Trust is a Fragile Thing

Trust – noun – firm belief in reliability, truth or ability of someone or something.

"Relations have to be built on trust."

Tony Stark hadn't dealt in such petty things as trust in years. Trust only meant (in Tony's eyes) to have faith in someone – only for them to scorn and throw it back in your face.

Take Obadiah (he hadn't been 'Obie' for years) or Natasha (ahem, Natalie) for example.

He didn't trust Rhodey and Pepper, he had complete faith in them - there was a difference. You see, Tony trusted the Avengers – heck, he even trusted SHIELD. But he knew one day that they'd just throw that back in his face. He didn't have faith in them – it was only trust.

You may, perhaps, wonder why Tony had never had faith in Obadiah. The answer to that was simple – Obadiah had been friends with his dad. That was enough to prevent any possible faith Tony could ever develop with that man.

Tony didn't trust Steve Rogers much either. Perhaps he and Natasha were the only Avengers whom he would never trust – let alone have faith in. Steve was an old friend of his father's and Tony had had enough experience (granted it was only one person) with old friends of his father's to know that he could never trust another one of them again. Steve had sealed the deal the day those dreaded words came out of his mouth.

"Big man in a suit of armor, take that off and what are you?"

And he, being the idiot and smart aleck that he was, replied. Why couldn't he keep his mouth shut?

"Genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist."

"I know guys with none of that worth ten of you. And I've seen the footage. The only thing you really fight for is yourself. You're not the guy to make the sacrifice play, to lay down on the wire and let the other guy crawl all over you."

If anybody thought Tony would ever trust the guy after that – they were one-hundred percent mistaken.

So yes, he trusted the Avengers (and SHIELD), but he didn't have faith in them. And yes, Tony had trust issues.

He'd prefer it that way to pouring his heart out – only to have it thrown back in his face