Avengers Imagines Book

Happy Halloween... On Strike?

(Pretend I posted this on halloween and not almost a week later lmao)

You always had the perfect answer for the question, "What word describes you best?" And that answer was, "Dedicated." If you truly wanted something done, then by god you were getting it done. Nothing could stop you.

Halloween was no exception. Steve thought the costume-making process was stressing you out too much (to be fair, he found you in the middle of the night sobbing over rhinestones). He tried to offer help. Even Tony Stark tried to offer to buy you the original costume.

But you refused. You were gonna hand-make this western-Barbie look and you were gonna like it. Maybe not the process, but definitely the final product.

Slowly but surely, from the beginning of August to now in October, you slaved away at that beautiful hot pink demon. It was a hard, grueling process that left you in tears many nights of the week.

But it happened.

"YES IT IS FINISHED!" Your screamed was echoing throughout the entire compound.

Almost instantly, Steve was running in. "You finished the costume?" he asked, nearly as excited as you. Now, the stress would be put behind you.

You nodded enthusiastically. "Yep! After many, horrid, sleepless nights, my western-Barbie is ready to go! It certainly helped that I had quite literally nothing going on."

The extra time you were able to dedicate to this costume making process came from the fact that you had no job. Well, no work more specifically. You were an actress, a member of SAG-AFTRA. And for almost a hundred days now, they've been on Strike.

The extra time was very helpful. When you weren't picketing, you were costume-making and hanging out with your delicious boyfriend and his coworkers/teammates. You knew you were a rare case in this situation, and were lucky to have enough of a support system and be moderately famous enough to be okay with striking for a while.

A lot of your coworkers and other film set crew members, however, weren't. So you fought the good fight. Tony pitched in to help as well, even offering the Avengers up for the fundraising SAG-AFTRA was doing.

Then, the devastating news struck.

"NO!"

Another screech that had Steve running to where you were. "What is it? What's wrong?" he asked, not even out of breath from running to where you were.

There were tears streaming down your face and you were clutching your phone in your hand. Steve could barely make out a yellow something on the screen. "SAG-AFTRA just announced that, for Halloween, all members aren't allowed to wear costumes from any struck productions."

Steve was lost. He sat down next to you and said, "I have no idea what that means, babe."

You chuckled a little bit then wiped some of the tears off your face. "Well, there are 'struck' studios right now, like Netflix and Disney and Paramount. So, what they're saying is members aren't allowed to wear costumes from any movies or TV shows from those companies. Warner Bros is a struck studio, and..."

"They made Barbie so you can't wear your costume," Steve finished for you, having put the pieces together.

You sniffed and kept trying to wipe your face. "I don't want to be a SCAB, because I support the cause but... it just sucks they waited this long to tell us this."

Steve pulled you into his arms and let you cry for a bit. It was good, because he needed a minute to scheme.

After he left you to rest, he did a bit of research. There weren't a lot of loopholes in the "rules" for Halloween. Even themed parties weren't allowed. So, his best bet came with the hopeful end of the strike and some excellent planning from Tony.

It took a couple more weeks, but negotiators finally came to an agreement, and the Actor's Strike was officially over. You were excited that demands were being met for better residual pay and protection from AI for actors. But every now and then, you'd see the costume you worked so hard on and get sad again.

Sure, there was next year, but the Barbie novelty will have faded by then and some other movie will take the holiday by storm. Maybe you'd get the chance.

What you didn't know, was Steve had been planning since he found you brokenhearted. And now, the plan was in motion. Tony loved to throw parties, so Steve had the easiest solution.

"Hey babe?"

You hummed turning to look back your incredible boyfriend, who was also an amazing cuddle buddy, let's be real.

"I have a surprise for you."

"Oh?" The two of you sat up and leaned against the headboard. The early morning sunbeams were cutting through a slit in the curtain.

Steve shrugged and had a cute grin on his face. "I may or may not have gotten Tony to throw a party tonight. A themed party. A Barbie themed party."

Seeing your entire face light up made everything worth it. You pulled Steve into a tight hug. "Steve, you are literally the best."

"I know," he said, his cute grin turning a bit smug. Of course, it wasn't like he didn't deserve to be smug.

By the time the party started later that night, closer to seven, you were ready to go. Nat helped you with putting the blonde Barbie style wig on since she was used to wearing wigs for SHIELD.

From the white cowgirl hat down to the pink outfit and finally to the white boots, you were ready to go.

"What do you think?" You twirled for Steve to see. This was the first time you put the full costume on.

He smiled. "You look fantastic. What do you think of me?" Steve copied your move, doing a twirl of his own to show off his western Ken look. No, you didn't make it because you had been so swamped, but he was perfectly fine buying one. Plus, he purposefully wanted you to shine.

"I think you look amazing," you answered, then you went over to him and took his arm. "Shall we go enjoy a party, Ken?"

"You bet, Barbie."

As it turns out, a lot of people were stoked by the Barbie Party. Tony didn't even mind throwing it (he instantly bought the 'I Am Kenough' sweatshirt the second he finished watching the movie with Pepper and Morgan).

The party was fantastic, and at some point you managed to run into almost every Barbie and Ken from the movie. They, too, were excited by the party.

Plus, you got a lot of compliments on your costume the entire night, and were trilled to tell each and every person it was handmade. And every single person was wowed by the effort.

"Tony!" you called out, finally seeing him again after hours. He turned to you and gave you a bright smile. "Thank you again, for doing this."

He nodded. "Well, Steve deserves thanks too. He's the one who told me about the Halloween dilemma."

You smiled and turned to look over at Steve, who was hanging with his fellow Kens, Sam and Bucky.

"Don't worry, I've got that covered."

~Fin~

A/n: Happy belated Halloween to those who celebrate! I really wanted to get this out earlier, but that just didn't happen. But I wanted to write this based on the actual events happening right now and tell you guys SUPPORT SAG-AFTRA! Actors deserve to get payed enough to qualify for health insurance and make a living. Not every actor is in the same boat as RDJ or Chris Evans. A lot of them are those other small roles you see in these movies, who have a passion they want to pursue but can't afford to some days.

I want to be an actress after I graduate, so I'm hoping I enter the world of acting and join SAG-AFTRA in a time where these demands have come to fruition. Because it's not just about money, it's about safer conditions and protection from AI, which is an actual issue.

Anyway, I'll step off the soapbox, and tell you guys have a great week! I'll see you next week!

Bye Lovelies!!!!!!!!!!!