PLEASE NOTE: Owsla is still a child in this chapter, not a teenager
"Come on, please!"
"No."
"Please?"
"I said no!"
"But Nataaashaaaa!" Sonny begged.
"I said no and that's final. I am NOT going to wear that costume!"
About a week ago, Sonny had made the declaration that everyone had to participate in trick or treating this year. While most were excited for the candy, they rolled their eyes when Sonny kept insisting they should have a group costume. They had already rejected many of his ideas- the rainbow, a band of pirates, social media, ...Disney princesses... and then he suggested everyone going as EDM artists. Jamie and Aurora (Phish) were already on board with the idea, deciding to go as their already determined EDM equivalents- Bucky as Skrillex and Phishie as Dillon Francis. Owsla had agreed to be Zedd and Sonny and Joel were going at Guy and Thomas from Daft Punk. Now Sonny was begging Natasha to be her own EDM equivalent- Deadmau5.
"But it'll be fun!"
"There is absolutely no way in hell am I going as Deadmau5 for Halloween!" With that, Natasha grabbed her bowl of chips she had poured and plopped down on the couch in the living room.
But the goblin just followed her, completely determined to bother her until she gave in.
The gang was hanging out in the living room today. Joel was playing a game on the huge TV, lounging in the recliner with Meowingtons on his lap. Aurora and Jamie were on their computers, editing files from their respective interests, Jamie on a music track and Aurora on a video. Owsla likewise was sitting on the floor reading some old comic books. Natasha sat next to Jamie, watching her work in Ableton Live. It was a wonder Natasha would never tire of, watching her girlfriend create songs.
"I already had that old prototype Mau5 head shipped here. It'll be here any day so you might as well just go with it." Joel said, gunning down a few more bad guys as he said it.
"How can you just go along with all of this?" Natasha asked, baffled by the level of 'chill' Joel seemed to have about this entire situation.
The Mau5 just shook his head in surrender. "Sometimes it's just easier to let him have his way rather than fight him."
"You sound like a husband talking about his wife..." Natasha mumbled.
"What?"
"Nothing!" quickly moving on, Natasha continued her previous argument. "Why don't you two go as yourselves! Why do you have to get me to do it?"
"Because if we went as ourselves it wouldn't be a costume!" Sonny whined. "And it has to be you because Bucky said you're the mini-Joel!"
Natasha turned to her girlfriend beside her. "So this is your fault!"
"Don't drag me into this." Jamie shook her head, refusing to let herself get involved. Being siblings, Bucky had long ago figured out to pick her battles with her brother. The goblin's stubbornness was an overwhelming force not to be taken lightly. Sadly however, it seemed her girlfriend had yet to learn this lesson.
"Come on Natasha, Halloween is a holiday where you get to dress as someone you're not- someone you wish you could be."
"I don't WANT to be Joel!"
"I feel a little offended..." Joel commented, frowning as he shot a couple more bad guys. "I think..."
"Well don't. I mean if I became you I'd have to be a guy. I'm a girl and I'd rather stay a girl."
"Yeah, but as a lesbian, if you were me, you'd get a lot more girls." Joel pointed out.
"Well..." Natasha took a moment to think about his statement. "I guess that's true, but-"
"Hey!" Jamie shouted beside her. "So you don't love me anymore? I see how it is." pouting, Jamie got up to sit next to Phishie instead.
"But they'd only be interested in me for being famous and that's shallow!" Natasha finished her statement before following after her girlfriend. "Jamie!"
"No, go away, I don't love you anymore." she teased.
"Fine. I'll just sit here until you do." And with that, Natasha sat at Jamie's feet, looking up at her daring her not to laugh as she continued to stare.
"Then you'll be there till the day you die." Jamie said unwavering.
Natasha only continued to stare in response. And stare. And stare. And stare...
Jamie tried to hold back her smirk, but it was useless. "Fine. I forgive you." She admitted her defeat.
Smiling, Natasha sat next to Jamie again. "You know, I was thinking..." Natasha started, looking back at Sonny to continue their previous discussion. "Jamie looks so much like you already, and I... well I'm about the same height as Joel. With a mau5 head... we would look just like the two of you."
Sonny nodded eagerly. "That's what I've been trying to tell you all along!"
"And we're dating..." Natasha continued. "So the entire evening would be skrillmau5 cosplay..."
Jamie smiled mischievously. "We could make an entire album of photos."
Natasha grinned at her girlfriend. "Yeah, no one would see my face with that Mau5 head on, Jamie looks exactly like you. We could kiss and hug and make out and take photographic evidence of it... and everyone would think it was legit."
"You... you wouldn't dare." Sonny stared in horror at the red-head narrowing her eyes at him.
"Would I?"
Sonny was now forced to decide between his prideful sanity or Owsla's Halloween. "You're pure evil!"
"No, I"m just a manipulative bastard who doesn't like being told what to do."
"So... you ARE Joel?"
Natasha's face flushed. "Shut up!"
"Hey mommy?"
Sonny stopped arguing with the red head to look at his daughter, tugging on his pants sleeve. "What's up sweetie?"
The little alien looked up at him in earnest, wide eyes shinning brightly. Holding up a comic book she had been reading, she held it up for him to see. "I want to be Spider man for Halloween!"
Around the room confused eyes looked at the little alien. The gang was obsessed with the Avengers so Spider man wasn't exactly a name that came up often. Of course, Spider man was technically a part of the Avengers in the comics. However today we are all faced with the unfortunate reality that the greedy company Sony owns Spider man and therefore we will never see him in the movies.
"Owsla... why would you ever want to be Spider man for Halloween?" Sonny asked, purely confused as to what his daughter was thinking.
"W-well... because..." Owsla looked down at the ground before bursting out determinedly, "Because spiders have more than two arms, just like me!"
And at that moment, Sonny's heart just fucking melted.
"That's it. We're all going as the Avengers for Halloween."
"Wait, what?" Natasha looked at him shocked.
"We're going as the Avengers for Halloween." Sonny repeated. "Pay attention Natasha."
"But... I already went as Black Widow once for Halloween..."
"Same, I've already cosplayed as Bucky before also." Jamie agreed.
"Don't care. Little child trumps all your Halloween desires." Sonny said, effectively cutting off further negative comments.
"I call Hawkeye!" Phishie declared, hand up like she was being called on in class.
"Yeah see? That's the spirit!" Sonny high-fived Phish.
Joel, who had seemingly not been paying attention, spoke up. "If you two have done it before, that just means you have the costumes already..."
"Actually no," Natasha admitted. "That time I borrowed it from Karmina, I don't own the costume."
"You don't even need a costume Rose," Jamie smirked. "You are Natasha, we could just drag you around anyways"
"Hey!"
"No!" Sonny pouted insistently. "Everyone has to go in costume!"
"If Jamie and I are going as Winterwidow (ship name for Bucky x Natasha), with Phishie as Hawkeye and Owsla as Spider man... who are you and Joel going to be?" Natasha asked, turning her head questioningly, trying to imagine Sonny and Joel as Avengers, even just in costume.
"I'm going to be Captain America, duh." Sonny said, as if it were completely obvious.
Natasha blinked for a moment, trying to decide if he was serious and finally burst out laughing along with her girlfriend beside her.
"What's so funny!" the goblin demanded.
"Sonny... you're half his size!" Natasha explained, giggling.
Jamie nodded in agreement, joining in on the merry sounds herself. "You could never pull off the 's dorito." ( 's stands for Chris Evans and it's pronounced like Sevens for those who don't know)
"So!?" Sonny protested. "It doesn't matter!"
Phishie looked over at the other man in question, currently killing people on the PS4. "What about you Joel? Which Avenger are you going to be?"
"He should be Iron man. I mean, he's already an asshole and that's half of the costume right there." Natasha half-joked.
"Ironman? My day job is Genius Billionaire playboy philanthropist." Joel said, somehow saying it with a straight face, pressing the X button on the controller a few times.
While the rest of the gang began to laugh, Sonny pounced on the statement excitedly. "Does that mean you'll be Iron man?"
"Yeah sure I'll go as Iron man, happy?"
Sonny smiled at his best friend exuberantly. "Extremely!"
DAYS UPON DAYS LATER...
It was a little over a week before Halloween. Natasha and Phishie sat in the inspiration room deep in their creative head space. The two of them loved making videos together and their latest project was the criminal tale of Iris Wolfe- underground doctor. Natasha loved to write scripts and act, while her best friend liked to stay behind the camera in the form of story boarding and editing. The two of them had been doing this for four years now, all throughout high school, and this fall Natasha would be attending UNT for their film program.
Jamie watched her girlfriend work, a small smile on her face. She herself was working on her latest music track, hoping to put out another album by the end of summer. It was hard work, a daunting task even if she had been around music all her life, but she loved it. Taking a moment to think she considered the upcoming Halloween. She herself had the money so she had indulged in a good costume. Bucky was her namesake after all, how could she do anything less? She was pretty sure Phish had already worked out hers and she knew Sonny and Joel would be responsible about getting theirs and Owsla's but... what about her girlfriend? Jamie sighed, she was almost 100% sure Natasha hadn't worked on hers at all. And she didn't have to wait long for her suspicions to be confirmed.
Suddenly, the door to the Inspiration room slammed open. "WHO'S STRONG AND BRAVE HERE TO SAVE THE AMERICAN WAY?!" Sonny burst into song.
Clearly he was very excited about the red, white, and blue musceled costume he was wearing. His Captain America costume had finally come in the mail. Currently though, the helmet was hilariously lopsided, the hair stuck underneath it plastered to his face.
"The Star Spangled Man with a plan!" Jamie sang joyously in reply with no regrets. Captain America was ultimate bae, right up there with Bucky and real life Bucky, Sebastian Stan. Oh my god Seb Stan. Wait Jamie, focus!
"Your costume came in." Phishie observed.
"Costume? What are you talking about? I AM Captain America." Sonny declared in bravo.
"Ok, well, Captain America? Why don't you go 'have a plan' somewhere else?" Natasha said, a bit annoyed by the intrusion. Currently she was trying to focus on the laborious task of story boarding.
"The world isn't in peril right now," 'Captain America' explained. "A small child's Halloween is."
"I thought you had already determined everyone's costume for Halloween, Sonny." Phishie said non-nonchalantly, not even bothering to look up as she corrected another typo in the script she was editing. Nat was a great writer, but a speller she was not.
"I have!" Sonny agreed with gusto and obvious pride. "But some people haven't made progress on their costumes." He said, staring intently at Natasha.
When Nat finally noticed the intense gaze, she looked up like a deer-in-headlights. "Wait, what?"
"Luckily I have taken the liberty of getting your costume for you."
"YOU DID WHAT!" Natasha screamed, completely caught off-gaurd. "H-how! W-why!" She sputtered.
Sonny narrowed his eyes at her, "Because if I didn't do anything, you wouldn't have a costume!"
He was right. She had harbored no intention of buying a costume since the beginning. She tried not to be embarrassed at being caught in her devious non-intentions, but a blush made it's way to her cheeks anyway. "W-well... I can't wait till it gets here and doesn't fit you jerk face!"
Sonny smirked. "I got your measurements from Jamie."
Natasha gaped at her traitorous girlfriend. "Jack! How could you!"
"I love you Rose, really, but he was going to kill me and I know you don't have the money to get the costume right now... besides, I see no reason for you not to go trick-or-treating with us." Jamie admitted.
"UUUUUUUGGHHH!"
Sonny heard Nat's screams of frustration as he walked off. He knew Natasha was going to be mad at him when he told her but it would be worth it. He really wanted Owsla's first Halloween to be special and he wasn't going to let Natasha's stubbornness ruin it. Hell, he had somehow managed to get Joel in on this and that was a feat in of itself. Taking off his costume and putting it away, the goblin went to go check on the Mau5 who was currently outside working on his own costume.
"Dad, be careful!"
"I got it Owsla."
Joel re-adjusted the annoying hair dryer cord that kept getting in his way. Today, he was outside to work on his costume. Originally he had planned on buying a costume... until her realized that even the really good Iron Man costumes were still crappy morph suites. And that was lame. And Joel wasn't going to be some lame ass, he was going to be a bad ass. So thanks to Jamie, he had found this special plastic cosplay shit that was easily mold-able when heated. After buying a bunch of it, he wasn't exactly sure how to proceed, but Natasha had helped him measure and design the pieces using her sowing pattern knowledge. It had taken a lot of trial and error but finally they had gotten it to a pattern that looked pretty authentic. So, after cutting all the pieces out, he was currently forming them to the desired shape by the use of heat- aka the hair dryer. The small device roared to life as he turned it on, heating the plate for his right shin. Slowly he curved it to the specification so it would bend comfortably over his leg.
"Woooow!" Owsla marveled at the 'magic' before her. "That's so cool, Dad!"
Joel (unsuccessfully) tried to hide a smirk at the praise. Owsla had come outside to watch her Dad work on the costume and had been amazed at the work he was doing the entire time. That's right. Bad ass.
"Isn't your Dad awesome?" Joel turned to watch Sonny pick up the kid to rest on his hip. "It's cool Joel!" the goblin beamed down at him.
This time Joel didn't bother hiding is smirk. "Thanks man..."
The plan was to spray paint the pieces red and gold respectively once they were all shaped. Then they would attach them to an Iron Man morph suit. They didn't have the time to create a fully-functioning plastic suit like some of the crazy cosplayers out there, but making the plates and attaching them to a base would be a good in-between. It was a basically a 3-D morph suit for the only part of the morph suit that would actually show were the joints, since they couldn't make working joints in time. Joel had of course already ordered an Iron Man helmet.
"Mommy!" Owsla's face brightened as she held on to her Mom. "Dad's costume is so cool! We'll be the Avengers! We'll avenge the night and everything!"
Sonny laughed. "And everything?"
Owsla nodded excitedly. "Uh huh! I'll shoot all the bad guys with my web shooters, just you watch!"
Sonny listened to Owsla's excited rambling as watched Joel work, positively ecstatic that Joel was working so hard for Owsla's Halloween. The Mau5 may not be ready to recognize Owsla as his own yet, but the goblin liked to think his actions spoke louder than his words. He knew of course that a lot of this was just Joel's excitement of getting into costume (thought they Mau5 would never admit it), but Sonny liked to believe that deep down a part of the Mau5 was doing it for Owsla's sake. Granted a very small part, but still, a part. Being Joel's best friend, he knew him better than anyone, and he knew that although Joel had a tough exterior (a very tough one at that), he was still a sentimental human being like the rest of us inside (though still probably an asshole at his core, just kidding... well, sorta). Speaking of the sentimental though...
Sonny put Owsla back on the ground who was still talking about all the world-saving she would be doing on Halloween. "Hey Owsla, you know who else is really excited to save the day? Nattie. I bet she'd really love to hear all about how you're going to defeat the bad guys!"
"Ok!" Owsla beamed at her mother and ran inside, practically bouncing in exuberance.
Sonny doubted Nat would manage to stay mad at him after talking to that cute face. He got some alone time with his BFF and Natasha's anger off his back at the same time, killing two birds with one stone. Owsla really was the cutest stone ever.
Sitting down in the grass next to Joel, the raven hair rested his weight on his hands, stretching out his legs. "Seriously though, the costume looks great."
"Thanks..."
An awkward silence settled in the air with only the sound of the hair dyer between them. Until Sonny made it even more awkward of course.
"Something smells nice out here."
Joel stopped in his tracks for a moment. "Dude don't say that man!"
Sonny looked at his best friend confused. "Why not?"
Joel looked a bit embarrassed. "Because that smell is me you idiot!"
"You wear cologne?" Sonny looked at him uncertainly. Joel wasn't one to wear smelly stuff and deodorant doesn't smell that strong.
"No!" Joel flat out denied. "I've just been out here working all morning... I stank so Natasha sprayed me with that smelly shit."
"What smelly shit?"
"I don't know!" Joel shouted dismissively, trying to get back to work. "I just went inside to get a drink and Nat just fucking hosed me down with something."
Sonny just looked at his best friend with a 'Whaaaaa?' expression on his face.
"Something about her brother always stinks so she carries men's body spray all the time..." Joel explained, effectively turning away from Sonny on purpose, hoping the smaller man would stop bothering him about it.
But apparently that didn't deter him because next thing Joel knew, he felt himself being grabbed from behind. Arms around his torso, Sonny hugged Joel close to him until he was practically laying on his chest. Snugged tightly within the goblin's grip, Joel watched as Sonny bent down to sniff at Joel's clothing. After inhaling deeply, the goblin sat up.
"Huh. So it is you."
"Of course it is you dumb ass! What did I just say?" Joel shouted embarrassed. The Mau5 sighed against his friend, waiting to be released so he could sit up again. A moment passed and he still wrapped in Sonny's grip. "...Let go of me."
"Aw," Sonny whined. "But you're warm"
"W-what!"
"It's cold out but your body heat is warm." Sonny explained.
"Then you shouldn't have come outside without a fucking coat on!" Joel scolded.
"I didn't think about it..." Sonny trailed off, still not moving from his position around Joel. "You should wear this more often."
"Wear what?"
"The smelly shit. It smell nice."
Joel frantically pulled away before Sonny could watch the blush rise to his checks. What the hell was with this guy today! Why was he saying such embarrassing shit! "Not really my style..." he excused.
"Aw, well I'm going inside to make hot coco, don't stay outside too long or you'll freeze." Sonny said before leaving without further comment.
Joel meanwhile rubbed his face with his hand. He needed to take a walk to calm down from that. Or maybe a really cold shower.
Halloween Day...
"Pew! Pew Pew! Pew!" Owsla laughed joyiously as she preteneded to shoot things all around the house with her web shooters.
Currently, everyone else was getting ready for trick-or-treating, besides Owsla and Aurora who had been assigned the task of watching the alien while the rest of them got dressed because she was already in costume. Dressed as Hawkeye for Halloween, she was wearing the tight fitting red and black top with buckled black pants. Along with a pair of combat boots, the look was complete with the addition of her own archery equipment including her bracer, quiver (which she had painted black for the occasion), and bow. As Owsla ran around 'shooting' things, Phishie followed the little alien at a small distance to make sure she didn't hurt herself. She probably should stop Owsla from running rampant around the house but the blue being was having so much fun...
"Owsla, don't run through the kitchen!" Aurora warned. She wasn't going to stop the bundle of blue from running around, but maybe running through a room with lots of knives just waiting to be knocked over was a bad idea.
"Phish, you there?"
At the sound of Natasha's voice, Phish stopped chasing after Owsla to turn around and immediately she watched Natasha's figure retreat behind the hallway wall. Aurora narrowed her eyes confused. "You okay?"
"Y-yeah, j-just don't look!" Natasha said with flustered stuttering.
Phishie narrowed her eyes. "Okay?"
"Could you just pass me a blanket please?"
"Sure..." Taking the blanket from the couch, Phish passed it to her best friend without looking. Only after wrapping the fabric around herself did Natasha dare to come out of the darkened shadows of the hallway and into the light of the living room. Immediately, the semi-red head made a beeline for the couch and sat down, curling into a ball by hugging her knees to further cover her embarrassment.
"Is the costume too revealing or something?"
"N-no... you know I don't get embarrassed by shit like that!" It was true. Natasha had a lot of self-confidence about her body. Wearing things that were close fitting to the body, such as a morph suit or a black widow costume, didn't usually bother her.
"I know," Phishie agreed. "That's why I'm confused."
"It's just... I feel really bad wearing this costume," Natasha explained. "Sonny had to buy it for me." she pouted.
Phish made a face while Natasha wasn't looking. So it was her pride talking. "If it bothers you that much why don't you just not wear it? You don't have to go." Phish was honestly more surprised her BFF wasn't cursing under her breath right now, usually anger was the way Natasha chose to cover up her prideful embarrassment. Yet, mysteriously Natasha had seemed to quit being mad days ago.
Natasha groaned. "Ah, I can't. He did it for Owsla and she's too adorable and cute for me to say no to her. Do you know how excited she is for this night? I can't just not wear it and ruin her night, no matter how much I might hate it." Nat buried her face in the blanket folds in shame.
"Then think of it as something you're doing for Owsla's sake, not because my brother forced you to." a voice interrupted them.
The pair turned to see Jamie, fully dressed in her winter solider cosplay, with the exception of the face mask she was holding in her hand. Jamie, as was her nature, had truly gone all out. Her metal arm was made of plastic but looked real thanks to the awesome paint job. Having been bought, it was completely functional and professional looking. The clothes looked genuine, the top made of real leather and close fitting to the body as were the cargo pants. The rest of the outfit was completed with a pair of finger-less gloves and combat boots, along with a plastic replica of the SIG- Sauer P220 the Winter Solider had in the movie in her holster. With her hair dyed brown and pulled back in a french braid Natasha had done for her earlier, she looked amazing. An amazing, real-life, gender bent, Winter Solider.
There was silence as Natasha took a moment to stare at her girlfriend. Finally, when words came out of her mouth again, only five words came out. "Damn, you look fucking hot."
Jamie flushed. "Rose!"
But Natasha wasn't about to apologize, in fact she didn't reply at all. She continued to appreciate that the girl standing before her was her girlfriend because damn she was a lucky girl. Before Jamie could smack her however, Natasha grabbed her hand and pulled her to sit on her lap. Jamie sat, arms crossed and grumbling about her stupid girlfriend, but complying none the less.
"Nattie, Nattie, Nattie!" Owsla exclaimed excitedly, jumping up and down as she ran back into the living room after running all around the house. "Look I'm Spider man!"
Natasha smiled, a little overwhelmed at the child's excitement. "Yes, yes I see! You look very cute."
Jamie stared at the blue alien, straightening on Nat's lap protectively, as if she could block all the alien's intent to interact with Natasha. Clearly, she still didn't trust the kid. But still, even Jamie's cold gaze could see that Owsla looked positively adorable in her costume. Owsla's Spider man costume was a little girl's dress version. The top part was fairly accurate with it's web designs and huge black spider, but the similarities stopped there. The bottom was a fluffy blue tutu and the black mask only covered her eyes like a masquerade mask. But it was obvious why Sonny had chosen it, because she really did look cute as she flounced around in her tutu, running all around the house in her little boots.
"Cute? I'm a hero! Heroes look cool, not cute!" Owsla whined, jumping up and down frustratingly with an adorable pout on her lips.
"You're right I'm sorry," Natasha apologized, trying to be serious for Owsla's sake but not managing to stop smiling. "You look very, very, cool."
Owsla smiled brightly at that and was about to run off again when suddenly the group heard loud thumps and a bang coming from the master bedroom, immediately followed by Joel barging out the door, looking flustered and disheveled. Locking eyes with Jamie he said clearly, "Someday, your brother is going to accidentally kill me." He stood there for a moment, breathing heavily and no one dared to ask what had just transpired in there. Unluckily, they didn't have to ask.
"Joely! You forgot your helmet!" Sonny appeared behind Joel and without warning, stood on his tippy toes to slip on Joel's Iron Man helmet.
"Sonny... I can't see."
It was then that Sonny realized he had slipped it on backwards. "Oh, sorry Joel," Turning the mau5 around, he righted the helmet on his head. "Did you get your costume on okay?" He asked when it was corrected. "I tried to help you put it on, but you sorta fell off the bed."
Going a little wide eyes, Phishie dragged Owsla towards her, covering her Mau5 ears. Meanwhile, Jamie and Natasha both looked away awkwardly. Realizing this, Sonny looked around at them embarrassed. "That's not what I meant!"
"Then what did you mean?" Jamie challenged.
"I meant I was helping him dress!" there was an awkward pause as Sonny realized that sounded even worse. "I mean, he fell over and then..."
"More like helping him undress." Natasha muttered, trying not to laugh.
Jamie elbowed her girlfriend before she got in trouble. "Just stop, I don't wanna know."
"Nothing happened!" Sonny insisted.
"Suuuuure." Jamie sarcastically agreed.
"Let's just go!" Joel grumbled, frustrated, walking away before his BFF could embarrass him further that night.
That evening... (PLEASE NOTE: This ending is inspired by a song, "Party 44" by RIOT please go check that out!)
"Let's go to that house next!" Owsla said, pointing excitedly at a one story brick house.
"Owsla, we've already been there," Sonny explained. "You can only go to each house once."
"OoOOoh..." Owsla said. "Then where next?"
"Uuuuh... where we haven't before." Sonny replied. Thanks, Captain Obvious.
That was easier said than done, the rambunctious little alien had already dragged them all around the neighborhood. It was getting harder to find houses they hadn't been to, mostly because they were lost but no one wanted to admit it. The Lowe's Farm neighborhood was huge and hard enough to navigate in daylight, never mind the night time.
"Why don't we go this way?" Joel suggested, pointing at at a particularly dark street. It was obvious there weren't many houses to trick-or-treat on that street but it's not like they had anything better to do.
"Ok," Natasha took the plunge first, turning swiftly to walk towards the street in question. "After this we should go back."
The group nodded in agreement and followed after her. The night was getting long, and although they had been having barrels of fun, they were getting tired. It was definitely time to head home soon; it was getting late. With Owsla leading the way, they walked down the sidewalk. Sonny holding Owsla's trick-or-treat bag in one arm and Owsla's hand in the other. Joel walked behind them, deep in thought with Phish right on his heels. Natasha and Jamie brought up the rear, holding hands where they thought no one could see them. The street itself barely had any porch lights on. The houses who did had left candy bowls outside, long since emptied by greedy trick-or-treaters. In fact, it seemed like the whole block had been abandoned, void of any trick-or-treaters, until they ran into a very strange man. He staggered onto the side walk in a way that you couldn't be sure just where exactly he had come from. Joel was about to tell the group to cross the street in order to avoid him, but the man walked straight up to them before he could.
"Duuuuude..." the man said, stumbling not only over his own feet, but his words as well. "Are you... commin' to the... t-the paaarty?"
"What party?" Sonny asked excitedly. A party seemed like fun to him.
"Sonny!" Joel scolded. The man was obviously drunk out of his mind and maybe a little high too, he definitely smelled like weed. Truly, his best friend was crazy trying to talk to the guy because he had obviously already been through the ringer at this supposed party. He appeared to have some sort of costume but half of it was missing and he'd probably passed out once already this evening because there were cat whiskers and dicks drawn all over his face.
"It's a paaaarty man... in the, the fuckin'... basement."
"I would never go anywhere near your basement." Phishie declared.
"Oh please," Natasha rolled her eyes at her best friend with a smirk, "Your basement would be scarier." she giggled.
Looking at Nat with a non-amused expression Phish simply said "Shush." There was obviously an inside joke there the rest of them weren't getting.
"You guyzz don't... get it.. maaan. It's called Party 44.."
"Why is it numbered?" Sonny asked.
Noticing the the whiskers, Owsla smiled. "He looks like a kitty cat!" she reached out to hug the drunk.
Natasha rolled her eyes, "Yeah except for the fucking dinosaur tail." Which was true, the drunk did seem to have a dinosaur tail, probably part of his missing costume.
"If you ever get stuck in a tree, kitty, I'll be sure to save you!" Owsla continued.
"Owsla, stay away from the strange man." Joel scolded, pulling her away gently so he could stand between them.
"It's a base party man"
"Oh I love base, we should go Joel!"
Somehow managing to keep a straight face, the Mau5 replied. "But you'll drop it." The rest of them burst out laughing, not able to help it. Sometimes lame jokes were the funniest.
The drunk man laughed hysterically along with them, "Get it? Cuz it's in a basement?"
"Oh," Sonny shoulders sank disappointingly. "That's not the kind of base I was thinking of..."
"It's party 44 maaan."
"I still don't get it, why is it numbered?"
"Sonny, I really don't think that's what's important right now. We should leave." Jamie said. She had tagged along to enough parties and seen enough drunk people to know where this could be headed. "He's drunk out of his mind." she pointed out, hoping her brother would see some reason.
"I know, but I'm curious. I mean like... what's with the numbering system?"
"Who knows? He's drunk man, let's go." Joel urged.
"Oh!" Sonny exclaimed, the light bulb going off above his head. "Maybe you have to like, get Party Permits now? Is that what the numbers are?" the goblin looked at the drunk half-cat half-dinasaur guy who was barely managing to stand up at this point. "Hey dude, I'm talking to you."
"N-not party 45... that's down the street..."
"Party 45? Wait, what?"
"Oh my god, Sonny!" Joel groaned. "It's just a number!"
"But dude, what if you have to get party permits now? I don't want a lame number like 51."
"51 is the number of Area 51." Phish pointed out.
"OMG!" Sonny bounced excitedly. "Now we HAVE to have #51, we could throw an Area 51 party Joel! I should make a song titled Area 51..."
Joel rolled his eyes exasperated. "Yeah sure, why don't we just look it up on the internet later?" the Mau5 looked at certain kid who was finally getting tired, as she rested her head against the goblin's leg. "Hey man, we have Owsla with us, we really should be going."
Sonny looked down at the little alien. His best friend was right, now wasn't the time to be partying or talking to drunk people, he needed to get his daughter home. Drunk people could be dangerous. "All right, let's head home." with that, he picked up his tired child, resting Owsla on his hip.
The gang turned around to head back the way they came, to attempt to figure out the enigma of roads the neighborhood had become that night. Finding their way back home would be difficult, but hopefully not impossible. Since at least 1/3 of them had the experience of having to stumble home drunk before, surely they could do it sober.
"Hey wait!" The drunk called behind them but no one payed him any attention. "WAAIIIT UPP!"
Sonny yelped as he felt a pull on his shoulder. He was forcefully jerked around to come face to face with that drunk guy once again. The goblin looked at the man shocked. Sonny had been to countless parties and he had dealt with a lot of drunks and usually he did just fine, but unknowingly he had provoked the drunk man so now he was dealing with an angry drunk. He had been to enough parties to recognize that look, the i'm-fucked-up-and-angry look.
"Hey!"
Sonny watched as Joel stepped him front of him, effectively blocking the man from view with his larger frame.
"Get the hell outta here!" Joel barked aggressively, trying his best to look intimidating so the guy would back off without a fight. And he was pretty good at it, he was asshole so he had to deal with angry people wanting to fight him a lot more than Sonny did.
The angry drunk wobbled on his feet before falling forward on Joel, arms grabbing onto his shoulders. "I... I forgot to tell you-"
*Bleeeeeeh*
Before Joel could shove the guy off of him, the drunk puked all over him and crumpled to the ground, passing out. The gang was speechless for a long moment as they tried to gauge Joel's reaction. When he turned around he was obviously pissed.
"You okay, Sonny?" he asked.
The goblin blinked at his BFF. "Yeah, I'm fine... but you reek like puke." he said, starring worriedly at Joel's chest plate, covered in vomit.
Joel looked down at his costume, seething in quiet anger. "Yeah. I know."
"Thank you Joel." smiling, Sonny grabbed his hand, pulling him along with the rest of the group. "Let's go home guys."
