Behind closed doors

Chapter 26

"He is clearly malnourished; with his fast metabolism and limited food he is clearly underweight. Because of this, his healing is slowed remarkably and that's why his injuries have yet to clear. From what we can work out, these injuries were received Thursday or Friday."

Everyone felt their stomachs drop when they heard this. Both Tony and Bucky had known something was wrong. And yet they had been unable to do anything. And knowing that what had happened ended with Peter having the shit beaten out of him was not something they were very happy about.

"There are many bruises across the whole of his body, his right wrist has a hairline fracture and some old fractures that healed wrong," Doctor Cho explains, looking at them all as she ends her explanation of the injuries Peter had received.

Bucky felt as though he was seconds away from throwing up. This was- this was bad, and it was obvious this had been going on for a while. He had known Peter was getting bullied, and he knew it was bad. But surely it couldn't have been this bad, Bucky had tried so hard to make sure Peter was okay, but it was more than obvious now how much he had failed to be a big brother and protect Peter.

Tony wanted to kill someone to put it lightly. How dare someone think they have any right hurting Peter. Much like Bucky, he knew Peter was getting bullied, but he had never expected it to be this bad. Sure, he could see the bruises when Peter came to the tower, and sometimes he would have his questions, but he never wanted to push too much, knowing how much Peter hated when Tony brought it up.

"Do you know how all this happened?" Sam was the one to ask the question they all had.

Doctor Cho sighed sadly before responding, "he said it had been from bullies and patrol. But I really don't know, sure it explains some of it but not everything. Such as his old unhealed wounds and the malnourishment."

"Well he only has his aunt, and from the sounds of it they've always struggled with money, so that might explain the malnourishment," Bucky spoke up, hating that he was having to say this about his brother. He always tried to make sure Peter had something to eat when he was with Bucky.

Tony looked at Bucky shocked for a moment before voicing something himself, "same thing when he was here. And he never really spoke about his aunt, spoke more about his uncle and such. May, his aunt sounds nice from what I hear, but it's very limited knowledge."

Bucky nods in agreement, "Peter really liked his Uncle. I never head much about his Aunt, he kept quiet when it came to her, but some things I got from him didn't make her sound like the best, but then again it was right around the time his uncle had just passed."

Wanda was the one to say what everyone didn't want to say, "you all aren't seriously suggesting it was his aunt. Are you?"

Bucky and Tony looked at one and another. This was the first time the pair had ever looked each other in the eye once Tony had known what Bucky had done to his parents.

Tony could see the worry, sorrow, love and guilt all within his eyes. He could see just how much Peter meant to Bucky, and from the looks of it, how worried he was for the kid. He could also see the guilt that was pointed at Tony, showing just how sorry he really was for everything that had happened to Tony, and from the looks of it, the guilt he held for allowing this to happen to Peter.

Bucky could see near the same looks within Tony. Knowing the man loved Peter as though he was his own son, and the guilt he had for blaming Bucky for everything that had happened with no thought of the control Bucky really had through the whole ordeal.

Both men could see just how much Peter meant to them both, and they knew this would be something that would bring both of them together and allow for them to move on with their life.