Author's Note: The first line of this came from the documentary show Navy SEALs Training: BUD/s and I thought that couple of sentences might just say a lot about why Steve does things the way he does them.

Summary: In trying to be unpredictable, Steve has become just the opposite.

PREDICTABILITY

"Predictability creates expectation. And expectation creates a lack of attention to detail."

Blue eyes that usually weren't altogether that big grew large and round in spite of the fact that they were squinting up into a sun-filled sky.

"What-? Are you-? What the-?"

"Now you know why I don't do things by the book," Steve said with a nod while wiping a thin line of blood from the corner of his mouth.

The suspect chose that moment to try and break free of Danny's one-handed grasp of his two wrists as he holstered his weapon.

"And what the fuck are you doing?" he asked, whipping his handcuffs out and slipping them on so fast the jackass criminal spit out a colorful string of curse words. Danny slapped him up side the head. "All back on your mother," he groused, getting a chuckle from above him. "Could you not loom over me like freaking Lurch or some shit?"

Steve crouched down so they were pretty much eye-level. "Better, Danno?"

"Shut up," Danny said, rising and hauling the haole suspect to his feet. Haole? Had he just thought of this scum as the same thing the locals called him? What the-?

He'd thrown the suspect into the back of an HPD cruiser because after all, this whole case had been HPD's to begin with, only involving Five-0 because of course Steve liked to insert himself all over the place when he was bored. After having a few words with the partners whose car it was, Danny turned to lay eyes on on his own partner and noted he was removing his IIIA vest. Danny watched as he tossed it into the bed of his pickup and shook his head.

"Attention to detail, huh?" he mocked as the velcro made its standard ripping sound while he removed his own vest.

"Yeah," Steve replied nonchalantly, tossing his partner a new bottle of water pulled from the cooler the vest was new skewed over.

"So tossing your vest like it's a piece of garbage is attention to detail?" Danny asked as Steve gulped down half of his own bottle.

"It'll be taken care of at HQ."

Danny considered him for a moment before throwing his head back and downing half his own bottle of water. He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. "Now, you see," he began, screwing the cap back on the bottle, "this is where, in spite of your SEAL training, my friend, you are completely and totally vulnerable."

Steve's eyes snapped to his, back going ramrod straight in a nanosecond.

"Ah, yes, now, that's exactly what I'm talking about, Lieutenant Commander," Danny said, pointing at him with his water bottle hand as he tossed his own vest into the truck bed where it came to a rest nowhere near Steve's. "Because that reaction from you? That was entirely predictable, my friend."

"What reaction?" Steve asked, carefully keeping his face neutral.

"That reaction," Danny said, waving his left hand around, above, below and in the three feet that currently separated them. "That 'Holy shit, there's no goddamn way this Jersey cop partner of mine is going to challenge my ever-loving hard-ass SEAL-ness' posture."

There was at least a full minute where their eyes met. Danny's twinkled as the corners of his mouth curved upwards. Steve studied him like he was the enemy for a handful of seconds before relaxing a bit...if 'relaxing' meant spreading your feet and thwapping your hands together behind your butt.

"Danno," Steve said, and this time Danny could definitely see a predictable reaction in his partner's eyes, "have you ever considered the fact that that's exactly your role in Five-0?"

The smugness disappeared from Danny's face as he took another handful of seconds to process this new information. "Kind of like," he finally said, "you forcing me to be your partner after I wouldn't lower my gun and keeping me around even after I punched you."

Steve nodded once, almost imperceptibly, and the cocky grin was back on Danny's face. "Well, good, because you, Steve McGarrett, have become so predictable in your unpredictability that I think I might even know what's going on in your head most of the time which, and don't think I don't know this, means I am going to be checking into some head-shrinking clinic forthwith."

The half-smile Steve gave him as warmth radiated from his eyes made Danny all-out grin, waving his hands around to punctuate a silent point. Then it became un-silent. "And the only way you even became predictable," he said as he moved around to the passenger side of Steve's truck, "is because I have plenty of attention to detail."

"Hm," Steve replied as they got in, closed their doors and buckled their seatbelts around them.

"Hm?"

"Hm," Steve confirmed.

"Look, I'll still pretend I had no expectation of you doing some berserk Steve stunt next time if it'll keep your personal illusion firmly in place."

This time Steve's smile was full and brilliant as he started the truck. "You'd do that for me, Danny?"

Danny rolled his eyes. "You are so fucking predictable," he groused, trying to hide his smile. "Now just get us back to HQ in one piece."

Yeah, Danny knew the whole relationship and dynamic and fuck, their entire existence was just ridiculous. But as he settled into the passenger's seat and Steve pealed away from the scene, he had to hold his hand in a fist over his mouth to hide his grin, because he knew he wouldn't want it any other way.