Written as a bingo fill for my smut/kink card at 1-million-words, using the squares - subspace, broken, spanking, silence and after care/recovery
The case had been a long one that had hit the team quite hard, but none harder than Tony, who seemed to take the case to heart. He was sat on Gibbs' basement steps in dead silence, not a single word passing through his lips, something completely unusual for the man. Tony was normally very vocal, and normally had to be physically gagged in order to keep him quiet, tonight however he seemed as if someone had muted him.
Gibbs watched him from where he was working on the boat, his lover looked to be on the verge of breaking. He put the sander down and reached out to the other man, indicating that he should join him, not wanting to speak himself in case he spooked Tony into running. It wouldn't be the first time that the younger man had run off after a tough case rather than accepting the comfort Gibbs was offering.
As close as Tony was to breaking at the moment Gibbs knew that he would need to break him down to build him back up, otherwise Tony was going to continue to hold onto this case more than he should do. Manoeuvring his lover so that he was leant up against the boat he pulled down the sweat pants Tony was wearing, revealing his bare skin underneath.
He caressed the skin before bringing his hand down sharply against the skin, alternating between long and hard and short and soft smacks to Tony's bottom, spanking him not for pleasure, but the punishment that Tony felt he deserved. Gibbs could feel Tony's body shaking against him and could tell that he was holding in silent tears, unwilling to allow them to fall or make any noise. It was eery, normally during a spanking it took all of Tony's effort to stop himself from moaning or pleading for more.
"It wasn't your fault." Gibbs whispered harshly in Tony's ear as he brought his hand down once more, "There is nothing you could have done. You did everything you could." He stopped the spanking, caressing the red flesh beneath his hand, "Let this go."
He felt Tony begin to fall apart, his body starting to shake violently as the tears began to spill down his face. Gibbs held him to his body, sharing his strength with his younger lover as he allowed himself to break for Gibbs to piece back together. He held him whispering words of comfort as Tony spent himself of his tears, almost going limp in Gibbs' arms as the last of his tears left his body.
Gibbs knew that in releasing so much of the emotion and tension that had been filling him Tony had allowed himself to sink down into his subspace, giving Gibbs total control over him, knowing and trusting that Gibbs would help to piece him back together in the right way. Tony trusted Gibbs in many different ways, with his life in the field, with his career, but mainly with his entire being; he trusted that Gibbs would look after him properly.
Gibbs led Tony out of the basement and upstairs to bed, knowing that it wouldn't be a good idea for Tony to come out of his subspace in the basement. Tony coming back to himself always needed to be approached cautiously. Gibbs would pamper him as much as he could as he brought him back to himself, starting with some aftercare for the spanking, it wouldn't do for Tony to be unable to sit properly the next day, people may begin to question him if that was the case, and perhaps he would indulge Tony with the honey dust that he loved so much.