Reed, I need to borrow Peter."
Peter Parker and Reed Richards exchanged confused looks, before directing their confusion at Sue Storm. "What for?" the former asked.
"Something…potentially troubling," she said, lips pursed.
Peter scratched his cheek. "I mean, if you're fine with it, Reed."
"It's no problem—I can handle the rest of the calculations myself. If Sue's interrupting us, it must be important." With that said, he returned to the blackboard, muttering as he scribbled down numbers and equations.
"What's up?" Peter asked Sue as he walked over to her.
But she shook her head. "Not here. Somewhere private."
Peter blanched—that was never good. "Uh…is this about that cake in the fridge that I ate? Because in my defense, I'd just fought the latest variation of the Sinister Six, and I needed a pick-me-up."
"No," Sue said. "But don't let Ben know you're the one that ate it."
"Noted." He did not need the ever-lovin', blue-eyed Thing chasing him up-and-down the Baxter Building over a cake.
Sue led him to another one of Reed's labs. She locked it down as a soon as they entered it, and then formed an invisible shield around them.
Oh boy—now Peter was rapidly running through every little wrong he committed against the Fantastic Four. But which one would Sue want to call him out for. Unless…
Peter fell to his knees, hands clasped and held high. "Sue, I swear, I was going to return your old uniform! MJ and I just wanted to have a little fun!"
Sue jerked back. "Wha—no, ugh! You stole one of my old uniforms for—You know what, whatever. I don't care. Keep the damn thing."
"I was going to wash it."
"Stop talking." She took a deep breath and rubbed her temples. "I brought you here to talk about someone in my family who's gained something of an obsession over you."
Peter blinked, and slowly rose to his feet. "Really? God, this'll be the third time this month I've had this talk with Johnny."
Sue's lips quirked up, before settling into a frown. "It's not Johnny. It's Valeria. She's trying to hide it, but she's been looking up all sorts of articles and pictures about you; both as the superhero Spider-Man and the scientist Peter Parker."
"…Oh." Peter said, dumbly, he could admit. "So, when you say obsession, you're talking about a crush."
"No." Sue shook her head. "Val doesn't do 'crushes'."
"A ten-year-old girl doesn't do crushes?" Peter asked with a cocked brow. Although, she could be asexual or aromantic. Did people that young know those things? Granted, he didn't know just how much he liked girls until he was thirteen, so maybe it was a puberty thing. He'd ask around later.
"Oh, Peter." Sue crossed her arms. "You know Val's always been…different."
"Sure, but she's still a kid, Sue. A kid that thinks hanging out with Dr. Doom is a good past time and might have a crush on me, of all people, but, again, a kid."
