Work Text:
Title: Compulsory Hero
Characters/Pairings: Steve/Danny, Grace, Kono, Chin
Rating: G
Wordcount: 530
Summary: Danny doesn't know how to deal with the one thing he thought he'd never have to deal with. Steve's death.
Disclaimers: This fun stuff only happens in my mind, the characters are not mine and this is purely for fun.
Notes: Thanks to 
burned_phoenix for the offer of a read through, and massive thanks and *hugs* to audeamus22 for the support and letting me know I hadn't typo'ed through my tears. Title taken from song of the same name by 1927.
Warnings: HUGE WARNING for character death. This is Danny and the team dealing with Steve's death. Sorry guys, never thought I'd do a death!fic but this came out because I needed some emotional venting.
Compulsory Hero
Steve was never meant to die.
He was a ninja. That’s what Danny, and Mary, always thought anyway. Danny’s been wrong before about things in his life but never something this important. He watches as the flag is folded, eyes glazed and hand gripped tight by Grace and wonders how he puts one foot in front of the other to be able to walk out of the cemetery. More importantly he wonders how he can walk back into Steve’s house.
Before the funeral Mary told him that it was his house now, that Steve had left the house to Danny should anything happen to him. He didn’t know how to say no, that the thought of living there without Steve was ripping his heart apart. In the end Danny knew he’d move in, live there for as long as he could stand it. It was the place that he felt closest to Steve, to the lover that he’d never had. So many regrets weigh him down, that they waited to be together, that they kept their developing relationship a secret.
Grace tugs on his hand and he realizes the service is over and that he’s expected to move. Everyone looks at them with pity, and sympathy on their features and Danny just wants to turn away. How can he move, walk away, when half of his heart and soul is in the ground?
Chin, Malia and Kono stand behind him, he can hear their soft murmurs to each other; Chin has been putting on a brave face and trying to hold both Kono and Danny together. Steve was the glue that held them together, and he just doesn’t know how long Chin can keep them from breaking.
When Danny finally forces himself to turn away, unable to look at the hole that Steve was lowered into any longer, Kamekona meets his gaze, both men crying unashamedly. Max stands beside him and he reaches out, places a hand briefly on Danny’s arm in a simple gesture of support that means so much.
Ohana. It’s what Steve lived for. And now, died for. Those final moments are something Danny will never forget. Steve sacrificed himself to keep his team safe. His ohana. With a final look, a whispered I love you, Danno he’d turned away from Danny and ran into a building to disarm a bomb knowing he had no chance of making it out.
It makes Danny angry, so angry at times but mostly it makes him lost and alone. The life they planned together, that they were building is gone and Danny just doesn’t know what to do. He doesn’t know how to help Grace grieve for the man they both love so much, or to help Kono get past the loss of her mentor and friend, or to tell Chin that it’s okay to just break down and let the emotion out, even if it’s just the one time.
Steve always knew what to do. Maybe one day Danny will know what to do, but not this day. Today all he can focus on is saying goodbye to the one person he’s ever loved as much as his daughter; Steve.