Inculcate

If you asked Gibbs, all of his rules were important. However, there was only one rule that he inculcated on his team. That rule was rule 9, never go anywhere without a knife. He knew none of his team would be without a knife. That was one thing he would make damn sure of. His knife had saved him more times than he could count.

He knew everyone on his team had a knife of some sort with them at all times. None of them wanted to face his wrath if they ended up in a situation where a knife would save them and they didn’t have a knife. However, now that he was dating Tony, it was different with Tony. He wanted to make sure Tony was protected at all times.

To that end, Gibbs had found a special knife that like Tony would hide in plain sight. At first he’d thought about getting a belt knife, but he knew Tony already had one. So he went looking for other ways knives could be concealed for Tony. He saw the perfect knife and it would allow him to kill two birds with one stone.

Purchasing the knife, he put it on it’s own key ring along with a key to his house. The next time Tony showed up in his basement, he tossed the key ring at him. “You’re welcome here, anytime.” Gibbs casually tossed out.

“Aw, Jethro. Thanks. But why are there 2 keys?” Tony softly exclaimed eyes lighting up, before tilting his head in confusion.

“The second key is a knife. You’re the most important person to me. I have to make sure you’re protected.” Gibbs explained gruffly.

Tony practically melted. Tucking the keys into his pocket, he walked the rest of the way down to where Gibbs was working on his boat and hugged him. He dropped a kiss on Gibbs’ upturned lips while he was at it, settling against his side and appreciating the closeness. “I’m not in your way here, am I?” Tony questioned hoping Gibbs did not ask him to move away.

Gibbs grunted because he wasn’t about to admit that Tony was in the way. He wanted him close too.