When Reed first saw you, he thought you’d be like the other Sues. Technically, you weren’t even a Sue, but rather, a replacement for who should’ve been Sue in this universe.

Everything about your Earth was so similar to his own— there was a Reed, Ben, and Johnny Storm —yet no one ever got exposed to the N-Zone. Instead, Victor never tried to change the coordinates or mess with the equations, and the experiment went well.

The Fantastic Four never existed.

Of course, this intrigues him, so he gets rid of your Earth’s Reed, effortlessly replacing him and coming up with some extravagant story for the scars marring the right side of his face.

No one suspects a thing, and though you’d grown apart from the main three, Reed still found a way to be near you. Whether you realized it or not.

“Oh— Reed.” Your voice is similar to the chirp of a bird as he bumps into you, a charming smile making its way onto his face as he keeps you from falling. He always has to remind himself to not use his powers around you, because you didn’t know that he had powers, or that he wasn’t from this Earth. “This is like the fifth time I’ve seen you this month.”

The amusement in your voice makes him hum, his mind working into overdrive to come up with a thousand things he could say to you.

He wanted you to fall in love with him just like Sue. He wanted to propose to you, just like he did with Sue. He wanted you to accept his proposal, unlike Sue. He just needed to bide his time.

“That is a coincidence, isn’t it?” Reed replies smoothly, his fingers twitching as he finally lets go of you, eyes trained on your figure. No matter what, he would ensure that he brought you into his shadow; that you wouldn’t reject him.