a/n: So this is just a little oneshot that came to me in my philosophy class. When my teacher explained what a puer eternis is, I knew that I finally found a way to describe Tony. And so this was born.
disclaimer: Yes, I do own NCIS. In fact, you can blame me for killing off Kate. I was the one who decided she had to die, and she had to die without ever talking to Tony. That was absolutely me.
"Would you quit it, Tony?!" Kate exclaims as one of Tony's rubber band missiles hits her for the third time. He shrugs and waits for her to turn her attention back to her work. Then he fires again, and this one hits her directly in the center of her forehead.
"Bulls eye!" he celebrates as Kate processes the fact that she was just hit again. She looks up and opens her mouth to yell at him, but then Tony feels a sharp pain course through his head.
"Bulls eye," Gibbs repeats. "Get back to work, Dinozzo."
Tony gets back to his report sheepishly. Kate catches his eye and laughs. He glares at her, but he has to notice that smug is a good look for her.
He waits for another opening. Five minutes, ten minutes pass. Finally Abby calls Gibbs down to her lab for an update. Perfect. Quick as a flash, the fifth rubber band is sailing across the room in the direction of Kate's nose.
Kate was clearly expecting it, because as soon as the projectile is out of Tony's hand, she ducks. "Honestly, Dinozzo, do you ever grow up?!" she yells, clearly at wits end.
"Only when I have to, Katie Pie," he replies, sweet as sugar.
She sighs and grumbles something under her breath.
"What was that, Katie Pie? I didn't quite catch it."
"Don't call me Katie Pie," she retorts.
"I won't if you tell me what you said, Katie Pie," he compromises.
"Promise?"
"Scout's honor."
"Fine. I said puer eternis."
"Huh?"
"Puer Eternis" she repeats. "It's Latin for eternal boy, and it fits you to a tee."
"And why is that?"
"You're like Peter Pan, Tony. You're never going to grow up," she explains.
He flashes her a cheeky grin. "Does that make you my Wendy? Are you going to come over and play house with me?"
"See?!" she exclaims.
He gets up and crosses the room, leaning on her desk, so their faces are only centimeters apart. "You've got me all wrong, Katie Cat. I can be very grown up when I want to be."
Her breath catches in her throat. She smirks to cover the fact up, but he hears it. "Just because you have sex, Tony, doesn't mean you're not still fourteen on the inside," she says.
He brings his face just a tiny bit closer. He can tell she's trying to decide whether it's time to move back. "I wasn't talking about sex, Katie Pie," he tells her.
"You promised!" she exclaims. "Scout's honor!"
"I never was a Boy Scout," he tells her. "Katie Pie." Then he laughs, flashes her a cocky grin, then returns to his work.
So there you have it. I hope you enjoyed it enough to press that little button directly beneath this.
-Juli-