(no subject)
Title: Juvenile
Genre: Slash
Rating: PG
Summary: Childhoods aren't always happy and shiny and spent in a house with a white picket fence
Word Count: 2231
Prompt: "Men are but children of larger growth"
Author's Notes: Thank you to maya_spins, jb_wolfsies and matt51 for the betaing. And I also used the prompt of 'children' in fanfic100 and another prompt for 20loves (yes, I'm a challenge whore)
Juvenile
Gibbs stood by the elevator, watching his team, unnoticed. Gentle footsteps sounded behind him, and another man stepped up next to the Marine, resting a hand on his back and peering around his shoulder.
Inside the bullpen, Tony and Kate sat at their opposing desks, McGee sitting at his own desk across from Tony. While McGee seemed to be focused on his work, his fingers flying over the keyboard, Kate was glaring at Tony, though her eyes were warm.
She shook her head in mock exasperation. “Honestly, Tony. I’d hoped to have a few more years before I became a mother.”
Tony looked up quickly, eyes wide; he choked on his sandwich and hastened to swallow, ignoring a piece of tomato falling out and plopping onto the plate before him. “You’re pregnant?”
Kate rolled her eyes, flipping dark hair over her shoulder impatiently. “Of course not! But I feel like a mother, spending so much time looking after you!”
Tony let out an exaggerated breath of air and clasped his hand over his heart dramatically. “Oh, thank God. I thought I was going to be an uncle!”
Back at the outskirts of the bullpen, Ducky was smiling fondly at them, while Gibbs was snorting, an amused glint in his eyes.
“I must say, Caitlin does have a valid point; at times, Anthony can be quite vexing, quite childlike. Of course, he and Abigail share the ability to make that particular trait endearing.”
Gibbs gave his old friend a look. “It isn’t endearing in DiNozzo.”
Ducky stared knowingly at Gibbs for a long moment before shaking his head, tutting in amusement. “Really, Jethro, that isn’t a nice thing to say about your, ah, boyfriend.” He said, a small smile playing at the corner of his lips, negating the serious words
“He isn’t my boyfriend!” Gibbs snapped irritably.
“Oh, of course not. It was the intense affection you have for one another, the closeness, the sex that misled me. My mistake.” Only the teasing glint in the older man’s eyes stopped Gibbs from snapping.
Alternatively, he didn’t deign to respond to that; instead trashing his coffee cup and striding into the bullpen fiercely, detouring by Tony and striking him across the back of his head lightly, threading his fingers through Tony’s hair briefly. He leaned in close enough that his breath whispered across Tony’s ear and murmured, so softly, “You’re with me tonight.” He pulled back quickly, gratified to see Tony shiver and had moved back to his own desk before Tony even finished saying “Yes, Boss.”
He ignored both Ducky’s shrewd expression and the way heat curled in his stomach when Tony smiled deliberately, slicking an agile tongue over full lips.
Not so childlike, he thought.
Tony took childlike delight in the most simple, innocuous of things; a wide, blinding smile spread across that handsome face when Gibbs handed him a plate of his favorite ice cream (incidentally the same as Gibbs’, ever since that time with the ice cream and the chocolate syrup and- well. You know. ), or the way his face lit up when Kate handed him his birthday gift. Just Gibbs opening the passenger side door is enough to make Tony blush and duck his head, a secret smile that just barely hints at just how much affection Tony missed out on as a kid playing across his lips; even this much is enough to make the younger man’s day.
They’d just wrapped up one of those cases, yeah, the one with the little girl and the blood. They were at Tony’s apartment, sprawled on his sinfully comfortable recliner. Tony was pressed tightly into the corner with Gibbs pressed against him, an arm around his shoulder, pinned uncomfortably into the couch. Gibbs had Tony cradled against his chest protectively and they were both staring into the blank screen of the powerless TV, willing it to give up the secrets of life.
After a while, Tony shifted to sit upright, struggling against Gibbs’ firm grip. He finally stopped and stroked the warm skin of Gibbs’ arm comfortingly, soothing the older man.
“Hey, Boss, I gotta get up and order the pizza. The others will be here soon.”
Gibbs sat up, pulling Tony with him, not relinquishing his hold. “You invited the others?”
Tony managed to twist awkwardly to face Gibbs, throwing a leg over his lap to straddle him comfortably. “They always come over after a case like this. Abby and McGee show up together, then Kate.” He smiled teasingly, but it lacked something. “I’m pretty sure we’d all go to your place if Probie wouldn’t piss himself in terror. Besides, I don’t think Kate is much of a boat person.”
Gibbs looked at him for a second, then draped his arms over Tony’s waist and tugged him in for an encompassing hug. “How long?” He asked, his voice muffled against Tony’s neck.
“You didn’t know?” Tony sounded surprised.
Gibbs looked up. “Nope. But it’s good that they come to you when things get bad.”
Tony gave half a lop-sided smile and lifted himself off Gibbs, crossing to the phone. He found the number on speed dial and as the phone rang, he turned to Gibbs and asked, “Any preferences?”
Gibbs shook his head and Tony nodded in return, placing the order before
sitting back by Gibbs. Tony slumped onto Gibbs’ shoulder, and Gibbs’ hand
found Tony’s, entangling their fingers together, an uncharacteristic display of his desire to just be with Tony.
Tony pressed his face into Gibbs’ neck; “She was so young, Gibbs. I don’t know how she survived that long.”
Gibbs closed his eyes, kissed Tony’s temple and thanked God that Tony had survived, and somehow managed to retain both humanity and childlike innocence.
“You alright, DiNozzo?” Gibbs asked roughly.
Tony looked up, eyes dry, attempting to paste a happy smile over a sad face. He failed. “I’m just peachy, Boss.”
Gibbs snorted. “Liar.”
Tony shrugged haplessly. “Well, I will be.”
The Marine sat beside Tony and watched him carefully. “These cases always get to you. They strike a chord?”
An uncharacteristically bitter laugh spilled from Tony’s lips; “And with questions like those, it’s no wonder you have three ex-wives and one not-boyfriend. Seriously, Gibbs, I’m fine.”
A nod of vague agreement was his only reply. Then, “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you cry.” The non-sqeuitor made Tony blink for just a second, before a neutral mask fell over his face. It was a tactic he'd seen Gibbs use in the interrogation room to many times; throw in a surprising question and maybe they'll answer honestly.
“Really?” Tony’s voice was deceptively casual.
“Yep,” Gibbs replied solidly.
Tony let his shoulders raise and fall in another graceful shrug. “I guess I just don’t cry much.” He fixed Gibbs with an appraising gaze and spoke wryly, “I guess you do?”
Gibbs glared at Tony, eyes cold and chin raised. “You know I don’t.”
Tony looked away, shamefaced. “I’m sorry. I was out of line. I know you only cry when Kel- well, I know you don't cry often.”
Gibbs let out a sound of agreement and forgiveness and the two sat in companionable silence. With anyone else the quiet would be fraught with awkwardness, maybe even anger, but it wasn’t. With Gibbs and Tony the silence was just peaceful; they simply felt no need to speak. They sat together, shoulders and thighs and knees their points of contact.
“It was my father,” Tony said abruptly.
Gibbs knew that to interrupt would result in Tony’s silence so he gave the slightest of nods in encouragement and let his open palm fall on the inside of Tony’s thigh, just above his knee, his thumb moving in soothing circles.
Tony drew in a deep breath and released it in slow increments. “He’s the reason I don’t…cry. Can’t cry is more accurate. When I was a kid, I wasn’t allowed to. Not when I fell out of a tree in the backyard and broke my leg, not when my Mom died. ‘Boys don’t cry,’ he said. And after the first few times, I learnt not to.” He laughed in macabre amusement. “Guess he was right.”
“He beat you?” Gibbs asked softly, blue eyes fierce. His grip tightened on Tony’s leg.
“It doesn’t matter,” Tony evaded, which really meant yes.
“I didn’t know,” Gibbs said. “I didn’t know that you were abused.”
“I wouldn’t call it abuse, per se.”
“I would.”
Kate scowled, her pretty face twisted into an ugly mask. “Tony is the most childish man I have ever met. It’s like the mind of a thirteen year old in the body of a 30 year old.”
Abby stopped what she was doing and turned, staring seriously at Kate out of dark, soulful eyes. “Really? I think he’s the most adult person I’ve ever met.”
Kate’s mouth worked silently for a moment before she laughed uncertainly. “I don’t think Gibbs would agree with you.” She joked.
Abby continued to watch Kate curiously. When she spoke, her voice was somber. “I think he would.” Her voice and words were so unlike her normally cheerful and casual self that Kate gaped and ignored the shamed wave of heat that threaded through her.
Gibbs sighed, a soft exhalation of breath that raised the hair on the nape of Tony’s neck as it tickled him. The faintest of kisses was brushed over Tony’s hair, then his cheek.
“Its okay, Tony.” He soothed, drawing circles on Tony’s back with a warm, heavy hand.
Tony looked up in surprise, fixing wary eyes on protective blue ones. “I know. It was a long time ago, Gibbs. I’ve accepted it. It's not a big deal.”
“Accepted?” Gibbs repeated, raising a single silver eyebrow, unable to keep the sarcastic, disbelieving tone from his voice.
Tony smirked. “Okay, fine, if you must know, I’ve buried it deep in denial. But it works for me.”
Gibbs gave a non-committal grunt and held Tony closer, sharp eyes not missing the shadows that raced over Tony’s face before carefully being replaced with a mask of contentedness.
“You aren’t a boy any more, Tony. He doesn’t have power over you. You’re not a child, you’re an adult.” The use of Tony’s first name was an indication of how serious the older man was.
Tony nodded. “I know that, Gibbs.” He gave a lascivious smile, the smile he used in clubs before Gibbs, the smile that spoke of so many dark and dangerous things and lured people in. He let his eyelids drop slightly and looked coyly up at Gibbs from beneath long, dark lashes, sinking pearly
teeth into full lips. “After all, only an adult can do the things I want to do to you.”
“Oh?” Gibbs swallowed to try and retain moisture in his dry throat. “And what are those?”
Tony’s voice became deeper and huskier, and he leant in close to Gibbs. “Why don’t you follow me to the bedroom and find out?”
Gibbs allowed the blatant change in topic and acquiesced, letting Tony slide fluidly to his feet and tug him up. Their lips met together in a heated, violent kiss, teeth clashing with a nasty click and already a drop of blood slicking over flesh. Heavy hands dragged roughly over skin, pulling and tugging at clothes, leaving a trail of discarded material on the way to the bedroom.
Tony curled into Gibbs’ side, clinging to the Marine and hiding his face against a strong, hard chest. He knew that he was being clingy, but couldn’t quite manage to stop himself.
Gibbs pulled Tony so that the Italian lay half-draped over his body, a comforting weight reassuring Gibbs of Tony’s existance. Gibbs ran calloused hands over Tony’s back, moving in slow, possessive strokes. Sweat from their sex moistened his palm and made the petting easier, even as it cooled and they
both became aware of their stickiness.
“Are you-” Gibbs started to say, interrupted by a snort, or a laugh, (or a sob), from Tony.
Tony raised himself to one elbow to stare at Gibbs incredulously. “Don’t you dare!” He threatened, voice filled with badly hidden mirth. “We just had the most incredible sex, you don’t get to ruin it!”
Gibbs snorted and shot out an arm to tug at Tony’s wrist, neatly collapsing his arm to make him fall back onto his chest. He let out a sharp breath at the impact but tightened his grip around Tony, ignoring the weight.
“I love you, you know.” His voice was quiet, serious, and again Tony pushed himself up and Gibbs let him this time.
Tony spoke just as seriously, whispering into the silence broken only by the repetitive ticking of the clock. His eyes were dark with emotion and still somewhat dazed. “Even though you never told me you loved me, I knew you did. I could feel it.”
Gibbs smiled. “Yeah?”
“Yeah.” Tony dropped a kiss over Gibbs’ heart. “Even if you never said the words, I know you did.”
“Okay.” Gibbs nodded. “And y-… everything’s okay?”
“Yeah. Everything is great.”
And they slept, and they woke up, and went to work, and for the first time in a long time, Tony lost the shadows the shadows that darkened his eyes whenever he saw a child.
Genre: Slash
Rating: PG
Summary: Childhoods aren't always happy and shiny and spent in a house with a white picket fence
Word Count: 2231
Prompt: "Men are but children of larger growth"
Author's Notes: Thank you to maya_spins, jb_wolfsies and matt51 for the betaing. And I also used the prompt of 'children' in fanfic100 and another prompt for 20loves (yes, I'm a challenge whore)
Juvenile
Gibbs stood by the elevator, watching his team, unnoticed. Gentle footsteps sounded behind him, and another man stepped up next to the Marine, resting a hand on his back and peering around his shoulder.
Inside the bullpen, Tony and Kate sat at their opposing desks, McGee sitting at his own desk across from Tony. While McGee seemed to be focused on his work, his fingers flying over the keyboard, Kate was glaring at Tony, though her eyes were warm.
She shook her head in mock exasperation. “Honestly, Tony. I’d hoped to have a few more years before I became a mother.”
Tony looked up quickly, eyes wide; he choked on his sandwich and hastened to swallow, ignoring a piece of tomato falling out and plopping onto the plate before him. “You’re pregnant?”
Kate rolled her eyes, flipping dark hair over her shoulder impatiently. “Of course not! But I feel like a mother, spending so much time looking after you!”
Tony let out an exaggerated breath of air and clasped his hand over his heart dramatically. “Oh, thank God. I thought I was going to be an uncle!”
Back at the outskirts of the bullpen, Ducky was smiling fondly at them, while Gibbs was snorting, an amused glint in his eyes.
“I must say, Caitlin does have a valid point; at times, Anthony can be quite vexing, quite childlike. Of course, he and Abigail share the ability to make that particular trait endearing.”
Gibbs gave his old friend a look. “It isn’t endearing in DiNozzo.”
Ducky stared knowingly at Gibbs for a long moment before shaking his head, tutting in amusement. “Really, Jethro, that isn’t a nice thing to say about your, ah, boyfriend.” He said, a small smile playing at the corner of his lips, negating the serious words
“He isn’t my boyfriend!” Gibbs snapped irritably.
“Oh, of course not. It was the intense affection you have for one another, the closeness, the sex that misled me. My mistake.” Only the teasing glint in the older man’s eyes stopped Gibbs from snapping.
Alternatively, he didn’t deign to respond to that; instead trashing his coffee cup and striding into the bullpen fiercely, detouring by Tony and striking him across the back of his head lightly, threading his fingers through Tony’s hair briefly. He leaned in close enough that his breath whispered across Tony’s ear and murmured, so softly, “You’re with me tonight.” He pulled back quickly, gratified to see Tony shiver and had moved back to his own desk before Tony even finished saying “Yes, Boss.”
He ignored both Ducky’s shrewd expression and the way heat curled in his stomach when Tony smiled deliberately, slicking an agile tongue over full lips.
Not so childlike, he thought.
Tony took childlike delight in the most simple, innocuous of things; a wide, blinding smile spread across that handsome face when Gibbs handed him a plate of his favorite ice cream (incidentally the same as Gibbs’, ever since that time with the ice cream and the chocolate syrup and- well. You know. ), or the way his face lit up when Kate handed him his birthday gift. Just Gibbs opening the passenger side door is enough to make Tony blush and duck his head, a secret smile that just barely hints at just how much affection Tony missed out on as a kid playing across his lips; even this much is enough to make the younger man’s day.
They’d just wrapped up one of those cases, yeah, the one with the little girl and the blood. They were at Tony’s apartment, sprawled on his sinfully comfortable recliner. Tony was pressed tightly into the corner with Gibbs pressed against him, an arm around his shoulder, pinned uncomfortably into the couch. Gibbs had Tony cradled against his chest protectively and they were both staring into the blank screen of the powerless TV, willing it to give up the secrets of life.
After a while, Tony shifted to sit upright, struggling against Gibbs’ firm grip. He finally stopped and stroked the warm skin of Gibbs’ arm comfortingly, soothing the older man.
“Hey, Boss, I gotta get up and order the pizza. The others will be here soon.”
Gibbs sat up, pulling Tony with him, not relinquishing his hold. “You invited the others?”
Tony managed to twist awkwardly to face Gibbs, throwing a leg over his lap to straddle him comfortably. “They always come over after a case like this. Abby and McGee show up together, then Kate.” He smiled teasingly, but it lacked something. “I’m pretty sure we’d all go to your place if Probie wouldn’t piss himself in terror. Besides, I don’t think Kate is much of a boat person.”
Gibbs looked at him for a second, then draped his arms over Tony’s waist and tugged him in for an encompassing hug. “How long?” He asked, his voice muffled against Tony’s neck.
“You didn’t know?” Tony sounded surprised.
Gibbs looked up. “Nope. But it’s good that they come to you when things get bad.”
Tony gave half a lop-sided smile and lifted himself off Gibbs, crossing to the phone. He found the number on speed dial and as the phone rang, he turned to Gibbs and asked, “Any preferences?”
Gibbs shook his head and Tony nodded in return, placing the order before
sitting back by Gibbs. Tony slumped onto Gibbs’ shoulder, and Gibbs’ hand
found Tony’s, entangling their fingers together, an uncharacteristic display of his desire to just be with Tony.
Tony pressed his face into Gibbs’ neck; “She was so young, Gibbs. I don’t know how she survived that long.”
Gibbs closed his eyes, kissed Tony’s temple and thanked God that Tony had survived, and somehow managed to retain both humanity and childlike innocence.
“You alright, DiNozzo?” Gibbs asked roughly.
Tony looked up, eyes dry, attempting to paste a happy smile over a sad face. He failed. “I’m just peachy, Boss.”
Gibbs snorted. “Liar.”
Tony shrugged haplessly. “Well, I will be.”
The Marine sat beside Tony and watched him carefully. “These cases always get to you. They strike a chord?”
An uncharacteristically bitter laugh spilled from Tony’s lips; “And with questions like those, it’s no wonder you have three ex-wives and one not-boyfriend. Seriously, Gibbs, I’m fine.”
A nod of vague agreement was his only reply. Then, “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you cry.” The non-sqeuitor made Tony blink for just a second, before a neutral mask fell over his face. It was a tactic he'd seen Gibbs use in the interrogation room to many times; throw in a surprising question and maybe they'll answer honestly.
“Really?” Tony’s voice was deceptively casual.
“Yep,” Gibbs replied solidly.
Tony let his shoulders raise and fall in another graceful shrug. “I guess I just don’t cry much.” He fixed Gibbs with an appraising gaze and spoke wryly, “I guess you do?”
Gibbs glared at Tony, eyes cold and chin raised. “You know I don’t.”
Tony looked away, shamefaced. “I’m sorry. I was out of line. I know you only cry when Kel- well, I know you don't cry often.”
Gibbs let out a sound of agreement and forgiveness and the two sat in companionable silence. With anyone else the quiet would be fraught with awkwardness, maybe even anger, but it wasn’t. With Gibbs and Tony the silence was just peaceful; they simply felt no need to speak. They sat together, shoulders and thighs and knees their points of contact.
“It was my father,” Tony said abruptly.
Gibbs knew that to interrupt would result in Tony’s silence so he gave the slightest of nods in encouragement and let his open palm fall on the inside of Tony’s thigh, just above his knee, his thumb moving in soothing circles.
Tony drew in a deep breath and released it in slow increments. “He’s the reason I don’t…cry. Can’t cry is more accurate. When I was a kid, I wasn’t allowed to. Not when I fell out of a tree in the backyard and broke my leg, not when my Mom died. ‘Boys don’t cry,’ he said. And after the first few times, I learnt not to.” He laughed in macabre amusement. “Guess he was right.”
“He beat you?” Gibbs asked softly, blue eyes fierce. His grip tightened on Tony’s leg.
“It doesn’t matter,” Tony evaded, which really meant yes.
“I didn’t know,” Gibbs said. “I didn’t know that you were abused.”
“I wouldn’t call it abuse, per se.”
“I would.”
Kate scowled, her pretty face twisted into an ugly mask. “Tony is the most childish man I have ever met. It’s like the mind of a thirteen year old in the body of a 30 year old.”
Abby stopped what she was doing and turned, staring seriously at Kate out of dark, soulful eyes. “Really? I think he’s the most adult person I’ve ever met.”
Kate’s mouth worked silently for a moment before she laughed uncertainly. “I don’t think Gibbs would agree with you.” She joked.
Abby continued to watch Kate curiously. When she spoke, her voice was somber. “I think he would.” Her voice and words were so unlike her normally cheerful and casual self that Kate gaped and ignored the shamed wave of heat that threaded through her.
Gibbs sighed, a soft exhalation of breath that raised the hair on the nape of Tony’s neck as it tickled him. The faintest of kisses was brushed over Tony’s hair, then his cheek.
“Its okay, Tony.” He soothed, drawing circles on Tony’s back with a warm, heavy hand.
Tony looked up in surprise, fixing wary eyes on protective blue ones. “I know. It was a long time ago, Gibbs. I’ve accepted it. It's not a big deal.”
“Accepted?” Gibbs repeated, raising a single silver eyebrow, unable to keep the sarcastic, disbelieving tone from his voice.
Tony smirked. “Okay, fine, if you must know, I’ve buried it deep in denial. But it works for me.”
Gibbs gave a non-committal grunt and held Tony closer, sharp eyes not missing the shadows that raced over Tony’s face before carefully being replaced with a mask of contentedness.
“You aren’t a boy any more, Tony. He doesn’t have power over you. You’re not a child, you’re an adult.” The use of Tony’s first name was an indication of how serious the older man was.
Tony nodded. “I know that, Gibbs.” He gave a lascivious smile, the smile he used in clubs before Gibbs, the smile that spoke of so many dark and dangerous things and lured people in. He let his eyelids drop slightly and looked coyly up at Gibbs from beneath long, dark lashes, sinking pearly
teeth into full lips. “After all, only an adult can do the things I want to do to you.”
“Oh?” Gibbs swallowed to try and retain moisture in his dry throat. “And what are those?”
Tony’s voice became deeper and huskier, and he leant in close to Gibbs. “Why don’t you follow me to the bedroom and find out?”
Gibbs allowed the blatant change in topic and acquiesced, letting Tony slide fluidly to his feet and tug him up. Their lips met together in a heated, violent kiss, teeth clashing with a nasty click and already a drop of blood slicking over flesh. Heavy hands dragged roughly over skin, pulling and tugging at clothes, leaving a trail of discarded material on the way to the bedroom.
Tony curled into Gibbs’ side, clinging to the Marine and hiding his face against a strong, hard chest. He knew that he was being clingy, but couldn’t quite manage to stop himself.
Gibbs pulled Tony so that the Italian lay half-draped over his body, a comforting weight reassuring Gibbs of Tony’s existance. Gibbs ran calloused hands over Tony’s back, moving in slow, possessive strokes. Sweat from their sex moistened his palm and made the petting easier, even as it cooled and they
both became aware of their stickiness.
“Are you-” Gibbs started to say, interrupted by a snort, or a laugh, (or a sob), from Tony.
Tony raised himself to one elbow to stare at Gibbs incredulously. “Don’t you dare!” He threatened, voice filled with badly hidden mirth. “We just had the most incredible sex, you don’t get to ruin it!”
Gibbs snorted and shot out an arm to tug at Tony’s wrist, neatly collapsing his arm to make him fall back onto his chest. He let out a sharp breath at the impact but tightened his grip around Tony, ignoring the weight.
“I love you, you know.” His voice was quiet, serious, and again Tony pushed himself up and Gibbs let him this time.
Tony spoke just as seriously, whispering into the silence broken only by the repetitive ticking of the clock. His eyes were dark with emotion and still somewhat dazed. “Even though you never told me you loved me, I knew you did. I could feel it.”
Gibbs smiled. “Yeah?”
“Yeah.” Tony dropped a kiss over Gibbs’ heart. “Even if you never said the words, I know you did.”
“Okay.” Gibbs nodded. “And y-… everything’s okay?”
“Yeah. Everything is great.”
And they slept, and they woke up, and went to work, and for the first time in a long time, Tony lost the shadows the shadows that darkened his eyes whenever he saw a child.