Prompt Raffle Challenge from the Captain America Fanfiction Challenge forum – My challenge: Alternate Universe - Ghost Hunters. This is purely humor.
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It started the way most of their now 'usual activities' began – as a joke. A drunken dare among friends on a Tuesday night in the middle of finals week. They were all stressed out, just relaxing in each other's company between study sessions; nobody really paying any attention to what was playing on the television since it was only put on for background noise… It went unnoticed, that is, until Pietro noted one of those hand-held night vision cam ghost hunting shows Wanda loved so much was on. In a heartbeat Wanda ditched her chemistry notes and Tony and Vision in favor of plopping down right on the carpeted floor a few feet away from the tv screen.
She needed a break anyway, and so did everyone else as one by one they abandoned their study materials and groups to reconvene around the tv. Tony sighed and cranked the volume a little louder for everyone's benefit, rolling his eyes as he tossed the remote away.
"These things are so cheesy," Natasha chuckled, half sprawled among three laps on one of the couches.
"They really are! That's no way to talk to a spirit!" Wanda voiced her outrage without removing her eyes from the screen, muttering out a little 'Rude' under her breath when one of the so-called investigators asked the spirit if it was male or female.
"If it bugs you so much then why watch it?" Tony asked in complete monotone, his eyes seemingly stuck upward in mid roll.
"'Cause I could do so much better!"
"Easy, Lil Witch," Clint nudged Wanda with his toe causing her to practically growl under her breath.
"You could do better?" Tony repeated, suddenly much more alert and interested which would likely not bode well for the rest of them. Sam, Steve and Bucky were already trying to sink further into the couch as if to blend in with the faux leather and dodge whatever crazy scheme Tony was drumming up in his mind.
"Oh god, here we go," Pepper mumbled into her mug of decaf, sipping deeply as she registered that familiar challenging glint in Tony's eyes.
"Consider it a dare!" Tony stood as he proclaimed in such a manner that rivaled Thor's booming declarations.
"What?" several voices chimed back in confusion.
"I dare you to do better!" Tony reiterated, "Take a couple night vision cameras and go to the science building. You know the stories about that building once being a temporary hospital during the polio outbreak."
"Oh yeah, all the chickens who're afraid to go to Lab 3 because that one has the access to the basement," Pietro agreed with a nod and a laugh.
"They say gurneys and wheelchairs are still down there…" Clint said in a way that was meant to elicit chills from his listeners. Natasha chimed in much the same tone, "And they say those gurneys and wheelchairs are only there because patients beyond saving were wheeled down there to die…"
The group was swallowed up in silence as Natasha and Clint had successfully run an eerie chill up their spines. Which was completely ruined when Bucky barked out a "BOO!" and scared the living daylights out of everyone, some squeaking and screaming out their fear. Bucky, Natasha, and Clint were lost to laughter while everyone recovered, and Steve put up valiant effort to keep Sam from socking Bucky in the face.
They all settled completely into silence once again when Wanda answered surely, "Dare accepted. So, who's brave enough to come with me?"
"I'm in!" Pietro answered immediately, arm raised and hand flapping.
"Two cameras. I don't trust Speedy not to thrash one, so someone else. C'mooon," Tony stated, glancing among the rest of them.
Bucky nudged Steve with his elbow and bounced his brows twice, to which Steve groaned, lolling his head onto Sam's shoulder before he gave in with a, "Fiiine."
"And me too!" Thor seemed to suddenly burst with pent up excitement, and met Pietro's offer for a high five with a heavy slap, leaving the youger wincing and shaking out his hand.
"Alright," Tony chuckled darkly, "This oughta be good."
"You're tellin' me." Natasha grinned.
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When Tony uploaded the footage of Wanda, Pietro, Thor, Steve, Bucky, and Sam fulfilling the dare to YouTube he was not expecting the slapdash edited 15-minute video to get more than thirty hits, viewers likely consisting of their other friends on campus, out of state, and/or country. What it ended up becoming was a literal overnight sensation. By the end of finals week Tony's inbox was full of commenters, a few were of the same boring troll caliber while a heavy percentage were inquiring or demanding if there would be more episodes from this ghost hunting crew.
People apparently adored Wanda for her respectful manner and witchy demeanor, she was cute but her persona oozed of no-nonsense, she was dubbed the leader. While Pietro was seen as the comic relief, Wanda's excitable twin brother. But not nearly as excitable as Thor who translated any noise at all as a cause or response from a spirit, he was also a bit of eye candy for the audience (Tony snorted loudly at several comments that detailed something along the same lines of Thor looking fine enough for a different type of night vision footage y'knowwhat'msayin'?!). Sam was the chicken, and viewers demanded he continue to be part of the team because he really sold that the fear and danger were real, which would be quite unfortunate for him once Tony broke the news. Steve and Bucky were two sides of the same coin, where Steve was deemed as wholesome family entertainment Bucky was seen as 'Didn't I see that guy on RedTube?', attached at the hip and diving head first into the tasks set before them. Tony had to cut out a significant amount of footage from Steve's camera feed because of Bucky's lewd comments and gestures and bedroom eyes that were likely only meant for Steve but the camera brought a bit of the exhibitionist out in Bucky.
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It was the first week into summer break when Tony announced that they were all YouTube famous. To which, of course, Pietro commented that Tony wasn't even in the video so how could he be famous. Tony's rebuttal - since they used his cameras and the video was uploaded to his YouTube channel, he could claim fame as well, dubbing himself producer of their new ghost hunting series.
"No! No thank you very much! I'm out!" Sam countered and made to leave the apartment entirely before he could be convinced otherwise. Bucky and Pietro latched themselves to each of Sam's legs before he could reach the door while Tony exclaimed about the audience loving him for his candid personality.
Tony went on to explain about all the positive reviews and how fun it would be to do over the summer before the next semester started in fall. "Seriously, a road trip, guys! Up and down the east coast! We'll see some sights, find some haunts and shoot some footage after dark, grow closer as a family, it'll be great!" The group remained silent and Tony sighed after a long moment, "And I'll pay for everything except food."
Several voices then triumphantly chorused, "ROOOOAD TRIIIIIP!"
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Over the course of the summer with a new 15-25-minute ghost hunting video uploaded weekly to Tony's YouTube account (after Vision's pristine editing and Pepper and Rhodey's test screening and okay to upload), the view count and subscribers seemed to double daily – and Tony's channel was already popular to begin with so that was really saying something.
Wanda was seen as cute but viewers (and Thor) truly believed she had a legitimate connection and sensitivity to spirits and ghostly energy. Thor was like Wanda's cheerleader, he was an avid believer in the afterlife, but with how huge and loud he was in comparison to Wanda along with his thick Danish accent, he made for a goofy sidekick that viewers loved to watch trail after an unafraid, unwavering Wanda. Then there was Pietro, people loved when he zoomed across a cameras shot when Wanda was right in the middle of something quite serious, completely destroying the moment. But they especially loved his little comments whenever he was off screen and nearest a microphone (E.g. his most famous of lines "Oh! Sorry! That wasn't a ghost I just farted.") During such times, Tony's cackling could be heard a mile away in response to Pietro's antics.
Natasha and Clint were equipment operators when it came to the heavier cameras and microphones and other tech – and they were the skeptically-est skeptics to ever skeptic. It was a damn good thing the cameras weren't ever turned onto them because the completely unimpressed looks on their faces would make anyone question their beliefs. Although Tony complied footage he will eventually deem the blooper reel once they're totally finished, and a good portion of that is Clint barking out "HUH?!" or "WHAT!" in the rare occurrences when he'd forget a hearing aid and Natasha purposely taking advantage of that fact and muttering something into his bad ear, which in turn startles the living daylights out of everyone. And of course, Clint is in on it too, when they hurry to a so-called haunted location and he blindly grabs for his aids and manages to only snag one he knows it's prime prank time with Nat.
Sam was the reluctant one. He was the one the audience really connected with because he's so real about what's going on in those situations. He isn't necessarily a believer but he's seen too many scary movies to know that hanging out in strange supposedly haunted locations in the dead of night armed with just a night vision camera surrounded by his crazy white friends… someone's gonna get straight up unalived, no joke.
Steve and Bucky. More like Fred and Daphne. More often than not those two would split off from the rest of the group to make out somewhere… although they do end up getting the best footage when they leave the camera unattended and perched somewhere, so it worked out fine. Tony was especially glad that they didn't use the camera for more unsavory exploits, though Bucky has extended the query Tony's way, and he immediately shuts it down because nope no thank you don't even wanna think about that thanks, Buck-o.
They had one friend they wished would take part in this excursion too, but Bruce is the type that gets really mad and automatically violent when scared. "You definitely don't wanna see me when I'm scared."
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Happy Halloween!