I do not own Hawaii Five 0 (wail!)
Summary: Typical Steve and Kono fluff. AU! Follows the events of episode 13 some spoilers for other episodes.
Soon
I
The sun was high in the sky by the time Steve McGarrett even thought of dragging himself out of bed. It had been a rough couple of weeks. Scrubbing his hand along his face, finding the two day stubble there, he realized it was time to get moving. He still had repairs to do from the shootout a few weeks earlier and had laundry lying in the kitchen he was sure had to be picked up with pliers.
Swinging his feet outside his bed and moving to get up he was surprised to hear knocking at his front door. Looking at the clock, he wondered who would come looking for him on his day off at 11 in the morning. He quickly donned some pants he had carelessly left in the corner of his room the night before and quickly ran down the stairs.
Kono had been debating coming here the entire morning. She had been up since five out to catch some waves and get rid of the excess energy she seemed to be cursed with. When driving home from her favorite beach she had passed Commander McGarret's house and had wondered how the man was. At present the entire team was off until new years.
She had been so lost in thought, imagining Steve McGarrett in his free time doing lord knows what, that she had almost managed to drive herself off the road. She had quickly parked and laid her head on the steering wheel taking a few deep breaths. This was not the first time she had been wildly distracted by thoughts of her boss. When she had gotten the call saying one of her partners was kneeling in a parking lot with a bomb strapped to the neck, she had immediately envisioned Steve being the one threatened and her emotions had overwhelmed her. When she heard it was Chin, she felt ashamed to admit, she felt relieved. She still felt so guilty about feeling that way. It was then that she realized her feelings for Steve went a lot deeper than simply attraction.
Sitting there in the car, reliving those emotions she had to go see him. Had to see that he was alright. She had turned the car and driven towards his house. She had sat in the car for 15 minutes wondering what she would say before mentally kicking herself in the rear and getting out of the car to stand in front of his door. She quickly knocked before she lost her nerve, and waited for the door to open.
Steve opened the door with a lot of force, nearly knocking the visitor of her feet. The visitor, he realized, being none other than Kono.
'Kono?' He sounded surprised and looking at the expression on her face she was as surprised to be there as he was to see her.
But Kono didn't hear him; she was enthralled by the sudden vision of Steve McGarrett half naked in front of her. Realizing she was staring she quickly snapped her eyes to his face, trying to stop the blush from appearing on her face.
'Was she checking me out?' Steve was curious and raised an eyebrow in question.
'Boss! I was… in the neighborhood. I wanted to… well I don't know really. Never mind, I should go.'
Steve was shocked, Kono not knowing what to say? That was weird. When he looked at her face closely he saw uncertainty etched on it and for a moment he thought he saw something akin to … fear? But fear of what? He knew he couldn't let her leave.
'Wait!' Steve walked after her into the front yard.
'You're here now, might as well have some coffee.' He inclined his head questioningly.
Kono thought he looked adorable, puppy dog eyes, bed head and bare chest and bare feet, she knew she had no choice but to accept and followed him into the house.
As Steve made coffee Kono looked around the house. She could still see the damage done during the general's visit. She shook off the negative feelings that thought brought her and walked to the kitchen to see if she could help.
Steve felt her approach and without turning asked:
'How were the waves this morning?'
Kono was surprised, was it that obvious?
'How did you know I went surfing this morning?'
He shrugged his shoulders.
'My house is on the way to your favorite spot. I figured you didn't drive up here just for me, why did you come actually?'
She was shocked to find he knew she had a favorite spot, and that he even knew where it was. As to his question why was she here? She didn't have the answer so avoidance was the best option.
'How did you know where my favorite spot is?'
Steve knew what she was doing but decided not to press.
'Chin must have mentioned it.' He didn't say that he had asked Chin about it under the pretense of need to know in case of an emergency, when in fact Steve had been curious what this woman liked and wanted.
She nodded and took the coffee he offered.
A pregnant pause filled the room, neither speaking, but both lost in thought.
'So what are you doing today?'
Kono felt obligated to start the conversation again.
'I was thinking of repairing some more of the damage to the house, maybe barbeque some steaks tonight. Care to help?'
Steve almost slapped a hand in front of his mouth. He hadn't wanted to say that out loud. But Kono didn't notice and as she looked up at Steve her smile brightened his day.
'Sure, I'm at least partly responsible for some of the damage, might as well redeem myself.'
Steve chuckled and said:
'Well if that is what you're telling yourself I will use it to make you my helping hand for today.'
He grinned and Kono thought it was the sexiest thing ever! Quickly putting her thoughts in check she finished her coffee, and they got to work.
II
Steve was up on the ladder trying to remove the panels with bullet holes in them as Kono took them from him and handed him the replacements. As he adjusted them and attached them to the wall she used some filling kit to fill the more random bullet holes.
'I'm almost done here' Steve said as he attached the last few bolts to the wall.
'Me too, do you think we should repaint?' Kono looked around and realized that though the holes were filled, you could still see where the bullet holes were placed.
Steve look down to where Kono was and followed her line of vision, realizing she was right, they would need to paint.
'I guess so, I still have some white paints left from some other repairs I did, and we could use that.'
Kono nodded, not really liking white, but it was his house so why not?
A small hour later they were painting. Kono was getting a bit bored. The radio was on but Steve was completely focused on his work. 'All work and no play makes Steve a little dull.'An evil smirk appeared on her face. She had been painting quite close to him, making it rather easy to reach his cheek with her brush. Before she could think about the consequences of her actions she reached out and brushed his cheek with the paint.
His expression was priceless and it took all her self-control not to burst out laughing.
'Boss? I think you have a little smudge.'
Giggle
'Really? And where would that be?'
Another giggle, louder this time.
'Right there.' Pointing with the brush still in her hands she made the spot a lot worse. At his stunned expression for being targeted a second time, she finally couldn't hold it anymore and burst out laughing. But her laughing quickly stopped as she felt a brush stroke her upper arm.
She looked to Steve in astonishment.
´Payback is a bitch!´ Steve laughed.
This sent Kono in a bit of a rage and she attacked him with the brush still in her hands.
10 minutes later both were covered in paint and panting from laughing so hard. They were lying on the floor, looking up at the ceiling.
Steve turned his head towards Kono and studied her beautiful face.
´Why did you do that?' He asked with a big grin on his face.
She turned to face him and replied:
'You were boring, you need to let loose a little. Besides, we both needed a new color.'
They stared at each other for two seconds then burst out laughing again.
III
Kono let herself fall into the recliner in Steve's living room, letting out a loud sigh as her muscles cramped from being used so intensively. It was now 5 in the afternoon and Kono and Steve thought they had done enough repairing and painting for that day.
She closed her eyes and hung her head backwards. She startled when she felt a cold surface on her forehead, before groaning loudly and welcoming the cold.
Kono's groaning shot through Steve, settling somewhere below his stomach. Now Steve had always thought Kono was attractive. From that very first moment on the beach he was in fact sure she was the most beautiful woman he had ever met. But being co-workers, Steve had quickly dismissed any feelings that had arisen and treated Kono as any other colleague.
But that didn't mean he didn't notice certain things. Such as the way she rolled her eyes ever so slightly whenever he and Danny got into another one of their arguments, or how when she would stretch out when seated at her desk too long and her top ran up far enough to show the soft skin underneath, or how she smelled of the beach, and flowers and something uniquely Kono, spicy and sweet. When she laughed her nose wrinkled and the entire room just felt that much brighter.
Steve had noticed, but acting on it had not been on his agenda. Until about a week ago. When he had gotten the call that one of his team was strapped with a bomb around the neck left in a crowded parking area, his heart had revolted at the idea of Kono being that person. He felt guilty for feeling relieved when he found out it was Chin. It still bothered him, and he had nightmares in which Kono was the one strapped to the bomb.
It had led to some deep searching through his feelings, and he wasn't exactly surprised to find that he was head over heels for Kono. He knew it the moment he saw Chin at that parking lot instead of Kono, and his heart had done a flip-flop of joy. But now what? She didn't feel that way about him, and what about the job? Emotions like that are dangerous. He shook his head trying to clear his wondering thoughts as he passed Kono her beer.
Kono watched Steve through her almost closed eyes. He seemed lost in thought and he oozed frustration. But what was he frustrated about? She was pulled from her thoughts by his voice.
'Do you want to stay for dinner?'
She was shocked by the request but nodded her head affirmative.
'Yeah, that would be great, thanks boss.'
'I have a name you know.' He raised an eyebrow to her. He had no idea why he asked her to stay; it would only torture him more. But on the other hand it gave them some alone time, besides she had helped him today, the least he could do was offer her some food.
'Thank you, Steve.' She over pronounced his name as if it was really hard to say and smiled at him. He just smirked back and nudged her leg with his.
Feeling a bit uncomfortable and noticing she was still covered in paint from their impromptu paint fight she shyly asked to be able to take a shower.
'Yeah sure, let me show you.'
As Kono showered Steve started to set dinner. He washed the worst paint splatters away with some turpentine and started up his barbeque.
Kono had gotten some fresh clothes from the back of her truck that she kept there for emergencies. It was a nice sundress and it looked good, showing off all her curves. She was a bit apprehensive about putting it on, but it was the only clean item she had. Putting her reservations behind her she slipped it on and walked downstairs, when for the second time that day, she walked into a semi-naked Steve McGarrett.
Looking at his clothes he realized he really needed to change. Pulling his shirt off while he ran up the stairs he very nearly hit Kono. Both now stuck on the narrow staircase Steve turned to the side to let her pass. It was a tight fit and both couldn't repress the shudder at the close skin to skin contact. Kono stopped halfway and they looked each other in the eye. It seemed like time stood still as they slowly inched towards each other.
A car honking next to the house shook both out of their reverie, and the moment was lost. They stared for a moment longer, until a second honk was heard. Tearing his eyes away from Kono, Steve jumped up the last steps and quickly fished a t-shirt out of his drawer. Telling Kono to open the door as knocking was heard.
Kono walked down the steps in a haze and opened the door to Danny and Chin's surprised faces. Their mouths went slack when they saw Steve coming down the stairs, trying to hastily put a shirt on. Danny's eyes went from Steve's bare chest to Kono's wet hair and dress. And he suddenly felt as if they had walked in on something.
'Kono, Steve, how are you this lovely evening?' Danny sounded awfully chipper to Steve.
'Great, what are you guys doing here?' Damn Danny for interrupting. Although maybe it was a good thing.
Danny looked at Chin, who was looking at Kono, who was steadfast ignoring his pointed look and looking anywhere except the three guys.
'We were wondering if you wanted to go out for dinner, but apparently you're well… occupied, so we'll leave.'
Steve quickly looked at Kono, the same moment she looked up at him. A quick flashback to the stair scene a moment ago, they both read the same thought in each other's eyes. 'Not here, not now.' Kono gave an imperceptible nod and Steve turned back to Danny.
'No it's ok, I was just making steaks, if you want, you guys can join.'
'Yeah, that would be great!' Chin finally found his voice; he was going to have to talk to his cousin later.
Stepping aside, Steve let Chin and Danny inside. Kono just watched and stayed rooted to the spot.
'Kono?'
She turned to Steve but refused to look him in the eye. Noticing that Danny and Chin had already moved out into the yard he took a risk and used his right hand to tilt her chin upwards, so she would look into his eyes.
'I wanted… just now… uhm you know, back on the stairs? I just…' 'God, why is this so hard!'
'Yeah I know, its ok. I… well, me too.' Kono understood, he had wanted to kiss her, and how had she wanted him to. But this wasn't the time to discuss it. She looked at his face, so handsome and now creased as if trying to figure something out. She knew that it wasn't the right time. She couldn't do it, and suddenly she was glad that they had been interrupted.
'We can't Steve, you know that.'
Steve wanted to say they could, but suddenly he knew, by looking in her eyes what she meant. It would destroy her reputation, the one she fought so hard for, and not just that, she couldn't trust anyone with her heart just yet, although Steve didn't know why.
Not being able to utter the words, he just nodded and let her go, as she walked out back to their friends.
Steve ran a hand over his face and let out a frustrated sigh. He looked out towards the yard where his three friends stood chatting. As she looked his way for just a second he could see a promise in her eyes.
'Soon, not yet, but soon.'
And suddenly he felt a lot better.
The end (or is it?)
A/N: Ok, this story was intended to have the ending. But somehow I could not get it on paper. I wrote and suddenly this ending appeared. Maybe I'll write a sequel sometime, but for now let's leave it like this. Let me know what you think! Review!