Chapter Text
Early in February Chin parked under his favorite tree outside the Iolani and took a few moments before getting out of the car. His head was still spinning.
He’d been reversing down the driveway at home twenty minutes ago, when he’d gotten a call from Danny.
“Well anyway, Steve asked me to move in,” Danny had said straight off without a good morning, and Chin had nearly plowed into the fence.
His assumption had been that they’d do the whole official dating thing for a while. While everyone adjusted.
Steve was still on sick leave, although not for much longer now his lungs were officially clear and he was managing alone. Concentration still shot, mind, according to Danny, and bad nights becoming more frequent by Steve’s own admission.
Well, yes. Who ever thought this was going to be easy. Or the way anyone else did things.
Once they’d negotiated the first hurdle, of actually facing the fact they were an item, Danny said they’d obviously be taking things real slow, handling the bereavement and post-traumatic fuck-ups first, before they got into anything more serious. Obviously. Because they were experienced, sensible grown-up people with responsibilities.
Chin guessed he shouldn’t be surprised it wasn’t quite working out like that. Because McGarrett just had to be first through the door, didn’t he, without knowing what was on the other side. Although of course he’d say he never went through a door without being confident he could deal with whatever he’d find.
And for a cautious guy who rarely took anything on trust, turned out a Danny crazy in love was all about the impulsive too.
“So, you’re not saying anything.”
Chin jammed the gearbox to neutral, released the footbrake he’d been stamping on.
“OK. He asked you to-?”
“Yes. That was his pitch. Moving in right away. Full boyfriend deal, with an option to upgrade.”
Danny was brisk, but actually he couldn’t quite hide that he was full of emotion.
“Uh huh?” Chin had replied, still processing.
“I said yes. So, there. That’s the news for today. You can tell the others. Jerry just came round with breakfast so he knows already and is probably calling Max even as we speak.”
“OK,” Chin had said. Because, really, what else?
“I mean, it’s what you all wanted, isn’t it?”
“Danny, believe me, we just want some peace and stability in the workplace.”
“Well there you are then.”
“And like I said. For you two to stop fighting it.”
“I think you could say that we have done that. Not each other, but it. And thank you for being honest with me. For being the one to kick my ass over this. Max did, too, in his own way, but you. You were the one.”
Chin swallowed. It was now, this very moment, that he had to finally let go something a part of him had held tight to since high school.
But that was real love, too, he supposed.
“Grace?” he said, deciding he’d need to get his head around that part of the new situation later.
“My daughter is very, very cool with it. More than actually. And, you know, I wouldn’t have said yes if she wasn’t.”
“That I do know, brother. And your girl is very smart.”
“She really is. And, yes. That’s it. Tell everyone. And then tell them not to make a great big fuss about it. I’ll be in later.”
Chin had laughed out loud at him, feeling a release of tension. That thing Danny did. No great big fuss. Right.
He grinned to himself now when he thought about it.
So, this. This was definitely news he didn’t mind taking up into HQ with him.
It was a cloudy morning, with hints of coming sunshine, the temperature seasonal.
He took the stairs as he usually did unless recovering from some bullet wound or injury occasioned by the craziness of their lives. Apart from Danny his phone had been quiet and he hoped this meant there was nothing brewing.
Upstairs Lou was sucking coffee from a takeout cup. Kono was in her office talking on her phone but her face didn’t suggest it was work. More like family given the eye roll she gave him as he passed on his way in.
“Hey,” Chin said and he couldn’t help grinning.
“’sgoing on?” Lou asked, suspicious.
Kono, pocketing her phone, strode out and up to the table, gossip antennae quivering.
“Cuz?”
“I have some news. It’s maybe sit down or hang on news.”
“You’re smiling, brah, this is fun news.”
“Well,” Chin said. “Fun is one way of looking at it.”
“Would you just?” Lou grumped. And then, “Ohhhhh,” when Chin told them. He let his lolling mouth slowly close as he watched Kono high five her cousin and then jump-hug him as if they’d just won the New York Lotto.
“Yeah, so Danny and McGarrett have had a thing for a while.” Chin was apologetic when Kono released him, because yeah, they had been keeping it quiet. “They just hadn’t gotten around to admitting it was serious. To themselves even, never mind us.”
“We always knew though, right?” Kono said, a little smug.
“Well sure, BFFs and all that,” Grover said, still trying it on for size. “But I thought Danny punched McGarrett in the teeth just after they met? I mean, even for those two that wouldn’t seem normal for a love affair.”
“Oh no,” Chin said, “I’d say a punch in the teeth would be entirely normal.”
“Right.” Grover considered that and it seemed to make sense. “So here you are coming in and telling me this is my new work environment.”
“Kind of a shock, right?”
“Well it’s not as if we do a regular nine to five, any of my co-workers are predictable, or I have a boss who could in any way be described as normal.”
“You’re embracing it, Lou, I can tell.”
“Sheesh. Both my wife and daughter will tell me there’s none so blind as those fools that can’t see what’s in front of their noses. It probably won’t be news to them, that’s all I can say.”
“And you’re really OK with it?”
“What do you take me for? I’m OK with every part of it except the increased hell that McGarrett’s going to put Danny through every time he straps on his tac. And I ain’t holding out for the arguments going away. In fact, given my experience of living with a significant other, they’re probably only going to get worse.”
“It’s a work in progress, Lou,” Chin said.
And they all caught themselves smiling at each other across the smart table.
Because, really, that wasn’t even just Steve and Danny.
That was actually the whole story.
-ends-