Fantastic Five

Chapter 4

"I can't believe I was on fire!" Johnny exclaims not for the first time as he and Isaac make their way inside the medical building. "Fire!"

"Yes, Johnny," Isaac says with a sigh. "You were on fire. I know. Stop saying it."

Johnny readjusts his grip on the jacket wrapped around his waist, smiling innocently when he notices the odd looks they're getting from everyone they pass. "What about you?" he asks.

"What about me?"

"You know, what happened to you?"

Isaac gives him a curious look as they turn a corner past an older nurse who lets out a scandalized gasp at the sight of them. "How do you know something happened to me?"

Johnny gestures vaguely with the hand not holding the jacket closed. "You seemed a little freaked out but not because I was in my own hot spring. So...?" he prompts.

"I- there was-" Isaac cuts himself off with a frustrated noise. "I think I made the trees move. As in, the branches moved out of my way instead of me hitting them."

Johnny grins at him. "Dude, are you Poison Ivy?"

"I'm not a Batman villain!" he protests.

"That is so fitting," Johnny goes on, happily ignoring his denials. "I mean, who better than a botanist to have plant powers?"

Isaac knows exactly what he's about to say before he even gets the chance. "Don't say it," he warns.

"Flower power!" Johnny says anyway.

He's lucky they reach the cafeteria and see Reed and Susan inside before Isaac can do anything more than glare at him. He pulls the glass door open and rolls his eyes when Johnny hurries in first.

"Hey, you guys!" Johnny calls, still holding Isaac's jacket closed with one hand. "You are never gonna believe what just happened to me. To us," he clarifies, gesturing for Isaac to join him.

Reed and Susan turn from where they were busy staring at each other in confused shock to look at them. Naturally, their shock only grows when they see Johnny's state of undress.

"Do we... want to know what happened to you two?" Reed asks slowly. He blinks and shakes his head slightly. "I mean, Isaac, I'm glad you seem to be, ah, socializing more but-"

Isaac runs a frustrated hand through his hair. "Seriously, Reed?" he demands. "Is that honestly what you're gonna assume he's talking about?"

Susan narrows her eyes as she looks between the two of them. "It had better not be what he's talking about." Oddly enough, her ire seems more focused on Johnny than Isaac.

Johnny smirks when he realizes what they're talking about. "Believe me," he drawls, cocky as ever, "if that were the case, we'd still be busy."

Isaac ignores him (even if he silently agrees). "That is not what happened," he says firmly. He glances over at Johnny. "And we can explain the whole nearly naked thing."

"Please do," Reed and Susan say together.

"I was on fire!" Johnny exclaims, apparently no longer able to hold it in. "All of me. On fire."

Isaac nods when they both look at him for confirmation. "He was. That's why he's naked," he adds.

Johnny points excitedly at Isaac. "And Isaac has flower power!"

"I told you to stop saying that," he snaps.

"Flower power?" Reed repeats slowly.

Isaac offers a helpless shrug. "I moved the branches on a pine tree."