"Undercover as a couple? Us two?" Sam pointed to himself and Callen, who just raised his eyebrows. He'd been smirking since they first heard of the plan. There was a large fancy banquet tonight and their suspect, Winterbourne, a rich gay business man, would most likely be there. And would probably not trust anyone he wasn't sure was gay to get close to him. And obviously the easiest way to show him they were gay, and therefor trustworthy, was to pretend to be a couple.
"Why can't Eric go? You know, G's actual boyfriend?" Sam had always been supportive of them but didn't want to be one of them.
"Eric has to take care of the tech stuff, or would you rather do that?" Kensi asked, clearly thinking Sam's rejection was amusing. Sam just glared at her.
"Actually why can't you go, Kensi? Callen's bi, his cover can be too"
"We're trying to build trust quickly, and the quickest way will be Winterbourne knowing at first glance you're gay" Eric replied.
Sam opened his mouth, then closed it again and took a deep breath.
"Fine, you're right. Let's do it then"
After agreeing to the plan they'd all split up to prepare.
As the time started drawing nearer Sam went to go look for Callen. It wasn't too hard to find him, recently he spend most of his time at headquarter in the ops room with Eric. The two of them had really taken a liking in each other and Sam was happy for them. It was nice seeing G smile more often.
True to word, in the ops room were they, Eric standing tapping at his tablet and Callen sitting in his chair turned to the other man. Callen was telling him some story and Eric kept glancing at him to show he was listening while still working. Sam could see the love struck look on Callens face as he walked in.
As he walked in he heard Callen finish some ridiculous story that sounded more like attempts at flirting than a conversation between a couple.
"You know G, I didn't think you'd need to hit on your own boyfriend like some guy at a bar" Sam teased.
Callen looked over at him with a slightly annoyed look on his face. Eric just gave him a short laugh. Callen did stand up from Eric's chair to go put his arms around the other man. Then he pulled him closer to press a kiss to his cheek and whispered something Sam couldn't hear. Whatever it was just made Eric smile and roll his eyes.
"You don't have anything against the mission later, Eric?" Sam doubted it, they all knew it was just a cover, but he wanted to make sure.
Eric looked at him with a smile on his lips. "No offence Sam, but if something were to happen between you and G it would've already happened" Callen made a face in agreement, still resting his head on Eric's shoulder with his arms around him. Sam just shook his head.
"Come on, we gotta go" Sam waved for Callen to follow him as he walked out of the room. He could hear the couple exchange a kiss and a soft "bye".
"So, how couple-y do we have to be for this to be believable?" Sam had been quiet for most of the drive. But as they were getting closer he decided to discuss some specifics. Callen raised an eyebrow.
"We're not gonna make out if that's what you thought."
Sam didn't even bother answering him, just gave him a deadpan look.
"But mostly likely just you know, standing next to each other, arms around each other, that stuff" Callen continued. "Maybe some flirting and looking love struck"
"Well you're good at that" Sam muttered.
Callen pretended not hear as he pulled into the parking lot.
Getting into the event was easy, they were on the list. All they needed to do now was walk around and hope they, or Eric on the cameras, would catch a glance of Winterbourne. They'd heard he liked to make an entrance so he probably weren't there yet. Sam still couldn't completely relax but he calmed down a bit. Until he heard Eric's voice in his ear.
But Eric wasn't announcing their suspects entry, he was flirting with Callen. Or maybe Callen had started it and Sam just hadn't noticed. But still, here they were, flirting during a mission.
"Did I tell you you look amazing in that suit?"
Sam wish he wasn't here.
"No, but you can sho-" Before Callen could continue Sam interrupted him.
"Hey, isn't that our guy?" Everyone got on high alert as Eric tried to find a better camera angle to make sure it was their suspect.
"No" Everyone released their breath. "It's someone else."
"Hey, guys" Kensi suddenly said. "I just got a call saying Winterbourne has been spotted at a restaurant in the other side of town"
"What?" Callen exclaimed. "What do we do now?"
Sam shrugged.
"Go back I guess, we're gonna have to try another time"
"But the restaurant-"
"We don't have a plan, we'll keep watching him until we get another chance" Kensi interrupted.
Callen sighed.
"Okay"
Back at the headquarter Callen was frustrated from not catching their suspect and stormed off to go punch something. Eric was still in the ops room, and the rest of them sat defeated in the office.
At some point Eric had came down and said he was gonna check up on Callen. They hadn't heard from either of them since, which probably meant Eric had gotten his mind off it.
A while later, growing more and more annoyed by not coming up with any new plan, Sam also decided to go work out a bit. Apparently having forgotten why he hadn't done so sooner.
As soon as he walked into the gym he yelped and turned around while closing his eyes, having seen a bit more of Callen and Eric then he wished.
"Glad you two are still fine after the mission" He said, back still turned to the other men. "I'm gonna leave again"
