Archive of Our Own

"Oh, my God!" Tony said loudly, sitting up suddenly in bed, waking Gibbs and, probably, Gibbs thought grumpily, every animal in the house.

"What the hell?" he groused, hoping it wasn't another animal crisis. They'd had a rough week with search and rescues, and this was the first night home in their own bed in too many days.

"Christmas, Gibbs. What the hell are we going to do for Christmas?"

Gibbs squinted at the clock and saw that it was three thirty four in the morning. "Seriously? You're waking me up at three thirty to talk about Christmas?"

"You don't understand," Tony said, and he sounded like he was seconds from hyperventilating.

Gibbs reached over and turned on the light. "Tony. What's going on?" He rubbed Tony's back. "Calm down."

Tony stared at Gibbs, his eyes wide; he even pulled at his hair. "Presents. Presents, Gibbs. What the hell do I get a mosquito? What do Moth and Beetle want? What the hell do I buy for a thousand different kinds of animals?"

Gibbs couldn't help but chuckle. "Seems like you should be more concerned about what they might get you."

"Oh, my God," Tony stated in horror. "No presents this year. I am ordering a moratorium on presents."

Baloo pushed open the bedroom door, ambling in, clearly wondering what the fuss was in the middle of the night. He padded to Tony's side of the bed and prodded him with his nose. Raksha came in after him, leaping onto the bed, curling up at their feet.

Tony looked at them. "No presents. For anyone. Let's keep it simple."

Baloo let out one of his "huh?" sounds that never failed to make Gibbs grin.

"I'm buying you a present," Gibbs informed Tony. In fact he'd be giving Tony several presents. They were already purchased, wrapped and well-hidden.

Baloo pointed at his furry chest.

"You want a present, too?" Gibbs asked the bear.

Baloo shook his head and pointed at Tony.

"You want to get Tony a present?"

Baloo nodded extravagantly and nudged Tony with great affection, knocking him flat against Gibbs.

"No presents," Tony said sternly, shaking a finger at Baloo. "There's nothing I need that I don't get every day from you. The last thing I need, and no offense, is a thousand trinkets from all of you."

Gibbs laughed as Baloo sent a vision of scooping salmon out of a rushing river for Tony.

Tony snickered as well. "If we lived near a salmon run, I'd be all over that. Thanks for the thought. But I mean it. No presents. Let's just love each other, okay?"

Baloo glanced at Gibbs who told him mentally that they'd talk about it later when Tony wasn't around. The bear chuffed at them, nosed Raksha and then collapsed on the floor on Tony's side of the bed to sleep.

"I am going to trip over him big time in the morning and probably break my leg," Tony said morosely.

"Probably," Gibbs said nonchalantly, even as he mentally prodded Baloo to move a couple feet away.

Baloo fussed about it, but did move. No one wanted Tony to break a leg or get hurt in any way. Tony was normally a graceful guy, but he'd already fallen a half a dozen times over the enthusiastic maneuvering of the animals trying to get close to him, and only the quick actions of the larger animals and the humans in the mix had kept Tony from really taking a header.

Granted, he healed fast. So did Gibbs, and at this point, so did Phil and Clint, the two of them having imprinted half a dozen other animals in addition to Raksha, Tucker and Michelle. But Gibbs would rather Tony not get hurt at all.

"Can we go back to sleep now?" Gibbs asked Tony, who had sat back up after Baloo had knocked him down. He briefly thought about taking advantage of them both being awake in the middle of the night to have some sex that didn't include half the house, but he could see the shadows under Tony's eyes and decided sleep was more important.

He reached out and ran his hand down Tony's back. "Come on, Tony. Lie down."

Tony turned anxious eyes on Gibbs. "You can tell them, right? Do it in a way that doesn't hurt anyone's feelings? Really, Christmas is an emotional minefield, and I don't want any of them subjected to it."

"Christmas isn't always a minefield," Gibbs told him, feeling his usual ire at Tony Senior, putting the blame for years of painful holidays securely at his feet. "This will be our first Christmas, you know. I'm looking forward to it."

Tony's eyes softened. "Me, too, boss. I'm looking forward to having a great Christmas; I just don't want presents to be a part of it. I don't want anyone being anxious about it. The animals might freak about it. They don't have any money and…" Tony just sighed. "Just tell them, okay?"

Gibbs wondered how many years it took of never getting what Tony wanted, and having the gifts he'd bought be unappreciated, to get Tony this paranoid about gifts. "We had that gift exchange at the office last year. That went okay, didn't it?" He cupped Tony's cheek. "And I'll love anything you get me. You know that, right?"

"Yeah, yeah," Tony said, but his eyes weren't agreeing with his words. "It's just that Secret Santa and stuff like that, it doesn't mean anything, you know? It doesn't matter if you get it wrong, because then it's just a joke. But I love these guys, I love you so much, and it all means so much." He touched his chest. "I don't know how to say that with a present. I can't say it with a present. Especially a thousand presents."

Gibbs pulled Tony down into his arms. "You're making this harder than it needs to be. Gifts are just the icing on the cake. They're only saying: 'I love you and this made me think of you' or 'I saw you really liked that special on the pyramids the other day so I bought you a book on the subject.' It doesn't have to be any more complicated than that." It was odd to think that Tony, someone who seemed to thrive in almost any social situation, required a tutorial on basic gift-giving.

Tony willingly lay next to Gibbs but he scowled. "Gift giving never seems easy to me. I do too much, I don't do enough, it means too much, it doesn't mean enough, I spend too much, I don't spend enough. I mean, you're easier because I know you so well, and I know, well, I know you love me." That got Gibbs' favorite smile of Tony's, the shy one that came with a slight blush.

Gibbs kissed his cheek and felt Tony's slight embarrassment, but mostly, just felt Tony's love for him, and the wonder he felt about Gibbs' love for Tony in return.

That had been yet another unexpected bonus. After imprinting on so many animals, Gibbs and Tony could feel one another's emotions. It was extraordinary to know, without doubt, how much Tony loved him. Humbling. And it made Gibbs determined to be worthy of it. Right now, he could sense that Tony was still anxious, but he was starting to wind down.

"Everything will be fine," Gibbs promised him. He kissed Tony, a long kiss with tongue and intent and heat and Gibbs could feel Tony melting under his attention along with his own intentions to let Tony sleep, until Tony wrapped his arms and legs around Gibbs and their midnight conversation turned into something else entirely.

*****

The next morning when Phil woke up, Clint was gone from his bed. Phil was glad Clint had let him sleep in, as he'd been up at four in the morning to see Gibbs and Tony off for an unexpected search and rescue.

Nick had tried to call Gibbs first, but Gibbs and Tony had been otherwise occupied at the time, so Phil had gotten the next call. He'd waited a few minutes, feeling the sex vibes soaking through the house, before knocking on their door.

Clint had managed to sleep through it all, something that delighted Phil. Always, at least as long as Phil had known him, Clint had been an annoyingly light sleeper. Useful when they were on a mission, his vigilance having saved their lives any number of times, but annoying when everything woke him up when they were home in bed.

With Tucker and Raksha, and the other animals he and Phil had impressed all around them, it was as if Clint knew he had an unassailable alarm system in place and could let go and sleep like the dead. Phil slept better as a consequence, and a full night's sleep was a common occurrence these days.

He pulled on some jeans and a t-shirt and walked downstairs. Clint was in the living room, on the couch, surrounded by a large group of animals. They didn't usually gather in such crowds unless Tony was home, but there were so many packed in, Phil couldn't even see the floor.

Phil walked behind the couch, the only free area, and leaned over to give Clint a brief kiss. "What's going on?"

"Christmas," Clint said.

Baloo grunted in agreement, followed by a yip from Raksha, a bark from Tucker, and a mrowl from Macavity, followed by a cacophony of noises from everyone else.

"What about Christmas?" Phil asked, moving into the kitchen. He needed coffee for this.

"I'll be back," Clint told the crowd. "Go have a potty break or something."

Phil could hear the scrambling of paws and the flapping of wings and the skittering of insects as they all vacated the premises.

Clint moved behind Phil and wrapped his arms around him, chin on his shoulder, as Phil went through the motions of making coffee. "What about Christmas?" Phil asked again.

"From the second I got up, I was approached by all of mine, most of yours, and several of Tony's, all concerned about Christmas and presents and Tony."

"Why?" Phil asked, wondering where in hell that had come from.

"Apparently Tony had a brief freak out about it in the middle of the night. I don't know most of the specifics, but I can guess that Christmas wasn't exactly fun times in the DiNozzo household."

Once the coffee was brewing, Phil turned around and pressed Clint against the counter, kissing his stubbled jaw. "At least he had a household, unlike a certain archer I know."

"And look at us both now," he said with a grin. "I've got you and he's got Gibbs. It might have taken Santa a while to get to our Christmas lists but he came through in the end."

Phil snickered, enjoying the feel of Clint's body against his as he leaned up to pull out two cups. "By the way," Clint asked, as he took an extra second to rub against Phil, "where are Tony and Gibbs?"

"Search and rescue mission came through this morning, courtesy of Nick."

"And we're not there because…?"

"It wasn't anything official; it was a favor for a friend of Nick's. Gibbs told me to go back to bed, which I was happy to do. It's not like Tony won't find them."

"That's true enough," Clint said, "but it's amazing to watch."

"We just got back from a week of watching," Phil said. "I was fine letting this one pass us by." He watched as Clint filled his cup. After taking his first sip, he asked, "So what does that have to do with the congregation in the living room?"

"They all want to do something for Tony."

Phil let his mind rest on that, on the thought of thousands of creatures all wanting to give Tony something for Christmas, let alone how Tony would manage to do something for them.

As if following his mind, Clint grinned. "I guess Tony was sweating over what to get a mosquito."

Phil let out a soft laugh. "I can see why it might feel overwhelming."

"So Tony said no presents. That we'd all just love each other for Christmas."

"Admirable sentiment," Phil pointed out.

"But not good enough for them," Clint said, pointing his thumb over his shoulder. "They're captivated at the idea of presents." He waggled his eyebrows. "So I have an idea, and with Gibbs and Tony out, it's the perfect time."

"I'm almost afraid to ask."

Macavity leaped up the counter, glaring at them.

Clint shot him a look, pushing carefully away from the counter. "Let me guess," he said, "he's pissed Tony didn't take him."

"They took two of the rabbits and Bluebell," Phil said, keeping his own distance from the pissed off cat. Macavity liked to share his pain, and the cat had snarled when Phil had mentioned Bluebell's name. "Something about wanting something warm and fuzzy for the children to hug."

They both stared at the cat, and Phil couldn't imagine Macavity ever being warm and fuzzy with children. He was barely warm and fuzzy with Tony. Bluebell was a fairly new acquisition, a different species of cat, something white with lots of hair and china blue eyes. Phil tended to keep his distance to keep down the copious amounts of white cat hair that covered his suit pants after every encounter.

Clint laughed, but quickly shut it off when Macavity hissed in his direction. "Don't hiss at me," Clint told him. "It's not my fault she's such an attention whore."

And she was. Bluebell always wanted to be in someone's lap, and wanted that someone to be Tony whenever possible. Macavity had taken a vicious swipe at her one time and she'd moved out of the way faster than anyone expected, so Tony had ended up being the one with several long scratches on his forearm. Macavity had reared back in horror and run like hell in the other direction.

It had taken Tony an hour to find him, and another hour to coax him out of wherever he'd been hiding. Tony had kept him on his lap the rest of the day, and Macavity had gloated at Bluebell every time she walked by. "Besides," Clint added, "You know he likes you best."

Macavity stopped hissing and looked smug.

"And I need your help with Tony's present," Clint continued. To Phil he said, "I thought I'd get them all in the backyard and take a picture for him. Like a family portrait."

"Nice," Phil said. "And if we hurry," he said with an amused glance at Macavity, "Bluebell won't be in the picture." They might not be able to talk to Macavity mind-to-mind but it didn't mean they couldn't communicate with him.

Macavity was off the counter and shooting out the door almost before Phil finished speaking.

"What's up?" Abby said, sauntering into the kitchen.

Phil glanced at his watch, saw it was late enough for Abby and Ducky to both be here. "Should we include the humans?"

"Yeah, you can have Dotty take the picture so she won't be in it," Clint said with a rueful smile.

Phil frowned. "Is that still an issue?"

"It's always going to be an issue," Abby said with a small frown. "Dotty's too much of a flirt, and she likes to flirt with Gibbs. Tony knows Gibbs loves him, but he's about as insecure as a person can get. You guys know that."

And, yeah, Phil did know that, even if it was a mystery. They didn't come better looking, or better hearted than Tony. And there was no doubt that Gibbs adored him; no one was getting between the two of them. Phil suspected Dotty knew this and it was why she'd picked Gibbs as he wouldn't take her flirting seriously and try to turn it into something. "I'll talk to her."

"We've all talked to her," Abby said. "Even Ducky. She just doesn't see that she's doing anything wrong, and I guess she really isn't, but Tony has a hard time with it and feels bad for having a hard time with it. We really don’t want her replaced because she's great to talk to." She scowled and let out a long sigh, "But the animals are starting to not like her very much because they know she upsets Tony, and that's getting worse every day."

"I'll talk to her," Phil said, feeling quite secure in the fact that he'd get farther than anyone because he wouldn't worry about hurting her feelings, and he had the power to move her on to different employment. "But to keep it simple, let's just do the animals. We can do one of our own another time."

"What are we doing?" Abby asked, grabbing her own cup of coffee.

"Taking a Christmas portrait of all the animals for Tony," Clint said.

"I love it!" Abby squealed. "I'll get my cameras", and she spun on her heels and marched out.

*****

An hour later, Clint was on the roof with Abby, while Phil and Macavity badgered the animals into a reasonable shape.

Abby snickered as they kept falling out of formation.

"Where are Moth and Beetle?" Clint yelled down. "I want them front and center."

There was some undulating as animals shifted out of the way, but finally Baloo lifted the moth and beetle off the ground and sat down on his haunches, the two insects in one hand and several mice on his other hand and head.

"Get ready," Abby called down. "It's too bad we can't have them spell out 'we love you, Tony'," she said to Clint.

Clint considered it, recalled how long it had taken to simply get them in a group, and dismissed the idea. Maybe next year. Different animal group for each letter; it could be fun.

There was the sound of something moving fast overhead, and everyone turned to look, some of the animals scattering. Clint felt bad he'd distracted them all enough that the animals had failed to hear it coming. He noticed that Phil had his gun out, but then put it away when Tony Stark made a quick landing on the front lawn in his red and gold iron suit. He flipped up his face plate.

"Hey!" Tony Stark said, grinning. "Mom got a twilight bark that you were doing pictures and she wants in, so hang on." He opened a metal container welded onto the suit and put his hand out while Mom and Deathstalker, or DS for short, crawled into his hand. He sauntered over to the large crowd of animals, saying hello to Baloo and Raksha, and put his two down.

Mom scurried right over to Baloo and climbed him like a mountain until she was on his shoulder. DS found Rock and the other scorpions, and they all began clacking their pincers at each other like the world's deadliest gossip group.

Phil rolled his eyes. "Do you really think that using the suit to make social calls is being discreet? I thought you agreed to be discreet until we came up with a story line."

"I wouldn't have gotten here in time and Mom would have been upset," Stark protested.

"You know Tony will yell at you if you went anywhere near Stane," Clint pointed out. They still hadn't gathered enough evidence to arrest Stane, but there was no doubt he did not have Stark's best interests in mind.

"I was just there for a minute and both of my guys were with me. Mom won't let anything happen to me," Tony said faithfully. "They kept me alive dealing with terrorists, they can protect me from Obadiah." His eyes flickered away and a flash of sadness crossed his face. "And maybe he'll get over it. The stock's starting to turn around."

Clint didn't think so, mostly because Tony and Gibbs didn't think so, and they had the most access to eyes on the ground, in the vents, and in the air. But Clint knew what it felt like to have family betray you, and he'd wish it true if he could.

Deciding what Stark needed was a good distraction, he turned to Michelle. "You ready?" he said, the golden hawk busy watching everything with a cocked head. She reminded him so much of Natasha.

She nodded and let out a shriek.

Clint rubbed his fingers against her wing feathers. "Beautiful girl."

She rubbed her cheek against his hand, and then moved to the edge of the roof, several other birds joining her including Rutger and Archimedes and, of course, Bruce the bat. She kept her gaze on Clint.

The plan was to have the birds, or some of them, flying over the crowd on the forest floor to add some depth to the picture. They'd taken some sample pictures, and the effect had been really cool.

"Macavity," Clint yelled down. "On three." Macavity nodded and snarled at any animal even threatening to get out of line.

Clint yelled down, "One, two, now Michelle, and three!" He and Abby started taking pictures, hoping that at least one of them would be perfect.

*****

On Christmas morning, Tony sighed as he woke up, not wanting the wonderful dream he was having come to an end but, as he grew more aware, he realized that it wasn't a dream, that Gibbs really was licking his cock, surrounding it with the heat of his mouth and the wet of his tongue.

"Argh," Tony said, arching up into his mouth, reaching down and getting his fingers fisted into Gibbs' hair, one hand running down Gibbs' face until he could feel his cock going into Gibbs' mouth, letting his fingers play over his lips, groaning when Gibbs licked his fingers, sucked them into his mouth. It didn't take long after that before Tony came into Gibbs' mouth, his entire body convulsing until he collapsed on the bed, panting. "Jesus," he gasped out.

"Merry Christmas," Gibbs said, kissing Tony's thigh.

"Argh," was all Tony could say. What he hoped Gibbs' heard was to just hang on and he'd get to him in a minute.

Tony never got the chance because suddenly Tony Stark was yelling up the stairs, "Hey, cut it out! You're making me horny! And no one here will have sex with me."

Tony slapped a hand over his face. "Kill me now."

Gibbs laughed out loud, something he didn't do often, although he did it more now than he used to, so Tony pulled his hand away to watch. Gibbs had always been a gorgeous man, but he was a wonder to look at now as the years had fallen away. Add in a full laugh and the humor lines crinkling at his eyes, and Tony felt himself fall in love all over again. He wondered how many times it would happen. How many times would he fall deeper in love?

"I love you so much," Tony whispered. "So, so much."

"Ah," Gibbs said, still smiling. "So do I. So, so much."

From down the hall, Tony Stark yelled, "I hope you're dressed because we're all coming in!"

"Oh, jeez," Tony groused, reaching for his pajama pants and yanking them on, just getting his t-shirt pulled over his head when the door flew open and Stark, Phil, Clint, Abby, Ducky, Natasha, Ziva, Tim, Baloo, Raksha, Tucker, Hooch, and a host of others barreled into the room.

Most of them ended up in bed with them. Especially Tony Stark. "It smells of sex in here," he complained. "Are you sure you won't have sex with me?" he pleaded to Tony, trying to crawl into Tony's lap.

"Quite sure," Gibbs said, putting his hand on Stark's chest to stop him.

Stark winked at Tony, then leered at Gibbs. "You can join in. Really. You too!" he added to Phil and Clint. "And you and you," he said to Natasha and Ziva. "In fact, I think it's Christmas orgy time!"

Natasha shoved him out of bed.

Stark lay on the floor laughing as all the dogs jumped to the floor and climbed all over him, licking his face. They finally all just made themselves comfortable arranged around him, and Tony couldn't help but notice how contented he looked down on the ground, just hanging out with the dogs. He'd bet that Stark's Christmases hadn't been any better than his.

"Hey Tony," Tony called from the bed, leaning over and patting his chest. "Merry Christmas buddy."

Stark grinned up at him. "Merry Christmas back atcha, DiNozzo." At that moment Mom came scurrying into the room and ran right up Tucker, starting at his tail, across his back, and to the end of his snout until she ended up on Stark's chest. "Hey, Mom!" Stark said cheerfully.

She moved up to his face and pressed her cheek to his, and he closed his eyes as she let him feel how much she loved him, Tony just catching a hint of it as she laid it all on Stark.

"So," Clint said, clearing his throat, as if he'd felt Mom's affection for Stark as well, "we've got a feast waiting for everyone downstairs. We've got tables outside and inside, and every type of food you can think of."

"And we've got cleaners coming later this afternoon to clean it all up," Phil said.

Tony started to get out of bed but Baloo let out a bellow, and it stopped Tony with one foot on the floor and one still on the bed. "What's up, Baloo?" Stark was sitting up now, Mom on his shoulder, and he was scratching Hooch's ears.

Baloo went out into the hallway and came back with a wrapped present that he handed to Tony. It was large, about four feet by six feet, wrapped in paper covered with all the animals from Noah's ark.

Tony shot Gibbs a look, and Gibbs shook his head. "Don't look at me, I knew nothing about it."

Baloo pointed at Clint, and then at himself, earmarking the two of them as the main instigators, and looking quite pleased with himself. He pushed the present closer to Tony with a grunt.

Tony hesitated, but then he sat down and ripped the paper off until he found a large framed print that made his jaw drop. "Oh, my God. When did you do this?" They were all there…well, probably not all of them, or at least he couldn't see them all, but so many were there, Macavity and Baloo, Mom, and the scorpions. He ran his fingers over Michelle and Rutger, Archimedes and Bruce, touched Moth and Beetle, his index finger skating over Louie and Raksha. He sniffed, and a tear dropped on the glass and he quickly rubbed it away, not wanting it to leave a stain.

He knew they were all there, but his heart was so full it made his chest ache, and his throat was so tight he couldn’t have said a word if his life depended on it. Tony heard people speaking softly and moving and the door closing. Arms closed around him, holding him tight, and Tony let some tears fall as he leaned against Gibbs, letting the emotions cascade through him, sending out the love to all the animals and people near and far, sharing his gratitude, his joy, his wonder and happiness and his overwhelming desire for them to know how loved they were by him.

*****

Clint blew out a breath, tears in his eyes. "And that's a Merry Christmas," as the torrent of Tony's love swept over them all. He prodded Baloo with his foot. "We did good."

Baloo nodded his agreement and started hugging everyone, beginning with Phil.

The End