Bed of Roses

Steve felt like he should be more nervous about this or, in fact, nervous at all. But he wasn't. Even if Danny thought this was a stupid idea, Steve had nothing to worry about. It was so freeing to know someone loved you unconditionally. That there was nothing Steve could do that would make Danny turn him away, because anything that would cause Danny to do that, Steve would never do.

No, the worst that would happen would be that Danny would give him that 'you are a goof, but I love you anyway' smile; they'd laugh, eat, and maybe have 'you are a goof, and let me show you how much I love you' sex.

He lit the last candle and looked over the scene one last time. Then he heard someone whistle behind him.

"I feel decidedly under-dressed, babe."

Steve grinned as he turned around, expecting board shorts and a tee, but finding jeans instead. Steve certainly approved, because, man, Danny's ass in those jeans... He hadn't wanted to ruin the surprise by telling Danny that there would be a surprise, so he just invited him over for dinner like he always did, no dress code.

"My place tonight?" He'd asked, sticking his head in Danny's office.

"Sounds good."

"Cool. Gotta go to Pearl," a lie, "so I'll text you when I'm heading back? Six maybe?" Danny nodded and went back to his paperwork.

"I think you look amazing, Danno," he said, walking over and pulling him into a long, slow kiss.

"Uh huh," Danny said when the kiss ended, though they didn't really pull apart. "Says James Bond."

Steve finally pulled away, smirking.

"I gotta check on the food." Danny nodded, ran his hand down Steve's arm to lace their fingers together. He followed Steve inside.

"Whatcha makin'?" Steve's smirk grew but he remained silent.

He pulled his hand from Danny's so he could open the oven and peek inside, making sure to block Danny's view of the contents. He heard him huff in annoyance.

Steve closed the door and stood, leaning against it. He reached out to pull Danny to him. "Too far away," he mumbled for an excuse – as if he needed one – as he leaned down to inhale Danny's scent.

"Sap."

"Mmm hmm." Steve was unapologetic as he licked and nibbled at Danny's neck.

The detective sighed, tilted his head to give Steve better access, and ran his hands over Steve's ass, under his suit jacket, and settled at his sides.

"What's the occasion?"

"I love you?"

"You, ah, mmmm, you sound unsure."

Even though Steve knew Danny was joking, he pulled back to look into his eyes. "I love you."

Danny grinned, which was basically the best sight in the world, as far as Steve was concerned. "I know. I love you, too."

Steve knew that, had absolutely zero doubts about that, but every time Danny said it, it made Steve's heart skip a beat.

"So, really, what's the occasion?"

"Really. I love you. I wanted to do something nice for you. I mean, I've never done this for a guy before, but I figure it's not too different?" Steve had been with guys before, but he'd never exactly had to buy them dinner.

"It's great, babe." And yeah, that was definitely goof-but-love face there. Steve didn't think it was because Danny thought it was stupid though, but just because Steve was, in fact, a goof and Danny did, in fact, love him.

The oven dinged and Steve left Danny's embrace like he was a hot potato, despite the blonde's complaints. He'd put a lot of work into tonight, or at least into the meal, and he refused to ruin it. Even if it was for a good reason.

He heard Danny gasp as he started pulling stuff out of the oven. Garlic bread, roast vegetables and—

"Is that... chicken parmesan?"

"Oh, is it? Huh, I guess it is."

Danny took a closer look, a deeper sniff. "Steven, is this my mother's chicken parmesan?"

Steve just grinned and dished everything out onto the good plates, picked them up and started out to the lanai.

"Coming?"

He heard Danny follow behind, muttering to himself about his mother keeping secrets. He sounded fond and not at all annoyed. Steve set the plates on either side of the table, a few emergency candles in between acting as mood lighting along with the tiny white Christmas lights hung along the fence.

He pulled a bottle of white wine from the bucket where it was chilling and filled their glasses. He'd barely got them on the table before Danny grabbed his arm, turned him around, and pulled him down for a kiss. Steve let out a little moan and sunk into it. He let it go on for a couple of minutes, then broke it with a disappointed grunt.

"I put a lot of work into this meal. We are going to eat it before we get to that."

Danny gave a disappointed sigh until his eyes drifted to the plates and he remembered what they were about to eat. He sat with a grin and Steve followed. He picked up his wine glass to make a toast, but Danny was already digging into his parm. Steve chuckled, took a sip of water instead...

And almost chocked on it when Danny made a noise that Steve had only ever heard when he was doing that thing with his tongue Danny liked so much.

"Oh my God, Steven. This is amazing. Marry me!"

Steve just smirked and sent a silent thank you to Clara Williams before digging into his own meal.

a/n: I thought about having Steve propose, or even ask Danny to move in with him during the dinner, but decided I just wanted them to have a romantic evening 'just because'. :)