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The chill in the air feels like it’s seeping into Steve’s bones. He’d refused to wear a coat with his costume, which he’s paying for every second he’s out here. The only thing keeping him from going completely stiff and just falling over is the fact that he’s in constant motion, following the kids around as they go from door to door, asking for candy.
This wasn’t his original plan. He’d gotten this costume to match Robin. The first movie they ever watched together was Back to the Future. She’d been entirely too excited to dress as the crazy old scientist and practically shoved the orange puffer vest at Steve.
Then, like some sort of evil Halloween trickery, she’d been invited to a band-members-only Halloween party by none other than Vickie, and she let him down gently over the phone just hours before they were supposed to take their posse of dorky younger friends out for trick-or-treating.
Sometimes he hates being a responsible older brother figure to a bunch of freshmen he’s not even related to.
He doesn’t even like kids all that much. Trying to keep up with six fourteen-year-olds while there are other, smaller children running around is just about enough to give him a migraine. He grins and bears it, though.
After all, Halloween remains his favorite holiday… and he cares about the little shits, alright?
Various houses they walk by have their radios tuned to the holiday station. He’s heard the Ghostbusters theme about five times already, The Monster Mash maybe seven. Does no one have any appreciation for The Purple People Eater?
They’re heading down a dead-end street. It’s only a matter of time before they reach the end and ask Steve to guide them towards his own neighborhood, where people hand out full-size candy bars like a bunch of maniacs.
The moon is high up in the sky, just a sliver away from being full. The wind nips at his cheeks as he gazes up at the sky, barren tree limbs partially blocking his view. When he brings his attention back to the kids, he realizes, with a start, that he’s all alone at the end of the street.
The yellow sign telling him to turn around seems a bit too tempting. They’d been walking together; where the hell did the kids go?
He turns, just making sure they hadn’t stopped at the last remaining house and he’d just been too distracted by the moon to notice, but the woman at the door is grabbing her empty bowl and packing up for the night.
He walks up to her porch just as she’s starting to close the door.
“Sorry, ma’am. Did you see where the kids dressed like little fantasy characters went?”
She smiles confusedly at him, tilting her head. “I’ve seen a lot of those tonight, you’re gonna have to be specific, hon.”
“Uh,” Steve glances around, hoping he’d see at least one of them, but still, no luck. “One of ‘em has curly hair, he had a Viking helmet on? One was dressed like a wizard. Purple robe with stars, pointy hat, staff. Y’know, the works.”
“Did they have a knight with them?” She asks, her lips pursed. “An elf, a princess, and a, um, Michael Myers?”
Steve sucks in a relieved gasp. “Yes!”
She looks around, her concerned expression twisting into an amused smile. “It seems to me like they must be playing a prank on you, darlin’. They were the last ones to visit me. Cleared me right on out.”
She shows him her empty bowl.
“They gotta be around here somewhere, then,” Steve sighs. “Sorry to disturb you. Have a good night.”
“Good luck.” She smiles and ducks back inside her home, closing the door with a thunk.
Suddenly grouchy as hell, Steve turns and steps down off her porch. If the kids want to play stupid games, they can win stupid prizes. He takes off down the road, planning to pretend to leave without them until they get scared and come running back.
“Ungrateful ass kids,” He mutters, kicking a stray empty soda can off the road and into a ditch.
The road is nearly deserted before him. People are closing up for the night, and the stragglers are far ahead of him, making their way back to their own homes.
“Steve!”
His head whips to the side, staring into the treeline to his right.
“Will?” Steve shouts, eyes darting back and forth between the trees.
He could have sworn he heard the boy whisper his name, but he sees nothing. He nears the edge of the trees, hoping to catch a glimpse of the silver stars on Will's robes, but there’s nothing but darkness ahead.
He wishes he had brought a damn flashlight.
If it were any of the other kids, he wouldn't be giving this much of a shit (this is a lie), but because it's Will, he can’t help but waver.
Is this just a stupid prank, or is something really wrong? Or did the kids just talk him into doing this?
“Will, come on, man, we've gotta get a move on.” Steve steps further into the woods. “We won't make it to the king-size neighborhood before curfew.”
Behind him, giggles drift on the wind.
He startles and turns to look, but the trees on the other side of the road are just as empty.
“What the fuck,” Steve murmurs.
Down the road, everyone is gone. Porch lights slowly shut off as people settle in for the night, leaving only the flickering street lights to light the way.
Steve sucks in a sharp breath, chills racing down his arms, leaving goosebumps behind. On one hand, he could just stick to his plan and walk down the road until the kids decide it’s not fun anymore and come out of the woodworks, or there’s actually something wrong and he needs to go to their rescue.
“Fuck this shit,” Steve grumbles with a shake of his head.
He steps into the forest.
“I don't have a flashlight, and y'all know my vision is shit, so if I fall and break a bone, I will never forgive you little assholes!”
Leaves and rotten twigs crunch beneath his sneakers with every careful step he takes. The only light he has to go by is whatever trickles in from the yellowy-orange street lights. In the distance, he swears he makes out a figure with a horned helmet duck behind a tree.
“This isn’t funny, Dustin!” Steve calls, making his way toward the tree in question. “See if I ever give you a ride to the arcade again!”
Not his best threat, considering the kid has a bike, but Dustin has gotten incredibly used to the luxury of getting a ride instead.
Someone runs past him to his right, already out of sight before he can get a good look at them.
“I know that’s you, Lucas.” Steve squints, but he’s so far into the trees that there’s no hope of seeing anything.
“Steeeve…”
Steve twists around, eyes darting back and forth to no avail. “Max?”
“Steve!”
Hands land on Steve’s shoulders, and he immediately whips around and swings a fist at wherever the fuck his assailant’s face seems to be. They’re as tall as him, but they crumple down to the ground as soon as his fist slams into their nose.
“Jesus H Christ!” The stranger shouts in pain.
One by one, flashlights turn on as the kids come dashing through the woods, shouting all at once.
“Eddie!”
“What the fuck, Steve?”
“Holy shit!”
“Is he okay?”
“Good punch, honestly…”
All the lights converge on the crumpled figure on the ground. Eddie squints up at him with a wince, his hand held over his nose, blood seeping through his fingers.
“Everybody shut up!” Steve hisses, dropping down to his knees in front of Eddie. “Fuck.”
The idiot is dressed in all black, tangled up in a cloak with red lining. Steve pushes his hair out of his face and gently grasps Eddie’s hand where it’s covering his nose. He pulls it away to assess the damage and lets out a relieved sigh.
“It doesn’t look broken,” He murmurs, using his shirt sleeve to gently wipe away the blood. It’s one of his father’s old shirts that he’d found shoved in the back of his parents’ closet. He feels no guilt staining it with blood. “Let’s get you up.”
He takes both of Eddie’s hands in his and heaves him up off the ground. Once he’s up, Eddie immediately pinches his nose shut, wincing all the while.
“They told me you can’t fight,” Eddie grumbles as they stumble their way out of the woods. “But that was impressive.”
Steve scoffs and rolls his eyes. “Makes sense that the first successful punch I land is in pitch darkness.”
“Can I just say that we were offered three times more full-sized candy bars than we would have been able to get from Loch Nora?” Dustin pitches in, coming to walk on Steve’s other side.
“Shut up and go find El and Mike,” Steve snaps. “What the hell were you thinking, splitting up two to five?”
The kids all murmur some sort of apology before shuffling ahead and across the street to find their friends.
As soon as he and Eddie make it out of the trees, Steve drags him over to the nearest street light to get a better look at the damage.
Eddie smiles at him, blood staining his cracked lips. “Am I still pretty, Harrington?”
“Never looked better,” Steve mutters, grabbing Eddie’s chin to tilt it here and there, examining the swelling he caused. He blows out a low whistle. “Damn, I got you good, huh?”
Eddie laughs, and Steve notices, for the first time, that the man is wearing fake, pointy teeth.
“Gonna kiss it better?” Eddie murmurs, leaning into Steve’s space with a goofy leer.
Steve huffs a laugh, his heartbeat finally calming down. “I don’t know. Will you bite me if I do?”
“Only if you say please.” Eddie grins, his faux canines poking into his bottom lip.
Steve considers for a moment, looking between Eddie’s nose and his lips, and winces when he sees blood start to trickle out of his nostrils again.
“Ask me that in about ten minutes,” He says with a grimace, guiding Eddie’s hand back up to pinch his nose shut.