This one's from To Catch a Duke. Several interesting things happened in this episode, one of which Bo miming the spanking of the female antagonist. While I included that in the vignette, in the end it was the old Okamunga Caves that provided the setting for the story.
Luke is bound and determined to be a grouch today. He refuses to take advantage of Daisy's absence and enjoy being a lazy slob around the house (Bo blames the Marines for that one, actually – the man can't be out of his 'rack' for two minutes without making it up, complete with hospital corners), insisting there are better things to do outdoors. So they head out fishing, racing Jesse along the way (you sure showed him, Luke smirks when Jesse runs them off the road), then settling themselves on the bank of Hazzard Pond (you'd do a mite better if you talked less and fished more, old sourpuss grumbles at him). Cletus interrupts the fun they're not having and takes their poles away, which means there's no hope for Luke after that.
Except, of course, when the sweet strangers barge their way into the General, brandishing guns. Somehow this turn of events seems to be what Luke needs to lift his foul spirits; now he's on his game. Sort of. He doesn't take the wheel when Bo offers it.
Of course, their new friends are pretty darn fickle; once they reckon that they've lost the law, they dump the Dukes. Bo can't explain his reasoning for wanting them back, at least not in any way Luke will understand. Because you're more fun when you're on the wrong side of a gun seems like just the type of a sentence that would get him scoffed at, then maybe for the cherry on top, a whipping from Jesse.
"When we catch up to the two people that got us into this mess, I want the girl." Oh, that came out all kinds of stupid. Luke will pick that one apart from top to bottom, and no matter how he chooses to do it, Bo will come out looking like an idiot, a wimp, or most likely, both.
"What could you possibly like about a girl that waves a gun at your head?" So Luke's settled on idiot. Yeah, that's quite possibly the lesser of the two evils.
"I didn't say I liked her. I just want to get her over my knee so's I can… ah, you know what I mean." Luke has no idea what he means, or no interest in knowing, anyway. Bo has never met anyone quite so deliberately dense.
Then again, Luke takes the wrath of Jesse, single-handedly, even apologizes for things that weren't their fault. And having to be on his toes seems to be helping Luke come around. Oh, he doesn't like being yelled at by their cantankerous uncle, but its something to do, a distraction from whatever foul thoughts clouded his mind this morning.
Once Jesse settles down, Bo takes the CB mic from his cousin and suggests that they meet where he and Luke used to play hooky – well, it was once or twice, tops, since Luke wouldn't let him skip school very often – and Jesse reveals that he knew about their misbehavior all along.
"Makes me wonder, sometimes," Luke muses. There's even half a smile on his face. Nothing like a good mess to bring out the sunshine in Luke (which is definitely filtered through some serious cumulus clouds, even on his cousin's brightest day).
The boys get to the caves first, of course. They have a few advantages: the General, their starting location, and the fact that Jesse's going to have to stay off the main roads on his way out here, or else he'll be leading the law right to them.
"We got a good half hour to kill," Luke announces in a groan as he slides out the window. As if Bo didn't already know this.
"We could go down to the bottleneck passage," is his suggestion, but Luke shakes him off.
"You wouldn't fit through there no more." Yeah, maybe not. It used to be their favorite place to go as kids, knowing no one would follow them there. Just him and Luke, and those sepia-tinged memories mean more to him than any revenuer they outran or any race they won.
Almost like he has a need to stomp on all those memories, Luke's just inside the mouth of the cave, standing about as hard on the ground as anyone Bo's ever seen. A lesser man would pace; Luke sets himself firm, using his strong legs to keep the world in check, and his strong arms to hide his own heart.
"What you planning over there Lukas?" There's always hope, miniscule as it might be, that Luke's just thinking. Maybe doing some advanced calculus in his head or something. Heck, that very idea makes Bo halfway grumpy, and he was actually having a pretty good day, give or take the fact that he's spent most of it with Luke.
"Ain't nothing to plan until Uncle Jesse gets here." Just as inviting as a rattlesnake.
Well, Bo's already had a gun in his face once today, how dangerous can approaching Luke be? (Or more accurately, when will his luck run out?)
"What you thinking, then?" Bo risks a touch. Can't quite get an arm around Luke with the way he's standing, but a hand on his shoulder, a pat and a squeeze that's about as comfortable and trying to reduce a boulder to dust using only his bare hands.
Luke looks at him then, hard. Long stare like maybe he is solving some kind of calculus equation (Bo never went beyond algebra, so he's not sure) about the contents of Bo's eyes or maybe the brain behind them. Most times he doesn't suppose it's a good thing when Luke's thinking this hard about him, but just now it seems to be all right. Maybe that's just because Luke's mouth hasn't opened yet.
"Luke?" he asks; he's watching those eyes get a kind of intense that he hasn't seen in years.
"You asked, Bo." And just like that, one of those silent understandings has passed between them: yes, I was looking at you like that. What are you going to do about it?
Well. If this is what has Luke acting like all the world smells like fresh skunk spray, that's just an insult. Bo is sweet milk straight from the cow, to Luke's sour, processed buttermilk, and his cousin should be begging him for the chance to mix themselves up a little bit. Certainly, wanting Bo is nothing to get so grouchy about.
So Bo leans forward and plants one on him, without warning. You want it, you got it, buddy. This is Jesse's Finest and you'd better have some pretty solid tolerance or it'll put you right under the table.
Luke stands up to it, leans into it, reveals himself to be 200 proof to Bo's 180. Knees flimsy, heart galloping around his chest cavity and brain pickled, Bo tries to stay upright. Hand on his waist, another on his face, and Luke's turning them so Bo can lean against the wall, very thoughtful of him (or maybe he just doesn't want to explain to Jesse about how exactly Bo came to hit his head on the floor of the cave). Hard stone wall against his back, hard body against his front, and with all the hard things around him it is the soft lips that are doing him in. Softer now, gentler, then one last kiss before backing off.
"I was thinking that."
Bo would answer him if only he could remember how his voice worked.