Tony's Apartment

0617

"GGAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!" Tony's scream was loud enough to wake the dead, and would have panicked Tim if he hadn't already been awake for the last half-hour expecting it. He sat up on the couch and waited.

Tim snickered at the stream of curses that filled the air as Tony obviously got his first look at Tim's choice of bed companions for him. Huh. Maybe Tony had missed the Godfather connection, after all...

~ncis~

Tony rolled out of bed completely confused. He sat on the edge of his bed staring into a world that had gone totally crazy. The unicorn head…? had startled the bejabbers out of him, hence, the cursing. He had pushed it onto the floor and sat straight up. His headache was forgotten as he stared around at his bedroom. At least, he thought it was his bedroom, except…

It was purple. Completely. Purple. There were unicorns everywhere. He looked up and there were glittery purple unicorns grinning down at him from the ceiling. There were unicorns on every surface...every wall, every piece of furniture even. There were stuffed unicorns EVERYWHERE!

He stumbled into the bathroom, where he found the walls covered with metallic unicorn paper and his shower full of about a million small plastic purple unicorns… and his counter covered with unicorn glitter. There were purple unicorn towels and purple toilet paper even!

What the heck? How was this possible? Who could have-

He managed to take care of his most urgent business, though it wasn't easy with a six foot cartoon purple unicorn grinning at him from behind the back of the toilet. That was the moment the penny dropped.

~ncis~

Tony came flying out of the bedroom and got his first look at Tim's handiwork in the living area. "Timothy Farragut McGee you are SO dead!" The enraged roar echoed throughout the room, causing the only other occupant to grin and then to break into near hysterics.

Tim nearly fell off the couch laughing. He figured the shock value of what he'd done to the rest of Tony's place (which was pretty much what he'd done to the bedroom and bathroom) would at least give him a couple of minutes head start if he should need it, but he just couldn't resist waiting around to enjoy the look on Tony's face.

In retrospect, Tim probably should have left while he had the chance. Tony's use of his middle name really should have been a clue. Because inadvertently, Tim had trampled on sacred ground. He hadn't thought anything about it, and he was careful when he wrapped about ten rolls of wrapping paper all over Tony's baby grand piano, obscuring the cherrywood finish completely in purple and pink baby unicorns.

He'd wrapped the bench to match, and seated a giant floppy purple and white unicorn with its front legs crossed impudently across the wrapped keyboard. Tony took one look and saw red…

The neighbors heard the crashing sounds, and called the cops. It took all of Tim's powers of persuasion to talk Tony out of having him arrested. It was only when he convinced him that the cops would need crime scene photos that Tony relented. He promised McGee he'd figure out some other suitable revenge. He also made Tim promise to clean up his apartment, except for the piano which he wouldn't allow Tim to touch, and to find homes for all the stuffed and toy unicorns. The NCIS Christmas Toy Drive was about to get a HUGE donation, courtesy one anonymous practical joker.

The Bullpen

One Week Later

Tony walked into the empty workspace. He looked around quickly to make sure he wasn't being observed and then headed straight for Tim's desk. He opened the drawer and grabbed the container of rubber bands. He opened the jar of honey he carried with him, and poured the sticky stuff all over the elastics. After coating them well, he snickered as he quickly placed the small plastic bin back into Tim's drawer. He knew it could draw ants, so he would make sure to start a rubber band war that morning to keep that from happening. He hadn't gotten revenge for the unicorns, and Tim was getting nervous. This wouldn't even come close, but he was working on it.

Tony grinned and headed out to get himself some coffee before the others got into work. He failed to see Tim come out of the back elevator just as he stepped onto the front elevator. Tim had been down keeping Abby company while she ran some tests that had taken longer than she had planned, and they had wound spending the night on the futon. He was headed to grab some caffeine.

Tim's antenna shot up when he saw the main elevator closing on Tony's smug expression. He headed straight for his desk and started a careful search. It took only a couple of minutes to find the rubber bands. He started over to Tony's desk and suddenly stopped, an evil grin lighting up his face. He stepped over to Ziva's desk and carefully opened her drawer. He grabbed her rubber band container and put the sticky one in its place. As he turned back towards his desk he froze at the sound of someone clearing their throat.

Tim looked up at the balcony where Gibbs, who had just stepped from Vance's office, stood staring at him, one eyebrow raised. "Uh, hi Boss…"

Gibbs said nothing but simply headed down the stairs and into the bullpen. Tim watched him warily, waiting for the inevitable headslap. He was shocked when it never came. Gibbs went over to his desk, sat down, and started on what was likely his second or third cup of coffee. He grabbed a file off the pile on his desk and began working silently. Tim shrugged and booted up his computer. Apparently, Gibbs was staying out of it.

Tony and Ziva showed up and the workday began. As Tim had figured, it didn't take long for Tony to let the first rubber band fly-straight at him. The look of panic on Tony's face was priceless when Tim went for broke and fired one not at him, but at Ziva, who immediately retaliated… or would have had she been able to.

If looks could kill, Tony would have been instantly napalmed. Gibbs, who had just stepped back into the bullpen, did nothing more than roll his eyes. Tim fell out of his chair laughing... and the Circle of Life at NCIS began anew.

~The End~