Trip looked up at T'pol from where he lounged on her bed, reading a padd. The Vulcan was sitting at her desk, writing a report for the Captain.
"I have an idea." Trip said, breaking the soft silence.
"Oh?" T'pol said, giving him a small glance. "What kind of idea?"
"A Halloween idea."
T'pol looked at him, putting her report down on the desk. "Halloween?"
Trip smiled. "It's an old Earth event. People, usually kids, would dress up in costumes and go door-to-door and get candy."
"Kids." T'pol said, confused.
"Usually." Trip emphasized.
"Candy?" She said again.
"Ignore that." Trip grinned. "I have an idea that we can do tomorrow, which is Halloween day, that involves only the costume part."
"We?" T'pol asked, not liking Trip's not-so brilliant idea so far.
"Please?" Trip asked, giving her his begging, cute-as-a-puppy face.
T'pol looked at him for a moment, before asking "What do you have in mind?"
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
The next day, two hours before their shift began, T'pol entered her quarters with a metal container in her hands. Trip put the padd down on the desk, and stood to take the container from her hands.
"The quartermaster made larger duplicates of everything to fit you better." T'pol said, and hesitated as Trip took the container from her. "You're sure this is a wise idea?"
"What harm can it do?" Trip asked, smiling mischievously. He pointed to where a bundle lay on her bed. "If you really want to do it."
T'pol gave him a look that was the Vulcan equivalent of 'I am NOT chicken!' She picked up the bundle and stalked away.
"I will change in the bathroom." She said, and disappeared.
Trip smiled happily. It was a great idea he had, but it wasn't worth doing if T'pol wasn't going to join in the fun.
He pried the lid off the box and took out what lay inside. He inspected the blue piece of clothing he pulled out, and put it up to himself to size it up. It was wider than the original version, of course, but it would still be a little too snug.
He pulled it over his head with difficulty. He heard a couple of seams snap, and when he pulled the thing all the way over his body, his snapped off a few loose threads with his fingers
Taking the next item out of the box, he grunted with annoyance as he tried to pull the dark material up his legs. How could women go around wearing these things? Of course, they were made for women.
Next, and last item, was the boots. They were the only thing that fit him comfortably.
T'pol's slim body fit easily into the clothing the Commander had given her. Baggy, but they fit. The boots were loose, but not too loose, the pants a little bit too wide around the waste, but that problem was fixed with the belt the pants came with. The cherry red shirt shone smoothly and loosely around her.
"Are you finished, Commander?" She called out.
Trip grunted an answer. "Yep."
Bracing herself for what she about to see, she went back to the main area of her quarters. She raised an eyebrow at the sight of the Commander, a blue mini-skirt stretched tight around his bulk, dark pantyhose stretched at the point of forming holes. T'pol raised an eyebrow, at a lack for words.
"Is that the Vulcan equivalent of a laugh?"
"Vulcans do not laugh."
"Sure." Trip said with a smile. "Have you had breakfast yet?"
"No."
So they went together to the Mess Hall, Trip smiling at all the amused looks the two got, T'pol emotionlessly ignoring it all.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Archer drummed his fingers on the arm of his chair, annoyed. T'pol was late for her shift, and Lieutenant Hess had reported that Commander Tucker hadn't arrived in engineering yet. If they didn't arrive soon….
At that moment T'pol entered the bridge from the turbo lift. Archer turned, and gaped at what he saw.
T'pol wore a man's uniform, with a baggy red shirt and black pants that hung down over her tall boots.
"T'pol?" Archer asked, at a loss for words.
"Happy Halloween." T'pol said emotionlessly as she sat down at her console.
"What?"
"Happy Halloween. It's an old Earth tradition...." T'pol began to explain.
"I'm familiar with Halloween." Archer cut her off. "Are you saying that you're wearing Trip's uniform as a Halloween gag?"
T'pol nodded with a slight dip of her head.
"What about Commander Tucker?" Malcolm asked from where he sat, amused, at his station. "He isn't wearing your mini-skirt, is he?"
Hoshi covered her mouth at the thought, trying, but not succeeding, to stifle a round of giggles.
This was trouble, Archer knew. Trip was a lady's man, and with him wearing a uniform like that, he'd be surrounded by women by the end of his shift.
"Hoshi, will you go down there and make sure everything's alright?"
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
The usual everyday bustle in engineering slowed somewhat as the engineers slowed to stare at Trip. He had to talk to a few of them to get them going on their way again. Trip hopped up onto the engineering platform beside a stunned Lieutenant Hess. He pulled the end of the skirt down uncomfortably. The thing was tiny, and it bulged around him, making him look… fat.
"Commander…?" Hess asked uncertainly, looking Trip and the blue mini-skirt up and down quizzically.
Trip grinned at her. "Happy Halloween, Lieutenant." He tugged at the black neckline of the mini-skirt to keep it from choking him.
Hess smiled mischievously as she descended down the platform ladder. "Indeed."
When she disappeared, Trip turned to the console in front of him, and read the report Rostov gave him.
It was at that moment that something very embarrassing happened. He had not heard Ensign Sato enter engineering, nor had he heard her creep up the ladder behind him. It was not until he felt the back of the mini-skirt whoosh upward that he knew she there, not even bothering to try and hold back her laughter. At least Rostov made an attempt to not make a sound, but he failed miserably.
"Ensign!" Trip shouted surprisedly, holding the mini-skirt down against his butt. "What did you do?"
"I… flicked up… your skirt!" She said between gasps of laughter.
After a moment she calmed down somewhat and pressed a button on the comm. panel on the side of the console. "Sato to bridge."
Suddenly she shrieked, feeling the back of her own skirt whoosh into the air.
"Ensign? Is everything OK down there?" Archer answered expectantly, though he heard nothing but accented laughter.
"What goes around comes around, Hoshi!" He heard Trip say.
"Oh, you!" Hoshi said, and the comm. line cut off, ending with the ensign's giggles.
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Catholic school girls flick each other's kilts all the time. I just had to add it in!
