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It was supposed to be a nice day out with some of his teammates. Bucky, Peter, Steve and Tony were at a small cafe, chatting about their day and what they had planned for the long weekend.
No missions. No training. No work. No stress. Just a day to relax.
And it was going pretty well for the most part, that was until Peter dashed out of his seat and through the cafe doors, interrupting the middle of Tony’s sentence.
It had taken the three men a moment to realize what had happened before they too sprang out of their seats and were chasing after the boy.
“Peter!” They had all called after him.
Tony was baffled to say the least. One second he’s teasing Rogers about his choice of dessert and the next, the kids running out the door. Tony isn’t stupid, when it comes to Peter, the kid always seems to find trouble.
They follow Peter down the sidewalk but come to a sudden halt, watching in horror. They call after him, but he doesn’t stop, doesn’t even hesitate as he runs across oncoming traffic. A car horn blares when he’s nearly hit and Tony swears that he just about has a heart attack then and there. Bucky lets out a curse, praying the kid doesn’t get hit, while Steve continues to call after the boy.
The three let out a collective sigh of relief when they see Peter make it across the road and unharmed. Peter stops right in front of a building and stands there just looking up. Tony’s about two seconds away from losing his shit, cause the kid ran across the street to look at a fucking building when his eyes follows Peters.
There, about four stories up, is a fat orange tabby cat dangling from a balcony.
His gaze snaps back to Peter who has his arms out ready to catch the feline and a second later the cat falls. Peter, of course, catches the thing with ease.
Tony couldn’t help but gawk at him. The kid had run through traffic, risking his life, for a cat?
This reckless and idiotically kind kid.
Tony felt his chest tighten with something akin to pride yet also concern. Pride that he had the pleasure of knowing such a selfless kid, but concerned that Peter would spread himself too thin. All types of feelings only Peter ever brought out in him.
Tony only goes to move when he notices Steve and Bucky cross the street, safely, and frantically make their way to the idiot teenager.
The moment Tony is in reach he’s grabbing Peter by the shoulders and checking him over. “What the hell were you thinking?”
The kid has the nerve to smile at him, brushing off his hands as he proudly holds the cat in the air, showing it off.
“I couldn’t just let Mufasa fall to his death.” He cheekily replies.
Tony freezes at this and drops his head with a groan. Steve just stands there looking confused before he gets the joke and puts on a stern face, preparing for a scolding. Bucky on the other hand snickers at the comment.
“Mufasa? Really?” The man asks with an amused smirk.
“I think it’s fitting.” Peter deems holding his head up high.
Bucky holds his hands up in mock surrender. “Okay, fair, but you gotta name one of his kids Simba.” he teased.
Tony snapped his head up pointing an accusing finger at Barnes, “Do not encourage him.” He then turns back to Peter. “And you. You didn’t need to go running into traffic for that thing, you could’ve been seriously hurt. And don’t cats always land on their feet anyways?”
The kid's face scrunches up at that comment before morphing into a pout.
“But Mr. Stark, he could’ve been seriously hurt. Plus I think that’s just a myth.”
“Pete, you could’ve been seriously hurt. Just no more running into streets. Okay?” Tony sighs.
“Okay.” But the kid’s not even looking at him, too distracted by the cat swatting at his nose. Peter doesn’t spare any of the heroes a second glance as the cat licks his nose and he’s falling in love. Tony is already expecting the next words to come out of his mouth.
“Can we keep him?”
“No.” Is his immediate response.
“Aww, c’mon Mr. Stark.” The kid whines.
Steve steps out from behind him and checks the cat over. “He doesn’t seem to have a collar or anything on him.” At that Peter shoots him a hopeful look and Tony turns to glare at Rogers for not helping. Bucky, the only one with any sense, steps in.
“How about we check at the shelter to see if anyones missing the poor thing and then we can go on to begging Stark to buy out an entire pet store.”
At this Tony rolls his eyes, but it seems to do the trick for Peter, as he seemed to rather help the owner find their pet than to keep it to himself.
With an agreement to find the cat's owner they make their way back to the cafe to collect their stuff, Tony keeping a close eye on Peter just in case he decides to take off again.
The four leave to a shelter two blocks away, Peter walking in front of them, cat still in arm. Tony can’t help the small smile that spreads across his face as he watches Peter coo at the cat. When he looks around he notices both Steve and Bucky have the same dopey looks on their faces.
“Mr. Stark, look!” Peter calls.
And when he turns back, Peter’s holding up the cat towards the sun screaming Circle of Life.
Yea, Tony thinks, today’s been a good day.