Disclaimer: I own no rights to Hawaii Five-0 or any of its characters. This is a work of fan fiction and no infringement is intended.

A/N: I've been in a major writing slump for months, but when I was recently watching the BBC series Gavin and Stacey, there was a scene where James Corden's character, Smithy, greeted his best friend, Gavin, with a hug and a quick kiss on the neck. I immediately thought, "I can see Danny greeting Steve that way," and I decided to try and write a quick little drabble. It turned out to be longer than I expected, but I had fun writing McDanno again. I hope you enjoy the story.

Five times Danny ended a hug with a kiss to the side of Steve's neck and one time he didn't.

(1)

The first time it happed, Steve didn't think much about it. Danny was an affectionate guy, especially when he was excited or emotional, and they had just escaped near certain death at the hands of some would-be human traffickers. So, when at the end of the customary can-you-believe-we're-still-alive hug, Danny turned his head and gave Steve a quick kiss on the neck, he didn't give it a second thought. Really, he didn't. Instead, he slapped his partner on the back and suggested they go out for a celebratory beer.

(2)

It happed again less than a week later. Danny had to drop Grace off at school, so Steve was driving into work alone when the call from the governor came in. There was a hostage situation. SWAT was on their way, but the governor wanted Five-0 on scene since it looked like the Yakuza might be involved. Steve immediately headed to the location and straight into an ambush. He took out four Yakuza underlings before being grabbed. It was a tense (not to mention painful) two hours before he was rescued. He never had any doubt that the team would get him out, he just wasn't sure he would still be alive when they did. Once the gunfire ended and Steve was safe, Danny immediately started yelling at him for being an idiot and not waiting for backup while simultaneously checking him for signs of serious injury. Once his partner was apparently satisfied that Steve would live, Danny gave him a dope slap and then wrapped him in a rib-crushing hug. Because Steve was every bit as relieved as his partner, he held Danny just as tightly. And, just when the hug would have gone on longer than was socially acceptable, Danny cupped the back of Steve's head and placed a quick kiss on the side of his neck just below his jaw before letting go and dragging him to the waiting ambulance. It was so quick, Steve thought he might have imagined it. If he unconsciously touched the side of his neck so often that the EMTs asked if he'd injured it, he'd never admit the reason why.

(3)

The next time it happened, they were at Charlie's T-Ball game with no gunmen in sight. Even though he was only five, Charlie absolutely loved baseball. When he got the all-clear from his doctor to play, the little boy was so ecstatic that he slept with his baseball glove for a week. Danny and Steve both made a point to be at all his games (two afternoons a week, Hawaii's criminal element could just wait for an hour) and even the rest of the team came when they could. Charlie was a natural second baseman, but as a hitter, he was no Babe Ruth. Oh, he had great hand-eye coordination for a five-year old and had no trouble making contact with the ball … unlike most of the other kids who hit the tee or air more times than not. No, Charlie's problem was power. He was small for his age, so when he hit the ball it rarely went farther than the middle of the infield. On that particular day though, Charlie's bat connected with the ball in just the right spot and with just enough strength that it sailed over the shortstop's head and landed in the no man's land between left and center field. Through a comedy of errors (not officially since there are no errors in T-ball) committed by the other team, what should have been a solid double turned into an inside-the-park homerun. Danny was so excited that he grabbed Steve, who was cheering just as loudly, and gave him a quick hug and kiss on the neck before he turned away to hug Kono (no kiss, Steve noted) and high-five Chin. Huh, so Danny's new habit of ending a hug with a kiss to the neck was not universally applied. Interesting.

After that, Steve started anticipating it. Maybe he even looked for ways to prompt a "spontaneous" hug from Danny now and again. Not because he liked it and wanted Danny to kiss his neck (or any other part of him for that matter), but because it was a change in Danny's behavior, and Steve wanted to know what was going on. He was simply conducting an experiment with a sample-size of one. Once Steve started paying attention though, he noticed that it didn't actually happen every time he and Danny hugged. (And they apparently hugged a lot more often than Steve had previously realized.) Not that he was complaining that Danny didn't kiss him every time. It wasn't like he looked forward to feeling Danny's lips on his neck … even if they seemed to be usually soft. Still, he observed that a simple bro-hug greeting apparently didn't warrant a neck kiss. Neither did a casual arm thrown across a shoulder. No, it only happed after a full-on hug where because of their height difference, Danny's mouth was already in close proximity to Steve's neck. It was really just a coincidence that that type of hug seemed to be happening with more and more frequency.

(4)

Once, when Danny was coming back from a trip to New Jersey and Steve picked him up at the airport, Danny latched on to him like it had been a year instead of a week since they'd seen each other. Then, right there in the middle of baggage claim, it happened again. Just after Steve felt his partner's lips against the skin of his neck though, Danny abruptly pushed away and looked up at him with a scowl.

"Hmph."

"What?"

"Are you wearing cologne?" Danny asked and Steve squirmed just a little at the question. So what if he had showered and shaved before coming to pick up Danny? It had been a long, hot day and he had been all sweaty from chasing bad guys.

"No. Just a little aftershave."

"Hmmm."

"What?"

"You don't taste like you." And with that tantalizing statement, Danny turned and walked toward the conveyor where baggage from his flight was just starting to appear.

If Steve stopped wearing aftershave after that, it was simply because he didn't actually shave all that often. Plus, he'd read that mosquitos were attracted to scents. It was only prudent to try and lessen his risk of contracting malaria or West Nile Virus.

(5)

Three days later, Danny was the one who needed to be rescued. The team had gotten word that a group of mercenaries had been hired to kidnap a high-profile CEO and her husband for ransom. The fact that her corporation, like most other Fortune 500 companies, had a policy of not paying ransom demands meant that things were not likely to end well for the couple if they were in fact taken.

Five-0 got to the couple's house just seconds before the kidnappers. While Steve and the rest of the team provided cover fire, Danny made his way into the house to protect the targets and got pinned down with the terrified couple. In hindsight, Steve never should have let Danny go in alone, but they didn't realize the kidnappers already had two men staking out the place until they saw them dart out of the trees towards the house just after Danny had entered.

By the time it was all over outside, two of the hired guns were dead and two others were incapacitated from gunshot wounds. That left the two in house. Steve left Grover outside to handle things there while he, Chin, and Kono made their way inside. They found a fifth mercenary dead in the hall and continued past him towards the sounds of the knock-down, drag-out fight coming from the back of the house. As they entered what appeared to be an office (although that was just a guess since most of the furniture was either broken or turned over) they found Danny and a guy nearly twice his size doing their best to kill each other with their fists, feet, and whatever object they could lay their hands on. Afraid any bullet that hit the assailant would pass through and strike Danny as well, Steve raised his rifle and brought the butt of the stock down on the man's head with enough force to crack his skull.

Danny pushed the dead weight of the man's unconscious body off and crawled to his knees. His chest heaved from exertion and adrenaline and blood seeped from a cut on his cheek. Steve dropped to his knees beside his partner and this time he was the one to pull Danny into a hug.

"God, Danny. I'm sorry. I never would have sent you in here alone if I thought there may be more men than the four Jerry ID'ed."

Danny simply hugged Steve back, ignoring his partner's misplaced guilt. Once his breathing began to slow, he turned his head and placed his lips against the side of Steve's neck just below his ear. It was really more like a lingering sigh than the quick little kisses he'd been ending their hugs with. A moment later, softly enough that only Steve could hear, Danny murmured, "Hmmm, good, no aftershave." Then, using Steve's shoulder has a crutch, he pushed himself to his feet and directed Chin and Kono to the room where the couple was hiding. Steve stared after Danny, confused. He didn't know what was going on, but something had definitely changed, and he was starting to believe it wasn't just with Danny. Maybe something had changed with him too.

(+ 1)

It was another month before it all came to a head. Steve had talked Danny into hiking the full Ka'au Crater trail. They had passed the third waterfall and were on the unmaintained portion of the trail where even experienced hikers were warned to proceed at their own risk (according to Steve, he was experienced enough for both of them) when the clear skies of that morning turned to torrential rain, and they got caught in a landslide. A deadly river of rocks crashed down just feet from where they had taken cover, and they each got pelted with mud and debris. For long minutes, it appeared that it wouldn't be guns or bombs, or even Steve's driving that did them in, but that fickle bitch, Mother Nature. When the earth stopped moving under their feet and over their heads, they continued to crouch beneath the rocky outcropping where they had taken refuge.

"Are we alive?" Danny asked shakily. Before Steve could reply with the obvious answer, Danny stood up and the arm-waving rant began. "What the hell, Steven?! Is it not enough that I almost die every other day at work, but now you almost get me killed on our day off? We are never hiking again. Do you hear me? Never again! Bad things always happen to us on hikes."

"What? So, this was my fault?" Steve automatically became defensive at Danny's accusations.

"Yes, Steven, this was definitely your fault because I never would have been in this godforsaken jungle if it wasn't for you."

"But…"

"Just shut up and come here." Danny reached out and pulled Steve into a hug. Apparently, the rant was over … for now at least. Steve sank into the hug gratefully. He was just as shaken as Danny. People shooting at them, Steve could handle. He was trained to deal with that, but there was no way to control the situation when confronted with a landslide. They were definitely lucky to be alive. Steve felt Danny take a deep, calming breath and waited for the kiss he knew was coming. Only it didn't. Instead, Danny slapped him on the back a couple of times and stepped back. Steve just stared as Danny reached into his pack and took out a water bottle. He continued to stare as Danny drank half the bottle before returning it to his pack.

"What the hell, Danny?"

"Is there a problem, Steve?" Danny looked at him curiously.

"Where's my kiss?" Did he actually just ask that?

"Your what?" Danny asked, as if not sure he heard the question correctly.

"My kiss," Steve repeated because … in for a penny, in for a pound. "We almost got killed, but when we hugged, you didn't kiss my neck. What gives? You've been kissing my neck for months." Steve knew it was ridiculous to be upset, but he'd come to expect and even look forward to those little kisses from Danny. For some reason they seemed more intimate than most of the kisses he'd shared with his actual lovers in the past.

Danny tilted his head and looked Steve in the eye, "Do you want me to kiss you, Steve?"

"Uh, I mean, I'd gotten kind of use to it and then we almost die and no kiss." Yep, that definitely sounded ridiculous.

The smile that slowly spread across Danny's face, nearly took Steve's breath away. It was enough to make his control snap. He couldn't help himself; he pulled Danny closer and captured his lips in a kiss that was somehow both tentative and consuming at the same time. When Steve realized what he was doing he abruptly pulled back and looked at Danny nervously, hoping his loss of control hadn't just ruined the most important relationship he'd ever had. When he saw the twinkle enter those azure blue eyes, he knew that while something had definitely changed, other things never would.

"Well, it's about fucking time," Danny told him. "I thought I was going to have to give you a hickey before you got a clue. And, I'm sorry, but we're not fourteen."

"So, this was your plan all along? Keep giving me those little absentminded pecks and drive me crazy enough to really kiss you?"

"Well, the first time was spontaneous, but after that? Yeah, pretty much."

Steve wasn't sure whether to be flattered or irritated at his partner's manipulation. He chose irritated.

"What the hell, Danny? Why the mind games? Why didn't you just say something or, better yet, kiss me for real?"

"Because if you didn't feel the same way, I didn't want to freak you out and ruin our friendship," Danny explained, his tone one of intense seriousness. "This way, I figured one of two things would happen. One, if your feelings for me were strictly platonic, you would either ignore the kisses or tell me to knock it off. No harm no foul. Or, two … and this is what I was hoping for … the kisses would prompt you to actually start thinking about your feelings and you would eventually make a move." Danny smiled, "I guess my plan worked."

"You're looking pretty smug right now, buddy."

"Not smug, babe. Happy," Danny told him.

"Happy," Steve mused. "A happy Danny Williams is a rare phenomenon, but I think I could get used to seeing you this way." With that, he dove back in to reclaim those lips he'd been dreaming about for months.

Fin.

A/N: Thanks for reading and I hope I made you smile.