Chapter Text
If Steve had thought taking his shirt off on the beach would get Danny to fall at his feet, or at the very least reciprocate and show off his right shoulder, he was mistaken. He regretted not showing off his tattoos the night before now--Danny would have recognized them instantly and known who Steve was.
Assuming, of course, he didn't already know, and his apparent hatred wasn't just about being conscripted into duty.
Except suddenly he didn't seem to hate Steve so much. Their conversation was civil. No, more than civil. It was comfortable, like getting to know someone important should feel.
As Steve clinked his beer bottle with Danny's, he started to think maybe, just maybe, there was some hope.
***
As Steve left the ER--where he'd gone only because Danny had threatened to do the stitches himself otherwise--night was falling across Honolulu. A cab was waiting for him, and he gave the driver his address before sitting back and closing his eyes.
Book 'em, Danno.
He'd said it just for fun, looking for an argument or something to pull himself out of the fact that he'd just shot Hesse, a man he'd chased for five years.
The man who killed his father.
Instead of the argument he'd been looking for, however, he'd gotten an almost fond reply. Oh, sure, the words weren't particularly fond, but the tone and look that had gone with them were definitely bordering on fond, at the very least.
He thought about Danny, thousands of miles from home, in a shithole apartment, working with people who treated him like a pariah. Six months of hell, indeed.
Danny needed someone on his side. He needed a break, and some fun. Steve hoped at least he had something fun planned for the weekend with his daughter.
Actually, maybe Steve could do something about that.
"Hey," Steve said, opening his eyes and leaning toward the front seat, "can we make a stop at the Kahala Hotel on the way?"
"It's your dime, brah."
***
There wasn't a lot to do while their offices were being set up, so when they'd finished putting away what they could, Steve, Danny, Chin and Kono sat around in their new conference room and christened their new home with beer.
Steve couldn't help sneaking glances at Danny. He looked about a thousand times more relaxed than he had yesterday. Amazing what a successful collar and a team that actually liked you could do for a guy.
Having somewhere nice to go with his daughter didn't hurt. Steve had been half convinced Danny would try to make him eat the gift card. When he hadn't, and when he'd even gotten out a thank you, Steve had needed to get the hell out of the room fast, before he did anything more stupid than handing a gift of over a thousand dollars to someone he barely knew.
He couldn't keep his eyes from straying to Danny's right shoulder, though, still stubbornly buttoned up tight under that shirt. He wanted that final confirmation of something that he was so certain of. He wasn't even sure he'd act on the knowledge, didn't know what he'd do if he saw his mark there, to be honest. But he needed to know.
The four of them left the office and went to Side Street, sharing plates and laughter until Chin decided it was time to go. Kono begged a ride, leaving Steve and Danny alone. Danny offered Steve a lift if he'd pay the tab, and Steve wasn't about to let that chance go.
He was silent most of the way out to the house, clearing his throat as Danny turned onto Steve's street. "Want a beer?"
Danny hesitated only slightly before nodding as he pulled into Steve's driveway. "Sure," he said, putting the car in park and turning the engine off. Steve stopped in the kitchen long enough to take off his sling and get the beers, feeling Danny's eyes on him the entire time.
The comfortable silence they'd had in the car wasn't the same as the one that followed them out to the beach. This silence held tension, and Steve wasn't sure why until he looked at Danny, saw the set of his mouth clearly in the light of the full moon.
Steve pulled one of the beers out of the pail he'd brought with him and opened it, handing it to Danny before opening one for himself. Danny's thanks was quiet, his hand loosening his tie and pulling it off, stuffing it in his pocket. He unbuttoned the top button, and Steve's mouth went dry, but Danny stopped after two buttons and went back to drinking his beer.
"Is Grace excited about the dolphins?" Steve asked after a minute.
"I think she's planning to write a book report on dolphins to bring to the hotel," Danny said, smiling as he glanced at Steve. His eyes went back to the water for a second before landing on Steve again, his expression shifting into something more probing. As if he was trying to solve a puzzle.
"I hope you guys have a great time."
Danny nodded. "I'm sure we will. Thanks for that again, by the way."
"Least I could do," Steve said, meaning every word.
Danny smiled again as he brought his bottle up to his lips, but he missed, spilling beer down his chin and onto his shirt. "Shit," he said, putting down the beer and pulling the fabric away. "That's going to be comfortable driving home," he said, frowning down at his shirt.
"You can borrow a t-shirt," Steve said, already pushing out of his seat. He left his bottle on the beach and jogged up to the house, pulling a t-shirt out of the bags he hadn't even unpacked yet and hurrying back down.
Danny was standing in front of the chair, pulling off his shirt. Steve stopped in front of him, holding out the t-shirt as his eyes zeroed in on Danny's exposed right shoulder. On the dark mark, right where it should be.
Where Steve had put it.
His eyes shifted from that mark to Danny's face, not sure how to read the expression he found there. Danny reached out to take the shirt, but Steve seemed to have forgotten how to let it go. "It's going to be difficult to put that on with your fist around it," Danny said mildly.
"Right. Sorry." Steve let go, but didn't step back. Taking a breath, feeling as if he was about to jump out of a plane, Steve nodded at Danny's shoulder. "What happened there?"
Danny's low chuckle went straight to Steve's cock. "Apparently," he said slowly, his tone doing nothing to quell Steve's growing erection, "that's what happens when you get bit by a seal."
Steve blinked. "A seal?"
"A seal," Danny repeated, nodding. He took a step closer, and Steve had to remind himself to breathe. "Only this one was in a mask, so I didn't get a good look at him." Danny's eyes were close, the familiar blue sparkling in the moonlight. "Any idea who it might've been?"
Shit. "You...you knew?"
"I'm a detective," Danny said, one corner of his mouth lifting up. "Your surprise is almost insulting."
Steve's mind was racing to figure out if Danny's attitude had changed at some definable moment. "When?" he asked.
Danny tilted his head, eyebrows coming together just a little. "When you manhandled me at Doran's," he said. "Or at least I was pretty sure then. Didn't take long to be certain."
"But...." Steve suddenly had an extreme amount of empathy for his dog, Rover, who, when Steve was eight, had actually caught up with a car after years of chasing them, and had then stared at the bumper, dumbfounded, until Steve had picked him up and taken him in the house.
"Is it going to be a problem?" Danny asked, expression turning to uncertainty as he took a step back.
"No," Steve said quickly. "I mean, no...not for me. You?"
Danny laughed, shaking his head. "You're sure that Smooth Dog thing wasn't just a big joke on you?"
"No. I mean, yes. I mean..." Steve let out a long breath. "I don't know what we're doing here," he said, falling back on the same honesty that had gotten him what he wanted that first night.
"That depends on you," Danny replied. "We can forget about it, and whether I stay on the task force is up to you--though I gotta say, I don't particularly want to give up this job."
"Or?"
Danny licked his lips. "Or we can...not forget about it."
"Do you...do you want..."
"Steven." Danny's voice managed to sound fond and exasperated at the same time. "I used your own move on myself here," he said, picking up his wet shirt from the chair and shaking it in Steve's direction. "Do I need to get a hammer? Because I'm sure I saw one in the garage. I can go get it and hit you over the head if it will help."
Steve stopped trying to find words, stepping forward to grab Danny and pull him into a kiss instead. Fuck, yes, he should've just done this yesterday, and then there'd have been no doubt in his mind. He'd have known this taste and feel anywhere, from the tongue invading his mouth, to the shape and feel of Danny in his arms.
"Upstairs," Danny muttered, one hand gripping Steve's shirt.
"Right. Upstairs." Steve grabbed Danny's arm, and Danny let go of the shirt, letting Steve guide him through the house and up the stairs to Steve's old bedroom. As soon as they were through the door, Steve pulled Danny in, not so much kissing him as devouring his mouth as Steve's hands got their feel of all that warm muscle and skin he'd been dreaming about.
He'd known from the feel of Danny that first night, even mostly through his shirt, that he was strong, but to actually feel those muscles moving, Steve's hands pressed against the hot skin covering them, was a whole different world, and Steve wanted more skin on his, wanted everything, right now.
Steve broke the kiss and pulled away long enough to rip his own t-shirt over his head, wincing at the pull in his shoulder wound, but refusing to let it stop him. He watched Danny get with the program and deal with his pants and shoes as Steve took care of his own.
He couldn't help but stop for a moment, though, to get a good look at Danny completely naked, pale and almost unreal in the bright moonlight from the window. He was better than anything Steve's imagination could have conjured, and Steve stepped just close enough to put his hands on Danny's shoulders, running them down his arms and up his back, feeling Danny breathe faster as Steve's hands moved around to the front. He skimmed over Danny's nipples, Danny's sharp intake of breath causing Steve to move another step closer.
His hands paused at Danny's hips, wanting to keep going, to feel every inch of Danny's body, but even more than that, he wanted to taste. He guided Danny backwards to the bed, giving him a little push that left Danny sprawled out on his back on the bed, eyes mere slits as he looked up at Steve. Danny's cock was hard, and Steve remembered what it tasted like, the shape and feel of it on his tongue. He wanted that again, eventually, but there was so much more that he hadn't experienced yet, all laid out for him, and he couldn't figure out where to start.
"Are you planning to stand there all night?" Danny asked, his voice hoarse, making Steve bite his lip. "Not that I'm complaining about the view," Danny added, his eyes traveling slowly down Steve's naked body and back up, "but there are a lot of things I'd like to do to that body that require you to be down here with me."
Steve pressed one knee onto the bed beside Danny's hip, sliding his other across so he was sitting on Danny's thighs. Steve moved his hips a few times, enjoying the feel of the soft, furred skin under his ass, his cock bumping against Danny's, both hard, Danny's body jerking just a little beneath him at each touch.
Taking a deep breath to focus, wanting this to last, Steve put his hands on Danny's hips, thumbs tracing the indents that led from Danny's cock up to his hips. Steve slid his hands slowly up Danny's chest, learning the shape of every muscle, where there was more skin and more hair, the difference in the feel between his stomach and the slow rise of his pecs, solid, hard muscle leading to dark nipples that Steve longed to suck.
And he could, he realized, sliding back just a little down Danny's thighs and dipping his head, his tongue starting just above Danny's cock, licking a stripe up to Danny's navel that had Danny doing his best to buck Steve off his hips. Steve was too strong, though, keeping Danny in place as he continued his journey, his tongue traveling up the middle of Danny's sternum, veering to the left to flick at one hard nipple. Steve rolled his tongue around it, testing it with his teeth before giving it a lingering kiss and moving across to the other one, his tongue leaving a wet trail across Danny's chest.
The other nipple received the same treatment, the sounds Danny was making already familiar from the other night, sounds he thought he'd never tire of, no matter how often or how long he heard them. The thought made him pause to swallow against something threatening to overwhelm him, but he pushed it back, his tongue working its way back across to Danny's right shoulder, not stopping until Steve reached the mark he'd left there the other night.
He licked at his mark, nipped at it a few times, working it to make it dark all over again. He wanted to make it permanent, the thought of it being there every day hitting him deep in the gut, and he pushed that thought aside, too, for another time. Because Danny's neck was there, waiting for Steve's tongue and lips and teeth to work their way up under Danny's ear, down the line of his jaw to his chin, until finally Steve found Danny's lips once more.
The kiss was hotter and wetter than anything he'd ever experienced, even with Danny the first time, and Steve lost himself in it for a moment, before he managed to break free to work his way down the other jaw.
"Want..." Danny said, his fingers scrabbling at Steve's back as if they were looking for something solid to hold into. "Want you...."
"I'm not going anywhere," Steve whispered against Danny's earlobe.
A harsh breath, possibly intended to be a laugh, escaped Danny's chest. "'S the problem," Danny said, and Steve noticed then that he was thrusting up against Steve in little pushes. "You..." Danny trailed off as Steve bit lightly where Danny's shoulder met his neck, "want you," Danny continued, breathless, but with determination, "to fuck me."
Steve bit down harder than he'd meant to at the mere thought, causing Danny to thrust up sharply against him. Steve lifted his head with effort, meeting Danny's eyes. "Are you sure?"
"Are you kidding?" Danny's smile, combined with the wildness that tinged his voice, made Steve thrust a little. "I had to keep myself from following you home the other night just for that."
So he hadn't been alone in that, either, Steve realized. The thought that Danny had wanted him just as much before he knew who Steve was, that he wanted Steve now, even more, when he did know who Steve was, what he was getting himself into, had Steve taking Danny's mouth all over again, tongue delving deep inside, as if he could maybe crawl inside Danny through his mouth and take up residence there.
Except there was an even better way to be inside Danny. Steve broke the kiss, leaning over to get a condom and lube out of the nightstand. Danny's hands on his hips were distracting, but Steve focused, getting the condom open and rolling it onto himself, swallowing hard at the look in Danny's eyes as he watched. Steve didn't want to stop looking at Danny, but he wanted to feel him pressed against him, nothing between them as he took Danny for the first time.
He glanced over his shoulder and smiled, reaching down and pulling on Danny's shoulders. "Up," he said, when Danny resisted.
"What the--"
"Look," Steve said, twisting around so he was behind Danny, who was facing the big mirror over Steve's bureau.
"Oh." The word was barely more than a breath, cut off by Danny's gasp as Steve's hand wrapped around his cock, slick with lube, sliding up and down the length of it as Steve moved in behind Danny, both of them on their knees. The position left Danny's body visible in the mirror, head to knees, and Steve let go of Danny's cock, hand sliding down the length of one strong thigh before moving back behind Danny, one finger sliding down into Danny's crack, making him arch back into the touch.
Steve kept his eyes on Danny's in the mirror as his middle finger pressing slowly inside Danny's body. Danny's hiss held no pain, only heat, and Steve had to force himself to go slow, to wait until he could feel the ring of muscle relaxing enough to put in two fingers. Three fingers was quick and short before Steve pulled out altogether, spreading more lube across his cock and barely remembering to cap the bottle before he tossed it aside.
He shuffled his knees until his cock was sliding between Danny's ass, gliding over his hole a few times before finding its target. Steve guided himself carefully inside, one hand on his cock, the other splayed across Danny's abdomen, dark and possessive against Danny's pale skin, holding him in place as Steve entered him slowly, inch by inch.
He didn't even notice at first when he was inside Danny, pushing as if he could get even further before he realized they were pressed together. Danny's face in the mirror was a thing of beauty, eyes narrowed, mouth open, head tilted back just a little, as if it wanted to fall back onto Steve's shoulder, but Danny didn't want to take his eyes off the mirror.
Steve pulled out and pushed back in again, both hands moving up to Danny's chest, holding him tight against Steve as he thrust, one hand toying with Danny's nipple. Danny's face was expressive, and Steve thanked God that he hadn't missed out on this chance to see that, no mask in the way, watching every reaction as Steve pinched a nipple, as he slid his hand down slowly, his lips and teeth working Danny's shoulder, until his hand reached Danny's cock again.
At the touch on his cock, Danny hissed, teeth sinking into his bottom lip. His hands reached back, finding Steve's ass, pulling on it, urging him to speed up. As much as Steve wanted to take his time, he couldn't resist, found himself thrusting harder as he watched their bodies move in the mirror, perfectly in tune, as if they'd been together for ages.
He had a sudden vision of them years from now, still wanting each other this much, making him thrust harder, as if he could get deeper somehow. Then the thought was gone, all thought was gone as he came, his arms pulling Danny tight against him, eyes closing against his will.
He realized eventually that he was still making little thrusts into Danny's body, and Danny was moving with it. Steve opened his eyes to see Danny had taken over, jacking himself, eyes trained on Steve's reflection in the mirror. He was close, Steve could tell, and he put his hand around Danny's, helping him through a few more strokes before Danny froze, coating both their hands as he came.
Steve kept their hands moving until Danny stilled, sagging back against Steve's body, his head finally resting on Steve's shoulder. Steve wiped his hand off on the sheet as he kissed Danny's jaw before lowering them both onto their sides on the bed.
He slipped out of Danny's body, feeling the loss, and wrapped one leg around both of Danny's, his arms wrapped around Danny's torso, Steve's face pressed into Danny's neck as they both caught their breath.
"That," Danny said, his voice breaking, forcing him to stop to clear his throat, "that was...." He waved a hand around in a motion that Steve assumed meant something to him, and then dropped his hand, as if it was too much energy to hold it up.
"What, no thesaurus?" Steve teased, licking at Danny's skin, loving the taste of sweat and salt and Danny. Addictive taste, there was no way around it, and he didn't know how this was going to go, but he knew he didn't want to give this up.
Danny moved, managing to turn himself around to face Steve without fully leaving Steve's embrace. "Fuck words," Danny said, opting to lean in for a long kiss that had Steve's cock doing its best to get back up again.
Steve was fighting to keep his eyes open, though. Part of him didn't want to sleep, but as long as Danny stayed there, as long as they were wrapped around each other, he'd be okay with a little sleep. A very little.
Danny yawned against Steve's cheek. "Half an hour," Danny muttered.
"What?"
"Half an hour. Then round two."
Steve smiled, placing a kiss on Danny's forehead as they drifted off to sleep.
***
Steve woke up to the feel of lips on his collarbone, just to the side of the bandage on his gunshot wound. He shifted, moving closer, his hand trailing up Danny's back and into Danny's hair. "Morning," Steve said, smiling down at Danny, who was looking up at him even as his lips were kissing their way around Steve's bandage.
"Morning," Danny said against Steve's skin, his voice rough.
"Sleep well?"
Danny's grin matched the one Steve could feel on his own face. "When I slept," Danny said, sliding until he was mostly covering Steve's body. "Someone kept waking me up."
"I didn't hear you complaining," Steve replied, humming with contentment as Danny's hand made its way down Steve's chest.
"And you won't hear me complaining," Danny said. "Nothing to complain about here. Not at all."
The words settled Steve a little, but he still felt the need to ask. "So, then...you're okay with all this?" He waved a hand, hoping that Danny would get that he meant everything--work, them in...well, he hesitated to call it a relationship, but....
"Do I look like I'm having regrets?" Danny asked, his hand hovering on Steve's stomach, pinky finger straying down into the hair below.
"No, I just...it's...a lot."
He could tell Danny was weighing his words carefully before he spoke. "When you went after Hesse," Danny said at last, "I heard the shots, even through the chaos where I was. I didn't know until you were standing on that container and I'd caught the last guy that you were alive. And then when I saw this," he nodded at the bandage on Steve's chest, "I just...I was trying so hard to be sure you were the guy from the club, and I almost lost that chance altogether. I'd been trying to figure out how to bring it up ever since."
"I should've said something that night, about seeing you again, or something." Steve's fingers sifted through Danny's hair. "I wanted to."
"Me, too, but...we had our reasons."
"Reasons that haven't disappeared."
Danny nodded. "I know this could cause problems for you. The Navy--"
"I'm in the Reserves," Steve said. "And DADT isn't going to last much longer." Steve swallowed, watching Danny carefully. "What about you?"
"I don't think my boss has a problem with my sexual preferences," Danny said, clearly holding back a laugh.
"Smart ass," Steve said, grin fading as he asked the question he'd been dreading. "You have a daughter. Is this going to cause you problems with your ex?"
Danny's easy expression was already causing Steve to relax before he even heard the answer. "Rachel's never had a problem with my sexual preferences, either. She married me, didn't she?"
"As long as it's not going to cause issues for you keeping your daughter."
"No." Danny smiled. "But I appreciate the concern." His hand moved lower, finally, Steve's cock rising to meet it. "Now if we're done with The Talk, can we maybe go back to the sex?"
"Talking is highly overrated," Steve said, turning towards Danny and capturing his lips for a kiss.
---
END