Hello, my dear readers! Well, this is my very first published fanfic, so I hope I don't disappoint you. It's a (hopefully) funny OS featuring all the Avengers plus Jane, Agents Coulson and Hill and even a short appearance of director Fury.

I took inspiration from the upcoming Halloween season and a prompt found on " starktower. zxq. net " (without spaces). I'm going to tell you the prompt at the end of this fic, as I don't want to ruin the suspense. :-)

The first part is mainly from Pepper's POV, the last from Bruce's POV.

Constructive criticism is always welcomed! English is not my mother tongue, so if there are any grammatical mistakes, I apologize in advance.

Enjoy!

AkaiSaya

ooo-ooo-ooo-ooo

Golden-brown trees were gently swaying from side to side, crisp copper leaves were carried through the streets by the chill autumn wind. The last warm rays of the sun broke through the clouds, making this brisk fall day more bearable and accentuating the dominating golden-orange hue even more.

The crusty leaves were rustling beneath her boot-clad feet, every breath leaving little white puffs in the air. Her nose and ears were red from the cold wind, blowing her strawberry blond hair gently around her face. Her gloved fingers clutched her woollen scarf in an attempt to keep her a little warmer.

Oh, how she despised this cold weather. She liked the beautiful autumn colours and the tranquillity of this season all right, but she preferred higher temperatures. At that moment, she cursed the reason why she was even out here in the cold. Her philanthropist, billionaire, and genius boyfriend: the infamous Tony Stark!

As Thor had been visiting not long ago, after the events of Loki trying to take over the Earth, he had spotted the orange-black decoration, consisting of fake spider webs and plastic spiders, carved pumpkins, tombstones, disembodied hands and other body parts, gruesome monster masks and so on. The mighty God had been utterly confused and demanded to be immediately illuminated about the origins of this strange human tradition.

And of course, as Tony was, he insisted on throwing a Halloween party for everyone. And of course he had entrusted his lovely Pepper with the duty to organise this party – alone. Now here she was, out in the cold, freezing her nose off because the ingenious Iron Man had insisted on everyone getting original costumes for the party, and their damn costumes hadn't been ready till now. As Tony had given the whole Stark Industries crew the day off, there was no one to go pick up their costumes, so Pepper had to do that on her own. To top it all, it was full rush hour, so there had been no use in trying to take a car, which left Pepper with no other choice than walk through the cold autumn air.

Fortunately, Steve had been a gentleman as always and had accompanied her. He was currently carrying Pepper and Tony's costumes. As they were heading back to Stark Tower, they encountered several kids and adults already dressed up in all different kinds of costumes. Steve was in awe as he saw a group of kids dressed up as the Avengers, all carrying small pumpkin and ghost lanterns.

As they finally arrived at Stark Tower, J.A.R.V.I.S. greeted them friendly, informing them that the caterer had been there and that everything was as good as ready for the party. Pepper felt considerably better now that she was back in the warmth of Stark Tower.

Steve excused himself to his room and gave Pepper her and Tony's costumes. She thanked him for his help with a warm smile and took off to the top floors, occupied by her and Tony. Her boyfriend was nowhere to be seen, so she decided to head to the bathroom and get a warm bath before the party started.

Meanwhile, said boyfriend was running around in the collective living room, finishing up the last touches on the decoration and, of course, controlling the booze. What host would he be if they'd suddenly run out of booze in the middle of the party? After he decided that everything was ready, he went down to his lab to kill a little time till the party.

After Pepper had soaked in the tub for about half an hour, she decided to get out and see what her boyfriend was up to and make sure he wouldn't be late for his own party – again. She wrapped herself in a fluffy bathrobe, and when Tony was nowhere to be seen in the bedroom, she entered their private living room. When he wasn't there either, she decided to ask J.A.R.V.I.S.

The artificial intelligence answered promptly. "Mr Stark is in his lab, Miss Potts. Should I call him for you?"

"Yes J.A.R.V.I.S., that would be great, and tell him to get here ASAP!" she answered nicely. Sometimes she wondered how J.A.R.V.I.S. could be so foreseeing, but then again, he had been programmed by Tony Stark himself.

"Mr Stark, Miss Potts demands you join her for the preparation of the party. She is in your living room" Tony had completely forgotten the time in his lab, so he hurried up to his beloved Pepper. He wouldn't want to incur her wrath upon himself. As lovely as she was, she could be terrifying when angry.

"Pepper my love!" He greeted her happily, kissing her on the lips. "Have you gotten our outfits? I sure hope they look good!" He babbled on before she could even respond. Sometimes he could get excited just like a child, she thought while smiling softly to herself.

"Okay Tony, keep calm, our costumes are just fine, after all they were made by the best dressmaker, that I personally chose!"

"Oh, yeah, I almost forgot that,…" He said sheepishly.

"Okay, I'm going to dress up, you should do the same. We wouldn't want to be late for our party, would we?" Pepper said in a voice similar to that of a mother trying to get her child to behave.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

At 8 p.m. sharp, Tony and Pepper entered the living room. The other Avengers, plus Jane Foster, had already assembled around the large table on which all of the food stood. They were all dressed up in different costumes, even Natasha had been persuaded with a little help of Clint. The latter was dressed rather simplistic, only clad in black trousers and boots and a yellow long sleeved shirt with the letter "A" on the left side of his chest.

Natasha was smoking hot: she was wearing a long flaming red dress, almost the shade of her straightened hair, blue gloves and matching high heels.

Steve wore brown linen pants, a blue linen shirt bound together by a cord, and black boots in which he had stuffed some straw.

Bruce had chosen a very elegant black tuxedo along with a simple white mask covering the right side of his face.

Thor was wearing a black cloak, with a red and golden striped scarf, and circular glasses, while Jane wore a black schoolgirl uniform with a red-golden striped tie. Thor had been oddly fascinated by the story of this boy with his magical stick, fighting against a nose-less man that, in Thor's opinion, was surely jealous of this boy for he still had his nose.

When the couple entered, all eyes fell on them. They had by far the most charming costumes. Pepper had had a good deal of trouble dissuading Tony from wearing his Iron Man armour. "Tony, the whole point of Halloween is to dress as someone else!" she had said.

So finally, he'd agreed to wear this couple costume with Pepper. He was currently clad in a white shirt with a colourful bowtie and black trousers that were way to short, showing off his mismatching socks, a dark brown jacket and an extravagant top hat.

Pepper simply looked stunning in her dress, Tony's jaw had dropped the first time he'd seen her in it. It was a knee-length, light blue dress, with a white pinafore and a sweetheart neckline with a black bow in the middle. She wore matching white stockings and black shoes. Her strawberry blonde hair hung down her back in loose curls, held back from her face by a black hairband.

They greeted each other and complimented on their choice of costumes, when suddenly, J.A.R.V.I.S. spoke up.

"Sir, there are additional guests in the elevator, they are on their way up."

Everyone looked around surprised. "Are we missing someone?" Tony asked confused.

"According to my invitation list, we should be complete" Peppers voice was all business now. After all SHE had organised this party.

They intently stared at the elevator doors, waiting for these mysterious guests to arrive. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, the elevator doors opened, and out came three well-known S.H.I.E.L.D. agents. The first one was Agent Maria Hill, dressed in a purple Vancouver ice hockey uniform. Next came Agent Phil Coulson, wearing a vibrant blue suit, with a white and red striped shirt and a red tie. Last but not least there was Director Fury dressed all in black with a long leather coat and an eye-patch shaped like a jack-o-lantern.

The Avengers had trouble not laughing out loud. Tony was about to make a witty remark when Pepper cleared her throat and gave him a pointed look. She then turned to their new guests with a friendly smile. "Phil, how are you? Agent Hill, Director Fury, to what do we owe the pleasure?"

"We just wanted to drop by and make sure you celebrate Halloween properly!" answered a rather cheerful Coulson, before looking slightly horrified at his superior.

Fury snickered slightly. "I don't want to ruin the mood, so I am going to leave now and commit these kids to your care."

With that, he turned around, entered the elevator and waited for the doors to close.

There was a moment of awkward silence before, everyone burst out laughing.

"What the hell was that?!" Jane was the first to find her voice again.

"I have absolutely no idea!" Natasha was completely shocked, she'd never seen her boss so … laid-back.

"Well then, let's party!" Tony shouted animatedly. And party they did.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

The next morning, Bruce was the first up, having gone to his room to get at least a few hours of decent sleep. He left his room and went to the kitchen to get some coffee. After he had poured himself a cup, he walked to the living room to apprehend the true extent of last night's disaster. Thinking of last night, he had to grin to himself.

They'd partied till early in the morning. Everyone had been enjoying themselves, even he himself had let loose. They'd drunk and danced, and even played karaoke. Thor had almost sung off their ears with his booming voice, but fortunately they'd already had enough to drink, so they could care less.

Sometime during the party, Clint had managed to get Natasha to dance with him, but they'd both been so drunk that they ended up tumbling over each other before finally floundering to one of the guest rooms – together. Thor and Jane hadn't even managed to get to a room, Thor having passed out on the couch, not bulging an inch, clutching so tightly to Jane that she had no other choice than stay with him on the couch. Tony hadn't been any better, the poor Pepper had tried to get him to their bedroom, however the couple ended up joining Thor and Jane on the other couch. Agents Hill and Coulson had left shortly after Coulson's duet with his idol, and Maria's performance of "I need a hero". Steve had gone to his room too, which he only reached after having tried at least three wrong doors.

When Bruce entered the living room, Thor and Jane were still on the couch, just as Tony and Pepper. The room looked like a hurricane had ripped through. Glasses and bottles were scattered around, half of the decoration wasn't anymore where it had been in the beginning, some chairs had been knocked over, the karaoke machine had been placed upside down on the table, there was a huge pile of jack-o-lanterns in the middle of the room, and a … was that a stuffed pig? Where the hell had that come from?

But before he could investigate any further, Tony started shuffling on the couch, resulting in him landing unceremoniously on the floor with a loud thud. He groaned irritated, slowly sitting up. He looked around confused while rubbing his head. His fall had caused Pepper and Thor and Jane to wake up. They all groggily looked around, trying to figure out where in Odin's name they were.

"Good morning", Bruce said softly while grinning, making the two couples look over at him. Just at that moment, a not less hung-over Clint and a much better looking Natasha entered the living room. Clint looked over to Bruce, and at the cup of coffee in his hands.

"Good idea…" he mumbled, then strutted towards the kitchen. Thor also looked at the cup in Bruce's hands, than boomed in his loud voice. "Man with the eyes of a hawk, bring me a cup of that hot beverage too!" Everyone cringed at his loud obnoxious voice, cussing at him.

Clint soon came back, accompanied by Steve, and handed out coffee to everyone. When they were halfway awake, they looked around and were completely swamped by the utter chaos surrounding them.

"Oh God…" Pepper breathed out "I need to organise a cleaning crew…"

"Wow… we did party hard!" Tony's grin didn't last long when Pepper shot him a threatening look.

He looked around the room, assessing the damage, then looked up at the ceiling. He cocked his head and stared intently at the ceiling. The others wondered what he had seen, so they looked up too.

"What the …?" was all Steve muttered. Everyone stared incredulously at the ceiling.

Finally, Tony asked the question everyone had been thinking.

"Why in earth's name are there footprints on the ceiling?"

But no one had an answer to that...

ooo-ooo-ooo-ooo

Sooo… What do you say? I hope you enjoyed it!

Well, for the prompt, it was Tony Stark and Tony Stark (yeah, I know) and "Why are there footprints on the ceiling?"

Did you recognize all the costumes? If so, please tell me!

And another question, did anyone get the idea with the footprints on the ceiling? There are some hidden references throughout the fic… and an indication on who might be the culprit…

I'm going to leave a note a few days after Halloween, so that you don't burst with curiosity! (Just kidding :-P) But only if I get enough reviews (starting right off with blackmailing!).

Cya!

AkaiSaya