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Treat

Halloween had become more commercialized in the years that Steve was gone. While he'd enjoyed a small break from the war with his fellow soldiers on that day (when he could), there were still enough drastic differences between now and then that gave him pause. These included, but were not limited to, candy, advertisements, and decorations.

The costumes had to be the biggest change though. While there were still people that enjoyed the traditional costumes, there were others who took after celebrities, historical figures, television characters, and other figures that Steve didn't recognize (Sharon had had to explain the few that they did see once while walking in Central Park two days before the holiday). He'd also found some photographs from Sharon's childhood (while she was out), and was able to look at several years of a child enthusiastically dressing up for a night.

Peggy had been in one of those, frozen as she held a wriggling six-year old still and was caught in the middle of a sentence that Steve had never heard and will never hear. Someone had written 'London, 1991' in the corner.

Then there were the barely-covering-anything costumes.

Steve had decided to follow Sharon's lead in that regard for now, and not remark anything when the two of them passed someone wearing that sort of thing. He was still out of his depth when it came to female fashion, and found himself relying on Sharon's reactions for the time being.

It was still a shock to the system though when he came home that afternoon of Halloween and found her in the bedroom, wearing regular black clothing that complimented her figure unusually well. "Um, are we doing something tonight?" he asked, not holding back from taking her in.

He could see her smirk in the mirror. "If you want, we can. Just after the trick-or-treating hours are over," she said, winking at him.

He almost groaned aloud when he realized how his original question sounded to her. "You know what I meant," he said, walking up behind her.

"Yeah, I know, but I couldn't resist the temptation," she said. "Anyway, there are kids who live in this complex, and they trick or treat up and down the halls and go to all the floors. This will be my third year here, so they know me as the 'crazy cat lady'. I can't disappoint them," she said, winking before nodding to the black headband that Steve had missed when he walked into the room. Picking it up, he noted the black felt cat ears, and felt himself smile.

"How did that moniker come about?" he asked.

"Tony stuck the ears on my head one day and I chased him out of the building while still wearing them. The kids loved the resulting chaos, and went home with the impression that I lived alone with at least four cats, and a lot of moms thought I'd completely lost my mind. I remember thinking that I'd like to see the kids smile again, so I wore the ears the following Halloween. All but five kids remembered the incident, but they still come back. As they will this year," she replied.

"Tonight, right?"

"Yeah, trick or treating hours run typically from five to eight, but I always have stragglers. Sorry Steve, it's the hazards of living in an apartment building with little kids," she said, tapping his nose playfully with a finger before stepping around him. Plucking the headband with the cat ears from his grip, she said, "Tell Tony I still wear them, and you'll get the couch for a week."

"I wouldn't mind challenging you for the bed in that case," he said, following her as she took the large plastic popcorn bowl to fill with candy.

"Maybe that's one competition I'd like to have, regardless," she replied with a wink.

Steve just shook his head with a smile as he pulled out the candy bags from the cupboard and tossed them over to Sharon. "Are you going to put something on for the nose and whiskers?" he asked with a straight face, enjoying the look of surprise on Sharon's face. "You know, black face paint here," he said, gesturing to his nose, "and then whiskers?"

Sharon stared at him for a moment, but before he could backtrack his idea to save his skin for the night, she laughed instead of getting irritated (that had happened the one other time early on in their relationship, when he'd mentioned makeup and she'd gotten prickly at the idea that she needed cosmetics to be more attractive). "I should, shouldn't I?" she said, grinning faintly. "Might have to improvise, I'm not the artsy type so I don't have face paint available."

"Hang on, I've got this," Steve said. He headed to the door only to pause and ask, "Do you mind if I leave this open for a few minutes?"

Sharon shook her head. "Nope, go for it," she replied before going back to filling up the bowl.

Steve headed out into the hall and went two doors down. Knocking on the door, he stepped back just as the resident, a single mother named Anna Nelson, opened it.

"Mr. Rogers, it's good to see you again!" she said, smiling. Like most of the other people in the building, she was unaware of Steve's job as Captain America, something Steve would rather keep so that she was at less of a risk. "How can I help you?" she asked, leaning on the door frame.

"I was just wondering if you had any face paint, just a little black paint," he said.

Anna laughed. "Is Sharon doing the cat thing again? The kids love it," she asked.

He nodded. "Apparently she enjoys making them smile, so it's a win-win situation all around," he replied.

"Sure, just hang on a moment." Anna disappeared back into her apartment, but returned quickly. "Keep it, Mary has a whole other set," she said, handing over a small case of three paints. And these go missing in our house every other day."

"It's no problem to return it," Steve said as he took the case.

"I insist," Anna said, winking before shutting the door.

All right then.

Sharon was done with filling out the bowl and was scanning the fridge for lunch when Steve returned. She frowned when he entered and asked, "Where'd you go off to?"

"Getting your nose and whiskers," Steve said with a grin as he shut the door. "Sit down at the counter," he said, gesturing to one of the two stools.

"Aye, aye, Captain." She sat down, and he pulled up the other stool to begin working. "Oh, and Steve?"

"Don't worry, no one will ever hear about or see this, don't worry," he said, grinning faintly as he began to work.

A/N: Prompt was 'With animal ears'.

Next chapter we have more romantic-centric fluff, I promise.