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Tony frowned at the scent wafting to his nose as his moved into the house he shared with Gibbs. What had Gibbs burned now? The guy could make some amazing steaks, but pretty much anything else he somehow managed to turn into a burned crisp.
Tony had only been gone for a couple of hours to a littoral region. Much like Gibbs, he loved the sea. That’s why they’d gotten a house as close to water as they could.
It was a further commute to DC for their jobs, but neither of them cared because when they were home it was like they were the only two people in the world. Tony was glad that they didn’t have any neighbors because Gibbs’ frequent cooking explosions and disasters were not something he wanted to have to explain on a regular basis. Where they lived now, their closest neighbor was at least five miles away and it was amazing.
“You’re a terrible cook,” Tony called out as he entered the house. “You know you don’t have to burn dinner to get me to cook.”
Gibbs just glared at Tony as he entered the house. “You weren’t here. I was hungry.”
”You could have made steak.”
“I didn’t want steak.” Gibbs glared.
“Why are you angry at me?”
“You weren’t here.”
Tony rolled his eyes. “I was gone for a couple of hours. I invited you to go with me.”
”I wasn’t hungry then.”
“You could have waited,” Tony pointed out reasonably.
Gibbs just pouted at him, actually pouted at him.”Make it up to me? I missed you.”
“Aw. Were you trying to make a romantic meal for us?”
Gibbs looked away, “Maybe.”
Tony chuckled. He was the only one who ever got to see this side of Gibbs. The man had relaxed a lot since they moved to this secluded cove.
He was a lot more playful and Tony thought happier. He enjoyed seeing this side of Gibbs. ”Alright, come help me cook dinner. What were you planning to make?”
“I was trying that easy bake pasta recipe that you said no one could mess up.”
“You mean my secret family lasagna recipe?”
Gibbs grunted.
“The recipe that is only easy if I break down each normal step of the recipe into three or more simpler steps? That recipe?” Tony looked at Gibbs with wide eyes as he tried to figure out if there were some other recipe Gibbs could be talking about.
Gibbs shrugged sheepishly, “Maybe? You know how much I like it.”
“Ok. Let’s go. I’ll show you how to make it again. Hopefully, you didn’t burn all the ingredients and we still have enough for dinner.”
Gibbs grinned. “I learned from last time and made sure we had extra before I started trying to make it."
“Great. Do you remember the first step?”
“Uh... Turn on the oven?”
“Good. Do you remember what temperature to turn it to?”
“375 because 3 is too early, 7 is too late and 5 is just right.”
“Great. What next?”
“Spray it all around?”
“And why do we do that?”
“Because it’s the best way to wake up.”
Tony couldn’t help smirking. He was happy to know that his less than normal recipe instructions had helped Gibbs remember even if he didn’t seem to be able to make it through the whole recipe on his own. Tony watched Gibbs quickly spray the pan.
“No, no, no. Remember go slow, like you would in the morning.”
Gibbs sighed, impatient, but sprayed the pan slower and more thoroughly this time.
“Next?”
Gibbs frowned as he tried to remember the next step. He was pretty sure it was too soon for the noodles despite how much noodles related to spraying in his head. He couldn't remember what was supposed to be next, though.
Gibbs shot Tony a frown. Tony smiled gently, “Remember, it’s the red sauce because everyone turns red as the blood rushes down before they get to taste the yummy noodle.”
“Right.” Gibbs agreed, even though that one didn’t really make sense to him. He knew how to spread red sauce in a pan though.
“Next the noodle then?”
“Yep.”
Gibbs layered the noodle in the pan.Tony watching carefully, though there wasn’t much you could do to mess up that step.
“Now, we make the meat sauce because the noodle always tastes better with some extra flavor?”
“Go ahead. Start with the beef and add the marinara to it. Let it simmer to really get all those succulent flavors going strong.”
Gibbs nodded, though, he mostly thought Tony was speaking another language. Succulent? Really? Still a basic meat sauce with jarred marinara wasn’t too difficult.
“Then?”
“The melty white cheesy goodness?” the question in Gibbs’ voice obvious.
Tony nodded. “This is the repetitive stroking part.”
“Right. We need to work up a sweat with the red, then we get the noodle, and then the creamy white cheese.” Gibbs couldn’t believe the words coming out of his mouth, but he could see the twitch in Tony’s lips and knew it made him happy for Gibbs to say these things.
Tony watched as Gibbs did two more layers. “Don’t forget the final layer is special.”
“I remember. You have to add the italian touch.” By which the recipe meant italian seasoning on top of the last layer of mozzarella cheese.
“Good job. Did you manage this when you tried?”
Gibbs shook his head. He’d missed a couple of steps at least he was pretty sure. The top had kind of looked like that when he’d put it in, but the bottom had been completely different.
“Alright, well don’t forget the most important instruction.” Tony looked at Gibbs meaningfully.
Gibbs sighed, but intoned, “Always cover up.”
Tony grinned and helped Gibbs put the tin foil over the baking dish. Together they stuck it in the oven and Tony set the time for 45 minutes. “Just enough time for some fun of our own before dinner is ready.”
Gibbs grinned lavisciously at Tony. This was the best part of this recipe. The lasagna was good too, but they could never make this recipe without Tony getting super horny. Gibbs loved that more than the lasagna, though he’d never tell Tony that. He thought Tony might know him well enough to figure it out on his own, though.
Tony grinned at the timer as he noticed that there was exactly one minute left on it after their shenanigans. He took the cover off and put the pan back in until the cheese was nice and bubbly. He let it cook another seven to eight minutes before pulling it out to rest while he went back up to join Gibbs in bed.
Somehow, Gibbs was never awake enough to find out the final secret to this recipe. Tony didn’t really mind, though. He was happy to make it whenever, Gibbs wanted it. Tony had to admit that Gibbs failed attempts as an excuse to get Tony to make it were super cute, though.