Written for the prompt 'Don't be fucking rude' chosen by fjuri-the-fury, originally posted on tumblr. You can find me there as whenamarshmallowmeetsahothead. I'm always open to talk. ;)
"Christie!" Steve said excitedly, not believing what he was seeing. She had changed a lot – well, twenty plus years will do that to a person – but he'd recognize that long blond hair, freckles and deep blue eyes anywhere. "It's so good to see you!" He moved to hug her, huge smiles on both their faces.
"It's good to see you, too, Stevie." Christie hugged him back and for a second he was back in his childhood home – okay, fair enough, he still lived in the same place, but it'd felt a lot different back then – playing on the street until nightfall, until his mother came to call him inside to go take a shower and have dinner.
"What are you doing here?" Steve pulled back but didn't let go of her, holding her by the arms, as if she'd disappear if he put too much distance between them.
"Dad's sick. I came to be with him."
"Oh, yeah, I heard about that. I'm so sorry."
"I'm sorry about yours, too."
"Thank you," Steve said dismissively, not wanting to dwell too much on that as always.
"But, I thought, since I was here, I'd come and see my oldest friend." The huge smile was back on her face and Steve couldn't help but respond with one of his own. "I hope you don't mind me coming here… I went by your house but you weren't there."
"No, of course I don't mind. I'm happy you came."
Steve felt someone approaching his side and he didn't need to turn to know who it was.
"Oh, Christie, I want you to meet my partner, Detective Danny Williams." Steve did turn to look at Danny now, to find him assessing Christie from head to toe. Not that he wasn't used to Danny doing that, but he didn't have the usual look on his face, like she was the first pretty woman he'd ever seen ever. He seemed… guarded, calculating… annoyed. Steve shot him a questioning look, but Danny never even looked at him.
"It's nice to meet you…?" Danny offered his hand, in a way that looked as if he intended to be more intimidating than polite.
"That's Christie Malloy. She lived down the street from me."
"Oh." Danny smiled. Well, it would be a smile if not for the fact that it looked more like a grimace, followed by very dark eyes.
"It's nice to meet you, too, Detective."
"Oh, please, call me Danny. Any friend of Steve's is a friend of mine."
Steve didn't remember Danny ever sounding so sarcastic. And that was really saying something.
"Okay, Danny it is." Christie smiled, but Steve could tell she was uncomfortable. Not that he blamed her.
"Christie, why don't you go in my office? I'll be there in a minute and we can catch up a little." Steve moved to the door, opening it for her.
"Sure." Christie gave him a shy smile.
"God, Danny, don't be fucking rude!" Steve said through gritted teeth as quietly as he could, moving back to where Danny was still standing, staring aggressively at Christie. "Oh, wait, right, I forgot who I was talking to. You don't know how not to be rude."
"That's very funny, Steven. And I wasn't being rude, I was just introducing myself to her since it looked like you were never going to do that yourself." Danny had the fakest smile Steve had ever seen plastered on his face. "Which is weird, because she seems to be very important to you. So important, in fact, that I didn't even know she existed until she appeared unannounced at HQ."
The deep tone of sarcasm was back. Well, it probably had never left.
"She hasn't been to Hawaii in decades, Danny. So what if she decided to look me up now that she's here? And it's not like the whole island don't know who we are. It's not exactly expert detective work finding me."
"Still. This is our place of work. Not the place for rekindling old friendships."
"She did stop by my house. I wasn't there because oh, guess what, I was working!"
"Exactly. She should have realized you would be busy and not come here bother you."
"She's not bothering me. She's bothering you. For some reason I have yet to understand."
"She's distracting."
"She's just sitting there in my office. How's that distracting?"
"Well, when you need to go to your office to work you'll be talking to her, instead of doing what you're supposed to do."
"Fine. Whatever. If it'll get you to shut your mouth and keep you from being even more disrespectful to her I'll tell her to meet me at home after work. How's that?"
Danny looked like he'd just sucked on a lemon, but he didn't have a come back for that.
"Oh, look who's finally gone quiet. I'll just let her know what time I'll be back, okay?" Steve turned around headed for his office, noticing that Danny's face had gone even more sour. Then it hit him. "Oh." Steve turned back to look at Danny. "You're jealous."
"I'm not jealous, Steve. Why would I be jealous?" There was a faint blush coloring Danny's cheeks.
"I don't know, Danny, you tell me." Steve tried to sound menacing, but he was actually enjoying himself.
"There's nothing to tell, because I'm not jealous." Danny wasn't looking at Steve and he looked uncomfortable.
"Oh, you so are!" Steve was pleased for reasons he couldn't understand.
"I have no reason to be jealous, Steve." Now Danny had his lying face on.
"I agree. But you are anyway."
"I'm going to my office." Danny huffed and turned to leave. Steve followed him.
"Okay, let's see, you want to be my only friend and now that she's here you think she's gonna take your place." Steve started listing possibilities.
"Steve, that's ridiculous. I'm not even your only friend, you have tons of friends. And she's probably not even staying, so how could she even replace anyone?"
"Okay, so you're still seeing reason there. Next option: you think she knows me better than you do because she was there when I was growing up."
"No."
"You're lying."
"I'm not lying."
"Danny, she doesn't know a single thing about me now and you know that I couldn't tell her most of it even if I wanted to. Besides, I'm not that kid anymore. You know the real me. Isn't that better?"
"Steve, I know all that. And god, how petty do you think I am? I'm glad you had someone there with you when you were growing up. Every kid needs to have a friend like that."
"Okay, so it's what you said, you're upset because you didn't know about her. You think I'm keeping secrets from you."
"No, I'm not upset. I was just… a little blindsided, that's all. But unlike you, I don't feel the need to know every single thing about your life. You can't tell me half of it, anyway."
"See? You're upset."
"I'm not upset. I'm used to it."
Steve studied Danny's face, and he could tell Danny wasn't being entirely truthful. He knew Danny was always bothered when Steve couldn't tell him something. But he wasn't lying, this really wasn't what was bothering him so much now.
"Okay, I'm running out of options here. I can't see what else could have– Oh."
"'Oh' what?"
"Uh…" No, Steve wouldn't talk about that. Not there, not where everyone could see them. "Nothing."
"It's not nothing, you were gonna say something."
"It's nothing, really. Okay, I accept. You're not upset and you're not jealous."
Danny stared at Steve for a while, but soon nodded and went into his office. Steve knew that he hadn't bought it, but he clearly didn't want to discuss the whole thing to begin with, so he probably thought it better to just drop it.
/~/~/
It was already late, but Steve couldn't help staring down at his phone, deciding if he should make the call or not. It was probably the wrong move, there was a reason this hadn't come up before, but… From his part, it was because he'd spent years pretending to himself that he didn't feel anything. But what had happened earlier that day… well, it was just hard to ignore it now. He tapped the screen and waited for Danny to pick up.
"Hey." Danny sounded tired. At least that's what Steve assumed the deep sigh that came with the greeting meant.
"Hey. You busy?"
"No."
"Could you come over?"
"Isn't Christie there?" The tone that now Steve knew to be unmistakable jealously was still there.
"No. We just went out for drinks. She's back at her father's."
"Okay."
"So can you? Come over?"
"Why?"
"Just… Please?"
"Fine. Be there in 15."
/~/~/
"So what's so important that couldn't wait until tomorrow?"
Steve heard Danny's voice coming from behind him. He had come out to stare at the ocean, trying to clear his thoughts. Trying to make sure he really wanted to do this. If it was worth the risk. He still wasn't sure, but now Danny was here and Steve wouldn't back down.
"You were jealous because you thought I wanted to hook up with her," Steve said without turning around to face Danny.
"What?" Danny was now beside him.
"Christie? I figured it out. That's why you were jealous." Steve glanced sideways to watch Danny for a second, but he didn't keep eye contact.
"I… No, okay? And why don't you just let it go? I told you I'm not jealous, so just drop it."
Steve knew that tone. He turned back towards Danny and now he kept his gaze on him. "That's your lying face."
"That's not… I don't have a lying face."
"Yeah, you do, and you're making it right now."
"I'm not lying. I'm not jealous."
"Still making the face."
"Okay, I'm leaving."
Danny was already turning around, but Steve grabbed his arm to stop him.
"No, Danny, please."
"Why? What do you want?" Danny did look tired, but a different kind of tired. Like he was trying to fight something.
"Just tell me."
"Tell you what? There's nothing to tell."
"Tell me the truth. Admit that you are jealous and that it's because you thought I was gonna hook up with her."
"What difference does it make?"
"Just tell me, Danno. Please."
"What do you care?"
"I… I just need to know."
Danny kept his eyes fixed on Steve's for a very long time, to the point that Steve had to fight not to squirm under his gaze. Danny finally let out a very deep breath. "Fine. If it will get you to let go of my arm and let me leave, then fine. I am, okay? It's exactly what you said. Now that I've humiliated myself in front of you for no reason whatsoever, will please just let me go?"
"No."
"Oh, for fuck's sake, Steve. What more do you want?"
"You."
"What?" The shocked look on Danny's face would have been funny if it wasn't so… beautiful.
Steve moved closer, lifting his hands to cradle Danny's head, thumbs lightly brushing his cheeks. "I want you." Steve looked into Danny's eyes intently, filled with a sense of fondness and… and… love.
Steve leaned down and caught Danny's lips with his own. Danny was unresponsive, his lips slack under Steve's, but Steve didn't let go. Eventually Danny started kissing back, arms moving around Steve's back, letting his body slump into Steve's, a deep sigh leaving him.
Steve didn't know how long they stood there, kissing and kissing and then kissing some more, but he knew that the world could've ended and he wouldn't have noticed. He had moved his hands down, wrapping them around Danny's shoulders, keeping him close, and right at this moment he couldn't tell why the hell he'd waited so long to do this. Danny in his arms felt right, more right than anything had ever felt in his entire life. He thought that maybe Danny felt the same way, because Steve had never seen him so relaxed before.
"I'm sorry," Danny said when they finally pulled away. Just enough to be able to look at each other, but keeping their hold on one another.
"For what?"
"For being rude to your friend. I'll apologize to her. It's not her fault I'm an idiot who took way too long to go after what I wanted."
"If it's any consolation, I was being an idiot, too."
"It's not, really. I already knew you were an idiot before." The warm smile on Danny's face took all the offense from his words.
Steve huffed out a laugh and leaned down to kiss Danny again. He vaguely wondered how he was going to manage to stay away from those lips long enough to be able to work beside Danny. Right now it seemed like an impossible task.
They kissed for a long time again, little sighs and moans leaving their mouths every now and then when they moved to change angles. Steve pulled away a little, to nose at Danny's face, gracing him with little eskimo kisses and soft pecks on the cheeks.
"You know," Steve whispered letting his breath wash over Danny's lips. "I have a very comfortable and inviting bed upstairs."
"Do you?" Danny replied softly, leaving tiny little nips on every part of Steve's face within reach. "I like the sound of that."
Steve could feel Danny's smile on his cheek. He let his hands go down Danny's arms, lightly touching until he reached Danny's hand and intertwined their fingers. He pulled Danny with him inside the house, locked the door to the lanai, turned off the lights and took Danny to his bedroom, intending to keep what felt like a dream going all night.