#cometcastiel

A fond smile flit across Leonard’s face every time they came to a new exhibit. Jo wasn’t like a lot of the kids surrounding them who just wanted to see the animals in action before losing interest and running ahead to the next display. She studied the animals intently, read the information plaques, and even asked intelligent questions.

Jim kept up a running commentary of interesting facts about each type of animal they saw. Leonard wondered how his brain hadn't exploded yet--he could almost picture sparks and smoke streaming out of Jim’s ears--overloaded by all the knowledge he seemed to an endless supply of.

**

They had made their way through most of the exhibits and had decided to stop for a quick lunch break. All the while Jim and Leonard asked Joanna questions about the animals they had seen, upholding an educational side to the fun outing.

“So Jo,” Jim started as they began to gather up their trash, “what’s been your favorite animal to see so far?”

Jo was thoughtful for a moment before answering, “The lemurs!”

“Why’s that kiddo?” Leonard asked.

“They jumped really far through the trees!” She frowned. “At first I was scared they were going to fall, but then Uncle Jim told me that they use their tails to help with their balance,” she said, looking over at Jim.

“That’s right,” he said, ruffling her hair and making her giggle.

“Where to next, Jo-Jo?” Leonard asked once they had thrown their trash in a garbage bin.

Her eyes lit up and she could hardly contain her excitement as penguins burst out of her mouth in a rush.

Leonard chuckled. “Penguins it is.”

“Onward to Penguin island!” Jim proclaimed in a poor imitation of an English accent, one hand pointing forward in the direction they would be headed and the other commandeered by Jo to pull him along.

**

Penguins were currently Joanna’s favorite animal, so when they got to the penguin exhibit Leonard allowed her to wander around on her own, keeping her in his eyesight at all times but otherwise letting her go freely. Jim stayed by his side as they stood quietly, watching the penguins splash around in the water.

Jim’s hand found it’s way into Leonard’s, their fingers tangling together. Four penguins grouped up into a diamond shape and shot off across the surface of the water.

“Penguins mate for life y’know,” Jim said nonchalantly.

your wish is my command (normal version first, shall we?)

jim was happy. he couldn’t remember the last time his heart had felt so light. everything had been going his way lately and he felt like the luckiest man in the world; he was a bird soaring through fluffy white clouds against a bright azure sky—free. things had been going even better with bones; jim had decided to do a cliche proposal on christmas—only hours away. which was how he found himself with a ring in his pocket and a pie from the bakery down the street in his hand on his way back to their apartment.

His cheeks are so cold they feel like they’re on fire, and he can’t feel his toes or his nose, but Leo has to admit he’s having fun. It isn’t every day that he gets to throw things at Jim. Even though he hasn’t actually managed to hit him. Yet. It’s cathartic in its own way.

The taunts are getting a little old, however.

Leo picks up a perfectly round snowball from the pile at his frost encrusted boots. He lets out a steady breath, watching the visible puff swirl and disappear into the air; Jo’s voice in the back of his head gleefully saying, “Look, Daddy, I’ma dragon!”

Distracted with thoughts of his daughter, Leo looks up over the snowbank just in time to see Jim jump out from behind his tree. He’s out in the open and moving closer to Leo. It’s finally a real chance to hit him. Joanna’s spirit beside him, he pulls back his arm and lets the snowball fly.

And miraculously hits Jim square in the chest.

Leo feels a moment of triumph watching Jim dramatically fall backward into the fluffy snow--revenge for all the times earlier that day when Jim pelted him unrelentingly with hard-packed snowballs--followed by a moment of panic as Jim continues to lay there; he might have hit his head on a buried rock and knocked himself out. With Jim’s luck, it isn’t an unreasonable fear.

Leo vaults over his fort and trudges through the deep snow as fast as he can to Jim’s side. His heart stutters in his chest upon seeing Jim close-up and spread-eagle in the snow. Bright golden hair and flushed pink cheeks against blinding white.

Leo drops to his knees beside Jim’s head, tentatively checking for blood. What he doesn’t see is Jim moving his arm ever so slightly to grab a handful of snow. So he also doesn’t see it coming when Jim pulls him down by the front of his jacket and smashes the snow down the back of his neck with the other.

Leo howls, the sudden cold sending shivers dancing down his spine and chilling him straight to his already frozen feet. Laughter paralyzes Jim; he rolls around on his back with his arms wrapped around his middle as wave after wave of giggles hits him.

And bless Jim for being so oblivious, he doesn’t even notice Leo looks about ready to murder him until it’s too late. He tries to get away and leap for freedom, but Leo is right behind him, tackling him to the ground. They grapple, rolling around like lions, each trying to be the one who pins the other.

Leo finally prevails, only because Jim can’t stop laughing. He sits back on Jim’s upper thighs, using his weight to restrain him from struggling further, and folds his arms across his chest.

“You’re an asshole,” Leo grumps. He scowls and Jim has the audacity to smile.

Jim leans up, able to do so since only his lower body is truly the only thing immobilized, and kisses Leo on the nose, hoping to melt anger out of his eyebrows. And it works, if only for a few seconds. “You love me,” he says.

But the worst part was the music. Every possible second of the day, Jim was belting out Christmas songs. Leo would walk into a room to check that Jim hadn’t been buried alive under decorations only to have his ears assaulted by catchy tunes.

I want a hippopotamus for Christmas. Only a hippopotamus for Christmas will dooo

And okay, maybe ‘assaulted’ wasn’t the right word for it. Leo had to admit that Jim had a beautiful singing voice.

I’m dreamin’ of a white Christmas. Just like the ones I used to know

But with stores playing holiday songs combined with Jim’s constant singing and all these songs constantly stuck in his head, Leo was about ready to explode. He needed a little peace and quiet. Just for an hour. Hell, he’d take ten minutes if he could.

Oh the weather outside is frightful, but the fire is so delightful. And since we've no place to go, let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

Trying to bring it up with Jim, however, was difficult. Because despite all his grumbling about it, Leo really did enjoy the festive atmosphere and he didn’t want to hurt Jim’s feelings.

He didn’t need to worry about that though, because Jim just laughed and mumbled about traditions before continuing right along with his singing.

Mistletoe hung where you can see. Every couple tries to stop

And then Leo was hit with an idea. ‘Traditions’ was something he could work with.

oOo

The next morning, Leo was ready to put his scheme into action. It was almost too easy and he was a little nervous it would fail spectacularly, but it was worth a shot if it would shut Jim up.

Jim was standing at the counter, clad in only his red flannel pajama bottoms, mixing up pancake batter for breakfast. He was humming “Jingle Bells” as he worked and Leo saw his time to strike.

He innocently sidled up to Jim, who smiled at Leo over his shoulder and continued to mix up the batter. Leo placed his hands on Jim’s waist, spinning him around and forcing him to abandon his task. “Dance with me,” he said and Jim raised an eyebrow, but went willingly enough.

They waltzed around the small kitchen, a dance that certainly didn’t match the lively tune of “Jingle Bells” but they made it work.

Slowly, Leo lead them out of the kitchen and into the living room where he had stealthily moved the furniture out of the way. Jim laughed, a sound of pure, radiant happiness, and began to sing the words to the song. The way Jim’s eyes crinkled at the corners and his face was alight with joy as they danced around the room almost made Leo forget his plan. In that moment, Jim was ethereal and Leo felt his heart skip a beat.

Leo started to lead them out toward the doorway where earlier, along with moving the furniture, he had hung mistletoe. Jim continued to sing, blissfully unaware. Leo halted their steps.

Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the-mmph!

And then he halted Jim’s singing with a kiss. Jim melted into Leo, almost as if, even though he acted unaware, he had known the whole time.

Panting, Jim pulled away from Leo; air supply diminished from dancing, singing, and then kissing.

“See what can happen when you take a break from singing for five seconds?” Leo joked, bringing a hand up to ruffle Jim’s still bed-tousled hair.

Jim’s eyes sparkled like they were actually gemstones. Playfully he asked, “One more song?”

Leo nodded, unable to deny him anything, and went to pull away so Jim could jump into his theatrics, but Jim surprised him and pulled him in for a hug.

And softly he began to sing.

Primrose: Favorite kind of soup? I've literally only ever had chicken noodle soup so it's my favorite (I hate trying new foods sooo)