A/N- very, very liberal with the timeline here.
Ten
Jim couldn't stand New Year's. It just reminded him of ever failure he's ever had, every plan that he didn't follow through… Every fuck up seemed to materialize in the bottom of his champagne ready to torture him. Everyone would talk to him about resolutions and goals and… all he wanted was to escape his memories.
Leonard couldn't remember the last time he'd seen the New Year in with friends and happiness. When he and Jocelyn had first been together, they'd had parties and shared tender moments as the clock struck zero. But then it became a cursory "Happy New Year" as they trudged to bed at 9pm, trying to ignore the growing coldness between them.
Nine
Jim laughed a bit, remembering his New Year's Eves past. Well, he couldn't really remember it-it was all a haze of alcohol and fists. This year, there was still the alcohol, but he thankfully didn't get into a fight. This was it. He was joining Star Fleet. He had a New Year's resolution... it was terrifying.
Leonard stared into his plastic cup of cheap champagne, feeling his eyes burn with fumes and tears. Jocelyn was gone, taken Johanna with her. Took the house, the car, the dog. Took his dignity, his self-confidence. Happy New Year to him. Leonard drank deep.
Eight
Jim showed up at Bones' dorm room at 11:50, toting an illicit bottle of Romulan Ale and red rimmed eyes.
Leonard let the kid in because the only thing worse than being lonely on New Year's Eve is being lonely alone.
Seven
Jim smiled at the other cadets, flinching a bit internally when he noticed the scars and still healing signs of the attack. He was proud. These faces were around him because he'd saved the day. He had stopped Nero. Jim knew how many were gone, and it ate at him, but these faces around him… He had saved them. Well…
Not just him…
Bones felt an odd tightness in his throat as he watched Jim move through the crowd. The people swarmed around him, excited to see Jim after the Incident. Jim had ferreted himself away in their room, guilt ridden over not acting quicker, not handling his temper better, not saving Pike in time to save his legs. Nothing Bones could say to the kid had made a difference, until he'd growled at him,
"You're not the only one who thinks they could have done better," and Jim had looked at him with pain stricken eyes.
Six
Jim could only stare at the words on the pad in front of him. "James Tiberius Kirk-deceased".
"I was really dead?"
"Jim, you were cold,"
Bones held his friend. Some things take longer to sink in than others, and he'd been waiting for this shoe to drop. He'd been waiting for it to hit Jim like it had hit him. He'd had his time to come to terms with it while Jim had been lying there dead, and he'd made his peace with it while Jim's respirator counted out a hymn of relief. Not Jim though. Since Khan, Jim had been rebuilding their world. But the important thing was,
"But you're alive now,"
Five
One year into their Five Year Mission, Jim stood on the Bridge with his command crew, smiling through happy tears and lifting his glass of Engineering-Special-Batch champagne.
Leonard stood beside him, grinning affectionately at his insane Captain and Crew.
Four
Jim ran through the forest, screaming.
Bones chased him.
This was the last time they had a first contact and were mistaken as gods reborn that needed to be killed in order to ascend to a higher plane of being.
…He hoped.
Three
Jim flailed, sending hypo sprays scattering from the tray in Nurse Chapel's hands. Bones was waking up!
Bones groaned, covering his ears against the clatter of tubes and the high pitched noise Jim was making.
Two
Jim walked the length of the observation deck silently, thinking.
Bones let him.
One
Bones let Jim gently enfold him in an embrace that seemed no different than any of their past hugs. Let him grab his hand like he had done thousands of times before. Let him lean close.
"Happy New Year," Bones let Jim's lips rest against his for a moment, before returning the kiss with as much sweet feeling as he could.
"Happy New Year, Darlin',"