Steve Rogers sat outside on the stoop of his apartment building, with a bowl of king-sized Hershey bars in his lap. Tony Stark had assured him that king-sized candy was the only acceptable size to give to trick-or-treaters on Halloween. This was the first time Steve wasn't working on Halloween since his return and he was excited to be able to see all the children going on their quest for candy.
Steve thought back to his own childhood, and Halloween past. In his time, children didn't trick-or-treat for candy. They threw rocks and bricks through windows and painted rude words on people's houses. There were occasional fires set and cars vandalized as well, for good measure. He, of course, never partook in the destructive festivities. The closest he ever got to that was to occasionally hand Bucky a rock to throw for him, but it was all good, clean fun.
Children were no longer allowed to destroy property in the name of fun, though, which he could see made sense. He also felt sad that they'd never know the fun of soaping somebody's windows. Some joys were lost to him forever in this new time.
He perked up when a young boy approached him, his mother close behind. The boy was dressed in an Iron Man costume and came to a stop in front of Steve. "Trick-or-treat!" he cried while holding a bag out.
"Well, Iron Man, what brings you out here tonight," Steve asked with a grin as he reached out and dropped a candy bar into the bag with a satisfying thunk.
"It's Halloween, silly!" the boy cried while brandishing his half-filled bag.
"Oh, that's right, I forgot," Steve replied. "Well, good luck filling the rest of your bag before bedtime." The boy's mother rolled her eyes and smiled at Steve before thanking him and walking off with her son.
Children and their parents filled the street, walking from house to house. Steve loved to watch them, and wondered if he would ever have children of his own someday, and take them trick-or-treating. He sighed at the thought as another set of children approached him.
There were three children, two boys and a girl. One boy was dressed like Thor, the other was dressed like Batman, the famed comic book character. The girl was dressed as some sort of blonde princess in a long, flowing blue dress. "And who might you be, young lady?" he asked while handing out candy.
"I'm Elsa, from Frozen," she explained while hopping up and down. "Haven't you seen Frozen?"
"Uh…no…" Steve replied. I've been frozen though…he thought to himself. The girl began to sing a song, from the movie no doubt, and he listened politely until she'd finished and took a bow. He applauded her and gave her an extra candy bar for serenading him. "Wonderful song, I'll have to check out that movie."
The children traipsed off with their father in tow, and Steve settled back in on the stoop to people-watch. Several minutes passed until the next group arrived. Two boys and two girls, with their mother and father stopped in front of Steve. "Trick-or-treat!" they cried.
Steve took in their costumes. One of the boys was dressed as a firefighter, and the other was dressed as Harry Potter. One of the girls was dressed as Black Widow, and the other girl was dressed as Captain America. He grinned to see that somebody was dressed as him, but decided to keep quiet about his identity.
"Look at you all, such wonderful costumes," he said while passing out candy bars to everybody. "So, you're a Captain America fan, are you?" he asked the girl dressed as his alter ego.
The girl, who was maybe nine or ten, nodded her head. "He's a hero, and you know what? Someday I'm going to be a hero too and then girls and boys will dress like me for Halloween!"
Steve smiled and quietly slipped an extra candy bar into the plastic pumpkin she was holding out. "I believe you just might," he replied. "Don't wait until you're older. Go out and be a hero now, the world needs you."
The girl nodded solemnly to him before narrowing her eyes and looking at him closely. She gasped in recognition, but before she could say anything, her father whisked her off towards their next destination. She kept glancing over her shoulder as they walked away, and waved just as they turned the corner. He smiled and waved back.
Steve sat out on the stoop for another half hour until he ran out of candy. With a sigh, he stood up and stretched his arms and legs after sitting still for so long. It had been a wonderful Halloween, and he'd have to make sure he was available the next year too. It's good to make new traditions, he thought as he walked back into his apartment building.