Quorum

Tony arrived at the restaurant and looked around to see if he recognized anyone. There had been no indication of what to look for, so it had to be someone he knew and who would also recognize him. Spotting Gibbs leaning against the wall of the restaurant, Tony thought. “Crap. Is this another joke the team is playing on me?” Sighing, he decided might as well bite the bullet.

Walking over to Gibbs, he spoke up. “Hey Gibbs, do we have quorum tonight or are we expecting the rest of the team?”

Gibbs looked at DiNozzo with a slightly confused look on his face. “What are you talking about DiNozzo? We don’t have a body.”

“Well then what are you doing here, boss?” Tony paused looking Gibbs up and down finally noticing his black slacks, bright blue shirt, and black blazer that really brought out Gibbs eyes and framed his body to perfection.

Smiling, Gibbs replied happily. “I’m waiting for my date, but he just arrived.” With that Gibbs pulled out a music cd for a band he thought Tony would like and a small bouquet(smaller than he had sent him via the mail) and handed them both to Tony.

“Eh? What?” Tony stammered looking practically gobsmacked. Even with the clearly dressier clothes than usual that Gibbs was wearing he hadn’t even considered that something more personal involving him was going on. He’d just figured Gibbs was taking some redhead to dinner.

Gibbs pushed the bouquet of flowers and the music cd closer to Tony clearly indicating for him to take them. “For you, DiNozzo. What do you need, an engraved invitation?” Gibbs asked gruffly.

“What? For me? I don’t understand what’s happening here.” Tony continued to look like a deer in the headlights beyond confused as to what was going on. What his eyes were seeing seemed to indicate that Gibbs was the one who had invited him to the restaurant and the movie afterward, but Gibbs was straight. His mind had to be playing tricks on him.

“You, me, a date.” Gibbs replied, no nonsense as always, looking at Tony like he was being a little thick. He also shifted the flowers a bit to show off the tickets to the movies.

Tony honestly felt a little thick. “Wait… You’re the one who sent me the flowers and invited me to come here and to the movies afterward?” Tony asked, finally at least accepting the flowers, music cd, and tickets though he stood there with them awkwardly like he wasn’t sure what to do with them now that he had them.

Gibbs nodded his head slowly raising his eyebrow as if to say you got a problem with that? “There a problem, DiNozzo? You don’t want to date me, perhaps?”

“No, no, that’s not it. Boss.” Tony shook his head, still reeling on his axis feeling like his whole world had tilted. “I just never expected it to be you.” Tony knew he should be playing this better showing off one of his masks, but Gibbs had shocked him so much and so fast that he hadn’t had time to pull a mask up.

“Come on, let’s go inside. No need to stand around in the cold like a couple of fools when there’s warmth and food inside.” Gibbs put his arm around DiNozzo’s back and led him into the restaurant. He knew Tony would be better able to process his obvious surprise if he didn’t have to think for a few minutes.