#alpha!johnny stom x reader

[imaginedreamwrite]

Watch My Heart Burn: Part 11

Johnny stared at the screen in front of him and felt a violent and irrevocable rage bubbling beneath his flesh as he studied the clear image of the alpha, which he had held such disdain and animosity for, dragging you off into a quiet corner to have a conversation. Johnny could see Morris’ hand on your arm, his fingers digging into your flesh and the way you parted your lips to protest him grabbing you like he had, to which Morris’ sneer had become more prominent.

Johnny knew there was something wrong with you, he knew that there was an apprehensiveness that you had felt whenever Morris had passed you by, and maybe it was tension that was rooted in you denying Morris and sticking with Johnny. However, his good sense as an alpha told him it was more. He had gotten the feeling that it was something more prominent that you weren’t telling him, and whatever was going on with Morris and yourself was beyond what anyone thought.

It was this sense that made Johnny start digging around and when he had found the security footage of you first being taken away for a tense conversation, Johnny knew there was more than meet the eye. He wasn’t going to stop until he found out the truth and protected you from that bastard. Johnny had to do what was right for you, he had to protect you even if you didn’t ask for it.

You were his omega, you could handle his heat and his flame without being burnt.

You were perfect for Johnny. He would and could do anything to keep you safe, to keep you from harm while pursuing you to court and eventually mark and mate. He was going to be the kind of alpha who you needed, who you had wanted and deserved. Johnny was going to do all he could to keep you from harm, it was his vow.

Nothing was going to hurt you; no one was going to cross you.

The further he had dug into the security feeds, the more he had tried to access Morris’ life, the quicker Johnny had concluded that something was happening behind the scenes of every interaction you had. There was something about this man, this alpha that was making you apprehensive and fearful, and Johnny was going to find out what Morris was threatening you with, what he was holding above you.

The air was pulled from his lungs and the steady beat of his heart had come to a complete stop when the door opened and closed, and he had seen you on the other side. He had never seen an omega who looked so gorgeous and captivating, an omega who could render him unable to function without breathing you in. You were standing outside of your door, watching him as he was watching you and Johnny couldn’t help it.

He had made the comparison between you and the way you looked standing feet from him, and the most coveted pieces of beauty in the world. He made the comparison and knew that you had outdone them all, every great piece of art that was fawned over in museums around the world couldn’t hold a candle to you. There wasn’t a single and imaginable way that you could have been any more captivating and heart-stopping, and then he was proven wrong when you had spoken his name.

“Johnny.” You turned toward him, and your dress billowed around you, the delicate sway of the skirt drawing his attention to the colours that strongly resembled fire. The red and black, soft tinges of orange resembled soft flames in a conceptualized way and a part of him wondered if you had chosen the dress you had as a kind of message for him and the acceptance of a relationship on the cusp.

“Holy shit.” He exhaled in a puff of air blown away by your appearance outside his door, finding it hard to process how beautiful, how truly stunning you were. “I mean…wow.”

“Do you like it?” You turned slowly, the train of the dress and the soft sheathing following your movements, your hands brushing against the bodice. “Sue helped me pick it out.”

“You look beautiful.” His heart clenched tightly as he looked you up and down, swallowing thickly as he was stuck in his head unable to say anything but basic statements. “You look…wow.”

“Hmm.” You made a sound and then smirked, proud of yourself for your accomplishment, and the accomplishment brought out the tease in your voice. “I made Johnny Storm speechless. Rather proud of myself.”

“Yeah, yeah,” he rolled his eyes and then slipped his hands into his pockets, fingers grasping the seams of the lining for something to do as he was hit with sudden onset nervousness, “so you uh…got a date?”

“Why? You interested?” You teased and held your clutch in your left hand while your busied your right hand by locking your door. Your hair was pulled off your neck exposing your scent glands and unmarked flesh, the sight of your smooth and untouched skin stirring some primordial intensity from the alpha close to you.

It made him want to bite you, to sink his teeth into your neck and mark you as his. It made Johnny want to hide you away for the night so the two of you could spend the next hours in bed, feeling heat transference and the exchange of marks. He wanted to sweep you off your feet and strengthen the bond between you, solidify the connection you had to become one whole unit, together as perfect as you could be.

“Maybe, but don’t let it go to your head.” Johnny chuckled under his breath, softly inhaling your scent and staving the growl that was building in his chest, then he walked closer and extended his hand toward you. He had offered it to you to take, waiting for the moment you had set your hand in his and as your palm met his, as the connection was made, a sudden pulsation of warmth had radiated from his flesh to yours as your scents had softly coiled around the both of you. Yours had become melded with his and his with yours, the joining cusp of alpha and omega who were perfect for each other.

“That’s a hard bargain, Storm.” Your voice wavered as you had become overwhelmed and overtaken by the strong pull that made you lean into him, and likewise made him support you with his enhanced strength. “You should this our second date.”

“A second date,” His plump lips were twitching while he leaned in and raised his hand to rest it against your lower back, gently pulling you toward him, “I knew you would fall in love with me. It was only a matter of time.”

“Don’t be so cocky,” you placed your hands against his chest then leaned in and stood on your tippy toes, your lips dusting his own as you exhaled against them, “I’m taking pity on you.”

“If you say so,” Johnny’s lips crashed against your own in a passionate yet playful kiss, the moment of affectionate exchange was the beginning of the end for you and your composure, “but I think you like me more than you want to admit.”

You could feel yourself falling, you could feel yourself cratering.

Johnny was right, you were falling in love with him and you suspected he had felt the same way.

“I’m not babysitting you tonight,” your whisper fell victim to the music that was being played in the event space, the rise and fall of your voice was kept between you and Johnny as he escorted you in while keeping a rather tight arm around your waist, “which means you can let me go.”

“No.” Johnny’s fingers gripped the material of your dress as if he was holding onto a tether and you could feel the hard turn of his mood flux, the distinct feeling of him being on edge from something in the room had stirred your wonder.

“Johnny, are you okay?” You questioned him and his mood, watching him as he looked out onto the crowd of people in the room, his jaw clenching as he swallowed. “Johnny-“

“You are with me, all night.” He had spoken with an alpha command, the first he had ever used on you, and it had settled immediately. “You’re not leaving my side.”

The way that the command had settled in your skin, was immediate. It was like a dull heat had started from your scent glands and radiated from your head to your feet, to every extremity until you were completely warmed from the inside out and invigorated with Johnny, and his scent. It was as if the alpha command that you didn’t even have a chance to try and reign in, had been wholly accepted by your omega hindbrain and that in itself was another sign that you and Johnny were really in tune.

“Promise me.” He had followed the command with a gentle clutch of your chin wherein he made you look at him, his blue eyes searching for your face. “Promise me, omega.”

Johnny had shifted from the playboy alpha that had aggravated you to no end, the alpha that had spent more time sleeping around with omegas than taking responsibility for anything in his life, to an alpha who was intimidating and foreboding in every sense of the word. He had shifted from the kind of alpha you never wanted to be around, to the kind of alpha who was centring himself in the primordial urge and sense to protect an omega.

Johnny was becoming the kind of alpha no one wanted to screw with, and by extension, you. He was making sure no one in their right mind would cross you because by crossing you, they would cross him.

“I promise.” You exhaled in a short, sharp breath as he stared you down with intensity you had never seen before. “Johnny, I promise.”

“Good.” He had let go of your chin, reaching for your hand again and just as easily as he commanded you to stay with him, he had shifted back to that sense of normalcy.

Yet, he was still on edge.

You followed Johnny further into the venue, further into the cusp of the party while he had kept his watchful eye out for something you couldn’t see and sense. He had led you forward to the place where Sue and Reed were, the hosting couple talking to some investors about a recent project, and even upon arrival, he hadn’t let his guard down. The appearance he had made and the way he seemed to be on edge had certainly stirred Sue’s curiosity, and it was a quick-winded question toward Johnny that had caused the first crack of the tension.

“I don’t know what’s going on.” You had commented in retaliation to Sue, the two of you as equally puzzled by the sudden realism in which Johnny had turned himself into a fearful alpha. “He was fine until we got here.”

“There’s a lot of alphas in the room, you’re unmarked.” Sue’s reasoning could have been the explanation for his tension however you had gotten the sense that there was something more beyond the ratio of alphas. “Does it have anything to do with the other alpha? Peter Morris-“

“I haven’t seen him.” You cut Sue off, the threat he had made lingering in the back of your mind as your given task and goal were remembered with twisted intent.

He wanted you to steal the formula Reed was working on, and if you didn’t, he would make the rest of them pay. If you told anyone, he would make them pay just as infernally as he vowed, with the unknown method of his expenditure of promised ‘pain’ revitalizing the buried sense of dread. You had tried to forget it while dealing with everything else in your life, you had tried to forgo the explicit promise of anguish to give yourself time to find a way out of it.

“He’s here,” Sue had grabbed your wrist and placed her fingers against the underside of your wrist, “maybe that’s why Johnny is on edge. I know he’s arrived, he’s due to have a meeting with Reed.”

Johnny was close, he was within feet of you, his gaze landing on you every few moments to make sure you hadn’t left. He was right there and you promised to stay, yet you felt exposed. You felt that even as close as he was, now that you knew Morris was here it would spell disaster for you.

“Johnny has never been so in love before.” Sue changed her trajectory and focused on how Johnny felt for you, how much he loved you, and by extension how much he wanted and needed you. “I’m happy for you both.”

“I am too.” You had smiled small and draped your left arm around your waist as if to shield yourself. “I am happy, even if it had just started.”

“You should have fun tonight.” Sue had embraced you in a sisterly kind of hug when Johnny and Reed were done talking and had joined her husband when he was freed, the two of them enjoying the moment of quietude they were awarded before more investors had come and the titular meeting with Morris had taken place.

“You need to relax.” Johnny, ironically, had whispered the dulcet words in your ears while he was on edge himself. “Come on, I owe you a dance.”

“You’re telling me to relax, you look like you’re going to combust.” You remarked on the irony as Johnny had led you onto the dance floor, settling a hand on the small of your back to bring you chest to chest with him. He had kept his hand low on your back while his other hand had grasped yours, your fingers entwined.

Johnny had begun moving to the beat of the music, the soft and slow melody was muted to your ears when you placed your head against his chest and listened to his heart beating in his chest. The steady rhythm was leading you and him together in a dance that felt like it was made for you and him alone, and it was impossible to resist closing your eyes to feel this as a whole overwhelming moment.

“Morris wants me to steal Reed’s formula, he threatened their kids if I didn’t pull it off. He threatened to kill them all if I didn’t give him what he wanted.” You finally spilled the secret, you finally confessed the hidden truth to get it off your chest with heat at your back immediately following your confession.

“Johnny-“ You pulled away and looked up at him, his blue eyes unrecognizable as direct and heart-stopping darkness had taken over the crystalline of his irises. He had looked like a beast in a man’s body, his hands tightened on your body and his jaw ticked with rage as he swallowed down his ire.

“Johnny please-“

“I’m going to turn him to ash.” He had finally spoken, he had finally opened his mouth with a retort, and the instinctual urge to duck and hide from a predator, from the predator that was holding onto you, was innate. “I’m going to burn him alive.”

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[imaginedreamwrite]

Watch My Heart Burn: Part 9

Johnny had been accused of being immature, selfish and spoiled, he had been accused of being a man-whore who used women as if they were a commodity.

He had even been accused of lacking the ability to be able to take care of a mate at any age and he hadn’t cared to. No part of him had wanted to put in the effort to try until he had met you until he had been driven so wild and crazed by your scent and your fire.

He couldn’t and wouldn’t dare rule his affection and adoration to one simple favourite, one characteristic that made him addicted to you. There was far too much about you that he loved and desired.

He wasn’t even afraid to call it what it was because he knew that avoiding the truth was a painful and blatant disregard for the way you affected him. Trying to deny his feelings for you would have been as underminingly poisonous as trying to deny his need for air.

He needed you, with every fibre of his being, he needed you. You made him feel perfect and whole, you made him feel as if he had always been enough.

You could handle Johnny; you could handle his flame.

That neediness, that impending want and supplication, had driven him to make this date the best he could. He wanted to prove that he could be a good alpha, a good potential mate.

He started the date at the fair with wristbands, the brightly coloured and fluorescent bands secured around your wrists with the name of the country inscribed in the material.

After the wristbands were secured, Johnny grasped your hand and pulled you into a semi-private space and turned your hand over to expose the inside of your wrist. With it exposed, Johnny lifted the inside of your wrist to his mouth and started suckling on the skin, his tongue lapping against your flesh to scent your neiguan pressure point.

He had raised his steely blue eyes and locked his gaze with yours, slowing the act of scenting your wrist to draw out the pleasure you were undoubtedly feeling. As he had parted his lips further and prodded your wrist with the edges of his teeth, primal urgency pulsated through him with every whine that was ripped from you.

Your eyes had fluttered closed and your heart was thrashing against its cage, warmth and desire were pooling between your legs with every stroke of his teeth against your flesh and his tongue against your veins.

“Johnny,” you gasped his name before you started whining at the heat, at the pressure mounting in the apex between your thighs, “you need to stop…”

It was as if you could feel the same sensations of his tongue on your cunt, his teeth against your clit.

“Omega,” Johnny groaned and let your wrist go, only to cage you against a structural wall of the trailers you were hiding between, “do you feel good?”

He trapped you in his arms and ground his throbbing erection against your belly, the hard head nudging your stomach as a reminder of how deep it would be inside you.

“We can’t do this here,” you shuddered, shivering beneath him, “not here-“

“Just remember firefly,” Johnny leaned in, his plump lips grazing the shell of your ear as he huskily crooned, “that’s not even a taste of the pleasure I’m going to bring you.”

“You’re so full of yourself.” You mumbled against his lips, electricity buzzing between you two after he had stolen another kiss from you.

When Johnny had finally moved away, he had grabbed your hand in his and pulled you from the private corner to the main flow of traffic. He had stopped and glanced at the various amusement park rides and the games set up in a way that had created an alleyway of sorts, then he had directed his attention toward you.

He had looked you over, the corner of his lips twitching as he studied you. He had watched the rise and fall of your chest with every breath a feeling of undeniable affection and connectivity settling over his entire body like deep warmth that was different than his fire.

This warmth was like no other he had ever felt. It was as if Johnny was having an out-of-body experience and had been hovering above the clouds watching the exact moment that he had lost a little more of himself to an omega who was his perfect counterpart. It was as if, at this moment, he could feel himself falling into the bottomless depths while he was helpless to stop it.

He had never, would never, wanted to stop it.

“Where to first, firefly?” Johnny questioned you and as you had turned your head and locked eyes with him, he felt his breath catching in his throat.

His blue eyes were captivated by your own, by the emotions that were conveyed in your gaze and the tightening of your hand in his.

He was lost in the smile that was starting to build on your face and your scent as it started to reach a peak, teeming with eagerness and the need to expel your energy on the rides. He felt it, the excitement that had stirred his own and the lingering gratefulness that was hovering under the surface.

It was more than a date, it was a chance to step away from the craziness of his fanbase and the alpha that was bothering you. It was a chance to be free and enjoy yourselves, to act like young kids again.

“The rollercoasters.” Your smile was bright, unkempt by the stress of the job, and Johnny was eagerly following you when you tugged him behind you, a laugh falling from your lips when you nearly tumbled into an older couple with their child.

You apologized profusely over your shoulder while still holding his hand, tugging him behind you as the two of you made your way to the lineup for the ride. When you had come to a stop at the back of the queue you leaned into Johnny, pressing yourself against him with your hands still entwined. You laid your head against him with your cheek pressed against his shoulder as you stood and waited, subconsciously brushing your thumb against his hand to the tune of the music playing from one of the rides.

Johnny had looked down at you, he had studied you as you pressed yourself against him and cracked a small grin when he compared the moment you met to the moment you were at now, with the two of you able to share a space without biting each other heads off.

“You’re not scared are you?” Johnny slipped his hand around the small of your back, his fingers brushing against your hips bone, heat radiating from his fingertips. “If you are, I can hold your hand.”

“Scared? Johnny, if anyone is going to be scared, my money is on you.” You angled your head giving you a better view of him, your eyes sweeping along his neck and jawline, studying the shadows and highlights of his face in the mid-day.

You had glanced at the bridge of his nose and the sweeping curvature of his lips, you had become encapsulated by the beautiful shades of blues in his eyes that were framed by thick, dark lashes and then you sighed peacefully.

“Scared? Babe, I’m Johnny Storm. I laugh in the face of fear.” The corner of Johnny’s lips had twitched as he feigned confidence that was unhindered and you raised your free hand then pressed the pads of your fingers against his plump lips, feeling the softness of the swells of his flesh against your own.

You wished you could have had a rebuttal but you were silently watching him, silently studying him as he stood with your pressed against him while waiting for the line to move up. Instead of speaking in return and firing off a comment in retaliation you squeezed his arm and cast your eyes on the queue in front of you, a small smile of your building on your lips.

He had forgotten how to breathe at the moment that followed the first crack of fireworks and the bright colour illuminating the dark skyline. He had forgotten how to breathe when he had looked at you as another firework followed the first, the flash of colour and light casting you in unbelievable and angelic beauty.

How was it even possible for someone like you, for an omega like you, to be real? How was it at all possible for you to be a living, breathing person when you were perfection personified?

Johnny didn’t fully comprehend what it felt like to fall in love until he had felt himself falling with every breath he took and every small parting of his lips while he watched the display.

Johnny had never known or had wanted to know, what it must’ve felt like for his mother and father to fall for each other so deeply and so madly. Maybe it was maddening and perhaps it made no sense for Johnny Storm to have fallen so deeply and so quickly but at this moment right here he knew that he was no longer his own.

You had taken every piece of him in such a short time, and you held it without knowing what you possessed. You weren’t aware of the power you had over Johnny, of the unredeemable hold you had over every part and piece of him without even trying.

This was the first date if you even considered it a date, and Johnny had already lost himself. It was innate the way that his hindbrain and his instincts as an alpha were telling him to protect you at all costs, to provide the best possible life for you in every sense of the word. You were, or he wanted you to be, his omega and he would’ve given you the world if he could have.

Johnny would give you his very life if you wanted it, if only he got to see you look at him the way you had earlier. If only you would cast your eyes upon him like that again, he could die a happy man.

“I think this is my favourite,” your voice had drawn him from his thoughts, his eyes sweeping over your frame as you sat on the grass beside him while one of the many stuffed animals he had won you today at the fair, was sitting in his lap, “the brightly coloured ones are pretty but there’s something extraordinary about the way the plain fireworks look against the sky.”

Johnny’s attention flitted between you and the stuffed monkey in your hands, the brown fur short yet soft pairing well with a light beige patch on the stomach and the interior of the ears. He had studied the stuffed prize in your hands the monkey you had aptly named Johnny, after him, a grin forming on his face.

The prize was one of many he had gotten for you and yet it had appeared you already had a favourite of the mini-zoo stuffed into his vehicle, and he had wondered if you would take all the prizes to your nest or just this one specifically.

“I’ve never been to a fair,” you had drawn his attention again both by the sound of your voice and the way you had shifted closer to him, “but this was amazing. I don’t think I’ve had so much fun before in my life.”

“You need to have more fun,” Johnny’s fingertips brushed against the top of your ear while he was pushing the few pieces of your hair that escaped its hold out of your face, “firefly.”

“You have suggestions for fun?” Johnny had sworn the earth stopped moving when you turned your head and looked at him, he had sworn that everything had come to a complete halt and faded entirely when you leaned in and rest your chin against his bicep.

“Fun?” Johnny felt so exposed like this, he felt as if you had cracked every defensive wall and crevice open with a pry bar, leaving him at your mercy. “You and I will have loads of fun, Firefly.”

“Without sex?”

“Baby,” Johnny groaned dramatically, “what kind of guy do you take me for?”

Johnny didn’t wait for an answer. He had pulled you deeper into his side and pressed his lips against your temple as your eyes fluttered closed and your breath had become shaky.

Then, only after you had melted against him, had he sworn to himself that he would find out exactly what that bastard Morris had made you so afraid of.

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[imaginedreamwrite]

Watch My Heart Burn: Part 10

“I’m not the kinda alpha that walks away after a date.” Johnny’s arm stretched above his head, helping him lean against the door as he stared down at you, looked deep into your eyes, a playful smirk on his face as his free hand toyed with the zipper of your jacket.

“Oh really?” You cocked an eyebrow and looked him over from the broad mass of his shoulders and his strong chest to the narrowing of his waist and hips. “You never go on dates without sex?”

“It’s been a long time.” Johnny leaned in closer, his head dipping and his nose brushing against yours as he inhaled your scent.

He inhaled your scent and drew you in through the subtle touch of his fingertips against the bare flesh of your arm with his free hand. He stroked a path up and down your arm, gazing into your eyes while the two of you remained in silence, the end of the date approaching and yet neither one of you had been able to bid the final goodbye of the night.

“Goodnight, Johnny.” You had drawn your hand along his chest to his neck, your stuffed bears he had won for you were sitting on the floor.

“Come on, Firefly.” Johnny crooned seductively; sensually as if you and he were the only two in the world. “You know you can withstand my flame.”

“You’re not flaming on tonight, Johnny.” You stood on your tippy-toes and kissed him softly, lips brushing and moving against each other as heat burst from his flesh to yours. Johnny had made a motion of placing his hand on your lower back and used little momentum to bring you flush to his chest, unable to move.

“You sure about that?” Johnny’s hand pulled away, exhaling softly against your lips as the haze around you hovered. “You sure you don’t wanna create some sparks?”

It was Johnny’s turn to be rendered speechless when you pressed yourself against him and slid your hand around his neck to the nape, running your fingers into his hair and squeezing gently. You had leaned in, your lips barely brushing against his as you exhaled and mumbled softly. “Goodnight Johnny, enjoy your hand tonight.”

You stepped back while Johnny was in his daze and opened the door, nudging your stuffed animals into your room and then shutting the door in his face. As you stood on the other side of the door, with the official goodbye ending the date, you leaned against the wood and allowed yourself to feel the tentative shift of your emotions and the connection you had felt to Johnny. The quantifiable evidence that you were meant for each other, had driven you to a place of deeper understanding and appreciation for the alpha who had once driven you mad with irritation and indignation.

“Goodnight,” pleasant shivers shot through you as Johnny spoke through the door, “beautiful, firefly.”

The morning came with the early alarm, the warning that you would almost be late for work. You were quick to roll over onto your side and stare at your phone as it was hooked up to the charger, the time staring back at you with amorous want. You knew that it wouldn’t take much to roll back over and fall asleep, just as it wouldn’t take much to ignore the day’s tasks set out for you by Johnny. It was the back and forth between getting more sleep and getting up and going to work that had wasted the most time, and by the time you had pulled yourself from bed, the time to go was well behind you. You were late, you were going to be late, and it was that rush that had you peeling out of your place in the Baxter Building, straight into the alpha you worked for.

“Running late? Good thing your boss has a soft spot for you.” Johny caught you, hands warming against your arms.

“Not funny.” You brushed his hands off, the same intense warmth that was previously felt on your arms had now been felt in your belly, a side effect of Johnny Storm. “I didn’t think you’d be up so early. Usually, I need to wake you up.”

“You know how much I love it when you wake me up,” Johnny slipped his hand around the small of your back and pulled you closer, a soft grunt pulled from your lips at the sheer power behind his pull, the sound almost immediately being silenced by his lips crashing against yours, “but I needed to handle something.”

“Handle something? Is there anything I need to do?” You leaned away from him to get a better look, your eyes meeting and then averting as he cupped your cheek and drew the back of his fingers against your cheek.

“No. This is something I need to do myself.” Johnny leaned in and brushed his lips against yours in another kiss, this one softer and deeper than before, the movement of his flesh against yours and the gentle prod of his tongue against your own creating another surge of heat within your belly.

“Are you sure?” You pulled away from him again and rest your hands against his chest, snaking them up to his shoulders as a trail of heat followed your hands and the gentle nature of Johnny was almost chaotically different than his usual cocky arrogance.

“Sue’s looking for you,” Johnny had reluctantly pulled away, his blue eyes flashing with dark intent that had you stalling, “she’s got something to tell you.”

“Johnny,” you reached for him when he had stepped around you, and started to make his descent down the hall, “Is everything okay? Are you okay?”

“I got blue balls,” Johnny grinned and embraced your blow as you punched his shoulder with a roll of your eyes.

“So you didn’t have fun with your hand last night?” You questioned, watching him turn to face you as he walked backwards.

“Not as satisfying as you would have been, firefly.”

“Disgusting.” You scrunched your nose and stuck your tongue out at him, waiting until he had left before you began the walk toward Richards home, knocking on the door and waiting as it opened and Sue welcomed you in with a smile. You followed her inside her home and back to the office, watching her rifle around until she opened a desk drawer and pulled out a thick cream card-stock slip of paper and handed it over to you.

As you read the invitation over, the words on the thick cream card-stock had brought a ride of minute excitement and anticipation of what was to come. It was an event that was sure to be exciting for the Richards’ kids, the chance to get dressed up. However, it was the added anxiousness that centred around the fuck up you made with Morris that had put the asshole on their radar. He was still expecting your help to isolate and steal Reed Richards invention, and if you hadn’t, he would hurt the Richards’ kids. If you told anyone, he would hurt you and them.

“A ball? Really?” Sue handed you the invitation with clear instructions that you were invited as a guest and not for your job. “With…gowns?”

“What? It’ll be fun.” Sue shrugged and smiled, tapping the top of the invitation. “The whole team’s going.”

“And I don’t have to keep track of Johnny?” You questioned, reading the details while already debating whether or not you’d show your face.

“No! This is a chance for you to have fun!” Sue nudged your hip with her own, tucking your hand around the invitation. “You have a night off, but please make sure you come.”

“I don’t have a gown,” you surmised, folding the invitation to slip it into your pocket.

“You will,” Sue foretold and looped her arm in with yours, “you and I are going shopping.”

“Shopping?” You were rightfully confused and a little taken back, her insistence on getting you out and dressed to the nines was suspicious at best.

“You’re gonna get a dress and knock Johnny on his ass. I mean make him shut up for once.” Sue smiled and grabbed the invitation from you, setting it back on the desk. As the drawer was closed, Sue nudged you gently and grabbed a set of keys from the desktop.

“Sue-“ Your argument fell short, your attempts at dissuading her were abolished without merit.

“I’m not going to hear it. You and I are going shopping and you are going to blow Johnny away.” Sue had insisted and had taken it a step further by gently dragging you behind her as the two of you left her place, Sue clearly on a mission.

[imaginedreamwrite]

Watch My Heart Burn: Part 8

You don’t know what had initially waken you in the night, but you had known where your mind had foolishly gone time and time again. It was the thought of impassible soft lips brushing delicately against your own, and heat that was coiling around you ever so tightly.

It was the rise and fall of his scent, the alpha distinctive smell that had invaded your senses and drove your desire. Your mind had been drawn to the feel of Johnny’s hands on you, one cupping the back of your neck and the other cupping your cheek as he beckoned you to stay.

Your mind had wandered to Johnny Storm and the natural directive that had made you want to crumble beneath him, fall to pieces against the stronghold he had represented.

And then, it had seemingly turned to ash and you had thought of Morris. That alpha that you had wanted to use to get Johnny off your back had targeted you. He had known you and he had known that you would provide him with an in with Dr. Richards. Morris was using you, he was using their kids as a tactic to get what he wanted and you were meant to play the part or the Richards’ kids would get hurt.

You were stuck between thoughts of Johnny and the cockiness that had still gotten under your skin, yet the safety he could almost innately and surely provide. And the toxicity of an alpha that has been no good, that had wanted to ruin you and ruin Dr. Richards for the sake of getting his invention.

It was a vicious cycle that was only interrupted by a few loud raps on the door, and you had pulled yourself out of your bedroom to the front door of your place, opening the door to confusion.

Sitting outside your door was a coffee cup with the familiar logo on the side and a small wax-lined brown bag with a confection inside, the same logo that had graced the cup was also on the bag, and your name was scrawled on the top corner.

Upon seeing the bag and the cup, you had bent down to grab the cup and confection from the floor and then had raised your head when you heard footsteps coming down the hall toward you. As your attention settled on the familiar alpha and his electric blue eyes, you had stood with your items in hand and furrowed your brows.

“This is from you?” You pondered the usual mix of your tastes on the sticker placed on the far side of the cup and the weighty confection in your other hand. “Aren’t I supposed to be getting you coffee?”

“Someone was slacking and had slept in,” Johnny stopped toward you and shoved his hands into the pockets of his jeans and then had rocked back and forth on his heels, “I mean I had to navigate the city and get my coffee-“

“Oh poor princess,” you rolled your eyes and lifted your cup to your lips, catching the subtle and soft added notes of nutmeg and cinnamon, “however did you manage?”

“Turns out ordering coffee for myself is easier than I thought.” Johnny had leaned in, and you were met with the subtle yet peaking high of his scent. The slight uptake was a result of his heightened emotional tension that hadn’t inherently been animistic, rather it was different.

“Looks like I’m out a job then. Johnny Storm is becoming self-reliant,” you studied him, from the stylized mess of his hair and the leather jacket that had made the already broad alpha seem far denser in his structure.

“Think we should keep this between us, firefly. Don’t want too many people knowing I’m ordinary.” Johnny’s lips had twitched at the corner and you had snorted into your cup, the taste of your usual bursting on your tongue.

“Firefly?” Your eyebrows had become knit together and you’re lips had been pursed, yet it hadn’t drawn an answer from Johnny.

He had smirked at you, his eyes brightening and then he stepped forward, his closeness pushing you back against the door frame. He was trapping you between the wood and his body, heat radiating from his entire body to bring you subtle warmth.

“Come on, Firefly.” Johnny reached for your hand and gently pulled you away from the door. “We’re going out of the city, got an appointment.”

“Oh? I didn’t have anything scheduled.”

“I did. And we’re late. Let’s go.”

“I need to get changed,” you looked down at your comfortable and almost pyjama-like clothes that had been worn for comfort and not style, and then you’d looked back at Johnny, “can I get a hint about where we’re going?”

“If you wanna give me easy access-“ Johnny had only begun to smirk when you had reacted with a quick-fired punch to his shoulder, the strength behind your strike wasn’t enough to even move him, but it had finally made a smile burst onto his face.

“Impossible,” you scoffed and rolled your eyes at his teasing and suggestion before silence had overtaken the two of you.

It was still though not uncomfortable while the two of you were standing close to each other. It was stagnant yet warm, neither of you knowing what to say next. You had studied Johnny during the silence, analyzing the dark leather jacket that he was wearing, the colour pairing well with the off-white shirt beneath the leather and the dark wash jeans that made his legs appear endless.

“Did you try the coffee?” Johnny had broken the silence with a question, eyeing up the coffee in your hands as you had shifted your weight from one foot to the next.

“Are you afraid I won’t like it?” You raised an eyebrow and lifted the cup to your lips, slowly tipping it back to taste the combination of ingredients inside the cup.

When you had caught the flavours that had burst on your tongue, you were pleasantly surprised by the taste of the delicate balance of sweetness and bitter coffee; the combination now quite what you had usually ordered although you had thought that it was even better.

“This is amazing!” You lowered the cup and licked the last few dribbles from your lips before you cast your eyes on your apartment behind you. “Do you want to come in while I get dressed?”

Johnny had almost immediately smirked upon your request and he had leaned in toward you, hands still shoved in his pockets and his eyes drifting from you to the portion of your apartment that he could see.

“I always had a feeling I would get into your place.” Johnny tilts his head slightly, steam from his naturally increasing body temperature drawing your attention momentarily before you come back to focus. “I bet it’s really cute and cozy. What does your nest look like? You wanna show me?”

You had stumbled at his teasing and found yourself lacking the ability to think or process what he had been implying. Your mind had unwillingly gone to a place of unkempt want and desire, not even remotely sexual in the moment, but rather in deeply seeded intimacy that would be brought to life if you had shown him your nest.

The bubbling possibility and unhinged keenness at showing Johnny your nest and getting his approval of your little cove that had meant so much to you were getting harder to ignore, it was becoming increasingly difficult to resist grabbing his hand and dragging him into your room to show him what you had done.

“No.” You answered sharply with prevarication and you had looked away from him, settling your gaze upon the door frame to avoid the possibility of him seeing the truth circulating behind your eyes. “Are you coming in or not?”

Johnny had stepped even closer to you while approaching the open door and you had expected him to slip past you into your apartment as you had offered, what you hadn’t expected was to have Johnny slip a hand around your waist to settle at the small of your back. You hadn’t been expecting him to pull you flush to his chest and with a squeak being pulled from you without your volition, Johnny’s lips had stretched into a smirk.

He had lifted his hand to not only cup your cheek but tilt your head back, and then you felt his impossibly warm lips brushing against your own, the winded and sharp exhale falling silent against his kiss. He had poured everything he had into that minute and quick-winded kiss before slowly pulling away, his thumb tracing the underside of your bottom lip.

“One day you’ll show me that cute little nest of yours,” he had captivated and held your gaze, his lips dusting yours once again a small sliver of a gap between yours and his, “and one day I’ll be welcomed into it.”

“Are you going to tell me where we’re going?” Johnny had looked at you through the mirrored lenses of his sunglasses, the reflective surfaces hiding his eyes from your view and it had been a calculated move on his part, just like his decision to take you out of the city for the day to take a load off.

“We’re almost there.” Johnny had returned his eyes to the road while simultaneously shifting gears, full well being aware of your rising curiosity the further north you had gotten.

You hadn’t raised much of a protest when he had first started driving out of the bustling metropolis, however, he could feel your wonderment and the way your scent had shifted in reaction to his silence. You had wanted to ask, you wanted to berate him for any clue he hadn’t been offering to give but in the end, you had stayed silent. In the end, you had let him drive while you were in the passenger seat playing on your phone occasionally or looking out the window at the passing scenery, all while your scent had been projecting and reflecting your current state of being.

Something was lingering beneath the surface and while Johnny had been largely labelled as a playboy with nothing occupying his mind but sex and partying, there was so much more beneath the persona he had perfected. Beneath the layers of the partying playboy alpha, was a man who had met an omega he wanted to keep for himself. Beneath all the shit, was an alpha who had met his true, perfect mate.

It wasn’t enough that you could handle his flame and his power; you were made to embrace it. It hadn’t affected you in any possible way and that was always an insecurity of his. Johnny had always been fearful that any partner he would have had, any mate that would have been his, would have to worry about the powerful bursts of flames that he had been able to produce. Johnny had never thought he would find the omega who could and would be able to handle himself.

Until he met you.

“We’re here,” Johny had pulled up to the edge of a parking lot, and he could feel your confusion deepening as you cast your eyes upon the sight of a fairground a few yards away, the amusement park rides and carnival games attracting a great crowd of people.

“A fair? Are we at a county fair?” Your confusion had been extended, even more so when Johnny had shut off the engine and pocketed his keys, to get out of the vehicle.

“When’s the last time you’ve been to a fair?” Johnny had opened the driver’s side door and stepped out of the vehicle, closing the door behind him with a gentle thud of the door.

“A fair?” You had stepped out of the vehicle in the same manner as he had and stared in awe at the sight of the fair before you, your eyebrows furrowed. “I’ve never..have you?”

“I’ve been a few times.” Johnny had walked around the front of the vehicle to your side, captivating your attention as he had slung his arm across your shoulders and pulled you into his side, heat penetrating through your sweater and the shirt you had worn beneath. “This is your first time?”

“Yeah…I’ve never been to a fair.”

“Love being your first, Firefly.” Johnny leaned in and kissed your temple, heat from his lips and his body eliciting another soft sigh from your lips. “Come on, we’re not leaving until you’ve ridden every ride and tried every game.”

“Johnny…” You angled your head to look at him, your gazes holding each other captive as the world had passed by the two of you as if you were standing still, “…is this a date?”

Your answer had first come in the form of a playful tug of his lips as they formed a smirk, heat rising from his arm across your shoulders and then from the contact he had made with your lips, another kiss that felt like it was made just for the hell of it.

And then Johnny had pulled back from the kiss and drew his free hand around the back of your neck, and pressed his forehead against your own. “It’s whatever you want it to be, little firefly.”

[imaginedreamwrite]

Watch My Heart Burn: Part 4

Johnny had grown bored, as he usually had, with the technical aspects of the new equipment and the upgrades made to their suits and their tools. He had done what he needed to do, tried on the suit and had made his whole body burst into flames at the request of Reed, and he was done with what he was required to do, at least for now. Usually, he would’ve liked to go back to his apartment and have his cute little omega trailing along behind him, making snarky comments that sent blood and fire straight to his cock. However, his adorable little bunny wasn’t back yet.

And the opportunity to escape and do anything else was taken away from him by a sharply worded threat from Reed that he had to stay and be on his best behaviour. An investor was coming to meet with them and would or could extend their reach beyond what it was at now. If only Johnny could tamp down the ego and the cockiness for an hour.

“I promise,” Johnny had laid his hand on his heart and batted his eyelashes at the doctor, “to be on my best behaviour.”

“Johnny,” Reed had grown impatient with the hothead alpha and his empty promises, just as Sue was growing tired of the way Johnny seemed to drag out any arguments between him and his hissy kitty, “I mean it.”

“Hey,” Johnny protested and crossed his arms over his chest, the suit flexing with every movement and motion, “I have the capacity to be good.”

“Doubtful,” Reed scoffed and gave Johnny one last warning before he had turned away from Johnny and fixed the front of his suit nervously, casting his eyes upon the door to the lab, “he’s here. I mean it, Johnny.”

“I’ll be good. And if I’m not, hissy kitty can punish me.” Johnny smirked and drew himself away from the lab table he was leaning against and glanced toward Sue. “I mean, that seems like a reasonable punishment-“

“Johnny, you need to stop.” Sue turned her head and glanced at Johnny, her blue eyes boring into him as her eyebrows furrowed. She had wanted Johnny to grow up for the longest time, to find an omega who would keep him grounded and perhaps you could be the omega to do that. However, Johnny was insistent on pushing your every button in favour of stirring some reaction out of you. And while you had spared no effort to fire back at him, to counter his arrogance, there would come the point in time when you would give up altogether.

Sue didn’t want Johnny to miss the opportunity to have an omega who was good, who would be suitable for him and not be after his money or his infamy.

Sue knew you could be the omega for Johnny, and yet he hadn’t once tried to tamp down his ego.

“Need to stop what? What am I doing now?” Johnny huffed and crossed his arms over his chest, the tepid frown on his face speaking to his irritation over being stuck here when he could have been spending alone time with his omega or watching the game.

“You are going to drive Y/N to look for another job-“

“No, I’m not.” Johnny grew defensive, his fingers pulsing with heat as his core body temperature rose. “This is the best job she could have-“

“Except she has to deal with you,” Ben commented from the left, his fingers made of rock playing with a small wooden boat Franklin had often played with when he was allowed in the lab. “You are enough to make anyone quit. She’s a saint for putting up with you.”

“That’s bullshit. I am her-“

“Nothing. You’re her nothing now shut up. He’s here.” Reed cut Johnny off with a harsh bite and drew himself further toward the door of the lab as it started to open. “Mr. Morris.”

When the investor had first walked in the room, Johnny had paid no mind to the tall alpha in a suit, nor had he cared about the man Reed was going to ‘wine and dine’ to invest, however when you had followed suit a little too closely, Johnny had almost innately and instantly wished to break off his hand when he slipped it to the small of your back.

“Sorry I’m late, Dr. Reed.” The alpha had glanced toward you, and the smile on his face had stirred the burning and intensifying fire in Johnny’s soul, and the primitive drive to throw him from the nearest balcony was driving him forward. “I was lost, and I needed to find my way.”

“You two know each other?” Reed had rightfully looked over his shoulder toward Johnny, his eyes flashing in a warning to calm himself down when he noticed the glow of Johnny’s hands and the sparks starting to spittle.

“I ran into one of your assistants at the coffee shop. Her badge slipped out of her pocket.” The investor had lowered his hand on the small of your back, and Johnny could viscerally hear his heart thrashing against his chest and the bitter seed of jealousy thriving as the thought of you being so close to an alpha that wasn’t him was driving him toward a physical act.

“Saved my job.” You grinned and looked his way, your eyes meeting.

“You saved my meeting.” The alpha’s attention was fixated on you, his hand still hovering on your back and his fingers flexing softly. “I should thank you for that. Dinner, maybe?”

“I’m free.” You smirked into your cup and turned away from him as reed approached.

“If you’re ready, we can start over here…” Reed had smiled graciously and approached the alpha, their introduction becoming complete with a handshake and the descent toward the lab equipment.

While the alpha had followed Reed, you had started walking toward Johnny, your footsteps echoing on the lab floor becoming the focus of his attention as he watched you move, growling under his breath when he caught the scent of that other alpha clinging to your clothes. “Your coffee, hard-ass.”

“You leave for a half-hour, and you come back with a date?” Johnny hissed under his breath, heat radiating from his fingertips as he squared his shoulders.

“What of it? Am I not allowed to talk to people?” You fired back, your continued annoyance with the alpha beside you drawing you physically closer to him, if for no other reason than to get your message across.

“You left for a half-hour-“

“Oh, give it a rest.” You rolled your eyes and angled yourself toward him, one hand on your hip and the other resting on the lab desk, your fingers gripping the top as if you needed to stabilize yourself. “When we first met, you had a half-naked omega running from your room because you had done a….”

“Fuck and dump,” Ben answered for you and Johnny interjecting in the argument between, drawing ire from Johnny and a scathing glare, “and it wasn’t the first time-“

“Ben,” Johnny flicked his hand, the red fire circulating his hand burning through the paper closest to him and nearly catching his cup, “no one asked you.”

“You use omegas, betas and alphas like they’re nothing, and you have the gall to try and criticize me-“

“You don’t even know the guy!” Johnny’s voice had deepened, and a growl was tapering on the edge of his aggression, the heat radiating from his body increasing at the tension built.

“And how well do you know every other omega you’ve screwed? Or every other beta? Alpha? What do I need to know? His credit score?” You slammed your coffee cup against the lab desk, the creamy-coloured liquid inside bubbling through the hole in the lid, the sweet mixture flowing along with the dip of the cup’s lid. The palpable tension between you and Johnny wasn’t meant to be the focus of the lab, it wasn’t meant to overshadow the meeting between Reed and the alpha that was the bane of Johnny’s existence, and yet as the argument had carried on, the lab had seemed to come to a standstill.

“You should know someone longer than half an hour before you agree to a date.” Johnny’s ire, his jealousy and envy of the alpha who had gotten farther with you in a half-hour than Johnny had in weeks, was as subtle as ash and smoke blocking out the sun.

“That’s rich coming from you, Storm.” You had left your cup where it was and made contact with him by shoving the heel of your hand into his shoulder, the physical act barely moving him, and yet it had felt like a lead weight was dropped onto his head. “You’re an asshole.”

Johnny was quick to shut his mouth, quick to snap his jaw shut and cross his arms over his chest, his blue eyes burning as he watched you walk away from him and storm up the stairs, your footsteps heavy as you approached the lab door, your fists slamming against the button to open it.

He watched you until the door closed behind you, and the stillness of the lab and the eyes on him had been too much. And he, like you, had started stalking toward the door of the lab.

“Johnny-!” Sue tried to call after him, tried to stop him before he had left in the same manner as you had. However, her protests had fallen on deaf ears.

The soft patter of rain hitting the glass was rhythmic and melodic. It was the focus of your attention as you sank back against the couch in your room. You pulled your knees up to your chest and draped a blanket across your lap, the soft sherpa blanket giving you warmth and comfort as you folded your arms over your knees and rested your cheek against your forearm. You sat on the couch in silence, watching the rain as it pelted the windows, happy enough to see the precipitation mirroring the way you felt in the moment.

There was music playing in the background, the soft crooning voice of someone you didn’t recognize and had no care to. It was a random playlist Spotify had recommended to you for ‘sad hour,’ and it felt fitting enough to keep. The room was dimmed with soft candles illuminating the room as you settled yourself; the dinner you had made earlier lay in the fridge in storage containers, and the wine glass still held half the dark red you’d poured. You had no gumption to drink, no spirit to eat and instead had wanted to sit and watch the storm as it blew in.

You were happy enough to sit on the couch, lost in thoughts, lost in the madness your mind had dragged you through. There was no need to do anything but sit and reflect on the day, from the moment you had stepped out of Baxter Building to head to the café, where you met your date for next week, to the moment of the disastrous collision between you and Johnny Storm.

The hothead alpha was innately irritating who saw no fault in the manner of which he had taken home women and slept with them, only never to see them again. It was the act of his promiscuity and the insane need for him to sleep with or flirt with as many women as he could that had driven you mad. It was the way he had carried himself and the manner in which he had seemed to hold such a natural ability to make people around him either fall head over heels or eternally pissed off.

There was no difference; there was no in-between when it came to Johnny Storm.

With a sigh, you had reached for your phone that was resting on the armrest and lift it from where it lay. You had placed it on your knee and opened one of the many social media pages you had been using to keep an update on Johnny. When you had come to the recommendations page, you had come across a picture of him in the middle of a gaggle of adoring fans, the women clinging to him looking eager to be near him, and he was just as pleased. The account was a fan account, one of the many ‘Storm Slut’ groupies following him for a while. You had stared at the picture of him with the women and glanced at the caption that seemed to blur in front of you until your gaze dropped to the comments and you had been caught entranced by the many lewd scrawling’s they’d left.

The comments stemmed from how eager they would be to drop to their knees, or what they would give to have him toss them around like they were rag-dolls, how they would be weak for a man like him to leave burn marks on their flesh when he loses control. The comments that had made your stomach twist painfully the longer you read them and the manner in which your hands had begun shaking when you tossed the phone from your lap and tightened the blanket around yourself.

You had rest your head against the back of the couch and screw your eyes shut, your bottom lip quivering as your mind was racing. There was no sense of reason behind your emotional vulnerability, there was no reason why you should be so distraught over a few comments on a fan account, and yet it had torn into you. Every lewd comment, every suggestion that Johnny should and could break them, had felt as if it was breaking you. Every word had felt like an iron dagger was being plunged into your heart, and every new comment was a twist that pushed the blade deeper.

You shouldn’t have cared; you shouldn’t have given a damn about who Johnny Storm was seeing or screwing; you had willingly gotten yourself a date to get rid of him, and yet here you were. Here you were lying, the sting of tears building within your eyes while your brain was berating you with the image of Johnny and other women.

Johnny and a nurse he had slept with when he first got his powers, Johnny and the model he had taken to Sue’s engagement party, Johnny and the woman from the army.

Johnny and the omega he had slept with when you first met him, it was all replaying in your mind like some sick movie on repeat that was meant to bring you anguish.

You didn’t care. Or rather, you didn’t want to watch. You didn’t want to be sitting in your living room like a lovesick teenager crying over the boy who wouldn’t call her back. You didn’t want to be stuck in this feeling of anguish for an alpha you didn’t even want to be around.

And yet…here you were.

“If I lay here, if I just lay here, would you lie with me and just forget the world?” you mumbled along to the song playing in the background and lifted the blanket to your cheeks, tucking your face into the material. “I don't know where. Confused about how as well. Just know that these things will never change for us at all.”

You hid your face into the warm blanket and felt that first bubble break, the first snap of your control as the rush of tears had hit you hard. You had curled in on yourself and let the first ragged sob become muffled by the blanket you were holding. Another had followed the first cry and another until the heartbreaking sobs had become the sound that drowned out the music and the rain hitting the pristine glass.

[imaginedreamwrite]

Watch My Heart Burn: Part 3

The high-tech equipment set in the lab had been the focus of your attention, and though it was hardly attractive, it was a better stationary sight to cast your gaze on than the alpha who was standing in the lab without a shirt on.

The alpha who was the bane of your existence, that was standing near Sue and Reed, with his smooth and solid back, the toned biceps that had looked large even without him flexing. The alpha that was the bane of your existence, yet you found yourself impeccably drawn to his scent that lapped at you like a dense fog, the notes of his scent that brought you such intense comfort.

The smell of campfire smoke and burning wood, the scent of the crispness of a fall, had replaced the other subtle hints hanging around him. His scent had changed from the first time you met, and it had only become more hazardous to you and your composure than before.

Even if you hated the alpha, even if you hated the way he flirted with everything that moved, at the very least, you would have to admit that he was beautiful. He was a classically beautiful alpha with crystalline blue eyes that seemed to pierce you anytime he glanced your way. His messily styled hair had aided the appearance of an alpha who was every definition of a playboy, who was so driven by lust even off his rut cycles, that the public observations he had earned himself were hardly reputable.

He was an alpha who was physically attractive, and he knew it. He knew how to use his looks to get almost anything he wanted, and that is one of many things that turned you off. It was one of the many things that made you wonder if it had been stripped away, the arrogance and the impulsivity, what kind of alpha would remain? What kind of man would he be? Would he be better? Could he be someone natural? Or vastly unrecognizable?

Johnny stood a few feet away from you, maybe more, standing shirtless in a pair of well-fitting jeans and a clean-shaven chest. He was flaunting himself to the lab techs, perhaps even to you, and yet you had tried everything to ignore his half-nakedness.

“Little distracted, omega?” Johnny’s voice was brimming with that flirtatious quality that made so many other women swoon, melt into a puddle of ooze at his feet.

“Of everything in the room, somehow, the lab equipment is more captivating than you are.” You bit back with a growl, your lip curling as Johnny guffawed, his wandering scent pulsating.

“Have you ever seen anything so cute? Like a bunny with teeth.”

“Johnny,” Sue hissed and smacked her brother, shooting him a dirty look as you stole a glance at his bare, broad chest, “do you have to be such an ass?”

“It’s his natural state.” You answered for him and clenched your fingers around the edge of the tablet, wishing and hoping that you could leave sooner rather than later.

“God, I love your attitude, hissy kitty. You wanna come closer and repeat it?” Johnny groaned like a whore and jest at your expense, his eyes flashing with a short burst of need. “Maybe whisper it in my ear?”

“I hate to interrupt whatever this is,” Reed interrupted you both, and you had quickly shifted your attention toward him, noting the furrow of his brow as he seemed equally confused and wary, “interns and assistants can’t be in. Here while we’re doing this.”

“Go get yourself something sweet, hissy kitty,” Johnny smirked over his shoulder, his eyes gleaming. “Bring me back my usual.”

“Usual laced with arsenic.” You muttered under your breath as you turned away from the lab and moved toward the door. “Maybe this time it’ll take.”

You had taken as much time as you knew you could allot yourself. You hadn’t just ordered a coffee and turned to head back to the Baxter Building. Instead, you’d taken your coffee and bought yourself a rather lofty-looking cinnamon bun and sat in a corner.

You’d sat by yourself in a comfy armchair with your coffee set beside you on the small table and your cinnamon bun resting to the left. You’d pulled your phone from your pocket and opened one of your social media apps, scrolling mindlessly until a headline based around Johnny Storm and his appearance with a ‘mystery woman’ that had been hidden from view as they walked the NYC streets. The secure arm around her waist and the way he seemed to shield her from the paparazzi trying to get details on the superhero’s new fling were flooded with comments about who this person could have been and just as many comments bashing the woman he had his arm around.

If only they had known that the mystery woman was his assistant. If only they had known that the woman he had his arm around was you, and there was a scathing comment that he had brushed off the moment it happened. The scratching accusation you had hit him with when he stepped closer and angled himself toward you while the two of you were heading to another appointment was brushed off with some off-handed and oddly serious retort that had taken you by surprise.

“Why can’t you let me do this?” It had seemed so odd then because you hadn’t even noticed the paparazzi were there, and yet he had been shielding you from view. He had been protecting you, and all you could manage to do was criticize him without realizing that he was helping you.

“Johnny Storm’s ex speaks out about what it was like to date the hothead everyone seems to love,” you rolled your eyes and closed your social media app and turned your phone over on the side table, “not everyone.”

With your phone out of your hands, you had turned your attention to your coffee and lifted the cup to your lips, sipping on the hot brew inside. You had let the flavour linger on your tongue before you swallowed, and as you had started to lower the cup, you had heard someone calling your name.

Confused, you had turned your head and looked around the coffee shop. You hadn’t recognized anyone here, nor had you thought anyone had recognized you. Yet, as you looked around again, your attention had landed on a man holding your security badge for the Baxter Building.

“Shit,” you cursed under your breath and had started to get up to greet him when you had stopped and remained sitting due to him making his way to you.

“This looks important.” He stopped just shy of the armchair you were sitting in and flipped the badge over, his light eyes studying the information etched into the sealed plastic. “You work at the Baxter Building?”

“And temporarily live there.” You took the chance to study him, noting that he was an alpha, yet his scent seemed to be far less potent than Johnny’s was. It was lighter and wasn’t so heavily radiating, nor had it brought you such a powerful sense of comfort and elation.

Despite that difference, you felt it would have been easier to be around in the long run.

“I have a meeting there in a half-hour.” He handed it back to you, and you gently tugged it from his hand, slipping it in your bag, mumbling a thank you. “Can I sit with you? I’m new to the city, and I have a feeling I might get lost.”

“Sure,” You angled yourself toward him, watching him take the seat next to you, and as his blue eyes looked you over, you were made ever aware that he was an alpha who was incredibly good looking, “I could show you where it is. I should be getting back too.”

“You temporarily work there? What do you do if you don’t mind me asking?” He tilted his head before setting his elbow on the armrest and tucked his chin into his hand.

“I’m an underpaid babysitter for an overgrown toddler.” You smirked to yourself and snorted under your breath, amused by the mannerisms of Johnny Storm that had seemed to annoy you to no end yet hadn’t inhibited your ability to talk about him.

“Johnny Storm, I’m assuming?” He shared in your mirth, and you once again felt the heaviness of his gaze upon you. “I’m meeting Dr. Richardson; I’m a benefactor looking to invest.”

“He’d be the one to talk to.” You muttered and drew your finger over the rim of your cup, feeling off in your core, feeling at odds with yourself.

“You want a refill?” The alpha whose name you hadn’t gotten had questioned, spying your coffee cup and the uneaten cinnamon bun. “My treat.”

“I still have some,” you lifted your cup and set it back down again before you glanced at your confection and then at the counter with a series of baristas behind. “Thanks, though.”

There was an air of awkwardness between the two of you, something still unsettling you in your core, and the anticipation of when you would have to go back weighed on you. It was another beat of silence before your phone ringing in your pocket broke the awkward lull. You had slipped it out and answered the call without hesitation, uncouthly relieved to hear Johnny’s voice on the other end, despite the instantaneous flirtations that rang in your ear.

“Little lost kitten,” Johnny crooned, his velvet voice making you roll your eyes, “time to come home.”

“How do you like your coffee? Arsenic or cyanide?” You placed the plate beside the coffee and stood, grabbing both the coffee and the plate as you approached the counter and asked for a bag from one barista.

“Surprise me, hellcat.” You could feel his grin through the phone and glanced back at the alpha waiting for you, your smirk growing as you licked your lips and crooned in the phone.

“Oh, I promise you’ll be surprised.” You studied the alpha, thinking only for a moment before the lie had slipped from your tongue. “The alpha I’ve been seeing is going to walk me back, doesn’t want me to run into trouble. You understand, right?”

The silence on the other line was telling, and you had laughed under your breath at the lull in the conversation, further amused by the sound of his near-incomprehensible growls.

“I have to go. He’s waiting for me.” You ended the call and shoved the phone back in your pocket, grabbed your boxed confectionery, and returned to the alpha waiting for you.