Summary: Lea tries to convince Shaun to dress up in a couples costume with her for St. Bonaventure's Halloween costume bash this year. Set before "Growth Opportunities".

Shaun was never one to dress up on Halloween. As a kid, he never really liked going trick-or-treating or putting on make-up. In fact, free candy was the only good thing that came out of Halloween. Because he didn't like wearing many costumes (many attempts from his parents ended in meltdowns along with some yellings and beatings from his father) due to the itchy seams and hot masks and greasy face paint, Steve then suggested that he just go as a ghost with a bedsheet over his head, which made trick-or-treating much more comfortable.

Although, the older he got, the more he started to resent Halloween due to terrible memories that happened around that time of year. Because Shaun was so easy to scare, Halloween was always the peak time of year Shaun would get picked on and have cruel pranks get pulled on him.

In fourth grade, he and Steve had entered a local jack-o-lantern contest at their elementary school. Unfortunately, he couldn't enter because a fifth-grader named Tyler Greer and his friends cornered him and smashed his pumpkin.

In eighth grade, around Halloween, Shaun had to walk home from school alone because Steve was sick at home. Matt Litchfield, dressed up in a Jigsaw costume on a bike, had followed him and then jumped out of the bushes to scare him and then beat him up.

Lea, on the other hand, loved Halloween. As a child, she often fantasized about what she would be for Halloween. She loved going to haunted houses as a teenager. Every year, she and Donnie looked forward to all the haunted Dark Nights Halloween attractions in Hersheypark. Because Pittsburgh had many known haunted places, she and her friends enjoyed the thrill of spending time in those places at night when she was in college...especially around Halloween. One Halloween night, she and her roommate decided to camp outside the House that the Devil built.

Every year, she looked forward to spooky season. And since it was mid-October, the people of St. Bons were already having conversations with each other about what costumes they were going to wear to work on the exact date of Halloween.

That was something Lea was currently looking forward to. She has participated since she started working at St. Bons in 2020. In 2020, she went as a black cat (with a black face mask with a cat nose and whiskers). In 2021, she went as Wonder Woman.

Shaun, however, has never participated in that event. However, this year, Lea wanted to at least try and convince Shaun to dress up with him this year in a couples' Halloween costume.

"Shaun, please," begged Lea as he and Lea were having another spaghetti dinner. "Just this year."

"Okay, maybe," surrendered Shaun, thinking that maybe just a simple costume with basic clothes would work (maybe like a TV character). "But the costume needs to be..."

"Yes, I know," nodded Lea. "No headbands, no masks, no make-up, no costumes with itchy seams. Would you be okay with going as Gomez and Morticia...or Wednesday and Pugsley? Glassy as Uncle Fester would be a good add-on."

"Gomez would require hair gel and a mustache," reminded Shaun. "And Wednesday and Pugsley are siblings, which makes a husband and wife going as siblings kind of odd."

"Okay," noted Lea, pointing her fork at Shaun as she chewed her food, kind of disappointed since Pugsley Addams would probably be a sensory-friendly costume for Shaun. "How about Mario and Peach. You can just wear a red shirt, overalls, and a hat...wait, nevermind. Mario has a mustache."

"What else would you suggest?" Shaun asked, twirling his fork in his spaghetti.

"Maybe Fred and Wilma from The Flintstones?" Lea shrugged.

"A Fred costume exposes the legs, which means I'd have to wear long underwear under the costume, and that would be uncomfortable under a heavy costume," rejected Shaun.

"Bob and Linda Belcher?" Lea proposed, raising her shoulders. "You have gray pants, a white shirt, and an apron."

"Mustache," reminded Shaun.

"Oh, right," sighed Lea, realizing that getting Shaun to wear a couples costume with her was going to be impossible. "You know what, you don't have to wear a costume. It's okay."

She was a bit disappointed, but her husband's comfort always came before something as silly as an outfit that would only be worn one night. She also knew that Shaun was still trying to recover from his painful childhood memories of Halloween.

Lea eventually settled on Ahsoka from Star Wars as her costume this year as she wanted to go as a Star Wars character, yet also a character that wasn't well known even to outsiders, making the whole costume herself.

However, once actual Halloween came by, Lea realized that there were still two other sensory-friendly couples' costumes that would work for Shaun - Mulder and Scully or Leela and Fry. She hadn't thought about it until now.

Oh, well. Maybe next year, she thought.

She walked out of the bedroom in her costume - face paint, light saber, and all - to find Shaun cooking pancakes for breakfast.

"You're wearing face paint?" He questioned. He knew his wife was wearing a costume and was going as a Star Wars character, but he didn't expect her to wear face paint.

"Yep," smirked Lea as she seated herself at the kitchen island and then Shaun started to ramble about the surgery he was going to propose to Dr. Lim today.

AN: I hope you all enjoyed. Please review :)

Next Chapter Prompt:
Lea tells Shaun that she wants to have a baby...now.