A/N: Hey, this is my first story on ever and I recently got obsessed with Hawaii Five-0 just in time for the second season which is premiering next month. I can't wait. Every time I watch something I just have to ship someone. And in this case, that someone is KoVe. This was inspired by John Mayer's "Heartbreak Warfare" and it may come off as slightly AU at some points since that's how my mind works.
P.S. I do not own Hawaii Five-0. Just the imagination behind the story.
"Wow. You'd think a man living in Hawaii all these years could do without the tie," Kono teased as she flicked the thick piece of fabric that ran down from her partner's neck to where it dangled down his chest.
"Hey, hey, hey," Danny cried with a hand held out to the brunette in halt, "watch it. This is silk." He brought his hand back down to smooth it out as Kono laughed from where she was, sitting across of him on his desk. "You know, you'd feel the same way if your only daughter who you barely get to see thanks to the ex-wife and stupid Step-Stan gave it to you for Father's Day, too."
She smirked. "Fine. You win this time." She raised her hands up in defeat before bringing them back down to take a turn smoothing it out. When Danny gave her a wary look she laughed, "Relax, Danno. It's the least I could do."
He didn't want to admit it especially with Kono in the same breathing space as him, but he liked when people touched his hair or his clothes. Not in a lustful way. I mean, it was Kono of all people. It was innocent. Having things done for you every once in a while, more or less by a woman, made him calm.
"You smell nice."
Kono looked up at his piercing blue eyes, snickering. "Are you trying to imply something?"
"What? Is it illegal for someone to give a beautiful woman like yourself a compliment?"
"Only if that someone is Detective Danny Williams, yeah," she retaliated, her dimpled smile appearing at its regular place as she sat back admiring the chuckle that escaped Danny's lips.
It was supposed to be like any other day at the Five-0 headquarters with a few minor alterations. News of another mob of cocaine dealers from the mainlands had migrated their way to the islands, a case that McGarrett had promised to take care of by the end of the day. Kono wasn't needed for her routine duty as an undercover aid this time since according to McGarrett this case was "made for men". Being the only woman on the team followed by the fact she was still just a rookie left her with no proper backing in a three-against-one war. Fortunately Danny, having taken some harder blows to the leg while tracking down an escaped convict last week, had no other option but to accompany her while Chin took his regular position on the field today. Neither Chin nor the boss had called to update them on the case which left plenty of time for them to just sit back until told otherwise.
"Seriously, none of you guys have any faith in me, I swear. Kid, if I could choose anyone in this world for you to marry and shoot out feisty little munchkins with one day it'd probably be our very own SuperSeal."
On that note, Kono gave him a look. Sure, Steve was good looking. Hell, he was fucking gorgeous. But he was just one of those men in her life she would rather drop dead than ever see as a potential love interest. "Are you kidding? McGarrett? Thanks, but no thanks," she replied with disgust.
The sound of someone clearing their throat in the background, neither of whom were Danny or Kono, was followed by a familiar gruff male voice, "Sorry to interrupt Regis and Kelly, I'm totally fine aside from the fact that the entire right side of my face feels like my skin is slowly deteriorating, but thanks for the concern," he said as Danny and Kono turned to face Steve with dumbfounded expressions.
"Oh, hell-o," Danny said as he stood up from his seat on the desk to take a good look at the ripe purple bruises tattooed at the corner of his partner's chin and the very tip of his accentuated cheekbone. "Did your hazardous driving habits finally get the best of you?" he joked as he leaned in to take the bruises in.
Steve continued to frown down at his partner as grim as ever. "Very funny," he replied as he slid open Danny's drawers to reveal an almost empty bottle of aspirin. It was better to numb some of the pain now, at least mentally, than wait until later when it was worse.
"What, is there a party in my office I didn't know about?"
"Boss, I think you should really get that checked. It looks pretty bad," Kono commented as she eyed the blackened marks on his usually un-blemished skin with concern.
"I'm fine. Don't worry. Besides, I wouldn't be here right now if I didn't have a reason to be," he said eerily, leading Danny and Kono out to the main room where Chin was busying himself at the touchscreen. A manila folder was laid open on the side, stacks of papers and documents sprawled out on the table as an array of letters and codes appeared on the screen. "Chin, update them."
Danny, limping behind with walking stick in hand, cleared his throat in preparation for the next smartass comment he was about to make. "Couldn't you have called instead? There's a reason phones were invented."
Steve rolled his eyes, "I'm sorry, Danny. I am so sorry for interrupting your little flirt session back there to do what I hired you to do," he responded, his volume rising with every other word. "And they destroyed them before I could make the call," he added, referring to Romero's hitmen.
"You know at this point you might as well just buy a year's supply of extras at once to save you the trip."
Chin glanced up quickly, suspicion glazed over his eyes as he observed the three of them back and forth. "Is there something I should know?" Despite the fact that he was silent for the rest of the awkward pause, waiting for an answer, his eyes clearly spoke death.
"It's nothing, Cuz. I promise," she reassured her over-protective cousin. She admired how much he cared so deeply for her, but he had to understand she was old enough to take care of herself. After all, she did grow up as one of the guys. She was pretty capable of holding her own. "So what happened to Romero?"
"Turns out there's a lot more to the story than we bargained for," Chin replied as he focused all his attention back on the screen in front of him, temporarily blowing off the whole ordeal with his cousin for now.
"Why? What do you mean?"
Chin turned away from the touch screen to face the rest of the team while he fiddled with the stack of papers sitting beside him. "So you know how the whole time we've been trying to take down that cocaine dealer Juan Romero?" He waited a beat before continuing. "Well, it looks like we overlooked more information than we thought did." He flipped through the folder to reveal a handful of crumpled pages seemingly torn out of a tarnished journal, faint scribbles splotched over every line. "See these?" he said as he spread them out on the table. "I found them while we were scouting out their warehouse. According to theses specific pages, cocaine isn't the only thing Romero's dealing. Turns out he's got a little trafficking business abroad on the mainlands, too, so all the work we've put into settling the case today is far from complete."
"How did today go? Miss me?" Danny smirked.
"Yeah, definitely," Steve replied sarcastically, his face resuming to its regular constipated expression. "We got rid of most of his men at the scene, but without working phones we couldn't call for backup. That means Romero is still out there. However, this time he knows we're out to get him which raises the stakes higher than usual."
"Ouch. Looks like you took a pretty bad beating for no reason then, brah," Kono half-teased.
Chin tossed the folder back on the table while Steve stepped forward to face the team as a whole. "We're going to have to work more intently on this now that Romero's escaped. So understand the moment we step into Five-0 headquarters tomorrow morning, we are on this case." He briefly turned his attention to Chin, pointing at him and Danny. "You two will stay here to research the rest of the case. Chin, you have enough information and data in possession to kick start it."
"And let me guess. I'm stuck here because I'm a cripple, right?" he asked with his arms crossed.
"Whatever helps you sleep at night, Danno." As Danny took a few steps back, rolling his eyes, he shifted his body to peer down at Kono who now stood in front of him. "Kono, I know what I said earlier about saying this was solely a man's job but you're the only one on the team who is capable of going out on the field." She nodded in understanding, glad the boss was finally giving her a chance. "Not that everyone knows their roles, Danny, can I talk to you?" he said, singling the handicapped detective out with a universal hand gesture. "Everyone else, go home."
"See you, boss," Chin called as he gathered the papers that spilled out of the folder with him on his way out the door with Kono trailing close behind him.
"Bye, Danny. And you better get that checked like you promised, okay, boss?" she smiled right before walking out of the room to leave the two alone to talk.
The moment Steve was aware the cousins were clearly out of earshot he turned to Danny who was comfortably seated at his desk, waiting for whatever lecture was to come his way today. "What's going on?" he asked, his hands firmly resting on either side of Danny's desk as he leaned forward to leer down at him.
Danny shrugged his shoulders, holding his hands up and scrunching his eyes eyebrows in genuine confusion. "With what? If you're referring to Rachel then I'd say quite well for someone who wants nothing to do with me."
Steve rolled his eyes, peeved. "You and Kono, that's what. What's going on?"
"Nothing," he chuckled in reply.
"What do you mean "nothing"? "Nothing" as in nothing or "nothing" as in we totally have a thing right now that we refuse to tell the rest of the team?"
That question was enough to catch Danny's attention to make him rise from his seat, forgetting how much it hurt to balance his weight on his crippled leg. "You think something's going on between us? Me and Kono?" he was bewildered. That thought had never once crossed his mind. "I promise you nothing is going on between us. She's like a little sister to me, that'd be like incest." He was defending himself but it was true. Danny loved her. He adored her. But even if Chin wasn't there to murder him if they ever did decide to hook up he couldn't bring himself to love her the way he should.
"That better be it, Danny. The worst thing you could do is get involved with someone on the team. It's just inevitable for destruction."
Reaching for his walking stick, Danny chuckled. "Well then you better practice what you preach, eh, Steven?" he joked as he walked out the door, leaving Steve alone in his office to decipher the message behind his words.
Steve shook his head, blowing it off and assuming it was the mental and physical pain from the bruise that was forcing him to overthink everything. After a while of debating on what to do, he made his way out the door, closing it more forcibly than he intended. All he really needed right now was ointment, an ice pack, and some Nyquil to help him sleep it all off until the morning.