Lie Again

Boys' Night Out

Warning: I did not proofread...

*****

Gibbs sighed as he tied another balloon.

Tony smirked at the floor, still pleased with himself for getting the Boss to help, and now amused by watching Gibbs help with the balloons.

"How many more do you want, DiNozzo?" Gibbs grumbled.

Tony looked around at the floor --or rather, the sea of colored balloons. "I think we're good. Thanks, Boss."

So Gibbs tossed the last balloon down and grabbed his beer.

"Hey, Boss, you wanna help me with balloon animals?"

Gibbs sighed again but picked up a balloon and started twisting it. Tony watched in amazement as the balloon was transformed into what was clearly a poodle.

"Were you a clown in a past life?" Tony joked. He tried to copy the Boss man's steps, but something went terribly wrong, and the balloon ended up looking like a twisted balloon.

Gibbs finished another balloon, this one a giraffe.

"Nice one, Boss." Seriously, how did he do that?

"Tony, can you help me with the streamers?" McGee called over.

"Boss, you gonna be okay over here?" Tony asked.

Gibbs gave him a stony look.

Okay, then.

Tony abandoned his balloon and crossed the party room to where McGee was wobbling on a chair. "What do you want me to do, McGiggles?"

"Hold the chair."

Tony snickered. "Were you drinking already, too?"

"No, the chair has uneven legs."

"I think that's just you." Tony gestured for McGee to switch places with him. He climbed up on the chair and immediately pinwheeled his arms to keep from toppling over.

McGee started laughing and couldn't seem to stop. "You should've seen your face."

"Shut up." Tony grabbed the streamers and taped the loose end to the ceiling. "Go over there and I'll toss it to you."

***

Ray laughed when he walked into the party room. Tony must've been in charge of planning.

"The coolers are over there," McGee said, pointing toward the corner.

"Ziva said I'm supposed to limit you to three drinks," Tony said. But he winked.

Ray glanced around. Laser tag, bowling, an arcade, and balloon animals. Ziva must have kept Tony on a pretty tight leash during the planning stages. At least there was alcohol.

"So do we get drunk first, or do we drink as we go?"

McGee shrugged. "Last bachelor party I went to didn't have alcohol."

"Is that so?"

"There was watered-down apple juice, though. We were running an op."

"Ah." Suddenly the laser tag was a whole lot more appealing.

"We have the entire place to ourselves, so feel free to get drunk whenever." Tony handed him a drink. "You want to try out the arcade?"

"Sure." It had been quite some time since Ray had been in an arcade. This made the colorful, blinking lights just a little less annoying. "Hey. They got Frogger."

"You want to play me?" Tony asked, taking a gulp of his own drink.

"Why not."

"You can go first."

Ray popped a game token into the machine and had a pretty good run.

"Not bad." Tony took his turn, missing Ray's score by less than a hundred points. "Good game, Mr. Cruz, good game." He stuck his hand out to shake, and Ray obliged with mild confusion. "How about a game of air hockey? I could kick Gretzky's butt at air hockey."

***

That was that. Ray won the game of Frogger. Under the terms agreed upon with Ziva (jokingly, though she didn't know how serious he was), Ray won Frogger and Ziva.

At least Tony got to school him when it came to air hockey and that kiddie monster truck game.

"What about that?" Ray pointed to the shooter game, you know, the one with the big plastic guns.

Tony shook his head. "Let's have a few more drinks first."

"Then we'll bowl."

Tony thought that everything would be funnier if they were good and drunk, but he didn't particularly feel like sitting around and just waiting to feel drunk enough. Might as well bowl in the meantime.

They found Gibbs and McGee sitting around joking with Ray's few friends.

"We're going to bowl now," Tony said, and he grinned when he saw that Gibbs was well on his way to becoming quality entertainment. "Everyone get some shoes and a ball, and prepare to have your butts whooped."

***

Tony bounced the balloon elephant across the table, grinning to himself. Maybe that last beer was pushing it.

Oh well.

"Hello..." Ray dropped into the seat next to him. Tony wasn't so drunk that he couldn't see Ray was looking a little dazed. Maybe Ziva was right to propose a drink limit.

"Hello."

"I am so lucky," Ray sighed.

"Okay."

Ray pulled out his phone (and dropped it twice). "Look at her." He showed Tony a picture of him and Ziva at some park, and Ziva had a smile that could light up a room. She looked so incredibly happy.

"Wow," Tony managed.

"I know. She's so amazing. I'm so lucky to have met her."

Tony could only nod. His eyes wouldn't leave that picture.

She just looked so happy to be there, next to Ray. Like there was no place she'd rather be.

He clapped a hand on Ray's shoulder. "You're a lucky guy. Make sure you hold on tight to her."

*****

You probably hate me for that, but that was the plan all along. (To have Tony accept it, not to make you hate me, though I guess those go hand in hand...)

This was another short update, so sorry for that, but I might update with the girls' party tomorrow.

I feel like there was something else I wanted to say, but I don't remember what it was.

Um... Feel free to try All Your Fault (even just the first update --it reads like an NCIS episode, I swear) or Magnets (if you haven't already read that --Tiva fanfic)

Vote/comment/don't hate me