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“How are you doing, Chin?”
Chin glances up, fry half way to his mouth. He stuffs it in, chewing quickly before swallowing and rubbing his greasy fingers onto the napkin in his lap. He looks down at his plate for a second, the half-eaten burger and fries beckoning him to finish before making eye contact with Duke.
“I’m good. Really good, Duke. You know, given the circumstances.” The my best friend isn’t here and I’m not even sure how she’s doing or if she’s alive goes unspoken, but Chin thinks Duke can probably see it in his face, as much as he tries to hide it.
He’s right on the money.
“I know you miss Kono, keiki, but she’s fine. She’s a Kalakaua – tough is in her blood. I’m sure she’ll be home soon.” Duke reaches out a hand and lightly pats the one Chin’s got curled on the table next to his plate.
The restaurant is bustling around them and the sound of a knife scraping against a plate cuts through the air. Chin wrinkles his nose slightly at the noise before smiling at Duke, who returns it, then plows on with his next question.
“Now how are you and Daniel doing? I saw you two hugging after the hostage situation the other day. He looked really upset.”
Chin assesses the look on Duke’s face – there isn’t any judgment there, just honest curiosity. This is not something he’s talked to Duke about at length, so he’s not sure what his thoughts are on the matter. But as far as he knows, Duke’s a pretty open-minded guy.
“We’re doing well. It’s been rough the last few months, with his custody hearing and everything, but things smoothed over once he got shared custody of Grace.” Chin pauses to stuff another fry into his mouth. “He’s a good guy. I’m happy.”
This is not the first time Chin’s told someone he’s happy with Danny. He’s had this conversation with Steve a few times, while Danny’s been off with Kono and Grace around the island. Kono was the first person he told, after he’d been dating Danny for a few months. She’d just thrown him that typical, cheeky grin of hers.
There’s another weird twist of longing in his belly at that, the shock riding up into his fingers, causing him to grip onto the table cloth. He breathes through it, but all he can think about is Kono right then, and what must be happening with her.
Duke takes a bite of his teriyaki burger as he listens, chewing slowly with a contemplative look on his face, as if he’s trying to figure out what Chin’s not telling him. If he notices the sudden change in Chin’s expression, he doesn’t comment on it.
“He is a good guy,” Duke says. “I agree. I was leery at first, when he came into the department, but Five-0 been a good fit. You all have done well by him; I’m not sure what would have happened to him if McGarrett hadn’t picked him up when he did.”
Chin nods at this. He’s had similar thoughts himself, remembering what a tight ball of rage and sadness Danny had been for the first few months that they’d known each other and how different he is now. More relaxed, more at home. Finally.
Another twenty minutes or so pass in companionable silence, Duke and Chin savoring the rest of their meal as the customers come and go around them. The waitress, Nani, comes to refill their drinks and Chin shoots her a grateful smile.
Soon enough, Duke pushes back from the table, throwing his used napkin onto his plate.
“C’mon, finish your burger. We’ve got a ball game to catch!” Duke declares loudly, pushing Chin’s plate closer to him with a grin as he pulls out his wallet.
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Chin doesn’t really know much about baseball – football was always much more his sport. But he does know that Danny looks really good in a tight jersey and ball cap. The muscles in Danny’s back twist and turn as he struts around the field, huge grin plastered on his face as each of his players walk up to the plate.
He had missed the last Honolulu Shrimps game – an early morning emergency had come up at his mother’s flower shop, so he’d had to rush over there. He remembers the sad text Danny had sent him afterwards, while Chin was knee deep in flower trimmings, saying they’d lost, but that Chin should come join them for shave ice anyways.
Three days later, Grace had made him pinky swear he’d be at the next game. And Chin has never been able to resist the pouty Williams’ face.
Sitting up in the stands with Duke pressed in close on his left side, Chin’s eyes track Danny and Steve as they go about their coaching duties. They seem to be taking a different approach than the last game Chin was at – telling the players to enjoy themselves and just have fun. It appears to be working – the Honolulu Shrimps are up by three points.
Sudden yelling to his left catches his attention.
“Shrimp dogs, get your shrimp dogs! Two for $4!”
Intrigued despite himself, Chin waves Flippa over. “Hey, Flippa, brah – give me two of those!”
Flippa’s face lights up like the sun as Chin’s words, making his way over slowly. He leans over the people in front of Chin, passing over two shrimp dogs in one large hand. Chin passes over a five dollar bill.
“Keep the change, man. You got any shrimp sauce?”
“Sure thing!” Flippa hands over a few packets of shrimp sauce that Chin can only eye dubiously as Flippa wanders off in search of more customers. Duke just laughs next to him, not unkindly.
“Pretty sure you just wasted five bucks there, Chin Ho.”
Chin raises an eyebrow in Duke’s direction. “Oh no, sir, one of these is for you.” He hands over the extra dog and a few packets of sauce. “At least that way if we both get food poisoning, we’ll know what the source is.”
Looking up, Chin notices Danny and Steve talking to Grace before he hears a faint, “Just have fun, monkey,” from Danny. Chin smiles – it’s the same thing Danny tells her with everything they do together, be it baseball or her cheerleading.
Chin watches as Grace take her place in front of Kamekona. He knows she’s not a great baseball player, but she does her best and she has a good time. A warmth blossoms in his belly (that he doesn’t think is from the shrimp dog), remembering the times he’s been out on Steve’s lanai or in his own backyard, throwing a ball for Grace to hit or try to catch. The huge grin that lights up her face whenever she’s successful is always worth it.
Setting his half eaten shrimp dog down on the bench, Chin stands up, leaning forward to get a better view of Grace.
“C’mon Grace, you can do it! Wait for your pitch!” he hollers. Danny catches his eye over next to the dugout and grins at him.
Grace misses the first two balls and Chin watches as she steels herself, one cleat grinding down into the dusty plate.
“Just have fun out there, babe. Just shake it off. Have fun!” Danny reminds her and Chin feels himself suck in a breath in anticipation, leaning forward a bit more as the pitcher winds up the last ball.
Suddenly Kamekona is calling time out and Duke digs his right elbow into Chin’s ribs. “Check that out, Chin.”
Chin’s eyes follow Duke’s pointing finger and lands on Catherine and Steve making out in front of the Navy Brats dugout, before Steve swings her off her feet in a circle. Chin can’t help it – he lifts two fingers up to his mouth and wolf whistles at them. Steve just waves his hat, huge grin on both his and Cath’s faces.
It takes a few more seconds, but then the game is back on. Chin watches Grace hunker down once before, Danny shouting more encouragement. Chin follows them up, creating a circle of positive energy around Grace as she sways slightly, waiting for the ball.
When Grace hits the ball out of the park, the crowd goes wild. Chin can barely hear Danny yelling over his own shouts, his heart feeling like it’s going to pound out of his chest at how proud he is. Chin pats Duke on the shoulder, pointing out at the field. “I’m gonna go out there, okay?”
Duke nods, pushing him to go.
Chin scrambles over the seats and makes it out onto the field by the time Grace is running into Danny’s arms. Danny picks her up high, arms wrapped around her middle, before she notices Chin walking over.
“Uncle Chin! Uncle Chin!” she yells and Chin rushes over the last few feet.
From her position held up by Danny, Grace wraps her arms around Chin as best as she can. Chin wraps one arm around Grace and the other around Danny, pulling his new little family tightly into his arms. He can feel Danny burying his face into the side of Chin’s head, blowing out a low breath into his ear.
“You did so well, Grace!” Chin grins when he pulls back, eyes crinkling up in delight as she smiles at him, before slithering down out of Danny’s arms and running to be with her cheering teammates.
Chin glances over at Danny who is surreptitiously wiping at his eyes with the back of his hand. Chin leans forward, pressing a kiss to his cheek quickly as he reaches down to grab his hand.
“C’mon, hoa, it’s time for shave ice.”
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What follows next is a blur of reds and blues, little kids running around yelling and laughing as both teams and their parents head over to Kamekona’s shave ice stand for the traditional celebratory after game treat.
Chin and Danny sit next to each other, Danny’s hand under the table blazing hot on Chin’s bare knee. Chin jiggles it every once and a while to remind Danny he’s still there as he works through his pina colada shave ice.
“Thanks for being there today, babe. I know how much it meant to Grace,” Danny murmurs quietly before taking a sip off his can of orange juice. “I think this means you’ve moved up into official Step Chin territory.”
“I wouldn’t have missed it for the world, Danny. You know I pinky promised.” Chin smirks as Danny hums at that, as if remembering the night Grace had made Chin promise to be at the game.
“And I think I like being Step Chin. A lot.” Chin rubs at his belly then, feeling it flutter at the thought.
“You know Rachel will be here any minute to come get Grace. How about we get dinner and do a little celebrating of our own later?” Danny’s eyebrows waggle as he rubs his hand teasingly up Chin’s knee, insinuating just what kind of celebrating he means.
Chin opens his mouth to respond when he hears his name being called out.
“Uncle Chin!” Grace charges over, now changed into a muted red sundress, a cone full of half melted cherry shave ice in her left hand. She plonks it down on the table before scrambling up to sit on the bench, wrapping her arms unceremoniously around Chin’s middle.
Chin breaths out, reaching out to hug Grace back as she rests her head over his heart. Chin can feel hear her saying something, but can’t make out what it is.
“Hold on, Grace, I can’t hear you.” Chin nudges her gently. Grace pulls back, a shy smile on her face. He knows it’s taken Grace some time to get used to him being in her life so much more, but they’ve been making strides the past few months. Strides that have made his life better as well.
“I said, thanks for being at the game today and cheering me on. And for practicing with me.”
Chin feels his heart swell up to three times its normal size at those words. He unconsciously squeezes Grace to him and she squeaks slightly, before squeezing him back. Chin feels a slight prickle at his eyes and he wills it to go away – he can’t be crying right now.
“You’re welcome, ku’uipo. It was lovely to watch you play and see how you’ve improved. I’m so proud of you.”
Grace beams at him and Chin knows at that moment that she has his heart forever. Just like her father does. And he wouldn’t want it any other way.