Michelle "MJ" Jones

The next morning, Peter and I got ready. A bit to my relief, Peter didn't ask to shower together with me. Part of it was because I was afraid that, if we showered together, we would take a long while because we wouldn't be able to keep our hands off of each other. Part of it was because I was a little worried Peter would start to think that the two of us bathing or showering together would be a regular thing. It was a foolish fear, though. Even though Peter was becoming more open with his desires little by little, he never pushed me to do something I didn't want to do. He understood last night for what it was – a distraction to keep ourselves from going crazy over the last 24 hours or so. As much as I enjoyed the night before, I wasn't at a place where I was comfortable being naked around Peter at any given time, even if we were at a phase where we go to sleep together while wearing nothing but our underwear

"And I'm… done," I said as I closed my suitcase. I looked over at Peter, who was dressed in pair of blue jeans that belonged to me and a black Stark Industries T-shirt that I borrowed from him. "You know, it's a good thing we fit each other's clothes. I would have hated having to drive all the way back to Manhattan." I paused for a moment. "Though, we could have Ned open a portal to there instead."

Peter nodded a few times. "We could do that," he replied. He shook his head. "But I don't think Ned would appreciate being used as a personal taxi."

"…That doesn't take the option off the table." I smiled, showing I was joking. Peter smiled back at me. I stood up. "Come on, let's go downstairs. We might have to make breakfast."

Peter stood up. "Okay." I was about to pick up the suitcase. However, Peter walked up to me. I was about to ask what was wrong before he wrapped his arms around and hugged me tightly. I was a bit caught off guard. "Thank you… for last night."

I smiled. "You dork." I brought my arms around him and hugged him tight. I rubbed my cheek against his. "You're welcome."

We made our way down after we were done hugging. As we walked down the stairs, the smell of fried batter hit my nose. We went to the dining room table. Kitty, Betty, and Joanna were already there. Craig was in the kitchen.

"Good morning, you two," Kitty greeted as Peter and I took our seats at the table.

"Good morning, guys," Peter replied. "What's on the menu?"

"Pancakes and bacon," Betty replied as she looked over at Peter. She paused for a moment. She then smirked. "I was going to ask how you were doing after yesterday, but that hickey on your neck tells me everything I need to know." Peter sunk in his seat, looking embarrassed. I gave Betty a glare. Betty chuckled. "Oh, don't give me that look. I think it's cute."

I scoffed. "Whatever," I muttered. I turned towards Kitty. "Where're Carmilla and Ned?"

"They're down in the basement," Kitty explained. "The guy we're holding captive is going to be ported to a few 'friends' of Carmilla's for the sake of getting some information out of him."

"They're not going to torture him, are they?" Peter asked, a bit worried.

Kitty shook her head. "No, they are not, mostly because torture isn't really an effective interrogation method."

"It's not?" Betty asked, sounding a bit confused.

"The problem with torturing someone is that, once they break, they'll say whatever to get it to stop," Joanna explained. "You torture someone long enough and they'll start admitting to the stuff you accuse them of, even if it would have been literally impossible for them to be responsible for it. You want to accuse of them of framing Judas as Jesus's betrayer? With torture, you can make them tell you what brand of lip balm they used before they kissed Jesus on the cheek. Do you think they're D.B. Cooper? Enough voltage through their body will make them tell you what the 'B' in D.B. Cooper stands for. You want to make them confess to starting the Great Chicago Fire? Pull out enough of their teeth without applying laughing gas or Novocain and, all of a sudden, they'll remember they burned down Mr. O'Leary's barn over money owed. Point is, just because someone says it while being tortured, that doesn't necessarily make it so."

It wasn't lost on me that this wasn't quite normal dinner table talk. It was also not lost on me how none of us were particularly unnerved by this conversation.

A few minutes later, Carmilla and Ned made their way to the kitchen table.

"Hey guys," Ned greeted. He then looked at Peter. He smirked as he looked back and forth between Peter and I. "I see you guys had a good morning."

I rolled my eyes. I normally wouldn't mind Peter being teased by the others. As a matter of fact, normally, I would have teased Peter myself. But I still wasn't fully over what happened during the last 24 hours or so, so I wasn't in the mood for the teasing. For my sake and Peter's sake, I decided to nip this in the bud.

"Yes, Peter and I made out last night," I said with a little heat in my voice. "We did so because we both had a rather hectic 24 hours. I was afraid that Peter was going to dragged off to some government black site and suffer God knows what the government has in store for him, and he lost his powers and just basically found out that he has another living relative. So yeah, we made out and held each other, because we needed it, okay? So if it's all the same to you, can we just stop acting like we never seen a hickey before?"

Everyone at the table went quiet. Not even Joanna said anything. I felt a little bad for going off on them. Maybe I was being a bit too overprotective. But it happened. Perhaps Peter figured I was a little off in my mood, because he reached over and gently grabbed my head. I looked over at him and gave him something that wasn't quite a smile. He gave me a not-quite-smile of his own before he nodded in understanding.

"Okay, we get it," Kitty finally said. I looked over at her. "No teasing Peter over his hickey for at least three days."

"Thank you," I said in earnest.

"No problem." Kitty smiled.

Eventually breakfast was served. We ate in silence, only muttering our thanks when Craig also served orange juice and coffee.

After breakfast was done, we gathered our luggage in the living room. Craig was on the phone, talking with his parents as he paced back and forth. I figured they were using the speakerphone function of the phone they were using to talk to him.

"Okay, did you clearing the living room?" Craig asked. "Okay… Yes, it is necessary to be in the living room, Dad… Don't worry about breakfast, mom. We already ate… Dad, I wish I could tell you how it works, but all I know is that it's magic. Just don't freak out… Yeah, I know it's a lot of people, but we have to be there… Okay… Okay… Alright, we'll be there in a minute or less… Love you, too… Bye." Craig hung up the phone. He then looked over at Ned. "Okay, Ned. Just open a portal to Craig Pierre, Sr."

"Got it," Ned said with a nod. He looked around at everyone else. "Is everyone ready?" We all gave our confirmations. Ned turned and started to form a portal. "Show me Craig Pierre, Sr., Frictor's father."

The portal opened up. It opened up on a living room. Standing on the other side of the portal was a man and a woman. The man, dressed in blue jeans and a grey t-shirt, looked like he was about Craig's height. His hair was cut short and his beard was trimmed. Both were greying just a little bit. The woman, who was wearing black jean shorts that reached the middle of her thighs and a black button up blouse, was a bit on the shorter side, probably only a couple of inches taller than Betty. Her hair was in dreadlocks, which reached just below her jaw.

"Long time, no see," Craig said. We watched him as he crossed through the portal. A couple of seconds later, we did the same thing. As the portal closed behind us, Craig dropped his bag as he stepped forward and hugged the two of them. They were, indeed, his parents.

"You know, I want to be mad that you're seeing us because of superhero-related stuff, but I'm happy to see you," his mom said.

"I'm glad to see you, too, but I'm mad over that," his dad joked.

"My bad, my bad," Craig said as he pulled away. "I was going to visit sooner, but life's been crazy."

"Hello Mr. Pierre, hello Mrs. Pierre," Kitty greeted as she stepped forward.

"Kitty, is that you?!" Mrs. Pierre said, beaming at her as she walked up to her and hugged her. "I haven't seen you in a long while!"

"Still haven't grown an inch, I see," Mr. Pierre teased.

"Oh, ha-ha," Kitty responded as she hugged Craig's mother back. "I can't help the fact that I'm 5'2" for the rest of my life." She pulled away from Craig's mother and smiled. "I hope all is well."

"All is fine, all is fine." After that, she looked at the rest of us. From my peripheral, I saw Carmilla averting her gaze. "Well, Craig, why don't you introduce us to your friends?"

"Oh, sorry," Craig said before he cleared his throat. He gestured to each and every one of us as he introduced us. "This is Betty. She's an aspiring investigative journalist."

"Pleased to meet you," Betty said with a wave.

"Next to her is her boyfriend Ned, a whiz with computers and sorcerer in training, as well as quite the cook."

"Hello," Ned greeted.

"The tall woman is Joanna, a former Marine. Oh, and remember Scott? Yeah? Well she's also his girlfried."

"A pleasure," Joanna greeted quietly.

"This is Peter. He's great with technology and he's…" Craig trailed off as he looked at Peter. Peter stared at Craig for a few moments before he nodded slowly. "…He's also Spider-Man."

"…Wait," Craig's father said. "This kid is Spider-Man?"

"I am sir," Peter confirmed.

"…Huh…" Craig's father tilted his head. "I'm not going to lie to you, son. You're… not exactly who I was expecting underneath that mask."

"Craig," Craig's mother chastised. "Be nice."

"I'm not trying to be rude, Desiree. It's just… the boy's from New York, he has a cool suit, and he goes around helping poor people. I figured he would be black."

"That's what I told him," Craig added as I snickered. "Anyway, this is his girlfriend, Michelle."

"Hello," I said as I nodded.

"And this is Carmilla, my girlfriend."

"…Hi," Carmilla whispered shyly. I looked over at her. I was surprised to see her look so nervous. It then occurred to me – this was Carmilla's first time meeting Craig's folks. It was amusing. Here was Carmilla Black, and superhero slash government agent who's been in many a heavy situation, nervous about meeting Craig's folks. It made me wonder how Peter would react to meeting my parents. We all went quiet as both of Craig's parents approached Carmilla.

"I have so many questions," Desiree said. "But, I'm pleased to meet you." She looked at all of us. "I'm pleased to meet you all. I'm Desiree, Craig's mom. As you can probably guess, this is Craig's father, Craig Senior. We'll have lunch ready by one, and I expect you all to be there. As far as sleeping arrangements go, the boys will be with the boys in Craig's old room while the girls will be with the girls in our daughter's old room. It's not that I don't trust you guys but…"

"We don't trust you guys," Craig Senior cut in. He looked at his son. "Especially you."

"I'm literally a virgin," Craig pointed out. "Most of us are virgins."

"And even if the guy I'm dating was here, I'm not keen on having sex in the house of people I literally just met, Airbnb notwithstanding," Joanna added.

"Be that as it may, things can happen," Desiree said gently. She then looked at Craig. "And I'd rather not take any chances, especially with what almost happened with your sister."

Craig rolled his eyes. "That happened years ago, and Alex was only making out with the dude. That's hardly unusual behavior for a teenager."

"You never snuck your ex-girlfriend into this house to make out," Craig Senior pointed out.

"I'm glad I never did. In hindsight, she wasn't worth the potential behind whooping."

"That we can all agree on," Desiree said with a nod. "Now why don't you be a dear and show your friends to their rooms."

Craig nodded. "A'ight. Let's go, guys."

A few minutes later, I was in the room with the other ladies.

"Craig's parents seem rather nice," Betty commented as she opened her luggage.

"Yeah," I commented as I removed my jacket.

"I'm glad Craig doesn't fit the normal categories," Joanna commented as she opened a drawer.

I looked over at her. "What category?"

Joanna scoffed. "Let's all be real with ourselves. If you're a superhuman, you most likely have dead parents, daddy or mommy issues, a criminal record with convictions that may or may not be wrongful, or some combination of the three."

"She's not wrong," Kitty chimed in. "Even I had parental issues when my powers emerged."

"And Scott?" Betty asked.

"Dead parents, a brother who he has a rather complicated relationship with, a half-brother who he knew for years but didn't know he was related to until rather recently, a family tree that you'll need a whole college course to explain…" Kitty trailed off.

I tilted my head. "…Scott has siblings?" I asked.

Kitty nodded. "He does. Both of his brothers were X-Men. One stayed behind with X-Force while the other left and went back down to New Orleans."

I nodded. I then looked over at Carmilla. She was sitting on the bed. She was gazing off into nowhere. I hesitated for a moment before I walked over and sat next to her.

"Are you okay?" I asked.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm good," Carmilla replied. She sighed. "I… I just…" She looked over at me. "I just don't know how Craig's parents will feel about me."

"They seem to think you're okay, at least," Kitty pointed out.

"So far, they do." Carmilla shook her head. "I don't know if you know this, but I got issues."

"We all do," Betty pointed out.

"Some more than others," Joanna stated.

"Well, yeah, but…" Carmilla took in a breath. "…Ever since I became a SHIELD agent, there was a long while where I thought romance wasn't in the cards for me anymore. After finding out that my parents weren't my real parents, the people I trusted was extremely small, like three people. And two of them I trusted because I had to. That was especially so when infiltrated HYDRA and A.I.M. But then, later on, I get assigned to infiltrate the X-Men. Scott and Kitty found me out quickly, because of course they did. And Craig…" She shook her head. "Craig did everything he could to befriend me and I pushed him away, and not just because of the job. I thought he was being fake, because I had no idea how someone like him could be interested in a friendship with someone who was an abrasive little shit. I eventually went off on him and we ended up having a huge argument. We didn't talki for a while. Scott even made sure that he and I weren't assigned to the same missions. I thought I was fine with it at first.

"One day, I had a very bad week. While I was undercover on a HYDRA op, I almost ended up killing a fellow SHIELD agent. I got read the riot act by Nick Fury. My week got worse during an X-Men mission. I got reckless and I got my ribs broken, and Scott got on my case about it. When we got back home to the mansion, I just went to my room and just cried. I thought I locked the door. I didn't because Craig just happened to be passing by. He opened the door and asked me if I was okay. I didn't say anything at first. But when he was about to leave, I asked him to stay. He held me as I cried some more. After I was cried out, we apologized to each other for the argument. We grew closer since that day. We eventually dated, and things were going well until he found out I was a HYDRA operative, because of course we had to run into each other while the X-Men were thwarting a HYDRA scheme. And you all know what happened after that."

Carmilla sighed. "I still have days when I feel like a huge fuckup, and I'm just… I'm just insecure right now, because I don't know if his folks will think I'm good enough for him."

I felt the mattress move underneath me. I looked over shoulder to see Betty crawling up behind Carmilla. Gently, she wrapped her arms around Carmilla and placed her chin on Carmilla's right shoulder.

"Hey, Craig loves you and you love him, right?" Betty asked.

"He does," Carmilla whispered.

"Then that's all that should matter. He chose you. That should be enough for his folks."

"And if not?"

"I'm sure they're nice and understanding," Joanna said. She looked briefly at the door for a moment. She took in a breath and looked back at Carmilla before speaking in a lower tone. "But if they don't like you, then fuck them."

"I agree," Kitty said from her spot in the room. "You're more the good enough for anybody. As long as you and Craig are happy with each other, then that's all that matters."

"What they said," I added, because what else needs to be said?

Carmilla took in a breath before she nodded. "Thanks guys," she said quietly. In response, Betty kissed Carmilla on the cheek.

I wrinkled my nose. "Gross," I commented.

Betty glared at me. "It's just a kiss on the cheek."

"I mean, true, but we know where those lips have been."

"Oh, fuck you!"

That actually got Carmilla to laugh. Eventually we all joined in on the laughter.