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Tony had long ago resigned himself to a bit of craziness in his life. He played up the playboy image at work, so that no one would look too closely at his personal relationships and who exactly he was taking to bed. He'd actually been in a committed threesome for many years now, which he knew would shock certain people at NCIS who believed that he had a one night stand practically every day and was so afraid of commitment that he would run away every two years to avoid committing to a single job. The fact that he'd been working for NCIS for more than two years never seemed to register with them.
Personally, he found those people to be a bit short sighted, but well it also made it easy to keep them from finding out anything about his personal life. After all, those same people if they happened to find him hanging out at Gibbs' house would just assume he was there for some work or possibly friendship related reason. They could simply never imagine that the two of them were dating, let alone that they regularly had a threesome or poly relationship with Kort.
Although, when Tony first met Trent Kort, he'd been going by the name David Young. At the time, Tony had been undercover with the mob. It was his first undercover assignment and to top it all off, he'd had to kill someone to keep his cover. He'd been quite upset about it, but he knew if he showed any signs of that to the others in the mafia that it would be bad for his cover. Instead, he decided to go out to a bar and get drunk as that was perfectly acceptable mob behavior at any time.
He hadn't known it at the time, but apparently his cop tendencies were closer to the surface than normal and those who knew what they were looking for could tell he wasn't who he was pretending to be. Trent or David as he introduced himself was one of the ones that had noticed. To this day, Tony still wasn't sure if the older man had been trying to look out for him or just assumed that he would be less likely to blow David's cover being an undercover cop himself.
Tony only found this out the next morning after he'd been successfully seduced into sharing a one night stand and David was getting ready to leave. He'd startled like a spooked animal, immediately concerned that his cover had been blown. He knew if that happened he would be a dead man walking and would need to get out of dodge immediately. David ended up reassuring him that it wasn't obvious unless you had a lot of experience with law enforcement types.
Tony had made the resolution then and there to be more careful going forward. If another person in law enforcement could identify him, there was a good chance the mafia could as well. Still, he wasn't finished with David and grabbed his hand before he could actually leave. "You're not just going to leave like this, are you?"
"What do you mean?"
"I know you're not the man you're pretending to be either. We should exchange contact information and keep in touch."
"Do you normally play with re like that? It could get you killed.," David snarked back.
Tony smirked. "I have a good feeling about you."
David had narrowed his eyes, but Tony had spotted the intrigued look and knew the other would definitely be contacting him in the future. They hadn't exchanged anything else at the time. Tony recognized that he was an unknown and even if he was safer than a complete unknown that didn't mean he was trusted enough to be given a true identity. Still he'd made his point, so he let the other man go and finished closing out the hotel room. Neither of them would be coming back to this location.
He never saw David Young again after that and the next time he ran into one of Trent's aliases he'd already finished taking down the mob and moved onto a different job in another state. With his name splashed across all the local newspapers for taking down the mob there was no place left for him as an undercover cop and he'd needed to move to a new location. Fortunately, another police department had an opening and had been happy to take him.
Tony had thought about David a few times since then and wondered what he was up to. The next time they met, he'd been going by yet another alias, but introduced himself as Trent Kort and exchanged contact info with Tony. Apparently, he'd looked into Tony and had only heard good things. Tony hadn't told him, but personally he thought Trent fit the man more than David. He wasn't quite uptight enough for a David, at least that's what it seemed like to Tony.
After that, they were practically inseparable. No, not really. They weren't thirteen year old girls, but they did send text messages to each other and keep in contact.
If they happened to be in the same city, they would meet up for sex. Though they both had sex outside of each other as well. They were always careful to make sure no diseases could ever be passed on and got tested regularly.
They'd been going strong with their open relationship, if you could call it that, for about four years when Gibbs first appeared on scene. Well more accurately, Tony tackled him and arrested him. The fact that he'd made the NCIS agent's cover annoyed Tony, but it was nothing compared to finding out his current law enforcement partner was dirty.
Kort had heard they’d closed the case and come over to celebrate with Tony when they'd been interrupted mid-passion by Gibbs. He'd come to offer Tony a job, although Tony didn't know that until after they'd already managed to seduce Gibbs into bed with them. Similar to Kort, he'd dropped the job offer as he walked out the door with a simple demand to be at NCIS on Monday.
Tony had stared after him in shock. What were the chances that he would meet two assholes like that? Though, it could have been worse. They could have shared the bad news before the sex and then there wouldn't have even been sex.
He'd seriously considered rejecting Gibbs' offer simply for the way he'd delivered it alone. Trent had laughed at the expression on his face and told him to give Gibbs' hell. Tony had demanded that Trent spill what he knew about the man. So Tony found out the Marine really was a bastard to work for, but he didn't put up with crap. If you managed to keep working for him, you actually knew your stuff. It was almost an honor to be asked to join his team, but Tony was still pissed at the man over how he did it.
After that, Tony was left alone in his apartment to decide what he wanted to do. He stared at his surroundings as he considered his options. Stay with a dirty partner, or go to someone who was known for finding the truth and not caring what stood in his way? Taking a long hard look around, he decided it was time to say goodbye. He never imagined that working for Gibbs would lead to a permanent threesome or poly relationship between the three of them. Tony hadn't expected it to work as well as it did. Kort tended to vanish at odd intervals based on the whims of his CIA masters, but he was still one of the cornerstone's of Gibbs and Tony's relationship.
Honestly, Tony and Gibbs would have broken up many times over the years if it hadn't been for Trent. Gibbs had a tendency to forget to leave his bastard behavior behind when he left work and Tony had a tendency to accept any blame placed on him. Normally, it would have been a bad situation that would have quickly turned toxic, but with Kort there even if the man wasn't physically present, he was able to help them both see how their behavior was affecting the other and they were able to resolve the issues before anyone really got hurt.
Gibbs was pretty much a stereotypical macho Marine even if he wasn't in the Corp anymore, or as he said, "There's no such thing as an ex-Marine."
Tony really didn't understand that perspective. The closest he'd come was interacting with bullies and as he was the one being bullied, it really wasn't the same thing. Trent, on the other hand, had been on both sides of the coin and could thus see things from both sides. Tony truly did love both Gibbs and Kort, but he didn't always understand them.
One would think that his time as a jock in a fraternity would give him some understanding, but while he had plenty of experience with jock idiocy, they had nothing on the Marines. It didn't help that any I can't be weak belief system he had, had been eliminated with his pro football career. Though even if he understood everything his partners did, he's still not sure if he would be able to explain how he found himself in this particular situation.
For once, all three of them were going to be home for Christmas. Tony was excited. This had never happened in their, so far seven, years together. One of them always had to work on Christmas and usually, at least one of them ended up in another state for some reason or another. It had actually been quite frustrating, so Tony had cheered when he realized that they would actually be able to enjoy the holiday together.
He'd immediately started making plans to go all out for Christmas. He wanted this to be a Christmas that they would always remember and that they could hold tight to when they inevitably ended up apart over future holidays. He'd enlisted Kort's help in planning the activities that they would do, in an attempt to avoid anything trauma inducing or flashback worthy. Thinking back on how they'd gotten here, that may have been his first mistake.
He loved Trent, but sometimes the man's ideas of what would be a fun project vastly disagreed with what Tony considered entertaining. To make matters worse, Gibbs usually jumped onboard whatever Kort proposed, leaving Tony the choice of joining or doing something else while his partners did whatever. That wasn't to say that it was always what they wanted, Kort and Gibbs certainly put up with their share of charity balls and five star restaurants to make Tony happy, so it balanced out.
This time they may have gone too far, however. When Kort initially suggested the game he'd labeled it as Santa's workshop or sometimes as a Toys workshop. Both of which had seemed innocuous to Tony and like they could be an amusing activity, so he hadn't complained or tried to put a stop to whatever Trent had been planning. Tony had simply continued fleshing out his own Christmas plans, a number of which featured a lot of bedroom banter than he knew both boys would love.
But instead of being naked and spread out on the bed right now, he found himself staring at a collection of junk surrounding him. Had he done something wrong in a past life to be punished this way? The instructions for what everything was and how it went together were right in front of him, but he couldn't use them. This was clearly an exercise in insanity. He didn't care what Kort or Gibbs said to the contrary.
Was it a requirement that if you went through basic training you ended up somewhere not quite sane afterwards? Tony really had to wonder as he knew that Kort had done a stint in the military at some point in his career and, of course, Gibbs was a Marine. He could hear the two of them laughing and trash-talking each other as they built their pieces. Tony stared at the building blocks he had and strongly considered crying. He wouldn't. They would never let him live it down if he did.
Kort's workshop idea would have been better labeled as "Some Assembly Required" as far as Tony was concerned, complete with all the standard Ikea warnings. Why was he part of a competition to see who could assemble the thing fastest and most correctly? Had he pissed off someone in a previous life and they decided to punish him in this one? Tony hated everything about this experience right now. He was great at finding clues and putting disparate pieces of a case together. Taking physical items and making something other than a mess out of them? Absolutely not.
He could see the other two both had the start of something identifiable. He still mostly had a pile of metal or plastic and no idea how any of it went together. If this were real life, he would be using the instruction manual and would probably be the only one who managed to construct it correctly. Sadly, this was an insanity plea and he would lose because of it. Maybe Gibbs and Kort would take pity on him once they both finished? Tony could only hope, though he somehow doubted they would.
Gibbs almost had his entirely built to Tony's eye and Kort wasn't far behind. Tony wasn't sure what they were trying to make, but Gibbs looked like a chest of drawers and Kort's like a house. Having two different end results was not helpful for figuring out what Tony should be doing.
With a sigh, Tony turned back to his junk piles. Some items he knew exactly how they connected. Others, he was at a loss to even figure out what interacted with them in any fashion. He'd tried to put together the items that he knew connected and now he had a bunch of hinged arms and legs, but no body to go with them.
"Is this supposed to be a spider?" Tony wondered. He felt like he had eight limbs.
"Do you need some help, DiNozzo?" Gibb hollered.
Tony glanced over and noticed that Gibbs was sitting with his hands behind his head like he didn't have a care in the world.
"Are you completely done?"
"Yep."
"I'm done too," Trent piped up.
Tony sighed. "Lovely." he then turned back to his mess and tried to ignore them.
Of course, it was hard to pretend they didn't exist when they decided to give color commentary on every move he made. Tony was dearly tempted to tell them to kindly shut up, but he knew that would only make it worse. They weren't exactly laughing at him, yet, at least not for the most part.
"Did you two give me the hardest one on purpose?" Tony complained.
"Of course not."
"We wouldn't do that to you," Trent retorted slyly.
Tony rolled his eyes as he picked up another piece and attached it to what he hoped was the correct connector. "You so would."
Beyond frustrated and not really interested in doing it the right way anymore, Tony started shoving anything that sort of fit together. It did kind of look like an oddly shaped spider when he was all done. "Done!" he announced, standing up and dusting off his hands. "Now what?"
"Now we judge." Trent grinned as he walked out of the room. He returned with the boxes for each item they'd been building. He set Tony's down in front of him. It was not a spider, at all. It was supposed to be a bathtub? At least, Tony thought that's what he was looking at.
Next, Kort placed the box in front of Gibbs' attempt. Gibbs had a completely finished chest of drawers, but his box featured an entire bedroom set. Tony tilted his head and stared at the box. How could an entire bedroom set be made from the same pieces that made a chest of drawers? "Are you hiding some of your pieces in the drawers, Gibbs?"
"What kind of carpenter do you think I am? I used all the pieces."
Tony held up his hands in surrender. "Ok. Ok. I was just wondering. I don't see how what you have could turn into what is on the box is all."
"If you undo a lot of the connections keeping the furniture contained and closed, they will be able to expand into the base for the bedroom set relatively easily," Kort interrupted.
"Ah," Tony muttered.
Finally, Trent put the last box in front of his work. Tony fully expected Kort's to look exactly like his box and he would have immediately, jokingly accused the man of cheating. Instead, Tony burst out laughing. "Oh man. That's what yours was supposed to look like?"
Tony started rolling around on the ground, he was having such a hard time keeping his breath. "I can't... hic... I can't... hic... believe... you," he managed to cough out.
"If whoever got this box successfully made it, it would have been impressive."
"Oh no, doubt. It would have been fucking amazing," Tony agreed.
"So who's the winner?" Gibbs demanded.
Tony wondered that as well. None of them had gotten very close to the design for their boxes, after all, which made Tony feel a little less useless, though he was still ready for this competition to be over and done with. He really hadn't enjoyed this in the slightest. He was ready to do something more in the spirit of Christmas like exchange presents or wink, wink, candy canes.
"The winner will be decided by majority vote and you can't vote for yourself."
"I knew there was a trick to this," Tony bemoaned.
"So first, let's vote for Tony's. Who all thinks his is the best?"
Tony groaned. "Seriously? At least, let us each do a silent ballot."
"What are you afraid of a little competition?"
Tony snorted. "No. I know a rigged competition when I see one."
"Are you saying you don't trust us?" Trent put a hand over his heart and faked fainting as if the comment had hit home and truly injured him.
"I love you both, but you're both bastards and proud of it."
Both of them preened at that comment and Tony huffed, "See, right there is the exact behavior I'm talking about."
Kort chuckled, "Ok. I thought you'd feel this way about it, so I made score cards for each of us. Make sure to mark a score for each exhibit and each category." He held out a card to each of them.
Tony glanced at him and snorted. "Love you too, Trent."
Trent smiled and returned his attention to what he was writing. Tony shook his head and started writing on his card as well. Gibbs just grunted, but Tony saw him scribble a bit on his.
The score card had many categories, but really it would lend to a best in each category meaning they could all be first. At least, it wouldn't turn into hurt feelings and competitive friction that would tear them apart. Or so he hoped.
At the end, Tony and Gibbs handed their cards to Trent to tally and then reveal the results. While they waited for him to finish calculating and doing whatever he wanted to figure out results, Tony contemplated how this year's holiday had gone. As much as he'd loved spending more time with Gibbs and Trent, he wasn't sure their relationship would survive it if they did it every year. Maybe it was a good thing that most of the time they weren't all around for Christmas.
"Ok. The winners are: With the most imagination, Tony! With the most well constructed, Gibbs! and finally with the most sustainable, me!"
"Good job, everyone. Now, for the final activity of the year. First one to the bedroom gets to choose the positions for the first round," Tony ordered.
Needless to say, the other two quickly made for the stairs. Tony wasn't in a rush. He knew whoever won would pick something they would all love. After all, it was hard to screw up sex when everyone gave it their all.
Tony took his time, still contemplating this Christmas. It had been a fun year, but he was ready for their normal small celebration. They still showed each other they cared in small ways normally, even when they were apart, and it was a lot less stressful.
He didn't doubt that they loved each other, but the entertainment choices had made it obvious that while they enjoyed spending time with each other, it was better spent cuddling on the couch or talking than trying to pick something they'd all have fun with. Inevitably, there was one person who was left out of the happiness and cheer even if they tried to put on their best face. It made him think about the dates they did go on during the year and if one person ended up slighted more than others. He resolved to make sure they were more careful about alternating who picked the date locations.
For now, he had some amazing sex to enjoy. He'd let them wait long enough. They'd probably started without him, but that was fine. If he'd learned anything this year, it was that love came in many forms and what worked for them may not make sense to anyone else.
His undercover career had guaranteed that he could fit into any mold, but that didn't mean he needed to. They loved him as he was. Outside perspective had no bearing here. Only what they wanted and chose mattered. Trying new things was fun, but sometimes it was good to just appreciate the tried and true methods.
In this case, that meant showing affection through the little things. Remembering how some took their coffee, the occasional hug when they needed it, cooking someone's favorite meal, utilizing their favorite sexual positions, and such. For tonight, it was time to remind his partners that he knew exactly how to pleasure them the way they loved it. Tomorrow would conclude their vacation and they only had this final night to make the best memories of the year.
Maybe maintaining three separate places didn't make sense to most people, as it certainly added some extra stress, but the three of them also all needed their own space to claim for themselves. Too much of a good thing was possible, but Tony wouldn't make that mistake again. They had survived this time, but that was no guarantee they'd survive the next time. He was sure he had the other two to thank for that and planned to show them exactly how much he loved them tonight. He knew they would be doing the same for him.