A/N: This was originally planned as a one shot, but it got slightly out of hand, so I'm splitting it into a few chapters. Hope you like it!

Disclaimer: NCIS or its characters don't belong to me, I'm just playing with them.


Five Times Tony Was Drunk

One

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Gibbs dragged himself up the stairs from his basement, wondering who would show up at his door at two o'clock in the morning, relentlessly knocking at his front door. It surely couldn't be anyone he knew very well as it was an open secret that there was no lock on it. He finally reached the door and opened it, only to be faced with his brand new agent leaning heavily against the doorframe, a half-empty beer bottle still in his hands.

"Hey Boss," DiNozzo greeted him, his voice slurring as he stumbled towards the living-room and then flopped down on the couch.

Slightly confused, Gibbs followed him, taking in the obviously drunk man in front of him. He hadn't seen him like that before and he wondered what had brought this up, especially regarding the poor timing of it all. He finally sat down next to him, waiting for DiNozzo to start talking. The room was dipped in silence for a long time, but Gibbs knew better than to ask, though it struck him oddly off that DiNozzo, of all people, was able to stay silent for such a long time. But the young man just kept on sitting there, shoulders slumped, his fingers picking at the label of the almost empty bottle. Only when Gibbs shifted ever so slightly after a little while, did DiNozzo move again as he looked around the room, his eyes finally coming to a stop on the suit that was hanging on a hanger on the door.

"I guess," DiNozzo finally started to talk, the words still slurred, his voice quiet and rather broken, which sent an unexpected shiver down Gibbs' spine. "You won't need that tomorrow."

"Why's that?" Gibbs replied. "Are you uninviting me to your wedding?"

DiNozzo let out a pathetic attempt of a laugh before he downed the rest of the beer in one swig. He was still staring at the suit as he finally answered barely above a whisper.

"Wendy left me."

Gibbs felt his heart drop as he turned to stare at him, almost able to see the hurt that seemed to radiate from the young man.

"Why?" he finally asked as he realized that DiNozzo wasn't going to elaborate.

The younger man once again remained silent and Gibbs found it oddly unnerving as he had finally gotten used to the ever babbling agent at his six. The young man had finally averted his glance from Gibbs' slightly battered suit and was staring at his hands now instead as if to buy himself even more time to answer.

He finally settled on a barely audible "'S complicated."

Gibbs just nodded, knowing far too well just how complicated women could get. He was recently divorced after all, but he was also aware of the fact that a 'complicated' was not enough to blow off a wedding.

"Care to elaborate?" Gibbs finally asked, the prevailing silence unnerving him. "Why did she leave?"

"You really want to know why?" DiNozzo spoke up again, loudly this time, his words still slurred, but he finally looked directly at Gibbs as if he was challenging him and the older man had no clue what was going on all of a sudden.

"Yeah?" Gibbs replied, slightly leaning away from the alcohol flavored breath and realizing that it had sounded more like a question than an actual statement.

"'Cause of you. She left because of you."

"Me?" Gibbs pressed out, feeling utterly confused by now.

"Yeah, you," DiNozzo's tone was accusing now, though Gibbs really had no clue what he was supposed to have done to him. "You egoistic, self-centered, all-demanding bastard of a boss."

Gibbs leaned even further away from him, unable to figure out whether or not he was supposed to be offended by that statement. It was probably the truth after all, though he wasn't quite able to see the connection between his being a bastard and Wendy leaving the guy.

"That so?" he finally replied, seeing DiNozzo strangely enough relax at his words as if he had waited for a stronger reaction from him.

"Uh-huh."

"No news, DiNozzo," Gibbs sharply answered, slightly on the edge by now due to the younger man's strange behavior. "But how would that affect your relationship with Wendy?"

"You're asking?" he retorted almost incredulously. "You're keeping me on my toes all the time, I never get home on time and you're seriously asking me why Wendy broke up with me?"

"Yeah, I do," Gibbs answered, leaning towards him again, finally having had enough of this nonsense. "If I'm that insufferable, why don't you just quit and have your happily ever after?"

"'Cause I don't want that!" DiNozzo suddenly cried out and then immediately sprang up as if he had burned himself with his own words.

Gibbs gaped at him for a second, trying to figure out what the hell it was what the young man wanted to tell him. If he didn't want Wendy, why was he so freaking mad at him?

"You don't want what?" Gibbs replied, also standing up now, bringing himself face to face with DiNozzo.

"Quit the job," he retorted, apparently slightly confused again.

"Then why come here tonight if you don't want to accuse me of destroying your life?" Gibbs all but growled now, all the while moving closer to the other man, who surprisingly didn't flinch away one bit.

"I needed to know," DiNozzo finally answered, trying to avoid the eye contact now and Gibbs moved closer once again to make sure he understood him right, as his voice was barely audible anymore.

"Needed to know what?"

"If she was right."

Gibbs let out a frustrated sigh at DiNozzo's apparent unwillingness to actually talk to him. He closed the last remaining gap between their bodies as he leaned into the guy, so that their noses were nearly touching.

"Spit it out, so we can get this over with. Right about what?" he growled.

"Well," the younger man replied hesitantly, trying to look everywhere but at Gibbs. "She said I wasn't paying attention to her anymore because… because…"

"Because?" Gibbs prodded and only now did he realize that his breath had become shallow all of a sudden as he took in DiNozzo's unique scent of musk, aftershave and beer.

"She said I was obsessed with you," DiNozzo slurred again. "Said I can't keep my eyes off of you."

He let out a shaky breath at the end as if expecting an outburst from Gibbs. The older man, however, stared at him in horror, opening his mouth a couple of times without actually making a sound and tried in vain to feel even slightly appalled. He still had no clue how to answer to DiNozzo's questioning gaze and realized only now that while the younger man had avoided eye contact all night, he was actually staring right into his blue eyes now as if to dare him to reply.

And Gibbs had still no idea what to do, when DiNozzo suddenly closed the short distance between them and pressed a clumsy kiss onto his lips. Gibbs knew that he should back away, should shove DiNozzo away, but he was too startled to do anything really. So he just kept on standing there, not exactly kissing him back, but not exactly feeling revolted by it either. When DiNozzo finally stepped away from him, his expression was grim and wary and Gibbs had no clue what was going on behind those green eyes. He was still too shell-shocked to actually react to it in any way.

But just as he had somewhat regained his composure, DiNozzo let himself drop down onto the couch again, not bothering to even lose his shoes as he lay down and closed his eyes. Gibbs stared at him for a moment, unable to decide whether or not the guy was joking, but then a soft snore escaped him and Gibbs shook his head. How in the world could the guy kiss him and then immediately fall asleep as if nothing had ever happened? Was this all a game to him or was he actually that drunk? Too drunk, in fact, to realize what he had just done?

Sighing and momentarily at a loss of something better to do, Gibbs got a blanket out of a nearby cupboard and covered DiNozzo with it the best he could without actually touching the guy. He knew that they had quite a talk coming, but he couldn't bring himself to wake the sleeping man right now, they'd just do it in the morning. He continued to stare at DiNozzo for a couple of minutes, hoping that this was all some kind of bizarre nightmare and he would wake up under the boat in the basement any moment. After a while, however, he realized that it wasn't likely to happen, so he dragged himself upstairs towards his bedroom, already dreading the talk they were bound to have.

But Tony was gone in the morning and they never spoke of that night ever again.