The Avengers - Getting to know you - Fav. animal

It was a lazy afternoon in the Avengers tower. Tony was lying on the couch, his head was resting on Steve's lap. Captain's arm was wrapped around Tony's and Tony was lovingly caressing his hand. It was bigger than his, but the skin was more gentle and soft. Tony's hand were a little rough from all the engineering. It was a dirty job. Not mentioning all the scars and cuts he had during the years. Steve's hand were smooth, untouched.

"Hey, Tony" Steve said turning the TV off. He still couldn't get used to modern TV programs. They were too bright and too loud.

"Mhhm?" Tony answered still caressing Steve's hand.
"What is your favorite animal?" the blonde asked. Tony stopped the motion, looking at the space in front of him with a puzzled expression. Than he lifted his head to look at Steve.

"You do realize that this is not a kind of a question you ask a grown-up man?" the familiar cocky Tony Stark smile was on his lips.
"Come on Tony, I want to know you better. Think about it, what exactly do we know about each other?" he said,
"The exact amount that is sufficient for you to bear with me. Any more and you would start to hate me." came the answer.
"Tony." Steve said in that tone. It was the tone that Tony recognized as the one "stop-being-a-sarcastic-pain-in-you-know-where". He half-smiled at Steve.

Tony put his head down and started to think about it. He didn't had any pets as a kid. His parent's were sending him off to various camps to keep him entertained, but keeping a pet was out of question. They had an aquarium with fish in it, but you can barely call them pets. Fish didn't give a damn about their owners. Beside, those were some fancy-super-expensive fish and Tony was supposed to stay away. After his parents death he was thinking of getting a dog, but quickly realized that he is not enough responsible to take care of himself and he didn't want to be responsible for a breathing, living creature. So he had constructed a mechanic dog. It was a prototype and it didn't last long. But it was a kind of devastating experience for Tony when it had broke and then he decided to not have any pets, living or mechanical.   

"Tony.." Steve said brushing his hand through dark hair. It was a thing that Tony did very often, spacing out in his own thoughts. Sometimes he got so entangled in his own thoughts that he couldn't no longer differentiate if he is having a internal monologue with himself or is he speaking out loud. Steve caught him few times doing that.

"Erm, sorry" the brunet murmured, gently tilting his head to the back following Steve's fingers. He loved when Steve was doing that.

"So?" Steve was waiting for an answer.
"So?" Tony repeated, he got lost in the feeling and didn't want to go back.
"Your favorite animal." the blonde reminded him, smiling at him.
"Oh.. Em.. A duck.. No, wait! A monkey!" he said with a broad grin, getting off Steve's lap to look at him.

"A monkey?" Steve looked at him surprised. He always thought that Tony would say a lion, tiger or other potentially dangerous wild cat.

"Yeah, think about it! You know how people always say that I'm an eccentric, unpredictable billionaire?" he said, still overly excited.
"Yeaah.." Steve drawled the word. He didn't like where this conversation was going.
"So, if I had a monkey.. No, a whole platoon of monkeys! And those monkeys will start to go wild and throw feces at themselves than all those people will see how mellow and well-adjusted I'm comparing to them!" he beamed.

Steve was looking at him with a blank expression.

"Steve?" Tony asked dropping the grin.
"I don't know if I should slap you or kiss you to stop talking nonsense."

Tony grinned hearing that.

"Can I buy a monkey?" next he felt Steve's lips at his. He enjoyed the feeling, moving closer to the blonde. When Steve parted from the kiss, Tony was still grinning.

"No, you can't" Steve said eyeing the brunet. Tony just shrugged and lie back on Steve's lap. This time he was on his stomach, hugging the blonde's thighs. Steve placed his hand on Tony's back, sliding his fingers along the brunet's spine. Tony let out a blissful sigh.

"And what about you?" he murmured getting overly relaxed by Steve's touch.
"Hm? My favorite animal?" Steve thought about it for a moment. He always liked dogs. They were loyal, trusting and loved their owners no matter what. The bigger the dog the better.

"From some time, a cat" he grinned. Tony snorted hearing that. "What?" he asked looking down at the brunet.
"Oh, nothing. I always pictured you with a dog. A big golden retriever with some ridiculous name like Liberty." he laughed again at his own joke. Steve gently pulled his hair as a punishment.

"Why a cat?" Tony asked.
"They remind me of you" Steve smiled.
"Ah, because we both are graceful and have inborn charm?" he said jokingly.
"That too" he agreed not wanting to argue about that, going back to stroking Tony's back. "But there is also something else."
"Hm?" Tony was again getting lost in Steve's touch.
"Cats are difficult at first. They don't trust you, just stand in the back observing. But after they get used to you, no matter how many times you will shook them off your lap they will always come back and stay there for a whole day." he smiled looking down at the brunet.

"Aha.." Tony muffled. He was getting sleepy from Steve's touch. And then it hit him.

"Hey, did you just call me lazy in a pretty way?"