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He wasn't asking for much - just a nice quiet night at the bar, a beer or two, smile at a pretty girl and have a chance to not think about his relationships. Cat was possibly transferring to CINCLANT, his sister was abruptly back in his life, and Danny...well, he'd been ignoring what he felt for Danny for a while now. That's all he wanted. All he deserved really, just a beer in quiet. He hadn't broken too many laws this week, and the team got two drug rings and a serial murderer off the streets. A quiet night.
So of course he walks into the one bar where Danny is spread out in a booth, proclaiming...something at volume and with great vigor to a grinning, equally be-tied man matching him gesture for gesture on the other side of the booth. And if his luck held, Danny will see him right... about...
"Steve! Get a beer and get over here!"
Now.
"Stop blocking the door, already. Be social, practice those people skills!"
So much for a quiet night. Bowing to the inevitable, he grabbed a fresh round of beers to add to the collection on the table and slid in next to his already-drunk partner.
Danny pulled him all the way into the booth and threw an arm around his shoulder. "So, Steve, meet Mike. Mike, this is the guy I've been telling you about - spends half his day thinking up new ways to try to get me killed and the other half trying them out."
"Not true, Danny. I like to improvise." Steve could never pass up a chance to taunt Danny.
"Oh, see? See!" Danny slapped Steve upside the head, returning his arm to Steve's shoulders. "He doesn't even have the decency to plan all the stupid situations, just goes charging right in. Going to get me killed before the year's out, watch this. Anyway, Steve, this is Mike, an old buddy from college with the unfortunate luck of having a conference out in this pineapple-infested, palm-covered wasteland. He was just reminding me why I missed small little unimportant things, like civilization."
Steve just smirked at the familiar rant and tried to lean back from Danny, watching the show. "Admit it, you're starting to like pineapples. Good to meet you, Mike. Got any good stories?"
The hand-waving must be a Jersey thing, Steve thought, as Mike grinned back, waving expansively. "Plenty. You want to hear about his lack of tolerance for alcohol, his habit of streaking during homecoming, or his shitty dating record. Was it your sophomore year you managed to sleep with the entire cheerleader squad?"
"Hey, that took talent, skill, and dedication." Danny leered at Mike, pointing forward with his free hand.
"And a whole lot of bad taste." Mike sighed, then glared at Danny. "Which reminds me, Dan, I ran into your evil ex yesterday."
"Well, yeah, she and Grace are the reasons I moved out to this no-man's land," Danny glared right back.
"Does everyone know his ex-wife as 'evil'?" Steve snickered loudly at the cutting tone of voice.
Mike laughed. "Have you met her, Steve? Besides, the list of non-evil or non-crazy exes he has could be counted on one hand." He turned back to Danny and shook his head. "No, not Rachel. Scott. You know, the psycho who's been on-and-off stalking you since you broke up with him twelve years ago. He's at the same tax law conference I'm at."
"What! That lunatic's in town?" Danny's hands stilled and dropped to the table. "Great. Just great. Tell me when he's leaving. Tell me he doesn't know that I'm here. Tell me he's dying from a horrible disease."
Mike threw his hands up defensively. "I didn't tell him a thing. I saw him, I didn't speak to him - it would only encourage him. If I ratted you out, I can't even imagine what dirt you'll pull up on me. The conference is only for a couple more days anyway, so just avoid the Hilton until then. He said something about not wanting to leave the hotel. The sun might burn his fragile complexion. Of course, only Scott would come to a conference in Hawai'i and worry about a sunburn."
Danny moaned and buried his head in his hands. "What did I see in him, anyway? It wasn't the personality."
"No, it was his habit of buying you alcohol. That, and the shiny car he bought you. And the sex you would never stop talking about. Uh, Dan? Why is Steve staring at you like that?"
A panicked look spread across Danny's face as he turned towards Steve's slack jaw, and Danny pulled away quickly. "Oh. Oh, shit. Thank you, Mike, thank you very much for getting me drunk and outing me to my military-trained, law enforcement boss. Thank you. I didn't want to deal with this here, and not with my boss. Like the one who's staring at me like he's been poleaxed. Great. I get fired and kicked off the island, I'm coming to sleep on your couch. And if Rachel makes an issue of it, you're fixing my visitation rights!"
"Breathe, Dan. He hasn't fired you yet. Heck, you've been draped on him all night and he hasn't even twitched. And Rachel's never made an issue of it before. I think this is a good time to head back to the hotel and get out of the line of fire. I'll let you talk to Steve. Call me me tomorrow, if you need anything," Mike waved as he walked off.
"Sure, Mike, run like a coward. Great. Some friend you are!"
Steve just continued staring, open-mouthed, at Danny.
"What? What? C'mon, say it."
"I'm not sure what I'm supposed to say. Scott? You dated a guy?"
Danny just shook his head. "You know what? Not here. Not now. We're leaving, because I'm going to talk to you, and you're not going to listen, and I'm going to have to yell at you, and maybe even hit you a few times. So we're not doing this here, because I don't feel like getting arrested. And since you refuse to come near my place, you're going to drive us back to your house, we're going to drink your beers, and I'm going to talk about this like a rational adult and you're going to listen. Understood? Good. Get up. Move." Danny started to push Steve out of the booth.
"Danny..."
"Move, Steve."
Pulling his keys out, Steve calmly stood up and looked at Danny. "Fine, let's go."
--
Steve knew it'd be a good fight when every attempt to talk in the car was met with, "House, then beer, then talking." Taking the warning, Steve drove at his usual breakneck pace back to his house and quickly got his irate partner seated in the kitchen with an open beer in front of him and Steve leaning against the counter.
"So, Danny. About Scott..."
"No. You. Shut up. I said I'm going to talk and you're going to listen. This isn't the Army."
"Navy. Danny..." Steve moved away from the counter to the table and sat down facing Danny.
"No," Danny shouts, jumping out of the chair. "You don't get to decide whether or not I get to serve based on who I might've dated in the past. You don't get..."
"Danny!"
"Still my turn! You don't get to judge me by some ancient, irrelevant standard. I am a good cop, damn it, and the only reason you actually follow procedures. I had a high solve rate before joining your team, and continued to do so here. And I cannot count the number of times I've saved your life. What I legally do in my free time is no one's business but my own. If I wanted a girlfriend, in what little spare time I have because of you, that's my business. If I wanted a boyfriend, that's also my business. So consider that very carefully before you say..."
"You've never dated a guy down here." Steve was openly confused.
"Yeah, because I've had so much free time to date, between seeing Grace, and fighting with Rachel, and keeping you alive. I haven't had a date since I left Jersey." Danny sagged back down into the chair, elbows landing on the table. "When exactly am I supposed to have time to meet someone, guy or girl? I mean, I don't have some gal on speed dial who can give me access to military satellites while she cooks dinner."
Steve tensed up. "Leave Cat out of this, Danny. Not this week."
"Fine, sorry. You can criticize me about my life, but I can't say a word about yours."
"She's talking about transferring to Norfolk," Steve said flatly.
"Oh. Oh, shit. What're you gonna do?"
"Don't know. Anyway, I cooked dinner last time. Back to you. Why didn't you tell us?"
"Oh, I don't know. A military boss, for one? And I work as a officer of the law? And since I know you've never been in a real police department, let me tell you up front that they aren't bastions of liberal belief. And how was I supposed to bring it up? Wear a hot pink tie to work? Grab you or Chin and pin you against the table? Yeah, I don't think so. I." Danny paused, looked away from Steve. "I like it here. I mean, you are going to get me killed one of these days, and you guys have a disturbing fascination with putting pineapple on everything, but it's Grace's home, and we're doing good work, and other than my flat, it's not a horrible place to live. And I like working with Chin and Kono. And I guess you. I just."
Steve shifted closer to Danny's chair, putting an arm around his shoulder. "Danny, we're ohana. We're not going to kick you out just because you've got horrible dating habits. Ask Chin about some of Kono's exes some time. And we have got to get you out of that roach nest."
"Nice, Steve. Completely ignore the problem."
"What problem? Danny, it's not an issue."
"Sure you say that now. And when I bring a guy by the station? You'll freak. Everyone always does."
"Danny, trust me, I won't freak." Steve leaned a little further forward, exasperated.
"You say that. But I've had this happen before. They say they're okay, then they see me even talking to a guy. And they always freak out. And I lose friends and I've had to transfer stations before, because of it. So thank you for your blind optimism, but I really do know what I'm talking about, here. That old saying, about what they don't know, won't hurt me? So true, here. Thank you, Steve, but..."
"Danno," Steve growled, and grabbed Danny by the back of the head. He looked at Danny briefly before swiftly kissing him on the lips, just long enough to interrupt Danny's rant.
Danny shoved Steve back, flailing his hands up on Steve's shoulders. "What the hell! What was that? What did you just do?"
"It really has been a while, hasn't it," Steve smirked.
"You kissed me. Why did you kiss me?"
"It shut you up, didn't it?" Steve let a full grin out at this point.
"Yeah, great strategy. I'm sure it'll work next time we're fighting at work. You're in the Navy. You're not supposed to kiss guys. Isn't there, like, a law against that? And let go of me."
"I never saw a point in telling - I've only made a few exceptions. And no, not when it's so effective." Steve leaned forward again, pressing their lips together in a longer kiss.
"Stop that! Steve!" Danny pulled back, glaring at Steve.
"What, you don't like kissing?"
"You call that kissing? That was hardly kissing!"
The smirk was back. "Oh, you think you can do better? Prove it."
"What the hell, Steve? You want, what? To kiss me?"
"Yes. Repeatedly."
"Oh, and I thought you were going to get me shot. No, you're just going to give me a heart attack. You think we should, what, date?"
"Why not? Everyone practically thinks we're in a relationship already. We fight like we're dating. We spend a lot of the time outside of work together. Most of the time you have Grace, you come over here anyway. You stare at me almost as much as I stare at you. Other than your bizarre fascination for ties, we fit. And you're cute when you're ranting. So why not?"
Danny just stared, mouth hanging open. "Now I know you're insane. I thought jumping off the semi was insane. This is so much worse than that. You're straight."
"I thought we covered that. I make exceptions."
"So you think the obvious conclusion to my lack of time to find a reasonable partner and your complete inability to understand rational human emotion is to...put our crazy together?"
Steve took the chance to bite Danny's bottom lip. "Basically, yeah. It works at work. Why not here, too?"
"What about fraternization? What about Kono and Chin?"
"Chin and Kono will understand - remember, ohana. As for fraternization, I do have a blank check from the governor." Steve leaned forward again, only to have Danny pull back.
"I said stop with the kissing. Steve. Stop joking around with me. I'm damaged goods. You. I don't think you were even manufactured correctly. And you think we should be in a relationship. You're insane. You don't mean it."
"Yes, I mean it. Unless you don't think you can kiss better than that."
Danny just glared. "You are so transparent, McGarrett. Shut up. Just. Shut up, and kiss me already."
"I was doing that. You keep telling me to stop." Steve grinned against Danny's lips.
When Danny huffed loudly, tangled his hand in Steve's hair, and kissed him back, Steve decided that quiet nights were overrated. Fortunate, since whatever this was with Danny meant he'd never have one again.