Deeks was never the guy to read between the lines. He knew as well as all the others that reading between the lines was just as a big part of the job as wearing a badge or a weapon. But still the same, he never really liked that part of the job.
Of course, sometimes it almost came natural, like when he tried to figure out if he could trust the bad guy, or if the innocent girlfriend really was as innocent as she said. In those cases he figured it more like following his guts then really reading them. And he always tried to follow his guts, even though sometimes it just became necessary. But he would never, never read someone unless his life depended on it. Not like this guy Nate, who did it for a living.
The first time he met Nate, he almost laughed. The man didn't look like an agent, he looked like someone belonging in the office, doing paperwork and taking phones, like Deeks had done his first year in the LAPD. But still, Nate had surprised him, and shown himself to not only a good agent, but an important asset to solving the case, because of his "reading." And even though Deeks respected that, he never could have done it himself.
One of the reasons was respect. Respect for other people to live and act like they wanted, without him judging them of telling them it was right or wrong. He had seen too many good people say one bad work to the wrong person, and the next day, the office would be sparkling with stories about that same man, shooting the good guy, cheating on his wife and calling the big boss an ass. All stories made up and build on that one wrong word the day before that someone misread or misunderstood. Deeks had known some guys like that working in LAPD, and all of them, good men, was fired shortly after.
Also, he had learned that reading people he worked with never was a great idea. And even if he learned things about them, he never spoke about it. Almost every agent had a history of their own, and the minor of them was willing to discuss it in any setting. Kensi Blye was not one of them.
And the other reason, the personal reason he never would tell anyone, the fact that he wouldn't read other because he wouldn't risk reading himself. The one person he truly was afraid to dig into and see the true face of. He liked being the funny guy with the sheepy smirk in his face, and a good line coming up. That was the guy he wanted to be, the guy he was sure somebody would like and love. That man was easy to love. He never had to put up a good face, 'cause he only had one face, didn't have to pretend to have something on his mind, because problems were only things he had to solve, nothing to worry about. That was the Deeks ha wanted the others to see, like and live with. He had been that Deeks for a long time, since the day he shot his father. That was the day the other Deeks had become more of a dream then reality.
The Deeks deep inside, wasn't a man like him. He was just a little boy, scared of his father and scared of the world. That little boy was the reason he had quit law school and started in the police. At least the police had their guns to hide behind, and didn't have to send dozens of dangerous people to prison. Little did he know: working undercover was way more dangerous. That little boy was the reason Deeks never tried to figure out what the rest of the team was thinking about. He respected them, even more then he would say, and he figured they all had their dark sides.
No, Deeks didn't like reading people, didn't like digging into their heads. That way he felt so lucky working with Kensi. She was just like him. She understood what he had to do. She also had a little girl inside of her, but he never brought her up. Because, as he says; he don't read people, unless he has to.