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Johnny loved being a celebrity and he loved practically everything that came with it, the presents, the screaming fans, the girls.
Even the parts that the other three didn’t like he was very much happy to take off their plates like doing photoshoots and modeling. Sure, sometimes they would be up for the occasional photoshoot or maybe a couple meet and greats but the others weren’t a fan of stardom. Reed would prefer to keep himself locked in his lab, Sue would only do it to get peoples opinions on her policies or whatever politician stuff she had and Ben just didn’t like the stares. He never could shake off how negatively he had been seen by the public during their first appearances.
So Johnny as gracious as he was designated himself to be the one primarily in the public eye. It was a good deal for everyone, he got as much attention as he wanted and the others got left alone. Although it did come with some downsides, the more fans meant the more over the top ones. There had been a few times where people had been downright disgusting to him. Groping him in public, throwing themselves on him, saying really outlandish stuff.
The others were always there to have his back. And he wasn't going to let the fact he was a celebrity be ruined by a few over the top people. That was until the letters started coming in, over the top letters describing things that made his skin crawl. He had hidden them for so long laying in his room and in his bed rereading over and over again staring at the disgusting words unable to tear himself away.
Johnny hadn’t even meant for the others to find out it had been a total accident in fact. He had asked Sue to grab something from his room, not remembering that he had left them open on his bed. Only for her to come storming into the living room demanding to know why he hadn’t told them about this. He didn't have an answer.
Maybe he felt embarrassed, maybe he didn't want them to have to read what had been written or maybe he just didn't want them to know. He just hadn’t. Thankfully sue had seemed to understand, because of course she had she's the only girl on the team and had shown them on numerous occasions the types of letters she had received. Johnny had never really gotten them though and when he had they had been kept hidden.
He had been sixteen when they had become superheroes, it was only now at eighteen that they let him sort his own mail even if it still felt wrong. The letters didn’t stop though, he may have stopped reading but he could always do well when it was them. The same pink envelope with a human torch sticker on the front. The others would get to it before him, flashing him a smile and telling him not to worry about it. The little that he did hear made his skin crawl, they were getting worse.
More angry and threatening,
Was that even possible?
They were already bad enough so the idea that somehow they were getting worse kept him up at night. He couldn’t help but stare at the wall and just wonder what the letters said. About what someone could possibly write about that was freaking the others out this bad, that was making them hover around him more, asking if he felt okay.
They would join him when he went to his modeling agency or join him for meet and greets, something which would usually be a once a year occasion was now the constant. They were trying to keep it calm and not scare him but it was freaking him out more. He wished to be sixteen again, to have every letter checked before it was handed to him by the others, he thought he could handle it but he just couldn’t. One night he had found them staring at a pile of letters all arrived on the same day from the same person.
It felt like a blur.
Reed handed him a cup of hot chocolate, Johnny's favourite already made in advance. Sue had come up and hugged him softly before Ben put a hand on his shoulder and told him not to worry about it. That wasn’t possible anymore, how it was all that he could worry about. That was about the time that the nightmares had started, dreams about people showing up at the Baxter building, at his modelling agency. He would wake up in his bed in a cold sweat only for his half asleep brain to conjure up images of people in his room, seeing figures at the end of his bed.
Nowhere felt safe anymore, He had just become paranoid when doing anything public. Anyone in a crowd could be the person that had been sending him the messages and he would never know. Reed hadn’t been able to trace back where they were coming from, they would all be sent from different addresses and post offices. This person knew how to hide and was doing so perfectly.
Yet somehow the worst part of all of this was that he didn’t even know what the letters said anymore. The first few before Sue had found them had just been overly sexual, talking about all the things that they wanted to do to him. But from the small things he had heard from the others he had gathered that they had gotten somehow worse.
Something that Johnny couldn’t even fathom because what were they saying that was freaking out his family so much? Were the planning to kidnap him? Torture him? Kill him? He didn’t really have any clue and the others were in no rush to tell him.
After what felt like forever of this, Johnny couldn't take it anymore. He had to know what was being said for his own sake. He waited until the others had gone to bed before he creeped into Reed's lab being careful not to trip any alarms as he did so. The letters were just laying there on a table, sorted out into order of when they had been sent. Some of them had obvious signs of damage like they had been crumpled or torn apart.
The ones that had been torn were now taped together perfectly, presumably by Reed. Johnny took a glance back at the door to make sure that no one was there before he slowly sat down and picked up the letters and started to read through. His stomach dropped the more and more he read
‘I can't wait till we can be together, we were always meant for each other. We’re soulmates after all! I just love you so much i need to be around you Johnathan you’ll see how perfect we are together soon i swear to you’
‘Johnny you should start replying to my letters soon, just send them to the post office and I'll get them, you shouldn’t have to hide from me just because you're scared. There's nothing to be scared of, your family will be supportive when they see how much i love you and the press? Well they’ll love us once they see we’re made for each other not like those other bitches you dated’
‘Johnny honey I’m really starting to get angry here, are you even reading my letters? Why wont you reply? Why are you being so cruel cant you see that I love you? You have to believe me and respond to me’
‘Im going to fucking kill you, why are you not responding to me? Are you off sleeping with another woman you slut? Why wont you respond can’t you see how perfect we are this isn't fair why are you being so cruel to me? You have to solve this, you have to just come talk to me and we can be together. We have to be together if you dont ill kill myself’
He tried to read the next letter but as he picked it up he realised that he couldn’t, he caught a glimpse at a few of the words written down and almost threw up into the bin next to him. He shook his head with tears in his eyes, he just wanted this to be over. Why couldn’t this just be over? Tears streaming down his face softly hitting off the paper. It was just words, he had fought supervillains and he was crying over some words? He felt utterly pathetic at how scared he was.
Johnny furiously rubbed away the tears but more just kept coming. Why was this happening to him? Not that he wanted it to happen to the others but this was all just so much. Why did he have to be dealing with this? That's when he felt a gentle hand rest on his shoulder. Instantly he jumped and turned around on the chair only to see Sue staring down at him worriedly.
“Hey.. You doing okay” She asked, keeping her voice as gentle as possible as she looked down at her little brother. It was easy to tell just by his face that he wasn’t. He turned and looked up at her with an empty scared look in his eyes, one of the letters still clutched in his fists. She wanted nothing more than to burn then so that he would never have to see them again but that wasn’t possible.
“Fine..” He mumbled, his voice distant. He was looking in her direction but his eyes were also going right through her.
“You read them?” She didn’t need to ask it but she did for his sake.
“Yeah some.” His voice still hollow as he looked down at the crumpled paper in his hand, he went to smooth it out but Sue just gently put her hand over his, keeping it in a fist. She wished he never had to read those disgusting words
“Sorry we didn’t tell you it's just a lot and you’re still so young” She couldn’t help but look at him and still see her baby brother. The one who would run after her as kids, the one who would scream her name in delight and try to give her as many hugs as he could. This was the same little boy who’d look at her with all the wonder in the world.
When she found the person who tore that away from him she would kill them
“Why is this scaring me so much? I shouldn't be this scared over something so dumb” His voice trembled as he held his head in his hands.
“Hey..hey.” Sue tried to keep her voice calm, like he was six again waking up from yet another nightmare about their mother dying
“This is not dumb.” She swore “This is scary, very scary. And its alright to be scared by it.” When he didn't show any sign of believing her she gently put her hand on his cheek and stroked it softly with her thumb, he didn't look like the eighteen year old superhero who saved lives everyday. He looked like what he was, a scared kid “Do you think I don't get scared when I get creepy letters? Or reed? Or Ben? Its natural to be scared but what you have to know is that we’re here for you, that we won't let anyone hurt you, okay?”
“Promise?”
“Promise.”
For next while everything just felt normal, he ignored the letters when they came and ignored what they said. It had been hard at first but the other three had just been so supportive that everything just felt okay. The others still joined him for stuff but it no longer freaked him out, he was just trying to embrace the time that he had with his family. In a way he was really starting to enjoy himself and be able to go and do the things he used to without feeling constant fear.
Today was supposed to be normal, he and the others had booked a photoshoot for some magazine. Normal celebrity business after all. They even had the whole matching outfits and styles. His Booking agent Millie had been getting him loads more private bookings where there wouldn’t be lots of people ever since this whole thing had started. They spent a lot of time together after all so she practically knew everything about his life. She was like an older sister in a way.
Millie used to be a model when she was younger, but now in her mid fifties she didn't really get as many jobs as she used too. So instead she made it her life's mission to help Johnny out with his stuff, she had a few other clients but she dealt with him the most. She made sure he was alright and cared for and god did he appreciate it.
A couple minutes before shooting he ran to the bathroom real quick. When he was washing his hands however thats when he spotted her, he looked up to see Millie standing behind him, a wide grin stretched unnerving up her face.
“Woah! You know this is the guys right?” Johnny asked with a nervous laugh trying not to show just how big a fright she had given him.
“Yeah i know” She replied nonchalantly like this was a totally normal situation
They stared at each other for a few seconds before he softly asked “You need something?”
Millie blinked a few times, confused “I just wanted to check in on you, we haven't got much chance to talk this week” Her voice was gentle, almost scolding as if he had done something wrong. Not that he even knew what it was.
“I guess we haven't, have we?” He said awkwardly, i mean what do you really do when confronted by your friend acting weird in the bathroom
“Nope..” She whispered, staring at him as if almost in a trance.
He took a step forward “You feeling alright Mills? Are you sure there isn't something that you need?” He was genuinely worried about her at this point because whatever was happening right now sure as hell wasn’t normal. He glanced up and down on her searching for anything wrong but apart from how she was acting she seemed totally fine
“You’re so kind Johnn” She said whistfully “ well i guess there was something that i needed but im a little scared to ask” Her shoulders went up as she stared at him with a mock shyness
“Oh? What is it?” His finger hovered over the hidden button on his watch to call the others before he stopped, he was just unsettled. It didn't mean she was doing anything wrong did it? If he could handle people literally trying to kill him, he could handle his booking agent being a little off. He was fine.
He was fine
“Have you been getting my letters?” She asked excitedly, her grin getting wider
“Letters,” he asked, trying to remember if he had gotten anything from her “ What, have you been sending me more bookings? Because if you have then i havent gotten them yet no” A lot of the post had been getting mixed up lately, with the whole fiasco withe the creepy person every other letter had kind of fallen to the side
“No silly! The letters, you mentioned that the others were taking them away from you, which is honestly horrible of them i dont know why you let them do that too you but i guess family is family and i will need to learn to love them” She rambled on and on but Johnny didn hear a word of iy, instead all he could focus on was the fact that it was her.
All this time, all this time he had been scared and unsettled. How many times had he cried on her shoulder about how he didn’t feel safe at shoots anymore, how he needed more private shootings because nowhere seemed safe. She had promised so many times that whoever was writing them wouldn’t get in because she personally monitored who went in and out.
The entire time she did this. It had been her
She had watched him cry over this and now, she was acting like this was a totally normal thing to do. Like she hadn’t been harassing and terrorising him for so long. Johnny couldn't do anything but stand there and stare at her in shock.
Why had she done this?
“Anyway, did you finally read my letters?” She asked again this time more giddy
Johnny just stared unable to move “Millie… what the fuck are you talking about”
He knew.
He knew what she was talking about
He just didn't want to think about it.
“You haven't figured it out yet? I knew you weren't the brightest but I didn't know that it was as bad as that come on silly did you really not know that it was me sending them? I mean who else would it be?” Millie said teasingly, like this was totally obvious from the start that it had been her all along. Like he should have known, like he was stupid for not knowing.
“You really.. It was you?” Johnny couldn’t help the tremble in his tone
“Look i know i had been a bit harsh in a few of them but in my defence Johnny i thought you had figured it out and were just being rude by ignoring my feelings for you and your own obvious feelings for me” She rambled on and on but he didn’t hear any of it, it went in one ear and out the other as he did all he could just to process what she was telling him. He had trusted her, he had told her how scared he had been and she had kept doing it.
He couldn’t help but take a shaky step back
“But you- I cant have been from you i mean..”
“What? Is it because of my age? Well I can't fix that but it shouldn’t be that big of a dealbreaker Johnny. I love you, that's what really counts here, not some numbers!” Millie yelled clearly starting to get agitated. Everytime Johnny took a step back she took a step forward until he was essentially backed into a corner.
“You’re fifty-six.. I'm eighteen.” He whispered, he had considered her like an older sister.
“I know, I know! It looks a little bad but Johnny I waited for you to turn eighteen so that we could finally be together doesn't that sound so romantic! I mean I knew that you had feelings for me because of course you did but it was true and I waited two years until you would be ready, and now that you are we can finally be together?” Johnny stood frozen as she talked just staring at her wide eyed and terrified. He didnt know what to do, sure he had creeps flirt with him but one of the others usually stepped in and handled it. Usually he could jus walk away and the others would handle it. He couldn’t walk away right now all he could do was stand there.
There was nowhere to run. She had cornered him completely, he couldn't flame on and make a scene she hadn’t technically done anything to him yet, but he also didn't want to wait around until she did. Johnny could feel his hands shaking, the sting of tears in his eyes. He really had trusted her, they had spent so much time together in all his shoots.
Why had she done this?
“You’re insane. I trusted you!” He yelled, tears in his eyes.
“Thats rude. I put in all this work, now I know that you like running around with girls and getting into all that wild stuff. I get it, you're young but now that we’re together that's gonna have to stop okay? Ill teach you how to have a normal relationship with a woman!” She was getting more aggressive but he couldn’t even process it anymore. All he could do was shake his head back and forth trying to block out what she was saying. He felt a tear roll down his cheek and he swiftly wiped it away.
“Leave me alone!” He yelled, he didnt want to cry in front of her.
He was a superhero, but god he was scared. He was scared and he wanted to get the others and go home.
“No Johnny!” She screamed slamming her hand on the wall next to his head pinning him to the wall as he desperately held back tears, she was only an inch taller but it felt like so much more as she towered over him “You need to see that I'm doing what's best for you? I waited for you for all of this time we are going to be together. Can you see that? It's destiny, why else would you have walked into my booking agency that day?” The grin on her face was getting more wider, more desperate as she pleaded with Johnny to listen to her but there was no way in hell that he was buying this bullshit
“To hire a booking agent not to fall in love!” he screamed back poking her in the chest, no doubt they were making a lot of noise right now. All he could hope was that they would be loud enough that someone would hear them arguing and come in. He needed someone else to see
“You’re being awfully cruel right now” Milly hissed violently “i get it i said some hurtful things so you are saying some back its only natural and now that you’ve gotten it out we can go to be a normal couple-” that's when johnny decided he’d had enough of standing here and listening to her ramble on about this, he had enough of staring up at her scared at what she was going to do next. So in the middle of her ranting Johnny took a deep breath.
“I am never going to love you. Leave me alone you psycho freak!” It started out casual but ended in him screaming in her face. Not that he cared about politeness. At this moment all he cared about was getting her away from him.
“What did you just say to me? She hissed keeping her voice low, the manic grin now gone as she stared at him with a dark look in her eyes, her fingernails starting to dig into the walls as she stared at him with all the malice in the world. She grit her teeth together so hard that Johnny could hear it and cringed at the sound. Not that she cared as she leaned down further to look at him.
However Johnny leaned in as well until their faces were almost touching, all he could do was scowl up at her. Tears in his eyes as his face contorted into hate. How dare she do this too him after seeing how scared he was. How dare she try to intimidate him. He wasn't going to sit here and let that happen any longer, “I said. I am never going to love you. you psycho freak” he said firmly
“Ill fucking kill you” she whispered calmly, reaching into the back of her coat as she suddenly pulled out a gun and aimed it underneith his chin. Her face blank of emotions
Johnny felt his hands turn warm, itching to flame on but he couldn't. She was just a civilian and if he hurt her he could get in serious trouble. But this had happened before and he had flamed on but no matter how much he wanted to he just couldn't. “Woah Wait!” he pleaded, not that she cared. Still he couldn’t flame on, he didn't want to hurt her.
She had been his friend
“ILL KILL YOU” She screamed, shoving the gun harder against his face, her finger on the trigger but before she could pull it suddenly the gun was torn away from her. Johnny and milly looked back only to see reed standing there, an almost feral look on his face as the gun was swiftly thrown at the wall so hard it shattered. The second it was out of his grip both of Reed's hands shot forward, wrapping around her before yanking her backwards onto the floor even as she screamed and fought trying over and over to get up. She yelled about how her and Johnny were meant to be. How none of them would ever understand their love.
As she begged Johnny to call Reed off all he could do was lean back against the wall before slumping to the floor. The tears that he had been so desperately holding back were now streaming down his face as he let out small hiccups and sobs.
He didn’t know how long he was on that floor crying for.
Long enough that he didn’t know why he was crying, whether still out of fear or out of relief that it was finally over.
Long enough that the cops had shown up. Dragging her away as she continued to scream. He had seen their glances but Johnny hadn’t cared, not really
Long enough that Reed was giving a statement, while Ben guarded the door to keep any passerby or worse paparazzi from getting a look at him crying.
Long enough that Sue had walked in, gently sitting next to him and pulling him into an embrace. His head on her shoulder as she shushed him, telling him how it would be okay. That it was over. That he didn't have to be scared anymore.
Long enough that Johnny cried himself to sleep.
But this time he was safe,
He was in his sister's arms.
He’d be okay, not straight away, but he would be okay.