eternal flame | tartaglia x reader

Chapter Two

The big age of thirteen comes with even more excitement than the age of eleven did. Both you and Ajax have grown taller, though Ajax towers over most of the other boys in your class now. Seeing him every day hasn't made the changes in his appearance very noticeable, but your mother never fails to comment on what a fine young man he's growing up to be. Though you usually brush her off with a grossed-out expression and giggle, you often hear your mother's voice in your head repeating "What? Don't you find Ajax handsome?".

To be honest, you've only grown closer with Ajax, especially in the past few years. Though your temper has definitely mellowed out in the sense that you do less punching, you still feel just as protective over Ajax. Even at the big age of twelve, kids are still mean. Ajax doesn't cry when people make jokes about his timidness anymore, but you know that it can't hurt any less.

"Why don't you ever say anything back to them?" you asked Ajax one day after school, as the two of you walked home together.

"That would make me no better than them." Ajax shrugged. "There's enough of that at home already. After fighting with my siblings all the time I don't have the energy to yell at anyone else."

You shook your head and sighed, "Don't you want to though? Don't you want to point out Maksim's ugly hairline?"

Ajax chuckled, "His hairline really is ugly, isn't it. It's not as bad as his unibrow though!"

"See?" you exclaimed. "It feels good! Who cares about being the bigger person!"

"Okay, okay, you're right," Ajax admitted, reaching up to adjust the scarf that was falling off of your shoulder. The thing about Ajax growing so much taller, is that his coat sleeves quickly became much too short to cover his whole arm. As Ajax reached his arm up to fix your scarf, the sleeve of his coat stretched down, revealing a pretty nasty bruise on his forearm.

Once you notice it, you grab his hand gently, pushing up the coat sleeve to inspect the bruise.

"'Jax, how the hell did you get this?" you asked.

You noticed Ajax's face turn red as he yanked his arm back and hid it behind his back.

"A-ah, don't worry about this. I fell the other day" he stuttered.

You raised an eyebrow but decided not to try and push him any further, though you'll definitely be paying closer attention from now on.

"Okay," you said. "By the way, I won't be able to walk home with you tomorrow, I have to stay after school for the literature club."

"Sure," Ajax exhaled. You both watched as the fog from his breath dissipated into the air.

You're not surprised when you hear a knock on your window the next evening. Ajax crawling in through your window was a regular occurrence, and you usually spent Friday nights hanging out.

"Hey," you said as you opened the window for him.

"Hi, how was literature club?" Ajax asked. He was a little bit winded, but you just assumed it was from climbing the tree outside your window.

"It was fine, we're reading The Boar Princess right now- Ajax?" you rushed over to his side once you noticed his legs all but crumple beneath him. Ajax groaned as you wrapped an arm under his shoulders and guided him to sit on your bed.

"Sorry," Ajax whimpered, clutching his side. "Sorry, I'm sorry, I didn't know where else to go."

"What happened?"

"Just-" he sucked in a breath as he laid back on your bed. "Just got caught alone by a couple of the guys after school today. Kicked me around pretty good."

"Show me," you demanded. You push at the hem of his shirt with shaking hands, unable to stop yourself from gasping when you see the array of purple and blue bruises littering Ajax's abdomen. "I'll be right back."

You returned with ice packs and a small first aid kit, promptly getting to work on healing Ajax's wounds the best you could.

"Shit," Ajax whispered under his breath. "Y/n, I promise, it's really not that bad-"

"Why didn't you tell me?" you asked, and god, your voice is shaking too.

"I'm sorry," Ajax repeated for what seemed like the thousandth time. "It's not because I didn't trust you. I didn't want you to worry. And I didn't want to get my parents involved."
"Your parents?" you asked, genuinely confused. "Why wouldn't you want to get your parents involved?"
Ajax froze in place for a moment, and you looked up at his face just in time to watch his expression drop to a frown. "You know, they've been under a lot of stress lately. Teucer was just born a few months ago and my sister is getting married soon. I don't want to add to any of that."

It sounds like a lie, and you both know it.

"Okay," you said, putting on the last bandage and closing the first-aid kit. "You're going to sleep, and in the morning you're going to give me a real answer."

"Here?" Ajax asked.

"Do you want to climb back down that tree?"

"Fine," he said, finally allowing his eyes to flutter shut and his exhausted brain to fall asleep.