Team Spirit - a Reed900 fanfiction

Day two

The next morning came too early for Gavin. Tina woke him up by tipping over his cot, giving the weak excuse she already called for him to wake up three times. More like whisper three times and find a reason to throw his sleeping ass on the ground.
Gavin almost coughed up his lungs on the floor, reminding him of why he cut back on his smoking a while back. Maybe he should quit for real one of these days.

Breakfast sucked, the coffee was divine.

The wonder twins who were not twins showed up again, this time dressed in cycling gear. Connor looked like he could compete in the Tour de France or the Giro, Gavin could picture him on a racing bike easily. Nines was a little bigger, with thighs that looked like they could crush those dainty racing bikes.

Gavin's mind was a bit muddled on what happened exactly last night. He drank a lot. Nines showed up to take him back to the camp, where Fowler was ready to yell at him for lacking team spirit.
He had a hangover, but hell if he was gonna let that show. If he could do his job as a detective on a hangover, he could also do whatever it was they wanted of him today. He could ride a bicycle, sure.

"Think you're gonna stay with the group today?" Connor informed casually as he handed Gavin a bike helmet.

"Depends on whether we come across a bar," Gavin joked.

"Nines will lead today," Connor answered seriously. "I don't think he'll bring you anywhere near establishments like that."

"Couple of party animals, aren't you two?" Gavin muttered, fixing the chin strap of his helmet.

"Just a low tolerance of bullshit, that's all."

"Ha! Then you're gonna love Reed!" Anderson patted Connor jovially on his shoulder. "You will get along just peachy with Detective Asshole here."

"Speak for yourself, Lieutenant Bozo."

"Eloquent, Reed. Real strong comeback."

"I see we've got our work cut out for us." Connor cut them off in his upbeat manner. "Your unit is in need of some proper team building activities."
Both policemen glared at the chipper instructor, yet Connor wasn't fazed. "Your helmet, lieutenant ," he said and Gavin sweared Anderson sported a faint blush from the way the outdoor instructor addressed him.
So all it took was someone young and fit, emphasizing his title. Gavin scoffed; the lieutenant must not have seen action in a very long time if he was this easy to fluster.

Gavin was actually looking forward to this activity. He spent a lot of time in the gym on a spinning bike, so he was fairly confident he could pull this off. It should be fun to cycle up a real hill instead of an imaginary one.
And it was fun, although it was much more of a challenge than in the gym. Gavin enjoyed himself, his hangover pretty soon non-existent.

At first, he was not sure what the team building factor was in mountain biking, yet he soon found himself helping colleagues get their bike in the right gear or shouting encouraging words to help them get up the hill. In his case, those encouraging words were not exactly nice, but hey, whatever gets the job done! He checked his tongue when shouting the captain upwards, though; no sense in making him mad twice within 24 hours.
Gavin didn't really think about what he's doing, he's not the only one doing it anyway. The more trained cyclists all helped their lesser companions. Not everyone reached the top without having to walk next to their bike, though they all made it.

Connor cycled past Gavin when they stopped at a dirt road next to the main road. "Good job, Gavin!"
He sounded much too smug to only be talking about Gavin reaching the top. He sounded like a teacher who is proud at his student who always gets detention and now finally has done something commendable. Gavin hated it.