Peter Parker

I didn't talk to Kitty for a couple of days. The American Idiots group chat was rather quiet. That was definitely a sign that Kitty was pretty mad at us. To say I felt bad was an understatement. I wanted to talk to Kitty, to apologize to her, but I wasn't sure she wanted to hear that. During those days, I got visited by Ned and Joanna. Ned had this new Lego set he wanted to work on with me, so we did that, spending two hours straight on it. It got my mind off how upset Kitty must've been with me. Unfortunately, I was reminded of Kitty when Joanna stopped by the next day, dropping off a few Elimishield kits. Reminded about how I got made at the abandoned theatre, I quickly went into the bathroom and showered using the stuff. I was anxious the next day. I just wanted to talk to Kitty. For better or for worse, before I gave in to the urge to call Kitty, she ended up calling me that morning. It wasn't a long call. I barely said hello before Kitty said what she needed to say.

"Meet me our apartment at 7 tonight. Don't do anything stupid along the way."

She quickly hung up right after that. I put the phone down as I continued to sit on my bed. I pressed my lips together. Kitty was still mad at me. I couldn't blame her though. After a few moments, I went into the kitchen and looked through the cabinets and the fridge, making sure I had certain ingredients on deck. After seeing I got everything I needed, that's when I began.

Hours later, I arrived at the X-Men's apartment with a cream-colored linen tote bag over my shoulder. I knocked on the door. After a few moments, the door opened. Kitty was behind the door. She stared at me for a few moments before she stepped aside. I resisted the urge to sigh. She was still upset with me. I stepped inside.

"So, how have things been?" I asked as I took off my shoes, trying to make casual conversation.

"It was actually decent," Kitty replied flatly. "There was a little ransomware attack on the library, but I was able to handle that easily while I also finding the source of it." I looked at her. "Craig and Joanna are going to have a fun night in Harlem."

"I see." I swallowed before I reached into my bag and pulled out a Tupperware container. "…This is for you." I held it out towards her. Kitty walked up to me and took it.

"What is this?" As she asked, she eyed the container.

I smiled slightly. "I… I made you a chocolate babka. Craig told me that you like babka, so…" I trailed off.

Kitty looked at me and narrowed her eyes. "Did you do this on a whim, or are you trying to bribe me into not being mad at you?"

I raised my eyebrows. "Well, that depends."

Kitty tilted her head as she furrowed up her eyebrows. "On what?"

I smiled a bit wider. "Is the bribery working?"

Kitty closed her eyes and shook her head. She made a noise that somewhere between a scoff and a laugh as she smiled incredulously. "I'm going to be honest with you Peter. Had this been any other kind of food, I'd be shoving it up your ass just off of your audacity alone."

I swallowed. "That's fair."

Kitty sighed. "Sit at the table. I'll get some ice cream."

So, we sat at the table, eating the babka with vanilla ice cream. While I was sure Kitty didn't want to use me as a practice dummy for her sai skills, there was still a bit of tension in the air. So, we ate in silence for a bit, mostly because I didn't want to do anything to break the quietness. After a while, Kitty finally spoke.

"So, is this your first time baking a babka?" Kitty asked.

"…Second," I replied. "Back when I was a student at Midtown, and during my freshman year, I accidentally ran into one of my classmates while she was carrying it. So, I decided to bake her one when I got home. I haven't made once since until today, so I had to look online for a recipe." I smiled slightly. "Do you like it?"

"It's not half bad." Kitty took another bite. "You know, Craig tried to bake me a babka once. It was supposed to be a surprise, but I ended up startling him when I came home and he dropped the dough on the floor." She frowned. "It was kind of a tense time. It was right after the three of us – Scott, Craig, and I – had a falling out after the Carmilla situation. Craig was pissed off at Scott for not telling him about Carmilla's status as a double agent for SHIELD and her infiltrating Hydra and AIM. I was pissed off at Scott for the same thing, but Scott called me out for my hypocrisy." She grimaced. "I knew all along about Carmilla being a secret agent, but I kept it too myself for Craig's sake. So when I lambasted Scott, Scott asked me why I didn't tell Craig if I felt so angry about it. And he did so in front of Craig, so Craig was pissed off at me. It was quite the shit show. But, cooler heads prevailed… eventually, and Craig wanted to apologize to me through my stomach."

I frowned. "That sounds rough," I commented.

"It's life," Kitty responded casually with a shrug. "It wasn't anything we couldn't bounce back from. I'm not saying forgiveness came easy for us. It took each of us some time to forgive each other and forgive ourselves. But, here we are."

I nodded. I went quiet for some moments, looking down at my plate. I frowned. "I don't like this."

"Like what?"

"This." I looked at her and beckoned to myself. "I don't like being without my powers. It's like…" I paused for a moment. I didn't know what to say at first. I took in a breath. "…I haven't been without my powers since a little bit into my freshman year. I've been with these powers for so long that it's been my normal. And now that I'm back to normal, it's a bit hard to handle." I sighed. "Kitty… I'm sorry for acting reckless. I really didn't mean to. I'm just…"

"Peter," Kitty interrupted gently, prompting me to be quiet. "I get it. For a good chunk of your life, you've been able to do amazing things. Then someone comes out of the blue and brings you back down to normal. You can't do those things anymore, and now you're trying your best to prove that you're not useless. Am I right?"

I blinked as I stared at her, a bit dumbfounded. I then nodded. "…How are you able to put into words what was in my mind better than I can?"

Kitty smirked. "I've seen a lot, Peter. You're not the first person I came across that lost their powers. Some of those people I still talk to today."

"And how did they cope with it?"

"Some of them kept doing stuff like you did and ended up six feet under." She gave me a pointed a look. I cringed. "Others adjusted and learned how to live without their powers." She paused for a moment. "Peter, I understand this is a hard time for you. It's not easy for me, either. Not only are we basically a man down, I don't like seeing my little brother like this. That said, I need you to trust us. I need you to trust us to hold the fort down until you're back to normal. We need you, Peter, and we care about you. You dying would hurt us all on multiple levels. You got that?" I nodded slowly. "Good. Now, about the reason I called you here…"

I tilted my head. "This wasn't why you called me here?"

"Nope," Kitty replied, popping the P as she shook her head. "I made a decision. Since the X-Men are still trying to keep out of public eye, Craig and Carmilla will be spending nights training up your fighting skills."

I straightened my head as I stiffened up. "Are you afraid that I won't get my powers back?" I asked.

"You hang out with Scott enough and you'll learn to at least be conscious of the worst case scenarios, no matter how small the chances are of it happening. But, for the most part, I'm not afraid of that. Fact of the matter is I think a more refined fighting style would do you a lot better, with or without your powers."

I grimaced. "Come on, I showed I can handle myself in a fight."

Kitty scoffed. "Sweetie, more often than not, you go up against people you can run circles around while half asleep. Whenever you get into tight spaces or go up against someone who matches you in strength or speed, that's when you start struggling. Scorpion – the fake Scorpion – left you pretty banged after every time you fought him." I opened my mouth to say something in protest, but then I closed it. Kitty wasn't wrong at all. I remembered the days I woke up sore after fighting Mac Gargan. Not since Thanos was someone able to hit me so hard.

"…I guess you're right," I admitted reluctantly.

"I usually am," Kitty deadpanned. "Anyway, you'll be starting tomorrow night. If I were you, I'd start stretching. You're going to need it."

Later on that night, Carmilla came by so we could study for the SAT. We went over the practice exams we took before we helped each other on sections that we scored the weakest in. After a couple of hours of that, we sat on my bed to just talk, each of us drinking a can Arizona Red Tea.

"You ever thought about moving out of this apartment?" Carmilla asked.

"There was a time when I thought about it every day," I replied after taking a sip from my can. "I used to hate this place."

"What changed?"

"The day of The St. James Incident happened. Honestly, the place in and of itself isn't too bad. It's just my hatred for this place was an extension of my frustration towards my whole situation. Every day, I was waking up without seeing Aunt May. And that just reminded me about how my life was basically ripped away from me. Luckily the X-Men and The American Idiots helped me… and therapy as well."

Carmilla nodded. "Therapy helps a lot of people. I honestly thought about going to therapy myself."

I raised an eyebrow. "What's stopping you?" I asked.

"The only person I'd go to at the moment is Dr. Drumm," Carmilla explained. "While I'm sure he's great… I know Craig went to him a lot during the time we were broken up. And I'm afraid that, if I had sessions with Drumm, I'd be wondering a lot about what Craig said about me during his own sessions with him."

I thought about what she said for a moment as I furrowed up my eyebrows. "Why don't you ask Craig about it?"

Carmilla smiled. "See, funny about me is that, when it comes to personal subjects, I could either be extremely bold or extremely bitch-made. I have no problem asking Craig if he ever fantasized about other women, but the moment I want to ask him about his therapy sessions, I clam up." I chuckled. She chuckled along with me. "There are a few things I'm still timid about."

"I get what you mean," I said in earnest. "MJ still scares me at times."

Carmilla scoffed. "MJ scares everyone."

I smiled. "Even you?"

"Peter, I love Michelle to death, but anyone who scares someone with your powers, despite not having powers themselves, is definitely someone to weary of." At that, I laughed as I nodded in acknowledgment. Carmilla smiled at me. Her smile then faded. "Speaking of scare, Kitty talked to me and Craig earlier. I guess we're training you."

I nodded. "So I've been told." I smiled. "Are you going to go easy on me?"

At that, Carmilla snickered. Snickering turned into chuckling, then into full-on laughter as she lay on her back, taking care to hold her can us so she didn't spill her drink on my bed. All the while, I glared at her, not even knowing how to respond. After a while, Carmilla's laughter died down. After letting loose a breath with a "woo", she sat up and stared at me with a smile that was far from sincere.

"Yeah, that's a negative, Ghost Rider," Carmilla said flatly.

I scoffed. "It was a worth a shot," I remarked.

Carmilla frowned before she placed her gauntleted hand on my shoulder. "Look, Pete, we're X-Men. We have to deal with some big time threats. That means we have to make sure we're up to snuff. So, when it comes to training, we can't go easy on each other, because the people we face won't."

I tilted my head. "How hard was it for you?"

"Sweetheart, my teachers were Melinda May and Scott Summers." Carmilla withdrew her hand. "Melinda May has more black belts than Natasha Romanoff – God rest her soul – and Scott well…" Carmilla chuckled. "During a sparring session between him and I, he taunted me, saying he could beat me while being blindfolded and having a hand tied behind his back. I told him to prove it. He did." She sighed. "They were hard on me, but I learned a lot from them and I would've likely been dead without their teachings. So, I guess, this is my way of paying it forward." She smiled. "Plus, I grown attached to you. I don't want to see you get hurt."

I smiled. "Likewise, Millie." I meant it, too. Ever since the rescue, the two of us bonded. I guess it was because we had so much in common. We had ruined Homecoming dances at high school. We each had a hand in screwing up our respective romantic relationships, yet managed to get it back. We were both without our parents, albeit for different reasons. We both had arachnid-related hero identities. And we were both a part of the X-Men. The X-Men wasn't just a team though. It was a family – a family of misfits, castaways, and rejects.

I guess we were all broken on some level. Maybe that's why MJ accepted my fellow X-Men into her life rather quickly.

Carmilla scoffed at me. "By the way, when did you start calling me Millie? And why?"

I shrugged. "I don't know. I guess I just called you that one day." I raised my eyebrows. "Do you mind it?"

Carmilla shook her head. "Nah, not really. It's just that you're just only the third person to ever give me a nickname." She furrowed up her eyebrows. "Do you always give people nicknames?"

I thought about it for a moment. I then shook my head. "I can't say I do. Most of the people I'm close to have their own nicknames."

Carmilla raised her eyebrows. "Even Betty and Ned?"

"Their real first names are Elizabeth and Edward."

Carmilla looked away slowly as she mouthed an "Oh".

Eventually, Carmilla went home. I took time to gather up my books and notebooks when I heard my phone vibrate. I walked over to my nightstand and picked it up. Seeing I got a new message, I checked it. It was from The American Idiots group chat.

"So, anyone read the comics lately?" Ned wrote. A few seconds later, Craig replied.

"Man, screw Zeb Wells."

I closed my eyes and shook my head as I chuckled.