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“Uncle Jim! Uncle Jim! Get up we have to go play!” Anna and Peter jump on the bed, squealing and shouting loudly. Jim groans and smacks Leo on the shoulder.
“Bones. Get up. We’re going to go play.” He mumbles, still only half awake.
Leo groans and tries to roll over but the children keep bouncing around. “Jim, I swear to god.” He shoves Anna off lightly and pulls the blanket around himself. “Can’t we just wait an hour or three?”
“It snowed last night, Uncle Jim!” Peter flings himself across the two men, spread-eagle on his back. “We have to go outside right now.”
Anna bounces up and down and squeals a bit before they both dash out of the room and down the hall. “Come on!”
Jim sighs and pushes himself out of bed and over to where their suitcases lay on the ground. “Come on, sleepyhead. Up and at ‘em.” He throws a sweater at the brunet and laughs when he throws it back. Jim takes the sweater off his head and pulls it on his body. “Get up now or they’ll be back.”
Leo sits up groggily and glares at Jim. It’s not his best glare, considering it’s seven in the morning and they stayed up late talking to Sam and Aurelan last night. Bourbon may have been involved in the headache pounding in his head. “I hate you.”
“No you don’t.” Jim hands him some clothes and climbs onto the bed.
“Yes I do. I promise you, I do.” Leo pulls his clothes on and still isn’t awake, as he never is before his coffee. He stumble a little on his way to his shoes. “Jim I’m tired.”
“Yeah, that much is obvious.” Jim hands him his boots and leaves to get coffee from Sam, who is obviously up and making some judging by the smell. When he returns, Leo is sitting on the bed staring at the shoes loathingly. “Come on. You can do this. I believe in you, Bones.” Jim hands him the mug and waits for his fiancé to perk up.
Of course, Leo doesn’t perk up so much as stop squinting quite so much and not want to kill Jim anymore. “Alright. Let’s do this.” He gets up and starts toward the door without a second glance back at Jim. Jim just follows, laughing to himself the whole time. “How cold is it outside?”
“Bones, there’s snow on the ground. It’s fucking freezing.”
-
The snowball fight ends up being one of the more intense of Jim’s life, in which the children build a fort and climb trees and ambush them from every possible angle. Jim and Leo merely try to defend themselves by hiding under and behind anything they find. “This is insanity, Sam! Did you use military techniques to teach them?” Jim shouts at his brother.
Sam shakes his head and cackles. “I swear, it was all Aurelan. They’re downright terrifying.” He takes a snowball to the back of his head. “I’ll get you for that, demon spawn!” He takes off running at his children and Jim can only stare.
“Well, you two are definitely brothers, aren’t you?” Leo remarks with a laugh. “Come on, let’s go inside while we can still escape. I bet Gaila’s baked something by now.”
Jim grabs Leo’s hand and pulls him towards the house, laughing as snow hits them in the back. They keep running though, and Jim let’s out a final. “You’ll never get me alive!” Before slamming the door.
They stand in the kitchen laughing together when they hear someone clear their throat behind them. “I made hot chocolate, if you want to warm up.” Winona smiles softly at them and puts some mugs on the counter. “Go on then.”
Leo takes the mugs and hands one off to Jim. “Thanks, Winona. I needed this. I’m not quite used to the cold yet.” He takes a sip and realizes it’s got peppermint in it. He snatches Jim’s mug away from him. “Did you drink any yet?”
Jim shoots him an affronted look. “No, why?”
“Peppermint. Don’t want a trip to the ER, do we?”
Winona seems completely lost at this point. “What’s wrong with peppermint? Don’t you like it?” She questions.
“He loves it, but he’s also really allergic to it.” Bones states simply with a shrug. “Not that he ever pays attention to his allergies. Honestly, he’d be dead by now if I didn’t make sure he didn’t accidentally eat something he shouldn’t.”
“I-I didn’t know that.” Winona runs a hand through her hair and is obviously distressed. “I’m so sorry, Jim. I didn’t know that.” She tries to leave the room but Jim catches her by the wrist.
“Mom, it’s okay. So you didn’t know I was allergic to peppermint. So what?” He looks her dead in the eyes and gives her a smile. “It doesn’t matter. You know what does matter?”
Winona shakes her head, slightly pale. “What?”
Jim clasps her hands. “What matters is that we’re here now. I don’t care if we weren’t in the past. We are now. You have to forget sometimes.” Jim parrots the advice Leo gave him just a few days ago. “You have to move on.”
Winona nods repeatedly and tentatively wraps her arms around Jim’s neck. Jim wraps his arms around her thin waist. They stand still in each other’s arms for a few moments and Leo feels like he’s intruding on something but he can’t make himself move. They pull apart and suddenly they’re both looking at Leo with tears in their eyes. “Aw, Bones feels awkward.” Jim teases, still sounding slightly watery.
“Shut up.” Leo grumbles. Suddenly he’s being wrapped in the arms of both Kirks.
“Come on, Bones. Feel the love. Embrace the holiday cheer.” Jim whispers into Leo’s ear and the brunet jumps slightly and pulls away from them.
“Okay, that’s enough group hugging for me. I’m going to take a nap.” He turns and starts walking down the hall.
“Oh. Well, see you later, Bones.” Jim sounds slightly forlorn as he calls after Leo.
Winona laughs and smacks Jim on the shoulder. “Go on. Go nap.” She shoves Jim.
Jim runs after Leo and hugs him from behind. “Come on, Bones. It’s nap time!”
“I want to actually sleep, Jim. No funny business.”
“Sure, Bones. No problem.” Jim doesn’t even believe himself.