Chapter Text
Disclaimer: "NCIS" and its characters don't' belong to me they belong to CBS and are being used without permission. Please don't sue because I have no money.
Some kids have incredible endurance, they get through anything, but some kids it's just not in their nature, and can't handle being bullied.
Bullied
Anthony DiNozzo sat in his room at yet another boarding school. He hated being the new student in boarding school. In the last boarding school he was at he was bullied, but of course when they bullied him he joked about it, or laughed at it. He couldn't let them know that it hurt him, but deep down it hurt that they pushed him around and beat on him. His father didn't normally hit him just a few times when he was home from school his father would get mad at him. He always covered up the bruises and if someone did see them he would tell them a story about how he got them and make a joke out of it.
He had made a few friends at the new boarding school and he would talk to them, but of course just like the other schools he was at there was another bully. He too had pushed him around and even beat up on him. The others tried to help, but they were being threatened if they helped him.
He had been sleeping and hadn't even heard them come into his room. He suddenly woke up when a hand covered his mouth and grabbed him. He didn't even have the chance to scream. They led him to the flagpole where they stripped him down to his underwear. The leader had hooked up his underwear and started to pull the cord that would make him go up the flagpole. They stopped when he was at the top and then they stood back laughing at what they did. They laughed at his screams to be let down.
Tony screamed at the boys who did this to him. "Let me down. Let me down." He wasn't going to cry because if he did it would be like letting them win. He wasn't going to let them win. He could see them laughing at him as they looked up. They were laughing so hard they didn't hear anybody come up behind them.
"What did you do?" Two headmasters were waiting for an explanation.
"We were just having fun."
One of the headmasters walked to the flagpole and lowered Tony down and then unhooked him. "Are you okay, Anthony?"
"I'm fine." Tony said as he smiled and picked up his clothes to get dressed. That is why he had his joker, clown mask. He hid behind it, so nobody knows how he really feels. He couldn't let the headmaster know that it bothered him and so he lied.
"I want you to go to the school nurse."
"I'm fine." Tony said again.
"I just want to made sure that you are okay. I don't know how long you were out here and want to make sure that you didn't get sick. I will go with you to tell the nurse what happened."
The two made their way towards the school nurse's room. The headmaster told the nurse what had happened and she checked to make sure that he was okay. Finally Tony was back in his room where he knew he had to get dressed before they had breakfast in the dining hall. He glanced around as he made his way towards the food line and when he sat down at his friend's table. They talked about classes and everything else. It looked like nobody found out what had happened and for that he was glad. He didn't want to be known as the kid who was literally up the flagpole. He began joking with his friends and talking about movies and sports.
Days and weeks went by and nobody knew what had happened to Tony. He began telling himself that it wasn't him that was up the flagpole it was John Smith instead. He still made jokes and did a couple of pranks. He began calling John Smith Stinky John after that. He never called him that to his face, but only to his friends.
It would be years and years later he would meet John Smith again. He even got a card, so he could say he was sorry, but he never gave it to him. He began talking to him when John said it was the other way around. He looked at him when he said that and suddenly remembered what had happened. He remembered them grabbing him and making him strip to be strung up the flagpole.
He could see Gibbs smile that it was the right thing to say that he should tell McGee.
He stood there wondering if he should knock on McGee's door. He lifted his hands to knock on the door, but suddenly dropped it down. He stood there a minute more and finally got up the courage to knock.
"What are you doing here, Tony?"
"Can I come in?"
"Sure."
He sat down on the couch in McGee's living room and looked around. It still looked the same as the last time he came to cheer McGee up when he shot the cop.
"I want to thank you for giving me John's address."
"You came here to say thank you. You could have said it in the bullpen tomorrow."
"I wanted to talk to you because of what happened." He sighed not really wanting to tell McGee, but knowing he should. "Remember me saying that I strung stinky John up the flagpole?"
"Yes, you've told us that story a couple of times." Replied McGee not knowing why he was asking this question.
"I had it flip flopped. It wasn't John who was strung up the flagpole in his tightly withies it was me."
McGee stared in shock at this admission. "You did it to protect yourself."
"That's what I told Gibbs too. It was to protect myself. I managed to convince myself that it was I who did that to John right after it happened."
"I'm sorry, Tony that that happened. I'm glad that you trust me enough to tell me what really happened."
"I trust you that you won't tell anybody."
"I won't."
"Do you want to watch a movie?" McGee asked
They began watching a movie and after it was over Tony left and went to his own home.