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“Okay Tony, you can do this, just put one foot in front of the other, it’s not exactly rocket science, but hell I could do that with my eyes closed too.”
He pushed himself up and slowly placed one foot in front of the other, just as he said he would, that wasn’t the hard part. It was his back legs, he slowly pushed his hind legs up and walked to the door, sitting by it and looking up at what seemed to be a monumental structure.
“Steve. Steve, Steve I’m stuck!” He yelled placing his ‘hands’ on the door. But in actual fact, they weren’t hands at all; they were paws, round black fuzzy paws with small pink pads at the bottom of them. “Steve!” He yelled over and over, but his feet could barely support him and he flopped over to his side, waving his tiny paws in the air. He hated this, being a little kitten rather than his normal, not too shabby looking, self. Who was he kidding, his normal self was spectacular looking and there was no denying that.
Tony Stark had been turned into many things during his missions; a woman, a cyborg but not a kitten. Not a venerable ball of fluff that could barely support its own weight. He would’ve loved to think that this was some sort of drunken hallucination but he had been sober for so long now, with Steve’s help of course, and he knew Loki had some sort of hand in this dastardly trick. But for now, the Avengers had to wait for the spell to run its course and slowly fade away, but this meant that Tony had to spend time as... This.
“Steve!” He yelled more impatiently this time, shutting his eyes in defeat and laying his head back, feeling how his ears seemed to flatten as he became more irritated.
Steve, meanwhile, was walking by, holding the newspaper in one hand and a cup of juice in the other, always going about his morning routine to the precise second, when he suddenly heard meowing. He stopped in the hallway, just creeping toward the sound that came from Tony’s room; another loud meow. He placed the newspaper down along with the cup of juice and peeked into the room, slowly turning the golden handle and pulling it open to see a small kitten lying on its side, looking as though it was playing dead; its eyes were tightly shut and paws in the air. Steve couldn’t help but smile at the sight, he knew it was Tony, spotting how there was a small glowing light on its chest that almost looked like a pendant on a collar, especially the way it was placed. Steve slowly knelt down and looked at Tony, poking his side and seeing the small kitten roll over with the weight of the prod onto its back, its feet still dangling in the air so Steve could see the heart shaped pads on the bottom of them.
Tony was always adorable from Steve’s perception but this made even his brick-wall heart melt. He seemed so helpless and tiny, but from the super soldier’s perspective Tony always had a small frame, but this was just something else. The kitten meowed again and slowly opened its bright azure eyes, staring up at Steve with its round, upset expression. Steve tilted his head and slowly scooped up the ball of fur into his hands, though Tony was personally very impressed that Steve’s two hands were big enough to carry him like that. Steve’s hands were warm and soothing, but his hands were also rough from the copious amounts of strenuous activity he would perform throughout their missions.
Tony wriggled around, shifting so that his stomach was resting against the flats of Steve’s palm, waving his rear in the air and feeling his tail move around, which truthfully was an odd feeling. Having an extra limb that seemed to want to move on its own accord was bizarre. He wasn’t used to being carried, actually no, that was a lie, and Steve had carried him many times before but not like this, not with such ease and within his own two hands like that. He stared, opening his eyes wider as he examined Steve’s face, looking at his chiselled features and glowing golden hair, that given the current lighting from behind him, looked angelic, almost as though he had a golden halo. If angels existed, and not the mutant (X-men) type, then Steve would be the closest thing to them, especially with the way he acted; how caring and supporting he was and how he seemed to be so gentle and strong at the same time. And now Steve was much bigger from Tony’s eyes, he was a tall structure that looked even more astounding and epic. Tony let out an unintentional purr as he looked at Steve, just content that this huge, beautiful man was his, and right there looking after him.
Steve looked down at him curiously and tilted his head, wondering what on earth he was purring about, but he looked so content, his tail curling up around him as he stared and stared as though Steve were a piece of tuna. He shook his head, “You hungry?” He asked, hearing a small little mewl in return, “I’ll take that as a yes.” He said, but he realised Tony was a kitten. Sure kittens could eat, but they couldn’t eat anything big. So he slowly carried Tony into the kitchen, placing him down for a second so he could delve into the refrigerator and find something edible. He pulled out some milk and poured it into a bowl, placing it down on the floor alongside the little kitten who just sat there, licking its paws to try and clean him, grooming himself to perfection to look presentable. As Steve placed the glass bowl in front of him, he stared up with an un-amused stare.
This was Tony Stark, not some house animal, he thought to himself, turning his head stubbornly and setting his ears back to show that he was clearly not happy with having to eat off the floor. Steve placed his hand under his chin as he watched Tony, “What, what is it?” He asked only to hear the cat make what seemed to be a scoffing noise from the back of its throat, turning his head unhappily. Steve let out a sigh of confusion and knelt down again, “Don’t you want milk?”
It’s not that Tony didn’t want the milk, he wanted it, in fact every bone in his tiny little frame was telling him to drink it, but he just didn’t want to drink from something that was on the floor; he had so much more pride than to debase himself like that. Instead, he meowed to show his disapproval.
Steve scratched the back of his head and sighed, not knowing what to do, until he remembered what he had seen on the television. Kittens would have to feed from their mothers, but Steve wasn’t really a mother cat, so he had to do something similar. He lifted Tony with one hand, just as he did before, and then dipped his index finger into the milk, offering it to Tony. Tony stared at it, almost with a puzzled look before leaning up and licking the drops of milk off his finger. Well, at least it wasn’t drinking off the floor. Steve repeated his action, seeing how the kitten licked around his long finger and even nipped at it from time to time. Drops of milk would occasionally smear over Tony’s nose, but whenever that happened he would sit back and lick his nose, his pink tongue flicking out to touch his even smaller heart shaped nose that matched the baby-pink of the pads on his feet. Steve just continued to feed him until Tony slumped in Steve’s hand, full to the brim with his eyes shut and what looked to be a smile on his face.
“Now, I’ve got some work to do, so you’ll have to just make yourself scarce.” He said, but the instant he did he could hear the start of a whimper form from the kittens mouth as he saw the upturned ears suddenly flick down again, his tail curling around him just as before. “Well I guess you can come with me but, I’ve got to work, understand?” He clarified, talking to the kitten who yawned in return. Steve knew exactly what was going through Tony’s mind at that point; ‘you’re boring Steve.’ Instead he just shook his head and carried he kitten, placing the empty bowl of milk in the sink to be washed later and carried him to the office that Tony had build specifically for Steve to sit down and file reports.
Mission reports were the most boring part of being a superhero, but Steve did everything according to his instructions. He placed Tony on the floor and took out his papers, getting to work almost instantly. Tony, however, was having none of it. He was bored within seconds of being placed down, waddling around with his tail waving around as he looked at the room that he had built, examining it as though it were a whole new building. Everything looked so much... Bigger.
Steve cracked on with his work, scanning the pages and writing whilst Tony attempted to run before he could walk, ever so literally. He tried to chase specs of dust that were floating in the air and at one point, skidded along the smooth wooden floor and smacked right into the wall, his nose pressed against the brick as he toppled back onto his back and meowed; begging for assistance. But as usual, nothing could distract Steve when he was into his work. Tony hissed at the lack of attention he was getting and brushed his paw over his nose, wobbling over to Steve and sitting by his leg, expecting some sort of reaction as he poked his tongue out and then rubbed his face against Steve’s leg, purring with such satisfaction as the denim fabric seemed to tickle his face as it pushed back his whiskers. With no sort of reaction from Steve he butted his head against his leg, giving him a fussy mewl in return. Steve felt the small bump to his leg but he knew it was Tony trying to get his attention, and he had work to do, there was enough time for play later. The dark kitten circled Steve’s leg, before trying to stand on his hind legs and digging his little claws into the material, dragging it down as he lost his balance; unable to stand on four feet for long, yet alone two. Steve heard the distinct rip of the fabric and quickly looked down to see Tony lying there, playing with the rips he had made along the trousers by batting at the threads; taking some in his mouth and tugging at them.
“Tony...” Steve said with a sigh, leaning down and picking up Tony again, who seemed distraught when pulled away from the threads he was playing with, pulling them as much as he could until they snapped away. He set the kitten on top of his desk, examining him. He was completely black, with not a blemish and blue eyes that seemed to stare right into his soul, but they were so wide and soft. His whiskers were longer than most cats he had seen, and they were dark in colour. His fur was medium length, but as it reached his tail it became fluffy and bushy, not to mention, his face was round and ears were huge and pointed up in air most of the time. His nose was like a little button and his paws were small. He took one of Tony’s paws to examine it out of sheer curiosity and pressed the pads on his feet, seeing Tony stare at him with the whole ‘what are you trying to achieve, Rogers?’ look. He pressed them a little more and Tony rolled over in response; it was a strange feeling, almost like he was being tickled. The moment that Steve pressed harder he felt his claw poke out and scratch the end of Steve’s finger. The captain frowned a little, pulling his hand back and sucking on his finger – he could be hit a million times, cut by swords and blasted by guns, but nothing stung more than a paper cut at the end of his finger. Tony’s miniscule scratch resembled a paper cut and he waved his hand in the air a little.
Tony saw the way that the soldier flinched and withdrew his hand and instantly tried to walk up to him, but was separated by the edge of the desk. He wiggled his tail in the air, lowering the front part of his body before pouncing and jumping into Steve’s lap, clawing on his shirt and eventually pulling himself up to the super soldiers arm. With extreme caution and care, he walked up Steve’s muscular arm, feeling the muscles shift under his paws, and gave him a sympathetic purr as he managed to reach Steve’s shoulders and sat on them. Lucky for him, they were broad enough to sit on comfortably, with his tail dangling as he sat, looking down at the papers and then at Steve who then continued on with his work.
Tony was content, sitting tall and proud on his boyfriends shoulder with his chin raised as though he were the boss again. He glanced at Steve who had this studious look upon his face, and walked along his shoulders, reaching the other side triumphantly. Still no reaction so he crawled closer to Steve’s face and bumped his head into the man’s cheek before trying to move his head under Steve’s chin and lift it with the top of his head. Clearly Steve wasn’t going to get any work done tonight, not with this little kitten begging to be played with, though this was no different from how Tony was usually; when he was bored Tony was relentless. With two fingers, Steve placed them around the scruff of Tony’s neck and lifted him up, dangling him in front of him and narrowing his eyes,
“So much for getting these reports done today.”
The kitten purred and gave him a smug look, his eyes dazzling with happiness, his ears twitching slightly as he just dangled there, his tail swishing back and forth.
“Chubby little kitten.” He said, getting up and carrying Tony in his hands toward the living room, laying on the sofa and placing Tony over his chest. Tony hissed at being called chubby and puffed out his cheeks. The second that Steve lay down Tony crawled over to rest by the crook of his neck, purring as he rubbed his face against the soldier’s jaw line. Steve raised his hand and brushed his fingertips along Tony’s velvety soft fur until his nails scratched lightly behind Tony’s ears, hearing him purr even louder which was a really soothing sound to hear. He shut his own eyes as his hand drifted to under Tony’s chin and brushed it lightly, getting another loud positive reaction from the kitten that also shut his own eyes.
It was mid afternoon, the sun was bright and hot, the windows were open and curtains blowing softly in the breeze, there couldn’t be a more relaxing situation to be in. And there he was, curled up by the man he loved, hearing his soft breaths, feeling his heartbeat through his paws, being stroked and petted and getting the soldiers complete and undivided attention before they both drifted off happily. Not to mention, there was nothing that Steve truly loved more than looking after his little furball.
Being a kitten wasn’t so bad.