A/N: Heya everyone! So, this is my first H50 fic. I've been really nervous posting in this fandom, cos the characters are really particular, and I hate going OOC. But thanks to cm757 and heyprincess, who have motivated and pushed me into writing something, here it is. Hope you all enjoy it. Please R&R!
Thanks again to cm757 for proofreading, beta'ing, giving me the prompt, 'jealous', and just generally being there to bounce ideas off of. Oh, and blackmailing me into writing.
Kono didn't get jealous easily. Mostly because Steve hardly did anything that got that green eyed demon to rear its ugly head. That's not to say that she wasn't a little wary anytime he got a call or a message from a female friend of his, many of which he had served with, giving them a tight sense of camaraderie. But she was always able to reassure herself that she had many male friends herself, and nothing had ever happened with any of them. There was no reason to fret over the little things.
She barely batted an eyelid when someone flirted him, either. If there was something Kono could pride herself in, it was that she knew him well enough to know that she didn't have to be insecure. Of course, at first, she would shoot the leggy blonde haole, because it always seemed to be a leggy blonde haole, subtle glares to back off but over time she had come to learn an important point. She wouldn't always be there when someone decided to try it on with Steve.
So she had backed off, now usually reacting with a roll of the eyes or a teasing quip if she was there to witness it. If not, then she was happy enough to know that he wouldn't do anything, anyway. Besides, she knew that if he did, then Danny would rat him out in a second. He made a big deal about Steve not reacting to hot girls flirting with him, so it went without saying that he would probably go a bit berserk for the opposite.
However, none of that changed the fact that come 3.14am, after a hell of a weeklong case, she woke up all alone in bed. In his bed. While he was probably still working on his car. Yeah, blonde women trying to get with her boyfriend she could handle. That '74 Mercury Marquis Brougham that was forever in the garage, she could not.
Pushing off the covers, Kono got out of bed, shivering the second her feet touched the ground. Either the house had cooled reasonably, or the bed was a lot more warm and comfy than she had ever realised. A smirk formed on her lips as she pulled on a shirt far too large for her over her sleepwear. No, she had always known that his bed was synonymous with her idea of heaven, especially after a long day. And with company.
Moonlight lit rest of the house through the various windows, but it wasn't enough to stop her from almost tripping down the stairs. She cursed herself mentally. Of course, chasing after suspects in 4 inch heels was not a problem, but make her walk down the stairs in the dark after just waking up and she almost broke her neck.
Letting out a sigh of relief that she had survived, Kono ran a hand through her unruly hair and tightened the shirt around her body when she reached the bottom, heading straight towards the garage. She wasn't even the slightest bit surprised to see the light lining the closed door, or the small sounds of clanging coming from within.
She closed the door quietly behind her and even though he didn't move or say anything, she knew that he would know that she was there. Steve would claim that it was just an instinct thing; she put it down as one of his many Super-SEAL skills.
Kono leant against the side of the front of the car, crossing her arms as she watched him work on replacing a piece of the engine. As much as she hated the car at that moment, she couldn't deny that watching him lean over the engine, balancing himself with one hand on the side right next to her whilst he tightened a bolt with the other, a look of concentration on his face, all while dressed in just jeans and a vest top, was very nice on the eyes.
She stood there until he pushed himself away from the car, a small frown still playing on his lips as he wiped his hands on a cloth. "What's wrong?" she asked him.
Steve shrugged, still staring down at the car. "I dunno," he told her with a sigh before glancing up at her. "I didn't wake you, did I?"
Biting her bottom lip, Kono paused before shaking her head softly. "No." It was a small lie, but when she saw his eyes take her in from head to toe and back again, a smirk tugging at the corner of his lips as he did so, she couldn't bring herself to say otherwise.
Kono, 1. Car, 0.
Resting his hand lightly on her hip, he smirked at her anyway in the end. "You're a horrible liar when you're tired," Steve pointed out before leaning in and pressing his lips to hers briefly. She kept her mouth shut and let him because she knew it was the truth. "Go back to bed. I'll be done soon," he murmured before taking a step back and towards the car once again.
Kono, 1. Car, 1. Dammit.
But she pushed that thought aside. "Hmm," Kono said in a faux thoughtful tone, tapping a finger against her mouth as she did so. "That sounds oddly familiar."
He looked up at her, probably to gauge whether she was teasing or not. At that moment, she was, but it was good to know that he worried about her emotions. "I know. I just, uh..." he trailed off.
"Got a bit carried away?" she finished off for him with a raised eyebrow. Steve blinked before shooting her one of his smiles that she had come to learn meant that he was either hiding or admitting something. Rolling her eyes, she sighed and pushed off the car. "Here, lemme look."
"Kono-" he began but she was already shoving him further along so that she could take his place in front of the engine.
"What? You know I'm good with cars," she reminded him, because even though she didn't want him working on the car right then, she knew him well enough to know when he was going to be stubborn and not give up. Even if it was on the car which would still be there the next day. And she really was good with cars. She just didn't like the ones that captivated her boyfriend more than she did sometimes. "I won't touch, I promise," Kono added mischievously when he didn't say anything, holding her hands up to show him that she wasn't touching it at all.
"What's that supposed to mean?" he asked, brow furrowed when she turned back to the car, making sure not to touch it.
She spared him a glance back over her shoulder when she leaned forward to take a closer look at what he had been doing. "What? That I won't touch? Oh c'mon, Steve, you really gonna pretend you don't know?" His silence told her that he was, to which she let out a small dry laugh. "This car is your baby. Your pride and joy. Whatever."
"That is not true, Kono," Steve scoffed, giving her a pointed look that she was sure would have worked on convincing others that that was the truth. She, however, knew the real truth.
"Uh huh. Sure," she brushed aside dismissively before standing back up straight and pointing to the engine that she had been inspecting. "That's your problem. You need to switch those two plugs around, but you gotta take the whole piece out first otherwise you'll snap the wires," she explained as she took a couple of steps back, but he didn't move. In fact, the only thing he did was lick his lips and smirk at her. "What?"
"You talking about how to fix my car is, uh, really kinda hot," Steve told her as he went back to work on the car. She was more than happy to see that he was actually following her instructions.
Kono, 2. Car, 1.
Shrugging nonchalantly, she smirked back. Not that he was looking at her anymore. "I know. You would've too if you'd let me show you before."
"Yeah, well, feel free to do it anytime you want from now on." The smile was clear in his invitation even though she was sure that he barely spared a thought to the fact that she was shifting from foot to foot. Coming into the garage with bare feet wasn't the cleverest thing she had done. They were now tingling from the cold concrete.
"And do I have to be half naked if I choose to do so then as well?" she asked him in fake intrigue whilst climbing onto the backseat of the car. The doors had been open, and she really needed to get off her feet before they fell off. And yes, she saw the irony.
"No complaints here," his now distant voice informed her.
"Then again, wouldn't wanna distract you from your car," Kono said, trying to keep the bitterness out of her voice, which she was glad to find that she had.
"You wouldn't. I can multitask," Steve replied and she wondered if it was only her who could hear the huge contradiction in those words alone. Here she was, half naked, in the backseat of his car. It was almost like a scene from a teen movie. Yet he hardly even noticed.
Kono, 2. Car, 2. Seriously?
"Oh, please. You give this stupid car more attention than you give me at times. You haven't looked at me once since I got in here," Kono finally admitted, crossing her arms as she did so. It was only when the words had left her mouth did she realise just how wrong, and slightly insane borderlining on desperate, it sounded. "I'm starting to feel neglected," she added light-heartedly.
There was a pause, in which she could hear metal scraping metal. "It's not a stupid car."
"Case in point," she scoffed, shaking her head lightly as she rested her head back against the seat.
Kono, 2. Car, 3. How was this happening?
"I don't neglect you," he insisted before peeking around the edge of the lifted hood to look at her as he confessed sheepishly. "Ok, maybe, maybe, sometimes I do spend a little bit more of our free time here instead of with you. But, look, a few more weeks and it should be done."
Kono stared at him incredulously even after he went back to what he was in the middle of. "Really?"
"Really," Steve confirmed.
"Not like last time? Because I have better things to do than to push this car after it breaks down," she told him, still not believing him entirely. For as long as she had known him, the car had been there. Heck, he had had a longer relationship with itthan he had with her.
"I swear. No pushing the car." And she actually believed him this time, because that's the kind of person she was. She, in this time and age, and even in her line of work, still managed to hold onto hope. But then he carried on in amusement. "You can steer."
Despite herself, she let out a chuckle. Kono sighed and ran a hand over the leather of the back seat. "I guess it will be pretty sweet once it's done."
"It will be," Steve agreed. There was a less of a strain in his voice and she figured that it was because he was now done. "And to celebrate, we'll take it out for a spin over the island."
Kono smirked to herself. Her mood, and night, was finally looking up. "After working on it for 2 years, I think it deserves a celebration."
"It's a pretty old car, Kono. It'll need a lot of tuning and touch ups every now and again," he informed her matter-of-factly, with a hint of annoyance that she chose to ignore and smile instead. She wasn't sure whether it was aimed at her or the car anyway.
She waited until he closed the hood of the car before replying. "I figured," she said, because she knew what old cars were like. Temperamental, as Steve liked to call it. She preferred useless. "You know, this car can't be good for the environment."
"I installed a converter," he told her as he came over to where she was, leaning with an arm on the open door and looking down at her. There was a look of triumph on his face as she scoffed and nodded slowly.
"Of course you did," Kono said in dry approval, amusement lacing her words and making him laugh.
Steve held out a hand towards her. "Now, are you getting out of there, or am I going to have to join you?" he asked, inclining his head towards the car.
Looking at the rest of the seat next of her, she shrugged and smiled innocently. Well, she assumed it was innocently, but with the way he grinned back, she guessed it had portrayed her thoughts more than she had wanted it to. "It is kinda spacious, isn't it?" Grabbing onto his hand, she tugged lightly. There wasn't much point in putting any extra effort into it; he followed her intentions willingly.
Before she knew it, she was reclined across the backseat with her head resting quite comfortably, at that moment, on the armrest off the opposite door. Kono knew that he had skills, but that had been pretty impressive. Before she even got to voice her thoughts, though, his lips were on hers as the arm wrapped around her waist pulled her up tighter against his body. Yeah, she didn't know how that arm had gotten there either. Or when he had dropped her other hand. Or when she had pulled off his top.
They broke away only to breathe. She felt his hand run through her hair, pushing it away from her face. "Hey," Steve whispered, pausing to kiss her once again, this time quickly, "you trump the car every time. You don't have to get jealous," he might have sounded serious, but she sensed the teasing under it.
Kono pulled away this time. "I wasn't jealous," she replied, still managing to sound indignant despite the feeling of his hand on her back, under both her tops.
"Hmm," he murmured, pulling them upright so that he could work on getting rid of her top. "Still can't lie," he told her before pressing his lips to her jaw and trailing downwards towards her neck.
"I'm not tired anymore," she said breathlessly, gladly assisting him with pushing off her shirt.
Steve smiled lightly, bringing his lips back to hers to feel her smiling too. "Good," he replied, laying them back down again after successfully removing her top.
Kono, infinite. Car, 4. She had to give it some credit, she figured as her fingers fumbled with unclasping his jeans. It had led her to a pretty decent situation.
A/N: Thanks for reading! =D Lemme know what you think, please?