Chapter Text
"Next time you think about doing something this idiotic in the future, don't," a Canadian's voice yelled in the distance.
Tony didn't think much of it. He just assumed some recruit had screwed up and a drill sergeant was taking him to task. This was pretty common at Remington Military Academy (RMA) as supposedly it was good training for the armed forces. Tony wasn't sure he believed it, but he wasn't in a position to tell them they were wrong either. Although, maybe this guy was.
On closer inspection, the man didn't seem old enough to be a drill sergeant though he was a few years older than Tony, who was in high school. He wasn't wearing the uniform of one either. Very strange. Still he dismissed the encounter as a one off thing and continued to his next class.
Tony wasn't particularly inclined to go to any of his lessons, but the penalty was worse than sitting there bored out of his mind. His father had shipped him to RMA to get him out of his way. Senior claimed that it was for his own good and that he needed some sense and discipline beaten into him, but personally Tony thought that his father just didn't want him around.
While RMA was primarily for those looking to join the military, the school shared grounds with various training facilities for a number of different secret programs. Tony knew for a fact that the CIA had a group of teenagers and young adults enrolled there now. He had no idea what kind of training they received as they were as likely to be buried in books and computers as to be working out when seen outside in the shared common area.
He didn't interact with them. In fact, anybody who tried to talk to any of the CIA trainees could expect a lecture from the CIA instructors. So it wasn't until the honor guard trussed him up the flagpole via his underwear that he met Meredith Rodney McKay, aka the Canadian he'd seen yelling, officially. The older teenager helped Tony down after the bullies left, amazingly enough before his embarrassment became known to the entire school.
"Thanks." Tony blushed slightly at being caught in such a position. He should have been able to fight them off. "I'm Anthony DiNozzo, Tony, please."
"Don't mention it. Meredith Rodney McKay, but for the love of everything holy, don't call me Meredith. I had to eat lunch with my underwear on my head once. I get it."
Tony glanced at the Canadian teenager with understanding. He didn't ask for the full story, certain there was some additional trauma there that the other man didn't want to get into. They spent the remainder of lunch bonding over other experiences with bullies, mostly Tony's, though he did get a few stories in exchange from Rod.
Tony alternated between calling him Mer, Rod, Rodney, or McKay like a cadet. Mer and Rod were both more affectionate nicknames. Whereas Rodney or McKay was often reserved for more formal interactions or when introducing him to someone else.
If Tony had thought hanging out with Rodney would reduce the teasing, he couldn't have been more wrong. The honor guard and the rest of the student body teased him more often, though at least there were no more trips up the flagpole. As far as Tony was concerned his friendship with Mer had more upsides than downsides, given he was teased and bullied before he met the slightly older man. Not to mention, he greatly enjoyed Rodney's retellings of some of the Canadian's encounters with some of the more moronic cadets.
Secretly, Tony loved that Mer wasn't afraid to tell people how stupid they were being. It had earned Rod a reputation amongst the other cadets at RMA, however. No one understood what he saw in Rod as everyone else just saw a highly intelligent, always irate CIA trainee who would happily eviscerate anyone with a verbal flaying.
The insults McKay hurled never bothered Tony. After all, his own father had called him worse things when the man was drunk. Rod, at least, kept the insults to his intelligence. Plus Tony knew that unlike most people Mer didn't actually mean any disrespect, he truly didn't understand why Tony behaved the way he did around other people.
The Canadian’s response to dealing with people he didn't like was to insult them and do anything he could to make them go away faster. Tony's tendency to blend in and preference to being underestimated made no sense to Mer. Tony had tried to explain multiple times, but had given it up as a lost cause. For a genius, there were some concepts that Rodney truly couldn't grasp.
They spent a lot of time together and Tony considered Mer his only friend, really. Surprisingly the CIA hadn't taken his head off, even though he spent a significant amount of time hanging out with one of their key assets. Tony was sure that they were well aware of the friendship between the two of them.
Before he knew it, the holidays rolled around. Most of the other cadets were going home for winter break. Tony wasn't and neither was Rod. This suited Tony just fine as it meant he could spend more time with the Canadian who was quickly becoming his best friend. Tony had never had one of those before. He'd always been affable, but never formed a friendship that would last. He wasn't sure if he had this time either, but he knew they both shared a lot more than he was used to sharing with his classmates, even than he'd shared with roommates before he was old enough to warrant a single room.
Of course, that didn't last. Towards the end of sophomore year for Tony, Rodney showed up at his door and shoved a piece of paper at him. Tony looked down at it in confusion. "What's this?"
"My email. Use it," McKay barked and just like that he was gone, a few CIA agents trailing behind him.
Tony blinked. He'd known this day would come eventually. They couldn't stay at RMA and whatever training program forever, after all, but he had expected to have more time with Rod. He pocketed the note and returned to his studies.
It wasn't like there was anything else he could do. He would miss Mer, but he'd always been adaptable. Pissing off his father via finding new ways to get himself expelled quickly required flexibility. He’d wanted Senior to actually pay attention to him instead of just shipping him off to multitudes of boarding schools. It hadn't worked and it had taken Mer’s unfailing logic to make him realize that he wasn't getting back at Senior, but was only screwing over his own life.
Per Rodney's order, Tony started communicating with him via email. He had no idea what Rod was up to, but he knew it was all very hush hush. The man made comments about them wanting him for his big brain, but Tony suspected there was more to it than that.
Tony didn't want to speculate what his life would be like without Mer. He got along with his classmates well enough, but none of them actually cared about him. Rodney insulted him regularly and definitely had a belief about what Tony should do with his life, but Tony knew it was out of love. He couldn't say that about anyone else in his life except maybe the housekeeper and even she was questionable since she was technically employed by his father.
As senior year arrived and everyone had to talk with the "career counselor", Tony only wanted one opinion. He knew that they would disagree on what he should do, but Rod's opinion was the only one that mattered in his mind. He'd taken the advice the school handed out for him and applied for as many scholarships as possible. Senior had already informed him that if he didn't get a degree in business that not a penny of his college tuition would be covered, so Tony knew he needed all the help he could get.
He'd been lucky enough to receive a full football and basketball scholarship to Ohio State University, which was by far the best offer he had from any of the places he'd applied for. He seriously considered going for a Physical Education degree from Ohio State and emailed Rodney about it. He didn't expect Rod to respond positively. He knew how the man felt about jocks after all, but when days passed and he still hadn't heard back Tony began to wonder if he'd broken the Canadian. Would this be what ended their friendship?
When he finally received the email back, it was filled with scathing remarks and explanations about how much of an idiot he was and how he could do so much better than an athletic scholarship and had Mer taught him nothing? The email ended with a demand that if he insisted on this stupidity that he enroll in correspondence courses from Harvard in a hard science, or mathematics if he must pick a non-science.
Tony replied to the email, protesting that Rod was the one with the smarts and the man literally scoffed at him. Rod continued to pester him about taking courses more appropriate to his intelligence through the rest of the school year. Tony finally gave in and registered for Harvard correspondence courses as well as enrolling with Ohio State University.
He stared at the course load he'd agreed to and wondered if he was actually insane. The Harvard courses would require so much time that he didn't know how he'd fit in the physical education courses at the college he was physically present at. Truthfully, he wouldn't have bothered with the Harvard courses even with Rodney's nagging if Rod hadn't flat out paid the course fees.
Tony had no idea how the Canadian could afford it. He knew Mer's parents weren't super rich. Honestly, if Tony's family on his mother's side still spoke to him, he'd easily have access to more money than the McKay's, so it was a bit of a mystery to Tony where the money came from.
He'd tried to question Rod about it and make sure that the man wasn't doing something stupid and was basically told not to worry about it and that he could easily afford it. The response had been worded carefully enough that Tony knew better than to dig into it. He was pretty sure it had something to do with whatever the CIA's interest in Mer was.
College was a breath of fresh air in a way that even RMA hadn't been. For once, Tony could be himself. He didn't have to live up to anyone's expectations. He didn't have to worry what anyone thought about him.
He joined one of the fraternity's and threw himself into the party lifestyle or at least he tried to. His schedule left a lot to be desired in terms of free time, so he couldn't participate in all the keggers that he would have otherwise, but he tried. He conversed off and on with Rod and thought for once that everything was going his way.
Of course, he should have known that even thinking that thought would jinx it. In one of the Ohio State vs Michigan games, he had a fatal encounter with a man named Brad Pitt, not the actor but a football player who tackled him and injured his leg. His career as a professional athlete ended before it had even begun.
He had to have surgery and then there was recovery time. He had a long road ahead of him and would never be able to be as physically fit as he was before. Tony found himself grateful for Rodney's stubborn insistence. His Harvard courses gave him some other options that wouldn't be available to him with just the Physical Education degree that he'd nearly completed.
He had zero intentions of thanking Rodney, knowing full well that as soon as Mer found out about the incident he'd send off an “I told you so” email. He also wasn't sure that he wanted a career in the hard sciences or some other egghead type degree that his Harvard courses could get him. He still had some thinking to do, but at least he had options.
Tony didn't even have to ask Rod what he would recommend. He knew the Canadian would tell Tony to switch to Harvard full time and finish his degree out there, preferably one in a hard science or mathematics that would mean diddly squat beyond "got a degree" in most jobs in the real world. Tony, however, preferred to be active and wasn't sure that he would be suited for any of the roles that he could get from a degree of that nature.
While he recovered from his injury, he used the time to peruse information on the other programs available at both Harvard and Ohio State to figure out what new career opportunity caught his interest the most. While he could do the hard sciences semi-decently, he didn't particularly enjoy it. He wanted something he could really sink his teeth into. After all, it was always easier to be happy when your work was something you loved doing.
Rodney's email contained the expected gloating about how right he was, but it also carried some notes of concern if you knew how to read between the lines. Tony had become quite skilled at interpreting what Mer was really trying to say and he would never be able to read one of Mer's emails with a straight face. The Canadian could never just admit that he was worried and the way he tap danced around asking if Tony was ok without actually asking it amused Tony greatly.
When Tony looked at the courses he'd already taken and what degree tracks they could reasonably apply to, he was surprised to realize that he could easily change to a career as a medical doctor if he wanted. Of course, that would mean another four or eight years of school once he completed his bachelor's.
Just the very idea of more years in school practically made him break out in hives. Instead, he switched to a criminal justice degree. It was one of the options that had real world applications. It helped that he was also close to completing it with the courses he'd already taken. Most of the jobs available with just the criminal justice degree didn't interest Tony, but the idea of being a police officer really appealed to him.
He'd never even considered being a cop before. It would require another year or so at the police academy to meet the requirements, but that was doable. With Senior's less than legal activities, there wasn't a career that could be further from the "family" business. Tony knew this job would piss Senior off more than anything else he could choose, which was a huge plus in his book though not the only reason for his decision.
Mer would try to object because he thought the only good jobs were ones in the scientific field, with mathematics barely rating second place. However, even Rodney couldn't claim that being a cop was a waste of Tony's talents or a job that didn't need to be done. He knew his friend would bitch a little, but would accept Tony's decision without even wondering if he was an idiot for once.
There were a couple other possibilities he could opt for as a career path as well. He could go the physical trainer route or a nurse, as something that wouldn't require quite as much schooling as you would need for the full medical doctor, or a million other options than he didn't even want to consider. While he was drawn to the police officer path, he was still undecided.
He didn't know how long it would have taken him to decide had he not stumbled across a house on fire one night. There didn't seem to be anyone around and he could hear people in the house. He couldn't just leave them to die if he could do something to help, so he charged inside.
He found a boy and was getting ready to get him out when the kid pointed and urged, "My sister is in there."
Tony glanced in the direction he was pointing and frowned. The amount of fire that he'd have to get through to get to the kid's sister was significant. A piece of the ceiling dropped down right next to them and Tony knew he had no choice. He scooped up the kid and muttered, "Sorry, man. It's you or her and I know I can save you."
He'd hated the feeling that he'd left the girl to die, but there really hadn't been any choice. He'd had nightmares for months after that, waking up in a cold sweat with images of both kids dying or the girl haunting him or other disturbing but related scenarios fresh in his mind. It was terrible.
You would think that that experience would have turned him off from the idea of joining the police force, but the fact was it had only increased his desire to become a cop. The only thing that had made him feel better about the situation at all was the idea of getting justice for the victims. He had no idea how to do that, but he knew that it was one of the things a police officer did.
Needless to say, he'd gone for the police academy after graduating college despite Rodney's half-hearted protests. It was a good thing that he'd gone for the job he wanted and not one to appease Mer as contact with Rod trailed off quickly after that. Tony didn't know if Mer had gotten busier or if he'd just forgotten about Tony in the excitement of his work. Either way replies to his emails went from generally the same day to regularly weeks or months later.
Rod never apologized for the time it took him to respond, but Tony had never expected him too. He'd mentioned that he'd been sucked into a new secret project that was taking all of his time. Tony knew better than to ask, though he really wanted to know what Mer was up to. Not to mention that he missed the man who commiserated with him about bullies and called everyone an idiot no matter how smart they were.
Without his friend to distract him, Tony threw himself into work. He purposefully built a persona that he knew would piss Rodney off. He wasn't bitter, but Tony looked forward to Mer's reaction if the man happened to run into Tony while he was working on a job. He knew that Rod would hate that Tony was known as a skirt chaser, womanizer, or similar ilk. Much like Rodney didn't understand why Tony preferred to blend in, he wouldn't understand why Tony wanted to be seen as a womanizer or someone of a similar nature that was generally looked down upon by society.
Of course, Tony's persona wasn't just to tweak Mer's tail. It served a very important role in protecting him. If people thought he was into men that could be very dangerous for not only his career, but also his life.
It was better for them to think he chased every skirt and flirted with anyone because they'd never look twice at any man he happened to flirt with. They'd think they knew who he was interested in and thus the smokescreen would protect him from the very real prejudice that still plagued the police force when it came to gay cops. Tony wasn't actually gay. He was quite fond of women too, but it was better to make people think he was only into women if he wanted to respond to crime scenes and stay alive.
Of course, even his best efforts didn't guarantee safety. The force was like a girl's locker room. Rumors spread before anyone even knew how they were started. He didn't know how, but someone had found out about one of his boyfriends and he'd found himself in multiple situations that were more dangerous than they should have been due to lack of backup while he was a member of the Peoria police force.
Still he was good at his job and managed to wrangle an excellent recommendation which he used to secure a job among the members of the Philadelphia Police Department. One of the bonuses of Philly was that they had no compunctions that prevented them from letting Tony become a detective. He'd been trying for a while in Peoria and there was always one excuse or another about why he couldn't be promoted.
Tony loved detective work. He really shined there. One of the cases he worked even earned him a gold shield.
He found he had a particular talent for undercover. So much so that he got pulled into an op to infiltrate the mob. He excelled at getting the information that Philly PD needed and before he knew it, the top leaders had been arrested and awaited trial. Of course, the result of that operation plastered his face all over town and going undercover in Philadelphia became impossible after that. Not to mention that some of the remaining mob members put hits out on him. Tony decided it was beyond time to move on at that point.
While he was undercover, he hadn't been able to keep in touch with Mer as well as he would have liked. Usually it wasn't a big deal, but this op had gone much longer than expected as getting the mob to think you were one of theirs was never an easy prospect. However, he clearly hadn't been missed much as Rod still hadn't responded to the last email he'd sent before he went undercover.
He was beginning to think that Rodney had more or less forgotten him. He knew it happened. That people grew apart or got busy and didn't have time for friends they didn't see on a regular basis, but it still sucked. He missed Mer a lot. Even after working at two different police departments, the people Tony actually considered friends were still pretty much Rod and maybe some of his frat brothers.
When a bald man showed up at his door while he was considering his next career move, Tony didn't know what to think. The other man introduced himself as Trent Kort, CIA. Tony looked him up and down and believed the man was a CIA agent. He fit the stereotype to a T.
There was something about the way the guy carried himself that screamed CIA. Trent mentioned that Rodney had suggested him for the position. Still annoyed and hurt regarding Rodney's decrease in communication, Tony turned down the offer without really listening to it.
In the end, he accepted a position with the Baltimore Police Department. At first, he thought Baltimore would work out better than the other places he'd worked before. He'd run into an old music teacher from when he was younger and one thing led to another and he was thinking about getting married. It had been a long time since he'd heard from Mer and it seemed like Tony should stop pining after him and get on with his life. Maybe marrying Wendy was the way to do it.
Apparently, Wendy disagreed. Despite originally agreeing to marry him, she'd left him at the altar. Tony really didn't know what to make of that. Other than, clearly, it wasn't the right time for him and Wendy to get married.
Tony had already begun to wonder if he should have taken Kort's offer when he found out that his partner, Danny Price, was a dirty cop. He had a sneaking suspicion that the corruption didn't end with Danny, but no proof of that. It didn't help that the only reason he found out about Danny was because of an NCIS agent named Leroy Jethro Gibbs sticking his nose into a money laundering case, which Danny was one of the main perpetrators of.
Tony was beyond ready to leave Baltimore by this point in time and after 3 jobs that each didn't last much more than 2 years, he wasn't at all sure that he wanted to go to another police department. He couldn't help wondering about Kort's offer. If it was actually from Rodney, it would probably be at a location where Mer felt safe. Still he didn't feel comfortable taking Kort's offer even now and decided to take Gibbs up on the offer of joining NCIS.
Everyone had warned him about Gibbs, including his new director, but Tony wasn't worried. There was no way that Gibbs was worse than Rodney when it came to people skills and expectations. He had to go through FLETC before he could actually start working with Gibbs, but at least that course was expedited at only three months for those coming from other law enforcement positions.
Tony had been at NCIS for about a year and he could state without a doubt that compared to Mer, Gibbs was a freaking teddy bear. He'd never told nor would he ever tell his boss that, but he had enough experience with Gibbs and watching him interact with others to be positive it was true. The two of them got along well and had settled into a great working relationship relatively quickly.
The Director, Tom Morrow, actually thanked Tony for not running for the hills. It amused Tony greatly how much of a reputation Gibbs had. Tony sometimes wondered how NCIS would react if they ever met Dr. McKay. When he was having a bad day, he would imagine a scenario like that to cheer him up.
Director Morrow also appreciated Tony's ability to help smooth over Gibbs' general grouchiness when working with other agencies. He'd mentioned such more than once. Tony personally didn't think it was a big deal and waved his hand dismissively whenever the Director started to lay it on too thick.
Really, he'd gotten used to doing something similar for Rod when he was at RMA. He may not have had to do it for Mer in a while, but it was like riding a bike. The principles of running interference for highly intelligent people were the same and he easily picked them up and did the same thing for Gibbs that he'd done for Rodney. Well not exactly the same, but close enough.
Some might argue that Gibbs didn't count as a highly intelligent person, but Tony knew differently. The man might not have book smarts like Rod, but he definitely had his own brand of perception, often referred to as his gut. Gibbs definitely had the bastard and arrogant routine down that seemed to come with being smarter than those around you as far as Tony could tell. Admittedly, Tony only had Gibbs and Mer to use as examples of that right now, though their new probie, Tim McGee, might end up being a third. Only time would tell on that.
