Stains & Photos
I wanted to do a Callen and Eric chapter. They should be friends but I had trouble writing Eric. I hope it sounds somewhat like his character.
Callen parked his truck beside Eric's Prius, grabbing his bag and making his way to the office. Stowing his bag away he headed towards the break room to grab coffee before starting his day.
"Morning Eric has anything come up that I need to know about?" The computer tech jumped a little as he came up silently behind him. "Sorry man I thought you heard me."
Grabbing a paper towel to wipe up the spilt coffee Eric looked at Callen strangely. "How do you do that; did you take a class in sneakiness or what? Now I'm going to smell like coffee all day."
"No I've never taken a class in sneakiness as you call it; I just know how to move without making a lot of noise." Leaning back against the counter he watched Eric try to wipe the coffee stain off his shirt. "I have a couple of extra shirts in my locker if you want to change."
He stopped wiping at the stain to stare at the other man "You would lend me a shirt; one of your shirts to wear? That would be really cool Callen."
G smirked at Eric before pushing away from the counter to head towards the locker room. "Well it is kind of my fault for sneaking up on you I guess; besides it's just a shirt no big deal. Come on I'll show you what I've got and you can make your choice."
Eric followed him to the locker room watching as he opened the door to his locker. "Take whatever you need; just close the door when you're done. I'll see you upstairs."
Left alone he looked over the selection; there were several long sleeve t-shirts with a couple of button up shirts available all in dark grey or black except for the blue ones. No way was he putting on a blue shirt of Callen's' Eric didn't even want to think of the remarks that would be made if he showed up in one of G's trademark blue shirts. He would stick with one of the grey t-shirts and pull his hoodie over the top. Maybe no one would notice he was wearing one of the agents' shirts. Pulling it over his head he was surprised that it fit as well as it did; he had always thought of the agent as a bigger guy but the shirt was only a little bit loose on him. Turning to grab his stained shirt Eric saw several photos flutter off the shelf in the locker and hit the ground face down.
He stood frozen in place for a moment trying to figure what to do; normally picking up the fallen pictures and putting them back in the locker would be no big deal. But it was Callen's locker and Callen's pictures; Callen who was an extremely private person that didn't share his personal life with anyone. Who knew what was in those photos and how the agent would feel about someone else seeing them.
Eric thought about walking away like he hadn't seen them fall but that seemed a cowardly thing to do. While Eric wasn't a field agent he didn't like to think he was a coward, it wasn't as if he had done anything wrong the pictures had fallen out without warning. If he left them there anyone could come along and pick them up; no Callen had done him a favor lending him a shirt, the least he could do was pick up the photos and give them back without looking at them.
With an apprehensive look on his face he picked up the pictures, put them on top of his stained shirt face down and went looking for Callen.
Walking up to his desk with an anxious expression on face he held out the photos "Hey, Callen these dropped out of your locker while I was changing so I brought them to you. Don't worry I didn't look at them."
When Eric had started talking Callen had looked up from the report he was writing, seeing the pictures in his hand. With a relaxed look on his face G took the photos and turned them over so Eric could see what they were. "Oh, these are just some pictures of a couple things I was interested in building. No big secrets to kill you over."
He tensed for a moment before realizing that Callen was teasing him. "Ok that's cool; hey these are really great. I really like that entertainment center; it would be perfect for my gaming stuff, do you know where I could buy one?"
Taping the photo in question with his pen "I can give you the builders name but be prepared to pay about $5000.00 for it."
Seeing the disappointed look on the tech's face as the words came out of his mouth Callen made an offer that even surprised him. "I could build you a similar one if you want; I mean you would have to pay for all the materials and help out a bit but it wouldn't be that hard to do."
"Really, you would do that for me?" Eric had a stunned look on his face, he and Callen had always gotten along but they had never really hung out away from work. "That would be great but can I ask why you would want to build that for me."
"I like to build stuff and I've only got so much room in my place; I don't want it to be overcrowded with furniture. It's not that big a deal; in fact maybe you could do some electronic stuff for me in exchange?"
A skeptical look on his face Eric looked the older man in the eye "You have a chair, a lamp and a table in your house; there is no one on earth that would consider that overcrowded. Besides we both know you don't really need my help with any electronic stuff; I know you've already installed a state of the art security system."
Callen stood up with a pissed off look on his face. "Look if you don't want my help just say so; I told you I like to build stuff and I'm not ready to start on my next project. Think about it and let me know; it doesn't matter to me."
As soon as he finished speaking G walked away towards the gym leaving a stunned Eric behind him.
"Why is G so mad; is there a problem I don't know about?" Sam had passed his partner on the way back from a workout. "Hey, Eric how's it going."
Slowly turning to face Sam with an apprehensive look on his face "I don't know what's wrong with him; we were looking at some photos and talking. The next thing I know he got pissed and took off."
"Really, Eric you expect me to believe G just got mad and walked off. There has to be more going on here, what were you guys talking about?"
Shaking his head a little he picked up the photo and handed it to Sam "I was admiring this piece of furniture and asking where I could buy it. Callen told me how much it was and then offered to build it for me in exchange for some help. I asked him why he would do that and it pissed him off."
Sam had a puzzled look on his face as he looked at the photo Eric handed him. "There has to more to it than that, what aren't you telling me? G doesn't get pissed over nothing; did you insult his building skills or something like that? You better go straighten this out; I don't want to spend all day riding around with an angry Callen."
Walking over to the gym, Eric peeked thru the window to see Callen shooting hoops. Opening the door he walked over with a hesitant look on face putting his hands out automatically to catch the ball when it came his way. "I don't know what I did to make you mad so you're going to have to tell me. Or not, tell me that is. I guess we can just ignore each other; though it will make it difficult to do my job."
"I'm not mad at you Eric; it just pissed me off that you didn't think I could build that piece of furniture, that's all." Callen grabbed the ball and sent it thru the net turning to look at the blonde with a blank look. "No reason why it has to get in the way of work. I'll text you the phone number for that builder and maybe you can work a deal with him."
"Hey it's not that I don't think you can build it I was just wondering why you would want to, build it for me that is. I mean it's not like we're best buds or anything, the only time we hang out is when the rest of the team is around." Grabbing the ball he threw it back to Callen with a questioning look on his face.
"Look, Eric I like to build stuff. I don't need or want a lot of stuff in my place so this would be perfect. It would give me a new project to work on and be useful for you at the same time." He aimed and sent the ball thru the hoop again. "If you want the unit fine, if not I'll find something else to build."
"No, Callen I do want it. Give me a list of what to get and I'll run by the wood store later." Eric had a big smile of relief on his face happy not to have to explain to everyone why Callen was in a bad mood. Plus he was getting a radical new entertainment center.
His blue eyes twinkling Callen followed Eric back into the office "Slow down surfer boy and let me figure out what we need. Then we'll take my truck; I don't think your little car can haul a bunch of lumber."