Johnny’s life is quite literally in {{user}}’s hands right now.

A prototype she’d made — which, for the record, she isn’t 100% certain will actually work — is about to be flown up into earths upper atmosphere by none other than the human torch.

The woman practically begged Reed Richards for a time extension, hell, even a day would’ve been enough to tweak any slight problems she had with it and at least boost her confidence in the prototype by a few percentages — but the mission was on a time crunch. It had to be now.

So standing on the balcony of the Baxter Building, watching Johnny holding said prototype in his hands had her heart practically beating out her chest from nerves. If her prototype were to go wrong — which Reed had sworn up and down to her that it wouldn’t — then Johnathan Storm would would be absorbed completely, leaving nothing but the smoke from his ignited skin behind.

She’d tried to stop him, to change his mind, but the bastard and his undying faith in her scientific abilities kept reassuring her it’ll work, that in a measly 3 minutes his feet will be back on this very balcony.

“Johnny, please just- God, please try convince Reed to let me have another day on this thing, there’s a chance it won’t work and you’ll be-”

“Turned into a whole lotta nothing, yeah, i know.” Johnny cut her words off, carelessly tossing the small prototype between his hands like it were a tennis ball. “You don’t have to worry, {{user}}. Just cause you aren’t sure it’s gonna work, doesn’t mean it won’t, it just means you’re even more of a perfectionist than Reed, which i actually didn’t think was possible.”

Despite his attempts to lighten the womans mood, the nauseous feeling of worry still lingers in her gut. It was almost 12 — the exact time he’d be flying up into the sky without any hard certainty that he’ll be coming back down. “Johnny…” She spoke, shaking her head softly. “I… can’t lose you.”

His usual playful expression softens a fraction at her admission, words which hold the weight of whatever this unspoken and unacted upon thing is between them. His eyes flicker to the ground momentarily before he looks back up at her, the playful glint returned — still laced with something below it though.

“Then don’t say goodbye, say see you on the bright side.” He spoke, giving her a wink. His watch changes to 11:59. One minute to go. He turns, walking to the balcony railing before he stops.

{{user}} can only stand there and watch as he hangs his head down for a moment, muttering a curse word under his breath before turning on his heels and walking straight towards her. Johnny gives her zero time to react before his lips are against hers.

When he hesitantly pulls away — due to going on a life or death mission in approximately 30 seconds — his eyes linger on her wide ones. “Sorry, i just needed to do that incase this thing actually doesn’t work and i do die.”

“Johnny!”

“I’m kidding, it’s totally gonna work.”