Mr. Stark, I'm not okay

Relapse

He had been doing so well. So very well. No panic attacks, no cutting, no anxiety for almost two months. And yet, here he sat, hyperventilating on his bedroom floor with a blade in his hand, erasing all of the progress he had made these past weeks. Back to square one. 

They had all handled his coming out well. Very well actually. Steve had patted Peter on his back and said something like "I'm proud of you son", Natasha had only smiled since that meant she was right about Peter being in love. Sam had in defeat handed over 20 dollars to Clint, which had made Peter somewhat uncomfortable. Tony had just sat there, radiating proud dad energy, ready to hurt anyone who didn't accept his mentee. 

Of course, all of them wanted to meet the guy who had made the teen they all cared about so much, so happy. So Wanda suggested that they'd invite him over for dinner. And that's what Peter did. In an hour Harley was supposed to come over and have dinner with Peters 'family'. He had one hour to clean up his arm and pull himself together. 

But maybe he could let himself a moment of weakness? Just a few minutes to let it all out before he had to be strong again. The blade stung as Peter pushed it deep inside his arm, but he didn't care. "Sweet release where have you been?" He whispered to himself before opening another wound.

30 minutes until Harley came. Peter forced himself off the floor, into the bathroom. Clean the cuts, bandage them in case they opened. Get dressed, jeans and a long-sleeved shirt. Splash some cold water in his face. The signs of crying were still there, but much more subtle. 

"Pete! get down to the kitchen" Sam knocked on the bedroom door. "Uh, coming" Peter panicked. Shit. His boyfriend was supposed to come in ten minutes and instead of spending those ten minutes preparing for a very awkward and anxious night, he had to get down to his family.

"Hey Petey, what do you think?" Bruce asked as Peter stepped into the kitchen. All of the avengers lined up, looking put together and like a total mess at the same time. Wanda and Nat were both wearing flowy floral dresses, one of those everybody knew Natasha hated. Tony had put on clothes that weren't oily for once and everybody else were wearing jeans and a shirt. Bucky had even putten on a glove to hide his metal arm just in case Harley got freaked out, even tho Peter had assured him that wasn't going to happen.

"Peter, what's wrong? You've been crying!" Natasha instantly dropped her smile. "What, i-" Peter started to explain but got interrupted by all of the avengers kneeling beside him, trying to make him feel alright. "Panic attack?" Someone asked, "You should come to talk to us", the room filled with questions about the recent hour. 

"Enough!" Clint finally screamed, making everybody else quiet down. "Did something happen?" Tony asked. Peter shook his head no, making everybody in the room realize what had happened. "Did you hurt yourself?" Sam whispered. Before Peter answered he hesitated for a moment. The cuts were deep, but with his healing, they would be long gone in the morning. All he had to was avoid this conversation until the morning.

"TONY!" Harley screamed as the elevator doors opened. "Harley?" Tony asked confused. "Wait, you two know each other?" Wanda asked the question everybody was thinking. "Yea, I kinda saved his life" Harley bragged as he walked over to his boyfriend to give him a big hug. Peter hugged back tightly, ignoring the Avengers giggling over the adorable couple.

"I didn't realize you were THAT Harley," Tony said. "By the way, you did not save my life" He continued. "Sure I did!" Harley insisted, making everybody laugh.

The dinner was fun, everybody was laughing and talking, joking about how a kid saved Tony's life. "For the last time, he didn't save my life, I saved my own!" Tony exclaimed annoyed. "You saved it with the help of Harley" Peter pointed out laughing.

In the middle of all the fun, Peter couldn't help but feel a sting of jealously as his boyfriend and d̶a̶d̶, Mentor was bonding over memories, and he felt a bit left out.

"Alright, this has been fun, but I gotta get home" Harley got up from the table. "Bye!" Everybody said as he got into the elevator. "And my sister is still mad at you for ruining her watch!". Tony only rolled his eyes.

"We can do the dishes tomorrow," Natasha said, getting up from her chair. "goodnight!" Peter bolted out of his chair, desperate to get to his room, away from confrontation. "Woah, not that fast" Bucky stopped him from leaving, grabbing his left arm tightly, making Peter scream in pain. 

Everybody froze, looking at Peter, horrified. Bucky dragged the teen down on a chair, so he was surrounded by the heroes. "FRI, lock the doors," Sam said. The kitchen doors closed and locked, making it impossible for Peter to escape. 

Tony pulled the kid's sleeve up so that they had a clear view of his arm. Carefully he started to unwrap the gauze around the wounds. Everybody was just sitting there, staring at the cuts. Peter trying so hard to hold back silent tears. "Okay, alright, it's alright, we're gonna fix this" Tony mumbled, nodding towards Bruce, who had gotten a first aid kit. 

"Pete, how deep did you go?" Bruce asked, mostly to himself as he started examining the cuts. "I didn't hit any veins" Peter tried as an excuse. "Not this time," Tony said and nodded towards a big scar that went right over a vein. That cut had made Bucky find Peter unconscious. 

"This is gonna sting" Bruce warned before cleaning the wounds with a sterile liquid. It did sting, but Peter welcomed that pain gratefully. The others could see how much more relaxed the boy got when the cuts started hurting. They wanted to cry, break something, scream. Scream at Peter, because why hadn't he trusted them? Why did he do something like that? Something that could make them lose him. But they couldn't cry, couldn't scream. Every single one in the room had to put on their brave faces and help the teen. 

"We're not mad Petey," Wanda said with a sad smile. "Just surprised, we thought you were better" Steve chimed in. "I was better, but I- I don't know, I just got so sad and stressed and-" "No need to worry, people relapse, that's a part of it. Just know that we are all so proud of the progress you've made, and this doesn't mean you are back where you started," Tony comforted with a pat on Peter back. "Okay" Peter said.