While There's Still Something Left

Love Like You

"Happy. I-I gave the drive to Happy."

Tony stared at Peter blankly. He knew he should conjure up some kind of response, but what could he possibly say? Fuck if he knew. So much for being the unshakable motor mouth.

Tony liked to think that, aside from the few lies via omission he'd managed to overlook, he could read Peter pretty well. The kid was horrible at masking emotions, and even worse about giving himself away with tells. Yet, as he searched Peter's face for answers or explanation for the sudden proclamation, there was no sign of the slight twinge of his face that usually indicated he was lying, just genuine concern and trepidation as he waited for Tony to sort through his thoughts.

Happy was one of Tony's best friends, one of the few people in the world he trusted wholeheartedly. Knowing that should make his stance on the matter easy, but the problem was, Peter had been on that depressingly short list only a day before. Then Tony had discovered Peter betrayed him, hacked his system and manipulated it. Unless, of course, he didn't.

If Peter was telling the truth, that would mean Tony was right about him from the beginning. He was just a kid with a heart three sizes too big for his scrawny body, and the reigning champ for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. It would also mean that every moment he had with Happy over the last two decades were a lie, and Tony didn't know which betrayal was worse.

Tony shook his head to himself.

No. Peter probably didn't mean realize just how dangerous an accusation like this was. He wanted to believe Peter was a good kid, and he did, but whatever was going on with Happy was just a misunderstanding. Happy had been with him through everything: his early rise to fame, Afghanistan, Obie, Extremis, the Avengers, everything. He wasn't going to throw that away over an unfounded hunch.

"I'm sorry, but you're wrong," Tony said slowly, but his face was sharp.

"I'm not."

The answer came instantly, with no hesitation whatsoever and that only put Tony more on edge.

"Come on, kid. Happy?" Tony let out a harsh monosyllabic laugh, but there was a desperate lilt in his voice. "He wouldn't do anything to hurt me. Well, maybe cut down on my ego a bit, but definitely nothing for Hydra."

"I'm not saying he's working for them, necessarily, just that the drive somehow moved from his hands to Hydra," Peter said, treading lightly. "It sounds crazy, but it makes everything else make sense."

"How does that make sense? I know I was hard on you yesterday and I want to figure this thing out too, but life isn't some jigsaw puzzle you can cut into pieces in order to fit your narrative, Pete."

"I'm not," Peter repeated with a patience he didn't quite feel. "Think about it, though. Hydra has been a step ahead of us for weeks. They knew about that Reina girl before the team even left the Tower. They knew exactly where you and Natasha would be to attack you and they took temporary control of your suit, something that should have been impossible. Hell, JARVIS has even been feeding me information so that I could help you guys. Why else would he do that unless he knew that you guys would need it?"

"If Hydra has control of JARVIS, why would they let him help you in the first place?" Tony shot back.

"Maybe they didn't know he was. You said that JARVIS has been editing out all of my footage. Maybe that's the reason why."

Tony scoffed, shaking his head. "Happy is a good man. A great man, even. I'm telling you he wouldn't do this."

"Somebody hacked your system and it's either me or him."