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“Oliver!”
“Tony!” Oliver Queen, Tony’s fellow billionaire and superhero, held out his arms for a hug. Tony hugged him and stood next to him.
“How have you been?” Oliver asked. Tony shrugged and sipped his wine.
“I’ve been okay.”
“How did Gotham go?” Oliver asked with a glint in his eye. Tony groaned.
“Not good,” he said. “Batman is very standoffish.”
“Can’t say I didn’t warn you,” Oliver said, his eyes sparkling.
“You really didn’t,” Tony grumbled. Pepper patted his arm soothingly from next to him. Tony hadn’t even noticed she was there. He made the introductions from Pepper to Oliver, and Pepper excused herself to go find Jane Foster, who was supposed to be there tonight.
“So are the other Avengers here?” Oliver asked.
“Yeah,” Tony said. “There’s Steve, and Natasha, and Bruce, and Sam, and Rhodey, and Wanda--” He pointed to each of his friends as he named them.
“It’s refreshing, seeing other people not hide their identities,” Oliver said, taking a sip of wine. “The Justice League is very insistent on their civilian lives.”
“Eh, what’s the point,” Tony shrugged, purposefully not looking at Peter. “So how many Leaguers are here tonight?” Oliver smirked and scanned the crowd.
“I’m seeing six,” he said. Tony looked over the crowd, too. He wasn’t sure what to look for, though, and came up with no results.
“Is Batman here?” he asked. He was curious as to if Batman actually came to these types of events. Oliver shrugged.
“No idea,” he said. “I don’t know who he really is.”
“Really?” Tony asked.
“No clue,” Oliver said. “He could be anyone.” Tony frowned. He didn’t like this whole “secret identity” thing. It was so much simpler to just let everyone know who you were.
“Tony! Ollie!” a familiar voice called and Tony turned, dread in the pit of his stomach. A familiar man was making his way towards them.
“Why is he here,” Tony whispered.
“I don’t know,” Oliver said, equally quiet. “I didn’t invite him.” The man was getting closer, so Tony plastered on a fake smile and turned to face him.
“Brucie!” he said, maybe too loud but who cared? Bruce Wayne, fellow billionaire and certified pain in the butt, was stumbling towards them. Tony wasn’t sure if he was drunk or if the man was so stupid he couldn’t walk.
“How are you guys doing?” Brucie asked, waving his wine glass around.
“Fine,” Oliver said.
“Dandy,” Tony said sarcastically. “Say, Brucie, what are you doing here?”
“I didn’t want to miss the show! The Justice League and the Avengers, teaming up! Sure to be one hell of a party, I thought,” Brucie explained. “Is Batman here?”
“Wouldn’t you know?” Oliver asked skeptically. “He is your friend, right?”
“I’ve read that fanfiction,” Brucie said thoughtfully. “But no, never met him. Was hoping to tonight. Oh well.” Brucie sipped his wine, looking content to stay where he was. Tony and Oliver exchanged panicked glances behind his back.
“Ah, Dinah’s calling me,” Oliver said loudly. “Coming, sweetheart! Sorry, men, I must away.” He excused himself to go stand by a blonde girl in the midst of conversation with a socialite. The blonde looked surprised to see Oliver, and Tony scoffed. Of course he would ditch him to be alone with Brucie.
“So how’s Avengering?” Brucie asked. “Sounds exciting.”
“It is,” Tony said. “I mean, sometimes there’s cons, but it’s all good. I’ve found I like saving the world.”
“Of course you do,” Brucie said, and Tony chose to ignore him.
“I’m going over there,” he said, pointing at the drink table.
“Bye,” Brucie said, his attention already on someone else. “I’ll be here. Or maybe there, talking to her.” Tony followed his line of sight to see that his attention was on Pepper. He frowned, then remembered that Pepper could handle herself, and he walked away quickly.
Tony was almost to the drink table when he bumped into a lump of a man.
“Oh, I’m so sorry,” the man said and for a second Tony thought it was Steve. But then he saw the man’s dark hair and big glasses, along with the reporter’s getup.
“No problem,” Tony said. “Now if you’ll pardon me--”
“Oh, wait, Mr. Stark, if you could spare a few minutes for an interview--”
“Clark!” Peter hissed, appearing out of nowhere. “Mr. Stark doesn’t want to be interviewed tonight.”
“Yeah, yeah,” Tony said. “Go interview Ollie.” He walked away and and saw Clark in the corner of his eye, frowning. Tony shrugged and arrived at the drink table.
Tony had an enjoyable time, talking to various people (like Rodey) and mingling around the party. He was standing by himself, watching two drunk girls try to flirt with Steve while he tried to politely reject them, when there was a little disruption. Tony turned his head to see a boy with his fists balled, facing up to Sam Wilson, who had his palms up defensively.
“I’m sorry!” he said. “I thought--”
“I’m not a little boy,” the kid hissed.
“Sure look like it to me,” someone said in the crowd, and the kid sprang around to face the voice.
“I will hurt you,” he said. “Fight me!” Someone laughed and the kid’s eyebrows furrowed farther. He made a movement, like he was reaching for something--Tony had seen Natasha or Bucky or Fury or Hill do it countless times. It looked like he was reaching for a weapon.
A blonde girl appeared from the crowd. She put her hands on the kid’s shoulders and he growled.
“Hey, kid, time to go,” she said and he looked up at her.
“Why should we?” he asked loudly. The girl laughed nervously.
“Silly Damian, we have other places to be,” she said, still awkward, and Tony could see her grip tightening on his shoulders and her steering him away and out of the room.
“Who let a kid in here?” he asked nobody, turning away from the scene and sipping his drink.
“Oh, that’s Bruce Wayne’s son,” a teenager said. The kid was well dressed, with black hair that was a little too long and bright blue eyes. He looked smart. Tony could appreciate smart teens.
“Brucie brought his boy here?” Tony asked, raising an eyebrow.
“Yup,” the guy said.
“And who was the blonde?”
“His au pair,” the teen said. “Bruce brought her to the party because she’s pretty good with him, and he’s kind of a terror.”
“Huh,” Tony said. “And who are you?”
“Sorry,” the guy said. “Tim Drake-Wayne.”
“That Damian kid is your brother?” Tony asked. He’d known that Brucie had a bunch of kids, but he’d never met them before.
“Yeah,” Tim said. “It’s unfortunate, but whatever.”
“Why does Damian have an au pair if you’re like...what? Seventeen? Eighteen? More than capable of watching a ten year old.”
“I travel,” Tim said. He took a sip of his water. “Dick travels. Dick couldn’t even come today. So Steph watches him all the time. He doesn’t have school, just tutors.”
“Okay,” Tony said. That was oddly responsible of Brucie, making sure his kid was well taken care of during the day. Maybe Brucie wasn’t so bad after all.
Tony turned to face the crowd, just in time to see Brucie himself collapse on the dark haired reporter from earlier, Clark or something like that.
“Time t’ go,” Brucie slurred. “I think m’be I drunked too much.”
“Maybe, Mr. Wayne,” Clark said, steading the other man. “Are you okay?”
“Now tha’ your arms are ‘round me, I am,” the billionaire said, smiling up at Clark. The reporter blushed.
“I should go,” Tim said quickly. “When Bruce gets hammered, he forgets about me unless I go with him. Nice talking to you, Mr. Stark!”
“You too, kid,” Tony said, and Tim hurried off to Clark and Brucie. The trio stumbled away, and Tony rolled his eyes.
Yeah, Brucie Wayne was awful, alright.