A/N: Hey everyone. So I actually started writing this fic back during Christmas time last year and I just now started writing it again. I wish I could have had this up before Halloween but I didn't have the time. Anywho. Enjoy.

Chapter 1 : All Hallows Eve

Steve pulled at the broken blinds and watched kids run widely around the street from inside the dark house. October 31st. One night a year children spent running around to strangers' houses to gather delicious treats. But that was old news to Steve. Kid stuff, he and his friends thought of it as (Although, the child inside him was craving the excitement of running to a stranger's door and asking for a handful of sweet deliciousness). Instead, he would spend his Halloween deep inside a basement watching horror movies all night (not in his favorite zombie costume) while stuffing his face with candy he and his friends were told to pass out by their parents to the kids who came knocking on their front door (Where is the fun in that?). He sighed as he let the blinds snap shut and the room was swallowed by darkness again. He grabbed his shirt and his zombie mask and headed out into the chilly October air.

He noticed that the majority of the kids this year were dressed as Tinker Bell and Optimus Prime from Transformers. He felt that he was the freak for the evening, wearing a pair of camo cargo shorts, a yellow t-shirt, and a blue short sleeved button down shirt that once belonged to a bowler named "Bill" thrown over his shoulders. He missed the thrill of dressing up in more than just a mask. Before, he would spend weeks preparing for this very night. Blood dripping of his mouth and various places on his body, giant gashes in his forehead, possibly some fake maggots. His eyes shadowed heavily with face paint to make himself look like one of the undead. Maybe even a greenish tent to his skin if he felt like going all out, but instead he bought a mask from the Quick-e Mart earlier that day. He could no longer do the kid things that he loved. He was sevenTEEN meaning he had to do TEEN things, even if they weren't what he would call exciting.

The Redfields lived only a few blocks away. Short enough not to complain but long enough to have time to think. Claire Redfield had invited him to her Halloween party. He didn't know if it was a costume party, but he hoped he would spot Claire in a scandalous bunny outfit or something of the sort. He glanced down at the mask in his hand, wondering if he should have tried harder on his costume. He and Claire had only been friends for a short while, but they were becoming closer than he could have ever imagined in his wildest dreams. The only problem was her overprotective older brother, Chris, who always happened to conveniently show up whenever Steve wanted to talk to Claire alone. He spotted a familiar beat up car when he reached Claire's street. At least Leon would be here to keep Chris off his back.

When he reached their driveway, Steve's jaw dropped. The house was totally decked out with Halloween decorations from fake cobwebs to pumpkin lights to eerie figures standing in the windows. He cursed himself once again for not wearing a better costume. He pulled on his mask and knocked on the door before standing beside the door. Music blasted form inside the house. The door flung open.

"Arrgghh!" Steve yelled as he jumped out from his hiding stop.

"I didn't know zombies were part pirate," Claire smiled and then glanced down at the name embroidered into his shirt. "Hey, Bill." Steve left on his mask as he let his eyes wander up and down Claire's body. She stood leaded up against the door frame with her hand on her hip. She didn't have on a bunny costume or a maid costume, but instead she wore a pair of angel wings, a cheap halo above her head, a low cut white t-shirt, and a pair of tight fitting jeans. Her tight fitting outfit was nothing unusual for her, but damn, was she hot.

"Come on in," she said stepping back into the house. Steve pulled off his mask. "Everyone's downstairs."

Claire walked off into the kitchen, assuming that Steve knew were the basement was and let him walk down there alone. He thought about asking her if she needed some help with the snacks, but she had already disappeared.

He was about to push his mask back but he figured he had already made a fool of himself making his entrance as a pirate-zombie. The basement was just like any other basement that was still decades behind when it came to decorating. The walls were covered in cheap paneling, decorated in a number of orange lights, cobwebs, and skeletons. The basement was packed to its maximum capacity with people he didn't even think he could be in the same room as. He scanned the room and saw a few familiar faces such as Leon Kennedy nestled in the corner with his bitch of a girlfriend, Ada.

Leon, of course, was much "too cool" to be wearing a costume and Ada was wearing a skimpy bright red dress with fangs and heavy makeup on her slanted eyes. Claire's good friend Rebecca Chambers sporting a (rather cute) bumble bee outfit, and to his surprise, Ashley Graham was there too, all slutted out in a bunny outfit (more like a bunny bikini). He saw some guys from his English class who he thought were named Richard (dressed as a shark), Joseph (decked out as a werewolf), and Brad (in a banana suit?) along with a pair of tools named Carlos (dressed as who Steve thought was supposed to be GI Joe) and Luis (with a fake machete shoved through his chest) drooling over Chris' girlfriend, Jill (who was dressed as Daisy Duke and Steve found hard not to stare at her huge amount of cleavage and short-shorts), but all the other faces mixed together.

Steve found the bar behind the crowd in the far corner of the basement. Bowls of candy and spooky treats covered the orange table clothed bar top, along with the expected six pack of beer. Steve leaned up against it reaching for a beer with Chris appeared from behind it.

"Hey there, Bill," Chris said with a smirk. Steve shoved his hands back in his pocket and away from the beer. Steve should have been used to people addressing him by the various names that were on his shirt, but sometimes it could be annoying.

"Hey, Chris," Steve grumbled. Chris was dressed as a lumberjack, chest hair spewing out of his plaid shirt with a plastic axe in his belt.

"Whatcha drinking there?" Chris asked taking a sip of his own mixed beverage.

"Soda," Steve grabbed a Coke off the side of the bar and turned his back to the lumberjack. He made his way over to the worn plaid couch push up against the wall. He wiggled his way onto the couch, between the arm and a couple who was heavily making out. He took a sip of his drink and looked through the crowd for Claire. She must have still been upstairs getting snacks. Leon saw him from across the room and caught his eye. He whispered something in Ada's ear before pushing his way over to the couch. He took a seat on the arm.

"Hey, man," He ruffled Steve's hair like he was his little brother. "If you're looking for Claire, she's with Forest in the corner."

Claire wasn't like Ashley. She wouldn't make out with a random guy at her party… would she? But when he found Claire, she was surely standing in the corner with Forest (who picked out dressed as a giant crow for some strange reason), but merely talking with him and looking rather bored even if she was trying to avoid his giant beak from taking an eye out. Steve let out a sigh of relief on the inside. At least Claire wasn't preoccupied with some other guy. Maybe he could be her knight in shining armor and rescue her from the awkward conversation.

"You know, Ashley has been eyeing you non-stop since I got here," Steve said changing the subject towards Leon.

"Since you got here?" Leon laughed. "She's had her eyes on me the entire night. She's basically been shoving her boobs in my face (which are hard not to look at might I add). Even sat down and left her legs open as if it was an accident. It's really starting to piss Ada off, but her jealously is rather attractive actually." Leon sipped his beer.

"At least you've got a girlfriend," Steve mumbled. "Along with a hundred other girls a part your fan club."

"Here we go again," Leon rolled his eyes. "You know, you could have a girlfriend if it you would just let go of Claire already. Why don't you ask Rebecca out? She hasn't taken her eyes off you since you got here."

Steve automatically searched for Rebecca in her bubble bee outfit and sure enough, she quickly hid her eyes and her smile when their eyes met. He could have sworn he even saw her blush.

"See what I mean?" Leon patted him on the shoulder. "You're just taking lady shopping all wrong. Look for the clearance rack first, save up some money, and then you might just be able to find something on full price rack. And when I say rack, I hope you know what I mean…"

Steve had always taken Leon as the kind of guy who actually cared about women, but he figured that didn't matter much once you got a little alcohol in him. He was just as sleazy as all the others. Although, as much as he hated to admit it, Leon was right about his shopping analogy. He had never had a girlfriend before and he could date Rebecca just to learn the ropes of dating, but couldn't use her like that, and she was one of Claire's best friends so that was enough of a reason to stay away. He also couldn't help thinking about the "rack" difference…

"Claire will notice me someday," Steve reassured himself. "You just wait and see."

Leon laughed. "Alright, buddy. Believe what you want, but in the mean time, I'm sure you could bag a few others." Leon walked away with a stumble.

With Leon gone, he turned his attention back to Claire who was still in the corner with Forest, but this time, his hands were on her hips, and every time she tried to push him off, he would pull her closer. An alarm in Steve's head went off and he immediately stood up. Anger began to bubble inside him as he watched this jerk drag his hands all over his woman. He felt himself puff his chest out as he began to make his way over to the pair, but before he even took a second step, Claire had pushed Forest off her and made her way towards a group of girls across the room.

Steve slumped back onto the couch. He knew Claire could take care of herself, but just something about seeing Forest all over her sent his blood pumping. Suddenly he found Claire standing on a chair next to the bar trying to get the ground attention.

"Hey, everyone! So we're going to be playing a little game. Any ideas?" She asked, wings flapping slightly behind her.

"Beer Pong!" Yelled a voice from the back. Everyone whooped in agreement.

"Pictionary!" (A few boos filled the basement,)

"How about Pin the Tale on the Zombie!" Another suggested. Everyone laughed.

"How about Spin the Bottle, or Seven Minutes in Heaven?"

"What are we, thirteen?"

"Actually, that doesn't sound like such a bad idea," Claire said with a smile. "But instead of kissing the person maybe we could just have sex with them."

Everyone cheered even louder than the beer pong suggestion. Claire rolled her eyes. At least Steve thought she was funny…

"Orrrr," Chris the Lumberjack stepped in worried his little sister was going to take things too far. "We could play Blackjack and if you bust - if you really want to - you can strip. Sound like a plan?"

Half of the crowd agreed to play but the others went back to socializing amongst each other. Steve decided to keep his seat on the couch and watch the game unfold from the sidelines, but before he knew it he was pulled into the game and thankful for two things. One, that he had worn two shirts that night, and two, that Claire was playing directly across from him.

A/N: Hope you enjoyed and that it wasn't too long. There are going to be a couple chapters but nothing too big. I'll update when I can and "Finding Steve" is taking ages to write since Rebecca's POV is so boring… Anyway. Review! :)