Everyone - Steve, Danny, Doris, Marie, Chin, Mary-Ann and Kono - sat at the patio table for the dinner Doris prepared. John was working overtime at the precinct but promised he would make it in time for some of the dinner. Steve and Danny sat opposite each other. As everyone else was talking and getting to know each other, they stared at each other, not listening to any of the conversation. Steve had a slight smirk on his face; his day was pretty much turned upside down because of Danny, and was glad that now he could get to know him.
As he was eating, Steve felt a small kick on his leg. Next to him was Kono, she tilted her head to prompt Steve to bend down to her.
"He's your crush isn't he?" Kono whispered into Steve's ear.
Kono smiled, the fact the Steve went red in the face made her know she was right.
"I won't tell anyone, he's cute though," Kono whispered.
Steve moved away from Kono and grinned at her. She smiled back and continued to eat her dinner, like nothing had ever happened.
Steve turned to Danny to make sure he hadn't noticed, he hoped that the crush on him wasn't that obvious to everyone else.
Steve listened back into the conversation to blend in.
"Yeah, Danny has just been telling me that he is already having trouble with physics. What did you say, you have an assignment due soon?" Marie told everyone at the table.
Steve could tell that Danny looked embarrassed; he obviously didn't want the whole table to know he was already having trouble in school.
"Uh, yeah, there's an assignment due at the end of the week, I have no idea what to do," Danny admitted.
"Well Steve is really good at Physics, he even helped me with problems in my final year," Chin replied.
Steve nodded and smiled.
"Well Steven you could help Danny with his assignment couldn't you?" Doris asked.
Steve looked down at his plate and played with his food, before looking up to everyone and smiling.
"Sure, that would be okay. I have to do the same assignment anyway," Steve said.
He tried to sound as casual as possible, but he was actually excited to be able to spend time with Danny.
Danny smiled sweetly at Steve, "Thanks."
Steve couldn't help but smile back at Danny; Danny almost looked as excited as him. They kept staring at each other, as everyone continued talking.
After dinner, Marie helped Doris clean up while everyone else went and played on the beach. Steve made sure Danny didn't feel left out the group, even though Chin and Kono were very friendly towards him. Steve, Danny and Chin threw a football around, while Kono and Mary-Ann ran around, distracting them.
Steve and Chin had strong arms from playing football at high school, so they threw the ball quite hard at each other. Danny also had a very strong throw, and made sure he threw back hard as well.
"You play football Danny?" Chin asked while they were playing.
"No, but I played baseball back home."
Steve imagined Danny in his baseball uniform, with the tight white pants and fitted jersey. He imagined him holding the bat at the tee with his back arched out, then hitting the ball with great force and running onto first base.
"Steve! Are you going to throw the ball?" Chin said and pointed at Steve.
Steve looked down, he did have the ball in his hand, his imagination had totally distracted him.
"Oh sorry," Steve said and threw the ball to Danny.
"So are you going to join the baseball team at school?" Steve said, trying to forget his daydream.
"No I don't think so, I got sick of it. I wouldn't mind learning how to surf while I'm here though."
"Oh Steve, Kono and I go surfing all the time. You should come with us sometime, we can teach you," Chin said.
Danny looked at Steve and smiled, "Yeah that would be cool."
"Yeah it would," Steve said, maybe a little too enthusiastically.
Over towards Danny, Steve noticed Kono and Mary-Ann whispering and giggling, all while looking at Steve.
All of a sudden, Steve wasn't having a good time anymore; he lost his smile and stared directly at the girls to see what they were going to do. He kept throwing the ball around, but made sure he took notice of what they were doing. They approached Danny, Steve breathed heavily, surely Kono wouldn't break her promise.
"So Danny, do you have a girlfriend?" Kono asked cheekily.
"No I don't."
"How about a boyfriend?" Kono asked again.
"No." Danny said without a pause.
Steve couldn't believe they were asking him this, but he was kind of glad they were, he wanted to know. Steve would look weird if he asked him that, but two little girls could get away with it. At least he didn't freak out too much when they asked if he had a boyfriend.
"So you're not seeing anyone at all?" Mary-Ann asked.
"No," Danny smiled at them.
"Interesting." Mary-Ann said and giggled.
Kono looked at Steve and poked her tongue out, and then ran off with Mary-Ann.
"What was that all about?" Chin asked.
"I don't know," Danny said and smiled at Steve.
Chin laughed at the girls and started to throw the ball again.
The sun had just about set and a cool breeze was coming through. Danny and his Mom were still there, Chin and Kono had left and Mary-Ann had gone to bed.
"We had a lovely time, thank you Doris," said Marie as they walked towards the door.
"Our pleasure, I'm sorry you didn't get to meet my husband, he has been having to work late the past couple of weeks" Doris said.
"Next time then."
The two of them kept chatting, while Steve walked Danny to the front door.
"Are you going for a run tomorrow morning?" Danny randomly asked. Danny had been pretty quiet all night, only talking when people asked him questions.
Steve smiled, "Yeah I go every morning, wanna come with me, again?"
They both grinned at each other.
"I go at 5, is that too early for you?" Steve asked, still with a grin on his face. He felt like he was flirting.
"See you then," Danny said and walked to the front door towards Doris and his Mom. He turned back and smiled at Steve like he had done on the beach that morning.
After they left Steve helped his Mom finish cleaning up.
"Danny seems like a nice boy." Doris said. She opened the dishwasher and put the cups in that Steve was passing to her.
"Yeah, he's alright," Steve said coolly.
"You be careful with him though." Doris bent down to the dishwasher.
Steve walked over to his Mom, "What?"
"Oh, it's just Marie was saying that he got into a lot of trouble back in New Jersey, lots of fights. I just don't want you to get too close to him, okay?"
"Uh, okay Mom," Steve said.
He could have snapped at her, he hated when she told him what to do. He can make friends with anyone he wants, and as for Danny, he really wanted to be friends with him. He didn't care about his past back in Jersey, he just wanted to get to know him more.
"I'm off to bed now," Steve said, sourly, he didn't want to talk to her anymore.
"Oh, okay sweetie, have a good sleep."
He knew he wouldn't, his Dad wasn't home yet, and he promised he would be here for dinner. They were going to fight late into the night. At least Steve got to see Danny in the morning.
Steve wasn't sure if Danny would show up for their run, but he did, and was patiently waiting out the front of Steve's house. He looked really tired, but sparked up as soon as he saw Steve. Steve was wearing a fitted white singlet, black bike shorts and his old sneakers.
"Morning," Steve said with a smile.
"Morning," Danny smiled.
Danny wore a tight, worn grey t-shirt with jean cut off shorts and some black converses.
Steve looked at what Danny up and down.
"I didn't really bring any running gear with me, okay?" Danny said.
Steve grinned, "Okay. Ready to go?"
They jogged off together, down to Steve's favorite beach spot again. Steve kicked off his shoes so he just had bare feet, and was ready to start running across the beach.
"How can you run bare foot?" Danny asked, puzzled .
Steve smiled, "It's easy and it's nice."
"It's nice? What's nice about running on grainy, wet sand?" Danny asked and used his hands again.
"Try it and then you'll know." Steve said and grinned at Danny.
Danny looked at Steve and shook his head, before kicking his shoes and socks off too.
Danny ran off from Steve and shouted "Come on then!"
Steve snickered and sprinted towards Danny. They raced each other up and down the beach, pushing each other out of the way when needed. Steve could tell that Danny was having trouble running on the sand, but never said anything about it.
"Hey, don't fall on me again." Danny said as they ran together.
"I fell on you? You fell on me," Steve said and laughed.
"You weren't watching where you were going."
"Either were you."
"Are you trying to make me push you over?" Steve said and smiled.
Danny laughed and run out in front.
The two of them sprinted back to their houses after a long and hard run. Danny looked beat, but he still had a smile on his face every time he looked at Steve.
"Wanna a lift to school?" Steve asked casually.
Danny smiled, "Yeah that would be cool"
Steve beamed, "Alright, see you soon."
Steve headed back into his house, as Danny did the same.
Even though Steve had only known Danny for a day he enjoyed spending time with him. Everything else in his life seemed to disappear when he was with him, maybe Steve's crush on him was fuelling that, but either way, he felt happy and content.
Steve drove Danny to school in his truck, the ride was mostly silent, but he enjoyed the company. Once they got to school they parted ways, as they had different classes. They were able to see each other again before lunch, for Physics.
Steve made sure Danny sat near him in the class, as he knew he was struggling. Danny seemed grateful for sitting next to Steve, as the teacher prompted his questions towards Steve rather than him. Steve found himself watching Danny as they silently did their work. He noticed the way Danny held himself, how he sat, the arch of his back, the crook of his neck, his determination to try and understand the problems before him.
The bell rang for lunch, and Mr Mills dismissed them all. Danny looked quite flustered as he packed up his books. Steve smiled as he approached him.
"How's it all going?"
"It's crazy, still have no idea what I'm doing" Danny said as he threw his books in his backpack.
"I can still help you if you want, how about tonight?" Steve still wanted to come across aloof and casual, but he really wanted to spend all the time he could with Danny.
"Thanks, that would be great" Danny said. He looked directly at his books in his bag to check he had everything, maybe because he seemed too eager for Steve's invitation for Physics help.
Steve watched Danny intently, before speaking again. "Wanna come meet my friend Catherine?"
"Sure" Danny said and propped his backpack on his back.
Steve clenched his backpack strap and led the way out of the classroom.
Steve took Danny down near the football field to where Catherine ate her lunch with some of her friends. Danny stood closely behind Steve, he looked nervous at meeting one of Steve's friends, as he didn't really know anyone at school yet.
Catherine smiled as soon as she saw Steve, she excused herself from her friends and went up to him.
"Hey you, how are you?"
"Very good, you?" Steve had an obvious grin on his face.
Catherine looked behind him and saw Danny, she subtly darted her eyes over to Danny for Steve to see, to check if Danny was the intense crush Steve had been telling her about.
Steve gave a little nod, before turning around to Danny and formally introducing him.
"Catherine, this is Danny, Danny, this is Catherine."
"Nice to meet you Danny."
"You too."
Steve could tell Danny was really checking out Catherine, not in a romantic way, just to see what sort of friends he had.
"You guys wanna go for walk?" Catherine said and picked up her bag.
"Sure" Steve said and led the way.
With his hands in his pockets, Danny shuffled next to Steve and Catherine as they walked and caught up again. Catherine directed them towards a shaded spot near the tree, where they could sit and chat more.
"So Danny, where are you from?" Catherine asked. She actually didn't know anything about Danny, just all the feelings and thoughts Steve had towards him.
"New Jersey, my Mom and I moved over here" Danny replied.
"Nice, are you enjoying Hawaii?"
"Not really, I don't like the beach"
Catherine looked shocked; she had grown up in Hawaii and had never met anyone who didn't like the beach. Steve smiled at Catherine's reaction, he knew that Danny wasn't too keen on the beach from their run that morning. He could sort of understand Danny's view, coming from a congested city with no beaches like Hawaii had, it had to be different for him.
"You don't like the beach?" Catherine said.
"I don't like the sand, or the water"
Catherine laughed and hit Steve on the arm. Danny smiled and intently watched Catherine's body language with Steve.
"So are you guys a couple or something?" Danny asked casually.
Catherine widened her eyes and laughed at Steve's face. Steve could see that Danny looked put out from Catherine's reaction.
"Ew, no way," Catherine blurted out.
"Thanks very much" Steve replied sarcastically. He could feel himself going red in the face, why did Danny ask that?
"Oh okay, you two are just very chummy together."
"Oh, we've known each other forever, she's like a sister to me." Steve replied honestly.
Danny almost looked relieved as he smiled. Steve smiled back at Danny, as Catherine sat there and noticed their body language towards each other.
The bell rang for the end of lunch. Danny picked up his backpack and swung it around his shoulder.
"Well it was nice meeting you Catherine, I have gym, I better go." Danny said and stood up.
"Yeah you too Danny," Catherine said sincerely.
"I'll see you tonight, seven o'clock yeah?" Steve said, almost stuttering.
"Yeah, see you then" Danny replied and headed off.
Catherine watched Steve as Danny strutted away. She smiled and hit Steve hard on the shoulder.
"What's on tonight?" Catherine said with a cheeky tone.
Steve grinned and hit Catherine even harder on her shoulder.
"I'm helping him with his Physics, that's all."
"You're really into him aren't you?"
"He's alright." Steve kept it casual.
"Yeah right! I think he's into you too."
Steve found it hard to admit his feelings towards Danny, let alone Danny's feelings towards him. Danny had been friendly, and that moment on the beach was hot, but he couldn't be sure that Danny liked him in that way.
"What about when he asked if we were together? A guy wouldn't just ask that for conversation" Catherine tried to make her point stronger.
"Nice answer you had there by the way" Steve laughed.
"Still I think he likes you"
"Come on, let's go to class" Steve said and wrapped his arm around Catherine and pushed her into motion.
Sorry for the long delay! Hope you like it, would love to hear your reviews :)
I'm already half way through writing the next chapter, so I will be updating soon!