Family Movie Night

The Fantastic Four might be superheroes with life-changing powers who have saved the world more times than they can count, but if there’s one constant in their lives, it’s Family Movie Night. 

Once a week, every week, they had Family Movie Night. No exceptions. 

Not even after saving the world yet again. 

“Can’t this be postponed, dear?” he asks Sue gently as she pours their microwave popcorn into a bowl- they had better popcorn easily accessible, but Sue and Johnny insisted that microwave popcorn was a necessary staple of Family Movie Nights, so microwave popcorn it was. “Everyone’s exhausted, I’m sure no one would mind if we did it tomorrow night instead.”

A useless endeavor, as once Susan Storm put her mind to something few things could stop her. A fact proven true as Sue shakes her head stubbornly, pressing a kiss to his cheek as she passes. “Absolutely not. Now get your pretty face over here, honey, and help me pick a movie.”

He sighs, but follows her to the couch, wrapping an arm around her as Ben tosses the remote in their direction, dropping an arm over his eyes with a tired grunt.

“Don’t care what ‘ya pick, just make it quick,” he grumbles, but when he hears the door open he lifts his arm just enough to give Johnny a gentle grin. “Back already, Matchstick?”

“You know me,” Johnny responds with a laugh, dumping his prizes- convenience store candy, another staple of Family Movie Night -on the coffee table. “Fastest Walgreens-run maker in New York.”

“Actually,” Reed points out, “the Avengers have a speedster. So-”

“Nerd!” Johnny whines, perching on the arm of the couch by Reed. “What are we watching?”

Johnny certainly doesn’t sound as exhausted as the rest of them do, but it doesn’t take much examination to see he’s merely slightly hiding it better. His eyes keep fluttering shut, and whenever he seems to catch himself doing it he chews on his lip with a bothered whine. 

Beside him, Sue seems to be noticing the same thing- she always pays close attention to her brother. Whether it’s simply a sibling thing or a Sue-and-Johnny thing he would need to test, but it’s a certain fact. Still, Sue doesn’t say anything, so he does not either. “Pirates of the Caribbean,” she tells Johnny instead, and he nods through a barely-concealed yawn. 

“Mm. Nice pick.”

“When did we decide that?” Reed asks her teasingly, kissing her quickly, and she laughs. 

“When you didn’t offer any suggestions and Ben fell asleep.”

He stretches an arm out, poking his friend’s comatose side, but Sue appears to be correct. “And you’re sure you don’t want to postpone movie night?”

“Family Movie Night,” she stresses, and Johnny nods, eyes closed and cheek mashed against his palm as he props his elbow up on the back of the couch. “It’s not about watching the movie, Reed.”

“Very well,” he accepts with a sigh, and Sue smiles to herself, cuddling against him as she starts the movie. 

“It’s so wonderful when you use that genius brain of yours to correctly agree with me, darling.”

“No flirting at Family Movie Night,” Johnny complains as the music starts. “Now, hush.”

As the movie continues, Reed lets his mind travel. He has seen these movies before, and while they are classic for a reason and there is a good sort of nostalgia that comes from watching them again, he does not need to focus all of his energy on them. At first, he works on the calculations that he has waiting for him upstairs in the lab, but as the movie progresses he instead finds his attention drawn to Johnny. The younger Storm sibling slowly gets closer as Reed watches him, sliding off the arm of the couch and onto the cushion beside Reed, then sliding closer. Around the time Elizabeth Swann is getting kidnapped by Captain Barbosa’s crew, Johnny has moved closer still, mirroring his sister by resting his head on Reed’s opposite shoulder. He doesn’t say anything, as he does it, not even looking at Reed as he presses his cheek against Reed’s shoulder, but his jaw is tightly clenched, as if he’s daring Reed to call him out for it. Reed doesn’t, of course, merely stretching his arm to drape across Johnny’s shoulders, and although Johnny does not give any verbal response he seems to relax under Reed’s touch. 

And then, as onscreen Will Turner offers himself to the pirate crew in exchange for Elizabeth, he comes to a shocking realization. 

“Susan,” he says quietly, and Sue hums a response, pressing a kiss to his jaw as she leans against his chest. 

“Yes, love?”

“Your brother appears to have fallen asleep on me.”

Sue blinks, twisting around to examine where Johnny’s snoring quietly, his face buried against Reed’s shoulder, and promptly laughs. “Yes, love, it appears that he has.”

She does not seem to understand the gravity of the situation, so he tries again. “Sue, dear, what do I do?” 

“Do?” she repeats, then laughs again at whatever expression she finds on his face. “Reed, darling, you don’t need to do anything. Just let him sleep.”

“Susan,” he reiterates, when she still fails to grasp his dilemma, “he’s asleep on me.” 

“Indeed,” she remarks, clearly amused. “Is that bothering you? If you’re uncomfortable I can manhandle him off you, trust me.”

“No! No, that’s not-” His face feels oddly hot, as he cuts himself off and tries again. “Sleep is a state of vulnerability. Given Johnny’s exhaustion due to our prior mission, it is doubtful that falling asleep now was an intentional action. Therefore, I am not sure if once he wakes he will appreciate the situation at hand.”

Sue seems to consider this, before raising an unimpressed eyebrow. “Are you implying that my kid brother would be mad at you for him falling asleep on your shoulder?”

His face is definitely warm now, and he wraps an arm several times around Johnny so not to disturb him as he turns to look at Sue. “I am just saying-”

“Reed,” Sue says sweetly, faint amusement still in her voice, “he meant to fall asleep on you.”

He blinks. “What?”

“Johnny meant to fall asleep on you,” she repeats, grinning. “He definitely knew he wouldn’t make it through the movie with how much of his energy he spent on that fight, and you’re the one he chose to sit by and lean against. If he wasn’t okay with it, darling, he would have moved.”

He stares at her, then at Johnny, his face relaxed by sleep and a small puddle of drool forming under where his mouth his pressed against Reed’s shoulder. Reed finds he doesn’t mind too much. “…hm.”

“Hm?” Sue asks, a teasing edge in her voice.

“It… had not occurred to me that he might have intended for this to happen,” he admits. She laughs. 

“Smartest man alive, everyone.” She nods to her brother, adding, “You better not move now, though. He’ll be pissed if you wake him up- trust me, I know. Couch cuddles used to be the only way I could get him to fall asleep without nightmares.” A fond smile plays at her lips, and she adds, “he must’ve been… nine or so? I did all my homework that year on the couch because he wouldn’t sleep if I didn’t sit with him.”

That information adds a new layer to the situation at hand, and he considers the implications of it for a long moment. “So this- couch cuddles? It means something to him?”

“Yeah,” she says, quieter this time. “I think- I think he used to be afraid, that’s why he did it. After we lost our parents, I think it helped him relax to know I wasn’t going anywhere.” She leans back against Reed, reaching across him to squeeze Johnny’s hand. 

He runs the possibilities in his head, then quietly asks, “And do you think he means something by it now?”

He has not directly told Sue, exactly, about his desire for Johnny to see him as family the way he does Sue. It would mean a great deal to him for Johnny to be able to trust and rely on him in such a way. 

Based on Sue’s expression, she already knows. Sue is rather good at knowing things about him, even things he himself does not realize. It’s one of the reasons he fell in love with her- the way she just… knows. “Yes,” she says simply, smiling brightly. “I think so.”

He considers that, as he directs his attention back towards the television, considers what exactly it might mean. Johnny is warm, buried against his side, and Sue rubs circles over his knuckles on the other, and out of the corner of his eye he can see Ben snoring away contently in his chair. 

Reed considers them all, as the movie plays, and wonders what Sue had meant when she said that she thinks so.