Chapter Text
“And ANOTHER thing…!” Chief Coyle raged at Danny from inside his office while Dash stood outside watching the door. The chief had been yelling at Danny for the past 10 minutes and honestly Dash was getting more and more concerned with it. Everyone else in the precinct was going about their work but kept glancing between the door and Dash and it only helped to make him feel more tense.
Dash really didn’t have all the details from what had happened but from the sounds of it the whole situation had been a mess. No one but the punks Danny had taken down even got hurt but things hadn’t been handled well and he’d almost been shot which lead to the chief yelling at him the moment he came in.
“Man, he’s still ranting at Fenton?”
Turning around Dash saw Officer Grace standing with a cup of coffee in both hands. He offered one to Dash and he took it before giving him a nod in thanks and turning back to the door.
“Yeah… I can’t make out everything but I don’t see what the big deal is? Danny’s fine and besides a near miss nothing else happened so what’s the big deal?”
“The big deal…?” Grace asked incredulously and Dash glanced at him questioningly as he took a sip of his coffee, “You mean you don’t know what happened?”
“All I’ve heard is that he busted up some punks and that it didn’t go exactly as planned.” Dash shrugged.
“Baxter…” Grace looked at him with a mix of pity and amazement, “Your partner or whatever there didn’t just bust up some punks. He pretty much jumped into a fight with 5 guys to protect some woman from being raped without any backup, calling it in, or even announcing himself as an officer. He just charged in blind and half-cocked like some hero out an action movie. Honestly it was sloppy and he’s beyond lucky that he’s not dead.”
That certainly caught Dash’s attention and he turned to fully look at Grace before he looked back at the Chief’s office where his yelling was just barely muffled.
“Has he always been like this?” When Dash turned to raise a brow at the question, Grace just jerked his head at where Danny way, “Your guy. You two have known each other since high school, right? Has he always had a hero complex or is this new?”
“He’s… been like this for as long as I’ve known him. He always strove to do the right thing no matter what it cost him.”
“Hmm…” the officer took a tentative sip of his coffee and Dash just watched him waiting for something else to be said, “So… does this hero complex of his explain that nasty scar on his chest too?”
Ten years ago, Dash would have punched him in the face. Bringing that up made his blood boil with so much rage that he could just about spit. It was a testament to his time maturing and growing as an individual that he did none of that and just set his mug down with just the smallest bit more of force than needed and turned his whole body to face Grace. He puffed out his chest and got close to his face baring his teeth and made sure he took up as much as his range of vision as possible.
“That… is personal… and something that is none of your business, Grace.”
“Whoa, man! Sorry!” He quickly backed up with his hands raised, “I didn’t mean anything bad I’m just trying to put together what it is with this guy. I mean he’s a badass cop, great at undercover work, friendly, hardworking, good with kids during events and stuff, and he’s always been right there ready to get the job done. This though… It just seemed off and I just had to wonder about some things.”
“Like I said…” Dash turned away and picked up his mug, “That scar is a personal matter and I’d appreciate it if no one brought it up with him. It’s a bad memory that he has to live with and he’s just recently been getting to the point where it doesn’t bother him so bad.”
“You mean recently like… since you guys got together or like since he got that ink?”
“Little bit of both I guess, though I’d like to think I helped a lot more before that. That was more like putting nails in the coffin to try and finally move past things.” It was actually a more complicated issue than that, but really there was only so much Dash could say to explain things without making things worse.
“You really love him a lot, huh?” When Dash looked back at him with a questioning glare he just shook his head and smiled, “It’s nice… seems like you two really click well together. I hope you two have many happy years and invite us all to the wedding.”
Dash just sputtered at that and felt his face heat up at such an idea. It wasn’t like he was opposed to getting married or anything but that just felt like something so huge and massive that it shouldn’t have been mentioned so casually. Still though the smug grin on Grace’s face was enough to tell him that this was the reaction he had wanted and walked away once he got a good eyeful.
“Just let me know if you need a tailor, I don’t know if either of you guys plan on wearing a dress but if you do I know someone who could probably get it done in a timely manner.”
“NEITHER OF US WOULD WEAR A DRESS, YOU PRICK!” Dash shouted red faced and humiliated before he suddenly remembered where he was and saw that he now had the entire precinct’s attention.
Feeling beyond humiliated at what he had shouted Dash quickly made his way towards the bathrooms where he splashed some water on his face and thought about everything. He thought about how Danny had charged in like he apparently had, about all that Grace had brought up, and finally he thought about marriage.
They’d been together for a while now. Nearly two years of dating and almost nine months of living together soon, but marriage was something that Dash wasn’t sure was open for them. Sure they could get married now that it had been legalized everywhere, but would they want to was the question.
Dash didn’t come from a very loving family after all, so he didn’t have any real idea how things would be. Then again he had to wonder why they would want to get married and what would that even mean. They were together now, they were living together now, they shared a bed, shower, and heck Dash had even borrowed some of Danny’s underwear by accident one morning when he was running late, what would even be the point in getting married.
“I’ll have to ask Kwan about that I guess… don’t want to freak out Danny with anything like this, especially after today,” Casting a glance at the wall like he could see right through it and into the office Danny was currently in, Dash just sighed and hoped that he just got off with a warning.
“Would suck to be fired after all he’s done for the city.”
Finishing up and drying his face, Dash finally managed to pull himself together and walk out of the bathroom. Everyone was still watching the office door, but thankfully it seemed like things had calmed down a bit. The chief wasn’t yelling loud enough for anyone to hear at least so that meant that things were going to be over soon.
Barely a minute later the door handle started to turn causing everyone to walk away and go about their business. Chief Coyle stood at the threshold of the door with Danny right in front of him looking down dejectedly and Dash tensed up at the sight.
“You did good work, Fenton, but you can’t be doing things like this. I don’t want to have to call your parents or your partner and tell them you’ve gotten hurt because you got careless. Alright?” He placed a hand on the smaller man’s shoulder and when Danny nodded the chief nodded and gave the shoulder a small squeeze, “Good, now go file your paperwork and head on home. We’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Yes, sir.”
As Danny started to walk away Dash managed to catch the look on his face and immediately felt the need to comfort the man. Sad and dejected made up the entirety of his body language and he looked like he had gone through the ringer a few too many times. Dash couldn’t even think of a time he’d ever seen the man look like that except maybe during that weird spirit week their freshman year, but that was a memory better left buried.
“Danny, hold up!” Dash called out just loud enough to grab his attention and walked up to him as he stopped to turn around to face him. His eyes regained a bit of their spark at seeing him which made Dash feel a bit better but still it was nowhere near how he wanted Danny to look right now, “C’mon, grab your paperwork and let’s sit down in the break room for a bit. I’ll fix ya some coffee.”
“That… that sounds good, Dash, thanks.”