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Christmas morning found Jim bursting into Leo’s room, singing and carrying a tray of food.
“Good morning, Bonesy! I made you breakfast,” he announced proudly as Leo sat up in a semi-stupor.
“What?”
“It’s Christmas, dummy. I made you breakfast. Enjoy!”
“Didn’t know you could cook,” Leo mumbled as his eyes slowly focused and he reached for the fork, eyeing the silver-dollar pancakes topped with an array of berries. Apprehensively, he cut a small piece off the top, and took a bite, Jim urging him on.
“You’re a damn good cook, boy,” Leo admitted after he finished chewing.
Jim grinned. “Told you. Your mom was ecstatic when I asked her if I could come over and do this for you.”
Leo reached a hand up to cup Jim’s face, pulling him in for a small kiss. “You’re wonderful, you know that?”
Jim laughed and placed a kiss on Leo’s forehead. “I do my best. I’m going to go home though, and spend some time with my family, and you should do the same. I’ll come back in a few hours, okay?”
“Don’ want you t’ leave,” Leo grumbled, and Jim squeezed his hand.
“I know, baby, but I should go home and let you be with your family. I promise I’ll be back, though.”
“Alright,” Leo agreed begrudgingly, stealing one more kiss before Jim left, finishing his breakfast in silence before carrying his dishes down to the kitchen to greet his parents. No one in their house ever got dressed until breakfast was done and presents were opened, meaning his parents were still in their pajamas just like him. It was one of his favorite things about Christmas, rather than the presents.
“Time for presents?” Eleanora asked when he entered the kitchen, and he shrugged.
“If you guys are ready, I’m up for it,” he said, thinking of the wrapped box sitting in his room to go to Jim.
“Let’s go then,” David said, attempting to emulate his usual vigor and failing. Leo tried to push the thought out of his mind and just enjoy the holiday and being with his loved ones.
His parents had spoiled him with a new laptop and some gift cards to his favorite stores, as well as a new set of coffee mugs. He thanked them profusely and made a mental note to make sure they knew how much he appreciated everything.
When he carried everything up to his bedroom and sat down on the bed, he grabbed his phone to text Jim that he was going to come over in five minutes, and quickly pulled on a nice pair of jeans and a button-up that he knew Jim liked, leaving more buttons open than strictly normal before reaching for the box under his bed.
“Mom, I’m going to go see Jim for an hour or so,” he said, poking his head into the kitchen. “I’ll be back to help you cook.”
“Don’t worry about it, Leo,” she said, waving a hand. “It’ll just be small this year, and I think I can handle it by myself. Just let me know when you get back, okay?”
“Okay,” Leo agreed, and made sure to check his pocket for his keys before leaving.
He knocked on the Kirk’s front door, and he could hear laughter coming from inside for the first time in a very long time. When Jim pulled the door open, there was a big grin on his face and he looked happier than Bones had seen him in a long time, probably since their first kiss.
“Hey! What are you doing here?” Jim asked, confused but still delighted. “Come on in,” he said, stepping back to allow Bones room before capturing his lips in a deep kiss.
“What was that for?” Bones raised an eyebrow, but it was playful.
“Cause I love you,” Jim said simply. “Merry Christmas.”
“Merry Christmas to you too, kid,” Bones said, producing the small box from behind his back. “I got you a present.”
Jim sighed. “Bones, I told you not to get me anything.”
“I know, kid, but I wanted to. This reminded me of you, so I got it.”
Jim leaned over to kiss Bones’ cheek. “You’re amazing, you know that?”
“I do my best,” Bones said with a grin, knowing they had just emulated their conversation from the morning.
“I got you something too,” Jim admitted. “It’s in my room. Come on,” he said, taking Leo by the hand.
When they were both sitting on Jim’s bed, he passed Leo his own box, slightly larger than the one Leo had given Jim. “Open it,” he urged, and Leo laughed as he began prying the paper apart, and Jim impatiently leaned over to rip it.
“You’re impossible,” Leo grumbled, but they were both grinning. He opened the box to find a framed photo of the two of them, on Jim’s sixteenth birthday last year. They were laughing, half of Leo’s face covered in frosting after Jim had smashed the cake in Leo’s face.
“Jim- I- I love it,” Leo managed to get out, kissing him softly. “Thank you.”
Jim shrugged. “I didn’t know what to get you, so I just thought something small and sentimental would be best.”
“You were right,” Leo said simply. “Now, open yours.”
Jim rolled his eyes, but ripped into the paper nonetheless, looking like a two-year old in his excitement over getting to tear more paper apart. When he realized what was under the paper, he stopped and looked up at Bones, unbelieving. “Are you serious?” he asked, pulling the box out of the remnants to inspect it.
It was a die-cast model of the space ship Endeavour, with a star chart included under it. Before Jim had decided on linguistics as his most probable major, he had talked about going to maybe work with NASA, as an engineer or as part of the astronaut training program. Even though it wasn’t his top career choice any more, Leo knew that Jim still enjoyed the space program that NASA had begun and its’ possibilities for the future, and remembered Jim’s stories of laying under the stars and having his brother teach him the constellations.
“I don’t know what to say,” Jim finally said, looking into Leo’s eyes. “It’s incredible. Thank you so much.”
Leo blushed. “Just tryin’ to get you a good gift, darlin’,” he mumbled.
“You,” Jim murmured, “Are the best gift I could ever ask for.” With that, he pulled Leo close and wrapped his arms around his boyfriend’s back as he drew him into the deepest kiss they’d had in a long time, Jim’s tongue reaching for Leo’s lips and Leo quickly obliging, and only pulling apart after a good few minutes, breathing heavily and still grinning.
“Love you,” Jim whispered, running a hand through Leo’s short, dark hair.
“Love you too, kid.”