"No luck getting a comm out to the ship, I think we're going to have to wait out the storm for the interference to pass. Any progress over here?" Jim blew on his chilled fingers for a moment before a better idea occurred to him and he slipped them under the collar of Bones' thick jacket.
Bones' entire body jerked in shock, almost sending him sprawling forward into the guttering flames he was trying to coax to life in the hearth. "Dammit, man, keep those icicles you call fingers off my body until I get this fire going well enough to warm us up!"
Jim couldn't help the snort that escaped him, not that he tried particularly hard to repress it. "At this rate I think that would mean my hands are staying off your body for the rest of eternity."
"You're a funny man, Jim. Can't imagine why no one but you can see that." Bones turned his scowling expression back to the little pile of tinder and kindling, now with nothing but a faint plume of smoke lazily drifting up the chimney.
"I could shoot it with my phaser to get it going, Bones," Jim teased.
"Yeah, and bring the entre hut down on our heads, no doubt," Bones grumbled.
"I think it's technically a cabin, Bones. This is a classier safe house than the typical emergency accommodations we see on missions. There's food and blankets and everything."
"I still think that the appropriate response to finding this little backwater science outpost should have been 'that's nice, let's keep moving' rather than 'ooh, let's camp out!'"
"Lighten up, Bones. If we'd done that we'd have been caught out in the elements for the storm, rather than failing to produce a heat source within the relative safety of a somewhat insulated structure."
"Would you like to have a go, Jim? Because I'm not getting any warmer over here and you certainly aren't contributing a lot to the effort so far!" Bones continued scowling, clearly not realizing the opportunity he'd presented to Jim.
"Oh, I'd be happy to warm you up, Bones," Jim said, complete with a deliberately obnoxious leer.
Bones threw his hands up in exasperation and stalked off to glare out the window into the rapidly thickening snowfall outside.
The shock on Bones' face when he turned around several minutes later to find Jim feeding more kindling and a few larger sticks to the small fire he'd coaxed to life was priceless.
"Well I'll be damned." Bones darted over to the hearth, hands outstretched towards the growing warmth.
Jim smiled at him. "See? I told you I warm you up."
"Smart ass." Bones didn't bother to hold back a satisfied smile, though, Jim was pleased to note. "And how did I not know that starting a fire was a skill you have?"
"Come on, Bones. Don't you think I was exactly the sort of kid to develop an talent for all sorts of troublemaking?"
"Now that I'll believe."
They sat together while Jim slowly built the fire up until they'd both begun to thaw out, and the next time Jim pressed his hands to Bones' neck, he was met with a chuckle and the slight scrape of stubble against his palm as Bones leaned in to the touch.