Apparently, Tony and Bronwyn are COMPLETELY in my head. I've written like 9 pages about them in the past week.

Halloween drabble, circa The Guard (their junior year), courtesy of my iTunes conveniently shuffling to Hook (Blues Traveler). Zero marching content. Sorry. Written in one shot.

I do own the characters, although Tony's probably not happy with the mental image I'm giving readers of him…speaking of which, anyone want to do some artwork for this one?

Halloween

"This is stupid."

"No, it's not."

"Yes, it is."

"You look cute."

"I look like a fairy."

"Let's get this straight. I'm the fairy. Er, pixie, rather."

"I'm going to get made fun of."

"Who cares what people think?"

"I do!"

"If anything, you will get made fun of because Peter Pan did NOT wear cargo shorts."

"There is no WAY you're going to get me to wear tights. This stupid hat is bad enough."

Bronwyn Flueger glared at the teenage boy in front of her. With her boyfriend, Drew, busily studying for midterms at college, she had been forced to bring the only single male she knew to her friend Meredith's Halloween blowout – fellow snare drummer, Tony Clarke. As soon as she had found out about the party, Bronwyn had planned on going as Tinkerbell and Peter Pan. With Drew stuck at school, the redheaded junior had asked Tony to step in, but had conveniently neglected to mention the costume that would be involved…

Bronwyn cocked her head inquisitively to get a better look at her partner in crime for the evening, before crossing her arms and responding, "Drew would wear the tights."

"Well, then Drew's whipped, and no one's ever going to make me wear tights…I don't care how in love I am," Tony grumbled.

Bronwyn ignored the reference, because in all reality, she seriously doubted that her boyfriend would actually wear tights, and he was seriously in love.

…with me. Just thinking about that fact made Bronwyn feel tingly all over.

Tony interrupted her romantic thoughts with his know-it-all tone, "Anyway, just so you know, Tinkerbell was a blonde, not a redhead. You should've been Wendy."

"Who cares? Anyway, Wendy is lame."

"Well, I guess we're going to look stupid together then."

Bronwyn rolled her eyes and looked down at her homemade pixie costume. She had actually put more time than she cared to admit into the outfit.

That's because I thought it was going to be Drew going with me, and not Tony…

Well, whatever Tony thinks, you still look cute.

Bronwyn retorted, "You know, Clarke, you might actually be dating someone if you didn't say things like that."

She knew the cut was mean, but sometimes insults were how to get Tony's attention. Sometimes he needed reminding that a) she was a girl and b) girls deserved to be treated a certain way.

"Let's just get this over with." He headed towards the door.

Bronwyn and Tony went upstairs from the Flueger's basement. The redhead had hoped to just get to the party so she could interact with the rest of her friends. Unfortunately, Mrs. Flueger was in the kitchen when they came up. She immediately clapped her hands together and trilled, "Don't you two look darling! Stay right there, I have to get the camera!"

Bronwyn started to yell out, "Mom!" but her mother was already out the door. She gave a Tony a 'what can you do shrug' and he shrugged back. His own mother was cut from the same cloth. Moments later, out of breath and red curls flying, Mrs. Flueger came into the room. Panting, she asked, "Ready?"

Bronwyn crossed her arms, "Really Mom? We're not in Kindergarten."

"Please?"

"Of course, Mrs. Flueger, we'd be happy to," Tony said with mild sarcasm that went over the senior Flueger's head. He was rewarded with an elbow to the side from Bronwyn.

"Thank you, Antony. Now, let's go outside."

Bronwyn and Tony trudged outside to the backyard. As it was late October, it was starting to get chilly, and a crisp wind cut through the air. While it had felt good the night before in her polyester marching band uniform, tonight, Bronwyn wrapped her arms around her and began rubbing to warm up. She said with chattering teeth, "Is this really necessary, Mom?"

Her mother appeared to be stumped by something.

"What's wrong, Mrs. F?" Tony asked, apparently impervious to the cold.

"I'm trying to figure out a cute pose for you two."

Bronwyn rolled her eyes.

Hey…go easy on her. Just do something to appease her and quick – it's freezing!

"Look alive, Clarke!" Bronwyn shouted, before running and jumping on her friend's back, hoping to absorb some of his body heat.

"Oof!" However, Tony caught her, piggy-back style, and Bronwyn's mother snapped the moment.

"Got it!" Mrs. Flueger shouted from across the yard.

After Tony dropped her off that night, Bronwyn looked on the counter. Scarfing down some of the leftover Halloween candy, she saw that her Mom had already cropped and printed the picture from a few hours ago. She had to admit that her Mom had a good eye, and had captured a particularly cute moment. Bronwyn saw herself – red curls already escaping the bun on her head, glittered wings moving, blue grey eyes sparkling, and Tony as the unlikely Peter, grasping her legs and looking up at her – the trademark brown hat with red feather cocked jauntily on his head, the camouflage shorts somehow making him into a modern day Pan.

It suddenly struck Bronwyn that she and Tony had never really touched each other before. It just wasn't something they did. They were friends, sure, but that was where the line was drawn. She didn't hug him, or lean on him like she with some of her other guy friends – it just wasn't done. Maybe it was all a sugar rush, but maybe she wouldn't mind being that kind of friend with Tony Clarke…there was something very comforting about being that close to him.

That's something I never thought I would think.

Things change.

Hopefully for the best...

AN: Thoughts? If you like this story, be sure to check out the artwork I commissioned for this scene. It's on both the facebook and myspace groups and I'm really happy with the way it turned out.