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“Okay, everyone!” Claudia exclaims as she skips into the B&B’s living room for breakfast, closely followed by Steve. “Who here has plans for Halloween?”
The shrugs and vague murmurs of “nothing yet” she gets as an answer are exactly what she was hoping for.
“Good!” She grins and claps her hands. “Now you do.”
“We do?” Pete repeats, raising his eyebrows questioningly.
“We all do”, Claudia confirms. “The local hospital is asking for volunteers to organize an impromptu trick-or-treat for the sick kids this year. Steve and I already put our names on the list, and you’re all coming with us too.”
“This is an excellent idea”, Helena comments, nodding to herself. “Do we need costumes?”
“Dude, duh ? It’s Halloween!”
“Alright, details”, Myka asks. “When does it start and what do we do exactly?”
“Strictly speaking, it’ll start at 6pm, but we’re going to set everything up during the afternoon if you wanna join. We’ll build tents in the halls and all; the kids will have to find them before they can ask for treats, it adds to the fun. You can either be a tent-owner for the night to give candies, or partner with someone to supervise a group of kids. Your choice.”
“Shouldn’t the hospital staff be in charge of supervising?” Artie remarks.
“They’ll stay with smaller groups of kids who require special medical attention, yes”, Steve answers. “The ones who are stuck there on Halloween for more benign reasons can be supervised by volunteers.”
“Do the tent-owners have to be in costume as well?” Artie asks hopefully.
“ Everyone will wear costumes”, Claudia asserts pointedly. “Come on, where’s your holiday spirit? We’re making this as fun for the kids as we can, end of story!”
“Fine, fine”, Artie grumbles.
“You can count on me, Claud’”, Myka promises, fighting a fond and amused smile.
“On me as well”, Helena agrees.
“On all of us, I think”, Leena finishes, speaking for the first time.
Claudia claps her hands excitedly. “Swell! Thanks, guys. Anyway, we also brought back donuts from Univille. Who wants donuts??”
Pete is already running to the trunk of the car before she’s finished her sentence.
*
“There’s only one small problem with Claudia’s plans for Halloween”, Myka sighs that evening as she and H.G. are getting ready for bed. “I have absolutely no costume idea.”
“Oh darling, don’t you worry”, Helena replies with a mischievous smile. “Leave the costume hunt to me. I’ll find you one.”
Myka looks at her with some slight apprehension. “Am I going to regret this?”
“Hopefully not.”
*
“Peeeeete”, Claudia calls out, searching for him in the Warehouse. “Come on, where are you, I need your expertise for my costume!”
“I’m here, I’m here!” he exclaims, rounding an aisle. “Wow, it seems that everyone wants to ask me for advice today – wait, is that what it’s like to be Myka?! Huh. It’s weird but nice. Anyway, what d’you wanna know?”
“I need to be sure I got the details right. Can I show you?”
“Sure! Go ahead.”
*
It’s the week before Halloween when Myka suddenly realizes that they’ve never mentioned the costumes again and asks Helena about it.
“I’m keeping it a secret”, H.G. simply answers.
*
Given that they all agreed to help set up the tents in the hospital during the afternoon, Claudia tells them to be ready to go by 2pm. Seeing as the trick-or-treating is going to be a surprise for the kids, they can’t very well be seen in costumes before it’s time, but since changing in the hospital wouldn’t exactly be ideal, the nurses gave them the idea to change beforehand and wear lab coats over their costumes to hide them until 6pm.
Which means that they have to get dressed at the B&B, soon after lunch.
Except Myka still has no idea what she’ll be wearing.
And she may or may not be getting a little nervous about it.
“Let me change first”, Helena simply replies when Myka mentions needing her outfit as they walk back upstairs to their room.
“Did you get us matching costumes or something?” Myka wonders aloud, frowning and desperate for a clue at this point.
“Or something”, H.G. repeats, flashing her a smile before she disappears into the bathroom.
She comes back a few minutes later, and Myka feels as if she just froze on the spot and was set on fire at the same time, unable to process the sight before her.
“I — Wow”, she nearly gasps, taking in H.G.’s new look. “You’re — ”
“I believe her name is Batgirl”, Helena supplies. “I was originally aiming for Batman before Pete revealed her existence to me.”
Myka blinks a few times rapidly, trying to force her brain to reboot after its short-circuit. “Wow”, she repeats, letting her eyes unabashedly trail over the skin-tight costume, “you look really, um — Wow.”
Helena smirks and lifts up her mask, revealing her face again. “At a loss for words, darling?” she teases, fully enjoying the effect she has on her girlfriend and striking up a pose for additional effect.
“I — ” Myka starts to defend herself, before an eerily familiar object in H.G.’s hand catches her eye and derails her train of thought. “Oh wait, is that…??”
Helena takes slow, purposeful steps forward as Myka fleetingly notes that Catwoman could have been a more accurate costume for her; but then H.G. is standing in front of her and looking at her like that and leaning forward slightly and maybe, just maybe , Myka forgets how to breathe for a second or two.
“You are still coveting my grappler”, Helena murmurs in her ear, voice low and breath hot against her hair.
Myka can’t control the shiver that runs down her spine.
“Admiring, as always, not coveting ”, she replies, a little breathless, mirroring her words from what feels like so long ago now. “Where does this one come from?”
“I built it recently to complete this costume”, Helena admits as she takes a small step back. “I always did say I would make another one, seeing as someone lost the original she had been entrusted with, and this was the perfect occasion.”
“I didn’t lose it”, Myka retorts a little childishly.
(The most unfortunate consequence of spending so much time with Pete over the years is without a doubt how much his behavior has started to rub off on her.)
“I know”, H.G. says, so suddenly serious again that it almost gives Myka the mental equivalent of whiplash. “You told me it saved your life. I’d build a thousand grapplers and let you break all of them if it meant keeping you safe and unharmed.”
All air leaves Myka’s lungs for the second time in a few minutes, albeit for a very different reason this time, and she marvels at how loved Helena always manages to make her feel even when she expects it the least.
“I’ll try not to break this one”, she jokes to take some weight off the situation.
“I’d appreciate it, thank you”, Helena replies on the same tone, her smirk taking back its place on her face. “Now, close your eyes.”
“Why?”
“You are not in costume yet, love.”
“And?” Myka asks warily.
H.G. stands her ground. “And I do not want you to see it beforehand.”
“You are not putting a costume on me until I know what it is”, Myka outright refuses, her eyes widening. “And I can get dressed on my own!”
Helena tilts her head to the side, looking back at Myka with the pleading expression that she knows her girlfriend can’t resist on her face. “Trust me?” she simply asks.
Myka huffs out a breath. “You wouldn’t be making such a mystery about this costume if you knew I was going to be fine with it.”
“Trust me”, Helena repeats, and Myka stops fighting what had always been a losing battle to begin with.
“Fine. But I might still say no once it’s on me”, she warns as she closes her eyes.
“You would have every right to”, H.G. agrees as she goes to get the costume from a locked drawer.
Myka resists the temptation to sneak a peek and undresses slowly instead, letting her arms fall back to her sides once she’s stripped down her underwear. Even though she knows it’s ridiculous – she’s been sleeping with Helena for months, for fuck’s sake, it’s not like they’ve never seen each other naked – , she still feels incredibly exposed as she waits there, unmoving, for whatever is going to happen next.
She’s surprised to feel hands running gently along her arms instead of lifting them to put them in whatever top she’s going to wear, and even more surprised when H.G. presses a lingering kiss just below her ear.
“Don’t be so tense”, Helena chastises gently. “It’s just me.”
For some reason, hearing the words said out loud finally makes Myka relax, and she wraps her arms around Helena to pull her close and draw comfort from her.
Except — Pleather.
H.G.’s pleather Batgirl costume against her bare skin.
That was a mistake .
Helena chuckles amusedly as she slips out of Myka’s embrace, but she has enough tact not to make any comment and begins to put the costume on her girlfriend instead.
By the time she’s done, Myka still has no single clue what she’s supposed to be dressed up as. She did try to guess from what she can feel of the clothes she’s now wearing, but to no avail. All she knows is that is seems to cover a lot less skin than she would have liked. And that there’s some sort of corset involved.
She’s going to kill H.G. sooner rather than later.
“Before you say anything”, Helena whispers, making Myka pivot so she’s in front of the mirror, “hear me out. You can open your eyes.”
Myka does so, slowly, blinking against the room’s light as it blinds her for a second.
“I know you don’t feel extremely comfortable in such an outfit”, Helena continues, hugging Myka from behind and putting her chin on her shoulder even though their height difference makes it awkward. “But we will be superheroes tonight, and I could not think of a more appropriate character for you. You are the Wonder Woman of this team just as much as mine; this costume is perfect for you. And you look incredible.”
(Myka briefly wonders how many times Helena is going to steal her breath away in one day and in how many ways exactly.)
She thinks about protesting. She really, really does.
But then she sees the look in Helena’s eyes. And she takes a second look at her costume.
It actually does look good on her, she has to admit. It’s not as revealing as it could have been – closer to the movie’s one than the comics’; practical over sexy – , and it makes her feel… something. Powerful, maybe. Enough to tame her unease, anyway.
She can do this. For Helena, for the kids, and also for herself. She did wear worse outfits that time she went undercover as a model, after all, and she wants to prove to herself that she can rock this costume too.
She can be bold.
Even if she still feels like she can’t compare with the ridiculously attractive Batgirl that’ll be at her side during the entire evening.
But she can be bold.
Turning in Helena’s arms, she captures her lips in an open-mouthed kiss, pressing insistently until H.G. moves past her surprise and answers in kind.
“That was a promise”, she murmurs against a dazed Helena’s mouth as she pulls away mere seconds later.
“A promise for what?”
“You’ll have to wait until tonight to know that”, Myka teases, biting her lips. “My turn to keep you wondering.”
She takes Batgirl’s grappler before she leaves the room.
The fact that Helena barely seems to notice it as she follows her down the stairs feels like some sort of victory.
*
They’re the last two to arrive in the B&B’s living room.
Myka doesn’t miss the warning look Helena sends Pete’s way as he takes in her costume, but she pretends she didn’t notice it. Instead, she focuses on figuring out who everyone else is dressed up as.
“Spiderman”, she lists, looking at Steve, “the Iron Shadow – of course”, she continues, not surprised in the least by Pete’s choice, “and I don’t think I know enough about comics to guess who the rest of you are.”
“Hawkgirl”, Leena supplies.
“Poison Ivy, duh, only the best redhead superhero ever!” Claudia exclaims. “You two look fantastic, by the way.”
“Alright, and who would Artie be?” Myka asks.
“Oh, he’s not a superhero”, Claudia answers, holding back laughter. “We all ended up choosing to be a superhero team after we apparently all went to Pete for advice, but I found Artie another costume since he didn’t want to search for one himself and he won’t be with the kids like us anyway.”
Indeed, Artie is the only one of them who chose to be a tent-owner instead of supervising a group, since – his words – “I already have to deal with children, and by children I mean all of you, every day of the rest of the year, I think I’ll take a break of that for once”. Everyone else partnered up, seeing as two adults were required for each group: Myka with Helena, obviously, Steve with Claudia, and Pete with Leena.
“I should have told you no for this evening”, Artie grumbles from where he’s sat at the other end of the room.
“Come on, Myka”, Claudia insists, openly grinning now, “can’t you figure it out just by looking at him?”
“Your sense of humor is oh so very mature”, Artie mutters.
It dawns on Myka somewhere during that sentence. “Oh no, Claud’, you didn’t — Did you dress him up as Grumpy ??”
“I did!” Claudia exclaims proudly, laughing to herself. “Look at him – isn’t it fitting?!”
“Sorry, Artie, but she has a point”, Myka replies, joining in on the laughter. “You are very in character right now.”
“And who would Grumpy be?” H.G. cuts in, confused.
“Grumpy? From Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs?” Claudia insists. “Oh, we really gotta catch you up on a century’s worth of culture. We’re so watching the movie tomorrow.”
“Are you planning an old Disneys marathon?” Pete enquires. “Because I’m in!”
Claudia snaps her fingers and points at him. “That’s an excellent idea. Disney marathon tomorrow, with popcorn. Everyone is welcome to join!”
“I’m in too”, Steve promises, “but we should really go now if we don’t want to be late.”
“Finally someone who says something sensible”, Artie grumbles as he gets up, arguably even grumpier than usual.
Everyone holds back laughter as they head for the cars.
*
Claudia catches Myka by the wrist and stops her before they get out of the B&B, pulling her into a hug.
“Just in case you don’t know that yet – you’re the best Wonder Woman ever”, she whispers in Myka’s ear, obviously aware of her lingering discomfort over the costume.
“And you’re the best little sister ever”, Myka answers, holding Claudia tighter as she feels a surge of affection rise inside of her.
*
They put on the sweatpants they brought with them before they enter the hospital, and the nurses also bring them the spare lab coats outside so there’s no risk they’ll be seen in costumes. After that, everything is a whirlwind as they set up almost twenty tents in the halls and corridors under the amused eye of the staff and patients they cross paths with.
By 5:30pm, they’re miraculously done. Artie leaves the rest of the group to go open the bags of candy in the tent that’s been attributed to him, and they head to the paediatric wing without him.
When they arrive, a nurse opens a service door for them; they slip inside to join a few other volunteers who have removed their lab coats and are already in costumes. They wait there for a few more minutes as the nurses gather the kids in the adjoining waiting room to explain to them that they’re going to get to go trick-or-treating after all, and then wait some more as the kids are given costumes that are easy to put on.
Finally, once everything is ready, they get their cue to enter: a rehearsed sentence that one of the nurses says loudly – “you’ll be in groups of six and you’ll have two adults with you at all time, but you’re otherwise free to search for the pretend-houses in the entire hospital”.
The superhero team are the first of the volunteers to walk inside the room.
The kids erupt in cheers and screams of joy.
“I’M WITH SPIDERMAN!” a boy shouts.
“TEAM WONDER WOMAN”, two little girls scream louder in unison.
Whatever regrets Myka had about accepting to wear this costume vanish instantly.
“I WANT TO BE WITH BATGIRL”, another girl demands, so excited she’s literally jumping up and down.
After that, there’s nothing but screams in the room until one of the nurses claps her hands and removes her lab coat to reveal a costume underneath it as well.
“Children, behave”, she scolds them gently. “Please get in groups of six without fighting each other.”
It takes a few minutes and some explanations about which supervisors will be paired up, but Myka and Helena do finally end up with five girls and a boy looking up at them with adoration. They set out into the corridors with purpose, chatting with them while trying to stay as in character as possible.
*
Helena takes the whole trick-or-treat mission seriously, determined to make this the kids’ best Halloween ever. She quickly positions herself as the leader of the group, nudging them in the right direction whenever they get close to a tent, and Myka doesn’t do much more than follow with a smile on her face.
None of the kids they’re supervising have restrictions when it comes to eating candy, so they start opening some of their gains after only a few minutes of trick-or-treating. Myka, who grabbed some Twizzlers in the first tent they went in, tries to chew them discreetly, but one of the little girls sees her anyway and calls her out on it.
“You’re eating Twizzlers!” she says excitedly. “They’re my favorite!”
“Don’t tell anyone”, Myka whispers conspiratorially and winks, “but they’re mine too.”
She’s pretty sure she just made the little girl’s day, and probably her entire week as well.
*
“You know”, another girl says thoughtfully half an hour later, “no one ever told me Wonder Woman and Batgirl are in love.”
Myka, even as her heart misses a bit and she freezes on the spot, curses herself inwardly. She really thought she was doing a much better job at hiding her giant heart eyes.
Helena, thankfully, saves the day smoothly as she pulls Myka into a side hug before pressing a lingering kiss on her cheek.
“They are now.”
*
At some point, the boy points out the grappler and asks about it, causing the girls to all press around Batgirl to see it better and Helena’s eyes to light up even more than they have all evening.
“I made it myself”, she reveals. “It’s my own superhero weapon.”
“You really built it alone?” the boy insists, in awe.
“I designed it, created the plans and built it myself, yes”, Helena confirms. “This is my second one. The first one was destroyed and lost saving Wonder Woman’s life – a superhero’s life is very dangerous, you know.”
Question upon question fill the air after that as they scour the hospital for the last tent they haven’t found yet, and Helena does her best to answer them all without giving anything away about their real identities and jobs.
Myka, as she has all evening, just spends most of her time watching Helena make this an unforgettable evening for the kids.
*
Right before they have to bring their group back to the paediatric wing, the girl who made the remark about Wonder Woman and Batgirl being in love pulls Myka aside to ask her a question.
“Are you two really together?”
She looks incredibly nervous and starts fidgeting as soon as the words are out of her mouth, so Myka hurries to reassure her.
“Yes, we are.”
“Do you think I’ll have a girlfriend too one day?” she asks then, with a small and insecure voice that breaks Myka’s heart.
“Of course you will”, she promises. “And she’ll make you as happy as Batgirl makes me.”
“Can I hug you?”
Wonder Woman crouches down and opens her arms.
*
Myka steals the grappler again as soon as they’re back to the B&B.
“Will I have to build a third one?” H.G. enquires as they walk up the stairs to their shared room, daring Myka to answer in the negative with a knowing smirk.
“It all depends whether you want one for yourself or not”, Myka retorts innocently.
“You are coveting it and stealing it this time then”, Helena laughs as she opens the door.
“Yes”, Myka admits once they’re inside, past trying to pretend that it’s not her intention at this point. “But right now”, she adds, whirling around and backing H.G. against the door, “I’m rather coveting you .”
“Is that so?” Helena replies, voice husky and definitely a little breathless.
Myka gives up keeping any semblance of control over herself then. She spent the whole afternoon and evening reining in her thoughts, forcing herself not to notice how incredibly attractive her girlfriend is in this Batgirl get-up while they were with the kids, but the amount of flirting that was directed at her during the drive back quickly reminded her of what her promise to Helena is exactly.
The first kiss is messy. It’s full of pent-up frustration and desire, Myka pressing H.G. against the door as want shoots through her, and both their eyes are fully darkened by the time it ends.
“Do you remember my promise?” she whispers before she steps back, Helena following her as if pulled by an invisible rope she wasn’t even conscious of.
“The one you wouldn’t tell me about?”
“The one I’m going to tell you about now”, Myka promises, looping her fingers through Helena’s belt and pulling their bodies flush together again.
She’s bold today; bold tonight.
She used to be this bold always, before Helena came along and made her feel like a stupid schoolgirl with a crush on a near-permanent basis.
For once, though, she’s the one taking control of their flirting.
“You put me in this costume”, she murmurs against her girlfriend’s lips, pulling away teasingly when H.G. tries almost desperately to kiss her again. “And now? Now, you’re going to get me out of it.”
Helena doesn’t need to be told twice.