Jim held up a poster that detailed a Halloween costume party in Yorktown. Bones groaned while Spock raised an eyebrow.
"Come on guys!" Jim exclaimed. "It'll be fun!" He was practically bouncing on his feet, blue eyes lit with a child like energy. Spock wondered why Halloween inspired such excitement in the captain, from what he understood the holiday was for Terran children.
"Like hell it will be!" Bones snapped. He crossed his arms. "Like I don't have anything better to do."
Jim put his hand on Bones' shoulder. "Come on Bones! Take the night off for once. We could all use a break."
"What humans call down time does have proven benefits," Spock replied.
"That's the spirit Spock!" Jim said. He put his other hand- the hand still holding the poster- on Spock's shoulder. "Think of it as a learning experience. And Bones there's free booze."
Bones grumbled something that might have been "Booze my ass." Spock wasn't sure what to make of that.
Jim always did have a way of getting what he wanted. Bones thought that was one of the most infuriating things about him. There wasn't even that much booze at this party.
Jim was dressed as a pirate captain. A pirate captain that wore booty shorts and a tight shirt that showed off his belly button. His outfit was blue expect for the yellow stripes on the jacket and the white skull on the pirate hat. Bones had just worn his uniform and put on a wizard hat. Spock was wearing a bee onesie.
"Captain your outfit is hardly historically accurate," Spock pointed out.
"That doesn't matter," Jim replied. "It's just for fun."
Spock gave a curt nod. "I still don't understand the point of this tradition. Why pretend to be something you're not? Why set aside a night for children to take candy from strangers? And surely it would be more convenient to gather apples in the conventional way."
Jim and Bones hadn't noticed the men bobbing for apples until Spock's comment. Jim shrugged and said "It's fun" for what felt like the thousandth time tonight to Bones.
The hob goblin's not wrong, Bones thought. This is a stupid holiday.
The night passed slowly, with Jim popping in-between them from time to time to take selfies and try to get them to dance while Bones cursed Halloween, parties, Halloween music and Jim, and Spock was still no closer to figuring out why humans would have a day for celebrating monsters.
"Oh, the Monster Mash is a classic!" Jim exclaimed.
"Some of use would prefer music from this century," Bones said. He had hoped that Jim's tastes were limited to the somewhat bearable pieces of classical music, this was just his luck.
Jim bowed his head. "Thanks for doing this guys. I didn't get to celebrate Halloween much when I was a kid."
All the sudden Bones felt like he had when he had decided to hide Jim abroad the Enterprise all those years back. As much as it pained him to admit it when Jim looked all pathetic like that, Bones would do anything. He'd even dance to the monster mash.
"This has been an educational experience Jim," Spock said, "on how Terran holidays are not governed by logic."
Jim chuckled. "If I didn't know any better Spock, I'd say that you had a sense of humor. Next year I'll show you how to carve a pumpkin."
When Bones found out that there was a costume contest here that Jim had put the three of them in without telling Bones and Spock, his grumbling increased ten fold. They had lost to a group that went as werewolves and Jim figured the three of them would have stood a better chance if Bones's costume had been more than a hat.
Jim could hardly wait for next year.