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One Night Stand
It was supposed to be a one night stand and it had been. Every night for the past two weeks. That bothered Tony on some level, and the fact that it did, surprised him. After all he was the quintessential bachelor, the frat boy who never quite grew up, the skirt chaser… Yeah, well, there was that too. Here they were, Tony DiNozzo and Leroy Jethro Gibbs, playing at being friends with benefits every night after work, and they were both straight. Well, Tony knew he was… or had been up until a couple of weeks ago. Maybe Gibbs wasn’t. Maybe he was bi or gay. Maybe that’s why he’d been married four times and had never been known to have a relationship that stuck. He sighed. Rolling these particular conundrums around in his head was making him feel slightly queasy. He sighed, deciding thinking could wait till he wasn’t feeling totally sated and completely fucked in a good way then rolled over and rested his head on Jethro’s chest and went back to sleep.
When he woke up in the morning, Gibbs was gone. That didn’t surprise Tony. They’d always had sex at his place apart from the first time and Gibbs was always gone by the time he woke up. He wasn’t sure how he managed to sneak out without ever waking him. Maybe some weird Ninja type skill he’d picked up in the Marines, Tony wondered now idly as he headed for the bathroom to shower and dress. As he did he thought back on how it had all started.
It had been the night after he and Ziva had been pulled out of the undercover assignment that had them posing as a married couple of assassins and almost got them both killed. Tony had come off the worse for wear in their encounter with the perps though he’d managed to get in more than a few kicks of his own, despite being tied to a chair at the time. By the time Gibbs and the others broke into the room where he was being held, Tony had one of the guys who’d beaten the crap out of him down on the floor and was kicking him with all the pent up anger and pain he could feel.
Gibbs had untied him and then caught him as Tony sagged to the floor, all the energy and fight leaching away as the adrenaline fled his system.
“I’m okay, Boss,” Tony said, looking up through blurred vision to see Gibbs grinning down at him.
“Sure you are, DiNozzo,” Gibbs said. “You’re just fine.” He hauled Tony upright and held him there, one arm around Tony’s waist, the other under his elbow. “Think you can walk?” he asked.
“Sure,” Tony replied, taking a shaky step forward. He wasn’t too sure what happened after that. He’d woken up on a gurney in the ER with a big beefy guy who introduced himself as “Joe, your nurse for the evening” standing beside the bed and a worried-looking Gibbs sitting in a chair next to it.
It was the worried-looking Gibbs thing that threw Tony even more than the fact that he’d obviously lost time between being in the hotel room and being in the hospital. Even when Tony had the plague Gibbs had never looked worried. He’d just smacked Tony upside the head as he lay at death’s door and ordered him not to die. Tony didn’t. He’d always done his best to obey Gibbs’ orders.
“I’m fine, Boss,” Tony said nasally, trying to breathe through the cotton wool plugs in his nose as Joe gave him the once over then said he’d have to wait for the results of his x-rays before he could be discharged. He sat up on the gurney then winced as his head exploded with pain and he ended up flat on his back again with Gibbs’ hand planted firmly in the middle of his chest.
“Lie still until you’re told you can get up,” Gibbs said and Tony finally gave in, closed his eyes and dozed off.
He woke up in Gibbs’ car parked in the Navy Yard and tried not to enjoy it too much when Gibbs levered him out then held him up in the elevator till they reached the bullpen.
Gibbs saw him settled in his chair at his desk as the rest of the team gathered round.
Tony had to admit he was kind of pleased by the way they all fought over who was driving him home but he was even more pleased when they got back downstairs and Gibbs ushered Ziva and Abby out of the way then put Tony’s arm around his shoulder and helped him back over to his car.
“Figured you’d like to make it home in one piece,” Gibbs said succinctly as he got Tony settled then went around and climbed behind the wheel.
“Thanks, Boss,” Tony said, feeling suddenly exhausted. He closed his eyes and didn’t wake up till Gibbs nudged him.
“Um, this is your place, Boss,” Tony said, straightening in his seat and looking out the window.
“Doc said you need someone to keep an eye on you overnight and I’d rather do it at my place than yours,” Gibbs said. “That okay with you?”
“Sure. No problem.” Tony managed to get himself out of the car and follow Gibbs up to the house. He stood, wobbling a little as Gibbs opened the door then let himself be ushered inside.
“You don’t lock your door even when you’re not home?” he asked.
Gibbs shrugged. “Someone wants to steal my stuff they’ll break in and do it anyway,” he said. “This way my door’s intact.”
“There is that,” Tony replied, thinking that it did make a kind of Gibbsian sense.
“You know where everything is,” Gibbs added. “Medicine cabinet’s in the bathroom if you need more Tylenol. There are spare sweats in there as well. Get some sleep. I’ll be downstairs in the basement if you need anything.”
Tony nodded then watched Gibbs leave the room. He sighed, rubbed his aching ribs then went through to the bathroom and started the shower.
An hour of tossing and turning on Gibbs’ spare bed later and Tony gave up. He wandered out of the bedroom and into the living room to find it empty. Seeing the light shining from the basement he made his way down the stairs.
“I thought you’d be out for the count,” Gibbs remarked without looking up from his work on the boat as Tony sat down on the bottom step.
“Couldn’t sleep,” Tony said. “Too wound up still, I guess.”
Gibbs tossed down the sander and walked across to sit next to him. “Wound up over getting the crap beaten out of you or over not making it past pretending with Ziva?”
Tony looked at him thoughtfully. “I was doing my job,” he said. “No more, no less.”
“Did you want it to be more though?” Gibbs asked. “If she’d said yes, would you have—”
“Been in like Flynn?” Tony shook his head. “Ziva’s not my type.
“What is your type, DiNozzo? I’ve never particularly noticed that you had one.”
And maybe it was the painkillers they’d given him at the hospital or the concussion or maybe it was just the fact that he’d wanted to do it forever, but Tony whispered, “You. You’re my type,” and leaned in and kissed Gibbs with all the pent up emotion he’d been bottling up for far too long.
He probably should have been surprised, but wasn’t, when Gibbs kissed him back.
That’s where it began, as all one night stands do. And where Tony thought it would end. After all, Gibbs had dropped him home the next morning, seen him to his door without even a kiss goodbye then turned up at Tony’s place the next night… and every night since for the past two weeks.
It wasn’t like Tony had a problem with having a fuck buddy or being friends with benefits with Gibbs. Despite thinking he was straight as an arrow, Tony’d always been pretty flexible when it came to sex. But now, something deep inside him yearned for more. And now, just when he’d resigned himself to making the most of what he did have, when he’d decided that if this was all he was going to get, he’d make the most of it, his traitorous heart kicked into gear and decided that even if Tony was happy to settle, it damn sure wasn’t. And wasn’t that a kicker? Because instead of it wanting to settle down with Little Miss Perfect behind a white picket fence and raise a passel of rugrats, it wanted Leroy Jethro Gibbs. In all his prickly glory.
He agonized about it all through his shower and on the drive in to work, deciding and undeciding to confront Gibbs about their relationship once and for all. The minute he walked off the elevator and saw Gibbs at his desk, not even raising his head to acknowledge Tony’s presence, he decided all over again. “Can I see you for a minute, Boss?” he asked.
Gibbs looked up and nodded. “Office?” he asked, standing up and leading Tony back to the elevator.
They waited in uncomfortable silence till it came then stood aside to let McGee and Ziva off.
“We got a case?” McGee asked as they walked into the car.
“Nope,” Gibbs replied succinctly as the doors shut behind them. He let the car travel up for a few seconds then reached out and punched the stop button. “Well?” he asked, turning to face Tony.
“You want to talk about it here?” Tony asked.
“About what?”
“You and me. About what’s going on. Is this all there’s ever going to be?” Tony found himself suddenly saying everything he’d wanted to ask since the night they’d first begun it all.
Gibbs moved forward, one small step at a time, until Tony was backed against the wall then leaned in close and kissed him. It was nothing like their first kiss. There was no rough passion or unsated lust. Just love, Tony realized as Gibbs pulled back and fixed him with a knowing look.
“What do you want it to be, Tony?” Gibbs asked. “I want to be with you anyway you’ll have me.”
“I didn’t think I was gay,” Tony blurted out. “Didn’t think you were either.”
Gibbs shrugged. “It’s love, Tony. Any way you look at it. Is that what you needed to hear?”
“I guess. Why didn’t you say something before? I thought-”
“It was just another one night stand,” Gibbs finished for him. He shook his head. “Never with you, Tony. One night would never be enough.”
“So, where do we go from here?” Tony asked.
“Right now? Back to work. Tonight, my place or your place. You choose. And hopefully, in the not too distant future, there’ll only be our place.” Gibbs gave him another kiss then set the elevator in motion again. “Good enough?”
Tony nodded. “Good enough.”
The end.