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“Hey Thor, when did you get a cat?” Steven asked through the ear piece.
“What? You have a cat?” Tony’s voice added before he could answer. “When the hell did you get a cat?”
“I don’t have a cat,” Thor responded, confused. “Why—”
“Boys,” Natasha’s crisp voice interrupted. “Focus, now isn’t the best time to be talking about Thor’s cat.”
“But I don’t have a cat,” Thor tried again. Tony was talking too, so he wasn’t sure if anyone had heard him.
“Oh come on, we’re just sitting around watching a building Romanov,” he was saying. “It’s boring, we can talk about Thor’s cat if we want to.”
“Fine,” Natasha snapped. “Talk about the damn cat then.”
“There is NO CAT,” Thor yelled.
From the swearing and snappish responses he was getting it was safe to assume they had heard him this time. He chuckled when he heard Steven let out a few choice words of his own.
“Language,” he admonished with a laugh. “Really Steven, I thought you were supposed to be setting the example here.”
“He’s got you there,” Tony added, joining in.
“Target spotted.”
Natasha’s no-nonsense voice cut through their laughter bringing them back on task with sobering effect. Thor’s non-existent cat was forgotten for the moment as they completed their mission.
~
“Wait, why did you think Point Break had a cat Rogers?”
Tony’s sudden outburst interrupted the big fight scene playing out on the TV they were all gathered around a few days later. A large group had shown up for movie night this week, mostly because they had all recently been on different missions and it was a great chance to catch up. Movie night was a part of Tony’s supposed plan to educate Steven on modern popular culture and even though Thor wasn’t in on Tony’s official education plan, he did enjoy learning more about Midgardian entertainment as well as any chance to gather with friends, so had been eager to join in.
It had nothing to do with his moody brother who was off sulking in their rooms over some new slight. Thor wasn’t even sure what he had done wrong this time but knowing Loki it was probably his fault… somehow. Whatever it was he would just apologize later when Loki told him what he’d done wrong.
“Thor has a cat?” Clint asked pausing the movie. “Since when has Thor had a cat.”
“Thor doesn’t have a cat,” Natasha told him with a sigh. “Steve just thought he did.”
“Yeah, so getting back to my point,” Tony said. “Why did you think he had a cat?”
“Oh, I saw a black cat sleeping on his balcony the other day,” Steven explained. “I assumed it was Thor’s, but I guess I was wrong,” he added with a shrug.
“Now that that’s cleared up, can we get back to the movie?” Bruce asked, clearly irritated. “This is the best part!”
“Yeah, yeah—” Tony mumbled, grabbing the remote.
“I wonder where the cat you saw came from,” Wanda mused as the movie started playing again.
“Probably just a stray,” Steven replied offhandedly.
“Oh my god,” Bruce whined. “Stop talking!”
~
“Loki, you know you are more than welcome to join me with the others,” Thor said, trying to keep his voice calm.
“I have no desire to be surrounded by a bunch of people who hate my guts,” Loki snapped.
“If you let them get to know you then maybe they wouldn’t hate you,” Thor argued.
Loki rolled his eyes at him and opened his mouth to give Thor what was sure to be a scathing reply, but was interrupted by a knock at the door. Thor sighed and turned away to go answer it, grateful for the interruption. Arguing with Loki tended to be a useless endeavor.
“Steven, it good to see you!”
Thor’s greeting was tad over-enthusiastic, making Steven pause in the doorway. He returned Thor’s smile with a tentative one of his own as Thor welcomed him inside.
“Yeah, you too,” he replied hesitently. “I um, I was just stopping by to go over the—"
He trailed off as something behind Thor grabbed his attention. By the Norns, what has Loki done now, Thor thought peevishly.
“You said you didn’t have a cat!” Steven said, moving past him into the room.
Steven’s accusation made Thor groan internally, Not this stupid cat business again! What will it take to convince these people that I don’t have a fucking cat!
He turned around, ready to tell Steven, once and for all, that he didn’t have a damn cat, only to be brought up short by the sight in front of him. There in Steven’s arms was a pretty little black cat rubbing its head against Steven’s hand as it purred in appreciation.
And Loki, the little shit, was nowhere to be seen. Thor stared in growing horror as Steven continued to stroke the cat in his arms, cooing over him and telling him how pretty he was before leveling an accusing glare at Thor.
“So who’s cat is this then?”
“That’s not my cat,” Thor sputtered. “That’s just Lo—”
He was cut off as the cat yowled at him, narrowing his eyes in warning. Thor swallowed before giving Steven a sheepish grin.
“I mean, he’s not really my cat,” he tried. “More of an independent creature, really. I haven’t seen him in awhile, comes and goes as he pleases.”
“You should really try to keep him inside,” Steven admonished. “A beautiful cat like this, someone might decide to keep him.”
“Really, I don’t—”
“Or something could happen to him, it can be dangerous out there Thor. He could be eaten by a wild animal, or hit by a car… Do you really want that on your conscience?”
“I’ve tried to keep him at home. Tried to watch over him,” Thor argued. “But every time I do, he runs away from me! Really, it’s best to just let him do what he wants, he sticks around more when I do.”
Thor could hear the bitterness creeping into his voice and knew Loki was eating up every word of it. He plastered a smile onto his face and tried for a more cheerful tone, “Well, at least we’ve solved the riddle of the mysterious cat, right?”
“I suppose,” Steven said thoughtfully, obviously not convinced.
“So, you wanted to go over something with me, yes?” Thor said, changing the subject. “Why don’t we talk about it down in the kitchen? I could use a bite to eat.”
“Sure,” Steven said absent-mindedly, obviously still trying to put two and two together as he put the cat back down on the floor.
“Great, let’s go,” Thor told him, steering him quickly towards the door.
As Thor followed him out, he heard Loki laughing behind him. He turned to shoot a glare at his brother, but all he got was a wink in return. Fighting back a smile, he shook his head ruefully at his brother’s antics as he closed the door and hurried to catch up with Steven.