Abscond

“Are you trying to abscond with me?” Tony teased trying to lighten the mood as Gibbs led him into the restaurant.

“Do I need to?” Gibbs teased back wanting to show Tony the side of him that he rarely let out at work.

“No, no. I want to be here even though I was surprised by the identity of my blind date. Just don't try and abscond with my heart. I need it to live.” Tony tried to be at parts reassuring and at the same time deflecting from his real feelings.

He'd never even considered that Gibbs might be interested in him. Gibbs did such a good job of playing the straight man. Now that he had him in his sights, he was concerned that it was too good to be true. He had to be very careful with his heart because Gibbs mattered. “So boss what's the plan? Order some food watch a movie?” Tony questioned trying to gather as much information as possible.

“I'm not your boss here, Tony. It's Jethro. It seems like a good plan to me unless you'd rather do something else.” Gibbs knew it would take time, but he was determined to get Tony to see him as more than just his boss that he was loyal to.

“No, no. Your plan is fine, Bo-Jethro.” Tony stumbled over Gibbs' first name but managed to get it out.

He had always referred to him as Gibbs or boss in his head. It would take some getting used to for Jethro to roll off his tongue easily. He had never allowed himself to refer to Gibbs as Jethro even in his head for fear of taking liberties or his mind running away from him and making it impossible for him to work with Gibbs without imagining some wet dream or something equally embarrassing.

When the server came to take their order, Gibbs gestured for Tony to go first. “Remember this is on me, so order whatever you want.”

“You don't have to do that, Jethro.” It was getting easier to call him Jethro as the night went on. Tony was beginning to think that he might be able to do this after all.

“No, no. This is my date, so my treat. You can plan the next one and pay for it if it bothers you.” Gibbs wanted no doubt that this was a date and if he allowed Tony to pay for even a part of it, then it could be passed off as two friends out or possibly even a work thing.

“You sound awfully sure there will be a next one. “ Tony raised his eyebrow not contradicting, but not sure where Gibbs surety came from either.

“Not sure. Hopeful. Since you didn't run out screaming at the sight of me when you found out I was your date.” Gibbs clarified wanting Tony to see how much he wanted this even though he didn’t speak much as a rule.

“Who are you and what have you done with Gibbs who doesn't use more words than he has to?” Tony demanded jokingly.

“I talk when it's important. You're important. Plus you'd be bored if you spent the whole date talking and I never said anything.” Gibbs reassured and reinforced his belief in Tony.

Tony's draw dropped open. “I'm important?” He repeated to himself softly unable believe anyone would say that.

Gibbs had to consciously stop himself from clenching his jaw at Tony's surprise. He wanted to take everyone to task who hadn't treated Tony like the joy he is. He wasn't angry with Tony and didn't want him to think he was.

Reaching across the table he grabbed Tony's hand and entwined their fingers together while they waited for their food to come. Actively trying to keep the conversation open and flowing, he asked. “So sports?”

Laughing slightly, Tony couldn't help himself. “Small talk really isn't your forte, is it, Jethro?”

Gibbs glared at him grumbling. “I never was any good at it not even with Shannon. Unless you want to hear about woodworking or boat building, I'm terrible.”

Taking a deep breath and hoping Tony truly did understand him, Gibbs continued. “I've never understood the point of talking about the weather. I mean if there's one conversation starter topic more likely to kill a conversation than weather I don't know what it is. The weather is what it is. We can't change it and talking about it sure won't help.”

Despite his grumbling there was still a small self deprecating curl lurking at the corner of Gibbs’ lips. “At least sports I can understand. With the weather the only people interested would be meteorologists. Maybe it's a conversation starter designed to find out whether your date is secretly a meteorologist.”

Tony was full out laughing now. “I'll be sure not to discuss the weather with you, Jethro.” He gasped out between laughs. He really did appreciate Gibbs making an effort to do small talk and hold a conversation with him especially since it clearly wasn’t his strong suit.

Gibbs grumbled, “What's so funny?” but he was smiling too. “Small talk is a big waste of time. Never could understand why the exes were so desperate for it. I'd rather hear about you than some small talk conversation starter that's completely worthless.”

“No, no, I completely understand. Even though I was raised in small talk and am quite adept at it.” Tony reassured calming down slightly, but unable to stop his huge grin.

“It does tend to be relatively useless for getting to know people unless you happen to hit on a topic that they are really passionate about. Normally I'd start our asking about what they do for a living, but that's relatively useless between us since we have the same job. I'd love to hear about your formative years in Stillwater if you want to share or I can tell you about some of my hobbies.” Tony trailed off awkwardly not wanting to force Gibbs to talk but very interested in learning more about him.

The conversation smoothed out after a bit, both of them losing their nerves as the night progressed without any major faux pas. Before they knew it a couple of hours had passed. Gibbs just happened to glance at his watch and noticed the time. “Crap. We need to get out of here. The move starts in 30 minutes. “

“Well fortunately, we already have tickets. “ Tony commented brandishing the tickets Jethro had handed to him along with the flowers and cd earlier as Gibbs quickly paid their check and they headed for their cars. “Why don't we take your car, Jethro? You can drop me back here to pick up my car after the movie.”

“Sounds good. Let's go.” Jethro moved off economically certain that Tony would follow and in a hurry to get to the movie. He still had to make sure this date went perfectly after all. Tony wasn’t some dame that would just fall at his feet after a few romantic moves.

Tony settled into his seat. He didn't bother grasping the oh shit bar, he just braced himself and waited for Gibbs to speed to the movie theater. When he first started working for Gibbs the oh shit bar was practically his lifesaver but after a couple of weeks he learned that the oh shit bar was actually worse on his have muscles from clenching so hard and that he was better off just relaxing and going with the flow of Gibbs driving than to tense in anticipation. Now he could even fall asleep during Gibbs reckless driving though generally he only did that when he was beyond tired.