"I don't play well with others."

That one phrase, thrown out in false jest, said it all, really.

It spoke of early birthday parties crowded with his father's business partners in place of friends, and formative years voluntarily cooped up in a lab with books and machines and tools for companions. It spoke very clearly of years of report cards full of academic praise ignored in favor of that one ongoing criticism: does not work well with others.

It tells the story of him getting into fights in junior high, and his father – master of contradictions – simultaneously enrolling him in boxing classes and anger management sessions. He overhears his mother whispering, "children can be cruel," and he thinks, oh. That must be the answer. He can't make friends because he is surrounded by children, just jealous children. That is the problem. When he gets to college, things will be different.

So when he graduates high school (at age 14), his initial reaction is utter relief. Time to start living. College will be better by far; he'll be surrounded by peers, at last. But he learns.

Oh, how he learns.

He learns that it is the world that is cruel, not just children. He learns that no matter how good he is, how charming he is, how smart, how cool, how perfect he is, it will never be quite enough. Then his parents die, and he learns that no one actually cares about Tony, people only care about Stark and whatever caring about Stark can get them. He learns to work hard for his own satisfaction, and not to get attached, and how to hide fatigue and misery behind a cocky grin and an even cockier attitude. He learns how to function in a world where people wear masks and call them faces.

He is made more aware than ever that life is not fair.

"I don't play well with others," he snarks at patriotic, powerful, goddamn perfect Captain America. He follows it with a plastic shark-smile.

"Big man in a suit of armor. Take that away, and what are you?"

"A…genius billionaire playboy philanthropist." A pile of masks, he wants to say.

Thor laughs, an open, honest display of mirth that Tony envies.

But in the end, it's really not that funny.

A/N: Nothing belongs to me. Opening and closing dialogue taken from the trailer for the upcoming Avengers movie.