NCIS - My Little Candy Heart
Title: My Little Candy Heart
For the 2012 valentine_tibbs
Characters/Pairings: DiNozzo/Gibbs
Rating: PG
Length: 1156
Fandom: NCIS
Summary: Just another Valentine’s Day in the neighborhood
I do not own anything related to NCIS and do not profit from this story!
All errors are mine!
Hearing the beep, beep, beep of his alarm, Tony stretched languidly in his bed. Even though it was the same time he got up every morning, he felt this wakeup call came too early. He hadn’t slept well the night before. Instead, he had spent most of the night worrying about what might come that morning. It was Valentine’s Day. And, while normally he had no reason to fear Cupid’s holiday, this year was different. This year was the first that he had Gibbs’ as his Valentine.
Tony was well aware the older man wasn’t big on showy displays of affection. But this hadn’t stopped Tony from ordering a bouquet of flowers to be delivered to Gibbs’ desk. (He had also arranged for a dozen black stemmed roses to be sent to Abby. But that was only because the young Goth was the only one who knew about his relationship with his boss.) Nervously, Tony ran a hand through his hair before swinging his legs to the side of his bed. Standing, he reminded himself that his name wasn’t on the card that was to arrive with the flowers. He had no doubt that Gibbs would know they were from him but he didn’t want any prying eyes sneaking a peak. He really hoped Gibbs liked the flowers. He really hoped Gibbs liked the flowers enough to ignore the scuttlebutt that was sure to follow.
Still agonizing over his gift decision, Tony showered, brushed his teeth, and got dressed. With unease in the pit of his stomach, he grabbed a piece of toast, got in his car, and headed to work. It was pure routine that got him to work on time.
Exiting the elevator, Tony could see the flowers had already arrived on Gibbs’ desk. The passing thought that maybe he could move them without the older man knowing was gone the second Tony saw his lover reading the card. “Guess someone’s got a secret admirer, huh Boss?” Tony forced the words out of his mouth; the teasing tone that came with them wasn’t as difficult.
“Looks like, DiNozzo.” Gibbs looked at Tony critically but didn’t say anything. Instead he put the card back in the flower bouquet before turning to work at his computer. While normally, Tony felt he could read the silver haired man pretty well, in that instance he couldn’t tell how Gibbs felt about his gift.
“Yes, it seems Gibbs got a gift for Valentine’s Day but you did not Tony,” Ziva smirked from desk. “No ex-girlfriend wanted to send you anything, hmm? That’s probably for the best, what with so many exes-“
“Yeah, I get it Zee-vah,” Tony rolled his eyes. Then, just as Tony was getting comfortable in his own chair, Gibbs’ phone rang.
“Gear up,” the older man’s words had Tony immediately on his feet. “We’ve got a dead Petty Officer.” Gibbs tossed keys at McGee with a curt, “Gas the truck.” When Gibbs passed his desk Tony grabbed his go bag. Then stealing one last look at the flowers he headed for the elevator.
“You with us DiNozzo?”
“Hmm?” Tony tried to ask. His lips felt heavy and unmoving. His mouth was dry. He tried to lick the roof of his mouth to scrounge up a little moisture and groaned when it didn’t help.
“Here, here, drink this.”
Tony felt a straw pressed to his mouth and drank greedily and happily when he realized water was available to him. “Th-“ he tried once he’d drank his fill and his mouth felt like it could actually move. “Thanks Boss.”
“No problem Tony.”
“So,” the younger man questioned after a moment of comfortable yet uncomfortable silence, “What happened?”
“Daniel Richard, Petty Officer Leesons’ boyfriend, hit you in the head with a two-by-four.” Tony felt his eyes go wide at the confession. “Could have been any one of us. He was waiting behind the back of the garage where we’d tracked him to. After he hit you, he tried to run but Ziva took him down. She and McGee took him to interrogation.”
“You didn’t go?” The words came out soft yet surprised. Tony couldn’t believe Gibbs’ had let a suspect go back to the yard without him. Looking up at his lover, Tony could tell Gibbs looked a little uneasy.
“Well yeah, Tony. I wanted to be here when you woke up.” Gibbs took the younger man’s hand in his own, his callous thumb rubbing along the smooth skin.
“I like when you hold my hand,” Tony whispered. He knew it was a sappy sentiment but wasn’t embarrassed when Gibbs tighten his hold just a hair.
“You know, I really loved those flowers you sent me this morning.”
“Yeah?” Tony tried not to sound too hopeful.
“Yeah Tony, I did. I’m not sure anyone’s ever sent me flowers before.”
“Good, I wanted them to be special.”
“They are,” Gibbs insisted.
Shifting in the bed, Tony tried to sit up. Almost immediately he settled back into the pillows as he vision swam before him and his stomach felt like it was flip flopping in his chest. Letting go of Gibbs’ hand, Tony bunched his hands into the soft blanket some nurse had put over him.
“Relax, Tony, relax. Breathe. You want some more water?” Gibbs asked but Tony shook his head no. The movement didn’t help his nausea but overall it was lessening. Both men were quite for a long moment until Tony’s breathing had returned to normal and his eyes could focus on his lover for more than a quick moment. “What a shitty way to spend Valentine’s Day,” Tony complained.
“Yeah it’s not the ideal location, not when I had plans for us tonight. But hey, you’re one step closer to winning ‘Most Injuries’ again this year.” Gibbs teased and Tony pouted. “So I don’t know if your stomach is up to it, but um,” Gibbs looked a little embarrassed. “When the doctor was first looking at you, when you were unconscious, I stopped by the gift shop and bought you something.”
“Yeah?” Tony questioned again. Gibbs nodded and pressed something into his hand. Looking down, Tony stared at the small box for a moment before he asked, “Conversation hearts? You got me conversation hearts?”
“If you don’t want them DiNozzo.” Gibbs’ voice was low and Tony immediately pulled the box out of the older man’s reach.
No, I do. I do,” Fumbling for a second, Tony got the box open and scattered some of the hearts on his blanket. He picked up one and said, “I like this one.” The small yellow heart had the words ‘wink wink’ in pink letters.
“Yeah well I like this one.” Gibbs reached forward and plucked a small purple heart off Tony’s lap. ‘Love You’ Was tattooed to it.
“You do?”
“Yeah Tony, I do. I love you.”
“Good because,” Tony passed Gibbs a heart that said, ‘I <3 You Too.’