A/N: I don't own any of the Fantastic Four. I encourage people to read and review the story and feel free to make any suggestions. I want to admit that I did get the idea for Johnny's reasoning from a part of Atlantia's story Firey Rebirth.

Unbreakable Bonds

Chapter 1

I'm not sure how old the characters are suppose to be so I'm going to make them up as I go along and the same goes with their pasts. So sit back and enjoy or at least try not to hate the story to much.

The crowd was large and the noise was deafening as the Fantastic Four worked to leave the scene of their most recent rescue. Three of the four seemed to hate the attention that they were receiving from the crowd after they had helped put out the fire and pull a family out of the building; however one was acting as if the attention was the best thing in the world as he smiled for the cameras and made jokes about what they did.

"Johnny," Sue finally snapped angrily.

"What," her younger brother asked innocently.

"Do you have to encourage them," she asked as she glared at her sibling. It had been a long day for all of them and there was nothing Sue would prefer than to go back to the Baxter Building and sleep the rest of the day away.

"Of course," he responded happily. "After all these are my adoring fans," he said cockily.

"Well it's time to go Tinkerbelle," Ben said gruffly as he turned to leave. "God knows staying out here watching you make a fool of us will be enough to completely ruin the day."

"I'm not making a fool out of anyone," Johnny defended himself turning his back to the crowd so he could face his three companions.

"Except your self," Sue said as Reed nodded in agreement.

"All I'm doing is enjoying my self," he said starting to get angry himself. "Maybe you should all try it sometimes."

"We don't need these paparazzi to enjoy ourselves," Reed said.

"Yeah we actually like to live in reality," Ben added.

"What is that suppose to mean," Johnny asked angrily, the crowd completely forgotten.

"He means that you need to start acting like an adult instead of trying to make yourself believe that you are anything more than a fad to these people," Sue snapped.

"Is that so," Johnny said as he stared at his friends. "Is there anything else you want to add to that or are all of you just jealous that I actua---."

"Why won't you just grow up," Sue interrupted not caring to hear what he had to say. "Get it through your thick skull?! That kind of attitude is either going to get someone killed because you'll be to focused on the cameras or you'll turn out like Dad whenever people quit cheering you on," she screamed as she finally let all of her frustration at the days events are her exhaustion get to her. Ben, Reed and the crowd all stood shocked, surprised at the outburst.

Johnny didn't say anything as he tried to keep the hurt off his face. The comment had really stung and he was half tempted to scream back his reasoning for his actions. To tell her and everyone else how he only acted the way he did for the crowd and cameras because he wanted the group to be accepted despite their difference. And the only way he knew how to do that was to have everyone accept them as celebrities instead of as potentially helpful, potentially harmful mutated freaks. He was the only one in the group who was able to give the people the gossip and headlines that would keep everyone feeling as if they were no different than movie stars. He was willing to go out every night and switch out girls just as often so that people saw him more at their level and thus seeing the team at their level. He knew that Reed was too much of a recluse to play the role, Ben was to intimidating, and Sue was too gorgeous and brilliant. That is why he had made his decision when he had heard about the crowd after the bridge incident that he was the only one who could be the face of the Fantastic Four. He honestly didn't like always being in the spotlight but if it meant they were accepted then he was willing to keep up his façade.

But instead of screaming back how he had done everything in the team's best interest despite how cheap and shallow it made him feel, he just stared at her as he continued to tell himself that he would never do anything to jeopardize anyone and there was no way he would turn to drinking as a cure all whenever his life seemed to be falling apart like his father had.

They all stood in silence until Johnny finally spoke up. "Is that really what you think of me," he asked softly. "You know what, don't answer that," he said with a sad laugh, "I probably don't want to know. I'll see you guys later," he added before he flew off without giving any of them a chance to say anything.

Sue just stared after the flaming form in the sky as what she said finally sunk in. She silently turned to her fiancé and friend, the regret obvious in her eyes. "I didn't mean it," she told them, silently willing them to believe her.

"We know," Reed told her as he walked over to her. "Why don't we get out of here, he'll probably come in later tonight and you two can talk then," he suggested.

"Ok," she agreed as the trio headed off to the Baxter Building. She took one final look at the sky where she had last seen her brother and couldn't help but feel as if something terrible was going to happen.

Later that night she stayed up waiting for her brother's return, but in the end Reed found her asleep on the couch when he got up the next morning. The day passed slowly for all of them as they worried for their youngest friend and by nightfall Sue was near hysterics as she once again camped out on the couch. This was her nightly routine until three months later when she finally admitted to herself that her baby brother, the one she had practically raised, the one person she knew who could laugh in any situation was not coming home. That night she started her new nightly ritual of crying herself to sleep.