Comfortember Day Twenty-One: Pets [MIT Era Iron Bros]

Tony always wanted pets. He asked his dad when he was five if he could have one, but because Howard Stark was Howard Stark, he said no and his mother also said no because of that. Tony tried again when he was ten and got the same answer with his father being much harsher with his words.

Now Tony Stark was fifteen and in college. He hadn't asked for pets again. He asked his roommate, James Rhodes, if he had any pets but he didn't. Not that it would've mattered in the end because they'd have to go to his house to see them. No one had time for that in college.

Tony thought about this as he hurried down the street heading back to his dorm. It was raining a lot harder than the weather said it would. Rhodey would kill him for being out in this weather and not being properly dressed. He was such a worrywart.

As he turned a corner he barely managed to hear a quiet noise over the heavy rain. It kept going on and on as if it was a record on repeat. Before long he found himself kneeling next to an empty car and looking down to see a pitiful furball curled next to the tire.

Tony didn't really know what to do so he poked the furball. It shrieked and swiped the tiniest of paws at his finger. Tony reached forward again but gently stroked the top of it's tiny head. He was rewarded with cute purring and Tony decided that was that. He got both hands under the car and lifted the tiny kitten into his arms.

"Rhodey's gonna love this," Tony said to himself. He wrapped his jacket around the kitten and continued his way back to his dorm.

XXX

Rhodey was still in class when Tony got back to their dorm room. The kitten finally stopped shivering in Tony's hold. Tony made sure the door was closed before carefully plopping the tiny thing on the bed. It was the size of a small stuffed animal now that he got a better look at it.

Tony grabbed a hand towel and wiped the kitten clean. Getting all the dirt off it revealed it to be a Cali-something. Tony didn't know. But the fur was pretty and he just wanted to cuddle it until no tomorrow.

"What to call you," Tony trailed off, placing a hand on his chin. He hummed. "I'll wait for Rhodey to get back. We can pick a name together."

The kitten gave him a quiet purr as a response. It curled up on Tony's pillow.

XXX

"Tony. What is this?"

"Is that the best you can say?"

"Tony, a cat, seriously?"

"It's not a cat, it's a kitten. Look how tiny it is!" Tony gestured to his still sleeping kitten. "Rhodey, you can't tell me you wouldn't have taken this in if you saw it."

"No, I'd take it in. But I'd give it to the animal shelter or something. Animals aren't allowed in the dorms. It's against the rules."

Tony raised a brow. "Since when have I followed the rules?"

Rhodey sighed. Tony had the feeling he was going to win him over. He had one last card to pull out. Then Rhodey'd cave.

"I always wanted a pet of some kind. But Howard…" Tony waved his hand around.

The two of them stared at each other in silence. Tony didn't talk about Howard often but when he did it was never good. There was nothing good he could say about him. Rhodey had even overheard horrible phone conversations he had with his father. It was never good. Tony was always miserable afterward.

Rhodey sighed again, a bit more exaggerated this time. Tony got him.

"Fine, you can keep it," Rhodey relented. "But you have to take care of it. Feed it, take it out, clean it-"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah! It'll be easy to take care of this. If I get stuck I'll just look things up."

Rhodey shook his head but Tony saw his ghost smile. Tony sat on his bed and watched Rhodey pet the kitten.

"Got a name for it yet?" Rhodey asked, curiously.

Tony shook his head. "I was waiting for you to come back. I want your help with a name."

"Why?" Rhodey sat next to him.

"Because you're my best friend," Tony said with a proud smile. Rhodey was his only friend, honestly. "So, ideas?"

"Geeze, Tones, I don't know. I just got back from class expecting to see my roommate eating a cheeseburger, and instead I came back to see him with a kitten."

"Come on, Sour Patch," Tony groaned. He nudged him. "I want you to have some say."

"Well, most of it's-"

"His, Rhodey. His."

"Most of his fur is brown and black with only some white in there. So why not...Sandy?"

"Sandy? Seriously?" Tony deadpanned. "That's...kinda lame."

Rhodey swatted the back of his head, earning a chuckle from Tony.

"How did you even think Sandy is alright? It's boring."

"What's your idea then?"

Tony shrugged. "I don't know. That's why I'm asking you! Come on, Platypus."

"You can think of a million nicknames but you can't name one tiny kitten."

Tony placed his hand on his chin and stared at the floor. Rhodey sighed and lied down, crossing his arms behind his head. Rhodey was right. Tony did have a thing with nicknames. He was great at them. Yet he couldn't name a kitten.

Tony huffed and lied down next to Rhodey. He shifted over and rested his head on his best friend's shoulder. Rhodey carded his fingers through Tony's hair.

He thought of naming the kitten Cuddles but that wouldn't work because Tony asked Rhdoey for cuddles a lot. If he called for Cuddles, Rhodey might think he wants some and it would get confusing.

"Jason?"

"Connor?"

"Alex?"

Tony groaned. "Why are we listing off normal human names? It just doesn't work."

Rhodey shrugged. Then they went at it again.

"Snowball?"

"It's main colours are brown and black. There's not a lot of white…"

"Mechanic?"

"Nah, too rough."

"Bird Chaser?"

"That sounds like something from Nascar."

Rhodey laughed. Tony joined in. Even if they weren't really getting anywhere it was kind of fun.

Tony sat up abruptly and snapped his fingers, startling Rhodey. Rhodey sat up a little more carefully to avoid a headache. The kitten started to stumble his way towards the two.

"Koala," Tony announced. He took the kitten and placed it in his lap. "His name from this day on will be Koala."

Rhodey raised a brow. "Why?"

"'Cause koalas are cuddly, well they look cuddly, and these two kinda have similar colours," Tony said, thumbing the top of Koala's head. "It's perfect."

Rhodey shrugged. "If that's what you want, Tones."

Tony nodded and smiled. "Yup. I like it. Do you?"

Rhodey smiled. "Yeah. I like it."

Tony gave Rhodey a high-five.

"So, how are we going to keep this away from the RA?"

"Uh...We'll think of something!"

"Oh, Tones."

Author's Note: This was another fun one to write. I knew from the start I wanted this prompt to be Iron Bros. Also, I can thank my best friend for choosing which animal for Tony to pick up. It was either a cat or a dog and she chose cat. I was leaning more towards cat too so it worked out.

Also the "human names" Tony and Rhodey were listing off were characters from video games. Jason [Heavy Rain], Connor [Detroit: Become Human], Alex [Life is Strange: True Colours].

That's all for now. I'll see ya'll in the next chapter.

Thanks for reading!

~Kurosaki