Title: Good Food, Good Friends
Fandom: Star Trek: the Original Series
Rating: G
Length: 402
Author notes: Also for gen_bingo prompt: shopping together
Summary: Jim brings Spock to a farmer's market and Spock questions Jim's enthusiasm for purchasing beyond the need for a square meal for two. To Jim, the answer is obvious.

Jim led Spock to squeeze past the crowd to one of the stalls. He beamed when picking up a small beetroot with green moist leaves, tapping it lightly and turned it upside down to check the attached roots. "My mother used to bake dark velvet beet cookies for Sam and me as a treat. They were so delicious that we never had enough, " He picked and paid for several, and turned and smiled at Spock, "What kind do you like, stir fry, roasting, or do you want to try crisp beet wontons? My father swore to his recipe, and he said he won my mother's heart with that. "

"They are all acceptable. "

Jim sighed dramatically, "It's really hard to impressive you, right, but you're lucky that I love challenges, " He surveyed the next stall and grabbed several handful of pecan nuts for purchase. "You should pick what you like too. "

Spock picked up the tomatoes one by one, touching to see if the skin is soft or bruised, and chose from them those in good condition, while he watched Jim smelling the onions. The stalls were packed with broad beans, lentils, potatoes, radishes, sweet potatoes, corns, and artichokes, and many people were choosing the produce, bargaining with the stall owners or socializing with each other. He wondered how humans could cultivate and handle such an abundance, undreamed of in Vulcan.

Jim was right in his moment, sharing stories about his childhood in the farm while petting a pumpkin, "We once got a really great pumpkin harvest, and there were so many my mother ran a pumpkin party and invited all our neighbors. Pumpkin pie, pumpkin pasta, so many. " Afterwards, he bought quite a handful of cranberries and added apples to his purchase.

By the end Spock had to stop him before Jim bought enough to feed the Enterprise. "We only stay here for three days and cook for two. The doctor would be overjoyed to witness your rare passion for vegetables and fruit. "

"It's different. They are the real things, and nothing make food more tasty than sharing with a great friend. My mother often says love is the most magical spice. " Jim burst into another grin.

Spock's chest lightened, and when Jim launched into his grand plan to spoil Spock with wholesome Iowa food on their way back, Spock was sure that it would be the best meal in his life.