A/N: Thanks again for your reviews! :) A little less than usual but hey, can I blame 'Irene' for that? xD

Nah, hope everyone on the East Coast is fine and undamaged! :)

On with the next chapter, then... hope you like this one better! xD


Chapter Twenty-Eight: Wizards and Curiosities

"I think I'm going to head home now," Tony said, yawning widely, stretching himself.

They had spent a comfortable evening, sitting on Jet's couch, eating Chinese takeout, watching the game. Except for occasional outburst about the incompetence of the referees and some players, they hadn't talked all that much but Jet couldn't have cared less. He had just enjoyed having Tony in his house again, without a fight, without some serious talk.

Still, his statement about going home was tugging uncomfortably at Jet's insides now. He took a deep breath, trying not to let his disappointment show.

"Okay," he finally answered, involuntarily tensing up against the backrest.

"That's okay, right? You're not mad?" Tony asked, his eyes meeting Jet's as if he had sensed his reluctance to let him go.

"Yeah, Tony. Your pace, remember?"

"I appreciate it."

The younger man got up now, grabbed his jacket, took a few steps forwards before he turned around and gave Jet a smile, flashing his teeth and the older man couldn't help but return it, though it felt slightly off, even to himself. Tony was suddenly by his side again, bent down and quickly placed a kiss on his cheek. Jet felt his heart pick up pace as he leaned into the short touch. Far too soon, Tony had retreated though, and with one last look, he was out the door, leaving Jet sitting there strangely empty as he glanced around the abandoned living-room.

Just as Jethro was ready to tuck himself in half an hour later, he heard his cell phone ring and he quickly searched the pockets of his jeans until he found it. Glancing at the caller ID, he grinned to himself and pushed the button to answer the call.

"Hey."

"Hey Jet, what are you doing?" came Tony's voice through the phone, a hint of tease clearly conceivable.

"Just about getting ready for bed," he replied, while he slipped under the covers, making himself comfortable.

"Sounds about right for the time of the day. No boat tonight?"

"Nah. Don't have a reason to soothe myself today."

"No?" Jet was able to hear Tony chuckle on the other end of the line. "You're not bothered about the others knowing about us? Not bothered that I almost, or kind of, outed us to a – for you – complete stranger? And on top of that, your idiot boyfriend's not even willing to spend the night at your place."

Jet let out a laugh before he answered, matching Tony's ironic inflection. "Well, if you put it that way, I guess, it has been a pretty lousy day."

"Yeah, tell me about it. Work was hell today, boss gave me hell and those stares all the time, really bad."

"Couldn't have been more unnerving as my Senior Field Agent giving me those smiles all day long."

"Right," Tony dragged out the word and Jet realized that it was actually a yawn.

"You had a reason to call, Tony?" he asked, realizing that he wouldn't have called just to tease him – but then again, maybe he had.

"Nah, not really. I just realized I hadn't said good night to you. So, uh… good night."

"Good night, Tony," Jet replied, a fuzzy feeling spreading in his stomach. "See you tomorrow."

"Night."

With that the line went dead and Jethro realized that he was smiling at the empty room in front of him like an idiot.

-x-

Tony had to admit that it felt a bit strange walking into work the next day. It wasn't that he hadn't spent the night at Jet's house or anything but it was because the others knew about them now, knew that they were trying to work it out but Tony had no idea how they would actually handle it. Granted, they had been very supporting before, had even encouraged him to give this thing with Gibbs another chance but how would they react if Gibbs would suddenly play favorites, if he or Tony would freak out about something and got into a fight? Or, horrors of horror, they would break up again, leaving McGee and Ziva to pick sides or even worse, how would they react if Gibbs would actually go through with his plan of retiring? Would they blame him? Would they realize that their boss and teammate getting together had been a really bad idea? But all of that wasn't actually the main concern on Tony's mind as he settled at his desk. It was rather the question whether Ziva and McGee would be curious. Would they start asking questions? Tim probably not and he was used to Ziva asking personal questions, he could deal with that but would Abby, Ms. Nosy in person, keep her promise that she had given Gibbs the other day?

To Tony's relief, he didn't even have a chance to talk to Abby all morning and the other two were apparently too occupied with catching up on a few cold cases that they didn't even as much as glance sideways at him or Gibbs. By lunchtime, Tony had settled into a more comfortable frame of mind.

"Go and grab some lunch. Seems like a slow day. I'll call you, if anything comes up," Gibbs suddenly stated, already halfway up the stairs to MTAC.

"Antonio's?" McGee almost immediately asked, grinning broadly at the unexpected lunch break.

"Sounds good," Ziva replied and Tony nodded in agreement. "I will drive."

"Oh, you're so not," Tony cut in, "I want to actually keep my food in my stomach, you know."

"I agree," Abby, who had just joined them in the bullpen, grinned. "Can I come?"

"Don't have to ask. Come on, let's go before the bossman changes his mind," Tony all but ordered, causing Abby and Tim to chuckle.

Tony let it slide for a moment, they would ask soon enough anyway, so he strode to the elevators, the others following him.

-x-

"So, what's new?" Tony asked halfway into his pizza, suddenly realizing that he had been so occupied with what was going on with himself that he had no clue anymore what was going on in the other's lives.

"Nothing much," Abby answered. "One of the nuns can't bowl anymore, which kind of sucks a lot. So we're looking for a substitute. You're not considering, are you? Because I asked Timmy but he claims to be busy."

"Hey! I am," McGee interrupted her.

"With what, Elf Lord?" Tony couldn't help but tease him but immediately remembered his vow to treat him better. "I mean is there someone, who's keeping you busy?"

To his surprise, McGee who had looked at him only a moment before suddenly seemed to be very busy with picking at the salad in front of him. Tony chuckled ever so slightly.

"Uh, who is she?" Abby chimed in again, curiosity plastered all over her face. "Or he?"

"What?" McGee's cheeks were dark red by now. "No, she's a she. Why would you of all people even ask?"

Abby shrugged, grinning broadly. "Times are a-changing. These days you never know. Or would you have thought that Tony would shack up with Mr. Bossman?"

"Abby," Tony sighed exasperated, trying to keep himself from blushing now. "Let it rest, okay? Obviously, Tiny Tim here doesn't want to talk about it."

He quickly looked at McGee who shot him a surprised and yet thankful glance before he continued eating.

"How is it by the way?" Abby resumed the chat as if the exchange between Tony and Tim had never happened.

"How is what?"

Tony mumbled, sipping from his coke, thinking fast about how to change the topic but as he looked up again, he saw Ziva also staring at him and he realized that they wouldn't let him off the hook as easily as McGee. Certainly, they had planned to ambush him like that for a long time.

"Don't play dumb, Mister," the Goth replied. "We want to know everything. How's Gibbs when you're alone? Maybe you can finally tell us the mystery of how he has managed to get married four times? Come on, give us something, please?"

"Your puppy eyes won't get you anywhere, Abs. And your death glares aren't helping either, Ziva."

He picked up his fork and knife again, feeding himself with pizza, desperately trying to ignore the two women, who were still staring at him intently. After a few minutes, however, he let the silverware drop to his plate again, unable to take the looks anymore.

"Fine," he sighed, causing Abby to ball her hands into fists with a silent triumphant 'yes' on her lips. "What do you want to know? One question each, okay?"

"Hmm, where do I even start?" Abby pouted slightly but still grinned at him.

"I have one," Ziva interrupted. "I do know when you two got together but I do not know how. So, tell us what happened?"

"Well, I've been over at his place and we were drinking like… a lot. Much too much in my case actually. We were talking about something and suddenly he looked at me all weird and I thought, or actually my drunken mind thought, it would good idea to just kiss him."

"And he was okay with that just like that?" Ziva inquired but Tony shook his head, holding up his hand.

"One question, remember?"

"Fine," Ziva mumbled, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Uh, my turn," Abby exclaimed, practically bouncing up and down her chair and Tony wondered when the people around them would get suspicious about her excitement. "So, what is he like? You know at home, when you're alone? And I'm not talking about the dirty stuff, though I do like to know about that, too, but not right now."

Subtly shaking his head, Tony considered the question for a moment, not really having thought about it before. "He's… nice."

"Nice?" Abby rolled her eyes. "But he's always nice."

"To you maybe, not to us."

"And how does that being nice make itself perceivable? And don't tell me I've got only one question because 'nice' is not an answer, DiNozzo."

"Well, he's nice, you know. Uhm, considerate? Actually asks before he does something, wants my opinion and stuff. It's a nice change. But he does head slap me from time to time."

Abby let out a laugh, her eyes twinkling. "And you accept that?"

"The head slaps? Nah, I just hit him right back. Like this," he added and softly poked her arm.

"So cute," Abby all but giggled before she finally picked up her fork again and continued eating her pasta, apparently satisfied for the moment.

Just as Tony had taken another bite of his pizza, McGee suddenly cleared his throat and he looked at him again. In contrast to Ziva and Abby, who were still smiling slightly, he had a rather serious and slightly uncomfortable expression on his face as if he was afraid to say what was on his mind.

"What is it, McGee?" Tony asked, knowing that whatever question he'd like to ask would come sooner or later anyway.

"Uh," McGee started, reverting to his stuttering probie days. "He treats you right, right? I mean, are you sure you've made the right decision in taking him back?"

"Weren't you the one that told me to?" Tony replied, slightly confused.

"Yeah… no… I mean, you've thought this through, right? Making sure that this is what you really want?"

Slightly touched, Tony averted his glance from the younger man instead staring at his pizza again.

"Yeah, it's what I want. You've seen what I was like those last couple of weeks, I was as miserable as I can get. It's not like now we've made up, everything is just great again, because it isn't but I really want to work it out, okay?"

"Good," Abby unexpectedly said, squeezing his hand for a moment. "And now let's get eating again or Gibbs will punish us for not coming back to work for so long."

-x-

Gibbs looked up as his three agents finally joined him in the bullpen again. McGee and Ziva seemed to be content but Tony's cheeks were slightly flushed, the grin he was sporting somehow off. He caught his eyes for a moment and Tony shrugged almost imperceptibly. Gibbs nodded at him before he turned to look at his computer again, hoping that they would finally catch a case.

A few minutes later that weird pop up thing that told him he had an email showed up on his screen and he opened it, wondering who would even bother to write him an email as he never replied to one anyway. As he read Tony's name, he quickly glanced at the desk across the room and saw the younger man staring at him, an eyebrow raised. Gibbs quickly opened the file and read.

You busy tonight?

Barely containing a smile, Gibbs quickly replied.

Not really. What do you want to do?

Gibbs subtly shook his head, wondering why he would even answer via email, it wasn't like he couldn't just talk to the guy. But as he was still thinking about that, Tony had already answered.

No clue. Any suggestions? Weather is supposed to be nice. And it should be as far away from Abby and Ziva as possible.

Furrowing a brow, Gibbs looked at Ziva who was still grinning slightly before he averted his glance to Tony and saw him shrugging again.

Okay, I'll think of something. What did they do?

Well, Abby didn't keep her promise for long. Wasn't that bad but you know…

Okay. Should I go talk to her?

Nah, there's no need. But thanks.

Gibbs closed the program, cast a quick glance at Tony again, who gave him a small smile, before he got to work again, his mind at the task thinking of what to do that evening.

-x-

"You're still not telling me where we're going?" Tony complained as he hopped onto the passenger seat of Jet's truck.

He had just told him to wear something casual as they had left work that evening and Jet inwardly grinned at Tony's impatience. Sure, he could just tell him but what would be the fun in that, right?

"Nope."

"I hate it when you do that," Tony stated, playfully pouting.

"I know."

"You're evil."

The younger man poked him on the arm, slightly harder than Jet was used to but he chose to ignore it. For the most part of the drive, they remained silent but he didn't mind as he was just savoring in the feeling of having Tony next to him and the slight mischief of letting the other man guess where they were going. Only a few streets away from their destination, Tony finally turned to look at him, a broad smile on his face.

"Oh, I know where we're going now," he said. "Verizon Center, right? Wizards are playing tonight."

Jet just nodded, glad that Tony was apparently satisfied with his choice of date.

"I haven't been at a game in like forever."

"Why not? Your boss keeping you on your toes all the time?"

"You bet. He's an evil bastard."

"You keep saying that," Jet grinned, pulling over at the stadium.

-x-

Tony wondered how Jet had been able to get such good seats in such a short time. They had really decent one, providing them with a good look at the court. He hadn't been at a game in almost a year but hadn't realized how much he had actually missed it. He wasn't that big a Wizards fan, preferring the Knicks most of the time, but he was soon consumed by the energy around them. Even Jet seemed to be engrossed in the match because every time Tony would spare a glance at him, he never noticed him staring at him, instead just followed what was going on down on the court, always a slight smile on his lips.

Tony made a mental note of taking the guy to more games like that as he seemed to thoroughly enjoy it. It was when he felt his heart stutter for a moment before it picked up its normal rhythm again. Since they had reconciled, Tony hadn't thought much about the future. He had taken it step by step that last couple of days, only thinking about the next move. But making plans for the not immediate future had to mean something, right? Smiling, Tony looked at Jet again and he seemed to notice him this time, finally turning turned around to face the younger man.

"Everything alright?" Jet asked.

"Yeah, thanks for taking me."

"Anytime."

"I'll hold you to that," Tony replied, looking into his blue eyes.

Momentarily lost in them, Tony leaned into the other man as if to kiss him before he remembered where they were and almost instantly backed away again. Jet gave him a half smile and placed his left hand on Tony's knee, squeezing it ever so slightly. Tony let him, not caring if someone would see them. With another smile, he averted his glance from the older man and followed the match, groaning at the end due to the almost devastating loss of the Wizards.

-x-

Jet pulled over at Tony's apartment and stopped the engine, looking at the other man, who had been fidgeting the whole drive home.

"Okay, so thanks again," he finally said, giving him a broad smile that caused Jet to feel all fuzzy on the inside all of a sudden.

"No problem. Was a nice evening, despite the miserable game."

"You're right about that, they really should have traded Nowitzki or Bryant."

Jet snorted, leave it to Tony to pick the unlikeliest switches. They remained silent for a few moments, with Tony staring into his eyes again but yet somehow still managing to keep on fidgeting.

"Look," Jet finally started, having a pretty good idea what was bothering the younger man. "You don't have to ask me to stay the night. I'm fine with whatever you want to do."

"Okay," Tony answered thoughtfully, not once averting his glance from his eyes. "Then I won't ask you to come up with me. But… can I kiss you instead?"

"You don't have to ask," Jet smirked, leaning a bit forwards, not daring to make the last move as he had promised to let Tony set the pace.

He didn't have to wait long though for Tony to close the small between them and as his lips softly brushed against his own, Jet felt his heart skip a beat or two. It was a tender kiss, almost reluctant, unlike many of those they had shared before. Jethro savored in it as long as he could but Tony broke their connection far too soon. He almost didn't mind though as he saw the broad smile on Tony's face, just glad to actually see him smile like that again.

"Okay, then," Tony finally broke the silence between them. "I'll see you tomorrow at work?"

"Yeah," Jet replied, softly squeezing the younger man's shoulder. "See you at work."


A/N: Let me know what you think, reviews would be awesome! :)