I'll Look Swell But You'll Look Sweller- captainspangly

It’ll do…

      It.. 

          It’ll do..? 

                  Oh

Maybe Steve could have added more spice? Maybe he could have put more effort into the dinner. Hamburgers? What was he thinking? Steve could have done something more elaborate. Maybe Danny got sick of his ridiculously American dinners all the time. Did he make hamburgers last week? Maybe he should have done spaghetti.. some kind of pasta? He should have done better.. 

Steve’s shoulders start to slump and his lip presses out of his own accord, trembling slightly. “I… I…” He stammers for a moment as the unmistakable burn of tears starts to prick at his eyes. “Are you.. are you tired of hamburgers? Did you already have one today? I’m sorry… I should be more inventive with my cooking, I know.. I just.. barely got home before you.. and this was quick and I wanted there to be food on the table for you.. and th-this was quick.. I’m sorry..” 

danny stops chewing mid bite. Steve's slumped shoulders and stammering go right through him; that warm fizzy feeling dies in him and he swallows a too-big chunk of burger.

"Steve," he says, voice quiet. He puts his birger down and pushes the plat away from him, hating himself for making Steve's voice tremble like that. He can't even look at his hero's face because he knows there's probably tears in Steve's eyes and he can't handle it, he will punch the fucking table in half because Steve is the last person in the entire goddamn world Danny wants to hurt.

"Babe, I didn't mean- this burgers are great, okay, i was yanking your chain." he knows that Steve doesn't always get his sarcastic deprecation; he does try to be more straight forward, but it's hard to lay it in the line like Steve does. It's easier, safer, to pretend things don't matter as much to him as they actually do.

Except when Steve Goddamn Rogers, living legend and all-around hero, has tears in his eyes because Danny can't fucking say a simple thank you like a normal, emotionally unstunted human being.

"Steve. i'l lalways eat anything you make, just because you make it, but burgers, you know burgers are my favorite." His cheeks burn as he speaks and the words tumble over each other in a rush of remorse. "don't be sorry, babe, it's perfect. If anything, I'm sorry for being an ungrateful shit, okay."

Danny. Hey, Danny. 

[ She only knocks on the door of his office once before she barges in, because the real heathen in 5-0 is not Steve McGarrett. It is Kono Kalakaua, and she is holding a box of coco puffs, fresh from the bakery, that she drops on his desk.

She nearly turns heel and walks out the door, but … changes her mind, instead, throwing an arm over his shoulder.  ]

Thanks for keeping everyone safe this past year. I missed you. And, uh, happy valentine’s day. 

What, what're you doin, huh?

[He's got a goofy smile on his face because Kono being Kono is the cutest thing in the entire world.

Of course she barges in. Of course she drops a box of baked goods- thankfully not her own handiwork- on his desk. And then thanks him, as if he is solely responsible for saving lives; as though she is not there when he glances back, like he doesn't go into situations knowing Kono is backing him up.]

Make a guy feel bashful, why don't you.

[He opens the top right drawer of his desk and takes out a teddy bear. it's holding a satiny heart and hasa giant red bow around it's neck. Grace picked it out; she said girls like stuffed animals and that Kono would particularly like this. He holds it up so it's hiding his face.]

This is for you, baby. you are my beary favorite.

Can You Stay? //Post Korea//

Steve jumps at first when Danny tugs on his shirt, a slight tremble to his shoulders follows right after. Steve knows Danny wouldn’t hurt him, not now at least.. maybe later, when Steve smarts off to him, Danny might consider punching him and Steve most certainly earned it but now, Danny wouldn’t hurt him now. Steve’s not seeing Danny though. He’s seeing Wo Fat, he’s seeing a cattle prod. He’s seeing anything but Danny and it take him a moment to come back from that place. Gasping and trembling nearly convulsively as he takes a step back from Danny. 

“Danny.” He practically cries and there may or may not have been tears gathering in the corners of his eyes as he backed himself into the wall, trying desperately to pull a breath in that isn’t a choked sob. 

He didn't think how Steve might react; he just needed to put his hands on him, to touch, to reassure. It's what he does: brushing Gracie's hair out of her eyes, picking her up, a hand pressed to the base of Kono's spine. he's always been tactile with Steve, too; he doesn't know how not to be. Pulling Steve back from a suspect, a hand on his arm when Steve's jaw is tense and his gaze far away; bumping him with his shoulder when handing him a beer. Danny touches because he can't say; his hands express his heart.

But Steve flinches, shivers away from Danny's touch, and red rage rises in him. Wo Fat did this; Wo Fat took this form of communication from them by hurting Steve. Danny's helpless to say anything more than "come on Steven, it's just me" and his voice is fissured, cracked because Steve can't bear to be touched. He steps away from Danny, and that fucknig hurts; Danny has always been tacitly allowed to invade Steve's space- at first to try to get Steve's goat, to rattle him, but now it's because Steve is so much a part of his life now he can't not be in Steve's space.

He raises both hands, a gesture of peace and surrender, and carefully follows Steve with one step. He uses his low, soothing, Gravcie having nightmares voice.

"Okay, babe? look at me. See, we're in Hawaii, you're in the house you grew up in. This is me, Danny, your partner who you drive up the fucking wall, okay, you make me crazy, but that's neither here nor there." He presses his lips together, takes a breath. he tries not to reach for Steve again, but his goofy goddamn hands don't realize they're not supposed to. He forces them to stay open, palms facing Steve. Steve crying; Steve's voice is broken and danny can't fucking handle it, he can't take it. "I'm not going to hurt you, i'm never gonna even slap your wrist, okay Steven, I won't, I promise, you're not gonna be hurt anymore-" 

and he can't help himself; he's in Steve's space, pulling all 6'1" of the other close to him, wishing he was taller so he couldget more of Steve close to him, where it is safe.

 And if Steve's not crying, he's not fucking crying either, but the sea mist is heavy tonight to be able to reach all the way to Steve's house, to be wetting Danny's face and Steve's shirt like this.

so many great faces

Can You Stay? //Post Korea//

As excited as one might be to return to their own bed after washing the blood off in your own shower, Steve’s not. Steve’s not because after the day- or night.. he’s had.. he’d lost track of time, one usually does that locked away from the light of day; he didn’t want to be alone. So he wanders into the living room where he hoped his partner hadn’t left. 

"Can you.. uh.. can you stay?" He whispers and his voice cracks in a way that he’d definitely deny if ever asked about it. "The night? Please and when do I ever say please, Danno?" He’s attempting to throw some humor into the situation because he doesn’t like this.. feeling weak and vulnerable but he’d much rather be vulnerable in front of Danny than anyone else. 

The truth is, Danny is barely containing himself. He's been pacing the whole time Steve's been in the shower, fists clenching and unclenching; he's as restless as a stormy sea. He has to restrain himself from going into the bathroom and checking to make sure Steve is still there, still more or less in one piece. 

and then Steve comes out, and the look on his face is something Danny never wants to see again. Steve is broken; Steve McGarrett, SuperSEAL extrordinaire and all around badass, whispers at him. Steve says please and Danny wants to destroy whatever, whomever, hurt his partner. not just hurt someone, but actually fucking end them, obliterate them, so that Steven knows they can never come after him and he's safe.

"Of course, babe," Danny's voice is gentle, and when is he ever this gentle with Steve? He can't even muster a quip, he can't bring himself to be sarcastic or flippant. Right now he's just grateful for Steve's continued existence and aching at that soft pleading tone. He doesn't know that there's a not quite gotten over fear in his own eyes, that he can't tear them away from Steve, that he's reaching for his partner, needing to put hands on him. When his fingers find Steve's shirt, he pulls steve closer and gets his other hand on him, too; one on Steve's shirt and one on his arm. "If you think I could be anywhere else right now, you're sadly sadly mistaken."

How would your character confess to loving mine without using the words 'love,' 'forever,' 'soulmate,' or 'always'?

submitted by anonymous.