A/N: Yes, this was originally planned as a One-Shot but I thought it'd be fun to hear (or read actually) Gibbs' thoughts about the events of the evening. Hope you like it and thanks for your reviews and favorites! :) You absolutely made my day!

Standing in the shower, Gibbs saw his hopes of actually relaxing dashing away. He had hoped that the hot water would relax his tense muscles, would take his mind off of things. But it was to no avail and he should have foreseen it anyway because even working on his boat hadn't done him any good at all. So why exactly should take a shower have worked?

Jethro didn't really know what bothered him so much. Of course the death of a nineteen year old sailor was nothing to shrug off easily but he had seen enough of that in his life to be able to repress the feeling of despair with every victim they were investigating on. He was sure that it had nothing to do with Mark Perry per se. No, Gibbs was more worrying about his senior field agent without really grasping why. DiNozzo had been unusually quiet ever since they had found out that Perry Sr.'s homophobia had brought on this tragedy. Gibbs had watched him carefully all day, had observed how he had become paler by the minute, had observed how his expression had changed from wonder to disgust to worry.

Something surely must be wrong with Tony and Gibbs had a distinct feeling in his gut that he knew what this was all about. But Gibbs wasn't a man of many words, so how was he supposed to address this matter? Especially, if he wasn't even sure that he was right about that specific thing. Tony had left hints here and there in those ten years that he had been working with him but had never told him about that possibility, so Gibbs had kept quiet himself, not wanting to scare him away. But still, Tony's reaction to the father was still strange…

Jethro had debated to go to bed as it was already around midnight but had to realize that sleep would surely not be coming easily tonight as his thoughts seemingly were on a rollercoaster ride and there was nothing he could do about that. So, he went down into his living-room again, going through his DVD collection which contained about six movies, and finally settled on Sleepless in Seattle. He still wasn't sure why exactly he had bought that DVD back in the day but DiNozzo had mentioned it once as the one chick-flick, as he called it, that was actually good and any man would be able to please a woman with that one.

He had even come over - on one of those nights after his assignment as an Agent Afloat to talk about Jenny and about him drinking too much - and they had watched the movie together. In the end, Tony had been too drunk to drive back to his own apartment, so Gibbs had let him sleep on his couch. Just before he fell asleep that night, Tony had mumbled something that sounded suspiciously like 'I missed you, you know.' It was still making Jethro smile and maybe it was the reason he had decided to watch the movie, after all. Gibbs subtly shook his head but Tony had been right for once, the film wasn't half bad, even though he would never admit it, of course.

Two glasses of bourbon into the movie, Gibbs was suddenly able to hear noises, heavy breathing and stumbling footsteps to be exact, outside his front door and his pulse quickened as he realized that it could only be one person that would show up at his door step at one o'clock in the morning. It wasn't the first time either, Tony liked to crash on his couch quite a lot but never gave any reasons for it and Gibbs was fine with that because as long as DiNozzo was fine, it was alright with him. But tonight, Gibbs wasn't already asleep to avoid him and his gut suddenly started to churn as the front door opened and closed silently. Gibbs waited for a few moments before Tony came into his field of vision, leaning against the doorframe, his omnipresent suit that he was usually wearing at work exchanged for a casual pair of jeans and a t-shirt. He wasn't able to make out the expression on his face, though, as it was too dark to see.

"I never thought you'd ever use the DVD-Player I gave you for your last birthday," Tony's voice came out slightly slurring, slightly insecure, as if he was wondering what exactly had driven him to come to his boss' house in the first place.

Gibbs had returned to stare at the TV again, unable to look at the kid without giving himself away. He simply patted on the empty space beside him on the couch and heard Tony stumble across the room and sit down, leaning back into the cushions. Jethro was able to smell the faint scent of beer that was clocking him and wondered how drunk Tony actually was. With a sigh, Gibbs quickly paused the movie as he realized that his agent would probably make fun of him for watching it all alone. He turned to look at him and thought fast.

"It was Shannon's favorite movie," he finally said, hoping that Tony, movie buff that he was, wouldn't detect the obvious lie and then added quickly. "And you look like you've been just thrown out of a bar."

DiNozzo looked at him as if he had caught him with his hand in the cookie jar and then nodded.

"This case…," he started and trailed off after a few moments of awkward silence.

"What about it?" Jethro asked, hoping that his voice was as smooth, as calm as he hoped it to be, not once looking away from Tony, as he was afraid to miss a change in his expression.

"I… I don't know," Tony answered hesitantly. "Sometimes I just wonder, you know, that… uh, that could have been me, you know."

Gibbs released a sharp breath and felt his eyebrow shoot up but he remained silent, waiting for Tony to continue. This was very important for him apparently.

"Ever wondered why my dad threw me out when I was thirteen, Gibbs?"

Once again, Gibbs said nothing, just nodded. Yes, he had wondered about it a lot over those last ten years but had never dared to ask the kid about it as it was obviously one of those things that Tony never talked about.

"My dad caught me kissing my best friend – Andy. We were just, uh, you know, experimenting. We just wondered how it felt like. Kissing, you know. Just in general, it had nothing to do with us being boys and stuff. We just wanted to know. But my father just totally freaked out, telling me that he was ashamed of me and whether I didn't care what others might think of me, of him, of the DiNozzos if they ever found out that I was kissing boys."

Tony had averted his glance and had spoken to his feet but Gibbs could almost feel the battle that was raging inside of him. The way Tony was frowning, the way he was running his fingers through his hair was always a sign that he was nervous, unsure and Gibbs wondered if he, himself, had that exact same expression on his face.

Anyway… The way Tony was unconsciously rubbing his right cheek now, made him feel all funny inside. His father probably hadn't just verbally abused him that day, Gibbs was sure about that and felt sorry for the kid once again for having such a messed up childhood. If he could only tell him…

Without really thinking about was he was doing, Gibbs started to softly pat Tony's shoulder, hoping it would calm him down a bit and causing the kid to look at him once again, his eyes glazed over, though the beer had probably nothing to do with it.

"I had no idea why he was so furious back then. But I knew that I had done something so terribly wrong that I didn't even think of kissing anyone until I was seventeen. It wasn't until years later, that I realized that Dad wasn't angry with me because I had kissed someone but because I kissed a boy."

Gibbs nodded now, his hand still resting on Tony's shoulders, and remained silent for a few moments, not knowing what to say to him. Suddenly, however, he felt Tony stiffen under his touch and he retreated, once again looking at him closely.

"You okay?"

"No, I mean, yes." Tony chocked out.

All of a sudden, Tony all but jumped up from the couch, surely to run away from the conversation they were just having but Gibbs wouldn't let him. This was too important – for both of them. So, he gripped the first thing that was within reach and pulled him back down to the couch by his wrist.

Obviously confused, Tony turned to look at him and his face was suddenly alight as if a fire was burning just behind those beautiful green eyes. Gibbs sighed and forcefully tried to avoid locking eyes with him.

"And do you share your father's opinion now, Tony?" He asked, his voice suddenly rough and quiet at the same time.

"No!" Tony all but cried out, "of course not. I haven't been on the same page with my father about anything since then. You know that."

Gibbs had trouble containing the smile (or what constituted as a smile in Gibbs' universe) before he continued.

"But does he know?"

"Know what?" Tony replied, carefully trying to keep his emotions from showing and failing miserably.

"Come on, Tony," Gibbs whispered and Tony leaned in the tiniest of fractions, making it able for Gibbs to smell his aftershave. "You know what I'm talking about."

"You know?"

Once again, Gibbs was only just able to bite back the grin on his lips and instead focused on Tony, who had started to sweat, his eyes darting around the room as if he was looking for the nearest exit.

"Yes," Jethro answered then, leaning in closer, his lips mere inches away from Tony's cheek now, his grip on the wrist becoming more forceful. No, he wouldn't let him walk away now.

"How… how long?"

"That you are not only interested in women? I'd say within two weeks working with you."

It wasn't exactly true as he hadn't known for sure since this very afternoon but he had had his suspicions before and in addition to that, the bastard side in him kind of enjoyed seeing Tony like that, all insecure, all speechless for once.

"Or are you talking about something different, Tony?" Gibbs was feeling more foolhardy with every moment that was passing and Tony suddenly started to blush furiously under his gaze.

"Wh-what?"

"Or are you talking about the fact that you've been in love with me for quite some time now?"

There it was. He had said it. He was sure by now that it was the truth. That it had been the truth all along. But only now, Gibbs realized that it wasn't as one-sided as he had thought it would be. Yes, he had thought about Tony in a way no boss should think of his agent but here they were sitting now, staring at each other and Gibbs had no power to deny the attraction any longer, not even to himself.

"Four years, two months and seven days to be exact," Tony whispered, confirming Gibbs' earlier suspicion.

Gibbs sharply nodded and realized that his breath was matching DiNozzo's by now, being all shallow and fast. Maybe it was because his brain activity was slowed down by the lack of oxygen or the bourbon had finally done its trick or simply because he wanted to do it but Jethro turned his head the tiniest of fractions and his lips brushed against Tony's. The kid tensed up for a moment before he closed his eyes, leaned in and their lips touched for the first time. Hell, Leroy Jethro Gibbs was kissing a guy – his partner of ten years to be exact – and was actually enjoying it.

As they finally broke apart, lips swollen, green eyes locking into blue ones, Tony finally found his words again.

"How long? How long, Gibbs?"

Good question. For ten years? For ten minutes? Since this morning? But then, a thought crossed his mind and he truthfully answered this time.

"Four years, two months and two days. As soon as I left for Mexico, Tony, I realized that it wasn't work that pulled me back to DC. It was you, though I wouldn't ever admit it."

"Why now?" Tony asked and Gibbs was on the verge of hugging him, as he was looking so happy and so lost at the same time.

"Because we already wasted over four years. Or are you having second thoughts?"

And damn, he sounded insecure now. He, Gibbs, who was never insecure about anything…

"You know what I like the most?"

Gibbs immediately felt himself relax at the sight of Tony who was suddenly sporting a big grin, his trademark grin to be exact, flashing his teeth, seemingly completely at ease now.

"I just really like to piss off my father."

Gibbs snorted and smirked. Yeah, that was his boy, after all. But still…

"I hope that's not the only thing that makes you do this."

Tony's eyes were sparkling with mischief now, causing Gibbs to actually give him a smile this time.

"Never, Jethro," he simply answered and leaned into him again, stealing another kiss.

Well, maybe he could get used that mouth after all, right?

A/N: Thoughts? Let me know what you think! :)