Tony Stark One-shots

In His Pocket

Tony Stark is a lot of things. Egotistical, arrogant, sarcastic. Yeah, he'd agree to all of those, even say they should be worse than that. One thing that not many people know is that he needs to fidget.

He needs to keep something to play with when he isn't in the luxury that is his tower. It may not seem like something that the great Tony Stark does but it keeps him from getting anxious and bored at meetings. No one but Rhoadey, Pepper and Happy noticed this quirk.

It was just after a mission in Canada, which who in the hell attacks Canada? Hydra decided that keeping a base in the snowy hell was a good idea. The base was empty and abandoned but the computers still worked so not a total loss. Tony was able to extract all the information from them with the help of Jarvis. All that was left was to go for a debrief with Fury.

Of course, things aren't as easy as that. Fury decided to have a bitching fest while they were there. In tony's opinion, he thinks that this is the only time Fury gets to vent any anger from whatever he does as director. He wouldn't complain too much if the sessions weren't over an hour long.

From the corner of his eye, Tony could see Natasha's slight shiver. The Helicarrier was warm but from the chill of the Canadian winter still in their bones, he could understand why she was cold. When Fury called a break from his bitchfest and left the room, he turned to Nat.
"You good?" He asked. "You didn't wear anything other than your usual suit?"

"Yeah, just a bit cold," Nat responded quietly. It wouldn't do any good if she let others know how cold she was. She regretted not putting on a warmer top and better boots.

Tony took off his jacket and handed it to her. He made sure the thermal heating inside was working before leaving for the mission. Sure his suit has a heater in it but Canadian winters weren't something he left to chance if his suit shut down.

"Here, I'll make sure to make you some sort of heating for your new suit."

"Thanks. Are you sure you don't want it?" Nat said as she slipped the jacket on.

Tony just shrugged. "Don't worry about it. I was getting a bit too warm anyway."

And with that exchange Fury came back to the room and the meeting began again. At some point, Tony began playing with a pen.

"Tony, could you stop doing that? It's distracting." Steve's annoyed voice broke his concentration from Eye Patch.

"What do you mean?" He was just twirling it around his fingers making it spin around quickly. He didn't get why Cap got so upset about it. It helped him pay attention to Fury since he left his usual stuff in his other pants and didn't get to go to his lab to grab anything from there.

Steve just stared at him. "I mean that the constant spinning with the pen is annoying and unprofessional."

"It's alright Captain." Fury said. "I've finished anyways. Don't let me keep you any longer." He began to move towards the door before pausing and turning back. "I'm serious. Get out." and with those words, he left.

"I don't know what your problem is with all the pen spinning," Steve began as he got up. "I don't care to be honest, but do me a favour and save it for when we're not in the briefing."

Tony frowned. He wasn't trying to be annoying. Hell, he didn't even realise he began spinning the pen until Cap pointed it out. Usually, he would be on his phone or have his hands in his pocket but his tablet Stark Phone from not charging it for a week and he gave his jacket to Nat. He opened his mouth to defend himself when Nat spoke for him instead.

"He didn't realise he was doing it." Her voice was warmer with her exhaustion. The heat coming for Tony's coat and Fury's constant ranting was able to make her too comfortable. As rare as that was.

"What do you mean?" Genuine confusion coated Steve's voice.

Nat looked at Tony and then back at Steve. "I can't believe I hadn't noticed until now."

She reached into one of the pockets and pulled out a handful of nuts and bolts, each one a different size. Then she reached into the other pocket and pulled out two small steel bearings. She dropped all the contents onto the table.

"What does this have to do with anything?" Clint asked, looking at the table.

Tony, for the most part, didn't care if someone found out he liked to play with the nuts and bolts. He's just as surprised as Natasha that no one noticed before. He was not looking forward to any of the teasings the team were about to give him, however.

"I usually just use them during meetings. They help me concentrate."

Bruce, the bright man he is, understood what he meant. The rest of the team besides Natasha however didn't.

"You need to play with them so that your hands are occupied." It was a statement. Tony answered anyways.

"Yeah, I need them. I use them at business meetings and after press conferences too." He grabbed one of the nuts and bolts and began playing with it. Screwing it one and off and just letting it a spin. "I mean, we all have our thing, right? Nat checks out her nails, Cap taps his fingers on his arms when crossed, Clint builds little bows with rubber bands and pens, Bruce takes notes and me, I just like the nuts and bolts."

It clicked then. Tony needed to use those things when he feels anxious or pressured. Natasha took off Tony's jacket and handed it to him. "Thanks."

Once he got the jacket one, Tony began to put everything in his pockets again and headed towards the door. "So we leaving or what?" With that, they all left for the tower.

On the elevator, Clint turned to Tony. "Hey wait a sec. I get that you need to play with the nuts and bolts but why do you have so many in your pockets? And what about the ball bearings?"

Tony looked at Clint and chuckled. "Oh that, well you see. Usually, I would only have the one pair in my pockets but last time I wore this jacket I ran out of the lab and grabbed whatever could fit in my hands."

"Oh, I get that" Cint nodded. "So, pizza for dinner?"