Hey so MissWalls here…I apologize for the wait. This was meant for Christmas, but I'm only a couple of days late so…Merry Christmas!
WARNING: Contains spoilers of Rise of the Guardians
Legends and Feels
It was a brisk autumn day in Gotham City. December had recently arrived and the Christmas spirit seemed to be settling in. Shops and stores were looking more festive, restaurants were preparing holiday menus and several homes were already decked out in Christmas lights. Even crime rates had already dropped 10% and was predicted to drop more before Christmas Eve, which meant a certain Dynamic Duo was able get a whole extra hour of sleep. The very pair, now as Bruce Wayne and Dick Grayson sat in Bruce's office at Wayne Enterprises. Bruce had taken to Dick to work with him in an effort to spend more time with the child during the holiday season. As Bruce worked diligently in efforts to finish early, Dick stared out the floor-to-ceiling windows taking in every detail of the usually dreary city. It was the nine year old's second Christmas in Gotham and he still was thrown off in the sudden change of mood in the city. Bruce smiled at the boy, knowing how the change in dynamic puzzled many who visited or lived near Gotham. Suddenly Richard gasped loudly.
"Bruce look!" the boy exclaimed with evident excitement.
"What is it, Dick?" Bruce asked wondering what the boy could've spotted that was so exciting.
"I've been wanting to see that movie since it came out!" Dick pointed to the newest looking billboard a few streets over. It had a white haired boy, a large man with tattooed arms, a colorful fairy, a rabbit with a boomerang, and a short yellow man. It said "Legends unite" on the top.
"Rise of the Guardians, huh?" Bruce said. He'd seen quite a number of advertisements for the movie and knew it had been doing pretty well in theaters.
"It looks so cool and almost everyone at school's seen it! Do you know how hard it is to stay away from spoilers?" Richard exclaimed. The boy seemed to have a sudden idea. "Can we watch it tonight?"
"Uh, tonight?" Bruce asked a bit uneasy. As much as he loved his young ward, Bruce wasn't a fan of kids' movies. They reminded him a bit too much of his childhood and the movie theater where his parents met their demise. Not to mention it draws way too much attention to the man who's known as Gotham's White Knight.
"Please Bruce?" Dick begged. He held his hands together and pouted while staring at Bruce with his wide baby blue eyes. And that just about did it.
Bruce sighed and pressed a button on his office phone.
"Yes, Mr. Wayne?" a young woman's voice was heard through the intercom.
"Sheila, I need you to check movie times for tonight's showings of Rise of the Guardians" Bruce responded.
Richard lit up with giddiness at the billionaire's demand.
"I'll get right on that Mr. Wayne." Bruce's latest secretary answered.
"Thank you Sheila."
"Oh and you have a um, visitor waiting in the lobby." Sheila said quite hesitantly.
"And who may this visitor be?" The White Knight asked suspiciously.
"Mr. T-Tony Stark, sir. I keep trying to tell him you're currently unavailable like you instructed but he uh-refuses to listen." The secretary said falteringly. "And according to the receptionist…he's on his way up here.
"Uncle Tony's here!" Richard exclaimed and peeled away from the window. Bruce let out a sigh. Of all the days for Stark to show up.
"Thank you Sheila, I'll take it from here." The White Knight said reluctantly. His office doors suddenly sprang open and Tony Stark made a grand entrance, just like any other.
"The Starkman has arrived" He said in his "smooth" voice.
"Uncle Tony!" Dick greeted and ran into his "uncle's" arms.
"Hey kiddo, what're you doing here?" The well-known playboy asked.
"Bruce brought me to work today!" the boy said cheekily.
"The man's just teaching you everything isn't he?"
"What're you doing here Stark?" Bruce asked slightly annoyed.
"Wow, I didn't even say hi before you got hostile. That's a new record for you Brucie." Tony responded. Bruce rolled his eyes.
"To answer your question, I came to drop of those specs we talked about." The flamboyant philanthropist stated.
"And you couldn't send them through a courier like any normal businessman?" The White Knight countered.
"Okay one you don't trust couriers either, two I'm anything but a normal businessman and three…I could never pass up a moment to spend a little time my pal Brucie."
Dick found amusement in Bruce and Tony's banter. It never ceased to entertain. The nine year old only wished his uncle could stay longer. He then remembered his plans with Bruce later that night.
"Hey Uncle Tony, do you wanna go to the movies with Bruce and me?" Dick asked the scientist.
"What movie are you seeing?" Tony responded. Bruce wanted to face palm. It's bad enough he actually agreed to see a children's film with the Easter Bunny in it but bringing Stark along would really make this night suck.
"Rise of the Guardians." Richard stated happily. The look on Tony's face indicated that the slightly richer man would rather not see the film. But rather than take pleasure in the fact that Stark didn't wanna come along, Bruce decided to be a little devious and mess with irritating philanthropist.
"Oh kid, I would love to go. Really, I've just been dying to see it. But I just remembered that I promised Happy that I'd help him pick out a, uh new…car." Tony lied.
"Awwwwww." The raven haired boy pouted.
"C'mon Stark, Happy could wait another day to buy a new car." Bruce interjected much to the displeasure of the Starkman.
"No he can't." Tony retorted much too fast.
"Sure he can, in fact you could just buy him a car right now. Just make the call. After all you are the Starkman." The White Knight said with sarcastic enthusiasm. Tony narrowed his eyes at Bruce. The whole devious teasing thing was what he always did; Bruce had no right to steal his thing.
"C'mon Uncle Tony, pleeeeease." Richard begged, resorting to the pout and puppy dog eyes. And it was then that Tony realized that not even he could withstand the power of Grayson adorableness.
~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~
Several hours later, two of the world's most famous faces and their favorite nine year old were standing in front of the ticket booth at a movie theater just outside town. Bruce refused to go to Gotham's local theater for obvious reasons. The worker at the booth was a teenage girl with braces, chopped black hair, and a nose ring. Her name tag read Courtney. She looked like she'd rather be anywhere else. Despite the looks that the trio was given, the teen gave no indication that she knew nor cared who they were.
"One child and two adult tickets for Rise of the Guardians please." Bruce said.
"That'll be $32.50." Courtney said in monotone voice with a valley accent.
Bruce swapped the money for the tickets. He was a bit shocked at how much ticket prices had raised in the past few years.
"You know the tickets would've been way cheaper at that rundown theater in Gotham." Tony uttered. Bruce chose to ignore his comment.
"Bruce can we get popcorn?" Richard tugged at his father's sleeve.
"Sure we can." Bruce sighed. Good thing the man was a billionaire, just a small popcorn was at least $7. Once the trio entered the theater, Dick made a beeline the middle isle claiming that the best seats were in the very center. The boy sat between the two playboys and bounced excitedly in his seat. The lights dimmed and the curtains parted away completely, indicating that the trailers were about to begin. Most people enjoyed trailers. Bruce did not. They added to the amount of time you were stuck in a secluded dark area and made people excited for films that were most likely not as good as they seemed. But the billionaire endured them without and outward complaint for Richard's sake. The second the opening credits appeared, Dick let out a little squeal of excitement. Bruce smiled, deciding he could definitely endure the movie since it made his son happy.
~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~
The movie was halfway through and Bruce had to admit (to himself) that it was pretty intriguing. Tony on the other hand had been completely enthralled since the film started. He watched the screen with such an attentiveness that he was completely unaware of his surroundings (which wasn't a good thing when sitting in a dark room). Bruce noticed how his…companion was taken by the film and plotted how he would use that to his advantage. However as the movie went on, Bruce found himself more and more interested. He found he could actually relate to Jack Frost's initial loneliness and sense of wanting to be believed in. As Batman, some people thought of him as the bad guy due to his cold exterior, when in actuality he really appreciates the recognition. And he had to admit having three well known legends struggle against the boogeyman was a goldmine of a plot. No wonder it was doing so well. What kid wouldn't eat this up?
The film was at the part where Easter was ruined and Jack runs off to Antarctica. Bruce actually felt sympathy. He couldn't believe it. A fictional character from a children's movie actually got him to feel empathy and slight sadness. Glancing at his companions, Bruce saw Richard pouting at the protagonist's downfall and was very surprised to see Tony with wide eyes and hands clenched to his face. If the movie hadn't given Bruce himself sad feelings, he would've laughed at Stark's demeanor.
The film continued and it completely captured the hearts of everyone in the theater. By the time the children began to believe in Jack and helped the guardians defeat Pitch, Richard was in awe and Tony was grinning with joy. Bruce even let himself smile a bit. When it was all over, Richard jumped up and clapped. Fellow movie-goers applauded as well. People began exiting the theater. Bruce stood up and Dick followed in suit. The pair noticed how Tony was still sitting, staring at the large screen as if waiting for something.
"Uncle Tony? The movie's over." Richard stated, pulling his uncle out of some sort of trance.
"But…there are so many unanswered questions. Are all the other kids gonna believe again? What about Jack and Tooth? They had perfect chemistry!" Tony claimed slightly exasperated.
"I take it you enjoyed the film." Bruce said teasingly. At that Tony seemed to realize exactly where he was and who he was with because he quickly stood up and changed his whole demeanor.
"It was okay. I mean, it was pretty good for a kid's movie." He said in his usual Tony Stark way.
"Yeah, alright." Bruce snorted.
"Oh please, I know you liked it." Tony retorted as the trio exited the theater.
"I'll admit that it wasn't terrible, nor did it put me to sleep." Bruce stated.
"Well I think it was the best movie ever!" Richard jumped in. "Can we buy it when it comes out on Blu-ray?"
"Sure kiddo." Bruce chuckled. "How about something from the food court before we go?"
"I want a burger!" Dick exclaimed.
"No problem. You coming Stark?" Bruce asked his fellow billionaire.
"I would love to but unfortunately I have important matters to attend to." Tony answered.
"I'm sure you do." Bruce rolled his eyes.
"Yeah well, Tony Stark's a busy man." The playboy winked and departed.
"Bye Uncle Tony!" The raven haired boy yelled as Tony's figure became more distant. Bruce grabbed the boy's hand and led him to the food court.
"Let's go get that burger before it gets any later…and don't tell Alfred I let you eat fast food."
~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~
That night Tony Stark could be found in bed, reading on his Starkpad.
"Jack and Tooth stayed in each other's arms all night?" The playboy read aloud sounding confused. "That's such a cruddy ending!"
He had been reading all the fanfiction he could on Rise of the Guardians, particularly those about Frostbite (aka Jack and Tooth), his new OTP. However, only and handful of one-shots and very few stories satisfied him. Suddenly Tony had an idea. If none of these stories were good enough, then he'd just have to write his own. The man was good at everything he did; he was Tony Stark after all. Why not write his own fanfiction? It was sure to be a success.
And so an account under the name Starkman-of-Iron was created and Tony Stark's obsession with fanfiction began.
Ta-dah! Here it is!
Cheyenne and I saw Rise of The Guardians with my sister a few weeks ago and we all loved it. When we went out to eat, all I could think about was how Tony and Bruce would react to it and there you go! Review please! We REALLY appreciate them. You guys have no idea!
