Hi everyone - this little thing has been sitting on my computer for over a year, and I decided that now would be as good a time as any to share it. Hope you'll like it, and please excuse any typos!

Starsky sat on Hutch's couch with his feet up on the coffee table, sipping beer and watching idly as assorted items of clothing flew out of Hutch s room. This show had been going on for at least half an hour since he'd arrived here.

He craned his head around to peer towards the origin of the flying clothes, and it finally occurred to him to ask "What are you looking for?"

Hutch's head peered out. "It's a surprise."

"Hm." Starsky quickly lost interest, and went back to studying the label on his bottle. "Do you know what day it is?" he called. He didn't expect Hutch not to know, since he had been insisting on buying candy and enthusing over jack-o-lanterns for the past week, and driving Hutch mad, he assumed. Then again, he couldn't be sure about the 'driving Hutch mad' part. Hutch had mostly just smirked tolerantly when Starsky mentioned Halloween.

"Yep." Hutch disappeared back into his room, and this time there was the sound of dragging furniture.

"Right. It's Halloween. That means candy." Starsky expected that to get a reaction out of his partner, and looked around expectantly.

There was no reply from Hutch but some quiet muttering, which Starsky took to be a comment about the occasion. And probably not a good one. They hadn't spent a lot of Halloweens together, but judging by Hutch's attitude towards birthdays, Christmas, fireworks, and occasions in general, Starsky expected this event to be no different.

Starsky continued his monologue. "I know you probably hate it, right?"

Silence, but a sweater flew out of the bedroom.

Starsky carried on. "I mean, I know you think it's just some excuse for kids to dress up and go around acting like brats, just so they can demand free candy and threaten people. A waste of perfectly good vegetables when you carve 'em all up. A load of commercialised rubbish and dumb traditions..." Starsky's voice had taken on a Hutchy lecturing tone, as he recited what he was sure captured his partner's feelings about the day.

"Where'd I put the damn thing?" could be heard in the bedroom.

Starsky was starting to get worried. Hutch wasn't answering, he wasn't confirming that Starsky's imitation of a Hutch-rant was correct, he wasn't telling Starsky to shut up... nothing.
"Hey, Hutch? I know you don't like Halloween, but we don't have to do anything later if you don't want. I'll just eat candy and you can have a carrot." Starsky waited a second. Silence. "I'll carve a scary face in it if you want."

Hutch stormed out of the bedroom and Starsky jumped slightly, almost spilling his drink. "I was just kidding!" he told Hutch quickly, thinking for a second that Hutch was coming to shut him up. Hutch walked straight past him, tripping over a stray plant pot as he did so, and began rummaging around on the floor.

Whatever Hutch was looking for apparently wasn't there either. With an inarticulate growl of frustration, he stood up again and walked into the kitchen.

"Maybe if you kept the place tidy you'd be able to find stuff," Starsky muttered. But he didn't feel like saying that any louder while Hutch was acting oddly.

Hutch exited the kitchen nearly as quickly as he'd entered, this time carrying a bucket of lollipops that he placed in front of Starsky, and stood still in helpless frustration for a second. "I had it this morning!" He informed the ceiling. "Where could it have gone?"

Starsky sat up straighter. "Hutch, buddy, you're startin' to scare me here. Maybe if you tell me what you're looking for..?"

Hutch looked at Starsky blankly, and his eyes suddenly lit up as he spotted something orange near Starsky. "There it is! Pass me my pumpkin mask, would ya?"

Of all the things Starsky had expected Hutch to say, that hadn't been one of the most likely, in his opinion.

Picking up his gun in its holster where it lay discarded over the side of the couch, Hutch leaned over towards the mask in question, which was down the side of one of the cushions on the other end.

Starsky pulled it out and stared at it in amazement.

"Halloween might be all of those things, but it's also a good time to scare kids," Hutch informed Starsky with a somewhat evil grin, taking the mask.

A knock at the door interrupted Hutch's explanation. Placing the mask over his face, and causing a stifled explosion of laughter from Starsky - with his orange sweater, and a tuft of blond hair sticking up above the mask, he looked like a very realistic pumpkin - he strode over to the door and opened it swiftly, leaning out in what he thought was a menacing fashion.

Two little girls stared back at him, neither of whom could be more than ten years old, one dressed as a witch and one as a ghost. After a second of stunned silence, one girl started to cry and ran from the door. The other stared at Hutch for a moment longer, shocked, and also backed away, before following her friend down the street.

Hutch turned back towards Starsky, lifting the mask. "Huh. It wasn't that scary, was it?"

Starsky pointed lazily at the forgotten gun Hutch still held. "Could be something to do with that. I know you wanted to scare 'em, but don't you think you went a little overboard?" Starsky grinned.

Hutch looked down at his hand in surprise, noticing the gun for the first time. "Damn it!" He started for the door, but Starsky's hand on his shoulder stopped him. Starsky grinned and silently held out his other hand. After a brief moment of confusion, Hutch remembered that he still held the gun, and handing over the holster to Starsky he opened the door. Peering down the street, he saw that the kids had suffered no permanent damage. They were busy demanding chocolate from an old lady further down the street. He grinned to himself and came back inside, where Starsky was waiting. To Hutch, Starsky looked like he was trying not to laugh.

"It wouldn't have been that funny if it had been someone knocking on the door about official business..." Hutch pointed out. "And what if their parents come here?"

Starsky had started to giggle at the mention of official business. He could picture Hutch as a gun-wielding pumpkin, opening the door in his mask and saying 'Boo!' to an unamused Dobey, and that was too funny NOT to laugh at.

Finally, he calmed down, while Hutch watched disapprovingly. Starsky was still amazed. Did that really happen? he wondered to himself. "Hutch, are you feelin' okay? I mean, you usually hate this kind of stuff... and you got a mask..." He had a feeling he was going to start laughing again.

Relaxing slightly, Hutch grinned at Starsky. "Told you. Halloween's a fun time to scare kids. Besides, it doesn't have to be all about candy. You can eat the pumpkin. And you can still have fruit."

Starsky made an unimpressed face, and Hutch went into the kitchen again, smirking. He came back with something in his hands, tripping over the same plant pot again on his way.

Starsky rolled his eyes. "Did your parents actually let you carve pumpkins when you were a kid?"

"No." Hutch admitted. "They didn't trust me with the knife. Or the spoon."

"Why doesn't that surprise me."

Hutch offered one of his hands to Starsky, starting to laugh at the expression on Starsky's face. "Want a candy apple, Starsk?" Hutch was definitely laughing now. "The apple part's good for you."

Starsky took it from his hand, surprised. "You're one strange guy, Hutch."

Hutch sat down beside Starsky, pulling the mask over his face again.

Starsky pouted. "Now you're all dressed up and I left my vampire costume at my place."

"S'okay, you don't need a vampire mask to have a scary face." Hutch dodged the slap that was coming at the side of his head. "You can pick it up later. Eat your fruit."