Thank you for all the sweet reviews! They really made my day! Hope you like the next chapter. X LM

Gibbs had installed himself on the couch to get some shut-eye when he heard voices by the front door. Was Tony back already? He stretched out and peeped through the window.

Tony was talking to some woman while he unloaded shopping bags from the trunk of the car. When he reached out for the second bag, a container with coffee-flavored ice cream fell out. The woman picked it up and handed it over with a smile on her face.

"Coffee, huh? Good taste." She smiled again and Tony followed her line of sight to the front door when she suddenly looked surprised. Gibbs was leaning against the doorframe and gazing at him with an emotion in his eyes that Tony had difficulty with reading.

"This is my, eh, boyfriend. Derek, meet Tracy, she works at the supermarket. Tracy, Derek."

Tony watched as the two shook hands.

"Oh, you're a Marine, that's for sure." She laughed.

"What gave me away?" Gibbs smirked.

"Probably the iron handshake… Or your USMC hoodie." She grinned.

"Hey! Why couldn't I be a Marine?" Tony frowned.

"Oh sweety," Tracy laughed as she threw a teasing smile over her shoulder at him, "definitely the hair." Gibbs laughed too when Tony absentmindedly stroked his fingers through his brown strands and pouted.

"Great! We've lived here for five seconds and you're already ganging up on me with other people!"

"Awww!" Gibbs smiled sweetly as he walked over to the younger man and patted him on the back. He gave Tony's shoulder a reassuring squeeze as Tracy watched them with a big grin. There appeared to be at least one person on the base who didn't hate gay people. Again Gibbs wondered how long they would be here. He was shaken out of his reveries by Tony who pushed a shopping bag into his hands.

"Here honey, make yourself useful!" Tony smirked.

"Whipped, are ya?" Tracy grinned at Gibbs. The older man let out a deep sigh and shook his head slowly.

"That's what I get for falling in love with a pretty boy!"

The two men walked around each other in the kitchen as if they'd been living together for years. Tony was surprised how easily they'd fallen into a rhythm.

"You brought me a surprise?"

Tony turned around and saw Gibbs standing there, holding up the container of his favorite ice cream. He laughed and rummaged in another bag on the kitchen counter.

"Yeah but this…" he turned back around at Gibbs with a six pack of beer and an expensive bottle of Bourbon in his two hands. "This is the real surprise."

The older man smirked as he took the liquor from Tony and read the label.

"They probably already think we're addicts of some kind. A base is like a small town, everyone knows everything about everyone.

Tony laughed and shook his head. "Nah, I made a big show out of buying fresh vegetables so I think we're good."

As the Italian proceeded to put everything in the cupboards, Gibbs started to peel the potatoes that went with the steaks they were having for dinner. As the house was filled with the delicious smell of a homemade meal, Tony started the fireplace. He looked around the house that would become his home over the next couple of days… weeks, maybe.

There was a big comfy couch near the fireplace. In front of it was a small oak coffee table with a few magazines Tony had laid there to make it homier. The couch was placed directly across a flat screen TV. Next to it were several shelves that were all filled with Tony's DVD's.

Behind the couch stood a large round table, the only one in the small house. The kitchen was behind the table. It was tiny but cozy and Tony smiled as he watched Gibbs cooking at the small furnace with a deeply concentrated look on his face. Next to the furnace was a counter and above it a few cupboards.

Tony walked away from the kitchen to find a small hallway with two doors on each side. One was the bathroom. Someone had had the terrible idea to paint it a light shade of pink. There were pink tiles on the floor, a pink wall and – god have mercy – even pink towels. Tony smirked at the thought of Gibbs coming out of the bathroom with a little pink towel wrapped around his waist. Wait, why was he even picturing that at all? There were two small sinks with a large mirror above them and an equally small shower in the corner of the room. Great, he would probably have to take a shower with the door open to fit inside of the tiny cabin.

He opened the other door and stilled in the doorway. The room was nearly filled with the queen-sized bed that was placed against the wall. On either side of the bed were two nightstands with one small drawer and an ugly lamp with flower-pattern on top of them. Tony let out a deep sigh. This house needed some serious dose of testosterone. Good thing they were here. Then suddenly his gaze fell back on the bed.

"Crap. That couch better be comfortable." He muttered as he closed the door behind him and walked back to the kitchen.

"Almost ready." Gibbs said as he checked the oven.

"God, Gibbs! That was amazing! Ugh, I don't think I can move."

The older man chuckled and shook his head at the younger man's antics.

"You know", he remarked in his ever-husky voice, "we should probably find out how thick the walls of these adjoining houses are before we use our real names."

Tony groaned as he cast a quick glance at the wall. "They better be thick enough, I need a place to come home and be myself." He got up from the table and began to collect the plates and cutlery. They were quiet as Tony did the dishes and Gibbs dried them. They had hardly done anything that day but the first days were always the hardest: you constantly had to remind yourself that you were playing a role in which you had not yet properly settled.

"Beer?" Tony smiled as he stood near the fridge. Gibbs nodded and a while later, they sat down on the couch together. As the younger man twisted the cap off the bottle and took a large swig from the cold drink, he groaned loudly and closed his eyes as he let his head fall back on the backrest.

"Ah! I really needed that!"

Gibbs rolled his eyes and gulped the entire bottle down. He sighed and looked around, probably getting accustomed to the house, Tony thought.

"Did you see the bedroom?" Tony grinned at Gibbs' resigned nod.

"It's no problem, I'll take the couch." The younger man shrugged.

"Nah, not used to sleeping in a bed anyways. You take the bed." Another shrug.

"Another one?" Gibbs held up his bottle.

"Who are we kidding, just get the Bourbon already!" Tony sprang up from the couch and took two tumblers out of the cupboard. Gibbs poured them a few fingers each and gulped his drink down entirely before pouring himself another one.

Tony raised an eyebrow. The older man was drinking the strong liquor like it was water and he wondered if he should offer to talk. What would he talk about, though? It wasn't like Gibbs was an open book. He frowned again as his bos…boyfriend poured himself a third drink.

"Gibbs?" he whispered as he laid his hand on the older man's wrist. Gibbs' body tensed up for a moment before he visibly relaxed.

He needed something to distract the other man from the Bourbon.

"Okay, tell me about yourself, Derek." Tony thought he could see the corners of the older man's mouth twitch as they made eye contact. He had to tell himself not to look away from the steel blues that usually intimidated him. They were equals here and he had to start acting like it if they were going to be a convincing couple.

"Fine", Gibbs shook him out of his reveries. "I'm Derek. Forty-seven. Reservist in the Marine Corps. I'm here to help train the newly enlisted guys; including gun-training and endurance tests. It's a temporary position as I've been hired to fill in for a sergeant on medical leave."

"Yeah, yeah." Tony waved at him. "That's great but what makes me fall in love with you?"

Gibbs' eyes were unreadable for what felt like a never-ending moment. Then he continued talking like Tony had just asked the most common question you could think of.

"I think Adriano just has a soft spot for older guys." He remarked casually and smiled when Tony let out a bark of laughter.

"Easy cowboy! I don't have daddy-issues in this life, remember?" Tony laughed and repeated the story he'd told Gibbs in the car about his two fake, happily married parents who lived abroad.

The silver haired man pursed his lips.

"Let's see… My sense of humor. We tease each other all the time. I'm loyal to Adriano and he knows he can depend on me. I give him a sense of security, he feels safe when I'm around."

Tony managed to nod, feeling numbed. He sometimes hated the older man for being able to read him like an open book when he had difficulty breaking through Gibbs' barriers.

"Why do you love him?" Tony forced himself to control his voice but he sounded a little breathless nonetheless.

"That's easy", Gibbs gave a laugh that sounded somewhat practiced. "When you give me attention, it's like only I exist and everything else fades away. You're sweet, loyal. Funny. Handsome."

And still the silver haired man kept staring at him like that. Like he was expecting something to happen but he himself wasn't really sure what that was exactly.

Tony glanced away, unable to hold eye contact any longer without wanting to break the built-up tension. He reached out for the bourbon and poured himself a generous amount of the amber liquid. He sighed as he felt it burn its way down his throat and calmed a little.

"Boxers or briefs?" well, he'd dismantled the tense situation all right. Gibbs' eyebrows shut up and nearly disappeared into his hairline.

"You gonna buy me underwear now?" Gibbs appeared to be torn between laughing and glaring. He narrowed his eyes at Tony and the Italian shook his index finger.

"Nope, you don't get to glare at me in this relationship! I'm your equal!" he laughed as he got a slap to the back of his head.

"Equal? Hah. I'll just get you to submit another way." Now it was Tony's turn to raise his eyebrows.

"Submit, huh? Now we're getting to the good part!" He ignored the fuzzy feeling in his head. The alcohol was starting to kick in as he sipped from his fourth bourbon.

Gibbs merely shrugged as if he'd made a comment about the weather. That man's cool was really something to envy.

"You still haven't answered my question." Tony grinned. Gibbs wasn't getting away that easily. He already knew the answer from the times they'd been to the gym together at NCIS. He wanted the older man to loosen up though, and this was probably the fastest way.

"Boxers." A beat and then, "favorite position?"

As the Italian's mouth fell open, Gibbs allowed himself a full-blown smile. "I give as good as I get.

Tony wiggled his eyebrows. "Do you now?" he received a smile and a shake of Gibbs' head in return.

"You still haven't answered my question", Gibbs mimicked Tony as if the younger man talked like a little girl.

"You mean… with a man?"

"It's not all that different, Tony." He chuckled and forced himself to keep up his smile when it occurred to him that he'd made it sound like he had any experience in the matter.

Tony frowned and asked the obvious question. "Something you should tell me?"

"I paid attention in class, DiNozzo. Not much different." He managed to say the words as if he was slightly annoyed, just enough to convince the younger man.

Tony shrugged. "Depends on the person I'm with. Derek makes me feel safe so probably with him on top." He carefully avoided using 'you'.

Suddenly he felt strangely warm. He looked at the fireplace but the flames had nearly died down and the wood was just smoldering now. He was overwhelmed by the cozy feeling he had, sitting on the couch with Gibbs of all people. The older man had finally looked away and emptied his glass in one tug.

"Are you sure you're okay with taking the couch tonight? I can –"

"Tony. It's fine." Gibbs interrupted him. The older man looked dead tired all of a sudden and Tony resisted the urge to ask again. He brushed his teeth and quickly undressed to his boxers. The central heating hadn't been turned on yet so the fireplace was the only source of heat they had so far. The rest of the house was cold and Tony shivered as he crawled under the thick duvet.

Moments later, Gibbs came into the room and opened the large closet, closing it again with a frustrated sigh.

"Something wrong?" Tony asked.

"There's only one blanket, apparently." Gibbs grumbled and looked accusingly at the covers of the bed.

The younger man cheered mentally – great, maybe now the stubborn bastard would get a good night's sleep for once.

He scooted over and tried not to laugh at Gibbs' expression.

"You know", Tony remarked innocently, "that scared look you got going on there may be the reason your marriages failed."

Before he realized what was happening, Gibbs had grabbed a pillow from the foot end of the bed and thrown it at his face. He laughed loudly and attempted to get revenge but the older man ducked away in time and the pillow flew past his head, hitting the carpet beside the bed.

Tony sighed as Gibbs joined him under the blanket and he felt the heat radiate off the other man.

"I could get used to this."

A head slap.

"Go to sleep, DiNozzo."

Gibbs chuckled as he was smacked on the arm in return and he heard the younger man mumble something about 'equals'. As he let his body get accustomed to the mattress and his tired bones could rest, he sighed deeply.

How long could he keep this up? Tony was already falling asleep; judging by the way his breathing slowed and his body grew heavier. The room was dimly lit b-by the moonlight seeping in through the curtains and Gibbs was just able to make out the contours of the Italian's face. He looked so innocent and young and Gibbs was overwhelmed by the familiar urge to protect the man from everything that could hurt him.

His eyes grew heavy and he was ready to succumb to a decent night's sleep when Tony turned around and flung his arm over Gibbs' chest.

So much for sleep, Gibbs thought, as he willed his body not to react to the closeness and scent that was undoubtedly Tony.

TBC!