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They both fell asleep on the sofa before the end of the movie. That was okay. They’d seen it many times before, always separately and there was something nice about seeing it together, reminiscing about what it had been like seeing it as a child. Peter laughed at first when Tony said he’d been scared to death of the flying monkeys.
“That’s so cliche!”
“I mean it! I was seeing them everywhere for weeks. Couldn’t sleep because I knew they’d be there. Maybe that’s why I’m an insomniac.”
Tony was so adorably sincere, Peter snuggled up close to comfort him during the scene.
“I was scared as a child not now.”
“You want me to move?”
Tony slipped his arm around Peter, pulling him closer. “Nope.”
But before Dorothy and her trio of friends reached the Emerald City, Tony and Peter were sound asleep in each other’s arms.
~~~~~
Peter was so hungry. He was so far from home, off on this journey to return. And there was this perfectly good, beautiful, shiny red apple, just sitting on the grass. Right next to it was something steely grey — a foot. He reached out and tapped it. The foot led to a leg and he tapped that. He looked up and stood. Before him was a man, made entirely out of dull silver metal. He looked clunky and awkward, frozen still as a statue, holding an axe over his shoulder. The rest of his suit of armor seemed to be bristling with things that Peter thought looked dangerous.
“A man made out of iron!” Peter exclaimed.
Above the metal body was the man’s head. A quite normal, human looking head. He was a handsome man with thick dark hair. His eyes were just as dark, but fringed with long beautiful lashes that softened their serious expression. He wore an elaborately trimmed goatee with points at the side and on his chin it was trimmed in an hourglass shape. It framed his face perfectly, making him look intent. Peter heard a low moan.
“Did you say something?” The iron man moaned again. This time Peter thought he understood what he was trying to say. “Battery? Did you say battery?”
He looked around on the ground. There was a boxy battery with black and red wires coming out of it. “Where do I connect it?” Peter asked. He listened carefully to another moan. “Your chest?” There was a circle of light in the middle of the grey metal. The light was very dim.” He looked around the circle in the iron man’s chest and found two places where it looked like the ends of the wires could go. He plugged them in and there were sparks and a high-pitched hissing noise, but slowly the light began to glow a bright blue-white.
There was creaking and grinding of metal as the light glowed brighter and brighter. A look of relief came over the man’s features as he moved his arm, lowering the axe to the ground and dropping it there. He moved his joints, making sure they all worked. When he was satisfied he could move, he unplugged the wires.
“How did you ever get like this?”
“I was attacked. They drew the power right out of me. When this,” he tapped the glowing circle, “went dark, I couldn’t move anymore.”
“Who attacked you?”
“The most terrifying creatures. Small and hairy with long tails and wings, flying, buzzing around me. Every time they touched, I grew weaker and weaker. I hope I never see them again!”
The iron man looked too strong to ever be afraid of anything. Peter was always afraid of everything. But knowing that even the most powerful person sometimes got afraid, made him feel better about when he did. “Maybe it’s not so bad to be afraid sometimes,” Peter said, putting his hand lightly on the man’s metal arm.
He smiled. “Maybe not. It’s okay to be afraid of scary things. My name is Tony. Who are you… and your companion,” he added, looking down at the dog who was sniffing around his leg. “I am not a fire hydrant,” he said warningly.
Peter giggled. “Tessa! Come here.” The dog obeyed. “My name is Peter. I’m pleased to meet you.” He put out his hand and the iron man shook it lightly with his big clumsy-looking metal glove. “I’m going to the Emerald City.”
“The Emerald City? What’s there?”
“There’s a wizard who lives there. He can grant whatever your heart desires.”
“Oh,” Tony said sadly.
“What’s wrong?”
“The wizard won’t be able to help me.”
“Why not?” Peter asked.
“Because I don’t have a heart’s desire. I don’t have a heart to desire with.”
“You don’t?” Peter couldn’t believe that. Everyone had a heart.
“Nope. Tap on my chest.” Peter did. “Hollow. Empty. I have everything and nothing at all.”
“The wizard’s going to send me home. I’m sure he could give you a heart if you wanted one.”
“Do you really think so?” Tony asked.
“You’ve been standing still for so long. Do you want to walk with me, Tony?”
“That would be nice, Peter.” They stepped onto the yellow brick road. “Those are pretty shoes.”
“I took them off a dead witch,” Peter said matter-of-factly.
Tony looked around, scanning the skies.
“What’s the matter?”
“Where there’s one dead witch, there’s likely to be one angry sister. I’ll keep you safe.”
Peter linked his arm in the metal one. “Thank you.”
It was a long and arduous journey fraught with many perils. They each were able to help the other overcome them. Tony saved Peter when Peter fell victim to a sleeping spell. When a lion from the forest attacked, Tony picked it up and tossed it away like it was a toy. When a man-shaped sack of straw tried to steal the boy away, Tony set it alight with his flamethrowers.
Peter expected that someone as invincible as Tony would be able to protect him, but he never expected that when the time came, he would be able to protect Tony. The flying monkeys that Tony feared so much reappeared around them when they got closer to the Emerald City. Tony, in his huge suit of armor, cowered behind small, delicate Peter.
Peter stood firmly. “You are nothing but ratty old fake fur dangling from a bunch of wires. Not even invisible wires! I can see them. And you’re not even CGI! Not even bad CGI from those really old movies.” Peter looked up and the blue sky faded into a dark ceiling hung with bright lights and several men up above them pulling on the wires. “Take those things away. Can’t you see you’re scaring Tony,” Peter yelled up to the ceiling. The flying monkeys, the puppeteers and the ceiling faded into a beautiful blue summer’s sky.
Tony stood tall again, looking down at Peter as if he were something amazing and miraculous. Peter wrapped his arms around the metal waist of his suit and hugged him tightly. Touching the beautiful boy’s curly hair with his crude metal hand seemed almost profane. “Thank you, Peter,” he said, his voice full of admiration. No one ever thought he was worth protecting before.
It was Peter’s bravery who saved them once again when the Wicked Witch attacked. They were just outside the city walls. Tony blasted her with the suit’s weapons, but her broom always managed to dodge them. She landed and the first thing she did was scoop up Tessa. Holding Peter’s dog, Tony couldn’t fire on her for fear of hitting the animal.
Peter was bright and observant and he saw a bucket of water and a mop leaning against the wall. The water might startle her enough to drop Tessa. Then Tony could blast her with his weapons. Instead, the water melted her right on the spot and Tessa came running to Peter, leaping into his arms.
Finally, they were let into the Emerald City. It looked familiar to Tony, but he’d been away from the place it reminded him of for so long. All the buildings he remembered being in clear and brown and grey glass shone a sparkling dark green. There was even a building with his name on it. It was the brightest, most emerald green of all. They went in.
When Tessa pulled the curtain back, the wizard wasn’t some giant, impressive image. The wizard was a petite red-headed woman. “I suppose you want something from me,” she said.
“If you don’t mind,” Peter said quietly. She intimidated him more than the frightening image she’d projected. He knew that she could grant, or take away, the one thing he wanted more than anything.
“I do mind,” she said, glancing sharply at Tony. She looked at Peter, who looked crestfallen. Then back at Tony, for longer. The man looked like the heart he didn’t have was breaking. She sighed and smiled softly. “No, I guess I don’t mind at all. What is it you want, Peter?” she asked.
“I’d like to go home. Only…,” he hesitated, “to my real home.”
“Done. Over there is a door. On it is a rainbow light. Touch the light and the door will open and take you home. Is that all?”
“No, your wizardess-ness.”
She laughed lightly at the appellation, then looked harshly at Peter. “I grant you your heart’s desire and you dare to ask for more?”
“My friend Tony doesn’t have a heart’s desire. He doesn’t have a heart.”
She looked at Tony. “Are you sure you want one? Wasn’t it easier living without it? Hearts can be broken.”
Tony reached out and took Peter’s hand for comfort. “I want one anyway. For the right person, it’s worth the risk,”
The wizard turned and came back with a box wrapped in brown paper. She handed it to Peter. “This is Tony’s heart. You have to be careful with it. It’s been broken before. Then he lost it for a very long time. I found it and fixed it. I’ve been waiting for him to need it again.”
Peter carefully unwrapped the present. Inside a glass box was a glowing circle, just like the one in the middle of Tony’s chest. Ringed around it were the words, “PROOF THAT TONY STARK HAS A HEART.”
“It’s beautiful,” Tony said, looking at it. “Thank you for fixing it for me.” Peter held the box out to Tony. “Oh no.” He held up the clumsy grey metal gloves of his suit. “I might drop it and lose it again. You take it home with you. I trust you with it.”
Peter reached up on his tiptoes and Tony leaned down. Peter kissed him on the cheek, tears glistening in his eyes. “I don’t want to leave you.”
“It’s okay, Peter. I’ll be all right as long as you’re holding that. You got your heart’s desire. A home. I can’t keep you from that.” He pressed a soft kiss to the boy’s forehead.
With many backwards glances, Peter reached the door with the rainbow. He touched one delicate finger to the light and it opened. He walked through and the elevator rose, taking him all the way to the top.
~~~~~
“We must’ve fallen asleep,” Peter said, smiling when the light through the east facing window fell across his face.
“Mmm,” Tony said, looking down and pressing a light kiss to the boy’s forehead. “Where’s Tessa?”
Peter sat back and blinked. “We don’t… I don’t have a dog.”
“Yes you do. A grey one with weird floppy ears.”
“Tessa’s ears aren’t weird!” Peter said defensive of his non-existent dog. “Wait…”
“Uh…” Tony looked sideways at Peter. “I dreamt that you had a dog.”
“I dreamt that your suit wasn’t red and gold but silver. And it was clunky and huge.”
“That was the Mark 1. You saw that? In your dream?”
“Yeah. Must’ve been the movie because we were going…”
“To the Emerald City,” Tony finished. “I had the exact same dream. Only you scared the flying monkeys away this time.”
Peter chuckled. “They weren’t even…”
“Bad CGI,” Tony interrupted again. “That can’t happen. People can’t share dreams.”
Peter snuggled close to Tony again. “I don’t know. This is a pretty nice dream we’re sharing right now.”