I told you I would hurt you.

The words strike Peter like an arrow shooting through an apple. Ajax wasn't doing anything to hurt him. The only thing hurting him was the look in her eyes, the tired and terrified crystal blues eyes. Looking at her like this, banged up with a cut and a black eye and busted lip, that hurt. She didn't hurt him. Her uncle hurt him. This wasn't on her but the way her words dripped from her lips, Peter knew she thought she had.

"AJ..." Peter shakes his head but his grip on her shoulders doesn't budge. "C-come home with me, okay?" His voice shakes and all Ajax can think is how terrible that would be for him. Not her. It's not about her anymore.

"I can't." Ajax croaks, another tear slipping down her face.

Peter opens his mouth to protest but his chest starts to warm and he can feel Ajax's heart faltering with every passing second. Every second passing, the sensation getting worse and worse before he finally lets out a yell and releases his grip, taking a step back from her. Ajax takes her chance and moves from the door, grabbing Peter's arm and twisting it behind his back. Peter groans out in pain as Ajax pushes him against the door.

"You promised." Her words are broken and Peter can actually feel the betrayal from her words.

"I was worried." Peter mumbles, debating if it weren't worth him possibly hurting her to get free.

"Don't care." Ajax takes a deep breath and her voice goes cold. "Out." She releases her grip and stands back.

"I-I-I can't leave you like-"

"Go or I swear to Thor, I will set you on fire. You think those burn marks on your chest hurt? Wait till you're dealing with actual fire. I told you I was gonna hurt you. Go."

"Aj-" Peter starts as he faces her but Ajax has fire coming from her hands, ready to attack Peter if he takes a single step. He hangs his head and nods once. "Y...you'd really do it?" His eyebrows draw together as a lump forms in his throat.

She's hurt. She's just hurt. That's all.

The words play over and over and over in his head, trying to convince himself that Ajax wouldn't really hurt him. That she's just scared, maybe that Peter would treat her the same way Jared has been. He plays the words over like a mantra because the thought of her actually not caring about hurting him would crush him. He cares too much.

That's the problem with his heightened senses. He feels everything more, everything is a little louder. Everything is amplified. He falls harder and faster because he senses, almost exactly feels, other people's affection and pain. He tries to ignore it, Peter really does but it is impossible with Ajax and he doesn't know what to do.

How could he just leave her in this apartment knowing what her uncle does? How could he leave her defenseless? She has powers but she most definitely does not use them to defend herself against her uncle. He wasn't on the list of people who even knew about her, not from what Peter can remember. And she clearly knows some self-defense since she was able to repin Peter to the door. But, yet, her face is a mess and Peter's mind wanders to her side. Is that how she got the scar?It looks old but that doesn't mean anything. Is that why her side was bleeding at the beginning of the year? This must have been going on a long time and how is Peter just supposed to leave an act as though nothing happened? What if it got worse?

Ajax, on the other hand, had a plan. It was a horrible plan as most of hers seemed to be. She's self-destructive and only knows how to handle herself in destructive ways. This is what Tony means when he says she can't train. This is why she hasn't been able to use her powers for good. She can't take care of herself let alone have the responsibility of saving other people. Hell, she can't even ask for help from the very person staring at her with torn down brown eyes, begging her to let him help. How is she ever supposed to be a hero? How is she supposed to be anything more than damaged goods?

"I...I don't want to but yeah," Ajax licks her lips, watching over Peter. "I'll do it."

"Fine." Peter says. "Hit me."

"What?" Ajax's eyes widen and the fire evaporates from her palms.

"Go on." Peter steadies his voice. "You wanna hurt me? Do it. Set me on fire. Freeze me. Drench me. Whatever. Make the b-" Peter hangs his head as the words get caught in his throat. "I'm not leaving."

"Ugh." Ajax groans before she moves towards Peter and punches his chest. He quirks a brow at her but takes it. "You're-" Ajax hits his chest again. "Gonna," Punch. "Get." Punch. "Hurt." Both hands slam against his chest but this time, she doesn't move.

Ajax hangs her head and the lump in her throat rises, tears seeming to be coming out of nowhere but slipping from the corners of her eyes. Ajax's elbows wavering, showing the weakness in her muscles. Peter can almost taste the saltiness from her tears and it takes everything in him to not break with her. Ajax bites her bottom lip so hard she reopens the cut and the taste of iron starts to fill her mouth, mixing with the tears that cascade down her face when she tries to take a breath.

And just like that. She breaks down in front of Peter. A loud sob falls from her mouth while her entire body starts to buckle but Peter's quick to wrap his arms around her, making sure she doesn't fall. Instead, he helps her to the floor, never releasing his arms, pulling her as close to him as humanly possible.

"I-I-I'm so...sorry." Ajax croaks against Peter as her hands grip his jacket as hard as she possibly can.

"It's okay." Peter says calmly, touches of fear and relief flooding through his veins. "I got you."

This was the first hug Ajax was receiving since her mom died. She wasn't someone who was big on hugs in the first place but after her mom died, after everything that's happened to her and everything Jared has done, hugging became the thing she hated the most. It was the worst form of physical contact and she never thought she'd even live long enough to ever be okay with hugging again. But now tears are falling and wetting Peter's jacket and she's gripping him so hard, she's praying to a god she doesn't even believe in that Peter will never let go. She wants him to leave and she wants him to stay and there's so many mixed emotions. Everything hurts so fucking much she can't fight anymore.

Peter pulls his arms from her and hesitantly moves them to her face, fingers shaking the entire time. "W-we...let's go, okay?" Peter's voice wavers and Ajax's lip quivers, her fingers not loosening their grip.

"I-I can't." Ajax mumbles through a cry. "Jared...he'll...it'll be worse."

"I'm sorry." Peter whispers. "I gotta tell Mr. Stark." Ajax starts shaking her head, freeing Peter's lose grip but before she can say anything Peter starts again. "I will sneak you in my room every single night if I have to, I will. But...AJ...you can't stay here. I, uh," Peter swallows and moves his head to lock eyes with her. "I....can, ya know, I know. It hurts and you're scared and it's okay. Please, you helped me and you don't have to say that I'm helping you but if you stay here..." Peter's words trail off, his eyes examining just how deep the cut on her cheek really was and the blood that was still dripping from her mouth, the shine of the black bruise. It was a lot. It was so much to take in and he just couldn't wrap his head around it. Why would she ever let someone hit her like that? Why didn't she defend herself?

As if able to read his mind, Ajax speaks. "I deserve it, P."

"No," Peter says, shaking his head. "No one deserves this."

Ajax shakes her head, freeing only one of her hands to wipe her tears that had started to come to a stop. "I do." Her mouth barely opens with her words before she wipes the blood away.

"You don't." Peter persists.

"Y-"

"No." Peter stops her. "No one, got it? No one. Especially you. Especially you." His jaw clenches and he means every word.

Why is he so good?

"C'mon." Peter says, going to stand up but Ajax's grip isn't letting him go. "I. Got. You." Peter holds out his hand and grabs under Ajax's elbows to help her to her feet.

"Y-you promise?" Ajax pushes the lump in her throat down. "Promise I don't have to stay with Tony and-"

"Nothing's ever going to happen to you, I promise." Peter pulls Ajax in for a proper hug, his strength almost a little too much but Ajax can't say she minds.

There's this safety within in Peter and he doesn't realize it. He might have super senses and he can feel things other people can't, taste things and smell things but the one thing he can't sense is exactly what he means to other people. He can sense their affection for him and their distaste but not exactly what he does for them. He has no idea that he is Ajax's lifeline.

There is a theory, many in fact, of people being connected. Some call them soulmates, others call it fate. Ajax will tell you it's all bullshit but she can't deny her need to protect Peter as well be around him. None of it makes any sense of course. Does she want him or does she want him to stay away? Both are constantly running through her head. But, at the end of the day, she is fucking tired. She's exhausted from always being on alert. At least with Peter, she can sleep. And she likes him.

"A-are you...are you gonna let go?" Peter asks as he goes to pull away. "Y-you don't have to!" Peter quickly says. "I mean...you don't have to, I...I just didn't know if you realized you were still holding my jacket or if you-I'm gonna stop talking."

Ajax manages to stifle a laugh, finally unclenching her fist. She stares at him and she knows just how vulnerable she looks and made herself by the seriousness in Peter's perfect brown eyes that are usually too innocent and sweet like chocolate. He's looking at her differently, the kind that makes her cheeks burn red and makes her want to pull up her hood and hide, as if being way too exposed and fearful that he'll see what she sees and run for the hills. But, he doesn't. He sticks out his hand, shaky but out nonetheless.

"You, uh, you wanna get a bag?"

"No." Ajax shakes her head quickly, pulling herself from her thoughts. "Wait." Ajax closes her eyes for a second and sighs. "Yeah, uh, my laptop and stuff. I'll be bored while you're being Spider-Boy if not." The corner of her mouth tugs into a weak smirk as Peter shakes his head.

"Do you need help?" Peter asks.

"Just, uh, use your senses or whatever, make sure no one's coming. Hear someone, run into my room and we'll get out through the fire escape." Peter raises a brow as Ajax starts to walk to her room. "If Jared can do this to me, he'll do you worse." With her words, she enters her room, leaving Peter alone.

Peter lets out a breath he seemed to be holding since he stepped foot in Ajax's apartment. He hadn't realized he wasn't actually breathing properly until then. What the hell was he doing and where the hell did his confidence come from? He's never that bold and blunt, not unless he's under the mask with Karen in his ears. It was clear that when it came to needing to push away his anxieties for someone else, he could. He needed to protect Ajax even if that meant he'd be holding his breath the entire time and hoping he didn't pass out.

A few minutes pass and Ajax comes out of her room, her eyes still bloodshot but her cheeks no longer damp and the blood's been cleaned from her mouth. Her backpack is hung from her shoulders and she's sporting a black Adidas hoodie.

"Ready?" Peter asks, pulling himself together, swallowing the anxiety that had seemed to build back up.

"Yeah," Ajax nods, biting her bottom lip again.

"Y-you should stop doing that." Peter says as he points to her.

"Doesn't hurt." She shrugs, but doesn't go back to biting her lip, instead, she walks over to where she tossed her hoodie and drapes it over her arm. "He gets mad when things are out of order." Ajax mumbles as she notices the strange expression on Peter's face. "We, uh, we better go in case he's close."

"Where, uh, where is he?" Peter follows Ajax out of the apartment while she locks the door.

"It's..." Ajax's eyes widen as she tries to remember the exact date. "It's...Saturday? Right?"

"Yeah." Peter says, the two making their way down the old staircase that smells of a damp basement.

"Drugs, probably. Gets 'em from Liv a few blocks over." Ajax pulls out her phone and hands Peter one of her earbuds, going back to the safe routine.

"What's he do?" Peter asks, popping the earbud into his ear, surprised to be met with an acoustic cover of I Fall A Part. Ajax just never had acoustics playing. Hell, she rarely had a ballad playing in general, It just wasn't her.

"Whatever he can get." Ajax admits. "Usually heroin. It's cheap."

"I-I'm sorry." Peter says with a wince before opening the door for the both of them to exit the building.

"Nah," Ajax shrugs. "Other people have it worse, ya know? Swear, he's not even fucking blood have the fucking time. Doesn't even look like mom."

"That, uh, that why he doesn't know about you?" Peter asks.

Ajax bites the inside of her cheeks, fighting back the lump that was coming back. "My, uh, my dad, he got his powers from his mom and she got it from her mom, her from her dad, and so on. It's all genetic and they all did a really good job of hiding it. It was pretty much a need to know thing. My mom was one of the only people that knew about my dad, outside of his immediate family. Dad met Tony through something or whatever, and well, your suit, yeah Tony's a genius so they became quick friends and nerds, that's what Tony and my mom always said anyway. But, a few others knew because my dad...he...he had this thing." Ajax rolls her eyes as the words of her mom telling her what her dad believed in replay through her head. "Like you. If you have the ability to do good for others, you have a moral obligation to do so. That was his thing. So, he did and ya know, when you do that you, form rivals, enemies and they come for you.They come for people you care about. So, Jared doesn't know. Jared doesn't know, not for his own protection, but because he'd sell me out in two seconds if he were desperate for drugs or money."

Peter stares at her and it's like he's been hit by a truck. Sure, he didn't think she had it easy. He's learned never to expect that from anyone. Ever since he's become Spider-Man, he's learned to never judge someone by what they let show. Everyone has their secrets. But, he wasn't prepared for that. Her own blood hurting her and willing to just sell her out and just for a quick fix? It's almost torture for him to listen to her speak because he can feel every single piece of broken glass in her words puncture his heart. How could anyone do that?

"Please, don't take this the wrong way," Peter starts and Ajax glances to him before moving her stare back to her shoes, the pale sidewalk moving smoothing under her. "Why...why risk him finding out when you could leave? I-I just don't get it."

"I don't wanna talk about it." Ajax shakes her head.

"Later?" Peter asks.

"Tell you when I'm ready." She says, only glancing to him before the only thing that's left between them is a white chord and whatever song happened to come on. Well, that was until Peter thought of yet another question.

"I-is all of this why you don't like being touched?"

"Kind of." Ajax says. "I said bad things happen when I touch people. I burned you, didn't I?"

"Barely." Peter says with the role of his shoulders.

"Something...I have this other thing where when I touch people..." Ajax furrows her brows as she tries to figure out how to phrase what she wants to say. "It's...it's like I can feel what they're feeling, ya know? Of course you do. But, it's not...it's not like I can read their damn minds or something, that's an invasion of fucking privacy." Ajax scoffs. "But, it's weird and...because you can sense all that stuff, it doesn't bother me to touch you because you get it so if you can know what I feel then I should be able to know what you feel and then it's like everything might be okay. I guess. I don't know. I'm rambling again. Yeah, Jared is part of it. But, he's like a third of the reason. I just don't like feeling fucking connected to people."

"Okay." Peter nods and accepts what she has to say. "Uh, well, c-can I hold your hand?" Peter asks, looking to Ajax with a timid smile and hopeful eyes, eyes that don't look so broken just for the moment.

"Well, since you asked this time." Ajax rolls her eyes with the sarcasm dipped words. "Please." She holds out her hand and Peter interlocks their fingers, the timid smile turning satisfied.

It wasn't so much that he wanted to hold her hand. He did, honestly, he did. He always wants to hold her and he always wants to hug her and he wants to tell her how pretty she is and how she's who he thinks about when he can't sleep but this wasn't about him. It was about her. She was too vulnerable and he didn't want her to snap shut again. Offering his hand is kind of as if it were a drawbridge to get into her walls. As long as their hands are connected, the bridge is down and safe to cross. Peter never wanted her to pull it closed, even if that meant never letting go of her while they were together.

Once back at Peter's apartment, May goes nuts. She's rushing Ajax to the kitchen to get ice on her eye and is demanding to know what happened while she has Peter in the bathroom getting the butterfly stitches from under the sink.

"It's nothing, really." Ajax insists as she sits at the table, ice held to her eye.

"No, no you aren't going to do that." May shakes her head, Peter handing her the stitches when he returns. "What happened?" May looks at him and Peter looks between May and Ajax, not sure what to say. He was telling Tony, that was happening but it wasn't May's problem. It wasn't her business and he knew that. "Peter." May says sternly. "You two need to tell me right now."

"I don't know." Peter says, his head hung held.

"Room. Now. We have rules. Go."

"But M-"

"Peter, I am not doing this with you. Go right now or I will ground you and I will have Tony take that suit away."

"I'm going, I'm going," Peter says, apologizing to Ajax with a single look before exiting.

"Okay, what happened?" May looks back to Ajax and starts addressing the cut on her cheek. It wasn't that deep but May is more persistent than Peter.

"It's really okay." Ajax says, fiddling with the bag of ice that's wrapped in a green towel, uncomfortable with more touching but too tired for another argument.

"Hon, you can tell me, okay?"

"Miss Parker, I'm fine." Ajax says, her voice growing broken again.

"You know," May says as she pulls up one of the chairs and decides to sit while finishing up. "Peter and me, we went through some stuff last year. He was lying to me and sneaking out. He snuck out of his hotel room in DC. He ditched detention. He wasn't the kid I knew and I didn't know what to do." Ajax listens closely to May's words. Of course, Ajax knew of Peter's ditching detention but she didn't know about anything else. They just seemed so close, it's hard for her to picture either of them having issues with the other. "Then, the ferry happened and I thought maybe I lost him because," May stifles a soft chuckle. "He never answers his phone. Does he at least answer for you?"

"Yeah," Ajax laughs a little, her eyes glancing down before coming back to May's face. "He does actually. Never misses a call."

"Cares about you, a lot." May gives a genuine smile, her nose wrinkling a little. "Well, I just, I lost it a little when he finally came home. He came home in a shirt way too big for him and these Hello Kitty pajama pants."

"He what?" Ajax laughs, picturing Peter walking around in the attire.

"Yeah! But, that wasn't too much of my concern. He just, he didn't look good and I missed the kid that used to dumpster dive for computer parts. I told him to lay it on me and he didn't." May chuckles. "Well, kind of. He did tell me he lost the Stark Internship and that was about all I needed to know for the moment. Now, of course, I know what he meant." Ajax furrows her brows, questioning why May would be so open. "He already told me you found out." May chuckles before continuing. "He was still in trouble but, I got it." May nods, finishing up the job on Ajax's cheek. "So, you don't have to tell a story, I'm sure Peter has already beat you to death for one but give me something. I'm the cool aunt."

Ajax can't help but smile. May reminds her of her mom. Hell, her mom and May would have been best friends. "Peter promised he'd sneak me if he had to so I wouldn't have to go home."

May takes a deep breath, her assumptions being correct. "He doesn't have to sneak you in. You can stay here. Now, though, I don't know details and I'm not gonna make you give them to me right now, but I will help you handle this. You can't go home if this is how it happened."

"That's what Peter said."

"So, you told Peter what's going on?" Ajax nods in response. "Okay," May says. "I have a friend. I'm going to call, ask as a hypothetical and we're going to work this out for you."

"Okay." Ajax says.

"Ajax, you never have to deal with this again. But, I'm sure Peter has already told you that."

"About a hundred times, yeah." Her voice is dry but her eyes are grateful.

"Well, you can go on with Peter and I'll get a hold of my friend. We'll talk later."

"C-can we not? I mean, like, can we wait until the morning?"

"Yeah," May nods. "I'll give you today to relax."