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After three days of non-stop work, their case was resolved. The four 5-0 task force members had finally found the person who committed the crime, which ended up being their victim's brother, which wasn't unusual, at all. It was a fairly common case, actually: the brother owed him money, he didn't have it, so clearly, murder is the only way to resolve this type of family issue.
Exhaustion clouded the atmosphere of the bullpen. Steve, Danny, Chin, and Kono all stood around their touch-screen table, going over last minute details of the case before heading home to get some well-deserved rest. The case was simple but long as hell. It didn't help that the brother of the victim wouldn't give in and admit to committing the crime, even though all the evidence pointed to him without a doubt.
Steve glanced over at his partner, Danny, who's head was currently rested on his shoulder. He knew the other would deny this ever happened in the morning, and he would make sure everyone else did, too. Danny rested with his arms loosely crossed over his chest, his eyes closed, his breathing velvet smooth.
Chin rested against the wall, trying his absolute hardest to keep his eyes from shutting. Steve nuzzled his nose into Danny's blond hair, glancing down to the touch-screen table. He watched calmly as Kono's nimble hands as they swiped away at various facts, organizing them along the way.
Steve focused on her hands and how they moved. Steve shifted to stretch and Danny lifted his head from his boyfriend's shoulder. Steve stretched his taut arms over his head, hands lacing together as he yawned. A couple pops and cracks were set off as his back muscles stretched.
"I think I'm gonna head out. You'll be alright, Danno?" His tone was gentle, with a playful tone at the end, as Danny looked about ready to fall back asleep on Steve's shoulder.
"Huh?" Danny gave a delayed response, looking at Steve with drowsy eyes. Steve couldn't help but admire just how adorable his partner was. Danny gave a deep sigh and licked his dry lips.
"Yeah- I'll, uh, be fine," He gave Steve a lopsided smile filled with the desire to go back to bed. He was exhausted. Regardless, it lit up Steve's world.
"Alright, get some sleep soon, yeah?" Steve grazed his fingers over Danny's upper back and pressed a kiss to his cheek before he headed for the door. His touch sent shivers up Danny's spine.
"Night you two," Steve gave a closed lip smile to Chin and Kono as he raised a hand to say goodbye. Danny eyed Steve up and down as he left, appreciating how his boyfriend loved and cared for him.
"Ah, I think I should head off, too," Kono said looking Danny in the eye, a smile on her face, as well. She repeated Steve's stretch routine before she moved to gather her things which sparked a reaction from Chin, his head and eyes snapping up from the table to look to his cousin.
"Night, cuz," she gave Chin an affectionate shoulder squeeze as she followed Steve's footsteps out the door.
"Night, Danny!" she called and within moments, she was gone. Danny whispered a reply, but she wouldn't have heard it regardless.
It was now just the two of them. Danny and Chin, Chin and Danny, and the tension in the room could not be any thicker. Chin felt like he was suffocating; his lungs were about to give out. Danny was able to breathe just fine. An intense pressure grabbed at his shoulders, however, pressing them down every time he moved. Both had resumed to looking at the touch-screen in front of them, refusing to move, refusing to speak.
"Well, I think it's best that I head out, too. Got a big day tomorrow with a lot of, well, you know," Chin gave a pathetic wink and an even more pathetic chuckle as he anxiously rushed to grab his jacket and motorcycle helmet.
"Oh no, no, no. you're not going anywhere. Come back here," Chin hung his head in defeat and let out a sigh. He heard Danny mutter a "that's right," as he returned to where he
was standing, setting his things down, as well.
"I think we need to discuss what happened today?" Danny looked expectantly at Chin, who couldn't even look the other in the eyes. He was cutting right to the chase, huh? Well to start, he felt humiliated, and pretty much like the smallest man in all of Hawai'i, maybe even the world.
"What's uh- what's there to discuss?" Playing stupid, really? He gave Danny a sheepish smile and a chuckle, his shoulders tensing as he crossed his arms, his hands gesturing to match the question.
"Oh, you? You don't remember the checking me out every chance you got thing? Let's recap, shall we-?" Chin inhaled a sharp breath and nodded, holding a hand up to stop Danny from speaking further. He knew that once the other started talking, he had already lost.
"Yes, I remember," he spoke through gritted teeth, his arms protectively tightening around his chest.
"We both know that you know that I'm with Steve, yeah? So, you...I would, uh.. I would just like to know why is all," Danny followed Chin's movement, crossing his arms over his own chest, leaning back in an attempt to give off a nonchalant demeanor. It failed, horribly. Both men knew Danny couldn't be nonchalant no matter what situation he was placed into. Chin took in a deep breath, his lungs filling with cotton and dust from the air.
"I, uh.." Chin scratched the back of his head, refusing to make eye contact with Danny again as if he had even tried from the beginning. He couldn't tell Danny, no he couldn't. But what did he have to lose? Really, Danny was also bisexual, he knew this, so why was the idea of coming out to him so damn difficult? Danny wouldn't disown him, or dehumanize him. Chin supposed it was the fact that he had never actually come out to anyone in his life before, Kono being the exception. What was he supposed to do? What was he supposed to say? He really wished there was a bisexual character coming out on a TV show that he could relate to right about now.
"Chin?" Chin's heart pounded deep in his chest. Beads of sweat began to form at his hairline. He was damn terrified for what was about to come next. Maybe Danny was still some type of biphobic or homophobic and only accepted that he and Steve could be queer. Okay, no, that was ridiculous.
"Hey, you can trust me with this. If you'd rather not say, that's okay, too," Danny patted a hand over his own heart, offering Chin a compassionate smile.
"How about we do this, I'll count to three and when I get to three, you say what you want to say, okay?"
"Yeah, alright," Chin nodded in agreement, a grateful smile on his lips.
"One," Danny held a finger up, counting along with himself.
"Two," His tone softened as a second finger came up.
"Three," he mouthed it and nodded at Chin, prompting him to say what he wanted to say.
"Okay. I'm...bi. I am bisexual," He patted his hands uncomfortably against his thighs as he slid his hands into his pockets not knowing what to do with them anymore.
"Is that it?" Danny spoke slowly, clapping his hands together.
"Yes," Chin posed it more as a question than an answer.
"That's all you had to tell me? That's it?" Danny was perplexed, trying to put the pieces of the puzzle together as to why Chin would be so afraid of coming out to Danny? He knew the other was bi and that he was dating Steve, a very gay man.
"Why were you so afraid to tell me that?" Danny asked with a raised eyebrow, hands on his hips.
"I've never come out to anyone before, officially, you know? Kono is the only one that knows and I've never been around anyone else...like me. You're the first bi man I've met," Chin looked down to the touch-screen in front of them, knuckles rolling against the cherry wood.
"I'm still scared, terrified even, that I'll be looked at differently. Treated like less of a man because I like men, too. It's stupid to feel that around you, yeah, but when you go your whole life feeling that..." Chin trailed off, looking into Danny's sympathetic eyes. Danny sighed, his shoulders sagging as he did so.
"So, is that why you were looking at me so often today?"
"Yeah. I-I'm sorry about that. Just looking at you, knowing you were bisexual and that you were living your life successfully, it grounded me. I didn't mean to come off as flirtatious or anything,"
"Hey, no apologies, alright? I understand what you mean," Chin looked up to Danny with surprise apparent in his eyes. Danny looked down at the table, eyes following the screensaver the touch-screen had activated.
"Yeah. I never had any support growing up either. I was always told to "pick a side" or that I was being greedy and that if I wanted to be gay, I should just say I like men. That I can't have both. Even though New Jersey was relatively open, I always felt so. Boxed in, yeah?" Chin gave a supportive nod.
"Until I moved here, that is. As much as I can't stand this island at times with its sun and heat and no rain at all, it's nice. It really shows me that relaxing and opening up is, uh, is actually a thing that I can do. Becoming a part of this task force helped me, too. You, Kono, Steve, of course,"
"But don't you tell him that because he will never let me live it down!" Danny pointed an accusing finger Chin's way. Chin responded with a carefree laugh, holding his hands up in defense.
"I won't, I won't! Your secret's safe with me,"
"Your's is safe with me too, alright? Come here," Danny walked around the touch-screen table and reached over to wrap his arms around the taller man's neck. Chin hesitated momentarily before hugging his arms around Danny.
"You can exhale now, Chin. It's okay," Chin nuzzled his face into the side of Danny's head, gasping intensely as his eyes began to water. Danny rocked the both of them ever so slightly as Chin's shoulders shook, quiet sobs resting on Danny's neck.
Chin pulled away with a sigh, working to regain his breath. Danny wiped at Chin's damp cheeks with a tissue, shushing him softly as a parent would to their child after a bad dream.
"You up for a drink? On me," Chin sniffled and nodded.
"Yeah. That, that sounds great," Chin couldn't keep a smile off of his face for the life of him. What was even better was that Danny smiled back with the same energy.
"Great. Let's go," Danny handed Chin his leather jacket as he shrugged on his own. Chin grabbed his motorcycle helmet, tucking it safely underneath his arm. He and Danny silently nodded at one another, letting each other know they were ready to go. Danny held the door open for Chin, in which the other gawked in surprise.
"Wow, a gentleman tonight, are we?"
"What are you talking about? I always am!" Chin switched the lights off as he headed out the door. He stopped halfway and looked to Danny's chest, squinting his eyes. Panic arose in Danny's expression as his eyes dropped to his chest. Did he spill something on himself and didn't realize it?
"Why do you wear a tie?" Danny rolled his eyes, roughly shoving Chin's shoulder as the other shook with a laughter that echoed in the empty hallways.
"Haha, very funny. Did Steve teach you to mock my tie, too?" Danny huffed as he shut the door to the bullpen behind him. He couldn't help but crack a smile at the joke, and maybe even laugh along, as well.