Ajax is just a junior in high school, just there to get in and get out. She keeps to herself and stays behind the scenes but that changes when she's assigned to work with Peter Parker on a project. She's had her eyes on him since freshman year but n...
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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?
