Bruce wondered where Tony was.

It had been a quiet evening, but the air was full of tension, left brewing from the argument the team had had the other day. And the day before, and the day before that. In fact, the whole week had been stressful, between the arguments, and the whispered conversations, and the avoiding each other, and of course, saving the world.

The 'conversations' started pleasant, then into a mild protest, and then the heat would rise up and arguing would begin, shouting, choosing sides. And almost every one of the arguments ended up with a finger at Stark.

Yesterday, after defeating Emilgard and her army of robots, things had turned nasty. Pressure was already being built because apparently, they hadn't known Emilgard was a girl and Steve had incidentally started dating her. Stark must've realized that she was controlling the robots, and full on tackled her, with Steve confused and defensive, not knowing that Tony was trying to protect him. Tony had tried to tell him, but Steve either wouldn't give him the time of day, or deemed him a liar, jealous and impulsive.

The city was safe, but harsh words were thrown, about how Tony had been reckless and uncommunicative, and while Bruce had stood up for his friend, his voice could hardly be heard through Clint, Natasha and Steve's yelling, (Thor was in New Mexico visiting Jane) and Stark had slunk away, most likely taking a bottle of scotch with him.

Bruce got up, nobody had seen Tony since the argument, and went to check if his friend was okay. But to his surprise, Tony wasn't locked in his lab.

"Jarvis, where's Tony?"

Jarvis's calm British accent was laced with something else as he said, "Mister Stark is on the roof, he would not like to have company." This sunk in for a moment, and Bruce got the grasp of what that meant. He swore, "Shit! Tell the whole team to get on the roof right now and tell them to be careful! Stark's trying to kill himself!" He raced into the elevator and it rose. He willed it to go faster.

His pulse picked up and as panic filled him, he could feel 'the other guy' bleed through, but Bruce calmed himself, and as the doors slid open with a soft 'ding', it took all his will not to race out, instead he took soft, even steps into the cool night. The bright city skyline was impressive from the height, but he couldn't see Tony. Was he too late? No, he could see a figure at the very edge of the roof, and as he neared cautiously, he could see how his friend was transfixed on the street below where the rush of cars became tiny beads of light.

"Tony…" He said, not wanting to startle the man, and Tony looked up from his trance-like gaze, looking right at him. Bruce took a deep breath and gulped, "Tony, st-step away from the edge." He tried to make his voice calm and controlled, but couldn't help but tremble, his voice wavering. His friend looked back down at the street and asked, "Why?"

"Well, because you, need to live." How was this not a given? Bruce thought desperately.

"Why? It's not like my life's ever made a difference." Tony snapped, giving a small bitter laugh, "Why should I live? I don't deserve to."

Bruce didn't know what to say, how could you answer a question like that? "What? Of course you deserve to live! How can you think that?!"

"Because that's the truth, and you know that."

The elevator doors slid open, and the service door was flung open as well, apparently Clint hadn't wanted to wait for the elevator. "What the hell do you think you're doing?!" Clint cried as he skidded to a stop next to Bruce. But Tony only snorted, "What do you think?"

"Stark, don't do this." Natasha's even-tempered voice commanded.

"You shouldn't care! I'm a killer, I'm a selfish bastard, and I don't deserve to live!"

"Of course we care! We all care about you!" Bruce protested.

Tony only shuffled forward.

"Don't you dare!" Clint shouted.

This was when Steve spoke, "Stark, step away from the edge. Come inside, and we can talk about this."

"No! Don't you see? I can't go inside, not like the other times! I cant be weak, my father told me that. Don't be weak, be a man like Captain America! There's a man to be proud of! Can't even kill yourself all the way, disgusting." Steve looked as if he had had a punch to the gut, but Bruce was too stunned by the first part. How many times has he stood up here?

"You know, I thought it was getting better," Tony continued, "I stopped having nightmares, I even thought, that maybe I could trust you, I thought that I could actually be a superhero, make up for all the things I've done. But you're right, if I take off the suit, what am I? I'm a killer, I'm weak, I'm a coward, and I endanger the team!"

Clint and Natasha exchanged glances, and slowly moved forward.

"Look, I know you're confused and hurt, but we can help you. We can sort this out." Steve tried to keep Tony's attention as the two master assassins continued to creep towards where he stood to try to restrain him. But Tony whipped around and saw their approach. "Stay away from me!" he cried and took another small step back. Seeing how unstable Stark was, they both paused and tried a different tactic. "Tony, we've all killed many people, and you are doing the right thing, you're a good guy, and you are a superhero, not a killer." Natasha soothed, but in vain.

"Have you destroyed a city of villagers in the middle east when you were eight? I watched them die, because of the bomb I built and designed! Most of my life I spent drinking and gambling while the weapons I made created wars and killed too many lives. I still hear the screams of the men I burned alive as I left the perfect example of good and courage behind, bleeding out for me. All I've ever been good at is making weapons; all I'm good for is killing." Tony's words were choked, filled with anger and desperation and pleading, "You don't need someone like me."

"I need you." Bruce was startled by the strength in his voice. "You helped me become who I am, you were the one who accepted the Hulk and encouraged me to keep control and accept him too. I need you, because otherwise, SHIELD would have me locked up like a monster, and I would have no one who trusts me, and I wouldn't be safe from Ross." He took a deep breath and continued, "It was you, Tony, who took the missile into space, sacrificed your life for us, and we wouldn't be standing here without you. I need you. Tony, come away from the edge." His friend looked uncertain, and looked behind him, at the drop that faced him with only one more step. Bruce was crying openly now, but he didn't care. Everything was quiet for a moment.

And Tony took a step forward.

Bruce was hesitant at first, and he moved toward Tony,

And his best friend was in his arms, shuddering and sobbing into his shoulder, and Bruce held him, gripped him tight. An audible sigh of relief came from the others, but Tony didn't glance at them once as Bruce supported and guided him into the elevator and into Starks king sized bed.

After making sure Tony was comfortable, he turned to leave, but Tony whispered, "Don't go." And so he hesitantly slid under the covers, and his friend was sound asleep, gripping his hand tightly.