Scott Summers

Joanna wasn't kidding when she said she was coming back for seconds, thirds, and fourths. I almost thought we wouldn't be done until the sun came up. Not that I would have complained, though. But we were finally spent after the eighth round, with Joanna covering my face with her chest after she collapsed on top of me. I rubbed my hand up and down her back as we both took time to fix our breathing. After some moments, she rolled to her left, laying down to the right of me.

"Okay, I think I'm done for the night," Joanna huffed out.

"Me, too," I replied.

Joanna hummed. "So, um… I know it may be short notice but um… do you mind if I crash here for the night?"

I scoffed. "I wasn't going to make you take that walk of shame."

From the corner of my eye, I saw Joanna look at me. "It wouldn't be a walk of shame, Slim. Getting home from that parking lot encounter I told you about earlier? That was a walk of shame. Going home from here would just be a walk. Well, cab ride really, but you know what I mean."

I nodded. "Okay, point taken." I looked at her. "Still, after the third round, I figured you were going to stay."

It was Joanna's turn to scoff. "Oh, I'm sorry, is Scott Summers getting bigheaded?"

I chuckled. "I'm not. But… even if you did plan on going, I would have asked you to stay."

"Well either way, thank you," she whispered as she rolled onto her side before she scooted up to me. She laid her head on my shoulder.

"You're welcome," I replied as I snaked my hand underneath her before I wrapped my arm around her shoulders. We laid there for a few minutes, just enjoying each other's company. Honestly, I could have stayed like this the whole night. I felt content. If this was how our night ended, I wouldn't be mad about it. If anything, this would have been the perfect way to cap things off. But, turns out, our bodies had needs. My stomach growled rather loudly. As I looked down at it, Joanna laughed. Her laugh ended when her stomach growled. I chuckled.

"Oh shut up," Joanna grumbled halfheartedly. She sighed. "…Um… want to eat?"

"Sure," I said. "But we have to get dressed."

"Really? I don't have a change of clothes."

"You can grab one of my shirts and shorts out of my dresser."

"It might be a tight fit."

"Is that a bad thing?" Playfully, she slapped my chest as she gave me a halfhearted glare. I chuckled. "Look, if I was living by myself, I'd gladly eat naked at the table with you, but house rules are house rules, and courtesy and decency is still courtesy and decency. Plus, I still have no idea when the kids will come home. I'd rather not risk the chance of them seeing us in our birthday suits." Joanna actually laughed as she rolled onto her back. "What?"

"Nothing, it's just…" She trailed off before she sat up and looked at me. "It's just the way you refer to them 'The kids'. You act like you're their father."

I raised my eyebrows for a moment. "Well, for two of them, I might as well be." Of course, I was referring to Peter and Carmilla. I was the only adult in Peter's life for a while after his aunt died. As for Carmilla, she had no idea who her father was and her mother… well, the less said about her, the better. "Still, I feel responsible for The American Idiots, especially since I've been looking out for one of them for a while and three of them for years, and I know how much they mean to each other."

"Are they really that attached to the hip?"

"Prior to Craig and Kitty meeting Peter, I was able to count on one hand how many times we've had folks over since we moved here. But nowadays, it'd be an odd week if Peter, MJ, Ned, Betty, or some combination out the four of them didn't swing by at least once."

"Literally, in Peter's case," Joanna deadpanned. I chuckled. She sighed. "Okay, let's see what you have for me to wear."

She went with a pair of gym shorts and a tank top that she wore over her bra since the tank top alone did almost nothing to keep her chest covered. The shorts she wore… while they were long enough to reach my knees when I'm wearing them, they only reached the the middle of her thighs. After I put on a pair of grey sweatpants and a black t-shirt, we walked out of my room and into the kitchen. I opened up the fridge and grabbed the leftover fried rice and the steamed buns. After microwaving them, I put them on plates along with forks before I walked out to the table. I set a plate in front of Joanna before I took a seat next to her. We ate in mostly silence, though Joanna hummed happily as she ate. I looked at her and smiled before I continued to eat my food. After we were done, I grabbed our plates and made my way to the kitchen. I placed the plates on the counter before I opened up the dishwasher. I placed the plates inside of the dishwasher before I closed it. I turned around to see Joanna standing right in front of me.

I was about to ask if everything was okay before she gently grabbed me by the waist and lifted me up off of the ground. Now, this was far from the first time I've been lifted up off of my feet, especially by someone who could lift 10 tons or more. But, it was still a bit jarring for me to be lifted up off of the ground with so much ease. Joanna stepped forward and sat be down on the counter. She stepped into me as she wrapped her arms around me and squeezed me against her.

"Are you okay?" I asked with a bit of concern in voice.

"I'm good, Scott," she assured. "Just felt like holding you."

"Oh." I hesitated for a moment. I then brought arms around her and got comfortable in her embrace. I rested my face against her shoulder. She ran her hand up and down my back.

I would never be one to say that sex is overrated. And if I ever start to believe that, I'd ask Carmilla to put me out of my misery. But sex wasn't the number one thing I missed about being in a relationship. It was moments like these, when I can be just vulnerable with someone, to be able to enjoy their company and be intimate with them without the expectation of intercourse. At that moment, I was looking forward to Joanna and I just doing mundane things. I wanted to go grocery shopping with her. I wanted to take her on a stroll through New York and just shoot the breeze. I wanted to grab or cook breakfast with her and talk about what we had planned for the day. I wanted to do laundry with her trade jokes about our clothing. I wanted to just laze around her room or my room. The thought of that made me snuggle closer into Joanna. Slowly, she swayed back and forth.

"Hey, Slim?" Joanna said.

"Yes, Jo?" I replied.

"Are you ready to hit the hay?"

"Yeah. But, to be honest, I kind of don't want to move."

"Neither do I." I sighed before I pulled away from Joanna. I looked at her for a moment before I leaned over and planted a kiss on her cheek. She chuckled as she smiled. I took her hand into mine as I slid off of the counter.

"I wonder if I should check up on the kids," I thought out loud.

"They'll be fine," Joanna assured. "Remember, three of them have powers and fighting skills. Besides, if anything happens that they can't handle, they'll call us, I'm sure."

I looked off to the side in thought. I really wanted The American Idiots to just have fun tonight. I was sure they were having fun. But there was always this side of me that was concerned about the worst case scenario. Maybe they would be attacked. Maybe they would end running into Scorpion again. I had to remind myself that Spider-Man, Shadowcat, and Frictor were a pretty strong unit that was more than capable of defending themselves as well as MJ, Ned, and Betty. Pushing back against the paranoid part of me, I nodded.

"You're probably right," I finally said.

"I know," Joanna jested. "Now let's go to bed."

I nodded. I led her to my bedroom, turning off the lights to the kitchen along the way. Once we were inside my room, I closed the door behind us. Joanna pulled away before she removed carefully took off the shorts she had on. After that, she kicked them away before she took off the tank top along with her bra. I watched her for a bit before I took off my own clothes. We were naked again, but I had no intention on acting on any desire I may have had for another round. So, I just watched as she walked up to the bed and lifted up the sheets. She then lay underneath the sheets. With her right hand holding them up, she beckoned me to come with a finger on her left hand. I walked over and lay on the spot next to her. She lowered the sheets on top of us.

"Come here," Joanna whispered. Slowly, I rolled on top of her. She wrapped her legs around my hips and wrapped her arms around my shoulders. I closed my eyes before I removed my glasses and tossed them onto the night stand. I then lay my head on her chest.

"Thank you for tonight," I said.

Joanna chuckled as she tightened her hold on me for a moment. "Hey, I wanted you to have a good time, and we had a great time. Though, next time, keep the scorned nigh-exes at home."

I scoffed. "If I could, I would."

"Yeah, I know. But, the night wasn't ruined. We drank. We danced. We had a heart to heart. And we broke each other off proper. If this isn't a great night, I don't know what is."

I grunted in agreement. "It was certainly the best night I had in a long while."

"I'm glad." She rubbed her palm up and down my back. "But, don't expect me to drop my panties for you every night, or go eight rounds when we do."

I nodded against her. "Of course."

"…We'll go for ten."

I chuckled as I clenched my eyes shut. "Joanna, you are the worst!"

"And don't you forget it, Scott." She took in a breath. "But let's get some sleep. Who's cooking breakfast tomorrow?"

I thought about it for a moment. "I think it's either me or Craig. It would have been Carmilla, but…" I yawned. That's when I understood how tired I was. "…you know."

Joanna caught my yawn before she spoke again. "Right. Okay. Well, breakfast tomorrow, and we can hear what the kids got to say about their night out."

"Sounds like a plan," I said in agreement.

"Good," Joanna replied. "Goodnight, Slim."

"Goodnight, Jo."

We both went quiet. I listened to her heartbeat. Slowly, but surely, I fell asleep to it.