004. completely fine & not jealous

CHAPTER FOUR, completely fine & not jealous!

⋆ ˚｡⋆ ④ ⋆ ˚｡⋆

"𝐒𝐂𝐈𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐈𝐒𝐓𝐒 𝐀𝐑𝐎𝐔𝐍𝐃 𝐓𝐇𝐄 world are trying to verify the origin of this unknown space creature." Lacie stared at the screen, headphones resting around her neck as she spun in her chair to face Sue and Reed who were attempting to track the Silver Surfer.

"Can you track it?" Johnny leaned over Lacie's shoulder, an arm resting on the desk in front of her. "She's too fast to track, Johnny." Lacie muttered, not looking up at Johnny as she could feel his eyes staring holes into her head.

"She is too fast. But I'm tracking where she's been." Reed said and the group's eyes followed him. "What's a Galatus?" Ben asked, standing up straight.

"How do you consume a whole planet? That's insane." Lacie shook her head and crossed her arms over her chest, voice wavered as she tried not to show how much this situation worried her; it felt different this time.

Reed sat down in his chair, pulling up data from other planets, "Here." Johnny let his hand drift onto the small of Lacie's back and guided her to Reed's screen, knowing that if he didn't, she probably would have pretended it didn't exist and live in blissful ignorance.

"DA-773." Reed stated and Sue stood close to Lacie, both sporting furrowed brows. "He ate that whole planet?" Ben questioned.

"Five planets, actually." Reed swallowed and Lacie shuffled closer to the screen, reading out the details to the group. "Five have disappeared but there could be more that we aren't aware of. To fit the pattern."

Sue looked over at the woman, "And the pattern is what?" Frostbite glanced at Reed, silently asking him to respond as she didn't want to bring herself to verbalise the answer.

Reed sighed, "That they've been chosen with great care. Targeted. And not just disappeared... destroyed."

Lacie turned her head to look at Johnny and she felt his hand brush hers, fingers itching to intertwine but there was a much bigger situation to focus on currently.

Johnny cleared his throat and pointed to the screen, "Wait, so you're saying that these planets disappearing, that's connected to her?"

Reed explained his examination and nodded towards all the planets that no longer exist, Lacie's mouth going dry at the sheer number, and how her one was pinned as the next. "She was there. She was at all of them." Lacie said quietly.

"So, you're saying it was Galactus..." Ben's face scrunched up as he tried to make sense of the situation. "Can do exactly what she says it could do." Sue nodded and her hand instinctively rested over her bump.

Reed looked at the screen for a while, glancing over at Sue for a moment longer before asking, "How long to get Excelsior Launch ready?"

Lacie felt Johnny tense up beside her, his body shuffling closer to her. "Either we go up there, or Galactus comes here." Reed turned to face his wife.

"I don't know, 20 hours?" Ben shrugged. Lacie walked closer to the group, "The launch window's in 16 hours." Johnny hastily followed behind her, not wishing to be any further from her than he already was, considering they were facing the potential end of the world.

"Lace?" Johnny whispered and tugged on Lacie's wrist, making her face Johnny in close proximity. "Yeah?" She answered back and her eyes scanned the indents on his face as his lips pursed.

"She spoke to me up there." Johnny's fingers wound in her belt loops and pressed her tight against him, his eyes cast downwards.

Lacie ducked her head down to try and catch his eyeline, "Are you serious?" She muttered. Johnny nodded, "I swear it sounded like the transmissions we've been listening to..." The woman's eyes widened and she turned in Johnny's hold, "Guys!"

The team all stopped their departure and twisted around to see Johnny and Lacie, his arms resting on her hips and he moved around her to stand in front of the group.

"She spoke to me. The herald!" Ben sighed at the Human Torch, "She spoke to all of us, Johnny. Galactus, Devourer..."

Johnny's shoulders slumped and he rubbed his forehead with his hands, "How come Lacie is the only one who listens to me?" He muttered under his breath before speaking up again, "When I chased her she spoke to me in her language."

Now intrigued, Reed asked, "What did she say?" Johnny shrugged, "Well, it was in her own language, I don't know."

Reed tutted, "Well, what were the context clues?" Sue tilted her head from beside her husband and a protective hand over her bump.

Johnny stuttered in front of Lacie slightly, "Context? Space." She sighed behind him, playing with the end of her hair as all eyes were on her and Johnny standing in the centre of the lab.

Sue furrowed her brows, "And what was the tone?" Lacie walked forwards to stand beside Johnny now, head lifted to keep her eyes on him.

"Angry?" Ben shook his head, "Threatening?" Lacie spoke up and Johnny's eyes flickered to her for a moment, his head whirring as it came up with an idea and checked off something on the list tucked deep into his trouser pocket.

"No, not at all. It was... kind." Johnny nodded and peeled his eyes off Lacie and to the three other people in front of him.

Ben squinted his eyes, "Kind?" Johnny quickly shook his head and retracted his words, "Not kind. Warm." Sue placed her hands on her hips, "Warm?"

Lacie raised her brows from beside the Human Torch, "Her tone was kind and warm?" Her voice was sharp and flooded with confusion; and perhaps the hint of jealousy.

Ben chuckled, "You jealous, Lacie?"

The woman's head snapped towards Ben with wide eyes and mouth opening and closing to try and articulate an answer, "What? No!" She looked up at Johnny quickly, his lips pressed together as if he was suppressing a smirk. "It's just that she didn't make a good first impression, so excuse me for feeling a little standoffish and-- I'm not jealous." Lacie cut off her ramble with a nervous laugh and hid her burning face by looking at the floor.

Johnny coughed, "Anyway, she was right here," He held his hand close in front of his face, making Lacie screw her face up slightly, "And I was looking into her beautiful face--"

"Wait, so you just casually had a whole conversation with her?" Lacie cut him off, hands on her hips and turning her body to face him completely.

Johnny dropped his hand and shook his head at her, "No! That's not what I'm saying, Lace."

"Johnny, are you lying to your girlfriend now?" Ben tutted and Sue bit her lip to stop her from laughing out loud.

Johnny and Lacie's eyes widened and their faces blushed red, "I'm not his girlfriend!" She said loudly. "She's not my-- uh, girlfriend." Johnny cleared his throat and wiped his sweaty hands down his trousers.

"Please continue, Johnny." Reed suggested, wanting him to finish his tangent so they could begin their efforts to save their world.

Johnny snapped back into character, "Right. I saw stars and I could see me in her face." Lacie's jaw tightened subtly, "And she spoke to me and it was kind of..."

"Warm?" Sue teased. "Kind. Kind?" Ben pointed at him, joining in with the fun as Reed rolled his eyes and scratched the back of his neck.

Johnny mocked the offense, "No! No! She spoke to me the way Lacie does, you know?" The woman in question blinked and snapped her head to look at Johnny, heat flooding her chest.

Ben laughed, "Funnily enough, Lacie doesn't speak to any of us that way."

Lacie groaned, "Oh, my God! Ben, why are you still here?" The Thing chuckled loudly and placed his hand on his stomach to contain his joy from endlessly teasing Frostbite in front of him.

"No! I get it!" Johnny waved his hands around, "Johnny loves space! Johnny loves women!"

"And Lacie." Ben muttered under his breath, not quiet enough so Lacie couldn't hear. Her mouth dropped open and she made an effort to stride towards him, "That's it."

Johnny yanked her back to her spot beside him with a tug on the wrist, making her take a deep breath and count down the seconds until she could leave this place.

"And now there's a literal naked space woman... and Johnny thinks they had a moment!" He finished off with a wide smile on his face, contrasting Lacie's slight frown.

She cleared her throat and gained his attention, "So, all that... with a... naked silver lady?" Her voice trailed off towards the end as she squinted her eyes at the Human Torch.

Reed raised his voice, breaking them out of their stare down, "I doubt she was naked. It was probably a stellar polymer."

"For the record, Ben loves when Johnny speaks in the third person." The Thing gestured to Johnny who stood proud.

Lacie sighed, "We need to get ready." And brushed past Sue as she quickly evacuated her spot next to Johnny, head bowed down and seemingly intrigued with her footsteps rather than making eye contact with any of the Fantastic Five.

Sue watched as Lacie practically sprinted out the room. Switching her focus to Johnny, she mouthed, 'You're an idiot!'

Johnny looked taken back and mouthed back to his sister, 'It's working!' He didn't care to hear or see a response from Sue and quickly followed after Lacie who was walking past his room by the time he had caught up with her.

"Lace!" He called out and watched her freeze on the spot, hearing her mutter a few curse words under her breath and turning around slowly, "Yes, Flame Boy?"

Johnny winced slightly at the nickname, feeling like he'd fumbled back a few steps in his task; but it was all part of the plan... or delusion.

"Come here. Listen to this." He gently wrapped his hand around hers and encouraged her into his room, tapping his cushioned chair in front of the record player.

Lacie sat down slowly and Johnny kneeled in front of her, reaching behind him to grab the headphones that were resting on the table. He lifted them gently over her ears, brushing her hair behind her ear so her audio wouldn't be blocked, "This okay?"

Lacie nodded, not trusting her words as Johnny knelt close to her, hands lingering on her shoulders after he placed his headphones on her. He switched on the record player and let the language flood her ears.

The woman paid little attention to it, her gaze homed in on Johnny's face intently. She scanned over the creases on his face with soft eyes, wishing to cup his face with her hands; currently a very inappropriate gesture of hers considering he was having an affair with a literal naked space lady.

Just to confirm, once again. Lacie March was not jealous.

Clearing her throat, Lacie focused on the audio. "She said all this?" Her voice raised, trying to hear herself over the audio.

Johnny laughed to himself as she didn't realise how loud she was and slowly pulled the headphones off her head, "Something along the line of that, yes." He muttered and smoothed her hair out after it got ruffled from the band, "I was a bit distracted when she was saying it, so..."

Lacie blinked and took a deep breath. She faked a smile and lifted herself out of her seat, "Oh, that's... cool!" She laughed nervously and walked towards Johnny's door, "I should get going." She rushed the words out and her feet moved faster than her mind.

On her way out, she accidentally bumped into the corner of Johnny's bed, "Shit! I'm sorry!" She apologised, her voice a higher pitch than usual that made Johnny tilt his head. "You alright, Lace?"

Sue appeared in Johnny's doorway as Lacie tried to make a quick exit, "I'm fine!" Her face was flushed and she passed Sue on the way out, offering her a pitiful smile and mumbled out, "Oh, my God" in embarrassment before she disappeared from the siblings' view.

The Invisible Woman leaned against Johnny's door, seeing her brother wear a smug smile on his face. "You're a dick for that, you know?"

Johnny ran his hands through his hair and thought back to the flustered woman before, "I'm in for a long game plan ahead that you couldn't even imagine, Susan." He laughed and watched Sue roll her eyes mockingly, walking in his room to sit beside him.

"I don't know." She muttered and placed her hand on his shoulder, "The world's basically ending. This could be your only chance, Johnny."

The Human Torch blinked at his sister, face void of enthusiasm. "Alright, give me some positive encouragement, please."

Sue laughed and shook her head at her brother's lewd and delusional plan to try and ask a girl out, deciding it was not the topic she had come in here to bring up, she shifted the conversation, "Okay. So, she spoke to you, yeah?"

⋆ ˚｡⋆ ④ ⋆ ˚｡⋆

authors note!

hey friends! again, thank u so much for the love on the last chap it genuinely makes my day i'm weeping

lacie lowkey crashing out over the silver surfer and johnny is so me i fear

ben is number one johnny x lacie shipper and loves to make fun of them it's canon

see you soon xxx