Work Text:
Tintinnabulation
Gibbs nodded and moved to follow when he heard the tintinnabulation of Tony’s bells around his neck. “Wait. We should talk about the bells first.”
Tony sighed. “Fine.” He really didn’t want to talk about it at all, but better to talk here than somewhere they could be overheard.
“What does it mean that you got your bell around my neck?”
“It means that I want you as my mate. If a bell had appeared around my neck, myth indicates that you would have been my true mate meaning that you also want to be my mate and a bunch of other mumbo jumbo I’m sure you don’t care about.”
“But I do want you as my mate.” Gibbs protested.
“You do?”
“Yep.” Gibbs pulled Tony into a kiss. “We just need to talk some more about whatever thing means. Is the belling supposed to bond us? Or is bonding separate?”
“We formed a partial bond. That’s what summoned the lion spirit. It hasn’t been consummated though, so neither of us can use it, yet.”
“Perhaps we should take care of that before heading into the office, then?” Gibbs suggested.
Tony stared at Gibbs in shock. “You, the workaholic, want to delay work for sex?”
“You’re more important, Tony. Plus, I get the feeling that as soon as we walk in the office door we won’t have a moment to ourselves.”
“Probably true.” Tony conceded, still surprised at Gibbs’ apparent willingness. Gibbs had never even indicated that he might be physically attracted to Tony before despite seeming to think about being mates. Tony had assumed that Gibbs was thinking about being mates so much simply because he liked Tony, but wasn’t attracted to him.
Gibbs rolled his eyes as Tony stood there staring at him, apparently deep in thought. It wasn’t like Tony was hard on the eyes. Admittedly, that wasn’t what first attracted Gibbs to Tony, but Tony had enough self confidence to know few would actually turn down sex with him.
When Tony still hadn’t moved, Gibbs decided to take matters into his own hands and dragged him upstairs to the master bedroom.
“What?” Tony asked, shocked, as he was forcefully dragged from his thoughts.
Gibbs pushed Tony to sit on the bed. “What’s the problem? I thought you wanted this.”
“I do, but..”
“But what? Come on, Tony, tell me.”
“I don’t want you to regret it and I don’t understand why you’re suddenly so willing when you were so cautious before and wanted to take things slow.”
Gibbs sighed. He hated talking about feelings, but they obviously needed to before they could continue on. “Tony. I was being cautious because I didn’t believe in all this mumbo jumbo and I’d just seen you turned into a cat. I'm scared about the possible repercussions of bonding as I don't really understand anything that is happening. I’ve always been attracted to you.”
“You have?” Tony couldn’t believe it. “You never showed any signs of it before.”
“I have been and still am, your boss. It would be really bad form for me to show my attraction. Plus, I got the sense that people had used you before and I didn’t want to be another one in that line. You needed to grow into yourself.”
Tony stared at Gibbs. He could feel the bond already strengthening even without the sex.
“You know I’ve never been one to believe in destiny and all this stuff has seemed like a lot of pre-destined crap. I wanted you to have the chance to pick someone else, but I almost lost you today and I don’t want to wait anymore. I will wait for you, though, if that’s what you need, Tony.”
“No, no. I don’t need to wait. I just couldn’t believe that you were really interested in me. You never showed any signs. I couldn't feel the bond between us. I said we had a partial bond because I know the belling released power and it seems like it should have started a bond, but I can’t feel it and you showed no signs of feeling it either. Maybe I’m a dud and we’re not actually going to be true mates.”
Gibbs wrapped his arms around Tony. “Don’t sell yourself short, Tony. I’ve never met anyone like you.”