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Post by Super Chick on Oct 12, 2021 17:42:09 GMT -7
-----------------------$-----------------$----------------$----------------------Three days later... Felicia sadly had not had a lot of time to spend at the Baxter Building in the following days. Heroes for Hire was still her side job and occasionally they called on her special skills in their time of need. In the case of this week's quid pro quo adventure, Felicia was able to retrieve a package of unknown contents (It was a microchip.) for an individual of mild importance (Who was the head of International Affairs at the Wakandan Embassy.) in order to keep something bad from happening (Also known as Hydra operatives discovering the location of a newly opened vibranuium mine.). All the Black Cat had to do was sneak into the lair of some bad people with worse ideas (aka. those Hyrda agents) and abscond with the aforementioned package.
It was a small thing, really, and the bad guys were not all that vigilant (They were playing poker while they were supposed to be keeping watch.) so the job only took these past two days because the people who hired her Hero-ness hadn't exactly found where the bad guys were keeping it yet. That meant that Felicia had to do a little reconnaissance (aka, follow, snoop, and charm) before she could steal that package. Once she donned the leather, though, things happened fast and (mostly) smoothly (as usual). The payout, though, was merely... adequate.
The blond bombshell left the elevator on the 35th floor of the ostentatious building at 42nd Street & Madison Avenue where she took a straight path to her lover's room. She assumed Reed would be in his usual place in the lab. Ben was rarely here. And, since Sue's main job (in her opinion) seemed to be "homemaker," Felicia simply assumed that she would be doing whatever homemakers do while the kids were in school. Maybe shopping or making meals for a week. Who knew? That kinda thing wasn't exactly Felicia's area of expertise. Regardless, as expected, the catty vixen had no interference on her way to her favorite hottie's private sanctuary.
"Darling," she said, entering his room unannounced and without knocking. She turned to close the door behind her and continued to speak without yet finding Johnny with her eyes. "I made a little mad money this week and was thinking it was way past time for us to share a meal outside of these four walls." She turned toward Johnnny's bed, seeking him where he so often was of late but not finding him there.
"Johhny?"
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Post by Slim on Oct 12, 2021 23:56:22 GMT -7
While the world’s most skilled (and eyecatching) thief had been putting her considerable talents to use for a pretty noble cause, her fantastic flame had been trying to do the same. Kinda. Johnny Storm reluctantly put his binge of Bridgerton on hold and attended an event that had been on his calendar for seven or eight months: a charity dinner to raise money for people displaced by alien attacks in New York. If he’d been at full strength he might’ve stayed for the afterparty and the open bar, but he decided that an abbreviated speech and a few photos was probably the best he could offer. The next day, he’d spent some time helping Valeria put together a poster board project for school, though she’d done most of the heavy lifting content-wise and he pitched in with scissors, a glue stick, and a little more glitter than his niece seemed happy with. And then..there was yesterday.
As many things do, it started with a text: You need to look at this. Attached to the message was a short video taken by someone in a loud and packed room. Dozens of shouting people surrounded a massive cage, where two figures were duking it out. The person holding the phone pushes through the crowd to get closer, clangs of metal getting louder. The spectator gets close enough just in time to see one of the fighters collapse in front of him, and he catches the face in 4K: A Doombot. It’s painted all over and modded to hell, but the face was unmistakable. The camera moves to catch the still-standing fighter and...another Doombot.
Turns out, some underworld big shot had acquired a bunch of salvaged Doombots on the black market, and created a full-on android fight club, battle-bots style. Johnny had melted enough of these things to know that they definitely didn’t belong on the streets. If even a whisper of this made it to Victor, it’d be a real bad day for everyone involved. So, Johnny had decided that toasts and construction paper weren’t doing it for him, he needed to see some real action, help some people, stop some bad guys.
You know what sucks about Doombots, though? Even when you might think they’ve been reprogrammed, sometimes their egotistical progenitor puts in a secret second AI core solely dedicated to recognizing and attacking the members of the Fantastic Four. And suddenly, everyone’s favorite member of the aforementioned team has a fleet of killer robots armed with buzzsaws and cannonballs and electro-whips and pneumatic fists gunning straight for him in a crowded room. Whiiiich brings us to the present moment!
”In here, babe..”
There was a quick, vaguely electronic SHMP sound that followed his voice out of the nearby bathroom. Were one to follow those signs and head inside, they’d be met with a (mildly) grisly scene. A shirtless Johnny Storm standing in front of a large mirror, his chest covered in blood. In his hands was what looked like a way higher-tech version of a cashier’s barcode scanner, a white form factor with a light blue glow where the scanning part would be. He was pointing it at his chest and the SHMP sound occurred again, accompanied by a blue flash. Johnny winced, and looked at Felicia as that set of nanostitches settled into place. “Um.. You should see the other guys..?"
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Post by Super Chick on Nov 19, 2021 13:29:08 GMT -7
-----------------------$-----------------$----------------$----------------------Three days later... Felicia heard Johnny call from his private restroom that was adjacent to his room. An odd electronic whoomp sound followed his words softly. Felicia tilted her head in curiosity and moved toward the open door. She was met with a scene wholly unexpected. Johnny's torso was a menagerie of small cuts and slices, all fresh and some still bleeding. As she turned the corner, Johnny was just closing up another with one of Reed's genius tech tools that aptly replaced the need for a real medic. At least, Johnny seemed to think so.
"What the hell?" she breathed. Her hand came to her lips even as her eyes narrowed at the poor jest that escaped Johnny's lips. She stepped inside the room and came closer to him, watching him in the mirror the entire time. Her hands came to Johnny's shoulders and the Cat shook her head in disbelief.
"Seriously, what the hell?" she asked again, this time a hand reaching around his torso and touching the place where his stab wound from Ben was raised and freshly bruised but, somehow, miraculously unopened. Her eyes met his in the mirror and Felicia backed away. "You were supposed to be taking it easy. Healing. Now look what you've done."
Her words were accusing, a verdict of guilt that demanded a sentence to match. Unfortunately for Johnny, Felicia had no intention of providing any grace for his transgression, especially when they hadn't enjoyed any strenuous activity together in over a month so that he might heal properly. Whatever he'd just done not only damaged his chest with cuts, but it came close to opening that deep wound from a mind-controlled and super-strong Ben Riley. In truth, due to the fact it was his liver, not his skin, that required the most time to heal, Ben could have just damaged it all over again and sent them back weeks in his recovery.
Her lids dropped and Felicia exhaled in a deep sigh. She was never going to be properly sexed at this rate. "I hope it was worth it," she said and turned away. Let him deal with his own bandaging. The Cat was feeling very little pity for anyone but herself at the moment. She went and sat on the edge of the bed. "You better have saved an entire building of school children, a visiting president, and the entire country of Luxemburg. Otherwise, I'm may have to judge your little adventure in contempt."
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Post by Slim on Dec 4, 2021 1:03:40 GMT -7
The soft smile that Johnny offered Felicia via the mirror when she stepped up behind him was a pretty clear signal that the poor hero had no idea what was coming. It was around the second time she posed the ‘what the hell’ question that his smile fell away, and he picked up that she wasn’t upset that he was hurt, she was upset that he had put himself in a position to be hurt. He moved the staple-gun out of the way of her hand as it moved around his chest, and shifted from lighthearted jests to the ever-popular ‘I can explain’ mode.
”I -was- taking it easy! It was just supposed to be light recon-” He lost track of what he was saying as she started backing away, and Johnny hastily reached for a towel to try and wipe his chest clean as she retreated into the bedroom. The bare-chested blond followed as soon as he was done with that, his torso highlighted by glowing blue stitches that were in the early stages of fading. He quickly balled up the towel and tossed it behind him, where it landed in a heap in the tub.
”It was gonna go bad, Felicia,” he started softly, before backing up his story. Johnny wanted to sit down beside her during this, but it really felt like that privilege had been revoked. ”The wrong tech in the wrong hands. I just..” He stopped there, the rest of the story was pretty obvious and maybe didn’t need telling. She’d already seen how it ended. So instead, he tried another approach. ”These are just scratches. I take worse hits when we spar,” he said, in an attempt to reassure.
”You know, it’s not too late for us to go do the Luxembourg thing together, get away from this place for a while..” He was only somewhat kidding—Johnny knew that Felicia had the cash and connections to be skybound in a private jet with little more than a snap of her claws.
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Post by Super Chick on Jan 2, 2022 14:11:39 GMT -7
-----------------------$-----------------$----------------$---------------------- Felicia looked incredulously at Johnny when he tried to say that he received worse scratches from her while sparring. It was untrue and he knew it. Never had she caused him to require a staple gun for any injuries! But, there he was attempting to deflect her anger by insinuating he'd had worse injuries and this shouldn't bother her so much. Then he further attempted deflection by suggesting they take a trip to the very country she just mentioned that he had better have saved by his little stunt. It was as if they'd been planning a vacation that he'd been hesitant to attend prior to getting hurt and now that he wanted to get back on her good side he'd acquiesce to join her!
The Cat had to shake the thoughts from her head to clear the fog of anger that threatened to rise and remove any sensibility. She exhaled and centered her mind. Johnny was just being true to himself by playing hero, she told herself. And his humor then plays at deflection were true to his childlike personality; something that she more often than not enjoyed. Another exhale. Another breath. Now she could speak.
"Perhaps you'd prefer I not care so much?" she asked, taking the opportunity to slowly raise her head and open her eyes. Felicia looked up at him from the bed where she perched with openness and only a mild play at manipulation because she'd really rather that the man who claimed to love her would be willing to prove it to her as much as he proved his love for heroic displays and public notoriety. Maybe that wasn't fair of her to think but the man claimed his healing wound was to blame for his lack of ... enthusiasm(?) during intimacy. No, fortitude was the better word. Endurance. Vitality. The vixen didn't like to use the word "impotence" but since his injury at Ben's hand, it certainly seemed like Johnny couldn't perform - or wouldn't - and Felicia refused to accept it was the latter.
Felicia's sigh was in resignation this time. Maybe she should've gone back to Ben when he woke up. Maybe Johnny Storm was even more of a free-spirited gigolo than she thought and he simply couldn't be pinned down. Of course, that was also part of his appeal for Felicia. She always wanted what she couldn't have wasn't supposed to get.
"I just want US to get back to normal, Johnny." She looked up at him with intensity. "And I have to wonder ... If you have the ability to save the world and still can't properly be with me, then what's really going on?"
Slim - You're welcome.
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Post by Slim on Jan 2, 2022 19:07:53 GMT -7
For someone who had spent such a long time in space, had set foot on and taken flight above dozens of different worlds, one would think that Johnny Storm should’ve appreciated the gravity of the situation a little more quickly. Unfortunately, trying to defuse things with lighthearted reassurances had the opposite result, and though this was a side of Felicia that he hadn’t really been at the mercy of before, it was hard not to see the intensity of her body language and not know that he’d screwed up. His heart sank like a stone when she cut past his words and replied with a verbal gut punch.
”Come on, of course not.” He tried to push back on the idea that he thought she was overreacting, even though at the same time, he was having a hard time reconciling the fact that he had gotten hurt and also somehow deserved this ire. Maybe it was just extreme worry wearing a disguise of anger, but..that didn’t feel right, somehow. Instead of brushing off the concern any further, Johnny tried a new approach: explaining what had happened. ”Felicia, I swear I only went there to check things out. I was five seconds from calling Reed when it all went to hell,” he said. That didn’t absolve him from going there in the first place of course, but it felt like a relevant factor.
As she started to speak again, he moved towards the closet to grab a shirt, feeling like the injuries on display were only hurting his case. ”Me too!” he said just before throwing it over his head, in response to the desire for things to get back to normal. The fabric stung as it grazed past his wounds, but not as much as the question that the woman he loved levied at him next. ”Going on?” he repeated incredulously, partially for his own benefit. It was his turn to put his hands on his waist and inhale, to try to wade through a sea of impulsive responses to find the right one.
”Okay, yeah... Cards on the table,” he said, moving to sit on the bed next to her. ”I’ve..been in my own head, Felicia. Even at a hundred percent, I feel like I’m punching above my weight, with you. I’m the luckiest guy in the world. I was just…I am scared that the hurt version, the lesser version of me will.. be a disappointment. I wanted to be me again. The guy that swept you off your feet. The guy you deserve.”
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Post by Super Chick on Jan 14, 2022 14:46:58 GMT -7
-----------------------$-----------------$----------------$---------------------- Like his namesake, Johnny's face flickered a hundred different shades but rather than those being the colors of flame, it was a hundred shades of conflicting emotion while he considered his response. The Cat had to appreciate the effort it must have been taking for the man to seriously think before spouting a defense of his impotence because, let's face it, no man wants to hear that his lover is disappointed! Beyond that, of course, Johnny was known to be an incredibly impulsive superhero and an even more unscripted man. Most of the world marked it off as immaturity but Felicia knew something most of the world would never would: Johnny Storm was actually a very thoughtful human being. Spontaneity and child-like humor was his infamy, but heart would be his legacy. Thus, it was not entirely surprising to Felicia when Johnny took his time to form a response.
One of the things she noticed while watching his response, however, was the pain that showed on his face when the shirt slid over his torso. His actions today ensured a longer recovery still. Was that what he was going for? Her eyes darted quickly around the room before settling back on her lover. He could be addicted to his pain medication. That would explain his impotency and bad behavior, but Felicia couldn't believe that a man who was related to scientist extraordinaire Reed Richards would be able to get by with such an obvious weakness.
She had little time to dwell on this thought further when Johnny sat beside her to explain. It was good that he was coming clean with his self-deprecating assumptions, but his thought process was contradictory to his actions. "So you're telling me that you are afraid to be with me because you're not one-hundred percent," she said, repeating in her own words what she heard him say. Felicia turned on the bed to face him fully. "But, today you put yourself in a situation where you're now nearly back to where you started."
Felicia shook her head sideways gently while maintaining eye contact. "I get it that you didn't expect something so benign to go sideways, but that doesn't explain why you were there to begin with. I can't imagine Reed or Sue asked you to go, but if they did then I guess I'm wrong about them. Either way, it doesn't matter now. Here we are. Your body is a mess and I'm not seeing a light at the end of this tunnel. You're always going be the hero. You feel fifty percent? You're going to go make an appearance and make girls swoon. Seventy-five? You'll go fight a Doombot without a second thought."
"So, where does that leave us? Another sigh, this one with a faint smile of both resignation and understanding. "Well, I guess that you can either stop worrying about disappointing me by not being at your best, or you can continue to disappoint me by your abstinence. Your choice, Loverboy."
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Post by Slim on Jan 20, 2022 6:58:17 GMT -7
Johnny wasn’t great at being vulnerable. It was a fact well-known to his family, though it never stopped them from trying to break through his armor of pride. Whether it was taking an L during a fight with angry stellar automatons or having a drink thrown in his face as the punctuation to a tempestuous relationship, Johnny’s defense mechanism was to put on a brush it off and act like he was totally cool, fake-it-til-you-make-it style. Sometimes he even managed to fool himself. In recent times he’d gotten a bit better at it, maybe because Felicia was as skilled at breaking into his heart as she was with any safe or vault.
That said, it still was never as easy as he wished it was, and now was no exception. He summoned the (admittedly minor) courage it took to explain why he’d been hesitant to be intimate (a first!), and focused intently on her reaction. To his dismay, his grand admission didn’t seem to have as much of an effect on Felicia’s simmering displeasure with the situation. She repeated his words like a teacher dissecting a student’s flimsy reasons for not turning in their homework, which stung because the student in this metaphor had been honest about everything that happened, at least from his perspective.
A part of him wanted to further protest, explain that he’d tried calling several super-friends to take point on this but that they’d been out of town, off-world, or in one case, actively in the middle of a fight with a member of their rogues’ gallery. But he got the sense that it wouldn’t help his case much, and Felicia established that it didn’t matter anyway, because what was done was very much done. She let out a sigh and cut to the chase: he had a choice to make. The way that choice was worded though, made it pretty clear that there was a right answer and a wrong answer. Interpreting ‘stop worrying’ as ‘you have nothing to worry about’, Johnny took a deep breath, imagining the air leaving his lungs on the exhale as carrying his unnecessary anxieties out and away.
He reached over and took her hand into both of his, lacing their fingers together and then covering it with his left. ”You’re pretty convincing when you want to be, you know that?” While at the moment he wished he’d never needed to be swayed, his answer was there in those words. They were a promise that he’d take her in his arms and make up for lost time in the near, near future, injuries be damned. But the one caveat of his vow was that it was borderline impossible, even for Johnny friggin' Storm, to transition smoothly out of a stern talking-to and into the kind of rendezvous that they both craved. Maybe it was probably best to try to get there at least somewhat organically?
”I want to hear about your trip and everything. Did you still want to go out? Orrr, I could just take this shirt right back off..”
Tag: Super Chick(OOC: Rewrote the end of this post to hopefully improve it)
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Post by Super Chick on Mar 21, 2022 17:37:34 GMT -7
-----------------------$-----------------$----------------$---------------------- Life with a hero dressed in flameproof clothing was something Felicia thought could never be dull, but the platinum-haired vixen who, herself, dressed in a skin-tight catsuit had been sorely mistaken of late. Johnny had been laid up for weeks since the injury to his gut by a blade thrust in neatly by her ex - something that would have felt a little different to think about had Ben had any control over what he was doing. Hell, it might have even been oddly romantic if they were fighting over her and Felicia may have found more patience. However, the incident was spawned by some wannabe Jackal clones with a drive to overcompensate for the Original's failings. The injury was incidental to the crime, though apparently no less debilitating to Johnny's sex drive. Again, the Cat might have felt more compassion had the injury settled a bit lower. Instead, she began an inner fire of her own upon seeing the energies thrown at some lame-ass Doombot rather than her own needs.
Johnny's capitulation to her logical argument turned the tide of her growing, inner inferno toward the ebbing heat of a vanquished fire. He agreed with her. More than that, he seemed to understand, and that was a start. The woman within purred at his suggestion of reigniting that flame of passion between them but as her fingers reached to caress his chest through his shirt, she touched his recently applied staples and recoiled a little. The intensity of suggestion died within her blue orbs even as she looked up toward Johnny with what remained of her approval.
"I'm glad you're beginning to see reason," she said. The Cat stood back up and came close to Johnny, wrapping her arms around the back of him that, as she recalled from the moment she saw him, was less injured. She pressed herself against him and looked into his eyes. "But, considering you haven't even had a chance to scab up yet, I'll take a raincheck on your offer to disrobe for me. Dinner seems a less bloody venture at the moment."
She kissed him and pulled away. Giving him a once-over, Felicia quipped, "But you'll still need a dinner jacket over that t-shirt. Where we're going, there is a dress code." She turned toward the door to his room and held up her hand in afterthought but her stride did not waver. "No flip-flops either. I'll be waiting in the car."
She knew Johnny would be done momentarily. Heck, he may even catch her before she left the building because the Cat planned to stop and chat with Sue about her brother's adventures today and see if she was aware of them. It seemed to Felicia that it was going to take the lot of them to keep the Torch simmering long enough to properly heal.
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Post by Slim on Apr 12, 2022 4:48:34 GMT -7
The second-and-a-half between Johnny’s offer to make up for lost time and Felicia’s fingertips reaching his chest was just enough time for the hurt hero to become invested in the impending romantic rendezvous, which made her pulling back sting even more than her brushing past his injury. Given his recent coolness maybe it was only fair that he got a similar dose of disappointment, but fair or not, the regret took root either way. Sure, he’d just been trying to do right by people. But there were other heroes in the world, despite what his ego might assert. Other people to dismantle rogue androids. But there weren’t other people to be Felicia’s hero, at least not anymore. That was his job, and his PTO had clearly run out.
When she drew close he let his hands rest lightly on her hips, responding to her raincheck with a resigned nod. He’d still be spending time with her so it wasn’t all bad, and as he racked up a bill wildly out of his price range (but not hers), the staple-like lattices of nanites would do their best to get him back into fighting shape(or shape for other things). ”It’s a date then. But just say the word..” he promised, before the brief meeting of their lips. Whether that word was days away or hours, it was a promise he was committed to. As she stepped away he almost missed her instructions while distracted by the view, but was just good enough at multitasking to get the gist.
Once alone he wasted little time in getting cleaned up and re-dressed, going so far as to even shelve the t-shirt for a nice button-up under a jacket that she’d bought for him for a previous special occasion. The flip-flops remained in the room as Johnny descended the elevator with actual shoes, though he’d had to search a bit until he’d found them under the bed. It was the kind of outfit that would do little to dissuade the one instagram follower he had that just posted “wish.com ryan gosling” under every picture he uploaded.
As he made his way to the garage, he was scrolling through his list of contacts, wondering if any names might be able to help him get over his injuries a little quicker. Does Dr. Strange do house calls? The X-men have a healing mutant, right? As he got nearer to the car he gave up, feeling dumb for getting himself into this mess in the first place. I reap what I sow, I guess.
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Post by Super Chick on May 21, 2022 0:51:15 GMT -7
-----------------------$-----------------$----------------$---------------------- Sometimes Johnny reminded Felicia exactly how high maintenance a man could be. Today was one of those times. Not only did her lover fly headlong into a fight with a Doombot alone, but he did it before he was whole enough to enjoy a romp in the bedroom which meant he was far from one-hundred percent. Doombots, she was sure, could do far worse than a Spider - even one amped up on the dope those Jackal-wannabes had given him. The blond bombshell of a man hadn't even called for backup from his family and not for the first time Felicia wondered what exactly went on between those two ears of his. A sometimes stereotypical ditzy blond, what saved Johnny in her eyes (aside from his winning personality) was that he was incredibly nice to look at, a perfect pairing for her social media image, and most of the time she truly enjoyed his company. Even when he was being goofy, so that said something.
After leaving the room, Felicia made an effort to find Sue in the apartments. She searched for her in all the usual places but did not find her. The kids were there and Valeria told Felicia that her dad was in his lab (big shock there) but her mom wasn't home. So, Felicia ruffled the girl's hair and left them to their video games. At least that seemed like normal kid-like behavior for a change. Most of the time when Felicia saw the kids they were doing sciencey stuff or homework - sometimes those were even the same thing. Regardless, it was nice to see them acting normal. Too bad about not finding Sue though. Felicia could've used a back up with regard to Johnny. So be it.
Felicia took the elevator down to her car and beat Johnny there by at least five minutes. She grabbed a leather jacket from the back and shimmied out of her jeans and into a skirt in the garage. Her heels were the same but she pulled her hair back in a tight ponytail to complete her "night-at-the-club" look - a bit of sophistication mingled with just the right amount of casual. Her dark sunglasses completed the outfit and Felicia leaned against the side of the car while she awaited her date. He could primp more than a woman at times and this could be a while, but fortunately for the cosmopolitan cat woman he came down in a timely fashion looking mighty fine.
She smiled as he walked toward her and dipped her glasses on her nose. Felicia whistled in approval. "Hmm, I'm liking what this cat dragged in for dinner tonight," she complimented. She tugged on his lapels and planted a suave kiss on his ... cheek before maneuvering away and around the car to the driver's seat. "I hope you're in the mood for a lot of meat tonight, because I know I am." She winked at him and pushed the button to start the car. She revved the engine and looked over at Johnny with a bewitching grin as she pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose and put the car in drive. "It's all you can eat - entirely on me - if you promise to be good."
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Post by Slim on May 21, 2022 16:42:45 GMT -7
The long elevator ride from Felicia’s sky-high palatial penthouse gave Johnny a good bit of time to simmer in his shame. It was notoriously tough to pierce his outer shell of confidence, but letting down the girl of your dreams was a surefire way to make that happen. It was kind of a ‘bigger they are, harder they fall’ thing too, because a Johnny Storm lacking in certainty often felt adrift. His mind raced through ways to try and make it up to her in the near future, but that served to raise some questions that he didn’t have the answers to. Did she even like flowers? She just got back from a trip, would she want to go somewhere again so soon? Would she say yes if I finally.. The opening elevator doors interrupted that last train of thought.
Thankfully for the hero, his internal ‘scolded-puppy’ feeling was soon dispelled almost entirely, purely by the sight of Felicia Hardy. She was back in leather, a material that suited her better than anyone he’d ever known, and had changed into a skirt that complimented the jacket (and the woman wearing it) so well. A smile of appreciation formed firmly on his face as he approached, Johnny was glad to learn that it seemed like the feeling was mutual. Eventually, he’d look back at recent events and be grateful that the people/androids that’d wanted him dead had done him the kindness of avoiding his face. He’d been towards or at the top of People Magazine’s annual ‘Hottest Heroes’ list for four years running, and it’d be a shame to not hit five.
And yet, he still didn’t hold a candle to her.
”Y’know, leather’s a good look on you. You should wear it more often,” he replied teasingly, as she toyed with him a bit by giving him a kiss on the cheek. She got a laugh from him with the meat comment, and he did his best to keep up with her silver tongue. ”Well if they don’t have what you need, I just might know where to look.” He was writing checks that he’d better be willing to cash with words like that. But even though Johnny Storm was many things, a flake really wasn’t one of them. He slipped into the car and relaxed into the seat, savoring the feel of the powerful engine rumbling throughout.
As they started to roll forward, her last words sparked a memory. "You said almost the same thing to me the night we met,” he grinned. ”When I needed to go and get patched up after the symbiote thing. Not entirely sure I succeeded that time.” And in hindsight, being bad was the best choice he’d ever made. Tonight though, things were different. ”So I don’t think I can promise to be good, tonight.” There was a pause, for effect.
”Instead, I promise to be great.”
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Post by Super Chick on May 23, 2022 21:27:09 GMT -7
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The Cat flashed Johnny a smile at his "great" comment but her reply was directed to his comment before that. "Did I really?" Felicia mused when Johnny said she'd delivered a similar line that fateful night when she became a cheater. It was a thought that flitted away as quickly as it landed in her mind. Felicia chose not to linger on that little error because it diminished the present. She simply vowed to herself never to fall from the grace of her personal moral code again. If she was with somebody in a committed relationship, then it was them and only them that satisfy her carnal cravings. The Cat pulled out into traffic not missing a beat. "I guess I"ll have to come up with some more clever lines. I can't have you getting bored with me already!"
She drove them to L'Atelier de Joel Robuchon, a two Michelin star restaurant on 10th Avenue. It was just across Manhattan and to the southwest of the Baxter Building (which stood on the East side) in an area of the island metropolis called Chelsea. One would think that meant it would be a quick trip because it was technically less than a mile away, but it still took them twenty minutes in traffic. They arrived and found valet parking at the piers. It felt like a hassle when Johnny probably could have flown them here if not for her preferring him in a dinner jacket rather than his uniform. Still, she tossed the keys to her valet and tucked some bills in his shirt pocket. He barely remembered to hand her the claim ticket.
"Remind me to ask if Reed can create you a tailored three-piece suit that's fireproof so we don't have to worry about parking next time," she said, feigning complaint. Honestly, this was the kind of life she loved. Big city. Big money. Big everything.
As they walked, few people stared at the pair since they were in common clothes - well, common to the people going out to dinner in Manhattan on a weeknight, at least. Not so common to her flame. She weaved her fingers through his as they walked and talked from the pier to the restaurant. "I have a standing reservation here," she said as they neared the hostess. The girl started to ask Felicia's name when the Cat produced what looked like a bill with Ben Franklin's image printed on them. The young woman looked at the money and Felicia then spread the bills with the twist of her fingers showing there was definitely more than one. "Felicia Hardy," cooed the hostess' temptress. "Table for two." To her credit, the girl tried to hide her greed and look down the list of those waiting, but they both knew she would find them a table.
"Right," she said and pretended to find her name on the list. "Ms. Hardy. This way, please."
The hostess tucked the bills in her blouse and Felicia followed, leading Johnny by their clasped hands. On their way in, Felicia saw some people of interest. Most were innocuous and she expected nothing from them. The other set of eyes that met her briefly was a man they called the Kingpin. Felicia's eyes dismissed him as if she cared not. In reality, it annoyed her greatly that such a man claimed royalty when he was far from impressive in anything but body mass. They sat at their table and Felicia put her back toward the wall in order to keep an eye on the room, as was her habit. She accepted the menu and gazed at it briefly before setting it aside.
"It's busy tonight," she commented offhandedly. Her eyes remained roaming the room. "Hopefully, there won't be any trouble. I prefer my dining to be uninterrupted." Her eyes met Johnny's at last with innuendo. "Wherever I choose to eat."
Slim
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Post by Slim on May 23, 2022 23:36:32 GMT -7
As he tossed on his seatbelt (in the off chance that a rampaging rhino-man tried to smash through their car or something), Johnny scoffed at his girlfriend. “Psshh, get outta here. There’s never been a single boring second with you.” He didn’t count that one time she’d fallen asleep against his shoulder halfway through some George Clooney movie they’d started watching on the couch, and he’d been unable to reach the remote without waking her. That was George’s fault, not Felicia’s. ”I think it says more about me how often I need to be reminded,” he grinned.
In truth, Johnny didn’t truly realize how differently the two of them viewed that night. Sure, he had done the math, connected the dots, but he always kept the truth of things at arm’s length, and actively refused to reckon with the realities of it. Such was the luxury of being the third in that situation. But Felicia and Johnny had never sat down and had the conversation about what led to that moment and the ways it tortured her to think of it. To him, it’s where he met her, and so he cherished it. It wasn’t that he felt zero shame about it, it was more that Johnny Storm had mastered the art of repressing complex and difficult feelings in a lot of situations, and put that skill to use here.
He dodged out of the way of the valet, who had a hard time looking away from Felicia even as he was making his way towards the car and she was moving past him. I don’t blame him. That’s probably how -I- look half the time. He caught up to Felicia and soon their fingers were linked, and her words caused him to look down briefly at his attire. ”Oh, I’m sure he could. But make sure to put him in a room with one of your tailors. Sometimes my brother-in-law has the fashion sense of a stretchy Ned Flanders. My sister even banned him from making her any costumes without her input.”
Inwardly impressed by the flex when Felicia announced her standing reservation, Johnny’s answer was playfully obtuse. In a hushed tone due to their proximity to the hostess, he asked: ”Wait, they don’t have chairs here?” He was on his best behavior after that though, as they stopped in front of the restaurant rep. His eyes widened a bit as the Black Cat so generously paid forward a sliver of the wealth she’d accumulated. Though he was trying to be a little more humble these days he certainly preferred this to waiting around for 45 minutes. On their way to the table he caught sight of a man so big that he probably had his own mattress category, and he didn’t do quite as good a job as Felicia at looking unconcerned.
Johnny, ever the gentleman, played his part by pulling out Felicia’s seat for her before taking his own, and to his credit he didn’t crane his neck back to look at the crime-boss that’d chosen this establishment for the night. he remarked, in reference to the man. The fruit of that joke was sort’ve the low-hanging variety, but when had he ever considered himself above that? He gave her a smirk of agreement as she emphasized her preference for uninterrupted meals, remembering once the time he’d been so engrossed with Felicia that he’d straight-up melted his phone from afar rather than stop what he was doing to silence it. ”Do you think our friend is going to be an issue? Is there any bad blood th-” a memory of a past conversation hit his mind like a bolt of lightning. ”Hold up, didn’t he kidnap you once?”
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Post by Super Chick on May 24, 2022 21:56:49 GMT -7
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At first, Felicia missed the comment when Johnny recalled how Fisk had her kidnapped. She was entirely caught up in staring just past him and wallowing in her internal contemplations regarding the Kingpin. That burly, brutally grotesque, beast of a man was more than just a one-time kidnapper of Felicia. He had once ruined her life by giving her exactly what her moniker screamed: the power of bad luck. She hadn't known it was his doing for some time and it severely screwed up her relationship with Peter back then. Gratefully, that double-edged power had been withdrawn from her body with the help of Doctor Strange, but her relationship with Peter never fully recovered and her initial Spider-lover married Mary Jane. Fisk was another entry on her long list of those deserving of her retribution; another black mark in her memory. Someday, that man would pay for his crimes against her. The kidnapping was merely something to fully color in the box next to his name - and she had been coloring outside the lines of that box for too long. Kingpin needed to die. His stranglehold on Hell's Kitchen and the fear he put into the hearts of innocent people just by breathing was coming to a close. He just couldn't hear the ticking of the clock, but as Felicia sat simmering in her hatred of Fisk she could swear she heard it loud and clear. Tick, tock, you bastard.Clearing her throat, Felicia looked back to Johnny. She remembered that he'd said something about her kidnapping that fed her hatred and sent her vengeance down the tracks in a runaway train of thought and scheming. She needed to bring herself back to her present. "Oh darling, it's fine," she lied. "It was just business, I'm sure." That part was probably true. The kitten picked up her menu again and attempted to behave as if nothing bothered her. "I'm sure he wouldn't do anything to ruin his dinner." She lowered the menu slightly and smirked at her lover. "I mean just look at him." Felicia was determined to change the subject. She lifted the menu again and glanced at the items even though she had all of them memorized. "So what would you like this evening? Le Homard? Or, no. Maybe you would prefer Le Boeuf? La côte de veau d lait? Or, perhaps one of each?"
Slim
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