Work Text:
Danny squelched into Five-0 headquarters with the unpleasant feeling of dampness in his shoes. He’d hit them with the crappy in-room hair dryer at his two-star motel last night and again this morning, but obviously the crappiness couldn’t compete with the amount of moisture his favorite suede lace ups had absorbed. Add to that the exhaustion of only three hours of sleep since he had been unpleasantly woken up at 2a.m. and he was, as his mother would say, in a mood.
And of course, because he felt like something a dog would throw up, eat off the floor, and then throw up again, the first person he saw upon entering the office was Steven J. fucking McGarrett. Steve looked well rested, healthily tanned, and awake as all hell, as per usual, and Danny was just too wrung out to deal, especially since Steve took one look at him and broke into a huge, white grin.
“Danno! Look at you! Finally, you lost the tie and dressed reasonably. I knew you’d cave eventually. Island casual looks good on you, man!”
Danny could feel the usual exasperation he always suffered from every time Steve got gleeful about his so-called submission to the Hawaiian lifestyle kick up a notch. To make matters worse, Kono poked her dark head out of her office at the sound of her boss’ exclamation and treated Danny to a similarly brilliant grin.
“You’re starting to look like a native, brah! Jersey wouldn’t recognize you!”
Danny tried to hold on to his temper, he really did, but combined with the previous night’s disaster, his discomfort with showing up to work dressed like a weekend golfer, and his squishy shoes, he just couldn’t keep it in. He was so fucking tired.
“No, no, this is not a cause for celebration! I do not look like this because of some style choice! I did not come to my place of work dressed like I am going to a backyard barbecue because I woke up this morning, looked in the mirror, and said, ‘Hey, today would be a good day to abandon everything I believe about acceptable work attire in an effort to make my insane co-workers with no sense of professional propriety happy!’ This right here is the result of my upstairs neighbor, who is eighty-two and loopy as a fruit bat, forgetting to turn off the tap to her bathtub, thus flooding her bathroom and caving in my ceiling in a wash of plaster, water, and debris I would rather not consider too closely at approximately 2:06 this morning!”
Danny could see the surprise on Kono and Steve’s faces and barreled on before either of them could comment.
“So yes, for those in the class following along, all of my belongings, including my work attire, my casual attire, and my tie collection are destroyed. I am shit out of luck until I can find a new place to live. Oh and in case you were wondering, the only accommodations one can find at two in the morning, if they are so inclined, is a scummy fleabag motel that makes my recently departed apartment look like the Ritz. This travesty of an ensemble is all I had the time and energy to pick up from a twenty four hour Wal-mart at four this morning. So just, both of you, back off and let me have a cup of coffee and a nap before facing the inevitable death and destruction this day will no doubt rain upon my head.”
Both Steve and Kono had eyebrows raised as high as they would go and traces of awkwardly shocked pity forming in their eyes, but Danny was done. He was done! He stomped past them, his shoes squeaking and farting embarrassingly on the polished floor, and made a beeline for the coffee maker. Luckily it looked like someone, probably Kono, had made a fresh pot because if Danny had had to wrestle with the complicated machine no self respecting Jersey police force would have in their squad room, he probably would have taken out his gun and shot it.
He grabbed the large cup that Chin, who was the resident Five-0 coffee addict, usually used and poured himself a steaming serving of the rich, dark Kona blend. He then doctored his brew with a healthy amount of cream and sugar and took his first swallow of caffeinated heaven. The ritual helped calm him a bit and the familiar taste of the coffee enabled him to take a deep breath and release some of the tension that was undoubtedly sky-rocketing his blood pressure. He took another couple of sips before turning, leaning against the counter and facing the cautiously hovering SEAL watching him warily from a few feet away. Kono had wisely beaten a retreat back into her office and shut the door. He sighed in resignation.
“Yes, what, what useless platitudes do you feel the need to regale me with this morning? Undoubtedly there is a made up Hawaiian word for facing homelessness with dignity and forbearance. I am all a-twitter with anticipation. Keep in mind that this is supposed to be my weekend with Grace and I’m going to have to reschedule since I can hardly have my eight year old daughter over to the Bates Motel. So please, what is on your mind, O fearless leader?”
He knew he was being unreasonably sarcastic, that Steve was genuinely sympathetic, but he was too tired and just plain angry at the world to temper his temper. On the upside, Steve had stopped looking like he was giving condolences at a funeral and started looking like Danny’s attitude was pissing him off. He was thankful for the brief feeling of normality. Then Steve started talking.
“Look, I’m sorry about what happened, but honestly, that apartment complex always looked like it was one strong wind from collapsing in on itself anyway. I told you that you needed to find another place to live. I even offered to help you look. Kono and Chin had several relatives who had places for rent, but you ignored us all. Seriously, I have no idea what you were even thinking sticking it out as long as you did. And now, with the fall semester starting over at the U, you’re going to have a hell of a time finding someplace livable that won’t have a price tag through the roof.”
Steve’s voice was steadily picking up his ‘I know this island better than anyone, you stupid mainlander.’ lecturing tone. Danny bristled and then deflated. He was really too tired to argue a moot point since his apartment no longer existed. Steve took in his weary stance and a brief flicker of worry passed over his face before determination firmed his lips.
“Alright, so the I-told-you-so’s are over. The fact remains that your place is gone and you can’t live in a shitty motel for weeks while you look for a new one. Plus if you try to reschedule with Grace, Rachel is going to throw a huge fit. So you’re going to come and stay with me. We’ll get your things tonight and you can have your pick of guest rooms. Grace can have one of the other ones when she comes to visit.”
Steve’s facial expression had taken on a mulish cast and Danny could feel how his own jaw had gone slack in amazement. This was such a monumentally bad idea he couldn’t even count the ways. He had to try though, so he went with the most obvious.
“Jesus Steve, not that I don’t appreciate the offer, but having Kono, Chin and me over for a few beers now and then is vastly different from me moving into your house for what might possibly be a month or more. You are nominally my boss and the lack of appropriateness in this arrangement is off the charts.”
Danny could just hear the whispers and innuendo that would fly around once something like this got out. Steve wasn’t exactly a favorite with a lot of the regular law enforcement community since he was a military outsider and had a habit of snaking all the high profile cases for Five-0. Danny himself was also considered an outsider and he was the first to admit his personality could be abrasive, though he wouldn’t apologize for it. Chin was still persona-non-grata over at HPD despite being cleared of any misconduct charges and Kono was a rookie who had been tapped for an elite task force before she had even graduated the Academy. Yeah, Five-0 was not very popular among the rank and file. If it got out that Danny had moved into Casa McGarrett, the resentment would ensure some very nasty comments. But Steve was strangely blind to the political backstabbing his team was subject to; as if it didn’t matter as long as he seemed to get the cooperation and support he wanted and had the Governor on speed dial.
“I’m technically your boss, but I’m definitely your partner. You can’t tell me that if an HPD detective was in your position that his partner wouldn’t let him crash in a guestroom for a few weeks.”
Steve had crossed his arms and was regarding him with a raised eyebrow and a smirk, like he couldn’t believe Danny was using such a weak excuse to refuse the offer of hospitality. Okay, so obviously he was going to have to spell it out. This was going to be awkward.
“Steven, you live alone and I am a divorced man who also lives alone. We spend most of our waking hours together, both at work and during our off time. It is common knowledge that even on my weekends with Grace you tag along more often than not. If I actually physically move into your house, even if only for a few weeks, there will be speculation and rumors aplenty, and they will not go away once I find a new place to live. Do you understand what I’m saying? Do you get my drift here? Please blink once for yes and two for no.”
Steve rolled his eyes.
“Who cares what a few loudmouthed gossips think? You’re staying with me and that’s final. I’ll make it an order if it makes you feel better.”
Danny stared hard at the resolute lines his partner’s face had fallen into. Then he shook his head in disbelief because, yes, it appeared that Steve actually meant what he was saying. This was particularly bizarre because Danny was well aware that up until few months ago Steve’s entire career had taken place under the auspices of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. He had to know the damage these kinds of rumors could cause.
Honestly though, Danny was only partly worried about the rumors that would spring up. He was actually mostly worried about what would happen if the rumors became fact. He was an excellent detective, had spent more than a decade honing his observational skills, and he knew damn well that his and Steve’s partnership had the potential to develop into something more under the right conditions. He knew his own sexuality was occasionally flexible; he just wasn’t so sure about Steve’s own self awareness on the subject. What he did know was that he himself didn’t do casual, and Steve didn’t seem to do anything but. Danny had always been a serious relationship kind of guy, but Steve seemed to avoid emotional entanglement as a habit if his little arrangement with his brunette lieutenant was anything to go by. So all in all, this had the potential to be an A-1 fucking disaster.
Danny did not do well with break-ups; witness the cluster-fuck his marriage with Rachel had turned into. He knew without a doubt that if this partner thing with Steve turned into a romantic thing with Steve and it went horribly wrong, there would be no saving their working relationship.
And there were a myriad of ways in which it could go wrong. For one thing, Danny was almost positive that Steve had no idea of his own attraction to Danny. His gleeful accusation of jealousy when Danny had expressed his hatred of Nick Taylor on sight and then his subsequent amusement at Danny’s tirade at Taylor in the Five-0 offices had been a huge red flag to the detective. He knew Steve had gotten a sense of satisfaction from Danny’s, admittedly somewhat blatant, jealous rants.
There were other signs too. The way Steve had suggested that Danny wasn’t as alone in Hawaii as he thought after Steve had asked the Governor to intervene with Rachel over Grace’s custody. There was the way he called Danny ‘partner’ and insisted on using Grace’s nickname of Danno as if he was marking possession. And of course, there were the invasions of personal space, the constant offers of beer and grabbing dinner after work, and the thinly veiled anxiety that without constant vigilance Danny would get fed up with wacky Hawaiian life and relocate back to Jersey.
And over it all, was the absolute certainty Danny had that Steve had no idea of the signals he was sending out. He probably had no conscious awareness of his attraction either. All signs pointed to Steve thinking his total infiltration of Danny’s life was some sort of normal cop-partnership kind of thing. To him, having Danny move in until he found an (undoubtedly McGarrett-approved) apartment was a normal extension of their symbiotic partnership. Danny knew though, that once he moved into Steve’s house, there would most likely be no moving out again.
Steve would talk him out of every potential living space he found under the cloak of ‘I’m just looking out for my mainlander partner who doesn’t know any better’ malarkey that Steve was so good at. This was how Steve’s favorite bar had become Danny’s usual bar. It was how Kamekona’s shave ice stand became Grace’s and therefore Danny’s usual haunt. This was how Steve always knew what pizza place Danny would take Grace to for lunch and what beach they would end up on when he took his daughter swimming because he was the one who had brought them there first. Which was why when Steve just ‘happened’ to show up when Danny was out with Grace it was always a complete non-surprise.
And the idiot didn’t even realize what he was doing, because while Danny made his living as an expert on human behavior and was admittedly a bit of an emotional maelstrom, Steve was the exact opposite. Steve was a scarily focused and intimidating man with a whole range of impressive skills and accomplishments, but the things that made him such a great SEAL were the things that made him an emotionally stunted wreck. Danny got it, he really did. You couldn’t get to Steve’s level of lethality without distancing yourself from the people you needed to do violence to, and Steve had been a very dangerous man for a very long time. God only knew the things he’d had to do in the name of duty and Danny really hoped he didn’t ever have to hear the details. Still it made being his possibly-more-than-friend incredibly trying.
All of these thoughts flashed through Danny’s mind at hyper-speed. He knew it was a mistake. He knew they would all regret it, but he was so, so tired. He had hated his apartment, but the motel was so much worse. He needed to replace all his ruined possessions and that took money, money he would have to spend on his hotel room and that he needed to save for securing a new place to live. It would take months to accomplish, and he would have to sacrifice a lot of his time with his daughter. Living with Steve would be a certain kind of hell, but at least it would be rent free because Danny knew Steve wouldn’t take payment. Plus, Steve was right, his house was a way better place to have Grace stay over than any budget motel Danny could find, and that right there was the nail in the coffin.
And Danny was so exhausted, so unbalanced from the stress; he really didn’t have the energy to fight a battle he knew he’d never win anyway.
“Okay, sure, thank you, thanks for the offer. I accept.”
It was with a sinking sensation that Danny felt his stomach flutter at the blinding grin that broke out over his partner’s face. They were feelings awfully similar to the ones from their last high speed chase, when Steve had jumped the Camaro over the guardrail and Danny had been sure, yet again, that they were going to die, die, DIE.
“Awesome! This is the best way to go Danno, I promise you. We’ll get you checked out of the motel after work and I know some good places where you can replace a lot of your stuff. We can get some things for Grace too, since you’ll probably have her a few times before you find a new apartment.”
Steve continued listing the preparations he thought they needed to make for Danny’s relocation, oblivious to the fact that his plans had a note of permanence to them. Danny watched the way his partner’s eyes were lit up and the excited smile he couldn’t seem to get rid of. He suffered in silence as Steve threw an arm around his shoulder and dragged him out the door to their first call out of the day. Steve was still chattering away about stores, what they’d have for dinner, and where they were headed to for their next case. Danny couldn’t remember ever seeing his partner so happy.
And even as he knew this was an inevitable mistake in the making, Danny couldn’t help but smile back, even though his feet were still wet.