[Disclaimer: The movies and its characters don't belong to me. They belong to their rightful owners and I'm just borrowing them for this one-shot.
A/N: So this story takes place after "True love's kiss" and "Never judge a plant by its teeth". It features Scones and a slight hint at Chulu I guess? Please enjoy!
Rating due to Bones and his language XD]
~ New Year's Eve ~
"And tomorrow they'll all end up in sickbay due to their hangover", Bones mumbled to himself, while pouring even more bourbon into his glass. Even though he was kind of annoyed by all these crew members drinking and partying, he wasn't any better.
'Guess that's the only way to survive the night of nights once again.'
He didn't hate New Year's Eve, not really, but it wasn't his favorite holiday of the year either. Everyone seemed to be either drinking or thinking too much. McCoy often found himself to be one of the latter. He remembered his year, remembered everything that had gone wrong - mostly because of his best friend.
"Hey there, Bones. Why do you just sit here? Come on, party with us!"
And there he was again. Jim threw one arm around his shoulder, putting the empty glass he carried in his hand down on the bar.
"Pour me another glass of that great bourbon, will ya?"
McCoy simply turned his head to face him before glancing over his shoulder. He caught a glimpse of Chekov who was dancing with Sulu, performing a typical dance move, Bones had seen in so many movies before. The Navigator was spinning around at the moment, Sulu holding his hand up in the air. They were obviously having a lot of fun.
Uhura was having a chat with Christine in the corner of the room, laughing at a joke the nurse had made. They called Keenser over to join them and the small alien immediately crossed the room, leaving Scotty to stop dancing. He looked across the room and quickly made his way over to Bones and Jim.
"Hey guys, getting another drink?", he asked as he sat down next to McCoy, grinning at him. Bones rose his eyebrow.
"What else would we be doing at the bar?", he asked sarcastically and the Scotsman chuckled slightly. He also put an arm around the doctor's shoulder, but unlike Jim pulled him closer to himself.
"Ye cannae be so grumpy, doc. Not on this day of the year."
His accent was way thicker than usual and Bones knew that he was probably drunk as hell. Not like that was a rare thing. Scotty and Jim quite often shared a drink together after a stressful day of work.
"Come dance with us, will ye?"
Scotty got up from where he'd sat down moments ago, dragging McCoy to stand up as well.
"Nah, I can't dance. I'm a horrible dancer", Bones declined, shaking his head, but Scotty just laughed.
"Well now... Ye did surprise us a lot this year. For example by kissin' meh when that Ambassador was controlling my mind or by screamin' like a little girl on that strange jungle-like planet or-"
Oh oh! McCoy's eyes widened as he stared at his boyfriend in disbelief.
"Hold on a second! Bones? Screaming like a girl? What did I miss?"
Jim was standing next to them now, looking from one man to the other. The grin on his face had grown bigger. Was he about to hear yet another great story about his best friend? Another story to make fun of him?
According to the look on Scotty's face, like he'd just accidentally told a huge secret, that was definitely the case!
"I thought you and Scotty getting together was the only big surprise this year!", the Captain exclaimed loudly and some pairs of eyes were suddenly starring at them, mostly the ones of the bridge crew.
"Oops", Scotty said, holding one hand in front of his mouth. Even though he was still smiling and giggling, he apparently felt sorry for telling something that obviously should have stayed a secret.
"What happened on that planet?", Kirk asked, only to remember the description Scotty had made. Jungle-like? No, it couldn't be...
"Wait, wait, wait. Hold on a second! You're talking about that planet where you faced this huge carnivorous plant trying to eat you?"
Scotty just giggled once again as Sulu and Chekov joined them. Apparently they had been interested in the trio's talk.
'That's so typical! And people ask me why I hate the parties where everyone gets drunk...', Bones thought, rolling his eyes.
"Are you talking about that wonderful plant we met a few months ago?", Sulu asked, obviously still admiring that thing.
"Yeah, well I thought you featured everything in your report, but now Scotty tells me about our good old Bones screaming - may I quote - 'like a little girl'?", Jim explained what had happened, the same childish grin still on his face.
Sulu laughed. He seemed to be slightly drunken too, just like the others.
"Yeah, right. I still remember it like it was yesterday. The doc dangling in the air by his feet, yelling that he doesn't taste good-"
"Ehm, guys? What about keeping the whole truth a secret?", Bones hissed through his teeth, looking from Sulu to Scotty, latter was still covering his mouth with one hand.
"Come on, Bones. There's nothing to be ashamed of."
Jim slapped him on the back and Bones knew that there was more to come so he already crossed his arms.
"Except for you screaming like a little girl that's afraid of a plant!", the Captain bursted out laughing and the others joined in.
McCoy's blood was boiling, his cheeks flushing with anger.
"Now first of all, Mr. I-love-to-make-fun-of-my-best-friend, you weren't even there! You didn't see how big and dangerous this thing looked and second-", Bones turned to face Scotty, before adding: "You were screaming and whimpering like a baby yourself!"
Jim looked at his chief of engineering whose eyes grew bigger that moment. Apparently he was shocked by Bones telling the truth too.
"Confirm, Mr. Sulu?", Kirk gave an order to his helmsman and Hikaru couldn't help but laugh.
"Story confirmed, Captain."
Once again Jim laughed out loud and now Keenser, Uhura and Christine - even Spock - joined them.
"Are you alright, Captain?", Spock questioned, noticing the tears running down Kirk's cheeks. That was highly illogical. His Captain seemed to be expressing amusement according to his laughter, but on the other hand there were tears which usually were a sign of sadness and sorrow.
"I'm totally fine, Spock. It's just too funny. These are tears of joy, man!", Jim wiped away a few tears, before adding: "Two of my senior officers... afraid of greenery!"
"Wait, what? What are you talking about? Tell us everything!", Uhura said, laughing and grabbing Jim by his arm. Keenser nodded in agreement, so Jim started talking.
"Remember that mission on Frisogi VI? The planet we explored not long ago? So-"
Bones didn't even listen anymore, he pinched the bridge of his nose and turned around to sit back down at the bar, pouring himself yet another drink.
"Great, now I'll be the talk of the evening!", he mumbled quietly. Yup, he definitely didn't like New Year's Eve. And that was the reason why. Maybe he could leave early, do some work in his office and prepare for the hangovers tomorrow?
He felt a hand on his shoulder and turned around to look at Scotty's face. His expression was a mixture of worry but also slight amusement.
"Come on now, Leonard. It's not tha' bad. T'least the truth is out now-", he said, his speech quite slurring.
McCoy simply rolled his eyes, taking a huge sip from his drink.
"Yeah, because that's such a great thing. Ya know how often I'm gonna have to hear this story now? Jim's like an elephant. He never forgets."
Scotty let himself slump into the seat next to him, taking a bottle of Scotch. Even though he chuckled at the comparison, his mood seemed to have dropped.
"He's yer best friend. He will nae make fun of ye forever."
"Scotty-", Bones glanced up from his drink, straightening himself. "Please just shut up, will ya? I don't wanna hear this now."
The moment he'd said these words, he kinda regretted them immediately. He'd just relieved his anger by saying what he was thinking at the moment. And even though he knew his words were quite harsh, he didn't know what else to say. So he got up, not even looking at the Scotsman next to him.
"I'm gonna write some medical reports, if ya excuse me."
He had to get away for now. Just for a few hours. Then he'd feel better for sure.
'Not long until midnight. I should probably go join the others again. I mean... it's a new year starting after all, a new beginning.'
McCoy slowly got up from his desk and started walking towards the room where everybody was celebrating. He was lost in his thoughts about what could possibly go horribly wrong during their next year in space when he heard a familiar voice cursing in Gaelic.
He turned around the corner and saw Scotty who was trying to keep himself from falling. Unfortunately he found nothing to grab a hold of at the even wall of the corridor, so he awkwardly stumbled forwards.
Bones rushed over and was able to catch him just in time, keeping him close to his chest. He kept his arms around the engineer's body as this one glanced up to face his savior.
"Leonard, I'm so glad I found ye", he exclaimed and by the sound of his voice (and the smell of his breath) it was clear that he had drunk even more after McCoy had left.
"Dam it, man. What did ya drink?", Bones asked, turning up his nose in disgust. It smelled like-
"Is that Saurian Brandy?"
Scotty didn't answer him. He simply buried his face in the doctor's chest and whimpered something Bones couldn't understand.
"What?"
The Scotsman lifted his head, tears running down his face.
"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry for tellin' our secret, Leonard. I really am. I had a wee bit of alcohol and... and... t'was an accident. I did nae mean to tell Jim!"
And then his face was buried in the shirt again. Bones sighed softly, even though he rolled his eyes.
"A wee bit, hm?"
"Please don't hate meh, Leonard. Please! I'm sorry. And I love you. And-", Scotty mumbled, his voice quite hoarse as he was still crying.
"And you're drunk?"
Scotty nodded, without looking up. Bones had to suppress a soft chuckle. That was so typical.
"So please forgive meh, will ye?"
Despair mixed with a small bit of hope filled the Scotsman's voice and McCoy stroke his hair a few times, before putting both arms around his back again so that the engineer wouldn't fall.
"Promise me that you'll never touch that Saurian brandy again?", he asked and felt a nod against his chest.
"Alright. Then I guess I can forgive ya this one time."
Scotty looked up to face him and the bright smile on the drunken Scotsman's face was more than enough to lift this night's mood up immediately.
"Thank you, Leonard. Thank you, thank you, thank-"
McCoy put two fingers beneath Scotty's chin and lifted his head up so that he could kiss him, shutting him up. When he ended the kiss, his boyfriend was still smiling at him.
"You... should still shut up sometimes", Bones chuckled. Just then he heard some slow song echoing through the hallway, coming from the room where everyone was waiting for a new year to begin.
He started swaying slowly, still cradling Scotty in his arms and the engineer followed his movement while closing his eyes, resting his head on McCoy's shoulder.
They stayed like this for a while until Scotty quietly chuckled.
"I thought ye cannae dance", he said and Bones laughed.
"You call that dancing? Did ya realize how often I stepped on your feet?"
Scotty shook his head. Well... probably he deserved that for telling the secret.
It was then that they heard people starting counting down from ten.
"Ten..."
McCoy hugged Scotty tightly, pressing him against his chest.
"Nine..."
He thought of all that had happened during the last year.
"Eight..."
He remembered their dangerous, life threatening missions.
"Seven..."
He remembered Jim's crazy ideas and the problems they had to solve because of that.
"Six..."
He thought of all the emotions. Anger, annoyance, stress.
"Five..."
Relief, happiness, joy.
"Four..."
He thought of the first time he'd kissed Scotty.
"Three..."
The love he'd felt in that everlasting moment.
"Two..."
What a year it had been.
"One..."
And the next one was just around the corner. A year filled with new adventures, ideas, problems, missions. But somehow McCoy was looking forward to it. Because he knew that one man would be with him the whole time.
As the crew members cheered happily, he lowered his head and whispered into Scotty's ear.
"Happy new year, Scotty."