How Far We've Come

Chapter Twelve

Steve felt anxious for an entirely new reason while he pulled his clothes on, struggling to get the fabric over his damp skin.

Peter was... he wasn't eating. He was exercising excessively. He was passing out and sleeping more.

And if Jarvis's most recent report was to be trusted, Peter had stopped healing.

This was so much worse than Steve could have imagined.

"My scans tell me Master Peter's healing process is approximately 143% slower than it usually is due malnutrition and dehydration."

"Tony, should we call Bruce?"

Tony shook his head, running his fingers over his facial hair. "No. Not yet. Peter will want a chance to work on this without the Avengers knowing first." Before he could stop himself, Tony smacked his fist against the wall. "Fuck! This was never good. Nothing about this is good. But if he's stopped healing... Steve, he's so much further along than we thought he was. He's must have been doing this for at least a week or two. Maybe even longer."

"And I didn't notice," Steve murmured.

"Steve, no one would know to look for this. This wasn't in the manual the adoption agency gave us. We didn't know."

Steve pulled the final layer over his head, a knit sweater that was big, even on him. He loved it.

"Ready?"

Tony held a hand up for Steve to wait. "Before we do this... Jarvis, give me everything you have on talking to someone with an eating disorder. I want things to say, things not to say, statistics, treatment plans, all of it. Give me as much as you can in two minutes. Go."

"According to the National Eating Disorders Association, young men make up 25% of people diagnosed with anorexia nervosa and are more likely to..."

#

Peter was curling up into his ninety ninth sit up when someone knocked on his door.

"Uh, just a minute!"

He swore and rapidly scanned the room for some clothes. He had done the sit ups in his underwear to keep his clothes from getting all sweaty.

He pulled an oversized t-shirt over his head and stumbled into a clean pair of pajama pants.

"Peter?" Came Steve's voice. "We need to talk."

Peter sighed in relief. Even though he would rather eat thumb tacks than have this talk with his dads, he couldn't help the stress leaving his body at the sound of Steve's voice. He sounded normal.

The cold episode was over.

"Coming! Just a second!"

Quickly, Peter wiped his sweaty brow on the edge of the bedspread before cracking his door open.

Tony and Steve stood there, both eerily quiet and pensive.

"Yeah, what's up? I, uh, I did what you asked Dad so can I-"

Tony shook his head and Peter's chest hollowed. He felt like his heart was going to stop any minute now.

Oh.

They were actually going to have the talk.

And there was no way to get out of it.

Peter glanced at the elevator. Too far.

He could slam the door in their faces, buy enough time to lock the bathroom door. But Jarvis would unlock the doors since all the locks in the tower were automated.