"Please, my partner was Wes Mitchell. We argued all the time," he said, chuckling. "I go with the flow. You want to argue; I argue. You don't want to argue; we don't." Another trait he had picked up in foster care: give them what they want. It was much easier to reflect what people wanted than to go against those expectations. "You like that?" he answered with a smile, lips still brushing against TJ's after their kissing. "What else do you like?" He kissed TJ again, sighing happily. "I know you are, babe."
Travis chuckled. "No, babe, you don't like people to know what you don't want to know. You want to control what they know, and there's nothing wrong with that, especially with the way you grew up." He moaned softly, the sound being muffled as he kissed TJ's neck. "I'm not into public indecency." He looked up, eyes fixed on TJ. "I thought I was the jealous one." He'd never really consider the opposite, because he couldn't imagine TJ getting jealous over him.
"TJ, I've been in the force for twenty years, and some days, I still feel like that kid trying to stay out of jail or trying to please the foster parent of the month. You can't expect miracles in three months. You're doing your best, and that's why I see that man. It's why you are that man. There aren't two different people. There's you, a man who's finally trying to grow up, moving past the limitation that came from his past life. The face in the mirror won't change. You will, but the person you were will always be inside you as well."
Travis couldn't help but chuckle at TJ's reaction. "You know you're supposed to have all of that on your person even when you're inside the house, right?" Not that he was going to bitch too much. He'd left his bag and rifle inside, more worried about TJ than the bag. He'd have to get into that mentality as well, because there was no way he was going to leave TJ unprotected if something happened.
"TJ, baby, she's not trying to attach to you. If anything, she's probably trying to attach you to them, giving you support, and I get that you don't need it, because you have your family, but if you look at them, even the ones with a family have tried to bring the others in." He chuckled. "Maybe she got offended, because you sound like you are an arrogant, condescending, snotty ass when you get all proper and polite. Hell, sometimes, you sound like that even when you're trying not to, but I know, I laugh it off, because you're adorable when you get like that, and we move on. I'm sure in your world, people understood, but most people here don't get it or misunderstand."
That was easier than trying to explain Deeks. "We're not really friends and if we were home, we probably would barely be talking to each other, because he was working with NCIS, but we are here and we are LAPD, brothers in blue. We might not talk, know what the other likes, but we are there for each other, because there's just the two of us from the force. When I left, he was the only one to volunteer to help, and he wanted me as his second, even though we've never really worked together. If he and his family needed anything, I'd be there, no question asked. It's not your type of family, but it's the type of family that law enforcement agents often have, because they have no idea family and no time for other friends. You need something, you call on each other. I don't have to have dinner with them to be ready to give up my life for him and his. I think she understands that, because she's lived it for two years. Look at the adults they consider family: two brothers and a father and two kids, and yet they are all family. And if you ever need help, no matter what it is and I'm not around, you go to Deeks. He'll have your back, because we are together."