There was a lot Danny could say about his crazy, Super Seal partner – his extensive vocabulary being a big help of course. Neanderthal, crazy, maniac, stupid, control freak, ignorant is but a few of the adjectives Detective Danny Williams has used to describe Commander Steve McGarrett since the beginning of their partnership and friendship. But his favourite word to use is: chivalrous. It is something he would only admit out loud under extreme duress and he isn't sure if he'd do it then.
Steve always, always opens the door for him when they enter or exit a room and he lets him walk into the room first. Okay, so maybe it doesn't sound like a big deal or even something to call someone chivalrous over, but to Danny it is a big deal. Especially if you take into account the rough and stubborn nature of his partner. One wouldn't expect him to do something as sweet as opening a door – and yes, that counts as sweet because you don't find that every day anymore in today's world.
So, Danny figured he could do something for his best friend in return. He would hand over the keys to his car without a fight. Now, no fight doesn't mean no complaining and ranting. Besides, he loved the fond eye roll and upwards tug of Steve's lips every time he handed over his keys, calling the Seal a controlling maniac, or something along those lines.
It was an interesting dynamic that they developed, but then again, so is their entire friendship. They never paid much attention to it, and neither did the rest of their team. It was normal, expected even. Like waking up every morning and seeing the blue sky outside. So, it was never questioned, addressed or changed.
Until Cathrine came along. She didn't understand it. Steve never paid much mind to opening a door for her. Sure if the opportunity arose he would do it, but he didn't go out of his way to make sure. And even the walking into a room first thing, when he was angry he would storm into the room, forgetting all about her. But not with Danny, no matter how angry or irritated he was, he would always open the door for the blonde man and let him walk in first.
The partner had just exited the office, going to talk to a suspect and as they exited she noticed that Steve opened the door and let Danny pass through once again. It was then that she decided to address it with the two remaining members of the team. "Do you guys see that, or am I just being crazy?"
Chin and Kono – who had both been busy with a task on the smart table – looked up at her with confusion in their eyes. They didn't know what she was talking about, except that it had to do with their boss and his loud mouthed partner. "What are you talking about?" Kono was the brave one who asked.
"That!" Cathrine exclaimed, pointing the glass entrance doors. "Don't you see? Steve's always opening the door of a room for Danny." She huffed out, leaving out that the Seal didn't always do it for her, bordering on never. It was starting to grate on her nerves.
"Oh, that." Kono exclaimed, her eyes lighting up with recognition. "That's just how it's always been. It's another one of their things." She said with a nonchalant shrug.
"Yeah, like Danny handing the keys over to his car willingly even if he is bitching and moaning about it for ten minutes into their drive." Chin added helpfully, making Cathrine frown.
"Oh, and the knocking thing. Well, it's more like they don't knock at all when entering either the other's house or office, but yeah." The Hawaiian girl shrugged once again as Cathrine's frown deepened.
"Or when Steve brings malasadas for the team, but it's actually really just for Danny seeing as most of the time we only see the empty box and not the actual thing." Chin pipes up once again.
"And then there's also the-"
"Okay, I get it." Cathrine finally snapped, holding a hand up to silence Kono. Her frown was now a scowl. "They have a lot of things." Kono nodded, a dimple showing grin on her face.
"Yeah, but don't worry, you'll get used to it and it will be like normal to you sooner or later. We have." Chin said, catching the look on the pale woman's face. Cathrine nodded, but as she did so she wonders if she ever will and if she even wants to.
MCDANNO
That night, Cathrine decides to confront Steve. She doesn't want to get use to it. She understands that he and Danny are partners and even best friends but everything has its limits. And this is hers. She's had enough, Steve is supposed to be her boyfriend but instead he acts like he's Danny's. She decided to butter him up first by making spaghetti, maybe he'd be more willing to see things her way after a decent home cooked meal. But when he matter-of-factly said that Danny's spaghetti will knock her off her feet – come on, the man is Italian, one can't compete with that – she snapped.
"Don't you think that you and Danny are a little to close?" She had to work hard to keep the bitterness out of her words and the growl to herself.
"We're partners, we're supposed to be close. So, no, I don't think so." He eventually answered after a lengthy pause. He knew that he and his blonde partner was a lot closer than what was strictly necessary. He also knew he didn't mind one bit, seeing as he has been in love with his partner practically since the day they met. Problem is: Danny is straight. His marriage – albeit a failed one – and his daughter being evidence of that. So, he stayed quiet and stayed with Cathrine. It was easy for him to be with her, no questions and no attachments. And no, he never considered going for another man, because he's never wanted any man but Danny. So, maybe he isn't bisexual, but Dannysexual.
"Yeah, okay, I can understand that. But you and Danny are on another level." The woman continued, knowing that she is right.
"What is this really about, Cath?" He asked, finally seeing that there is more to this than him and Danny being close – although that is a big part of it.
"I shouldn't have to compete for your attention, Steve." She spoke softly, lying all of her cards on the table. He knew she was serious as she rarely used his name to address him.
"What are you talking about?" He asked defensively, standing up from the chair he was sitting on.
"Oh, come on, Steve!" She burst out, standing up as well. "It's like you don't even see me. Just take a month ago for example, we were supposed to have dinner with my parents but at the last minute you cancelled because Danny needed your help with something, but when I called you because my car broke down on the highway, you send a unit from HPD to help me. But you know what, I bet that if it was Danny instead of me, you would have dropped everything and came running. It's like you're-" She cut herself off, a look of realisation dawning on her face. "Oh my god."
"What?" He asked, not liking the look on her face and having an idea of what is about to come out of her mouth.
"You love him." She gasped, feeling like an idiot for not seeing it earlier. "You're in love with him." She waited for Steve to deny it, a part of her hoping that she is wrong. That he would tell her she is crazy and that he is in love with her. But the second she looked into his eyes and his eyes moved away, avoiding her at all costs, she knew that she is right. "Steve? I'm right, aren't I?"
He looked her in the eyes, a new type of emotion on his face. He was prepared to defend Danny if necessary, he wasn't going to let her bad mouth his best friend in the backlash he knew was about to come. He gave a slightly nod. "Yeah, you're right."
She gasped, taking a step back. She knew she was, but hearing the words out loud was like a roundhouse kick in the chest. Her eyes blurred and her legs felt unsteady. Her legs hit the back of the chair she previously sat on and she immediately sat down before she could embarrass herself by falling in front of him. "How long?" It was a defeated whispered.
"Cath, I don't think-"
"How long?" She repeated, this time her voice was harder, more demanding and he could hear a spark of anger in it.
"All along."
"So, what, you decided to keep me around for the fun of it?" She asked, crossing her arms over her chest, a heated glare set on her face.
His eyes widened, "What? God, no, no. Cath, I would never do that. I just..." He sighed. " I just thought that I'd eventually get over him, if I had enough time."
"Don't you think if there was a possibility of you getting over Danny, that you would have gotten over him years ago?" She practically hissed at him, placing her hands on her hips, anger burning through her. The glare intensified. Steve opened his mouth once, twice, thrice and then he just decided to keep quiet. He honestly didn't know what to say. "You need to talk to figure out what you want. And then you need to talk to him."
"He doesn't love me like that, Cath." Steve whispered, his voice defeated and laced with hurt. For the first time that night, the dark haired woman felt a little sympathy for him, but she didn't let it show. She couldn't.
She took a deep breath, before speaking. Her voice soft and compassionate. "Steve, if you really believe that, you're dumber than I thought."
With that as her parting words, she stood up and turned around, the Seal's voice stopping her briefly. "Someday, someone is going to look at you like you're their entire world, I promise you. Wait for it."
She didn't stop again, picking up her duffle bag that layed on the couch as she walked out of the house. She held her head high and only when she was in her car with her head resting against the steering wheel did Cathrine finally let the dams break.
MCDANNO
It was a week later when Steve finally knew what he wanted. In all honesty, he knew what he wanted the whole time, he just finally decided to do something about it. Chin and Kono was out of the office and he deemed it the perfect time to put his plan in motion. He struggled to keep the grin to himself when his short tempered partner entered his office. He just hoped that Danny didn't reject him or worse, asked to be moved of the team.
Before he could blink, Danny spun around, eyes narrowed and lips pressed into a thin line, as he speed walked the short distance to Steve's office. Fear clenched around his heart. Maybe this wasn't a good idea."What the hell is this, McGarrett? If this is your idea of a joke, it's not a very good one."
Steve's eyes widened and he stood up from his chair before starting to explain. "No, no, Danny, I wasn't trying to joke-"
He was cut of by a steam-coming-out-of-his-ears-and-red-faced Danny. "Oh, really?" He practically snarled, sarcasm dripping from his every word. "Then why on earth would you give me a voucher to a romantic getaway weekend for two! Gabby and I broke up weeks ago!"
This was not the direction he wanted this conversation to go. Suddenly he felt very stupid. "It's for us." He finally mumbled.
"I'm sorry, what was that?" Danny asked, his chest heaving up and down slightly from the anger. "Not all of us has ridiculous super Seal hearing, you know." His hands were waving and then they rested on his hips as he gave the brunette and expectant look.
"I said; it's for us. As in me and you." He repeated, now feeling very frustrated.
Danny gaped at him, trying to come up with a response but all he could utter was, "What?"
"I put the tickets there, hoping that you would come in here. That part of the plan work, expect for the part where you came in here all ranting and hand flailing. Once you were in here, I was going to ask you on a date – which we would have had tonight – so you don't have the excuse of not even going on a date before going on a romantic weekend." He rushed out, avoiding those sea blue eyes, hoping all of his reasoning and words made sense to Danny.
Danny's heart stopped in his chest, wondering if he was in some kind of alternate universe. He had to be, because in his universe Steve is straight as a pole. It was an open secret that Danny is in love with Steve, had been since he punched him and a delicious warmth shot through him – sending tingles all over his body and he barely suppressed a shiver as they made skin-to-skin contact for the second time. But then Cathrine entered the picture and Danny shut his feelings down, completely and forever hiding them from both Steve and the world. Eventually he did it, he moved on but he never got over Steve. Not really.
"I-I don't, I don't understand." Was all the blonde could come up with, because really, he was confused as shit. Where the hell did all of this come from.
Steve McGarrett didn't like words, he was more of an action man. Blowing shit up, dangling people of roof tops, driving like a bat with hell on his tail through Hawaiian traffic, dumping people in shark tanks and leaving them in the middle of the ocean, well, only temporarily. That is his forte. Not using words and certainly not talking about his feelings. But for one Danny Williams, he'd try. Hell, he'd try and move the world for the man. And he was 99.9% sure the blonde would do the same to him.
"Since the day we met, there's been something between us. At first it was anger, because I kidnapped you, as you so politely put it. Then it was partnership and then eventually friendship. And then one day, it shifted. Or more like, one day my eyes went open and I saw what we were ignoring since the day we met. There wasn't ever anger between us, it was something bigger, something scarier. And I think that's why we ignored it, we were so scared by what we were feeling that it was that we just decided to ignore it completely." The brunette paused, taking a deep breath. "I was going to say something, but by the time I got the courage to tell you, you started dating Gabby and I stepped back and decided to let you be happy. I got back with Cath and everything was going fine. Until a week ago." The tall, tattooed man explained, once again hoping that Danny would understand his words. For a few seconds, Danny was stunned. He has never heard the Seal talk so much at once, much less about his feelings.
"What happened a week ago?" The blonde asked, intrigued as Steve sat on the front of his desk. Somewhere during his speech, he moved around his desk and was now in arms' reach of the Jersey native.
"Short version: Cath and I had dinner and she, uh, she called me out on my feelings for you." He answered, wondering what was going on behind that pretty face and slicked back blonde hair. Danny was quiet for a long while, looking at his partner intensely and unintentionally pinning him down with his gaze. Steve is half scared shitless and half hopeful, because this was it. This is their defining moment.
"I don't know who's a bigger idiot here. Me, or you." Danny eventually deadpanned. Steve's eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "Babe, the only reason I started dated Gabby in the first place was because Cathrine was here."
The well trained Seal gaped at his best friend and hopefully something more by the time they were done talking. The mere thought of that possibility becoming a reality was a blissful thought. He huffed out a chuckle, "Well, aren't we a pair, Danno?" He asked, daring to take a step closer and when Danny didn't move back, he risked another step forward, but stopped. The next part was up to the blonde, he had to meet Steve half way.
"Yeah. Yeah, we are." He took the remaining steps to the brunette and Steve didn't waste any time before his lips were on Danny's. It was slow, they were both testing the water. When both was sure that neither one was going to pull away, the kiss got deeper. And it was like gasoline was poured over the ever present flame between the two as they got pulled into a wave of passion, desire and lust. Steve wrapped his arms around Danny, pulling the blonde flush against him and tightened his grip even though he couldn't get the shorter man any closer than he already was. Danny's hands moved up, trailing over those gloriously defined and tattooed biceps that he would explore with his mouth later on, and threaded his fingers in the short hair and the back of Steve's neck. He gave a little tug and heat pooled in his stomach as satisfaction slammed through him when a throaty groan came up the Seal's throat.
Like all good things, this life changing kiss came to an end when their need for oxygen could no longer be ignored. They were a hot, panting mess from the make out session they just had. Goofily grinning at each other, neither was ever as happy as they were right now. A thought passed through Steve's dazed brain.
"Just to be clear, we are still going on that romantic weekend, right?"
Danny gave him an insides-turning-to-mush kind of grin. "Oh yeah, definitely, but you're taking me on a date first."
"That was the plan."
"Why don't you just shut up and kiss me again, Super Seal?"
"Gladly." And before Danny could get the last word in, Steve crashed his lips to the fiery blondes' while thinking that he couldn't wait for this next chapter in his and Danny's adventure.
A/N: hope you enjoy. reviews are loved and appreciated