Chapter Text
It had been a good day for Dash. He’d arrested a guy that had been making threats, gotten all his paper work done ahead of time for a change, and he’d even gotten to go to the range earlier for some target practice. He’d managed a pretty decent score on the target and was really looking forward to heading home tonight with Danny.
Thinking about the night they were going to have, Dash didn’t even notice the sounds of some of the other policemen walking into the locker room where he was changing out of his uniform and into his street clothes. He was sitting on the bench in just his boxers and white t-shirt when the sudden boisterous laughter brought him out of his head. Looking up he saw Officer Grace walking in with a few of the other male officers. Grace was well liked on the force; runner’s build, dark tan skin, and a nearly black crew cut made him a very attractive specimen for the females who worked their but it was his friendly open personality that often won people over. He always had a joke on the tip of his tongue and often times seemed like a bastion of energy that no amount of caffeine could match. Regardless though even Grace looked just as ready to clock out as the rest of them as the way they seemed to be acting spoke of plans they likely had.
“He-ey! Baxter! You about to head out too, man?” Grace walked over to him with some of the other guys behind him.
“Yeah, I actually just got off duty about ten minutes ago. Just going to change, wait around for Danny so we can go back to our place.” Dash shrugged not thinking anything of what he just said. It was pretty standard knowledge that Danny and him were living together now after all so there wasn’t really a reason to try to glaze over that.
“Forget going home, Baxter,” Grace lightly punched his shoulder, “Come on out with us, tonight. Drinks and pool, first round is on Forte here seeing as he just passed his detective examine and is now up for a promotion when the position is available.”
Dash gave a slight two finger salute to the senior officer in silent congratulations but quickly turned back to Grace, “Really not much of a drinker, Grace, plus like I said I’m waiting around for Danny.”
“You don’t have to drink you can just play pool and shoot darts with us, and you can bring Fenton along too, the more the merrier. I mean come on; you want to just head straight home with your roommate? You should come out and check out the ladies at the bar if nothing else. Maybe you can hook up with someone, huh?” The officer wiggled his eyebrows suggestively at that and Dash just stared at him confused.
Dash wasn’t the kind of guy to walk in Pride parades or wear rainbow decals or anything but still he thought it was common knowledge that he was gay. It seemed that Grace had a lot of misconceptions about what his life was like and felt like correcting him on a few details but was stopped by a sudden stench reaching his nose.
It hit like a freight train and smelled like something from a septic tank. It was a stank that could fill up a room no matter how far away from it you were and Dash knew he wasn’t the only one who was smelling it from the looks the other guys were giving. One of them even had to run to bathroom where the sounds of retching quickly followed.
“What in the unholy name of Satan is that God-awful stench?” Grace pinched his nose groaning as the sound of footsteps suddenly reached their ears. Looking at where the steps were coming from, Dash suddenly balked at seeing Danny walk around the lockers with his uniform already off and looking like he was about to kill a man.
“Danny?” The look on his boyfriend’s face was something that concerned Dash for all of a second before he caught a whiff of the man and discovered that he was the source of the stench that was assaulting them all now.
“Oh, God… Fenton what the hell?!” It was rare these days for Dash to refer to Danny in such a manner; mainly saving it for when he was frustrated with the guy.
“Hamilton owes me dry cleaning for a year and a gallon of deodorizing spray.” Danny grumbled through clenched teeth and that just made Dash stare at him confused.
“Hamilton? You said you were covering for him today because he had to go to a wedding, right? What happened?”
“Supposed to be simple, right?” Danny flung his hands up, “Simple traffic duty. Go watch a road, write tickets to speeders, watch for suspicious drivers; simple! Does that mean my day was going to be simple? NO!” A string of near profanities left the man’s mouth as he walked further down the aisle to where his own locker was.
“Was just writing a ticket to this old guy that thought it was a good idea to drive around with both his tail lights out. Old guy was giving me lip and I was just trying not to tell him off. Then along comes this truck that had all this garbage piled up in the bed on their way to the dump. They take the corner too sharp and a bag flies out from the top of their pile and just friggin’ BURSTS on my back! I swear it had rotten meat, all manner of foul garbage, and what might have once been a couch cushion that had questionable stains on it and it all just hit me right in the back!”
“God, are you alright though?” Dash fretted going over to look at him while still trying to keep far away from him, “You need to get to a doctor for any shots or anything?”
“Nah, nothing actually cut into me or whatever, just likely ruined my uniform and I can only hope and pray that I can wash this off before going back to our place.” Danny puffed out and gracelessly plopped himself down on the bench to open his locker.
“I hope so too because there’s no way I’m going to let you in smelling like that.” And Dash was serious about that. He liked ot keep their place at least moderately clean and smelling nice and there was no way he was going to let Danny in if he couldn’t get rid of that foul stench.
“What?!” Danny shot him a hurt look, “You’d kick me out over a little smell?”
“Danny this isn’t a ‘little smell’ this is like rotten stench that would not come out! There’s no way I’m letting you in until you smell at least somewhat more human.” Dash crossed his arms trying to look authoritative but both men knew that Danny could take him if he so wanted.
“Dash you can’t keep me out of our apartment. Honestly where else would I even go?”
“Yes I can and I don’t know don’t your parents have a spare room in that ops center of theirs?”
“I am not driving clear across town just because you can’t handle a little stink.”
“Well you’re not coming home that much I can tell you!”
The two bickered back and forth about the matter. Dash was adamant about not letting Danny into their home while he smelled like that and Danny just wanted to get cleaned up the best he could and then go to their place and rest. Neither man was going to budge on the matter though, and both men seemed to forget that they were not alone in their arguing until they heard someone laughing. Turning around they stared as Grace and several of the other officers watching them.
“I’m sorry, guys,” Grace laughed while holding his stomach and rubbing at his eye, “But the way you two talk and carry on makes you sound more like a couple than just some friends living together.”
And that was what effectively stopped the argument between the two men. They stared at Grace as he tried to compose himself again and then turned to each other. Dash saw the confusion on Danny’s face as he looked between his boyfriend and the other officer.
“He doesn’t know?” Danny asked clearly confused.
“Well it’s not like we made any kind of public announcement here. I think the chief knows but only because we changed our contact information and emergency numbers.” Dash shrugged likewise feeling odd about Grace’s revelation on their relationship status.
“Yeah but… we aren’t hiding it.”
“True but we’re also not exactly together a lot around the prescient so it’s not like we can show it either.”
“Just what the heck are you two even talking about?” Grace interrupted them looking clearly confused and a few of the other guys around him just smiled either seeming to get it or already knowing about them.
“We’re together,” Dash explained as he pointed from Danny to himself.
“Like boyfriends or whatever. I’m bi and Dash is gay.” Danny further explained while he stared at Grace who’s eyes suddenly grew wide in shock.
“You got a problem with that?” The hint of aggravation in Dash’s voice was enough of a jolt to make Grace shake his head to clear out his shock.
“No! No-no-no-no-no! I am fi-i-ine with that. I don’t care who you two hook up with, good for you. Just didn’t know and now I do know and just like wow and it’s just really surprising and well-“
“We get it…” Danny groaned as he opened his locker and started to take off his shirt. Dash meanwhile stood behind him, effectively blocking everyone from seeing him. He was still pretty protective of Danny’s scar and didn’t like people seeing it or the large phoenix tattoo that covered the scar on his chest.
“Well you should at least try to wash up, maybe if you just scrub really hard you’ll get most of the smell off of you.”
“Thanks Dash, that mean I can come home to cuddle you tonight or are you still going to kick me out?” Danny teased as he reached for some soap, shampoo, towel, and a pair of boxers.
“Hey if this doesn’t work out and you still stink I’ll go back to our apartment and grab some stuff and then we can camp out on the roof tonight and cuddle there.” After Danny wrapped himself in the towel and tossed his likely ruined clothes back in he headed towards the shower area while giving a flat look at the blond.
“Really, Dash? You’d rather camp out on the hard concrete roof than just let me in our place and rest in our bed?”
“Yes, but that might not have to happen if you just get in the shower already and wash up!” Dash shouted and all but pushed the guy into one of the shower cubicles