A/N - Here, have Halloween on Valentines day ...
Chapter 25 - Trick or Treat
"Are you sure it's okay for Kate to bring a date to a school dance at a school she doesn't go to?" Nate asked Rachel with a frown as he put the finishing touches on his costume. A few weeks had passed since Katie and America started dating - or more accurately, double dating with James and May.
"You'd rather she went to the haunted house that America and May suggested?" Rachel countered. "Because you know if May suggested it … it wasn't for the haunted house. It was for the dark corners." Rachel shook her head with a muted laugh. "I swear, her projections are every bit as bad as most of the teenage boys I've gotten mad at."
Nate let out an annoyed breath. "That's not what I meant," he said as he flipped his pirate eyepatch down.
"Well those were the options," Rachel said with a shrug as she finished her makeup.
"Yeah, it's just… we were texting and she told me what they're all doing for costumes…" Nate muttered, not meaning to project to Rachel how he just knew he wasn't going to be able to focus all night. Along with exactly how frustrated he was that Katie was dating someone else.
It can't be that bad, Rachel tried to tell him. And you're dating someone else. I'm just surprised that everyone let them go with America driving.
America can talk anyone into anything, Nate pointed out sullenly.
Yeah, but Dad.
Dad… thinks James is the angel child.
No, Dad thinks that May won't do anything too far off the rails, Rachel corrected. Especially since the plan meant meeting Spidey once they got here.
Yeah, cuz James isn't the one dating America.
No. Just double dating with her. Rachel was smiling to herself - especially since even now, Nate still wasn't fully aware of how sullen he was acting over Katie having a date.
Nate let out a breath and then kicked off from the dresser. "C'mon. Let's watch Spidey have an aneurism."
By the time Rachel and Nate got down to the party, America, Kate, May, and James had already shown up - and as predicted, Spidey was a few steps away from having a cardiac episode as his sweet little girl was having a blast dressed up as Daenerys Targaryen and proudly grinning at the slit in the skirt that went up to her hip. She'd gotten James to go along with her 'freak dad out' plan as a shirtless Khal Drogo. America of course, thought it was the height of hilarity, too, which was all the fuel on the fire that May needed to go through with kicking it up another notch.
She and James stuck around long enough for Mia to gush about their full costumes and makeup, then turned to Kate and America as James and May disappeared with May leading the way through the crowd and giggling madly the whole time.
"You guys look so much better in person in these outfits!" Mia declared, bouncing on her toes as her tail swayed behind her. "The cell phone pic was great but this …"
Kate and America grinned at each other, both of them wearing short skirts as matching Sailor Moon characters - both of them nailing the look complete with pigtails. "Your costume's amazing too," Katie pointed out. "I can't believe Forge put together a working Ghostbuster proton pack."
"Of course he did! He's the best," Mia answered with a warm smile. "Come on! You have to show off for mom before you both get too busy."
America smirked Kate's way. "See, Princess? She knows what's up."
"Oh, hush," Katie said, though she was blushing deeply - and grinning.
Mia dragged them to Storm, gushing the whole way, only to pause when she saw Nate show up across the hall. "Oh. Right. So … did you get your candy yet? Bob for apples before the water gets full of gross."
The pause was so obvious that America leaned over to Kate to whisper "oh look, the idiot," which prompted Kate to fall apart giggling - and got Nate to frown even deeper than before, if that was at all possible.
"Hey, Nate," Kate said, waving his way. "I like the pirate costume."
Nate made a small noise at the back of his throat before his date, Taylor, started to pull him away. "I like your costume too," he managed to say - over his shoulder.
"Yep. Confirmed idiot," America said loud enough that Nate could hear it and turn around to glare at her - only for America to take that exact moment to pick Kate up and kiss her hard.
Nate glared harder, especially when Kate kissed America back just as enthusiastically, and after that, he really wasn't paying much attention to what Taylor was saying anyway.
Across the room, as Nate got more and more irritated with Taylor, Mia let out a squeak and teleported over to Rachel with wide eyes. "Um … Spidey can't … talk. I think your brother is in trouble."
Rachel shrugged, not at all concerned with that brother at the moment. "May picked the costumes, so Spidey can't claim anything against James here."
"Yeah, but he went looking for them and … found them in the corner?" Mia told her quietly. "He looked like he was going to yell, but May just picked up your brother and took off. Laughing."
"Sounds about right," Rachel said, smirking.
"Is Nate okay?" she asked quieter.
Rachel let out a sigh and gestured wordlessly to her sulking brother. "He doesn't even realize he's being like he is. And I'm actively trying not to listen to his thoughts right now ever since he saw the Sailor Moon outfits, thanks. I don't need to know my brother's fantasies. Ever."
"Oh. My. God," Mia said, even more wide eyed than before. "Can you stop him without making him stroke out?"
"I'm not that good yet, and honestly, when I'm annoyed, my touch is more fiery than usual, so… that's a double no."
"How about you step away from the sulking brother then?" Mia suggested. "But I wouldn't go toward the library. I know James is probably blocking you but May …might be problematic." She turned and took in the room at large. "Yeah, you know … I'm betting this whole party kind of stinks for you right now, doesn't it?"
"I'm getting better at tuning them all out," Rachel said. "Actually, the adults are worse in some cases."
"Okay. please don't enlighten me … and how about … we just I don't know … find something to do that's fun?"
"Yeah, let's make my brother play the advanced candy toss Warren set up. He can't resist sharpshooting," Rachel said, smirking.
"Yes. good luck with that, I'll make sure we have enough candy canes." She grinned and disappeared in a poof of smoke - only to return a few moments later and pelt Nate with a few pieces of candy. "Come on! Time to play games!"
Kate and America shared a look and grinned as they took their places at the candy toss. There was a whole line up of quick games both old fashioned and some more modern to keep the students occupied. Everything from apple bobbing and the candy toss to donut jousting and moving candy corn with only straws. Which meant there was much that Kate and Nate could do to compete.
"Partners!" Kate called out, and America was quick to snatch the bucket from Kate's hands.
"Oh, come on," Nate grumbled just low enough that Taylor didn't hear him as she took up the spot next to America holding his bucket, though he raised his voice to Kate and America. "I hope you're ready to get beaten one-handed."
"In your dreams, idiot boy," America laughed.
It was simple enough - Kate and Nate were throwing pieces of wrapped up candy for America and Taylor to catch. The two with buckets weren't allowed to move beyond their reach, so accuracy started with the two throwing and right out of the gate, it was entirely lopsided.
The truth was that Kate and Nate were pretty evenly matched with aim … the problem was that Taylor didn't know that and was trying hard to compensate and impress them by over correcting and panicking when he'd toss something at her.
America and Kate on the other hand … America barely moved. At all. It was child's play to win that round - which frustrated Nate even further as he tried to gently tell Taylor repeatedly to quit. Moving. Which really only showed him that she had zero faith in his skills.
A few tables over, Storm was overseeing the apple bobbing all while encouraging and laughing at the kids that were participating. Lexi had just come up to try, but was nervous about it. Or she was until Spidey came in, marching May ahead of him with one hand on her shoulder - and dragging James along with his free hand, insisting that the two of them stay somewhere public … though his direction was lacking the kind of laser guided directive that James decided was required, and to Peter's absolute irritation, James and May shared a trouble making look and dove into a very public borderline makeout session right there at the apple bobbing station.
Storm busted out laughing, but broke up the fun with a well-placed miniature storm cloud that had May loudly protesting and James laughing with his face tipped up to the rain. "Now that you're already wet, it won't hurt you to show Lexi how it's done," Ororo said as she pulled James back, laughing all the more when he simply used one hand to push the wet hair back and smiled up toward the last bit of the tiny rainshower.
"Are there teams?" James asked.
"Yes, and you're on Lexi's," Ororo said. "Let May find someone else for five minutes."
James was still grinning as he turned to Lexi. "You heard her. She put me on a timer."
Which of course had Ororo laughing again at him. "That is not what I said," she managed through her laugh. "Try to behave yourself."
Lexi giggled, knowing that James was picking at her, but it gave Peter a chance to actually talk to his daughter without James distracting her. It also left James and Lexi joking around as if there hadn't been an angry dad there just a moment ago. "You don't need me to win this," James said over her shoulder, though he hadn't backed away to go after May, knowing full well she should take a few minutes for both of their sakes.
"Your eye liner is running," Lexi laughed.
"Because you're breaking my heart by stalling," James said, gesturing to the apples floating in the water. "Get to it so we can get on with the game."
"Do you have a strategy for me?"
"Don't breathe in once your face is in the water," James said as seriously as he could - at least until Lexi hit him and called him a dork before diving in to try. She hadn't been at the institute for long yet, and she still was a little self conscious around all the kids, but James either didn't have that issue, or he didn't let it show because he seemed to be fine joking around and playing games with anyone around them as he and Lexi kept it up - with both of them giving the other advice - until they got their apples.
Which was when Nate came over ready to take his turn too - and wanting to at least beat America and Kate for time. "I don't know that you're authorized to play in the water, pirate boy," James said as he gestured to Nate's sling.
"It's not a cast," Nate said, frowning at his brother. "You're wearing more eye makeup than Rachel, you know." Lexi took one look at the expression on Nate's face and decided to get out of the line of fire.
"May did it," he said, not at all bothered by Nate's irritated tone, even if he was still dripping water from both the apple bobbing and the short shower that Ororo had hit him with. James grinned at Nate and crunched into his apple, perfectly at ease with all the chaos around them.
"You're supposed to go put caramel on that," America said as she and Kate came over to play, too.
"No thanks, I don't need the sugar," James said as he leaned into the chair nearest him to watch the spectacle. "And I wanna see who wins this round. I think I know already."
Nate narrowed his eyes at his brother but took up a position where he could glare at James if need be.
"You both know the rules here," Ororo said as she joined the little group of teenagers, though she paused to turn toward America. "I take it you would like to race Nate as well?"
"I could, but I already won," America said with a crooked smile. "Isn't that right, princess?"
"At one game, anyhow," James said, which was just enough to get America to shove him sideways and for Nate to regain his grin. "You sure you want to play this one, Katie?"
Kate glared as she took her spot across from Nate. "I'm on a winning streak. I totally want to play this one."
"Yeah, but are you sure?" James asked, only to get smacked in the chest by America.
"She wants to win, chico. No reason to give your idiot brother a chance." America shook her head at him. "Let her do her thing."
Nate and Kate were settled in at the same bucket. The water wasn't terribly deep, but it was still big enough for them to get soaked in if they weren't careful. Not that it was going to make a difference when the two of them squared off. They never could just play a game. It had to be a contest.
"No hands," Ororo reminded them. "And no powers."
"I don't need telekinesis to win," Nate said almost sullenly since, part of what his trouble with getting full control was his unintentional use of telekinesis. And with Katie right there it was a wicked reminder that he still had a way to go. And he hated that fact.
"Come on, little brother," James said. "There's no way you can't win this one."
"Thanks, James," Nate said, smiling crookedly until James continued.
"Your mouth is way bigger than hers."
Nate barely even looked at his brother before he shoved him back a step - aided by his telekinesis, not that it needed to be advertised, and not like James would bust him out on it. "Can we do this thing or what?"
"Waiting on you," Katie said with a smile, and after a quick countdown, the two of them dove into the water face first. Nate was determined, and Katie wanted to keep her winning streak, but … before she could quite isolate one, Nate was up holding one of the bigger apples by the stem between his teeth.
He was grinning around the apple as Katie sat up too, but the smile fell from his face when he realized how soaked she'd gotten and he quickly looked away. Before she could quite figure out what his problem was, Nate was already offering her his overshirt. "You got more soaked than I did," he said quietly, then rushed off once Katie had taken a hold of the offered shirt.
"What was that?" Rachel asked as Nate made his way over to her.
"Nothing," Nate said, still red high on his cheeks. Just trying to be nice. That's all."
Kate spun toward James with a frown as Nate rushed off. "Why did he …"
James cleared his throat and gestured toward her costume. "He probably didn't want you showing off in the impromptu wet t-shirt contest." He shrugged. "Or … he's just like that. Who knows. I'm no telepath." He kicked himself away from the chair he'd been sitting in. "I have to find May and try to talk Spidey down. Probably check on my siblings, too."
"Yeah, make sure he gets his eyes put back into his head," America shouted, then turned back to Kate.
"Worry about yourself, America," James laughed. "See you in a little while… party's almost over." He was still laughing to himself by the time he met up with Nate and Rachel and unceremoniously dropped into the seat next to Nate. "So. Are you okay?"
"I'm fine," Nate said, rolling his eyes.
"That was so chivalrous."
"It's more than you were doing," Nate said, though that only had James laughing to himself.
"Seeing as I had no shirt to share ... I mean … I doubt dropping my pants would have helped her."
"Oh my God," Nate said, covering his eyes with one hand. "I just … I was trying to help. And America wasn't-"
"America wasn't complaining," James agreed, cutting him off. "And she wouldn't."
"Not if she got to take a peek," Nate said almost sullenly, though James let out a long and pained sounding sigh.
"America wouldn't complain because you were helping not … being a slimeball."
"I'm never a slimeball," Nate said, sounding insulted, though that wasn't at all what James was trying to insinuate.
"I know - just … you know what? Nevermind. Have fun with Taylor. I'm going to make the rounds before Dad gets here," James said as he got up.
"Too late, he got here a few minutes ago," Rachel said, tipping her head toward the far side of the ballroom. "He's with Spidey. Have fun."
"Will do," James replied, turning on his heel to head toward where their Dad was having a muted chat with Peter and May Parker, though much of that fell to the wayside when Peter spotted him approaching.
"And here we go," Peter said, half frowning at James as he walked up and stood between his Dad and May. "Done causing trouble already?"
"I was just talking to my siblings," James said with a smile as he reached over to hold May's hand - which got a grin out of her anyhow. "So … probably, yeah."
"I'm telling you, you should have seen them earlier," Peter said, shaking his head. "I'm glad you're here to help me break it up."
"Do I need to break it up?" Scott asked, turning toward James with a raised eyebrow, though James only shrugged one shoulder up in response in a very non-committal gesture.
Until very recently, Scott really hadn't needed to worry too much about James and what he was up to with the girls he dated, but things had changed when he started seeing May Parker. Scott knew that James had been the one to kick things off after a few weeks of tutoring her at the tower for a project she was having trouble with at the Midtown High School Science and Technology, but once they had become an item, he watched as James seemed to simply hand the reins to May and let her run the show entirely.
Which meant that at least Scott knew that if they were getting into more adult situations, it wasn't from James pushing. "If you don't have a good answer, then it's probably time to call it a night," Scott said, and James honestly didn't argue it at all - which Scott thought should have been a signal to Peter that he wasn't pushing. Especially when May made it clear she wasn't pleased with the idea and dragged James off for one more goodnight kiss.
"They've been non-stop all night," Peter said, looking off to where May had disappeared with James. "Pure. Trouble."
"Has he been pushy?" Scott asked, trying to see if he could gently ease his mind.
"No, not really," Peter said, then sighed heavily. "Is it bad that I know I'd really like the kid if he wasn't dating my little girl?"
Scott did a fine job of keeping his smile in check as he shook his head 'no'. "I know exactly what you mean. I feel the same way with anyone Rachel so much as talks about."
Peter turned toward Scott with a perfectly open expression. "Is it easier with boys?"
"No," Scott replied immediately. "No, then you have to worry about everything from a whole different angle. Worry about them making the same mistakes we did at their age …"
"Oh. Man. Yeah … I'll just … I'll just try to get used to the polite and agreeable mini-Wolverine. Even if they're … they're just kissing, right? Tell me they're just kissing."
Scott tried not to laugh, though for as concerned as Peter was, he'd have been lying if he said he wasn't also wondering the same thing. "As far as I know."
Across the hall, America was saying goodnight to Rachel since her parents had shown up too. It was the weekend, so those that took their kids back for a few days were picking them up a little later than their usual Friday afternoon timeslot.
While Nate and Rachel waited near the front door for their father and James to make it to them, Katie carefully positioned herself to say goodbye to America, who was driving back alone.
"So. I had a great time," Kate said, pulling Nate's shirt around herself a little tighter, but that was all she got out before America grinned and pulled her into an extended kiss that honestly left them both a little breathless for the moment.
"See you soon, Princess," America said, walking backward to the door before she turned on her heel and almost skipped out of there, leaving Kate in the entry with Nate and Rachel for the longest thirty seconds of her life.
Rachel was giving her a raised eyebrow look, though she was also smirking crookedly while Nate had taken an intense interest in his shoes, though the tips of his ears were cherry red.
The standoff lasted less than a minute but time seemed to crawl by the three of them as Scott and made his way over with James in tow. "You ready to go?" Scott asked when he came to a stop near them.
Nate was silent, though Rachel answered for them both. "Waiting on you, Dad."
Scott nodded and spared Katie a smile that she almost missed, though she didn't miss the sign James managed outside of the other's view. You OK? She nodded and smiled, then smiled wider when Nate peeked up and the Summers family got moving, leaving Kate in a haze from the admittedly good kiss with America and the flannel shirt that she had wrapped around herself … that she had no plans on ever returning.