csi_sanders1129 | Fic: Stealing Kisses (Reply)

Title: Stealing Kisses
Chapters: 1/1
Author:

csi_sanders1129
Genre: Angst. Drama. Romance.
Ratings: T
Word Count: 4,365
Pairings/Characters: Jimmy Myers/Bo.
Synopsis: Five Times Jimmy and Bo kiss and one time it actually counts.
Comments: Written in response to cottoncandy_bingo prompt: couples first kiss, even if it takes a while to get there. Notes: Jimmy is still a werewolf because he bit Jake as he was dying. Also, I’m ignoring the existence of the were-bear like wolves and going with a more typical werewolf (like Teen Wolf or Big Wolf on Campus) because I can’t take that thing seriously. And there is gratuitous use of werewolf fanlore, as well. Characters not mine, please enjoy! Comments are awesome.

Jimmy is drunk out of his skull the first time it happens.

He's sitting on the couch in Bo's basement and there's a movie playing but he no longer has any idea of what that movie is. Brooke left an hour and a half ago, with excuses and apologies and Jimmy's heart, but Bo's still there (obviously, because it's his house, duh) and so is the bottle of vodka he snuck from his Dad's liquor stash.

"Jimbo?" Bo slurs at him, nearly as drunk as he is.

"Yeah?"

Bo doesn't say anything, just leans across the meager space between them on the sofa and kisses Jimmy like he's everything. There's a hand on his face that moves to drag through his hair and a tongue in his mouth that's moving against his own, with the sharp nip of teeth on his lips.

Jimmy doesn't remember any of it when he wakes up the next morning with what is quite possibly the worst hangover ever.

The second time, Bo's unconscious so it doesn't really count.

Jimmy's roaming the woods (because what else can a well-behaved werewolf do on the night after the full moon?) when he hears the unmistakable screech of metal on metal and the tinny explosion of glass shattering and spreading out across the road. It's instinct that makes him go toward the crash because logic tells him he should stay away and the red Camaro he finds is enough to explain why. It's wrapped up in what was once a silver Impala and he can smell the strong stench of blood. He doesn't want to attack though, because the smell of blood is overwhelmed by the smell of Bo.

"Bo!" He's shouting, more so roaring, as he picks his way down the woodsy hills. "Bo, hold on!"

The other driver is dead, he knows, can't hear any other heartbeats around besides the one he's affiliated with Bo, and even that is weak and off-rhythm.

Bo's still in the car, strapped in and trapped by a door that won't open. His head is lolled to the side, blood streaking down from a cut over his eye. He's barely awake, eyes bleary and unfocused as Jimmy uses his werewolf strength to claw his way through the door, prying it off the car's frame and tossing it aside with nearly no effort.

"Jimmy?"

"Right here," he's saying, a shaky hand on Bo's arm. He's afraid to move him, knows that it could hurt him more than help him, but his nose picks up traces of gasoline leaking and he's going to have to risk it. He slices through the seatbelt with a sharp claw and pulls Bo from the wreckage carefully. "You'll be okay."

He can't be seen here, not half-wolfed out and covered in dirt from the woods. He carries Bo a good distance away from the wrecked cars, a safe distance should anything explode, and frees Bo's cell phone from his pocket. He dials 911, but doesn't say anything - they'll trace the call and come on their own.

"I have to go," Jimmy tells his friend, but Bo's not awake anymore. He's still and quiet, but Jimmy's sure he's still breathing, that his heart's still beating. He stays as long as he can, with Bo's head resting in his lap on the side of the road. He's been able to hear the sirens approaching for a while, but it's not until he can almost see the lights that he finally moves. For a reason he doesn't quite know, He drops a quick kiss to Bo's lips before he ducks back into the cover of the woods.

He watches. Watches the silver Impala burst into flames just as the emergency vehicles arrive on the scene. Watches a fire truck deal with the flaming car as the cops secure the scene and the paramedics set to work on Bo, checking him over and loading him into the ambulance.

"Lucky kid," Jimmy hears one of them say. "Probably wouldn't have made it if he'd still been in the car."

The next time is at the hospital, six hours later. It still doesn't count.

Jimmy hurries home, forcing the wolf into compliance as he wanders back into civilization. It reluctantly behaves and Jimmy thinks it might be because it's Bo that's hurt and the wolf inside of him doesn't like that anymore than the human part. He'll figure out what that means later.

Right now? Right now he needs a shower and clothes not covered in a messy mixture of blood and dirt.

Once he's clean and clothed, he rushes downstairs to find Ellie just getting home from a late taping at the studio. "Bo was in an accident," he tells her, hoping she doesn't ask him how he knows that. "Can we go to the hospital?"

Since the whole werewolf incident, Bo has become a pretty common fixture in their house. He's been by for dinner more than once and slept over even more than that. Bo volunteers to help Jimmy out with chores around the house (the aftermath of the whole Jake thing was an involved clean-up process - who knew getting claw marks out of the ceiling would be so difficult?) and he's always been polite to Ellie. So her worried expression and her quick move to grab up the keys she only just put down are not unexpected reactions to his news.

The drive to the hospital is quick, but the wait for news is long.

Jimmy and Ellie sit in the waiting room for something that's maybe a little less than forever, but the wolf has him so anxious and wound so tightly that he can't sit still, so he finds himself endlessly pacing the room like the caged animal he is. He finally manages to focus on Bo's heartbeat among the hundreds of people in the hospital. It takes a while, sifting through all the different beats (small ones and arrhythmic ones and too fast ones and ones that don't seem like they'll be beating much longer), but he's used to Bo's like he's used to Ellie's and eventually he pinpoints it. It's slow, but not like it was at the accident site, just like he's sleeping. He sighs, and the relief must be evident because his sister looks at him, confused.

"'s nothing," he mumbles, just as a nurse finally comes out with information for them. She's hesitant to tell them anything, but Jimmy explains that Bo doesn't have any siblings and his parents have been away - London, he thinks - on a business trip and probably aren't easily contactable. "He's my best friend," he begs, "please."

She sighs and nods, tells him that Bo hasn't woken up yet, but he should soon. He has a concussion and a few cuts and bruises. She says that he's lucky it's nothing more serious. That the driver of the other car didn't make it.

But Jimmy already knows all that. "Can I see him?"

"For a little while," she says.

"I'll wait here," Ellie excuses herself as the nurse leads Jimmy down a series of maze-like hallways.

He picks up Bo's scent as soon it becomes distinguishable from the array of factors influencing it - medicines that add an artificial quality to the intricate mix he's familiar with, plus the strong scents of cleaners and bleaches that sanitize the rooms all around them, and all the other people around. Jimmy has to force himself to stay behind the nurse once he figures out where the scent leads, but he manages.

"Try not to disturb him. He'll wake up when he's ready."

And then he's alone with Bo.

He claims the seat by the bed, grabs Bo's hand in his own on instinct - the wolf relaxes, just a bit, with that little bit of contact, and yeah, he really needs to look into this - and waits.

"Mm. Jimmy?" Bo's voice is rough and quiet, and he keeps his eyes closed, but the change in his heartbeat tells Jimmy that he is awake just a few short minutes after he comes in. "Thanks for the save."

"Anytime," Jimmy replies, giving Bo's hand a squeeze. "Get some sleep, okay?"

"Yeah," Bo answers and it's just a few minutes later that the steady lub-dub beat slows down again.

Someone else is coming, his heightened senses warn him. Probably the nurse. The wolf doesn't like it - doesn't seem to want anyone else around an injured Bo - but the human side knows that it's not something that can be avoided. He pulls Bo's hand up to his lips, kisses it quickly and is standing on the other side of the room when the nurse appears to escort him back to the waiting room. "You can visit again tomorrow, okay? Visiting hours are from 8 in the morning to 9 at night."

He nods and goes to Ellie, who settles a hand on his shoulder as they walk out. "He'll be okay," she says.

"I know." He has to be. Jimmy doesn't know what he'll do (or what the wolf will do) if he isn't.

The next time is almost different.

It's been two days since Bo was released from the hospital. His head is healing, along with the rest of him, bruises and cuts slowly fading away. He's even back at school already.

Jimmy, though, he's looking a little worse for wear. Every since Bo was released, he's been researching. There are piles of werewolf books scattered across the warzone that is presently his bedroom. His computer holds a wealth of knowledge as well, in the form of several hundred bookmarked sites on lycanthropic lore. And in between his homework and school, he's buried himself in all of it.

There's plenty of stuff about packs and pack dynamics and hierarchies - alphas and betas and omegas - that doesn't relate to him because he's alone . The only wolf there is now that Jake and Joanie are both dead and Ellie's turned back. He doesn't have a pack, so this is all meaningless.

But there has to be an answer. Somewhere, there has to be.

So he researches and researches, and then he researches some more. He doesn't sleep, but he goes to school and comes home and is quick to get his homework out of the way. He skips dinner (like he skipped breakfast and lunch) and doesn't sleep that night, either.

The next day at school, he's starting to regret the lack of sleep - his wolfish instincts are a little on the testy side (he nearly takes off the door to his locker when he misses the numbers of his combination three times, Bo's friend Louie almost loses an eye when he accidentally nudges one of Bo's healing injuries, and he may or may not have growled at his math teacher) - and by the time he gets home, he's nearly dead on his feet.

Bo's on his heels, though, having invited himself over for dinner, so he forces himself to stay awake just a little while longer.

"You look awful, man," Bo tells him, around a mouthful of pizza. "Have you slept at all since the crash?"

Jimmy frowns and devours his own slice of meat lover's pizza. "Yeah, of course. "

"Liar."

"Am not."

"Are, too."

"Am not."

"Really, Jimbo?" Bo laughs, a move that makes him flinch because of the bruises on his ribs. "Go to sleep, okay?"

Jimmy sighs and crushes the empty pizza box. "And you?"

"I have to head home. My parents should be back tonight, but I'll come back later. If that's okay?"

"Yeah," Jimmy nods. "Yeah, that's okay."

And so Bo leaves while Jimmy heads upstairs to get some much needed rest.

He comes back less than three hours later, after his parents lecture him about his car (even though it wasn't his fault, the other driver had been drunk when he slammed into Bo's car, driving in the wrong lane) and he blows off dinner with them. Ellie lets him in, tells him that Jimmy's upstairs, and he takes the steps as swiftly as he can with the pounding in his ribs.

Bo's kind of stunned by the mass quantities of books that have materialized in Jimmy's room. It looks kind of like the Library of Congress threw up its occult section all over the place. And Bo is fully prepared to make fun of Jimmy for the excess of werewolf related research materials that have exploded around the room and "what're you doing all this for, anyway? You planning a dissertation on not-so mythical creatures?"

But, Jimmy's still asleep, curled up amidst piles of books that have been pushed just out of the way enough to allow room for him on the bed. He's got his back to the wall and his arms twisted all over the place and Bo shakes his head and wonders if he should bother trying to wake him up or not.

"Jimmy?" He says quietly, but he just gets soft snores in response.

He frowns, sits down in the desk chair and waits. Five minutes, then ten. He's antsy and the pain meds he's on are clearly messing with his decision making abilities because all he really wants to do is cross the room and kiss Jimmy again (because, yes, he does remember being drunk the night Brooke and Jimmy broke up, and, hazy as it is, the night of the accident).

"Jimmy?" He calls out again, a little louder this time.

But Jimmy still doesn't stir. He does make an odd sort of whining noise that sounds like it might be meshed with Bo's name (the wolf picks up on Bo's anxiety, locked on his scent and heart rate even in sleep) and so Bo stands up and does just that.

He presses his lips to Jimmy's. It's a barely there sort of kiss, over almost as soon as it starts. He backs off a bit and when he looks back down at Jimmy, it's to open eyes and a confused expression.

"What?" Bo asks, hoping to play this off if he needs to.

Jimmy touches his lips softly and frowns at Bo. "Nothing," he says, "I just... had a dream."

"Bad dream?"

"No. Definitely not."

The fifth time? It doesn't mean anything.

Jimmy's out in the woods again, running and letting the wolf blow off some steam, when he smells it.

The scent of another wolf is strong and unfamiliar, but unmistakable. Like this invasive, poisonous stench that assaults his senses and makes his skin crawl. He wonders if it would affect him any less if Bo weren't out here, too. He's got the newly repaired Camaro at the edge of the woods, waiting to give Jimmy a lift home at sun-up. Jimmy knows he's probably asleep by now, vulnerable to the threat of the invading wolf. And, no. Not happening.

He takes off for the car as fast as his wolf speed will let him go.

The scent gets stronger as he gets closer and sure enough, the hulking figure of another werewolf is lurking by the car. Jimmy gives a vicious sort of growl, a threatening sound that comes from deep in his throat. The noise is apparently enough to get Bo's attention, whether he was sleeping or not, because the lights inside of the car flick on.

The other wolf turns to face him, looking less than surprised by his presence. "Took you long enough," it spits at him.

Jimmy only offers another roar as he puts himself between the car and the stranger who poses a threat to Bo.

"Relax. I'm here for you, not for him." The stranger says, not looking terribly threatened by Jimmy's presence. "I'm recruiting lone wolves for my pack. You're a lone wolf."

"No," Jimmy manages, a low growl devouring most of the word.

"Did I say you had a choice? You join or you'll die. All wolves need a pack."

"I have one," he lies, forcing himself to shift down enough to form full sentences, but keeping his place between the threat and the car. "I have a pack. I don't need yours."

But the stranger only laughs at him, straight out doubles over and laughs. "No, you don't. You're the only werewolf around, now that Jake's dead. He always was an asshole. Was that you? Because if so, you might actually be useful."

"What makes you think I won't do the same to you?" Jimmy demands.

The strange wolf launches forward, shifting as it moves with more speed and more skill than Jimmy has. It lands hard, claws raking at Jimmy's chest, leaving bloody gauges in his half-shifted skin, shredding his t-shirt. Teeth gnash closed just by his neck and somehow Jimmy manages to dodge away.

"Because next time, I won't stop so easily," comes the answer.

The sound of a car door opening draws the attention of both wolves and all Jimmy can think is not good, not good, not good because there'd at least been an implication of safety when Bo was still in the car, but now he's out here and he's at risk and the wolf twitches with the need to get him out of here.

"Bo, go away," Jimmy hisses out, keeping the vulnerablekillablebreakable human at his back.

The other wolf is still close - too close - and the smirk on his face is unnerving for a lot of reasons. "Is this your 'pack'?" He mocks.

"Yes."

But that's Bo talking and why is Bo talking and no no no no.

"Just because you know about werewolves doesn't make you pack."

"No," Bo says, stupidly brave as he forces his way to Jimmy's side, as they face a werewolf who could kill him in a second. "No, it sure as hell doesn't. But being his mate? That does."

"Mate," the other laughs again. "Do you even know what that means?"

Jimmy does, in theory. His research has turned up plenty of information on mates amidst all the pack stuff, but the idea that Bo could be his is one that hasn't crossed his mind. He's pretty sure Bo is bluffing, though, just trying to get the stranger to leave. He's surprised Bo knew the term, though. Maybe he's done some research of his own?

"If you're his mate, then prove it."

Bo's heart rate jack-rabbits out of control when he pulls on Jimmy's arm, forcing him to turn and face him. He kisses Jimmy - both of them sober, conscious, and aware for the first time, but it doesn't mean anything. This is just an act. Just to get rid of the invader. Bo's good at fake-kissing, though, careful as he is not to touch the bleeding wounds on Jimmy's chest even as he tries to pull him in closer.

But, suddenly, a hand is tearing them apart, the strange wolf's massive claws curled around Bo's neck as he's pulled a good distance away from a roaring Jimmy, and Bo's spewing a colorful string of curses - the likes of which Jimmy hasn't heard since Bo stopped picking on him - up until the wolf's grip tightens and Bo is forced into silence.

Jimmy surges forward after him, an enraged howl tearing from his throat, but the subtle move of the other wolf's hand causes a pronounced change in Bo's breathing and so he freezes. He manages a terse "Let him go now," that comes out in a snarl of words.

"I told him to prove it and he didn't. Touching as that was, a true mate would know that I meant the mark."

"He's not a wolf, he's not marked," Jimmy explains, wondering how the stranger can be so stupid. Even he knows that humans can be pack - humans can help stabilize them, keep its members tied to their humanity. Humans can even be mates. "Shouldn't you know that?"

"Not the mark on your hand, you fool," the other wolf actually rolls his eyes at Jimmy. With the hand not holding Bo, he points to a mark on his own neck. "You would've marked him, like this, if you were mates."

"So, I haven't done it yet!" Jimmy retorts, his voice a desperate sort of noise that the other wolf has to catch on to. "That doesn't mean he's not my mate."

"No, but it means you'll come with me once he's out of the way."

Fear and terror and panic and pain hit Jimmy all at once and he would swear that he feels the pressure on his own neck when the claws around Bo's start to tighten and that's when everything goes red.

When Jimmy regains his senses, he's sitting on the ground next to Bo's Camaro. The sun is starting to come up and he has no idea what happened. He's covered in blood and what looks like bits of bone and brain matter. And he can see pieces of the strange wolf on the ground in the dawn light, but he can't see...

"Bo?" He calls out, frantic when he realizes that Bo could be hurt, could be dead.

He stands, unsteady on his feet and lurches in a circle, instantly relieved when he sees Bo pacing back and forth on the other side of the car.

"Fuck, good. You're awake. Good."

Bo should have run far, far away from him after this. Whatever happened, Jimmy doubts it was pretty and so the last thing he's expecting when Bo circles around to stand in front of him is a hug.

His arms come up and circle around Bo - even though he's covered in bits of someone's body and his own blood and he's getting that all over the other boy - and holds on. They slide back down to the ground, leaning against the side of the car. They're both exhausted, as adrenaline starts to die off now that the threat is gone.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah, just some bruises on my neck," he says, rubbing it subconsciously. "It's nothing."

"No scratches? Bites?" Jimmy asks because it was only a scratch on his chest that turned him and the stranger is already dead so it's not like Bo could kill him to negate it and he doesn't want to inflict any more of this crazy werewolf stuff on Bo, not like this.

Bo shakes his head and checks himself over just in case. "Nothing," he concludes, "aside from some skinned knees when you tackled that thing off of me. What about you? You're the one who went all Cujo on him."

Jimmy brushes off the hands that try to get at the wounds on his chest. "They'll heal," he says, and it's true. The scratch that turned him took all of forever to finally heal, but everything since then has faded away more quickly. "We should get out of here. Someone might see."

But then there's a hand on his arm, stopping him from getting up and Bo's looking a little nervous. "That, ugh," he starts, pointedly not looking at Jimmy. "That thing you said, that you just hadn't marked me yet, or whatever. Were we just making that up? Or..."

And Jimmy wasn't expecting that. After all, it was Bo who started playing the mate card, who called himself pack when Jimmy didn't think he had one. "Were you making it up when you said you were my pack?"

"No. I mean, I know he said that I'm not pack just cause I know about you. But... I thought."

"You're pack," Jimmy confirms. "And... if you want, you're my mate, too."

Bo doesn't actually say anything in response. He just leans forward and kisses Jimmy because finally. And they're both exhausted and covered in gross, disgusting things but it doesn't matter because the wolf gives a low, rumbling growl that sounds something almost like a purr and he's pretty sure things couldn't get any better.

The mark comes later, though. Once they've dealt with the stranger's body and cleaned up and passed out on Jimmy's bed.

It's some hours later, the room glowing an array of colors with the setting sun, that Jimmy wakes surrounded by Bo. His smell is everywhere in his room, masked by the scent of Jimmy's soap and sheets, but still there. His heart beats steady and slow with sleep and his breathing even. He's warm against Jimmy's side, pulled in close because the wolf doesn't like leaving his mate's back exposed anymore than it likes leaving its own. And Jimmy's kind of awed that he's there, that he can see Bo curled up next to him like this. Before he was turned... this never would have happened. He probably would've pined after Brooke for forever and Bo probably would've kept picking on him for forever and eventually he would've moved on. But now? This is all he wants.

He senses Bo start to wake up so he moves slowly, presses his wolf-teeth over Bo's neck and bites, just a little. It's not enough to break skin because this isn't to turn him, but it's enough for the mark. He kisses the skin around it and sucks hard enough that the bruise it'll leave will stick around for a while (a mark for his human side, too - and one that Bo can reciprocate) and Bo rolls towards him. He lifts his head to bare more of his neck and Jimmy's kind of failing at ignoring at what that does for the wolf because he's not sure Bo even knows what he's doing.

"You know," Bo mumbles, voice sleep-thick and gravelly, "I'm really tempted to make a Big Bad Wolf joke right now." A hand moves to his neck, where the new mark and the new bruise stand out. Bo grins when he realizes and now he shifts to face Jimmy. "You should reward me for resisting. Since we're mates and all."

"Mates," Jimmy echoes, still a little stunned by that himself. "Yeah," he grins, leaning forward to kiss Bo again and again and again. "I guess I should."