Work Text:
Elevator
by nancy
Gibbs didn’t say anything about the emailed pictures to either of them the next day, so far as Tony could tell. He sure as hell didn’t say anything to Tony, anyhow, and Kate seemed jumpy enough that it seemed the same with her. He kept meeting her gaze throughout the day, both of them waiting for the ax to fall, completely on the same page. Where they were at complete and utter odds the day before, pissing each other off and picking the hell out of each other, today, they were united in their Fear of Gibbs.
Aside from a queasy stomach due to nerves, the day passed uneventfully. There were reports to be written and paperwork to be caught up on, and no new cases. Tony started to think that maybe they’d imagined sending the pictures to Gibbs when he continued his silence on the matter.
It was on the elevator ride out of the office that he found out that Gibbs had, indeed, gotten the pictures.
“So, DiNozzo.”
Tony looked over at Gibbs, cautious. “Yeah, Boss?”
“Didn’t realize you’d starting walkin’ on the wild side.”
Stifling a groan, Tony faced him and said, “Look, Boss, that whole picture thing is a fake, I swear! Kate had Abby pasted my head onto that guy’s body.”
“That’s too bad.”
Tony blinked, then asked, “Uh, what?”
Bright blue eyes met his as Gibbs repeated, “That’s too bad. That it isn’t really you, I mean.”
“Um, why?”
Gibbs shrugged, completely unhelpful.
Glancing at the floor designations, Tony saw they were almost at the garage, but couldn’t think of a way to question Gibbs without coming off as a complete homophobe or an insecure idiot.
Just as they reached the garage, Gibbs shifted closer and said, “If you ever feel the urge to…expand your wardrobe some night…give me a call.”
Tony could only stare back at him dumbly as the doors pinged their arrival.
Gibbs leaned in, without seeming to lean at all, and continued in a low, rough voice, “I’ll show you what the meaning of the phrase, ‘ridden hard and put away wet,’ really feels like.”
He kept staring as Gibbs winked and walked out of the elevator without another word. The doors actually started to close before he jolted out of his stupor and slammed a hand out to keep them from shutting. Tony ran after the other man and called out, “Ah, Boss? Wait up!”
end