Tony sighed once again, took a good look in the mirror and made his way downstairs where he found Tim sitting in the living room and watching TV.
"I'm leaving in five, you ok on your own?". After all he had to ask.
"yeah, sure. But I'm not lying for you Tony."
"I would never ask you to lie to dad. Just don't say anything if he doesn't ask. And in case he asks, I am at the local pizzeria"
"You mean the one who is a five minute walk from here?" Tim asked surprised at his brothers choice of restaurant.
"Yeah Timmy-Boy, that is the one, in case you don't know the number it's on the fridge." Tim rolled his eyes before asking hopefully.
"You wouldn't mind bringing me a pizza on your way home? Cause you are coming home before dad, right?".
"Yeah, I'll be home before dad. Yeah sure, what do you want?" Tony asked tired, thinking that 'the last thing I do before I get grounded might as well include being nice to Tim'. Even if he hadn't done anything, the substitute would still be convinced it was him and ms Duncan would keep her word and check wih the substitute so Tony would most likely be blamed for both episodes.
-the other Tony-
"Tim I am home" Tony shouted about 3 hours later. No sign of Tim in the living room or kitchen which was weird considering Tony had called fifteen minutes ago and confirmed Tim's choice of pizza. He sighed and left the pizza and his house keys on the counter top. Before making his way upstairs. Deciding to change clothes before getting Tim Tony went into his bedroom. He trowed his wallet towards the bed, not that he really knew were it landed since he was focused on unbuttoning his shirt. Trowing the black shirt away and running a hand trough his hair he finally looked up and almost got a heart attack. Leaning against his desk stood his dad. And he didn't look happy. Not at all.
"Jee dad, you almost gave me a heart attack" Tony said, trying not to sound nervous. Gibbs just stared at him without responding. Tony sighed and broke the eye contact trying to find a T-shirt in the mess that was his room.
"Gonna tell me where you were?" Gibbs asked. Tony turned around, eyes going wide when he found his father in his personal space holding out a T-shirt for him. Once again breaking the eye contact Tony squirmed uneasy and put on the T-shirt. Once he had the T-shirt on he felt his dad's hand cupping his chin, gently forcing him to look him in the eyes. Tony gulped. The disappointment was clear in his dad's eyes.
"At Bobby's Pizza"
"Why?"
"I had a date. And I know the rules dad, I know I broke them, but at least I brought pizza for Tim. That gotta count for something" he added hopefully." When his dad´s glare intensified Tony tried to squirm away but Gibbs gently kept the hold of his son's chin. Suddenly Gibbs motioned his head towards the bed and let go of his hold.
"Take a seat". Happy to at least have ten seconds to gather his thoughts and put on a neutral face expression Tony complied. Gibbs on the other hand moved Tony's desk chair so he was sitting right across his son.
"What is the rule about going out on school nights son?" Tony sighed heavily.
"No going out on school nights, I already told you I know the rules" Tony said starting to get angry."I have known them since the day you taught me them.
"So why did you break them 3 times today?"
"I didn't" Tony all but yelled.
"Hey!" His dad once again stood up and moved into his sons personal space. "You don't yell at me. I am not the enemy. Got that?". Tony nodded.
"What's going on with you today Tony, yelling, fighting, disrespecting a teacher? That's not you."
"So why don't you then seem to believe me" Tony asked not even trying to hide the hurt he felt.
"What?" Gibbs asked stunned.
"You say you know who I am, still you seem to take the teachers´s word over mine. How does that go together?"
Gibbs was too stunned to even reply. Suddenly everything seemed to click and he searched in Tony's eyes for a moment and mentally head-slapped himself. Tony wouldn't lie him right in the face, in fact he almost never lied and when he did Gibbs was almost always able to tell. Then there was the fact that Tony hadn't even had a chance to explain himself properly.
"I'm sorry son, I should have given you an honest chance to explain" Gibbs said looking Tony in the eyes. It took a few seconds, but then Tony gave a small smile and Gibbs smiled back, happy that his son forgave him.
"It's okay dad. You couldn't have known, but I swear I didn't do half of what they told you and this morning was really an accident." Tony said, wanting to get every card on the table.
"I am listening"
"There's a knew kid in my class. His name is Anthony as well, so my friends thought it would be fun to play with the substitute a little so we switched places. Everything was fine at first, then all of the sudden this other Tony starts disrespecting the teacher and disturbing in class. When I tried to explain things she thought I was made to take the blame for it so she refused to believe me."
"And the fight I heard about?"
"That's not what you think. Sure I was at fault but not nearly as much as you've been told. I confronted the other Tony and he practically laughed me in the face so I pushed him against the wall. He saw Ms Duncan and made a scene out of it, trying to make me look bad. Which he wouldn't have succeeded in unless the substitute would have believed me in the first place"
Gibbs nodded thoughtfully for a moment.
"Okay. I hear you. Still Tony, if you just had been firm and told them no, you wouldn't have been in this mess at the first place. And you know better than to push people, even if you get angry, not to talk about deliberately disobeying the rules." Tony looked down at the ground. Yeah he knew better than that. "I need to think about this, son. You stay up here til dinner"