Who: (Tinker)Belle and Frank Hardy When: Halloween Where: Joe and Frank’s place What: Trick or Treating Rating/Warnings: Low/None Status: Complete when posted
About a week ago, Belle had a dream that she was a Tinker Fairy. Her friends all called her Tink, and she made things out of screws, nuts and bolts. Along with tree sap, twigs and leaves. Sometimes berries. She was damn good at her job, and it was exciting to finally know what her Dreams were going to be. Even though it made her feel a little guilty. Some people were Dreaming about vampires or Zombies or whatever, and here Belle was, dreaming about being a six inch tall fairy.
She decided to let herself be excited about it. She’d posted on the net, and owned it. Even her Halloween costume was indicative of that--she’d gone with green fairy... and worn the skimpy outfit with pride. Thankfully, Tink had the night off on Halloween, so she’d gone to work in the morning, then come home just after lunch. She’d been up raiding the night before, and was exhausted.
That is, until she took a mid-to-late-afternoon nap. And when she woke, she rolled over onto a pair of wings The kind that she controlled--that were attached to her back. There was all kinds of squealing and freaking out in her bedroom. Belle--wondering if she should just swallow her pride and go with “Tink” since… well--found a raincoat in her closet. She put it on over her wings, tucking them inside, and headed out.
At first she was gonna to go the garage to see Joe--maybe he could help her make sense of this?--but then she decided to head straight to his place. Along the drive, she started listening to the six o’clock hour of “commercial free radio” and started wondering if Frank would be there. She wondered what she might do if Frank was there. It only took a few minutes to get to their place, and Belle headed to the door to knock.
Frank had been fighting some form of a bug for the past week. Considering his fellow Valarnet folks seemed to be fighting yet another supernatural virus, he decided that a lingering sore throat was nothing he could complain about. Publically, at least. At home was another story...or it would have been if Joe had been more than a ghost himself this past week. Normally, Frank would have pestered his brother to find out what exactly was going on, but he himself had been laid up in bed being miserable when he was not busy being miserable at work. The weekend had helped and although he was now mostly over the cold, Frank had decided to take his work home for a bit of extra rest just in case. Okay, it was less just in case and more the fact that it was Halloween.
It was the brothers’ first Halloween in California and Frank had always loved the holiday. He had spent the weekend decorating the apartment, which now sported a great number of spiderwebs and spooky silhouettes in the windows. A variety of tombstones also littered the floor by the walls, each with names such as “Anita Newhart”, “Bach Agenn”, “Clara Voince”, and “Eileen Dover Cliff”.
He was not sure if the apartment complex would have many trick or treaters, but he had bought a good amount of candy just in case. Actual candy, mind you. None of that cheap nonsense that people buy just to put something out for the kids; Reece’s instead of those cheap half-stale peanut butter toffees. Frank was a firm believer in proper Halloween candy. After all, the ones who would be eating all the leftovers would be him and Joe.
Speaking of Joe, it was about time for him to be making his way home from the garage. Two large pumpkins sat on top of the kitchen table, waiting to be carved. In the meantime, Frank got ready to greet the trick or treaters. Having lost prime costume-making time, Frank had been at a loss until the care package had arrived with a very familiar red and white knit cap. From there he had managed to throw together a matching long sleeved shirt, jeans, and a pair of fake round glasses.
He was searching the apartment for a cane or a long umbrella when there was a knock on the door. It was a bit early, but Frank grabbed the large skull-shaped bowl full of candy. The goofy smile on his face widened to a grin when he saw who was on the other side. “Belle!” He stepped to the side, inviting her in. “Happy Halloween!”
“Heeeeyyyyy,” Belle said, stepping through the doorway into the Hardys’ Apartment. She remembered vividly how it felt to have Frank's eyes on her when she was wearing naught but a pair of purple, cotton, hip-hugger panties. Actually, it felt kinda good. She grinned over at him, hair up in a bun on the top/back of her head, raincoat covering her skimpy, fairy costume. She probably looked like a flasher. “Happy Halloween! Have you had many trick or treaters?”
Without thinking too much on it, acting completely on impulse, Belle reached forward to hug Frank. Belle wasn't a big hugger. She was too awkward for that. But tonight she just… wanted one.
If Frank was surprised at the hug, he did not show it. After being friends with one Anna of Arendelle for so many months, he had accepted hugging as a normal way of saying hello out in California. Careful not to upset the large bowl of candy, he returned the hug with his free arm. He had long stopped being contagious, and it was nice to get a visit from a friend. A female friend. A very, definitely female friend.
Frank blamed the further clearing of his throat on that lingering tickle that refused to go away and let her go so that he could close the door. “Not yet. You’re the first person I’ve seen today, actually. I’m not entirely sure the complex allows trick-or-treating, but I figured I would stock up just in case.” The bowl returned to its spot on the small table by the door and Frank’s hands slipped casually into his pockets. “So what are you supposed to be? I was going to guess a superhero in disguise, but the lack of spandex tights ruled that out.” His eyes gave her a once-over as he racked his brain for characters who wore trench coats. So far, Dick Tracy was the only one that came to mind, but her bare legs ruled that out. Not that he was looking at her legs, of course. Just...Tracy wore pants. That’s all.
“Can’t hurt to stock up on the good stuff,” Belle said, reaching over into the bag to pull out one of the mini packs of Skittles. She gave it a little tug, the wrapper crinkling under her fingers, and grinned up at him. “Oh! That’s what I’m here for, is--” Then she stopped herself from asking if Joe was around. “Is this a good time to… um…” She turned to head further into the apartment, feeling nervous now. Giddy. She was stretching out the moment.
Then she pulled the jacket down off her shoulders, and let it fall to the floor. Her wings unfurled from under it, sparkling and beautiful. She turned to glance at him over her shoulder and through the left one. “Look what I woke up with!”
For as long as he could remember, Frank had always been proud of his observational skills. He had always been good at finding hidden objects and clues. Hell, even his current Halloween costume had been chosen straight from one of many such books he had coveted as a kid. So when Belle took off her coat, the first thing he should have noticed were the pair of very non-human wings protruding from her back. But for all the world, the only thing he could think of was, Damn. I should’ve dressed up as Peter Pan instead.
His mind and face were blank for another beat as his overly-observational eyes filed away her rather revealing green sparkly dress (and shoved back the corresponding memory of a pair of purple panties). Then, he was grinning. “Wings! Good night! You’re a real live fairy here now, too.” Frank could not help but be happy and excited for her. “Can you fly with those? They look rather delicate.” Especially since he could literally see through them. Eager for the distraction, he started to do the calculations for how strong Belle’s wings would need to be to support her weight.
“I am!” Tink said, and gave a little spin. She flapped her wings, gave a little flutter, but didn’t do much besides moving air around the room. “God, I love being a fairy. They just showed up! Just like, an hour ago. I had to tell someone, so I came here. I don’t know how I’m going to hide them under my clothes, but… I’m so happy.”
She spun around, and flapped again, but didn’t leave the ground. It was weird to have wings but not pixie dust. “No, they don’t work unless they have pixie dust. It flows from a tree in the middle of Pixie Hollow. If I had pixie dust I could fly. I could help you fly. I could float inanimate objects in mid-air.” She sighed. “But no pixie dust. Sad face.”
“You make a great fairy.” Frank said sincerely. It was obvious that Belle was having a blast with her wings, even without the flying aspect. “Pixie dust, huh? That sounds familiar, actually…” It reminded him again of Peter Pan, except for the fact that Belle wasn’t named Tinkerbell. He had also never heard of Pixie Hollow. The nosy reporter side jotted the information down for later. It was not wrong to look up someone’s possible Dream worlds, was it? Besides, he already knew of one Disney character running around the OC, so it stood to reason that there could be others.
“You managed to cover your wings with the coat...do they fold down?” Frank scratched his chin as he debated the proposed problem of clothing. Certainly her current outfit did nothing to cover them. In fact, it seemed to bare a good amount of her back and accommodated the wings nicely. Dark eyes traveled slowly down her back, considering. “Was it uncomfortable to fold your wings like that? Or driving with them folded, for that matter.”
“Yeah! I can fold them in. Well, I mean, I sort of had to? I couldn’t exactly go around like this, could I?” And she turned back to him, grinning brightly. It was obvious that Tink was thrilled about her wings, and she’d been super nervous to show them to her friends. To Frank, really. But for some reason, she’d just… gone with it. She’d just followed that impulse as soon as she had it. Not even thinking about whether or not it was a good idea.
“I’ve got some sensation in them, but not a lot. Almost like fingernails.” Then her nose crinkled up, and she shook her head. “That sounds weird.”
Frank had just started reaching out to touch her the wings when Belle turned back around. He quickly pulled his hand back and stuffed it into his pockets once more. “I’m not sure there’s a normal baseline when it comes to this.” He pointed out. Every day it seemed this place was proving that ‘weird’ was more ‘normal’ than anything else. “I doubt you’re the first person who’s had to deal with something like this, so it couldn’t hurt to check Valarnet to see what kinds of options you have.”
Belle saw Frank tuck his hands quickly into his pockets, but didn’t think too much of it. He was just… putting his hands away. Though, a part of her wished that his hands would reach forward and touch her skin. It was a desire she wasn’t sure how to act on. And she would have, if she wasn’t so awkward. “Yeah, I should do that.” She said, nodding, but she didn’t want to be on the computer. Not on a night like this. Not when she had wings to play with.
“But we should do something fun! I can check Valarnet later.” Belle moved forward and wrapped her hand around the crook of his elbow. The touch sent an electric spark through her, and she flushed. Had he felt that, too? “It’s Halloween. Are you busy? Do you want to… do something?”
“Something fun?” Frank gave her a wry look. He thought briefly about asking if Belle wanted to go out and help him investigate the strange thief he had been following last night. The hand on his arm made him reconsider. It was almost like he could feel the warmth of her skin through the cloth. Yeah, he probably should not ask the pixie with a short dress to go running across town chasing after someone that may or may not show up. Besides, those shoes were probably not made for sprints.
Back home, he probably would have been at a Halloween party at one of his friend’s houses. Here, although the brothers had made some friends, everyone seemed to have his or her own plans for the holiday. Frank figured it was a California thing. “Well, I’d like to say I’m busy passing out candy, but the truth is, I don’t think any kids are actually going to show up tonight.” He admitted sheepishly. The kids should have already started to knock on the door in the last hour, but none had come.
Besides, if a cute girl asks to go out and do something fun, it would be very ungentlemanly to say no.
“Alright! Let’s go.” Careful not to unlock their arms, Frank grabbed his keys and stepped back to stand beside Belle. “Off to find something fun.”