Disclaimer: I don't own anything; all creative rights to the characters belong to their original creator(s).
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She's making Steve pancakes, because she's awesome like that. They're at his place because Danny has Grace this weekend, and Steve's house is bigger anyway. And he has a pool. She may have plans for the pool.
She's trying to find the syrup when the doorbell rings. She freezes comically, hidden behind the refrigerator door. The bell rings again.
Okay, Kono, be cool. You're just…stopping by to make breakfast. Without shoes on. Totally normal.
She opens the door, smiles cheerfully. "Hey, Mary Ann, come in."
"Hey! Kono, right?" Mary Ann smiles back, walking past her to the kitchen. "Ooh, there's pancakes!" she says spotting the plate on the counter.
"Yeah, I was just looking for syrup or something." Kono says, real casual like.
"Did you check behind the cereal? Here it is!" Mary Ann exclaims, getting a plate and helping herself to half the pancakes. Yeah. Kono may have to make some more.
"Where's Steve?" She asks distractedly, pouring syrup with manic glee.
"He's in the shower." Kono replies flatly. Whatever, brah. Cat's pretty much out of the bag.
"Do I smell pancakes?" Steve says, coming down the stairs, in a rare stroke of good timing. He's wearing boxers and trying to towel dry his hair, looking actually edible. You know what, screw breakfast. They should go back to bed.
"Hey, Steve." Mary Ann says, waving her fork. Oh, right. They have company. Gahhh.
Fine, whatever.
Steve looks startled, and turns to Kono, eyebrows raised in question. Kono just shrugs.
"Apparently Mary Ann is staying for breakfast." She says, handing him a plate.
He laughs and gives her a quick kiss, and when he pulls back he looks so unabashedly happy it ties her stomach in knots.
Mary Ann just makes a disgusted sound and reminds them she's eating.
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They're driving back from her favorite surfing spot, Kono trying to find a decent song on the radio, when Steve clears his throat.
"So, I'm thinking we should start telling people."
Kono turns to look at him, mouth gaping. They're stuck listening to Abba, but she's too startled to care.
"What? That's a terrible idea." She says, trying to understand where this is coming from. Also, she can't believe she's having this conversation to an Abba song.
"Listen, people will figure it out one way or the other. I'm just saying, it might good to, you know, ease them into it."
"Steve. You're my boss." She says slowly, in case he's forgotten.
"Look, I'm not saying we tell everyone. But Chin and Danny work with us every day." He pauses, sighing. "It's just more practical."
"You just want to be able to stare at me all the time." She accuses, deflecting.
"That too." He nods, not missing a beat. He goes to add something but hesitates, glancing at the radio with a puzzled frown. "Are we listening to Abba?"
Kono rolls her eyes and changes the station. "Like you get to judge." She mocks, only half joking. "You have terrible taste in music."
"I do not!" Steve protests convincingly but come on. She's been to his house. She's seen his CD collection (He's old, okay? Deal with it).
"Do too." She retorts smartly. Yeah.
The conversation pretty much deteriorates after that.
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There are exactly twelve people crammed around the dinner table, but growing up in a large family Kono has long ago mastered the art of eating without elbowing anyone in the gut. Chin is sitting across from her and seems to be having some trouble, being twice her size and having skipped a lot of family dinners the last few years. She's sure it will come back to him.
One of her cousins is getting married and Kono's mother has been endlessly pestering her with questions. At this point, Kono feels certain she's better informed on the wedding plans than everyone except maybe the wedding planner. She's praying for a change of subject. You can do this, Kono. The power of positive thinking and all that.
"So Kono" her cousin Leah starts, in a break between her mother's questions "I saw you at the beach the other day." She says in an overly casual tone, smiling mischievously. Well what do you know? That positive thinking shit might actually work.
"I would have said hi, but you looked pretty busy, what with that guy's tongue down your throat and everything." Kono almost chokes on her water and she knows, she just knows that she's blushing. Chin is looking a little bit curious and a whole lot amused and her mother leans forward in her chair."You know, tall, dark, handsome? Kept staring at you like you're the best thing since sliced bread? Ring any bells?"
Ohmygod, no. Please, for the love of all that is holy, let's not go there. Let's go back to talking about the bridesmaid dresses. I beg of you.
"I didn't know you were seeing anyone, Kono." Her mother says, somehow managing to sound both interested in the subject and hurt by the obvious omission. Kill me now. Okay, Kono, just breathe. It's going to be fine. Just keep your answers brief, don't volunteer any information. Like talking to a lawyer.
"Have you been dating for long?" She presses.
"Just a few months." Kono admits finally. Three and a half, really, but who's counting? Not Kono.
"Is it serious?" Leah jumps in, probably finding this more entertaining than the comparative analysis of different types of wedding cake.
"Uh—Maybe? I don't know." Kono stutters in embarrassment. Is it serious? She's never thought about it.
"Oh, you better find out soon, because the way that man was looking at you? He definitely knows." Leah says with finality, stabbing the air with her fork to make her point.
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The team is hanging around at the office, watching old football games and celebrating another case closed. Steve is sitting next to her, his arm casually resting on the back of her chair. Sure. They do this all the time at work. Not.
"Hey Danny, I meant to tell you." Steve says in a normal voice, but he's tapping his fingers against her shoulder nervously. Danny makes a sound to suggest he's paying attention, when he is in fact trying to inhale the contents of a Chinese takeout carton.
"Evaluations are coming up."
"And I need to know this because?" Danny mumbles around his chop sticks, still distracted.
"You're doing Kono's." He says simply, with all the subtlety of a person who would drive a truck through the side of a building and call it just another day at the office.
In hindsight, Kono should have probably seen this coming. When Steve said "let's ease them into it" what he actually meant was "let's just blurt it out at an inopportune moment in the most nonchalant way possible". She just forgot to translate.
Everyone turns to look at Steve, who's sitting there calmly, watching the game, his arm still around the back of Kono's chair.
"I am?" Danny asks finally, like he's not sure he heard right. "Why?"
Because there is actually only one scenario in which Steve wouldn't do her evaluation himself, and that scenario implies they're dating. Which they are—discreetly. Or, you know. Not so discreetly anymore.
GOD. Seriously? This is how he tells the team? Seriously?
Kono stares at Steve incredulously, trying to understand how she ever feels like sleeping with this idiot, until Chin clear his throat.
"Something we should know?" he asks, face neutral. Steve shrugs, looks at her. Kono rolls her eyes at him in exasperation and turns back to the rest of the team.
"Steve can't do it." She says resolutely, doing that thing where you look at the tv and it doesn't even matter if it's on because what you're actually doing is avoiding having to look at someone else.
"Can't." Steve confirms happily, fingers playing with her loose hair.
"Oh ho ho!" Danny exclaims looking like Christmas has come early. "So that's what's been going on. Because I'm telling you, I thought you'd had a lobotomy or something with all the smiling and the joking—"
"Let's change the subject." Kono suggests with fake cheer.
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"So I'm dating someone."
Dr. Hale doesn't so much as blink, but Kono thinks she might be doing somersaults on the inside, since this is the first time she has volunteered information, ever.
"Is it going well?" Hale asks, impassive.
"I don't know. I don't think so." She looks out the window absently, the leaves of a tree brushing against the glass.
"I think I'm in love with him."
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It's been a few days from the evaluation debacle, as Kono refers to it in private, and they're driving to a crime scene in silence when Chin decides to address the elephant in the car.
"So, you and McGarrett?"
Kono looks at him, but his face is calm, closed off. Chin must be an excellent poker player, but Chin is an excellent everything, so no surprises there.
"Yeah." She says, shifting uncomfortably in her seat and staring ahead at the road.
"I didn't think you were interested, to tell you the truth." Chin says and Kono turns to look at him in surprise.
"Steve's a good guy, cuz." Chin continues. "It's obvious…he's really invested in this. If you're not ready for that sort of commitment, you need to rethink this before someone gets hurt." His tone is gentle, chiding, like something a parent would use to remind a kid to feed their goldfish.
It's funny but in worrying over Chin's reaction, she's never considered he'd be more concerned about Steve in this equation.
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