Tony woke to the tone of Ac/Dc blasting out of his phone, and he couldn't help but flinch at the sound. He fumbled for the phone and cursed himself for choosing exactly that ringtone.
He shifted involuntarily at the name on the caller ID and barely noticed that he was supposed to be at school now.
"he- Hello?" Tony steadied himself and tried to cover up his insecurity with a cough. He wasn't so sure he succeeded.
"DiNozzo!" all of the courage Tony had built up, went away when Gibbs barked his name and ran a shaking hand through his hair. Realizing somewhere in the background, water was dripping.
"Yeah, that's the name!" he tried to plaster a smile on his face, but the twisted feeling in his stomach, threatening to empty itself at any moment didn't exactly help. Not to talk about the headache…
"where the hell are you, DiNozzo?"
"Uhm - "tony looked around, trying to find a clock, where he knew there wasn't one "Would you believe me if I told you I was a school?"
Gibbs made a sound, closer to a sign then a growl, but Tony still flinched at it. "no, I don't, now get your butt over here"
Tony could almost feel the color leave his face, and somehow, the nausea became worse.
"you are at my school?"
Gibbs didn't even bother to answer the question, he just growled on the phone before hanging up. Tony swallowed something and looked at the empty screen in his hand. before Gibbs's words hit him, and he jumped up, ready to almost run all the way to the gray building, he pretended to learn in.
But as soon as he stood up, black spots started to appear in front of his eyes, and he sank back on top of the madras. He recognized the whistling sound appearing every time he took a breath and cursed himself once more. Why in the name of hell, did he feel like crap?
Tony took a few deep breaths, then put his hand in his pocket and drew out the back of pills. having to focus annoyingly much, he drew out two pills and swallowed them.
Pushing himself off the madras, he signed in relief as the headache started going away. He promptly changed his shirt, showing up like this didn't exactly give a good impression. Tony shifted into a light gray hoodie and started walking to his school. Not even caring about his books.
He was surprised to see that Gibbs hadn't parked in the parking lot behind the school, especially considering that this school wasn't very far from Russo's bar. He was even more surprised to see Gibbs roll down his window and just wave at him, to come closer. Tony shrugged. He jogged over to the car, just throwing a lost glance at his school before sliding into the front seat. As soon as the door was closed, Gibbs's hand made contact with the back of Tony's head.
"HEY!" Tony stared at Gibbs "You hit me... again!"
Gibbs reached for his coffee, and Tony tried not to be reminded of that day in interrogation.
"And what did we learn from that" Gibbs asked
Tony lifted an eyebrow "that you should be taking anger management classes? WOW okay" Tony moved out of reach from Gibbs, and Gibbs grunted
"you didn't call me"
"Well" Tony tried looking out the window, but he couldn't miss his own pale reflection. He shifted back in his seat "it WAS in the middle of the night when we finally finished"
"I don't care"
"you want to be woken up? Just so I can tell you I am going to bed?"
Gibbs took another sip of the coffee, and Tony felt like it took a hundred years before he put the cup back into the cupholder.
"yes" he simply replied, and sent Tony a glare that could have had adult men running for the hills.
"Okay okay" Tony mumbled, it was like he was ten again. "Sorry"
Gibbs just sent him a glare, reaching for his cup again, but decided against it mid-movement. "Don't apologize, it's a sign of weakness"
Tony let his head fall to one side, and he studied Gibbs "then what do you want me to say?"
"Won't happen again, would be nice"
"Then it won't happen again"
"Good"
Then silence fell in the car, but for once, Tony did nothing to fill it. He could still feel the pressure in the back of his head, reminding him of the rambling headache he had when he woke up, but the silence didn't feel forced, it gave him a moment to relax. A moment too long.
"Auch!" Tony yelled, pulling a hand to the back of his head "What was that for?"
Gibbs eyed him, before leaning back in his seat and taking another ship of his coffee
"For picking on Johnson"
Tony could barely grasp the words coming out of Gibbs's mouth. It sounded completely, and utterly ridiculous. Like it was coming from a middle school teacher. He simply couldn't take it seriously.
"It isn't exactly like he loves me either"
Gibbs raised an eyebrow "No" he said, drinking from the cup again "But he is on my team"
Tony nodded. He could understand that. Or at least respect it. Nevertheless, coming from Gibbs, he didn't really have a choice. "And so are you"
Tony wasn't sure he had understood the meaning behind the words. And when he came to a conclusion he was reasonably sure he had found the wrong one. Tony wasn't on any team. He was on his own. Risking his life, hoping not to spend the rest of it behind bars, but Gibbs continued
"As long as you work with me, you are on my team. I have told johnson to leave you alone"
Tony frowned, and the words were out of his mouth before he could stop himself "For you. I work for you, not with you"
Gibbs eyed him but didn't commit to that. And he didn't receive another head slap.
"And I would barely call it to work, more like slavery, like in that movie 'Gladiator' where Maximus, the main character, is forced into being a gladiator, and he then… "
Gibbs slapped him again and looked at him. Tony nodded
"stop rambling, gat it"
Gibbs nodded and drank the last of what was in his cup "Anything that jumped out in particular?"
"Uhm… " Tony looked at the cup, he could have sworn it was damn near full when he got into the car "oh yeah" He looked up, realizing Gibbs was studying him again.
"hmmm yeah hmm… Marines, that's why you're here right because there were marines"
Gibbs gave him a look that said nothing more than 'duh' "I had my suspicions, did you get a good look at them?
Tony shrugged and looked back "a bit" he mumbled.
"think you could ID them from a photo?"
"yeah maybe"
"good" Gibbs took another look at Tony. His flushed skin, and jumpy look. Gibbs could see the sweet pearls on his forehead, even though it was cold outside. The boy looked like crap, no doubt about that.
"Kid" Tony jumped half in his seat by the sound of pure command "You still taking Oxycodone?"
Tony felt his heart rate skip a few beats, maybe even stop completely. And it took his brain what felt like forever to come up with a reply.
"Yeah" He shot a grin towards Gibbs "you know, all this running around isn't exactly good for my knee, you know, I feel like I should get a medical leave, or at least medical benefits or…" just a glace for Gibbs was enough to shut him up. Though truth be told, he hadn't actually felt any pain in his knee since the run from Russo's bar.
Gibbs leaned forward, placing a hand on tony's forehead, not surprised when Tony pulled away.
"you addicted, Tony?"
Something in Gibbs's eyes made Tony stop the smart remark that was heading out of his mouth.
Tony would never admit it. He would never. But the look Gibbs sent him, forced him to think about it. And somewhere in the back of his mind, he wasn't surprised by the answer.
"No, why would you even say that?" Of course, he would never admit it.
"okay" Gibbs leaned forward, and for a dreadful moment, Tony was sure Gibbs was about to hug him. Then the door opened and Tony felt the wind on his back. Tony plastered a grin on his face when Gibbs leaned back into his own seat.
"Aww I thought we had a moment there"
"out, get to school"
"Well," Tony looked at the school, realizing that he had already decided to skip classes that day "I would have to go around back since they lock the front door" he hoped his fragile lie would be just solid enough, for Gibbs to not wonder why he wasn't just going to the main entrance. No such luck.
"It wasn't locked ten minutes ago"
Tony's head jerked back to look at Gibbs, His face looking nothing less than chocked.
"you went inside my school? why would you do that?"
Gibbs cocked his head to one side and blinked for a moment "I wanted to talk to you. Your principal told me you hadn't come in this morning"
"only family is allowed to pull students out of class"
Tony could have sworn he saw the ghost of a smile play on Gibbs's libs.
"I am your grandfather remember"
"you know, that reminds me of this movie where- "
"out"
"going out"
Tony slipped out of the gray car and went to stand on the sidewalk, as it sped away. He felt relieved that Gibbs hadn't stuck around to make sure he actually went back to the gray building. Now he simply turned on his heels and walked back to where he came from.