"This is kind of nice, you know," Callen said to his partner, his words slightly slurred thanks to the lollipop in his mouth.
Sam gave him a dark look. He had spent the last half an hour being on alert for any would be crumbs or sticky residue being left on his car as they all dug into the treats. Deeks was officially in his bad books again because he got Callen those lollipops he was obsessed over. And everything about those was sticky. The lollipop itself, the wrapper, your fingers. Everything. He couldn't even enjoy his protein bar because of it
"Come on, Sam, we got no crumbs on your seats," Kensi told him.
That was something Sam found hard to believe. This was Kensi, after all. He had seen her desk and her car. He gave her a look in the mirror.
"We didn't!"
"Shockingly," Deeks said, checking all around him. "But, then again, we didn't eat the things that produce lots of crumbs yet. It's been mainly gummy sweets."
"And you're not going to," Sam told him.
"But the chips and stuff are part of the snake experience."
"Really, Deeks? Snack experience?" Callen asked.
"I believe I have already gone over the importance of snacks on a road trip."
"They aren't that important," Sam told him, already sick of the snacks and talking about said snacks.
"That is where you are wrong, my friend. They are very important. No road trip can be so without snacks."
"It can."
"It's kind of a moot point considering we already have the snacks," said Callen.
"That and do you really want to be around Kensi when she's without access to some form of sugar?"
"No," the older two men said instantly.
"I am not that bad," she complained.
Silence from all the men.
"I'm not!"
Deeks patted her on the arm and she elbowed him. He then decided to offer her a bar of chocolate. She narrowed her eyes at him and Sam found himself holding his breath.
With an angry noise, Kensi took it off him, ripped open the wrapper and angrily ate it. The relief was palpable in the car when she did so.
"Shut up," she grumbled through a mouthful of the chocolate.
"Told you it would work," Deeks said in a stage whisper which made the older men shake their heads.
"You're lucky I have chocolate," was all Kensi said.
"Thus, proving my point!"
"Deeks, just stop talking." Callen said.
"Please do," Sam added.
He would not like to scrub blood out of his seats. No thank you. Speaking of scrubbing...
"If any chocolate ends up anywhere, you're cleaning my whole car," he warned them.
"What do you take us for, five?" Kensi asked, swallowing the last of her chocolate and then raised her hands. "Look, none on me."
Sam just rolled his eyes and decided not to answer. Getting drawn into his teammate's ridiculousness was never a good thing. Why did they all seem to go crazy when they weren't on a case? Couldn't they just relax and not be weird? He heard Deeks try to persuade Kensi to play punch buggy.
"Do you really want to give Kensi an excuse to hit you?" Callen asked.
"Does she need a reason?"
"You make it sound like I hit him all the time!" Kensi complained.
"Yeah, she mainly elbows me or pinches me," Deeks added.
"That really doesn't help your case."
"Sam's just grumpy he's not getting the full experience of the road trip." Callen said with a smirk.
"This is not a road trip, by the way," Sam told them.
"We are on the road. And we are making a trip," was his partner's smart-ass response.
"Not a road trip. We're just driving to a place for a case."
"Road trip."
"What's the first thing you think of when someone says 'Road trip'?" Deeks asked.
"Wanting to strangle my sister," Kensi replied promptly which got her odd looks from everybody.
"You don't have a sister." Deeks said bluntly. "Do you? How could you hide such a thing from me? Is she hot?"
"Deeks, I don't have a sister," she said in exasperation.
"Then why on earth would you say something like that?"
"Because every single story or movie that's about road trips is about wanting to strangle a younger sister because she's talking too much or something. Therefore, that's where my mind goes when I think of road trips."
"You're so weird."
"Well, what do you think of when someone says 'Road trip'?"
"Still isn't a road trip," Sam butted in in exasperation but no one paid him any attention. Because why would they.
"Well, I think freedom and endless skies." Deeks said. "No one telling you what to do and nothing needs to be done except get to your destination."
"And for everyone else in the car to just shut up," Sam grumbled.
Again, he was ignored. Because why on earth would you listen to the driver?
"I think endless roads," Callen gave his opinion.
"And I think torture," Sam finished off for them. "Enough about road trips already."
"You love it really."
"No."
He definitely did not. There was nothing enjoyable about this at all.
"If this is a road trip, shouldn't we be singing songs?" Callen somehow managed to suggest with a straight face.
"Not a road trip and don't you dare."
This perked Deeks up. "Yeah, you can't have a silent car when you're on a trip!"
"You aren't singing," Kensi told him bluntly. "Monty sings better."
"Babe, Monty doesn't sing, he howls."
"Exactly."
"No singing," Sam said firmly.
He did not need an even worse headache than he already had.
"What about the radio?" Callen suggested, reaching forwards to turn it on.
Sam slapped his hand away. "No."
None of them liked the same music at all and he could do without any unnecessary arguments. Well, fewer unnecessary arguments.
"Come on."
"No."
"It's either music or Deeks starts singing."
"I do know some good old country classics."
Sam quickly reached for the button.
