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“Baba! I got my Halloween costume!” Wes yelled as he ran into the kitchen to show his parent.
“Oh my goodness, look at that!” Waverly said, bending down to lift Wes into their arms, “You are gonna make such a cool Iron man aren’t you?”
“Yeah!” Wes said with a smile, “I wanna go try it on!”
“Alright buddy,” Waverly said, putting Wes down on the ground and letting him run upstairs.
Waverly turned toward the doorway and smiled, seeing their beautiful wife leaning against the wall.
“Hi you,” Waverly said as Nicole walked further into the room to kiss them.
“Hi” Nicole said, placing her hands on Waverly’s hips, “How was your day?”
“It was good. I got to dissect something,” Waverly said with a smile.
“Oh, then the day was perfect I guess,” Nicole said.
“Pretty much,” Waverly said before leaning in for another kiss, “How was he at daycare?”
“Good. His teacher says he’s finally started asking to go to the bathroom instead of just holding it.”
“Oh thank God. That was getting ridiculous.”
“I know. Hopefully that’s fully behind us now.”
“Look at me!” Wes yelled as he ran down the stairs, “I’m Iron man!”
“You look so great buddy!” Nicole said, lifting him up.
“Thanks,” Wes said, giving Nicole a hug, “What are you and Baba gonna dress up as?”
“Oh, thank you for reminding me,” Nicole said, putting Wes back on the ground before retrieving a couple of items she had set down in the living room. She walked back holding two costumes in her hands, “We’ve got a nice couple’s costume here I think.”
“It’s Spider-man and Spider-Gwen!” Wes said excitedly.
“Oh wow…that’s so great,” Waverly said, looking a little nervous for a moment, “Um…which one is mine?”
“This one,” Nicole said, handing Waverly the Spider-man costume.
“Okay cool,” Waverly said, letting out a small sigh of relief.
“You okay?” Nicole asked, clearly not realizing what had caused Waverly anxiety.
“Yeah I’m fine,” Waverly said with a smile.
Just then, Wynonna came bursting through the back door.
“Hello shit heads!”
“Wynonna!” Waverly and Nicole yelled at the same time as Wes began giggling.
“What? It’s not like he hasn’t heard it before!”
“That doesn’t mean you should be saying it all the freaking time!” Waverly insisted.
“Okay okay,” Wynonna said, “Hey are those your Halloween costumes?”
“Yeah! Baba’s Spider-man and Mommy’s Spider-Gwen!”
“And you’re Iron man? You beautiful little Marvel family!” Wynonna said with a laugh, “Why don’t you guys go try those on? Then I can see the Marvel family in action.”
“Sure, let’s go,” Nicole said, walking towards the door.
“And when I say ‘try the costumes on,’ I mean ‘try the costumes on!’ No funny business!” Wynonna called after them.
“You got it Wynonna,” Nicole said with a laugh.
Once the pair made it upstairs, they started changing out of their clothes, honestly with the intention of putting the costumes on, but Waverly simply couldn’t help it. Every time they saw their wife they were sure she had gotten just a little more beautiful than the last time.
“Damn,” Waverly said with a smirk.
“What?” Nicole asked, now standing in just her uniform pants and a bra.
“You are looking mighty fine right now Sheriff Haught.”
“Oh am I?” Nicole asked as Waverly slowly made their way over, placing their hands on Nicole’s hips.
“You most certainly are,” Waverly said before slowly leaning in, kissing their wife softly, but just as passionately as ever. Just as Waverly started pushing Nicole towards the bed, they heard a banging sound on the floor.
“NO FUNNY BUSINESS!” they heard Wynonna yell.
“Oh my God,” Waverly said, “What if we just hide that damn broom and never tell her where it is?”
“Then she’d go out and get a new one,” Nicole responded.
“True…why don’t we get back to this later tonight?” Waverly asked.
“Sounds good to me,” Nicole said, giving Waverly a quick peck before going back to changing into her costume.
Once Waverly was in their costume, they felt very confident. They loved the way it looked and they loved how powerful they felt. But then they felt an all too familiar tightness in their chest when they realized how prominent their chest looked.
"Look at you so sexy!" Nicole said once she looked at Waverly, who did their best to force a smile, "Do you not like it?" Nicole asked, seeing right through Waverly.
"Yes, yeah, of course I do," Waverly insisted.
"You're sure?" Nicole asked.
"Absolutely," Waverly said, holding out their hand for Nicole to take so they could walk downstairs together.
"You guys look so good!" Wynonna said.
"Thanks," Waverly said, still forcing their smile.
"Let me get a picture of the three of you together!" Wynonna said, taking out her phone.
The trio all stood together, doing one picture with superhero poses and one with Waverly and Nicole crouching down together to smile at the camera with Wes.
“What’s Alice dressing up as?” Waverly asked once all the pictures were taken.
“She is dressing as a doctor,” Wynonna replied.
“Oh cute! And what are you and Doc dressing as?”
“Doc is going to dress as a gunslinger and I will be dressing as a woman who likes leather jackets.”
“Oh come on! That’s cheating!” Nicole insisted.
“Yeah! Even Jeremy is dressing up as Michael Myers! You guys have to dress up!” Waverly said.
“I don’t know what to tell you guys,” Wynonna said with a smile.
“Oh my God,” Waverly said, shaking their head and looking down, a decision they instantly regretted, “Um…I’m gonna go change out of this. I don’t wanna spill anything on it.”
“Okay,” Nicole said as Waverly made their way upstairs.
“These pictures are so cute,” Wynonna said, showing her phone to Nicole.
“Aww, that’s adorable.”
“Although…I’m sure I’m reading too much into it but does Waverly’s smile seem a little forced to you?” Wynonna asked.
“Yeah. Yeah it does. I noticed that earlier too. Do you think they don’t like the costume?”
“I don’t know. I figured they’d have just said so if that was the case,” Wynonna responded.
“Yeah me too,” Nicole said, “I think there’s something more going on.”
“I noticed…I mean I didn’t think much of it but…they went to change after looking down…like at their chest. Do you think that could be something?” Wynonna asked.
“I don’t know. They’ve never mentioned anything about dysphoria,” Nicole said.
“They also went 30 years without mentioning anything about not feeling like a woman,” Wynonna added.
“Yeah…yeah that’s true,” Nicole said, already formulating a plan in her head, “I guess I’ll go change too.”
Once Nicole made her way into the bedroom, she found Waverly standing next to the bed, in jeans and a plain t-shirt, looking down at the costume in their hands.
“Hey,” Nicole said, going to rest her hand on Waverly’s back, “You okay?”
“Yeah,” Waverly said softly before sitting down on the bed, “So I was thinking we could eat dinner at around 5:30, head into town at around 6:00, and let the kids trick or treat for about an hour.”
“Yeah…yeah that sounds good,” Nicole said, now knowing for sure that her spouse was hiding something.
~~~
Finally, it was Halloween night. All the decorations were up, there were a few bags of candy that Nedley would be handing out, given that he didn’t really want to go trick or treating with everyone. That amount of kids would have overwhelmed him a bit. Fear Street was all cued up and ready for the adults to watch once the kids went to bed. Waverly had made a slightly less healthy dinner than usual, wanting everyone to enjoy the day as much as they could, especially the kids.
“Baba! I finished my food. Can I go change?” Wes asked after only about five minutes of everyone sitting down together to eat.
“You sure got through that fast. You must be pretty excited,” Waverly said with a laugh, “Go ahead buddy.”
“Can I go change too Mom?” Alice asked.
“Go for it kid,” Wynonna said before Alice scrambled off towards the barn.
The adults all slowly enjoyed their meals, partly because they didn’t feel the need to rush, and partly because it was entertaining to have the kids beg them to hurry up. Finally, they all finished and Waverly and Nicole got up to change into their costumes.
“Oh by the way,” Waverly said, “Wynonna and Doc, the two of you will find a couple’s costume that Nicole and I provided on your bed.”
“Yes. It’s not too different from what you usually wear. Have fun!” Nicole said before she and Waverly quickly made their way upstairs, giggling.
Nicole began changing into her costume, and noticed that Waverly seemed to be rather reluctant to start changing into theirs.
“Honey?”
“Yeah?” Waverly asked once they started taking off some of their clothes.
“I got something the other day that I thought you might want to add to your costume,” Nicole said going over to her bedside table, “If you don’t want it and I completely misread the way you were acting, that’s totally fine. Just tell me. It’s all good. But if you do want it and maybe feel embarrassed by it, please don’t. There’s absolutely nothing to be embarrassed about. I just want to support you.”
Waverly tentatively took the item that Nicole handed them, and turned it around to see what the packaging was labeled as.
“A binder,” Waverly said softly.
“Yeah,” Nicole said after a moment. She stood there silently, waiting for Waverly to say more. When they didn’t say anything, Nicole got nervous, “D-Do you want it?”
Waverly laughed softly.
“How do you do that?”
“Do what?”
“See right through me?”
Nicole laughed softly before slowly approaching and placing her hands on Waverly’s shoulders.
“Because I am madly, desperately, in love with you, and I know when you’re suffering. Even if you don’t want anyone to know it.”
Waverly smiled and softly kissed Nicole.
“Thank you,” they said.
“You’re welcome,” Nicole said before ruffling Waverly’s short hair, “I’ll be downstairs.”
Once Nicole was out of the room, Waverly stripped out of their clothes before taking the binder out of the packaging. They pulled it over their head and let it settle over their chest. They put on their costume, and slowly looked down at their chest.
Waverly’s breath caught when they saw their chest. The flatness was something they didn’t know they wanted, but now that they saw it they didn’t understand how they didn’t know it all along. Carefully, they placed their hands over their chest, closed their eyes, leaned their head back, and sighed, feeling more content than ever before.
They made their way downstairs, ready to give Nicole a grateful hug, but instead, they just burst out in laughter.
Standing in the living room, looking equally upset, were Wynonna and Doc. Doc was in a Woody costume, and Wynonna was in a Jessie costume, complete with a red yarn wig.
“Shut up!” Wynonna said to Waverly as Nicole excitedly took a bunch of pictures on her phone. Meanwhile, Rachel and Billy, who were dressed as Emily and Victor from The Corpse Bride , had just walked in and were laughing harder than Waverly.
“You look so good!” Nicole said through her laughter.
“I’m being a good sport. Do you really want to ruin that?” Wynonna asked.
“No, you’re right, I’m sorry,” Nicole said, before she took one last picture.
Nedley took pictures of everyone like a mom whose kid was going to prom. He took pictures with Waverly, Nicole, and Wes. Then he took pictures with Wynonna, Doc, and Alice, followed by Rachel and Billy, then he took pictures of all of them together.
“Have fun all of you!” Nedley said as the group made their way out the door. Wynonna and Doc made their way into Wynonna’s truck, Waverly took Rachel and Billy in their jeep, and Nicole took the kids in her cruiser. They made a brief stop at Jeremy’s house, with him joining Waverly, before they made their way into town ready for trick or treating.
The town looked incredible. Everyone had gone all out this year. There were giant spiders, cauldrons, ghosts, plenty of spider webs, and more pumpkins than Waverly had seen before. Wes found himself clinging to Waverly pretty quickly, never having been around this many people before, so Waverly quickly scooped him up into their arms.
“Shall we go undercover Mr. Stark?” Waverly asked.
“Yeah!” Wes said with a smile as he pulled his mask over his face, copying Waverly with their mask.
Waverly liked keeping the mask on now that they had the binder. It felt nice to know that no one knew who they were, so no one was treating them any differently given that they had a flat chest. They only briefly revealed themself when they made it to Freddy’s flower shop.
“Hey Waves!” Freddy said once Waverly pulled their mask up.
“Hey Freddy! Love the costume. Very meta,” Waverly said in reference to Freddy’s actual werewolf costume.
“Thanks. I thought it’d be fun,” Freddy said with a laugh, “Now, I’ve been giving everyone one piece of candy, but I think Tony Stark should get two.”
“Thanks!” Wes said excitedly.
“You’re very welcome. Enjoy.”
Waverly made their way back out of the store, pulling the mask over their face once again.
They were having trouble locating their group until they heard Nicole’s voice.
“Has anyone seen an adult Spider-man and a little Iron man?” she sounded a little nervous, so Waverly quickly made their way over to their wife.
“Boo,” Waverly said quietly once they made it to Nicole.
“There you are!” Nicole said, taking Wes into her arms.
“Sorry we broke away for a bit.”
“That’s okay. I just wanted to make sure you guys were all good.”
“We’re great!” Wes said, “I got so much candy!”
“You did? Well that is very exciting because we’re still gonna be out here for another 15 minutes! Why don’t you go over to your sister and Billy and stick with them for a while?” Nicole said, pointing Rachel out for Wes to see.
“Okay!” Wes said as Nicole placed him back down on the ground. Nicole and Waverly didn’t take their eyes off of him until he was safely with Rachel and Billy. Billy held his candy bag for him so he and Rachel could each hold his hands.
“How are you?” Nicole asked, putting her arm around Waverly’s waist.
“I’m doing good,” Waverly said, “I’m having fun.
“Good…but I mean in reference to…”
“Oh! It’s amazing. It feels so great. Better than I was expecting.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah.”
“I’m glad,” Nicole said, kissing Waverly’s masked forehead, “Do you wanna talk about it more at home?”
“Sure,” Waverly said as they caught up with the rest of the group.
In the 15 more minutes everyone was there, Wes and Alice’s bags were overflowing with candy. Nicole and Waverly helped them both by carrying the candy that wouldn’t fit in their masks.
The car ride home was very peaceful, given that Alice and Wes were worn out from all the walking. Nicole did her best to savor it, knowing the sugar rush that was soon to come.
Within ten minutes of being home, Wes and Alice were running around the house, screaming and laughing. The adults found it funny, but they were more than happy when the sugar crash finally came, bringing Alice and Wes to bed.
Everyone else was about half way through Fear Street , very much enjoying it, before the tightness in Waverly’s chest came back. But they knew this wasn’t from anxiety or dysphoria.
“I think I need to go change,” they whispered to Nicole.
“Do you need help?” Nicole asked, receiving a small nod from Waverly and a wince of pain, “We’ll be right back guys. We just want to change out of our costumes really quick.”
“Boo! You’re no fun!” Wynonna said.
“Break out the candy! We’ll keep the Halloween spirit alive!” Nicole said, referring to the extra bag of candy that was bought just for the adults to enjoy.
Safely in their bedroom, Nicole had Waverly sit on the edge of the bed. She helped them out of the suit before having them lift their arms over their head. She carefully helped pull the binder off of them before discarding it on the ground. She ran her fingers over the marks left on their back, hoping to provide some comfort.
Waverly placed their arms over their chest. Now that they knew the comfort of the binder, they didn’t want to be without it. They slowly hunched over and began crying quietly. Nicole sat down next to them, pulling their head into her lap. She slowly rubbed their back and ran her fingers through their hair.
After a few minutes, once they had calmed down, Nicole knelt down in front of them so she could look them in the eye.
“What’s going on in there?” she asked.
“I didn’t realize how much I needed it,” Waverly said softly.
“I know. You can put it back on tomorrow though. You have to give yourself time to rest.”
“But what if…what if this is something that I want permanently?”
“Then we’ll take the steps we need to in order for that to happen.”
“But…never mind.”
“No hey. Tell me,” Nicole said.
“You’re…you’re a lesbian…”
“I am,” Nicole said.
“What if you’re not…what if you’re not attracted to me anymore?” Waverly asked as a few tears fell from their eyes.
“Hey now. Remember what I said to you when you came out?” Nicole asked, Waverly shaking their head in response, “I told you that I was always gonna love you as long as nothing in your heart changed. Okay? Waverly I’m gonna love you as long as you are your most authentic self. I’ve seen how happy it makes you. I’ve seen how confident it makes you. And there is nothing sexier than a confident Waverly Earp.”
Both of them took a moment to laugh before Nicole spoke again.
“Waverly, if this is something that you want, then it’s something I want. And nothing about this is going to make it so I am not attracted to you anymore. I promise.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah.”
Waverly smiled and slowly leaned in, softly kissing Nicole before wrapping their arms around her in a crushing hug. Nicole used that hug to convey all the love she felt for the incredible person in her arms, and did her best to let them know that she was never going to stop loving them. Ever.