Disclaimer: I don't own it.
Warning: Swearing.
Crossposted from AO3
There was a cat in the Tower.
There was a cat in the Tower.
There was a cat staring at Clint in the vents.
It was blocking Clint's exit.
It was staring straight into his soul with those judgemental amber eyes that were all too similar to Tony's.
They had a staring contest that seemed to last hours before Clint gave in to the need to blink and the animal all but vanished within that millisecond, leaving the archer to think he had imagined the black cat (or that the cat was a ghost and given Clint's immaturity and everything with Loki, he would put money on the cat ghost). Shaking his head, he continued making his way to his nest-that-was-totally-not-a-nest-ignore-whatever-Tony-says.
—LINE BREAK—
Nothing really startled Bruce. Not really. If something did though, it tended to bring the Big Guy out. The doctor had been walking past the Hulk's room when something brushed against his leg. He jumped, papers falling all over the floor and losing their order, considering the amount of paper, anyone would've been angry. He threw himself into the Hulk's room and transformed, not realising that the cat had followed him in.
Green eyes landed on the cat. Massive green hands reached out for it, plucking it off of the floor gently. Their eyes met and they stared at each other. A grin broke out on the Hulk's large face and he placed the cat back on the floor, before sitting down loudly. Looking around his room, he grabbed one of the large pillows and ripped it open, his grin never fading as he grabbed a large feather and began to tease the cat with it. Normally the intelligent cat wouldn't play, however, it seemed to want to entertain the child-like beast and went along with the charade before leaving when the Hulk transformed into the sleepy-looking doctor. His eyes landed on the cat, who merely meowed and nudged him with her head. He stood up and for some reason, he felt obliged to follow her.
—LINE BREAK—
Natasha was a spy. A spy, an assassin, you take your pick. Either way, she knew when she was being watched. She could feel it and usually, usually, she would spot the culprit immediately and (threaten to cut their eyes out, make them eat their eyes and then kill them slower) politely get them to stop. Ever since she moved into the Tower, she felt eyes on her and to her annoyance, she couldn't find the person said eyes belonged to. It was making her uneasy and for lack of better words, downright pissed off.
—LINE BREAK—
Sometimes, Steve struggles to sleep. Alright, all the time and technically everyone barring Thor struggled to sleep thanks to their nightly portion of nightmares and painful memories (Thor just slept like the dead…except he was also loud enough to wake the dead with his snoring). But, when he started to hear sounds that weren't the voices of his past in the dark hours of the night, he grew concerned…mostly for his mental health. The sounds were a mixture of hisses and purrs. They were loud. They were quiet. Either way, they were equally annoying no matter the pitch.
They didn't stop.
He had been staying at the Tower for about two months now along with the others and the sounds would not stop.
—LINE BREAK—
Thor found himself in the kitchen a lot. Eating his pop tarts and trying (and failing) to work the machines such as the toaster. It was there that he first ran into the black cat. Unable to resist he reached down and gently picked her up.
"You are an extraordinary creature. I would say intelligent, but that would not do you justice." Thor murmured as they stared at one another as though they were communicating. Then the cat meowed and Thor nodded. They were communicating and apparently AllSpeak worked with animals…or at least cats. "I see… You're one of them… fascinating…" If anyone walked in and saw Thor talking to the cat in a way that pet owners wouldn't, then they'd simply turn on their heels and leave. Luckily, no one did see the two talking.
—LINE BREAK—
One day they all, barring Bruce, had enough and waited in the communal kitchen, knowing that Tony would be emerging from his workshop soon. They were right. Tony entered the kitchen with the intention of filling his mug up with coffee as he had run out and was also running on seventy-two hours without sleep. No one said anything until the man had a cup of coffee in his hand and was taking a sip of the liquid. He raised an eyebrow at them and they took that as a sign for them to start talking. They all spoke at once, their voices clashing over each other.
"There's a ghost haunting the vents-"
"I swear to god Stark, there's something watching me in my room and if-"
"Friend Anthony! You did not tell me of your guardian-"
"Something's been making annoying sounds in the vents around my floor-" Tony stared wide-eyed as he tried to understand what they were all saying. Then Bruce walked in holding a cat out in his arms,
"Tony, get your fucking cat under control. She keeps tripping me over in the lab." He dumped the cat in the genius' arms before turning on his heel and leaving. Everyone looked bewildered, especially Tony, who coughed and placed the cat on the counter next to him. She stayed by his side, staring at the others with judgemental eyes.
"Okay. Okay." He murmured coughing before he looked up at them, "First of all, Clint." Eyes turned to the man and Tony just sighed heavily, "Ghost. Really? Grow up." His gaze moved to Natasha, "Really? Ye of little faith. This place has the best protection ever no one can simply waltz in and stare at you. I have a feeling everyone who lives here is too scared of you to do so anyway. Except for the cat. Who is probably the culprit. No killing the cat. I know I'm not imagining the threat you said." He ignored Thor, leaving him till the end, "Steve. Here's your culprit." He gestured to the cat who was sitting proudly beside him. "Before we get into whatever Thor was saying, let me introduce you to Renata. She's judgmental as hell, probably why she's been annoying you all. She bites. She scratches. She is somehow motherly -at least when it comes to me and Bruce. She is also not my cat, she's the cat."
"Why Renata?" Natasha asked, knowing the meaning behind the word,
"I chose 'Renata' as it originated from Latin, but this is also the Italian variant. It means 'reborn'. She appeared back in 2008 just before Afghanistan. For some reason, she was still around when I returned. She stayed and I took her to the vets. No owner or anything. She continued to stay. I made her a cat flap and a little area when it was clear she wouldn't leave. By doing so, she saved my life when Stane took the reactor out. She has yet to leave."
"She will not leave you." Thor murmured coming over to run his hand through her long black fur, Renata accepted it and purred,
"Which leads us back to whatever you were on about before." Thor merely smiled at Tony's exasperation.
"Anthony. Renata is no mere cat. She is a guide. They are extremely rare and only appear to mortals who need them and are destined for greatness. I suspect she is here to assist and protect you until the world is crumbling and you are needed to save humanity." Jaws dropped. Eyes widened.
"What the hell?" Tony exclaimed before clapping, "Good joke, Thor. Didn't know you had it in you."
"It is not a jest. It is the truth. You are needed to protect the world, Anthony. Considering the events with my brother, I have a feeling this will be against the real deal. He goes by Thanos and seeks to collect the Infinity Stones and destroy half of the universe. I don't have all the information, but I will speak with my father about it."
"So threat is imminent?" He whispered but everyone heard him, Tony stared at Renata and she stared back, "I've not gone mad?" He had barely any warning before the cat leapt at him and snuggled against his chest as though that was the answer. "Huh." He turned sharply on his heel, looking at everyone, "Point Break, try not to be too long on Asgard, we can start preparations if you guys are up to it?" The Avengers nodded. Backs straight as they agreed. Early preparations were a good idea, who knew when the attack would hit them after all.
—LINE BREAK—
"So. You're…my guardian or something." He whispered into the darkness of the night, Renata sitting on his lap as he spoke, "I guess…I guess you can be my cat." He joked and she purred as he stroked her, "Thanks, Renata."
For some annoying reason, strikethroughs don't work on this site (and if they do, I don't know how to do it then) but with Natasha's little "(threaten to cut their eyes out, make them eat their eyes and then kill them slower)" bit, this was originally striked-through but I've had to put it in brackets because I didn't want to cut it out.
Anyway,
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Bye~