Halloween was upon them. As far as Arthur could determine, it was apparently the high point of Bae's entire year. He was still a little fragile, but you wouldn't have known it from the flurry of excitement that had gone into shopping for an appropriate costume. Halloween had never really been a done thing in Scotland (well, at least not the way that Americans celebrated it) so this would really be Arthur's first proper trick-or-treat. He had no idea what to wear.
They would, apparently, be going out with a handful of other families as part of a larger group. Belle had said that costumes were optional for the adults, but he definitely didn't want to be the only one not in costume. Bae had been back and forth for weeks on precisely which superhero he would be dressed up as, before finally settling on Spiderman. Belle would be wearing something and Arthur had absolutely no idea. So, he did what he always did when he couldn't figure something out: he called Belle.
He always felt a little flutter of happiness when he heard her say hello. She had to know that he was the one who was calling, so maybe it wasn't just his imagination that she sounded happy to hear his voice.
"What's up?" she said at his greeting, and he thought he heard another voice in the background.
"I'm sorry," he couldn't help saying. "Am I interrupting?"
"Oh, no," she replied. "Ruby just came over so we could help each other with hair and makeup. She's going to a party tonight and I just can't curl the back of my head."
"Well, that's sort of why I called," he admitted. "I'm not sure what to wear tonight."
He sounded like a fifteen-year-old girl on her way to a date, and the it's Arthur and he doesn't know what to wear tonight he heard her whispering to her friend on the other end of the line wasn't really helping him feel less ridiculous.
He heard the voice (presumably Ruby's) saying something, before Belle spoke again.
"What do you have to work with?"
"Not much," he admitted. "You've seen most of my wardrobe."
"He has suits and street clothes," he heard Belle say to Ruby.
"He can borrow a Speedo?" he heard Ruby's voice closer to the phone now. "You know, like the movie."
"Ruby!" Belle shrieked and giggled, and Arthur was pretty sure he wasn't supposed to be hearing that part but he had and now he wasn't sure whether he wanted to know the context or not.
"Oh come on, Belle," Ruby muttered, further away now. "You're the one who said it, not me."
Okay, well now he definitely wanted to know the context. he wanted that context more than he wanted anything else in the world. Because somehow, apparently, the subject of him in next to nothing had come up and he would kill to know how and why and what her opinion on the matter had been.
Belle cleared her throat and returned to the conversation.
"Do you have sunglasses?" she asked. "You could be a secret agent."
"I do," he replied. "But sunglasses at night seems a little...bad."
"Yeah, that's true," she said.
He heard Ruby screaming James Bond and Belle was shushing her again.
"If we had more time I could help you make something," Belle said apologetically. "I'm not sure what you can do this late, though."
He was mentally kicking himself for leaving this to the last minute, but he'd been busy and distracted and it had all just gotten lost in the shuffle.
"What are you going as?" he asked her, inspiration striking. Perhaps he could match her.
"I'm going to be a fairy," she said cheerfully. "It's what I do every year."
Well, that wasn't going to help at all.
"You could always be Tony Stark?" Belle suggested.
"I don't think I quite have the personality for that one," he replied.
He heard Ruby start making shrieking noises on the other end, but Belle had apparently moved far enough away from her friend to prevent him understanding anything further.
"Ohhh that's a great idea!" he heard Belle say. "Do you still have that Superman t-shirt Bae made you buy?"
"I do," he replied. "Why?"
"Clark Kent!" she exclaimed. "I've got some fake glasses around here someplace, just put the shirt on under a suit and come over. I'll fix you up."
"Will your friend be there?" he asked nervously. He wasn't quite sure he was up to meeting Ruby just yet, especially if she was going to be in a mood.
"No," Belle said firmly. "We're just finishing her vampire makeup and then she'll be leaving. She'll be gone before you get here. You'll just have to wait until Thanksgiving to meet her."
"I can't wait," he replied dryly. "I'll be by soon."
Arthur was fairly relieved that Ruby truly had left by the time he arrived at Belle's. He knew he was going to have to face the stranger who had created his family eventually, but he just wasn't sure he was ready to do it while wearing a costume. He was, however, very much disappointed that he wasn't going to be able to see if he could determine what the whole 'speedo' conversation had been about.
Turned out he had no need to worry about the context of that statement, because what he should have been worried about was the fact that Belle's costume involved a pink corset and left a lot of cleavage on display. It was taking all his willpower to keep his eyes on her face and not...elsewhere as she fixed his costume.
"So, uh," he said to a spot just above her head. "What are you supposed to be?"
"Oh," she replied as she fiddled with his hair. "I'm a fairy."
That explained the chest coated in glitter, at least.
"That does explain the tutu," he said with a smile. "And the flower crown."
She smiled at him and backed away to give a little spin.
"I'll put the wings on later," she replied. "But it's my go-to costume."
"It suits you," he admitted. "Do you um, wear it often?"
"No," she laughed. "But Halloween does come every year."
She seemed content with her work on his hair after a few minutes, standing back and flashing him a dazzling smile that left him a little breathless and distracted him to the point that he almost missed the moment her hands went to his neck to loosen his tie. By the time she was unbuttoning his shirt, though, his sluggish brain had caught up with her movements.
"What are you doing?"
"I'm making you into Clark Kent," she replied with a teasing lilt to her voice as she unbuttoned him to just below his S insignia and stepped back proudly. "There, you're ready. I just need to get your glasses."
"Right," he said breathlessly. "The glasses."
He needed glasses, and then he would be in costume. Because that's what this had been about, getting him into costume. It certainly hadn't been about the feel of her fingertips undoing his shirt, or the way her chest was heaving just enough to remind him of her aborted confession of the other day. He had to stop himself from following her to the kitchen, from going behind her and sliding his arms around her waist. He didn't think she'd stop him, in fact he thought she might turn and let him kiss her. But Bae was upstairs, and she was expecting people to arrive at any minute, and if he was going to do this he wanted to do it right. Belle deserved him to do this right. She deserved him to tell her how he felt properly, and to ask her on an actual date that didn't involve their child being brought along.
So he didn't go stand behind her. Instead, he stood and watched her open the junk drawer, pull out a pair of sunglasses, and pop the lenses out of them. She was a flurry of pink tulle and ribbon and glitter as she practically pranced back to him and slipped the now lenseless glasses onto his face.
"There," she said with a sweet smile. "Perfect."
She was looking up at him and smiling and dammit, he wanted to kiss her. But he had to do this right, he owed it to all three of them. As if on cue, Bae came barreling down the stairs and Belle moved a half-step backwards on an instinct.
"Mom I need help with my zipper," he whined, twisting around in a red and blue Spiderman jumpsuit. "I think it's stuck."
Belle turned her smile from Arthur to his son, and he was sure he must love her a little more every time he saw the two of them together.
"Here," she said to Bae. "Stop squirming and let me see it."
The little boy did as asked, turning his back to his mother who straightened out the fabric and pulled the zipper up with ease.
"There," she said. "Are you almost ready to go? The Nolans should be here in a few minutes."
"Yeah," Bae said. "My mask is upstairs and my bag is in the living room."
"Well, hurry up!" she teased, sending him back to gather his things with a tap on his back.
Trick-or-Treat was a strange experience for a grown man who had never been before. For one thing, he had not really expected the wide variety of suburban mom breast on display. Even the usually straight laced Mary Margaret had donned a very low cut black dress for her Wicked Witch costume, and she and Belle were practically nuns compared to some of the moms they were meeting at the houses. He had begun hanging back with David Nolan (dressed as a Scarecrow, ostensibly to go with his wife the witch and his daughter in her Dorothy costume) simply to avoid the awkwardness of seeing Belle's neighbors in various states of dress (the naughty nurse down the street having finally done him in).
"So," David said almost too casually. "Feel free to tell me that this is none of my business…"
"That's certainly an inauspicious start to a conversation," Arthur replied, unsure if he wanted to know where this was even going.
David chuckled a moment, watching his daughter as she raced Bae to someone's door.
"You have a point," David said. "I was just wondering what was going on with you and Belle."
Arthur's first instinct was to deny that there was anything between them and shut the conversation down completely, but he thought better of it. If he was going to actually make a go of this, it couldn't hurt to have a little bit of help or at least a sounding board. And he was going to go out on a limb and assume David probably had a bit more experience with wooing ladies than Arthur did - at least more recent experience.
"Nothing yet," Arthur replied, not letting his expression change as the kids and their mothers came running back so they could move to the next house.
"Is there a 'but' there?" David asked as soon as the kids had left again and the moms had returned to their own conversation nearby.
"But," Arthur continued. "I think she might be open to something in the near future."
"Well, that's certainly something," David replied. "And why do you think that?"
"She's said some things," Arthur replied with a shrug. "And she's been acting differently now. I have dated women before, you know."
"I'm sure you have," David said with a little half smile. "Just wondering is all, you two seem awfully close."
"We are," Arthur replied. "Very close."
"That's good," David said. "So what about you? Are you open to something?"
"Are you asking me on a date?"
David let out a bark of laughter, drawing the looks of the other adults in their group.
"I was just wondering," David said once attention had fallen away from them. "What the hold up is if this is a mutual thing."
Bae and Emma ran back to them, Bae holding Emma's bucket for her.
"Dad, my feet hurt," she huffed. "These ruby slippers are all scratchy."
"Well, are you ready to go home?" David asked her.
"No," she replied, sounding horrified. "We just started!?"
"Well, then what do you want me to do about it?"
Emma growled a little and David just smiled.
"Did your bucket get too heavy?" he asked her.
"Yeah," she replied as they started walking towards the next group of houses.
"So you asked Bae to hold it? Nicely?"
Emma didn't say anything, and David just sighed.
"Bae, do you want me to hold Emma's bucket for her?"
"It's fine, Mr. Nolan," Bae replied. "It's not too much."
"Alright," David said. "Well if it gets too heavy for you just let me know."
Bae nodded as the two ran off to the next house and left their dads behind.
"You've got a good kid there," David said to Arthur. "He's always looking out for all the other kids."
"I do," Arthur replied. "And, since you asked, he's the reason for the holdup."