AN: This is set the Christmas right after Every End is a Beginning ends and will not make sense if you haven't read it.
MACGYVER'S RESIDENCE
LA
'You know, when I finally get around to making that movie I'm planning in which our titular hero MacGyver saves the world, with his team of course, I'm totally making you the endgame love interest.'
Bozer pointed at Beth, who was in the kitchen with him, putting the finishing touches on her chocolate gingerbread pie as he worked on sides for dinner, a broad grin on his face.
Beth blinked at him, before a bright, fond and slightly amused smile appeared on her face.
(It was a very Bozer way of putting a very clear stamp of endorsement on her relationship with Mac.)
(Given Mac's terrible ex-girlfriend – and even the Darlene Martin Prom Incident – that meant a lot, coming from him.)
'Well, you'd better make sure that MacGyver's always-loyal, always-supportive best friend who has been there for him since they were nine and eleven respectively gets plenty of screen-time too.' Beth's expression softened and grew more serious. 'He's very lucky to have you, Bozer.'
(A best friend, a real, true, supportive best friend, who loved you just as you were, from the 5th grade all through school and now well into adulthood…that, Beth knew, was something very, very special.)
(It was, she thought, even more special when you were that weird, awkward, genius kid two years younger than everyone else, who got picked on and laughed at and left out of everything from birthday parties to lunch table groups to games of tag.)
Bozer just smiled widely, something fond and understanding in his expression, and reached over to put an arm around Beth's shoulders to pull her into a side-hug.
The two of them stood there for a moment, looking outside onto the deck, where Jack was strumming Christmas carols on Mary-Ellen's guitar as Riley sung along softly while stacking the Christmas crackers for later, making sure that Mac (who was supervising the pastrami; there'd been a fire last time they'd used his modified grill, so he'd had to make some repairs, and he'd been given very strict orders by Bozer to make sure it didn't happen this time) did not get his hands on them.
(No-one wanted a repeat of the Christmas of '15, when Mac's modified Christmas crackers had scorched six planks of the deck so deeply that sanding out the marks would have left inch-deep depressions in the wood.)
Then, Bozer clapped Beth's shoulder, and stepped away, returning to chopping cabbage, gesturing with his head to the pie on which she was carefully piping meringue topping with the precision of a surgeon.
'Now, how can I convince you to give me the recipe for that baby?'
Beth finished piping the last of the meringue, set down her piping bag, and looked up at him with a laugh, tilting her head to the side a little as she considered for a beat before responding.
'How about a trade? You give me the recipe for your mac and cheese, and I'll give you the recipe for this.'
Bozer pretended to consider very seriously for a moment.
'Well, it's a secret family recipe and all…' His face broke into a wide smile. 'But you're family, so...' He pointed at her. 'You've got yourself a deal.'
Tomorrow's ficlet: 'Love what you did with the lights. It's classy and dignified and intimate in the sense that, you know, most people won't get it and all…I'm gonna stop talking now.'
Pretty sure it's obvious who says that…