Steve McGarrett and the ball and chain - Part 2/2
Steve's tragedy is that he was born a non-visible.
He knows it. He feels it, every moment of his life. His parents love him, they do. But his father is a workaholic who doesn’t have time for his disappointing child. His mother thinks he's lacking but doesn't want him to feel bad, so she ignores him most of the time.
His childhood is a study in loneliness, and it gets worse when his parents split up. Mary Ann leaves with John. Steve stays with his mother and hardly sees his father or sister from then on. Not that he sees much more of his mother, but they still live under the same roof, which means they're bound to meet now and then, in a corridor or the kitchen. But Steve practically raises himself between the walls of his bedroom.
He can't wait to turn 18 and be allowed to become a visible at last.
When it finally happens, Steve's world is turned upside down in the blink of an eye.
The doctors have him naked and measured, tested and examined. His deformity is exposed for everyone to see and Steve blushes hard all along his tall body. Never had he been naked in front of anyone before, least of all people touching him. Like he matters. Like he's there, and they see him enough that they care to touch him.
There's one man in particular who makes him feel right. Danny Williams is older than Steve but his smile is comforting, and his touch warm and soothing. He understands Steve's fears and aloofness, if only because he's been assisting with turning non-visibles into visibles for some years already. Steve's probably just another patient but Danny never makes him feel like that. Where his mother failed all those years, Danny succeeds in a few minutes. Steve feels like he's important.
"It's probably the most meaningful moment of your life," the main surgeon explains as he keeps prodding at Steve's girl-like pubis, trying to estimate the place and size of the male organs hidden inside.
Soon, Steve will be a man like any other and he gets a little giddy thinking that Danny, in his capacity as Life Support, will be there beside him for the next year in this very intimate journey to birth his new self.
"We want to make sure you have it easy," Danny takes over. "The changes we're about to bring to your life will be hard enough to deal with, you need to be aware ahead of time and we'll help you to make the necessary adjustments once you've become a visible."
Steve isn't sure what this all means. The touch of the scientists' hands on his nether regions feels neither good nor bad but he can't predict what it'll feel like after. When his dick and balls finally show, will it be different ? Will the massages Danny will give him make it better ? He certainly hopes so, even if he doesn't really know why, just that Danny's hands feel the best, and that he likes the man's humor, his interest bordering on nosiness, but all in good fun and spirit.
Steve likes it when Danny's watching him. He'd like to keep those eyes on him forever.
The operation takes place in this white room, like a virgin board Steve will be able to fill at will. His will, any way he likes it. He already knows the first word of the next chapter of his story, and it's spelled D a n n y.
So it's no surprise to him that the first face he sees upon waking up, still groggy but already full of hope, is Danny's.
"Everything went great, Steve," Danny tells him with a big smile. "Do you want to look at yourself ?"
He's nervous, but he nods. Danny then helps him sit up in the bed, a hand in support at the small of his back. His other hand leads Steve's eyes towards his crotch, where he gently grasps Steve's now plainly visible dick and balls.
It's a shock. Overwhelmed, Steve feels tears leaking from his eyes. After living for so long like half a man, he's now complete. And overwhelmed. He can't help it. He's big, and so sensitive that he comes in less than a minute right in Danny's hand.
"Hey," Danny shushes the sob Steve can't keep inside, "this is good. You're visible now, and you're beautiful. Gorgeous, even. I know quite a few guys who'd undergo any kind of surgery to look half as good as you."
Steve turns watery eyes to his Support. He doesn't know if Danny went through what he did, if he understands him because he lived it first, but there's something in the way Danny looks at him that tells Steve he doesn't need to worry anymore. He's got a year to become the man he's supposed to be.
A year to make sure Danny never leaves him.
It's difficult at first, remaining naked at all times, wherever he goes, whatever he does. But it's also rewarding. He likes the way people look at him in the street, in restaurants, in motor shops. He enjoys the smiles and compliments, the way some men try to talk him into giving them his phone number and imply they'd love to see him again. But this is nothing next to spending time with Danny. The more time they spend together, the closer Danny and he become.
Danny is older, more savvy of the ways of this world, and he freely shares all this knowledge to help Steve open up to the people around him. Even his mother looks at him differently now ; too bad Steve isn't so interested anymore in her opinion. Too little, too late is the best way to express how he feels about her.
And then Danny kind of fills his world, so entirely it's scary at times. They do everything together. They go around the city and Danny looks like he's flattered to see that Steve is courted by many people now, the same ones who used to ignore him before. Flattered that Steve only has eyes for him and couldn't care less about his suitors beyond stroking his battered ego.
Danny spends a lot of time massaging - stimulating is the official word - Steve's newly appeared genitals. He teaches him to deal with an erection, and the best ways to enjoy himself, and it seems he loves watching Steve touching himself just as much as doing it for him. As months pass, he even agrees to touch and massage the rest of Steve's body, making him feel good all over his naked body. He pushes fingers inside Steve's ass and gets intimate with his prostate and, after a while, Steve stops blushing and sputtering. He even goes as far as asking for it. Every damn day, because there's nothing he likes as much as feeling Danny inside of him, taking possession of him. Making sure Steve belongs to him, and no one else.
It gets a bit rough at times, as if Danny compensates for the fact that he isn't allowed to take him and he wants Steve to enjoy himself for the both of us. But Steve welcomes anything Danny offers him with the same open mind and the same need to always deepen their connection. And Danny is never rougher than after Steve's been stimulated by other people they've met.
The law stipulates that, as a new visible, he has to let anyone who asks for it massage him. It's not always a hardship, and he knows Danny is very aware of the difference when Steve likes it or not. He knows because of Danny's fierceness after Nick or Adam stimulated him, handsome men who touched him intimately and made him come. There are many other guys, and a few women like Lori, but Nick and Adam turn up everywhere he goes, sometime stimulating him together in front of Danny.
Steve cannot hide any of this body's reactions. It doesn't have yet the maturity to refrain from orgasm, not even to stop wishing for more of those. But it gets there, gently, finding a new appreciation for the way Danny touches it over every other stimulation Steve might get from other people.
His body and mind are definitely in sync by the time the one-year mark comes around and Steve is pronounced a full visible. From then on, he could dress again, but he likes it, being constantly naked, seeing how turned-on Danny is by the view of his ass or cock. And he wants to make sure that Danny gets the hint and fucks him now that a relationship is not off the table for them anymore. With the end of the year, Danny ceases to be his very own Life Support and can now become his life lover.
So Steve buys a cock ring and closes it on his dick. He offers the key to Danny and tells him of his project for a life together. His desire for Danny to be his first and only lover. His dream to live and love together forever.
"Steve," Danny begins, contemplating the small key on his palm, "you know I can't."
"Why ?! I'm fully visible now, you're not my Life Support anymore, we can have whatever we want. Together."
"Sleeping with one's clients is forbidden by our guild."
"No, it's not. I checked, there's nothing in the law that says you can't after the one year anniversary."
"Well, okay, maybe there's nothing explicit, but I tell you, it's frowned upon. I could lose my license. And how would you feel anyway if I left you for a year every time I got a new client to be with ? A year, Steve. Do you realize ? Would you really agree with all the touching, me stimulating someone else than you, and the fact that we could never be together during all that time ?"
He hasn't thought about that. In the beautiful world he's imagined, Danny and he are living together and that's it. There are no demands from a job to deal with, no one else that might require their attention. Nobody else Danny's interested in.
"So you don't want me," he concludes.
"I didn't say that, babe. You're kind of the best thing that ever happened to me and I've been dreading this day for a while, but it doesn't change the fact that it ends now."
It does end. Danny goes back to the hospital to get ready for the next client assigned to him, and Steve has to create a life for himself, alone. Along the way, he stumbles upon Nick, and thinks that maybe he could make Danny jealous enough to change his mind. He arranges for Danny to know where he'll be and with who, and then chats Nick up to meet him on the bridge by the hospital.
He's still naked, and Nick has no qualms about touching him the way he did so many times already. But he gets more pressing. His hands roam in places they never went before, exploring Steve's chest, and then his ass. Steve doesn't really know how, but soon he finds himself facing away from the other man, as Nick spreads his ass cheeks and positions his cock to impale him.
That's when Steve sees Danny. On the other end of the bridge, looking at them, sorrow etched on his tired face, Danny looks small and defeated as he witnesses the moment when Nick takes possession of Steve.
It's his first time. It hurts, but it's also good. He tries to hide his pleasure from Danny, because he never wanted to hurt him too, but he can't, not when it's so overwhelming. He closes his eyes as he feels himself about to come, and then Nick shoots inside him, making him his forever.
When he opens his eyes again, Danny has disappeared. He knows he will never see him again. He made his choice in letting Nick take him.
He belongs to Nick, but Nick doesn't seem to think the reverse is true. Their life is empty of love. Their interests diverge so much that Steve can't quite understand what led them to get together, in the same way he never quite understood how he could be his parents' son. They share a bed, and sex, but that's it. Unless you count the way Nick shares him with his friends, insisting they have to broaden their horizons to make sure they never get tired of each other.
The fact is, Steve is already tired of this life. He feels himself drifting away, losing hope in a future that seems dreary at best, menacing at worst. In the first months, he thinks constantly about Danny, wishing he had insisted, found the words to make him change his mind. But with enough time, even the memory of the love he lost disappears, and he finds himself not caring anymore. He waits for his life to end, one way or another.
But then he's back on the bridge, and his life with Nick never happened, obliterated. Steve's learned his lesson ; back to this first day, he still thinks everything's possible if he just gives it his best, if he can persuade Danny to take a chance on him, because he will never settle for less.
And suddenly Danny's here, out of breath as if he's run to find Steve. Danny who pushes Nick away, over the bridge, helped by Steve. Danny is like his knight in shining armor, blue scrubs notwithstanding, and Steve almost feels like fainting when Danny takes him in his arms and they share their first kiss. It's beautiful and sensual, all the things he could never share with Nick and he's so glad that never happened.
Danny caresses him for a long time before he turns Steve around. He doesn't take Steve immediately, prepping him first with his tongue and fingers, making sure Steve is ready for his first time. Steve is more than ready, he's begging for it, and soon he's turned again, facing Danny as his lover penetrates him. It's possessive, and even this side of aggressive, to be honest. Danny's marking his territory, showing everyone else that Steve belongs to him now, and to hell with consequences.
And Steve spreads his legs, welcomes him in. He touches Danny too, learns his body by heart, enjoys every point of contact between them. He revels in the fact that passers-by applaud them, commenting about the beautiful couple in the making. And Danny keeps showing how much he wants him, fucking him hard and deep until he comes just as hard and deep in Steve's ass and triggering the same reaction in his lover.
Now no one but fate can break them apart.
-------------
The end of Steve's vacation had been very close to what he imagined at times to be his personal heaven. An infinity of warm and amorous moments spent with the love of his life - his family and friends near enough that he could summon them at will - and they would be all so happy together.
For the four days left in San Francisco, Steve had felt like that, minus of course the power of summoning the loved ones he had already lost. Walking on a little cloud, he had followed Danny around like the most fervent lover, sure that his man was perfect and could do no wrong.
Well, until the moment they had to go through security at the airport and the officer in charge of the x-ray device had looked at him funny after he checked his stuff. Funny as in contemptuous. He had Steve opening his duffle bag to explain what the chain he could see on his screen might be and how to use it. Steve wasn't even aware that Danny had slipped the whole get-up inside his bag instead of his own, pretending afterwards that he had too many things already in it, what with the gifts they had bought for the kids (Steve had made sure to mutter loud enough for Danny to catch his remark about all the unnecessary hair products.)
He still hadn't quite forgiven Danny ; all the blissful memories in the world couldn't stop him from letting him know what he thought about putting him in such a position. But he was getting there, the joy of being back home and seeing Grace and Charlie again going a long way in cooling him off, and they had gone to bed tired but the bickering phase was over.
He woke up to find Danny already awake, sitting against the headboard, watching him.
"I had a feeling you'd soon join the world of the living."
"Why are you awake already ?"
It was usually the other way around, Steve waking up with a smile next to the man he planned to love till the end of his life.
"Jet lag. I should have waited a bit to go to bed."
"You're used to worse when you go back to New Jersey."
"I know. Must have had things on my mind."
He didn't seem to want to expand on that thought so Steve made himself comfortable against his partner, resting his back against Danny's chest. Danny's arms closed around Steve's torso in return, gently playing with his chest hair or tracing his tattoos.
"Do you want me to give you something else to think about ?" he asked, knowing well Danny would understand what he was offering.
Steve remembered with the utmost clarity the day Danny had learned about Steve's going to see a therapist to understand his dreams, and the subsequent five minutes he'd spent watching Danny howling with laughter. Steve had not been pleased.
Yet he had let go of his frustration soon after he put an end to the sessions and proceeded to tell Danny about his latest dreams, working out their significance with him.
For the dreams had kept coming, paving the way to a better understanding of himself and his deepest needs. Creating a bond like no other between him and Danny. And sometimes the script for some inventive and quite risqué lovemaking that Steve was eager to experience and enjoy with his lover.
"Go ahead," Danny answered.
"Okay. It was kind of weird…"
"Your dreams are always weird. You are a weird guy, it's fitting."
"Shut up and listen. So I was this young guy, growing up alone because my parents weren't interested in me and I was deformed."
"How deformed ? Quasimodo-deformed ?"
"More like cock and balls not showing up, still tucked behind my pelvic bones, or my perineum, I don't really know."
"You were a girl ?" Danny wondered to tease him.
Steve gave a slap on Danny's thigh, nothing too hard, but nothing too gentle either.
"No, I wasn't a girl. It felt like it was some well-known condition in that world, and when I turned 18 I went to have an operation that would get me right. Guys like me, whose genitals didn't show, were called non-visibles. The operation made you a visible. It gave you a place in society that you couldn't pretend to without."
"I'm sure many women would say that's a very male point of view. I never pegged you for a chauvinist."
"I don't think that was the point. More that you didn't get any physical pleasure without your cock and balls dangling out for all to see."
"That, on the contrary, this person talking right now, is the exhibitionist in you I know and love."
"Are you done ? I wonder why I keep dreaming of you as this wonderful human being when you keep harassing me in real life !"
"So I do appear in this weird dream of yours ?"
"Of course, you do. You were some kind of medical specialist, they called you a Life Support, and your mission was to stimulate my pelvis and genitals after the surgery. Every day for a year, you lived with me and took care of me in every way."
"Stimulate you ?" Danny repeated. "Like this ?"
Danny's hand descended to reach Steve's crotch, his fingers gently massaging the skin around his cock and balls, regularly stroking his dick that didn't fail to react, hard and fast.
"Yes, a little bit more to the left. Right, just like that."
"Okay, what happened next ?"
Steve had to fight to get back on track, and Danny didn't make it easy when he kept on stimulating him. But Steve knew Danny took his job as boyfriend/therapist very seriously.
"I fell in love with you, and I thought you did too, so when the year was over, I asked you to stay with me."
"And it didn't go down the way you expected."
"How did you know ?"
"Because I know you, babe. Even when you thought I might be in love with you too, you agonized for months before talking to me."
"As I said, you're not as contrary in my dreams. You could have given in immediately in that one too."
"Where would be the fun ?" Danny laughed, kissing Steve's temple to belie his words.
This time, Steve caressed his thigh in reply.
"The fun is when you make love to me. But you didn't want to, so I had to choose someone else. During that year, I had to remain naked, and everyone I crossed paths with was allowed to stimulate me too. I guess that rule was to ensure the new visibles wouldn't fixate on the one person who took care of them, show them they could have a good time with other people too. I remember Adam, Lori, and Nick, but I think there were others too."
"You slut !" Danny snorted before he kissed his temple again.
Steve deemed it useless to add that his parents might have participated too. He was not in the mood to deal with some Oedipus talk. Or another rant against Doris' lack of maternal instinct, as Danny was wont to do.
"So what happened next ? Did we get our happily ever after ?"
"At the end, yes, but not at first. I thought I had lost you entirely, so I went back to Nick, and he was my first lover."
"Sleeping with Nick, hmm ? Who is he to you nowadays when you think of him ? Do you remember the comrade in arms ? The friend ?"
Danny was so serious suddenly, and Steve responded in kind.
"I see someone who betrayed me. And even worse, he wasn't true to himself and the oath he had taken. He used his skills for money, he stopped caring about defending people and got them killed instead if necessary."
"Okay. So why would you let him possess you in your dreams ?"
"I guess… it was like settling for second best, telling myself that if I couldn't have you, then at least I was sure he could make my body happy."
"Except you didn't, not really."
"You mean settle ? No, I know I can't, not now, not after what we've created together. It was the same in the dream, you know ? And I was glad of that way dreams have to let two possibilities coexist without denying each other. I was able to have that first time with Nick, to make sure I learned what was really important, and then erase the facts and have my first time with you too, and it didn't feel impossible."
"Yeah, I see how that could be handy in real life."
"Yeah. But I don't need it in real life, not for this, because you were my first, and you'll be my last."
Danny seemed to think Steve had gone a little too deep with this last sentence and brought him back on topic.
"So what do you make of this dream ?"
Steve thought about how he had become visible in this other life, and how he wanted it to be a fact in the real one too, for everybody to know who he was, and who he loved.
"That I want to marry you."
He felt Danny tense behind him. In a hurry, he turned, holding himself on an elbow, and took Danny's hands in his.
"Listen to me. I know your first marriage left you wary of tying the knot ever again. But it will be different between us. It already is. Our relationship has nothing to do with what you had with Rachel. We're equals, we have each other's back, and we never fail to tell the other when something's bothering us. You love me, you've been supporting me ever since we met, helping me to get over my hang ups, and I've tried to do the same for you. I love you, so much. And I want you to know that I'll be there for you, forever, and I need to know the reverse is true."
Danny leaned down to kiss him, but then, instead of giving any kind of answer, he stood up from the bed and went to the chest of drawers to get something out. Steve recognized the envelope where Danny kept important papers - and of course pictures of Grace and Charlie, both taken on their birth days - hidden under his socks and boxers, but he wondered if it was just a delaying tactic or if there was a reason he failed to see.
He was not any more enlightened when Danny came back to kneel on the bed in front of him. One of his hands was closed and whatever it held, Steve would only know when Danny decided to show him.
"You're right," Danny said, "I love you. Okay, maybe not all of you, not the control freak tendencies and competitive streak, nor the penny-pinching, but I love you anyway, because you have the biggest heart, and you stand up for anybody who needs it, you never give up when you fight for someone else, even though you've been let down more often than not. So I want to be there for you too, for the rest of our lives. Just to keep your inflated ego in check, you know."
Steve laughed. That was just so Danny, good and bad thrown together, perfect image of their lives.
"You're right," Danny repeated," my relationship with Rachel made me wary, and I sure know that the biggest love doesn't guarantee anyone against a falling out, but I'm older, I know better. We're partners in everything, and we made it this year, and you've come so far, I'm so proud of you. So I wanna snatch you off the market. I want to be your husband, and you mine. Let all the Emersons in the world know that I've put a ring on it."
Danny opened his hand and there lay a simple, beautiful ring. Just a flat band, golden and large enough to hide an inscription on the inside, but Steve could see the metal was bare at the moment.
Steve had to ask before he let his mind soar with hope and love.
"Is that your first marriage's wedding ring ?"
Danny looked at him as if he had grown a second head and the superfluous one was responsible for uttering such a stupid question.
"Are you crazy ?! Wait, why am I asking ? Of course you're crazy ! No, it's a new one, even I am not insensitive enough to use the same ring twice. The old one, I had it melted and turned into earrings for Grace."
It was indeed a silly question, but Steve felt better for asking it and getting the answer he'd hoped for.
"Will you marry me ?" Danny asked this time.
"Yes, but that's only because I love your kids and I want to raise them with you, you know."
Danny didn't take the bait this time.
"And I love you for that too."
Steve kneeled in his turn to take Danny in his arms. They stayed like that for a long, happy moment. Steve could see the most marvelous future unfold in front of his closed eyes and he couldn't wait for the day Danny would put this ring on his finger.
They detached and kissed for a while, before lying back down on the bed. They would be late at work, probably, but today was too much of a special day to care.
"Steve and Daniel McGarrett-Williams," Steve tried aloud. "Nice."
Danny frowned.
"Wait a minute ! I happen to like it better the other way around. Daniel and Steve Williams-McGarrett. Flows much better."
"Danny, you know I'm right, I have a much better taste than you for that kind of thing."
"Better taste my ass ! This marriage is doomed from the beginning !"
Steve grinned and kissed him. He had no doubt his opinion would prevail in the end.
-------------
The lead had finally panned out. The guy they thought might have known their victim's ex-wife was dead three days before. Too convenient for the killer to be a coincidence. The woman they already thought to be guilty hadn't done a very good job of covering her tracks, dumping bodies on her way, but she was smart enough to realize the two detectives knew. That they were going to arrest her and send her to jail.
She had drawn her gun on Steve, faster than either Danny or him could have predicted. Steve had managed to disarm her, only for the woman to twist away and grab Steve's own gun, aiming for Danny this time.
Steve hadn't thought at all, putting himself in the line of fire before he grabbed the arm once more and got the upper hand. Danny cuffed her and read her the Miranda rights, then called HPD to come retrieve their prisoner. Steve was still tense, images of what could have happened invading his mind, and he welcomed Danny's rant, once all was settled and the killer on her way to a cell, with relief and happiness.
He was pretty sure Danny kept talking on purpose, to give him time to settle down too, and that he only led him outside, back to the Camaro, after he was sure Steve was okay to deal with anyone else.
"Hey," Danny stopped Steve with a hand on his arm, "we're next to the jeweler. Give me five minutes to get the rings, okay ?"
A few days after they had mutually popped the question, Danny had finally decided on the words he wanted to engrave on their wedding bands and Steve had been happy to let him handle this responsibility.
"Okay, let's go."
He fell into step beside Danny and followed him into the shopping mall.
"You stay here," Danny told him, "I don't want you to see the inscription before the day."
Which of course made Steve three times more curious, and determined to find out, one way or another. Danny knew it, and that was probably why he'd played it that way. Challenge accepted.
As he waited for his fiancé's return - Steve loved to call Danny like that in front of people and watch him squirm in embarrassment - Steve wandered around, taking in the closest shops in the mall. His eyes landed on some sort of chapel nestled between a flower shop and a vet practice.
Maybe the fact that they were talking a lot about marriage these days, organizing everything to make it the best of days for the both of them, was the reason why his feet took him closer to the chapel to find out what kind of faith they preached. Or maybe it was some memory, some detail reminding him of something he knew in his childhood he had all but forgotten since then.
It was not the brochure at the entrance that gave him this feeling of déjà vu but the man coming up to meet him. He was clearly a local, and something about him was familiar, but Steve couldn't place him immediately.
"Stevie, is that you ?"
It was indeed possible this was due to the fact that Steve had known him as a child. The man's hair was graying and his slightly rotund silhouette lacked the tonicity of youth. He was watching Steve with a happy grin that suddenly brought back memories of his father.
"Akamu ?!"
"That's me."
The image of the man he had met so many years before superimposed on that of the older guy presently standing in front of him. The similarities showed more precisely than the differences brought by age and Steve gladly answered the call of the hug offered to him.
"Akamu, it's good to see you. I'll never forget how much you helped my dad after my mother's death."
It never failed to feel weird to talk about Doris' death now that many people knew she was very much alive (and kicking, especially those unlucky enough to incur her wrath and sarcasm.) Steve didn't know if Akamu was aware of what had happened these past years, John's death and Doris' "resurrection," but he had been the cornerstone of his father's sanity for months after Doris had supposedly died in that explosion and John was left a mess by her sudden and frightful, terrible disappearance.
"It's good to see you too, Steve. I heard about your father. I was so saddened, the man had done so much good for this community, fighting crime and helping the ones in need of comfort and answers."
Steve's eyes stung a bit.
"You're right, he was no ordinary man and I'll always miss him."
"I know you two had a hard time talking to each other back then. Did you manage to get close again before he died ?"
Steve wasn't particularly surprised that Akamu had immediately touched on the sore spot. He had been witness to the deteriorating father/son relationship, had even tried, at Steve's request, to change John's mind about sending his children away. He knew John had sent Steve far away with the best intentions, but that Steve had resented him for it. Fiercely.
"No," Steve painfully admitted. "I came back too late for that, understood too many things even later. His death opened my eyes in many ways, as did my mother's reappearance. It taught me to rely on myself, but also to love now the ones who are important to me. This is a lesson I had a hard time learning ; the Navy helped me grow up, but it also taught me rules I didn't really believe in. But I'm finally there. I'm marrying soon the man I love."
"Really ? That's very good news, indeed. Have you been together a long time ?"
"More than a year, and before that we were best friends for about nine years. It's weird to think that my father's death was precisely the reason why I met Danny. But It's almost as if I couldn't imagine my life without him from the moment we did meet, even when all we shared was friendship."
"Friendship is certainly the best foundation on which to base a successful marriage. I'm glad to hear you two already share that."
"What about you, Akamu ? Do you work here ?"
"I do. I founded this place. It was built to offer a spiritual support to anyone in need. Just like anyone can bring in their own religion, their own beliefs. I bless marriages, too. Life and love, in all their manifestations."
Steve felt a pang in his chest. A desire to… the certainty that he had walked in there for a reason, and that was to be united to Danny by this very special man. It couldn't be a coincidence that his path crossed Akamu's again after more than twenty years just when he was about to tie his life to the man he loved.
The sound of Danny's voice through the chapel's open door only fortified this feeling.
"Steve ? Babe, I'm done, we can go."
"Danny, come here. I want to introduce you to an old friend."
Danny approached with curiosity, naturally coming next to Steve who put his arm around his shoulders.
"Danny, this is Akamu Kalua. And this is Danny Williams, my fiancé."
The men shook hands.
"Hi," Danny said, "nice to meet you."
"Likewise. I'm glad Steve found someone to share his life with. He's always been so full of love and care for everyone around him."
"No need to give me the pitch, I'm already buying him."
Danny's right hand landed on Steve's abs and stayed there, as if to prove his point, possessive. And Steve loved that.
"Akamu, mind if I talk with Danny for a minute ?"
"No, go, there's nobody else here to disturb right now."
Steve led Danny towards a corner where a few chairs offered them the opportunity to sit next to each other. Then Steve took Danny's hands in his.
"Danny, I know we're preparing for a proper wedding, something that will tie us legally and in front of our families. But I had this idea…"
"You want us to be married by this man."
Steve stared at his lover, nonplussed to realize he was so transparent.
"How did you guess ?"
"Babe, I know you, and maybe this is not the kind of chapel I'm more used to but I can see what kind of place this is. Plus I heard your friend's words when I came in."
"So, how do you feel about it ?"
"It's that important to you ?"
Steve squirmed.
"I feel… Akamu helped my father after Mom died. He helped us all, in fact. I remember trying to forget, because thinking of Mom hurt so much, but he was the one who got me to talk about her, to reminisce the good times too. To give a meaning to my life again. I think Dad also realized how far the feeling of being one half of a couple could reach and that was why he felt like he was not complete anymore, and that was all thanks to his discussions with Akamu. Sometimes he said that he would have taken to the bottle and never come back if not for him."
"From what you told me, I think your father would have fought his way back for you and Mary anyway. But it's good that Akamu was there for him. Too bad his advice didn't extend to keeping you and your sister around."
"I think he did his best, but Dad was stubborn when he thought he had to act a certain way."
Danny snickered.
"Yeah ? So the apple didn't fall far from the tree. Big shocker !"
They looked at each other with loving smile before Danny took one of his hands back that he put on Steve's cheek.
"Babe, obviously this man has ties to your past that mean a lot to you. If you wish for him to bless our marriage, I will follow you there, just like everywhere else."
Steve leaned down to kiss Danny in thanks. It remained chaste, in respect for the place they were in, but conveyed all the love they felt for each other.
"Come on, let's ask Akamu if he can bless us."
"Now ?"
"Why not ? There's no time like the present !"
"But what of Grace and Charlie ? And our team ? Our families ?"
"We can have all the people on the island here in a short time," Steve answered as he made his way back to Akamu. "The families will get the proper wedding."
Lost in his meditation, Akamu opened his eyes again when Steve stood back in front of him.
"Could you bless us, Akamu ? I know it's short notice but…"
"I heard you and Danny, Steve. I'd be happy to do it and be a witness to your love."
"Are you free later today ? We want Danny's kids to be there with us, and our ohana too. Our whole family on the island."
"I will be available to you, do not worry about that. Gather your friends and family for this special moment and come back. I'll be there for you both."
Steve turned back towards Danny.
"We're doing it ?"
A small smile graced Danny's face and he nodded, more handsome than ever. So handsome that Steve couldn't resist leaning down to kiss his partner once more, softly, longingly.
His eyes never left Danny's as he stood back straight.
They had to go and get the kids first. Grace's crashed car had been replaced by Stan but the new one was actually at the repair shop for a tune-up ; Steve's truck was available but Danny didn't want Grace to drive it, finding it far too big for a still-new driver. And anyway, going home would give them the opportunity to change into something more suitable than cargo pants and sweaty shirts.
Danny texted Grace to make sure she was there with Charlie and tell them to put on something good and to be ready in half an hour. Once he was done, Steve fished for his phone in one of his pockets and called to get Five-0 ready.
"Junior ? I'm gonna need you. Danny's going to text you an address in a minute. Forward it to the whole team. I want you all to join us at this address once you've freshened up and put something nice on. Tell them we want you all here in an hour and a half. Got it ?"
Junior's military obedience was a blessing in such a moment for it meant no question, prompt reaction and efficient outcome. Danny was less happy with Eric, but he succeeded in cutting the call short by ordering his nephew to be at the address in time before abruptly hanging up.
The kids were far from ready when they arrived, but full of questions. Danny herded them both back to their bedrooms in that way he'd had years to master and that Steve was still struggling with at times, a mix of paternal authority and snarky humor that had them on the move. Steve left him at it and went to look for something nice to wear for himself and Danny while his soon-to-be husband - or maybe he should say blessed companion - was doing the same for his children. Their children. He hadn't talked to Danny about that, but he hoped to be able to do something about it after the wedding. He'd adopt them legally, if it was at all possible, but it was just a pipe dream since they had both their parents to take care of them ; he'd settle for a note, somewhere on legal papers, that he was more to them than just their biological father's husband. Another legal guardian, someone who'd be there for them as much as needed. And he knew Danny would feel better too knowing Steve would be there for them in case something bad happened to him.
They managed to field questions and dodge traps to keep the reason for their dressing up a secret. The result of their efforts was quite nice, everyone looked good, and Danny more so than anyone else. Though the light in Danny's eyes when he looked at Steve seemed to imply the same opinion directed at him. He was kind of used to that look from Danny by now, but it never failed to please him immensely. Almost as much as the heated look he always got from his lover by simply getting naked.
All in all, the only one left with no clue about their reason to gather in this weird place was probably Charlie. Five-0 wouldn't have been much of an investigation team if the guys hadn't figured it out, and Grace quickly drew the right conclusion out of the elements at her disposal, like Steve and Danny constantly looking at each other with a sweet (sickening) smile, the nice clothes, the gathering of all the important people on this island. She wasn't her father's daughter for nothing (snark included.)
Akamu welcomed them back inside his place. Subtle changes had been brought, candles lighting up the space instead of electric bulbs, a few harmonious bouquets of local flowers, offered by their friends, perfuming the room. It was all very cozy, hippy vibe putting them all at ease at they were offered to sit down while they reflected on this moment and the closeness they were about to share.
"Is there something we should know or… I don't know, maybe recite, for this ceremony ?" Steve asked.
Akamu smiled.
"In this question, I recognize the straight-A student I remember from so many years ago. No, there's nothing to prepare, unless you wish for it. This is a blessing, not a scripted ceremony. I'll use whatever words come to me, and offer a safe place for anyone else wishing to add their own blessing while we're all gathered here."
Those last words were addressed to their family, and the friends who shared with Steve and Danny, day after day, the best of themselves, fighting against bad guys for the good of the population of Hawaii, or supporting each other in tough moments. He felt such a deep connection to each of them. Words or no words, he knew their presence at his side, on this day, would leave an ineffable memory in his mind.
"We all know why we're here," Akamu began as they formed two loose circles, Danny and Steve standing by his sides, and the others on a second, larger ring. "All of us have ties to one or both of those men. Ties of love and friendship, ties of work or family. Ties that lead us to want the best for both of them, to see them enjoy love for the rest of their lives."
Everyone nodded or smiled in approval.
"You found a good one, Uncle D !" Eric added. "Mom's gonna be jealous."
"Shut up, Eric," Danny answered with no real heat.
"Steve," Akamu took control of the situation again, as if Eric had never spoken, "you've always been a generous soul, and you show it every day by putting your life at risk to protect others, that's obvious to anyone watching the news. You followed in your father's footsteps and made him proud. You stand between good and bad, you lead people towards the light. You live for your ohana.
"Danny, I may not know you, but I'm sure that Steve chose you for the best of reasons. It means together you feel you are better men. That you're a force to be reckoned with. A force, I have no doubt, working for the betterment of mankind."
Steve fully turned towards Danny and spoke of his deepest belief.
"Danny is the most loving man I know. Love for his children, for his family and his friends, even for the people he protects, and now for me. He's got the biggest heart you'll find."
"Then you two are indeed lucky you found each other," Akamu resumed. "Together, you decided to live your life side by side, entwined in the most intimate way. You share love and desires. You create a new family that you vow to nurture so that it can blossom and provide support, the fertile ground on which those children will find the strength to create their own lives and ohana."
Akamu opened his arms and turned towards Danny's children.
"Grace and Charlie, come here with us and stand close ; let's make this circle of love and life bigger and brighter."
The children moved closer, Grace tucking herself under Steve's arm and Charlie coming around to stand by Danny's side, brought closer by his father's arm over his own shoulders. As he felt her eyes on him, Steve realized that Grace seemed to want to say something but was shy about it.
"You want to tell us something, Gracie ?" he encouraged her.
"Yes ! I'm so happy to be here with you two today, because ever since I met Steve, more than ten years ago, I saw how Dad looked at him, with admiration first, and soon with love. The friendship kind of love, or maybe I was too young to realize there was more to it, all I know is that the day you both told us you were now a couple, it felt like the foregone conclusion to something I always felt was missing. You guys are made for each other, I've never been more sure of anything in my life. And I know you'll be happy together. Happy enough to make the other people around you happy too."
"You need to add something, buddy ?" Danny asked Charlie.
The kid seemed shy, feeling the eyes of every adult suddenly on him, and he looked at his father.
"I'm happy too, Danno."
"And I'm happy that you're happy," Danny answered, stroking his son's hair.
"Someone else want to share something ?" Akamu asked.
"I do," Adam's even voice said from behind Steve, but a hand gesture from Akamu had him joining the first circle. "I've known these two men for quite a few years now, and our meeting didn't happen under the best circumstances. But they gave me a chance, helped and supported me as much as they could. They've done it again not that long ago, giving me a reason to wake up in the morning and go about my day when everything around me seemed to crumble down. If two people deserve love and happiness, then they do, for standing up for their friends. I, for one, vow to be there for them any time they need me, and to do my best to support them in my turn. Danny, Steve, I wish you all the best."
Danny was the closest. He extended his arm to shake hands with Adam, not in a business-as-usual way but with a long, intense grip that said you're welcome as well as thank you so much for being there with us in this most important moment.
Each in their turn, Eric, Lou, Tani, Jerry, and even Junior joined the circle and added their wishes for love and happiness. Tani lightly teased Lou about his glistening eyes, making everything lighter until Steve barged in.
"I want to say something, too. I was the one who thought this would be a good idea to share this blessing together, today. We'll be married soon, giving in to the requirements of the law, and our extended families will be there, but I found I couldn't wait anymore to become this man's companion for life. Danny, you're already my family. You, Grace and Charlie. Because you've been by my side for ten years now. You've supported me, even when you disagreed with my "crazy plans." You've taken care of me when I was at my lowest. You've gone to the end of the world to bring me back home, stuck with me when I was sick or too weak to cope by myself, and made sure I knew I could rely on you if need be. In other words, you've loved me for so long that it seems incredible right now that we didn't come together sooner. But these feelings that have existed on so many levels between us, for years, are to me the proof that we can get through anything together, and that we'll stay together. Also, you've tried to teach me to deal with my emotions. So today, in front of our friends, I just want to tell you this, I love you."
"And I love you," Danny answered.
By this point, the rest of the room had kind of taken on a fuzzy feeling, the world becoming a distant second on Steve's perception of his environment. In this moment, everything was Danny.
"We came here," Danny continued, "because I could see how important it felt to you, someone from your past binding us together ; someone with ties with your father. And I'm glad we did now, glad we're here with some of the people we love best and are closest to us. I'm incredibly proud of you for opening up like that and baring your emotions in front of us all. I see it as the proof that I was right to believe this relationship had a chance to work out, despite all our differences, and all the ways you had been taught to suppress emotions, especially where another man's concerned. But mostly, I feel like the luckiest guy in the world because for some insane reason ten years ago, you, the super-SEAL, so handsome and so intelligent, you chose me to be your partner. I had my reservations back then, but it turned out for the best. You changed my life for the better when you made relocating here to be close to Grace a much easier move. And then you chose me one more time, over a year ago, when you decided to enter in a different kind of relationship with me - a gay relationship, which can still be quite the hardship in this world we're living in - and then again when you asked me to come live with you. And you do it again today, even after we went through the difficult times any couple has to face. You chose me, just like I chose you, and my only hope is that we'll keep doing so for as many years as fate, your crazy schemes and the criminal population of Hawaii will see fit to let us live together. I can't wait for all the arguments we're gonna have ! Can't wait to grow old next to you."
One drunken night, Danny had shared with Steve the details of the different scenarios he had dreamed of after being shot in quarantine. The idea of them still tight together, even when wrinkled, white-haired and decrepit, was by far the most tantalizing non-sexual fantasy Steve had ever heard about, and he loved to bring this image to mind very regularly, like a talisman, a mantra, a blessing. Danny knew it ; this was very much on purpose that he had brought up the topic.
Akamu and everyone else was looking at them fondly, but before one of them could speak again, Danny took a box out of his pocket.
"I have something for you," he said, eyes straight into Steve's. "For us, in fact."
He opened up the small box to show what Steve had guessed was their wedding bands.
"With these rings," Danny added, "we say in front of everyone that we're tied together. That this thing between you and me, we're ready to work on it, through good times and bad times. That we'll always love and support each other."
"That's what I want," Steve answered.
More than anything.
He gave his hand to Danny for him to put the band on his fourth finger. Then he took the second ring to pass it on Danny's hand and close the circle. Before, he brought the ring closer to his face and squinted to read the elegant inscription.
He shocked a bit. So many layers to this simple engraving, so many meanings that only the two of them could get.
"Steve & Danny - We'll be dreaming together, forever"
So many years of love to look forward to.
-------------
The day Danny marries Steve in front of their friends is yet another one in paradise in this place where the sun always shines.
Danny can't believe his luck. He's given up his job and everything else he's built to be with this man. This young guy, who's been visible for hardly more than a year but knows his mind so well that this time was enough for him to make a decision and stand by it. Steve wants Danny, and God help him, Danny wants him back !
The marriage is just the next step in this life they've decided to share forever. Their families are there to stand witness.
There's Doris and John, who made Steven feel inadequate all his life, and Danny is hard pressed not to give them a piece of his mind. How they could let such a wonderful human being feel less than perfect is beyond him. How they could keep him separated from life, from friends, just because his body was a bit… - let's call it shy and be done with it - is such a nonsense than Danny thinks it doesn't bode well for their future impact on Steve's life if he's got anything to say about it.
Because if he's got anything to say about it, Danny's family will become Steve's family - and Mary Ann's too, for the girl didn't have it any easier than her big brother.
Danny's parents have already adopted Steve, it's clear from the way Clara and Eddie have taken to him since the moment Danny introduced them all. His sisters and brother are just as enamored with Steve and they've let Danny know in the clearest way that he's lucky to have met him first. Danny's children adore him and want to include him anytime they do something. Steve loves the attention, Danny can tell, and he blossoms every day a bit more.
Danny stands in front of Steve, eyes never leaving each other, smile firmly etched on their faces. They exchange the sacred vows to say they want to live for and by the other, together, forever.
As the oldest of the two, it was Danny's duty to provide the legal document. Danny offers to Steve the parchment that he unrolls in haste and begins to browse until Steve's eyes stop on a particular passage they never discussed. Danny knows this is something that will make Steve happier still, but the tears he can see forming in his eyes are more than he thought he'd witness.
"I, Daniel Williams," Steve reads aloud for everyone to hear, "declare Steve McGarrett to become my children's second father, for he loves them as much as I do and has proved many times already that he will do whatever it takes to keep them safe and happy for the rest of his life. By the power of this declaration, let us introduce Steve McGarrett-Williams as Grace and Charlie Williams' father."
There's a ton of applause and Steve's arms close around Danny. There're Grace and Charlie running to hug them both, the whole Williams clan coming to kiss the four of them, Mary who leads by the hand a not-so-little-anymore Joan towards her Uncle Steve to show him they're happy for him too, the Five-0 ohana, past and present, wishing them all the love in the world.
The orchestra decides it's time for them to open the dance and Danny offers his hand to his husband. More clapping can be heard as they cling to each other and begin to turn all around the dance floor. Steve leans down and Danny meets him to share another kiss, more heated and filthy this time, his hands sliding under Steve's jacket to spread over his back. Their dancing slows down so that they can kiss and touch properly, surrounded by all their loved ones and the memories of those they lost but that they still cherish every day as if they were here. John and Matty, Joe White and Billy Selway, old or new ghosts showing them the importance of living life to the brim.
Living with Steve means that Danny will never suffer a shortage of love, passion or excitement.
He really can't wait.
-------FIN-------
He knows it. He feels it, every moment of his life. His parents love him, they do. But his father is a workaholic who doesn’t have time for his disappointing child. His mother thinks he's lacking but doesn't want him to feel bad, so she ignores him most of the time.
His childhood is a study in loneliness, and it gets worse when his parents split up. Mary Ann leaves with John. Steve stays with his mother and hardly sees his father or sister from then on. Not that he sees much more of his mother, but they still live under the same roof, which means they're bound to meet now and then, in a corridor or the kitchen. But Steve practically raises himself between the walls of his bedroom.
He can't wait to turn 18 and be allowed to become a visible at last.
When it finally happens, Steve's world is turned upside down in the blink of an eye.
The doctors have him naked and measured, tested and examined. His deformity is exposed for everyone to see and Steve blushes hard all along his tall body. Never had he been naked in front of anyone before, least of all people touching him. Like he matters. Like he's there, and they see him enough that they care to touch him.
There's one man in particular who makes him feel right. Danny Williams is older than Steve but his smile is comforting, and his touch warm and soothing. He understands Steve's fears and aloofness, if only because he's been assisting with turning non-visibles into visibles for some years already. Steve's probably just another patient but Danny never makes him feel like that. Where his mother failed all those years, Danny succeeds in a few minutes. Steve feels like he's important.
"It's probably the most meaningful moment of your life," the main surgeon explains as he keeps prodding at Steve's girl-like pubis, trying to estimate the place and size of the male organs hidden inside.
Soon, Steve will be a man like any other and he gets a little giddy thinking that Danny, in his capacity as Life Support, will be there beside him for the next year in this very intimate journey to birth his new self.
"We want to make sure you have it easy," Danny takes over. "The changes we're about to bring to your life will be hard enough to deal with, you need to be aware ahead of time and we'll help you to make the necessary adjustments once you've become a visible."
Steve isn't sure what this all means. The touch of the scientists' hands on his nether regions feels neither good nor bad but he can't predict what it'll feel like after. When his dick and balls finally show, will it be different ? Will the massages Danny will give him make it better ? He certainly hopes so, even if he doesn't really know why, just that Danny's hands feel the best, and that he likes the man's humor, his interest bordering on nosiness, but all in good fun and spirit.
Steve likes it when Danny's watching him. He'd like to keep those eyes on him forever.
The operation takes place in this white room, like a virgin board Steve will be able to fill at will. His will, any way he likes it. He already knows the first word of the next chapter of his story, and it's spelled D a n n y.
So it's no surprise to him that the first face he sees upon waking up, still groggy but already full of hope, is Danny's.
"Everything went great, Steve," Danny tells him with a big smile. "Do you want to look at yourself ?"
He's nervous, but he nods. Danny then helps him sit up in the bed, a hand in support at the small of his back. His other hand leads Steve's eyes towards his crotch, where he gently grasps Steve's now plainly visible dick and balls.
It's a shock. Overwhelmed, Steve feels tears leaking from his eyes. After living for so long like half a man, he's now complete. And overwhelmed. He can't help it. He's big, and so sensitive that he comes in less than a minute right in Danny's hand.
"Hey," Danny shushes the sob Steve can't keep inside, "this is good. You're visible now, and you're beautiful. Gorgeous, even. I know quite a few guys who'd undergo any kind of surgery to look half as good as you."
Steve turns watery eyes to his Support. He doesn't know if Danny went through what he did, if he understands him because he lived it first, but there's something in the way Danny looks at him that tells Steve he doesn't need to worry anymore. He's got a year to become the man he's supposed to be.
A year to make sure Danny never leaves him.
It's difficult at first, remaining naked at all times, wherever he goes, whatever he does. But it's also rewarding. He likes the way people look at him in the street, in restaurants, in motor shops. He enjoys the smiles and compliments, the way some men try to talk him into giving them his phone number and imply they'd love to see him again. But this is nothing next to spending time with Danny. The more time they spend together, the closer Danny and he become.
Danny is older, more savvy of the ways of this world, and he freely shares all this knowledge to help Steve open up to the people around him. Even his mother looks at him differently now ; too bad Steve isn't so interested anymore in her opinion. Too little, too late is the best way to express how he feels about her.
And then Danny kind of fills his world, so entirely it's scary at times. They do everything together. They go around the city and Danny looks like he's flattered to see that Steve is courted by many people now, the same ones who used to ignore him before. Flattered that Steve only has eyes for him and couldn't care less about his suitors beyond stroking his battered ego.
Danny spends a lot of time massaging - stimulating is the official word - Steve's newly appeared genitals. He teaches him to deal with an erection, and the best ways to enjoy himself, and it seems he loves watching Steve touching himself just as much as doing it for him. As months pass, he even agrees to touch and massage the rest of Steve's body, making him feel good all over his naked body. He pushes fingers inside Steve's ass and gets intimate with his prostate and, after a while, Steve stops blushing and sputtering. He even goes as far as asking for it. Every damn day, because there's nothing he likes as much as feeling Danny inside of him, taking possession of him. Making sure Steve belongs to him, and no one else.
It gets a bit rough at times, as if Danny compensates for the fact that he isn't allowed to take him and he wants Steve to enjoy himself for the both of us. But Steve welcomes anything Danny offers him with the same open mind and the same need to always deepen their connection. And Danny is never rougher than after Steve's been stimulated by other people they've met.
The law stipulates that, as a new visible, he has to let anyone who asks for it massage him. It's not always a hardship, and he knows Danny is very aware of the difference when Steve likes it or not. He knows because of Danny's fierceness after Nick or Adam stimulated him, handsome men who touched him intimately and made him come. There are many other guys, and a few women like Lori, but Nick and Adam turn up everywhere he goes, sometime stimulating him together in front of Danny.
Steve cannot hide any of this body's reactions. It doesn't have yet the maturity to refrain from orgasm, not even to stop wishing for more of those. But it gets there, gently, finding a new appreciation for the way Danny touches it over every other stimulation Steve might get from other people.
His body and mind are definitely in sync by the time the one-year mark comes around and Steve is pronounced a full visible. From then on, he could dress again, but he likes it, being constantly naked, seeing how turned-on Danny is by the view of his ass or cock. And he wants to make sure that Danny gets the hint and fucks him now that a relationship is not off the table for them anymore. With the end of the year, Danny ceases to be his very own Life Support and can now become his life lover.
So Steve buys a cock ring and closes it on his dick. He offers the key to Danny and tells him of his project for a life together. His desire for Danny to be his first and only lover. His dream to live and love together forever.
"Steve," Danny begins, contemplating the small key on his palm, "you know I can't."
"Why ?! I'm fully visible now, you're not my Life Support anymore, we can have whatever we want. Together."
"Sleeping with one's clients is forbidden by our guild."
"No, it's not. I checked, there's nothing in the law that says you can't after the one year anniversary."
"Well, okay, maybe there's nothing explicit, but I tell you, it's frowned upon. I could lose my license. And how would you feel anyway if I left you for a year every time I got a new client to be with ? A year, Steve. Do you realize ? Would you really agree with all the touching, me stimulating someone else than you, and the fact that we could never be together during all that time ?"
He hasn't thought about that. In the beautiful world he's imagined, Danny and he are living together and that's it. There are no demands from a job to deal with, no one else that might require their attention. Nobody else Danny's interested in.
"So you don't want me," he concludes.
"I didn't say that, babe. You're kind of the best thing that ever happened to me and I've been dreading this day for a while, but it doesn't change the fact that it ends now."
It does end. Danny goes back to the hospital to get ready for the next client assigned to him, and Steve has to create a life for himself, alone. Along the way, he stumbles upon Nick, and thinks that maybe he could make Danny jealous enough to change his mind. He arranges for Danny to know where he'll be and with who, and then chats Nick up to meet him on the bridge by the hospital.
He's still naked, and Nick has no qualms about touching him the way he did so many times already. But he gets more pressing. His hands roam in places they never went before, exploring Steve's chest, and then his ass. Steve doesn't really know how, but soon he finds himself facing away from the other man, as Nick spreads his ass cheeks and positions his cock to impale him.
That's when Steve sees Danny. On the other end of the bridge, looking at them, sorrow etched on his tired face, Danny looks small and defeated as he witnesses the moment when Nick takes possession of Steve.
It's his first time. It hurts, but it's also good. He tries to hide his pleasure from Danny, because he never wanted to hurt him too, but he can't, not when it's so overwhelming. He closes his eyes as he feels himself about to come, and then Nick shoots inside him, making him his forever.
When he opens his eyes again, Danny has disappeared. He knows he will never see him again. He made his choice in letting Nick take him.
He belongs to Nick, but Nick doesn't seem to think the reverse is true. Their life is empty of love. Their interests diverge so much that Steve can't quite understand what led them to get together, in the same way he never quite understood how he could be his parents' son. They share a bed, and sex, but that's it. Unless you count the way Nick shares him with his friends, insisting they have to broaden their horizons to make sure they never get tired of each other.
The fact is, Steve is already tired of this life. He feels himself drifting away, losing hope in a future that seems dreary at best, menacing at worst. In the first months, he thinks constantly about Danny, wishing he had insisted, found the words to make him change his mind. But with enough time, even the memory of the love he lost disappears, and he finds himself not caring anymore. He waits for his life to end, one way or another.
But then he's back on the bridge, and his life with Nick never happened, obliterated. Steve's learned his lesson ; back to this first day, he still thinks everything's possible if he just gives it his best, if he can persuade Danny to take a chance on him, because he will never settle for less.
And suddenly Danny's here, out of breath as if he's run to find Steve. Danny who pushes Nick away, over the bridge, helped by Steve. Danny is like his knight in shining armor, blue scrubs notwithstanding, and Steve almost feels like fainting when Danny takes him in his arms and they share their first kiss. It's beautiful and sensual, all the things he could never share with Nick and he's so glad that never happened.
Danny caresses him for a long time before he turns Steve around. He doesn't take Steve immediately, prepping him first with his tongue and fingers, making sure Steve is ready for his first time. Steve is more than ready, he's begging for it, and soon he's turned again, facing Danny as his lover penetrates him. It's possessive, and even this side of aggressive, to be honest. Danny's marking his territory, showing everyone else that Steve belongs to him now, and to hell with consequences.
And Steve spreads his legs, welcomes him in. He touches Danny too, learns his body by heart, enjoys every point of contact between them. He revels in the fact that passers-by applaud them, commenting about the beautiful couple in the making. And Danny keeps showing how much he wants him, fucking him hard and deep until he comes just as hard and deep in Steve's ass and triggering the same reaction in his lover.
Now no one but fate can break them apart.
-------------
The end of Steve's vacation had been very close to what he imagined at times to be his personal heaven. An infinity of warm and amorous moments spent with the love of his life - his family and friends near enough that he could summon them at will - and they would be all so happy together.
For the four days left in San Francisco, Steve had felt like that, minus of course the power of summoning the loved ones he had already lost. Walking on a little cloud, he had followed Danny around like the most fervent lover, sure that his man was perfect and could do no wrong.
Well, until the moment they had to go through security at the airport and the officer in charge of the x-ray device had looked at him funny after he checked his stuff. Funny as in contemptuous. He had Steve opening his duffle bag to explain what the chain he could see on his screen might be and how to use it. Steve wasn't even aware that Danny had slipped the whole get-up inside his bag instead of his own, pretending afterwards that he had too many things already in it, what with the gifts they had bought for the kids (Steve had made sure to mutter loud enough for Danny to catch his remark about all the unnecessary hair products.)
He still hadn't quite forgiven Danny ; all the blissful memories in the world couldn't stop him from letting him know what he thought about putting him in such a position. But he was getting there, the joy of being back home and seeing Grace and Charlie again going a long way in cooling him off, and they had gone to bed tired but the bickering phase was over.
He woke up to find Danny already awake, sitting against the headboard, watching him.
"I had a feeling you'd soon join the world of the living."
"Why are you awake already ?"
It was usually the other way around, Steve waking up with a smile next to the man he planned to love till the end of his life.
"Jet lag. I should have waited a bit to go to bed."
"You're used to worse when you go back to New Jersey."
"I know. Must have had things on my mind."
He didn't seem to want to expand on that thought so Steve made himself comfortable against his partner, resting his back against Danny's chest. Danny's arms closed around Steve's torso in return, gently playing with his chest hair or tracing his tattoos.
"Do you want me to give you something else to think about ?" he asked, knowing well Danny would understand what he was offering.
Steve remembered with the utmost clarity the day Danny had learned about Steve's going to see a therapist to understand his dreams, and the subsequent five minutes he'd spent watching Danny howling with laughter. Steve had not been pleased.
Yet he had let go of his frustration soon after he put an end to the sessions and proceeded to tell Danny about his latest dreams, working out their significance with him.
For the dreams had kept coming, paving the way to a better understanding of himself and his deepest needs. Creating a bond like no other between him and Danny. And sometimes the script for some inventive and quite risqué lovemaking that Steve was eager to experience and enjoy with his lover.
"Go ahead," Danny answered.
"Okay. It was kind of weird…"
"Your dreams are always weird. You are a weird guy, it's fitting."
"Shut up and listen. So I was this young guy, growing up alone because my parents weren't interested in me and I was deformed."
"How deformed ? Quasimodo-deformed ?"
"More like cock and balls not showing up, still tucked behind my pelvic bones, or my perineum, I don't really know."
"You were a girl ?" Danny wondered to tease him.
Steve gave a slap on Danny's thigh, nothing too hard, but nothing too gentle either.
"No, I wasn't a girl. It felt like it was some well-known condition in that world, and when I turned 18 I went to have an operation that would get me right. Guys like me, whose genitals didn't show, were called non-visibles. The operation made you a visible. It gave you a place in society that you couldn't pretend to without."
"I'm sure many women would say that's a very male point of view. I never pegged you for a chauvinist."
"I don't think that was the point. More that you didn't get any physical pleasure without your cock and balls dangling out for all to see."
"That, on the contrary, this person talking right now, is the exhibitionist in you I know and love."
"Are you done ? I wonder why I keep dreaming of you as this wonderful human being when you keep harassing me in real life !"
"So I do appear in this weird dream of yours ?"
"Of course, you do. You were some kind of medical specialist, they called you a Life Support, and your mission was to stimulate my pelvis and genitals after the surgery. Every day for a year, you lived with me and took care of me in every way."
"Stimulate you ?" Danny repeated. "Like this ?"
Danny's hand descended to reach Steve's crotch, his fingers gently massaging the skin around his cock and balls, regularly stroking his dick that didn't fail to react, hard and fast.
"Yes, a little bit more to the left. Right, just like that."
"Okay, what happened next ?"
Steve had to fight to get back on track, and Danny didn't make it easy when he kept on stimulating him. But Steve knew Danny took his job as boyfriend/therapist very seriously.
"I fell in love with you, and I thought you did too, so when the year was over, I asked you to stay with me."
"And it didn't go down the way you expected."
"How did you know ?"
"Because I know you, babe. Even when you thought I might be in love with you too, you agonized for months before talking to me."
"As I said, you're not as contrary in my dreams. You could have given in immediately in that one too."
"Where would be the fun ?" Danny laughed, kissing Steve's temple to belie his words.
This time, Steve caressed his thigh in reply.
"The fun is when you make love to me. But you didn't want to, so I had to choose someone else. During that year, I had to remain naked, and everyone I crossed paths with was allowed to stimulate me too. I guess that rule was to ensure the new visibles wouldn't fixate on the one person who took care of them, show them they could have a good time with other people too. I remember Adam, Lori, and Nick, but I think there were others too."
"You slut !" Danny snorted before he kissed his temple again.
Steve deemed it useless to add that his parents might have participated too. He was not in the mood to deal with some Oedipus talk. Or another rant against Doris' lack of maternal instinct, as Danny was wont to do.
"So what happened next ? Did we get our happily ever after ?"
"At the end, yes, but not at first. I thought I had lost you entirely, so I went back to Nick, and he was my first lover."
"Sleeping with Nick, hmm ? Who is he to you nowadays when you think of him ? Do you remember the comrade in arms ? The friend ?"
Danny was so serious suddenly, and Steve responded in kind.
"I see someone who betrayed me. And even worse, he wasn't true to himself and the oath he had taken. He used his skills for money, he stopped caring about defending people and got them killed instead if necessary."
"Okay. So why would you let him possess you in your dreams ?"
"I guess… it was like settling for second best, telling myself that if I couldn't have you, then at least I was sure he could make my body happy."
"Except you didn't, not really."
"You mean settle ? No, I know I can't, not now, not after what we've created together. It was the same in the dream, you know ? And I was glad of that way dreams have to let two possibilities coexist without denying each other. I was able to have that first time with Nick, to make sure I learned what was really important, and then erase the facts and have my first time with you too, and it didn't feel impossible."
"Yeah, I see how that could be handy in real life."
"Yeah. But I don't need it in real life, not for this, because you were my first, and you'll be my last."
Danny seemed to think Steve had gone a little too deep with this last sentence and brought him back on topic.
"So what do you make of this dream ?"
Steve thought about how he had become visible in this other life, and how he wanted it to be a fact in the real one too, for everybody to know who he was, and who he loved.
"That I want to marry you."
He felt Danny tense behind him. In a hurry, he turned, holding himself on an elbow, and took Danny's hands in his.
"Listen to me. I know your first marriage left you wary of tying the knot ever again. But it will be different between us. It already is. Our relationship has nothing to do with what you had with Rachel. We're equals, we have each other's back, and we never fail to tell the other when something's bothering us. You love me, you've been supporting me ever since we met, helping me to get over my hang ups, and I've tried to do the same for you. I love you, so much. And I want you to know that I'll be there for you, forever, and I need to know the reverse is true."
Danny leaned down to kiss him, but then, instead of giving any kind of answer, he stood up from the bed and went to the chest of drawers to get something out. Steve recognized the envelope where Danny kept important papers - and of course pictures of Grace and Charlie, both taken on their birth days - hidden under his socks and boxers, but he wondered if it was just a delaying tactic or if there was a reason he failed to see.
He was not any more enlightened when Danny came back to kneel on the bed in front of him. One of his hands was closed and whatever it held, Steve would only know when Danny decided to show him.
"You're right," Danny said, "I love you. Okay, maybe not all of you, not the control freak tendencies and competitive streak, nor the penny-pinching, but I love you anyway, because you have the biggest heart, and you stand up for anybody who needs it, you never give up when you fight for someone else, even though you've been let down more often than not. So I want to be there for you too, for the rest of our lives. Just to keep your inflated ego in check, you know."
Steve laughed. That was just so Danny, good and bad thrown together, perfect image of their lives.
"You're right," Danny repeated," my relationship with Rachel made me wary, and I sure know that the biggest love doesn't guarantee anyone against a falling out, but I'm older, I know better. We're partners in everything, and we made it this year, and you've come so far, I'm so proud of you. So I wanna snatch you off the market. I want to be your husband, and you mine. Let all the Emersons in the world know that I've put a ring on it."
Danny opened his hand and there lay a simple, beautiful ring. Just a flat band, golden and large enough to hide an inscription on the inside, but Steve could see the metal was bare at the moment.
Steve had to ask before he let his mind soar with hope and love.
"Is that your first marriage's wedding ring ?"
Danny looked at him as if he had grown a second head and the superfluous one was responsible for uttering such a stupid question.
"Are you crazy ?! Wait, why am I asking ? Of course you're crazy ! No, it's a new one, even I am not insensitive enough to use the same ring twice. The old one, I had it melted and turned into earrings for Grace."
It was indeed a silly question, but Steve felt better for asking it and getting the answer he'd hoped for.
"Will you marry me ?" Danny asked this time.
"Yes, but that's only because I love your kids and I want to raise them with you, you know."
Danny didn't take the bait this time.
"And I love you for that too."
Steve kneeled in his turn to take Danny in his arms. They stayed like that for a long, happy moment. Steve could see the most marvelous future unfold in front of his closed eyes and he couldn't wait for the day Danny would put this ring on his finger.
They detached and kissed for a while, before lying back down on the bed. They would be late at work, probably, but today was too much of a special day to care.
"Steve and Daniel McGarrett-Williams," Steve tried aloud. "Nice."
Danny frowned.
"Wait a minute ! I happen to like it better the other way around. Daniel and Steve Williams-McGarrett. Flows much better."
"Danny, you know I'm right, I have a much better taste than you for that kind of thing."
"Better taste my ass ! This marriage is doomed from the beginning !"
Steve grinned and kissed him. He had no doubt his opinion would prevail in the end.
-------------
The lead had finally panned out. The guy they thought might have known their victim's ex-wife was dead three days before. Too convenient for the killer to be a coincidence. The woman they already thought to be guilty hadn't done a very good job of covering her tracks, dumping bodies on her way, but she was smart enough to realize the two detectives knew. That they were going to arrest her and send her to jail.
She had drawn her gun on Steve, faster than either Danny or him could have predicted. Steve had managed to disarm her, only for the woman to twist away and grab Steve's own gun, aiming for Danny this time.
Steve hadn't thought at all, putting himself in the line of fire before he grabbed the arm once more and got the upper hand. Danny cuffed her and read her the Miranda rights, then called HPD to come retrieve their prisoner. Steve was still tense, images of what could have happened invading his mind, and he welcomed Danny's rant, once all was settled and the killer on her way to a cell, with relief and happiness.
He was pretty sure Danny kept talking on purpose, to give him time to settle down too, and that he only led him outside, back to the Camaro, after he was sure Steve was okay to deal with anyone else.
"Hey," Danny stopped Steve with a hand on his arm, "we're next to the jeweler. Give me five minutes to get the rings, okay ?"
A few days after they had mutually popped the question, Danny had finally decided on the words he wanted to engrave on their wedding bands and Steve had been happy to let him handle this responsibility.
"Okay, let's go."
He fell into step beside Danny and followed him into the shopping mall.
"You stay here," Danny told him, "I don't want you to see the inscription before the day."
Which of course made Steve three times more curious, and determined to find out, one way or another. Danny knew it, and that was probably why he'd played it that way. Challenge accepted.
As he waited for his fiancé's return - Steve loved to call Danny like that in front of people and watch him squirm in embarrassment - Steve wandered around, taking in the closest shops in the mall. His eyes landed on some sort of chapel nestled between a flower shop and a vet practice.
Maybe the fact that they were talking a lot about marriage these days, organizing everything to make it the best of days for the both of them, was the reason why his feet took him closer to the chapel to find out what kind of faith they preached. Or maybe it was some memory, some detail reminding him of something he knew in his childhood he had all but forgotten since then.
It was not the brochure at the entrance that gave him this feeling of déjà vu but the man coming up to meet him. He was clearly a local, and something about him was familiar, but Steve couldn't place him immediately.
"Stevie, is that you ?"
It was indeed possible this was due to the fact that Steve had known him as a child. The man's hair was graying and his slightly rotund silhouette lacked the tonicity of youth. He was watching Steve with a happy grin that suddenly brought back memories of his father.
"Akamu ?!"
"That's me."
The image of the man he had met so many years before superimposed on that of the older guy presently standing in front of him. The similarities showed more precisely than the differences brought by age and Steve gladly answered the call of the hug offered to him.
"Akamu, it's good to see you. I'll never forget how much you helped my dad after my mother's death."
It never failed to feel weird to talk about Doris' death now that many people knew she was very much alive (and kicking, especially those unlucky enough to incur her wrath and sarcasm.) Steve didn't know if Akamu was aware of what had happened these past years, John's death and Doris' "resurrection," but he had been the cornerstone of his father's sanity for months after Doris had supposedly died in that explosion and John was left a mess by her sudden and frightful, terrible disappearance.
"It's good to see you too, Steve. I heard about your father. I was so saddened, the man had done so much good for this community, fighting crime and helping the ones in need of comfort and answers."
Steve's eyes stung a bit.
"You're right, he was no ordinary man and I'll always miss him."
"I know you two had a hard time talking to each other back then. Did you manage to get close again before he died ?"
Steve wasn't particularly surprised that Akamu had immediately touched on the sore spot. He had been witness to the deteriorating father/son relationship, had even tried, at Steve's request, to change John's mind about sending his children away. He knew John had sent Steve far away with the best intentions, but that Steve had resented him for it. Fiercely.
"No," Steve painfully admitted. "I came back too late for that, understood too many things even later. His death opened my eyes in many ways, as did my mother's reappearance. It taught me to rely on myself, but also to love now the ones who are important to me. This is a lesson I had a hard time learning ; the Navy helped me grow up, but it also taught me rules I didn't really believe in. But I'm finally there. I'm marrying soon the man I love."
"Really ? That's very good news, indeed. Have you been together a long time ?"
"More than a year, and before that we were best friends for about nine years. It's weird to think that my father's death was precisely the reason why I met Danny. But It's almost as if I couldn't imagine my life without him from the moment we did meet, even when all we shared was friendship."
"Friendship is certainly the best foundation on which to base a successful marriage. I'm glad to hear you two already share that."
"What about you, Akamu ? Do you work here ?"
"I do. I founded this place. It was built to offer a spiritual support to anyone in need. Just like anyone can bring in their own religion, their own beliefs. I bless marriages, too. Life and love, in all their manifestations."
Steve felt a pang in his chest. A desire to… the certainty that he had walked in there for a reason, and that was to be united to Danny by this very special man. It couldn't be a coincidence that his path crossed Akamu's again after more than twenty years just when he was about to tie his life to the man he loved.
The sound of Danny's voice through the chapel's open door only fortified this feeling.
"Steve ? Babe, I'm done, we can go."
"Danny, come here. I want to introduce you to an old friend."
Danny approached with curiosity, naturally coming next to Steve who put his arm around his shoulders.
"Danny, this is Akamu Kalua. And this is Danny Williams, my fiancé."
The men shook hands.
"Hi," Danny said, "nice to meet you."
"Likewise. I'm glad Steve found someone to share his life with. He's always been so full of love and care for everyone around him."
"No need to give me the pitch, I'm already buying him."
Danny's right hand landed on Steve's abs and stayed there, as if to prove his point, possessive. And Steve loved that.
"Akamu, mind if I talk with Danny for a minute ?"
"No, go, there's nobody else here to disturb right now."
Steve led Danny towards a corner where a few chairs offered them the opportunity to sit next to each other. Then Steve took Danny's hands in his.
"Danny, I know we're preparing for a proper wedding, something that will tie us legally and in front of our families. But I had this idea…"
"You want us to be married by this man."
Steve stared at his lover, nonplussed to realize he was so transparent.
"How did you guess ?"
"Babe, I know you, and maybe this is not the kind of chapel I'm more used to but I can see what kind of place this is. Plus I heard your friend's words when I came in."
"So, how do you feel about it ?"
"It's that important to you ?"
Steve squirmed.
"I feel… Akamu helped my father after Mom died. He helped us all, in fact. I remember trying to forget, because thinking of Mom hurt so much, but he was the one who got me to talk about her, to reminisce the good times too. To give a meaning to my life again. I think Dad also realized how far the feeling of being one half of a couple could reach and that was why he felt like he was not complete anymore, and that was all thanks to his discussions with Akamu. Sometimes he said that he would have taken to the bottle and never come back if not for him."
"From what you told me, I think your father would have fought his way back for you and Mary anyway. But it's good that Akamu was there for him. Too bad his advice didn't extend to keeping you and your sister around."
"I think he did his best, but Dad was stubborn when he thought he had to act a certain way."
Danny snickered.
"Yeah ? So the apple didn't fall far from the tree. Big shocker !"
They looked at each other with loving smile before Danny took one of his hands back that he put on Steve's cheek.
"Babe, obviously this man has ties to your past that mean a lot to you. If you wish for him to bless our marriage, I will follow you there, just like everywhere else."
Steve leaned down to kiss Danny in thanks. It remained chaste, in respect for the place they were in, but conveyed all the love they felt for each other.
"Come on, let's ask Akamu if he can bless us."
"Now ?"
"Why not ? There's no time like the present !"
"But what of Grace and Charlie ? And our team ? Our families ?"
"We can have all the people on the island here in a short time," Steve answered as he made his way back to Akamu. "The families will get the proper wedding."
Lost in his meditation, Akamu opened his eyes again when Steve stood back in front of him.
"Could you bless us, Akamu ? I know it's short notice but…"
"I heard you and Danny, Steve. I'd be happy to do it and be a witness to your love."
"Are you free later today ? We want Danny's kids to be there with us, and our ohana too. Our whole family on the island."
"I will be available to you, do not worry about that. Gather your friends and family for this special moment and come back. I'll be there for you both."
Steve turned back towards Danny.
"We're doing it ?"
A small smile graced Danny's face and he nodded, more handsome than ever. So handsome that Steve couldn't resist leaning down to kiss his partner once more, softly, longingly.
His eyes never left Danny's as he stood back straight.
They had to go and get the kids first. Grace's crashed car had been replaced by Stan but the new one was actually at the repair shop for a tune-up ; Steve's truck was available but Danny didn't want Grace to drive it, finding it far too big for a still-new driver. And anyway, going home would give them the opportunity to change into something more suitable than cargo pants and sweaty shirts.
Danny texted Grace to make sure she was there with Charlie and tell them to put on something good and to be ready in half an hour. Once he was done, Steve fished for his phone in one of his pockets and called to get Five-0 ready.
"Junior ? I'm gonna need you. Danny's going to text you an address in a minute. Forward it to the whole team. I want you all to join us at this address once you've freshened up and put something nice on. Tell them we want you all here in an hour and a half. Got it ?"
Junior's military obedience was a blessing in such a moment for it meant no question, prompt reaction and efficient outcome. Danny was less happy with Eric, but he succeeded in cutting the call short by ordering his nephew to be at the address in time before abruptly hanging up.
The kids were far from ready when they arrived, but full of questions. Danny herded them both back to their bedrooms in that way he'd had years to master and that Steve was still struggling with at times, a mix of paternal authority and snarky humor that had them on the move. Steve left him at it and went to look for something nice to wear for himself and Danny while his soon-to-be husband - or maybe he should say blessed companion - was doing the same for his children. Their children. He hadn't talked to Danny about that, but he hoped to be able to do something about it after the wedding. He'd adopt them legally, if it was at all possible, but it was just a pipe dream since they had both their parents to take care of them ; he'd settle for a note, somewhere on legal papers, that he was more to them than just their biological father's husband. Another legal guardian, someone who'd be there for them as much as needed. And he knew Danny would feel better too knowing Steve would be there for them in case something bad happened to him.
They managed to field questions and dodge traps to keep the reason for their dressing up a secret. The result of their efforts was quite nice, everyone looked good, and Danny more so than anyone else. Though the light in Danny's eyes when he looked at Steve seemed to imply the same opinion directed at him. He was kind of used to that look from Danny by now, but it never failed to please him immensely. Almost as much as the heated look he always got from his lover by simply getting naked.
All in all, the only one left with no clue about their reason to gather in this weird place was probably Charlie. Five-0 wouldn't have been much of an investigation team if the guys hadn't figured it out, and Grace quickly drew the right conclusion out of the elements at her disposal, like Steve and Danny constantly looking at each other with a sweet (sickening) smile, the nice clothes, the gathering of all the important people on this island. She wasn't her father's daughter for nothing (snark included.)
Akamu welcomed them back inside his place. Subtle changes had been brought, candles lighting up the space instead of electric bulbs, a few harmonious bouquets of local flowers, offered by their friends, perfuming the room. It was all very cozy, hippy vibe putting them all at ease at they were offered to sit down while they reflected on this moment and the closeness they were about to share.
"Is there something we should know or… I don't know, maybe recite, for this ceremony ?" Steve asked.
Akamu smiled.
"In this question, I recognize the straight-A student I remember from so many years ago. No, there's nothing to prepare, unless you wish for it. This is a blessing, not a scripted ceremony. I'll use whatever words come to me, and offer a safe place for anyone else wishing to add their own blessing while we're all gathered here."
Those last words were addressed to their family, and the friends who shared with Steve and Danny, day after day, the best of themselves, fighting against bad guys for the good of the population of Hawaii, or supporting each other in tough moments. He felt such a deep connection to each of them. Words or no words, he knew their presence at his side, on this day, would leave an ineffable memory in his mind.
"We all know why we're here," Akamu began as they formed two loose circles, Danny and Steve standing by his sides, and the others on a second, larger ring. "All of us have ties to one or both of those men. Ties of love and friendship, ties of work or family. Ties that lead us to want the best for both of them, to see them enjoy love for the rest of their lives."
Everyone nodded or smiled in approval.
"You found a good one, Uncle D !" Eric added. "Mom's gonna be jealous."
"Shut up, Eric," Danny answered with no real heat.
"Steve," Akamu took control of the situation again, as if Eric had never spoken, "you've always been a generous soul, and you show it every day by putting your life at risk to protect others, that's obvious to anyone watching the news. You followed in your father's footsteps and made him proud. You stand between good and bad, you lead people towards the light. You live for your ohana.
"Danny, I may not know you, but I'm sure that Steve chose you for the best of reasons. It means together you feel you are better men. That you're a force to be reckoned with. A force, I have no doubt, working for the betterment of mankind."
Steve fully turned towards Danny and spoke of his deepest belief.
"Danny is the most loving man I know. Love for his children, for his family and his friends, even for the people he protects, and now for me. He's got the biggest heart you'll find."
"Then you two are indeed lucky you found each other," Akamu resumed. "Together, you decided to live your life side by side, entwined in the most intimate way. You share love and desires. You create a new family that you vow to nurture so that it can blossom and provide support, the fertile ground on which those children will find the strength to create their own lives and ohana."
Akamu opened his arms and turned towards Danny's children.
"Grace and Charlie, come here with us and stand close ; let's make this circle of love and life bigger and brighter."
The children moved closer, Grace tucking herself under Steve's arm and Charlie coming around to stand by Danny's side, brought closer by his father's arm over his own shoulders. As he felt her eyes on him, Steve realized that Grace seemed to want to say something but was shy about it.
"You want to tell us something, Gracie ?" he encouraged her.
"Yes ! I'm so happy to be here with you two today, because ever since I met Steve, more than ten years ago, I saw how Dad looked at him, with admiration first, and soon with love. The friendship kind of love, or maybe I was too young to realize there was more to it, all I know is that the day you both told us you were now a couple, it felt like the foregone conclusion to something I always felt was missing. You guys are made for each other, I've never been more sure of anything in my life. And I know you'll be happy together. Happy enough to make the other people around you happy too."
"You need to add something, buddy ?" Danny asked Charlie.
The kid seemed shy, feeling the eyes of every adult suddenly on him, and he looked at his father.
"I'm happy too, Danno."
"And I'm happy that you're happy," Danny answered, stroking his son's hair.
"Someone else want to share something ?" Akamu asked.
"I do," Adam's even voice said from behind Steve, but a hand gesture from Akamu had him joining the first circle. "I've known these two men for quite a few years now, and our meeting didn't happen under the best circumstances. But they gave me a chance, helped and supported me as much as they could. They've done it again not that long ago, giving me a reason to wake up in the morning and go about my day when everything around me seemed to crumble down. If two people deserve love and happiness, then they do, for standing up for their friends. I, for one, vow to be there for them any time they need me, and to do my best to support them in my turn. Danny, Steve, I wish you all the best."
Danny was the closest. He extended his arm to shake hands with Adam, not in a business-as-usual way but with a long, intense grip that said you're welcome as well as thank you so much for being there with us in this most important moment.
Each in their turn, Eric, Lou, Tani, Jerry, and even Junior joined the circle and added their wishes for love and happiness. Tani lightly teased Lou about his glistening eyes, making everything lighter until Steve barged in.
"I want to say something, too. I was the one who thought this would be a good idea to share this blessing together, today. We'll be married soon, giving in to the requirements of the law, and our extended families will be there, but I found I couldn't wait anymore to become this man's companion for life. Danny, you're already my family. You, Grace and Charlie. Because you've been by my side for ten years now. You've supported me, even when you disagreed with my "crazy plans." You've taken care of me when I was at my lowest. You've gone to the end of the world to bring me back home, stuck with me when I was sick or too weak to cope by myself, and made sure I knew I could rely on you if need be. In other words, you've loved me for so long that it seems incredible right now that we didn't come together sooner. But these feelings that have existed on so many levels between us, for years, are to me the proof that we can get through anything together, and that we'll stay together. Also, you've tried to teach me to deal with my emotions. So today, in front of our friends, I just want to tell you this, I love you."
"And I love you," Danny answered.
By this point, the rest of the room had kind of taken on a fuzzy feeling, the world becoming a distant second on Steve's perception of his environment. In this moment, everything was Danny.
"We came here," Danny continued, "because I could see how important it felt to you, someone from your past binding us together ; someone with ties with your father. And I'm glad we did now, glad we're here with some of the people we love best and are closest to us. I'm incredibly proud of you for opening up like that and baring your emotions in front of us all. I see it as the proof that I was right to believe this relationship had a chance to work out, despite all our differences, and all the ways you had been taught to suppress emotions, especially where another man's concerned. But mostly, I feel like the luckiest guy in the world because for some insane reason ten years ago, you, the super-SEAL, so handsome and so intelligent, you chose me to be your partner. I had my reservations back then, but it turned out for the best. You changed my life for the better when you made relocating here to be close to Grace a much easier move. And then you chose me one more time, over a year ago, when you decided to enter in a different kind of relationship with me - a gay relationship, which can still be quite the hardship in this world we're living in - and then again when you asked me to come live with you. And you do it again today, even after we went through the difficult times any couple has to face. You chose me, just like I chose you, and my only hope is that we'll keep doing so for as many years as fate, your crazy schemes and the criminal population of Hawaii will see fit to let us live together. I can't wait for all the arguments we're gonna have ! Can't wait to grow old next to you."
One drunken night, Danny had shared with Steve the details of the different scenarios he had dreamed of after being shot in quarantine. The idea of them still tight together, even when wrinkled, white-haired and decrepit, was by far the most tantalizing non-sexual fantasy Steve had ever heard about, and he loved to bring this image to mind very regularly, like a talisman, a mantra, a blessing. Danny knew it ; this was very much on purpose that he had brought up the topic.
Akamu and everyone else was looking at them fondly, but before one of them could speak again, Danny took a box out of his pocket.
"I have something for you," he said, eyes straight into Steve's. "For us, in fact."
He opened up the small box to show what Steve had guessed was their wedding bands.
"With these rings," Danny added, "we say in front of everyone that we're tied together. That this thing between you and me, we're ready to work on it, through good times and bad times. That we'll always love and support each other."
"That's what I want," Steve answered.
More than anything.
He gave his hand to Danny for him to put the band on his fourth finger. Then he took the second ring to pass it on Danny's hand and close the circle. Before, he brought the ring closer to his face and squinted to read the elegant inscription.
He shocked a bit. So many layers to this simple engraving, so many meanings that only the two of them could get.
"Steve & Danny - We'll be dreaming together, forever"
So many years of love to look forward to.
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The day Danny marries Steve in front of their friends is yet another one in paradise in this place where the sun always shines.
Danny can't believe his luck. He's given up his job and everything else he's built to be with this man. This young guy, who's been visible for hardly more than a year but knows his mind so well that this time was enough for him to make a decision and stand by it. Steve wants Danny, and God help him, Danny wants him back !
The marriage is just the next step in this life they've decided to share forever. Their families are there to stand witness.
There's Doris and John, who made Steven feel inadequate all his life, and Danny is hard pressed not to give them a piece of his mind. How they could let such a wonderful human being feel less than perfect is beyond him. How they could keep him separated from life, from friends, just because his body was a bit… - let's call it shy and be done with it - is such a nonsense than Danny thinks it doesn't bode well for their future impact on Steve's life if he's got anything to say about it.
Because if he's got anything to say about it, Danny's family will become Steve's family - and Mary Ann's too, for the girl didn't have it any easier than her big brother.
Danny's parents have already adopted Steve, it's clear from the way Clara and Eddie have taken to him since the moment Danny introduced them all. His sisters and brother are just as enamored with Steve and they've let Danny know in the clearest way that he's lucky to have met him first. Danny's children adore him and want to include him anytime they do something. Steve loves the attention, Danny can tell, and he blossoms every day a bit more.
Danny stands in front of Steve, eyes never leaving each other, smile firmly etched on their faces. They exchange the sacred vows to say they want to live for and by the other, together, forever.
As the oldest of the two, it was Danny's duty to provide the legal document. Danny offers to Steve the parchment that he unrolls in haste and begins to browse until Steve's eyes stop on a particular passage they never discussed. Danny knows this is something that will make Steve happier still, but the tears he can see forming in his eyes are more than he thought he'd witness.
"I, Daniel Williams," Steve reads aloud for everyone to hear, "declare Steve McGarrett to become my children's second father, for he loves them as much as I do and has proved many times already that he will do whatever it takes to keep them safe and happy for the rest of his life. By the power of this declaration, let us introduce Steve McGarrett-Williams as Grace and Charlie Williams' father."
There's a ton of applause and Steve's arms close around Danny. There're Grace and Charlie running to hug them both, the whole Williams clan coming to kiss the four of them, Mary who leads by the hand a not-so-little-anymore Joan towards her Uncle Steve to show him they're happy for him too, the Five-0 ohana, past and present, wishing them all the love in the world.
The orchestra decides it's time for them to open the dance and Danny offers his hand to his husband. More clapping can be heard as they cling to each other and begin to turn all around the dance floor. Steve leans down and Danny meets him to share another kiss, more heated and filthy this time, his hands sliding under Steve's jacket to spread over his back. Their dancing slows down so that they can kiss and touch properly, surrounded by all their loved ones and the memories of those they lost but that they still cherish every day as if they were here. John and Matty, Joe White and Billy Selway, old or new ghosts showing them the importance of living life to the brim.
Living with Steve means that Danny will never suffer a shortage of love, passion or excitement.
He really can't wait.
-------FIN-------