Cold (DCAU)
Diana looked askance at Bruce, doing her best to temper the smile forming on her red lips. She bumped him with her elbow as they walked side-by-side. "Come on," she prodded him. "You can at least try to smile…for me?"
He looked at her with a frown that only deepened. "Was that part of the bet too?" he retorted.
"Don't be a sore loser, Bruce," Diana chided him. "You know I won fairly."
"I'm not being a sore loser," he claimed, turning his attention to the festivities booming before him. "I just don't understand why you picked this for us to do."
Diana shrugged with a sigh as she buried her hands deeper into the pockets of her winter coat. "Because we don't have winter on Themyscira," she explained. "I thought it would be fun to experience."
Bruce's scowl lessened some with her explanation, reminded of how much Diana actually missed out on by growing up in paradise. "I guess I forget sometimes how much you have yet to experience in this world," he confessed. "I can't believe you've never been to the Metropolis Winter Festival since you arrived four years ago."
"I've always wanted to go, but there always seemed to be missions popping up or League duties getting in the way," she told him. "I decided this was the perfect time to come and who better to experience it with than my best friend."
Bruce was honored that she wanted to come here with him, her words cutting through the lingering annoyance that he felt inside. He wasn't so sure that he was irritated with being here so much as he was with losing the sparring session and the bet they had made.
Diana gave him a curious look as the sights and sounds of building excitement greeted them. "What were you going to request if you had won the bet?"
Bruce looked away, absentmindedly tucking the ends of his scarf inside his winter coat. "Not sure," he lamely responded.
Her blue eyes narrowed with suspicion. "I don't believe you," she firmly decided. "You know what you were going to request."
He was somewhat stunned by her response and yet he knew he shouldn't be. Diana was always if anything direct. She never beat around the proverbial bush. "It doesn't matter now," he tried to tell her. "You won. We're here."
"Maybe I want to be prepared in case you win the next round," she offered.
His lips curled into a devious grin that almost took her off guard. "It's for me to know and you to find out."
Diana laughed as she pulled her raven curls behind her shoulder. "Playing coy?" she commented. "That's so unlike you, Bruce."
"Maybe you don't know me as well as you would like to think," he flirted.
"I know you better than you think," she told him. "Remember, I figured out your secret identity without you telling me."
Bruce waved a hand in the air. "That's meaningless."
"How so?" she asked.
"Hey, you guys!"
Bruce and Diana turned to find Lois and Clark coming towards them. "I didn't know you two were going to be here tonight," Clark said.
"Neither did I," Bruce complained with a frown.
"Oh, come on, Bruce," Lois rebuked him. "The festival is always a blast. Haven't you been here before?"
"A couple of times I think," he reluctantly admitted.
"Who did you come with?" Clark questioned him.
"Girlfriends," he replied.
Diana shook her head in exasperation. "Bruce, who in this world haven't you dated?"
"Clark," he quipped, taking everyone by surprise.
"Not ever going to happen," Clark adamantly responded with a visible cringe.
"It was just a joke," Bruce assured him. "I wouldn't date you…you're not my type."
"Wow!" Lois exclaimed. "Two jokes in less than a minute from Bruce Wayne. It must be some sort of a record."
"I can be very humorous, Lois," Bruce insisted.
"So, how did Diana get you to come to the festival?" Clark asked.
"He lost a bet," Diana quickly volunteered the information with a grin.
"Another shock…three times in one night," Lois replied. "Bruce Wayne lost a bet and he's funny."
"Don't you have a lead to track down, Lois?" Bruce inquired.
Lois patted his arm. "You know I'm only teasing you, Brucie."
"Brucie?" Diana questioned him with raised eyebrows.
"An old girlfriend used to call me that," he revealed, somewhat embarrassed.
"Just one?" Lois responded. "More like all of them. Remember the bimbos you date?"
"Let's go get something to eat," Clark told Lois. "I'm starving."
"We'll see you guys later," Lois said with a wave as they turned to leave.
"Have fun," Clark told them.
Diana held out her hand, noticing that it was beginning to snow. "This is perfect," she announced. "What better way to experience the winter festival than with snow?"
Bruce just smiled in response. He had to admit it was rather refreshing to be here at the winter festival with Diana. Every new experience was exciting to her, the simplest of pleasures that were taken for granted by many were never overlooked by her. Being with her was like looking at life through a never-before-used lens.
"What do you want to do first?" he asked her.
"Actually, I haven't eaten much today," she replied.
"Let's go check out the food tents."
Wandering towards the aroma of food, Bruce and Diana quickly found what they were looking for—loaded hamburgers. Getting their food, they found benches arranged around a firepit. Settling in, Diana attacked her burger vigorously.
Bruce couldn't help but chuckle. "You really are hungry."
Diana looked up at him with chili and cheese on the corner of her mouth. She smiled broadly before the tip of her tongue suddenly slipped out to swipe at the offending food on her face. "I told you," she said. "I had three missions today and no chance to eat."
Bruce looked down at the burger in his hands with a sigh. "I'm going to have to add in some extra workouts this week to work this off."
"We could schedule another sparring match," she suggested. "I'll make sure you work it off."
"I have no doubt about that," he dryly responded. "I'll be sure not to let you win next time."
Diana gazed at him with stunned disbelief. "You actually believe that you let me win?"
"I did," he maintained, taking a bite of his loaded burger.
"You did not let me win," Diana insisted, growing irritated with his claim.
Bruce merely nodded as he chewed, wiping his mouth with a napkin. He knew he should've kept his mouth shut, but he couldn't let her think that she had beaten him. "Afraid so."
Diana glared at him for a moment before her expression morphed into one of amusement. "You're making another joke, aren't you?"
"Afraid not," he said.
She shook her head, refusing to believe him. "You just can't stand the thought of losing, can you?"
"I didn't lose," he continued to assert. "I let you win so you could get your reward."
"Why would you do that?" Diana nearly yelled. "You know the rules we set up for sparring."
Bruce shrugged his shoulder as he took a sip of his soda. "You seemed really excited about the bet," he revealed. "I wanted to see what you had in mind."
"Bruce Wayne," Diana grumbled in frustration. "I want a rematch."
Okay, but you'll lose."
"Right here…right now," Diana said, setting her food aside. "Let's go. I'll take you down right here."
Bruce chuckled as Diana stood up before him, taking her winter coat off. "Diana, you can't be serious," he whispered as he looked around at the people milling about. A buzz of mild panic began to set in.
"Try me," she spat out.
"You know I can't spar right now," he bit out. "Just sit down and let's enjoy the evening."
Diana breathed heavily with the anger blazing through her veins as she put her coat back on. She sat back down on the bench beside him, putting her food back on her lap. "I should break every bone in your body next time we spar."
Bruce smirked at her as he leaned in. "Then, you wouldn't get to find out what we'd be doing when you lose the bet."
Diana's eyes became twin flames of blue fury as she glared him down. "We'll see about that."
"I thought you wanted to know what we'd be doing if I had won."
"Well, I guess you technically did win since you threw the match," she sharply retorted, "and I have a feeling it wouldn't be coming here."
"Arguing?" he teased.
"Not funny, Bruce."
"I'm sorry," he apologized. "I don't want to ruin your evening. What do you want to do next?"
"I don't care," she grumbled.
"Come on, princess," he attempted to lighten the mood. "There's ice sculpting, ice skating, the giant Ferris wheel, the ice slide…I know what you need."
"What is that?" she asked, her eyebrows furrowing as anger cooled into gnawing annoyance.
"Ice cream," he replied, knowing that mentioning her favorite treat besides an iced mocha would soothe the ire still burning in her eyes.
And he was right…as always.
Her lips curved up into a reluctant smile. "All right," she agreed. "On one condition."
"What's that?"
"Before the end of the evening, you have to tell me what we'd be doing if you would have won the bet."
"Fine," he decided. "Finish your burger so we can find the ice cream. I want to check out the ice sculptures."
Diana gave him a half smile. "So, you do enjoy coming to the festival."
"It's not the worst thing I've ever attended."
Diana rolled her eyes with a sigh of exasperation. "You're incorrigible."
"I've been called worse."
After finishing their burgers, they cleaned up their trash before making their way to the ice cream vendor. Two scoops of chocolate chip cookie dough in a waffle cone were being consumed in short order. "Definitely going to need extra workouts this week," Bruce decided.
"You look great," she told him. "You have a body that's been chiseled by the gods."
"A chiseled body with a gut," he amended.
Her lilting laugh tickled his ears as they approached the ice sculptures. "You don't have any fat on you."
"How do you know?" he questioned her with a smirk. "Been sneaking peeks in the locker room, princess?"
A blush quickly invaded her face as she averted her gaze. "No…I'm just saying…you're all muscle," she attempted to explain. "There's no way you could have any fat on your body."
"Are you planning a thorough search to prove your theory?" he flirted, savoring the blush that only grew brighter with his words.
"Is that an invitation?" she shot back without missing a beat, causing Bruce to nearly choke on his ice cream.
His head snapped to the side in shock to find her innocently licking her ice cream, making his heart skip a beat. Before he could respond, they ran into another couple attending the festival. "Hey, Bruce!"
"I didn't know you two were going to be here," Barbara greeted them. "You should have said something. We could have come together."
"I didn't know I was going to be here," Bruce replied.
Dick grinned at Bruce, anxious to ask him about his relationship with Diana. "You guys look like you're having fun."
"There are some really good burgers back that way," Diana told them, pointing them toward the red tent.
"We just got here," Barbara replied. "Where are you heading next?"
"Ice sculptures," Diana revealed.
"Barbara wants to ice skate," Dick said.
"I've never ice skated before," Diana admitted.
"You should have Bruce teach you," Dick suggested with a smile at his mentor. "He's a great ice skater."
"I didn't know that," Diana told him. "You'll have to teach me."
Bruce gave Dick a Bat glare before turning his attention to Diana. "We'll see," he brushed it off. "Let's go check out the sculptures first."
"Have fun!" Barbara called as they walked away.
Diana was intrigued by the ice sculptures, the intricate detail, and the dedicated work that was put into each and every creation amazed her. They stopped to watch a man using his chainsaw to create notches and grooves into a giant block of ice that was slowly taking shape into a polar bear.
"That's incredible," she murmured more to herself than to her companion.
Bruce smiled as he watched her reaction, once again realizing how much he took for granted in his life. "Let's go teach you how to skate."
"Really?" she questioned him.
"Definitely," he replied, taking her hand in his and leading her to the large ice-skating rink.
He rented two pairs of ice skates, handing her a pair. She took them with a word of gratitude before sitting down to put the skates on. It amazed her how such a sharp, thin piece of metal could keep a person upright on a sheet of ice.
With skates on, Bruce moved to stand before her, offering his hand to help her up. Diana took his hand, standing to her feet. He gazed into her eyes before reaching down to the front of her winter coat. "What are you doing?"
"Zipping you up," he murmured. "It's cold."
"I don't get cold," she softly reminded him, staring back into his eyes as he zipped her coat up.
"You can never be too careful," he simply said, taking her scarf that was hanging loosely over her shoulders and wrapping it around her neck for her. "There."
She smiled softly at him as she took his hand, allowing him to lead her out onto the ice-skating rink. There were several couples skating hand-in-hand while kids played chase on the ice. Bruce led her to a little more secluded area where he could teach her without interference.
"Okay, just move your skates like this," he told her, showing her how.
She slowly began to imitate his movements, feeling the thin metal wobble beneath her feet…or was it her that was wobbling?
Bruce quickly moved to stand in front of her, taking her hands in his. "Here, I'll skate in front of you."
"You can skate backward?"
"I can skate backward and forward," he uttered with a smirk.
They spent the next hour practicing and laughing as Diana almost took them both down into a heap on the ice several times. Diana caught on quicker than Bruce had anticipated for someone who had grown up in a tropical paradise. It wasn't long before they were skating side-by-side, holding hands as they talked about nothing of importance.
"Do you want to keep skating, or do you want to ride the Ferris wheel?" Bruce asked.
"I would love to try the Ferris wheel," Diana decided.
"It gives a great view of Metropolis," he revealed as they skated to the edge of the rink and removed their skates.
Making their way to the Ferris wheel, they were one of the last couples that got to board the ride as the night was winding down. Climbing in, they buckled themselves in before the wheel began to move. The crisp night air prickled against Bruce's skin, causing his cheeks and nose to turn pink, but Diana didn't even notice the cold.
As they reached the top, Diana could hardly believe the view of Metropolis. She'd seen it before as she was flying over the city to help with a mission, but she'd never really taken the time to enjoy the view. It was breathtaking.
"You know the evening is almost over," Diana pointed out as she looked at her companion. "You have yet to tell me what you wanted to do if you had won the bet."
"This," he softly replied, abruptly claiming her lips in a kiss that took her by surprise.
She sighed into his kiss, her hand coming to rest on the back of his neck as they savored the feel of each other's warm lips against their own. Diana retreated, her forehead tilting against his cheekbone. "If this is what you wanted, then why did you let me win the bet?"
"Because I knew I'd get what I wanted one way or another," he lightly teased, his nose brushing against hers and causing her to lift her head so he could kiss her again.
Suddenly, the night didn't seem quite so cold.