#fedorova

"I'm late!" you said, getting out of the taxi.

The Baxter Building was a beautiful and prominent building that you liked. It was built in the style of constructivism, screaming about progress.

You remembered how 8 months ago, when Galactus appeared, you thought that he would sweep away everything that mattered to you. The apartment you rented. Your favorite park, the coffee shop on the corner. And the headquarters and part-time home of the Fantastic four.

They were a stronghold, a hope that people carried in their hearts. You heard about them. When those events happened that marked the beginning of their formation as heroes of the city. Your cousin introduced you to a TV show about them, and you sometimes watched the program hosted by Reed Richards, telling children about the wonders of science.

And when you returned tired from work, sometimes you managed to catch the evening rerun of the show, falling asleep to it while listening to the deep voice of Mr. Fantastic sharing scientific discoveries or writing down another formula on the board, stretching out his hand.

You even bought cereal with their image on the package several times. You had no idea that 3 months ago, during the attack of another villain, you would meet them.

And they would want to get to know you better and even invite you to dinner.

This was already your third dinner with them during the entire time of your acquaintance.

The Baxter Building was huge - one of the symbols of both the human mind and the team of heroes themselves.

It was quite noticeable, because you must admit, it would be difficult to hide something like this, as well as superpowers, right?

When the first invitation from them came, you were incredibly surprised. And how they knew your address, although you did not tell them. And the fact that Johnny Storm himself would come to pick you up. This time, you received an invitation from Susie. She said that Franklin missed you very much and couldn’t part with the stuffed toy in the shape of a bee that you gave him.

Sue called you on Saturday morning and said that they all invited you to dinner, as always at 7:00 PM sharp. You dressed more formally than you had expected until that moment. You wanted to make a good impression on them, even though they had known you for several months.

Despite some nervousness, you chose an outfit that was comfortable for you - one of your favorite dresses. A soft milky color, reminiscent of coffee with a lot of milk. Strict and almost without details, with short sleeves and a length below the knees. Perfect.

You combed and pinned up your hair. You took a soft pink lipstick and applied it to your lips. Small brown arrows completed your look.

At first, it seemed strange to you that such celebrities, like them, even noticed you. Turned their attention to you. But maybe you were also a metahuman to some extent, or they just saw something in you that you yourself did not see?

In any case, you were just being polite to them. You talked a little, supported them, and helped Johnny up when the Red Ghost practically sent him face-first into the asphalt. Yeah, you just helped them. So what? Any person would have done the same in your place.

Of course, not without the desire to see in person those whom you could previously only see on TV screens. But still. Although what are you talking about? You scolded the Red Ghost. Seriously yelled at him. And judging by his frozen pose, you thought that the next moment one of his monkeys would fly at you, and he only replied that perhaps you were right and was going to attack Mister Fantastic.

"Well, that's interesting. If he doesn't want to kidnap me after I was so rude to him, then that's progress," you thought then.

For once, you didn't even imagine that he would decide to attack the city center and appear on the very street where one of your favorite coffee shops was, where you went for those delicious cream buns. So what? They were really delicious.

Perhaps, having tried this wonderful and attractive pastry, the Red Ghost would become a little kinder. Who knows, huh?

None of the villains hung a poster somewhere with the phrase that it was "this Wednesday" or "this Friday" that he would appear "on this street" and cause destruction. No, no one did that. There was no talk of such a thing on the radio or television either.

One thing you could say for sure was that ten minutes ago you should have been sitting at the table in the living room with everyone else. And not running to the entrance of the building.

Yes, the taxi was delayed and you were late, blah-blah. You were always late. You didn't think it was necessary to rush anywhere and perceived this world a little differently. Because of this, your relatives often scolded you for being yourself. And not the version that would suit them. But if you listened to them, you would become faceless. You would deprive yourself of the most important and valuable thing you had - yourself.

You didn't want this. Sometimes you just wanted to run away from all this. Hide in a convenient place. Find a refuge where no one could get to you and harm you: morally or physically. You just wanted to live. Like the most normal person without judgment.

And instead, you spent half the day today listening to your father screaming on the phone about how it's time for you to have a baby. No, not even that, bring him a grandchild NOW!

You shouldn't have, YOU HAD to. Simply because he is an egotist and a tyrant, and you tolerated his screams for part of your childhood when he was sober, and now you tolerate his screams when he is already drunk. Brilliant. Wow.

"Screw him," that's what you thought at the end of your conversation. Yes, you understood that you probably got emotional and were wrong. However, you need to be able to protect your boundaries. Even Susan told you about this. Maybe you were wrong in deciding to quarrel with your father, but you were simply protecting yourself from even more possible harm to your psyche. You seriously thought about breaking off communication with your father. To not hear any more about how selfish you are, and how it is that you dared to leave him because you want to live your life the way you want. What a nightmare.

On the plus side, you would also never again hear any calls to drink alcohol from him and his girlfriend, he would not pressure you with guilt and would not threaten that you will not receive a penny from him as an inheritance and will be forced to support him in old age with your honestly earned money. You were furious, confused. How could a person you loved and who was so proud of you say such a thing. How? You did not understand it.

Because of the conversation with him, you got nervous, got into a taxi late, because you spent an entire hour before that calming yourself down.

Finally, you entered the large and spacious hall of the skyscraper. First of all, going to the mirror, you looked at yourself. The hem of your dress was slightly wrinkled from the car seat. Your eyes looked scared and your makeup was all smudged. "Maybe I shouldn't have come," you thought sadly, feeling your shoulders sag.

Sighing, you pulled yourself together and fixed what was left of your makeup, carefully running the handkerchief from your eyelids to your cheeks.

To put it mildly, you looked upset. Tired or depressed, or both. A thin layer of mascara still covered your eyelashes. You reapplied your lipstick and fixed the strands of hair that had fallen out of the overall volume of your hairdo.

From the once confident first lady, you now resembled someone people sometimes saw on the streets. A fragile, young woman whose face clearly showed that she had only recently crossed the threshold of 21 years old and entered the world of adults. Sometimes you didn't even feel like an "adult," even though you technically already were.

You clenched your fingers into a fist and called the elevator and went up, ready to be judged or complained about by older people for being late.

Instead, you were met right at the elevator exit by Johnny Storm. Your noses almost bumped with the young man. You could feel his breath on your cheeks.

John cleared his throat and stepped aside, allowing you to pass.

He was dressed simply. Nothing flashy or bright. A white ironed t-shirt and dress pants. Like he was going for a walk in the park.

His blue eyes were wide and staring straight at you. His light eyebrows were raised. And the corners of his lips, once stretched into the sweetest smile, were lowered.

"Y/N, what happened?" Johnny asked, without even saying hello. He came closer. A pleasant warmth emanated from him. "Did someone hurt you?"

"Hi, Johnny. No, everything is fine," you answered, lowering your eyes to the floor and allowing the man to lead you into the hall, where everyone had already gathered.

Ben tore himself away from the stove to greet you. Sue and Reed were already sitting at the table. Even little Franklin seemed sad to you today. But when he saw you, the little boy laughed. Sighing, you smiled shyly and waved your hand at them all.

During the meal, you lazily participated in the conversation, not really following the topics of conversation that your new friends brought up.

Even if it was something funny. Like the time you accidentally scared Johnny so much that he suddenly burst into flames, before screaming like a little girl. To which the man in question gave his sister and Reed a confused look.

You watched Frankie. How he first ate food from a bottle, and then chewed on a pacifier, holding his favorite stuffed animal in his hands.

You felt how the atmosphere in the room became thicker towards the end of dinner. Johnny kept glancing at you, and each time they became more and more concerned. You just wanted to get away from this pressure. Like Susie, become invisible and run away, or use Johnny's powers to fly away from them. But you didn't have superpowers, or at least you didn't know about them. Mr. Reed broke the silence.

"Y/N, what happened? We noticed you were a little late today. I thought you were a little lost, so I asked Johnny to check on you. However, when you came in, I noticed something was gnawing at you," Reed joked awkwardly, putting his fork aside. "Yeah, sweety, what's wrong?" Sue said, wiping her lips with a napkin. "Baby, you can trust us if you want," Ben gently echoed his friends' words.

You froze. Your bottom lip trembled and you unconsciously held your breath.

You just couldn't take it. You broke down. You threw a tantrum right there at their table, hunched over and covering your face with your hands.

Apparently, all those worries about your life, whether the Red Ghost will harm you, your father's words, the difficulties of finding a decent job - everything just fell on you.

You hadn't been able to get a good job for a year. Your mom sent you money for rent and you worked part-time at the supermarket.

You didn't think it was the life of your dreams. It sucked. This wasn't how you imagined your adult life. Not like this. You cried even harder.

Even your father, ten years after divorcing your mother, suddenly decided to show up and "start teaching you about life." Because he was afraid of dying alone. But we are all afraid of death.

Today he decided to really screw with your brain.

Perhaps, you reasoned, you should have hung up the moment you heard him say "What are your friends more important to you than your own father?!" and not bothered yourself, not ruined your mood. Maybe then you would have been happy and would have arrived on time for dinner.

Little Franklin tried to console you by handing you his toy. To which you whispered words of gratitude and continued to sob, holding the plush bee in your hands.

At that very moment, the remnants of your makeup finally rubbed off, mixing your mascara with your eyeshadow.

You felt small. A small and sad person on Earth, who was carrying all the heavy burden, as if you had to repent for all the mistakes your own parents made. But you knew that suffering would not make you happier. "You will just suffer. Until you find yourself in a void," as one of your good friends said.

You began to calm yourself down, but hyperventilation got in the way. You tried to calm down until you felt it.

How the whole team hugged you, enveloping you like a protective blanket. You froze.

You felt Reed's stubble. Sue's soft cheek. Johnny's warmth. Ben's big hands. You winced and tried to take another deep breath.

"There you go, girl, come on. We're close," you heard Ben say for all of them.

You didn't think you'd cry. Especially not in front of your new acquaintances who had become your friends. At the very least, you wanted to be cool enough to hang out and be friends with them, instead of trying to escape at every opportunity.

You didn't expect Johnny to be there to meet you today. You thought it would be Susan or Ben, like always. You didn't know that today would be the day your father would decide to keep you.

You wanted to hide. But watching Ben bring you a hot cup of cocoa, and Johnny gently wrap his hands around yours, while Sue stroked your head, and Reed comforted you with words - you realized that you didn't want to run anymore. You wanted to live. You wanted to protect your inner child and become the adult who protects it. To those who won't stand by like your parents once did, unsure how to handle and cope with their own child's emotions.

You were happy that strangers had opened their hearts to you and let you in. Let you live in their family. You just let yourself relax for the first time in years, plunging into another group hug. You felt so good. So calm. That you even accepted Sue's offer to stay the night at their place - to everyone's surprise.

Bonus

The next morning, Reed told you that he, Susan, and Ben had to go to a conference. You and Johnny would stay home and look after Franklin.

Of course, Reed didn't tell you that it was actually Johnny and Franklin who were supposed to look after you, because you were still in an unstable state and could get excited and cry at any little thing that upset you.

In the morning, the whole team discussed their mini-plan and got up half an hour before some of your friends left for another scientific conference, where Reed, as you understood, had to explain something and after that they needed to be at an interview. They could easily find an explanation for Johnny's absence.

After the conference

"Oh, hush," Reed said, blocking the passage further. Ben's words froze in the air.

"Oh, my God. Reed, where is the camera? We urgently need this picture," Sue said quietly, looking out from behind her husband's shoulder.

In the living room, you were resting stretched out on the couch, your legs stretched out and one of your cheeks propped up. While on the opposite side lay Johnny. His right leg was bent under himself, and his arm was stretched out towards you, almost touching your temple. And in the center, leaning against your side, was Franklin. You were all asleep.

Apparently last night had worn you out and your body was starting to recover.

"It looks like they'll be sore all over after sleeping like that," Ben said, smiling softly as he watched the three of you. Susie giggled. Reed carefully pulled out his camera and took a photo.

It looked like you were finally getting used to them. That was good news.