Posted originally on the Archive_of_Our_Own at https://archiveofourown.org/
works/11426598.
  Rating:
      Explicit
  Archive Warning:
      Underage
  Category:
      M/M
  Fandom:
      Fantastic_Four_(2015)
  Relationship:
      Ben_Grimm/Reed_Richards
  Character:
      Ben_Grimm, Reed_Richards, Johnny_Storm, Susan_Storm_(Fantastic_Four)
  Additional Tags:
      Underage_Drinking, Underage_Sex, (they_are_both_16_when_they_start
      boning), Angst_with_a_Happy_Ending, Tragic_Romance, My_First_Work_in_This
      Fandom, Ben_Grimm's_rocky_marsupial_dick_pouch, blink_and_you'll_miss_it
      SpideyTorch, Pining, so_much_pining, File_Under:_Things_That_Could_Be
      Solved_If_You_Two_Idiots_Would_Just_Talk_To_Each_Other
  Stats:
      Published: 2017-07-07 Chapters: 2/2 Words: 9400
****** Cosmic Love ******
by amaronith
Summary
     They first got drunk together the night of Junior prom, stealing some
     of Jimmy's beers from the fridge and hiding out in Ben’s room.
     It was also the first time they had sex, with Ben's hands around
     Reed's waist as Reed rode his cock, because apparently Reed was kind
     of a slut with a few beers in him.
Notes
     I 100% blame Traincat for the fact that this fic even exists. I
     watched Fant4stic because of her and then I needed to write about how
     much these two love each other and all the angst tied up in that.
     Thanks to Polaris for beta reading this and fixing my mess of tenses
     - especially after I made her watch Fant4stic, too.
     any mistakes left in this thing are mine and mine alone.
***** Chapter 1 *****
They first got drunk together the night of Junior prom (which they hadn't even
bothered to pretend they were going to), stealing some of Jimmy's beers from
the fridge (Jimmy never cared, as long as cash was left to replace what had
been taken) and hiding out in Ben’s room (he had moved into the room over the
garage, since his mother said if he and Reed were going to blow themselves up,
they had best do it away from the damn house at least).

It was also the first time they had sex, with Ben's hands around Reed's waist
as Reed rode his cock, because apparently Reed was kind of a slut with a few
beers in him.

It had started with Reed’s slow, happy smile, knocking his foot against Ben’s
as they sat across the floor from each other. “Best prom date ever.”

Ben snorted dismissively and sipped his beer (his third, but Reed was on his
second and already completely sloshed if he was already getting this sappy).
“Yeah, okay Stretch.” The nickname had been from when Reed first hit puberty
and had shot up like, well, a reed. Tall and lanky and almost delicately
slender when compared to Ben--and he still didn't care about stripping down in
front of Ben when he changed for bed during their sleepovers, which did not do
good things for Ben’s poor heart (or his boner, as Ben’s boner had decided at
thirteen that Reed was pretty great and that the idea of leaving handprint
bruises on his hips was just thekeenest thing ever by golly).

(Ben never wanted to leave bruises on Reed, because the idea of hurting Reed
made him a little sick.)

(But oh how pretty he’d look, fucked out on Ben’s sheets, covered in sweat and
come and dark bruises from love bites and moaning Ben’s name in ecstasy-)

“I mean it,” Reed said, pouting a little and, god , that was adorable. “You're
just- you’re so great, Ben. Why does no one else appreciate how great you are?”

Because I’m attracted to my best friend, maybe, so no one else holds any real
interest for me? Ben snorted again. “Guess you’ll just have to appreciate me
more to make up for it, buddy.”

Reed had gotten that determined look on his face, the one he got when people
said he should just give up and focus on something more realistic (that Reed
should cut off the pieces of himself that make him so brilliant because they
didn't understand him and wanted him to fit in some kind of easily labeled
box), and nodded. “I should!” He knocked his sneaker against Ben's again.
“You've got nice legs, for starters.”

Ben arched an eyebrow at his friend. “You're completely shitfaced, aren't you?”

“Shut up and let me appreciate you, Ben.” Reed drained his beer and rose up on
his knees as he set the empty can aside. “Your legs are nice and strong, from
all the heavy lifting you do - usually because you're helping me.” Reed’s smile
was soft and sweet and almost dizzying as he crawled forward. “Same with your
shoulders - those are great, too. But you know what's really great, Ben?”

“My good looks and charm?” Ben said sarcastically, taking a sip of beer even as
Reed sat on Ben's legs.

Reed might just be a touchy feely drunk, boner, calm down before you ruin
everything.

Reed blinked at him behind his glasses. “Well, yeah , but more than that - your
heart. You - you’ve been my friend for so long-”

“Six years, Reed,” Ben said, aiming for sarcastic and falling short into an
awkward murmur into his beer can.

“-by my side, every step of the way. You never gave up on me, not once, Ben.
You're fantastic.” Reed's hand was pressed against Ben's chest, right over his
heart, and Ben panicked at the thought that Reed could feel how fast it was
beating.

Ben covered Reed’s hand with his own as he set aside his own empty can. “Okay
lightweight, I think you’ve had enough.”

Reed was looking at their hands, twisting the hand under Ben’s to press them
palm to palm. “Your hands are pretty great, too,” Reed murmured. “Strong, and
so amazing, the way things just want to be unmade by you, to be built by you-”

“They're your designs, and you did a lot of building too-” Ben tried to cut him
off, feeling his face heat up and wishing Reed would stop moving up Ben’s
thighs, or at least stop before he felt Ben’s raging hard on in his jeans.

“Youbrought them to life, Ben.” Reed took Ben’s hand and pressed it to his
cheek, then down his neck and chest. Ben was too frozen in shock to even think
about taking it back from him. “I dream about your hands sometimes. How they’d
feel inside me, stretching me open so I can take your cock.”

Reed was fully seated in Ben's lap, now, and there was no way he couldn't feel
Ben's cock hard against his ass.

“Reed?” Ben wished his voice sounded stronger, that he could do more than just
stare at his friend as Reed pressed Ben’s hand to the front of his jeans, where
Ben could feel how hard he was, as Reed's other hand slid up to curve around
the back of Ben’s neck.

“C’mon, Ben,” Reed murmured, leaning in close. “Unmake me.”

And then Reed kissed him, and Ben couldn't stop himself from kissing back.

Reed moaned into Ben’s mouth, the kiss sloppy and Reed's glasses digging into
Ben’s face, but it was perfect, because it was Reed.

That whole night was perfect.

--

The morning found them spooned together on Ben's bed, which really should’ve
been too small for the both of them except for how Reed was an octopus and
always managed to make himself the little spoon anyway.

Ben groaned as sunlight hit his face, burying his face in Reed's hair, even as
he tried not to panic as he realized they were still naked, and what the fuck
was Reed even gonna say - he was way more drunk than Ben had been (because Reed
was a goddamned lightweight), and Ben was pretty sure his mom had more than a
few words about guys who took advantage of drunk girls and none of them were
good.

Only Reed wasn't a girl, and that was the bigger part of the problem.

“Ben,” Reed croaked out.

“Yeah?”

“Turn off the sun.”

“Not sure that's how it works, buddy,” Ben teased, hoping against hope that if
he played this off as completely normal, Reed wouldn't hate him.

“I am going to build a laser and blow up the sun.”

“Yeah, okay. Roll over before you become a supervillain.”

Reed rolled over in Ben’s arms and jammed his face in Ben’s throat with a
groan, and Ben tugged up the blanket to cover Reed's face.

“What was in that beer, Ben?”

“Hops, I imagine.”

“Ugh.”

Ben rubbed Reed's back under the blanket, and Reed snuggled closer. “If you
puke, I am launching your scrawny ass out of this bed like that potato you sent
into the stratosphere in seventh grade.”

“It didn't- it didn't go into the stratosphere, Ben,” Reed stammered out,
though he was laughing weakly. “And I don't need to puke, I just need it to be
nice and dark and quiet for a while.”

“Want me to shut up?”

“No… I like the sound of your voice.”

Oh. What the hell was Ben supposed to do with that? What was he supposed to do
with any of this?! “Oh. I, uh…”

“Hey, Ben?”

“Yeah?”

“About not having to puke…”

Ben flung the covers off and half-helped-half-shoved Reed out of bed and in the
direction of the bathroom.

--

Except that was it. Reed never talked about what happened. Acting like, as far
as he knew, it wasn't completely weird as hell to wake up completely naked and
being spooned by your best friend after saying all that shit about him - never
mind the sore ass and thighs Reed no doubt had, given how he had ridden Ben
like he had stolen him and moaned about how big Ben felt inside him, how full
and complete Ben made him.

Ben had caught Reed rubbing at his thighs, and pressing his fingers into his
hips in such a way that Ben knew perfectly lined up with his own hands when he
thought no one was looking (except Ben was looking, because how could he not),
so what the hell did that all mean?

Why would Reed--Reed, of all people!--say all those things and let Ben fuck his
brains out and then just keep on going like it never happened?

(Ben could still hear Reed's voice in his head, the soft little uh uh uh s Reed
had let out when Ben had rolled them over and pressed Reed's knees back to his
shoulders to fuck into him deeper - Reed had bruises there too, in the shape of
Ben’s hands, though they were always hidden because Reed had a vendetta against
shorts for some reason--and moaning Ben's name like he had found God when he
came.)

Was Reed really that drunk?

So Ben just... let it go, chalking it up to another one of those weird-ass
things that made Reed Reed.

Until they got drunk again, on a sweltering night on the last weekend of summer
vacation where the sky was pitch black with angry storm clouds and not even the
rain coming down in buckets did anything for the heat. Reed had just shown up
at the door to Ben’s bedroom, soaked to the skin and with a six-pack of the
beer his stepfather liked.

(“Reed?”

“I brought the beer, let's get shitfaced.”

“Ain't your stepfather gonna notice this is gone?”

“No.” And then Reed had cracked a can open and drunk half of it in one long
pull, and Ben stopped asking questions.)

And once again, two beers in and Reed was in Ben’s lap, rocking his hips down
and kissing Ben hungrily with a soft “c’mon, c’mon, Benjy, fuck me hard,
please, I need it-” mumbled into Ben's mouth, and Ben--because he was a sucker
for Reed Richards and had been since fifth grade - pressed Reed down against
the floor and fucked him hard, the sound of their breathy moans drowned out by
the raging storm outside.

The faint light from the junkyard signs painted pale, rain streamed streaks of
light over Reed's face and chest as Ben pounded into him, and he was probably
the most beautiful thing Ben’d ever seen in his short life, except then Reed
was coming, short nails digging into Ben's shoulders as he cried out “Ben!” and
all he could think was: oh, I love him.

Ben wasn't too far behind Reed, after that, and it was too hot to cuddle but
they did it anyway, with Reed as the little spoon and Ben watching him sleep,
tracing the shadow paths of the raindrops cast on Reed's skin before he pressed
a soft kiss to Reed's shoulder, and settled down to sleep himself.

In the morning they didn't talk about it, but at least Reed didn't puke again.

--

And it went on like that through senior year--mostly they worked on the
teleporter, but some nights Reed would look at Ben and ask “hey, wanna grab a
beer?” Or he’d show up with a six-pack in his backpack and a sheepish smile.
And every time, he’d have his beers, and crawl into Ben's lap begging for Ben
to let him suck his cock so Ben could come on his face (and Reed had looked so
blissed out with Ben’s come on his face, licking his lips that were red and
swollen from sucking Ben's cock and murmuring “next time I’ll swallow.”), or to
be fucked without a condom so Ben could come inside him.

(“Want me to knock you up or something, Reed?” Ben had asked, a little baffled
at how turned on he was at the idea.

“Wish you could,” Reed had said with a dreamy, drunken sigh.

“... right. Get over here, then, we’ll get started on that.”)

And every time--every goddamned time , like fucking clockwork --Reed would wake
up the next morning and not say anything about the night before. Even when he
had Ben’s jizz dribbling down his thigh, or some of it still caught in his
hair, he’d just shower and get dressed and ask Ben if they could hit the
McDonald's or something because he was ravenous.

Then the science fair happened, and that guy--Dr. Franklin Storm, from the
Baxter Institute oooh how fucking fancy --showed up, and it felt like suddenly
there was a countdown ticking away on Ben’s time with Reed. He could feel it;
in his gut, in his soul, in the very essence and fabric of his being - the
steady ticking down of days, hours, minutes, seconds he had left with Reed
before his friend (best friend, only friend, the love of his goddamned life)
left him behind in the dust of his genius.

Ben had always known Reed was going to go places - brain like that, there was
no way he couldn’t be--but he had always thought that he’d be along for the
ride, at least, hanging onto Reed’s coattails.

Now Reed’s dream--their dream--was gonna be made with a stranger’s hands.

Ben wanted to puke.

--

The night before Ben was supposed to help Reed move to Baxter, they had split a
six-pack of beer between them--a private celebration, they had called it,
because who else would they celebrate it with?--and Reed was stretched out on
Ben’s bed, already shirtless and gleaming with sweat.

“Benjy,” Reed crooned, off-key in a way only a drunk could be. “Oh, Benjy… my
sweet Benjy…. You’re the one!”

Ben rolled his eyes with a snort. “Really? Dirty Dancing, that’s what you’re
going with?”

Reed grinned at him and stretched, his pants and boxers slipping low to show
off his hipbones and Ben’s mouth went dry. “Well, how else am I to get you over
here?”

“You could ask.”

Reed looked over at him. “Please come here?”

“You call that asking?” Ben asked, draining his beer. “Work a little harder,
Stretch.”

Reed caught his lower lip in his teeth. “Please, Benjy? I need you.”

Ben got to his feet. “What do you need, Reed?”

“I need you to fuck me.”

“Yeah? That what you want?” Ben dropped his pants and boxers. “Get yourself
ready for me.”

Ben watched as Reed stripped down to nothing but skin, reaching into the
bedside table for the Vaseline Ben kept there for this exact purpose and then
fucking himself with his fingers. “I need it, I need you so bad, Benjy- that
big, hard cock inside me, filling me up, it’s so good Ben-!”

Ben grabbed Reed’s wrist, gently tugging his fingers out of himself before
knocking Reed over onto his back and kissing him.

Reed sighed and moaned into it, arms wrapping around Ben’s shoulders as Ben
pressed into him slowly.

It felt like they were at it for hours; lazy, syrup-sweet kisses as Ben fucked
Reed deep and slow--so slow, because this was the last time they’d do this, Ben
knew, because once again, in the morning, Reed wouldn’t say anything about
this, and Ben was too much of a coward to say something first.

Ben swallowed the noise Reed made when he came with a kiss, and didn’t let
himself think about how it sounded like the start of ‘I love you’, because Reed
wouldn’t own up to it in the morning, anyway.

--

“You belong here,” Ben had told him, had given him his Swiss Army Knife as one
small thing to remember him by. “You’re home, buddy.”

By the time Ben had walked out of that giant ass building with its fancy ass
lab coats and friend-stealing scholarships, Reed was already out of his reach,
out of his life, and Reed wasn’t ever going to look back to see Ben still
standing there waiting for him, because home for Ben had been Reed Richards,
and now he didn’t have that, anymore.

He tried drinking beer that night, alone in his room, and promptly threw it
back up.

Welcome to the rest of your life, Benjamin Grimm. What the hell are you even
gonna do with it without him in it?

--

The baffling thing was that Reed didn’t let him go, and Ben wasn’t sure what to
do with any of it.

‘I’ve died and gone to Valhalla, only with less fighting and more Science,’
Reed texted him on his first day.

'yeah?’ Ben texted back as he rubbed a towel over his hair.

(His mother had watched him as he came in. “I’ve never seen you work so hard.”

“Yeah, well, it needs doin’, don't it?”

“I know you and Reed have been attached at the hip since elementary school,
sweetie, but he's only a train ride away if you miss him-”

“Ma, I really need you to not, okay? Please?”

“My God , Benjamin, enough with the moping ! He’s only been gone a few hours -
you’re acting like you broke up with your girlfriend-” At Ben’s flinch, his
mother gasped, her towel clutched in front of her mouth and her eyes wide. “Oh
Benjy…”

“Sorry, Ma.” Ben got to his feet. “I’m just gonna shower and go to bed, okay?”

He hadn't waited for an answer before walking out.)

'yes! So. Many. Books. And Sue - you remember Sue, right? Dr. Storm’s daughter?
- anyway, Sue told me about this music group called Portishead and I really
like them! I’ll play some for you when you next time I see you.’

Right. So never, then.

Ben scowled at his phone and tossed it onto his night table as he collapsed
into bed and fell asleep.

-

'i met the other project head today,’ Reed texted him again, a few days later.
'guy named Victor Von Doom. he’s brilliant, but kind of a douchebag. And I
think he might be an ecoterrorist.’

'?’ Ben texted back with one hand as he devoured his lo mein.

'he just has a lot of opinions on how everyone should die because they're
killing the planet.’

‘...so he's in AVALANCHE?’

‘XD! i get the distinct feeling he will come at me with a welding torch if I
ask him what his plans for Mako Reactor Seven are.’

-

'did you know Dr. Storm had a son, too?’

'why would I know that reed?’

'his name is Johnny and he's a street racer. He’s helping with the project now
and he and Victor don't really get along. Like at all at all.’

'because this Johnny guy has taste, apparently.’

'ha! I have been having Johnny help me to keep someone from being bludgeoned to
death with a cast.’

'a cast?’

'johnny came in with a broken arm and just started welding like nbd, wtf ben it
was beautiful.’

Of course it was. Why wouldn't it be? Ben wasn't even smart enough to be there
to help build the damn machine, but Johnny Storm could weld with one arm in a
cast and have it be perfect. Of course.

Ben covered his eyes with his arm and tried to will the bile rising in his
throat back down.

-

Reed sent him a picture, himself with a dorky thumbs up in front of a scale
model of the machine (Ben assumed), with the message 'Couldn’t have done it
without you, buddy!’ under it.

Ben was happy for him. He was.

I miss you, Ben typed, later. Wish I was there. I love you and I can't move on,
please Reed, what the hell are we even doing anymore?

He deleted the message and rolled over to go to sleep.

--

His phone buzzed on his nightstand and Ben groaned before he answered it
without looking. “Hello?”

“I’m not going without you.”

Reed? “What time is it?”

“Look, we started this thing together, we’re going together. I’m not taking no
for an answer, okay? Forget Neil Armstrong! Come on.”

“Neil Armstrong?” Ben rolled over to sit up better as the familiar tone in
Reed’s voice seeped in through sleep-fogged memory.Please, Benjy, I need it, I
need you so bad, Benjy… “You drunk?”

“Yeah I am a little drunk,” Reed said, belligerent. “Doesn't matter!”

Doesn't it? Ben doesn't say. Because I know what you're like when you're drunk.

“Look, the machine works. The machine works, Ben, and I need you to come with
me.”

Ben took a deep, slow breath. The teleporter. Reed's dream--their dream. And it
worked. “Now?”

“Yeah. Look, Ben, I need you to come because we're going tonight. I told the
guys that I’m not going without you,” Reed continued, and Ben grit his teeth.
“Okay? Who's gonna have my back?”

Did you fuck them? Ben didn't ask. This Victor and Johnny and Sue you can't
shut up about? Did you get sweet and slutty for them the same way you did for
me?

It felt almost too mean to ask, and Ben wasn't sure he wanted to know the
answer.

“All right, fine. Just- just give me a second, all right?”

“Okay.”

“Please?” Ben pleaded, because he couldn't be left behind again, and maybe this
was his chance to be with Reed again, if only to see the end result of their
hard work.

Maybe then he could move on. Maybe all this feelings nonsense was tied up with
the completion of the teleporter, and now that it was finished and Ben could
see that it worked with his own eyes, he could move on.

Maybe when pigs flew.

“All right, buddy.”

“Thank you.” Ben hung up and slumped back against his pillows.

Fuck.

--

Reed was beaming drunkenly at him through the glass doors and making goofy
faces, and Ben just barely stopped himself from rolling his eyes at his friend.

“He’s with me,” Reed told the door guard uselessly, and Ben bit back “am I?”
because Reed was pulling him into a hug, bright and happy, and he smelled like
booze but not sex.

Reed couldn't stop touching him as they walked down the hall, and Ben still
felt a jittery, anxious energy in the air. All he wanted was to reach out and
pull Reed into a kiss, to fuck away that nervous energy and suck a dark hickey
onto Reed's skin about his collar so everyone in this damn building would know
Reed was his, even Reed his damn self.

“Why’re we doing this tonight, Reed?”

Reed barely glances at him. “Huh?”

“Why are we doing this tonight?”

Reed turned and finally - finally - looked at Ben with a grin. “You trust me,
right?”

Always, Ben didn't say.

He’d gotten pretty good at keeping his mouth shut around Reed.

--

It was dark, and he was alone.

Where is Reed?

People were staring at him through a glass pane, and he was strapped down like
some kind of wild animal.

Where are you, Reed?

Reed, save me!

Someone help me!

Reed… don't go...

--

Reed was gone, and Ben was alone.

--

Reed left him.

--

Reed was never, ever, going to come back.

--

Ben was alone.

--

The other two who had gotten abilities were Sue and Johnny Storm. Apparently
their father, The Great Dr. Franklin Storm, basically sold them all to the
government for the chance to keep working on the teleporter. “To find a cure
for you,” he had said.

So the military can make more like us, Ben didn't say.

It wasn't that hard not to. He didn't talk too much these days, anyway.

--

Dr. Allen was a complete greaseball of a man who always acted like Ben was
simultaneously his best friend and a wild animal you couldn't turn your back
on.

It was gratifying to send the little pissant running with a good loom and a
growl when he got too friendly, and he was always the one to bring the orders
from the military--which Ben didn't let himself think too hard about, because
those missions let him bleed out a little of that rage he felt.

It wasn't like he wasn't already having nightmares, anyway.

(He remembered the first time, Dr. Allen had come to just him. But the second
time, he had approached the three of them “and how do you two feel about going
into the field?”

Sue had shot Ben this look, completely wide-eyed and panicked like she was
begging him to help her stop this, and it took him a second to realize it
wasn't about stopping it for herself.

She was trying to protect Johnny.

“They ain't ready for the field,” Ben rumbled over whatever Johnny was starting
to say. “Suzy-Q and the firefly here are just gonna get killed if you send them
out now.”

“Hey!” Johnny yelled, and didn't back away when Ben turned to face him. “What
the hell, man?! Sue and I are doing great-”

“You get that take off time down, then we'll talk, matchstick. Until then, keep
training.” He turned back to fix Allen with a glare. “All the upcoming missions
are mine until further notice.”

“That’s not actually how this works, Mr. Grimm-”

Ben punched a hole in the wall. “It is now.”

“Err, right. Of course. Let me tell you about this one, then...”

Ben ignored the grateful look Sue gave him as he walked out.)

Dr. Allen came in with a smile and stood next to Ben’s bed. “Hi, Ben. We have
another project for you. I think you’re gonna like this one.”

--

Reed. Ben’s next mission was Reed.

They had found him.

Ben wanted to be sick.

--

He hadn't ever wanted to see Reed again.

(Yes he did.)

Reed betrayed him.

(Reed had promised Ben he’d be back. He had promised.)

This was all Reed's fault.

(Reed… I never wanted to bring you back here. Who knows what they’ll make you
do when you're back here.)

Ben got on the plane.

--

It had been fairly easy to take down Reed and get him into the box.

(He hadn't fought back against Ben, of course it had been easy.)

He hadn't looked in the shack that Reed apparently was living in, but he caught
sight of the photo of them from when they were kids sticking out of one of the
confiscated boxes of research, and it just made him angrier.

Reed turned him into some kind of monster and abandoned him , and Reed has been
here, pretending like they were still friends, as though Reed still gave a
shit?!

Ben squeezed his eyes shut as best he could before he climbed back into the
plane, and ignored the soft grinding of rock against rock his body made as he
sat down.

--

“Does it hurt?”

“...I’m used to it.”

“I’m sorry.”

“That's what you said when you left.”

-

“I promise you--I am going to fix this.”

“I stopped believing in your bullshit a long time ago.”

“You were my best friend.”

“Look at me.I’m not your friend.”

--

Ben left Reed in the interrogation room, and almost walked right over Sue as
she hid in the hallway.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t have a choice, Ben,” she said quietly as she came into
view. “Reed’s the only one who can complete the gate--I didn’t work on that
part of the project.”

Ben watched her jaw clench. She didn’t want Reed here, either.

“Sue,” he said, voice soft. “What, exactly, are you apologizing to me for?”

“You… Reed talked about you a lot, you know? When we took breaks, he’d talk
about his best friend Ben. And then the accident-”

“It wasn’t an accident,” Ben snapped before he could stop himself. Calling it
an accident meant no one was at fault. “Sue. I don’t care that you were the one
to find Reed, okay? He’s here now, he’ll complete the gate, and then what?”

“Then--then we find a cure--”

“Suz, you don’t really think they’re gonna let me get cured, do you?” She
flinched, and Ben continued. “There is no cure for me, even if you find it.”

Sue clenched her jaw and squared her shoulders as she glared up at him. “I’d
like to see them try and stop me.”

Ben held her gaze for only a second before he looked away and stepped around
her. “I’m going back to my cell.”

“It’s-- it’s not a cell, Ben--”

“I’m just callin’ ‘em as I sees ‘em, Suz. Good luck convincing Reed to help
you.”

—

It had taken Reed seven minutes to fix the gate, Ben would find out later, and
that his first words when he saw the new one were “You made it ugly.”

Because aesthetics mattered when you were building a portal to another
dimension, right?

And on the other side of it, they found Victor.

And, of course, Victor killed everybody.

Dr. Storm didn’t deserve to go out like that, Ben thought, later. He and
Franklin Storm very often butted heads when they did interact, because Franklin
Storm had no idea what to do with someone who wasn’t some kind of super genius,
apparently, and kept trying to call Ben ‘son’.

(This is your fault! Ben had wanted to scream at him. You stole him from me
with everything I could never give him and now look at me!

He never did, though.)

He hadn’t even thought about it before he was following Reed’s lead, same as
always, and taking out Victor before he could destroy the planet.

Reed calling them a team, and holding Ben’s gaze when he said it.

We’re not okay , Ben wanted to tell him. We’re never going to be okay again.

It was a lie, though, and Ben knew it.

Because he was a sucker for Reed Richards, and had been since he was ten years
old.

—

Reed got them Central City, and wanted to call the team The Fantastic Four, and
it was so cheesy Ben wanted to gag a little at how it made him feel so warm and
fuzzy.

“Ben,” Reed called after him one night--they had all split off to go to bed,
supposedly, and he and Reed were alone in the hall.

And Ben had been doing so well, avoiding being alone with him, too.

Ben took a deep breath. Might as well get it over with. “Yeah?”

“I. Can we--Ben,” Reed let out a weak laugh, though it sounded a bit too choked
to really be considered one. “I’ve gone over this conversation a thousand times
in my head and now I don’t know what to say.”

Ben looked at Reed, standing there with his hands fisted at his sides and his
head bowed, and felt something in him shift. “…Sephiroth.”

Reed’s head lifted as he blinked, baffled. “What?”

“I was wrong about Victor, before. He was more Sephiroth than he was
AVALANCHE.”

Ben turned and continued back toward his room as Reed laughed, shocked and
delighted and standing in the hallway like an idiot.

Maybe they could be okay after all.
***** Chapter 2 *****
Reed touched him more now. Once that initial barrier had been broken, and Ben
let Reed in again, Reed was almost always in Ben’s space: pressed shoulder to
shoulder (or shoulder to arm, because Ben was taller than him now), an arm
stretched around Ben’s back, or a hand around his wrist.

Johnny watched them, head tilted curiously.

(Johnny had jogged up to him, after they first came to Central City, and leaned
against the wall. “Hey, big guy.”

“Hey, Matchstick.”

“...I wanted--I’m sorry, okay? About… about calling you that.”

The Thing Nobody Wanted.

“Johnny, it’s fine--”

“It’s not.” Johnny looked away from him. “My Dad--my Dad died thinking I hated
him. And I know you always took on those projects with the military to keep Sue
and me out of them as best you could. You didn’t have to--you didn’t know us,
you had no reason to want to keep us safe. You did all that and… and I was out
of line.”

Ben looked up at the ceiling. “I know you didn’t mean it that way, Johnny. And…
you’re wrong. I did know you--at least a little. Reed was always texting me
about you guys--you, Suzy, Victor. So…”

Johnny looked back at him. “I’m glad you’re with us, man.”

“...yeah. Me too.”)

“What?”

“I'm trying to figure if he's just making up for lost time or trying to tell
you something.”

Ben lifted a rocky brow at him. “Trying to tell me something?”

Johnny lit up his hands, tossing a fireball back and forth between them--
a nervous habit he developed during the time he was learning how to control his
abilities. “He isn't like that with Sue and me. I mean, you know how plants
will grow in the direction of the sun? Like, sunflowers will lean towards it?
It's like that. You walk in a room and Reed leans towards you.”

Ben wanted to hunch his shoulders. “What are you getting at?”

“Reed has a thing for you, and Sue and I have no idea what it is.”

“It's not your business, is what it is.”

“It's a small community, gossip is gossip is everyone's business.”

Ben clenched his fists. “Listen, Zippo--it's between Reed and me, okay?”

“I’m just worried about you, man. You're… you’re angry. Really, reallyangry.
And Reed--Sue says it's guilt. So if something happens, it’ll affect the team
dynamic, you get me?”

“Suz put you up to this?”

“She seems to think you'd react better to it coming from me.”

Ben rubbed the back of his head. “Listen, Firefly--I get that you're worried,
but let Reed and me work this shit out ourselves, okay?”

“...are you in love with Reed?”

Ben stared at Johnny, eyes narrowing. “Why do you care what the answer to that
is?”

“There's… a guy. That I like. He’s in the city.”

Ben’s eyebrows shot up. Ah. This wasn't about me and Reed at all. At least, not
really. “You’ve been going into Manhattan?”

Johnny indicated his uniform--they had made him a new sleeveless one that
looked more like workout clothes than 'escapee from a lab’. “People think I’m a
hardcore jogger or something. Don't tell Sue?”

“My lips are sealed. So you found a guy you like?”

Johnny nodded. “I mean, he’s… he’s really cool. I met him on a rooftop.”

“Johnny--”

“And he helps people and he's smart and funny and I don't--” Johnny flamed off
his hands and ran them over his hair. “Sue doesn't know.”

“What, that you sneak into the city?”

Johnny shot him an annoyed look. “That I like guys, too. I don't know what to
tell her, but if you and Reed are a thing--”

Ben rested his hands on Johnny's shoulders. “Matchstick. If you want backup
when you come out to your sister, you’ve got it no matter what.”

Johnny slumped, relieved. “Thanks, Ben.”

“Also, seriously, Johnny? Spider-Man?”

Johnny bristled. “Who said Spider-Man?! I didn't say Spider-Man, you are
jumping to conclusions--”

“You met this guy on a rooftop and he helps people, and you’ve been watching
YouTube videos of the guy when you think no one can see you--you think I’m
stupid? Of course it’d be Spider-Man.”

“Whatever, man, just keep it under your rocks, okay?”

Ben nodded. “...in exchange, do something for me?”

“Okay… what?”

“I need you to get me a six-pack of beer. I’d get it myself, but…”

Johnny held up his hands. “Say no more, say no more. I got you--any particular
brand, or…?”

“PBR.” Johnny wrinkled his nose in distaste. “Yeah, yeah, I know, but it was
cheap and the guy at the liquor store didn’t card you for cheap shit.”

Johnny pressed a hand to his chest in mock-shock. “Are you telling me that you-
-best friend of the most straight-laced nerd I know--engaged inunder-aged
drinking?”

“All the fucking time. Johnny, we lived on Long Island and spent ninety-nine
percent of our free time working on that damn teleporter before your dad gave
Reed that scholarship.”

“And the other one percent of the time?”

We got drunk and fucked. “We drank.”

Johnny shook his head, laughing. “That lying shithead. You know what he said to
Victor that night, before the three of us got completely shitfaced on whatever
was in Vic’s flask? ‘Ethanol kills braincells.’”

Ben wasn’t sure how to feel about that. “Yeah, well. Two beers and Reed’s
completely sloshed, so.”

“Well, one six-pack coming up--I’ll let you know when I have it, okay?”

“Thanks, Zippo.”

“...okay, I gotta ask--why Zippo?”

“Because you're a classy jackass, Johnny, why the fuck else? You don't refill a
Bic lighter when it’s empty, you toss it like the garbage it is. But a Zippo?
You keep that and you refill it, over and over.”

Johnny blinked at him. “That is probably the weirdest self-esteem boost I have
ever received in my life, man. And makes me sound like kinda a slut.”

Ben clapped a hand over his eyes with a groan. “Just get me my fucking beer,
Johnny, would ya?”

Johnny laughed and jogged off, and Ben sighed.

Now he just had to wait.

--

Johnny got him his beer a few days later. “Sue is mad at you for asking for
garbage booze.”

Ben frowned. “That's why she's mad?”

“She's mad that you asked for booze at all, but she's downright insulted that
it is cheap trash booze--her words, not mine.”

Ben took the bag from Johnny. “Yeah, well, tell her for her birthday we’ll see
if we can get her some of that vodka that's filtered through diamonds. That
should be classy enough for a lady like her.”

Johnny snorted. “We'll have a party. See you, man. Good luck hashing shit out
with Reed.”

“...yeah.”

Ben checked the bag once Johnny left and sighed.

It was time.

--

Reed was in his corner of the lab--calling the space a “corner” didn't really
do it justice, what with its sprawling machinery and floor to ceiling
whiteboard scribbled with equations--humming along to a song playing on his
headphones.

“Hey, Reed.”

Reed twisted around and jerked his headphones out of his ears (which stretched
a little before snapping back into place). “Ben! Hi! I --what's up?”

Ben held up the bag of beer. “You wanna have a beer later? We… should probably
talk.”

Reed peered into the bag. “Oh wow, you found some PBR?”

“I asked someone a favor. I’ll be in my room, so come find me there when you're
ready. We all know what happens when you get drunk in a lab.”

Reed flinched, but he set his marker aside and righted himself back into his
normal shape. “Let's go, then.”

Ben stared at him. “You don't want to finish?”

“It'll be there. This… you’re more important.”

Ben was glad he didn't blush visibly anymore as he walked out with Reed at his
side. “...right.”

They walked the rest of the way in silence, Reed opening his mouth to say
something, but then closing it again without a sound.

Ben set the bag down on the side table as he settled down on the comfortable
recliner that the scientists had reinforced to bear his weight, and Reed sat on
the sofa (similarly reinforced) across from him.

Reed opened two of the beers and passed one to Ben. They drank in silence for a
while before Reed finally spoke up. “I… Where do we start?”

“... I dunno, Reed. Do we start with the part where you turned me into a giant
rock monster and then abandoned me to the military, or do we go back further
with all the shit you did to mess with my head before that?”

Reed jerked back like he had been slapped. “Excuse me?”

“Oh, don't tell me you don't remember,” Ben snarled, slamming down his beer
can. “You’d ask if I wanted a beer, drink two, and then we’d fuck. And then
you’d wake up in the morning like nothing happened. I spent all of senior year
with no idea where I stood with you!”

Reed stared down into his beer can. “I never… Ben, you have to believe me when
I tell you that I didn't want to hurt you. I just… if we only had sex when we
were drunk, it didn't impact our friendship. If I misstepped, well, we were
just drunk, no big deal. Ideally, it was supposed to carry over to when we were
sober. I… was hoping you'd say something, but you never did, so I figured you
only wanted me when you were drunk, and decided to take what I could get.”

Ben stared at him. “Why didn't you say something first?”

“Because what if you said no?” Reed looked up to meet his eyes, pleading. “I
couldn't lose you, Ben. I loved--love--you too much.”

“...Reed…”

“And--and you never said anything either! This isn't all on me, Ben! Why didn't
you say anything?”

Ben swallowed hard. “Because what if you said no,” he echoed softly. “I… I was
so in love with you, Reed. You were the center of my universe.”

“Was?” Reed closed his eyes, looking pained. “Were?”

“I can't do much about it now, can I?!” Ben slammed his fist into the arm of
his chair as his other hand crushed his empty beer can and he threw it across
the room. “Look at me, Reed! I can't hold you like this! I can't take you on
dates - I can't even be seen in public!”

“Ben-”

He had to look away from Reed, then, “I can't even kiss you, Reed.”

Reed drained his beer and got to his feet, stepping over the coffee table to
take Ben’s face in his hands. “Ben. If you still love me--if you even want
this--I promise you we will find a way to make it work, okay? So… do you?”

“Do I still love you? Reed…” Ben lifted his hand to gently brush the backs of
his fingers against Reed's cheek. “I never stopped. You’ve been it for me for…
a while.”

Reed rubbed his cheek against Ben's hand. “Yeah, well, I’m pretty sure I fell
in love with you the night you helped me steal a power converter from your
family's junkyard, so we're even.”

God, they were idiots, weren’t they? “...Reed? There's something I need to
know.”

Reed climbed into Ben's lap, straddling him easily to press their foreheads
together. “Hm?”

“...when we’d get drunk together before… is that how you always are when you're
drunk?”

“What?”

Ben gave him at flat look, even though Reed couldn't see him. “You got kinda
slutty for me, Reed.”

“Oh! That. No, that's just you.” Reed pulled back and grinned at him. “You just
bring it out in drunk me. When I get drunk it's like… most people, they have
this filter, right? This 'this is a bad idea, so I shouldn't do it’ kind of
filter? Drunk me doesn't have that filter.”

Ben snorted. “Sober you doesn't, either.”

Reed rolled his eyes. “Drunk me has less of one. And it's like, where sober me
would normally be like 'I really should not be telling Ben how I peeked at him
in the locker room when we changed for gym,’ drunk me is all 'not only am I
gonna tell Ben I peeked when we changed for gym class, I’m gonna tell him the
first time I  fingered myself open was after I peeked at him one time and
caught sight of his dick.’”

Ben made a mental note to think about that later. “So you never had sex with
the others?”

Reed stared at him, blinking. “....wait. Is that what you thought? This whole
time?”

“You called me up drunk! I figured-”

“Oh my God, Ben!” Reed laughed. “I mean, Sue’s beautiful, but I’m pretty sure
if I asked her how she felt about threesomes, she’d remove my brain through my
nose with a grapefruit spoon.”

Wait, what?“Threesomes?”

Reed blushed. “Yeah, well. I don’t want to have sex with other people without
you there. Same if we’re talking about sleeping with Johnny. And Victor was…
Victor was Victor, and he was handsome, and I liked working with him, but
neither of those things were enough to make me want to sleep with him.” 

“You thought about sleeping with Johnny?” Ben wasn’t sure how he felt about
that, but that was more because Johnny was Sue’s brother, and if Sue was gonna
go after Reed for asking about threesomes with her, she would definitely go
after Reed for asking Johnny about them.

Reed rolled his eyes. “Ben, I am pretty sure you gave me a mechanic kink and
every time I thought about it, I thought about him being spit roasted between
the two of us, so…” Reed shrugged. “Thinking other people are attractive is a
normal thing, even for people in relationships.”

“We weren’t in one, before, though,” Ben pointed out. “There was nothing
stopping you from asking Sue out. Or Johnny.”

“Aside from their father being my sponsor and that it would’ve been grossly
unprofessional? See the whole thing with Sue and the grapefruit spoon and my
brain.”

Ben sighed, looking up at the ceiling. “...we’re really doing this, huh? You
and me?”

“I’d like to. I really love you, Ben. And… And I know I messed up, with
leaving. But I swear, Ben, I was looking for a way to save you.”

Ben met Reed’s pleading gaze. “...I know.”

Reed kissed him, pressing his soft lips against Ben’s hard ones. “Ben…”

“I don't have anything,” Ben mumbled against Reed's mouth, his hands going
automatically to Reed’s hips the way they always had before. “You know. For
sex. I don't even know if I can have sex.”

He wanted to, though. God, he wanted to-- to feel human again, if nothing else.

“Did you lose your dick?” Reed asked, very seriously. “Because, you don't wear
pants--why did they not give you pants? --but I've seen you eat, and you’ve
mentioned using the bathroom before, so I was curious, but I couldn't ask and I
have your medical file but I felt weird reading it without your permission and-
-”

Ben pressed a finger to Reed's mouth. “Shush. Yes, I still have a dick. But
it's… well.”

Reed looked down curiously, feeling along Ben’s stomach. “...well?”

“There's this… hidden pouch thing I’ve got now. You can feel the entrance to
it, sorta. The rocks get finer - smoother.” Ben gasped as Reed's fingers found
what he was talking about and slipped further in. The rocks did become
smoother, more like pebbles and fitting together like snake scales and the
whole thing was far more sensitive than the rest of him. “Ah--!”

“Oh… how fascinating.” Reed practically purred the word out as he tugged Ben’s
cock out into the open and stroked it curiously. “This… hm…”

“For fuck’s sake, Reed, it's not a damn kitten!”

Reed looked up at Ben from under his lashes. “Are you sure you don't have
anything? Chapstick? Vaseline? Olive oil?”

Bed rolled his eyes and pressed his forehead to Reed's as tenderly as he could.
“Why would I have olive oil, Reed?”

“Sometimes you just really need an antipasto spread and olive oil is important
to that?”

Ben laughed, wrapping his arms around Reed carefully. “Babe, I love you, but I
don't have anything we can use as lube, and I'm not letting you use spit.”

Reed flushed prettily even as he scrambled back off Ben’s lap. “If you give me
five, no, three minutes--I’ll be right back, I promise, just stay in that
chair--!”

Ben leaned back, feeling a little awkward as he tried to look casual with his
cock jutting up from its pouch the way it was, just starting to leak with
precome. “I’ll be here.”

Reed stretched to kiss him before snapping back as he ran out of the room and
down the hall.

Ben covered his eyes with his hand and let out a half-groan, half-laugh.
“Benjy, what the hell are you even doing?” he asked himself.

Reed ran back in two and a half minutes later, half tripping over his feet as
he skidded to a stop and slammed Ben’s door shut. He carefully climbed into
Ben’s lap as he kissed Ben once, twice, three times. “Hi, sorry I took so long-
-I had to avoid Sue.”

Ben chuckled. “Sue?”

“I’m pretty sure she knew what I was up to. There was a lot of disapproving
frowns.”

“And yet you lived to bring back…?”

“Oh!” Reed fumbled with one of his pockets as he pressed kisses to Ben’s jaw
and pulled out a tub of Vaseline. “Ta-da! The sex is saved.”

Ben snorted and kissed Reed softly, as best he could with rock-rough lips.
“Gonna get yourself ready for me, sweetheart?”

Reed flushed, pupils blown wide as he stared at Ben for a moment, half out of
his uniform. “Oh…”

“Reed?”

Reed stood up and stripped himself out of the rest his uniform, chewing on his
lower lip. “...say it again?”

“Sweetheart?”

Reed's blush went all the way from the roots of his hair to the middle of his
chest. “Will you keep calling me that?”

As long as you’ll let me. “Anything you want, sweetheart.”

Reed slicked his fingers with the vaseline as he climbed into Ben’s lap and hid
his face in Ben’s neck as he worked himself open. “Ah--!”

“There we go… just like that, sweetheart,” Ben rumbled, his hands going to
Reed's hips.

Suddenly Reed reached down and tugged, opening up the recliner so that Ben was
leaning back a bit more and then he was sinking himself down on Ben's cock with
a shout. “Ben!”

Ben moaned and struggled not to thrust up into Reed, catching sight of the
tears gathered on the corners of Reed's eyes. “Reed, stop if it hurts you--”

“It's not, it's not, I swear it's not,” Reed whimpered. “I just-- Ben…” Reed's
head dropped back as he trembled and shook around Ben’s cock, and sounded for
all the world like he was crying.

Ben reached up to cradle Reed's cheek in his palm. “Sweetheart, look at me.”

Reed's head dropped forward and he opened his eyes. “I thought I’d never have
this again,” he whispered, voice thick with tears. “I thought, even if you
agreed to be my friend again, that we’d never be like this. And now we are and,
I just--I love you so much, Ben!”

Ben gently wiped away Reed’s tear tracks with his thumb. “I love you, too,
Reed.”

Reed caught his lower lip between his teeth, riding Ben’s cock with a muffled
whine. “Benjy… you feel so good,” he moaned as he moved, both hands planted on
Ben’s chest for balance.

Ben watched him, drinking in the sight that he never thought he’d see again,
either.

And yet, after everything, here we are.

Ben placed a rocky hand on Reed's thigh. “Touch yourself for me, sweetheart. I
wanna watch you.”

“Ben…” Reed wrapped a hand around himself, jerking up into his hand as he
fucked himself on Ben's cock, and just like Ben thought, it didn't take long
for Reed to come after that, moaning so loud that Ben was sure that anyone
passing by outside could hear him.

Ben came with a soft murmur of “Reed…”

Reed slumped over, practically purring with contentment, tucking his face into
Ben’s neck - or, at least, what there was it. “Mmm…”

Ben rested a hand on Reed’s back. “…not to ruin the afterglow, sweetheart, but
we should probably move.”

“Hm?”

The recliner tipped backwards, and Ben didn’t even flinch as his head hit the
floor. “….because that.”

Reed blinked down at Ben before bursting into giggles, pressing their foreheads
together with a laugh. “Whoops?”

“You’re lucky I love you,” Ben muttered as Reed sat back and pushed the entire
chair back upright.

“I know,” Reed chirped happily, lifting himself up off Ben’s cock with a gasp.
“Oh…”

“What?”

“Just… shower?” Reed indicated the mess he had made on Ben’s chest. “I need to
scrub you down.” Reed tilted his head from side to side. “…I should’ve given
you hickies when I had the chance.”

Ben stared at him, as his come dripping down Reed’s thighs. “Huh?”

“I just think this whole thing could’ve gone better, emotionally speaking, if I
just bit my name across your shoulders like I wanted to.”

Ben closed the chair and got to his feet. “So I could’ve been ditched by my
boyfriend for a year as opposed to my best friend it was just really
complicated with?”

Reed made a face. “On the one hand? I really like you calling me your
boyfriend. On the other, wow I did not think about that part, dear lord.”

Ben snorted and made his way toward the shower. “C’mon, Reed. Shower, then
bed.”

Reed trailed behind Ben on the way to the bathroom. “…do I get to stay?”

“Hm?”

“With you. In bed, I mean. Are you kicking me out?”

Ben pause with his hand on the knob for the water. “…have I ever kicked you out
of bed before now?”

“No…”

“Then why would I start now that we’re actually dating?”

“Good point.” Reed wrapped himself around Ben’s middle until they were face to
face, grinning. “Shower sex?”

“I’ve created a monster,” Ben groaned, but kissed back as best he could when
Reed cradled his face between his hands.

He had to say this for being a giant rock creature--it was much harder to slip
in the shower when he fucked his boyfriend against the wall.

—

Johnny was grinning at Ben, bright and a little wicked, when Ben sat down at
his table in the cafeteria.

“…what?”

“So I guess you and Reed worked things out? I mean, aside from the fact that no
one saw him leave your room last night after Sue caught him in the hall on his
way back to your room.”

“Johnny--”

“And Reed was singing along to love songs in his lab this morning. I mean, boy
wasn’t even singing the raunchy stuff. I’m talking cutesy Taylor Swift stuff.”

Ben frowned. “I don’t think Reed actually knows who that is.”

Johnny rolled his eyes dramatically, putting his whole body into it. “I know
you’re made of rocks, but don’t be dense, man. He’s happy. He’s in love.
Confirm my hypothesis here.”

Ben picked up his sandwich. “Yes, Reed and I worked things out, but it’s also
still new so--”

“What’s still new?” Sue asked, sitting down next to Ben in a weirdly pointed
manner.

“Ben and Reed are dating,” Johnny said, and Ben groaned. “What? You are! It’s
cute!”

“I was gonna say not to tell anyone, but now that you’ve announced it to the
cafeteria--”

“I didn’t announceit, Balboa, I told Sue. She doesn’t count.”

Sue arched an eyebrow at her brother. “Because?”

“You’re team,” Johnny said with a shrug. “Like Reed said, you know? The four of
us are a team. So we know these things about each other. And it saves Sue and I
the trouble of vetting the guy.”

“Vetting?” Ben didn’t want to think about what it would be like if Sue and
Johnny had decided that they didn’t like whoever Ben decided to date.

Grapefruit spoons and nostrils.

“No one is good enough for you, man.” Johnny reached over and put a hand on
Ben’s arm. “We just want you to be happy, cookie,” he said, in a falsetto with
an accent that reminded Ben so strongly of his mother he choked. “Whoa, you
okay big guy?”

“Yeah-- yeah, m’fine. Just--you sounded like my ma.”

Johnny jerked his hand back like Ben had burned him, and Sue flashed invisible
for a moment. “Sorry.”

“Nah, nah. S’a good thing.”

“I meant sorry your ma sounds like my girl voice,” Johnny said airily, and Sue
threw a crouton from her salad at him.

Ben laughed.

Honestly, it was the best he felt in a long time.
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