Jim’s watched enough Hallmark movies to know that seeing his former childhood best friend and love of his life at the car rental kiosk four days before Christmas is a jacked up joke the universe is playing on him.
“I’m a doctor not a psychic! How was I supposed to know there wouldn’t be any rental cars left?” Former best friend, Dr. Leonard McCoy exclaims at the counter.
The bored desk clerk blinks at him and then looks down at her screen. “I’m sorry, sir--we’re all booked up due to the snow storm. I can put you on standby but the wait time is 48 hours.”
As Bones blows out his breath in frustration and Jim tries not to stare at this grownup version of the boy he shared his first kiss with. Said grownup Leonard McCoy is in a red and black plaid shirt, dark jeans and boots that remind him of the days they stomped around the fields behind his parents old farmhouse.
He makes an impulsive decision.
“Hey, Bones?” The masochistic side of him is pleased at how raspy his voice is and the way Bones whips around like, well--like his former childhood best friend surprised him.
“You wanna ride with me?”
Just when Len thought he’d gotten over Jim Kirk--his heart no longer squeezes uncomfortably when his mama mentions his name, for one--the damn fool shows up as if conjured out of thin air.
Impossibly handsome, scruff and the same blue eyes Len thought he dreamed up. Using the nickname from when they were kids. Jesus Christ.
And before he knows it, his damn fool agrees to carpool with him.
A horrible idea. Just being in Jim’s orbit again is enough to make him feel untethered. Didn’t he just say he was over Jim? The kid moved away years ago--broke his heart years ago, surely the feelings were gone?
But as he catches Jim’s gaze, where he grins that wicked shit stirring grin as he signs the paperwork for the only rental car left in Iowa--he feels warm, a happy tingle causing him to shiver.
This is going to be a long trip.
“Didn’t realize you never learned how to drive.” Bones says gruffly, surveying the damage of their very flat tire and broken axel.
“You distracted me!” Jim says, blowing out cold air.
“Not my fault you’re so squirmier than a baby goat.”
Jim tries not to think about the way his hand is warm from where Bones brushed up against him. How it tickled, causing Jim to jerk his hand away as if burnt and lose focus of road, not noticing the pothole or that he was heading right for it.
Of all the times Jim imagined Bones touching him again--the aftermath leading them to get stuck in a ditch wasn’t it.
The squeal of breaks and a loud rumbling causes Jim to yelp as Bones tugs him back, forcing Jim behind him. A bus skids to a stop in front of them, kicking up snow and wet mud, the door squeaking open and a grey mustachioed man in a train conductor’s hat grins down at them. “Y’all need a lift?”
Jim catches Bones eyes as he looks over his shoulder, still in front of Jim, shielding him like he did when they were kids, as if he could protect him from a bus barreling toward them. He shrugs.
“Well, newlyweds, thanks for being patient on this detour as we pick up our stowaways!” The driver booms over the speaker system.
Bones chokes besides him. The only seats left on the bus was the cozy two seater aisle seat near the front and put their duffles between them as a barrier.
“Why yes!” The driver says, grinning at them in the mirror. “I’m Roger and this is my newlyweds Christmas tour bus!”
“This was a mistake.” Jim stage whispers.
“You think?” Bones seems to be hyperventilating.
“Tell us about yourselves!”
“Go ahead! We’ve all gotten nice and acquainted since leaving Des Moines. Your turn!”
“I’m Jim and this is Bon--” Bones kicks at his leg. “Leonard. This is actually the first time we’ve seen each other since we were eighteen.”
“An arranged marriage?” An older woman at the back gasps.
“Lord no!” Bones guffaws. “We’re just...” He trails off and Jim understands. How do you explain what they are or aren’t? To a bus of strangers?
Roger chuckles. “This’ll be fun.”
“My June and I...it took us ages to admit feelings. She was a nurse in the war and I was stuck here in Iowa.” Liddy, the woman who insists on knitting hats for Jim and Bones as soon as they introduce themselves at their first rest stop. “Took us forty-eight years, three failed marriages and nearly dying to just stop being babies. We got married two months ago. We’re going to visit my granddaughter in Georgia and her partner.”
Bones hears a similar story from Lewis and Eloise, who were best friends for years before they got together.
“I told him I loved him and he left.” Jim explained to Marty and Jack, they were the youngest and closest in age to Jim.
“Jim was a kid. I was a kid. I thought he wasn’t serious. I was worried he’d leave me.” Bones says after drinking way to much spiked hot chocolate from Lewis and Eloise’s stash.
Roger tells Bones at the gas station outside the Georgia state lines. “My wife Kate and I--we ran this tour for twenty-years before she passed. It was the greatest joy to spend Christmas together surrounded by love. We found each other later in life, far later than we should have. There’s not a day that goes by when I don’t wish I had found her sooner. That we had more time. Don’t regret life, kid.”
Outside a Georgia farmhouse, the inside lights a warm glow illuminating them, Jim takes Bones hand. Bones nuzzles Jim’s cold nose. Their lips meet as if they never forgot how.
Bones knows he owes Roger a huge thank you.
“Merry Christmas, Bones.”
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