They were all somehow present together in the living room of the Stark mansion. That was maybe the case because of the impromptu meeting that Jan called to talk about her latest greatest idea. Tony didn’t know for sure, but what he did know was that this group meeting in the living room was still a rare occurrence that seemed to happen only after a mission. But now, whatever idea Jan had, it sure did excited her while she was waiting for everyone to settle down, which happened only a few minutes later.
“So, you know that Halloween is coming next Sunday.” Wasp said as greetings.
The brown haired man did not know where she was going but just the idea of talking about Halloween made him uneasy, it was not a celebration he knew much about as his dad thought it to be too dangerous and too childish for the young genius that Tony was at the time.
“Yes and what about Halloween?” Clint asked.
“What about Halloween he ask!” Jan mocked. “We are going to dress up and give candies to children!”
“Dress up? Give candies?” Steve asked, confused.
“Yes!” Wasp exclaimed while sizing down and flying in the air. “It is the most amusing thing ever and the better way to increase your creativity and have inspiration.”
“If you are a fashion designer of course.” Hank muttered.
That remark was followed by an angry Wasp flying toward Ant-man head and attacking him with her yellow rayon. She then resized herself to continue the conversation.
“You can dress up in anything you want. It is the one night in the year where people won’t judge you for what you are wearing. The kids are dressing up and going from house to house to ask for candies.” Jan explained.
“It seems nice. Yes, I am in Jan.” Steve said after a minute of reflection.
“Hulk want candies!!” Hulk roared.
“You can have candy Hulk...as long as there are still some for the kids too.”
“If candies for Hulk, then Hulk is in too!”
Jan did a count in her head: Steve and Hulk said yes, Hank will too just because it is her idea. That means, the only two left to answer are Clint and Tony, which would be no problem for her. After all, it is their kind of ideas of fun. Clint gave her reason on his part less than a minute later.
“If Hulk and Steve are in, then so I am. It will be so much fun to see what costume the kids come up with. Same for Steve’s one too.” Clint said.
That left Hank and Tony. The two scientists looked at one another, the latter one with a clear panicking look in his eyes. Tony did not want to do it. Giving candies, he did not know how to do it...and dressing up, he did not think he will be able to do it, not after what happened the last time he did it while younger… So no, clearly not a good idea for him.
“I am sorry Jan, but I won’t be doing it…too much stuff to do you know.” Tony said, just trying to find an excuse without giving too much away.
“Oh come on Tony! You need to come out of your lab once in awhile! Even Hank will do it, won’t you sweet guy?” Jan replied.
“Euh...yeah...sure…” Ant-man said, blushing.
Iron Man grunted. He wanted his fellow scientist to help him get out of that activity, but no thanks, he has to do everything alone.
“So...Tony…?” Jan asked, smirking.
“Still no, I can’t.”
“Oh, does the great Tony Stark not know how to give candies to children?” Clint mocked.
“Oh fuck off Birdbrain! Of course, I know how, I just don’t have the time to do it!
Alert! Alert! Alert! That was what was going on in Tony’s brain. The archer was too close to the truth for the genius comfort.
“Tony.” Steve said. “Please come. It will be fun, but it will be even better if you are there with us, please!”
Urg, how was Tony supposed to say no to that? The blond even went as far as doing his puppy eyes and saying please twice. Also add to that the crush that the genius had for the captain and clearly Tony lost that game.
“Fine, I will, but only because you are asking Steve.” Tony replied.
“Yeah! Thanks Tony! You will see, we will have so much fun!”
Jan and Clint were quick to agree to that affirmation. Hulk just wanted the candies. Hank, on his side, looked at Tony worriedly. He saw the look on his friend’s face earlier and was concerned about it even if he didn’t know what brought that on. And Tony himself, he was not so sure about that idea, he was not even sure that he will be able mentally to fulfill his engagement toward Steve…
***
The week passed without too much incident for the Avengers, beside the habitual battling against villains, which happened just once. Steve was kind of surprised, he thought that they would have taken advantages of the fact that it was the holiday centered on monsters to attack more. He just hoped that the villains did not decide to do a big attack tonight of all night because all the children of New York will be outside. Speaking of children, the Avengers were preparing to give them candies tonight. Steve did some research on Halloween to know in what exactly he went into and he quite liked that idea of having one night where children could dress in anything they want. For that night, Steve choose a vampire costume. He had seen some movies with vampires and they seemed a bit more complex than they appeared at first glance, maybe not as villains as everyone made them to be, like some people that Steve knew. So he was dressed in a white shirt with a black jacket and pants, a red tie and a black cape. He also have false teeth that were more vampire-ish. Now ready for the big night, the blond was waiting for the others in the living room.
“Candy night!” Hulk cried entering the room
“Yes Hulk, as soon as the others arrive.” Steve replied while trying not to laugh.
The big green guy was dressed in the blue creature in Winnie the Pooh, the captain forgot its name but he was sure it was in that show because Hulk was watching it too often for them to not know that. Either way, the costume was amazing, Hulk had the two blue ears, a blue onesie with the paws and the tail in the back. Steve was sure that Jan was the one to congratulate for that design. Speaking of the Wasp, she was joining them with a beautiful green dress on her with matching green gloves and headband. The headband was embellished with green leaves. She also had a blue necklace and the shoes were hidden by the dress.
“Wow, you are beautiful Jan.” Steve exclaimed, impressed.
“Thank you Steve.” Jan replied with a bow. “Hulk, do you like your costume?”
“Yes, thank you Wasp!” The green monster answered.
“So Hulk’s costume is a creation of yours then.” The blond said.
“Yes, same for Hank.”
Speaking of Hank, he arrived at that moment, dressed as a prince. More specifically, like a prince matching the princess that Jan was. He had a green shirt with green pants, brown boots and a lighter green cape. There was also a black belt with a flower in the center.
“Wow, Jan, you did really great for the three of you. Those costumes are fabulous!” Steve exclaimed.
“Thanks Steve.” Wasp replied, blushing.
“Is the beautiful princess ready for her Halloween?” Hank asked his partner.
“Yes, I am handsome prince. We are just waiting for Clint and Tony.”
“Don’t wait anymore, Robin of the hood is here!”
The four of them turned abruptly and saw Clint dressed up as Robin of the hood like he said. Another Avenger that decided to go with a green costume, but Steve and Hank realized at the same time that Clint’s choice was not as surprising as it has been. He choose a character that was an archer like he was.
“Great costume Clint.” Jan said.
“Thanks Jan! So are we ready to start Halloween?”
“Candies!” Hulk cried.
“It won’t be long, we are just waiting for Tony…”
“Where is he? I thought he will be the first one here!” Clint asked, surprised.
There was nod of affirmation from three of the other four. While seeing the others agree with Clint, Hank was not that sure of the statement, Tony had acted quite strangely every time someone talked about Halloween. He did not have time to think more about it, because at the same time, his Avenger card bipped. Hank took it out, surprised when none of the others took theirs out. It was Tony calling, which might explain the specificity of the call.
“Hey Tony.” Hank said, answering the call without the video.
“Hey Hank. Euh...could you tell Steve and Jan that...hum...that I won’t come?” Tony asked, stuttering. “I tried, I really did, but… I can’t, I am sorry. Can you tell them that I am so sorry?”
Steve also heard the message and he was really worried about his friend. Was it a sob he heard at the end of the message?
“Tones, are you ok?” Hank asked, also worried.
“I am so so sorry!”
Another simili sob and a click. Iron man ended the call. Hank and Steve looked at each other, clearly really worried about their friend. Was Tony crying? Hank’s suspicion that he missed something rose higher. Tony and Halloween, what did he miss? There was a link between the two, but he just could not...wait a minute! There it was, an Halloween, a few years ago, the two of them just finished a battle against a villain. Iron man said that it was the best Halloween he had in awhile and...he explained why… Oh!! How did Hank forgot that explanation? Everything was clear now!
“Oh Tony! Of course, it would have been too much! How an idiot was I to not have understood it earlier?” Hank said softly while looking at the card in his hand.
“Do you know what happened Hank?” Steve asked.
“I have an idea, but it might not be that…”
Steve thought about what to do. Hank seemed to know what was happening and he might be the best person to go see Tony, but he really wanted to go after the brunet. Why was he crying? The blond just wanted to go where ever Tony was and give him the longest hug ever. Wasp and Ant-man saw the battle going on into the captain's mind.
“Go after him, Steve.” Jan said.
“You sure?”
“Yes, it will be for the best. I forgot, so I won’t be the best person to comfort him, you are.” Hank assured.
There was a minute of silence while the blonde pondered the decision.
“Ok, I am going. Don’t wait for us.” Steve said while moving toward the elevator.
After asking Jarvis where to go, he went to Tony’s floor. Steve was surprised that Tony was not in his workshop, but there sure is an explanation for that. Arriving at the floor, he still did not see the brunet, so he went further in.
“Tony? Are you here?” The blond asked.
That was then that he heard a sound, a muffled sob this time, coming from the bedroom, so that was where Steve went. Opening the door, the captain’s heart squeezed in his chest. His friend and crush was sitting cross-legged on the floor with a costume completely ripped apart in front of him. Steve could not recognize the costume outside of the fact that it was purple. But it was Tony’s face that punched him directly in the heart. The brunet had tears tracks on his face and was trying not to cry more. He was biting his lower lip and just looked so sad and vulnerable and miserable that Steve could not do anything else beside go kneel at his left and hug his friend. Tony tensed, then after a minute just melted into the hug still trying not to cry. The two of them stayed in this position in silence for a long time.
“What happened with the costume Tony?” Steve asked when he sensed that the brunet was calm.
“My dad is what happened…”
“Howard? What did you do? What was the costume supposed to be in the first place?”
The blonde knew that there was bad blood between Tony and Howard, but he was not sure he wanted to learn what exactly happened with the costume, just seeing the state of it told him that it was clearly bad. However, Tony looked like he needed to talk about it, so if he wanted to, Steve was ready to listen.
“There was this movie that went out when I was younger, Scooby-doo and the Ghoul School. God that movie was amazing, the relation between the girls and their dads, the girls' personality, I loved that movie. Jarvis, the family butler, bought me the costume of my two favorites: Winnie, the young werewolf and Sybella, that you are seeing right now.” Tony explained while pointing at the purple mess on the floor at the end.
“I heard about Scooby-doo, but not that one…”
“Which is sad because it is one of the best out there. Sybella was so great, smart, caring, funny and with the greatest father ever. Oh, you are personating him right now! She was Dracula’s daughter. Every since then, I dressed up as one of the two. I was not allowed to go out, so Jarvis and I just did a night inside with me in one of the two costumes and watching the movie. One year, he was drunk, so freaking drunk…”
“Howard?”
Steve’s bad feeling increased. While, he was smiling fondly at the idea of little Tony in a vampire or werewolf costume, now he was worried.
“Yes, he arrived in the room, saw me in the Sybella costume and ripped it from me. Jarvis and I were frozen in place while he was destroying my costume. He said that Halloween was for children and that I needed to man up and how no son of his would be seen with a girl’s costume and how much of a disappointment I was. Was it that bad that I liked that girl in the movie? He finished destroying the dress and then he gave me the bottle he had in his hand. I had my first drink that night, I was maybe twelve, thirteen years old…”
The tears came back somewhere in the middle of the story. When Tony finished, Steve brought him in a tighter hug and let the brunet cry for his lost childhood. The blonde could not believe that his old friend did that to his son, but the ripped dress on the floor and Tony’s pain were proof enough.
“I am so sorry Tony. You did not deserve that and no, it was not bad that you liked that Sybella girl.” Steve reassured while rubbing his friend’s back.
After some time, the brunet calmed down. The captain then had an idea.
“What do you say about watching the movie just the two of us?”
“What about the others? And Jan’s idea of giving candies?” Tony asked.
“I think they are able to take care of it without us. I want to see that movie Tony and as long as I am with you, then I am happy.”
“Ok, I haven’t seen that movie in years, it will be great to see it with you.”
The brunet was smiling softly, smile that Steve returned. That was what they did that night: cuddling in the sofa and watching Scooby-doo and the Ghoul School.