It had been two days since Kensi had seen Callen's reaction to the pranks she had set for him and she was ready for her next target. Callen had been questioning each member of the team to try and find out who had pranked him but the only replies he got were denials, snorts and laughs as everyone remember each prank. It had infuriated him no end to the point where he had decided to sneak into Eric's hideout in the tech room and watch the security footage
Turns out whoever had pranked him had been smart enough to wipe the security footage for that time, much to Callen's infuriation which was shown on his face the next morning. It gave Kensi great satisfaction that she had roped Eric in on her pranks.
Turns out the surfer was quite the cheeky trouble maker and he loved the trouble they were causing. Actually the toy spring snake had been his idea when Kensi had informed him of her plan and he had recorded the footage of Callen reacting to his surprises before wiping all the footage and making it look like an amateur did it Instead of a tech proffesional like himself to avoid suspicion.
His hope was that Callen's pride would stop him from asking Eric for help finding the video for a while until he did his weekly wipe of all deleted items and thankfully it did.
In the mean time the two were planning their next prank on their next victim, Special Agent Sam Hanna.
They had a different plan for Sam. Their ideas for him were a bit more complex and required more time and so they had planned a pranks that would span three days. It would keep him on his toes and would hopefully stop the need for any more suspicious early morning starts.
Just as it happened, Sam's laptop went missing two days after Callen got pranked. It was suspicious but there was little that could be done about it so Sam just put up with it and used a spare laptop. Nothing else happened that day, Sam ate his tuna and cucumber sandwich for lunch in peace (his wife was trying to make him eat more healthily) and everyone relaxed.
The next day he walked in, relatively relaxed but slightly on edge due to the strangeness of yesterday. He was one of the first in, only Callen before him although he had probably slept there so that didn't mean much.
That was when it hit him first; the overbearing stench of fish emanating from somewhere in the near vicinity.
"Hey Callen, have you had fish for breakfast this morning?"
"Nope but it stinks of fish around here. Think it's another of Nate's experiments?"
Sam sniffed the air cautiously. "Smells like tuna. And no, I am not one of Nate's lab rats; I think he knows better than that now. But if not..."
"Just don't break anything; we need him in one piece. Maybe it was Hetty? Who knows, she may have had a fancying for tuna."
"I can assure you it wasn't me Mister Callen, but I suggest you sort out your fishy problem soon before the others arrive." Her arrival behind Callen made both of the agents jump, and she departed just as quietly Making both shudder. Sometimes Hetty scared the hell out of them.
The silence following her departure was interrupted by the loud arrival of the rest of their team. They were arguing and bickering as usual over god knows what but the moment they stepped into their area and towards their desks, they stopped short and wrinkled their noses.
"Oh god, what is that?" Kensi said, screwing up her nose further as though it would stop the stench from reaching her nose.
"Did you two have some kind of ritual with dead fish before we got here? Is it a partner thing? Should we give it a go, Fern?"
This got him a punch in the side from his partner and two eye rolls from the senior partners. With no one dignifying him a response verbally, Deeks huffed and moved to sit at his desk. As he passed Sam's, however, he stopped suddenly and backtracked quickly.
"Ugh, it's worse round there," he said gagging.
Just as Sam went to check the truth of Deeks' comment, Callen remembered something.
"Hey Sam, weren't you eating tuna yesterday? And the smell is worse around your desk..." By this point, the younger partners had bid a hasty retreat and gone to the firing range to escape the smell.
Kensi would have loved to stay and see Sam try and find the source of the smell (his sandwich tub from yesterday with an identical tuna sandwich to the half he had left but eaten when alone later) but she knew Eric would get it on video for her.
Not long after the two partners disappeared to the firing range, the sandwich pot was discovered. Callen would not let Sam hear the end of it, but Sam couldn't understand. He could have sworn he had eaten that sandwich and also drank the bottle of diet coke that was in the drawer with the box.
Figuring that he must be losing his mind as Callen kept telling him he was, he binned the sandwich and went on the hunt for air freshener to try and eradicate some of the smell. He found some but the smell still lingered.
Kensi and Deeks joined the two and they worked on paperwork (there were no cases) for the rest of the morning. As it neared lunchtime, Deeks was stood with his back to Sam, teasing his partner and trying to get her to do his paperwork for him.
Sam rolled his eyes and decided he was going to drink the diet coke left in his drawer but when he checked it was no longer there. He frowned and walked to the kitchen. Finding a bottle left on the side and no one claiming it, he took it with him back to his desk.
From his position sat in Ops watching the security footage, Eric smiled. This was all going to plan.
Sam opened the bottle quickly only for the liquid to fizz up and cover him completely all down his shirt. Callen heard his gasp and looked up before snorting with laughter, causing Deeks to turn around and Kensi to look up from ignoring her partner. They all laughed as Sam huffed in annoyance, slamming the bottle down on his, now damp, desk.
After changing his shirt into a spare white one that he had in his gym bag, Sam returned and decided that he would finally drink his diet coke. Deeks had gotten bored and turned back to baiting his partner.
The first sip however, had Sam spitting the drink out all down the front of his clean shirt and all down Deeks' back.
"Argh! What the hell Sam!" Deeks squawked indignantly.
"What the hell is that?" Sam half shouted.
"Uh, diet coke Sam. It says on the bottle," Callen replied as Deeks kept trying to twist around to see his drink covered back but, like a dog chasing his tail, it was futile. The three paused to watch his increasingly amusing motions until he noticed their staring and stopped, trying to act normal.
A mutter of, "Must be taking after Monty," was heard but mainly ignored, except a glare from Deeks at his partner.
"That is not diet coke, that is disgusting," he said passing the bottle to Deeks before gulping down several glasses of water, but the taste stayed.
Deeks took an experimental sniff before declaring, "That's soy sauce. Ah the old soy sauce and lemonade trick. Nice!"
Kensi grabbed the open bottle from his hands, pushing him away from her desk so he didn't drip all over it.
"How can you tell?" Kensi asked, sniffing it but not being able to tell.
"Probably 'cause he did it," Callen speculated.
"What?! No it wasn't me," Deeks denied, backing away from an angry Sam and towards the changing rooms. "I'm just gonna ... um ... change ... be right back." He sped away, Sam hot on his tail.
Kensi and Callen shared a look before Callen took off after them to try and stop his partner from killing Deeks completely, well at least before he can get his revenge for then pranks that Callen now thought Deeks must have played on him.
Kensi slipped out, texting Eric. The two met in a supply closet and laughed over the footage from multiple angles and in slow motion. They hadn't planned for Deeks to take the blame but it was just perfect. They left quickly to avoid arousing suspicion, but had their next prank planned already.
This wasn't how I planned to write this but I keep having new ideas. If anyone has ideas for pranks they want played on someone in the story (or a different story of CSI, CSI NY, NCIS, Leverage, Avengers, Agents of SHIELD, the ones I tend to watch although I may add more) then PM me. This is unbeta'd so sorry for any mistakes. If anyone wants to beta NCIS LA fics for me them PM me. If you like it please review.