If there was something Thor would have never expected was to see the penthouse in such a mess.
He was used to see the house of his genius friend tidy and immaculate – not much for his housekeeping abilities, but his robot servants were more than enough to solve his lack of skills on that front – and that…
That was a mess.
He was known not to have a particularly elaborate vocabulary, but that could only be described as a mess.
The couch was in the wrong position, some cushions were ripped and their white feathery insides were littering the tiled floor, and a lamp was overthrown.
The presence of a large cartoon box all chewed at the angles was definitely out of place in the elegant penthouse.
Thor was still busy examining the scattered furniture visible from the entrance that he heard the loud noise of something falling on the ground, followed by other less loud somethings, and in the end by an uncontrolled laugh.
“What…?”
“No. Not the library.”
It was only because Thor had spent centuries in Loki’s company that he didn’t jump out of his own skin when Loki materialised next to him.
“Brother?” he tried to ask, but to no use. Before he could even try to stop him, Loki had already started stalking in the direction of the noise, and all Thor could do to have an explanation was keep up his pace as his little brother went in search of Stark.
If it was what he thought it was, Thor wouldn’t have wanted to be in the mortal’s shoes.
The origin of the ruckus appeared to be at the end of the corridor on their right, and now that they got closer it was possible to distinguish other noises coming from behind the door that had been left ajar.
“Kaisa! Get down! You know Loki doesn’t want you in here. And you over there, I see you. Get out. No no no not that way.”
Another noise of something smashing against the floor reached their ears.
There was a sigh coming from the library.
“Halvard you don’t fit under the armchair. You know it. No, no, don’t look at me like that. I know. Yes, I know you’re sorry. I love you too, kitten, yes. No, I’m not mad. How can I be mad at such a fluffy kitten?” Tony’s voice transformed into a coo, and Thor could see his brother rolling his eyes.
“Anthony.”
It was funny to see how all the occupants of the library jumped when they heard Loki’s voice and the door opened.
“Lokes! Hey, you’re early. Thor.”
“I appear to be late,” Loki looked around at the devastation laid on his library. The last noise he had heard had been his favourite armchair reaching his books on the floor, “What-“
“I can explain!” Tony put up his hands, and in front of Loki’s glare the three snow leopards hid behind Tony’s legs, ears flat against their heads in a mortified expression.
“I had been clear.”
“I know…”
“No cubs in the library.”
“Yeah, that was the plan, but-“
“But?”
“Look at them,” Tony gestured in direction of the three kittens that were flattening on the floor, their long tails wrapping in comfort around their bodies, “Oh, did he scare you? No, Loki means no harm. Don’t listen to him. Don’t listen to the mean mage,” he turned around to scratch his babies behind the ears, leaving a crestfallen Loki behind.
“Excuse me?” said mage raised his voice as his brother started snickering.
“You scared the kittens,” Tony scolded him.
“For Norns’ sake, they’re not kittens.”
“No? And what are they then?” Tony smiled from ear to ear when the three cubs rolled on their backs to have their bellies scratched and started purring when the man complied.
“Well,” Loki deflated a little, “They’re supposed to be ferocious beasts. Elegant. Proud,” he quirked an eyebrow at Mit, who was looking at him from the wrong angle: head on the floor, belly in the air, long tail between his teeth.
Not a flattering picture for a mighty predator.
“I’m afraid that plan failed, brother,” Thor laughed, joining Tony on the floor to play with the kittens. He had never managed to do so with their mother; Stelmaria seemed to have picked from Loki the proud and royal reluctance to be associated with anyone she deemed lesser than her – so basically every single being in the Nine Realms except Loki.
And apparently a lucky snow leopard on Jotunheim.
“There’s still hope,” Loki muttered, but he didn’t sound too optimistic.
“I don’t think so,” Thor commented as Kaisa licked his hand and purred.
“Come on, Lo, leave the babies alone.”
“They’re not babies!”
Honest to God, Halvard pouted.
Loki found the expression oddly reminiscent of Tony’s.
“You’re a bad influence to them,” he tried again, but even he knew that he wasn’t too convinced of what he was saying.
“Why?” Tony asked.
“They’re not house cats. They are predators. They need to learn how to behave, how to hunt.”
“Oh but I’m teaching them! Look,” he tapped on Thor’s arm to draw the blond’s attention, and took something out of his pocket, “Kids,” he called.
While Loki rolled his eyes, the ones of the three leopards were immediately on Tony.
With a click a small red dot appeared on the floor a few inches away from them, and it started moving. It took the cubs half a second to jump on the small light, following it in the whole library as Tony and Thor laughed.
Since Loki was still pretending to be offended Tony pointed the laser on his feet, and the god was trampled by the three leopards.
Thor had tears in his eyes, and when he managed to stop laughing he was out of breath.
“See? Mighty hunters. They can take down gods.”
“I’ll end you, Stark,” Loki growled, trying to pet his way out of the mass of excited kittens.