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The sun was perfect on his fur, and the wind was nice enough to appease the overheating. Today was a good day; Buck had time to come down with him to the park between his guitar practice, and he even shared his ice-cream with him, it was perfect.
He was sat beside the soldier under a tree, resting after playing with the frisbee. Buck threw it too far sometimes, but Steve run fast so it wasn’t a problem.
Steve knew Buck mostly came to the park to watch the girls doing their yoga, but he didn’t mind, he also liked to observe the hot dog man, who was clumsy and let sausages slip from his hands from time to time, and as Buck was entertained with the girls, Steve was able to sneak off to catch the fallen food.
And today wasn’t any different, Buck was hypnotized by the women and the hot dog man was disastrous as ever, so Steve slowly approached the cart.
The gold retriever opened his mouth to bite the fallen sausage but closed his teeth around thin air. Steve looked up in confusion, certain the meat was there, and locked eyes with a tiny cat eating his prey.
Steve growled loudly, it was his sausage; he had been waiting for the man to drop it for some time. However, the kitten didn’t look up, too busy eating his prize. So Steve approached the small ball of black and white fur.
“This is mine, give it back” The dog barked to the little cat.
The cat raised his head and flicked one of his ears “I saw it first” the tiny thing hissed.
“No, you didn’t, you stole from me” Steve huffed annoyed and tried to paw away the meat from the cat.
“Can you prove it?” The cat challenged him, swinging his short tail from side to side and securing his prey with a tiny paw and sharp claws from the dog.
Steve whined with the slight scratch he got and wanted to laugh at the kitten’s courage. The tuxedo cat was barely an adult; he still has some of his baby fur on him. Steve could respect such action, he wasn't any better at that age… not that he has improved much either.
So the golden retriever had another idea, he really didn’t want to take the candy from a baby or the sausage in this case… at least that was what he thought the saying was about… Buck said weird things sometimes and he had taught Steve better than that.
“You could share” Steve offered, lowering himself down on his paws to be eye level with the kitten, noting better the hazel big eyes the feline had.
“Why would I do that, I don’t even know you,” The kitten said uncertain, he knew it was a lot for him to eat, but he has doubts if the dog would keep his part of the bargain and not get all the sausage to himself.
“That can be saved, I’m Steve, and you are…” The dog asked politely, slight bowing his head.
“I’m Tony, but I don’t think it works like that” The cat said, resuming his eating.
Steve let out a loud whine and dropped his head on his paws, observing the sausage vanish bite by bite.
After a while of being stared at by gloomy soft blue eyes, Tony had enough.
“Ok, fine! Stop looking at me like that” Tony meowed in dismay, glancing at the worst puppy dog eyes ever.
Using his claw, Tony sliced the sausage in two.
Steve wiggled his tail happily, giving a joyous bark and accepting his piece.
Not a moment later they were interrupted.
“Look at what we have here, Zola” A different voice cut through their meal.
Steve looked up and observed a big Boxer dog and a small black terrier move around them both, like waiting to pounce on at any moment.
“Yeah, free food” The black terrier answered his companion.
The gold retriever glanced around, did the hot dog man get careless again. And then he felt a smell of distress coming from the kitten; Tony had stopped cleaning his paws after finishing his piece of sausage and was staring intently at the newcomers, getting ready to bolt and his fur slowly spiking.
Steve stood in alert; no one was going to scare Tony, not on his watch.
“Look Skull, the foodstuff has a protector” Zola, the terrier, barked in a laugh, approaching Steve with curiosity. “Tell me, is he your play mate, your little toy?!”He asked in disdain.
Steve felt uncomfortable with the dog invading his space, so he walked to stand beside Tony with purpose “He is my friend!” He glanced at the kitten, seeing the big hazel eyes double its size in awe.
Tony turned to the two annoying dogs and hissed with intent “You heard it, he is my friend, so fuck off!”
“Language” Steve barked low, just for the kitten.
But Tony didn’t have time to answer and if he did, Steve didn’t have a chance to hear, because soon Skull was attacking him.
And then what followed was a blur of big dogs rolling on the grass. Steve could hear the terrier cheering for Skull and Tony’s concerned meows “Let him go, or I call my mom!” The kitten threatened.
At that, the boxer let go of Steve for an instant, laughing at the little cat “Yeah, call her, more food the merrier”
The golden retriever was outraged, he won’t let any harm come to Tony or his family, so Steve prepared to attack again when a piercing cry broke through the air, making all of them and even the oblivious hot dog man wince in pain.
“Moommmy” The small tuxedo kitten meowed of the top of his lungs.
Skull was really angry at Tony’s cry and let Steve go to advance on him instead. The gold retriever made an attempt to stop the large dog but failed, the boxer had bitten his front paw.
And in a blink of an eye, Buck was there beside him while the bad dogs run away from the rain. Wait, rain? Steve looked around, sniffing, he was certain today wasn’t going to rain…
“Oh Stevie, really, fighting with stray dogs” Steve heard Buck say while he searched the place for Tony; getting angst and whining loudly when he didn’t found the kitten.
“Go easy on him, I think he was trying to protect my baby” A new soft voice came beside Buck, making the soldier's jaw drop in astonishment by the beauty of its owner.
The soldier got up quickly “Oh, hi” he says offering his hand “I’m James.”
Steve huffed, noticing the interest for the new woman in Buck’s voice, and looked up to see who disturbed his important search for Tony.
“I’m Natasha” The woman shook Buck’s hands, moving her now empty water bottle to the other hand “and this is Tony, my little menace.”
Steve barked gleefully, wagging his golden tail. He could see Tony on the crook of her arm, purring contently with the rub he was receiving on his ear.
“Oh, hi little guy” Buck stroke under the kitten’s chin “This is Steve,” He said to the lady, motioning to him with his prosthetic arm.
“Hi, Steve” The woman crouched down to see the dog better and Tony perked up on her arms, trying to reach him with his tiny paw. “I see you guys get along well,” The woman said amused, putting Tony in the grass in front of Steve to talk better with Buck.
“Steeb” Tony ran to him “Are you alright” he meows in concern.
“Tony!” Steve chirped, wagging his tail. And as the kitten came to range the gold retriever bathed him with his tongue.
“Eww, gross” Tony complained but let Steve finish.
And as Bucky and Natasha couldn't seem to be able to stop their conversation, Steve and Tony curled with each other to nap; the kitten almost vanishing in the dog’s soft fur.
Steve was happy, now he had a friend besides Buck, one who he would surely see again if depended on the soldier.
Today wasn’t a good day, it was an excellent one.
-end