It was three days later when the team finally had some time to themselves again. They'd caught a case which had them trekking all over the countryside trying to get a murderer. Gibbs had tried to cut the team some slack, but the case had bugged him and by the end of the last day, he'd been snapping at all of them.
As Gibbs started working on his boat, he remembered the internet discussion he'd had with Tony, and wondered if Tony would be online. Quickly setting down the sander, he wiped some sawdust off his laptop and booted it up, waiting impatiently. Eventually the computer was ready to run, and the internet came up.
Gibbs typed in his username and password to find that Tony was offline. Grumbling to himself, he realised that Tony had probably gone out tonight to work off the last few days off frustration. Gibbs knew how he felt, part of the reason he'd decided to build the boat was to work off frustration.
Sighing, he went picked up his cup and filled it with bourbon and started working on his boat.
"DiNozzo, don't you have work to do?!" Gibbs snapped, glaring at the younger agent from behind his desk
"Yes, boss, I'm just waiting for…" Tony trailed off as he realised Gibbs wasn't listening anymore
McGee gave him an apologetic look and went back to work. Tony and McGee had been arguing over the location of Abby's new tattoo, but the noise had been getting to Gibbs. Gibbs knew he should cut them some slack, after all they weren't on a hot case, and they'd finally got their murderer yesterday, and their reports were in.
Getting up, Gibbs took the finished reports up to the director who was in a meeting and came back to his desk. Trying to look busy, Gibbs checked his emails before logging into his ‘other' email account. There was 12 new emails in his inbox, 11 from people he didn't know, and one from ‘ToyBoy38'.
Gibbs grinned and opened the email.
To: Jarhead426
From: ToyBoy38
Subject: work sucks
I'm bored, we just spent the last three days tracking down a murderer and now we're waiting for another case. My boss is being a bastard as usual; u'd think he could cut us some slack. God, sometimes I think I'm gonna just shoot him…or punch him. Anyways, better get back to work before he realizes I'm slacking off…
How's ur last few days been?
Frowning now, Gibbs clicked reply and responded.
To: ToyBoy38
From: Jarhead426
Subject: work sucks
My last few days have been uneventful, mostly, pissed a few people off but they'll get over it.
Maybe ur boss just had a bad few days or something?
Semper Fi
Gibbs clicked send and got up to retrieve a cold case from the cabinet. When he came back, Tony had already replied.
To: Jarhead426
From: ToyBoy38
Subject: Re: work sucks
A bad few days? Everyday is a bad day with my boss, he just can't seem 2 b nice. It's like the word isn't in his vocabulary.
And y the hell r u siding with him? Is this some kind of marine thing? U all piss everybody off & stick together?!
Gibbs widened his eyes at the angry reply he'd received. Not knowing what to say initially, Gibbs looked at the file he'd picked out, before clicking the reply button
To: ToyBoy38
From: Jarhead426
Subject: Re: work sucks
Whoa! Cool down. Didn't mean to piss you off. And in any case, you never told me your boss is a marine. Chances are that he knows he pushed you to your limits and just needs time…or something
After sending the email, Gibbs covertly watched Tony. The younger man seemed to be working intensely on something on his computer, and didn't show that he'd even noticed he'd received an email. He watched Tony click his mouse a few times and continue typing, but gave no appearance to be not working. Not that Gibbs would have called him on it…Several minutes later Gibbs received an email
To: Jarhead426
From: ToyBoy38
Subject: Re: work sucks
Sorry 4 getting pissy, I didn't sleep much last nite and kinda have a hangover…
Anyway, yeah, my boss is an ex-marine, gunny sergeant. And now he's watching me, I'd better get back to work, he'll kill me if he realizes I'm emailing people.
I'll b online 2nite if u wanna talk…
Gibbs sighed, thinking he needed to improve his ‘covert observation skills'. Looking at his watch, he realized it was time for lunch, "Right, you three can take an hour for lunch," Gibbs told them without looking up
Gibbs opened his box of noodles from the Chinese shop and watched his laptop boot up. He easily logged onto his chat room internet thing and found Tony already online.
ToyBoy38: Good 2 c u turned up
Jarhead426: Of course I was going to. So, how are you doing?
ToyBoy38: Better, my boss let us take an hour for lunch, then was actually pleasant 2 b around for the rest of the day
Jarhead426: Told you to give him time
ToyBoy38: God, I hate it how he does this 2 me
Gibbs frowned and waited for Tony to explain himself
Jarhead426: How he does what to you?
After a while, when Tony didn't reply, Gibbs typed
Jarhead426: You still there
ToyBoy38: Yeah
Jarhead426: What does he do?
ToyBoy38: Nothing
Jarhead426: You wanna talk about it?
ToyBoy38: He can be just so annoying and I hate him, and then he can be … I don't know
ToyBoy38: There are times when he can be nice, and he smiles a lot. I love his smile; he should do it more often though
ToyBoy38: I'm not gay, or at least I don't think so, he's just…
Frowning, Gibbs thought he knew where Tony was going with this.
Jarhead426: What do you mean, you don't think so?
ToyBoy38: I've kissed a guy before; it didn't do much for me, but my boss…
ToyBoy38: He has me wondering about myself
ToyBoy38: But you probably don't wanna hear about this, ur a marine and I know the whole ‘don't ask, don't tell' thing
Gibbs watched the screen, wondering if he wanted to know more, and realised that he wanted to hear what Tony had to say.
Jarhead426: Don't stop on my account, sounds like you need to talk about this, and I'm not a bigot
ToyBoy38: Sure?
Jarhead426: Wouldn't have said so, if I didn't want you to
ToyBoy38: Ok. Well, I guess I started thinking of him like this the first time he went undercover after I began working with him. He got shot and I was the first on the scene
ToyBoy38: The shot missed all major organs; there was just a lot of blood. If he'd been shot several inches in any direction, he could have died, or been seriously injured
ToyBoy38: We still managed to get the drug runners, but I didn't have that sense that we'd won this time. I've seen people shot before, but I realised that my boss wasn't immortal. U know what I mean? Or am I talking thru my ass?
Gibbs remembered the case. It was a few months before he'd hired Kate. The drug runners panicked at some meeting they'd attended and decided they couldn't trust him, so they shot him. Shortly after being shot, Tony turned up. When he'd seen Gibbs, Tony's face had paled so much Gibbs thought he'd pass out.
Jarhead426: No, I know what you mean. Same thing happened with me and a fling I had in Paris, but that didn't work out…but I know what you mean
ToyBoy38: Anyway, afterwards I just looked out for him more, until I realized I wasn't watching him because I was concerned as much as …I think I was falling for him. Which is why his cutting remarks and his bad attitude piss me off so much
Jarhead426: Have you talked to him about it?
ToyBoy38: Nah, he treats everybody like that. But when he says he doesn't know why he hired you, or something that makes you feel incompetent… So many times I was so close to either hitting him or leaving the job for good
Gibbs tried to swallow around the lump that was lodged in his throat, and took a deep breath before replying
Jarhead426: What made you stay?
ToyBoy38: I don't know, but I don't know if I'll have the strength to stay next time…
Closing his eyes, Gibbs tried to think of something to say when Tony replied again
ToyBoy38: They say love conquers all, but I don't know if it will this time…sometimes enough is enough
Sighing, he cursed his inability to communicate with people as he found himself not knowing what to say
ToyBoy38: Brb, door
Gibbs frowned at the computer, then typed
Jarhead426: Brb?
When Tony didn't reply, Gibbs began to get worried, wondering if he'd said something wrong
Jarhead426: Hello?
Gibbs started getting anxious when he still didn't get a response, what the hell does brb mean?
Jarhead426: You there?
After several minutes without a reply, Gibbs shook his head, he needed coffee.
Jarhead426: Sorry if something I said offended you, it wasn't intentional
Eventually Tony replied, making Gibbs sigh with relief
ToyBoy38: Lol, sorry. ‘Brb' is shorthand for ‘be right back', forgot ur not all that familiar with the internet…kinda remind me of my boss…
There was ‘silence' as Gibbs hoped Tony wouldn't find out he was speaking to him over the net
ToyBoy38: Ur not my boss r u?
ToyBoy38: U 2 have a lot of similarities. Ur both marines, both been married – and divorced, both had a fling in Paris, and both have difficulty with anything technical…
Jarhead426: Hey I never said anything about anything technical – just computers
And phones…and, anything technical, Gibbs thought to himself, but thought it would be better not to type
ToyBoy38: Right, anyway I gotta go, an old friend just turned up.
Jarhead426: Okay, might email you tomorrow, if I don't get too busy
ToyBoy38: Lol, okay, cya marine
Jarhead426: Cya
Gibbs watched as Tony went offline, and lay back with his hands behind his head. Well, he'd certainly learnt something interesting about Tony tonight, a few interesting somethings… Gibbs grinned as a plan took form in his head…
Author's Chapter Notes:
Gibbs finds out some more interesting things about Tony
Chapter End Notes:
This is my first slash fanfic.
I got a bit stuck with this chapter, hope it's okay. Please give me feedback, tell me how i'm doing
I got a bit stuck with this chapter, hope it's okay. Please give me feedback, tell me how i'm doing