Revelations and Reverberations

"You know, this reminds me of-"

"If this is going to be yet another damn movie reference, I'd like to remind you that I'm still armed."

DiNozzo sighed dramatically. "Geez, McGeek, don't get your panties in a bunch. I was just trying to lighten the mood."

McGee wondered exactly how long they could stay here before he strangled Tony. Sometimes the man was just so infuriating; it was like he actually made an effort to do so as well. They had been in here for an hour now, and it didn't seem as though there was any chance of getting out anytime soon.

They had just been doing a routine search of the house, not expecting any trouble, that was until they had walked through that door. It had looked like an office, high tech with a top end computer system and enough gadgets to catch Tony's interest. So, the search had headed that way.

Unfortunately, in his attempts to hack into the password-protected computer, he had tripped the security system. That in turn had closed the office door, locking it tight- not an office, in fact, but a panic room. Their phones still worked and so calling for someone to let them out had been attempted.

Problem was that the only man with the security override code was the same marine who was currently Ducky's guest in the morgue. Abby had promised to work as fast as she could but he knew it would take her a while. In the meantime…

"Relax, McGee. Play with the computer or something."

Turning to glare at Tony, he held back the comment on the tip of his tongue. He knew that Tony liked to tease about his affinity for computers and tech stuff. The other agent was slouched in a desk chair, his feet propped up on the desk, tossing a glass paperweight in the air and catching it again and again.

"Why'd you do that?" he asked, kicking himself for actually saying it aloud.

"Do what?"

"Mock me, what I do. You're always putting me down."

Tony frowned. "Come on, Probie-"

"Like that! It's always Probie, or McGeek or something," he cut in. "You don't call Ziva stupid names, or Abby. Why me?"

"Just leave it, McGee."

McGee scowled at him, annoyed enough to get up and move to stand in front of Tony's chair so the other agent couldn't just ignore him.

"No, I won't. If we're going to be stuck in here anyway, we might as well talk about it," he pointed out. "Come on, Tony, answer me."

Tony slammed the paperweight down on the desk and surged to his feet in one smooth move, leaning into McGee's personal space.

"You really want to know why I treat you differently?" he demanded, and the menace in his tone almost had McGee stepping back. "Fine. It's because I don't want to do this to the others."

He reached up, cupping McGee's face in both hands and pressed a hard kiss to his lips. After a few moments, he released McGee and dropped back into the chair, arms folded across his chest, pissy look on his face.

McGee didn't move; to say that Tony had shocked him would be like saying a hurricane was 'a bit breezy'. He simply stared at the other man.

"You kissed me."

Tony rolled his eyes. "No shit, Sherlock. It's no wonder you're an NCIS agent with deductive skills like that."

"Why?"

"Because I wanted to, OK?"

That had been a stupid idea, he thought, giving himself a mental Gibbs-style head slap. Being stuck in here was starting to affect him. Glancing up, he thought he could almost see the wheels turning in McGee's brain, and whatever thoughts he came up with made him frown, confused.

"You pick on me because you like me?" he asked in disbelief.

Tony knew that McGee wasn't going to drop this; the man was like a bloodhound tracking its quarry, never giving up. He supposed he should be relieved that Tim didn't seem disgusted / annoyed / ready to punch him for the kiss. Not that the younger agent would have hit him but still the thought had crossed his mind.

"I told you to leave it but you had to keep poking, didn't you?"

McGee actually looked amused now. "You're the one who did the kissing so why are you angry with me?"

Tony didn't answer but he didn't have to. McGee had seen the flash of uncertainty in DiNozzo's eyes. Knowing what he did about Tony- not much, admittedly, and all pieced together from listening to Abby or Gibbs- it suddenly made sense. The put-downs and nicknames hadn't been so much of a personal attack but to do with Tony trying to keep him at arm's length. When he had looked into the man's eyes a moment ago and seen the doubt, he realised that Tony was waiting for the rejection or the revulsion. The more he thought about it, however, the less inclined he was to either of those reactions.

Actually, he had rather liked it. And (not that he had ever admitted it out loud) he had noticed, on occasion, that Tony was a good looking man. So the constant movie quotes drove him up the wall but once Tony dropped the attitude and the act, he was actually a nice guy.

"I'm thinking," he said, leaning down to rest his hands on the arms of Tony's chair, putting their faces inches apart, "That we should try that again. Without the element of surprise."

Tony actually looked hurt now. "Stop messing with me McGee," he said softly. "Please, just forget about it."

"No," Tim said, and leaned in to cover Tony's mouth with his own.

Tony melted into the kiss after a second or two, lips warm and soft on Tim's, tongue teasing and clashing with his. McGee pulled back and smiled.

"I could get used to that," he said.

"What do you mean?"

He didn't like seeing that look of vulnerability and fear on the usually cocky agent's face and he hated the fact that he was the cause of it even more.

"I'm not playing with you, Tony," he promised. "I would like to at least explore this further. I just need you to understand that this is completely new to me and it's going to take me some time."

The Tony he knew was back then, beaming grin on his face as he got to his feet.

"You're sure about this, Mc- Tim?"

McGee nodded. "Completely."

Tony pulled McGee in for another kiss, taking his time now, drawing back when his mobile began playing the theme to The Godfather in his pocket. Gibbs. The man always did have awful timing.

"Hey, Boss…. Mm-hmm. OK." He slipped the phone back into his pocket. "'Looks like we'll be out of here in about five minutes. Abby says she's figured it out."

McGee nodded. "So, what now?"

Tony couldn't help but notice how adorable the man looked when he was nervous but refrained from commenting.

"I won't push you into anything, Tim," he said. "How about dinner at my place. I'll cook."

McGee raised an eyebrow in disbelief. "You? Cooking? Maybe I should bring take-out."

A couple of minutes later, the door swung open to reveal Gibbs standing there, glaring. Anyone would think they'd actually done something wrong; it wasn't as though he'd had to spring them from police cell or anything. Still, Gibbs looked annoyed at having to come and get them out.

"You two, car, now." He paused. "Please tell me you actually found something in there?"

McGee shook his head. He'd brought the computer hard-drive with him, as well as the laptop, so he could hack it back at the office but other than that…

"So after all that, we're still where we started."

"Sorry, Boss," McGee mumbled, echoing the apology that Tony muttered.

As they followed Gibbs outside, Tim glanced across to Tony and smiled.