Chapter Text
Danny was 21 when he met Steve. He'd gone down to Vegas for his birthday with a few of his buddies. And maybe in retrospect going straight from underage to tequila had been a mistake because Danny remembered wandering into a random night club and being passed two straight shots, and now he was waking up in some cheap hotel room, squinting at the painful string of light coming in through the crack in the blinds.
His head felt like someone had tried to jackhammer his brain, and Danny decided while forcing himself up to the bathroom to wretch, that if this was how hangovers felt, maybe drinking wasn't for him.
He was so fucked up he didn't even notice until he'd stepped back out of the bathroom that there was someone else in his bed.
He had sharp features, and cropped hair, and a long toned body that Danny could see was as naked as he was, the bottom part of his torso barely hidden by a haphazardly draped sheet. Danny also noted lube on the bedside table and a pair of used condoms easily visible in the trash.
Danny had never explored his bisexuality. Had never really planned to. Still he felt an odd pang of regret that his first time doing anything with another guy was lost to the tequila. Or maybe that was some residual queasiness from the hangover, it was hard to tell.
Quietly Danny got dressed, eager to track down his friends, when noticed a piece of paper on the nightstand.
Suddenly Danny thought he might throw up all over again.
Across the top in a fancy scroll read "Certificate of Marriage", proper signatures and official seals and everything.
Danny was still staring dumbfounded when he heard a groan behind him.
"Who the hell are you?"
"Steven J McGarrett?" asked Danny glancing back at the certificate, just to make sure.
The man frowned. "Yeah..."
"I'm your husband apparently," said Danny. He passed over the certificate.
Steve looked it over and frowned.
"Shit."
"I take it you don't remember either?" asked Danny.
Steve shook his head. He looked up at Danny and for a long moment just stared at him. Like he was taking him in. Danny had to admit, he was surprisingly pretty.
"Well we've got to fix this," said Danny, breaking the moment. "No offense, but I can't go home married to a stranger."
"Yeah, yeah," said Steve agreeing, rubbing his temple wincing. "Don't worry, we'll--" he suddenly sat up ramrod straight. "Shit!" he said again, and now he was up out of bed and running around the hotel room completely naked as he gathered up all his stuff. "Shit, shit, shit.
"Look, I'm sorry," said Steve, somehow already half dressed in a set of military fatigues, head disappearing into a green tank top. "I've got to get back to base. I'm already late."
"Wait, you can't just leave! We need to figure this out."
"Yeah, yeah," said Steve, and Danny was amazed to see him already dressed and just throwing the last of his stuff into a duffle bag. "Give me your number, I'll be in touch."
Danny quickly scrawled his phone number on a hotel room pad and handed it to Steve. Just a little impressed at how quickly he could go from dishevelled and naked in bed to one of the country's finest.
"Don't worry, it'll be fine," said Steve, giving him a quick smile before running out the door.
And just like that Danny was suddenly alone in a hotel room that wasn't his with a real literal marriage certificate in his hand.
"There you are!" Danny was relieved to find his friends all congregated in his hotel lobby when he made it back. "Dude you went to tell a bunch of jarheads off in a bar and we haven't seen you since. Glad you're alright, but next time leave a message at the front desk or something and let us know."
"Yeah, everything's fine," lied Danny clutching his nose as if it might magically ease his killer headache. He tried not to think about the marriage certificate, placed neatly inside a folded shirt in his suitcase.
"That's the spirit!" said a second friend coming up behind him and slapping him hard on the back. "Remember what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas."
"Yeah, if only," muttered Danny.
*
Days went by without any word from Steve. Then weeks, then months. When the six month mark passed without anything, Danny was starting to get concerned. When 8 months passed, he was officially starting to panic.
It wasn't like Danny had never tried to track down Steve himself. He had a name and knew he belonged to some branch of the military. But the man was a ghost. He had no registered phone number or address. No sign of any family. If it wasn't for an expired license from Jacksonville Florida, Danny would have thought he was a ghost. But even that turned up nothing. Last renewed when he was 18, and not a single McGarrett living in the area had ever heard of him.
Once a year had passed, Danny had pretty much given up and tried to forget about the whole accidentally being married to a stranger thing. Just sort of sorted it into a 'I really hope this gets figured out eventually' pile and tried to move on with his life.
He went to work, hung out with his buddies, and went to his ma's for Sunday dinner, and did his best to ignore that squirming guilty sensation he would get every time he went on a date with someone.
And then he met Rachel. Rachel who got his attention by crashing her car into his police cruiser. Rachel who was smart, and funny, and could absolutely destroy those who crossed her with a few clever quips. With a posh British accent that made Danny weak at the knees.
And Danny was always just about to tell her. Just as soon as the time was right. Just before things got too serious.
And then Rachel told Danny she was pregnant and Danny's world came crashing down around him.
"What do you mean you're married!?" Rachel yelled. Danny had hoped that a nice home cooked traditional italian meal in his apartment would soften the blow. He'd been wrong.
"Look it's not what you think," said Danny. "It was years ago in Vegas and we were drunk. I don't even know him."
"So get it annulled," said Rachel impatiently.
"You gotta believe me, I want to," said Danny, pleading. "But the guy's a ghost or something, I can't find him anywhere."
"Well you had better figure something out then," said Rachel stiffly as she got up to leave, "because I'm not dating a married man."
And then she walked out, leaving Danny with a largely untouched bowl of perfectly prepared baked tiella rice and stuffed focaccia, and wondering how the hell this was his life.
*
It was a few weeks later when Danny got a phone call early in the morning.
"Is this Daniel Williams?"
Danny looked outside, the sun wasn't even up yet. "Who is this?"
"It's uh...it's Steve McGarrett. We got married a few years back?" He said it as if Danny might have forgotten.
Danny was suddenly wide awake. "Do you have any idea how hard I've been working trying to get a hold of you?"
"Yeah, uh...sorry about that." Steve sounded awkward, and Danny liked to think it was out of guilt. "I've been--well that's classified, but I've been really busy. But I have about 24 hours leave right now in New York--"
"You're here!? Now!?"
"Well I'm in New York," Steve corrected him.
"Yeah, yeah, just tell me where you are and I'll be there within the hour," said Danny.
They ended up meeting for breakfast in some tiny 24 hour diner just as the morning sky was starting to light up above them. Well Danny had breakfast. Steve, who was apparently still stuck in some timezone halfway around the world, got a Philly cheese steak sandwich and a huge piece of New York cheesecake. And Danny tried not to stare at the tall man in army fatigues who he'd technically been married to for the last 4 years.
Just wolfing down his food like this was normal.
"You gonna eat?" asked Steve, glancing down at Danny's mostly untouched fried eggs and bacon.
"Nah, I'm good watching you," said Danny.
Steve rolled his eyes and kept eating.
"Where the hell have you been?" asked Danny.
"I'm not really allowed to talk about it," said Steve between mouthfuls and Danny wondered if they starved them in the army. "Classified."
"You mentioned that," said Danny dryly. "The last four years?"
"Well..." Steve kind of trailed off as he took another bite. "I spent a month with my sister last year, and I meant to call before that but--I never had more than a few weeks off and it didn't seem like enough time."
"You never had enough time in four years?" asked Danny. "You honestly expect me to buy that?"
Steve shrugged. "I'm a Navy Seal."
Well that at least explained some of this, Danny thought. He wished Steve had mentioned that four years ago.
"So when do we deal with this then?"
"I have to report back to base in 24 hours," said Steve.
"OK so not now," conceded Danny. "When do you finish your tour or whatever?"
"I dunno, about 5 months," said Steve in between bites.
"Five months!?"
"Yeah but I only have a couple weeks leave, so I don't think that's gonna work."
Danny was starting to really regret that he hadn't taken his lawyer's advice and had a summons prepared for this exact occasion. But who would have expected him to show up suddenly out of the blue like this?
"Why did you call me then?"
"I guess I didn't want you thinking I'd died or something," said Steve. "Not that you have to worry, you're marked down as my next of kin. If something happens to me the Navy will contact you."
"You put me down--" Danny started. Steve watched him bemused like what he'd done made logical sense.
"Besides," said Steve, continuing like this was all normal, "I've never been to New York before. I thought you could show me around a bit."
"You know I'm from Jersey, right?"
Steve grinned. "Danny, I don't think anyone could miss that you're from Jersey."
"Wow, that really sucks," said Steve. He was picking apart a pretzel he’d bought from a nearby vendor while Danny aired out his grievances and explained the situation with Rachel. It was a perfect summer day and Danny had felt like he could tolerate a walk through Central Park a lot more than most of the other touristy crap Steven wanted to do. “You want me to talk to her? Maybe I could reassure her--“
"It's fine," said Danny. He fell onto a bench beside an ugly Peter Pan statue. "She made it pretty clear she needs to see actual annulment papers. I mean I'm gonna fight like hell to be a part of that kid's life, but me and Rach, I think we're done."
"I'm sorry," said Steve.
"Well you should be," said Danny. "This is all your fault."
"My fault?" asked Steve. "What did I do?"
"Are you serious?" asked Danny, standing back up. "None of this would have happened if you'd been around to annul this marriage years ago."
"You can't seriously blame me because a woman left you," said Steve. "Maybe you shouldn't get serious with someone without telling them you're married.”
Danny looked back gobsmacked. “Hey listen--“
The sequence of events after that was a bit blurry, because Danny definitely remembered taking a step closer to Steve, and reaching up to poke Steve in the chest, and he definitely remembered Steve grabbing his wrist and it was like his brain suddenly melted and he very definitely remembered wondering how long he’d been wanting to kiss him. It was after that things suddenly became a bit unclear.
This wasn't kissing like he was used to, Steve and Danny kissed like they were drowning, like four years of pent up sexual energy was finally being relieved and Danny needed to kiss Steve like he needed to breathe.
And somewhere between the door to Danny's apartment and his bed, Danny was starting to understand why he might have married this guy, because everything Steve did felt electric, there was something about him that just made the hair on the back of Danny's neck stand on end.
When Danny woke up the next morning though Steve was gone. There was a note on his bedside table. "I'll call. --S"
*
Danny wasn't really surprised when Rachel took up with some blandly handsome real estate developer named Stan. It hurt, but Steve had left that note promising to call three years ago, and at this point Danny couldn’t blame Rachel for moving on.
Not that Danny had ever mentioned Steve's brief resurfacing. He doubted it would have helped. In the back of his mind though, he saw it as the turning point where he began to finally truly let Rachel go.
As for Grace, Danny was there for her at least. Rachel had told him it wasn't necessary, but Danny had fought to be in her life, which currently amounted to having her every Wednesday and every second weekend. And for now it would have to be enough.
"That her?"
Grace was sitting in a sandbox, ruining her pretty lacy white dress while she filled and dumped sand in her tiny bucket. Danny turned around from where he was sitting on the park bench, and sure enough there was Steve standing behind him in fatigues, looking a little skinnier and a lot worse for wear.
"You've got a lot of nerve, you know that?" said Danny.
Steve yawned and sat down beside Danny, resting his elbows on his knees. "Sorry things have been kind of hectic lately. You know, since..."
And yeah, Danny knew. The entire New York Metropolitan area knew. Danny felt like a bit of a tool that he didn't connect the towers falling to Steve falling off the grid again. He deflated a bit.
"How did you find me?"
"I tried your apartment first, when no one answered I just kind of wandered around." Steve shrugged. "I only have a couple hours."
"Yeah, that's her," said Danny, turning his focus back on Grace. Because he was not going to think about the fact if they'd gone somewhere he would have missed Steve entirely.
"She's bigger than I thought she'd be."
"2 and a half years old," said Danny. "They grow up fast."
"What's her name?"
"Grace," and Danny still couldn't believe Rachel had agreed to that after everything that went down.
"Grace," Steve repeated. "That's a pretty name."
It wasn't long before Grace noticed her dad talking to some stranger and wandered over, tiny and clumsy and perfect.
"Dannooo, who are you talking to?" she asked.
Danny picked her up and plopped her onto his lap, "Grace, this is Steve."
Steve grinned wide at the little girl. "Hi Gracie."
"Are you in the army?" asked Grace.
"Navy," Steve corrected her.
Grace brightened. "Like Donald Duck," she said.
For a second Steve stared back dumbfounded at Grace before he suddenly burst out laughing. "Yeah," he told her, clearly amused. "Exactly like Donald Duck."
Grace turned back to Danny, apparently bored by Steve now. "Danno, I want to play on the jungle gym."
"Sure thing," said Danny. "Come on, let's show Steve why we call you Monkey, huh?"
For a while Danny got caught up playing with Grace, helping her to the higher parts and making sure she didn't fall. When he remembered Steve, he said, "Don't forget that we've still got to deal with this whole marriage business." There was no answer, and when Danny turned around Steve was gone.
*
"Are you seeing anyone?" asked Clara casually while she cleared the Sunday dinner table.
Stella sat up a bit and tried to pretend she was interested in finishing up the last bit of pie still on her plate. While Matt stared at Danny, not even trying to hide his curiosity.
"Do we really need to talk about this?" asked Danny.
"How long has it been since you and Rachel broke up?" asked Clara. "5 years? 6?"
"I never did like Rachel," hummed Stella into her fork. "She was always so posh."
"I liked Rachel," said Matty, apparently feeling the need to defend her. "She was funny. Whatever happened between you two anyways?"
Matty had asked the same question years ago, but maybe he thought the distance might make Danny more likely to give him a straight answer.
He wasn’t.
"Seriously?” asked Danny. “How did this conversation suddenly turn into talking about my love life? Stella's been single since her asshole boyfriend ran off 10 years ago, nobody's getting on her case."
"Hey, what did I do?" asked Stella. "Don't bring me into this."
"Seriously you two are both past 30." Clara sighed. "Danny, I'm not trying to interrogate you. I was just wondering. There's this nice young lady who helps us out with vestry--"
"You're trying to set me up?"
"She's very sweet," continued Clara earnestly. "She has two boys of her own."
"Look, Ma, I know you mean well--" started Danny.
"You could at least meet her. Somewhere neutral. See if you like her," suggested Clara reasonably. "You're not a monk, you know."
"Ma!" Danny protested. Stella giggled beside him.
"As much fun as it is to have everyone discuss my personal life like this, I need to drop Grace back at Rachel's.” Danny got up to pick Grace up from the living room.
"Just think about it," said Clara behind him.
Danny got home in his usual crabby mood after dropping off Grace. He wanted to fall down on his couch, turn on the television and forget about his life until work the next morning.
Instead he found Steve sitting on the front steps of his apartment.
Steve was in his fatigues like always, knees up in front of his chest, looking like he had nowhere else to be. It had been a long time since that day at the jungle gym, and for the first time Danny thought that Steve looked older. Eyes he was used to seeing bright and playful, looking dull and withdrawn.
"How long have you been here," asked Danny as he walked past him and unlocked the door.
Steve followed him in. "Not long," he said. "A couple hours, maybe."
"Oh is that all," said Danny dryly. "I don't suppose you're here to finally deal with this whole marriage thing, are you?"
"Uh, no."
Danny snorted. "Of course not. Here I am thinking 10 years might actually be enough time to deal with this whole mess, but what do I know."
Steve didn't answer as he followed Danny down the hall. Danny turned back to get a better look at him. "You look like shit, you know that?"
"I've got an idea."
"Why are you here?" asked Danny. Just like he did every time. He was starting to wonder if this was just going to be his life. Married to a mysterious stranger who would reappear in his life for a few hours every few years or so.
"I wasn't sure where else to go," said Steve, like that told him anything.
Danny opened his apartment door and Steve collapsed on his couch.
"What the hell happened to you?" asked Danny.
"Nothing," said Steve.
Danny held Steve’s gaze.
"It's classified," Steve amended. He looked up at Danny with an odd expression on his face. "You ever just want to run away?"
"I'm sorry?"
"Just pack what you need and go. Maybe go sell overpriced shells to tourists in Fiji or something?"
"Yeah right," said Danny.
"I'm serious," said Steve. "Run away with me."
"You are serious," said Danny, surprised by the steady intensity in Steve's eyes. "Look, it's not that I'm not totally enamoured with the idea of dropping everything and running off with a guy whose cumulative time I've spent with him probably amounts to less than a week," Danny’s tone was flat. "But I can't leave my daughter."
"Right, Gracie," said Steve slumping back down on the couch. "It was stupid anyways."
"Honestly I'd rather get the annulment," said Danny. "Can you even get an annulment after 10 years? Because I swear to God if I have to go to divorce court--"
"There's no time limit," said Steve. "I checked."
"Maybe it would have been better if there was," said Danny. "Force you to make it more of a priority."
"Can I stay here?" asked Steve. "I have a few days."
"Uh..." Danny almost said no, before he realised how absurd it was to say your husband can't stay with you because you don't know him very well. Besides, Steve had never shown himself to be dangerous.
"I have to work tomorrow morning," said Danny instead. "If you don't mind?"
"What do you do?"
Danny laughed. He couldn't help it, it was all so absurd. "I'm a detective. I detect, as in detecting that you're being really weird tonight."
"You barely know me," said Steve. And then he got up and kissed Danny effectively stopping that particular conversation.
"Will you still be here when I wake up?" Danny asked when the kiss finally broke. Despite his words there was something antsy about Steve that made Danny doubt he'd be able to stay even that long. But Steve just pressed his forehead affectionately up against Danny's and then he kissed him again. And Danny lost any hope of having any other coherent thoughts that night.
When Danny woke up the next morning Steve was in the kitchen. He was humming while he made coffee and Danny stayed back a bit, admiring the muscled arms and tattoos that hadn't been there the last time they'd had sex.
"You're looking better," commented Danny.
"You want eggs?" asked Steve, avoiding the question.
"I usually just have coffee before work," said Danny, eyeing the near full pot beside Steve. "You gonna be OK here by yourself?"
Danny still wasn't quite sure how he felt leaving Steve alone in his department. Would it even be legally theft if he took something? Was he being paranoid? So far he had no reason to distrust Steve. Did Danny even have anything worth taking?
Still Danny wasn't at all surprised when he got home that evening to find Steve had gone. A note on the fridge read, "Thanks for the eggs. I'll call you. --S"
*
When Danny followed Rachel and Grace to Hawaii he figured that would be it for Steve McGarrett. And Danny would just have to accept the fact that marriage just wasn't in the cards for him. It could be worse he considered, he had a beautiful daughter and a job he was good at, even if it was no longer in a place he loved. He didn't get on well with the rest of the department, but his partner Meka was a good guy. For Grace, it was a sacrifice he would have gladly made again.
Except when someone at the precinct mentioned a retired cop named Jack McGarrett, who had been one of the best, Danny thought there was no way.
He went down to see him anyways and when he answered, Danny thought Jack McGarrett looked a lot like Steve. They certainly had the same frown.
"Can I help you?" asked Jack.
"Uh, hi, I'm Detective Danny Williams. I work at the precinct you retired from. Look this is a really long shot, but are you related to a Steve McGarrett, probably mid 30's, about 6 feet tall, Navy SEAL?" Danny caught himself nervously smoothing down his hair while he talked.
"That's my son," Jack confirmed. "How do you know him?"
"Technically speaking, well legally at least, in the strictest definition--I'm your son in law."
Danny wished he'd thought to bring the actual marriage certificate. Currently back in his rathole apartment, folded up somewhere with his birth certificate, his passport and the outline of his custody agreement with Grace in a shoebox in one of the dresser drawers.
But despite the skepticism Jack still let Danny in to tell him the whole story. Which Danny did, slightly edited.
"I admit a lot of it does sound like Steve, but I'm still not sure I believe you," said Jack over a mug of coffee.
"I'm not asking for anything," said Danny. "Just, you know, if he calls or anything, let him know I'm here."
Jack was quiet for a long moment before answering. "Hey, uh...do you want to stay for dinner?"
And that was how Danny ended up spending the entire evening at his technical father-in-law's house looking through old photo albums. It was weird watching Jack go through them, it somehow had never even occurred to Danny that Steve had had a childhood. And yet here was faced with tangible proof.
Danny thought it should probably be a big deal to find out your kid had secretly gotten married 14 years ago, but Jack somehow took it all in stride.
After that it became routine. If Danny didn't have Grace and didn't want to be alone for dinner he'd either join Meka and Amy, or he'd head over to Jack McGarrett's. At first they'd talk about Steve but eventually subjects like HPD and the New York Jets prospects this year started to overtake him. It wasn't long before Danny started to feel like he was closer to Jack then he'd ever been to Steve. Steve was still a relative stranger, but Jack was quickly starting to feel like family.
*
It had been about five months since Danny had first introduced himself to Jack when he stopped by and thought that things felt off.
There were unfamiliar cars in the driveway when he arrived. Unusual, especially since Jack had been expecting him. And by this point, other than his former work partner who rode a motorcycle, Danny was pretty sure he was the only person who ever came to see Jack. Danny was glad he'd come right from work, checking his equipment, he wandered around the house to see if he could figure out what was going on.
He saw Jack tied up from the outside window, and when he slipped in and saw a strange man pointing a gun at him. He shot without hesitation. First the perp holding the gun, then the other one.
“That all of them?”
Jack nodded. "Your timing is impeccable," he said as Danny rushed in.
Before Danny untied him he did a quick check of the room to confirm, then he bent down and picked up the phone one of the perps had been speaking into.
"Who is this?" demanded Danny.
"...Danny?"
"Steve!? Are you fucking kidding me? Years I've been waiting for a call from you, literal years and I randomly find you on the other end of some kidnapper's phone? You're unbelievable, you know that?"
Steve was quiet for a very long time, and just when Danny was starting to wonder if he'd been cut off, Steve said in a quiet voice, "Is my Dad alright?"
Danny deflated. Probably a side effect from all the adrenaline, he suddenly found he was very tired. He glanced over to Jack. "Yeah, he's good," said Danny. "Tied up, but I'll have him out of that in a sec."
He passed the phone to Jack while he untied him. And heard Jack in a very stern voice say to his son, "You have a lot of explaining to do."
*
Danny was more surprised when Steve actually came to Hawaii. Showing up about 36 hours later, looking Jet lagged and just a little bit wrecked in his military fatigues and a duffle bag--not unlike the last time they met. And when he saw Danny, despite having briefly talked to him on the phone, and despite the fact Steve had just shown up on Danny's doorstep, he looked astonished to see him.
"I want an annulment," greeted Danny.
"Right, that," said Steve rubbing the back of his head awkwardly. "I'll...um, I'll definitely get on that. Danny, what are you doing here?"
"I live here," said Danny. "Because the man Rachel married, who is not me by the way, moved here for business. So the only way I could still see my daughter was to uproot my entire life and make my way in this overpriced pineapple infested hellhole."
Steve made a face Danny thought looked a bit like he was having an aneurysm. "Are you still blaming me for that?" Then, "Wait, what's wrong with Hawaii?"
"How did you find me?" asked Danny, unwilling to be side-tracked.
"My dad told me." Steve stepped inside despite the fact he hadn't been invited to, and looked around the small one room apartment, eyes resting on the mini cot beside the wall for Grace. "Uh, thanks for saving his life by the way. I just wanted to say--I appreciate it."
"You've been talking to your dad?" asked Danny. He didn't know a lot about it but Jack had mentioned their estrangement early on. Danny felt like waiting years for Steve to never call was probably actually extremely relatable.
"Briefly," said Steve stiffly. "Danny this place is a hole, how do you live here?"
"Seriously, you show up unannounced and now you're critiquing everything?" Steve looked completely unapologetic. "What do you want anyways?”
Steve hesitated, he went over to the kitchen area and sat down on one of Danny's chairs. "Actually I was wondering if I could stay here for a bit."
Danny wondered if he'd heard that right. "You're actually staying? And not disappearing the next morning? Why not stay with Jack?"
"Things are kind of complicated between us," he admitted.
"You can't stay in a hotel?"
Steve looked hurt at the suggestion, but Danny's apartment was literally just the one room and a bathroom. It wasn't even large enough for him and Grace during her weekends, how was he supposed to accommodate Steve too?
But Danny's also never been very good at standing up to puppy dog eyes. Something Grace learned far too young. And Steve's rivaled even hers.
"Fine," said Danny huffing, "just do me a favour, talk to your Dad, alright? Preferably sooner rather than later."
"Yes, sir!" said Steve, suddenly beaming. "You won't even know I'm here."
Danny doubted that.
*
Danny was woken up by a knock on the door. Shit! He realised he'd forgotten to set the alarm on his phone last night. He opened his eyes and was surprised to see Steve was still there. And OK, so maybe that whole thing hadn't been a dream after all.
Another knock. Danny jumped out of bed. "I'm coming, Meka! Hold up!" he yelled at the door as he rushed to find his clothes.
Steve somehow--amazingly--slept through the entire thing.
Danny tried to slip out the front door without Meka seeing anything, but he knew when he saw Meka break into a wide grin he'd failed.
"Who was that?"
"No one," said Danny, stalking his way to Meka's car.
"Didn't look like no one to me," said Meka, still grinning like it wasn't fuck-all in the morning. "Looked like someone was in your bed. You get lucky last night?"
Danny ignored him and climbed into the car. He hadn't had any coffee yet this morning, his hair was a mess from not getting enough time to do his normal routine, and he was nowhere near any place mentally to explain whatever the hell Steve was.
"Look if you're self conscious about it being a guy..." Meka shrugged, "I don't care if you're gay."
"Bi," Danny corrected automatically.
Meka started grinning again. "See what's that I'm talking about. Us opening up, talking about ourselves." He gestured between the two of them with one hand. "Bonding."
"Look, Steve's...complicated," said Danny.
"Ah, so he's got a name," said Meka. "So what does complicated mean? Like on again off again kinda thing?"
"More like complicated as in technically married," said Danny.
Meka slammed the breaks so hard Danny was pretty sure his seat belt was going to leave a bruise.. "You're married?"
"Technically," Danny repeated.
"How long have you been married?"
Danny did the math in his head. "14 years."
Danny could see Meka doing his own math. Just behind them an annoyed driver honked loudly as he drove around them. Even though there was lots of space in the empty residential street.
"Grace is 7."
Danny winced, "OK, look, I can see how this looks bad, but it's not what you think."
"Complicated," Meka repeated, but he looked skeptical.
"Me and Steve aren't actually together, not like that."
"But he's married to you."
"Yes," said Danny.
"And he was in your bed this morning."
"Yes," Danny conceded again.
Meka went quiet. He turned back facing front and shifted his car back into gear. "Fine," he said. "But if you're married to this guy, you gotta bring him down for dinner with me and Amy one of these days. Introduce us properly."
"Yeah well, let's wait and see if he's even still around when I get home from work today," said Danny.
*
Steve was still there when Danny got back from work. Dressed in civilian clothes--khakis and a too tight t-shirt--and sitting on Danny's properly put away fold-out couch while he talked to someone on the phone. He flashed a grin when he saw Danny, quickly wrapped up his conversation and hung up.
"You stayed," said Danny.
"I went out for a bit," said Steve. "By the way you need better locks, it took me about five minutes to jimmy my way back in."
"Was that your dad?" Danny glanced down at his phone.
Steve shook his head. "Actually I got a job on the island."
"I thought you were in the navy," said Danny. "Isn't there like some kind of process you have to go through to leave before you can just accept a new job?"
"Usually, but the governor pulled a few strings for me," Steve smiled at Danny. "Looks like I'll be hanging around for a while."
"That's great," said Danny.
"Yeah?"
"Yeah," Danny smiled genuinely. "We'll finally get that annulment figured out."
*
What Steve failed to mention was that the job he took was a special crime task force for the government. And that not only would Steve be working on the island, but that all the crazy stuff they were getting up to every day would be all he'd hear about at the precinct. Especially since whatever the hell they were getting up to seemed to be unearthing enough shit to keep the entire HDP working overtime.
And Danny's not sure exactly how it came out, but once word of his connection to Steve started to spread around the precinct, it seemed like everyone but Meka had suddenly gotten weird. From typical homophobia, to weird sucking up, to even having one guy ask Danny if he could pass on his resume in case the task force is looking for more recruits.
"I rarely even see the guy," Danny groused as they walked into their next crime scene. A double homicide at a large Victorian style house that could fit Danny's entire apartment in its foyer. "He shows up late at night, crashes, and then he's gone again at 6am to go running. So far we've had two conversations and they've both been about coffee beans. Otherwise he just snarks about how small my apartment is and complains about my ties."
"That Folgers crap you drink is terrible, Danny," said Meka stepping over the police line. "You gotta know that."
"Don't you start too, I happen t--"
Danny stopped midword when a loud pick up truck and motorcycle both pulled up. It was like something out of an action film as Steve and the two equally ridiculously other sexy members of the special crimes task force all got out. Danny could swear time slowed and the breeze picked up as they walked towards the crime scene.
Steve took out his badge, "5-0, we're taking over this crime scene."
"You've got to be kidding me," said Danny.
He marched right up to Steve, and shoved a finger right in his abdomen, "Who says you get to just walk up and take somebody else's crime scene, huh?"
Steve at least had the sense to look sheepish. "Governor's orders, turns out one of the vics is a friend of her sister in law’s."
Danny threw up his hands. "Typical," he said. "Just typical."
He marched back the way he came, Meka in tow behind him.
"Nice meeting you, Mr Williams," said Meka pleasantly as he passed Steve.
As Danny was getting back into Meka's car he heard one of the task force members say, "Nice one, Boss. He's cute."
*
"Steve been by at all?" Danny asked Jack the next time he was over for dinner.
"He's called once or twice," said Jack as he set the table. He looked serious as he turned to face Danny. "Look, I'm going to tell you the same thing I told Chin. Stay out of it."
Danny was surprised. He was used to Jack being pretty open with him when it came to Steve.
"I'm serious," said Jack. "Things between Steve and I, they're...complicated."
"Yeah Alright," said Danny. Because he knew when it was better not to pry. He took a couple of plates from Jack and placed them on the table.
"Though I mean it's easy for you," he said. "He's not sleeping on your couch."
*
Danny was surprised when he got home that evening to actually find Steve there, sitting at the small table in the corner with his laptop out, and pencil and notepad looking serious.
"Your dad says hi by the way," said Danny walking in. He shoved a tin foil covered dish of leftover casserole for the fridge.
Steve looked up from whatever he was working on. He looked bemused. "So what? You two just hang out or something?"
"Yeah something like that," said Danny. "You never wondered why I was there when those terrorists showed up?"
Steve frowned but didn't say anything. It's hard to argue with something that saved your dad's life, guessed Danny.
"What are you working on?"
Steve glanced down, "Things we need to get sorted for the annulment," said Steve. "And I'm going to call a lawyer tomorrow first thing."
Danny tensed. He was tense and overworked, and even now the only reason he'd been able to make it out and spend the evening with Jack was because Steve had stolen his case out from under him.
"We gotta do that right now?"
Steve looked surprised. "I thought this is what you wanted."
"I mean, I do," said Danny. "Just, you're not going anywhere right? Let's get it done once things have calmed down a bit."
"Alright," said Steve easily, shutting the lid on his laptop without a second thought. "Just one more thing, then. Can you introduce me to Grace's mother?"
"What? Why?"
"Yeah, we kind of need her house for a case."
*
Danny wasn't sure what was more awkward, the way he felt or the way Steve looked. Rachel on the other hand just seemed extremely put upon by both of them.
"So this is the man who's been staying with you?" asked Rachel, eyeing him up and down.
Steve stuck out his hand, "Commander Steve McGarrett, ma'am, I head the Hawaii 5-0 task force."
Rachel raised an eyebrow. Of course she'd heard about the new governor's task force. Everyone on the goddamned island had heard about it.
"How serious are things between you?" she asked, folding her arms over her chest.
"Oh no Steve's just staying with me for a bit while he finds somewhere to stay," said Danny. "We just thought it'd be simpler since, well, you know...we're already married and everything."
For a very long moment Rachel didn't say anything at all. Then she turned to Steve, eyes sparkling and said, "You're the one who married Daniel when he was 21."
Steve nodded. He seemed suddenly fascinated by the door jam under Rachel's left elbow.
Rachel slapped him hard across the face. Steve didn't react, he just looked back stunned.
Danny didn't say anything. He kind of felt like Steve deserved it.
"That's for costing me a marriage," she said. "Now," she straightened up, looking suddenly very prim and proper, "why don't you both come in and tell me what this is all about."
Danny was more than a little surprised to hear that not only was the sting a major success, but Rachel had actually gotten some key evidence for them.
"He's actually rather charming once you spend a bit of time around him," she told Danny the next time she saw him. "You could do worse."
"You know, we're still working on that annulment," said Danny.
"I'm sure," said Rachel dryly.
*
Things went from bad to worse when Danny discovered Meka was zeroing in on a dirty cop right about the time said dirty cop tried to kill both of them. And if a near death experience hadn't been bad enough the chaos that followed from the arrest to the extensive paperwork and interview after interview asking if they were absolutely certain that Detective Kaleo had attempted to shoot them both and bury them in an emu pit.
When they finally got back to their desks, Meka collapsed on his chair and a sudden horn blasted through the room. Meka jumped up and then reached under his chair and ripped out an air horn, still half covered in duct tape, while people smirked around them.
And yeah, Danny remembered it from the days shortly after arresting Peterson. Cops never appreciated you turning in one of their own. He'd had to transfer to another precinct on the other side of Newark. He wondered if he and Meka would have to do the same.
Danny was surprised to find Steve actually at his apartment when he finally got home late that evening. He was sitting, legs spread on the couch watching a replay of a football game from earlier that day.
Danny's first thought was that for once he would have rather been alone. But then he thought maybe Steve being here wasn't actually so bad.
"Hey, Danny, I was thinking of ordering--" Steve started to say and then stopped when Danny straddled him. He had his hands on the back of Steve's head.
"Hey can I--"
Without answering, Steve grabbed Danny's tie and pulled him down into a kiss.
Somehow in the long stretches between sex with Steve, Danny always managed to forget how insane their chemistry was. The way they both seemed to click like they had some kind of psychic connection. Seemed to know exactly how to make the other crazy.
And it took them no time flat to have the bed out and Steve splayed blissfully under him with a pillow under his stomach. And Danny was just wondering why they hadn't been doing this the entire time when he suddenly heard a lot loud craaack. And the entire bed collapsed in on itself.
"That's it, Danny." groaned Steve from where he'd fallen between the debris. "I'm buying you a proper bed."
*
Steve didn't buy Danny a new bed, he went out and put a down payment on a house. It was a bungalow, in a nice neighbourhood and about half a block away from a really good public beach. Danny was in awe just looking at it.
"So I talked to a lawyer. Even with an annulment we've been married so long they're going to divide up our assets anyways," Steve explained. "So we might as well go for broke and just pool our resources together anyways."
Danny didn't like it. It felt too much like charity. Even if his back was aching from sleeping on one of those fold out camping foams the last few nights.
"I mean it can just be to return the favour," said Steve. "Until you can find a better place than that hole in a wall you call an apartment, if you want."
"That hole in a wall gave you a place to sleep when you needed one," Danny pointed out.
"And Grace can have her own bedroom," Steve added.
Danny moved in.
*
It was depressingly easy to move what little there was of both Steve and Danny's stuff into the new house.
And even with buying new furniture the place still seemed too sparse. But it was nice and open, and Danny thought that maybe Steve did have a point about his old apartment being kind of cramped. Especially for the two of them.
And yeah, Danny could admit that it was kind of nice to have a bit of space and a proper backyard.
They both fell into a routine after that. And Danny was surprised at how easily the two of them worked together, even if they did seem to spend half their time bickering. Steve started spending more time at the house too. He'd still leave at ass o'clock in the morning, but now he'd go for a swim instead of a run, and come back in time for a leisurely breakfast before work. They both cooked, but somehow Danny fell into making breakfast every morning, while Steve did dinner. They tended to alternate getting groceries. And at Danny's apartment he'd assumed Steve cleaned because he was grateful Danny was letting him stay. Here he learned that even though he pitched in where he could, Steve was just a particularly neat person. Danny blamed all those years of the navy knocking him around. Danny still remembered that messy hotel room from all those years ago, and Steve disheveled but presentable as he ran off that morning. It was hard to believe he was the same person.
*
"Look, I'm just saying that nobody wears a tie in Hawaii, Danny," said Steve as the two of them carried in bags of groceries from the truck. They'd been living together for about a week at that point, but Steve had wasted no time going back to his old grievances.
"It's not about fitting in or not, it's about showing a modicum of professionalism, which no one on this island seems to--" Danny was interrupted by his phone.
"Williams."
All Danny could hear on the other side of the line was heavy breathing. Quietly in the distance he could hear someone giggling. Danny rolled his eyes and hung up.
"What was that?" asked Steve, coming in behind Danny and dropping a couple of bags on the counter.
"Nothing," said Danny.
Steve frowned.
"Just the guys back at the precinct still pissed about Kaleo's arrest," said Danny. "It's not a big deal."
"Wait, they're hassling you over arresting a dirty cop?"
Danny grabbed some boxes from the bags and went to put them in the pantry. "There's shitty cops in every precinct. Honestly, they're not really treating me any differently than they always were. Meka's getting the worst of it."
Steve kept frowning. "That's not right," he said.
"Yeah, well, what are you gonna do?" asked Danny.
Early the next morning Duke called both Danny and Meka into his office.
"Congratulations, you two. You've both been offered a position on the 5-0 task force."
"I don't need any favours," said Danny later that morning from an empty smoker's area just outside the precinct. He'd called Steve the first chance he had.
"No favours," said Steve calmly from his end of the line. In the background Danny could swear he heard gunfire. "We needed to round out the task force a little more and you and Meka have the best arrest record at HPD."
"I'm sure that's all it is," said Danny dryly.
"Look," said Steve. "I'd like both of you, but we can manage with one. If you don't want to come work with us that's fine. We'll just hire Meka."
Danny glared at his phone. "This isn't nepotism, it's extortion."
"I'll see you both at Iolani Palace Monday morning. 8am sharp."
*
“This place is sweet,” said Meka looking around the 5-0 offices. “I could really get used to coming in here to work every day.”
As Danny looked around at the shiny floors and the fancy computer he couldn't entirely disagree. It was definitely a step up from the bullpen at HPD. “Yeah it’s alright I guess.”
"You get used to it," said Steve grinning at Meka as he walked beside them. "Come on, let's introduce you two to the team."
Danny wouldn't say he already knew Chin, exactly. It was more accurate to say he knew of Chin between photos and stories from Jack McGarrett. Judging by the big grin Chin had when they were introduced, it seemed like it was mutual.
"It's great to finally meet you properly," he said, shaking Danny's hand.
"Likewise," said Danny.
Kono, Danny didn't know except as the member of Steve's team who'd called him cute that one time.
She grinned wide when she shook Danny's hand and said, "Nice one, Boss, he's even cuter close up."
Before Danny could answer Steve's phone beeped.
"Let's go," he said, "we've caught a case."
*
"You do know me and Steve aren't really married," Danny told Kono a few days later.
Things had been pretty much non-stop since Danny joined. So much so that the chance to just sit in Kono's car and run surveillance on this shady dude's house almost felt like a welcomed break.
"Sure, if you say so," said Kono. She took a couple photos of a woman walking up to the doorstep.
"I'm serious," said Danny, annoyed. "It's a legal snafu we have to get sorted. Calling it a real marriage is an insult to every proper marriage out there."
"Don't you two live together?" asked Kono.
"Only for the time being," said Danny, "It's not easy finding an affordable place on this ridiculously overpriced island, you know."
"And you sleep together?"
Danny could feel the heat rising up his neck. "OK, that's none of your business."
"Another yes," supplied Kono, with a bit of a smirk. "And you let him drive your car."
"OK, that is a recent development of which I had no control," said Danny. He still couldn't believe the way Steve had commandeered his Camaro at work like he owned it. Though at this point, Danny probably shouldn't be surprised that Steve had some control issues. "It's not my fault if Steve is a neanderthal who just does whatever he wants."
Kono laughed. "I dunno, Brah, you two sound pretty married to me."
*
They'd never talked about it, but somehow Steve always managed to make himself scarce whenever Danny had Grace. In Danny's cramped studio apartment he'd appreciated it, but since moving into the new house, it just made him feel kind of guilty.
So when Friday morning rolled around Danny mentioned over coffee that Steve could stick around if he wanted to.
"We were gonna go to the beach tonight. We haven't had a chance to really check it out since we moved here." He took a sip from his mug. It was some local brand with an outline of volcanoes on the package, but Danny could admit it wasn't too bad once you got used to it. "You can tag along if you want."
Steve had an odd expression that Danny couldn't quite read. "You sure?"
"Yeah," he said. "Yeah, I want you there."
They picked up Grace from school after they were done work for the day and Steve beamed from beside the Camaro's driver side door when she appeared on the school steps and rushed over to Danny and let him pick her up in a giant swooping hug before putting her back down again.
Steve knelt down beside her.
"Hi Grace, do you remember me?"
Grace looked shyly back at Steve and shook her head.
"Hey Grace, this is Steve. We're living together for the time being," said Danny. "You met him once when you were about this high," he put his raised hand up to about Grace's waist.
Grace gave Steve a long considering look. "Are you married to Danno?" she asked. "I heard Mom tell Stan you were living with someone you were married to." She continued when Steve didn't answer.
Danny glanced at Steve who had a deer in the headlights look to him. Incredible, he thought. Just this morning they were being shot at by drug traffickers and Steve was jumping off buildings and giving orders like it was any day of the week. But a question from a 7 year old girl was apparently what phased him.
"It's uh...it's a bit complicated," said Danny.
He got up and opened the car door to usher her in. "Complicated how?" she asked.
"Well uh...sometimes grownups can get married by accident."
"Oh," said Grace, apparently completely satisfied by that explanation. She climbed into the backseat of the camaro and didn't ask any more questions.
Once she was inside, Steve watched Danny as he made his way around the car. "What?"
Steve grinned wide. "She still calls you Danno."
They went to the beach and Steve nearly gave Danny a heart attack teaching Grace how to ride waves on a boogie board.
"Relax Danny, I did this all the time when I was her age," Steve had said as if that made Danny feel any better.
But he couldn't quite deny how cool it was watching her ride a few waves once she finally got the hang of it.
And then they went back and Steve went inside to figure out dinner while Danny and Grace went to explore the backyard better. It was a good yard, just big enough for Grace to run around in with a nice wooden fence for privacy.
He was just enjoying watching Grace show him the cartwheels she'd learned to do in gym class when Steve stepped outside and called Danny to the phone.
Steve went outside to watch Grace and Danny moved towards the kitchen window where he could see them. The counter was strewn with half chopped veggies and thawing meat.
It was Clara.
"Who was that?" she asked.
Danny was somehow not prepared for the question. "Uh...Steve," said Danny unhelpfully. "He's um...he's staying with me."
"Like a roommate?" asked Clara. "I didn't realise when you moved you'd moved in with someone. But anything to get you out of that ratty apartment I suppose."
Danny frowned, the apartment had been fine.
"Yeah, something like that," he said. He felt guilty for saying it, and he wasn't sure why because the real story was definitely too long and complicated for a casual phone conversation.
He looked out the window and watched Steve and Grace chase each other around the backyard. Grace giggling so loudly Danny could hear her through the window. Then Steve caught up to her and lifted her in the air, and Grace let out a blood curdling scream before she started laughing again. Danny felt something odd and uncomfortable twist in his stomach at the two of them.
It was kind of amazing how Steve had gone from this elusive figure he could never track down to walking into his life and completely taking it over and Danny still wasn't sure exactly how he felt about that.
"You want to talk to Grace?" he asked Clara.
Grace fell asleep in the back seat when Danny drove her home that Sunday. Danny had to admit that asking Steve to spend the weekend with them had been a good idea. It had been a long time since Danny returned Grace to Rachel so completely tuckered out from a fun weekend.
She woke up again when he picked her up to carry her into the house.
"I know you married Steve by accident and everything," she told Danny groggily as he walked her up the driveway, "but I think I like him anyways."
Danny found Steve when he got back on the back lanai drinking a bottle of beer from the fridge. And sat down beside him.
"Hey, Danno," said Steve, and Danny could see his lips curled up as he took a swig of his beer.
"That gonna be a thing now?" asked Danny, only slightly annoyed.
"She's a good kid," said Steve. "Smart, athletic. Must come after her mom."
Steve smirked when Danny shoved him hard enough to spill some of his drink.
"She adores you," Steve continued. "You're a really good dad, you know that?"
"I know I am," Danny agreed. Absolutely serious. He didn't always have a lot of things going for him, but he knew at least he was doing right by Grace.
Steve went quiet after that, taking a few more swigs of his beers while the two of them watched the sun disappear behind the trees in the distance.
"I think I gotta go call my dad," said Steve suddenly, getting up and heading inside.
*
A few days later Steve asked Danny again if he wanted to start to get working on that annulment now that things had calmed down.
Danny said no, though he wasn't sure why. He told himself the timing was still bad, with the task force being busy and still needing to find a proper place to stay now that he could afford it. Even as he thought it he knew it was BS though.
But Steve never asked for an explanation and dropped it easily.
*
Danny wasn't entirely sure how but somehow in his few weeks working for 5-0 he'd managed to drift quietly from working primarily with Meka to almost exclusively working with Steve. And while he couldn't argue that they worked well together, it didn't mean babysitting Steve wasn't taking years off his life.
"Backup!" yelled Danny once all the arrests had been made and they were both standing in the now empty foyer. "That's all I ask is that we can hold off ten minutes before bursting into a building filled with a bunch of armed meth dealers so no one shoots us in the face."
Steve had the audacity to smirk. Like this was all funny. "It was fine," he said, like that settled it. Like just because this time they managed to keep the situation under control there were no issues.
"Yeah well at least the place is finally clear," said Danny stepping into the centre of the room.
And then the house blew up.
*
Danny dreamt of forgotten memories and Vegas strips. None of it real, but in the moment of the dream it might as well have been.
Then he woke up.
He was aching all over and there was a pressure on his leg. When Danny opened his eyes he was surprised to see it was Steve, draped across his bed from the bedside chair, sound asleep. He looked so different from the young kid with the shaved head and sharp features in his dreams and yet he barely seemed like he'd changed at all.
Danny wondered how long he'd been there, and with a feeling that felt oddly like being punched in the stomach it suddenly occurred to him that Steve was in love with him.
Steve woke up from Danny's shifting, and sat up ramrod straight like he hadn't just been clinging to his leg in his sleep and this was all normal. Danny was never going to get used to how Steve went from sound asleep to completely alert in about .5 seconds. "How are you feeling, Danno?"
"Like a house fell on me," said Danny dryly.
"Uh yeah," Steve rubbed the back of his head looking sheepish. "We kind of forgot to neutralize the lab in the basement."
He looked like he expected an argument, but Danny found he couldn't bring himself to get worked up over it. Like suddenly the event of a house literally falling on him seemed unimportant in light of new revelations.
When the expected argument never came, Steve moved on. "The doc says you got lucky, no major injuries."
Danny didn't feel lucky, but he supposed he could take their word on it. He spent about .5 seconds wondering why they told Steve his results before remembering that right, him and Steve were married. Still.
"Hey, Steve--" Danny wasn't sure exactly what he was going to say, just had this feeling bubbling in his chest that he needed to say something. That this all was too big to ignore. But whatever it was was lost to the moment when the hospital room's door burst open and Grace came rushing in and hugged Danny hard around the abdomen. Rachel in tow.
"Danno! You're awake!" yelled Grace rushing to him and letting herself be pulled up onto the bed beside him.
"We came as soon as we heard," said Rachel, setting a get well card on the table beside him with only a brief curious look at Steve. His hair still standing up on the side that had been sleeping on Danny's bed. "I hope you're feeling better."
"Yeah, I am now," said Danny, happily pulling Grace up onto his lap.
Danny had to go for a few more tests, but once the doctors were satisfied he just had a couple bruised ribs and a concussion he was allowed to go home.
Steve hovered nearby the entire time, like he was afraid at any moment the doctors might notice they missed something major. And Jesus, how had he missed this for so long?
"You know," said one of the techs as they set Danny up for a dye injection, "your husband hasn't left your side since you were brought in last night. He must really care about you, you're very lucky."
"Actually technically--" Danny stopped himself. The tech seemed young and earnest, and for some reason he didn't feel right telling her it wasn't real.
The trip home was quiet. Usually when Steve was quiet Danny carried the conversation, but all he could think about was how everything seemed suddenly different now. Except for the annoying fact that it wasn't. When Danny tried to pinpoint what changed when, nothing at all came to mind.
He thought about his conversation with Kono, and about what would change if they were married for real. A few weeks ago he had a list a mile long. Now he couldn't seem to think of anything.
*
Steve was helping him up the driveway, hovering nervously, apparently interpreting Danny's quiet as anger, when Danny said, "Hey, let's get married."
Steve froze. "We are married, Danno."
"Obviously," said Danny, impatiently, because Steve stopping so abruptly had hurt his ribs. "But let's do it right, with all our family and friends. Maybe even a priest or something."
"Well let's not go crazy," said Steve. But his lip was twitching upwards in an obvious attempt not to smile. Eyes trying to hide a hopeful gleam.
"Yeah well I'm sure you navy people like to have sea captains officiate when you do these things, but we Williamses like to do these things right," Danny declared.
“We can figure out the details later,” said Steve as he helped Danny into the house.