AN: Part 7 out of 26 of the 'ABC's of Life' series.
Disclaimer: I do not own NCIS: LA. CBS does.
He was always the one to start, a smartass remark about her clothes or the girl they'd passed on the way to work her signal that it was about to begin.
She'd respond with a comment about his hair, always a sore subject between them; mainly just because it amused her how much time he'd put into it looking right when half the time she just pulled hers back into a ponytail and was done with it, but that's beside the point. Her low blow would bring up a mention of her latest date, and, for a while, they'd back off.
At lunch they would pick back up, drawing Sam and G into the mix as they stole bites of each other's food and berated them for it, his and Sam's health kick cringing at the grease/sugar filled crap the others decided enough for their stomachs. He'd remind her that she wouldn't be a size zero forever, to which she'd just happily continue to eat the leftover donut from that morning, laughing as she pointed out that, despite his whole sepal on eating healthily, she'd still beaten him in the gym that morning.
"I went easy on you and you know it."
"Yeah, sure you did. Just keep telling yourself that, Deeks."
She'd win that round, tying them one-to-one for the day, at least until they found themselves side by side on her couch, beer in hand and her latest guilty pleasure playing in the background. She would lean her head against his shoulder and curl into his side, a small sigh leaving her lips as, for the first time since she'd woken up that morning, she finally relaxed. He'd respond by wrapping his arm around her, a protective gesture he knew she hated but tolerated for him, a private win that never counted toward their overall score. From there they'd wait, small talk and banter filling the commercials between strutting model hopefuls and time traveling aliens. Occasionally they'd try to provoke the other, each eager to claim victory, but, more often than not, they'd wait.
To be completely honest, Deeks never had a clue who'd win in the end, for when he would finally give in and kiss her, his mind would be on far more important things than keeping score.
He'd ask, but that'd just be another point in her favor, and even if she already was, he wasn't going to let her win their little game.
