shinysylver | H50 Fic - Visual Proof (Steve/Danny)

Title: Visual Proof
Author:

shinysylver
Characters: Steve/Danny
Word Count: 1477
Rating: R for language
Disclaimer: I don't own Hawaii Five-0.
Summary: Danny knows how he feels about Steve but for once he can't figure out how to say it. Coda to 1.20.
Spoilers: Episode 1.20
Author's Note: This is my coda to 1x20. I started it right after the episode and avoided reading any other takes on it until I was done. Thanks to

jesseofthenorth for the quick beta and for being a never ending source of support for me as I write.

“Seriously,” Danny said once the waitress had left the table. “Why won’t you let me sign your cast? I saved your fucking life up there. Would a little gratitude be that hard?”

“I said thank you.” Steve tilted his head and looked at Danny as if he was a puzzle. “What’s the big deal?”

Danny frowned. What was the big deal? The big deal was that he had almost lost Steve over the side of that mountain and it had terrified him. The big deal was that he didn’t want to ever feel that way again. The big fucking deal was that he wanted some sort of visual proof that Steve was his damn it. His name on Steve’s cast would show that. It would show that he mattered to Steve.

But of course Steve didn’t understand that. He was perfectly content with their arrangement. Steve wanted to have his cake and eat it too but Danny was getting sick of it. He wanted Steve all to himself.

“Never mind. It’s not important.” Danny sighed and tossed the Sharpie onto the table. “I’m going to head out.”

“You’re leaving? Already?” Steve asked looking at his watch.

“Yeah, it’s been a long day and I’m wiped,” Danny said as he stood up. “Go find your waitress.”

Danny didn’t look back as he left the restaurant. He didn’t want Steve to see the hurt that he knew was on his face and he didn’t think he could bear to see Steve with the waitress. It was hard enough pretending like he didn’t care about Catherine but to see Steve with a random woman, well that was somehow even worse.

Steve didn’t have relationships. He had friends with benefits. Granted, Danny was his best friend with benefits but it still amounted to an awful lot of non-exclusivity. Danny on the other hand wanted more. Steve was his best friend, his lover, and his partner. He spent at least sixteen hours a day with him on a regular basis. In Danny’s world there wasn’t room for anybody else. He just didn’t know how to make that clear to Steve without risking everything.

Once Danny made it home he tiredly stripped down to his undershirt and boxers and collapsed onto his sofa bed. He buried his head under the pillow and did his best to avoid thinking about what Steve was probably doing to that waitress right about now. But no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t shake the image of Steve fucking her up against a wall in some back closet at the hotel. The thought made him sick to his stomach.

By sheer force of will he managed to clear his head and had almost drifted off to sleep when he heard a key in the lock. There was only one person with a key to his door and he wasn’t really in the mood to deal with Steve at the moment so Danny turned over onto his side and feigned sleep. He heard the door open and did his best to regulate his breathing, hoping that Steve would just go away.

“Danny?” Steve whispered. “I know you’re awake.”

Danny dropped the act and rolled over to stare at Steve. “Then why the hell are you whispering?”

The confused look on Steve’s face was clearly visible in the light streaming in from the window. Danny’s hurt frustration was fast giving way to anger and he sat up in the bed and glared at Steve.

“Okay, Danny, I give. What’s going on?” Steve asked. “This isn’t a joke, you’re actually pissed at me and I have no idea why.”

“You can’t just leave it alone can you? I told you I was tired and you had to follow me home. Wasn’t the waitress enough for you?” Danny growled.

“You think I’m here for that?” Steve asked incredulously. “You left the restaurant obviously upset--don’t argue, I know you were upset because you had tone--and I was concerned.”

“For the last time, I don’t have tone.”

“Yes you do. You have tone right now.” Steve frowned and held his injured arm out. “ And all I can figure is that it has something to do with signing this damn cast. Does it?”

“Yes,” Danny responded, reigning in his anger. If Steve wanted to talk about this now then, damn it, they would talk about it. Not talking about it certainly wasn’t helping things. “Of course it’s not about the cast.”

“Okay that made no sense,” Steve said as he dragged a chair around next to Danny’s bed and sat down. “Which one is it?”

“This whole thing,” Danny said gesturing between the two of them. “It’s not working for me.”

Steve’s eyes shot wide open. “What?”

“Kamekona signs your cast, random women sign your cast, but me, I’m not good enough.” Danny explained tiredly. “Whatever we have...I know you care, I’m not questioning that, but it’s just not enough. Okay?”

“No it’s not okay,” Steve responded. He reached his good hand into one of his cargo pants pockets and pulled out a Sharpie. He tossed it at Danny and held out his broken arm. “Sign it.”

Danny caught the marker and set it down next to him. “No. Steve that’s not the point. I just can’t do casual anymore.”

“Danny?” Steve asked tiredly. “What do you think that hike was all about anyway?”

“Some graffiti--”

“Shut up,” Steve interrupted. “Let me talk for a change. The pictographs were the least of it. That place means something to me and I wanted to share it with you. Just you. I don’t know what you think is going on here but it’s not casual. It was never casual.”

“But Catherine? And that waitress?”

“I haven’t seen Catherine since the tsunami hoax.” Steve said. “And I certainly didn’t have sex with that waitress. Seriously Danny? I was just trying to get a rise out of you. It’s what we do. I thought you got that.”

Danny was starting to feel like an idiot but how was he supposed to know all this? Steve never told him that he had broken it off with Catherine. They never talked about what they were to each other. Sure the hike had been nice--well besides the wilderness, the running (seriously who hikes like that?), the dead body, and of course that horrifying moment when he thought that he had lost Steve for good--but he hadn’t realized it had been a date, like an exclusive I’m sharing my life with you kind of date.

“You almost died. It might have thrown me a bit off balance.” Danny said dryly. “But this thing, we’ve never actually defined it.”

“You need that?” Steve asked.

“Yeah.” Danny stared at Steve. “Yeah, I think I do.”

“Okay,” Steve said slowly. Danny could tell he was struggling with the words. “It’s only you. And as far as I’m concerned it’s only you for good.”

“Okay.” Danny said quietly, his chest tight. For once, he was too overwhelmed to actually say anything more, so instead he picked up the marker and gestured at the bed.

Once Steve was sitting next to him, Danny opened the marker and signed his name in huge letters next to Kamekona’s advertisement. He wanted it to be prominently visible.

“Really, Danno?” Steve laughed after Danny was done writing. “Why don’t you just write ‘property of’ in front of it?”

“There’s an idea.” Danny grinned. He carefully turned Steve’s arm and found a place that was less visible and drew a heart just large enough to write “Property of Danno” inside.

“What is it with you and hearts?” Steve asked as he turned his arm to study Danny’s artwork. “I’m never going to hear the end of this.”

“Good.” Danny smirked and laid back down. “You spending the night here?”

“You know I hate your bed,” Steve said with distaste. “You could come back to my place.”

“Not going to happen,” Danny said with a shake of his head. “There’s no way I am going to get up and dressed just to go across town and get back in bed. Besides, this has to be better than a Navy bunk and you slept on those for how long?”

“Fine.” Steve pulled off his boots and then stood up to take off his cargo pants. “But tomorrow it’s my place.”

“Sure thing, Babe,” Danny said as he scooted over to make room for Steve. Once Steve was settled in next to him, Danny rose up on his arm to look down at him. He studied Steve’s face for a moment, looking at the scrapes he’d received in the fall. “I’m glad you’re okay.”

“I’m glad you were there,” Steve said before reaching up with his good arm and pulling Danny into a kiss.