Ana liked being engaged to Peter and Felicia and Mary Jane, off shooting her movie in England, but many parts of it were new and confusing to her. They all lived together, that made sense. Even Mary Jane had a room set aside for when she came back. But that was the thing—although the rooms and beds were all big enough for all of them, there were many times when Peter and Felicia slept apart.
Or, sometimes, Peter couldn't sleep and would go out to be Spider-Man, or Felicia would not sleep and go out to steal something (which she would then put back). Sometimes they went to bed in their own rooms, but then one would get up in the middle of the night and go to the other's bed, sometimes for sex, sometimes just to sleep under the same sheets. Many times one didn't even wake the other up.
It was all very confusing to Ana. She knew how her parents had lived together. Every night, Sasha had slept with Sergei, sating his male needs as was proper. She did not understand how Peter and Felicia could be together, but need this space between them, but also sometimes not need it. She though it must be a ritual to account for the Spider's strength.
She knew she made them uncomfortable sometimes, the way she was in love with them before they were in love with her. It would be unwise to try to sleep with them now. Like approaching a deer while it might still spook. She slept outside their rooms, waking before they did, leaving before they realized she was at their door, hearing them sleep, hearing them fornicate. One night, she went to Felicia's room. She heard the steady, slightly pitched rate of breath inside and knew Felicia was awake, sedately reading a book. She knocked at the door.
"Come in, Ana."
Ana poked her head in. "You knew was me?"
"Peter wouldn't knock." Felicia set her book aside. "What's up?"
"I want to sleep in your bed. I'm not used to sleeping alone. Mother used to share my bed..."
"Parental trauma. Knew we had something in common besides great boobs." Felicia drew the sheets aside, patted the mattress. Ana undressed, down to the underwear she thought was appropriate for this stage in their relationship, and joined Felicia in her bed.
"It will be... like sleepover, yes?"
"Yeah. Wanna watch some TV?" Felicia reached for the remote on the nightstand, showing off her taped ribs. She and Peter had fought a malfunctioning Sentinel that day. Ana had been forbidden to help. Too dangerous. Alone in the apartment, she had gone into the shower and
screamed.
"No," Ana said. "Too... loud. Busy, you understand?"
"Even PBS?"
Ana shrugged.
"I'm too wiped out to do anything but lay here, and too wired to sleep," Felicia explained. "
Sucks
."
Ana nodded. She knew the feeling. Like the first night on a hunt that might last weeks. You wanted to work through the night, end it fast, not rely on patience.
"Hey, raised-by-wolves-girl. You know how to cuddle, right?"
Ana nodded.
"Show me."
Ana put herself against Felicia, letting the other woman embrace her, hold her tightly. The 'littler spoon,' she had heard it called. It befitted Peter's senior bride to be the 'bigger spoon'.
Felicia massaged her gently. Ana felt her body start to relax. Her mind start to loosen, feeling Felicia's acceptance being rubbed into her body. "So, Ana, you ever hunt lions, tigers, panthers, cats?"
"You think I hunt people if not hunt everything else?"
Felicia hummed; 'fair enough'. "So you've killed them?"
"Yes, but—not endangered. Not honorable hunt."
"And when you kill them, you do it quick, right? Like nature intends. You don't let them suffer or anything?"
"No." Ana shook her head. "No honor in... bad kill. Clean. Honorable. Knife. Arrow. Only steel, no poison. Bare hands, sometimes. You must respect the animal with your fight."
"That's okay, I guess." Felicia tightened her embrace of Ana. "I ask because, if you ever hurt Peter, betray him in any way, do anything to harm him or MJ or that sweet old lady that raised him to be the man I love—that's not how I'm going to kill you. I'm going to break every bone in your body, then I'm going to sell you to some very bad people I know, and they're going to run experiments on you that insects are too good for. So let's not go that way, 'kay?"
Ana smiled. "You defend him with honor. I'll enjoy learning from you to be in good standing among his harem."
Felicia shuffled to get comfortable. "Stop calling it a harem, too. Or at least start calling it
my
harem. My apartment, my harem..."
***
Peter was defensive of all his broodmares, but most especially of Mary Jane. Ana understood. She could not defend herself. She must make up for it by being able to bear strong children while Felicia kept up the hunt. So Peter was at first reluctant to allow Ana to speak to her sister in
harem,
but Felicia took her side after making her threat clear. And so Ana was allowed to Skype with Mary Jane.
She stared. Ana had studied her prey, back before she'd realized Peter was her soulmate, her one true master. Although others had attempted to capture his heart, Mary Jane had been the first to truly succeed. Peter had taken her to his marriage bed. Felicia may have been his first, but Mary Jane had very nearly tamed him. It was easy to see why. She was beautiful. The majesty of an animal even Ana would not hunt. Some creatures were so awe-inspiring, they had to be allowed to run free.
After about sixty seconds, Mary Jane got the idea that Ana wasn't going to stop staring. "So... guess that 'group marriage' slippery slope got slippery pretty fast, huh?"
Ana closed her eyes. Mary Jane's
voice...
a song! "Peter, of course, loves you very much."
"Yes. He does."
"This is a natural reaction. I look forward to learning from you. When you are too old to bear children, my fertile loins will provide you with many heirs to the Spider. I weep, thinking of them growing up alongside your beauty."
"...
kay.
"
"Am I being inappropriate? Peter warned me about this..."
"I'd just stay away from the subject of reproduction all together."
"Yes! Of course!" Ana nodded, eager to please. "I look forward to when you return, and we can service Peter together, sexually, for pleasure and not reproduction."
***
Peter was off with the Avengers. Felicia watched TV, flicking between channels. There were news stories about the Fantastic Four, the X-Men, but no updates on the Avengers. She slammed her thumb down on the remote, shrinking the sixty-inch image to a white dot that then wiped itself out of existence. Threw the remote to the other end of the couch. Ana didn't know which she was more upset about: worrying about Peter or
being