Hi everyone. I hope your Monday went well.
This is just a short little story that I thought would be funny, starring my two favorite people to write about.
Please let me know what you think, and thanks for reading!
-H50-H50-H50-
It was one of those rare days where the phones simply didn't ring, the emails and texts seemed halted, and even the air around them was quiet. It was Wednesday morning, 11:30, and the Five-0 team had no case, paperwork, or agenda to otherwise occupy them.
So they had done the only sane thing they could think of and had all gone to a nearby gym, one which they frequented because they were given plenty of space to train for their sometimes ridiculous exercises they employed when out in the field. Today, that exercise happened to be fighting.
Fighting for just two people, however. Because this brand of fighting had no rules except to win at all costs. Face shots, hair pulling, kicking when someone was down were all perfectly acceptable. The idea was that it could replicate itself as a fight for your life with someone who'd otherwise bring about your death, so you were to stop at nothing.
Nothing, of course, meant until the other person gave up, as Steve and Kono weren't really intending on killing each other on that particular day.
Danny and Chin stood off to the side, watching. Both had practiced the saner fighting, the kind that might be done among friends who were simply training and not threatening to kill each other. They had both decided to sit out the final round in which anything went and was accepted.
Kono and Steve, of course, had both boasted about their ability to win any fight to the point that both had reached the somewhat insane conclusion of fighting with each other. There were two problems with this: one, they were too evenly matched to make much headway, and two, neither would stop until they nearly killed the other.
Danny and Chin watched from the sidelines, grimacing and making noises of sympathy when one of them would take a particularly hard hit. They watched, in pain themselves, as Steve kicked Kono in the leg and she bent over from the pain. But her fist shot up and connected with his jaw, and the sound of the snap could be heard across the room.
Yet the craziest thing of all, minus the bruised and cut faces, the gasps for air, and the feeling that either Chin or Danny would soon be calling an ambulance was the fact that both Steve and Kono were smiling.
They grinned at each other when they backed off to reassess, and would nearly laugh out loud when one managed to hit the other with a particularly painful kick or punch. Danny was actually afraid at what the winner might do in their victory.
They were in a small room off to the side of the gym, one which they often used so as to not be bothered or distracted by the other members. No one else was supposed to enter at the time, so both Danny and Chin turned as they heard the door open.
"Hey Catherine," said Danny, giving her a wave.
"Hey," she said, coming to stand next to them. "Steve said to meet him here and—Oh my God, what are they doing?"
Danny and Chin turned just in time to see Steve kick Kono's feet out from under her, but his victory was short as she kicked out and hit his shin with her heel. He swore loudly as she got up, and both resumed the fight standing up.
"They're animals," said Danny in explanation. "They love this. Look at them, they're smiling. Who does that?"
"They're going to kill each other," said Catherine, not sounding like she was kidding.
"I might distract them in a minute," said Chin. "Otherwise, they don't stop until somebody gives up."
"And neither of them will do that," she finished.
The sudden sounds of shouting from outside the small room they were in caught their attention. It sounded like a heated argument.
"What's that all about?" asked Chin as he started to the door. The sounds of the argument increased, and Danny and Catherine followed, leaving the small room to investigate.
Steve and Kono did not notice their absence or the reason for it. Both continued their assault, each growing angrier at each passing moment in which the other one just kept on getting back up. Both secretly vowed to win, no matter the cost, and smiled at the other to mask the look of pity they felt for them.
A second later, neither knew what had hit them. In reality, Steve had spun into a kick that had hit Kono directly on the side of the head, while she had done the exact same thing a half second later to him. Both heard a sharp thwack! on either side of their heads just as they snapped to the side.
Steve wobbled slightly on the spot, looking confusedly at the ground. Kono held a hand to the side of her face and blinked rapidly to clear the pain. After a moment in which the echoes of their kicks faded from their heads and the dizziness and pain cleared ever so slightly, they both looked at each other.
"You okay?" asked Steve, the words hurting him to speak them.
"Mm," she responded. She pointed, hoping he got the message. He didn't. "You?" she asked, pain ricocheting through her head in response.
"Mm."
Just then, the door to the room opened again, and Chin, Danny, and Catherine all stepped back inside.
"Fight broke out in that room too," Danny said, motioning with his thumb back over his shoulder. "It's okay though. The Five-0 broke it up." He brushed off a shoulder.
"So who won?" asked Chin, watching them both.
Kono tried to look at him normally, but felt her eyes and how they wouldn't be still in her head. She looked at Steve who rubbed a hand over his face and asked, "What?"
"Are you okay?" Catherine asked, coming to stand in front of him.
"Yeah, yeah, fine," he said quickly.
"And you?" Catherine asked Kono.
Kono fought back her urge to vomit. "Uh huh."
"So who won?" Chin repeated.
Steve and Kono looked at each other for a second, and then Steve swayed slightly on the spot. Catherine grabbed his arm in alarm.
"Truce," he said, pointing at Kono. "I don't want you to die or anything."
She made a noise of disbelief. "At least I can stand up!" she shot back, her own words echoing in her head. "Truce," she agreed a second later, when she felt the ground start to shift beneath her feet.
"What? What's going on?" Danny demanded.
"Hospital," both Steve and Kono said together.
-H50-H50-H50-
Two hours later, both Steve and Kono sat on the side of a hospital bed, staring down at their laps while Catherine, Chin, and Danny stood in front of them.
"First off, I'm glad you're both okay," said Catherine.
"Second, we're good and over that," said Danny. "What's the matter with you two? Huh? You give each other twin concussions over a training exercise!"
"What do you have to say for yourselves?" asked Chin sternly, folding his arms over his chest and making Kono feel ten years old again. For that matter, he was making Steve feel ten years old again too.
Steve looked up then. "Who's concussion is worse?" he asked.
Danny threw his hands up in the air as Catherine turned, frustrated, while Chin's head dropped back and his eyes closed. "You're an animal!" Danny all but yelled at him.
"Kono?" Chin asked her, staring her down.
She bit at her lip, and looked from Steve to everyone else in the room. "I just have a question," she said. She paused. "Who kicked who first?"
Mutters of "Oh my God," "You've gotta be kidding me," and "Complete animal lunatics," were heard coming from their friends.
"No one!" Danny yelled. "You both ended up in the hospital! You both lose! How do you not understand that?"
"I don't know," said Steve. "Technically, neither of us could keep fighting. Neither of us got the chance to back down." He looked at Kono. "I call a tie."
"I call a tie breaker," she said back, and Catherine wondered for half a second if they were about to arm wrestle as each pulled their sleeves back.
"Rock, paper—" they both chanted, but before they could unveil their move, Chin slapped a hand down on each of theirs.
"Home," he finished.
"Bed," said Catherine.
"Neanderthals," Danny added.
~fin