Partners 1/4: Tangled up in you
******
Georgetown: December 12th
Three days on a stakeout. Tony had definitely known better days. Three days sitting in a fleapit of a hotel room overlooking a petty officer's apartment, waiting for her to be contacted by her AWOL boyfriend, who was wanted for murder.
Three days with an increasingly irritable and impatient Leroy Jethro Gibbs as his companion, twelve hours a day. He supposed it could have been worse; at least he got the day shift so his social life didn't suffer too much. He was seeing a pretty girl called Imogen who was a foreign exchange student. Not that it was love or anything.
The door slammed open and Gibbs stormed in, carrying his fifth cup of coffee this morning, and it was only ten thirty. Tony closed his eyes briefly and prayed for strength. Gibbs really wanted to catch this bastard, and after seeing the mess he had made of his shipmate's skull with a baseball bat, Tony could quite understand that. It was just that a caffeine-fuelled, frustrated Gibbs was a creature best avoided.
Gibbs sat, scowled briefly at Tony, then began to fiddle with the focus controls on the telephoto lens of the video camera. Neither man could have anticipated what happened next. A huge explosion sounded close by, near enough for the blast wave echoing through the streets of Georgetown to rattle the windows violently.
"What the hell?" Gibbs was on his feet immediately, his hand reaching for his cellphone. Tony threw open the hotel window, leaning out of it to look towards the sound of the blast. Clouds of white dust swirled through the air, moving rapidly outwards from the epicentre of the explosion. It appeared to have been just out of view, past the intersection at the end of the block. As Gibbs dialled NCIS headquarters, small white particles of dust hissed and pattered against the other windows, and Tony pulled his head back inside with a muttered "Shit!" He slammed the window shut to keep the choking clouds of dust out of the room.
It was too late. The virus, carried along in the dust cloud, entered his bloodstream through his eyes and began to multiply exponentially, migrating towards his brain. Only a few units of the virus were needed to trigger the first stage of infection.
"Explosion in Georgetown!" Gibbs snapped into his phone. Send the emergency services. And alert the authorities that there may have been a terrorist bomb. DiNozzo and I are going to check it out."
********
Report to Senate Investigative Committee making enquiries about the so called "Partner" virus...
Sequence of Infection: Stage 1.
Very few biological agents are powerful enough to greatly affect the human body in tiny quantities. Botulism and LSD were, until recently, the only known examples. A third super-potent agent is now known - the so-called Partner Virus.
Within moments of the virus entering the bloodstream, generally through transmission of an airborne particle, it is carried to the brain in the blood. Immediately, it targets the hypothalamus and the medial pre-optic areas, which are associated with human sexual and emotional behaviour. An immediate sign of this infection is the characteristic huge dilation of the subject's pupils. By a mechanism we do not understand, this acts as a signal to another infected individual of sexual receptiveness...
Sequence of Infection: Stage 2
Intense Sexual activity will take place for periods of two to six hours, depending on the fitness level of the individual. Males show particularly strong responses to infection and previous sexual inclinations or partnerships appear irrelevant...
******
Tony sneezed. He had gotten a mouthful of dust, and he could feel it in his hair. His eyes felt gritty too. "Hell of an explosion, boss!" he said.
Gibbs scowled and gestured to the video camera they had been using on the stakeout. "Bring that. Terrorists have been known to watch from the crowds after an incident, checking out the opposition. And nut cases like to gloat after causing an incident."
Tony was beginning increasingly strange and disoriented. His eyes felt oddly itchy and his vision blurred. He shook his head, and then put a hand against the wall to steady himself. He felt so dizzy. Gibbs was saying something to him but the words didn't make sense. He could have been speaking gibberish for all the notice Tony took of his words. He squinted at Gibbs.
The other man seemed to be surrounded by a shimmering haze. The effect was quite beautiful, in an odd sort of way. It seemed to make Gibbs' skin glow. Tony was surprised that he wanted to reach out and touch the side of Gibbs' face, run his fingertips down it; to explore the texture of that skin.
"DiNozzo? Tony? Are you all right?" Gibbs paused in surprise. He was used to Tony DiNozzo looking at him in irritation, in amusement, even respect. But DiNozzo had never, ever looked at him like that before. Almost... Hungry? The other man had the oddest expression on his face. He was flushed and his lips were parted slightly. Even as Gibbs watched, his pink tongue flicked out and moistened them, so that they glistened wetly.
It wasn't that Tony looked as if he was in a trance; it was the way he seemed to be transfixed by the older man.
Distantly, Gibbs heard a siren in the street; the rising sounds of shouting and screaming outside. The room seemed brighter suddenly, as if the light filtering though the window had become harsh as a spotlight. Dizzy, Gibbs stared at his young colleague, who was sucking in great lungfuls of air, as if he had been running,
"Listen!" Tony growled, his voice low and hoarse.
Gibbs realised that the sounds outside had changed. In the street, the screaming had taken on a new note, something strangely animal in nature... A man in the corridor outside began to moan in a rhythmic sequence that made it obvious what he was doing.
Gibbs didn't care.
Tony stared back at him hungrily. His eyes were so very black, their normal green only a faint, thin rim round his hugely dilated pupils. Gibbs didn't understand that his own eyes mirrored those of the younger man. Then Tony lunged for Gibbs, his fingers catching at the older man's hair as he pulled Gibbs to him for a fierce, lip-bruising kiss. And his eyes! Gibbs felt himself drawn into their ebony depths as a strange heat seemed to invade his body. Then his brain seemed to short circuit and he was kissing Tony back with all the strength he possessed, slamming Tony's body up against the wall, grinding himself against the other man, one knee forcing the other man's thighs apart, his hands fisting in Tony's hair.
"Mine," he growled, his voice rough with need. "You're mine!"
Gibbs felt as if a firestorm had been ignited inside him. He was hard and he could feel that Tony was too, as the other man ground himself against Gibbs, making frantic sobbing noises as he fought to bare his skin in wild urgency. Gibbs felt Tony's fingers clawing at his shirt, and barely felt the fabric tear as it was ripped from him. It could have only been moments since that first, explosive kiss, yet already they were skin to skin, frantically rubbing their burning bodies together.
No words were spoken now. There were none to describe the need that took over their minds and bodies. With a growl of desire, Tony pushed Gibbs backwards, following him down so that he landed half on top of the other man on the bed. Gibbs cried out, the sound more like a cry of passion than of pain. Their mouths locked together with crushing violence, tongues probing and entangling, uncaring that they bruised each other in the heat of their ardour. Something crashed to the floor, knocked aside unnoticed from a side table. Neither man cared. There was no room for thought. No room for doubt. Only the heat and need that consumed them.
Tony couldn't stop his hands raking across the other man's body in rough caresses, even as Gibbs dragged him down, fingers raking his back. Tony's head dipped as he licked his way down the writhing man's flat stomach, moving lower until he found his face level with Gibbs' prominent erection. He sucked it in, instinctively needing the taste of it as Gibbs howled and writhed from the pleasure that assaulted his senses. Tony's mouth was suddenly flooded with salty fluid.
Rolling Gibbs onto his belly, Tony's hands pulled his boss's thighs apart, finding the other man only too willing to comply, and he plunged his aching cock into Gibbs' welcoming body. One orgasm hadn't slowed Gibbs down at all, and he arched his body upwards to meet Tony's eager thrusts as he was fucked energetically. Tony gripped Gibbs' hips so hard that his fingers left bruises. As Tony pounded into him, Gibbs moaned, pushing his body towards the younger man and instinctively begging for more. Nothing mattered but the demanding thrusts of his lover inside him, taking him to heights of pleasure he had never dreamed of.
Gibbs was so hot and tight that Tony couldn't hold himself back for long, and as he exploded into his boss, he felt Gibbs groan and shudder again as a second climax came. They clutched each other afterwards, still breathing hard and within a short time, they felt their bodies re-arming, readying for the next round.
Tony knew what he wanted, and strangely, so did Gibbs. Without words, Tony moved off Gibbs and positioned himself on his hands and knees, moaning softly as his penis filled and hardened in anticipation of the things Gibbs was going to do to him. Instinct had taken the place of conscious thought, and Tony's immediate instinct was to offer himself completely to the other man.
He didn't have to wait long. A soft touch against the back of his thighs made him instinctively raise his ass and spread his legs further. Then came the long, slow burn of Gibbs slipping into him, and steady, deeply satisfying thrusts which made him scream with pleasure.
He would never know how long he was fucked, or quite remember the sequence of what happened next... Screaming in animal passion... Above Gibbs, riding him, as the older man's face transfigured with ecstasy... A moment between orgasms when their tongues played together... The blissful smile Tony gave moments after Gibbs had come in his mouth, as he laid his head on Gibbs' shoulder; the older man's arms surprisingly strong around him, as he shook with exhaustion and fever...
It all became a blur. The lack of inhibition between them. Sexual heat mingling with the aftershocks of orgasm and the heady scent of their passion. All eventually fading into nothingness...
Exhausted they slept, wrapped round each other, for hours, the virus multiplying within their blood, inserting itself into their cells. Altering. Changing.
******
Report to Senate Investigative Committee making enquiries about the so called "Partner" virus...
Sequence of Infection: Stage 3...
After coital activity is concluded, both partners having exchanged bodily fluids, deep sleep follows. We theorise that this is the period in which the pair bonding occurs, since widespread synaptic repatterning has been observed, and tests have shown that sections of the partner's DNA is incorporated into the individual's own genetic sequence. In male-male pairings, the potential for mutual penetrative ejaculation may be particularly significant in DNA alteration, and hence in the intensity of the bonding ...
******
Day 2:
Tony DiNozzo drifted in a sweet haze. He had slept for hours and hours, enclosed in the soft warm cocoon of someone's embrace, that person spooned behind him, holding him close. Somewhere deep inside him, there was a feeling of wholeness and completion that he had never felt before. And a fever heat swirled around him.
He felt his lover beginning to stir again, Gibbs becoming hard against his ass. He half turned into the other man's embrace and they kissed; not urgently this time, but with a slow, gentle sensuality. He lay on his belly and his legs were falling apart of their own accord and Gibbs was sliding easily into him and it was so very good.
Somewhere inside his mind, through his delirium, he was aware that this was Leroy Jethro Gibbs, for fuck's sake and what the hell was he doing letting himself be fucked by his boss when he was as straight as a die and hadn't he always said he would never bend over and grab his ankles for any man and...
Mmmm.
This time was different. Slower. The strange glow of light that he had seen before teased at the edges of his vision. As the sparkling motes touched his skin, fire again seemed to sweep over him, and Gibbs was clawing him closer and closer, their bodies moulded together in a more than sexual heat.
And yeah, that was so good and so right...
They fell upon each other a second time, licking and kissing whatever parts of each other's exposed skin that they could find. And then Gibbs was on his back, with Tony on top of him, eagerly impaling himself...
Oh fuck! YES! That was the place and...
...Gibbs heaved and rolled him over, seizing the chance for a kiss, then Tony was once more on top, with Gibbs beneath him, writhing and moaning in a way that made him so goddamn hard and Jethro Gibbs was shaking in climax beneath him and...
...and he was on fire, an inferno roaring through him in shuddering orgasm and...
...Gibbs' mouth was fastened between his partner's legs as Tony sprawled before him not yet too exhausted to react to the pressure of those lips around his cock, licking and sucking at him hungrily...
...he tasted so sweet and so good and...
Face to face, kissing and licking and biting and rubbing against each other. A tangle of limbs. Gibbs' hands enfolding his, lacing their fingers together. The fever cresting within their sweat-slick bodies...
It was then that it happened...
Between one breath and the next, something new and strange seemed to blossom in each man's mind. A more than intimate awareness of each other. Possessive. A need so deep seated it had to be an enhancement of some deeply buried instinct from humanity's mammalian past. Pair bonding with each other, till death do us part, forever, amen.
Fusion...
Darkness
*****
Report to Senate Investigative Committee making enquiries about the so called "Partner" virus...
Sequence of Infection: Stage 4
The pair bonding is complete and the infection has run its course. Individuals become intensely emotionally dependent on each other, display increased sexual responsiveness to each other and strong sociopathic responses to any other individual who threatens their bond. Studies have shown that sexual arousal now only occurs within the pair bonding and separated individuals seldom thrive, often becoming pathologically aggressive or suicidal.
******
As his mind drifted towards consciousness, Gibbs was dimly aware of a body beneath his, his head resting on his lover's chest. Comfortable. Warm. The gentle rise and fall of the other's chest was a soothing rhythm. It had been a long, long time since he had felt so good lying in someone's arms. He felt content on so many levels.
Finally, a ravenous hunger woke him fully. He opened his eyes and stared in bleary incomprehension at the early morning light that filtered into the room.
Morning..? But it had been nearly noon! And now he appeared to be lying on a bed in a hotel room, with..?
He sat up rather unsteadily and winced. His body ached in some unexpected places. His inner thighs... His balls... Oh god, his ass!
He shivered in nameless fear, then slowly turned to see whom he was sharing the bed with. Almost simultaneously, Tony opened his eyes and looked at him...
They stared at each other in horror.
Gibbs made a small choking noise and shook his head in disbelief, trying to deny the evidence of his own eyes. This wasn't happening. It couldn't be real. He couldn't have slept with another man! Not with DiNozzo!
The vision didn't go away. He was still looking at Tony DiNozzo. But this DiNozzo had bruised and swollen lips and Gibbs knew exactly how they had gotten that way; Tony had kissed him with crushing urgency. Small hickey marks were scattered across his chest, Gibbs could remember giving him every single one of them, particularly the big one on Tony's neck. He knew he had similar marks on his body, and he was oddly sticky across his chest.
A memory of grabbing something sweet and sugary from the cooler and pouring it down his throat, vaguely aware that he needed the sugar. Splashing it down his bare chest as his hands shook. Tony, with a predatory growl, grabbing him and licking every trace of it off his skin then capturing his mouth for a kiss that was sweet for more than one reason...
What the hell had they done? More importantly, why? It was incomprehensible to Gibbs that he could have slept with DiNozzo under any circumstances.
Of course, they were naked. As those green eyes watched him with wide astonishment, Gibbs abruptly had another flashback. A memory of those eyes blazing with passion as they kissed, then half-closed in ecstasy as Tony DiNozzo knelt before him and his lips wrapped themselves round Gibbs' cock.
The enormity of that alone stunned him. Tony DiNozzo had given him a blow job! And he had really, really enjoyed giving it! The size of his own erection had made that clear; Tony was very well endowed. Then Gibbs had knelt and Tony had positioned himself behind Gibbs and...
Oh god.
Some things didn't bear close scrutiny in the light of day.
With a moan, Jethro Gibbs escaped towards the bathroom and slammed the door behind him. Shaking, he sat on the john and put his head in his hands, shivering in shock. There was no possibility of doubt. He and DiNozzo had spent the day and most of the night having sex. Hot sex. Steaming, volcanic, nuclear explosion, supernova sex. After fifty heterosexual years, having his first gay experience was a huge shock to Gibbs.
His reflection in the mirror only confirmed what he already knew. He looked utterly debauched. His mouth looked as kiss bruised as DiNozzo's, and the younger man's fingers had left scratches at some point in the night on the side of his chest. Before or after he had licked it clean? And when had he got finger-shaped bruises on his hips? And what looked like dried semen on his belly and thighs.
Still in shock, he plunged himself into the shower and turned it on full. Within moments, he was scrubbing the evidence of their shared passion off his skin, not understanding why some part of him felt so good, so complete? He lost himself in the heat of the water and desperately tried not to think about what he had done. And who with.
Tony, meanwhile, sat numbly on the bed where Gibbs had left him. He just couldn't understand it. How had he gone from an occasionally stormy subordinate relationship with Gibbs to having sex with him? He had confused memories of... He flushed in recall. Last night had been spectacular, from the bits he remembered. No wonder Gibbs looked so upset. Tony had always thought he was straight. For that matter, Tony hadn't a long record of sleeping with men, himself. Precisely zero, in fact.
Dazed, he could only sit there shivering. His mind couldn't quite take in the enormity of what had happened. He couldn't quite remember how they had ended up in bed together. He dimly remembered that there had been some sort of explosion. Then what..? He hazily remembered feeling strange and fever-hot. Had he been sick? Out of his mind? What the hell had happened to turn a professional relationship into a wild and passionate night of gay sex? With Leroy Jethro Gibbs, of all people; his uptight, tough and iron-willed boss.
Yeah, well iron hard didn't just describe the man's character. Tony moaned softly as he had a flashback; Gibbs' hardness inside him, finding that impossibly sensitive place inside him again and again; making him scream like a girl as he repeatedly climaxed in the man's arms. Gibbs had fucked him so thoroughly he doubted if he could walk straight, with Tony's willing and enthusiastic co-operation. Tony just didn't know why he had acted like that..
For that matter, if they had been rolling around all night, out of their heads, why hadn't anyone noticed their absence and traced their cellphones - standard procedure when an NCIS agent went missing while on a case. And he had a vague feeling that he had forgotten something important that had happened.
He searched around for his pants and shirt - their condition was a testament to the strange madness that had possessed them last night - then made his way over to the windows. What he saw in the streets made him gasp as he looked at something unbelievable. Apparently they weren't the only ones affected by the event. There were bodies everywhere.
Some wandered aimlessly, nude or partially clothed, wearing dazed expressions similar to the one he knew was on his own face. Some were curled round each other in sleep, or were making love to each other in full public view. Men and women, men and men, women and women, all paired off.
Tony gasped and stumbled dizzily away from the window. The sights outside had stirred something inside him that scared him in its intensity. Longing. A need, terrible in its power, to rest his head on the warm, safe shoulder of Jethro Gibbs and hold on tight. Tony clenched his fists. This wasn't happening. This couldn't be happening. He was straight. He had never chosen to sleep with a man before. He had never dreamed it could be so good.
The door to the bathroom opened and Gibbs walked out, his body wrapped in a concealing towel. He wouldn't look at Tony. Instead, he knelt and began to search through the chaos of the room to find his clothes.
"Boss..." Tony said softly.
"Just forget it happened, DiNozzo!" Gibbs snapped. His voice was filled with the same brittle shock that Tony felt. "We're just going to walk out of here and... never talk about it again..."
"Boss..!" Tony said, irritated. "Just look at this!" He gestured at the window. The other man flushed, then hesitantly edged past Tony to do as he said. Carefully, they avoided touching each other. Yet even as Gibbs moved past him, Tony could feel the heat coming off the other man's body. He clenched his fists, feeling the sudden, sharp pain as his nails drove into the skin of his palms. He would not reach out. He would not touch Gibbs. He would not cling to him, their bodies fitting together so comfortably. The nearness of the older man was making him feel so strange - with a shock, he recognised the feeling as arousal.
"Oh!" Gibbs said after a moment. "Then it wasn't just us..." He stumbled back from the window and turned back to Tony, his eyes dark with emotion. "What's happened to us..?" He sounded bewildered, which was a rare emotion for Gibbs. It was obvious that he was still in shock; afraid to touch Tony.
Gibbs was his boss. Nothing more. The last person he would have chosen to sleep with. But now everything had changed. He knew it was crazy, but he couldn't seem to stop his body reacting to Gibbs. The irreverent thought occurred to him that the concept of working under Gibbs had taken on a new meaning.
In some way that was more than sexual, Tony felt connected to his boss. When he considered walking out of the door, escaping from this crazy situation, it was as if a knife twisted in his guts. It was unthinkable to leave Gibbs now. And judging by the confusion that Gibbs was vainly trying to hide, he felt the same.
Without thinking, Tony found himself reaching out automatically to the other man and catching hold of his shoulder. Gibbs flinched and tried to pull away. It was as if, with the last shred of resistance in him, he tried to deny the new thing that had woken between them. An instinctive need that uncoiled within him at the touch of the other man. Then he was falling towards Tony, his arms going round his new partner as they clung to each other. And somehow Gibbs' lips were covering his and he was bruising Tony's mouth with the force of his kiss, out of control as desire took over.
They had sex again of course; that strange, instinctive desire taking over from the moment they touched each other. Not the frantic fucking of their first encounter, but a slower, more gentle meeting of bodies. Intuitively moving against each other, finding each other's rhythms. Not penetration, neither man had the energy or inclination for that. Just their bodies thrusting against each other, limbs tangled, as pleasure swept over them.
Their uncertainty vanished when they were touching each other. How could Gibbs hate a man who felt like a part of him, who cried out his name in wonder, whose fingers sought his as they lay together in the aftermath of their lovemaking. A man who seemed to know his every need before Gibbs could speak a word.
It was strange and wonderful and new. They were swept along by it, unable or unwilling to part from each other.
It was frighteningly addictive. No matter how much Gibbs hated this new weakness - this need for sex with another man - he was irresistibly drawn to the younger agent. His thoughts were in a turmoil, but the yearning inside him seemed to short-circuit his inhibitions.
Eventually though, some part of Gibbs awoke to duty.
"We have to report in!" he said softly. "The city's in chaos..."
Tony nodded. "I think it's a bioweapon of some kind, boss. But why would anyone want us to..." He flushed, then gulped. "...to pair up." Tony blushed fiercely. He couldn't quite met Gibbs' gaze. The older man shivered slightly.
"Five minutes earlier and I would have been in the coffee shop. I could have woken up wrapped round a total stranger."
"You ended up with me instead, boss. Lucky, huh?" Another blush.
Gibbs' lips curved in reluctant amusement as he reached out for his now hopelessly rumpled shirt. "We live in interesting times," he said. "Just don't ask me to do that again, any time soon, huh, DiNozzo." He could see the barely concealed fear in the younger man's eyes, hidden behind the wisecracking exterior. He understood the feeling. Even now, the urge to touch Tony was almost overwhelming. He had to clench his fists to stop himself reaching out to smooth Tony's tangled hair. He fought too, not to kiss those already kiss-bruised lips again. This was crazy. So damned insane.
Finally, he felt as if he was gaining some control over his traitorous body. He was able to force the desire back down into the dark place it had emerged from. Not that he was capable of acting on his lust at the moment.
He had just shared the most intimate moments possible with his young subordinate, and though Tony had taken him first - oh god he wasn't going to think about that - he had more than made up for Tony's audacity by repeatedly having him after that.
Gibbs could see that Tony needed him to be the strong, confident boss, dispensing confidence and support. It wasn't Tony's fault that they had slept together. Surely he could offer some support, after the things he had done to DiNozzo. Hesitantly, his fingers closed over Tony's and he squeezed, intending reassurance. He wasn't good at the touchy-feely stuff, but apparently he got it right this time. Tony's blush deepened, but he didn't pull his fingers away. For a short time, at least, they seemed to find themselves in rapport.
The moment didn't last long. Gibbs pulled his hand back, and Tony sensed his barriers go up again; a flash of guilt and shame in the older man's eyes. He hadn't expected Gibbs to offer even that much emotional support - the man was famously a bastard to his three ex-wives - and for the first time it came home to him exactly how much their lives had been changed.
How the hell were they going to cope with it
*****
End of part 1/4
Story Notes:
I played with this idea a few years ago, when I was writing X Files stories, and it was fun to try the idea in the NCIS universe.
Author's Chapter Notes:
Basically our heroes are affected by a virus which causes changes in sexual behaviour. Hey it’s a fantasy. Enjoy.
Chapter End Notes:
I played with this idea a few years ago, when I was writing X Files stories, and it was fun to try the idea in the NCIS universe.