Tony Stark was many things...
Genius, his mind was one of the greatest.
Billionaire, well obviously
Playboy, maybe not so much now but in the past
Philanthropist, he has donated thousands
Iron man, the man in a metal suit who saves the world
The list goes on an on, but the word trusting doesn't appear once.

Tony Stark grew up in a big house courtesy of his fathers work. Howard Stark was an engineer, a mechanic, but most importantly a well liked man. By everyone who didn't know his real self. He put up the mask for the press and people of the world, but when he got home Tony saw him take off the mask everyday. His bright shining eyes and paparazzi smile were diminished, gone in an instant as soon as he saw Tony.

Tony just wanted to be good enough, he wanted to be loved. It was never enough for Howard, He would beat him and abuse him physically and verbally scarring him inside and out. "Stark men are made of iron, just take it" those words never left his head. Even when he became the man of iron, those words were at the back of his head, Taunting him as a reminder never trust people. If you show someone your weakness they will exploit it, no matter how close they are to you and you to them.

Throughout his whole childhood, years in college, and years leading up to the bombing in Afghanistan, he was reminded. Never show your weaknesses, never let your courage fade, never trust anyone. So he didn't, he second guessed and double checked everything everyone said. Refused to take things people handed him, the scars from his past were there as a reminder every time he almost slips up. He took a cup Rhodey handed him once and tear shot through his veins, the glass shattering along with the walls he built. Rhodey is the only person who knows about Tony's childhood, he's kept that part hidden from everyone else viewing it as a weakness that will be exploited.

•
It was a cold day in December and the whole team was sitting, bored out of their minds in a cold conference room. Why? They wondered the same thing, until Fury walked in and they suddenly realized why.

"There has been an attack, this is an Avengers level threat. Get suited up and go" with that he walked out of the room.

"Ooo an Avengers level threat? Did Thanos come back and snap Wattpad out of existence again?" Clint joked.

"Be serious Clinton" Natasha reprimanded.

"I am being seriously, people were forced to leave their houses" he shuddered "it was awful"

The rest of the team just looked at him confused, they didn't know what he was talking about. Tony wasn't listening however, he was zoning out again. It had been happening more and more everyday, it starts when his reactor plays up. Which happens more than it should but he has too much on his plate to figure that little 'life saving' aspect of it.

"Stark!" Cap called out from across the table, the team was fully suited and looking at him.

"Oh, my bad Cap I must have zoned out" he tapped his chest twice and the suit formed around his body.

"Ok everyone, Avengers... Assemble" Cap droned, the team followed him to the Quinjet. Tony parted ways and headed off taking the lead.

"Everyone on?" He asked over the comms. A choirs of 'yep's' rang out and he kept flying. He didn't want to admit it but it was cold, and getting colder. This suit didn't have the heating function yet so he was stuck with shivering until the battle was over. He flew for about an hour more and saw what Fury meant by Avengers Level. There were five, maybe six, alien looking things; each had multiple limbs and were the size of the sky scrapers they were surrounded by. "Heads up, we've got some alien lookin ass things over here" Tony muttered.

"Yeah, we can see em Tony" Natasha said.

"Great, just making sure" he flew down and shot a repulsive beam at the closest one. He saw the Quinjet land and the team enter out, they all headed to an alien. There were five so Bruce stayed back on the jet it wasn't code green yet.

•

The battle ended with five aliens on the ground, and a couple bruised Avengers. Tony was shaking with cold by the time they were done so he decided to take the suit off and ride in the warm jet. He piled on with everyone else trying to hide his shivers. 'Being cold is a weakness they can exploit' his brain wasn't rational, so he didn't ask for a blanket when he got on. He didn't even ask them to turn on the heating, the rest of them seemed to be sweating from the work in the battle and all voted on AC. At this point Tony was so cold it felt like his heart was shivering, his body was racked with internal shivers.

"You ok Tony?" Steve asked, his head in front of a vent to cool down.

"Y-Yeah i-i-I'm f-fine" he stuttered our, teeth clenching in every word.

"No you're not"Natasha said clearly.

"I-i a-am f-f-fine" but he couldn't keep his shivers in anymore so he was sitting there practically seizing with how hard he was shaking.

"No you're not" Steve said and stood up, he walked over to one of the storage closets and grabbed the fluffiest blanket in there. He walked over to Tony with it and placed it around the shaking scientist. He decided to sit down next to Tony and pull his small form onto his chest and into his arms.
No I can't trust anyone, they know that I'm cold now. What if they sneak up on me because I'm sluggish, what if they kill me. Oh my god I'm going to die, I should have gone in the suit.

"What do you mean we're going to kill you?" Bruce asked, concerned for his friend.

Shit. He'd said all of that out loud.

"N-nothing j-just f-forget I-it" he stuttered yet again.

"Oh cut the crap, if you're not going to tell them I will. They are your team Tony, you can trust them" Rhodey stepped out of the back of the plane and Tony did a double take.

"I'm sorry when did you get here?" Tony asked finally warming up.

"I've been here the whole time, Fury found out about your story and told me I had to come and force you to tell them. You're bitch ass has trust issues just admit it and forget it." Tony was shocked into silence, Rhodey was going to talk anyway. "I'm sure you all want to know what I mean, so I'm going to tel you but you can NOT look at Tony any differently ok?" He asked the still shocked crowd.

"Yes" they all nodded.

"Good" he started to tell them the story, Tony shivered through it and Steve was sure it wasn't because he was cold. It was the story's of how Howard abused him and taught him not to trust. Steve couldn't believe it, his closest friend besides Bucky back in the day was Howard. He helped make Steve the super soldier he is. Steve's mouth was still open when Rhodey finished his story.

"Now I gotta dip, bye bitches" Rhodey disappeared into the back and left Tony to clean up the mess he left behind.

"Want to explain?" Nat asked gently, she had known all along but didn't want Tony to know she knew. Tony took a deep breath and told them the whole tumbling, including how he can't trust anything or anyone.

When their trip and story came to and end, the ground traveled to the living room, changing on the way and ended up in each others arms watching movie.

Maybe Tony could trust these people.

Tony Stark...
Genius
Billionaire
Playboy
Philanthropist
Iron man
Trusting
He finally had the good things he had missed out on his whole life. These good things came in the shape of the moments and memories with his dysfunctional family.