~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Peter ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Peter wakes less then half and hour later. His eyes feel dry and arms empty. The sky outside still dark from the early morning and dark clouds of a early spring storm.

He blinks a few times, sitting up and rubbing sleep from his eyes. Peter stares at the blank screen of the television. Trying to remember what happened last night. He's silent for a long two minutes before jerking forward, in a rush to stand up.

"Wade?" He calls out in slight panic.

He arachnid is met with an unfamiliar silence in the well sized apartment.

"Wade!" Peter calls again, moving quickly through the connected rooms until he gets to the hall of their shared bedroom. He freezes when he hears the sound of running water. Peter backtracks out of the the room to stand outside the bathroom door. "Wade?" He says again much more calmed but still in an anxious tone.

"I'm in here," Wade confirms, his voice slightly muffled by the wall dividing the two soul mates.

Peter tries the doorknob quietly, relaxing as he realizes it's open. He enters the warm, humid room. Glancing at the foggy mirror taking up a good portion of the wall. He goes to flick on the fan in the new bathroom but stops. It would only make talking to Wade harder. He leaves the door open a few inches instead.

"Sorry, I didn't want to wake you. You were finally sleeping." Wade says glancing past the curtain to look at Peter who had jumped up to sit on the counter parallel to the tub. "Do you want to come in?"

Peter nods. He's quick to undress, his clothes joining the floor next to Wade's suit he had woken up in. Peter moves the curtain aside enough to step over the side of the tub.

Peter's grey eyes look over Wade's body. The familiar form and build comforting the the unstable arachnid. Peter closes the small distance between them to hug his mercenary. Guilt rushing through him along with frustration and anger at himself.

"I'm sorry." Peter whispers into Wade's shoulder.

"It's alright Baby Boy." Wade reassures. His scarred fingers running through Peter's soft hair.

Oh have the tables turned. Peter had always been the stable one. The controlled, always doing the right thing. The good thing. He used to be able to control himself. To look down on killing.... Now he's the one who has to be held back. Restrained. Feared...

Peter shakes his head. No. It's not okay. It's everything but okay. He's disgusted with himself. With what he is. What he had allowed himself to become. It's his fault he let himself go, became greedy. Just wanted to feel healthy for a while. To feel fed and warm. Now he can't be trusted to be his city's favored vigilante. To be an Avenger. To protect.

He wishes he had control. Wishes he could make himself stop. To want to stop while doing the act.

"I'm so sorry Wade. I wish you wouldn't do that. I don't want to hurt you."

"You don't hurt me. You're different when it's me. You're gentle." Wade says quietly in Peter's ear.

"You shouldn't know that. You should have never been harmed, Wade..." Peter says in distress.

His light eyes glance from Wade's own dark blue to glance at the spot where he's allowed to hurt his Soulmate. He reaches a tentative hand to brush the small area of scarred skin only to pull his hand away when the Mercenary flinches.

Immediate guilt engulfs both males at the movement. Peter tries to pull himself away completely from Wade only to be stopped by the Anti-Hero holding him still. Peter doesn't try to resist Wade's arms as terms start to fall down his face.

His soulmate is afraid of him. Flinches away under Peter's touch. The arachnid never wanted this to happen. Never asked for such a thing.

"I'm so sorry. Please forgive me Wade. I'm sorry." Peter chokes out.

"I know. It's okay. If I really didn't want to, I wouldn't do it Peter. You don't make me do it. I make the choice myself." Wade says as he grabs the shampoo, not wanting all the warm water to go to waste. "I promise im won't let you do something I don't want to do. I'm trying to stop you from hurting innocents Peter. I'll heal from your bite. They won't."

"I'm sorry,"

"I know Peter... I know." Wade says as he starts to suds up Peter's brown hair.

Peter doesn't reply. Letting the other care for him. The arachnid looks at Wade's scars as the mercenary continues to Rinse his hair. Noticing how the scars are starting to look angrier. They're more frequent and look more painful.

The memory of caring for the Mercenary over a year ago when he had found Wade almost asleep sitting against a wall. He remembers how he had brought his soulmate back home, discovering how torturously sore Wade was from the scars. How bad they pained him.

"Wade. Your starting to hurt more again." Peter says. His attention no longer concerned with his mistakes but rather Wade's current and clearly degrading comfort.

"It's fine for now." Wade says. "It doesn't hurt now."

"Is it going to be bad again?" Peter asks in concern. He wanted to be ready to take care of Wade this time. To know in time what he would need.

Wade doesn't answer Peter for a long time. "It's going to be a while before it starts to be painful."

"You mean until you start to show your not able to hide your pain." Peter corrects sadly.