ii. Casual Moment
Coming home after a late meeting to find Tony in his house wasn't anything special...Not that Gibbs didn't think Tony was all shades of special like a snowflake, but Gibbs and Tony had been GibbsandTony for going on three years, and the latter's showing up in the former's home was less surprising and more along the lines of expected by now. Usually, Tony would already be mostly undressed, and sprawled comfortably and terribly sexy on Gibbs's bed, ready with a suggestive smile and some bullshit quote from some bullshit film at the ready.
This time, however, was not the norm, and Gibbs found Tony downstairs in the basement, sitting on one of his workbenches in the corner, and staring at the boat-in-progress with a dazed expression on his face. From the bottom of the stairs, Gibbs stared at him, an eyebrow raised. Tony didn't move for a few long seconds, and then very suddenly he sneezed and broke all the tension. Gibbs rolled his eyes fondly and approached as Tony scrunched up his face to fight another sneeze and shifted where he sat on the table.
"Something on your mind, DiNozzo?" Gibbs asked mildly, leaning against the edge of the table next to the other man and pressing a warm, familiar kiss to Tony's temple.
Tony sighed dramatically and gestured to the boat. "You love it more than you love me," he said sadly.
Gibbs stared at him. "What?"
"You love it more than you love me," Tony repeated in a very melancholy voice. "You didn't ever try to woo me, but you woo it all the time." Gibbs stared some more, now rendered speechless. Tony sighed dramatically again and nodded knowledgably. "Yep. I can tell just looking at it. It's wooed."
"Tony�""
"Get it?" Tony's disappointed façade broke away into a sly grin that tugged the corners of his mouth upward, and he looked at Gibbs out of the corner of his eyes. "It's wooed. Like, made of."
Stunned and irritated and reluctantly amused by the truly heinous pun, Gibbs smacked Tony on the back of the head and then tugged on his hair once hard for good measure.
"Boss!" Tony cried out indignantly, swatting Gibbs's hand away from his head.
Gibbs just leveled a stern look on him. "Did you really come down here just for the chance to try and make me feel guilty?"
"No!" Tony answered at once, and then looked curious. "Did I make you feel guilty?"
"No," Gibbs lied.
Tony studied his face for a moment, and then broke into a grin and stood up, wrapping both arms around Gibbs's shoulders and pressing a smacking kiss to his forehead. "I so did," he said smugly.
"Did not," Gibbs groused, shoving Tony off of him. It was a harsh gesture, but he softened it by grabbing Tony's hand and tugging him along toward the stairs. Tony followed willingly, but then stopped short and pulled away, turning to retrieve the bottle of bourbon he knew that Gibbs kept down there.
"This," he said, passing it on to Gibbs with a charming smile, "is what I actually came down here for. Makin' you feel guilty was just an added bonus. Are you gonna try and woo me now?"
By way of answer, Gibbs took the bourbon and smacked Tony on the back of the head with the other hand, and then resumed climbing the stairs. Tony was a few steps behind him, and Gibbs turned the lights off in time to make him stumble. He caught Tony by the wrist before the younger man could fall, but Tony still let out a decidedly unmanly yelp of surprise before he caught his footing, and Gibbs relished a little in laughing at him.
"Bastard," Tony said once they were safely out of the basement.
"Admittedly," Gibbs agreed, searching cabinets for clean glasses. "You got a problem with that?"
Tony grinned, leaning against the doorframe with his arms crossed casually over his chest, his eyes on Gibbs. "Nah, boss," he said honestly, still smiling because, yeah, he was so stupid in love he couldn't help himself. "No problem at all."
Chapter End Notes:
Another short piece, still playing with characters. This one takes place long after the first part, and Gibbs and Tony have been together for a few years. I'd really, really love any constructive criticism to help me get the characterization better, and I'd love to hear what you think!! I hope you enjoy!