A/N: Set in season four, sometime after 4x16.
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Just Like Riding a Horse
“How’s it going in there, Deeks! How hard is it to put on a pair of Velcro pants?” Kensi shouts through the door to the upstairs changing room. She rolls her eyes, annoyed with how much Deeks is stalling. When he doesn’t answer, she bangs on the door. “Hey, what’s going on in there. If you don’t answer, I’m coming in no matter what you have on.”
She pretends the thought of walking in on Deeks in some state of undress doesn’t interest her. It’s hardly the first time she’s seen him like that, though admittedly the circumstances are a little different since he’s going undercover as a stripper.
Just as Kensi’s about to take matters into her own hands, the door swings open to reveal Deeks. In the same clothes he’d been wearing before.
“What, did you lose your thong?” she quips, following him as he walks back into the room. A rack of outfits ranging from sparkly and mesh shirts and leather pants to seemingly innocuous jeans paired with a flannel shirt sits in the middle of the floor.
“So clever. Did it take you long to come up with that?” Deeks asks, giving her an unimpressed look over his shoulder.
“Don’t be grumpy, Deeks.” Kensi pats his back with mock sympathy. “You just have a unique skill set. It would be wrong to keep it from the world.”
“You know, if I didn’t strip in college, I probably would have dropped out,” he tells her, turning and crossing his arms. Kensi mostly ignores the way the fabric of his t-shirt tightens over his biceps with the movement.
“So you like to say.” Kensi squints her eyes, picking up on a slight tension in his shoulders. No one else would pick up on it, but she knows when he’s putting up a front. “What’s going on with you? You’re acting weird.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about. I’m perfect.”
“Then why aren’t you dressed like a sexy firefighter?”
“You think I’m sexy?”
“Deeks,” Kensi says warningly.
He sighs, tilting his head back. When he looks at her again, his expression is unexpectedly vulnerable. “I wasn’t joking when I said it was pretty humiliating sometimes.”
Well, that makes her feel a little bit guilty for teasing him so much. Not enough to admit it, but definitely to tone down on her comments.
“Besides, I haven’t danced in over ten years. Pretty sure I’m going to be a little rusty,” he continues with a grimace. “Which is not what you want in your exotic dancer.”
“Oh, well you can practice in front of me,” Kensi says. Her cheeks flush a second later as she realizes how it sounds and Deeks raises his eyebrows, a slow grin spreading across his face. In a matter of seconds, his any discomfort is replaced with pure delight.
“So, what I’m hearing is that you’d like to see me strip for you” he says, drawing out the words.
“Of course not.” Flustered, she waves her hands at him. “I just meant i wouldn’t mind. I’ve seen you half-naked before. Damn it.” Pinching the bridge of her nose, she exhales loudly.
“Oh no, keep going. I love to hear how much you enjoy seeing me without my clothes on.”
“Just dance,” Kensi snaps. Then just in case he’s still worried about her using it as leverage against him, she adds, “As much as I tease you about it, anything that happens today won’t go beyond this room. Kensi Blye guarantee.”
“Ok, but don’t say I didn’t warn you.” Lowering his head, Deeks clears his throat a couple times, then lifts his head, affecting what can only be described as a smolder.
It should look ridiculous, but it totally works for Kensi. Her breath catches embarrassingly as he holds her gaze for a few seconds and suddenly she can easily see him working a crowd, playing into whatever personas each dance required.
Then Deeks moves. He rolls his body starting at his shoulders and ending with a hip thrust that makes Kensi’s mouth instantly go dry. The next minute passes in a haze until Deeks stops a couple feet away from Kensi, with a final body roll.
“Well?” he asks, as if he didn’t just give her an M-rated show.
“I think you’ll be fine,” Kensi says a little hoarsely. Her cheeks are so hot, she knows she has to be blushing. Deeks tilts his head, curiosity growing in his eyes.
“I take it you approve?”
“As if.” Kensi forces a laugh and makes a show of looking at her watch. “You better pick something out before we’re late.“
Then, because she’s a total coward, she immediately turns and rushes out. And if she can’t look at Deeks for the next hour without blushing all over again, at least he has the good grace not to call her on it.