Peter wanted to be alone, but Ned refused to let him be. Would you after finding your friend hurting himself or herself? Ned knew better than to leave him alone while May was working as no one knew what Peter would do. It was clear that Peter was depressed as it was written all over his face.
"Ned, I'm fine," Peter protested. "You can go home."
"No, I can't," his friend said. "You're scaring me. In fact, you're scaring everyone."
"Define everyone."
"Mr. Stark called me while having an anxiety attack because you left with no warning."
Peter sighed and covered his face with his hands. "Why though?"
"He loves you more than he loves himself," Ned explained and tok a deep breath. "When he came back, he wasn't even himself. He drank and drank. How do I know that? He called May in literal tears, sobbing because he lost you. He explained everything."
"What are you saying?" Peter asked softly. He looked at Ned and waited for answer.
"Peter, I'm not trying to scare you or anything but if he loses you again, he won't come back from that. Knowing his history, he would go back to alcohol or worse."
"What's worse?"
Ned swallowed his pride and took a deep breath. "I can't say..."
"Why?"
"He made me promise that I wouldn't…" Ned noticed his friend starting to cry.
"I—I wasn't trying to hurt anyone," Peter cried and revealed both of his stained wrist. "This…this tells me that I'm alive, you know?"
"It's not healthy, bud."
Peter sighed and stood up. "I got to go…"
"Actually, Mr. Stark is on his way. He wants to talk to you about everything,"
Fuck.
Tony walked into the Parker's apartment and locked the door behind him. "Hey, Pete, come out here. I just want to talk." He looked around the place for a sign of him. He grew worried. "Pete, please."
Suddenly, he heard a door open and Peter came out. He sat on the couch as he continued to avoid eye contact.
"I know you're upset with me and I get it, but you don't understand because—"
"…Because I'm just a kid," Peter interjected. 'I know. It's just…I trusted you."
Tony sat next to the boy and pulled him into a hug. "I know…trust me, but I had no other choice. I'm not going to erase her from your life. She's been here for you longer than I have and not telling her is like betraying the promise I made."
"What promise?"
"I promised that I would make sure that you are safe physically, emotionally, and mentally. That's not only I made to her, but it's a promise that I made to myself," Tony sighed and pulled away, looking down. "…Because if something happened to you again, I won't be able to come back from that. I was so close to…"
Peter looked down and gulped. "Close to what?"
"I made a deal with myself that if I failed to get you back and I lived, I would…"
"You would kill yourself?"
The older man nodded and sighed. "I shouldn't even be talking about this with you. But knowing that you're suffering and not knowing what to do sucks. You know that I love you with all my heart."
Peter nodded. "It tells me that I'm alive…"
"What does?"
"It's nothing, Tony." The kid said and scooted away.
The older man tried to hold his hand, but a jerk bolted out. "You know that you can tell me anything, right?"
"You'll judge me." The kid said as his voice broke. Seeing Peter cry would break anyone's heart.
"No, no, no I won't."
The kid sighed. "If you say so." He rolled up his sleeves as new mark showed.
"Hey, let's get the first aid kit and get this fixed up, and we can watch movies on the couch until we fall asleep. Is that okay?"
"Okay, I'll call May I guess."
The older man ruffled the kid's hair and walked away as Peter dialed the number.
"May…No, I'm not alone. Ned and Tony are here…okay, I got it. I'm not hungry…look, I'm fine, okay? I love you, too. Bye." He threw the phone across the couch.
"Pete, is it okay if I stay?" Ned asked.
Before he could answer, Tony came back. "Yay, it's a party!"
"Okay, I'm taking that as a yes.
A few minutes into the movie, Tony was looking over to Peter to make sure he's doing okay. He knew that Ned was there, but it didn't feel right leaving when he knew what Peter can do. Ned was right, he did love the kid like a son.
"Mr. Stark," Ned called. "Can I talk to you for a minute?"
Tony nodded and left the room since Peter was sleeping, and they went to Peter's room. "Yeah, what's up?"
"I don't how to help him," Ned said and sighed. "I want to, but I don't know how I can."
"Support him through this," Tony said. "Well, try to. He's one of the purest kids in the world, you know that."
"Yeah, I mean, he doesn't even fight back in school. I do the fighting. He tried before, but it didn't go so well…"
They should've whispered as Peter woke up to their conversation and heard every word.
"…Can I be honest?" Ned continued with a question.
"Sure." Tony said.
"I don't know if I can help him, you know? I have friends and this sounds horrible, but he's kind of ruining it for everyone else…"
Peter went by the door and sighed. He knew it was no use to try to explain, so he just went to May's room and laid down on her bed. The walls were paper thin so every word that was being said wouldn't go unnoticed especially when his senses are up to eleven.
"I mean, he's my best friend and he's a great human-being, but I don't know if I can be around him." Ned finished.
"Ned, he needs you. Don't do this to him, okay?"
