Just a quick and funny Tony Freakout chapter to break up the tension of all that has happened to the men the past few chapters!
Tony stared at himself in the mirror, humming an odd tune he'd heard on the radio the other day as he combed through his hair. Turning his head left and right, he saw something shiny glinting in his hair, he blinked a few times and then leaned closer to the mirror, brushing his fingers over the shiny section of his hair.
"What the hell? When did I get metallic paint in my hair…?" Tony asked himself as he grabbed a wash cloth, soaking it in warm water and soap, then carefully pulling at the strands to erase the 'metallic paint'.
Tony pulled the wash cloth, expecting to see metallic paint on the wash cloth, except when he looked at the cloth, he saw the hairs that were still glinting in the bathroom light, sitting on the surface of the black wash cloth "No… No, no, no!" Tony shouted as he fisted the wash cloth in his hand.
Tony ran from the upstairs master bathroom all the way down to the basement where Gibbs had been busy working on the boat, "JETHRO!" Tony screamed, holding his hand out with the wash cloth still tightly fisted in his palm.
"WHAT?!" Gibbs shouted, then grunted loudly as he bumped his head on the boat from underneath it, he carefully moved out from underneath the boat, rubbing at his forehead, "What the hell Tony?!" Gibbs demanded as he stood up, swiping sawdust off his face.
"LOOK!" Tony shouted, shaking his fist with the cloth in it. A panicked expression on his face as he watched Gibbs take the wash cloth and slowly unfold it, when Gibbs started laughing, Tony furrowed his brows together "What the hell are you laughing at?! That's my HAIR! My HAIR, JETHRO!" Tony shouted in outrage.
Gibbs nodded as he folded the wash cloth back up, "Yes Tony, that's what happens when you get older… Would you like us to hold a funeral for your fallen soldiers?" Gibbs jested, casually brushing his hand through his silver hair as he looked at Tony.
Tony growled as he grabbed the wash cloth angrily from Gibbs' hand, "You're an asshole! This is… This is devastating, Jethro!" Tony shouted as he ran back up the stairs, grumbling the entire way.
"NO! I'm not an asshole! I'm a bastard!" Gibbs shouted after his irate husband, chuckling as he slid back underneath his boat, "Boy… Things are going to get interesting around here…" Gibbs mused out loud as he pulled the glasses back onto his face and returned to sanding the interior of the boat.
Tony paced frantically from the walk-in closet to the master bathroom, his eyes never leaving the wash cloth he'd left on the bed, wide open and the grey hairs – which each time he walked past, he could swear grew in numbers – still glinting off the overhead light.
Tony nearly jumped out of his skin when his cellphone began ringing on his nightstand, having totally forgotten that he texted McGee "Hey Tim!" Tony answered the phone in a panic "No… Sure, everything is fine… Look, do you think you could come with me to the mall? No… Yes, it is important! Please Tim? I really need you right now… Yeah, alright… Meet me in front of Filipes in about twenty minutes… Okay… Bye…" Tony said into the phone, he looked around the room and hung up, sighing as he glanced at the wash cloth one last time before heading out of the bedroom.
"I'm going to the mall, be back around dinner time!" Tony shouted down into the basement, he heard Gibbs' muffled 'okay' and then quickly grabbed his keys, wallet and phone, and headed out to his car.
When Tony finally got to the mall, he spotted McGee leaning against the wall outside of Filipes hair salon and rushed up to him "Tony, what the hell is the big emergency?! Delilah and I were in the process of picking out paint colors for the nursery…" McGee demanded, staring at Tony with clear irritation on his face.
Tony sighed as he shook his head "I don't even want to think about colors right now – just… Come on." Tony urged as he grabbed McGee's wrist and drug him into the hair salon.
Filipe came over "Antonio my beauty! How are you doing?!" Filipe asked in an overly gay and obviously faked french accent as he air-hugged Tony, then air-kissed each side of Tony's cheeks.
Tony shook his head "I'm not good Filipe, not good at all! Look at this!" Tony shrieked as he pointed to the few gray strands of hair at the side of his head above his ear "There are grey hairs… grey hairs EVERYWHERE, Filipe! Do something!" Tony demanded, his brows furrowed together.
"This… This is why you made me come to the mall, Tony? A few grey hairs?!" McGee questioned, his nostrils flaring slightly as he stared at Tony, anger now on his face.
Tony nodded frantically as he looked at McGee while Filipe played at the grey hairs on Tony's head "Yes Tim, this is why I called you to come meet me at the mall! I'm freaking out over here! I am too young and too beautiful to have GREY HAIRS!" Tony shouted, worrying his bottom lip between his teeth.
McGee shook his head slowly "I'm so out of here… Tony, I feel for you bro, but… This is just, not my thing." McGee stated, looking around the hair salon and then back at Tony "And it smells pretty terrible in here, and it's making my eyes water… So, I'm just… gonna go." McGee said as he slowly started backing up towards the door.
Tony rolled his eyes "Whatever Tim, I don't need you here! I'll just do this by myself then… I don't need anybody!" Tony exclaimed as he turned around and headed towards the salon chair where Filipe was waiting for him.
McGee bounded down the basement stairs twenty minutes later, "Gibbs? You down here?" McGee called as he hopped off the last step.
Gibbs groaned as he pulled himself out from underneath the boat, swiping at his eyes tiredly "Yeah, what's up?" Gibbs asked as he grabbed onto Tim's extended hand, hauling himself up to his feet.
"Sorry, didn't mean to wake you up boss… Uhm… What is going on with Tony exactly? He called me earlier, completely freaked out about grey hairs, and made me go to the hair salon, at the mall." McGee stated as he sat down on the sawhorse next to the workbench.
Gibbs sighed as he grabbed his bottle of bourbon, holding it out to McGee, who shook his head. Gibbs shrugged as he took a swig of the bottle then set it down "Honestly? Aside from the grey hairs freaking him out – I think Tony's having a mini midlife crisis… He's been getting testier and testier these past couple of weeks…" Gibbs stated as he sat down on top of the work bench.
McGee frowned slightly as he looked at the sawdust covered floor "So that's what all the mood swings were about? Well, now I feel bad… I left him at the mall, and I kind of upset him…" McGee said, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly.
Gibbs nodded as he laid his head back against the wall, "Yep… And, now I have to go find my husband before I have to build a new house entirely to store the new wardrobe he's probably buying right now… Lock up on your way out." Gibbs said as he hopped off the workbench and bounded up the stairs.
Gibbs had walked through the entire three-story mall as he looked for Tony, a couple of times he thought he'd seen his husband, but was sorely mistaken by only looking at just people's backs. He was close to giving up and just calling Tony when he saw the man in question standing in front of a mall display window with what looked like at least forty bags draped across each arm, and naturally from every store that had over a hundred dollars as the customary price tag.
Gibbs sighed as he walked over to Tony and stood behind him "I've been looking for you." Gibbs said quietly, setting his hands onto Tony's shoulders.
Tony frowned slightly "I'm right here… Grey hairs and all…" Tony said as he turned around, "For some reason, as I watched Filipe mixing the hair dye… I just… I couldn't do it" Tony said as he looked up at Gibbs' hair, his frown deepening slightly as he noticed that almost all the black that Gibbs' head once used to sport was now hardly noticeable.
"Why not? You didn't have a problem dyeing your hair before… When you did those blonde streaks…" Gibbs said as he took several of the shopping bags from Tony's overloaded arms.
Tony shrugged as he and Gibbs began walking through the mall, "Saw an old couple walking by the hair salon, he was so gentle and sweet with her… Holding her hand, and I mean… they had to at least be eighty or something… and I realized… I want that, with you. Old and grey, holding hands as we walk around the mall… or wherever we are." Tony said as he linked his pinky finger with Gibbs' pinky.
Gibbs grinned as he looked over at Tony, then down at all their shopping bags, "And all of these?" Gibbs asked, shaking the bags lightly with his free arm.
Tony chuckled and shook his head "Going to return a majority of the stuff I bought, but I think it's time for a change to my wardrobe… I'm tired of wearing stuffy suits every single day… I don't have to hide behind Armani Armor anymore, I have you to protect me now." Tony said, grinning as he looked over at Gibbs.
Gibbs nodded as he leaned over and kissed Tony sweetly on the lips "Damn right you do, golden oldie. And by the way, I like the grey hair… It makes you more… distinguished looking… Older, more mature." Gibbs said, winking at Tony as he kissed the younger man's greying temple.
Over the next few days, Tony liberally watched his hair in the mirror, and every day he seemed to notice a new grey hair pop up randomly over night, he was desperately trying to embrace aging into an 'older man' but it was compulsively difficult for him.
Tony walked down into the basement and sighed as he sat on the bottom step "So, is this how it is? You notice the first grey hair, and then they just start multiplying like little bunnies?" Tony asked, looking up at Gibbs.
Gibbs shook his head, chuckling softly as he set the sanding block down "No, its gradual Tony… It definitely doesn't happen overnight. And count yourself lucky that you lasted till you are almost fifty before it started going grey, some people start going grey in their thirties…" Gibbs said as he pulled the stool over to the steps and sat down, looking down at Tony.
"How old were you when you saw your first patch of grey?" Tony asked, smiling slightly as he stood up and moved between Gibbs' kneecaps, brushing his thumbs over the sides of Gibbs' temples.
"Probably thirty… Thirty one at the latest… It happened gradually though, I didn't wake up one day with a head full of grey." Gibbs said as he leaned up slightly, kissing Tony gently on the lips.
Tony smiled as he laid his forehead against Gibbs' forehead "Two grey old men walk into a bar…" Tony teased, earning him a swift swat on the ass, making both men chuckle, "I have to try the whole 'embrace the grey' thing, because right now… I'm still having problems with it." Tony said quietly as he looked into the blue eyes of his husband.
Gibbs smiled as he slid his fingers through Tony's hair, gently massaging into his scalp, "You'll get used to it, just stop watching it like it'll catch on fire if take your eyes off it for a second… It won't, I promise." He said as he kissed the tip of Tony's nose lightly.
