Hey :) this is pretty much at the beginning of their friendship. So no slash here, but attraction, I guess.
My awesome beta OnlyHim read this over and made it readable again, the rest of the mistakes are definitely my own :)
xoxo
Steve was a SEAL. A highly trained Navy Sailor of high rank. His every move happened like he wanted it to happen, his every step landed where he planned it. He was always aware of his surroundings.
That was why he had absolutely no excuse for why he found himself on his ass in the sand. The water lapped at his pants with every wave and a little plastic bucket rolled to and fro in front of him. Innocently, as if it hadn't just tripped him and made him sprain his ankle.
Okay, so he did have an idea. Today he'd felt like he needed a late run along the beach with a shave ice as a reward afterwards. He'd almost reached his goal, Kamekona's shrimp and shave ice truck, when his eyes had landed on a familiar mop of blond hair. Unsure, he had taken a closer look, thus not seeing what was right in front of him.
"Shit." He couldn't help but curse, grabbing his ankle as if it would stop the throbbing pain.
"Oh my god, I'm so sorry!" A woman's voice sounded from his right. "Jeremy, I told you to watch after your toys! You made this nice man trip!"
Steve looked to the side and saw a woman scold her child. The boy was looking at him with wide, watery eyes and Steve felt instantly bad.
"No, no. It was my fault I didn't-" Steve swung himself to his feet, to show them he was fine, but he was wobbling precariously on the uneven ground.
A strong hand grabbed his arm to steady him, and Steve startled so bad he almost dropped anyway.
"Easy, SuperSEAL. What are you doing pestering people at the beach, huh?"
The familiar voice washed over him like sun rays. So he hadn't been wrong. It had been Danny at Kamekona's.
"Hey, Danno." He couldn't stop himself from grinning.
"Stop smiling like a goof. It's my day off. Why am I seeing you on my day off, huh? With an injury?"
"You saying you don't want to see me on your day off?" He kept it light, but it saddened him a bit to hear that. Sure, they only talked when they saw each other at work, but he had hoped they were getting closer.
"Don't want to see you injured, is what I'm saying," Danny grumbled, and slotted himself under Steve's arm, lending Steve support and a nice warmth down along his side.
If possible, Steve's grin widened.
"So uh, you're taken care off?" the mother stood in front of them, shifting uncertainly. In one hand she held her kid's hand, in the other the toys.
"Yeah, yeah. He's taken care off."
"I'm sorry for kicking your bucket," Steve addressed the little boy, and the kid managed a small smile before he was pulled away by his mother.
"Danno?"
Surprised, Steve looked to his right. A little girl, with long, light brown hair, looked at them expectantly.
"It's fine, monkey. Can you get my bag from the car?" Danny shifted to pull his keys from his pocket. The girl nodded, grabbed the keys and rushed away.
"Come on." Danny didn't even wait for an answer before he steered Steve away from the water and to Kamekona's benches. "God, you're heavy. Would it kill you to take some of your weight?"
"Don't be mean, I'm a tall boy. I have a good weight. No need to call me fat."
"Maybe you don't need to be so sensitive about your weight. The word fat never passed my lips," Danny retorted.
"You didn't have to say it, it was- uff. Hey, gently!"
Before he knew it, he was pushed down on a bench and he had to marvel yet again how well Danny could distract him from his injuries.
"Uh-huh." Danny sat down beside him and unceremoniously pulled Steve's foot up and onto his lap.
With deft fingers and the utmost care, Danny slipped off Steve's shoe and then slowly peeled off the sock. Steve watched as the doc ran his fingers over Steve's slightly swollen ankle. It hurt a bit, of course it did, but Danny was gentle in his examination. And, just maybe, the warm hand holding his leg steady was distracting him a bit. And the soft gray pants Danny was wearing. And the well-worn shirt. It was a relaxed outfit, so different from the usual uniform Danny wore at work. Both looked equally appealing to Steve.
"Got it, Danno!"
Again the slightly high pitched voice of the little girl startled Steve out of his musings.
"Thanks Monkey. Now, I need you to go to the big guy," Danny vaguely pointed somewhere behind him, in the direction of Kamekona's truck, "And ask him for a cool pack or something, alright?"
The girl gave a determined nod and hurried off again.
"Your daughter, I presume?" Steve inquired.
"Look at you, babe. You should be a detective. What? You think I sit at the beach with kids I don't know? Of course she's my daughter."
Danny finished the sentence with so much fondness and pride in his voice, Steve didn't even mind the previous jab.
"You don't have to send her around for me, you kno- ow!" he exclaimed and jerked a bit as Danny touched a sensitive spot.
"Sorry." The blond gave him an apologetic look. "Can you move your foot, at all?"
Steve lifted his leg up a bit, immediately missing the warmth of Danny's lap, and shifted his foot. It hurt, but it was manageable.
"Good, that's good." With gentle hands, Danny settled his leg down again and turned to see how his kid managed. His warm hand was resting lightly on Steve's hurt ankle. It was soothing.
"And don't worry about Grace. She loves acting as my assistant. Even if it's her that's hurt."
"Sweet." Steve smiled. "What do you need your bag for?"
"You want your ankle stabilized later or not?" Danny raised an eyebrow at him.
"Sorry, I asked." He lifted his hands in surrender, then gave a probing look at the bag. Danny huffed and put the bag behind himself. Steve did his best to look innocent, but he still got narrowed eyes pointed at him.
"The nurse decides if the patient deserves a lolli, you addict," Danny said and carefully turned to look for his daughter.
They both watched as Kamekona finally turned to her, leaning over the counter to see the little girl. What they said, Steve couldn't hear, but Grace pointed at them, and Kamekona looked over. He waved at them and nodded. Both Steve and Danny waved back.
"You come here often?" They both asked at the same time, then smiled.
"Yeah, Gracie is in love with the shave ice, so we come here every other weekend," Danny answered first. "And Kamekona is a nice guy. Grace has him wrapped around her finger." He grinned.
"I'm not surprised." Steve smiled back. "The food is good, yeah. But I'm more often here work related."
"Why must you say that?!" Danny exclaimed with a frown. "Now I have to reconsider if it's safe to take my little girl here."
"Oh, don't worry," Steve chortled. "Kamekona is a gentle giant. This here is probably the safest place in Hawaii, no one would dare pull anything serious here. Kame knows too many people for that. If he wanted to, he could probably own the Island."
"You know, this is not as reassuring as you probably think it is." Despite his words, Danny looked a bit more at ease.
"I got it!" Grace came running, her brown hair and yellow summer dress flying in waves behind her. In her left hand she triumphantly held a cool pack in the air.
"Well done, monkey. Thank you." Danny took it from her and with one look as a warning, he swapped his hand on Steve's ankle for the one holding the pack pack.
The SEAL hissed quietly as the cool pack practically froze his heated skin.
"Monkey, this is Commander Steve McGarrett. Be nice to him, he's a klutz," Danny said with a smile.
"I'm not!" Steve looked up from his ankle with a hurt look.
"Yeah? What's this then, huh?" Danny pointed to the leg. "And all the times you said you are so very careful but-" he stopped and glanced at Grace who was watching with a bright smile. "-stuff still happens to you?"
"Bad luck, Danny!" Steve threw his hands in the air. "Not because I'm clumsy."
"If you say so, babe." Danny patted his leg indulgently.
"I'm not." He pointed an accusing finger at Danny, topped with a scowl. Then he used the same hand to offer Grace a handshake.
"Nurse Grace, it is a pleasure to meet you. Thank you for your assistance. Your dad, he talks about you all the time."
Grace giggled and slotted her tiny hand in his big one. "He talks about you a lot too."
Steve positively beamed at the comment, turning to Danny. "Really?" He couldn't help but smile smugly.
"We commiserate. It's a father daughter thing," the blond said, pointedly looking down at Steve's leg, unnecessarily adjusting the pack. If Steve wasn't mistaken tough, there was a slight redness on the man's cheek. That alone made the limp he would be sporting for a short while worth it. "Besides," Danny recovered quickly, "I want to tell my child about my days. It's not my fault you are my most persistent patient." Danny grinned.
"Not mine, either." Steve threw up his hands.
"Right, this is not getting us anywhere." Danny sounded disappointed and sad, but Steve could see the grin he tried to hide. "Monkey, why don't you get us the shave ice I promised you before Captain Klutz had to reenact the dying swan."
"It's Commander Klutz," Steve corrected automatically. "You are not letting this go, are you."
"I'm really not. Shouldn't your super reflexes have protected you from this?"
"I was distracted, okay? Can we drop this now? Can we get over to the ice eating? I want one, too." He really, really, really didn't want to explain that he hadn't paid attention to what was in front of him because he had seen Danny from the corner of his eyes.
"Don't try to get in on my five percent discount, you mooch," Danny muttered but already, carefully so as not to jostle Steve's ankle, pulled out his wallet from the back of his pants.
"Five percent? How did you get a five percent discount. Kame is not one to-"
"Finish that sentence and your pineapple shave ice goes right back to where it came from, brah."
Steve startled at the reprimanding voice and hissed as his ankle moved - this really wasn't a flattering day for his instincts; First the fall and now he hadn't even noticed Kamekona walking up to them. He wanted to reach down and grab his ankle, but Danny's strong, yet gentle fingers wrapped around his wrist and pulled his hand away.
"Sorry, brah." The big man immediately apologized and sat the ice down on the table in front of him. Steve waved his guilt away.
"I wanted to tell you that Uncle Kame said he would bring the ice to us, but it's not polite to interrupt," Grace piped up as she sat down at the opposite side of the table, grinning cheekily at her father, who sent a mild glare back. She must be used to that look because she kept up her grinning until Kamekona set her own shave ice in front of her.
"My little haole is right. The discount is for Williams family only."
"I thought we were friends." Steve did the best impression of a pained man, hand over his heart.
"Friends don't rip each other off."
"I never ripped you off!" Steve exclaimed. "I always pay full price with a good tip."
"Not enough for all that you get from me." Kamekona shook his head sadly, referring to all the information he's handed Steve, and gave Danny his melon ice.
"You're saying it like I've planned to buy those six XXL shirts of yours," Steve grumbled and pouted to all their amusement. He wasn't really angry or anything. He knew how much of a help Kamekona was in a lot of cases, and he paid for it gladly. But the sweet giggle from the little girl he'd just met and Danny smiling around his spoonful of shave ice made him play it up even more. His lower lip pulled out a little, and he poked half-heartedly at his own treat. "What did Danny do to deserve the discount, anyway?"
Kamekona clapped a big, strong hand down on Danny's shoulder, almost making the blond choke. "My doctor friend here saved my cousin Flippah from choking on a shrimp. Not only keeping him alive, but also saving my truck from bad press. No one likes to go to a food truck where someone recently died. Bad business, I'm telling ya."
Okay, Steve could understand the discount then. He watched Grace throwing her father a look of pride and Danny ducking his head a little in embarrassment. He mentally promised himself he'd get the whole story later, but for now he kept up his phony hurt feelings.
"So, he was doing his job well, I'm doing mine, too. I save people. I want my discount."
"The life guard out there is doing his job as well, or the postman, or my delivery guy. Want me to hand out discounts to every living soul? You have no mind for business, McGarrett. Now excuse me, I have to take care of other, full-paying, customers." With one last teeth rattling shake, Kamekona let go of Danny's shoulder and ambled off.
"You know," Danny said not a second later, looking at Steve with serious eyes. "The ice tastes better when you have to pay less." He nodded seriously.
"You are a terrible person, Daniel Williams." Steve narrowed his eyes at him. "I hate you."
The medic gave him a toothy grin, spoon still in his mouth. "No, you don't."
No. Steve really didn't. He couldn't help his answering grin. This day really had turned out better than he had expected.
xoxo
Thanks for reading :)