Tony Stark's Annual Epic Halloween Bash 2012
Tony Stark’s Annual Epic Halloween Bash was being held in the newly-rebuilt Stark Tower this October. In previous years, Pepper and her virtual army of party planners and assistants had rented out a ballroom in a downtown hotel and decorated it to within an inch of its life, all for the enjoyment of Manhattan’s social elite. This year, however, with the Chitauri attack only a few months past and a city still healing, they held a more intimate gathering in their home, for just a handful of close friends and associates.
That’s not to say it was any less elaborate, of course. Darcy, Clint, and Steve’s arrival as Catwoman, Robin, and Batman, respectively, barely garnered any attention in the face of all the other costumes Stark Industries & SHIELD personnel had put together. Thor and Jane were dressed as Tarzan and Jane—or rather, Thor was as undressed as he was socially allowed, and Jane was wearing the yellow dress from the Disney movie.
Coulson was, surprisingly, not wearing either a suit or his Captain America costume (Darcy knew he had one, even if he wouldn’t admit it), but rather a pair of tight black dress pants, a black button-down shirt and a rugged black leather jacket. Even with the lovely woman standing next to him in a pale 60’s-era dress, she would never have guessed his costume until Clint leaned in and murmured, “No one puts Baby in a corner.”
She turned to him with wide eyes. “No. Way.”
Clint nodded. “Yeah, Jen tried to get him to do it last year—apparently it’s her favorite movie—”
“She’s the cellist?” Darcy interrupted.
“Yeah, yeah, but Coulson wouldn’t go for it.”
Steve frowned. “Who are they supposed to be?”
Darcy sighed. “Oh, Steve, I need to make you watch Dirty Dancing. It’s moving up in the queue.”
Standing next to Nick Fury, smiling for once, Maria Hill looked like a reject from an 80s pop band, with a big bow in her hair and a bedazzled jean jacket. Fury himself, sadly, was not dressed as a pirate, though the mullet-esque wig almost made up for Darcy losing that particular betting pool. “Hey, Jarvis, did anyone put money on Snake Plissken?”
“I did,” Natasha answered for the AI, coming up behind Darcy soundlessly in the ballet shoes that matched her pink tutu. “You need to think outside the box with the director,” she said. “He hates to do the expected.”
“Well, everyone else did pretty much what I expected,” Darcy said with a pout. “Though I rather thought Tony would convince Bruce to be the Chewie to his Han, rather than Luke Skywalker.”
Pepper, a drink in each hand and a replica blaster slung over the shoulder of her very impressive Princess Leia costume, grinned as she handed Darcy a glass of champagne. “He tried, oh, he tried. But Bruce put his foot down about being a giant monster at all Avengers-related events. Then Tony suggested Yoda, and, well.” Pepper smirked, her massive side-buns moving only slightly. “You can imagine how well that went over.”
Darcy giggled and leaned into Steve, who was waving across the room at someone Darcy couldn’t see. “Who’s that?”
“Colonel Rhodes is here,” he said, sounding more excited than he had since she and Clint had pounced on him with their Batfamily costumes.
“Ooh! Who’s Rhodey dressed as?” she said, bouncing on the balls of her feet to try to get a better look.
“I can’t believe you, Rhodey!” Tony yelled. “We are not Brenda and Kelly, damn it!”
“Well, that answers that question,” Darcy muttered to Natasha, who hid her grin behind her vodka tonic as Han Solo met Han Solo. Steve still looked confused.
“Hey, I’m the fly-boy in this relationship,” Rhodey said. “I really could pilot the Millennium Falcon. You’d be the dirty mechanic keeping her together.”
Tony narrowed his eyes at Rhodey’s costume, which looked almost identical to his own. “So if I gave you $5000, would you go change?”
Rhodey smirked. “Not a chance in the world, especially since I rock this harder than you do.” He turned to Pepper. “Pepper, you look lovely, as always.”
“Oh, man, this is going to be great,” Darcy said with a giggle.