Work Text:
“Christmas presents, Bones! All kids should have presents to open on Christmas,” Jim exclaimed as he and Bones walked into the overcrowded toy store the weekend before Christmas looking for a present to send Joanna.
Bones just snorted and pushed his way into the crowd. Jim simply took it all in, eyes shining like the lights that were strung around the store. “Jim,” Bones asked, “are you ok? You act like you’ve never had a present,” he finished, only somewhat teasing. After finally choosing a gift for Joanna, the boys worked their way to the checkout area. While they were waiting, Bones observed Jim observing the people around him. Bones saw the wistfulness as Jim watched a little girl carefully pick up a doll and cradle her while her parents smiled indulgently. Then the wistfulness was gone as he saw a little boy, around Joanna’s age if Bones had to guess, begin to pick up a small metal race car, his small face shining with joy. When the little boy’s parents saw him reaching for it, they jerked it out of his hand and threw it back in the bin. Then they scolded him and pulled him away from the toys as the little boy looked back with tears swimming in his eyes. Bones wondered about the look on Jim’s face, which was anger mixed with sadness. He realized then that Jim understood that little boy. Bones knew then that Jim had not received a gift for a very long time.
In the next couple of days, Bones began to look around San Francisco for another gift. This time, it was for Jim. If he was thinking right, Jim hadn’t had a gift since he was probably the same age as that little boy in the store. Bones agreed with Jim on that point…children should have gifts to open on Christmas, even a small no-one-else-would-want gift. But what on God’s green earth was he going to buy Jim for Christmas?!
As he wondered around town, he glanced in many brightly decorated stores. Some of the new fangled high-tech gadgets would work for a gift. But the more Bones thought about that, the more he felt that was too academic. Moreover, Jim would have the thing taken apart and in a million pieces before either one of them got the chance to use it. He passed a book store and contemplated the options before him. Bones knew Jim liked to read, but somehow a book seemed impersonal. Bones continued wondering around town and finally ended up at his and Jim’s favorite lookout over the ocean.
He watched the waves ebb and flow and felt his thoughts do the same. He thought of Jim and when he appeared to be the happiest. All the times that stuck out were times that Jim was with Bones. How Jim’s smile seemed a little wider, a little brighter when Bones was aggravated when Jim did something epically stupid. Or how Jim’s touch lingered when he slapped Bones’ shoulder when Jim told a joke or scored a date for the night. Maybe, maybe Jim liked Bones. Bones liked Jim. All Bones wanted to do was to tell Jim he loved him. As he thought of all the times they had enjoyed together, the more Bones felt that Jim could maybe feel the same. As the sun’s rays caught the ocean making it appear like Christmas lights shining as it dipped below the horizon for the night, Bones knew what he was getting Jim for Christmas.
Christmas Eve. Bones had signed up for clinic duty before Christmas break had started, knowing that most of the cadets would be away and therefore he wouldn’t have to give another lecture about the idiocy of cadets who thought they would be cool and try to some trick designed to impress someone. Jim had been working with Captain Pike on his academic schedule to see how on track he was to completing a four year program in three. So as Bones was getting ready to leave for work, he took a small brightly wrapped package and set it under the sparse tree they had decorated in their dorm room, hoping Jim would see it when he got in.
Well, in typical Bones' world, things went to hell in a hand basket at the clinic and he finally but wearily made his way home. He desperately wanted his bed, and when he finally keyed his room open, made his way straight there. He missed Jim's face as he went to the bed, and flopped down face first. He was almost asleep when he heard some tentative noises. Bones finally looked over and saw Jim holding his present.
“Why isn't there anything in here Bones,” Jim asked, uncertainty coloring his question.
Bones sits up and levels Jim a scowl that would rival his momma's, exhaustion gone in a spurt of anger. “It ain't nothing, Jim,” Bones explained. “It's everything. I'm giving you everything. It’s a present that’s wrapped in love. Love, acceptance, a shoulder to cry on. It's yours. I'm giving you my heart.”
Jim sat on his bed, turning the box over in his hands. Bones sat just as still on his bed, waiting with bated breath for Jim’s reaction. When the silence stretched past ten minutes, Bones cleared his throat and mumbled quickly, “It’s stupid Jim. Just forget it. I just thought since it had been so long since you had had a gift, I would get you something. I couldn’t figure out what, so I thought I’d give you me. Don’t worry about it. I’ll just go and pick out something else,” he finished, turning back towards his bed.
Bones was surprised when he felt his bed dip a moment later. He turned his head to see Jim leaning down, his eyes guarded. “Do you really mean it,” Jim breathed. Bones turned fully over and pulled Jim flush against his body. “Wouldn’t have done it if I hadn’t of meant it,” Bones murmured. He felt Jim’s grin and Jim’s arms snake around his waist. “Now shush. You can thank me for my present later,” he sleepily said.