Writing Deeks: The Sexytimes

Kensi’s journal isn’t the only written material with “adult content.” Fan fiction writers have contributed plenty of their own versions of Deeks and Kensi together together. We talked to them about their experiences writing the Densi sexytimes. (All excerpts are T rated.)

Her back arches, responding to his fingertips as they work their way along her spine. Her body is responding to his touch, moving with the rhythm of his hands as they work their way slowly down, making sure to take in every square inch. Together they maneuver so they’re lying down, him on top and her squirming below. “Bed would be bigger.” She shakes her head. “Are you saying you want to be farther away from me?” “Never. I’m saying you’re limiting how acrobatic this performance is going to be.” She laughs and reaches for his belt. “Next time I’ll bring a trampoline – really see what you can do.” “You haven’t lived until you’ve seen me on the flying trapeze.” He grins, his lips once again blazing a path down her body.

– peanutbutterer, “Hook, Line, and Sinker”

Writing explicit material is not every writer’s cup of tea. “I haven’t done anything explicit for Deeks because I’m not a fan of adult material,” says aslycsi1315. thepixiesmademedoit prefers to “allude to it in my stories, but all the real action takes place behind closed doors. I tend towards romance and intimacy rather than anything more explicit. But that’s personal choice, and also my comfort zone.” Kadiedid “originally started out with just hints at what might have happened but then one of my reviewers encouraged me to try it. I did but I’m not sure it helped my story at all.” She adds, “The descriptors and the language you have to use to describe it can be offensive. I prefer not to be crass but that doesn’t mean that I’m a prude, it’s just my preference.”

phillydi also tried her hand at some adult material but found it, “Very hard and awkward. My first time with an explicit scene and it was ok but not my forte.” peanutbutterer has done semi-explicit content but says, “It’s less graphic than a lot of the stuff that’s out there.” And Jericho Steele hasn’t “ventured into too much adult content,” he says. “…I tried to keep it somewhere between a strong ‘PG-13’ and a weak ‘R’. It didn’t really involve Deeks, so that made it a little awkward, but it was needed for character motivation so I put it in there.”

Other writers have explored this genre quite a bit. Jessica237 says, “I’ve written a few pieces. I’ve had a few pieces that were difficult to write, and a few pieces that actually seemed to flow really easily. And then there’s the occasional story that was never meant to have any explicit material at all, and then somehow it just seems to write itself in there, LOL. It’s fun, but at the same time, it’s also somewhat awkward because I’m a bit blushy when I think about some of the stuff I have written. I think for me, the toughest part is mentally psyching myself up to actually post it.” She also worries about getting typecast by her readers. “My pride as far as writing goes is in my [more serious] pieces, and I’ve experienced sometimes that when you post a few M-rated pieces, people become more excited for those than your other heavier, deeper stories- sort of like, ‘okay, this is nice, but your next one is going to be sexy, right??’ That happened much, much more often in my previous fandom than it does for NCIS:LA, but the worry follows me, LOL. I don’t ever want to be that writer that the only thing people want to read is the sexy stuff.”

ZBBZL is quite comfortable with the material. “I don’t find it hard to write about the details, if that’s what you’re aiming at. Sex is another part of life, like laughing and learning and dying… And when you write about two grown-ups that you put in an adult, romantic relationship, sex happens… So I write sex as a part of life, and not some big mystery that only a select few are entitled to know. My characters smile and laugh and moan and frown, they get pleasure and give some too, they learn about themselves and their partner, like they would in any other interaction.”

Sweet Lu also sees sex as a natural part of Kensi and Deeks’ relationship. She explains that, “Having made Kensi and Deeks a couple early on has allowed me not to be frustrated too much by their lack of intimacy on the show. I simply write the interaction I want to see. I also find that love scenes are a nice breather from the action I write. It allows me and the reader to slow down a bit and catch their breath. It makes sense within some of my stories that they would comfort each other in this way. Theirs is a love story, so it’s not always about the sex although that can be fun to picture.”

On the other hand, she sees Deeks’ sexuality as important to his very nature. She says, “I have written some scenes with Deeks and other women while undercover, and those become something quite different. He is a virile man and I have always gotten the impression that he really enjoys sex, so having him respond to a sexy woman is not that hard to picture… In my latest story, ‘The Collector,’ which is about his early career as a police officer, I want to show that he was a passionate lover and loved having sex without the complications of an ongoing relationship. I think it’s what he was like before he met Kensi. He might love women, but not deeply and not in a committed way. He likes sex and draws a feeling of worth from his encounters. He finds a certain power there and comfort as well.”

She’s trapped between the softness of the rug and his hot, hard muscles and she’s given up trying to win the upper hand; twice already Kensi has tried to roll him onto his back, cupping his biceps with her hands to try and push him, distracting him with calculated touches and kisses, and twice has Deeks laughed and kissed her, gently nuzzling into her neck before catching her earlobe between his teeth and whisper, “No, don’t think so, dollface.” She can’t fight, can’t win against him; Deeks is stronger and he knows it, knows that escaping him is the last thing she wants at the moment, knows that there’s no way he’s giving her control again when he has her beautifully flushed and tousled and disheveled in his arms, squirming and quivering beneath him whenever he moves just like this, strokes her just like that… When she’s moaning his name, her hands clutching at any part of him she can hold onto as he moves sinfully against her, alternating between slow and steady, or long and deep; when he has her shivering in anticipation as his hand crawls up her thigh or when his fingers or mouth brush lightly against quivering muscles.

– ZBBZL, “Embers”

Creating these scenes isn’t always easy. First there is the blush factor. ZeGabz says, “I find it very difficult, but mostly because I have several friends who know my fan fiction account, and I know they’ll be reading.” For phillydi, her “Italian/Catholic background made it very hard to feel comfortable writing this stuff. You have to be very comfortable about your sexuality to make these scenes flow freely and effortlessly,” she says.

There’s also the fact that we’ve seen almost no intimate activity on the show, so everything must come from the writers’ imaginations. “Since we have never seen them in a sexual situation at all, (can’t count that kiss),” explains phillydi, “it’s hard to know what they would be like if they really got hot and heavy. We can only guess and dream about it.” imahistorian finds writing them romantically a challenge. “Even though I love writing them as a romantic couple, the actual romance [pre-‘Humbug’ was] purely hypothetical since we hadn’t seen them together as a couple on the show. Even with [Season 5], where it’s hard to know what romance did or did not occur, writing them romantically is difficult since there is no example to draw from. So I’ve pretty much just made it up as what I envision them to be like. For better or worse.”

Describing the physical activity in itself poses some technical challenges. Kadiedid notes, “It is very difficult because getting what you have in your head to read well in a story is extremely hard to do. For me I think it is awkward. Recently, I have gone back to my hints and innuendos and I like it better.” peanutbutterer points out the difficulty of “Making sure there aren’t any extra hands popping up or crazy contortionist moves.” For her this writing can be both fun and awkward. She says, “I try to keep it from being awkward by keeping it in a lighter mood. I put a lot of bumbles and comedy into the smut, which… I suppose sounds not at all sexy. And maybe it’s not? But I like that style, both as a writer and a reader.”

Sweet Lu worries about the repetitiveness of such scenes. “What is difficult at times is figuring out the lovemaking scene and how to play it so it won’t sound like every other love scene we’ve ever watched or read about,” she explains. “I try not to repeat myself, but that is not always easy. Finding the right words to describe what is happening is probably the hardest part, because I don’t want to be extremely explicit in describing body parts, so I search for substitute words that don’t sound silly or weird or too ethereal. I don’t want it to sound like the heavens opened up and little birds began to sing with the choir when they reach a climax.”

Her fantasies had never, ever been even close to this and no other kiss in her life would be this innocent, pure and sweet. When his lips slipped sideways and moved to deepen the kiss, Kensi’s brain short-circuited and she lost herself in his scent and warmth, the world around her disappearing. Deeks was waiting for her to pull back and punch him in his stab wound or somewhere else, but when he felt her shift slightly toward him in his loose embrace, he gently tugged her face closer to his own. He thought that if she was going to beat him to death or shoot him … he would at least go out of this life with her taste on his lips and a smile on his face. As her body relaxed against his shoulder, he took a little more courage and turned his head, still hoping that this was the best way to tell her what his mind and heart couldn’t seem to get his mouth to say. When her mouth opened and he felt her tongue ghost over his lips, the ache in his chest exploded and he knew it wasn’t from his physical injury.

– Jericho Steele, “Aunt Hetty”

When writing such descriptions, writers sometimes worry about crossing the line into plain old pornography. ZBBZL says, “I have nothing against porn, but I don’t want to write something that could be seen as only porn. I want to build a story that leads to sex, not a story that revolves around sex.” ZeGabz finds it a challenge “Balancing on the line between ridiculous and sexy. It’s not that hard to venture into the 50 Shades of Grey area, where logic and basic quality is tossed aside for the sake of sexiness. Sex scenes and kiss scenes should be true to the characters participating in them, not just ‘going through the motions’, so to speak.” For Jericho Steele as well, “There’s a fine line between writing good adult content that adds to a story and turning out something that would make a Marine blush and believe me, that takes a LOT (Semper Fi Devil Dogs!). There are some really talented writers out there that make the temperature rise without getting into too much ‘descriptive detail’, making it feel like some ‘b’ rated porn movie.”

The bottom line for many is that the characters matter. “Sex is the most intimate thing two people can do,” says ZBBZL. “You’re literally giving yourself to someone else, body and soul. So when you have a character who doesn’t share or open easily, it can be hard. You have to find the crack in their foundations to allow them to be free with someone else.” imahistorian has “written a few explicit love scenes for Deeks and Kensi. I’m not sure it was difficult or easy,” she explains. “I just felt a strong sense of responsibility to make that moment between Deeks and Kensi meaningful. I think at that point I was at least three months into writing “Truth Be Told” and it had been a lot of waiting and building of the tension, story, and characters. I wanted the payoff to be worthy of the story I’d written at that point.” For her, getting the tone right is the most challenging part. “The type of intimacy matters, and that governs the language and how it is described. I’ve only written Deeks and Kensi together and it’s always with an eye on it being an intimate, loving act. And that can be a tough line. Emotional but not cheesy, descriptive but not crude.”

It’s not even a moment later that her hands are shoving at his boxers, making quick work of them and Deeks can’t help but shudder at the realization that there is nothing left between them. It hits him like this every time and he closes his eyes and sucks in a deep breath, needing a moment to steady himself. He figures he must’ve done something ridiculously amazing in a previous life in order to deserve this, because this…this isn’t something that just happens out of the blue to him. Good things just simply don’t happen to Marty Deeks, at least not without a rather high price attached. Everything that he’s ever gotten in life, he’s fought dearly for, and yet this…his stunningly beautiful partner, the one who gives her trust as sparingly as he does and yet who trusts him enough to allow him to be with her in the most intimate of ways; the one member of the NCIS team who, in the beginning, he was certain would be the last one to accept him and now, here he is with her…he can’t help but think that, in a long life of constant struggling, this one thing, easily the best thing he has…it’s all but just fallen into his lap.

– Jessica237, “Partners With Privileges”

The best adult content leads to character development and emotion. thepixiesmademedoit put it this way: “There are some who write those scenes with an amazing array of emotions as well as both delicacy and humility. To take an explicit scene and turn it into something that’s about more than just sex; to make it about the emotions rather than just a series of actions, is a definite writing skill. The best writers can even add humor and still make the whole thing work really well.”

We are getting close to the end of Writing Deeks! We’ll spend the next couple of weeks finding out more from these writers about the joys and frustrations of interacting with their readers. We’ll start next week with how they really feel about negative reviews, with Writing Deeks: Everyone’s a Critic.

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Want to Read More? To find the stories quoted above, follow these links: peanutbutterer, “Hook, Line, and Sinker” ZBBZL, “Embers” Jericho Steele, “Aunt Hetty” Jessica237, “Partners With Privileges”

We also asked each writer to recommend a short story they thought best represents their Densi. Sweet Lu suggested one with some adult content. It’s called “After the Aftermath,” and is a sequel to “July’s Christmas” (her Deeks recommendation). She says, “This shows how much they love and care for each other and is mostly from Kensi’s point of view. They are loving and flirty and X-rated sexy. Lots of hugs and kisses, with angst and vulnerability. I would love to see this Densi, but it can never happen on the show… it’s why I like fan fiction.”

Or, go back to the previous Writing Deeks: Deeks with… Another Woman?

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A special thanks to @thewingsofnight for creating the wonderful artwork.