Steve McGarrett was hating his birthday so far.
His old school friend Tyler had insisted that he come to New York to celebrate his 25th birthday 'in style', but when Steve and his friends had arrived it emerged that Tyler's place was actually somewhat of a dive – an apartment on the fourth floor of a crappy block out in a bad neighbourhood.
They'd been out locally for a few drinks, but Steve had avoided drinking too much because he knew what his friends were like, and also it seemed alcohol was so much more expensive in the city bars. A couple of beers was all he'd had so far, that and the tequila shot that had been practically forced on him.
Then Tyler had announced they were heading back to his apartment because he'd 'booked a surprise' for his pal's gift – a cute, blonde stripper.
He wasn't a huge fan of being forced to watch strippers – it made him uncomfortable, having been brought up to be respectful of women – but the guys had hassled him and jostled him until he gave in and sat on the chair in the middle of the living room like they'd asked. He regretted it immediately when they clicked cuffs around his wrists and linked them to the chair (even though he could tell they were shit plastic and he could break them if required), and even more so when a blindfold was slipped over his face. Well at least he didn't have to look this poor woman in the eyes while she took her clothes off for a pack of flesh-hungry idiots...
The front door was opened, and some titters of amusement echoed around the room, and Steve immediately knew something was off. There was no way his buddies had done what they'd promised, they weren't that nice. The girl was probably going to turn out to be someone they deemed as ugly or fat, not that he would care about that himself. His friends were morons, but Steve had more respect for ladies than them.
Some of the guys started jabbing at his shoulder and hassling him where he sat waiting, and he heard Mark's voice ring out.
"Oh Steve, man! Have we got a gift for you!" A hand bounced off his bicep. "We told you we were getting you a stripper, right? Well say helloooo to Danielle!"
Steve felt someone moved over him, legs either side of his own thighs, and then the person sank down into his lap. She felt a little heavier than he imagined the average stripper to be, but the warmth and firmness of her ass against his legs made his blood pump a little faster, even if he couldn't see what she looked like.
Heat rose up Steve's chest and into his cheeks, because he really didn't enjoy the attention, and he squirmed a bit in his seat and tugged at the restraints.
"Uh, hi Danielle..." he mumbled, trying to be polite.
The silent reply he received was a delicate stroke along his jaw while fingers curled under his chin. It felt for a second like he was going to get a kiss, but the stripper shifted in his lap to grind against his crotch and send blood rushing south involuntarily before she lifted back off him seconds later.
Tyler laughed. "She don't talk much, Steve. She's a little shy!"
And who could blame her? the brunette thought to himself, Because she's got to put up with you lot gawping at her!
"Come on then," one of the guys called out, and Steve thought he heard the bleep of a video camera being switched on, "Put the music on and lets have this girl do a little lap dance!"
Great, so there was going to be video evidence of this... he'd have to ensure that was destroyed later.
The background music got louder, and then the track was flipped over and Def Leppard filled his ears. It was one of his favourite songs, and he wondered if tonight's experience was going to ruin it for him.
The stripper's thighs moved against his legs and he had to widen his stance for her to slip in between them. Something pert and rounded bumped his chest, and it took him a few seconds of consideration to work out if it was Danielle's breasts or her ass. He figured if it had been her chest, he'd be able to feel her breathing on his face for that position to be possible, so ass it was.
Her legs moved against the insides of his knees and then her butt slid down his front to wriggle against his crotch, and his body began to respond excitedly to the contact. Fuck, this was so embarrassing.
The girl continued to sway against him in a sensual, rhythmic way, and he sensed the swish of fabric in front of his face which implied she'd just removed her shirt. He heard his friends all shouting and giggling like idiots.
Some of them called out to the stripper while others spoke directly to the birthday boy.
"Ah man, she's the hottest girl ever! You're gonna love watching this video later..."
"You're so lucky, bruh!"
Every comment was tinged with gleeful enjoyment, and he was really beginning to wonder what the punchline would be to their little joke.
A sharp ripping noise in front of him, timed to a loud beat in the song, made him jump. His brain reasoned that whatever the girl had been wearing – pants or skirt or uniform – must have been held together with velcro for quick removal. And now that garment was gone.
One of the guys crying out "Nice underwear, baby!" and whistling confirmed his suspicions that Danielle was now down to her panties, and that firm ass was back against his chest and bumping his chin again. He put his face to one side to avoid too much direct contact, but he couldn't deny how nice and firm she felt as she undulated against his collarbone.
He squirmed again as the stripper moved off him to nudge his legs back together and straddle him, and that delicious butt ended up in his lap once more, grinding against him while her hands supported her using his shoulders. It made him blush even more intensely and gasp quietly. He hoped she didn't hear that above the music, but she had more than likely noticed that he was turned on by her sultry dance.
He could hear Mark's giggle nearby. "I think our man looks too hot in that shirt, Danielle. Time to cool him down!"
Oh god, so he was going to get stripped too? This was unfair...
But her hands were oh so gentle as they moved to his waist and trailed upward over his shirt, and it raised the hairs on the back of his neck and on his arms. She was still dancing against him, but her fingers began to flick open his buttons with practised ease to the beat of the music, until his chest and stomach were exposed and the fabric was being tugged off his shoulders too. He licked his lips nervously and shifted in the chair.
Now that his shirt was open the stripper had access to his bare skin, and she took full advantage by trailing fingers upward either side of his ribs and smoothing a digit over each of his nipples. He jumped and drew in a sharp breath, willing his dick not to react. He could feel each movement of the body over him, still thrusting to the sexy rhythm of the song.
"Give him a little kiss, Danielle!" whooped one of his friends, slurring his words due to inebriation.
Steve didn't normally do this sort of thing, but he could already tell that his buddies weren't going to let him get out of the torture easily, so he lifted his chin to get it over and done with. She was basically sitting in his lap anyway, what was a kiss on top of that?
Danielle hesitated, and the brunette immediately felt bad for her, because she probably hadn't expected to be kissing anyone. Strippers had rules, just like any profession.
Tyler called out and practically ordered the poor girl. "Come on, kiss him!"
Steve was about to speak up and say that she didn't have to and to ignore his friend, when one of her hands moved off his chest to hold him still, and fantastically soft lips pressed to his. It was a firm but brief kiss, and he knew that the guys weren't going to be satisfied with that.
His fears were confirmed when they began to boo and complain it wasn't enough, insisting she could do better. Trying to make her feel better, he directed a small, sympathetic smile up to where her face probably was, and shrugged his own willingness. He was game if she was; it was only a kiss, right?
Not that his friends knew due to some of their ingrained homophobic attitudes, but Steve was bisexual and normally preferred guys. But he liked kissing girls too, and this meant nothing.
That hot mouth pressed to his again, and tingles raced through him at the more insistent contact when the stripper moved against his crotch. He found his mouth automatically opening, and her tongue slipped inside to press along his. It was glorious, and the stupid sounds his friends were making were drowned out by his sudden awareness of his own heartbeat.
Whoever this girl was, she was a fantastic kisser. She tasted of mint and sugar.
Her grip on his jaw was strong but gentle, and when her tongue delved even deeper into his mouth he pressed forward and released a little moan of enjoyment. Hot air huffed across his cheek and made him shiver, and the girl thrust forward in his lap slightly. It felt like energy was surging through him from somewhere, and he let himself drown in Danielle, who was slowing her dance above him to a gradual sway of her hips.
He was pulled from his reverie by the sensation of his cuffs being released from the chair legs, though they were still attached to his wrists, and his friend Chris chuckled behind him.
"Give your new girlfriend a little grope there, Stevie!"
He tentatively put his hands up to where the stripper was hovering over him, ready to pull his hands back if she told him there was a no touching rule, but there was such a strong connection in their kiss he hoped she wouldn't mind. When she didn't jerk away or complain he massaged softly, and that rounded ass felt glorious under his hands. He was slightly puzzled however, because she appeared to be wearing underwear that covered her cheeks, which he figured to be quite unusual for someone in her profession.
Danielle broke the kiss and straightened up, and he couldn't stop the slight noise of disappointment when her mouth left his. He had to get a look at this amazing woman, and he kept his left hand on her body while he used his right to pull the blindfold up off his head.
It took a second for him to focus in the now too-bright light, and he gazed up into sparkling bright blue eyes, but when he finally took the face of the person who kissed him, his stomach twisted. Had his friends worked out he was bi? We're they mocking his sexuality? Because the stripper was certainly not Danielle – she was decidedly male and, Jesus, really fucking hot.
He dropped his hands away, panic flowing through him, and his thoughts came out in a murmured "What the f..?" as he observed the stripper in all his mostly-naked glory. "You're a guy!"
The muscled blonde smirked and back away. "You noticed that, huh babe?"
His accent was purring and local, maybe New York or New Jersey, and he looked roughly the same age as Steve, but all the brunette felt right now was anger. Not at the stripper, but at his friends for arranging this humiliation. He actually felt guilty for the way they were not only being disrespectful to him, but also the poor guy they'd hired to give him a lap dance.
He glared at the guy who had orchestrated the whole evening. "You're such a dick, Tyler," he growled.
He turned, pulling his shirt back around him as if it might shield him from his so-called friends' laughter, and his eyes locked briefly with the stripper's. He was ashamed to see a fair bit of disillusionment flash through the blue before he had to look away. A beer was shoved into his had and he took a big gulp, and felt his face flush. That guy probably thought Steve was just like the guys he hung out with, all 'no homo, dude' and chest-beating neanderthals.
Several of them were clapping him on the back, congratulating one another on how they'd 'got him good'.
"Caught you out, Steve!" Chris grabbed his arm and clapped him on the shoulder.
Pete snorted. "You kissed a guy man, that's so gay!"
Steve had to physically stop himself from hitting his buddy, instead just playing along and laughing. "Yeah, you guys got me..."
"You fucking loved it didn't you?" Chris jeered again, "You had his ass in your face and you loved it!"
He glanced over to see the blonde throwing his clothes back on, hoping he wasn't hearing any of this, and he hoped they would take his embarrassment to be over the 'gay' encounter, not wanting to have to verbalise anything of the sort. It was anything but, because that kiss had been fantastic, and the twang of mint still felt like it was on his tongue, despite the alcohol he was now drinking.
"Aw man, you should have seen your face when you took that blindfold off! It was hilarious!" Someone jabbed his shoulder playfully. He'd stopped paying attention to which friend was mocking him by this point.
He watched Tyler move across the room to the stripper, who glanced back over at Steve for a second before turning to the owner of the apartment and accepting cash from him. The guy was smirking, trying to look neutral, but Steve could see he was unimpressed.
"Jeez, what a poof, man," Graham muttered loudly behind him, and Steve spun on him.
"Leave it out man, not cool," he warned.
"Whatever dude, you're the homo that kissed him!" The guy snickered and headed off for another beer from the cooler, which was probably for the best because he was about to receive a smack from the birthday boy to knock him into next Tuesday.
He was seriously so done with these guys...
He needed to apologise to the blonde man, hopefully make him see that not everyone in the room was like this, but when he made his way over to Tyler, the stripper was gone.
"Hey, where'd he go?" he waved to the open air, cuffs still hanging off his wrists.
"Danny? Long gone, bruh. Hey, that was so fun-"
"Hold this," Steve shoved his beer into his friend's hand, grabbing a notepad and pen from the side table and heading out of the apartment.
He took the stairs, pausing only to write his number out on one sheet of the notepad and ripping off half the sheet before flinging the rest of it over his shoulder. The least he could do was take this Danny guy out for a beer to apologise... and hey, if that led to more kisses like the one they'd just shared? He wouldn't complain. He still had one more day in New York City.
By the time he got out to the street, the blonde was standing not too far away with his phone out. He looked up to see Steve, a surprised expression raising his eyebrows.
"Hey," Steve approached and observed how the shorter man tensed, balling his free hand into a fist.
How many times had he been attacked for what he did to make him react that way?
"Danny, right?" he shoved his hands into his pockets to try and look non-threatening, and stopped a small distance away, "Steve."
Danny snorted. "Yeah, I guess we weren't properly introduced, huh?" he still looked wary of the brunette.
"I'm sorry man," he offered the other man a consolatory smile, "Those guys can be a bunch of douchebags sometimes..."
Danny gave him a suspicious look, but seemed to relax a bit and the corner of his mouth twitched upward.
"Uh, that's okay... used to it," he mumbled, "You uh, you don't seem all that angry. I mean, I wouldn't blame you. You were kinda victimised up there..."
His cheeks heated up again, just thinking about how idiotic his friends had acted, and pulled at his collar to try and release a little of the warmth he was suddenly feeling to the cool night air.
"Nah it's okay, I shouldn't have expected anything else from them, really. They think it's funny to put people in shit situations without thinking about anyone's feelings... If I'm honest, I don't really know why I hang out with half of them... They actually seem to derive fun from each other's embarrassment."
He was surprised when the blonde nodded and said something indecipherable. It could have been a foreign language, it could have been a sneeze, he wasn't quite sure. So his brain answered with a mixture of the two.
"Uh... gesundheit?"
His laughter made Steve's heart flutter a little. "No, schadenfreude... it's the ability to take enjoyment in a friend's misfortune. German or something."
Ah, so he'd got the language bit right at least.
"Oh, I see," he stepped in a little closer, wondering how to broach the subject of handing a stripper your number. It probably happened to him all the time, because he had a seriously hot body, and those eyes... but he didn't even know if the man was gay or bi or whatever.
"That's cool... Listen, I just wanted to catch you before you left and say sorry for those guys. It can't be fun having to provide a service for idiots like that and put up with... well, with the stuff they said, and the whole 'Danielle' thing..."
He was saddened by the 'it's happened before, it'll happen again' style response he got.
"Yeah, I guess it's kind of part and parcel of the job, y'know?"
There were a few seconds of silence while Steve got temporarily lost in the ice blue of those irises. They were like the colour of the sea he liked to surf back in Hawaii. He didn't realise that Danny was gazing back until the man swallowed and shifted his eyes to Steve's chest, creasing his brow.
"It shouldn't have to be," he replied quietly.
Danny looked up again, parting his lips a little like maybe he was about to speak... or something else? Steve was really beginning to notice how close they were now. He'd stepped right up to the blonde's personal space, but he hadn't backed away. Was he thinking about the kiss again, like Steve was? Had he felt that connection too?
Just then the doors slammed open behind him, and he jumped and looked back over his shoulder to see Mark and Chris lighting up cigarettes. Tyler had obviously informed them his apartment was no smoking allowed.
Chris whooped when he saw the two of them, and Steve felt more than saw it as Danny took a step back behind him.
Mark chimed in, obviously less than sober. "Hey! Steve's got himself a girlfriend!"
"Shut up, Mark!" He was getting so fed up with those morons right now... and worse still, he'd just been building up the confidence to hand his number over to Danny and there was no way he could do it in front of Chris and Mark. They'd tell everyone, they'd guess his sexuality, and he'd never live it down. He just couldn't deal with that right now.
And now Danny was shuffling awkwardly, obviously ready to head off.
"You have a good birthday, okay buddy?" he smiled lightly and brought his voice down to a whisper that Steve's buddies wouldn't hear, "And as for your friends, if they don't bring something positive to your life then maybe you don't need them?"
Wow, so he'd obviously sensed the brunette's consternation over the other guys' behaviour. It was good to know the stripper had set him apart from them, seeing he wasn't the same.
He nodded, and it suddenly occurred to him how he was going to get his scrap of paper over to the blonde without it being too obvious. "Yeah, I think you may be right there... Here, I also wanted to give you this."
He pulled some cash from his back pocket, two five dollar bills, and quickly folded them around the paper with his number on and held it out to Danny.
The shorter man waved his hand. "Nah, it's okay, I've been paid."
There was no way he was going to let this guy walk away without his contact details. Even if he found it and wasn't interested, at least Steve would have tried.
He took Danny's hand gently from mid air and placed the folded notes into his palm, giving him a meaningful look. It would be ten bucks more than well spent if he called. "Take it, it's a tip. For keeping your cool with them, and a job well done... You deserve it."
He was blushing again, and he knew it, because it was more than a job well done. Danny had seriously turned him on upstairs, using only his body and his natural rhythm, and oh god those lips...
The stripper seemed loathed to take his hand back, but instead of looking at what Steve had handed him like he hoped, the man just placed the money against the screen of his cell and shoved both into his pocket.
"Thanks," Danny nodded, looking flustered and coughing quietly, "I've uh... I've got to go. Thanks." He blushed a little, and Steve couldn't stop his lips curving upward at the sight of the blonde's adorable nervousness.
"Bye," he murmured, still taken by the attractive young stripper, and the way they were both obviously wanting to stay in each other's vicinity.
He began to register the background noise of Chris and Mark again, saying stupid little comments to one another, and as he watched Danny walk away he resigned himself to the rest of the evening. He planned to get drunk enough that his buddies' opinions no longer mattered to him, and when he got back to Hawaii he fully intended to see less and less of his supposed friends. Danny was right, they brought nothing positive; they were a bad habit he needed to break.
He turned to the guys at the door and light-heartedly told them to shut up or he'd break their faces, not really allowing the truth of his words ring through the way he wanted.
He looked up again in time to see Danny in the distance, at the corner of the street, and the blonde was pulling out his phone again. Steve's stomach twisted as he watches the paper fall to the ground, and he was afraid for a moment that the stripper hadn't spotted it. He was fully prepared to dash off down the street and retrieve it, chase Danny down if he had to, and maybe not return to Tyler's apartment at all. He wasn't getting this close and falling at the last hurdle.
But luckily Danny was bending to pick up the cash, checking it. He had to have seen he'd been handed the birthday boy's number. Steve couldn't quite see his face from where he stood, but the blonde shook his head and walked away out of sight.
Damn. Well, he'd tried. He'd really thought that Danny had felt what he'd felt in that kiss.
It wasn't until twenty minutes later, when he was back upstairs and his phone vibrated in his pocket, that he finally smiled again.
'I hate NYC. If you wanna take me out for coffee, you need to head across the river – Danny'
Okay, so maybe coming over to New York for his birthday had been a good idea after all.