Way 73
Hold her hand in public.

Steve saw it coming the second before it actually did.

He turned to find his partner; Danny was five whole steps away.

He could get to him in time, though.

He knew he could.

He moved.

Fast.

Grabbed Danny's hand tight.

Pulled; yanked, really.

Half-dragged the shorter man across the parking lot.

Barely reached the Camaro as the hail of bullets rained down on it and them.

Danny hit in the Kevlar.

Steve hit in the calf.

Steve went down. Danny went down on top of him.

Steve struggled to roll, to get Danny under his body, to cover him, protect him.

Have his back.

Danny fought him.

Danny always fights him, but this?

This was non-negotiable.

So Steve threatened to hit him.

Danny glared, opened the passenger door of the car, manhandled Steve in.

Managed to climb over him across to the driver's side.

Bullets rained down.

Danny got them out of there.

"Next time you wanna hold my hand, Steve, let's do it without bullets!"

Danno was ranting.

So Steve was shot, but happy.

He never did quite let go of Danny's hand.

Way 74
Put your arm around her in front of friends.

"Don't worry, Danno. I have a surefire way to get you out of there if need be."

Well, shame on Danny for not making sure he knows precisely what that 'surefire way' consists of. Because, you know, his idiocy in trusting without clarifying has resulted in this, this right here.

This bar. This case. This bit of undercover. This whole thing where Danny is supposed to be a drunk, down-on-his-luck broke Mainlander (well, he doesn't have to reach that far for some of it) who is stuck in Honolulu without a penny to his name and nowhere to stay.

Enter Suspect #1 who, of course, loves to prey on tourists that stupidly burn every penny at any one of a number of local tourist traps, casinos included. He finds 'em, kidnaps 'em, and sells 'em.

Usually women, but there've been some men too, and Danny fits the rough sketch of those victims who've been male. Of course he does.

He sighs.

Because yeah, this bar, this case, this bit of undercover, and just when Danny is about to be pumped full of some sort of clear liquid he's pretty sure he wouldn't have been waking up from anytime soon, in comes Mr. White Knight.

No white horse in sight but hey, do the whites of his eyes count?

And anyway, armed-to-the-teeth, badge-flashing, subtle-is-not-in-a-SEAL'S-vocabulary Steve, there he is, sidling up to Danny and…get this…putting his arm around him, cooing in his ear about how he's ever so glad he found his 'little man' (yeah, Danny will punch him hard for that as soon as they're out of the suspect's line of sight), and how his 'baby' shouldn't worry so much when he blows his wad on the horses and Danny arches an eyebrow, because he just knows Steve uses the phrase 'blows his wad' on purpose, wonders if the use of 'horses' is also on purpose, and vows to punch Steve a second time just for that.

Danny sighs again, decides to play it to the hilt, so he wraps his arms around Steve, snuggles in way closer than he's ever wanted to be to Mr. Backup-Is-For-Pussies, and exaggeratedly drawls, "I love you so much, sugar."

Ah. Glare of Death for that one.

Serves the overgrown Boy Scout right, is Danny's not-so-humble opinion.

So out they go, and while Danny fully intends to throw a punch as soon as they're in the parking lot, what he's not prepared for is Steve to continue holding him plastered up against his tree-trunk torso all the way down the street.

Just as he's about to ask what the hell his partner thinks he's doing with the Attack of the Cuddles scene after hitting four blocks of distance between them and Suspect #1, a car pulls up alongside them, and it's just Danny's luck to hear the amused tones of one Kono Kalakaua as she says:

"You guys wanna be alone?"

At which point Danny manages to unlock himself from Tall, Dark and Fucked-In-The-Head, swings and clocks him square on the jaw, takes one on his own jaw for his effort, and then grins like all is right with the world.

Steve's matching grin sets Kono off on a tangent Danny really isn't prepared for, but it's as they're climbing into her little red car and she says, "So, was that foreplay?" that Danny just keeps going right out the other side of the back seat, slams the door behinds him, and keeps walking down the block.

"Aw, come on, Danny, I knew if I let go of you, you'd hit me."

"And you hit me back. We're good."

"So get in the car."

"Not with that evil woman driving!"

"I'm not evil!"

"You are, Kalakaua. You so are."

"Danny, get in."

"No. I'd rather be cuddled by Super SEAL again than get in that car with you!"

And so that's how now, one hour later, the two leaders of the Governor of Hawaii's very special Five-0 task force are walking slowly towards the McGarrett house.

Because while it might be okay for the boys to mess around with each other and solve it all with a good fist or two, it is not okay in one Lady Task Force Member's opinion to be called evil by the haole and subsequently grinned at for it by The Boss. And really, Danny should know better than to give Kono openings like he had.

So if anyone asks how come Steve's right wrist is handcuffed to Danny's right wrist…resulting in the physical necessity for Steve's right arm to be around Danny's shoulder, well…neither man is really ready to admit it's because they let a woman do it to 'em, never mind that they both also outrank her.

Danny really doesn't think the Jersey Slip's gonna help here. Maybe Kamekona won't mind a phone call at two a.m…