Tony sent Flash home after the two teen boys had been talking for a while. He had opened the door after politely insisting that both May and Ned go to the cafeteria to get some food and/or coffee that wasn't shit, and saw the two teens looking as though some big confession of sorts was made.

"Woah, did I interrupt something here," Tony said, hands going up in a mock surrender, causing the two teens to look at him. Flash looked as though he wanted to tell him something, but a quick flutter of his eyes to Peter and back told the billionaire that whatever the, hopefully former, bully wanted to say, Peter wouldn't like. Peter just looked dead tired, but he gave a smile to Tony, even though the man could easily see it was forced.

"Time for Eugene here to head home," Tony said, patting Flash on the back, making him stand, and ushering him out of the room. Tony looked at Peter, who let his smile fall when he thought Tony was gone. Shutting the door behind him, he used gentle persuasion, i.e. lightly shoved the kid against a wall, to make the kid tell him whatever he was afraid to. Flash whimpered, but didn't say anything.

"What doesn't Peter want me to know?"

"He doesn't want anyone to know, I'm sorry Mr. Stark."

"Alright kid."

"R-really?"

"No, what? You think that just because Peter doesn't want me to know something means I'm never going to find out? Either you tell me now, Eugene, or this will get ugly," Tony said, pushing his tone into one that screamed he was utterly serious, and basically threatening the kid. Flash gulped before giving a stuttered answer.

"He didn't want anyone to know about what he said in the room."

"What, why?" Tony didn't have to fake being confused. I mean, why would Peter care what he said in that classroom, unless it was extremely embarrassing.

"You can't tell May, or Ned. Peter'll kill me," Flash said, obviously scared, even though he seemed to be trying to keep his tough guy image, yet failing. Tony's eyes just widened in surprise.

"What makes you say that?"

"Because he sounded like you, you know, earlier, when you were threatening me to stop messing with people or else." All Tony could do was blink in surprise. Never, and he means never, had he thought Peter could be scary. Serious, sure, annoying, definitely, but scary? The kid would be like a little puppy or kitten, trying to act all big and tough, but only ending up looking more adorable in the end.

"Okay kid, I won't tell May or Ned." Flash nodded and visibly let out a breath of relief, but Tony continued. "Unless I deem it necessary they know."

"No, no you don't understand, Peter will kill me, I'm certain. I mean, I'm not even sure I'll make it out alive telling you."

"Ah come on, it's Peter, how much damage could he do." Flash winced, almost as if remembering something.

"More than you'd think," Flash muttered to himself, but Tony caught it and filed under things to ask about later. "Please Mr. Stark."

"Fine kid, jeez, I won't tell another soul, okay? We good? Tell me."

"Allen was going to kill himself."

"Going to? He did."

"Yeah, but Peter tried talking him down, watched it fail. I can't even imagine…." Tony winced inwardly. It was one thing to talk to someone who felt hopeless, it was one thing to feel that hopelessness, but it was an entirely different thing to try to help someone come down off the ledge, but fail, forcing you to watch them fall. Tony couldn't even fathom what was running through Peter's mind, how he must be blaming himself for everything that happened.

"There's more to this, I know. I mean, why wouldn't Peter want anyone to know he tried to help Allen? I mean, if that doesn't make him look like more of a hero, I don't know what does." Flash nodded hesitantly, glancing around with a nervous gaze.

"It was what he was talking about, you know, to talk Allen down."

"Uh huh, go on." Tony was getting frustrated with this kid. Flash gulped and continued looking extremely nervous. Rolling his eyes, Tony huffed. "Spit it out!"

"Okay! Peter talked about knowing how Allen felt," Flash spat out, flinching back slightly. Tony looked at the teen with narrowed eyes before stepping away, letting Flash move away from the wall he was backed up against.

"What do you mean?"

"Peter was talking about what Allen must have been feeling, like, from experience or something. I mean, he, uh, he mentioned that, umm, that one time he, he was standing on a ledge, and uh, he was," Flash stuttered, ringing his hands together. Tony raised a hand, gesturing for him to stop.

"You can go home." Flash nodded rapidly before scurrying away. Tony sent a quick message to Happy, telling him to find the kid and give him a ride once the teen realized he actually had no ride home, you know, after the whole nervousness wore off slightly.

Tony couldn't believe, didn't want to believe, was Flash was saying. He couldn't see how Peter, happy, bouncing, always smiling and talking excitedly, could even think about….Tony sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"What am I going to do with you kid," Tony muttered under his breath. He opened the door a crack to see what Peter was doing, not really feeling comfortable leaving the boy unsupervised anymore. Peter was laying in bed, upper half slightly more elevated than the lower, head turned to the side, staring at the wall. He wasn't moving, wasn't fidgeting, barely looked like he was alive aside from the shaky breaths that he would draw in and let out every now and then. Tony felt his heart clench in pain, seeing how dead and tired Peter appeared, and he couldn't even see his face, with it turned away from him and all. Sighing, Tony opened the door and stepped in, shutting it softly behind him. He wandered to the foot of Peter's bed, clearing his throat to announce his presence. Peter turned his head, flashing a smile at Tony. The man flinched at the haunted look in Peter's eyes.

"Hey Mr. Stark. What brings you here today," Peter said, joking around, or trying to. His comical manner fell away as his face twisted in concern and confusion when Tony's face remained sorrowful.

"Kid," was all Tony could choke out. He cleared his throat again, sitting down in the chair, with Peter's permission, before running a hand over his face with a groan.

"Are you okay Mr. Stark? Is everyone okay? What's wrong? I know there's something wrong. Mr. Stark, seriously, tell me what's up," Peter said, trying to understand why his mentor looked so, something. Guilty maybe? Sad? Exhausted? Peter wasn't sure; he couldn't quite pick out just one emotion.

"I'm okay, everyone's okay, except for you." Peter looked a bit terrified, and completely confused.

"What's wrong with me? I mean, I'm healing, I feel fine, I feel healthy," Peter said, gesturing around with his arms, pointing at himself as well, as if to indicate that he looked fine.

"Physically, sure, mentally, I don't think so."

"What do you mean?" Peter didn't like where this was going.

"I think you know what I mean Peter."

"If you're talking about how I feel about being shot, or how I feel after watching a classmate kill two people, and take his own life, I mean, that's something. Hasn't hit me yet, not full force, but I'm pretty sure it will. I feel okay right now though."

"That's kind of what I'm getting at, but not really. I'm more talking about previous things that happened, or were happening. Peter, and be honest with me here; I know when you're lying, are you depressed?" Peter could only stare in shock at Tony. He gulped before giving a stammered answer.

"What? No, I don't think so, no. I mean, do I feel down in the dumps, sure, sometimes, I mean, who wouldn't? But I wouldn't go so far as to say depressed. I mean, that's pushing it," Peter said, nervous laughter bubbling to the surface. His answer did nothing to calm Tony, and only seemed to make the man more concerned, so Peter kept babbling, even when he tried to stop, until Tony interrupted him.

"That really didn't help your case at all. Peter, why didn't you let me know? Why don't you want Ned or May to know? It's not healthy keeping all this shit bottled up. Trust me, if anyone would know how bad that backfires, it's me." Peter looked down at his hands. He didn't want to see the disappointment he knew, he just knew, had to be written all across Tony's face. He didn't want to see how he had screwed up this time. He didn't want to face disappointing someone else he cared about, especially again after majorly screwing the pooch with the whole Vulture incident. Tears threatened to spill from his eyes as he sniffed and took a swipe at them with his hand.

"Kid, Pete, look at me. Peter, look at me," Tony commanded, though softly to not terrify Peter. He wasn't quite ready for Peter to look at him, guilt showing on his face, tears trailing down his cheeks. "Oh kid," Tony mumbled, feeling terrible for causing those tears.

"I'm sorry Mr. Stark."

"What for kid? You didn't do anything wrong." Peter sniffed again, wiping angrily at the tears.

"For letting you down." Tony's heart broke when he heard that.

"You didn't let me down kid. In fact, you're probably the strongest person I've met." That earned him an emotionless laugh from the teen in bed.

"Are you serious? I mean, I'm a mentally unstable teenage superhero who goes swinging around New York at night, fighting crime, in a onesie. I crack jokes when I shouldn't. I annoy people all the time; I mean why do you think I only have two friends? I was an idiot and got myself shot, and failed to save three people, who were right in front of me. I mean, if you insist, go for it, but I am not strong." Tony gave a sad sigh.

"But you saved so many people, not just fellow classmates, but every person you've ever helped while being Spidey. Every person sent safely home to their family and friends because you helped them. Every little kid reunited with their parents because of you. Every bad guys you take down saves countless lives. This is every day Peter. Not many people would risk their life every single night to save complete strangers. That, in my book, makes you strong Peter."

"The Avengers save people, cops save people, firefighters, paramedics, doctors, they all save people daily. I'm not special for doing it."

"You're fifteen. They have had years building up to who they are now, most having extensive training to be where they're at. You've had less than a year." Peter didn't respond. "What I'm trying to say kid is that if you weren't around, what would happen to everyone you've saved? What will happen to everyone you will save?" Still no response. "Keeping shit in doesn't help anyone, but I promise you, you are not letting me down in any sort of way if you're struggling. I understand what it feels like Peter. I know what it's like to not see a path that's worth trudging down."

"What?" Peter looked at the billionaire in shock. Tony gazed at him sadly, rubbing the back of his neck.

"I was in a rough place. I mean, I had problems from childhood and stuff that I never dealt with that probably made it worse in the long run, but when the dam broke, it exploded. It was after...after Afghanistan." Peter blinked in surprise. He could tell that it was hard for Tony to talk about and didn't want the man to have to recall that time.

"It's okay kid, it'll be a little bit of therapy for the both of us," Tony said, reading Peter's mind. "They wanted me to build weapons, the bad guys. I refused. You can kind of guess where that ends up." Peter grimaced.

"They killed my friend, Yinsen, who helped me break out of that hellhole. That's actually where Iron Man was first born." Tony could only give a small smile when he saw Peter, looking like a little kid, hanging onto every word he said like it was gold. "After that, I had some definite PTSD, nightmares, flashbacks, the whole shebang," Tony said with a humorless chuckle. "I was barely sleeping, I wasn't eating. I knew there were people who cared about me, but everything was so tiresome and heavy, if that makes sense. It felt like the world changed, like there wasn't anything there that I recognized, but I was the one who changed. Then someone close to me betrayed me, and I kind of lost it. I went on a bender, one of those self-destructive, don't give two shits kind of one. That landed me in hot water with Pepper and Rhodey."

"But you're Tony Stark, you're, I don't know, invincible!"

"Tell that to people close to me kid. Tell that to my brain. It got a bit better for a while, never stopped drinking though, but then there was the whole incident with the Invasion of New York, and let me tell ya', fighting aliens and flying a nuke into a hole in space-time to blow up the mothership gives you some major problems. It got dark. It got real dark and real bad, but I had people close to me who took notice and who helped me climb out of the hole I dug. Pepper, Rhodey, Happy, hell, even the Avengers to some extent, helped me out. I was down for the count, but the people who cared about me tore down those blackout shades I put up and helped me see that I would be missed. Sure, I still have problems, still drink a bit much, but I've gotten better. The moral of this little story is that no matter how many times your brain tells you people don't care, it's lying. Peter, you have people who care about you so much, your brain is just putting blinders up to make it hard to see."

"I don't even know what to say….I never, I never knew that, does anyone know about, everything? Besides Pepper and them?" Tony shook his head.

"Only Pepper and Rhodey really know how dark it got for me. No one else, besides you now, knows about anything below the surface layer. So don't go around that Tony Stark is human okay? People see me like a god and I'd like to keep that, makes me look good," he said with a smirk and Peter gave the smallest smile, but it fell away too quickly for Tony's liking. "Alright kid, out with it, what's going on?"

"It's just hard to smile." Tony thought about those words before thinking about something he really didn't want to.

"How much of your happy, bubbly, puppy-dog persona is real Peter? What I mean by this is, have you ever truly been that kind of happy since I've met you?" Peter sat still, probably thinking, before letting a breath out and looking at Tony with confusion on his face. There was also fear lurking behind his eyes.

"I don't know."

"That's not an answer Peter."

"I don't know okay?! I just, I have trouble figuring out what's real anymore," Peter mumbled quietly. Tony clench his jaw, knowing it was probably worse than he thought.

"When was the last time you truly, genuinely, felt happy, and I mean actual happiness that lasted for more than a minute or two." Peter shook his head.

"I dunno, a year maybe? I don't really remember."

"Pete…And no one knows?" The teen shook his head again.

"No," came the tiny, whispered reply.

"And here I was thinking you were bad at lying when you've been lying to the people closest to you for months." Peter flinched and Tony silently cursed himself for his choice of words. "Sorry, wrong thing to say."

"No, it's true. I've been lying to Aunt May, and Ned, and everyone for months, and not just about Spider-man."

"I can help you kiddo, you just have to let me do something first."

"What?"

"Let me tell May and Ned, or at least May."

"NO! She can't know."

"Why not?" Peter stammered before shrugging, looking down at his hands again.

"I dunno."

"Is it because you think it will change her view of you? Or how she acts around you? Or your relationship with her?" Tony wasn't sure what was running through Peter's head, so he tried a few things he had been afraid about.

"I'm not sure, I guess," the teen mumbled and the billionaire nodded.

"It won't change anything Peter. If anything, it'll strengthen the bond you have."

"How do you know that?"

"Because I didn't want anyone to know what was going on with me for the same reasons. Nothing changed though, I just ended up with the knowledge that the people I love, love me back equally or more."

"But you don't know," Peter choked out, tears forming in his eyes again.

"Peter, you just have to trust me, it'll be okay, I promise."

"Don't make promises you can't keep," Peter said, emotionless, which somewhat scared Tony. It was almost like he was recalling previous promises broken.

"I know that this one won't be broken. You have to trust me Peter; it'll help you, I promise."

"No." Tony sighed.

"Kid, either I'm telling her or you will. I won't tell her about the rooftop ledge, just about how you're struggling."

"The ledge?" Peter squeaked out. Tony pursed his lips.

"Yeah, I know about that. That is a conversation that we will have at a later date, when you're physically recovered and out of this hospital." Peter gulped before resting back against the pillows, staring at the ceiling.

"Okay."

"What was that, I didn't quite hear you," Tony said, worrying that he had pressed the kid a bit too much. He was happy when he heard a sigh sound from the teen.

"I'll tell her. Could you keep Ned distracted though? I really don't think I have the energy to tell Aunt May, let alone Ned too."

"Sure thing kiddo." Tony stood up, walking towards the door. Just as his hand grasped the handle, he heard his name called.

"Mr. Stark?" The man turned to look at the teen, who gave him a small, weak smile, but it seemed genuine enough. Tony returned it.

"Yeah Pete?"

"Thanks."

"Anytime kiddo. Anytime."