." His rocky brow furrows slightly. "Just like there will always be someone there for you. We may sometimes need time to ourselves, but we also need to lean on others."
He clears his throat and chuckles. "Reed does occasionally need a bit of a nudge." He gives her another playful wink. "You just need to tell him in no uncertain terms." She knows what she needs to tell him, and it needs to be in more than a drunken kiss! "He forgot to eat all the time in college." He sighs and shakes his head. "Trust me. It's a good thing we were roommates and became such good friends!"
*
"I know," Sue offers with a faint tilt of her head towards Ben. "And know that I'm still not okay. I just needed — " she frowns lightly. "It's easy to disappear sometimes. And I needed that. For awhile." There's a flicker of a smile that follows her words. "And." She frowns. "It's just complicated."
Talk of Reed and his need for nudges earns Ben an easy grin. "I know," she offers quietly. "That wasn't.. I didn't.." Her smile turns slightly rueful. "I know you know," she finally offers. "It wasn't some accident that I worked ridiculously hard to get Reed's attention way back when he was my TA. The schoolgirl crush was so obvious." Her smile tightens. "But after all of this happened," she glances around the apartment, "well." Her eyebrows lift. "We had to stick together. I made a choice to keep all of this in the balance." To refrain rather than indulge. Her smile fades, "But I don't think it's a choice that's made me very happy."
*
"You know, I wrote a paper in college once about the use of an experimental energy source I was worried would be used the wrong way." There's a pause and a playful grin crosses his face. "No, wait, that was just a note I wrote to myself about not eating too much pizza and drinking too much coffee simultaneously because the combination would keep be up all night." Smiling softly, he says, "In all seriousness, though, whatever happens from here on out, we're going to make sure that things are made right. Trust me."
He tilts his head, a sly grin on his face. "I may have caught wind of some glances here, a few excuses to be around him there, and a couple obvious signs of…interest hanging around." He seems a little amused, and not at all surprised. "I think you should really talk to him. Tell him how you feel. You never know, it could do more good than bad. Could make both of you happy!"
*
"I know," Sue offers back at the notion of telling Reed her feelings. "But…" her cheeks flush a pale pink. "I feel he knows. I've just closed doors. And tried to keep things measured and controlled. But with what happened with my work. Well, control hasn't exactly served me well recently." A rueful smile tugs at her features.
Her face reddens further. Whatever the reason, she doesn't intend to tell.
*
"You know, maybe I should talk to him for you. Maybe he knows, but sometimes he even needs a push toward the things he knows about." Ben glances toward the stairs going to the lab. "Yeah. Maybe I'll go talk to him right now. After all, if it would make you happy to be with him, that's a good enough reason! Besides, I'm sure he'd be happy too! And let's do the math…" He starts motioning in the air with his fingers, air writing various numbers, calculations, and the like. "Take the apothem and multiply it by the binomial coefficients in Pascal's Triangle and add some Fourier analysis…" He mutters loud enough for Sue to hear.
"Yep!" He says after a few moments of this. "The math checks out. I'm pretty sure you two should be together. So, how about it? Should we go talk to him now? Or do we eat?" He grins widely.
*
"We eat!" Sue insists as she reaches both of her hands to pull one of Ben's rock hands towards the table. "Come one." The thought of Ben talking to Reed has Sue's expression softening some. "It's not quite like that, Ben." She chews her bottom lip and then offers, "Last night when I came home I… kissed Reed." She lets that set in as she fetches two plates out of the cupboard. "I really kissed Reed." Her lips twitch and she shrugs. "He knows. I know."
*
"Food! Excellent choice. Although I could see if Reed wants some too." Ben chuckles, not offering any resistance to being led to the table. The mention of the kiss has him curious. "It's about time. Reed definitely wasn't going to make the first move." He snorts lightly. He knows his friend. The man is normally oblivious to most social interactions that don't have anything to do with science. "Well, I suppose the next important step is to talk about the future of the relationship, huh?" He pauses, pulling out a chair and offering the seat to Sue in a gentlemanly fashion. "Want I should coach him on what not to say in that conversation?"
*
"Is that the next step?" Sue replies coyly with a faint arch of her eyebrows. "I hadn't realized these things were so linear." She slides into one of the chairs at the table and drums her fingers on one of the boxes as she serves herself some of the Korean food. "To be honest I'm not sure I want it all explained and laid out. I just want — " she starts and then stops. "I want to be able to feel what I feel. And finally just let myself feel it." Her lips purse lightly. "Is that so wrong?"
*
Gently pushing the chair in as Sue sits, Ben moves and takes his own seat. "Yes. That's exactly what the next step is. And the longer it's avoided out of a feeling of awkwardness, the more difficult it becomes." He explains. "It's quite linear. Like time. Although…" He scratches his head. "I guess time isn't always linear?" He shakes his head. "Physics." He murmurs. "Anyway," He begins. "No. That's not wrong. You should tell him that. And if he gets confused, send him to me. I'll explain it to him." He may have to use science terms to explain it to Reed, but he'll figure something out.
*
A smirk follows Ben's offer. "Well, I'll remember that. But Reed is bright. If anything, I'm the one who understands this less than he does. I like things so… organized. For settled. It's unsettling to be unsettled, but good for me, maybe." Sue casts him a warm grin. "You tell Reed what you like. But I'm making a choice not to close that door anymore."
*
"Do you know of the uncertainty principle in physics?" Ben asks of Sue, as he starts to collect food onto his own plate. He glances at Sue and smiles. "Who said anything about closing doors? I'm not very good at closing doors. I usually break them and they end up staying open. If anything, I'm excellent at keeping doors open!"
*
"I didn't say you were closing doors," Sue offers idly. "No, that's all me. Constantly closing door. Building shields." She smirks and begins to dig into her plate. "But no more. No more." Her eyebrows draw together. "For better or worse."
*
"No, but even if it wasn't me closing the door…I'd still be knocking on it. And even my knock, if I'm not careful, tends to break down doors." Ben nods in a matter-of-fact way. "I mean, surely you remember after the transformation. I was break doors left, right, and centre!" Although he sounds serious, there's a glint in his eye that says he's just joking around with her. "But that's neither here nor there. For now, we've got food! And I'm as hungry as a rock with no moss!"