Fic: Be That Easy (Hawaii Five-O, Danny/Steve)
This is what happens when you dangle a shiny new fandom with bickering boys in front of my nose, and then put me in an environment where I can’t watch episodes and have limited access to stories, but where I can write: 5’500 words of self-indulgent banter, basically. Um. Enjoy?
Fic: Be That Easy (Hawaii Five-O)
Danny/Steve, mild R, ~5’500 words
Warnings / Spoilers: No warnings (except, well, self-indulgent); spoilers are pretty vague, a tiny bit more explicit for 1x01 and 1x03, I think.
Gratitude (editing / hand-holding): inderpal encouraged me even when all she had were a couple of scene which sucked, but she knew how to make them better. snarkaddict assisted me during my first, timid steps in this fandom (it’s daunting to be back!). foxxcub is nicer and more generous than I deserve. elucreh ’s enthusiasm makes everything better.
» Danny hated his life. He did. In particular, he hated the day Lieutenant Commander Steve McGarrett had walked into his investigation and robbed him of evidence, everyday routine work and his sanity. «
Disclaimer: Yeah, no. Never happened, and all that.
Be That Easy
It was shrill, sudden light that woke Danny. He opened his eyes to find a very bright lamp just inches from his face. Not much further back was Steve, his features obscured by white spots dancing through Danny’s vision.
“Turn that off,” Danny ordered. His mouth felt as if a fine layer of fur had grown overnight. Scraping his tongue against his palate didn't help much.
“And a good morning to you, too.” When Steve switched off the lamp, the room was plunged back into shadows, Danny’s eyes needing several moments to adjust while Steve moved off the bed, the mattress shifting with the subtracted weight. Danny stifled any hint of regret before it could fully form.
He threw the covers back and sat up. Judging by the light slanting in through gaps between the blinds, it was still morning - which meant it was way too early, considering they’d all stayed out until three last night. As if to prove he wasn’t human and could thus function on four hours of sleep without a problem, Steve looked perfectly awake, not even a hint of tiredness in his clean-shaven face. Reclining against the wall, he also looked like temptation wrapped up in a body that was smooth and lean and dangerous. Fucking bastard.
“You would be the only person sleeping in a shirt when it’s eighty-five degrees out,” Steve remarked casually. “Why am I surprised?”
Since Danny possessed self-control, he didn’t offer to take said shirt off for Steve. Instead, he shrugged and averted his eyes, swinging both legs over the edge of the bed. Sofa. Sofa bed. He needed to buy a real bed, he really did, but he also didn’t need to explore that thought with Steve this close.
“I don’t know,” Danny said. “I also don't know why you're here. And shining bright light into my face when I’m trying to sleep. Isn’t that a crime against humanity? It would be in a civilized place, I’m sure. Which this is not, obviously.”
“The lock on your door is pitiful, and I had to wake you somehow.”
“Actually, no. You didn’t have to wake me.” Danny scrubbed a hand through his hair. “Remember how we didn’t go to bed early last night? Beer and a bar, that ring a bell? Oh, wait, maybe you remember being thrown out of that bar, or, hey, the idiot who wouldn’t quit hitting on Kono and didn’t take no for an answer? Please tell me you remember his face when he hit the ground.”
“Hmm, yeah.” Steve’s eyes lit up with a grin that did nothing to reduce Danny’s irritation with him. Danny liked his sleep, and if Steve felt he had to waltz into Danny’s apartment at ass-o-clock in the morning, he’d better have more than a nice grin to make up for it. “I’m also not likely to forget Chin handling the guy’s friends,” Steve continued. “Or your attempt to charm the bouncer with speed-talking. Man, I love my team.”
“That’s swell.” Danny held up a hand. “No, seriously. It’s fantastic that you’re getting in touch with your emotions and all that, awesome job. Just, could you maybe do it someplace less… less here so that I can go back to the very serious business of sleeping?”
Steve propped one leg against the wall, hips jutting out. “In the Navy, we have this rule that anyone who can party late can also rise early.”
“Good thing I wasn’t in the Navy, then.”
“Danno.” Steve let his head fall back, almost lazily observing Danny through half-lowered lids. “Put some pants on. We have plans.”
“Plans?” Yet Danny pushed himself to his feet and glanced down, grateful that he was wearing a clean pair of boxer shorts. He had to walk around Steve to retrieve fresh pants, and of course Steve didn’t move to make room. He never made anything easy for Danny, after all - why start now?
“What plans do we have?” Danny repeated irritably. Squeezing past Steve, he tried to minimize body contact with limited success.
“Plans,” Steve said. “Bring your trunks.”
Danny turned to look at him. “Is there an emergency?”
“No.”
“Then I’m not going swimming.”
“We’re not going swimming.” Steve smirked. A stripe of light illuminated one half of his face and throat in a way that made all thoughts of protest dry up.
“Okay,” Danny said.
Steve looked surprised. “Wait. Okay? No lengthy discussions? You’re not first insulting me and my ancestors and everyone I ever talked to? Nothing?”
“It’s not like it makes a difference. I’ve been trying to accept a lost cause for what it is, recently.” Danny turned away to pull up his pants. He attempted to shake his head clear, rubbing the remainder of sleep out of his eyes, before he straightened. “You got any chewing gum on you?”
Of course Steve did. He was the real life version of a ninja navy boyscout, after all.
--
“Why am I driving?”
“Call it an act of self-protection. You’re less grouchy when your hands are on the steering wheel.”
Danny put the car into gear, checking the rearview mirror. “I can still hit you,” he said absently.
“You wouldn’t.” Steve sounded very certain of that fact, and it made Danny itch to prove him wrong, just because. It was Steve’s fault, of course; Steve inspired a corresponding level of childish behavior, and that was the explanation Danny was sticking to. It put the blame where it belonged.
“Depends on where we’re going.” Danny pulled onto the main road, lined with palm trees. He was getting really tired of palm trees. They were everywhere, an inescapable cliché, but even worse? Even worse was all that sand which Danny found everywhere - in his clothes, in his shoes, in his hair and under his fingernails despite how he made it a point to avoid the beach, at least when Steve didn't drag him on some suicide mission that ended with everyone getting shot at and Danny doing a lot of paperwork.
Fingers scrabbling for the sunglasses he usually kept in his car, Danny squinted at the blindingly bright sky. Not one cloud dared to interrupt the wide stretch of clear blue color. “Fucking sun,” Danny muttered. His fingers didn’t find anything in the door compartment.
“You hate the landscape because it has more green than skyscrapers.” Steve ticked off his fingers. “You hate the beach. You hate swimming. Maybe you won’t hate what’s below the water’s surface.”
“You’re taking me snorkeling.” Danny hoped that his voice conveyed the full amount of his incredulousness. When he spared a glance at Steve, he found him sprawled comfortably in the passenger seat, legs splayed open, one hand resting loosely on his thigh. His head was tipped back against the headrest, showing off the column of his throat.
Quickly, Danny looked back at the road. It was too warm in the car, despite the air conditioning.
“Actually,” Steve paused, “I’m taking you scuba diving. Next one on the left, by the way.”
Danny snorted before he took the turn. “Why would I want to do that?”
“What, turn left?”
“Go diving.”
“Because I’m your boss.”
Yeah, Danny thought, thanks for reminding me. Really, Steve had a stunning gift for stating the obvious at the most inopportune moment. “Scuba diving wasn’t part of my job description.”
“I can always add it.” Steve shrugged with a careless air. “The Governor says I can do whatever I want, remember?”
“Okay.” Danny swerved around a pothole. “Convince me. What kind of situation could possibly require me to hunt underwater criminals?”
Steve slung an arm over the headrest of his seat, shifting as he turned to give Danny a confident smirk that bordered on smug. “That’s an easy one. Drug syndicate. Hiding their goods underwater.”
“That?” Danny shook his head. “Is highly unlikely.”
“Look.” Steve’s tone changed from smug to imploring. “Just give it a try. You might even enjoy yourself.”
“Just as unlikely.”
“You’re not scared, are you?”
“Scared?” Danny risked another sideways glance, just long enough to take in the teasing curl to Steve’s lips and the way Steve’s shirt gaped open at his throat, granting a glimpse of collarbone. The humid warmth in the car was impairing Danny’s concentration. He tightened his grip on the wheel. “I’m not scared. What I am is reasonably wary of leaving my natural habitat - where, by the way, I can breathe without the aid of a bottle filled with oxygen. Any sensible human being should be wary of that. Which you’re not. A sensible human being, that is.”
“It’s compressed air, as a matter of fact.” Steve’s grin was audible in his voice. “Also, I was a Navy SEAL. You can trust me to keep you alive.”
“Trust you to keep me alive?” Danny hit the gas, and the car jumped forward. “You did not just say that. You did not say that after getting me shot within my first hour of working for you.”
“You look pretty alive to me,” Steve said. “Turn right at the sign pointing to Tessa’s Diving Adventures.”
“My corpse got pretty good at faking life.”
“Danno.” Steve’s voice dipped as low and serious as it always did when trying to convince Danny to do things the patented Steve McGarrett way, which usually lead to pain and blood. That Steve actually managed to convince Danny, at least sometimes, was the most irritating aspect of Steve’s technique. “Stop complaining. Grace told me that apart from her, you think I’m the best thing about this island. So, it shouldn’t be too hard on you to spend some time with me.”
The back of Danny’s neck flushed cold, his cheeks hot. This conversation hit close, much too close. It should have been over yesterday. Yesterday a year ago. “Gracie is a little in love with you. She’s not to be trusted. And I thought I taught her to keep a secret, so her telling you anything must be Step-Stan’s bad influence. Did I tell you he wants her to pick up tennis?”
“You didn’t say that I am the best thing about this island besides Grace, then?” Steve leaned forward, enough so that if Danny wanted to keep his eyes on the road, he had to deal with Steve being a blurred shape at the edge of his vision. “Are you quite sure of that? I know you’re a better father than teaching your daughter to lie.”
Danny couldn’t think of a suitable reply. He glanced over to find Steve already watching him, gaze steady and amused, posture relaxed. The coldness spread from Danny’s neck down his spine, and of course he was the one to break eye contact. “Fuck off, Steve.”
Steve’s quiet snort was followed by short silence before he said, “You drove straight past the sign, just so you know. Indication of sharp eyesight and an alert mind, everything it takes to be a great detective.”
“See if I care,” Danny replied evenly. He spoiled the effect by hitting the brakes and jerking the car around, ignoring the honking car behind them.
“Of course you don’t,” Steve said, lips twitching. Danny wanted to… do something that would shut Steve up, like hit or kiss him, and yeah, no. Bad idea. He tightened his grip on the steering wheel, knuckles white, and remembered to turn into the side road.
The car shook with another pothole, but Danny didn’t feel like slowing down. “Why do you care, anyway?”
“About what?” Steve asked.
“Whether I hate Hawaii and all it represents.”
It took a moment for Steve to answer. When he did, he didn’t sound quite so amused anymore. A brief look showed that all traces of his smile were gone. “I grew up here, you know.”
“I don’t see a tourist guide badge on your shirt.”
“Consider it special treatment.”
Danny threw his hands up. The car swerved on the battered pavement, and he reached for the wheel again. “You need a case. Maybe that’ll keep you occupied. You always get insufferable and twitchy without a case.”
“You,” the emphasis Steve put on the word equaled double underlines and an exclamation mark, “need to loosen up.”
“Then why am I in a car, with you, on the way to go diving? This is not my idea of loosening up. In fact, it’s about the opposite. Loosening up is my TV, some basketball and beer, not following you into an ocean that’s probably swarming with sharks. And poisonous fish.”
“Stop protesting and enjoy the ride, Danno.”
“Stop calling me that.”
Steve leaned back in his seat, waving a hand towards a house marked by an enormous carton diver out front. “If you reach deep into your soul, you’ll find that there is nothing you love more than when I call you Danno.”
“Except for a hole in the head.” Pulling into a parking space, Danny shut the engine off, listening to the sudden silence reverberate for a moment. “At least underwater, I won’t have to hear you talk.”
“That’s the spirit.” The corners of Steve’s eyes crinkled with his laugh, and Danny hated his life. He did. In particular, he hated the day Lieutenant Commander Steve McGarrett had walked into his investigation and robbed him of evidence, everyday routine work and his sanity.
Yeah. Especially his sanity.
--
Tessa, the owner of the dive center, obviously knew Steve. After they’d entered, there had been a quick discussion about liability, followed by five minutes of technical terms that entered Danny’s brain through one ear and went right back out through the other. Physics and chemistry were more Steve’s areas of interest; Danny preferred to watch from the sidelines while other people decided the fate of his life for the next hour or so.
Having Steve as a partner clearly came with a certain laid-back attitude towards potentially life-threatening situations. That Steve’s short-sleeved shirt revealed a tantalizing glimpse of his tattoos didn’t improve Danny’s concentration, either.
“Fins in his size won’t be a problem.” Tessa tilted her head and brushed a strand of sun-bleached hair out of her face. She wore the typical Hawaiian beach attire, consisting of a bikini and hot pants, which was at least one thing Danny could appreciate about this place. He wasn’t too sure about her gaze leisurely traveling down his body and back up, though - which implied a certain level of hypocrisy on his part, but he was fine with that. Just as long as he never, ever mentioned it to Kono.
“As for a neoprene shirt, I’m not too sure,” Tessa continued. “I think what we have might be a little tight around the chest, but,” a wide smile, “I don’t exactly see a problem there.”
“Thanks, Tessa.” Steve stepped forward with an equally wide smile, putting part of his body between her and Danny. While Danny was tempted to point out that he was perfectly capable of defending his own honor, thank you very fucking much, Steve was faster. “If you bring us the equipment, I’ll take it from here.”
Tessa seemed to hesitate for a moment, glancing from Danny to Steve and holding his gaze for a second. Then a strange grin flickered across her face. “Fine, alright. Most of it is stored in the shed, so just wait here while I get shirts for both of you.”
“What was that all about?” Danny asked as soon as she’d disappeared into the back.
“We go way back, that’s all.” Steve’s answer came almost too quickly.
“Actually, I was talking about those ten minutes when you talked about pressure and gas mixes. Not your… whatever that was.” Danny squinted at a sketch on the wall; it showed a diver with three bottles of varying sizes on his back, labeled arrows identifying the bottles as 02, air and nitrox. “Is there anything I need to know to stay alive?”
“Yeah.” Steve took a step back, crossed his arms and gave him a long, considering look. The cheerful curve to his lips didn’t bide well. “Stay close to me.”
Yes, Danny hated the day Lieutenant Commander Steve McGarrett had walked into his life, hated it for the stupid spark of heat in his stomach and for how long it took him to reply. “If you ask me, that sounds rather counterproductive to staying alive. I should be running as fast and as far as possible from you.”
The cheerful curve grew into a smile. “I’m faster than you, probably because you’re short. Anyway, I don’t see you running.”
“Which makes me certifiable.”
“I admire that in a man.” Steve nodded gravely.
“Strangely, I’m not surprised.”
Steve seemed about to reply when Tessa returned with two black, gleaming shirts dangling from clothes hangers. They looked skin-tight. Yeah, Danny hated his life. So much.
Really.
--
The shed was actually a large storage container which smelled of seaweed and urine, lit only by what little brightness fell in through the open door. Neoprene suits in varying states of decay lined one wall, plastic boxes with fins and other equipment on the opposite side, the aisle in between just wide enough for one person.
Danny waited at the door, relieving Steve of whatever he selected from the boxes to pile outside: jackets, weights, belts and, last but not least, the dive lamp that had assisted Steve this morning. Fortunately, Danny’s task was made much more enjoyable by the fact that Steve had dropped his normal shirt on a nearby table and had yet to put the neoprene shirt on. Danny didn’t need to embrace his weakness to Steve in order to appreciate that Steve was attractive, that his stomach was nicely muscled and his waist tapered down to narrow hips, that his-
Yeah, enough of that.
“Why do you insist on walking around shirtless?” Danny inquired when Steve passed him two pairs of fins to add to the pile. “Is there a cult I’m missing?” Right. So much for stopping that particular train of thought.
Steve paused on his way out the container. “Well, yes. It’s called Hawaii.” He braced one of his arms against the doorframe, tilting his head with a curious smile. “Speaking of, why do you still insist on wearing too many clothes? Ties and long-sleeved shirts are really not required here.”
“Why do you care?”
Steve stepped out into the sunlight, squinting up at the perfectly blue sky. It looked like a scene out of a movie, the angle of the sun painting dark shadows to highlight the cut of his cheekbones. “Who says I do?”
“The number of times you raised the topic. For your reference, it is not normal for a guy to constantly criticize another guy’s clothing. Especially shoes. Shoes are a no-go area between guys, okay?” Crouching down, Danny sorted through the pile of equipment. It busied his fingers and kept him from staring. “Anyway, it’s not as if my ties personally offended you.”
Steve lowered himself to the ground beside Danny, reaching for one of the weight belts. “That depends on how you look at it.”
“Oh, please.”
“Ties are for mainland people. Hawaii? Is not the mainland.” Steve’s fingers wrapped around one of the lead weights, but he didn’t pick it up. His gaze was sharp. “Seriously, it’s time you accept that you belong here, now.”
Danny sat back, shaking his head. “I will never belong here, Steve. Ever.” He crossed his arms and looked away, away from Steve and Steve’s serious eyes and generous mouth. “Once Gracie’s old enough to leave this green hell for a place where real people live, as opposed to surfers and flower girls... Then, yeah. I’m gone, too.”
“Do you really believe that?” It was a quiet question, low and careful.
“Yes.” The word felt strange in Danny’s mouth, but he spit it out regardless.
Steve picked up the weight and didn’t reply. His body was angled away.
“What?” Danny asked.
“Nothing.” Then Steve pushed himself to his feet, towering over Danny. Against the sun, his body was reduced to a silhouette. “Actually, would it physically hurt you not to be an asshole for five minutes?”
“Excuse me?” Danny rose as well.
“Forget it.” Steve turned away and picked up both neoprene shirts from the table, pulling his own roughly over his head before holding the other one out to Danny without sparing him more than the briefest of looks. “Put this on, then we’ll get the bottles and I’ll show you how your jacket works.”
For once, Danny decided not to argue.
--
There were indeed a few sharks, but they were dozing on sandy spots of ground and looked far from threatening. While Danny was struggling to control his altitude - or depth, rather - Steve was floating beside him, seemingly effortless. Each time Danny was about to lose the fight against forces wanting to pull him in directions he didn't want to go, Steve reached out to adjust the amount of air in Danny’s jacket. They were close enough for their shoulders to brush from time to time. In Danny’s ears, his own breathing sounded inordinately loud.
Below them, multi-colored fish chased across the reef. Fifty feet away, just within sight, a turtle passed by. The distance reduced its shape to a shadow against the blue of sun-brightened water, and despite its heavy build, it was fast and elegant as it glided through the water.
Grace would have loved it.
--
They’d barely spoken since leaving the water, their conversation reduced to Steve’s instructions and Danny’s occasional questions of what went where and how. Be it because Danny had become better at reading Steve or because he was simply more aware of him these days, he noticed a tightness to Steve’s posture that wasn’t normal, not anymore. It told him to ignore the impulse pointing towards verbal diarrhea and keep his mouth shut, waiting for whatever was bothering Steve to either fade or surface.
Once back in the car, Steve spent the first two minutes staring at the road as if it held a secret. Then he uncrossed his arms and slouched in his seat, turning his head enough to meet Danny’s eyes. It could have been the first time since they resurfaced; Danny wasn’t keeping track. Except that he was, of course. He always kept track, with Steve, and one of these days, he’d have to face up to that.
Today was not that day.
“So?” Steve hadn’t bothered to close all the buttons of his shirt; it was gaping open at the top and straining over his chest due to his upper body being half-turned toward Danny.
Danny cleared his throat. “It was okay.”
“You liked it.” Steve sounded triumphant, all traces of tightness melted away. He leaned forward, grinning.
“I didn’t hate it,” Danny corrected.
“You liked it,” Steve repeated. His grin widened, teeth white against his tanned skin, eyes bright. “Repeat after me, Danny: Today, Steve showed me a part of Hawaii which I actually enjoyed. You’re welcome, by the way.”
Danny looked away first. It seemed to become an increasingly common occurrence, and he was grateful that Kono wasn’t around to pick up on it; he’d noticed the speculative looks that frequently passed between her and Chin. Giving them more to work with would equal digging his own grave, and Danny wasn’t stupid. Just stupid about Steve.
“Look.” He stopped the car at the intersection to the main road. “Just because it was okay - okay, right, not awesome or anything - doesn’t mean I forgive you for dragging me out of bed way too early, only to get wet and cold.”
“Your bed’s a crime against sleep.” Steve’s grin didn’t diminish in the slightest. “Also, we were in eighty-degree warm water.”
“Seventy-eight.”
“You know, your shifting perception of warm and cold shows that you’re adjusting to life in Hawaii.”
“Not likely.” Danny took a breath, preparing himself to go on about clichéd surfers and cancer-causing sunlight and people who didn’t know how to treat a pizza right. Then he glanced over, caught Steve’s look and closed his mouth.
“Just wondering,” Steve said slowly. “Are you so far in denial that you didn’t notice you actually enjoyed yourself today?”
“That’s not-” Danny broke off abruptly. He’d almost sped through a red light and straight into another car. “Since when does my enjoyment matter to you?”
Steve took his time replying. When he did, the light had already turned green and the distance to Danny’s apartment had shrunk to a couple of minutes. “I bought you three nights at the Kahala Hotel.”
It might have been a subtle difference to Steve’s neutral tone that Danny would have missed two months ago. It might have been the focused way Steve was watching him, or maybe the fact that one of Steve’s fingers twitched against his leg. Whatever it was, Danny felt his pulse drop, then speed up.
Tessa’s strange grin. Steve’s preoccupation with Danny’s attitude towards Hawaii, and his triumph that Danny hadn’t hated diving. Waltzing into Danny’s apartment on their day off. In fact, there were-that was-more, much more, and Danny had missed it all. Fuck, some detective he was.
“You did, actually,” he said, staring. “Buy me three nights at the Kahala Hotel, I mean. And you made the Governor pressure Rachel and Stan, on my behalf. And you call me Danno, no matter how many times I tell you not to, and-” He broke off abruptly and jerked the car into a driveway without signaling, barely registering the squealing breaks of the car that followed. He did see the other driver’s raised middle finger, but he couldn’t care less. His throat was dry.
“What, you forget something?” Steve asked. “Leave the stove on? Lost your favorite tie somewhere?” Underneath the exasperation, there was something else, something Danny hadn’t noticed before. He turned in his seat, the window crank digging into his back. It was very quiet inside the car, nothing but the sound of their breathing.
“Steve,” Danny began slowly, carefully. He pushed on before he could count all the ways this could end in disaster. “Tell me this isn’t your fucked-up idea of a date.”
“Excuse me?” Steve’s brow furrowed, and his direct gaze didn’t waver. Against his thigh, his thumb twitched marginally.
“Attacking me when I just woke up and thus wasn’t able to resist,” Danny started. Steve cut him off.
“Sounded like you were awake enough to protest.”
“Calling me grouchy while letting me drive-”
Steve held up a hand. “Just stating a fact. You’re less grouchy with your hands occupied, it’s a fact. No need to read anything into it.”
Danny leaned forward, frowning. “Prancing around with your shirt off-”
“Ah.” Something changed around Steve’s mouth; a well-hidden strain making room for the beginning of a smile. His voice dropped. “I didn’t think you’d noticed.”
“I did,” Danny said sharply. “Acting all proprietary with that woman from the dive center-”
Steve shook his head, smile growing. “You don’t want to get involved with Tessa, trust me.”
“You’re right, I don’t.” Danny paused to draw breath, crossing his arms only to uncross them again. Without his permission, his gaze focused on Steve’s mouth, and he found it hard to look away, hard to keep his tone even. “But seriously, dragging me into a situation where I’d have to rely on you, just so you could show off your skills? Pretty desperate, McGarrett.”
“So you were impressed.” Steve had the audacity to smirk. Danny countered with the most unimpressed look he could manage, given the situation. It probably wasn’t his best effort.
“You were a Navy SEAL. I’m sure this was far from a challenge for you.”
“True.”
They were close, very close. Danny wasn’t sure how it had happened, but less than a hand’s width separated their faces, and he had to put one hand on the dashboard so he wouldn’t simply sway forward. “Okay, why are you grinning?”
“Because I still don’t see you running.” Steve’s voice was low and serious, his eyes hot. Danny inhaled sharply.
“I’m not.”
“Good.” A short, suspended moment followed Steve’s statement, then Steve reached out and gripped the collar of Danny’s shirt, dragging him forward. Danny’s hand slid off the dashboard, falling to Steve’s leg. He dug his fingers into the denim.
“That was still a really bad date.” Danny tightened his grip and moved his other hand to the waistband of Steve’s pants, pressing his thumb against Steve’s stomach. He felt Steve shiver, hips inching forward as if by reflex, and it was possibly the most amazing reaction he’d ever gotten out of a simple touch, Steve’s perfect control slipping because Danny was touching him.
Fuck, and they weren’t even naked yet.
“No.” Steve sounded unfocused. “Actually, I don’t think it was a bad date.”
“Yes, it was.” Danny tilted his head, mouth brushing against Steve’s. He could feel Steve’s smile.
“Since you are about to kiss me…” Steve slipped warm fingers under Danny’s shirt, stroking along the collarbone, and bent his head. “I figure I win.”
“Shut up.” Danny made him.
--
It was a miracle that they made it to Danny’s apartment without causing a traffic accident. Danny drove way over the speed limit, gripping the steering wheel while Steve undid Danny’s pants, moving his fingers in idle patterns over the cloth of Danny’s boxers. Each time Danny glanced over, Steve grinned and pressed his hand down. By the time Danny pulled into his own road, he was having problems keeping his eyes open.
Fortunately, they didn’t meet any neighbors on their way into Danny’s apartment.
--
“You need a new bed.” Steve sounded drowsy and content, sprawled diagonally over the mattress. Stripes of light glinted on his chest and thighs. Rather than reply right away, Danny took a moment to enjoy the view before he tossed a washcloth at him. It landed on Steve’s stomach with a wet noise, earning him a dirty look. Despite that, Steve cleaned himself up before chucking the washcloth somewhere off to the side.
“My bed isn’t meant for two people.” Danny hesitated at the edge of the mattress. They hadn’t really… discussed how this would continue, or whether it would continue at all, but Danny would rather shoot himself than ask. He didn’t do self-consciousness, damn it.
He felt naked.
“As I said.” From below, Steve was watching him closely. “You need a new bed. One that’s meant for two people.”
Danny couldn’t fully suppress a smile. He lowered himself down beside Steve, not really touching, but sharing the same space. Steve rolled over to his side, propping himself up on an elbow, their face close. He should have looked ridiculous in that position, spent dick resting on his thigh, but Danny was coming to accept that Steve would look freakishly attractive even in a cape and tights. Well, at least to Danny. Which was maybe not entirely healthy.
After another moment of hesitation, Danny moved his hand so his knuckles rested against Steve’s stomach. “You know, you really need to work on your dating technique.”
Steve’s smirk was quick and carefree. “Seems pretty successful to me, considering. And since a nice hotel and a pool with dolphins didn’t work…”
“You weren’t even around for that.” Danny shifted, the bed springs protesting audibly, and maybe Steve was right; a bed fit for two people wasn’t the worst idea he’d heard today.
“No.” Steve paused. “But I thought that if Grace loved Hawaii, there’d be a good chance you would, too. Not that you’d ever admit it.”
“Not a bad plan. For your standards, I mean.” Danny cleared his throat, and if he raised his head just slightly, he’d be able to kiss Steve. He’d never really been into the whole kissing deal, but Steve was a good kisser. Well, of course he was a good kisser, perfect bastard that he was. Also, he was Steve, so it was kind of a given that Danny would take whatever he could get.
Danny slid his hand lower, watching Steve blink, and he couldn’t even pretend that he was irritated when Steve pulled him closer rather roughly. There was a chance Danny would find marks on his arms tomorrow.
Well, they wouldn’t be the first bruises he could blame on Steve. Certainly the ones he’d enjoyed most, though.
“Grace isn’t really all that’s keeping you in Hawaii,” Steve said. It wasn’t quite a question, not quite a statement. Up close, a few patches of stubble revealed that he’d been less meticulous in his morning shave than he usually was, and something in Danny’s chest relaxed.
“No.” He shook his head and repeated, “No, she’s not.” Then he surged forward and rolled on top of Steve, trapping him with the weight of his body. The bed squeaked, and Steve smiled.
Danny hid his answering smile against Steve’s throat.
=== .finis. ===