Fandom Hawaii Five-O(2010)
Character(s)/Pairing(s) Chin, Danny, Grace, Kono, Steve; Chin/Danny (friendship/pre-slash, take your pick), maybe Steve - Danny (unrequited) mildly if you want to interpret it that way
Genre Crime/Friendship/Mystery/Pre-slash
Rating PG
Word Count 1259
Disclaimer Hawaii Five-O c. CBS
Summary On most Wednesdays, Danny goes out with Batman. Steve heard it on good authority.
Warning(s) potential spoilers up through season one, episode six
Notes This is a combination of two little adoptable plot bunnies from two different LJers who were then let loose and got into toxic sludge and morphed into this. I'm not sure how "Danny's ringtone for Steve" and "Steve takes Grace to a mall and loses her" turned into this fic since Steve's ringtone failed to make an appearance and Steve did not take nor lose Grace in a mall. However, I hope it's enjoyable nonetheless. The Batman idea came from some conversations I've had with my brother. Crime and Mystery are kind of secondary genre, but a tiny bit applicable.
The Tone of the Bat
The first time he heard that particular ring tone from Danny's cell phone, Steve was not sure where the song originated. It started with trumpets, rather dark and foreboding. After three listens, Steve started to think it was some sort of Batmantheme, but hell if he knew where exactly it came from. Whoever it was, they always seemed to call when either Steve dropped Danny off or Danny dropped Steve off after work. The conversations were rare and brief, usually confirming a time or a place. It always seemed to be for a Wednesday, which was typically the slowest work evening of the week for the team.
This was the fourth time Steve heard the ringtone in the past three months. He heard Danny let out a disappointed noise. "Hey, it's okay. There's always next week." There was a pause. "Yeah. Bye." Then Danny hung up.
They were almost to Danny's residence. Since Danny reinjured his knee, Steve was the designated driver. They sat in silence after the conversation ended. There were no tirades, no complaining, not even a peep out of Danny as to who the person on the other end of the conversation was. Steve glanced at Danny and pulled up to his rattrap of an apartment.
"See you at the asscrack of dawn," Danny grumbled. He grabbed his cane and headed out of the car. Steve pulled away once it seemed Danny was in the apartment and all was normal.
A month later saw Steve making a run and grab at the local mall for a belt. One of his brown belts lost its buckle and the mall was the fastest and closest place he could get in and get out with a purchase that would hold up over the years. The shortest way back to the car was to skirt the food court. It was after seven thirty in the evening and the food court was a large mass of people. Steve watched as someone grabbed the last vacant chair from a two-person table and slid it over to a packed table. He then realized the girl sitting across from the spot the chair used to occupy was Grace, Danny's daughter.
She saw him in about the same moment and her eyes lit up with recognition. Grace waved to him as he walked over.
"What are you doing out here?" Steve scanned the area for signs of someone with Grace, but he was not sure who he should be looking for.
"Waiting for Anna," Grace answered. She closed her magazine. At Steve's expression, she added, "She's my stepsister."
Steve considered his options. He did not having anywhere pressing to go, but this was more Danny's arena than his. "Do you want me to call Danno?"
"No." The answer was quick and instant.
"Why not?" Steve got his phone out. He could hold off a minute and hear why. He had never heard Danny mention Stan having kids, but that fact never would have been relevant to any rant Steve ever half-listened to.
"Because he's probably busy." Grace looked up at Steve as if he dialed Danny, it would be the worst thing he could possibly do.
"I'm sure he's not too busy for you." Steve scrolled through his contacts, but did not press the button to call Danny yet.
"I know, but," Grace kept eye contact, "he goes out most Wednesdays with Batman."
Steve glanced to his phone and then back to her. That caught his attention. "'Batman?'"
Grace nodded. "So don't call him." She took her eyes off Steve and then picked up her magazine and stood up. "I see Anna. See you later." Grace made a beeline for a fair-haired teenage girl heading towards them. The teenager gave Steve a suspicious look, but Grace said something, which prompted Anna to just shake her head and lead them out to the parking lot. Once the girls were gone, Steve headed out to his own car.
It was almost week later when a relatively calm morning descended into a messy afternoon. Just before lunch, a CEO and the entire executive branch of a corporation were dead. By mid-afternoon, Steve's cell quit working and refused to recover. Danny and Steve were on their way to interview a shop owner when Danny's phone started to play what sounded like the opening rift to just about any sixties pop song about surfing. Danny for once pushed the speakerphone function. "Hey, Kono."
"Hi," Kono replied. "I'm in Hoaloha Park," she paused briefly, "and I've found the shop owner."
The shop owner had a bullet to the head. By nightfall, they were still working the case. The bodies had stopped piling up, but the killer had yet to be found. Danny had his phone on vibrate now while they organized an infiltration of an occupied warehouse that led to the arrest of the prime suspect. When morning came, the team gathered in their office over breakfast. Danny and Steve sat across from Chin and Kono. Steve could tell that Kono, who sat directly across from him, was about to fall asleep despite the coffee in her hand. Danny was sleepy enough he grew silent, but was also unprovoked.
After breakfast, the team split up to return to their residences, Chin electing to stay put in case a call came through for their team. Steve watched Danny hang back and exchange a couple quiet words with Chin before joining Steve to head out to the car. Danny turned his ringer back on his phone and got into the passenger seat. Their drive was quiet with Danny moving in and out of his eyes closed. The pair was just pulling up outside Danny's apartment when the Batman ringtone sounded. Danny yawned widely and picked up his phone. "Hey." He listened and then pinched the bridge of his nose, rubbing it to wake himself up. "Okay, I'll tell him." Danny shifted his weight and stretched in his seat without really moving his arms.
"What is it?" Steve did not know what this "Batman" would want to tell him.
"You know if you keep making that prune face, it's gong to freeze like that," Danny commented. He leaned back in his seat. "That was Chin. He said a call just came that the governor's looking for us to do something for her. She wouldn't give him the details. She wanted to talk to all of us in person." Danny made a face as if he was not trying to think about sleep as Steve made a U-turn and his apartment started disappearing back into the distance.
After a while, Steve asked, "So…Batman?"
"Yeah." Danny looked at him. "Why not? Kind of fits." He looked out the window. "Probably want to know what yours is now, but I'm not telling."
"I don't want to know." Steve could see their building looming in the distance.
Grace said on most Wednesdays Danny went out with Batman. As far as Steve knew, Batman was probably Chin. He glanced at the other man for a long moment at the stop light. Steve did not wonder what Danny and Chin could be up to since "goes out" coming from a nine-year-old could mean anything, but it was an odd thought to his tired brain.
"What?" Danny's gaze shifted to Steve.
"Nothing." Steve shook his head. As long as whatever they were doing did not get in the way of the team's missions, Steve did not feel he had to say anything about it right now.
The End