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Tony thought it was funny, but then again his sense of humor was a little...insane. So when he had seen the table with miniature action figures of the Avengers he couldn't help but see the Captain America one, then glance over at the punchbowl, then the mini-freezer.
They were all at the S.H.I.E.L.D. Division picnic, Steve had dragged him from his lab, made him shower, and then dragged him to the picnic where he had left him to talk to a few senior agents. In Tony's defense, Steve knew better than to leave Tony to his own devices.
The wheels turned so fast he never had time to think "This is a bad idea and will hurt my partner's feelings". The next thing he knew he had popped the action figure out of the package, placed it in a cup of water, frozen it, and was about to place it in the punch when Thor stomped over like a herd of cattle.
"Man of Iron, what are you doing to the punch bowl?" Thor asked, his voice attempting to be quiet.
"Oh I'm just playing a little prank, watch the party to make sure no one sees me will ya?" he asked, popping the frozen action figure out of the cup and into the bowl. It floated on the top before sinking a bit.
Thor took his part very seriously, tightening his eyes and watching people to make sure none saw what Tony was doing.
Tony smirked, "Alright Point Break, let's go find something stronger to celebrate our prank with" he said, letting Thor throw an arm around his shoulder as they went to search for the bottle of liquor Tony had brought.
About an hour later Tony saw there was a small commotion around the punch bowl. He saw Steve glaring at the bowl as if it had personally offended him, maybe he didn't appreciate red punch.
Then Tony remembered what he had put in there and the wheels turned again. He realized, admittedly belatedly, that putting a frozen Captain America in the company punch bowl while said Captain America was present might have offended him. Maybe Steve didn't get the joke.
He saw Steve look around, then had the sense to internally cringe when he saw Steve's eyes land on him and narrow. He began to march over to him and Thor, who had the brains to realize the good Captain hadn't thought their prank was funny.
"Anthony Stark" Steve said as soon as he got within range, "Why is there a frozen Captain America in the punch bowl?"
"The Man of Iron thought it would be a good jest!" Thor boomed, the alcohol making him slightly louder, "Why are you not laughing good Captain?" he asked.
Steve ground his teeth, "I'm not laughing because it was childish Thor" he explained.
Thor seemed to deflate, "Then we are sorry, we meant to make you laugh and be merry" he said, and left Tony to face Steve's wrath.
Tony's brain flew through several excuses, but none seemed likely to defuse his partner.
"So you thought that would be funny" Steve said, crossing his arms across his chest.
"Look Steve" was as far as he got before Steve shook his head.
"Tony. We're going home" Steve said.
Tony sighed and began to follow him, "I'm not sleeping in the bed tonight am I?" he asked.
"Nope" was all Steve said.
Tony looked over to the punch bowl to see Fury removing the frozen action figure with a pair of tongs, his eye patch glaring a hole in Tony's head.
"And I'm getting another memo from Fury" he said.
Tony promised himself, the next time Steve dragged him one of these things he's just going to sit with Thor and Barton and get drunk.
Of course, when he opened an email from Barton the next day and saw a picture of Coulson sneaking the frozen figure from the picnic he felt a grin spread across his face.