WITH GREAT RESPONSIBILITY… COMES TRICKS AND TREATS
"My dearest friend, if you don't mind, I'd like to join you by your side where we can gaze into the stars and sit together, now and forever. For it is plain as anyone can see we're simply meant to be."
― The Nightmare Before Christmas
It was a dark and stormy night. Outside of the Avenger's compound, the wind howled boisterously, pulling autumn shaded leaves from trees and dancing with them in the nocturnal light. An orange glow lit up the outdoors, emanating from inside one of the Compound's rooms where a modern fireplace had been lit up.
Within that particular room of the compound, cuddled up inside the warm living space, was Tony, Steve, Thor, Amelia, Jack, Danielle, Wanda and Vision. They were all sat having a movie night, motivated to do so by Amelia who'd demanded that they have a family night. Some had been easier to convince than others. Thor had jumped at the opportunity once delicious popcorn was mentioned. Mia had to literally drag Tony away from his lab. Natasha had point-blank refused to join the night's festivities after learning the movie was going to be 'The Nightmare Before Christmas', the redhead stating that it was meant for kids. Instead of spending time with the family she was having some private time with Bruce who had been much more polite when rejecting Amelia's offer. And Sam had already made plans to have a night out with Rhodey, but he promised to join the next one as long as the movie choice was better.
"So, I'm confused," Amelia announced from her spot beside Steve. They were sat on a large couch, Amelia's legs laid on top of Steve's lap with a blanket on top that they shared between them. Jack, Dani, Wanda and Vision were all sat on the floor together on top of pillows, whilst the rest of the group had taken the privilege of the couch. They were halfway through the movie, Jack Skellington have just kidnapped Santa Claus. "If this is supposed to be a Christmas movie, why are there a bunch of monsters and stuff?" It wasn't like any of the Christmas movies she'd watched before.
"Because it's not just a Christmas movie, it's also a Halloween movie," Jack explained, not bothering to turn away from the film as he answered the brunette's question.
"Halloween?" Her tone of voice implied that she was asking another question. Amelia's query was somehow enough to gain everyone else's attention, all of them looking to her with the same curiousness Amelia felt towards the word Jack had used. It had been mentioned before in the movie but she'd assumed from that, that Halloween was the name of a place, yet Jack had used it in a different way.
"You don't know what Halloween is?" Steve asked as he looked down at her. He spoke casually, like it wasn't a big deal. He was more used to Amelia not knowing things that were normal everyday things to others. Plus, at one point in his life, he'd been exactly the same way when it came to him waking up in the 21st Century and having to learn all the new things that came with the different time. So different it was like he'd entered another world, not just the future. Of course, they weren't exactly the same, once upon a time Amelia hadn't even known what a kiss was, let alone was a 'holiday' was supposed to be, whereas all that Steve had been missing information on was a few historical events and pop culture references.
"How can you not know what Halloween is?" Tony scoffed from his perch on the end of the couch beside Thor, his tone not as gentle as Steve's had been. "You spent over a year with Steve exploring Europe, they have Halloween there too, how the hell did you manage to miss it?"
Amelia shrugged her shoulders, not actually have an answer so Steve tried to provide one instead. He looked up in thought as he tried to recall where the pair had been during October. They'd definitely been in Europe, most likely in Spain as that was where he remembered travelling to towards the end of September because they'd heard rumours of Bucky being sighted there. It finally dawned on him where they'd been during the last week of October. "We were camping in the middle of nowhere, in Spain." It was three-quarters of the truth. He couldn't really share with Tony about the search they'd done for Bucky and how they'd been exploring a forest looking for an old Hydra cabin they thought he might have been staying in, but he could at least tell the billionaire about how they'd spent the night in the forest.
The brunette's eyebrows furrowed as she looked back into her past to try and find the moment Steve was talking about. It wasn't difficult. That night in Spain was the first and last time they'd gone camping. "You mean that time me, you and Sam all tried to fit in a very small tent?"
"Yeah," Steve responded stiffly, he tried to sound casual but he'd visibly cringed at the memory, failing to hide his displeasure from the group.
"Do I want details or not? I can't decide," Tony mused, observing the way Steve's facial features bent downward.
Amelia looked to her brother but did not notice the cheeky expression that filled his features beneath the dusty orange glow of the fireplace. If she had then the brunette would have realised Tony wasn't asking why to figure out exactly what she'd been doing on Halloween, he just wanted to know what it was which made Steve shuffle so uncomfortably in his seat.
In an attempt to provide proof that she really had been in the middle of the woods during Halloween, she also accidentally gave Tony exactly what he'd wanted. "Steve took up all the space and when we woke up, Sam and I each had one of his arms in ours, cuddled up against him. It was pretty funny, though neither of the boys thought so. I still don't understand why Sam complained so much. He looked comfy and I definitely felt more comfortable too, you're like a giant pillow." Once she finished speaking, she looked to Steve for answers, but he didn't look ready to give him, his jaw tight and his skin redder than usual though Amelia naively blamed that on the fireplace.
From across the couch, Tony let out a guffaw, his white teeth put on a bright display as he grinned madly. "Okay, I've made up my mind," her brother announced as he leaned closer towards the couple, "I definitely want to know the details."
Amelia opened her mouth to tell him more on that night seen as he seemed so interested, but she was interrupted when Steve's hands dug into her thigh, not harsh enough to leave a mark, but the sudden pain did make her clamp her mouth shut.
"I'm not surprised that you all couldn't fit into one tent, Steve's massive," Jack muttered humorously from the floor. Most of the kids were looking amused by the conversation they were having. Danielle was smiling quietly though her eyes were cast downward to the floor rather than on the cuddled up couple. Jack was always much more extroverted than Dani but it didn't make either of them more or less included in the family.
"Eat all your greens and maybe one day you'll be big and strong like him too," Tony imparted another piece of wisdom to his protege.
Jack released a snort, "you're pretty small, I'm guessing that's because you had too much caviar as a child." There were very few people who would be able to get away with saying something like that to Tony Stark, luckily for the young enhanced boy he'd managed to become one of those people.
By that point, everyone had gotten used to the banter Tony and Jack shared, and for the most part it was a great source of laughter for the family. Even then the group were chuckling or rolling their eyes in amusement, one or two doing both (Danielle and Steve). "Ha ha," Tony responded numbly, filling up time as he tried to think of a much better quip so he could get payback.
Except Mia had her own thoughts that she wanted to vocalise, interrupting Tony before he even had the chance to speak. "That doesn't make sense," she said, her eyebrows furrowed, "Hydra barely gave me greens and I'm pretty strong."
"I believe that it is a saying with no actual scientific fact behind it," Vision explained.
"Oh," Amelia sounded as she mentally noted the new lesson down.
"I don't know what Halloween is either," Thor spoke up, directing the conversation back to the original subject as he'd been hoping to get an answer as well. "Is it like Christmas?" He'd definitely been a big fan of Christmas after what the Avengers family had all done together the year prior, and the role he'd gotten to play on that day was certainly the best part, at least in his eyes.
"Kind of," Danielle offered as an actual answer, the only one serious enough to give the God one. Her voice was still quieter than it would have been were she talking to Steve or Amelia who she was far more comfortable around as they weren't as intimidating as the Thunder God, who was very very large. Of course, physically, Steve and Thor were pretty similar but after spending so much time with the super soldier around his girlfriend she'd realised he was more soft and squishy than people would expect.
"I believe Halloween is a Celtic tradition meant for the dead," Vision answered, trying to include himself more in the conversation. It was a task he'd given himself in order to integrate better into the family, to give his information more in conversations rather than observing silently in the corner. He found that it was a lot easier with Wanda by his side.
Danielle's head became slanted slightly. Vision definitely wasn't wrong but it wasn't the reason they really celebrated the holiday during the modern age. "It's sort of like that, but it isn't celebrated the same," she expanded. Most of the things people did on Halloween was because it was tradition, not because they had a specific reason for it like they would have years ago. Danielle knew that once upon a time pumpkins were used to ward off evil, but in modern times the pumpkin was simply a decoration mixed among plastic skeletons.
"If it's a celebration, then does that mean there's going to be a party?" Amelia asked with interest. The last party she'd had was before Ultron arrived, and she was still waiting for the opportunity to have a drinking competition with Thor.
"Absolutely not, I promised Pepper that I wouldn't have any more 'needless parties'," Tony immediately denied, causing both of Thor's and Amelia's bodies to fall down due to disappointment.
"You don't need to have a party," Danielle quickly added after seeing the way Amelia and Thor became disheartened, "usually people just go out and trick or treat."
"Trick?" Thor repeated.
"Treat?" Amelia lifted herself higher up in her seat, displaying the same excitement that Thor had shown.
"Yeah," Dani confirmed, glad to see smiles back on their faces, "you dress up in a costume and then you go knock on people's doors and they give you candy."
"Candy," Amelia repeated once more, her body beginning to rise up and down as she bounced in her seat. Steve couldn't help but think that she was going through a sugar rush at the mere mention of sweets, and that notion was enough to fill him with a sense of dread as he dared to imagine what she'd be like once she had all of the candy in her grasp.
"And where does the tricking come in?" Thor questioned, having shuffled so far forward that he was on the edge of his seat.
"One of the most popular tricks is TP-ing someone's house," Jack explained, taking over for his sister as the 'trick' side of Halloween was definitely more his department. Thor looked back to the enhanced blankly, clearly not understanding what TP-ing was, yet his lips still curved upward into a polite smile. Jack saw the lack of understanding past the god's polite disposition and so he expanded his answer, "TP-ing is when you throw toilet paper over your friend's house."
"Ha!" Thor guffawed, "hilarious! Yes, I would very much like to partake in Halloween."
"Me too," Amelia agreed, mostly for the candy though."
From beside Amelia, Steve seemed to tense, not as exhilarated by the idea as everyone else seemed to be, and he had to mentally prepare himself for being a bad guy because that's what being the voice of reason did. "I don't know," the soldier intruded, "who'll watch over you all? I've got a mission tomorrow night." Of course, both Amelia and Thor were technically adults, but they were also children when it came to their understanding of the world. He didn't trust them to not somehow get lost in the middle of nowhere.
"Thor is a God and Amelia is a trained assassin, they can watch over themselves," Tony disagreed, seemingly unconcerned on the matter. Of course he was protective of his sister, protective enough to ensure that he'd be able to find her no matter where she went, so of course he wouldn't have an issue with her going out and having fun with the two new enhanced. All three of them needed to relax and be children for once, enjoy something they never could have had before because of Hydra.
"Really Tony?" Steve scoffed, his facial expression showing that he wasn't exactly surprised that it was Tony which had argued against him.
"What? It's good for Amelia to discover new things," the billionaire continued defensively, "come on Steve, you're her boyfriend not her dad."
"Would you guys come too?" Amelia asked the three enhanced that were sat on the floor, taking no notice of what Steve was saying because she didn't really feel like he could possibly stop her from getting the candy.
"Sure, we haven't celebrated Halloween in a while too," Jack answered, looking over to Danielle for confirmation that she'd be joining too. Mutely, she just nodded her head, but it was enough to get Amelia even more excited.
"I think I'm a bit too old so I'll leave you two to it," Wanda announced, nervously looking towards Vision from the side of her eye. She wanted to seem more mature to him, smarter, so she could be on the same level as him. She had yet to realise that she didn't need to do any of that.
"Okay, so what do we need to do this?" Amelia continued on.
"Just yourselves, a costume, and a lot of toilet paper." From the side Tony cleared his throat, gaining Jack's attention and then shaking his head so the enhanced would no he definitely wasn't allowed the toilet paper. There were a lot of questions about the Avenger's as it were, they didn't need to be found immaturely throwing toilet paper over innocent people's houses as well. "...Okay fine, no toilet paper."
"Yes, of course, no toilet paper," Thor said unconvincingly, not even hiding the way he winked mischievously over to Jack.
"What should I dress up as?" Amelia continued to muse, looking over to Steve for an answer but he shrugged. He hadn't taken part in Halloween for many, many, years, so he had no idea what was conventional anymore. He didn't want to recommend she dress up as a ghost only to then have her be penalised because it wasn't trendy.
"You could go as a monster, or someone from a movie, or a historical figure, those are what most people go as," Danielle listed as Amelia continued to stare at Steve.
Seconds later a crooked smile began to curve her lips, Steve could see that she was trying to keep it at bay, probably because if she allowed it to spread with the ease of a bird spreading its wings than he'd definitely have been able to read what she was thinking in her head. She never even gave him the time to realise there might have been more to that smile than simple happiness. Turning back to face Danielle, the brunette did a curt nod of her head to show that she'd had some sort of idea for a costume. "Right, and how far away is Halloween?"
"Two days," Danielle answered.
"Perfect, that's all the time I need."
"What are you plotting, Freckles?" Steve questioned, finally beginning to see the little devious light sparking in her pitch black eyes.
"You'll just have to wait and see," she replied, once again having to suppress a sneaky smile.
"Who are you supposed to be?" Amelia's eyebrows were furrowed and her eyes were sharp as she stared at Jack, she'd been doing it for the past two minutes, trying to guess what character of what show was made out of red and gold cardboard boxes. Nothing had come to mind and even Jack had become frustrated with the way she'd been staring at him so intensely, unknowingly insulting him by not being able to tell who he was.
"Really? I'm your brother, Mia," he finally revealed, trying to salvage some dignity by putting on his best impression of Tony which he thought he'd mastered after spending so much time with the billionaire, but from the blank look he was getting from Amelia he knew he'd also failed at that. He sighed, body deflating and cardboard boxes scuffling together as he draped his hands down, no longer trying to pose the way Tony would when in his own suit. He went back to being Jack. Jack in a box. "I tried to steal one of his suits but he caught me, so I've improvised with cardboard boxes, it's not that bad is it?"
"No, not at all," Amelia responded eventually, her voice wavering slightly to the point that it almost sounded unbelievable for Jack.
He looked back down at the cardboard boxes he'd painted, the top one was pretty good but he grew bored with the rest and he didn't have Danielle's help because she was busy making up her own costume. It would have been so much better if he'd managed to nab one of Tony's suit but the bastard billionaire had walked in moments before he entered one and of course then the enhanced boy got an earful.
Thor entered the hallway which led to outside of the compound, eyes immediately falling on Jack who was painted a blood red and a gold that definitely had a large amount of glitter put into it. It took him a second too to make sense of the enhanced boy's costume, but at least it was just a second. Thor wagged a finger towards Jack and showed his teeth as he smiled, "ah, you're Tony right?"
Jack threw up his hands in a hoorah, looking to Amelia as if it to say 'at least someone gets it' and then he turned to face the Thunder God. "Thank you, Thor, yes I am."
As they both looked to the God and paused for a moment as they took in the costume he'd decided to wear. Dressed in red, white and blue, with a shield in his arms, the God looked like his body was being strangled by Captain America's mission suit.
"Did you… did you steal Steve's suit?" Amelia asked the question slowly, trying to avoid looking lower down.
He looked down to the suit himself but the God seemed to not see an issue with the way it hugged his body closely, almost intimately. "Yes, it is a bit small I must say, but look, I even got the shield," he held up the shield like it was Mjolnir, acting just as proud of the shield as he would his weapon.
"No you don't, you've got the fake shield," she argued, then holding up the shield she'd been holding onto that entire time. It was then Thor finally realised that she was also dressed as Captain America, her suit was a completely different fabric and merely had the well-known design printed on top of it; that was because Amelia had to buy her own, knowing full well she wouldn't have been able to fit in Steve's actual suit because it was fit to the soldier's measurements perfectly. She managed to get the shield though, switching it with the large plastic one that came with her suit and hoping it would distract people's suspicions until after she'd left the compound.
"Oh, I thought it was rather light but I just assumed that Steve was exaggerating the weight," he explained, beginning to swing the shield around in his arm.
"No, that's the one I put there so I could take the real shield," she picked up her own shield, unable to swing it around unless she flung her entire body around because the shield really actually was as heavy as Steve had said, possibly more for her as she didn't have super soldier muscles. Looking back up, her eyes caught Thor in a disapproving stare. "You should probably go change, Thor. The both of us can't be dressed up as Captain America."
Immediately Thor looked offended by her words, he'd gone to so much effort to steal the suit and it seemed unfair that he'd have to change and not her. His was actually the real thing, surely that gave him more right to wear it!
"Neither of you can. Amelia, go put the shield back," Steve walked through the doorway Thor had, hands in his pockets and a disapproving stare of his own that matched the one Amelia had given the thunder God moments earlier.
"What, you don't like my costume?" She gasped, immediately becoming offended and Steve was immediately a victim to the wide black eyes she displayed to him, shining with either disappointment or tears, he couldn't really tell.
"N-no, it's not that," the soldier found that he actually quite enjoyed the image before him. His lover being hugged by the suit he dawned every mission. He couldn't help but think that she definitely looked better than he did in the red, white and blue, but that was beside the point. "You can't take the shield though, it's not just a costume prop Amelia, it's a serious weapon."
"I won't tell if you don't," she responded simply with a flirtatious wink.
"No, he's right Little Stark, you should go change immediately," Thor backed up Steve, his tone lowering so it was more reprimanding.
"You too, Thor," the soldier sighed, looking unhappily to the God who had actually stolen his suit and was no doubt stretching the fabric.
The reproachful expression he'd had for Amelia vanished as he looked at Steve the same way he'd probably look at someone who'd taken away his hammer and told him he was no longer allowed to be anywhere near it. "That's unfair," he stated.
"How about this, you can decide which one of us has to go change, that's a win-win for everyone," Amelia bargained, for once being the diplomatic voice of reason between her and the soldier. He knew it was only because she'd get something out of it.
"How is that a win for me?" He scoffed, reproachful. The brunette seemed to realise his displeased emotions so she moved to step closer, her hands going to his waist, and like a magnet, his hands moved on their own and rose to her own. She stepped even closer, the touch comfortable and simple to the both of them even when one of them was slightly more moody.
"Because you get some say." The fact that Amelia laughed revealed to Steve that she knew exactly what she was doing but she simply didn't care, she was becoming more and more cheeky every day and he believed it to be the kid's influence on her. Because Amelia could be quite immature sometimes, she'd found great friends with the enhanced kids, able to join in with their activities and have fun she couldn't have when she was their age because Hydra was too busy covering her hands in blood. She seemed happier though, more alive, more out of her shell, and so were the enhanced kids, so he couldn't exactly complain about that side of her shining so brightly, especially when none of them was posing a danger.
He didn't really need either of his suit or the shield. Steve was going on a mission later on in the night but it wasn't anything that would require him fighting and he couldn't even wear his suit anyway as he needed to meld with a crowd of people.
With those things taken into consideration, he reluctantly made a decision.
"Fine," the soldier sighed, "Thor, go change."
Thor's eyes sharpened considerably. "You're just saying that because I can't kiss you," he accused.
Both Amelia and Steve laughed at Thor's words, the soldier shrugging his shoulders because he didn't really know how else to respond, he certainly didn't feel like he should apologise for that. "You could try, but that doesn't change that she looks a lot better in the suit," he joked, making Amelia laugh even more and as she did she pressed her head into his shoulder.
"Fine then," the God sniffed, his expression making it clear to the both of them that he was still quite insulted by how they'd conspired against him, "I'll be back."
They all watched as Thor stormed from the hallway, Steve and Amelia continuing to laugh and continuing to intimately touch without a second thought, their fingers mindlessly playing together. Once the laughter melted away and settled into a warm feeling in their chests, the brunette turned back to face the cardboard boy, a question springing to mind. "Jack, where's Dani? She's still coming right?"
Jack began to answer her when the door opened again, instead of Thor walking back in it was the small enhanced girl they'd been waiting for. "I'm here; sorry, I was having trouble with the costume," Danielle continued to mess around with her costume that consisted of black skinny jeans, black combat boots and a black hoodie. At the end of the sleeves, she'd wrapped around silver duct tape, multiple times so it formed two bracelets that reflected light. She'd had to put the duct tape there anyway because the hoodie she wore was quite big on her, that was because it wasn't hers. She'd also pulled up her long hair and pinned the ends of it behind her head so it looked shorter than it was.
"Oh my god Dani, that's awesome," Jack praises with a laugh.
"You look just like her," Steve added as he laughed too, knowing full well that the black ensemble, short hair, and glowing bracelets were all traits of his lover. The siblings had clearly planned to be the Stark siblings and it was something that made him wish he'd brought a camera.
"I don't get it, who's she meant to be?" Amelia mumbled as she stared between Dani and Steve and Jack, waiting for one of them to answer her but for some reason the question only had them all laughing even more boisterously. It was all very confusing, especially when she realised that the baggy black hoodie looked very familiar. "Is that my hoodie?"
"...No." It was a very big possibility that it wasn't because it was plain with nothing on it that made it unique, but then again Amelia owned ten of them and that did make it more likely.
"Do you have a mobile phone to call us?" Steve questioned, much to Dani's relief.
"I've got mine," Dani announced, pulling from the pocket of her hoodie the phone which Tony had given all the Avengers.
"Same here," Jack mimicked his sister's movements by displaying his own mobile, having to reach into one of the lower cardboard boxes so he could get to the pockets of his pants.
Amelia began to pat around the suit she wore, making a big show even though she could have quite easily given him an answer beforehand. Still, she patted her legs one more time and shrugged her shoulders before speaking any words. "Uh, there are no pockets on this suit," she excused, looking guilty because she knew how worried Steve was, he'd already given her a long list of rules to follow and warned her of any dangers she could encounter. She'd always replied back with the response Tony had used, that she was an assassin and Thor was a God, though they both might be slightly immature sometimes, they were adults and could quite easily look after themselves.
The soldier rolled his eyes. "Well just don't wander away from Dani and Jack then,"
"Okay," she vowed, leaning up to press a kiss at the corner of his mouth, not wanting to do any more because of the kids in front of them. "You sure you don't want to come? It could be fun?" Amelia would be lying if she said that she wasn't disappointed Steve couldn't come, she was quite happy to have him be with her during her first time as he had been for most of her firsts. She at least had Danny and Jack who had quickly become family to her.
"No, I'm definitely sure," he responded, "you go have fun. Safe fun." Steve just had to add that last part.
"I have returned!" The thunder god announced boisterously as he arrived once more to the hallway, throwing up his arms as he entered it so that everyone could get a good view of his costume.
"Thor, you're dressed as… Thor?" Steve looked the God up and down, surprised by the costume he'd chose even though he knew that he shouldn't have been. It wasn't exactly what you were meant to do on Halloween, but then again, it was something Thor would do.
Thor looked proud of his costume choice, undeterred by the confused stares from the two kids and Steve. "It's the only other costume I had, plus the Midgardians seem to like it a lot, I get a lot of people asking for pictures. Hopefully they'll give me more candy." He hadn't actually put a lot of thought into it, his usual outfit had actually been his first choice but when he'd gone to retrieve it he'd noticed Captain America's suit and decided it would be funnier if he did that.
"What time should we go?" Amelia asked, not really confused by Thor's choice because if she'd had an actual super suit herself than she might have also worn her own. She was just as new to Halloween as the god.
"Pretty early, we don't want to miss getting all of the candy," Jack explained, providing Mia with a different answer as he knew what she really wanted to know.
"Well then what are we waiting for?!" The brunette hollered as she raised one fist in the air and charged out of the building as though she were running into battle. Steve watched her run outside, mumbling a 'bye' grumpily beneath his breath, moody that she hadn't given him a proper goodbye. If he wasn't a grown man confident enough in himself and his relationship than he'd think that she loved candy more than she did him.
The rest of the group followed after her, Thor patting Steve's shoulder as he bid adieu to the soldier. Then, once they were all outside catching up with Amelia, Thor prodded Jack's side until the enhanced boy looked over and then he lifted up his cape to reveal a toilet paper roll he'd stolen from the compound. The two began to snicker, neither wanting to laugh too loudly whilst they were so close to the compound.
They could only hold in the laughter for so long though, so once they reached the car Tony had organised for them, they finally both released their slightly evil chuckles, earning weird looks from both the girls, as well as the displeased driver who Tony had roped into work for the group that night. Both Thor and Amelia were able to recognise the driver as Happy, and though they both greeted him and thanked him for taking the time out of his night to drive them around, his frown remained and he continued to grumble under his breath, muttering something about Tony being a 'dastardly liar'.
The group were far too merry to be affected by his grumbles, concentrating instead on their plans for the evening. Amelia repeatedly bringing up how many sweets she planned on getting. Enough to build an entire candy kingdom, she'd stated.
They didn't have to wait long before they could go trick-or-treating, Happy driving them to the nearest suburb. Outside the streets were filled with many people dressed in costumes, some monsters Amelia was able to recognise, and then others she was very confused by. Then there were the ones dressed as the Avengers (not a single one was dressed as Amelia though) and the brunette was made to feel a lot more special whenever she remembered the fact that her shield was actually authentic and not just some plastic imitation. She did, however, wish that she'd brought a camera to take pictures so she could show Steve all the adorable children dressed up like him.
For some reason, it made her wish to have children of her own, just so that Steve could then see their own son dressed up as him. She didn't stress too long on that thought as she looked over to Amelia and Jack, following them over to the closest door.
The house's front garden was decorated with pumpkins and plastic spiders, a thick web thrown over a tree that loomed in the lawn, glowing orange because of the lights set up. Jack and Danielle walked up the drive first, knocking on the door as Thor and Amelia joined the two with humongous grins on their face, the excitement overwhelming them. The door swung open and without missing a beat, all three of them yelled out, "trick or treat!"
The old woman that had answered the door theatrically pressed a hand against her heart, pretending to be scared, though all four of them were old enough to know that was probably far from the truth. "Oh!" She yelled out, eyes scanning over all of them with kind eyes that also glowed with orange fire due to the light. Amelia thought it was strange that orange was such a popular colour for the holiday, she couldn't think of a less scary colour that could be used to represent the celebration. "Those costumes are amazing, well done!" She congratulated, putting her hand in a large bowl and pulling out candy. "Iron Man, right?" The elder woman guessed, throwing a handful of sweets into Jack's empty sack. The enhanced boy nodded eagerly. She grabbed another handful, turning to look at Dani and allowing her eyes to pass over the costume. She didn't speak until after handing her the candy, "I'm sorry dear, I'm not sure who you are?"
"I- I'm Mia- I mean, Amelia Stark," the small enhanced girl stuttered out, doing her best to get through her anxiety at speaking to a stranger. She'd gone out that night knowing she'd have to at some point.
It seemed to finally dawn on the old woman after hearing the name and she gave a long nod, "oh right, I've heard about her in the tabloids, Tony Stark's long-lost sister, right?" Dani gave a small nod of her head to confirm the woman's thoughts.
If Amelia had actually been paying any attention to what the old woman had been saying then she might have corrected her, stating that she wasn't just some woman that could be read about in a tabloid. But the brunette couldn't even speak. She was just staring down at Dani with astoundment and a lot of wonderment, because the small girl had chosen to dress up as her. She'd picked to dress up as Steve because she admired him and couldn't think of anyone better to portray, and so she couldn't help but think maybe Dani had chosen to dress as her for the same reason. Maybe that was just hopeful thinking though.
The costume started to make sense to Amelia then, all the black she'd chosen to wear and the way she'd done her hair, even the tape on the sleeves had a lot more meaning than just being put there to keep the sleeves from falling down and drowning her arms. Amelia's heart was swelling so much in her heart she became concerned that it would burst out.
"That's a wonderful costume as well then," the old woman settled on, smiling down as nicely as she could despite thinking to herself that it wasn't really that great considering no one would really be able to recognise it. "Have a nice night then, I hope you get a lot of candy," she sent the same forced, wrinkled, smile over to the two adults before stepping back into the doorway, taking away with her the bowl of candy.
"Thank you, ma'am," Jack responded, beginning to walk away, Thor and Amelia reluctantly following behind the enhanced boy. The two adults did look at each other, confused at the fact that their sacks had remained empty and candy-less.
Just as they were about to exit the front garden, Dani suddenly turned back to face the old woman right before she could fully close the door. Everyone stopped to look at the small enhanced girl that was staring at the floor, gnawing on her lip, words waiting to be spilt. At first, it seemed like she was going to give up on saying them and continue on the group's journey to the next house, but then she finally looked up and set her eyes on the questioning old lady. "She's a lot more than that," the enhanced girl said, voice wavering as she tried to keep her tone loud enough for everyone to hear, " she's also an Avenger… a hero."
The old lady blinked towards the child, surprised at the outburst - as was everyone else - but she didn't want to insult the child by disregarding what she said, so instead the lady awkwardly responded with: "Uh, okay. Whatever you say, honey. Happy Halloween."
Amelia wasn't bothered by the old lady's response and neither was Dani, that moment was far more important to the both of them and it didn't include what the candy giver's reaction had been. That moment, that perfect little moment, revolved around Dani saying words she knew Amelia needed to hear, and it revolved around the fact that Amelia had finally heard what Dani thought about her. She'd been so scared of the child seeing all the efforts she was making to spend time together as annoying, but it turned out to be the complete opposite. Dani liked Amelia, that was enough and more.
"Thank you, Danielle," she whispered, voice almost as quiet as Dani's had been because Amelia simply couldn't believe that someone other than Steve could ever see her in such a positive light.
"How come she never gave us any candy?" Thor questioned, not noticing the moment the two females were sharing as he stared down at his sack which had continued to remain empty, no batch of sweets magically appearing despite how long he stared at it.
"Uh…" Jack immediately looked over to his sister for help, a wordless conversation passing between the two siblings as he asked her to think up an excuse because even he'd feel cruel if he told them that Halloween was meant for children, not adults. He'd hoped that during the night the other adults would see that they'd brought a bag for candy and give them some, but that had immediately not worked out, leaving him with a question he felt was as heavy as 'is Santa real?'
Dani was quiet for a moment, her eyes wide as she tried to grab for any excuse she could find, most of them slipping through her fingers as they could have easily been argued against. Eventually she found one that would fit in her hands nicely, and she hoped it would be good enough for the assassin and God, just as long as they didn't ask any questions. "Because it's tradition," she threw the words out quickly, throwing them at the two like a ninja would use smoke as a disguise, "yeah, they give candy to the children so they can halve it with the adults at the end of the night."
Thor and Amelia looked from the two children to one another, and for a second Dani was positive they'd know from her squeaky tone that she was lying. But in the end, Amelia's face melted into determination and she tightened her hand around the useless sack she'd brought with her. "Okay," she sounded, "so that means we need to get a lot of candy so we can share a decent amount between us all."
"Yes, we must plan our route carefully to ensure we get all of the candy," Thor concurred.
"Agreed, so if you see a child walking down the street with a full bag, then I propose we go down the route they're coming from," the brunette plotted, and Thor joined in, the both of them discussing the best plan. Thor disagreed with her and said that if they went down that route then all the candy would be gone, so it would better for them to hit the houses on the route that would be the last target for the children.
It continued the entire way around the suburb, the two of them trying to figure out strategically what the best house would be. It was a mission for the two of them, a mission to get as much candy as they possibly could.
Meanwhile, Jack and Dani followed behind, finding great amusement from the two Avengers' behaviour. They even followed through with their orders, Amelia telling them that they should look and act as sweet as possible in order to get more candy, Thor following a similar train of thought when he told them that if they got less than two pieces of candy each than they should demand more and threaten the might of Thor himself if the candy-givers refused. They never did the second one though.
After two hours of hitting every single house in the suburb, Thor and Amelia are walking back with the children's sacks in their hands, and the kids on their backs. Jack and Danielle were tired after all the walking, and too weak to carry the sacks which had literally started overflowing (Amelia hadn't minded that, it meant they could have early snacks for one another). Danielle was on Amelia's back, her arms around the brunette's neck and her head leaning tiredly against her shoulder. Jack was behind Thor, not as tired and pretending that he was riding a horse instead of a Thunder God. Thor didn't seem to mind, joining in with the pretend play.
They got back to the car and a still grumpy looking Happy immediately put the car to drive, forcing the squad to rush with getting their bags and the children into the car. Amelia busied herself with looking at all the treasure they'd collected that night whilst Thor suddenly slammed his hand on his leg, remembering something, "we never performed our trick!"
Jack shrugged his shoulder, not as affected by it as Thor, "we can do it now, but we need to pick the right house."
From beside Amelia, a tired Dani raised up her head that had been resting against the seat to look over at her smirking brother, "isn't it kind of mean to throw toilet paper on a strangers house?"
"I agree with Dani on this one," Amelia added despite the caramel chocolate she was chewing on, "I don't like the idea." She was trying to be a level-headed adult, like Steve.
Jack winked at both of the girls, "I figured you would say that, so I figured out the perfect spot for us to TP."
Steve and Tony stared unblinkingly for a moment, not sure what to focus on in the mixture of chaos that was the compound common room. It looked like a war zone; toilet paper was hanging from every available space, candy wrappers scattered across the floor, and there were also four oversized children laid on the ground in a jumble of candy, costumes, and pillows.
Jack was curled up inside of a large box that had the end of Thor's red cape draped over the edge of it. The young boy was using a pile of candy as a pillow and even had a piece of Jolly Rancher stuck inside his tousled hair. Beside him, Thor was curled into a little ball, a thumb and half a Tootsie roll hanging out of his open mouth as a strain of drool dripped down his face on the pile of candy he'd put under his own head in an attempt to copy Jack. He hadn't been so strategic about his pillow, picking anything to add to the pile whilst it seemed like Jack's pillow was mostly made up of marshmallows still in their wrappers.
Across from the boys were Amelia and Dani. While the men had curled themselves up, the women were all spread out. Amelia laid spread eagle with her arms outstretched and a small smile on her lips as she slept soundly. The rest of her was chaotic despite the peace covering her face, more candy wrappers tangled in her hair than anyone else's and she'd created some sort of blanket out of candy wrappers though most of it seemed to have fallen to one side of her. Sleeping on the brunette's abdomen was Danielle. Most of the tape from her Amelia Stark costume had fallen off, leaving her with just the baggy black hoodie that had ended up making a fantastic blanket as she stretched out across Mia's body, a lollipop was still clutched in her hand.
The image before them was made even stranger to the two men because they were dressed like them, though they weren't exactly replicas of themselves, it was still a creepy image to look at. Tony was the first to break the silence between the pair of men studying the scene before them. "What… is this?"
Steve frowned, kneeling down to pick up a small candy wrapper from off the floor. "I think they've gone into what Wanda described as a 'candy coma'."
Tony continued to stare at the setting around him with a blank expression before he pursed out his lips. "I can't deal with this, this early in the morning, especially without coffee," he remarked, stepping over the many pillows (which were mostly unused, he noticed) and the candy wrappers to walk to the nearby kitchen. But on the way there, he caught sight of something outside of the window, something which covered most of the field just outside of the Compound. "Uh… Cap?"
Steve - lost in thought as he admired the way Dani clutched onto Amelia's stomach like she was a pillow, and the way Mia hadn't moved or shifted in any way as to not disturb the little girl's slumber - looked up to see Tony's tearing out the window with a look of horror on his face at something unseen.
Worried, the soldier wandered forward and followed the billionaire's gaze, his jaw-dropping once he realised the reason for Tony's horrified expression.
Outside, lining all the trees surrounding the Compound like a sheet of white was nothing but toilet paper. It stretched for yards and yards, throughout the forests and fields. Both men were even more shocked at that sight than they had been at the four Avenger's that were suffering the effects of a sugar rush that had been way too powerful.
"How… What… I…" Steve stuttered out a few words, but he just couldn't seem to form the right phrase or comment to even describe how utterly confused, shocked, baffled and in awe he was by the sight in front of him.
Tony could only sympathise with the Captain, questioning how much time the four enhanced individuals in the living room must have spent on covering the entirety of the Compound forest in toilet paper. Or where they'd even gotten that much toilet paper. Or how any of what they'd done was even possible.
Then the billionaire thought on it and realised that it was his sister and that anything was possible when it came to her. Then when he added Jack and Danielle to the equation… well, Tony realised then that the moment there was definitely not going to be the last time he was in awe from something those three would do.
He had never been more right before in his entire life, and he was Tony Stark.
A/N: HAPPY HALLOWEEN FROM RAE AND ALLY!
Hope you enjoy the next one-shot and have had a great evening, hopefully, it wasn't too spooky!
To Assbitch67, the Mexican autocorrect bandit was destined to appear in this story at some point, now he knows that we're both here it's like easy candy for him. Man, we should have just written a Halloween story about him.
To CrumblingUniverses, thank you so much! I really like writing the two together, just cause it opens up so many doors for Amelia, like she finally gets her child to take care of and have an actual child to let her be childish all on her own. I can't speak for Assbitch67 but yeah, so far this experience has been awesome for both me and Amelia!
SONG FOR THIS CHAPTER: ... We're Simply Meant To Be from The Nighrmare Before Christmas.