Chapter 2: It is during our darkest moments that we must focus to see the light (Aristotle)
Tony DiNozzo had thought that his sea legs would come along sometime around the first few weeks aboard of the USS Reagan. He was not really seasick, but he still felt the movements of the ship, even though everybody kept repeating that a ship as big as this did not really roll with the waves.
Obviously, his stomach had not gotten the memo even after more than five months staying on this goddamn casket, acting up during everything that was not blue sky.
He still told his stomach to suck it up as he stood at the entrance to one of the hangars together with Captain Bolt and a few other officers during a heavy downpour and waves that threatened to crush onto the deck, watching as three freight Quinjets from Stark Industries landed perfectly due to their vertical take-off abilities.
Three pilots climbed out of the cockpits, two of them turning to the crewmembers that were gathering around the machines to get them secured. The third took off his helmet, stashed it under his arm Tom-Cruise-style, and grinned all over his face as he walked towards the open hangar doors.
For anyone else, the show would have been ruined by the rain that was plastering his hair to his head, however, Anthony Edward Stark was an entertainer, and sure as hell would not let a little rain stop his show.
Shaking his head and making his hair stand up in every possible direction he stopped before the men in the hangar, keeping his showman smile.
"Gentlemen. You ordered some awesome planes?"
"You put a fucking jet engine on my wheelchair!"
Captain Edward Bolt was laughing along with the bunch of engineers and officers that sat with them around the table, astonished to find out that their quiet and to-the-book Agent Afloat was sandbox-friends with Tony Stark of all people. He also did not know that the younger man had spent almost a year to get back to his feet after someone broke his leg. The boy could've gone pro, and nobody gave a damn that he'd had to dig himself out of that hole. Well, except for the friend who had just made a journey around half of the planet.
Actually, considering the hilarious stories he had heard in the past two hours, he was not sure if they weren't more like brothers, the way they had tortured each other with stupid pranks starting in elementary school and, obviously, ongoing until now.
"You were whining all the time that it was too slow. And you helped putting it there!"
Stark had not seemed surprised when he saw his friend amongst the people watching their new equipment land. To be honest, Bolt was quite sure that his friend was one, if not the only reason the engineer had taken the effort to come all the way to the USS Reagan.
He knew that DiNozzo had not applied for the position, and the kid was not made for a life on sea, even if he made the best out of it. He was definitely the best of all the Agents he'd had on board so far if you ignored the slightly green hue of his skin every time the ship moved…
"I wanted it to be motorized, not to break the speed record of the SR71!"
Bolt had not bothered finding out why a highly decorated NCIS Agent was on his ship, most probably against his will. He was doing his job, he was doing it good, and if he mothered everyone with a little problem, he'd never have time to do his own job.
However, Tony DiNozzo had laughed more in the past 30 minutes than in the past four months, and he was pretty sure that he also ate more while bickering with Tony Stark of all people. Edward Bolt was a father of four, and as devoted to this job as he was to the Navy. Troubled children, no matter if they were approaching the wrong side of 40 or not, they made him curious, protective – and feral, depending on the situation.
"Please, as if the SR71 is still holding any record since I built my suit!"
DiNozzo actually was sticking his tongue out at the other man. Most people were sucking up to Tony Stark. He was rich, he was a genius… and he was rich. Being on his good side only brought advantages. His best friend did not need to make good weather with him. Thus not forgoing the rather crude answer to Stark's announcement.
"Well, I'm sure you broke even some she didn't hold. I guess nobody ever pissed in a Blackbird."
His Agent Afloat ended up with a bread roll thrown at his head, and his crew and Tony Stark were crying with laughter.
Edward Bolt asked himself what had happened to the young NCIS Agent that his friend felt the need to fly around half of the planet to pay him a visit and cheer him up.
The public relations team Stark had dragged along was not allowed to participate in their get together in the wardroom. They took a few photos of the engineer and the Captain shaking hands (and a few of Tony toweling his head dry for whatever else the billionaire wanted to leak from his trip) before sauntering off to the cabins they had been assigned to.
They hoped for better weather to get a few shots of Stark himself landing one of the Quinjets – mostly, they hoped for good weather, though, because all of them were seasick the minute they had set a foot on the flight deck.
Tony DiNozzo was looking back over his shoulder at his childhood friend with envy as they made it to his cabin. Senior had always been disappointed that his son made a big detour around every boat, one of the few things that he and the Stark heir differed in. Whenever Howard chose to take his yacht out to woo his friends and did bring his son along, Dino stayed on the main land, and T got to sail to his heart's content.
So Tony Stark always had had his sea legs. Tony DiNozzo wondered, though, how he would keep up with Gibbs' style of offensive driving. While both of them loved fast cars, Stark rather played with the engine than putting them to the road – he was not driving like an old Grandma, but he for sure was no Michael Schumacher. How he could reconcile his motion sickness in a racing car with flying his suit at Mach3 was beyond the NCIS Agent. Also, how he ever thought that driving this race car in Monaco was a good idea. But Tony had been dying back then, so maybe he had not really cared.
Normally, both of them were talking a mile a minute when they were nervous, or when it was just too quiet, when they didn't want to listen to another person, when they wanted to ease the mood. In the moment, though, Tony Stark was following Tony DiNozzo with a small overnight bag and the inevitable suitcase containing MARK V in his hand to his tiny cabin without saying a word.
The Captain had laughed when Stark had regaled them with a story of how one of their bunk beds at the boarding school had given in to 12 boys sitting on top of it, wanting to make a joke when he offered to bunk him up with his friend again.
The engineer just grinned a "might be fun", and couldn't be talked out of it again. The Agent had not contradicted, and by the time DiNozzo was leading their guest away, it was not only late, but Bolt was not so sure if he'd not been played. In the end, he shrugged it off. The Navy only could profit from a bit of positive press that seemed to be following Stark and Iron Man around, and nobody needed to know that the main mission obviously had been Cheer up Agent DiNozzo.
As soon as DiNozzo had closed the door behind them, both the overnight bag and MARK V dropped to the floor and he was enveloped in an embrace that he was readily returning. He had always been taller than T, and in the moment he wished he could bury his nose in the crook of the other man's neck instead of having it tickled by Stark's hair.
The trademark goatee ™ scratched softly over the side of his own neck, warm lips speaking against his skin.
"God, I thought they'd never let us go…"
"I wanna be mad at you for showing up here the way you did, but… I seriously started contemplating going for a swim…"
The man in his arms just hugged him tighter.
"Don't even joke about that, Dino…" T's head perfectly fit into the crook of his neck, his hands fisting the fabric of Dino's shirt as he drew the other man even closer.
"I'm sorry… I didn't… I… God, I love that you're here, and I dread the day you have to leave already now." Inhaling his friend's unique scent of motor oil, expensive soap, and a tiny tinge of coconut, he shifted back a bit, locking his gaze with the other Tony's eyes.
"You must admit it's somewhat cruel. You can just up and leave. I have to stay. Yet I'm so happy you're here, so I'll stop complaining right now."
They looked at each other for a few more moments, before moving out of each other's space. Stark carefully picked up MARK V, putting the suitcase in a corner, before putting his overnight bag back on his shoulder.
"There anywhere I can shower, or do I have to use the crew facilities and be careful to not drop the soap?" the engineer asked then, making the agent both laugh and open a door right next to a floor-to-ceiling locker.
"I am important enough to have my own shower."
The inventor was just staring at the tiny room that contained a toilet and a shower.
"I guess we won't be sharing in there, huh? I'll have trouble turning around without bumping into anything."
DiNozzo sighed at that.
"You'll be lucky if there's hot water. And I still like my showers better in the morning."
Stark just shrugged.
"Evenings or when Peps decides I'm too greasy – some things never change, huh?"
He got a smile as answer.
"Make sure you're squeaky clean. I won't share my bunk with motor-oil-you."
The shower indeed had been colder than Stark would have preferred, but he felt refreshed, and indeed way cleaner after travelling most of the day because the other pilots were too chicken to test out what his Quinjets really could do.
Dino was already in bed, his clothes nicely folded and stacked on the chair right next to the small desk in the room.
Tony simply put his clothes over the back of the chair before stashing his bag right next to his suitcase and walking up to the bed Dino was occupying.
"C'mon, scoot over", he said, grabbing the blanket from the upper bunk. They'd both try to hoard the blanket at some point during the night, anyway, so why not have two right from the beginning?
His friend sent him a scandalized glance. "Mr. Stark, we're on a naval aircraft carrier. It will most probably sink if you start some funny business with an innocent agent like me." He nevertheless made space for the other man, scooting down with the other Tony until they had found a comfortable position that allowed the federal agent to cuddle up to the inventor.
"Yeah, I guess you and I'd be the first guys ever starting some funny business on a ship of the Navy."
Reaching out, the engineer killed the light before placing his lips against the other man's forehead.
"If you'd wanted funny business, you'd have joined me in the shower or not been wearing anything when I came back out. I'm here for you, Dino, not because I wanted to scratch an itch."
The agent just sighed, burying his nose against Stark's shirt as he rested his head against his friend's shoulder, casually throwing his arm over the engineer's belly as Stark rearranged the blankets around them.
"Not that I'd be against scratching that itch, you know, because there's definitely an itch. Did ya know that Peps is dating Director Agent now?"
Dino simply closed his eyes as his friend rambled on about losing his CEO with benefits to the Director of S.H.I.E.L.D.. He had missed this. A warm body right next to him. Anthony DiNozzo did not spend the night. He never took anybody to his home because he did not want to share his privacy with a random stranger. His colleagues never saw behind the frat/playboy appearance he kept up at work, always assuming that he was bedding anything with a pulse.
But cuddling (or scratching itches) with his best friend was something different. The man had seen him at his worst, and vice versa. If he had to decide whom he trusted more, T or Gibbs, T would win. Sad, but true.
"I liked him better when he was still Agent Agent. And is it weird that the guy's scarier than Fury and getting on like a house on fire with Loki once he got over the you stabbed me! thing?"
Stark placed his free arm under his head, getting comfortable as DiNozzo laughed softly.
"It took you like three seconds to get over the he threw me out of a window! thing once you realized that you were flirting with the blue-eyed, possessed version of him."
"I was threatening him!"
"Is that what you tell people?"
"That's what I told him. He asked me if I came to appeal to his humanity."
"He does realize that he's an alien and it should've been… alienity…?"
Now the engineer laughed.
"I wish I'd come up with that."
When Dino didn't answer that right away, Tony thought he'd fallen asleep, not that he blamed him. He knew that Dino and the open sea didn't get along, most probably he did also not sleep well.
He had already closed his eyes, not changing his position, arm still behind his head and started going through the latest modifications he wanted to make to the suit in his mind, not actively trying to fall asleep. It was sometime in the morning in New York and thanks to both of his new roommates in the tower he was actually well rested.
Who knew that both Bruce and Loki were health nuts and teaming up on him concerning science binges or living on a caffeine diet? That J.A.R.V.I.S. and Pepper were happily conspiring was not that much of a surprise, though.
At some point, Dino cuddled closer without actually moving much before speaking up again.
"T…?"
Tony grunted a drowsy "Hmmm?" in response, a bit astonished that he'd actually been dozing off when he thought he couldn't.
"Thank you for coming…"
He lazily turned his head, his lips grazing the other man's forehead.
"Anytime, Dino. Anytime."
