#12daysofstevetony

after getting together with pepper and rhodey and happy (who definitely allow him to spend as much as he wants on them as long as the present isn’t a ridiculously large rabbit) he settles on the idea of making those little diy coupon books.  he can hide little certificates for shows or vacations in them for the rest of the team and try and make them... good enough for gifts for his teammates

he has a surprising amount of fun making them.  he makes coupons for “immediate first priority tech consultation: especially if i’m in a meeting” and “you pick the avenue, I’ll pay” and “insomniac anonymous confessional club membership” and “One Use Only: serious conversation about emotions” and “one homemade cooked meal (not valid on omelettes)” and, on his friend’s insistence and because he’s a charitable person “Shut Up Stark” tickets.  (Tony actually is starting to really like the idea of coupons as gifts.  Making them is way under the budget Steve set, but he can make tickets for really expensive gifts and Steve can’t say a thing! If he doesn’t want to redeem the “All Expenses Paid Trip to: ________” coupon because it costs too much then he can make do with the “Free Hug” tickets tony stuck in there for laughs. )

when the team opens the little boxes he made for the coupons, their faces are a rather illustrative visual on the graphic differences between individual confusion.  he remembers belatedly that none of them have had what you’d call a normal childhood and so have probably never encountered this things before.  luckily, his team is smart and pick up on the idea fast.  natasha smirks while flipping through her book, he thinks it’s the “Spa Day Special” coupon that made her do so; it’s an inside joke between the two of them.  

he’s nervous that his coupons will fall flat, though his team seemed receptive of them at the time.  he shouldn’t have worried.  as soon as the holiday is over Thor redeems his first ticket: “Night Out, +1″ for a date with Jane and Tony gets to help his friend plan a romantic new year’s night.  It’s terribly fun and whatever reservations Tony had about the coupons are dashed. 

As more of his team redeems the slips of paper as the new year rolls in (Clint gets through about two weeks before handing Tony the coupon that says “New Bow” combined with the one that says “Breaking Physics Before Breakfast” with a challenging grin.  Tony delivers with a hard light collapsible stealth bow stored in an arm bracer a month later) Tony’s filled with a sense of quiet lightness he can’t quite identify.  He loves having his friends come to him for things, he loves knowing what they want and being able to give it to them.  He likes that he’s interacting more with the team now, that they know they can come down to his workshop and ask for his attention and know he’ll give it to them.  He likes to think that this, more than anything he’s done, has proven to them how much they mean to him.  He doesn’t have a lot to offer, so when he can give something he wants to encourage his team to ask for it.  

(The Free Hug tickets dont get redeemed, which he expected.  The Shut Up Stark tickets also don’t get redeemed though, which worries him slightly.  He feels like they’re getting hoarded for consecutive use at a later date.  The next time he makes these he’s gonna have to add little rules. Not valid with combination, expires after the year, Clint you can’t exchange My Dramatic But Convincing Loss At A Video Game of Your Choosing for Bruce’s Explosions Before Breakfast, stop asking) 

As the year continues rolling on, the coupon use also dwindles, with a small resurgence for birthdays where he gives a smaller coupon book to the birthday person (on top of the gear upgrades and the Steve Doesn’t Need To Know About This gifts).  Natasha uses her coupons the least, though she did redeem the Spa Day one--Tony walked around with a stylish mani for a week afterwards--and a Hot Beverage of Your Choice Party one that Nat used for Bruce’s birthday--the three of them tasted a bunch of different teas, and it was pretty fun, and now Tony has a list of expensive, rare teas that his friends like for future reference--so he knows that she appreciates them at least. 

They come back with a vengeance though after the mission.  The Mission. 

Tony fucked up, he always fucks up, it shouldn’t be a surprise.  And now Steve’s injured and it’s Tony’s fault.  He hadn’t been enough, like always.  He and Steve had fought right before the mission, and when Steve had ordered him across the battle zone he’d went just to get space even though he’d had a bad feeling about the tech they’d been fighting and now Steve is in the ICU purely on the grace of his Brainwashed Stalker Assassin Friend because Tony sure as hell wasn’t in the right position to knock Steve almost entirely out of the way with a well-timed rifle shot (Tony is equal parts furious at the ever elusive Barnes for shooting steve and then running away and grateful at least one person was there to cover the captain. Do Ex Hydra Assets on the run accept shitty coupon books as thank you gifts? Maybe if Tony stuck in a Free and Anonymous Robotic Arm Maintenance card he’d get a chance to thank him in person. And also a chance to bag and tag him for Steve. What a birthday gift that would be.)  

Anyways, Tony’s too busy lurking in the hospital room doorway in his battle damaged gold armor, brooding and stifling his heavy breathing to think about coupons of all things, which is probably why Natasha gets the drop on him. 

“Look, I don’t want to hear it--”

“Stark, you need to get some rest--”

“I just said--”

“You picked up the helm after Steve went down,” she doesn’t pull any punches, doesn’t even stumble over the statement, “and pulled the brunt of the heavy hits before that, you need rest before the debriefing tomorrow.”

“I need to be here,”

“He wouldn’t want you here,” Tony can’t help the reflexive wince at that, or the one after he notices Natasha noticing and choosing to soften her voice, “when you should be sleeping.  He won’t wake until tomorrow, you know that.  You have enough time to get cleaned up and rest.”

“I shouldn’t leave him alone,” again, unattended and unsafe.  Tony knows that these situations are different, the hospital room and the battlefield.  He knows that Steve won’t even blame him, and the lectures Steve gives when he wakes up to see a battle-stained Tony at his bedside are so not worth whatever Tony gets out of staying there in the first place.  

“I’m supposed to watch his six,” he continues, “i was too petty to keep an eye out and--” Natasha slaps a slip of paper across his mouth and he pulls it away to look at it.  It’s his Shut Up Stark ticket.  He is not amused. 

“We’re going back to the tower, Stark.”

“Natasha, I’m staying here.”  She raises her eyebrow and looks pointedly at the ticket. Tony feels a surge of anger and he throws the ticket down, “This is serious Nat! I’m not going to the tower, I’m staying here, and no amount of stupid, childish paper is going to change that.” He steps on it for good measure. 

“Then what was the point of them?” Natasha asks, stiffly.  Tony breathes out heavily through his nose.  This is stupid.  The coupon thing was stupid in the first place, and besides this isn’t about them it’s about Steve, and staying there.  He’s about to turn away in a huff but Natasha catches his gauntlet covered arm with her hand.  She actually looks unsteady. 

And, okay, sometimes Tony forgets that Natasha is just as messed up as any of them.  She’s so good at faking it, at pretending she’s grown up normal as you can, that she’s an Avenger and agent and spy as some kind of career choice, not because she her life was taken from her and molded without her decision and this is her taking it back, like the rest of them.  

“You’ll let me drag you away from your work to paint my nails and to buy Bruce tea but you won’t let me make sure you get rest.” She says, quizzical.  Tony forgets sometimes that Natasha actually has less friends than Tony.  That she’s learning this, too, that the coupons actually must have been more of a relief for her than what he felt making them.  Clear communication, things he’d specifically said she could ask or take of him, without her having to guess his reaction or what he’d take in return.  It’s not fair if he picks and chooses which ones he honors, and if he’d been in any other situation he’d have taken the the Shut Up Stark with a dramatic pout and crossed arms but he’d’ve done it.  But then, it probably wouldn’t have meant as much as her using it now, which is probably the point. 

He sighs again, but stops trying to turn back to Steve’s room and crosses his arms and looks at her.  He doesn’t open his mouth, but he does grit his teeth, because cornering him with Emotions and holding him to his previous word always makes him testy.  That she’s just doing this because she’s concerned for him grates at him all the more, but he’s not going to examine that too closely.

“We want you back at the tower, Tony.  You didn’t do anything wrong, you were where you were supposed to be--” Tony really doesn’t want to listen to this and the stupid coupon only means he has to shut his mouth not that he has to stay and listen so he snorts and is going to turn around again but Natasha shoves another ticket at him and this one is a Free Hug one and he is never making coupons again. 

He hugs her in the armor and she wraps her arms around him and does not let go because that would be too easy. Instead she continues speaking: “You were where you were supposed to be, Tony.  Steve put you there for a reason, and you know it.  We can go over it in the debriefing, but you know that was the best position.  Steve’s always going to put you where you can do the best, you know that.” She still won’t let go.  “Come back, get cleaned up, eat something. Tomorrow we’ll debrief and greet Cap before he wakes up.” She pulls back enough to look him in the face.

He’s being petty but she’s the one who gave him the Shut Up Stark so she can deal.  He wrinkles his face at her instead of answering.  

"If it makes it easier I also have the “Cuddle Time” coupon.  You can pretend I conned you into coming home with us,” she says, like she didn’t just zero in on his weakness like the sneaky spy she is. Home.  Jesus she called his tower home, he’s going to spontaneously combust, and her sly eyes tell him she knows it.  He shrugs and she gives him the coupon.  With a last glance at Steve’s bed--he’s recovering color already, but that’s barely comforting--he follows Natasha back to the tower. Home. 

They all do end up in a cuddle pile in the living room, and Tony stays pretty quiet for the rest of the night just because he feels like it, and falling asleep with his teammates is surprisingly comforting.  Steve isn’t there which makes him feel guilty for being so content under the dogpile that Clint and Thor make on top of him.  But he’s always been a tactile person and after signing up for the Avengers he doesn’t have as much time to bother Pepper or Rhodey or Happy for hugs and attention like he used to.  

He wonders if he’d put the Free Hugs in those coupon books as less of a joke and more of invitation.  Natasha redeemed her second Free Hug after he’d gotten out of the armor, even before his shower.  He suspects it was to check him for injuries, because Bruce did the same thing and was a bit less subtle about it, but he doesnt want to break the illusion and he’s still got Nat’s Shut Up Stark excuse for not talking so he lets it go. 

As promised Steve wakes up the next day, and Tony is there, of course.  Steve is just as bad as the rest of them at staying still and recuperating so Tony offers to help liberate him from his bed rest.  Steve grins and tells Tony to take him home, and gosh.  Tony is just getting spoiled lately, isn’t he. 

Natasha redeems more of the Hug Stark jokes.  She’ll just lean into him on the couch, sling an arm around him and slip the coupon into his pocket.  Either because she can pick up on how frustratingly awkward Tony suddenly becomes when faced with genuine affection or because she gets just as awkward.  

She also redeems Shut Up Stark tickets more, and at the worst times.  When he makes a hilarious, if maybe self-deprecating joke she’ll slap him with a Shut Up. The team picks up on it, and Pepper and Rhodey laugh and laugh when he complains because he’s basically no longer allowed to bad mouth himself when one of the Avengers are around.  He is pretty certain that he didn’t even make that many tickets, but JARVIS apparently approves of the practice because he doesn’t clarify when Tony asks. 

Steve starts redeeming Free Hugs too, and Insomniac Nights and Free Breakfast and Homemade Dinner and generally starts hanging out with Tony pretty on the regular. 

Tony sort of gets used to Steve turning in a ticket and then going out to get burgers, and Steve looking hilarious focused when handing in a Free Hug, so when the contact sort of drops off he notices and wonders what happened.

He’s pretty sure he’s messed up, but when he asks Nat, the look she gives him is badly concealed amusement and a prompt to ask Steve so the next time Steve comes around Tony asks him.  “Are you out of coupons or something, because we haven’t been hanging out much lately.”  And Steve, contrary to Tony’s predictions, turns bright red.

Tony is informed that Steve has, apparently, been trading for Tony Coupons.  “Uhm, you weren’t supposed to find out so quickly but, yeah.  I’ve been trying to collect a few...” This is probably the most hilarious thing Tony’s heard--he’s imagining Steve temporarily suspending the No Dogs On The Couch rule for Clint’s Free Hug--but also, Steve should know he doesn’t actually need the coupons to hang out with Tony.  The coupon book was a fun idea but they’re actually going to piss him off if it’s made his team think he needs the exchange to happen before he gives them the time of day. So he tells Steve this.

“The coupons are symbolic you know, they’re kind of stupid.  You don’t need them to get my attention or ask me to do something you know?” he looks away because... emotions and things, “You guys never did, I just don’t know what to get you guys with your stupid gift budget.  Forty bucks Steve? Forty bucks? What can you actually get someone for--” he cuts himself off, because Steve is trying to not snicker.

“You know that limit practically only applies to you now, right? I mean, yeah so at first I was serious about it, because. Do you know how intimidating it is to buy you gifts? At least if there was a dollar limit you wouldn’t get offended with whatever you got,” Tony raises his eyebrows because. Wow, he’s not that shallow is he? “I mean, that was before I really knew you so. Now everyone was just waiting for you to notice that our gifts passed the budget awhile ago.” 

“But you never? Every time I tried to like, get you an island or a bike or something you reject it!” Tony accuses.

“Okay, first,” Steve says, “it’s an island. Why would I need an island? And... I wouldn’t say no to a bike now, Tony,” Steve says sort of shyly.  

“What? Really? Because I’ve still got the one I was going to give you in the back, it’s great you’ll love it--”

“You bought it already, Tony I told you--”

“I made it, I didn’t buy it, no commercial motorcycle is going to stand up through the shit you put them through Steve that was the point in the first place.  You crash bikes like, every two months might as well optimize one for battle and travel to make sure it’s safe and that when you crash it you’re not leaving yourself open to injury in the wreckage. I’ve got the crumple equations down almost perfectly if you stress tested--”

“You know,” Steve interrupts, “I was saving those coupons to get a point across but now I don’t think I need them.”

“That’s what I’ve been saying, wait what point were you going to make?”

“This one,” Steve says and then kisses him. 

Tony’s brain sort of stalls out and when Steve pulls away it boots back up at motorcycles.

“Was that okay?” Steve asks.

“Does this mean you’re gonna take the bike?” Tony asks. And then: “Yeah, more than, god Steve what combination of coupons did you think were going to convey ‘I want to kiss you, Stark’?” 

Steve tells him to shut up and kisses him again. 

(Steve shows him the collection of coupons later. It’s a ticket for a night out, free hug (times a lot, he was stocking up), emotional conversation, several Shut Up Starks (”They’re not contraband, they’re original issue. I’m pretty sure Nat inflated the price.” “Were you expecting a fight, Steve?” “I didnt know what to expect.  Whenever you talk about dating Pepper you always say you’re unworthy, and you messed things up and I didn’t want to hear what you’d say about me.” “You? Steve you are Captain America why would I say a bad thing about you? If anything I’m the one that’s not--” Steve slides the entire pile of Shut Ups towards him.) and Paid Vacation (Tony sees it and raises his eyebrows at Steve, who starts blushing.  Tony can’t rib him because of the pile of Shut Up Starks, but he can smirk which seems to be enough). 

((Tony stops making coupons, and instead starts giving ridiculously expensive, hopefully thoughtful gifts, but he also makes little stamp cards customized for who they represent. Each time one of his teammates ask him for something they normally wouldn’t he stamps the card for himself.  He doesn’t know what he’s going to do when they get filled, but just knowing that they will be filled one day gives him warm fuzzy feelings))