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It’s just a stray comment Danny makes, meant as a joke. He’s not even sure what he was talking about later, except that it had him pretty worked up in a fit of incredulous rage. If he had to guess, he’d say he had just remembered the time that some fancy coffee shop charged him eight dollars for a single cup of drip.
“Is this real life?” whatever it is has him wondering, loud enough that Steve’s neighbors could probably listen in, if they wanted to. Steve, sitting next to him on the lanai, has not once tried to tell him to lower his voice during his rant, which Danny would appreciate as true friendship if he wasn’t so damn annoyed with the world. “Seriously, am I sleeping? Is this a nightmare? Hit me, Steve.”
Steve looks confused. “That shirt really brings out your eyes,” he says, hesitantly.
Danny openly gapes at him for a moment. “I said hit me, not hit on me, you gigantic weirdo.”
“Oh.” Steve rubs the back of his neck. “That does make more sense.”
“Yeah, it does.” Danny chops his hands through the air, forcefully underscoring how completely right he is here. “Why on earth would I be asking you to hit on me?”
“I don’t know. Maybe you needed a compliment.”
“You’d do that? Platonically hit on me on command to boost my ego?”
Steve shrugs. “Sure. I’ve done worse things.”
“That you have, my friend,” Danny agrees wholeheartedly. “That you have.”
*
Danny almost forgets all about that one strange moment, but then comes the day that the office computer deletes every letter of his almost finished paperwork. He hits keys with increasing furor, but nothing seems to help. His hard work is gone, missing, no longer sharing a plane of existence with him, Danny Williams.
He shoves away from his desk, stomping out into the main room. For the computer’s sake, he’ll take a moment to cool off and consider, before he launches it through one of their office’s beautiful glass walls.
Steve is leaning over the tech table, staring at a map that could just as well be work as recon for a new hiking route. He’s the only other person still at the office.
Danny paces a little, drawing Steve’s attention, then stops and turns to Steve.
“Hey,” he sighs. “You know that ego boost thing we talked about at one point? I could really use some of that right now.”
Steve looks him up and down. Danny is just about to tell him to forget about it, it was a stupid thing to ask, when Steve inclines his head. “Your hair looked really soft today, Danno. Are you using a new product?”
Danny runs a hand over his own hair, half out of reflex, half to revel in its softness. “As a matter of fact, I am. Thank you for noticing.”
“Feeling better now?”
“Yeah, actually.”
Steve smiles. “Glad I could help.”
*
Then there’s the time Rachel announces that they’re trading Grace weekends two days before Danny thought he’d see his little girl again.
“Steve,” he says, feeling pathetic, “tell me something nice, please?”
Steve doesn’t even have to think about it, this time. “Your mind is almost as pretty as that shoulder-to-hip ratio.”
Danny smooths a hand down the front of his own shirt. “Huh,” he says, feeling a lot less pathetic all of a sudden.
*
Next, his car gets hit by a stray bullet during one of their suspect chases. Steve is right there next to him, staring at the sizable dent in the door with him, so hell, why not.
“Make me forget this happened, Steve. It hurts too much to see my baby in such pain.”
Steve moves to stand in front of the point of impact, even though he has to squeeze between Danny and the car to do so. He gazes down at Danny earnestly. “You’re a really good father.”
“That’s not really a pick-up line,” Danny feels the need to point out, even though he has to admit it would totally work on him.
“Wait for it. Do you know what a DILF is?”
He barks a laugh. “I do. Thanks.”
*
Then he drips tomato sauce on his favorite tie.
“Dammit. Steve?”
“Your arms look like they could keep someone safe from the world, and also fell a tree if needed.”
*
His favorite brand of cereal gets discontinued.
“Watching you handle a gun is a danger to hearts and panties everywhere.”
*
He has a regularly scheduled dentist’s appointment coming up.
“You know why I always keep my sunglasses close by?”
“Why?”
“Because your smile is so blinding.”
*
His coffee has gone cold before he can drink it.
“You should just hold it for a while. You’re hot enough to get it boiling.”
*
“Steve,” Danny says, at one point, just because he’s bored. There haven’t been any calls from the Governor for days, which is a good thing in theory, but enormously dull in practice. “Compliment me.”
Steve complies without looking up from the old file he’s reading. Knowing him, he’s probably looking for anything that could mean they have to reopen the case. “Those pants cling to your ass in all the right ways.”
Danny pats his own ass, feeling for the evidence. “Thanks, buddy.”
“What the fuck,” Kono whispers, softly but with feeling, from the other end of the tech table.
*
It all comes to a head one Thursday evening, when they’re sitting on Steve’s couch drinking beer and watching a recorded game, like they do at least once every week. Steve disappears for a second to fetch them fresh beers when they’ve killed the first two, and when he returns he uncaps both of them at once in some twisty SEAL move.
“A man could drown in the blue of your eyes,” he says, holding one of the beers out to Danny.
Danny takes the bottle gratefully, and the compliment with a hint of confusion. “What was that for?”
“You looked tired.”
“Yeah, well,” Danny says, feeling like he’s mentally fumbling around in the dark, “you look sexy.”
Steve watches him while he takes a pull from his beer. “You’re really not very good at this, are you?”
“Oh, please,” Danny scoffs. Not the most convincing argument, perhaps, but in all honesty he couldn’t care less about words at this point. “Just shut up and kiss me.”
Steve puts first his, then Danny’s beer down on the coffee table, before sliding towards Danny on the couch. He leans in, close enough that his nose tickles Danny’s cheek. “F for technique,” he tells Danny, pressing a kiss to the corner of his mouth, curling a warm hand around the back of his neck. “A for effort, though.”
“I’ll show you effort,” Danny grumbles, turning his head just the fraction that’s needed to slot their mouths together. He kisses the laughter right out of Steve’s mouth.
*
“This is a good look on you,” Steve says, much later, when they’re both satisfied and lazy, sprawled out on top of Steve’s sheets. “Naked in my bed.”
“Yeah, well.” Danny is speaking half into the pillow, but with purpose. “You still look sexy.”
Steve grins and rolls over to cover Danny’s body with his. And really, Danny thinks, if this is what it gets him, his technique can’t be that bad.