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“Come on, Monkey, let’s go!”
It’d been a few days since he and Steve had been able to really practice their mind reading. There’d been a couple of stolen kisses in the stairwell, and one in the parking lot at HQ (those banyan trees really came in handy). Just brief, snatched moments to tide them over during a busy week when they’d been kept apart at night—by choice or by interference. This morning promised to be different. Danny was meeting Steve at his place for breakfast before heading in, and dropping Grace at Lou’s was part of that plan. But not if she didn’t hurry up.
“Today, please, Grace!”
In the short time they’d been reading each others’ minds, they had made something of an effort to work separately. Just until they got more used to it and could keep their hands off each other a little better (Danny’s words). Steve played musical partners on a somewhat regular basis anyway, wanting to make sure everyone stayed comfortable working closely with everyone, so they hadn’t aroused suspicion yet, but that would not last for much longer. Sooner, and not later, the whole team would absolutely know something was up. Steve would prefer to break it to them in a controlled atmosphere rather than waiting to be found out, but Danny thought they needed some more time to get used to it themselves first.
“Grace, for the love of—”
“Ready,” she emerged suddenly and startled Danny which prompted a rolling of the eyes from his daughter... who then spent the car ride texting the person she was on her way to go see. What was with teenagers today?
Danny sighed melodramatically. “You are going to see him in three minutes. Do you think you could be here with me until then?”
Answering with a look that fell just short of antagonistic, she put her phone down in her lap.
“So, what’s Uncle Steve making you for breakfast?” Her tone was a tad teasing for Danny’s taste.
“Not chocolate chip pancakes,” Danny admitted, hoping they could at least find common ground in one of their favorite foods.
“Probably eggs of some sort?” She offered, softening. “Which is probably better for you anyway.”
“Hey, now, watch how you talk about chocolate chip pancakes, there Monkey.”
She smiled at Danny, just a hint of her former sweetness, but he’d take it.
He pulled up in front of Lou’s place, and Grace jumped out of the car with barely a “bye” and headed up the path to the door. He waited till he saw her go inside (without waving or looking back, geez), then he headed to Steve’s, trying not to think about the fact that Lou was seeing his daughter as much if not more than he was.
Danny let himself in (as he so often did), followed the smell of coffee to the kitchen (as he had many times), where Steve was busy over the stove making an omelet (also nothing new). Walking up behind him, Danny wrapped his arms around Steve, and settled himself against that broad, powerfully muscled back. It was an exciting sensation amid so many customary ones, and he hoped it was a long time before it felt familiar.
“Wanna work on your mind reading skills?”
He felt a vibration deep within Steve’s chest. It felt like a car’s engine revving. “You are trouble, you know that?”
“That’s not a ‘no.’”
“No, it’s not.” He turned in Danny’s arms and leaned down for a kiss. “Morning,” Steve drawled when he straightened up, looking down with a heat that paradoxically sent shivers up Danny’s spine. “We have time. Kono’s got the lead today, I told her we’d be late. She knows to call Lou if she needs backup. We are going to have a nice breakfast, we will work on our mind reading, and we can go in after.”
Ignoring the brief swell of worry over what Kono might make of Steve’s words about them being late, Danny breathed in the smell of breakfast, coffee, and Steve. Mostly he wanted more kisses, but caffeine was a real necessity.
“Where’s my coffee?” He demanded, as he held tightly to Steve, who squirmed slightly to check on the eggs.
“Where would you like to eat?” Steve asked as Danny released him to pour his cup of coffee.
“Bed,” Danny replied without missing a beat. So far, he’d not won on that score. Not for lack of trying.
“I’ve told you how I feel about that, Danny,” Steve sighed, sounding awfully long-suffering for a topic that had only begun to come up in the past very few days.
Danny shrugged an indication that he didn’t care what Steve’s current opinion on food in bed was. He was not going to give that one up easily. Taking a long slow sip of his coffee while holding eye contact with Steve, Danny made his point wordlessly this time.
Sliding the omelets onto plates, selecting two forks from the drawer, and throwing the dishtowel over his shoulder, Steve gestured to his own coffee cup and led the way to the lanai.
Danny picked up both cups, then followed Steve outside.
They’d each gotten a few bites in, pausing for kisses, when Steve’s phone rang.
“Hey, Kamekona, what’s up?”
Danny continued eating, but watched Steve with interest as he reacted to what the big guy was saying. From the way Steve deflated, he guessed it meant their presence was being requested. Knowing Steve would give in, even if there wasn’t really a need, he decided to make the decision harder, and kicked off his shoes to play footsies with his overly indulgent partner. Steve didn’t miss what he was up to, but made a valiant effort to stay focused on the call. Not for the first time, Danny found himself wondering just how Bond-like Steve’s SEAL training had been... and just what fun it might be to find out... but it was his turn to deflate, as Steve wrapped the call up.
“Okay,” he was saying, “We’ll come by and check it out.”
Danny groaned.
Steve nodded agreement with the sentiment. “He says it’s an emergency.”
“What, is he out of plastic forks?”
Declining to react to the snark, Steve elected to follow the reasonable path: “Tell you what, let’s go take a look, placate him—”
“Ohh, placate him, huh?”
Steve stood to clear the plates, having shoveled a large bite in his mouth. “Yeah, I mean... we owe him, you know?”
“You have an over-exaggerated sense of us owing people things,” Danny mumbled as he followed Steve into the house.
Steve stopped suddenly, and Danny nearly ran into him. “No I don’t,” he said, looking back at Danny before he continued to the kitchen.
“Yeah, you do,” Danny countered as he watched Steve put the dishes in the sink and run some water over them. “It’s a constant with you. Don’t invade another country, because they were here first. Respond to personal calls about shrimp truck emergencies because the guy is a valuable source of information....”
Steve turned and stood with his back to the sink, fixing Danny with a serious look. “He’s more than that and you know it.”
“Alright, he helped you when you were on the run, I get that,” Danny acquiesced.
“I’d think you would be a little more grateful about that... given....” Steve trailed off, but was giving him an odd look that was probably intended to be suggestive. Really it was just awkward. And yet still hot. Damn.
“Oh? Given what, exactly?” He didn’t have to admit it, though.
Steve clearly didn’t buy the demure. “Danny.”
“You’re right, and I am. But, Steve, seriously. You know there’s no emergency. He’s taking advantage of your feeling of indebtedness. Again.”
“That’s kind of strange coming from you,” Steve said, as he walked towards Danny.
“Meaning?”
Steve leaned in, pressing him against the doorframe. “Meaning you’re always giving me a hard time for not feeling indebted enough to you.”
“Exactly. You never seem to feel that way about me.... You’re welcome for the liver, by the way....” Steve grinned, cat like, and gathered him in his arms, but Danny was not to be dissuaded. “You are so nice to everyone else and not at all to me.”
“I can’t help that, you’re not a very sympathetic target. You always complain about everyone and everything, no matter what.” The fact that as he said this, he was running his hands all along Danny’s back didn’t exactly strengthen his point.
“Oh, so it’s my fault, is it?” Danny stepped back.
“They’re nice to me, or have something I need.” Steve didn’t move to meet him.
“Ohhh, and I don’t? Interesting.” He turned and walked to the other side of the kitchen.
Steve bit his lips together. “Come here.”
“Oh, I do not think so, Steven.”
“Daniel. Here. Now.”
Danny sighed, dropped his head, but walked slowly back over to Steve, and allowed himself to be thoroughly kissed.
“Alright.” He said, resignedly, when Steve let him go. “I will go along with this. But you are making it up to me.”
“Oh, really?” Steve was amused, there was no doubt about that.
“Really,” he insisted, wishing he sounded a lot sterner than he knew he did.
“And just how am I going to do that?” Steve’s questioning tone was at odds with the lust in his eyes which indicated he had several ideas of his own.
“I’m sure you will think of something.... Just, you know, read my mind....” He found he had to look away from those hazel eyes, if they were ever going to make it out of the house.
Danny got out of the Camaro and walked over to Steve’s truck. Steve was staring out at the picket line in front of Kamekona’s, and looking resentful.
“See, I told you,” Danny tried not to gloat, but it was hard.
“Okay, you were right.”
Danny couldn’t help it. He loved that tone of voice. It was maybe one of his favorite Steve tones. “I know,” he glowed in response.
“Let’s just go see what he has to say for himself,” Steve said as he got out of the truck, standing entirely too close to Danny and moving a lot more slowly than he usually would. Danny knew Steve was making the most of what was likely to be the last of their closeness for the day. And possibly taking some secret Navy style breaths to prepare him for dealing with an unreasonable situation. Meanwhile, Danny was finding he was having to think very hard about each step to make sure he didn’t grab onto Steve's hand. He gave up and just shoved his hand in his pocket.
“Ahh, finally!” Kamekona had spotted them and, clearly impatient, was headed their way. “Took you long enough!”
Danny bit his lips together to keep from saying something he would regret, and could tell that Steve was physically keeping himself from railing against the big guy and the interruption of his time with Danny. Danny sympathized, but put his energy and focus into staying as neutral as he could.
Once it became clear that Danny had an easy “out” of getting involved (one he was only too happy to flaunt), he started to enjoy himself—especially watching Steve’s discomfort level continue to rise. So, he wasn’t the least surprised when Steve took the dead body as his escape and left Danny to diffuse the situation.
“Do me a favor, will you stay here and make sure these two don’t kill each other, please....” Danny really hoped Kamekona was too distracted by the strike to notice the overt once over Steve was giving him—it looked like he was barely holding himself back from kissing Danny goodbye. “I’ll meet you back at the shop in a little bit.”
Danny was too busy trying to not react to the heated look to say anything in response.
Once Steve had fled, he took a long slow breath and prepared himself to sit for a while and “placate” Kamekona. And maybe amuse himself by thinking of how Steve might begin to make it up to him.
Taking a page out of Grace’s playbook, he decided to text Steve while he was waiting for Kono to call him in to help, which he knew would happen eventually.
I cannot believe you left me here.
Steve responded with a speed that was surprising considering he was supposed to be working on a new case. You admitted you felt like you owed him. I’m sure he’s appreciating your presence.
Danny looked up at the truck, where Kamekona was giving him the evil eye. I’m not at all sure that he is.
Steve’s reply took a little longer this time. But maybe that was intentional. Wanna come over for dinner and mind reading tonight?
I hate you.
I’ll take that as a yes.
Fine. But you are making me garlic shrimp if this strike is not resolved before then because sitting here smelling it is driving me crazy.
As soon as he hit send, his phone rang. It was Kono, effecting a rescue, no doubt at Steve’s suggestion. He hung up gratefully and made his excuses to Kamekona, promising to order lots of shrimp as soon as the strike was resolved. He didn’t look very pleased, but before Danny could try to encourage him, Steve texted back.
How are you hungry again already? Wasn’t breakfast enough for you?
Deciding to make Steve wait for a reply, he only responded once he was back at HQ.
I think if you remember correctly we didn’t actually eat much of it.
Steve wrote back just as Kono was starting to fill him in. Yeah. You have a point. But the kissing was better.
He was afraid he might have blushed, which was not helped by the fact that Kono seemed to suspect something was going on and was watching him uncomfortably closely. Hey watch what you say on the phone you putz.
Steve’s reply came instantly: What? Kissing? Kissing you was way better than breakfast, Daniel.
He knew he blushed that time. And Kono absolutely noticed. She winked at him and said: “Flirting with the boss man?”
Flustered by that, he typed: Oh my god I hate you. Then shoved the phone in his pocket, ignoring the response that came right away.
It wasn’t till considerably later that he looked at the message: So you’ve said. Personally, I don’t buy it.
He sighed. Shrimp. And a really nice bottle of wine.
No reply came for a while, but when it did, it was simply: Done.
Fine. He smiled, caught Kono looking at him with a grin, rolled his eyes, and pocketed his phone once more.
They’d finished up the shark killer case and were in the office doing paperwork by the time he heard from Steve that he and Chin and Eric were on their way back to Oahu, and to meet him at his place at seven.
Danny went home to shower before heading over to Steve’s. He paused over the idea of bringing some things in case he was too tired to come home after. It wouldn’t be the first time he wound up crashing at Steve’s after a long day, or because they drank too much, or because sometimes he just couldn’t seem to bother going home and Steve never seemed to mind. But it could be the first time he found himself sleeping not on the sofa or one of the guest beds... and he felt that if that happened, he’d like to have some things with him. In the end, he tossed sweats, a toothbrush and a few other toiletries, and a set of work clothes in a bag. Better to be prepared....
The drive took a frustrating amount of time. Traffic wasn’t especially bad (rush hour had passed, and rush hour on Oahu was never much of anything anyway, not compared to Jersey), but Danny was finding himself anxious to get to Steve’s. Because he was hungry. Maybe he should have had a snack or something. Yeah, that was probably why. The fact that he could almost feel Steve’s lips on his had nothing to do with it. Nope.
Steve met him at the door with a glass of wine. Well, that was something he could get used to.
“Hey,” Steve whispered as he leaned in for a kiss before even letting him over the threshold.
“Hey yourself,” Danny mumbled. Already any resentment he might have been harboring over the happenings of the day was melting away. The power this man had over him was beyond frustrating; one sip of the wine, which was really good, and he knew he was done for.
“So, the strike ended,” Steve said conversationally, moving aside to let Danny in, and giving him the second overt once over of the day as he brushed by. Danny felt his skin prickle with anticipation when he felt sure Steve had been looking to see if Danny had brought anything with him. He was glad he’d packed that bag, but it would be fun to watch Steve suffer a little before letting that slip.
“Yeah, I heard,” Danny was making his way to the kitchen, following the enticing smell of garlic shrimp.
“Thanks for hanging out with him, buddy,” Steve had stopped in the doorway, and when Danny looked up, it was clear that he was trying to apologize for that morning.
“Well, you had a point,” Danny was too hungry to argue more about it. And, well, there wasn’t any reason to, really. “Besides, I knew I’d make you pay for it.” He tried to keep the anticipation out of his voice, but he probably let some slip through.
Steve noticed. “We will get to that, but first, I’m starving.”
Danny got some plates out of the cupboard and began dishing up the food for them. “Didn’t have lunch on Molokai?”
“Uh, no, there wasn’t exactly time. Did you get some food?” Steve grabbed the bottle of wine and both their glasses.
“Yeah,” Danny said as he balanced the food on the tray with the silverware and napkins and headed towards the dining room. “Kono was so grateful we were able to catch that guy, she went out and got us sandwiches and cookies.”
“That’s great, Danny. I’m glad you got him.” Steve held the screen door open.
“Yeah, well, it sounds like it won’t make much of a difference,” Danny didn’t like to think too much about that... you caught one guy, but there would always be others.... His mind stilled a little when he set the tray down, and saw that Steve had lit candles.
“You never know,” Steve soothed, as he helped set out the food. “Combined with the coverage the case got on social media, you might see some shaming of people who eat the fin soup... that’ll help, a lot.”
“Maybe,” he sighed as he sat and took a long sip of wine. “But, your case... wow. A real Nazi war criminal. Just like in a movie.”
A shadow passed over Steve’s face, and Danny knew how much it would mean to Steve to catch the guy. And how much it would hurt if he didn’t. He allowed himself a moment, but then rallied. “No kidding. But, I know we’ll get him. Eventually.” He held his glass out to Danny. “To catching the bad guys.”
Danny clinked his glass with Steve’s, then sat back in his chair after a large drink, and decided to change the topic. “I heard something about you breaking Eric’s ass?”
Steve grinned. “He did great, Danny. He’s got a good heart, under all the bluster.”
Around a bite of garlic shrimp, Danny hated to admit it, but Steve was right. They talked a bit about their cases, family, and shrimp... easy comfortable conversation for two people who had spent many nights like this (although minus the candles—that was new). The sound of the waves added a subtle layer of seclusion to the background, and tucked inside this little bubble, Danny felt the day fading away. Being here with Steve, as he had many times before, had this whole other flavor now—there’d been comfort before, sure, but also always this little bit of tension.... That was softened now, although not totally gone, and he felt more at ease than he had in a long time.
He kicked his feet up into Steve’s lap, leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes.
“Thanks, babe, that was really nice.”
“Oh, really?” Steve’s tone was smug, but Danny was too sated to be riled by it.
“Yeah, babe.”
Steve didn’t respond, but he started rubbing Danny’s feet. More days after double cases needed to end like this, Danny decided. It would make his job satisfaction level go way up.
After a while, Steve stopped. “I think I can read your mind right now,” he mused.
Danny’s eyes opened, and he saw Steve watching his lips. Reflexively licking them, Danny was amused to note Steve’s breathing speed up. “Yeah, I think probably you can.” Lowering his feet to the ground, he sat forward in his chair till he was close enough that Steve didn’t have to move much in order to kiss him.
“You taste like garlic.”
“You have lost your right to complain about that.”
Steve’s eyes glinted in the candle light. “It wasn’t a complaint.”
“Not entirely sure how to take that....”
Moving even further forward in his chair, Steve whispered: “How about we take it upstairs?”
Danny felt the heat swirling between them. “I’d like that.”
“Yeah?” Steve stood, and offered his hand to Danny.
“Lemme just run out to the car first... I uh, brought some things along... just in case.”
“Good. You read my mind.”
“Of course I did, babe,” Danny said, and leaving Steve to clear the dishes, he went out to the Camaro.
He found Steve in the kitchen, rinsing things in the sink, saw his wine glass sitting on the counter, and picked it up to finish it off. Steve turned around and watched him, then drying his hands, he walked towards him. Taking the empty wine glass from Danny, he set it on the kitchen counter, kissed him, refilled the glass, and handed it back. “I’m ready for tonight’s mind reading lesson,” he said, and shouldering Danny’s bag, he walked slowly upstairs. Grinning, Danny downed the rest of the wine, and leaving the glass, followed his partner up to his room, eager to progress to the next level of mind reading.