I was tagged by @ibelieveinyou-ibelieveinus, @nade2308, and @themcinebcnd. Thanks, you gorgeous people!
Rules: tag 5 people you want to know better.
Relationship status: Me and my psychoses are very happy together.
Chapstick or lipstick: both? I wear power lipstick whenever I need to feel extra powerful and destructive.
Favorite color(s): Cyan
Last movie I saw: Kingsman - my friend hadn’t seen it and so my classmate and I decided that she MUST experience it’s awesomeness. We’re planning a Kingsman 2 movie night with whiskey and bow ties.
Top 3 tv shows: Hawaii Five-0, Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries, and Gravity Falls (I said Bull and Leverage last time so I had to pick two others haha).
Top 3 bands/artists: Imagine Dragons always and forever, Ed Sheeran, Train.
Books I’m currently reading: The only books I’m reading right now are my medical textbooks and I’m on a quest to put reading them off as long as I possibly can. Because they suck.
This is my gift fic for the lovely @h5mcdann0 as part of @ohmy-mcdanno‘s McDanno gift exchange.
Hope you like it, my dear!
AO3 Link
Steve didn’t exactly intend for this to happen. When Lynn and Melissa declared that they wanted the four of them to start taking couples yoga classes together, Steve readily agreed. Despite his poor performance at the Valentine’s Day retreat, he was actually good at yoga and was happy for a chance to redeem himself.
It did not go as planned.
He’s stretching in the classroom, watching Lynn make friends with the couple next to them, when Danny and Melissa walk through the door. He grinned at Danny’s disgruntled look and his partner shot him a glare. Melissa and Lynn immediately greeted each other and started talking while Steve sauntered over to Danny.
“Hey, Danno.”
Danny scowled at him. “Don’t ‘hey Danno’ me. It is your fault that I am here this early on a Saturday morning preparing to twist my body into unnatural shapes all because you were lousy at it before.”
Steve shrugged, delighted at the thought that he would get to show off his yoga prowess and listen to Danny rant about it for the next week.
But when the class started, and Danny and Steve ended up with their mats next to each other, Danny stripped off his shirt and threw it to the side where his bags were. Steve didn’t care until suddenly he was watching Danny stretch and bend over in nothing but tight exercise shorts with his shoulder muscles rippling under his freckled skin.
“Steve,” Danny hissed, twisting his head to look up at him, “get down!” Steve shook himself and bent over, passing his reaction off as a fluke and focusing on the directions the instructor was calling out.
It was not a fluke.
Over the next hour, Steve fell three times and wobbled in a position more than once. He was both confused and annoyed at his body’s betrayal and the amused smile on Danny’s lips did not help either of those feelings. Danny scooted over close to him as they moved into the lotus position for a break.
“I would expect a super SEAL to be better at this.” Danny’s whisper was full of laughter and Steve glared at him.
“I’m having an off day!” He insisted, ignoring the way goosebumps raised on his skin when Danny’s warm breath cascaded over it with a silent laugh.
At the end of the class, he saw Melissa and Lynn regarding him as they talked quietly. “Goddammit.” He muttered, shoving his feet back into his shoes.
“What?” Danny said, coming up behind him and running a towel over his sweat-slick skin. Steve’s gaze flicked quickly over Danny’s body, almost absently noting the bead of sweat trickling across his collarbone and the way his mussed hair fell over his forehead.
Steve reached out and brushed it back into place with his fingers while answering, “I have a feeling that my performance today just made sure that we do this class for at least two months.” He stopped, suddenly realizing that he was carding his fingers through Danny’s hair and pulled back quickly, choosing to ignore Danny’s startled look.
He heard Danny take a deep breath beside him and almost felt his decision to overlook what just happened. “Great.” He sighed. “More early Saturday mornings involving exercise and sweat.”
Steve shivered minutely, shoving all inconvenient thoughts of that drop of sweat dripping down Danny’s sun-kissed skin, and strode towards their girlfriends, determined to get his head back to normal.
He spent the entire brunch, that they had been coerced into attending, with Danny pressed against his side in the booth, steadily ignoring the body heat emanating from his partner. Danny runs hot, you know that, he reminded himself, smiling at Lynn across the table, why is it bothering you now?
“Babe?” Danny’s voice broke through his self-reprimanding. “You okay?”
Steve jerked, turning to Danny with an affronted face. “I am always okay.” He said haughtily, grinning at Danny and winking at Lynn. Lynn laughed and pressed her foot against his shin under the table. Danny rolled his eyes and went back to the conversation as Steve determined to push all of these sudden and inconvenient thoughts to the side until later.
He spent the day with Lynn, parting with Danny and Melissa after brunch. They went hiking and had a beer at Steve’s house. When Lynn leaned in for a kiss, Steve returned it, almost absently wondering what Danny’s lips would taste like.
He jerked back from the kiss, heart pounding and unable to handle the flood of thoughts that suddenly washed through his mind. Fuck.
Lynn was watching him with a concerned face. “Steve?” She asked. “You’ve been off all day. Is there something the matter?”
“I’m just tired.” Steve lied, smiling at her charmingly. “I’ll call you tomorrow?”
Lynn’s brown furrowed as she realized she was being dismissed. Steve walked her to the door, fighting internally with himself, and gave her a soft, apologetic kiss before waving goodbye as her car backed out of the driveway and headed down the street.
He lay awake and alone in bed that night struck with a terrifying realization: he was attracted to Danny. Not in the casual “oh hey his ass looks nice in those pants” kind of way (Steve had long ago become accustomed to that occasional reaction around his partner), but in the “I want to shove you up against a wall and fuck you until you scream” kind of way. Steve was already half-hard just thinking about it. He groaned loudly, willing himself to ignore the want spiking through his system, rolled over and forced himself to sleep.
“I’m a self-aware man.” Steve told Lou desperately the next morning. “I know myself! I don’t know how suddenly this could happen!”
Lou raised a sardonic eyebrow. “You mean to tell me that you just now figured out that you are attracted to Danny?”
Steve looked at him, unamused. “What do you mean ‘just now’?” He demanded, putting his coffee down and leaning forward intently.
Lou laughed, resting back against the bench of the booth. “McGarrett, I had to ask Chin and Kono within the first week of working with Five-0 if you guys were married or just dating!”
“Why do people keep asking that?” Steve grumbled, taking a long sip of coffee. Lou regarded him, an amused smile lurking around the corners of his mouth.
“Maybe you should ask yourself that question.” Lou told him, before standing up and tossing a few bills onto the table. “All I’m saying is, figure yourself out before you do anything drastic.” Steve opened his mouth to protest and Lou pointed a finger at his face. “Drastic is your first move, don’t deny it, Steve, just for once, think before you do something.”
Steve slumped back into the booth, sighing heavily and nodding in agreement. Lou looked satisfied and then left, calling out over his shoulder, “Good luck!” with a grin.
Steve sat staring at his coffee, forlornly wondering why his life couldn’t be simple just once. Calling Lou for consolation had obviously been the wrong choice and now he was rethinking every interaction he had ever had with his partner. He blushed as he remembered Danny casually patting him on the ass, cuddling on the couch, blowing off his girlfriend to go spend time with his partner, the way his heart leapt when Danny smiled at him.
Fuck.
--
This is fine, Steve told himself, walking into HQ on Monday, you can handle this. You’re a SEAL, you can handle attraction to your partner. Danny turned from where he was talking with Junior and smiled at Steve.
“Good morning,” Danny greeted, his smile quickly turning into a frown, “you look like shit.”
Steve rolled his eyes. “Flattering as always, Danny.” He called out, walking into his office. He heard Danny’s footsteps behind him, determined to find out what was wrong with his partner.
“Steve, really, what’s going on? You were weird on Saturday, didn’t answer my texts on Sunday, and now you look like you’ve gone three rounds with Godzilla.” Danny stopped in the doorway, sending Steve a panicked look. “Is it the radiation poisoning? What have the doctors said? Are you feeling nauseous again?” He spoke quickly, giving Steve a once-over, concern evident on his face.
Steve shook his head, holding up a hand to stem the tide of Danny’s worry. “It’s not that, I feel fine – well, mostly,” he amended, “but it’s not my health.” He sat on the edge of his desk and sighed. “I broke up with Lynn.”
Danny’s face twisted with sympathy. “Fuck, babe, I’m sorry.” He stood next to Steve and leaned back against the desk, pressing their shoulders together and looking out at Tani and Junior laughing at something. They stood in companionable silence for a moment with Steve becoming increasingly aware of their physical proximity and how completely normal it felt to have Danny pressed up against him, how much he never wanted to move, how much he’d like to stay next to Danny forever.
The thought hit him like a thunderbolt and he coughed in surprise. Danny touched his shoulder and he jerked away, too shocked at his own sudden realization to notice Danny’s hurt look. Fuck, this was way more serious than just attraction. He liked Danny. Steve blushed at the thought and pulled away, clearing his throat and moving behind the desk.
“I’m fine. It was probably a long time coming anyway.” He said, faking a calm exterior, shrugging and sitting down in his chair. Danny watched him, his head tilted and his gaze considering.
“Steve –“ he started but was interrupted by Tani opening the door.
“Hey, guys, we’ve got – oh,” she stopped, looking between the two of them. “uh, am I interrupting something?”
“No.” Steve said simultaneously with Danny’s “Yes.” They looked at each other, Danny’s brow furrowed and assessing. Steve cleared his throat, ignoring Danny’s look and strode towards the door.
“What is it, Tani?”
“We’ve got a case.” She said, trailing behind him towards the smart table. Steve could feel Danny’s intent gaze on his back and knew that he wouldn’t be getting out of the conversation but hoped that this case would delay Danny’s confrontation.
--
Four days later, Steve awoke from a blissful 14 hours of sleep to hear someone moving around in the kitchen. Senses immediately on high alert, he grabbed his gun and made his way quietly down the stairs, watching for any hint of the intruder. Hints of someone humming Bruce Springsteen made him smile and relax, strolling into the kitchen to lean against the doorway, watching his unexpected houseguest.
Danny hummed, frying something on the stove. “Good morning to you too, Steven.” He said without turning around. Steve grinned and walked over to him, putting his gun on the island.
“You heard me?”
“No,” Danny said, glancing at him briefly before turning his attention back to the bacon sizzling on the frying pan, “but I knew it was only a matter of time before you came sneaking down here with your gun and Eddie raised his head when you walked into the kitchen.” He gestured towards the dog who had come happily to Steve’s side, nosing at his leg. Steve reached down and scratched at Eddie’s head, smiling contentedly at how his morning has begun.
Danny raised an eyebrow at him. “Make yourself useful and make the toast.” He nudged Steve with his hip over towards the other counter and Steve chuckled, obeying the order. They worked in companionable silence for the most part, occasionally breaking the quiet to ask a question about the breakfast or mention something about the case they wrapped up last night.
When breakfast was finished, and they were both seated at the table, Steve making pleased noises over the bacon, Danny took a long drink of coffee and then placed it down firmly, fixing Steve with a look. Steve sighed.
“Do we have to do this now?” He groaned, staring down at his own mug of coffee.
“Steve.” Danny’s voice was quiet. Steve looked up and met his gaze. Danny looked worried, which was fairly normal for him, but something in his eyes made Steve’s stomach churn with uncertainty. “You’ve been acting weird for a week now. You kept pairing me up with Junior, which is fine, he’s a great guy and actually calls for back-up unlike another crazy SEAL I know,” Steve cracked a smile at Danny’s fond exasperation, “but you jerk away every time I’m close to you. You haven’t commandeered the driver’s seat at all, and you’ve been driving yourself to work, don’t think I haven’t noticed you blowing me off.” Danny’s accent grew stronger when he was frustrated, and this time was no exception.
Steve winced, annoyed at how transparent he was. “I didn’t mean to make you feel like that, Danny.” He stabbed at a piece of egg absently. “It’s just something I’m dealing with, I won’t let it affect our partnership anymore.”
Danny cocked his head, his concern ramping up at Steve’s evasive answer. “You can tell me anything.”
Steve let out a sharp laugh. “Trust me, I’m dealing with it.” Danny snorted.
“Babe, you don’t deal with anything. You just ignore it until it either becomes a problem or it goes away.”
Steve shrugged. “It’s worked for me so far.” He said, intending for it to sound joking but instead, sounding painfully honest.
Danny leaned forward, staring intently at his partner. “We can’t work together if you don’t trust me.”
“I do trust you!” Steve cried, completely offended by the insinuation. Danny cocked an eyebrow and gestured between them and Steve scowled. “That’s different.”
Danny scoffed, standing up and grabbing his plate. “Nothing’s different, Steve, except you.” He stomped out of the room, Steve watching helplessly, unsure how everything went very wrong.
He stood and followed Danny into the kitchen, observing the tense line of his shoulders as he hunched over the sink. Steve cautiously walked over next to him, standing close enough to see the hurt evident on every line of Danny’s face. Danny glared out the window at the beach, not turning to look at Steve.
“I’m sorry.” Steve said quietly, leaning back against the counter and staring at the island in the center of the kitchen. “I didn’t mean to hurt you.”
Danny sighed, resigned. “You never do, babe. I didn’t mean to yell at you.” Steve could feel the tension leaking out of Danny and felt terrible that he unknowingly hurt his partner so distinctly.
“I don’t know how to handle these kinds of situations.”
Danny snorted. “That’s an understatement.”
Steve bumped him with his shoulder, an unspoken admonishment and plea to stay quiet. Danny fell silent, turning to rest against the counter, mimicking Steve’s position.
“I realized something when we went to yoga last week.”
Danny made a questioning noise and Steve smiled. His partner couldn’t stay completely silent when his curiosity was so strong. Steve took a deep breath.
“I’m attracted to you, Danny.” He felt Danny tense next to him and hurried to get the rest of his statement out. “I think about you all the time and I want to kiss you and fuck you and even let you fuck me and stay in bed together for hours and…” Danny breathed in sharply and Steve hesitated. “But..” he continued quietly, “I’m also…I…I like you, Danny. I love you. And not like we normally say but, in love with you. I want to kiss you forever.” He took a fortifying breath and barreled on, refusing to lose his courage at this point. “That’s why I broke up with Lynn, that’s why I’ve been acting weird, and I’m sorry, really, I’ll try to keep it to myself, I didn’t want to make you uncomfortable, I, uh –“ Danny placed a hand on Steve’s shoulder and Steve stopped the tide of words, realizing that Danny had turned and was leaning against the counter with his hip, staring up at Steve’s face. He looked down cautiously and was rewarded with Danny gazing at him with a soft smile. Hope rose guardedly in his heart and he cleared his throat, licking his lips.
Danny’s eyes dropped, tracing the movement, and Steve felt a flutter of arousal rise at the dark look in Danny’s eyes. “Babe,” Danny said lowly, “I’ve wanted you to fuck me since I met you.” Steve flushed at Danny’s candor. “And I love you so much that when I was shot, I dreamed about us living here,” he gestured around them with the hand not currently caressing Steve’s shoulder, “together until we were old.”
Steve’s face broke into a glorious smile. “You love me?”
Danny’s smile mirrored Steve’s. “Yeah, Steve, I love you.” Steve leaned down and captured Danny’s lips with his own, wanting to taste that happiness for himself. He turned to gather Danny into his arms, reveling in the feeling of Danny’s arm slipping around his waist and a hand threading into his hair.
Danny deepened the kiss, pressing against Steve and moaning softly as it turned passionate and filthy in all the right ways. They broke apart, gasping, twin expressions of arousal and love intertwined on their faces. Steve reached out for Danny again but then hesitated, asking cautiously, “Melissa?”
Danny shook his head, waving his hands around. “Broke up with her two days ago when I realized that I cared more about your new-found singleness and sudden distance between us than I did date night.” Steve grinned happily and pulled Danny against him.
“Want to see my bedroom?” He asked.
Danny raised an eyebrow, laughing at the lame invitation. “Sure, Smooth Dog,” he teased, “blow me away.” He winked and continued laughing as Steve groaned at the pun and dragged him through the house to the bedroom to kiss the laughter from his mouth.
