How Far We've Come

Chapter One

Two Weeks Earlier

Peter woke up around ten am. It was an early wake up for a Saturday morning, but he wanted to get some time in the gym before his dads made their way down here.

He hated working out when they were down here.

Most of the time, it was amazing having Iron Man and Captain America as fathers. Tony was one of the brightest minds on the planet. Steve was one of the bravest men alive. Together, they were terrific parents and Peter loved them wholeheartedly.

However, working out with them was miserable. Steve could run Peter's set fifteen times without breaking a sweat and lift all of the barbells in the room without even straining. Tony usually chose to work out alone (3 am was his favorite workout time), but when Tony did work out with them, he could hold his own against Peter.

At first, Peter thought it was because Tony was too stubborn to admit that Peter had better endurance thanks to the spider bite, but recently, there was evidence that it was because his dad was genuinely in better shape.

His dad was in better shape than he was. His 100% human dad could out stamina him.

It was embarrassing.

Peter was reaching five miles on the treadmill, sweat speckling his forehead, and decided to call it, take a break. His heels were sore and he felt dizzy when his feet finally found solid ground. He should have drunk water before he started running.

Peter glanced up in the floor-length mirrors lining one wall of the gym. Watched as he drank half the water bottle, as his stomach filled and bloated. He sucked it in. Even while breathing shallowly and holding his organs in as tight as possible, he wasn't as toned as Tony. He certainly wasn't as buff as Steve.

He looked like an average teenager who loved pizza. Not a superhero.

For the umpteenth time that week, Peter wondered why he had to look the way he looked. He didn't mind his face; nothing special but nothing horrifyingly repulsive either, but he had never loved his body. He was too small there, not big enough here, and just an awkward-looking doofus when next to his dads. Like the ugly duckling, but instead of a duckling next to two swans, he felt like a malformed baby dodo plopped between a hawk and a bald eagle. Well, Steve wasn't really the bald eagle type, more an aggressive duck, but whatever. The point stood.

And don't get it wrong; Peter knew he was adopted. He knew there was a reason why he didn't have Steve's kind smile or Tony's clever eyes. Why he hadn't inherited either Steve's blond locks or Tony's jet black hair, but instead his own shade of mousy, bland brown.

But he knew he couldn't fix any of those things. His hair, his eyes, his face... those were unchangeable variables.

But he could change his body. He could fix that.

Next, he took to the barbells. Steve had shown him how to use them properly a few times (all the different types of reps) but until now Peter had always done his own thing. Now, he was ready to start taking his workouts seriously.

An hour had passed, and Peter ran a total of twelve miles and did so many sit-ups, push-ups, and lifting exercises that he could barely see through the sweat dripping down his face. It stung his eyes and a scratch on his jaw.

He looked in the mirror one more time.

His hair was matted to his temples, and his clothes were drenched. Peter looked like he had been swimming, not running. He lifted his shirt and examined his torso for progress. Theoretically, he knew his body wouldn't change at all in one intense workout. But he was Spider-Man after all. Maybe Spider-Man's body changed after one workout.