Title: Phone Calls Among Billionaire Superheroes I.
Summary: Because sometimes you need to talk to your Gothamite buddy about the bat-thing roaming the gloomy streets of his city, or ask why in god's name is your friend flying around California's sunny sky in a red and gold tin can. Or, a collection of short phone calls/scenes set somewhere in the movies.
Warnings: None.
Notes: Batman Begins Part I.
Disclaimer: I don't own the Dark Knight Trilogy, Iron Man, any of its characters. Sadly.
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"What do you want, Tony?" Bruce asked as soon as he answered his cell phone, now cradled between his ear and shoulder as he finished adjusting one of his cufflinks and reached for the other.
Tony's grin widened as he leaned back in his chair, propping his feet up on the glass desk. "Now, now Brucie. That's no way to say hi to your very best friend Tony, is it? You're very lucky I'm a wonderful person and don't take stuff like that to heart."
"Whatever you say, Tony."
"Late night, huh? I called you like twenty times since early this morning and every time dear Alfie told me you weren't up yet. I don't think even I got out of bed so late, you know?"
"Really, Tony?" Bruce snorted.
"Okay, fine. We're both little night owls who enjoy life to the limit."
Bruce stood in front of the mirror, rolling his eyes as he tied a dark blue tie around his neck. "Is there a reason you called, Tony? Other than the pleasure of hearing your own voice, of course."
"Oh, don't think so little of yourself, Brucie. Of course, I love hearing your voice too- especially after believing you were dead for so many years. That was really mean, you know. Letting everyone to think you were dead," Tony tsked.
He sighed softly. Tony may be teasing him now, but he knew the words were far from being a lie. "I know, Tony, and I already apologized for that. Several times, in fact."
"You did, yeah." Tony paused for a moment. When he spoke, his voice was light once again. "Okay, now let's move on to the real reason I called, m'kay? So, I was half-listening to the news this morning and I thought I caught the mention of some 'giant bat' roaming around Gotham last night. Can you believe it?"
Bruce smoothed his tie, the corner of his mouth twitching slightly.
"Of course, I got JARVIS to show me a few of your fair city's papers too." Tony ignored yet another incoming call from his office phone without even looking at the caller ID. "Has Alfie had the chance to show you today's headlines yet, Brucie?"
"You know I don't have time to read the papers, Tony." Bruce's eyes flicked to the abandoned newspaper on the bed. "Besides, a giant bat? Are you drunk or something?"
"Not yet. But I'm working on it, buddy, I promise." Tony raised his glass in a fake toast before taking a swig. "Now, can we go back to the definitely non-booze-made-up giant bat? At least not by me, I mean. You Gotham people have always been in the wild and crazy side if you ask me."
"Tony, I really have no idea what you're talking about."
"Come on! Don't you have a newspaper nearby you can check out? You're literally the only Gothamite I can talk to. I really don't think Anthony would answer any calls from me after what happened at his party last year." Tony put the now empty glass on the desk, picking up his Stark tablet as he whined, "Even Jeeves hung up on me."
"Maybe Alfred would talk to you if you didn't call him Jeeves." He could hear Tony's protest about how he hadn't called him that. This time. "Look, I'm sorry, Tony, but I have to go now. I'm already late for some kind of meeting with Mr. Earl." Bruce straightened his jacket as he checked his appearance in the mirror one last time before leaving his bedroom.
Tony snorted, straightening up in his chair. "Oh please, the man works for you. He is your employee. Just call to cancel that meeting and stay to chat with me a bit. A giant bat is so much more important than whatever you were going to discuss with that bore anyway."
"Sorry, but I really can't. I already canceled the last couple of times Mr. Earl arranged for a meeting, and he keeps insisting he needs to talk to me. Besides, Alfred told me I can't just keep canceling. It's bad for my image."
"Fine. I'll see you tonight then."
Bruce stopped abruptly on his way down the stairs. "You what?"
Tony grinned widely even though he knew the other man couldn't see him. "Oh, I hadn't mentioned that, right? I'm traveling to Gotham in a few hours. Tony Stark is where the action is, and right now, that's your beloved city. Maybe I'll even get to see the Bat-freak with my own eyes. Wouldn't that be cool?"
"I really wouldn't count on it, Tony," Bruce said lowly, before adding in a lighter tone, "Besides, you don't even know if it even exists."
"Doesn't matter. It's not like I have anything better to do here anyway." Tony leaned back in his chair one more time, quite pleased with himself.
"I'm sure if you asked them, Miss Potts or Obadiah could find something for you to do."
"Oh, I have no doubt they could, but why bother when I already have plans."
Bruce covered his eyes with his free hand and held back a sigh. Tony was bound to find out the truth about Batman, so what did it matter if it happened sooner rather than later?
"Of course. I guess I'll see you later, then." It wasn't a question.
"You will, yeah. See you soon, Brucie."
Bruce listened to the dial tone for a moment before putting his phone in his pocket. It probably would be a good idea to talk to Alfred about all that before he left.
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a/n: This is yet another of my unfinished projects for this fandom, which you can still enjoy even if it isn't complete. The original idea was to write two scenes/phone calls for each movie from both trilogies (with the option of maybe also writing about the first two Avengers movies). Like it tended to happen with me, I lost inspiration halfway through and what I wrote was buried in my drafts until now.
So, even if this isn't the work I planned to share when I started this, I still liked it and hope someone else can enjoy it as well.
This is unbetaed and I'm not a native speaker, so please feel free to point out any mistake you may find.