Posted for fjuri-the-fury for the prompt 'sorry, were you sleeping?'. Originally posted on tumblr. You can find me there as whenamarshmallowmeetsahothead. I always like to talk. ;)
Danny walked into their house to find Steve asleep on the couch. He slammed the door and watched with more enjoyment than was probably healthy Steve jump up.
"Fuck, Danny, what the hell?" Steve was looking at him with glazed and confused eyes.
"Sorry, were you sleeping?" Danny infused as much mock sweetness in his voice as he could.
"Yes, I was sleeping. I don't know if you noticed, but we spent the last 54 hours awake finishing a damned case."
"Oh, I noticed, Steven. I noticed because I WAS THERE, TOO."
"Jesus Christ, stop yelling. What's wrong with you?" Steve rubbed his temples.
"What's wrong with me? What's wrong, he asks. I'll tell you what's wrong, oh, my dear, fearless, impulsive leader. What's wrong is that I spent the last hour on the phone with the Governor, who wanted to understand why half the city is gridlocked because there's a hole that could fit an SUV in the middle of Kalakaua Avenue!"
"Okay, first of all, that wasn't my fault. How was I supposed to know that the asphalt was gonna collapse after I threw that grenade?"
"You weren't supposed to have thrown the fucking grenade in the first place!"
"They were getting away, Danny!"
"I don't care! You're insane. You know you're insane. But I don't care, because I've given up on you. What I do care is when I have to explain your lunacy to our superior because you were AWOL!"
"I wasn't AWOL, my phone is right–" Steve was looking around until he found his phone still inside his pocket. "Oh. I guess the battery died."
"Oh, fantastic. The battery died. You know you're not supposed to do that, right? You know you're supposed to be available at all times? That's your job."
"Yes, Danny, I know. I guess I was more tired than I realized…"
"You were tired? Oh, poor Sleeping Beauty was tired! Well, I'm tired, too! But I still had to talk to the damn Governor–"
"Okay, okay, I get it. I'm sorry. And for the love of god, stop shouting. My head hurts."
"You're sorry. He says he's sorry! And aren't you supposed to be able to deal with stuff like that? Weren't you trained to go weeks at a time without sleeping, or eating, or–"
"You know you're exaggerating. And I know, I know. I don't know what happened. I came home and I was gonna go for a swim, but I felt dizzy and I just sat down for a minute and next thing I knew you were here yelling at me."
"Well, I think my yelling is completely justified, and– Steve, is that blood?" Danny fixed his eyes on the couch, right behind Steve's head.
"What?" Steve looked around, confused. "Oh. I don't know. Is it?" Steve was staring at the red stain that was still wet as if he couldn't figure out what that meant.
Danny moved closer, studying the stain that was way too large for his liking, then turned to look at Steve.
"Fuck, Steve." Danny sat down beside Steve, reaching to touch his head but stopping short. "You have a bump the size of a golf ball, oozing blood."
"Oh, my god, do you have to always be so over-dramatic?" Steve reached behind his head to touch the bump. "Ow." Steve flinched when he touched the open wound. "Okay, I guess you're not exaggerating this time."
"No! What the hell, Steve? You should have gone to the hospital."
"I guess I didn't notice."
"You didn't notice?! How can you not notice something like that?!"
"Huh, come to think of it, that would explain why my head is killing me right now. I thought it was just all the yelling, but I guess it is a little worse than usual."
"Oh, my god, what the hell is wrong with you?"
"I guess that was why I felt dizzy, too."
"Oh, Jesus, Steve, you didn't fall asleep, you passed out! God, what am I going to do with you?"
"Help me clean this and put a bandage on it?"
"No! We're going to the hospital, you freak. This could be really serious."
"Oh, fine, if you're gonna be like this."
"If I'm… seriously, what did I do to deserve this?" Danny pulled Steve up from the couch, grabbed his keys and left the house, dragging Steve with him.
/~/~/
"Hey," Steve called softly from the gurney where he was sitting. A doctor had already seen him, run all the tests and told them that he had a concussion and he could go home as long as they took the usual precautions of waking him every few hours to make sure it wasn't getting worse. A nurse had patched the wound and they were now waiting for her to come back with the discharge papers.
"What?" Danny said between clenched teeth, still irradiating all his fury. He was standing close to where Steve was, arms crossed over his chest.
"I'm sorry I got you worried."
"I'm not worried. I'm still angry because you can't even take care of yourself and I have to deal with your mess. I'm not cleaning our couch, by the way."
"Of course not. And thank you for bringing me to the hospital."
"I didn't do it for you. It just would be a lot easier to deal with your dead body if we were already here."
Steve tried to stifle a laugh. "Well, then I'm glad you got home before I died from a mild concussion so we could save you the trouble."
"Don't you mock me, Steven."
"Yes, dear. Sorry." Steve was still trying not to laugh. He loved when Danny got all mad trying to pretend he didn't care. In fact, the angrier Danny got, the better Steve felt. "Come here." Steve reached out his hand to get Danny to come closer.
"What? I'm not going near you. You don't deserve to have me near you."
"Please? If there's a chance I'll die from this terrible injury, let me at least say goodbye to you?"
"That's not funny, Steve." Danny grumbled but held Steve's hand anyway and let himself be pulled into Steve's embrace.
Steve wrapped his arms around Danny, pulled him close and started placing little kisses on the corners of Danny's mouth and finally his lips. Danny resisted for all of three seconds and started kissing back.
"I'm still mad at you," Danny said when they pulled apart, his hands resting on Steve's chest. Steve didn't loosen his hold on Danny.
"I know."
"And you're calling the Governor to apologize and figure out a way to fix what you've done."
"Yes, sir."
"And you're making it up to me for what you put me through."
"It will be my pleasure. Literally."
Danny punched Steve's chest lightly.
"You're a real jerk, you know that?"
"I know."
"Good."
"Are you ever gonna forgive me?"
"I don't know. I'll just put this on the list with all your other apologies that are still waiting for my final verdict."
"You're keeping track?"
"Oh, yeah. There's sixty-four, so far. Every time you got me, or you, or both of us hurt."
"Really? Thought it would be more."
"Seriously, Steve, you're very, very close to sleeping on the couch. Blood stain and all."
"Aren't you gonna be worried about me, sleeping so far away from you?"
"I told you, I'm not worried. You'd do me a favor if something happened to you, I'd live a whole lot longer without all the stress you put me through."
"Oh, but what would be the fun in living longer if you won't have me there with you?"
This time Danny didn't reply. He just let his gaze drop, a war raging behind his eyes, as if he was struggling between keeping his angry facade or giving in. Steve knew the latter was winning by now. Not that Danny was ready to stop fighting it, but Steve had learned by now how to wear him down. Some people might consider this a low blow, but they both knew better. Steve was just giving Danny an out so he could do what he'd wanted to do from the start without losing face.
"Besides, you wouldn't want to have to tell Gracie that her Uncle Steve died because you weren't there to take care of him, would you?"
The fight left Danny's eyes completely and his shoulders sagged. "Okay, you can sleep with me. But I'm doing this for Gracie."
"Of course, Danny. Just for Gracie." Steve kissed Danny again, then pulled Danny's head close to rest on his shoulder and nuzzled his neck. Steve ran his fingers through Danny's hair until he let out a sigh and relaxed more in his arms. They stayed like that until the nurse came with the papers. She had to call them three times for them to notice that she was there.