companions - NCIS/SN, PG, implied slash
Title: companions
Fandom: NCIS/Supernatural
Disclaimer: not my characters
Warnings: pre-series for Supernatural; early season 3 for NCIS
Pairings: implied future!Gibbs/Tony, Tony/Dean
Rating: PG
Wordcount: 830
Point of view: third
Prompt: message
Every now and then, Tony gets hang-up calls from an unknown number. Sometimes, he seems to not even notice, and others, he gets all worked up, taking out frustration and worry on the team.
Not that Jethro thinks anyone but him can tell. Tony is a very good actor, masterful at deflecting attention where he wants it.
After he starts paying attention, Jethro realizes the calls only come on the second and twenty-fourth of every month, to Tony’s private cell. As soon as Tony answers, whoever it is hangs up.
Tony has to know the caller, and the significance of the dates. It must be some kind of message. But Jethro has no idea what.
He could ask Abby to trace the number, but if Tony hasn’t taken any action yet, it’s not really Jethro’s place. He hates it when people pry into his personal life, so looking into this would be hypocritical and nosy and-
Damnit, Tony is his agent and someone is fucking with the boy.
o0o
What Abby finds out only confuses the issue more. The call never comes from the same number twice. Most are actually payphones, scattered throughout the continental US. There seems to be no rhyme or reason to the locations; on April second of ’01, the origin was in Maine, but the twenty-fourth, it came from Houston, and then May second, San Francisco. Always the same two days, going back for as long as Tony had the same cell number. When Abby dug deeper, she found that every phone he had, landline or cell, he got the calls on those two days.
“I’ll ask him,” Abby says, “if you don’t.”
But then things happened, with the plague and Ari and Kate. The phone calls slip from Jethro’s mind.
o0o
After Ari dies, Jethro and what remain of his team get two weeks leave. Abby and Ducky, too, per Jen’s orders. They’d been targets, so they need calm and quiet, away from work.
The second week coincides with a call and it isn’t until he’s flipping through the paper that Jethro realizes it, and he decides he’s waited long enough. Tony is his responsibly, and if someone is fucking with Tony, then Jethro will fuck with them.
o0o
He knocks on the door, but it isn’t Tony who answers. “Yeah?” the kid asks. He can’t be much more than twenty-five, if that, too pretty by far.
“I’m here to see Tony,” Jethro says. “Who’re you?”
The kid smirks. “You must be Gibbs,” he drawls. “Tony sure has told me a lot about you.” He steps back from the door. “Yo, Tony!” he hollers as Jethro follows him in. “Bossman here to see you, dude.”
The kid gestures for Jethro to keep following him; once they reach the den, the kid flops down on the couch, but Jethro stays standing.
“Gibbs!” Tony says, hurrying in. “Can I get you something? Beer, coffee, water?”
Shaking his head, Jethro remarks, “Your guest forgot his name.”
“Boss, this is Dean. He’s-” Tony’s pause is infinitesimal, but Jethro hears it loud and clear. “-an old friend,” Tony finishes, grin wide and bright. “Can I help you with something?”
Jethro stares at the kid, Dean. There’s tension in the boy’s shoulders, as his hands run over some device, gently pulling it apart. He sets each piece of the innards on Tony’s coffee table. Dean glances up at Jethro, eyebrow raised, before focusing back on his work.
“Today’s the twenty-fourth,” Jethro says. “Just wondering if your bimonthly call came in yet.”
Tony blinks at him. “What?”
“Didn’t need to call,” Dean says without looking up from his task. “I’m here in person, LJ.”
Jethro raises an eyebrow while Tony’s eyes widen. “What’d you call me?” Jethro demands.
Dean’s words are threaded with laughter when he says, “I let Tony know I’m alive a couple times a month, and he returns the favor. But I’m here, so I didn’t need to call.” He does meet Jethro’s eyes when he adds, “And your initials are LJ, right?”
“Call me Gibbs, if you call me anything,” Jethro commands, and the kid throws off a sloppy, sarcastic salute.
Jethro turns on his heel and he marches for the door, Tony following. “He is a friend, Boss,” Tony tells him. “You don’t need to-”
“Worry, DiNozzo?” Jethro finishes. “I know. I was just-”
“I called him, soon as I could after the plague. He couldn’t get away from his job till just now. He’ll be here for a few more days before heading on.” Tony pauses, searching Jethro’s face. “I’ll try not to let Dean’s calls affect me on the job anymore. It’s just-sometimes he’s in trouble and I can’t help.”
Jethro nods. “I understand, Tony.” He slaps the back of Tony’s head and says over his shoulder as he leaves, “I expect you to be well-rested when your vacation’s over.”
Tony chokes and Jethro smirks as the door closes behind him.