Dukescam Scam was a bit of a challenge, as the episode is more about Boss and Jesse's relationship than that between Bo and Luke. However, in the end we learn that ridgerunner pacts are binding because they're sealed with spit or blood.
This may be the first time this has come up in there (it'll happen again, though): this one's piggy-backed off of The 10 Million Dollar Sheriff (the vignette called Enough), so the relationship's already started.
All this Ridge Runner Society stuff makes Bo feel like the same bored little kid he used to be when he was first subjected to it. It's old and foreign and bears no resemblance to his own experience running 'shine. There was no association for him and Luke to belong to; it was just the two of them against the revenuers and the local law. What they did, him and Luke, was dangerous and a whole lot of fun. What Jesse and Boss talk about sounds almost like belonging to the boy scouts. Always prepared, cooking over a campfire, and in the end you'd probably end up with some kind of a merit badge.
He misses running 'shine with Luke, just about every day. Seemed like an honorable profession, flying along in the dark, dirt roads leading nowhere, worthy adversaries hiding around any given corner. Now they plant seeds and uproot villains.
Stupid, really, describes what they all get into now. Look at how Bo and Luke had to go leapfrogging cross-country and back several times, first to save the farm, then Jesse. And from what, really? Greed and bank vaults. It's nothing he's got any interest in bragging over.
"What're we going to tell our kids?"
"What?" Luke's not amused.
"If we ever have any, I mean," Bo clarifies. At the moment there's little sign that they will, and obviously lying here with the General and some trees standing between them and the rest of the world, Luke doesn't want to even talk that way. "Jesse's got all those Ridge Runner Association stories, and all we can say is how we got caught and put the family out of business. Or how we helped the law track down bank robbers and kidnappers and such."
Luke's ignoring him, or doing a convincing job of acting like it. Laying on his back in the sun, chewing on a weed, and not hearing a damned thing about children.
"Luke," he snaps. They've got no real legacy, and someone needs to give a damn about that. There's no way Bo fix this thing alone; he's going to need Luke's help.
"First of all," Luke informs him, rolling over onto his side and pulling the chewed up weed out of his mouth to talk. "It's gonna be Daisy's kids. They're gonna be raised to wear dresses and play with dolls. Do we really care what they think?"
Bo thinks it's probably a good thing Daisy's not here to be getting an earful of this. Luke ought to have a more healthy fear of frying pans.
"Second," and he really shouldn't have riled Luke up. "They ain't technically even gonna be Dukes. They'll probably be… Strates or something."
That gives them both the chills. Luke's likely right about that, though.
"And third, you ain't too impressed with Uncle Jesse's stories." Which is exactly Bo's point, if only Luke would shut up and let him make it. "What makes you think any story you tell anyone's kids is going to impress them?"
"Just because Jesse's stories are boring doesn't mean ours have to be, Luke!" His cousin's twisting things around again, taking a perfectly reasonable case and making it look idiotic.
"Oh, we got real interesting stories," Luke agrees. "You want to tell them about how I went crazy and kissed you in the woods behind the Boar's Nest?" Now that's not fair, Luke wasn't really crazy, just upset and Bo—"Or how you wouldn't let me walk away after? How you practically begged me to do it again?" Well, there's another historical inaccuracy. Bo never begged it was more like—"Maybe you want to tell them how you lost your virginity at still site number four while hiding out from one of Boss's scams?"
"Damn it, Luke!" It wasn't his virginity, not technically. He hasn't had any use for virginity since right before Luke went off to war. "No, I don't want to tell them none of those things!"
"You want kids, though." Luke's sitting up, and this is coming dangerously close to an argument that Bo doesn't want to have.
"No!" he yells. About the kids, about the idea that Luke might just get up and walk away from him, about how he was enjoying this quiet afternoon here, just laying close, not even quite touching. About how doesn't want to break this intimate little bubble that he and Luke were sharing. "I ain't never wanted kids. I ain't never wanted nothing but you." It's one of those true things that only ever seem to come out when he doesn't expect them to. "Don't leave, Luke."
That's genuine surprise on Luke's face, those raised eyebrows, lips pursed to ask him what he's talking about. Doesn't. Says, "I ain't going nowheres," instead. Settles back down on his side, facing Bo.
"I was just wondering what kids will say about us someday. If they'll talk about us as the best 'shine runners Hazzard ever had, or whether they'll be saying 'well that Luke Duke there, he could use a combination to open a vault better'n anyone else at the time.' That's all."
Luke laughs, hard. Bo wonders if his feelings should be hurt, but he can't quite bring them to be. Luke's smiling, laughing, happy. Lying here between the General and the creek, in the warm afternoon sun, eyes twinkling at Bo.
"We'll be lucky if they ain't saying 'them two was queer as fruit flies,'" Luke informs him.
"Luke! You ain't going to go telling nobody, are you?" Seems like his cousin's supposed to be the smart one. Why is Bo the one doing all the thinking?
Luke laughs some more and shakes his head. "No," he says, grabbing Bo's weight-bearing hand out from under him. Luke's other arm is around him even as he's falling toward the blanket underneath them. "I ain't." Luke's got him pulled in close almost before Bo knows what has happened. Kisses him, then rolls them into a more comfortable position, Luke on his back, Bo sprawled across his chest. "Ridge Runner's Association honor," Luke assures him with a solemn nod, before kissing him again. Serious this time, mouth open, tongue teasing, hands sliding up from Bo's waist to his shoulders, then back down.
It's a solid oath. It's been sealed with spit.