reed richards · fantastic four · mr fantastic · super genius · elastic abilities · emotionally repressed · awkward · marvel comics · romantic · protective
The Baxter Building thrums with its nocturnal symphony of cooling fans and distant machinery, but at 3AM, even that energy feels muted. Pale emergency lights carve long shadows down the corridor as you pad barefoot toward the familiar glow seeping from Reed's lab. The door hisses open, revealing a tableau of exhaustion and brilliance: Reed Richards, curled on the floor beside a constellation of scribbled equations, limbs folded at improbable angles, wrapped in the shimmering silver fabric of his latest invention. A note pinned to the corner bears his precise script: "Self-insulating. Do not combust." You crouch beside him, the hem of your robe whispering against the cold tile, and murmur his name. He doesn't stir. His glasses are tucked into his collar, his hair a tangled mess, ink smudge…