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Leonard stares grimly at the literal stacks of magazines with Jim Kirk’s face plastered across the front with some sort of title akin to ‘Single Again!’ Leonard himself is not too sure how an entire country (probably the entire world) could possibly be so obsessed with one singer.
Nobody’s love life could be that interesting.
Leonard scoffs at the many covers and turns to make a snide comment to whoever will listen. This ends up being a blond with enormous black glasses and a grey beanie that has definitely seen better days. He’s attractive, to say the least, but Leonard is not entirely sure how an adult man could possibly justify wearing sweatpants that baggy in public. Probably some college student back home on break.
Still, the snarky comment has to come out and this kid is the only one beside the cashier who’ll listen. “Can you believe all of this? Who the hell cares if this Jim Kirk is in a relationship?”
The blond clears his throat and laughs. “Yeah, I know. It’s sorta out of hand.”
“Not to mention the fact that he’s totally overrated.” Leonard adds, giddy that this kid agrees with him at least. Most people would defend Jim Kirk until their dying day. “Doesn’t even sing country anymore.”
“I mean, his style changed. It happens.” The kid seems to be more amused than anything else by Leonard. “But yeah, it is way different now.”
“Certainly doesn’t stop my daughter from buying every album.” Leonard grumbles. “The guy could probably record an hour of himself gargling saltwater and she’d swear it was the album of the year.”
This, apparently, really gets the guy because he’s practically doubled over with laughter. Leonard chuckles at the image and tries not to get too happy with himself for causing that smile. He’s at a grocery store, for goodness’ sake. Now is not the time to be lusting over strangers that are probably far younger than he is. The blond straightens up and wipes under his eyes. “Sorry, I always end up laughing way too hard at stupid jokes.”
“No problem.” Leonard actually grins at him. He takes a deep breath and decides to take the leap, “Hey, I’m in town for a bit. Do you want to-“
The cashier is the bane of Leonard’s existence when he cuts him off with a, “Well, if it isn’t Jimmy Kirk back in town from being a big popstar! How are you, Jimmy?”
Jim coughs and waves his fingers with a shy smile. “I’m fine, Steven. How are you?”
“I’m just great, Jimmy. Why are you back in town? Bad breakup?”
Leonard chokes on his tongue while his eyes go incredibly wide. “Oh my god. You’re…” He trails off, pointing at the plethora of magazines with a perfectly posed singer that looks increasingly like the slob in front of him now that Leonard knows they are in fact the same person. “How did I not realize that?”
Jim shrugs and waves him off. “A lot of people don’t. Especially when I’m wearing my glasses.” He looks down at himself and tugs at his sweatpants. “And I do look less like a popstar and more like someone who sleeps under bridges right now.”
Leonard giggles nervously. He was just trash talking this guy to his face and then tried to ask him out on a date. He tried to ask Jim Kirk on a date. “No, you…look great. Much better than most people. Oh my goodness, I can’t believe I said what I did. I am so embarrassed-“
He’s cut off by a warm hand on his shoulder and another one of those laughs. “Don’t worry about it. I’ve heard much worse, I promise.”
“Still, this is the most embarrassing thing that’s ever happened to me. If Joanna ever found out…I would be a dead man in two seconds.”
“Is Joanna your daughter? You said she was a fan?” Jim asks with a grin on his face, “Why don’t we give her a call? I could talk to her a little, make sure she knows that her father isn’t totally embarrassing.”
Leo’s already got his phone out of his pocket before Jim finishes talking. Jo would be absolutely thrilled and it would probably win him parent of the year for the next decade. “Seriously? You’d do that? She would probably die.”
“Sure! I mean, I wouldn’t be here without people like her.”
Leonard gapes a bit at that. “You really talk like that in real life?” He hurries to expound when he’s met with Jim’s confused wrinkle of eyebrows. “I mean, all that ‘my fans are everything’ stuff?”
“Well, they sort of are. I really would not be here without them.” Jim says bashfully at his feet.
Leonard smiles and says, “That’s really sweet.” So kindly that it surprises even him. “Here, let me call Jo up.”
“You should do a video call, if you can.”
“Will do.” Leonard dials and lets it ring, praying that she’ll actually pick up. Jim pays for his milk and eggs while they wait. “I’m Leonard, by the way.” He holds out a hand, which Jim takes in his own surprisingly warm one.
Luckily, Joanna picking up the phone saves him from doing anything too embarrassing. “Hey, Jo-Jo.” Leonard grins at the sight of his daughter, who looks every bit the teen that she became recently.
“Dad? What do you need? I’m about to go over to Lizze’s.” She puts earrings on with her free hand.
“Jo, baby, there’s someone I’d like you to meet.”
“Not another one of your work ‘friends’, Dad.” Joanna whines petulantly. She sticks her tongue out at him. “They’re all old and-Oh my God, you’re Jim Kirk.” She shrieks as soon as Leo hands the blond the phone. “Jim Kirk! How in the world did my Daddy get ahold of you?”
Leo chuckles at his daughter’s screeching and shifts the plastic grocery bag in his hand. It’s got a pop and a chocolate bar that will probably be his lunch and dinner. The cashier laughs and nods at him.
“Well, I’m from this little town and your dad happened to be in the same grocery lane as me.” Jim answers with a genuine smile. He holds up a gallon of milk. “Mom sent me out for a few things.”
“That is so cute!”
“Isn’t it, though?” Jim laughs and rubs the back of his neck. Leo wonders what reason he could possibly have to be nervous here. “Hey, Joanna, I was wondering…what do you think the chances are that your dad says yes when I ask him out?”
Leonard drops his bag and takes it as a brief reprieve in which he can attempt to tame his sudden blush. Joanna takes care of the teenage squealing for the both of them. “If he tries to say no, I’ll hit him so hard, he’ll see the future.”
“Jo,” Leo starts warningly, “I might remind you that this is my love life, not yours.”
“Well yeah, Dad, but this is Jim Kirk asking you out, it’s bigger than just you.”
“What do you say, Leonard?” Jim asks with a hopeful gleam in his eyes.
Those eyes and that smile mixed with the fact that Joanna will probably kill him if he says no makes Leonard unable to do anything but sigh and say, “I guess. Yeah.” (It is rather halfhearted, even to his own ears. He’s far more excited for this than any thirty something year old should be.) “Besides, my lunch plans basically consisted of eating this garbage in my cheap motel room.”
“Well lucky for you, I know where to get the best grilled cheese in town.”
-
“So, you’re not from around here.” Jim leans forward across the table with a grin. “Where are you from?”
Leonard laughs and puts down the half of a grilled cheese he was working on. “Georgia. Work in Atlanta, live just a little bit outside of there.”
“I love Atlanta!” Jim exclaims and then bites his lip, “Well, I love what I’ve seen of it. Tours and stuff keep me pretty busy.”
“Yeah, I can imagine.” Leonard nods happily. “Actually, I really can’t. What is that even like?”
Jim dips the corner of his grilled cheese into a cup of tomato soup. “Insane. But fun. The really crazy stuff is all the rumors, though. Like, half of the relationships you read about never happened.”
“Pavel Chekov?”
“He’s, like, twelve!” Jim exclaims. “I am many things, but a cradle robber is not one.”
Leonard puts his hands up and bows his head. “Fine, fine. I get it. Carol Marcus?”
“Yeah, she and I went out for a while. But then we realized that we look more like twins than a couple and things just got weird from there.” Jim laughs and shakes his head. “She’s great, and a wonderful actress, but totally wrong for me.”
Leonard bites his lip and tries to think of the names of the many love interests of Jim Kirk that he’s heard about across the years. “Oh, who was that one guy…Spock, I think?”
Jim frowns and looks down at his plate. “Yeah, Spock. We were together the longest, out of all of them. Ended because he fell in love with an actress who definitely was not me. But don’t tell anyone that, the official story is ‘irreconcilable differences.’”
Leonard whistles and takes a bite out of his sandwich. He feels a little bit intimidated by all of the big names that have been introduced into the conversation. “I guess I seem low maintenance compared to all those big stars, don’t I?”
“Blessedly so.” Jim says before getting serious. “For real, though, Leonard. I’m glad you said that you would come out with me. Even if the way I asked you out was a little unorthodox.”
“I don’t think there’s anything orthodox about getting asked out by your daughter’s favorite superstar?”
Jim laughs and nods in agreement. “So, if it’s not too personal to ask, what’s the story there? Is there a mother in the picture?” He can apparently sense Leonard’s shock at the question because he rushes to amend, “I just don’t want to get tangled up in anything too complicated, you know? I mean, you’re not wearing a wedding ring but-“
“A bad choice like that could be spectacularly bad for you.” Leonard finishes for him. Jim nods once with a sorry smile. “It’s fine, I get it. As for the mother, she’s been out of the picture for a while. We split when Joanna was five. Now my baby girl’s fourteen and we haven’t seen hide nor hair of her since.”
“I’m so sorry, Leonard.” Jim surprises Leonard by reaching out across the table and grabbing his hand. “That sounds awful. Aren’t you a bit young to have a fourteen year old, though? You’re, what, twenty nine?”
“Thirty-one.” Leonard corrects, “And yeah. I’m really young to have a fourteen year old daughter, but Jocelyn got pregnant when I was sixteen and there wasn’t much I could do about that.”
“Wow.” Jim laughs and runs his free hand through his hair. “And I thought that having tabloids write trashy things about me when I was sixteen was bad. I cannot imagine becoming a parent at that age.”
“It’s nothing, now.” Leonard assures Jim. “I’ve got everything that I could want, now. I’m the sawbones that I always wanted to be, got a great daughter, a family there to support me-“
“And a new chance at love?” Jim waggles his eyebrows teasingly. “Seriously, though, that’s amazing for you, Bones.”
“Bones?”
“You called yourself a sawbones.” Jim points a finger in his face. “Besides, it’s a way cooler name than Leonard.”
“You’re going to be a lot to handle, aren’t you?” Leonard asks good naturedly.
“That depends,” Jim starts with a grin on his face, “Are you planning on handling me?” His smile promises wicked things.
“Well, that just answers my question, doesn’t it?”
-
“Dad!” Joanna calls from the front of the house back towards Leonard’s room. “Your boyfriend is here!”
Leonard rolls out of bed, making sure his laptop won’t fall off as soon as he walks away. “I don’t have a boyfriend, Jo!” He yells back.
“I think he’ll beg to differ!” Joanna shouts back. “And you’re hurting his feelings by saying that!”
“Yeah, I thought what we had was special!” Is a very familiar voice that is most definitely out of place in Leonard’s home.
“Jim?” Leonard does not run to the door to see that very same head of too-blond hair standing there behind a bouquet of roses. He and Jim had only been out twice and had a few too-short video calls between texts in the last four months. “What the hell are you doing here?”
“Got a break from tour. Thought I’d stop by and see if you’re still interested.”
“Um, yeah, he’s interested.” Joanna says under her breath loud enough for everyone and their mother to hear. “He’s not that dumb.”
“Joanna, don’t you have homework to be doing?” Leonard pinches the bridge of his nose and waves the other hand in the general direction of her bedroom. “As in, not here?”
She puts her hands up defensively and backs out of the room slowly. “Geez, don’t get so defensive. I was just saying, you are interested. Or have you been obsessively watching his interviews because you hate him?”
“Jo. Homework. Go.” Leonard groans and hopes to god that his face is not as red as it feels. “Here, let me take those from you, Jim.” He grabs the roses from a Jim who looks rather pleased with himself. “Shut up.”
“I’m not saying anything, Bones.” Jim chirps and follows Leonard to the kitchen. “Besides, it’s not my fault that you like me.” He sings the last little part. “Like, a lot.”
“Do not.”
“Do so.”
“Keep it up and see how long that lasts.” Leonard gives his empty warning while he dumps the roses into water. “It won’t be long.”
Jim scoffs dismissively and stands just behind Leonard, letting his hands fall on the older man’s hips. “Sorry for dropping by unannounced like this.” He says quietly into his ear. “But you gave me your address to send you stuff for Jo, and I didn’t really have anywhere to go, what with my mom being in Italy with her fiancé for the week.”
Leonard turns in Jim’s arms and covers his hands with his own. “It’s alright. Not like I had anything else going on, and I really wanted to see you, anyway. I was seriously considering buying tickets to your Atlanta concert.”
“You do realize that you could just call me, and I would get you tickets. And backstage passes.” Jim laughs and shakes his head. “Seriously, don’t buy tickets.”
“I won’t.” Leonard says mock-seriously. “Wow, I think dating a popstar might end up saving me quite a bit of money.”
“I knew you were using me for my connections.” Jim says ruefully. “I guess I should go before you break my heart futher.”
He tries to pull away dramatically but Leonard pulls him back firmly and pecks him on the lips. “Oh no, you’re not going anywhere when I only have you for…how long?”
“I have a week off tour.”
“A week, then. You’re not getting away when I only have you for a week.”
Something buzzes against Leonard’s thigh and makes him jump ever so slightly. Jim groans and reaches into his pocket. “Sorry, that’s me.” He glances down at the screen and furrows his eyebrows. “Sorry, I have to take this.”
“Alright. You can just go into the other room if you need.” Leonard lets go of Jim’s hips and lets him walk away, suddenly concerned about who could possibly be on the other end of that call. “I’ll be in here.”
Jim quirks the corner of his mouth up but it doesn’t reach his eyes. He turns to leave the room, phone in hand. “Thanks, Bones.”
Leonard busies himself while Jim’s out of the room by throwing together a quick lunch for the three people in the house and decidedly not eavesdropping on Jim’s conversation with whoever it may be. Kid has his privacy invaded enough by the press.
Jim comes in a few long minutes later looking worse for wear. He shoves his phone in his pocket just a bit too forcefully and rubs a hand over his face. “That sucked.”
Leonard doesn’t want to ask, “Who was it?” But it comes out all the same.
“Spock.” Jim says dejectedly, practically throwing himself onto one of the barstools. “The last person I dated that I was really dating and not just for publicity.”
A flare of jealousy crops up in Leonard’s gut. “What did he want?”
“Well, we broke up a year ago but he was living in Paris then. So he’s home now in LA and he found a bunch of my stuff there.” Jim grimaces. “He wants me to come pick it up ASAP.”
“And that was a ten minute conversation?” Leonard hates himself for sounding so damn jealous.
Jim smiles halfway. “No, that was a two minute conversation. The rest of it was Spock being awkward about the fact that I’m guest starring on Nyota’s show soon. They’re a thing and Spock is convinced that I’m going to mess whatever it is that they have up.” He groans and puts his head in his hands. “I don’t know, I always think we’re finally friends but then he pulls shit like this and I…I don’t know.”
Leonard reaches over and pulls one of Jim’s hand away from his face to hold it in his own. “Look, Jim, I don’t know this Spock too well, but if he keeps making you feel this way, is there any way you might want to just break ties with him altogether?”
“No, I can’t do that. He’s been one of my best friends for so long, I couldn’t just walk away from him like that.”
“You can if you need to.” Leonard squeezes Jim’s hand in his own and gives him another kiss. “Whatever you do, I’ll be right here. No worries.”
“Thanks, Bones. That means a lot.” Jim lets out a deep breath, “So, what is there to eat?”
-
But on a Wednesday, in a café,
I watched it begin again.
A round of applause breaks out wildly when Jim finishes. The host of whatever show he’s on right now steps up onto the small platform they’re calling a stage with a grin and terrifying six inch heels. “Jim Kirk, everyone!” She says into a mic. “What an amazing performance!”
Jim grins and sets his red guitar on the stand next to him. He stands up off of the stool and hugs the host to his chest. “Thank you so much, Aleesha.” He affects just a small bit of a twang that makes Leonard laugh to himself while he watches the tv.
It’s a live interview, so when Jim trips briefly over a chord, there’s no hiding it. There’s also no hiding his embarrassed grin. “Well, I’m sure that surprised absolutely no one.”
“Oh, Jim, always a joy to have you on the show. Now, that performance seemed a little bit more emotional than usual. Tell me, honestly, was that for anyone special?”
Leonard’s stomach flips and his knife stills where it was chopping a carrot. He and Jim talked just last week about maybe being more public about their relationship (not that they were really hiding it before) and they both agreed that maybe it would be the best thing. They’ve been together for seven months and Leonard feels more secure than he has in a long time about something like this.
On the TV, Jim smiles at his feet and looks up at the host with the most charming grin that Leonard has ever seen. “Oh, come on, Aleesha. You can’t pull something out of me that easy.”
She pouts, big red lips pushed out in a clearly practiced expression. “Please? You know, the more you deny answering, the more we’re gunna think you ran off and got married or something.”
Jim laughs hard (but not as hard as he did when they first met) and shakes his head. “No, nothing like that. But, if you must know…I was thinking about a certain someone when I was playing today.”
The entire crowd goes absolutely wild with cheers and catcalls in Jim’s direction. Leonard laughs but feels some anxiety pull at his gut when he realizes that this is the moment. This is the time when there’s no going back.
Jo, apparently, realizes this too because she comes rocketing out of her room and skids around the center island. “Dad! Are you watching?”
“Yes. Now shush. I’m watching.” Leonard holds up a finger and hands her the knife to cut vegetables. “As long as you’re out here, you can help with dinner.”
Onscreen, the audience is finally calming down with some encouragement from Aleesha. “Alright, everyone. If y’all don’t shut up, we will never get to find out exactly who it is!” She waves her hands and gets the noise down to a manageable level. “Jim, who is it? Clare Bowen? Hikaru Sulu? Nick Jonas? Back together with Spock?”
Jim laughs and shakes his head vehemently. “No, none of them. Though they are all great people and dear friends of mine. I’m not with any of those celebrity types.”
“Then who is it?”
Jim pulls his phone out of his pocket with a blush. “Well, it’s actually a doctor I met last time I was back in Iowa. He was there at a conference-he’s from Georgia, really-and yeah. We totally hit it off. He’s really great.” Jim takes a break to grin and show his phone to the host. “This is him.”
“Can we get a camera over here?” Aleesha says excitedly. A moment later, there’s a camera up close and personal with Jim’s phone and Leonard’s picture. “Can I just say that it is so cute that you have him as your lockscreen?”
It’s a picture of the two of them from a few months ago while they were shopping for materials for a school project for Joanna’s class. Jim’s pressing a kiss to his cheek, which of course brings out the goofiest of grins on Leonard’s face.
“What’s his name?” Aleesha presses. “Or do we just get to make up names for this hottie?”
“He is a hottie! Even though he will totally deny it until his dying day.” Jim laughs and looks directly into the camera like he knows Leonard is watching. “Anyways, his name is Leonard McCoy, but I mostly call him Bones.”
“Well, I’m sure we don’t want to know where that nickname came from.” The host says suggestively. The audience responds with some hollering and a few ‘Yes we do!’s.
Jim looks appropriately appalled. He even puts a hand to his chest. “No, it’s nothing like that! It’s just because of the old “Sawbones” nickname because he’s a doctor!”
“Well, no matter where it came from, we are all so happy to see you being happy, Jim.” Aleesha wraps an arm around his shoulders.
Jim’s still holding his phone, so Leonard pulls out his own and shoots off a text, feeling particularly mischievous.
On the show, Jim’s phone pings. He looks down at it and laughs out loud, more genuinely than before. “Well, it looks like he’s watching.” He says to Aleesha by way of explanation. “He says hi and to put my phone away. Apparently it’s not polite.”
“That is adorable!” Aleesha jumps (as much as one can jump in six inch heels) and claps her hands. “Oh, this is just so great.” She’s got the grin of someone who knows they’re getting a raise soon.
“I should probably put it away before his daughter gets involved in the situation.” Jim chuckles and slips his phone back into his pocket. “None of us want that. She’s amazing, don’t get me wrong, but she’s definitely fourteen years old.”
“It sounds like you’re really happy right now, Jim.”
“I am, Aleesha.” Jim says with a grin. “I really am.”
-
“This is, without a doubt, the best spring break ever!” Joanna says, twirling in her ballet pink dres and too-tall-for-a-fourteen-year-old heels. “I cannot believe I’m going to the premiere of the newest Nyota Uhura movie!”
Leonard laughs from where he’s sitting on the bed with Jim, both of them probably wrinkling their dress pants beyond hope. “What do you say to Jim?”
“Thank you Jim for writing a song for the movie and falling in love with my dad!” Joanna says with a dazzling grin. “And thank you mom for the great genetics because I look great in this dress.” She looks at herself from every possible angle. “Seriously, I look awesome.”
“Jo is really embracing her self-absorbed teenager phase.” Leo stage whispers to Jim by way of explanation.
“Hey!”
“You look beautiful, darlin’.”
Joanna grins and twirls again before plopping down onto the foot of the bed. “So when are we leaving?”
Leonard laughs and shakes his head. “Not for a bit, Jo. The premiere isn’t until seven and it’s only five.”
Joanna pouts but doesn’t say anything by way of protest. A bell rings from the front of the house.
Jim groans and rolls out of bed. “I’ll get that.”
“Well, it is your house.”
“It’s probably just Pike.” Jim says. “I swear, that guy is a great manager but his timing sucks. We can only hope it isn’t some new scandal.”
He seems to be mostly talking to himself while he walks down the hall, running a hand through the hair that he just spent twenty minutes styling. Leonard laughs to himself and calls after him. “Just make sure you don’t make us late! Jo will kill you.”
“He’s right!” Joanna calls. “I love you and I’m your biggest fan but he’s right.”
“Who ever it is, you’re ruining my date with my family!” Jim shouts at the front door cheerfully. Leonard and Joanna exchange twin grins with each other at the word ‘family.’ Only a year into the relationship that started in a grocery store of all places, and Leonard is more than a little bit happy with his place in life right now. “Who would dare-“
Jim cuts off suddenly and Leonard stops being able to hear whatever he’s saying across the large house. He sits up on the bed in alarm. Jim hardly ever quiets down to that level. He’s got too much energy and enthusiasm. The only times Leonard has ever seen him do that is when someone says something particularly derisive about his character and when Spock makes one of his more frigid appearances.
And there are definitely no interviewers here now. Leonard stands up and puts a hand up to Joanna. “Stay here, I’m just going to go see who it is.”
Leonard has to keep himself from tip toeing down the stairs like a kid on Christmas Eve to the foyer. Instead he decides to walk with a stride that is much more confident than he feels.
Who he sees standing just inside the door makes Leonard stop dead in his tracks.
“James, I simply came here tonight to assure you that I bear you no ill will.” The straightlaced man with perfectly styled black hair (he recently ditched his old bangs and the literary kicked up a fuss as much as the literary world can) says calmly. Leonard wants to punch him in the face.
“Spock, we’ve been through this. We broke up a year and a half ago, there’s no need to do this.” Jim messes up his hair even more by running his hands through it. He turns his back on Spock and starts pacing. His eyes find Leonard standing halfway down the stairs and he spares him half of a smile. “If you wanted to do this, you should have done it back then. Before you started acting like I was out to ruin your life.”
“I never behaved in that manner.” Spock defends himself, the words still perfectly even. “I merely took steps to-“
“Bullshit, Spock!” Jim shouts at him before seeming to remember that Joanna is in the house. “That’s bullshit and you know it. You slept with Nyota and then went on the defensive as if I was the one who cheated on you, when you know that is nowhere near the truth.” Jim rounds on Spock and practically spits the words in his face with a pointed finger.
Spock stands rigidly still. He doesn’t even flinch when Jim gets close to him. “James, you seem to be acting rather emotionally.”
Jim droops and backs up as if Spock’s words have some power over him. He scuffs one of his shoes into the floor like a child. “Look, Spock, you’re my friend. I don’t want you to not be my friend…but you haven’t been nice to me lately.” He takes a deep and hurries on before Spock can add anything, “And I know that being nice isn’t your thing, but I deserve to be treated decently. You know that.”
Spock takes a few breaths and seems to be calculating his response like a computer (god knows he looks like one), so Leonard makes his way down the stairs to hold Jim’s hand. He leans over to whisper in Jim’s ear, “Hey. I thought something might be wrong. Sorry I eavesdropped.”
Jim looks up at Leonard and grins wide and bright. “You could never eavesdrop. I don’t have anything that I don’t want you to hear.” He squeezes Leonard’s fingers. “I love you, Bones.”
“Love you too.”
Spock clears his throat softly, nearly imperceptibly. “It appears that you have truly found happiness, James. I had seen the interviews and I was unsure but…it appears you are happy.”
The “without me” goes unsaid but not unheard without Leonard. He puffs up a little in pride. “I have to thank you, Spock.”
The writer turns to him with a slight glare. “May I ask what for?”
“For letting go of this one.” Leonard holds up their joined hands with a slightly cocky grin. “Can’t imagine life without him.”
“Indeed.”
-
“Jim! How does it feel? Being here at the movie premiere with one of the songs from your new all pop album playing for the first time?” A nameless reporter shoves a microphone at Jim.
Jim, with his arm wrapped around Leonard’s waist (Joanna got to escape the red carpet media madness), smiles and answers, “Honestly? It’s amazing. This is a brand new chapter in my career and in my life, honestly.”
The interviewer finally takes notice of Leonard. “And you, this is a whole new world for you. You’ve gone from just a doctor to the red carpet in almost no time. How is the change affecting you?”
“Well, I’m still just an old country doctor, at heart.” Leonard jokes with her, “But it is rather new. I used to go to benefits with my parents back in Georgia but none of it was anything like this. I’m lucky at least to have this guy next to me.”
“You two seem to be very in love.” She remarks.
Jim looks at Leonard with a goofy smile. “We are, aren’t we?”
They scoot down the line slowly. The flashing lights and people shouting questions at Jim are all a bit overwhelming, but Leonard only has to touch Jim’s hand or remember his arm around his waist to realize exactly why he’s here. “I love you, Jim.” He says when he gets a free moment. “You are…the best thing to happen to me in a long time.”
“Right back atcha, Bones.” Jim says with a soft grin on his face. He leans forward and kisses him possibly too deeply for a public space. The flurry of clicking cameras starts anew. “I think we just made the front page.”
“Page six, at the very least.”
-
“I say we just run away and do it now.” Jim flops forward onto the dining room table of their Georgia house. “Seriously, Bones. We’re already living together at two houses. It’s not like anyone’ll be that upset if we just do this.”
“Just everyone.” Leonard laughs. He looks down at the silver band shining on his hand and pats Jim on the back. “So sit up, Darlin’, coz we have a lot to plan and the public doesn’t even know that we’re engaged yet.”
“You got way too good at handling this whole celebrity thing way too fast.” Jim groans, forehead still on the table. “It took me a million years.”
“It’s true.” Pike pipes up, eyes still fixed on his phone. “He was a nightmare when he was fifteen.”
“So were most people.” Jim says defensively.
“I was a straight A honors student at fifteen.” Leonard says cockily. “Even got the good citizen award.”
Jim lifts his head off the table at that. He holds his hand out, palm up. “I cannot believe I thought I could marry you. Give my ring back. I need someone who supports me in my time of need.”
Leonard slaps his hand into Jim’s cheerfully and brings their joined hands to his mouth to press his lips to Jim’s knuckles. “Please, you love me.”
“Sadly.”
-
“I’m getting to old for this, Bones.” Jim groans and flops back onto their shared bed. He holds his feet up in Leonard’s general direction for him to pry his shoes off. “Who am I kidding? Signings have always sucked. You know, you’d think that my fans would have grown enough with me to make it suck less but apparently not. These young ones just keep pouring in.”
Leonard pulls the shiny black shoes off of Jim’s feet and sets to work rubbing out the knots in them carefully. Despite what some people say about him, he does like to spoil his husband. “Don’t worry, darlin’, soon you’ll be too old for them.”
“Geez, Bones, way to make a guy feel great.” Jim looks up at him and kicks his foot slightly.
“Do you want me to stop?” Leonard raises an eyebrow.
“God, no.” Jim flops his head back again and stills his foot. “Keep going. I’m just being a whiny old man.”
“An old man of twenty eight.” Leonard teases and starts rubbing more purposefully now, “You’re still three years younger than I was when we met.”
“Jo was only fourteen back then. I can’t believe she’s actually seventeen years old.”
“That is how time works when you have children.” Leonard says absentmindedly. “You’ll get used to it eventually.”
“She’s going to college next year, Bones. College.”
Leonard drops Jim’s foot and moves to lay next to Jim on the bed. The blond immediately turns to curl into his side, head pillowed on Leonard’s chest. “Yep. Probably some big important school, too, from the looks of her grades. Then I can join you on tour full time, finally.”
“Life is changing, Bones.”
“Life does that.” Leonard hooks a finger under Jim’s chin and tilts his face up to kiss him deeply. It’s slow and comfortable and everything that Leonard has come to love about their relationship. While the crazy passion has dimmed a bit, it’s comfortable and warm now. “I find I’m fine just so long as I’ve got you and Jo-bean with me.”
“You’re amazing.” Jim breathes out with a smile. “Four years ago, I was just some dumb blond with a good voice and no respect from anyone, including myself. I could never have expected to be anywhere like this by now. Then you happened.” Jim breaks off for another kiss and a wide grin. “You changed everything for me.”
“You’re not the only one who feels that way, Jim.” Leonard responds easily. “You changed me just as much.”
“And we’ve still got so much further to go.” Jim says to the ceiling. “Though I can’t really imagine where we have to go from here. Everything’s kinda great.”
“Dad! Jim!” Joanna’s voice rings loudly from somewhere downstairs. “It’s time to go!”
Leonard heaves a weary sigh and pushes Jim off of his chest. He keeps his eyes closed until his feet hit the plush carpet of their bedroom. “Well, for now, it’s one of Jo’s many clubs.” He kisses Jim’s forehead. “She’ll keep us busy ‘till we find out.”