AN: Thanks for all the wonderful reviews! It makes my day to know people are enjoying reading this as much as I'm enjoying writing it. For those of you who have been asking for the guys to have a little time alone for fluff, hope this is fluffy enough. :)
Chapter 33
The next morning, Tony drove over to Tim's apartment. He could hear Jethro barking as he walked down the hallway.
Sure enough, as soon as Tim opened the door, he was almost knocked over by a happy German shepherd.
"Geez, calm down, McMutt," Tony said. "At least let me in the door."
Tim dragged the dog away and reached over for Tony. "He's just happy to see you."
"He the only one?" Tony asked. He enjoyed the feel of Tim, and his scent. It had only been two days since the last night they'd spent together, and they had seen each other just yesterday at work, but somehow eons had passed. Longer even than waiting for the director's cut of Lord of the Rings to end so Tim would focus on them instead of the movie.
Tim just pulled him close.
Tony finally had to pull away to breathe. "I'll take that as a yes."
"Last night, while I was trying to fall asleep, I was having a hard time remembering why I fought the idea of us sharing an apartment so hard," Tim confessed. "At the risk of making your ego big enough that it needs its own bedroom, I think I'm suffering from DiNozzo withdrawal."
Tony grinned. "Well, I am a very special agent." He winked at Tim, who burst out laughing.
"Come on," Tim said. "Let's get going. The sooner we find a place, the sooner we can start this date."
"I like the way you think, Probilicious."
They headed outside, Tim pulling up a map with directions to the first place on his phone as they walked out to the car. Tim navigated, checking the directions after each turn with a precision that made Tony smile.
The first couple of places they looked at didn't work. One only had one bedroom bigger than a closet.
"There's no way we could make them buy that we're sharing this," Tim said. "You can't even fit my bed and Jethro's in that smaller room. We have to at least be able to move them in there if the team's helping."
Tony just looked at him.
"What?"
"You suggesting we share a room from the beginning?" he replied. "I thought you weren't ready for that."
Tim shrugged. "That was before you told me a little bit about your nightmares, even though you didn't mean to; before you agreed to talk to Gibbs about them. I'm not saying 'yes, I definitely want to live together rather than just be roommates,' but I'm not ruling it out either."
Tony tried to say something, but no words came. He settled for pulling the younger man into a hug.
"You're speechless? Tony DiNozzo has nothing to say?" Tim pulled back and grinned at him. "Maybe you've spent too much time with Gibbs."
Tony just removed his hand from Tim's back long enough to slap him on the head. "Come on, let's see if the next one is any better."
He held Tim's hand as they walked out to the car, and again once they arrived at the next house. It was nice to just be able to touch his partner again after two nights apart and days at work where discretion was the name of the game. Even before they were together, he was always touching Tim — ruffling his hair, putting a hand on his shoulder, standing close while he McGeeked his way through the computer stuff. Now, especially since they thought Gibbs suspected, he was trying to not touch him so much and it was driving him crazy.
As they walked through the first floor of the house, Tony started mentally putting their furniture in place. The living room would be perfect for his sofa and TV, and the spot by the fireplace was just the right size for his DVD shelves. The kitchen was fairly up-to-date, with room for a table big enough for six by the window. The adjacent laundry room opened to the back yard and was tiled for easy cleanup. Tony mentally put Jethro's leash and outdoor toys by the back door. Across the hall, the study looked like it would hold Tim's writing desk and bookshelves.
"Oh, my god," Tim said. "This is insane."
Tony nodded. "They must have gotten their paint at the same sale as NCIS." He winced looking at the bright orange walls with blue and yellow trim in the study and turned to the rental agent. "Would we be able to paint this room if we rented the house?"
"Yes, sir," she said. "This was the playroom for the children, so the family chose bright colors."
"That's the understatement of the year," Tim said. "Not that it's bad," he said quickly. "It's just that we work in a room painted this color and I don't think I can stand that much orange. I'm not criticizing their taste."
Tony bit back a chuckle at Tim's innate niceness. Even seven years as a federal agent working for the biggest bastard in NCIS hadn't erased it.
"Come on, let's take a look upstairs," he said.
Tim led the way. The hallway was dark, but the rooms off of it were flooded with light from big windows. The master bedroom was good-sized and had a bathroom connected to both it and the hallway. Two smaller bedrooms and a second bath completed the floor.
"The bedrooms are a decent size," Tim said.
Tony walked into the master bedroom, then into the connecting bath. He grinned at the large shower/bathtub combination. "Plenty of room for both of us in there," he whispered to Tim, smirking as his partner's ears turned pink at the tips.
"It's the best one we've seen so far," Tim said. "You want to take it?"
Tony nodded. "Let's find out if we can get in here to paint before we have to move your stuff over."
After a few minutes discussion with the rental agent, the men filled out the applications and gave her the deposit and first month's rent, splitting the cost.
"I expect the application will be just a formality, based on what you've written here," the agent said. "Once we process it, we'll arrange for you to pick up the key. You should be able to move in by the middle of next week."
Once outside, Tim checked his watch. "It's not even 2 p.m.," he said. "Plenty of time."
Tony thought for a second. "Why don't we go grab lunch, then head to Home Depot to look at paint ideas for the walls in the study. Then we can stop by the store to pick up what I need for my spaghetti bolognese, head back to my place and start our date."
"I like the way you think," Tim said.
They opted for a quick lunch, just sandwiches from a shop nearby, then headed to Home Depot. When they walked into the paint section, Tim headed right for the neutrals. Tony rolled his eyes.
"Tim, what are you thinking?" he asked, slinging his arm around the younger man. "Add some color to the room."
"Tony, it doesn't need any more color. And it's mostly my room, so I should get to pick." He pulled out the eyebrow raise and Tony had to stop himself from leaning over and kissing him. Later, he promised himself. They had all evening.
"McNeutral, you need some color. Do you have any idea how many coats of paint it will take to cover that orange if you pick one of those white, off-white or gray paints?"
"What's wrong with gray?" Tim asked. "It's a color."
Tony plucked the paint swatch out of his hand and replaced it with a deep pewter. "If you want gray, go for something like this. It'll cover that orange, and we can jazz it up with some color on the trim."
"What kind of colors?" Tim said, suspicion lacing his voice.
Tony walked a few steps over and started sorting through paint swatches, holding them up against the pewter until he found a couple he liked. "This maroon on the trim, and the wall behind the bookcases in this darker green," he said. "The green will show through the gaps in the bookcases and add some color, and the trim will add some contrast. The colors are perfect for your desk and typewriter, very British study-like. Add in your pipe and tweed jacket and you're all set."
Tim looked at the colors, frowning a bit. Tony handed him the swatches and started flipping through the folders that showed rooms in different combinations. "Look at this one. It's the same idea, except the green is on the bottom of every wall instead of just one wall."
Tim shrugged. "I guess," he said. "I'm all for painting it white rather than getting complicated, but you're right, it would take a lot more coats to cover up the orange. I don't think we could find a paint with a high-enough opacity to do it in two coats unless we spend a lot more money. The length of the light waves-"
"You don't need to explain it to me," Tony said. "I don't need to understand the science to know what works and what doesn't."
"Thank goodness," he said. "If Abby and I had to get you and Gibbs to understand the science behind the evidence for every case, we'd never get out of the lab." The corners of his lips twitched, and Tony mock-glared at him.
"Hey, I'm not nearly as bad as Gibbs," he said. "I actually check my e-mail."
Tim rolled his eyes and it was all Tony could do not to pull him into a hug in the middle of the store.
"Come on, you know you love me for my body, not my brain," Tony said. "I leave the brains in this partnership to you."
Tim snorted. "I'm so going to remind you of that the next time you scoff at my ideas for a case. Now do we need paint for any other room?"
Tony thought about it, then shook his head. "The master bedroom is fine — I can work with that deep blue."
"So you're getting the master bedroom, huh?" Tim said.
"Think of it as incentive to agree to move in with me," Tony retorted.
Tim smirked. "Incentive? You think I need an incentive?"
Tony opened his mouth, then shut it, knowing he couldn't backtrack from this. He thought back to the night before, and his restful sleep following the talk with Gibbs. He went with his gut and opened his mouth. "After I tell you about the nightmares tomorrow - so we can enjoy tonight - your original reason for holding out doesn't apply. So yeah, I think a little incentive is in order."
The stunned look on Tim's face and the smile that started small, then grew to be bigger than Abby's at her perkiest, confirmed he'd made the right choice.
"Yes, really," Tony said, answering the unspoken question. "I felt a lot better after talking with Gibbs. I thought I'd regret it, that he would look at me differently. But he didn't, and he made me realize anybody who really loves me won't look at me differently because of all the screwed-up stuff my family did to me. So I know I can tell you."
Tim looked at him for a second, then grabbed his hand and started pulling him toward the exit. "Come on. We can buy the paint and the dinner later. Let's just get home so I can show you how much I do love you."
Tony used all the tricks he had learned from Gibbs and Ziva over the years to get them back to his place as quickly as possible. For the first time, he wished he didn't have a stick shift so he could have one hand free. In what seemed like ages longer than it was, they were back at Tony's place. Tony fumbled the key in the lock because he couldn't take his eyes off Tim, couldn't wait to start undoing the buttons on his shirt. He finally got the lock open and pulled Tim inside, dropping his jacket on the floor and wrapping his arms around Tim, stumbling together back to the bedroom. For the first time since Ben-Gidon showed up at the Navy Yard, Tony felt completely relaxed and at peace. Or at least as relaxed as he was going to get with Tim on top of him and their clothing rapidly disappearing.
Complete relaxation came afterward as he lay there, arms around Tim.
"I'm not too heavy, am I?" the younger man asked.
Tony just shook his head and pulled him closer. "Nope. I'm just a big, boneless puddle of DiNozzo under here."
Tim laughed into his neck, the vibrations traveling through Tony's body. "Think you can make it to the bathroom so we can clean up?"
Tony nodded sleepily, but didn't move when Tim got up. Tim finally gave up and went to the bathroom to get a washcloth to clean them up with. That done, he curled up next to Tony in bed and they drifted off for a nap.