"Timber!"
Kensi gritted her teeth and kept her eyes firmly to the front of the gym. She was not going to engage. She was not going to engage. Titters came from behind her and she rolled her eyes. It wasn't that funny. Especially since it was the third time it had happened. At least. The first time she could forgive. Barely. But three? That was more than a bit much.
Deep breath. Deep breaths. She wasn't going to engage. She wasn't going to even look around. He wasn't going to even get a whisper of perceived encouragement from her. Because Kensi was determined to enjoy this class and have no distractions. That would defeat the purpose, after all.
"And lift your leg up, bringing your knee to your chest," the woman at the front instructed.
Hetty had organised a series of yoga classes for anyone in the office who wished to participate and Kensi was taking full advantage. Unfortunately, so was her partner. For less productive reasons than hers.
Which he had taken mock offense to when she had brought her accusations to him. But the fact that he promptly took his mat to the back of the room when he joined proved Kensi's point. She swore her partner would never change.
Well, she hadn't wanted to witness Deeks' blatant and quite frankly ridiculous flirting, and had sat herself at the front of the class. Making sure to be diagonal from wherever Deeks placed himself. The put-out noise he made when she realised what she had done had made her grin. Served him right.
Then, as bad as it sounded, she kind of forgot about him as the class began. It was yoga, after all. It needed a certain amount of focus.
"Timber!"
She wobbled and then had to put her foot done, turning to the back with a glare on her face. Focus was a little hard to come by when her partner was doing that in the background. Of course, he didn't see her glare at him because he was too busy flirting with all the tittering women around him. She rolled her eyes. Again. It really wasn't that funny.
The instructor didn't seem to think so either as she cleared her throat loudly and gave Deeks a pointed look.
Not that that stopped Deeks even a little bit.
"Just struggling to keep my balance," he said cheerfully.
And Kensi watched the instructor melt a little at that, even she wasn't immune to the Deeks charm.
"Well, just adjust the pose so that you are steady and in control," she said with a flirtatious look.
Kensi couldn't help but sigh in exasperation. Why did all women end up like this around Deeks? This was what it was going to be like for the rest of the class, wasn't it?
Finally, the class was over and Kensi was in no way feeling as relaxed as she had hoped to be. Oh, sure, her muscles were all loose and had that good sort of ache in them but she was not feeling relaxed.
Everyone was soon busy chatting about the class and complaining how things got stretched that they thought should never be stretched. Kensi rolled her mat up quickly and made her way to the back of the room. Of course, Deeks was flirting with two of the women who had been between. Both of them looked thrilled at his attention. Kensi rolled her eyes and counted internally to ten. That was more than generous of her, in her opinion. Once time was up, she took a step forward and firmly took his ear between her two fingers.
He yelped loudly as she dragged his ear down to a height more comfortable for her. if it was uncomfortable for him, that wasn't her problem.
He continued to yelp as she dragged him out of the gym, everyone else just watching their little scene with dumbfounded looks on their faces.
"What was that all about?" She demanded.
"What are you talking abo- ow! Ow! Ow!"
Kensi had given his ear a good twist. It was very satisfying to do.
"You know - ow- I really can't - ow- concentrate when you're holding - ow - my ear that."
Kensi pursed her lips at him but saw his point. Releasing his ear, she took a step back from him and crossed her arms over her chest.
"Explain yourself," she demanded when it became evident that he wasn't going to say anything.
"Well..."
"Deeks."
"Come on, you have to admit it was pretty funny." He said with that engaging grin of his.
"It was not."
He peered closely at her.
"Did your lips just twitch?"
She batted him away. "No."
"Because if they did that means you thought it was funny and I win."
"They did not and it wasn't funny so you don't win."
"Oh, your lips definitely twitched," he insisted. "You were about to laugh!"
"I was not!"
She was not laughing at her partner's annoying and ridiculous antics that disrupted their class. She was not laughing at him at all. Not even a little bit.
"It wasn't funny," she added for good measure, in case he hadn't understood.
"Sure, it was."
"Was not."
"Was to."
"Not."
"To."
"Not."
"To."
"No!"
"Yes!"
"No!"
"What are they arguing about now?" Callen asked over them as they returned to their desks.
Sam shrugged. "Probably yoga. Weren't they both in that class just now?"
"We were and it was fantastic," Deeks said happily.
Kensi shot him a dirty look.
"You didn't even participate properly," she complained.
"Did so."
"Did not."
"Did so."
"Did no-"
"I believe that Mr Deeks' attempts do count as participation, Miss Blye," Hetty butted in.
Kensi just crossed her arms, unwilling to admit it. Deeks, however, was frowning at their boss.
"How did you know that I kept falling? Weren't you on that call with DC?"
"And London," Hetty corrected. "And, yes, I was."
"But you knew what we were doing?"
"Indeed."
"But... how?"
Hetty just grinned enigmatically at them. Right. That wasn't freaky at all.