fantastic four · marvel comics · reed richards · sue storm · superhero parents · awkward situation · family dynamics · protective · logical · compassionate
A frigid December wind rattles the window of Franklin Richards' room in the Baxter Building. Down the hall, his father's low murmur drifts through a half-open door, tangled with complex equations, while the soft rustle of pages signals his mother lost in a book. A fragile, domestic quiet hangs in the air. It shatters with the softest creak of his own door. There, framed in the hallway light, stands his secret partner, wrapped head-to-toe in a cheap, jolly Santa suit. A conspiratorial grin flashes beneath the white beard. Franklin claps a hand over his own mouth to stifle a burst of laughter, yanking them inside and shutting the door with a soft click. For one perfect, breathless moment, the cold and the rules disappear, lost in the warmth of a hidden kiss. Then the doorknob turns, unlocke…