We went back to bed after that. We didn't sleep. We didn't talk. We didn't even change out of our clothes. We just took refuge in each other's company. Like the night before, I had my head on her shoulder as I lay over half of her body. As she looked up at the ceiling, she absentmindedly played with my hair, much to my delight. For the first time in a long while, I wasn't worried about anything. I wasn't worried about Scorpion. I wasn't worried about hiding the truth from those close to me. I wasn't worried about GED class or homework. I wasn't even worried about what I wanted to eat for lunch. The only thing I cared about was the angel in my bed holding me.

…Man, was I always this much of a sap?

Yes, Peter, yes you were.

I didn't mind. The only self-deprecating thought running through my head was how much of an idiot I was for trying to walk away from this.

I was taken out of my thoughts when I heard the sound of MJ's stomach rumbling. I looked down at her stomach. I then turned my head upward and smirked at her.

"Not a word, Loser," MJ warned. "Not a single word."

"I can help with that," I offered in earnest, ignoring the urge to tease her.

"With what? A protein bar, a cup of ramen, and a can of Cocaine energy drink?" She scoffed. "Seriously, where'd you find that drink, and what made you go 'You know what, that looks like something I should have'?"

"I got a few cans off of a street vendor for free one day," I explained. "When I was on patrol, I saved him from a would-be mugger. So, he gave it to me as a thank you."

At that, MJ scoffed. "Wow. Must have been in the top five of the best gifts you received."

"I know you're being sarcastic, but you're actually right."

MJ shifted and turned onto her side, pulling away from me a bit as she looked me in the eye. "What was the worst?"

I chuckled. "Well… I didn't receive this gift since I had to turn it down, but… there was a guy that I saved from getting stomped out by another guy. The guy I saved was so thankful that he offered me a threesome with two of his girls free of charge."

MJ's eyes went wide. "…Are you saying that he was – ?"

"A pimp?" I finished. "Yes, that's exactly what he was. I threw him into a dumpster off of principle."

MJ laughed. "That is wild!" She shook her head as she raised herself up. She then crossed her legs as she sat. "But back on the original topic. How are you going to feed me?"

"Well, since you bought some eggs, I can make a trip to the store and grab everything else I need to make wheat cakes," I offered as I sat up.

MJ looked down in thought for a moment. "I do like your wheat cakes," she mused. She then nodded before she looked up at me. "Okay. But I want ice cream to go along with it."

"Okay, what flavor?"

"Cookies and cream."

"Consider it done." I then leaned forward towards her face… then stopped as I realized what I was about to do. I felt my face heat up in embarrassment. MJ raised her eyebrows in concern.

"Everything okay?" she asked.

"Yeah," I said. I backed up a bit. "I was… I was about to kiss you, but I wasn't sure if we're back there yet."

"Yeah, I would have stopped you." I nodded, a bit relieved that I stopped myself, but also a bit disappointed that she seemingly confirmed we had a ways to go before we were back on kissing terms. However, she continued. "But only because my lip still hurts." She smiled at me. While I was still blushing, a bashful smile came over my face. "You can kiss me anywhere else for now."

"Okay," I said. I leaned forward and placed a kiss on her cheek and below her right eye. When I broke the kiss, I tried to pull away before MJ wrapped her arms around and pulled me into a hug. As I hugged her back, she squeezed me tight. All of a sudden, I stopped caring about going out to get ingredients. After several seconds, she pulled away just a little bit and placed her right hand on the left side of my chest and above my heart.

"Mine," she declared looking me straight in the eye. I placed my hand on top of hers without breaking eye contact.

"Yours," I said.

Following that, she turned her hand and grabbed mines. She moved my hand placed it on the left side of her chest, above her heart. I felt my face warm up. Still, I looked her in the eye.

"Mine?" I asked in a quiet plea.

"Yours," she confirmed. We embraced each other again. But this one didn't last long before MJ playfully pushed me away. "Go before we end up holding each other until dinner."

After giving her another kiss on the cheek, I finally removed myself from bed. I got dressed and left for the store. I grabbed what I needed and came back. After I cooked up the wheat cakes, MJ and I ate in the kitchen, deciding to use spoons to eat straight out of the tub of ice cream. Once we were done eating, MJ helped me clean up in the kitchen before she got ready to go. Before she left, she bid me a good day before hugging me and letting me kiss her on the temple. After she was out the door, I lay back on the bed and looked up at the ceiling with the biggest smile on my face.

"God, I love that woman," I whispered to myself.

I didn't plan on leaving the house that day. But, around dinner time, my phone vibrated. I put down the still-sealed cup of ramen I was about to cook on the kitchen counter before I made my way over to my phone. I took it off of the charger and read my notifications. I saw I got a message from the American Idiots group chat. I smiled. It was pretty quiet since I told them the truth. Seeing it active again made me happy. I then opened the message, read it… and rolled my eyes.

"Hey guys!" Betty wrote. "Guess who is back together!"

"…Bitch…" MJ replied. After that, she sent a middle finger emoji.

"I believe that's Peter's job now!" Ned responded. I closed my eyes and took in a breath. I then opened my eyes and tapped away at the screen.

"I almost chucked my phone across the apartment," I wrote.

"Don't do it. Wouldn't want you to strain your arm tossing it all of two feet."

Craig, who was quiet up to this point in the conversation, chimed in with a picture of a Burn Heal from Pokémon.

"Screw you, Ned!" I finally typed, but I added a laughing emoji before I sent it.

"My little brother and MJ are back together!" Kitty wrote with several heart emojis, making her presence known. "I need to let Scott know ASAP!" After some seconds, she wrote again. "Scott says he's happy for you two!"

"Tell him I said thanks," MJ wrote. "And tell him to say goodbye to everyone else except for my loser, because I'm going to kill the rest of you the next time I see you."

"Em, let them live," I replied. "Wait until after the dance… then we can Carrie them and bury their bodies in Brooklyn Bridge park. And then we can look at the stars right afterwards."

"Peter, you just know how to get a girl in the mood with your words."

"Oh my gosh, MJ!" Betty exclaimed.

"You two are weirdos!" Craig responded.

"American Idiots, actually," I corrected.

"Anyway, since I got you all here, you doing anything tonight?" Kitty asked.

A couple of hours later, I arrived at the (e)X-Men's apartment. I knocked on the door. A bit to my surprise, it was Craig who opened the door. Even more surprising was the lack of bandages around his jaw.

"Surprise," he said with a smile as he stepped aside.

"Dude!" I exclaimed as I walked in. I took my shoes off and faced him as he closed the door. "How did you heal up? You were in the clinic just yesterday, weren't you?"

"Yeah, I was." He raised his eyebrows briefly. "Someone paid a visit to the clinic. Specifically, it was Iron Fist."

I tilted my head. "You mean that Kung Fu guy in Manhattan who is part of the defenders and teams up with Luke Cage once in a while?"

"The very same. It turns out he can use his abilities to heal injuries. Apparently, he stops by the clinic every week or so to help out. So, yesterday was my lucky day. I didn't even know he could do that." He turned and walked into the kitchen. "Kitty is out grabbing things for the movie night and Scott's out in Staten Island with a sample of my blood to get an idea what exactly Scorpion hit me with. You want anything to drink for now?"

"Just some water," I said. Craig nodded before he opened up the fridge and pulled out two bottles of water. After closing the fridge with his hip, he walked back to me and handed me a bottle. "Thanks."

"No problem," he replied. He then nodded his head upwards. "So… you and MJ… how'd that happen?"

"It was a lot man," I said as I opened up my bottle. Craig beckoned towards the sofa before he walked past me. I followed him to the couch and sat next to him after he sat down. "So, last night, she came over and said she was ready to talk about it, but she decided to wait until this this morning. So, she slept over."

"She slept over?" Craig raised an eyebrow. "Like, where did she sleep?"

I averted my gaze. "…In my bed."

Craig eyes went wide. "Did y'all – ?"

"No," I said. "…I never did that with anyone before."

"Ditto." I paused, a bit surprised to hear Craig not only admit that, but admit it so casually. "Anyway, please continue."

"Yeah, so… we slept in my bed, with her holding me," I continued. "And then, the morning after, she made me breakfast. And, then we talked. We talked, she yelled at me for what I did, I explained myself, she yelled at me some more. We both ended up crying and holding each other after I apologized and told her I'd do anything to make it up to her. Then she made me promise not to keep any more secrets from her – or, at the very least, let her know when something is up with me. We lay in bed again, and then I made her lunch… but not before she made it clear where we stood. So, we made up."

"That's good man," Craig said before he took a swig from his bottle. "I'm happy for you guys. I know I'm not as open about it as Kitty is, but I was really rooting for you guys, and I'm happy you guys were able to work through your issues."

"I appreciate that." I smiled at him. But my smile faded. "How are you, though?"

"Physically, I feel good, mostly. I'm a bit out of shape since I haven't worked out since the night before Scorpion got the drop on us, for obvious reasons. But my jaw's not broken anymore. So, there's that. Mentally though… I don't want to be here. I want to be in Harlem, paying one of my informants an unfriendly visit."

"You think he informed on you?"

"It's the only thing I can think of." Craig shook his head. "I need to see if that's the case, and if it is, I want to know why he flipped on me. So, Peter… if you're up for it… and if Scott allows Spider-Man and Frictor to come out and play, I'd like you to be there with me when I pay this guy a visit."

"You don't even have to ask, man. Besides, something tells me that he'll have information we can use when taking on Scorpion."

"Yeah." He then looked me up and down. "Also, remember that quick change outfit I talked to you about? Do you think you can have one ready by this week? I want to be able to move in and out of Harlem quickly in case Scorpion decides to reappear out of nowhere suddenly."

"Yeah, I can do that." I tilted my head upward. "I already have a couple of ideas in mind."

"Good." Craig sighed as he looked forward. "…You know, if she was around, she'd be ticked off right now."

I tilted my head. "'She'?"

"My ex," he explained. "Her name is Carmilla. She is a SHIELD agent and was actually one of us – an X-Man."

"What happened between you two?"

"Well, I found out she was working for Hydra and was also a member of A.I.M. Or, so I thought. See, I caught her in a middle of a Hydra op that Scott, Kitty and I – along with a few others – were thwarting. She tried to call me after the fact, but I didn't want to hear it. I told her off and said she was dead to me. Unfortunately, as I found out from Scott the day after, she was working deep undercover for SHIELD so she could get information on the remnants of A.I.M. and Hydra. And Scott knew that the whole time. I tried to fight him and he wrestled me down to the ground with ease. I was angry with him for days, but I knew his reason for not telling me was logical."

"And what reason was that?"

"Scott knew… if I knew… that Carmilla was working undercover, I wouldn't even try to fight her if we faced each other on the field. And that would have put her in danger." I smiled sadly as Craig sighed. "The thing about Scott is… he has enough power behind his eyes to blow a hole straight to through Mount Everest, and no that's not hyperbole… yet his mind is a hundred times more dangerous than that. So, even though I didn't want to admit it, he was right, though he still apologized.

"Anyway, she left the X-Men and this every apartment about six months before Kitty and I met you. And I was kicking myself for it for a while." I paused for a moment. I could see the sadness in his eyes. I didn't want to continue this conversation. "But yeah, had she been around, she would've been ticked off because of her codename."

"And her codename was?"

Craig looked at me and smiled wryly.

"Scorpion." I cringed. He sighed. "So… yeah. I don't know if that is what he calls himself. But the fact that that is what people are calling him makes me feel some type of way."

After, there was a knock at the door. Craig looked towards before he stood up and walked towards it.

"Maybe she wouldn't have liked me, given my current track record with scorpions," I joked to myself in a whisper as I frowned.