Hawaii Five-0 is property of CBS and its creators.
A/N: This was inspired by our meme-a-day calendar: "It must be love since finding you the right holiday gift is causing me debilitating stress." Enjoy!
Danny randomly wandered the aisles of Macy's, hoping to find what he was looking for. Of course, it would go a lot better if he actually knew what he was looking for. He'd been wandering the Ala Moana Mall for hours (and no, that wasn't an exaggeration—he'd gotten there in the morning and it was now late afternoon) trying to find a Christmas present for Steve, and he still had no clue what to get.
It was hard enough shopping for Steve when they were just friends; now that they were more, it was nearly impossible. Danny wanted to get something personal, but not too personal. If Steve were a woman, jewelry would be the obvious choice, but that was a lot harder for a man. What Danny really wanted to get Steve was an engagement ring, but that would be a little presumptuous for someone he'd only been seeing for a few months, even if Danny already knew he wanted to spend the rest of his life with Steve, and the whole island thought they were already married. If Danny were shopping for himself, he'd go for a tie tack or cuff links, but Steve so seldom dressed up they would be wasted on him.
Danny had seriously considered a fancy diver's watch at Maui Divers jewelry, but that seemed too impersonal. Any watch did, really, even if he engraved it. Besides, if Danny did get something engraved, he had no idea what he'd put on it—"I love you even though you're a crazy Neanderthal who's going to get me killed" just wouldn't fit, even if it was an accurate assessment of Danny's feelings.
So, Danny was reduced to roaming Macy's, hoping something would jump out at him. If this didn't work, so help him God, he'd have to try Hilo Hattie's. Danny shuddered at the thought. Grace, Chin, Kono, and Lou had all told him to just order something online, but that was even more daunting than the mall during the Christmas season. How would he even begin to look through all those websites if he didn't know what he was looking for.
Danny realized he was so caught up in his musing, he'd lost track of where he was. He looked around. Home décor. It didn't look promising. What was he going to do, get Steve bedding? Or a throw pillow? Danny shuddered at the thought. Even if he thought Steve might like a floral throw pillow, or worse, one with a cute animal, there was no way Danny was going to be caught dead sitting on a sofa with one of those. He'd had enough of that with Rachel.
Danny turned to go when something caught his eye. It was a display of picture frames. Now, that had possibilities. It was personal, but not too intimate, and he could pick his favorite picture of the two of them. Problem was, he couldn't pick just one favorite, or even 20. There were too many. He had a ton on his phone, as did Steve, and Grace, and Kono, and. . .you get the idea. Besides, he didn't like any of the ones on display. Still, it was food for thought.
When Danny got home, he opened Google and typed in "picture frames". The first one that came up was Amazon, but Danny kept scrolling; as convenient as the Big Box stores were (and he counted Amazon among them), he preferred to support independents when possible.
Another entry caught his eye. It was Amazon again, but this one said "digital picture frames". Huh. Grace had one of those with cheerleading pictures; he remembered her showing it to him. Danny clicked on it and studied what came up. Most of them took memory cards. Danny figured he could get a lot of pictures on one of those. The frame he was looking at suggested 16Gb. Danny did a quick search. That would hold 10,000 pictures. Yeah, that should be enough. Danny ordered it.
When the frame came, Danny agonized over what to put on it. He hit up his ohana for their best pictures as well as raiding his own phone, and came up with over 100 just in the last year. He couldn't narrow it down further, so he dumped them all on the card. Good thing he had plenty of room. Danny picked his two favorites and set them as the first and last photos. Something was still missing, though. He made some modifications to the two he'd picked. Perfect.
The next hurdle was wrapping it. Danny didn't have any wrapping paper on hand, so he asked Grace, but everything she had was filled with polar bears or penguins or reindeer or worse. No, thank you. Rachel's selection wasn't much better, all Victorian designs that were just way too frou-frou for Danny. That left just one option—he'd have to buy some himself.
Danny girded his loins and braved Target the Saturday before Christmas. He felt like a salmon swimming upstream as he pushed his way to the Christmas department, only to find the wrapping paper selection pretty well picked-over. Most of what was left was worse than anything Grace or Rachel had to offer. Danny looked in horror at a roll decorated with surfboards wearing Santa hats. Who would actually buy something like that? Very few people, obviously, or it wouldn't be left over.
Danny searched through the selection for the least garish one. Finally, he found a blue and turquoise striped overlaid with snowflakes. Not his first choice, but it would do. Relieved, Danny made his way to check-out. He almost put it back when he saw the line, but he was desperate, so he heaved a sigh and waited his turn.
Present wrapped, Danny put it under the tree and threatened Steve with death if he so much as went near it. He knew that wouldn't keep the SEAL from investigating anyway, but the frame was in a pretty ordinary box, so hopefully Steve wouldn't figure it out.
Danny spent the next week worrying. Would Steve like it? Was it too much? Not enough? What would he think of what Danny had put on the pictures? Oh, god, maybe he should just return it. But no, that meant he'd have to start all over again, and that would be just too much. He'd just have to hope for the best.
Danny saved his present for last. "Saving the best for last?" Steve joked.
"I hope so," Danny replied, nervously.
Steve held it in his hands to get a feel for the weight, then shook it. "Nothing breakable, I hope," he said. Then he turned it in his hands and examined all sides.
Danny couldn't stand it anymore. "Oh, for God's sake, just open it already!"
Steve carefully unwrapped it, the process agonizingly slow, Danny felt. Finally, Steve uncovered the box. "A digital picture frame," he said neutrally.
It wasn't the reaction Danny hoped for, but at least Steve wasn't laughing at him. "I put pictures on it. Take a look."
"So, that's why you were asking us all for our pictures of you two," Kono said.
Danny held his breath as Steve plugged the frame in. The first picture popped up, a picture of them at Kono's wedding, decked out in their suits. "Danny and Steve," the caption read, "A Love-Hate Relationship (but mostly love)".
Danny searched Steve's face for a reaction, but it was unreadable. "I put something on the last one, too," he said. "I don't know if it's appropriate, though. I'm sorry if I'm out of line."
Steve flipped to the end. That one was Danny, Grace, and Steve on Steve's lanai. "And many more to come," it read, "(hopefully, a lifetime's worth)".
Steve was speechlessly. "It's too much," Danny said. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable."
Steve didn't reply directly. Instead, he said, "You want to spend a lifetime with me?"
Danny breathed a little easier. Maybe he didn't go overboard after all. "Well, yeah, you big goof. I love you."
"You love me?" Steve echoed.
Okay, so maybe Danny hadn't said the words, but he thought it was obvious. Why else would he put up with Steve? He thought that might overwhelm Steve, so Danny went for a joke instead. "It must be love given the debilitating stress finding your present caused me."
Steve smiled at that, enveloping Danny in a tight hug and planting a kiss on his lips to a chorus of "Awwwws" from their ohana. It was reasonably chaste, but Steve still managed to pour all his love into it. He pulled back, still grinning. "I love you, too, Danno."
Maybe Danny had picked the perfect present after all.