A/N: Sorry for the late update. *yawns* 'Was sick last week for a few days and I had o work on my art final. Still do. But you guys are important to me and apparently I've reached the title of senpai, so I did my best with this. It's a little pointless, a little filler. But it will come up later, so it's not totally worthless, right?
[Chapter 11- Kitty!]
"Pepper," the panicked voice came over the phone. "Pepper, oh gosh, I don't know what to do- he's gone."
Ever since Loki arrived, Natasha and Pepper found themselves bonding more naturally than before. Today had put them at the spa, chatting about some thing that the resident seven year old had done or how Tony had failed to compensate. The strawberry blonde's phone had rang in the middle of their soak, and she had listened to Tony's unfiltered rambling for a minute before she calmed him down enough to figure out what was going on.
Loki had gone missing.
"What do you mean gone?" She demanded, immediately sitting up straighter. Natasha glanced over sharply.
"I-I don't know! I was in the lab, and Loki ran off to play with Steve, and then I asked JARVIS where they were, and he said they weren't in the tower! No one knows where they went, and Steve would never break rules like this, and something has to have happened, and oh gosh, Pepper? What if he's hurt? Or worse! What if he's dead?!" Tony babbled.
"Tony- Tony!" Pepper called into the phone. "No one's dead! Everything's just fine. Take a deep breath, and sit down somewhere, okay?"
"I-I can't! Pepper, he's gone-"
"I know, Tony. You said that before. Shut up and sit down." She heard the rustling of clothing, signifying that he had sat. "Now. Have you called Steve?"
"Do you think I'm stupid?! Of course, I called Steve! I am a genius, billionaire, not so playboy, philanthropist! You think that I wouldn't think to call him?!"
"It's a standard question, Tony. Do you know if anyone else saw them or was with them?"
"No! No one knows anything!"
"Okay. Um..." Pepper thought for another moment before she turned back to Natasha. "Loki and Steve have gone missing and no one knows where they went."
"What were they doing before they disappeared?"
"Tony says Loki left to play with Steve. He doesn't know what happened." The two women shared a long look before sighing and giving short nods, standing at the same time and grabbing towels to start drying off. Pepper turned back to the phone and quietly instructed Tony, "Alright. We're coming back now. Don't let anyone leave the tower, and wait in one place for them to get back. I suggest the living room. Keep calling Steve's cell phone every ten minutes. We should be there in thirty minutes."
"Okay. Okay, Pepper," Tony breathed, obviously still panicking but trying to stop. "I'll do that. I'll-I'll turn on a movie or something-"
"And, Tony? No alcohol, alright?" The blue eyed woman sighed.
"Yes, Pepper," the man grumbled quietly. "I'll stick with the apple juice..."
The woman ended the call, and the duo quickly exited the spa. Natasha was a trusted customer, so when they explained there was an emergency, the staff let them go and kept the receipt so they could pay next time. The women ducked into Pepper's car and started the drive back to the tower. Jarvis gave them brief updates every ten minutes through the radio.
Finally, they arrived and headed upstairs to the Avengers' personal floors via the private elevator. Tony, Clint, Bruce, and Thor were anxiously gathered in the front room. Thor paced nervously, biting his thumb in thought. "This is not usual for my brother. He is not fond of the outdoors. He would not leave the tower."
"We know, Thor."
Tony's leg bounced up and down rapidly, and Clint twirled his thumbs idly. Bruce sat on the other couch and nervously sipped tea. Natasha sat beside him and decided to start a quiet conversation to fill the silence and ease the tension. Pepper followed her lead, and everyone chatted for a short while, with Tony occasionally checking his phone or attempting to call Steve.
After another thirty minutes, the elevator doors opened suddenly and released Steve, Loki, and... a stuffed cat? The black animal was almost larger than the seven year old, and it looked almost exactly like a real cat. The child held the toy directly under its front appendages with his arms wrapped around its abdomen. The front paws hung over his arms, and the cat's back legs and tail dangled limply in front of him. The glass eyes were a bright, electric blue, and it had a soft pink nose and velvety pink pads on its paws.
"Look, Daddy!" Loki called cheerfully. "Steve got me a kitty!" He held his arms higher as if to show Tony what he was talking about.
Instantly, the six adults sprang to their feet and began to shout protests and questions at Steve. Loki flinched and ducked behind the super-soilder. Steve glanced worriedly behind him.
"Guys," he called over the din. "Guys! I'll explain everything! Just calm down!"
"Calm? Calm?!" Tony shrieked. "You want me to be calm?! You took Loki goodness only knows where out of the tower to do goodness knows what! We have been searching for over an hour! You couldn't have picked up your phone one of the first ten times I called?!"
"I didn't have my phone on! It died while I was sparring!" Steve scowled, trying not to start a fight with Loki present but unable to resist rising to Tony's comments.
"Sparring? Is that what you were doing when Loki came?" The engineer cried. What if Loki had gotten hurt?! He was such a twig-like little thing and Steve was this big, strong super human!
"I didn't spar with him! He sat and watched, and we talked while I practiced! Do you really think I would endanger him?!" The blonde questioned indignantly.
"Well, obviously the answer is yes because you took him out of the tower!" Tony snarked and gestured to the new cat toy to prove his point. "And Loki, if you wanted something, you just had to ask. You know you're not supposed to leave the tower. Don't think you're out of trouble either." Loki frowned, and big crocodile tears welled up in his eyes. Yet, he didn't protest.
"I always take a jog after I spar! Loki wanted to stay with me so we just went for a walk around the block! There was a toy vender selling stuffed animals and I had some cash! Is that so wrong?" Steve demanded angrily and tucked the seven year old into his side. He didn't like seeing kids cry, especially Loki.
"Yes! What if there were agents out there? What if you were mugged? What if we needed you for a mission? So many things could have gone wrong! And you put Loki in harm's way! I knew you were a bit clueless, but I never realized you were careless and stupid as well!" The smaller brunette man raged, throwing his hands in the air.
"None of those things happened! And just because I finally decided to let Loki get out of the tower instead of locking him up tighter than Alcatraz doesn't make me any less intelligent!"
"Oh, so you were always dull then?"
"Boys, boys!" Pepper finally snapped. "You're both pretty and you've both got points to make. Tony, don't call Steve stupid- you're setting a bad example. Steve, you should have told someone before you left, especially if you were taking Loki with you. Loki, sweetie, it's okay for you to go outside with one of us but we need to talk about it first so we can make sure nothing bad happens, okay? Alright, everyone? We're all on the same page then. Good. Loki, why don't you introduce us to your new friend?"
Bruce breathed a huge sigh of relief, pleased that the tension was starting to fade. Thor moved forward to scoop his brother up, and Loki giggled at the attention. The dark haired child clutched his toy with one arm and looped the other around his big brother's neck. Clint settled down to clean his bow, with Natasha sitting on the arm of the chair nearest to him. Tony and Pepper slowly settled down at the bar so the brunette could refill his apple juice; Steve left the room to take a shower.
"What is your companion's name, brother?" Thor questioned and sat on the couch opposite from Clint, pulling the dark haired child into his lap.
"Name? I hadn't thought of that quite yet, I guess..." Loki thought for a short moment. "I'd really like to name him Harry, but then he'd need a Ron and Hermione." Tony choked for a quite moment and Pepper worriedly patted him on the back.
"Of course," Natasha smiled. "That sounds like a great name, and I'm sure we can get him some more friends soon." The boy nodded shyly and snuggled the toy closer while leaning further into Thor.
But that just wouldn't do.
Tony didn't like animals, of course, and he knew that if he'd ever had a pet it would die before the week was out. But with Pepper and the other Avengers in the tower, Tony could one-up Natasha and do better than more stuffed animals.
The brunette smiled wickedly to himself as he watched everyone interact with Loki and Harry the stuffed cat wizard.
-{[(•)]}-
"I don't know what you're planning, but I'm sure I'm not going to like it if that smirk is anything to go by," Pepper frowned and she walked into Tony's lab. He was working on some kind of multi-layered storage system, or so it seemed. It looked very unique, very Tony, but Pepper didn't understand why the man was now stapling carpet to it...
"Oh, nothing much. Just making Loki the happiest kid alive," the engineer smirked as he continued his work on the condo. The other things he'd made were hidden, with Loki having been left a note so he could find them scavenger hunt style. Tony had already seen the green eyed boy tugging Thor and Steve all over the tower. Jarvis kept him informed on their progress; they would be in the lab by the end of the hour.
"Hmm-mm. Sure." Pepper set a small stack of paperwork near his elbow. She didn't miss the soft noises coming from the cardboard box at the end of the lab table. "What's this?" She curiously reached out.
Gently, of course, Tony swatted her hand and mooed at her. "Noooooo, not yet!"
"Tony, have you been sleeping enough lately? You've been off ever since Steve took Loki out of the tower-"
"Fine! I'm fine!" He beamed, and she could smell the honesty radiating off him.
"Well... Alright..." She mumbled. The man went back to stapling carpet, and he seemed finished when Jarvis warned them of the arrival of Loki and the blondes.
"Daddy! Daddy, look at what we found!" The seven year old giggled delightedly and sprinted straight into Tony's open arms. The brunette laughed deeply and lifted him up, settling him on his hip almost naturally. Loki held out a basket of goodies, including a collar, bag of cat nip, and something that resembled a feather duster.
Curiously, the dark haired boy pulled out a food dish that was decorated with bands of rainbows and quietly wondered, "What does it mean?" Tony smirked and bounced Loki lightly.
"I don't know. Maybe you're missing something?" He questioned. The child frowned and shook his head.
"No, we followed all the directions. They just took us here!" He murmured. Steve quirked an eyebrow and twisted his head in the direction of the noisy cardboard box.
"Well, maybe whatever you need to find is in here? What did they instructions say?" The brown eyed man did his best to repress a smile as Thor thoughtfully recalled each part of the scavenger hunt for him. Treasure hunts were apparently very important on Asgard, so the two brothers had easily puzzled through each of the clues.
"Tony-" Steve suddenly hissed. He looked angry and worried all at once, which probably meant he had figured out what was in the box.
"What is going on?" Pepper frowned. "Tony?"
"Fine! You guys always ruin my fun! Here, Rudolph, is the last part of your scavenger hunt." The billionaire set the child carefully on the table beside the box. Curiously, Loki shifted forward and opened the cardboard container. Steve flinched at the high-pitched squeal that came from the boy's mouth.
"Kitty!"
Pepper instantly rounded on the brunette. "Tony!"
"What? He likes cats and I've clearly got enough money! Jarvis helped me look everything up online, and it's really not hard to take care of these things," he explained quickly and defensively. A delighted giggle came from the cardboard box and Tony shrieked when he discovered that there were now two cats. "Where did that come from?!"
"Silly, Daddy! It's me!" Loki purred happily and leapt at his new friend. The small kittens made soft noises to each other before curling up and falling asleep, Loki carefully wrapped around the tabby kitten.
"What..." Tony trailed off with wide eyes. Slowly, he turned to Thor. The thundered just smiled softly.
"Loki is a natural shapeshifter. We did not know until he had discovered his... true heritage. When Odin found him, he naturally assumed the form of an Aesir in hopes that Father would save him. He became more adept at his abilities as he grew, of course, but he is naturally able to shift into another skin as if it were his own. Now that he's willingly shown you, he will probably be whatever he desires at any time," the blonde declared, his voice full of warmth. He stepped forward at some point during his speech and scratched Loki behind one of his little black ears.
"Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, what?!" The engineer frowned. "So tomorrow morning I could walk into the kitchen, find a snake, and have to force myself not to freak out because it's probably Loki?"
"I doubt he would shift into a snake, Man of Iron," Thor muttered and shifted. He ran his knuckles down Loki's spine and grinned at the contented purr that escaped the kitten. "He liked small, furry animals more at this age."
"So a mouse then. You're going to be the one to explain that to Natasha."
"He could also choose to become a fluffy bird."
"Then I'd have a baby chicken running around, which I'm sure I could use against Clint, but that's not the point. We need to set some boundaries I guess," the brunette sighed.
"When he awakens, Stark," the blue eyed man assured.
"Can he turn into anything bigger?" Steve wondered. He wandered over and gave the orange kitten some attention as well. "Like a rhino or something?"
"A larger species of animal, yes, but he will still appear his age for that species. If I may, I'd like to make a conversion chart for future use. I know felines are 5 years for every human year and canines are 7," Thor responded. Tony waved away his thoughts.
"Jarvis will take care of that. Don't worry about it."
Pepper finally caved to her inner cat-lover and affectionately petted both of the kitten in sweet, gentle strokes. No part of them was safe. Everything was properly loved, from the soft spots behind their ears to the sensitive pads of their paws.
"This was not what I was expecting when I got him a pet..."
A/N: So make the fluff was also kinda crack-fic-ish...
Question of the update! If you were a werewolf, would you be an Alpha, an Omega, or a regular ol' Beta? The all-knowing internet tells me I'm an Omega, but I know I could be an Alpha if I were with the right mate. *hides romance novels* This question wasn't really brought on by anything in particular...