Flying Plomeek Soup

It all started when Jim flung a spoonful of chocolate pudding onto Bones' face. Everything had been perfectly normal: just another ordinary lunch in the mess hall. The three of them– Jim, Spock, and Bones– had been eating in comfortable silence, enjoying a bit of calm before returning to their stressful jobs. Then out of the corner of his eye, Jim had seen Chekov accidentally bump into a yeoman, sloshing his water all over her red uniform. As the ensign busily sputtered out his apology in his thick accent, the small event sprouted an idea (an awesome idea) in the captain's mind.

Hence the glob of chocolate pudding currently dripping down the good doctor's face.

"Dammit, Jim! What the hell is wrong with you?!"

Jim's grin grew even wider on his face. "Sorry, the temptation was too hard to resist." He leveled another spoonful of pudding at his friend and it splattered smack dap on Bones' nose.

"Cut it out! What are you, two?"

Plastering a pouting, innocent look on his face, Jim whined, "Oh, come on Bones! It's fun!"

He doctor's death glare almost made him actually consider giving up the fight. Almost. "This is not fun, Jim, this is–" A third glob of pudding flew at him, this one hitting him in the eye. Clenching his fists, Bones said, "Fine. If that's the way you want it..." He scoped up a forkful of cole slaw and sent it soaring through the air.

It landed right on Jim's hair.

By this time, everyone in the mess had been staring at the two for quite a while. Some giggled, some gasped. Some were confused about which reaction to display so instead had a dumbfounded look on their faces. But as dressing started to drip down the captain's laughing face, the entire room erupted into laughter and commotion.

Almost immediately, the air was filled with flying food and soaring condiments. Chekov threw a spoonful of Okroshka at Sulu, who replied by flinging a few soba noodles at him, which got tangled in his hair and hung on the Russian's ears. Scotty pelted Uhura with multiple scones as she bombarded him with sorghum flatbreads. Everyone was throwing or smashing something into someone else's face. Everyone, except for Spock.

Firmly in his seat, watching Bones smear mayo all over the captain's face (and down his shirt), Spock said, "This is illogical. Covering others with food and inciting a so called 'food fight' serves no purpose."

The two stopped and looked at Spock. They were both well aware that the Vulcan would typically respond in this way, but it still successfully brought their brawling to a halt.

"But it's fun," Jim said for the second time.

"I am sorry, Captain, but I fail to see the pleasure in dirtying one self with various–"

"It's a game, you green-blooded hobgoblin!" Bones remarked, thoroughly annoyed. "To get covered in food is the point, Spock."

Spock lifted an eyebrow and said smoothly, "Once again, Doctor, I fail to see the logic–"

Bones interrupted him again, the glare on his face intense enough to make even a Klingon monster dog's tail hang between its legs. "This isn't about logic, Mr. Spock. It's about entertainment. Enjoyment. Fun." He crossed his arms across his chest, his tone growing sarcastic. "Of course you can't see how this is fun. You haven't had a bit of fun in your entire life!"

A second eyebrow rose to meets its partner on Spock's forehead. "I know it is hard for you to believe, Dr. McCoy, but I was once a child and did indeed have fun, even though you may not have thought of it as such."

Jim felt the conversation turn from good-natured bickering into a dangerously serious argument. "Alright, guys, I think–"

But Bones' voice drowned out his own. "Ah, yes, Vulcan fun. It's almost an oxymoron. I can see it now, a room full of little pointy-eared elves going over math equations and theories, just for the fun of it."

Spock stood up and set a cold stare at the Bones' face. "I assure you, Doctor, that I am quite capable of having fun."

Bones' eyebrow quirked and an impish grin blossomed on his face. "Oh yeah? Well then have some!" and he smashed a slice of Key lime pie right into the Vulcan's face.

The whole room went deadly silent. All eyes were wide on Spock as he slowly wiped green custard from his face. He paused a moment, eyeing both Bones and Jim. Then he carefully picked up his bowl of plomeek soup and jerked it upward, causing a fountain of the pale green liquid to splash onto their faces.

After a moment of surprise, Jim collapsed into his chair, hardly able to breath due to his uncontrollable laughter. Bones stared at him, then at Spock, and erupted into whooping laughter as well, nearly missing his own chair as he plunked down. Spock merely looked at the two men, both of his eyebrows raised and the Vulcan equivalent of amusement displayed on his face. Almost as though that was a silent permission to be at ease, the dining hall filled again with laughter.