Work Text:
It wasn’t until Leroy went to college that he realized he was different. At home with Tony Stark and Loki, his genius abilities were normal. Having multifarious thoughts and conversations were just what they did at home.
They weren’t trying to shelter him, but he was far more interested in learning about the science and magic that interested them than in learning about other people. He hated being left out of the conversations and felt obligated to discover what they were talking about regardless of whether he was actually interested in it or not.
He never realized that there was a whole other world outside of his sheltered life. He thought this was how all kids grew up. He started college at 18, which appeared to be the normal age that people did that, but it quickly became obvious that he was quite different from everyone else despite being the same age.
He hated it. Everyone looked at him weirdly for knowing so much. Just because his parents had waited to send him to college until 18 didn’t mean they didn’t stop teaching him. He actually had some graduate school knowledge, so he’d tested out of a bunch of classes and even the ones he hadn’t tested out of he picked up quickly.
He quickly became grouchy and reclusive, sticking mostly to his dorm room if he wasn’t at class. It wasn’t until he went home for Christmas break that his parents even realized anything was wrong. They’d had limited contact in an effort to allow him to become his own man.
They were shocked to discover that their child had turned into a veritable bastard in a single semester. They tried to bring him out of his shell again, but by then it was too late. Leroy returned to college determined to get it over with as quickly as possible, so that he could go back to ignoring the world like his fathers seemed to do.
Things changed in his junior year when he signed up for a classic car restoration class taught by Jackson Gibbs. At first, he didn’t see eye to eye with Jackson as the man was always ordering him to do stuff without explaining why, but then he fell in love with restoring the Challenger. The two of them ended up working on it together and Jackson was able to see a bit of the young kid his parents knew.
After that, he started spending a lot of time with Jackson Gibbs, who taught him about people as well as cars. It shocked his parents when he asked Jackson if he could take his last name, but he didn’t care. He was tired of being known as Tony Stark and Loki’s weird son.
He didn’t know what he wanted to do for a career. He only knew that he wanted a normal career not something based on his genius that would immediately earmark him as Stark and Loki’s son. Gibbs wasn’t sure what triggered it, but NIS Agent Mike Franks had seen something in him and offered him a job.
Gibbs figured you couldn’t get more normal than a job as a Navy cop and accepted. He was surprised to find out that NIS or NCIS as it later became known was a mostly unknown agency to most of the populace. Still after being called Agent Gibbs, he discovered he preferred being called Gibbs.
There were no childhood memories associated with Gibbs and he mostly wanted to pretend his life with Tony Stark and Loki never happened. When asked about his father or parents, he tended to imply that they were dead. If someone pressed, he would tell them about Jackson and that was the end of it.
No one at NCIS knew the secret of his parentage. He made sure that it was stricken from his normal records. He gained a reputation as a bastard and encouraged it.
The more they thought he was a bastard the less likely they were to try and pry into his life. Shortly after he joined NCIS he ran into a punk cop in Baltimore. Gibbs immediately took a liking to him and offered him a job much like Mike had done for him originally.
He knew everyone thought he was approaching fifty. He had the grey hair to prove it, even. In actuality, though, he was closer to 35, almost the same age as DiNozzo.
Maybe that was why he’d taken such a shine to Tony. He didn’t really know. He only knew that somehow Tony made him feel normal.
A feeling that he’d wanted to feel again ever since he first went to college, but that had been strangely elusive despite multiple marriages. He’d been so busy rebelling against his parents and everyone else that he’d never really had a chance to explore his sexuality. He knew mentally what it meant to be attracted to someone, but had never actually felt it.
He thought that might be what he felt for Tony, however. He wasn’t sure, though, and he didn’t want to rush anything. After Tony caught the plague, reality hit him like a ton of bricks. He could actually lose Tony to this job.
He’d taken a chance in the hospital room when he ordered Tony not to die. He knew Tony was smart, not as smart as him, but smarter when it came to people and would figure out what it meant. He wasn’t surprised when Tony ended up at his house once he got out of the hospital.
He was surprised that Tony insisted on going back to work immediately, however. Maybe Tony wasn’t interested in him, after all. Gibbs frowned and vowed to pay more attention to Tony’s behavior and see if he could figure out what Tony actually felt for him.
He knew he was in love with Tony, already, but it wouldn’t matter if Tony didn’t return his feelings. Gibbs wanted to curse when Tony practically fainted after the bomb explosion due to his body not really being ready to go back to work. Instead he took him home, fed him, and made sure he had a comfortable place to sleep.
The fact that Gibbs took the couch and gave Tony the bed was rather telling. Still Tony said nothing. Gibbs didn’t understand what he was doing wrong.
Did the guy not understand that he was interested in him? Or did Tony really not want him back? The guy flirted with everybody, but had always flirted more with Gibbs than anyone else.
Gibbs had thought his feelings were likely returned, but now he wasn’t so sure. So he did what every other guy did back in highschool when they liked a girl. He sent him flowers and a card that said, “Go out with me?”
He’d signed it simply “Love, Gibbs.”
He was nervous for the entire rest of the day not knowing how Tony would react when he got home and found the flowers. Of course, that came out as more of a bastard to everyone else, so he doubted that anyone knew what was going on. He almost didn’t come in the next day as he’d gotten no response from Tony and was dreading a rejection.
He wasn’t sure if a rejection or just plain ignoring the gesture would hurt more. He was therefore extremely surprised to find a note in the drawer he usually put his badge and gun in that said simply, “I’d love to, but don’t you think you should tell me about your real parents first?”
The signature wasn’t necessary, but it did confirm the note was from Tony. Gibbs sighed and ordered, “DiNozzo. My house. 7pm.”
“Got it, boss.”
What followed that was an awkward conversation about growing up a genius with two genius parents and the resulting disconnect he’d felt from the world because of it. Both of them agreed to never talk about it again, though Tony did encourage him to reach out to his parents and try to mend the fences. Gibbs wasn’t sure about that, but agreed to think about it.
Despite the awkwardness, the evening ended on a relatively high note as far as Gibbs was concerned. Tony had finally 100% agreed to date him. He didn’t think he’d ever felt this happy before.