This is a series of drabbles based on a meme I came across recently: pick a character/pairing; put your music player on random; for each song that comes up, write a drabble inspired by the song about your character/pairing; when the song is over, so are you. I tried to stop when the song ended, but most of the time I had to play it one or two more times to finish up the idea I had. Also several songs were skipped, since I just couldn't come up with ideas for them.

My pairing was Gibbs/Dinozzo, though not all are slashy - some can be seen as gen. In my head they are all part of the same continuity, but aren't necessarily in chronological order, with the vague idea that they finally got together somewhere in Season 5. Some of them reference real eps, some don't. Hope y'all enjoy!

Ten Songs, Two Lives

I.

Tony loved to move, Gibbs reflected as he watched his agent indulgently. The bass throbbed through the very floor, tickling Gibbs' feet with the vibration. It apparently throbbed through DiNozzo too, as he couldn't keep from gyrating even as stood in front Abby's plasma screen examining blood spatter patterns. Gibbs paused for a moment at the door, allowing his seasoned agent let loose just a bit. Ziva was finally back, things were back in place, there was reason to be happy. Something Gibbs hadn't allowed himself to feel in – how long had it been now? But Tony deserved it, and maybe, just maybe, a little of that would rub off on him if stood close enough. A half smile ghosted over his face before he stepped in and hit the stop button on Abby's machine. The throbbing noise stopped, but Tony didn't. The echo of the beat reluctant to release its captive. Gibbs pretended not to notice as he shot out his habitual "What have we got?" - Ooh La La (Goldfrapp).

II.

Tony didn't think of Gibbs anymore. The desk was his now. The computer. The responsibility. He never wondered what Gibbs would do. How Gibbs would tell the marine's child his father is never coming home. How Gibbs would have a contact in the navy who could get him the information faster. How Gibbs left him with a gun and a badge and a broken heart. – I Get Along Without You Very Well (Frank Sinatra).

III.

Gibbs was used to Tony's strange taste in television, but this was absurd. And yet, somehow familiar. The girl in pink with the wings – he could just barely hear the echo of Kelly's laughter as he teased her. An offer to carve his little girl wings out of wood. No, dad, they would be too heavy. They need to be made out of fairy dust. Gibbs swallowed hard and glanced over at Tony, eating his cereal and watching with rapt fascination. And Gibbs panicked – how could his lover and his daughter have liked the same show? It almost made him sick. Until Tony laughed and pointed his spoon at the screen. "These guys are messed up, man. Complete product of the sixties! You should see the one about the guy who flies around in the giant top hat. My frat brothers and I used watch these when Kent got a bag of the good… um… I mean…" Jethro tried to look stern at the implication that Tony just might have been about to confess to illegal drug use, but mostly he just wanted to kiss him senseless in relief. As much as Tony acted like an overgrown child at times, he was old enough to make his own decisions, to choose his own lovers, to be Gibbs' equal and not a lonely boy looking for a father. – The Bugaloos (Collective Soul)

IV.

Tony had always looked to his boss, the inimitable Leroy Jethro Gibbs, as a role model, but it wasn't just for his relentless pursuit of the bad guys, the mad sniper skillz, the penetrating stare that brought suspects to their knees in a minute flat. It was his stubborn, superhuman refusal to give up. To cling to life no matter what the odds. To fight back. He had the crazy thought that if the grim reaper himself were to come for Gibbs, the man would kick his skinny, skeleton ass back to hell. And so, when his breathing became more painful in the dark basement where he'd been trapped by the explosion, he did not give up. Instead he retrieved the image of Gibbs, struggling to get up despite the poison that coursed through his veins, in a train station restroom, looking for Sharif, making sure the terrorist had been apprehended even as his mind tried to tear itself apart. If his boss could do that, surely Tony could keep breathing until the rescuers he could hear above him made it down to his level. – Lust for Life (um, cover version by Tom Jones and Chrissie Hynde – don't judge!)

V.

The band was a pounding, loud cacophony, threatening to "fuck the world" and whining about nobody loving them. Fuck, the young are stupid sometimes. And Tony could only shake his head in disbelief – when did he get that old? Was he going to be sitting on a porch and shaking his cane at passing kids next? But he couldn't deny that something was different now, at this age, after his years on the job dealing with death and its causes – greed, jealousy, hate. He let the band finish its final power chord, before stepping onto the stage and arresting the drummer for selling the doctored cocaine that had killed Ensign Philips. Fucking the world was a coward's cry. Personally, Tony was planning on fucking something much better as soon as this case was closed. – I Will Deny (The Dwarves)

VI.

After the whole Jeanne Benoit fiasco, Tony tried to go back to his usual boisterous self. But Gibbs could see the cracks in the façade. Easy to recognize from his own reflection all those years ago when the loss of his family left his heart shattered. And Gibbs knew there was nothing he could say to make it better, to take the pain away. Only gruffly push him forward, show him that he cared enough not to let him get away with hiding. But he missed that smile. The one that lit up Tony's dancing green eyes. The one that inevitably made his own lips twitch in response. As he once again barked at his senior agent to stop quoting movies and to get back to his sketching, he hoped that someday soon Tony would smile again and mean it. – Smile Like You Mean It (The Killers)

VII.

How Tony ended up getting drunk in a country and western bar he would never know. But he realized too late that it was a bad idea to mix shots and twangy singers filling his ears with stories of infidelity and crappy lives. So he'd gotten a little jealous of Jethro after his secret meeting with Kort. And Jethro had laughed in his face and told him he was an idiot. And maybe Tony had told him to go fuck himself and perhaps suggested some other physically impossible acts he could perform with Mr. Macho CIA Man. And maybe he had stormed out like a hormone-addled teenager. He figured out that he had been a first class idiot by the 10th whiskey but by then he couldn't really stand. And maybe Abby could figure out where to find from his slightly slurred directions over the phone and maybe he would just sleep in the alley outside the bar. And – he looked up as the door opened letting in a gust of cold wind – maybe Gibbs would come looking for him looking pissed and amused at the same time. And maybe he didn't have to slink back to the trailer park with an empty wallet and a mangy old dog like everyone in the songs did. – Greenville (Lucinda Williams)

VIII.

He never thought he'd ever be in this position. This was what he got for ignoring Rule #12. But even when he'd made that rule he never imagined that he would be here. Jealous of his own agent. Worried about losing the one person he'd managed to love truly, unconditionally since Shannon. But Ziva was beautiful and young and so many other things. Dangerous, driven, deadly – things that Tony had seen in Jethro once, but maybe not so much anymore. It was hard to say. He was slowing down, maybe, grayer, heavier, but he was still fighting, still strong. But as he watched the two of them dance around each other, bicker, flirt, tease, he was forced to recognize that she might just win. Take Tony from him. He couldn't blame either of them – love just worked that way sometimes. Hell, he'd seen it enough over the years that he should have been expecting it. It happened all the time. But somehow, he knew that if he lost Tony, he would not, could not try again. – Jolene (Dolly Parton)

IX.

Sometimes Jethro let things pile up too much, weigh down on him, bury that amazing smile. And sometimes Tony just wouldn't let it happen. Tony knew, now that they had been together for two years, that Jethro had laughter hiding inside of him, peeking around corners of darkness, waiting to escape. And there was no one better at helping set it free than Tony. Which is why, when he saw Jethro staring starkly across the pond at the crime scene, as Ducky and Palmer loaded up the van, Tony felt that urge come on him and he couldn't stop himself, knowing he'd probably be just as likely to get a head slap than a laugh. But it was worth a try.

He sidled up to his lover, notebook in hand, and gave him a dazzling smile. "Excuse me, sir," he said, as if to a stranger. "I noticed you from over by the swing sets, and I had to tell you that you really are very striking. Have you ever considered a modeling career?" Gibbs gave him a look of consternation, but couldn't seem to find the appropriate reply to his agent who appeared to have gone insane. "That's good," Tony continued. "Confused is a good look for you. The young boys will eat it up." He began to write on a clean sheet of paper. "As I would like to eat you up," he added in a low growl. Jethro's face warred between anger and outrage… and just a hint of enjoyment. Tony plastered on the smarmiest smirk he could muster and tore the sheet out the notebook. "Here's my number. Give me a call sometime. I can take you places you have never dreamed of." He winked, then turned and headed toward the car, bracing himself for impact.

"Dinozzo!" shouted Gibbs, still rooted to his spot with the slip of paper clasped in his hand. Tony looked back over his shoulder, projecting confidence he didn't feel. Seconds passed, Jethro's tense shoulders boding nothing but ill, though no words followed, his unfinished reprimand hanging in the air. Finally Gibbs just shook his head, and said in a quieter voice, "Get your ass in the car." Tony watched with satisfaction as a grin captured Jethro's lips and lightened tired blue eyes. – Man with the Fun (Maxi Priest)

X.

The two men took cover behind the dumpster from opposite directions at the same time. Backs crashing against the metal, guns tucked against chests, breathing hard, they could hear footstep along the roof and shouts from the other side of the building. Tony looked up and saw the full moon coming from behind a cloud. The brisk air crisp in his lungs, adrenalin soaring, he looked over at an equally breathless Gibbs, noting his eyes were eerily unearthly in the moonlight. Tony didn't stop to think, just clasped his free hand behind Jethro's head pulling him into a hungry giddy joyous kiss. His lover kissed back just as hard until the sound of returning footsteps caused them to break apart. "He's coming our way," Gibbs panted. "On it, boss," said Tony. With a manic cackle, he surged up and to the left, timing it perfectly with Gibbs at his elbow. A shadow jumped, guns were raised, and Tony's cock was delightfully hard. "Freeze! NCIS." – What a Little Moonlight Can Do (Nancy Wilson)