Hey sweeties! It's been a while! This idea has been bugging me for weeks and I finally had to write it down. This will be a work in progress. Hope you like it!

Disclaimer: I don't make any profit from this story. All characters belong to the show's creators and CBS.

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Tony laughed as he shook his head in denial.

"That's… you're a funny man, Director Vance." He pointed at the older man awkwardly but there was not a trace of a smile to be seen on the Director's face. Tony's expression fell and he openly stared, as if making a last effort to find the joke in all this.

"You're serious."

A nod. When Tony didn't answer anymore, Vance seemed to realize that he probably needed to elaborate on the subject at hand.

"It's important that we send in a duo. We think the killer is an angry Marine, frustrated because DADT has ended. Seeing an outed couple might make him angrier than he already is and we need an emotional outburst to catch the bastard."

"Emotions cause fuck-ups." Tony admitted in a whisper.

Vance nodded again.

"You're one of the best we got, DiNozzo."

When Tony sighed and nodded his head, Vance knew he'd won. It wasn't arrogance – Tony knew he was needed and he'd do everything he could to catch the killer they were chasing.

They'd been turning over every stone twice to look for a lead in the murders of six gay men over the past year. The victims had all mysteriously disappeared from bars and clubs and found a couple of days later by the side of the road, strangled and naked. Finally they'd discovered that the bars and clubs were all in a five-mile radius from a Marine base. NCIS had started to look into the people who lived on base and they'd discovered that the murders had all taken place when three Marines were on leave. Problem was, they couldn't pin the murders on any of them without concrete proof so that's why they needed two undercover Agents to taunt the killer.

"So where do the others audition to be my boyfriend?" Tony grinned. He may as well start having some fun while he was at it. Suddenly he heard a voice behind him.

"Role's already been cast, Tony." Tony abruptly turned around and started at McGee who was downright smirking at him. When he looked back at Vance, he saw that the Director was doing his best to keep from smiling himself.

"You, McVirgin? Come on, this must be a mistake –"

McGee held up his hands and looked disturbed. "Oh, no, Tony. I'm only here to give you your passports." He handed them over to Tony and the Italian accepted them with a suspicious glance towards the two smiling men before him.

The first was his. Abby had chosen a great picture; he'd give her that. He rolled his eyes at his new name.

"Seriously? Rick Cassidy?"

"What? We thought you'd be happy, Casablanca and Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid combined!"

Tony rolled his eyes again. "Seriously Tim, my senile grandmother could come up with a less obvious false identity."

McGee chuckled. "Okay, okay. Fun's over. Look at the other one."

The second passport had the same picture but the name had been changed.

"Adriano Rivas." Tony let the name roll off his tongue a couple of times and then shrugged. "It'll do. Now, who's my lucky other half?"

"Not sure if I consider myself lucky, DiNozzo." Tony jerked his head towards the door and felt his stomach knot when he spotted Gibbs standing there. He didn't have to check with McGee and Vance to know it was true because suddenly the reason for their smiling faces was made abundantly clear.

When he closed and opened his eyes, the older man was still standing there and he sucked in a breath between his teeth. Suck it up.

"Adriano Rivas", he drawled seductively as he held out his hand for Gibbs to shake. Gibbs chuckled and shook his head as he accepted the hand and shook it slowly.

"Derek Avery." He answered as he held Tony's eyes.

Tony pursed his lips as he nodded. "Decent, American. Maybe Adriano is the lucky one." Gibbs rolled his eyes as he let go of Tony's hand and accepted his passport from McGee who held it out to him.

"Okay, that'll be it. Go home, pack. We've arranged your house on the base, you'll have to drive over there yourself. Background's in these folders." He held out the files and Tony took them with a nervous feeling in his gut.

As Gibbs came out of the house, his dufflebag in his hand, Tony observed him from the car he was waiting in. This man would be his… boyfriend… from now on. They didn't even know how long the op would take so they were pretty much going in blind.

Gibbs leaned in through the window on the passenger's side and judging from the half-smirk that was gracing his lips, he was being plagued by the exact same thought.

"I'll drive." It wasn't a request but still Tony felt like he had to draw a line.

"Gibbs. We can't arrive on base in a bright yellow Challenger!" he cried out indignantly, referring to the car Gibbs had gotten from his father when he'd been in Stillwater.

The half-smirk grew just enough to be noticed by someone who'd pretty much made a career out of observing the older man on a daily basis.

"Fine, we'll take your car." Damned, of course Gibbs would figure out that it wasn't about the Challenger.

Tony grumbled something unintelligible. When Gibbs craned his head as if to hear him better, he growled and threw his hands up in frustration.

"Okay! I'd rather survive the drive over, if it's all the same to you. It'll probably get dangerous enough after we get there."

He knew Gibbs was not even trying to bite back his laugh and he felt a smile tugging at his own lips. It'd been too long since they'd hung out after work. Not that they weren't friends – it had just been a case from hell and the team had barely gotten any spare time except to sleep the necessary hours.

The older man didn't spend any more time arguing about it and he threw his dufflebag on the backseat before sitting down next to Tony.

Tony realized that he had been too busy going over the plans to actually communicate with his boss… husband.

"So", he cleared his throat when the word came out as a high-pitched squeak, "should we go over this again?"

Gibbs, who'd been looking out the window for the entirety of the ride so far, barely glanced at Tony as he spoke and merely shrugged. Of course the older man would be more zen than Buddha himself – even in a situation like this one.

But the Italian had been working with the grumpy Marine for too long to be held back by the lack of enthusiasm from the other man.

"Okay… What is Derek's favorite ice cream flavour?"

Apparently Gibbs hadn't expected that question as he jerked his head towards Tony, obviously surprised. Tony allowed himself a little pride at that and focused back on the road, trying not to look too overjoyed at the prospect of getting to learn every little detail of the older man.

"Coffee."

He rolled his eyes at that. No surprise there.

"Favorite breakfast."

"I don't eat breakfast."

"Jesus, Gibbs. You should really try to live a bit healthier."

Gibbs couldn't resist smirking at Tony's remark. "You already sound like a wife, nice acting."

It was clearly meant as a joke but Tony waved him off and made a mental note to cook the older man some decent eggs in the morning.

After a long pause, Tony resumed the interrogation.

"What brand of shampoo do you use?"

Gibbs narrowed his eyes at the younger man , who was apparently not going to let this go easily.

"Don't I get to ask you some questions?"

"I thought you'd already done an extensive backgroundcheck on me." Tony smiled, not entirely at ease about what the older man was going to ask.

"Maybe Adriano is different."

"Of course he's different, no one's going to believe he's gay if I keep attracting women like flies to honey." Only the Italian man behind the wheel could say something like that and still get away with it. Gibbs' snort didn't go unnoticed though and he got a poke between his ribs to shut up.

Then, as if there hadn't been a pause, Tony resumed his story.

"He likes people. That's why he works at the only bar on the base. His parents have retired and live in Spain so he doesn't see them often but when he does…" Tony smiled softly as if he seemed to remember something, "they can talk about everything."

Gibbs stayed silent and looked away for a second. Tony could put on an undercover persona like a second skin but it hurt every time to watch him do it. The younger man had created his version of a happy family and Gibbs realized that he would gladly give it to him if he could. Maybe when this was over he could send Tony undercover with some beautiful young NCIS Agent with legs that never ended.

"Gibbs… Jethro?"

The silver haired man looked back up and found himself looking into a pair of curious green eyes.

"Are you okay?"

He cleared his throat and shrugged. "Yeah, just… Trying to remember which brand of shampoo I use."

Tony threw back his head and laughed heartily, a wonderful sound. As he shook his head, he cast a quick glance at Gibbs and smiled again. He was grateful that the older man had accepted Adriano's backstory and he felt the tension in his shoulders dissipate as they slowed down to enter the base.

"Home sweet home…" Gibbs muttered. As they showed their new ID's at the entrance, Tony felt a familiar excitement bubbling up in his chest. He loved undercover ops, the chance to be whoever he wanted. They drove past the checkpoint and after a couple of minutes they'd reached their new house.

Both men stayed silent for a moment as they took in their new home. It was tiny, with one floor and a porch with a rocking chair on it. It was painted in a soft yellow and the windowframes were white. The interior of the house was carefully concealed by off-white, lace curtains.

"It looks like a damn dollhouse." Tony muttered and Gibbs smirked as he nodded.

They got out of the car and started unloading their luggage from the trunk. It had to look like they were moving there so Tony had brought all the unnecessary stuff that he could think of. It felt surreal handing over a box with plates and cutlery to Gibbs. For what had to be the thousandth time that day, Tony wondered when he would relax and start seeing the older man as his.. boyfriend. God, even the word itself freaked him out. He hurried after the other man with two lamps in his hands.

"I think we're all set!" Tony announced proudly when he put the last dvds of his extensive collection on the shelves near the TV. He looked over at Gibbs to find the older man looking somewhat forlorn in the middle of the living room. Suddenly it dawned on him – he wasn't the only one having trouble coming to terms with this new living situation. They both valued their privacy and now Gibbs didn't have anywhere to hide when he felt the need to.

"You miss your boat, huh?"

When Gibbs didn't really react, Tony suddenly knew what to do.

"Hey, you know what? We haven't bought groceries so I'll just explore the supermarket on base and you can be alone for a while." He moved to grab his coat that was still folded over the backrest of the couch and looked around for his wallet and keys. As he stood on the threshold, he turned back to find Gibbs still rooted on the same spot.

"Need anything?"

"Sure…" he answered after a short hesitation, "bring steaks."

"Aww, man! I love you!" Tony laughed. And as he said the words, he realized what had come out of his mouth. Well, that was something to forget soon.

The shy smile that Gibbs offered in return however, replayed in his mind until much later that night.