Title: Unnecessary Risks
Rating: M
Characters/Pairing: Steve & Danny
Summary: Steve is scared into admitting a very special secret to a certain Jersey boy. Things get a little out of hand as he deals with the consequences of his last-minute revelation.
A/N: Totally going out on a whim here guys. Please bear with me and my run-on sentences and total lack of knowledge about anything Hawaii-related. Slash because you can't have Steve without Danno, and you can't have Danno without Steve. And we all know what that really means.
Danny rolled his eyes, heaving an exasperated sigh as the rest of his team frolicked about the beach like a couple of downright two year olds. Sure, the scenery was fit for a postcard with its fine, white sand and turquoise waters, but from where Danny sat in his shadowy little corner, it all looked like a big waste of time. Time that could be spent at his house, googling pictures of Jersey or cleaning and getting ready for Gracie's next big visit. Or something.
Danny stuck his full lower lip out in a pout, leaning back in his chair so that he could reach out and grab his near-empty bottle of sunscreen. Somehow, Steve had coaxed him out of his suit and tie and into a pair of grossly patterned swim trunks, but not even the precariously positioned umbrella and canopy of leaves above him could stop the Jersey cop from lathering on that lotion like his life depended on it.
Squirting some out into his palm, Danny listened to Kono's weirdly girlish shrieks as Chin splashed her with water. With those tanned, toned bodies, they all looked like they were out of a copy of Sports Illustrated. And the pure beauty and simplicity of it all just irritated Danny to no end.
If he could just slip out of this slatted beach chair and disappear, unnoticed, into the foliage surrounding the beach, maybe, just maybe he would then buy himself enough time to get into his car and drive off into the sunset towards his beloved, air-conditioned apartment.
There were a lot of ifs running through Danny's mind at this particular time, although all of them seemed almost entirely implausible, given the circumstances. This wasn't because he was lazy and blah, blah blah was just too full of complaints and witty comebacks to even move. No, it was because even though Steve was laughing and riding waves like he had lived his life in the water, the trained Navy Seal managed to keep an eye on the pint-sized detectives. At. All. Times.
Deciding it was time to take some action, growling Navy Seal guard dog or not, Danny hoisted himself out of the chair and dropped the sunscreen onto his towel. So far he had not ventured out into the heat of the sun, and even though Steve had warned him, nothing could prepare the mainlander for the blistering heat as the cooled-off soles of his feet made contact with the sand.
Letting out a small, almost comical yelp and stumbling backwards, Danny immediately steadied himself and glared contemptuously over at Steve as if it were his fault that he had just burned his poor little toes off. The detective in question was watching him from the water; laughing at the absurd, all-too-familiar expression of loathing that he received from across the beach.
Shuffling back through shade-covered sand to slip on his flip-flops, Danny mumbled creative expletives under his breath that, to nobody's surprise, did not make him feel any better. More adequately equipped this time, Danny shuffled his way across the beach and towards the water, stopping just before his feet hit the refreshing body of blue and crossing his arms over his chest in a way that sort of resembled a pre-pubescent pout.
"So, since I'm not having any fun and you're not having any fun watching me not have fun, how about we all just call it a day and let Danno-boy head back to his cozy little apartment. Sound good?" he asked, squinting against the sun and trying to look as serious and deadpan and intimidating as possible. Steve stood up in the water, surfboard in hand, sun reflecting off of the little droplets that clung to his muscular chest. The Navy Seal tried very unenthusiastically to stifle a laugh, shaking his head and sending a spray of glistening saltwater in the offending detective's direction.
"C'mon, Danny. Live a little! You're in Hawaii, you don't eat pineapples, you wear button-up shirts and ties to work every day…it wouldn't kill you to loosen up and dip your goddamn toes in the water." Steve said, his tone matching Danny's in false seriousness. Feeling his face heat up, Danny shook his head and rolled his eyes, taking a few steps back as the tide rose and tried coaxing him into its cool, refreshing embrace.
"No, see, that's not how it works. You may think that's how it works, but it's not. I am not in Hawaii to have fun. And I do not swim. It's not that I can't swim, I just. Don't. Swim. You guys can splash around in your little nature pool and abandon whatever questionable maturity you had to begin with, but leave me outta it." Danny said, raising his voice a little to make sure that Steve still heard him over the sound of the waves rolling and crashing.
Steve laughed openly this time, shifting his surfboard to that it rested against his other toned, tattooed arm and waited for Danny to give up and jump in, which he knew would inevitably happen anyway.
Sighing and deciding that his nine-year-old daughter was more mature than his boss and co-workers, Danny puckered his lips out thoughtfully and stared out into the horizon. Suddenly, an idea came to him. He edged a little closer to the water, allowing his flip-flop clad toes o just barley breach the shoreline and leaning in a little more so that Steve could hear him properly. Because, of course, having somebody listen to his little tirades was one of the most important things to Danny.
"Can I at least go to the bathroom?" he asked, his expressive blue eyes still squinting against the sun and trying to look as honest and trustworthy as possible. Steve sighed heavily, realizing that there was no way he could deny the baby-faced detective the right to relieve himself without some sort of retaliation. Several answers sprang into his mind, most of them containing a negative answer followed by an even more negative response, until he settled on the perfect, most logical conclusion.
"Only if I can come with you. That's my only condition." Steve said, his voce steady, if not a little more playful than he meant it to be. He wasn't stupid; he knew exactly what the smaller detective was playing at. He could see it in those earnest blue eyes.
A/N: Love it? Hate it? Let me know! ~I know it's a really awkward way to end the first chapter, but I didn't want to make it too long. It's going to start out a little slow but it eventually picks up, I promise. I'm guessing around the third chapter is when the action really starts. I spellchecked this one hundred times so please let any typos slide, for all our sakes.