Bravo Zak. I mean it. I couldn't have pulled that off to save my soul. You did a remarkable job. The whole time I couldn't tel which way you would end it. Even now it would be completely believable is they hadn't kissed and Tony ended up giving Tim crap for the rest of his life. It's hard for me to read slash. Especially when I know the characters aren't gay. It always just seems so out of character and unbelievable. You did a good job dancing on that line of "is he joking/ is he serious" and that was probably the only way you could have got someone like me to go along with it. Nice job there! Also, I still think you have Tony down pat. That whole night, showing that he can be completely conrball and yet he still really does know what he's doing. I'm sure that the "DiNozzo Experience" is really something. Based on your writing, it's like you see Tony in exactly the same light I do, and that always makes me love your NCIS fics. (not that I don't love ALL your fics, and am completely biased on all things Chaos...) But what really made the story, was the end. So clever, I loved it! And again, I could totally see that coming from McGee even if I can't ever really see that particular situation arising. But having to let Tony think he's in control. *SO* true. Anyway, brilliant as always, and I'm sure whoever you wrote it for will love it. (And if she doesn't, you just let me know and I'll gladly gush some more.)

Author's Response: Thanks so much, Kelly! And you would not believe how hard it was for me to get this story written (well at least until I finally came up with a concept that I could work with). If I hadn't been a Scrubs fan, I'd probably still be struggling to save my soul, too ;)  Yay for Gay Chicken! Once that popped into my head and I realized I could write the whole fic (save the ending) as one giant game of Gay Chicken it all fell into place and was actually pretty fun to write. I really can't see either Tim or Tony actually being gay, but I did try to make everything else about them as "In Character" as possible--I could actually see Tony doing the whole "DiNozzo Experience" (tm) thing up to but NOT including the kiss/ending. And *if* Tim were gay, he'd *so* secretly be the one controling/masterminding the situation. lol. Anyhoo, thanks for reading despite finding it difficult to get into slash. *grin*. (Now when's your next NCIS fic coming?)