How Far We've Come

Chapter Nine

"Is pizza okay?" Steve held up two menus, one in each hand. "We can order from that Italian place your dad likes so much. Or that hole in the wall down the block. You pick."

Peter grimaced. Neither. He wanted neither. "Uh, the hole in the wall." Smaller slices.

Steve nodded and called in the order. Tony had insisted Steve eat meals with their son to foster father-son bonding in light of the clusterfuck of that morning. Steve wasn't sure why meals were the answer- not training or something else- but he wasn't going to argue with spending more time with his kid.

Especially when every time Steve saw him, he looked... less, somehow. Less like Peter. Less present.

Steve shook the thought away and went to tidy up the kitchen. Anything to keep his mind from getting stuck in a rut that something is wrong with Peter something is wrong with Peter something is wrong with Peter.

Meanwhile, Peter had slipped off to his new favorite place to hide.

The bathroom.

It was quiet, it had a lock, and he could spend absurd amounts of time in there without any questions.

Steve and Tony probably thought he had indigestion or Playboys tucked away somewhere. The last one made Peter's stomach curdle. But he needed to keep up the illusion. His mirror pep talks were the most effective way for him to keep up his diet.

Peter gave himself his latest pep talk while Steve went to the front door to get the pizza.

"You are stronger than this," he murmured to his reflection, taking all of it in. His sallow skin, his plump cheeks grandmothers loved to pinch, his wide eyes. He was equal parts terrified of dinner, equal parts exhilarated.

If he could get away with eating nothing, he was back on track.

If he ate pizza... he would need to find a way to undo it. Just like this morning.

This was a challenge. A puzzle. A basic math problem.

Peter plus too much bad food equaled a useless superhero.

Peter minus bad food equaled someone who could save the world, just like his dads.

"You can do this. It's no big deal."

"Peter!" Steve yelled from the kitchen. "Pizza!"

Peter took one last look at his face. Picked out the areas that would be improved upon without pizza in his system. His jaw would be stronger, his cheeks less childlike. He would look like a man, not a boy.

"Coming, Pops!" Peter replied and emerged from the bathroom. "Hey, can we watch a movie while we eat?"

Steve's face broke into a smile. "Sure. You pick."

Peter grinned back.

Pro tip: it was easier to not eat when someone was watching the TV instead of you.

It worked perfectly. Peter would take a fake bite, chew, and pull off pieces of the pizza slice and shove them into his napkin.

Steve was watching the movie, completely oblivious.

At least that's what Peter thought.

#

"Tony, are you busy?"

Tony glanced up at Clint, phone to his ear, and cocked an eyebrow. They were in the middle of a game of high stakes poker while Nat took one for the team by letting the rookie from S.H.I.E.L.D. debrief her. She was then going to repeat the useful bits to Tony, Clint, and Thor. Rapunzel himself would meet them on location.