Young and Full of Fluff

I stayed home sick yesterday, which was definitely a good choice, but am now back at work, annoying my neighbors with coughing and sneezing and blowing my nose every five minutes. Yesterday I watched WALL*E, which is definitely a comfort movie, but maybe not the best choice for when I have a sinus infection. In the theater, the end of that movie had me shedding a tear or two. In the privacy of my own home? Bawling. And making my nose even more stuffed up.

You know what the suckiest thing about staying home sick is? Even though you're home from work, you can't actually make a dent on your list of chores. Because of the whole sick thing. Curses.


In random segue, NCIS! ( The episode that jossed a thousand fanfics )

In conclusion, I think that may be the happiest-making NCIS episode yet. It was a total validation of fanon Tony. I loved it.

NCIS is the most ridiculously overwrought angsty fandom, and yet every time I see a rec, I click the link, only to turn away in disgust two paragraphs in when Tony starts crying in the squad room cause Gibbs never tells him he did a good job. God. Why do I keep clicking? Why?

So I've watched some more NCIS and read some more fic, and here's the thing about my favorite pairing:
-Gibbs is a bastard. In the show, it seems that he kind of loves this. And it's not just that he's hard-nosed and not political, he actually does lash out at people without justification when he's unhappy.
-DiNozzo is an immature asshole. Michael Weatherly said in an interview, "he's that guy at work that's repellant in every way but somehow manages not to get fired."

Now, I've seen plenty of fics where Tony and Gibbs are in a relationship and Gibbs being a bastard drives Tony away and he has to come crawling back, begging for forgiveness. Aside from being generally unrealistic and badly characterized, these fics almost always portray Tony as someone whose childish behavior is a front. In fact, practically every NCIS story I've read that features Tony starts with some long explanation about how he lets people only see what they want to see about him and he isn't actually that immature and petty, he's actually a tragic, brooding, misunderstood hero. For most stories, then, the point where Gibbs commits to a relationship with Tony is the point where Tony casts aside this persona, and becomes the thoughtful, dedicated, self-confident man he is deep down.

Having seen almost two seasons of the show so far—that's bulls***. Tony is compulsive about annoying, belittling, and pranking the people he cares about. Though he does have occasional moments of seriousness, it seems like the only he can show affection is by being annoying. Any time he has a moment of vulnerability, he usually immediately follows it by trying his hardest to piss people off.

Tony is an "asshole with a heart of gold." And here's the thing with people like that, of which I have known several. Even when you uncover their hidden depths of caring and loyalty—they're still an asshole. Just because you now realize there's no malice behind their actions does not mean they now act perfectly tactful, mature, and kind. They still cancel your print jobs or bribe you with cookies not to talk to a co-worker, to pick a totally random absolutely didn't happen to me example.

On the show, Gibbs pretty much turns a blind eye to all of this unless it directly affects Tony's job performance. He likewise ignores Tony's not-so-subtle jockeying to be Gibbs's favorite. Tony also seems to handle Gibbs bastard behavior pretty well—far from the delicate flower Tony so often is in stories, in the show when Gibbs comes down on him when it's not warranted, Tony stands up to him.

So what I'd really like to see in a fic is where they're in a relationship and Gibbs is still a bastard and Tony is still a brat, and this causes major issues between them (I can see Gibbs just losing his temper with Tony's behavior and Tony, now that he's in a relationship and expects to be shown favor, being hurt when he isn't), but is resolved without Tony getting a character transplant. I'm not sure if such stories exist, though.