Friends? I guess...pt. II
Peter said in a tired voice from repeating his words,
“Let me finish my work, Johnny.”
He pushed Johnny away, who was still clinging to him.
Peter had even forgotten to wear a high-neck shirt to cover the strangling mark, and when Johnny saw it, he gasped exaggeratedly, screamed loudly, and shook him with concern, saying,
“What happened to you?! Who did this? I’ll burn him and cut him into pieces!”
For your information, this man is 29 years old.
Peter looked at him coldly, pushed his hand away and said, as if swatting away a small fly,
“Forget it, leave it as it is, it’s not a big deal.”
Johnny replied violently,
“I won’t stop until you tell me who strangled you! This is dangerous, you know that? How didn’t you tell me? I’m your best friend! Just call me and I’ll come to you faster than a race car.”
Peter sighed as he took his wallet to go buy lunch and said while rolling his eyes,
“It’s just a bruise, don’t exaggerate, and I’m not going to call about something that already happened. Forget it.”
Johnny, following him out of the clinic, said,
“Man, this is dangerous! How can you just let it slide? Someone strangled you, and you just... act normal?”
Johnny’s voice showed anger and frustration.
Peter changed the subject dryly,
“I’m going to eat, are you coming or not?”
Johnny looked at him, then narrowed his eyes and said—unusually serious and unlike his typical sarcastic behavior—he seemed worried, sad, and disappointed,
“Whatever.”
Peter saw Johnny’s expression and knew he was just trying to be a good friend… but Peter didn’t care.
Why is he worried about me? I wasn’t even a good friend to him…
Let’s not think too much about it, Peter told himself, ignoring the sadness and frustration clearly written on Johnny’s face, even though he could feel his gaze piercing through his skull.
Peter kept walking, hands in the pockets of his coat, completely ignoring the tension Johnny felt behind him. He knew Johnny cared too much, but still saw it as an overreaction.
Everything that happened was nothing more than a passing incident, and he believed overreacting was just a waste of time.
As they walked together in the streets, Johnny tried again to bring up the topic and said in a serious, firm voice,
“You... don’t understand, this isn’t just some normal accident! Someone strangled you, how can you treat it like nothing happened? This isn’t normal at all, Peter! Even if you want me to forget about it, I know your work is dangerous, but don’t you think you should be—I don’t know—more careful? You’re human and you don’t even have superpowers!”
Peter stopped for a moment, turned his head toward Johnny and replied while folding his arms,
“Don’t worry, I’m careful. And as I said, don’t let the small things bother you. Life doesn’t stop just because someone suddenly strangled me.”
But Johnny, who clearly couldn’t stop thinking about it, said in a quiet voice, full of doubt and slightly joking,
“Yeah, that’s obvious… How can you be like this? Do you not care about anything? Are you some emotionless machine?”
Peter froze in his tracks, feeling something tighten in his chest and his pupils trembled.
He tried to hide his facial expressions that showed discomfort, but deep down he knew Johnny might be right.
He was acting like something lifeless, but Peter simply didn’t know how to open the locked door of his emotions inside him.
He preferred to stay away from problems and live his life how he wanted—far from all this sadness and pain.
Isn’t it easier to just accept the pain and move on?
Peter had accepted pain for years and would continue doing so…
Even if he couldn’t truly accept it.
“Let’s talk about something else, Johnny. I don’t want to repeat the same conversation over and over,” Peter said in a complex, very calm voice as he opened the restaurant door.
Johnny, although he felt frustrated, noticed a slight change in the doctor.
He had never seen Peter wear such an expression before.
Surprised and hesitant, he said in a guilty voice, reaching out to grab his shoulder,
“Oh my God, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it that way—”
Peter raised his hand, interrupting Johnny with a voice that ended the discussion,
“I know. Let’s—”
But before Peter could finish his sentence, a painful expression appeared on Johnny’s face, then suddenly he flew away with his flames.
Peter looked at him in shock and surprise, shouting in alarm,
“Johnny! What the—”
Then he flew away quickly as if he hadn’t been next to Peter just moments ago
Peter’s eyes widened tiredly as he watched Johnny fly away fast, as if he hadn’t been beside him just moments before.
He stood frozen for a moment before raising his hand to his face in frustration, murmuring in a low voice,
“What did I do...?”
He didn’t have time to drown in his thoughts.
Finally, his feet moved, and he ran toward the street, searching with his eyes for any trace of Johnny—but nothing.
He stood in the middle of the road, exhaling slowly, feeling a strange tightness in his chest.
He wasn’t worried… or at least, that’s what he kept telling himself.
“Always dramatic…” Peter muttered under his breath as he returned his hands into his coat pockets, then turned toward the restaurant as if nothing happened.
But he felt that emptiness—a slight but annoying feeling, like the air had lost something that should’ve been there.
Why did Johnny even run away like that?
He didn’t know...
Peter now stood in front of the Fantastic Four building, chewing the last piece of a chocolate bar in silence, trying to quiet the hunger that had returned after hours of walking and thinking. He wasn’t even sure why he came here… but now he was standing at the door, holding the bags of food he had just bought, and sighed.
“Knock the door… or what?” he muttered to himself as he looked up at the tall building. “Why do heroes like building their bases this high?” It didn’t make sense to him, but now wasn’t the time to argue.
He finally raised his hand and knocked on the door. He wasn’t sure if anyone would open it, but he didn’t have to wait long before the door opened, revealing Richards, who tilted his stretchy head toward Peter. Peter wasn’t even sure which one exactly—it wasn’t like he cared enough to memorize their names.
So he stood there for a moment, then said in a light tone, raising one eyebrow,
“I think I blew out one of your candles.”
No one laughed.
Peter expected that, so he didn’t waste time waiting and said directly and tiredly,
“Can I come in and talk to him?”
Richards didn’t seem very enthusiastic about the idea, but he didn’t close the door in his face either, and that was enough for Peter. After a moment of contemplation, the way was cleared, and Peter entered the building. His steps were quiet, but he could feel their eyes on him.
This wasn’t the worst situation he’d been in, but it definitely wasn’t comfortable now.
He still had to find Johnny… and figure out how to even start that conversation.
A man who looked like a rock was standing in front of one of the room doors.
He was terrifyingly tall and massive, with strict and cautious features.
The man placed his hand on the door, then turned to look at Peter with a sharp face and a deep voice,
“Really, Richards? You let him in?—”
Richards just shrugged silently, still analyzing Peter quietly as if trying to solve a puzzle.
Peter stood in place, unaffected.
The rocky man clearly wasn’t planning to make things easy for him, but Peter wasn’t here to negotiate.
Then the man added in a low voice, but one heavy with a clear warning,
“He’s not in a good mood, and it looks like you’re the reason. So if you do anything stupid, I’ll throw you off this tower myself.”
Peter looked at him silently for a moment, then simply replied with a nod,
“Got it.”
He didn’t need any more threats.
He came here to talk, not to cause problems.
He finally raised his hand and knocked on the door twice. Then waited.
Peter knocked twice, then said in a quiet voice that still sounded loud in the vast and extremely quiet building,
“Johnny… you’re acting like a 12-year-old girl whose dad said she couldn’t sleep over at her friend’s house.”
There was no answer.
Peter, with his enhanced hearing, picked up the sounds of blankets and pillows moving inside Johnny’s room, as well as whispers coming from the kitchen, where the rest of the Fantastic Four were discussing his presence here.
But Peter ignored all that and continued talking, trying again as he said,
“You know I didn’t mean anything… I said what I said because I was hungry, and when I’m hungry, I don’t pay attention to my words. So let’s act like adults and tell me what I said that upset you.”
No answer.
Peter sighed, took the bag of food he was holding, placed it in front of the door, then shrugged carelessly and said coldly,
“Alright, you don’t want to answer? Then I’ll jump from the window, and when you decide to talk, let me know.”
He heard movement from inside and Johnny whisper, “He won’t do it…”
But he didn’t care. He approached the window, opened it, then placed his hand on it without hesitation, as if he was about to jump. For a moment, nothing happened, but then he heard a few shocked gasps behind him, before someone suddenly burst through the door and grabbed him violently, shouting in his face,
“You insane idiot! What are you doing?!”
Peter turned slowly, looked at the person who grabbed him, then smirked sarcastically.
“Oh, hello to you too. Can we eat now?”
Johnny was the one who grabbed him, his eyes wide with shock and disbelief, as if he couldn’t believe what he was seeing. His mouth moved to say something, but the words came out broken.
“You… You…!!!”
Peter raised his eyebrows mockingly.
“I’m what? Smart? Unexpected?”
Johnny shouted in anger, still holding him.
“Stupid! You’re stupid!!!”
Peter chuckled lightly, pulled his arm away from Johnny’s grip, then said as he stepped away from the window and extended the food bag to Johnny,
“Oh, thanks. I hear that a lot.”
Johnny was still staring at Peter, as if trying to process what had just happened. Behind him, Reed, Sue, and Ben were watching the scene from a distance, whispering among themselves, but they didn’t interfere. It was clear they still didn’t know how to deal with this doctor yet.
As for Johnny, he was still in shock, but soon regained his balance. He frowned and crossed his arms before saying in a sharp tone,
“You do know that threatening to jump out the Fantastic Four’s tower window is not the best way to apologize, right?”
Peter raised his eyebrow, then smiled a small smile and shrugged,
“It wasn’t a threat, it was an option.”
Johnny slapped his forehead with his palm, sighing in frustration, before grabbing the food bag roughly and going to sit on the couch.
Peter sat beside him and finally pulled out his plate to eat—his stomach had almost devoured itself from the inside.
As if Johnny gave up on this absurd conversation. He opened the bag, started eating in silence, as if it was his way of admitting that things were back to normal between them… somewhat.
Reed, who was still watching the situation, exhaled quietly before folding his arms and whispering to the team,
“I don’t see any logic in their friendship, but fine, I won’t interfere.”
Ben nodded and said in his deep voice,
“Oh, no one understands, even when Johnny told me about him… But hey, at least they stopped fighting over whatever they were fighting about, and now we know what that doctor looks like.”
Sue looked at the scene, then smiled softly as she leaned against the wall and hummed in agreement.
Peter, meanwhile, was silently watching Johnny eat. He didn’t say anything, but he knew he had succeeded in breaking the wall Johnny had put up between them. He may not have been the best at conversations, but he knew how to act… in his own way.
After a few minutes of silence, Johnny finally said without looking at him,
“Just… nothing like that again, you idiot.”
Peter smiled, then threw a pillow at his head, causing Johnny to sharply lift his head and glare at him in anger.
“No promises,” Peter said as he took another bite.
This time, from his food—Johnny couldn’t stop himself from laughing.