Work Text:
Masticate
Ever since Gibbs came back from Mexico, Tony had been in denial. He didn’t want to admit that things were no longer the way they had been before. He knew Gibbs was struggling, but he didn’t want to admit how much that had affected the whole team.
He’d been struggling before Gibbs came back. The team hadn’t trusted him. Still with Gibbs back, he tried to tell himself that things were better. When he’d heard about the team dinner, he was glad that he hadn’t been eating. He’d have masticated the food so badly that there would have been nothing identifiable left and everyone would have noticed immediately that something was wrong.
Instead, he quietly left to lick his wounds in peace.
