Title: RESPECT 2/3
Author: Ceindreadh
Email: Ceindreadh@eircom.net
Website: n/a
Permission to archive: Yes
Fandom(s): NCIS
Genre (general, hetero or slash) Slash
Pairing/Characters: Gibbs/DiNozzo
Rating: FRT 17
Summary:
Warnings: slash/sex
Notes:
Disclaimer: I don't own the characters, I'm only borrowing them, but I promise to return them in minty fresh condition when I'm finished.
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"Yeouch," Gibbs yelped as Ducky carefully cleaned the deep scrapes on his fingers. "Dammit Ducky, be careful."
"It would help if you stopped squirming so much, Jethro." Ducky finished cleaning the scrapes and examined them closely. "There, a little bit of antiseptic, a small dressing, and you'll be good as new. Which is more than I can say for Tony's feelings thanks to you and your complete lack of tact when it comes to relationships."
Gibbs pulled his hand away impatiently. "I didn't ask you here to lecture me about my love life," he snapped.
"Don't you mean your 'sex life'? From what you've told me, it appears there's certainly no love coming from *your* side. And whatever the reason you asked me here, you don't think I'm going to simply keep my mouth shut while you make the biggest mistake of your life."
"Oh yeah, and what would that be?"
"Letting that young man go without a fight." Ducky was busy pouring some antiseptic onto a clean cloth from his first aid kit. "I've seen the way he looks at you when he knows you're not looking. And I've seen the way you look at him when you know *he's* not looking. I'm old enough to know what love looks like, Jethro."
"Well maybe you need stronger glasses," said Gibbs, "Because when I look at Tony, it's nothing but lust, plain and simple. There's no love involved." He yelped loudly as Ducky grabbed his hand and applied the antiseptic soaked cloth to the scrapes.
"Oh, this may sting a bit, Jethro."
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"I do *not* love, DiNozzo," Gibbs growled to himself as he tried to make himself a coffee several hours later. Ducky had applied a heavy dressing to his left hand, saying that with all the wood shavings around the house it was as well to make sure that the wound was completely covered. So now Gibbs's left hand was almost totally covered from fingertips to wrist.
Gibbs would have removed the bandage once the M.E. had left, but Ducky had foreseen that possibility and put his initials on the dressing, telling Jethro that if the bandage was tampered with in any way before at least twenty four hours had passed, then he would personally inform Director Morrow that Gibbs should be placed on immediate sick leave to ensure that the wound healed properly.
Gibbs knew that Ducky was serious, so even though he thought it an unnecessary precaution, he didn't touch the bandage.
He wished it was as easy to ignore Ducky's words about Tony that kept ringing in his ears. How could DiNozzo be in love with him? Gibbs was not the type of guy that people fell in love with. Or at least not for long. Heck, part of the reason he kept swatting Tony in the office and treating him like a kid was just so DiNozzo *wouldn't* make the mistake of thinking that their relationship was about anything other than sex.
It wasn't *his* fault that the kid couldn't take a hint. Was it? Gibbs sat down with his mug of coffee. Had he been giving off the wrong sort of signals? Surely he couldn't have given Tony the impression that their relationship had any sort of future? It was about the sex, nothing more, wasn't it?
"Maybe Ducky was mistaken," Gibbs told himself as he drank his coffee. "DiNozzo can't be in love with me, he's too much in love with himself." But even as the coffee slid down his throat, Gibbs was busy remembering all the times he'd been with DiNozzo, both in and out of the office. The little things that Tony did like brushing up against him accidentally while in the field. The sly grin he'd flash whenever he'd said something particularly funny, but always whatever he did, there was a quick look at Gibbs as if to seek approval. Gibbs had always thought that Tony simply needed approval from an authority figure, having had little parental approval during his childhood. But was Ducky right? Could it have been something deeper? Ducky wasn't usually wrong about these things.
"And if Ducky's right, then what does that say about me?" Gibbs thought gloomily. He knew he was no great shakes in the relationship department. Three ex-wives was certain proof of that. But he had thought that he could read people. He prided himself on being able to tell when a suspect or witness was lying, so how could he not have seen what seemed so obvious now that Ducky had pointed it out. "Love is blind," Gibbs said out loud. He almost laughed at the thought. He liked DiNozzo...a lot. He certainly had a hell of a lot more fun around him than he'd ever had with any of his ex-wives, even in the early stages of their relationships when the sex had been good and plentiful and before the marriages had hit the rocks.
And in spite of his earlier words to Tony, he *did* respect him. He respected him as a good NCIS agent. He respected the younger man's experience and competence in the field. And he *did* respect him as a lover. One thing his ex-wives and ex-girlfriends had never been able to fault him on was the way he treated them in the bedroom. Outside of it might have been a different matter, but Gibbs had never been one to 'love em and leave em'. He had never taken a woman to bed and ignored her after having sex. He had always treated them right and if he said he'd call then he did. Okay, it was usually to say once was enough, but he did respect his sexual partners...didn't he?
So why had he made that crack to Tony? It wasn't even all that funny and certainly DiNozzo had taken it seriously. And okay, while Gibbs wasn't interested in anything long term, he certainly didn't think of Tony as just a fuck toy...or did he? Shit. No wonder the poor kid had done a runner. It was one thing to treat their relationship as nothing more than a series of one night stands, it was another thing to be confronted with the belief that you were of no more value than one of those battery operated thingamajigs that ex-wife number two had been so fond of.
Gibbs drank his coffee, not even noticing that it had gone cold while he had been thinking. Did he love DiNozzo; that was the question? Oh he liked the kid; that was clear enough. And boy, he certainly loved his body. Oh yeah, that taut muscular body just laying there on the bed, all his for the taking. Gibbs groaned as he realized that unless he did something he was never going to have the pleasure of *that* again. The idea of simply picking up another young muscular body only briefly crossed his mind. Sure he could go to a bar or a club and modesty be damned, even at his age he could pick up a DiNozzo replacement without a problem.
But here was the problem, he didn't *want* a replacement, he wanted the real thing and maybe Ducky was right and he did love Tony. Heck, maybe this was what love really was, the absolute certainty that not only didn't he want to spend another night alone in his bed, but the even greater certainty that filling his bed with anybody other than Tony would be worse than having it empty.
Gibbs knocked back the last of his coffee. There was now only one small problem. How the hell to persuade Tony to get back into his life and into his bed.
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To be continued
Author's Chapter Notes:
Gibbs never had a great track record with relationships, and his fling with Tony is no exception.