[Hawaii Five-0] Through Shapes and Shadows
Title: Through Shapes and Shadows
Author:
kitsune_tsuki
Rating: PG-13
Pairing: Pre-slash, Steve/Danny
Word Count: ~ 3,000
Spoilers: All aired episodes.
Disclaimer: In no way, shape, or form do these characters belong to me.
Summary: Danny remembers, very vividly, thanks to Steve and his understanding of various forms of interrogation techniques, Steve talking about aumakuas. He also remembers, not quite the same way, but it stands out in his mind, the moment someone drops "mo'o" into the mix when it comes to their latest case.
Notes: Ahaha, this was supposed to be short and silly? Only now it is not so much. I choose to blame
scorpionvoices for that. :D
Danny's first mistake, well, besides the obvious one of not quitting after Steve strong-armed him into being his partner and the whole getting shot at, getting shot, and everything that followed? Is that he gets a little too comfortable around his team, which means he sometimes tunes out when he shouldn't. He gets distracted by things like trying to figure out if a particular expression on Steve's face means he's gone too long without shooting (at?) someone, or if he's not really comprehending how the hell what Chin's telling them pertains to the matter at hand.
"Keeled scales?" Steve asks, like he's not Mr. Science in his spare time and doesn't understand how certain words go together to arrive at the great and glorious Halls of Science.
The case they're working on involves a woman who's been missing for several days, and so far the only thing they've found are muddled footprints in the area she was last seen and...scales. Sleek, black and shiny, too big to belong to any of the known lizard species in Hawaii. At a question from Kono, Chin's explaining the difference between the types of scales lizards have, but for some reason Steve's having problems processing.
"The scales have little ridges in them," Danny mumbles, going over crime scene photos. "Rattlers have them. The scales aren't as shiny, so they kind of help with camouflage."
It takes a moment before he realizes the others are staring at him, though, which is when he realizes that maybe he should have kept his trap shut. It's one thing to have random trivia floating around in your head, and another thing entirely to have intimate knowledge with things that could be passed off as random bits of trivia. "...What?" Danny asks, ignoring the way Steve is staring at him like he's just found his fellow science-geek soul-mate. "Grace," he says, flapping a hand at them. "She loves nature documentaries."
She does, actually, but hers is a specific kind of focus that Danny's not going to go into at the moment because that would be giving too much away.
"Hey, hey," Danny says, because Steve's still staring at him. "Eyes on the presentation, McGarrett. There's a case to deal with here, you know."
Steve snorts, but dutifully turns his attention back to the flatscreens and the files and photos Chin's put together.
====
====
Danny remembers, very vividly, thanks to Steve and his understanding of various forms of interrogation techniques, Steve talking about aumakuas. He also remembers, not quite the same way, but it stands out in his mind, the moment someone drops "mo'o" into the mix when it comes to their latest case.
Steve gets a strange look on his face and just says they need to talk to the husband of the missing woman again. There's a certain tone in his voice Danny can't quite place, and the looks Steve keeps giving him on the drive out to the husband's house are strange, even for him.
"What? What is with that look, McGarrett?"
Steve shakes his head and mutters something too low for Danny to hear and goes quiet, eyes focused on the road.
====
====
Danny knows all about strange happenings, things that can't be explained through science, or logic or anything resembling common sense. He does. Still, when they confront the missing woman's husband, he's not really expecting to be told this mo'o thing is real, that it's one of the aumakua Steve mentioned, and that it's fucking pissed at the woman's husband.
"I can honestly say I never expected this," Danny says, because really? Out of all the things he's seen, a thirty foot long lizard that looks like a fucking gecko rising out of the fish pond at the missing woman's home was not one of them. "And yet, this isn't the weirdest thing I've ever come across."
Steve gives him an amused look, because, what? Jersey isn't allowed to have weird shit?
And then Steve's talking to the mo'o, trying to negotiate with it to please not eat the terrified husband who murdered his wife for her money so they can throw his ass in jail, like he thinks that's going to work. Like the mo'o is interested in stupid human justice when it's clearly bent on the only kind of justice it understands, and honestly, Danny gets it. He does.
The only problem is that he's lived by human rules his entire life, and as satisfying as it would be to see this stupid bastard get what's coming to him, he can't let that happen. It's not as though Danny knew about the mo'o before this case, before Hawaii, or that he thinks he can get through to it any better than Steve can because of what he is, but he steps forward because Steve.
Steve is too smart for his own good sometimes, and too brave for anyone's good all the time, and the mo'o is angry and full of righteous fury. The mo'o might not have reason to harm either one of them, but Danny knows if Steve insists on being Steve, he's going to get hurt or eaten, and then Danny will have to do something stupid, at which point he will probably get hurt and or eaten, and really? Not how Danny wants to go out, all told.
Danny ignores Steve's annoyed hiss of, "Danny what the hell are you doing?", when he pushes past him to stand in front of the mo'o, which is now watching the two of them intently. Probably trying to decide which one to go after first, or if it's worth whatever repercussions will result if it does kill them to get to the bastard responsible for this mess.
"Shut it, McGarrett," Danny says, slapping at Steve's hands when he tries to pull him back, away from the mo'o.
The mo'o takes a few steps closer, eyes focused on Danny now, and Jesus, why did he ever think this was a good idea?
"Danny - "
Danny doesn't look away from the mo'o. He knows better than to appeal to its better side, because really? Something as old as it is doesn't have one. Or not one that would be recognizable to them. It vaguely understands things like honor and justice, but things like mine and protect are very clear, very real to it. And at the moment, it knows something that it's meant to protect, to guard, has been taken from it and the person responsible is right there.
Now that he has its attention, Danny doesn't know what to say. "What he said," he says, gesturing to Steve, and shrugs.
It's not the most eloquent thing in the world, but really. What could he say? He doesn't know how the mo'o became the aumakua to the missing woman's family. He hasn't been in Hawaii long enough to have a firm grasp on how things work between the aumakua and beings like him to even begin to know what to say.
"Also, shut the hell up, McGarrett," Danny says, knowing Steve's probably giving him his "You've offended my maidenly virtue" face and is appalled right now that Danny's not treating the mo'o with more reverence. But. Fuck it. There's not much they can do here.
The mo'o stares at him for a long, unnerving moment, and then turns back to the pond and slides back into the water, leaving them alone with the sound of geckos in the trees and the hysterical crying of the woman's husband.
====
====
One of the very few upsides to Hawaii, Danny's willing to admit, is the climate. Jersey's always going to be home. But - and it pains him to admit it - he could get used to the warm temperatures and abundant sunshine and -
"What the hell were you thinking?"
And Steve, being angry and pissed and standing in Danny's light when he's trying to enjoy the goddamn sunshine. The same sunshine Steve's always telling him is, "Great! Fantastic! Good for you because you look like you've been living in a cave your whole life! Jesus, Danno!"
"At which point?" Danny asks, opening his eyes to see Steve standing over him, hands on his hips and scared because for once he wasn't the (only) one taking stupid risks. There's also a look of dawning realization that, shitshitshit, he has people in his life that care about him, what the hell is that?
Steve goes from hands on hips to arms crossed in front of his chest and trying to look like a big, bad SEAL. "When you almost got yourself killed!"
Danny looks at Steve for a very long moment. "Again, you'll need to be more specific," Danny says. "That kind of thing tends to happen a lot around here." He waits for that to sink in. "Granted, usually it's you trying to get yourself killed in truly creative ways, but," Danny shrugs and spreads his hands.
"The mo'o - "
"Wasn't after us," Danny says, sitting up because he's getting a crick in his neck looking up at Steve. "It was after that stupid, greedy bastard, and you - we - were in its way. You think it wouldn't have gone through us to get to him? You think it cared all that much if it had to kill us?" Danny's not going to think about the fallout in the supernatural world that might have followed if the mo'o had killed them. Killed Steve. He doesn't know what kind of aumakua Steve's family has looking out for them, but he has a feeling it's something old and very, very angry with the way things have been unfolding for Steve's family recently. Something that knows how to bide its time, and Jesus, Danny has a feeling whenever it makes its move, Steve's going to be involved.
Steve's eyes narrow.
"Look," Danny says. "Don't act like you didn't know about the damn mo'o when we found the scales." That was when Steve and the others started acting weird. Squirrelly, almost, but Steve had been the worst. Distracted and not focusing the way he usually did.
Steve scowls at him. "I didn't," he says, and holds up a hand when Danny opens his mouth to call bullshit. "At first, I didn't. I couldn't figure out how the scales tied in, I wasn't even thinking about, you know," Steve says, making a face because he can't bring himself to say "supernatural" or "otherworldly".
"But you knew, is my point," Danny says. "You knew about the mo'o, and you still did something as stupid as getting in its way."
Steve just looks at him because, yes. Steve really is just that stupid.
"Just." Danny sighs, tired of this. Whatever it is. "Just shut up and be happy about not being dead and enjoy the goddamn sunshine," he says, and lays back down. He doesn't actually get that much time to just bask now that Steve is in his life and they're running all over the place acting like they're waging a war against crime and injustice in Hawaii.
Steve doesn't say anything, and for a minute Danny thinks he's going to leave. But then Steve sighs, tired and weary, and takes the chair next to him.
====
====
Danny's second mistake, the one that ends up with him having to explain to Steve and the others that he sometimes turns into small lizard happens entirely by accident.
"What is this?" Steve asks, helping Danny pack up his shit because, God help him, Danny is moving out of his shitty apartment and into a nicer place. Steve is taking it as a sign that Danny doesn't actually hate Hawaii. That he does, in fact like the place, and may one day set down roots.
Danny looks over to see holding up a small keeled scale. "It's a scale," Danny says. "I'm sure you've seen one before."
The look he gets for that is worth whatever shit Steve will give him when he finally figures things out.
====
====
Steve doesn't see Danny in his lizard form until a few weeks later, and, again, it's completely by accident.
Danny sometimes loses track of the cycles of the moon because he has other, more important things on his mind. Things like gunrunners and drug dealers and missing people. Things like Steve being an idiot and Danny and the others keeping an eye on him to make sure Steve doesn't do something stupid, and sometimes. Sometimes Danny turns into a small lizard at the most inconvenient times.
Steve's staring at him now, a small brown lizard clinging to the side of a tree on Steve's property with little patches of blue at his throat and on his belly and clearly not native to Hawaii.
Danny flicks out his tongue and scurries up the side of the tree and out of sight when Steve comes closer because this? This is not the ideal time for him to be a small lizard, nor is it the ideal time to explain to Steve that, hey, Danny's not entirely human. Go figure.
====
====
When Steve finally puts all the pieces together. All the strange, unexpected things Danny knows, or has done, or whatever, Steve comes to him. He comes armed with notes and evidence bags with scales and bits of shed skin and a look on his face as though he's expecting a fight.
"So you finally put it all together, huh?" Danny says, poking through Steve's case for Danny being a were-lizard. He even has charts for the cycles of the moon, which is impressive, although not entirely unexpected for Steve. "Good for you."
"...Why didn't you just tell me?" Steve asks, and the way he sounds, the tone of his voice tells Danny he's expecting to hear something about trust or the lack of, of Danny being afraid of Steve's reaction, of the team's reaction, and that. That had been part of it, at first.
"It didn't occur to me as something that might be important in regard to our jobs," Danny says, picking up one of the evidence bags to look at the scale inside, aware of the look of disbelief on Steve's face. "What?" he asks, setting the evidence bag back down. "Don't give me that look.”
"I. What?"
Danny sighs. "Okay, it's like. Does it ever occur to you that you're a freaking giant compared to normal people?"
"I'm not a giant," Steve says, getting his aneurysm face on. "Also, fuck you, but how is that even - "
"Or Kono," Danny goes on, ignoring Steve. "Do you think she ever stops to think, 'Oh, hey. Shit. I'm a woman, I should probably let the team know'?"
Steve's staring at him with his mouth open, and it's definitely not an attractive look on him at all. "And you say my brain is a miserable place. Jesus, what the hell are you even trying to say?"
Danny smiles because now Steve isn't thinking that Danny's not telling him, them, has to do with Danny not trusting them with this secret. Instead he's thinking Danny's just crazy in ways he hadn't considered.
"Okay, you're right." Danny says. "At first I didn't tell you because I'm not exactly human, and some people have problems with that." The way Steve immediately looks as though he'd like to introduce those people to his fists of fury says everything. "But then it just. Look, okay. I know I should have said something, but when would have been a good time for that? When we were going after Hesse that first time?" Steve grimaces. "Or what about the thing with Kono's old surfing sponsor? Oh, oh, what about the time there was a fake tsunami? Would then have been a good time to talk?"
Steve groans and covers his face. "Jesus, I get it."
Danny shrugs and sits back in his chair. "Yeah. Not really something that pops up during work situations or normal conversations, not that we've ever had a normal conversation. I knew you'd figure it out eventually, although really? I thought we'd be having this little discussion months ago. Way to shatter my faith in your detective skills there, McGarrett."
Steve flips him the bird and glances at the evidence and notes he's been hoarding for who knows for how long, and then back up at Danny. "Did you know about the mo'o?"
Danny's been waiting for that one. "No," he says. "I didn't know about it until it came out of the fish pond, and then, you know. I did some research afterward. Got in contact with some friends back in Jersey who knew people who could give me some information on how things like that work here in Hawaii."
"'How things like that work here in Hawaii'?" Steve asks, almost like he knows he doesn't want an answer.
"Hey, look," Danny says, because Steve has to know there's more to the supernatural world than angry thirty foot long guardian spirits and were-lizards. "There's an entire world of things like us out there, and not all of us operate like the mo'o." The mo'o is something of the Old World, ancient and powerful and timeless. Something apart. Beings like Danny are more of the New World, for all that they're still something out of myth and legend, they're not that different from humans.
Steve's looking at him now, and Danny lets him. It's a risk, a big fucking risk letting Steve get this close, letting Steve have the truth of what Danny is, but. He trusts Steve with it, and he trusts Kono and Chin with it, and that's the important thing.
"Jesus, Danno," Steve says when it hims him. When he gets how big this is.
"Yeah," Danny says, because there's really nothing else he can say to that.
"Are you going to tell Kono and Chin?" Steve asks, because he can't not.
Danny shrugs. "I'm pretty sure they already know." Kono and Chin are scary like that. "But I wasn't planning on keeping it a secret from them, no."
And because Steve knows him, he starts smiling. "...But you aren't sure." It's not really a question.
"Not so much, no," Danny admits, because there's every possibility they don't know sometimes he turns into a small lizard.
"They're going to kill you when they find out you didn't just tell them, you know," Steve points out, because he's just as much of an asshole as Danny is.
Probably, but that's half the fun.
Okay, so this whole, horrible thing started with some random thoughts, and then somehow I wrote a ficlet where Danny is part Gorgon because my mind actually is a miserable place? And now there is this. Aumakua. This is where I got my information on the mo'o. Also? Danny turns into this little guy, who has been known to live in New Jersey. :D?
Posted at http://kitsune-tsuki.dreamwidth.org/350660.html. | You can reply here or there. |
Author:
kitsune_tsuki
Rating: PG-13
Pairing: Pre-slash, Steve/Danny
Word Count: ~ 3,000
Spoilers: All aired episodes.
Disclaimer: In no way, shape, or form do these characters belong to me.
Summary: Danny remembers, very vividly, thanks to Steve and his understanding of various forms of interrogation techniques, Steve talking about aumakuas. He also remembers, not quite the same way, but it stands out in his mind, the moment someone drops "mo'o" into the mix when it comes to their latest case.
Notes: Ahaha, this was supposed to be short and silly? Only now it is not so much. I choose to blame
scorpionvoices for that. :D
Danny's first mistake, well, besides the obvious one of not quitting after Steve strong-armed him into being his partner and the whole getting shot at, getting shot, and everything that followed? Is that he gets a little too comfortable around his team, which means he sometimes tunes out when he shouldn't. He gets distracted by things like trying to figure out if a particular expression on Steve's face means he's gone too long without shooting (at?) someone, or if he's not really comprehending how the hell what Chin's telling them pertains to the matter at hand.
"Keeled scales?" Steve asks, like he's not Mr. Science in his spare time and doesn't understand how certain words go together to arrive at the great and glorious Halls of Science.
The case they're working on involves a woman who's been missing for several days, and so far the only thing they've found are muddled footprints in the area she was last seen and...scales. Sleek, black and shiny, too big to belong to any of the known lizard species in Hawaii. At a question from Kono, Chin's explaining the difference between the types of scales lizards have, but for some reason Steve's having problems processing.
"The scales have little ridges in them," Danny mumbles, going over crime scene photos. "Rattlers have them. The scales aren't as shiny, so they kind of help with camouflage."
It takes a moment before he realizes the others are staring at him, though, which is when he realizes that maybe he should have kept his trap shut. It's one thing to have random trivia floating around in your head, and another thing entirely to have intimate knowledge with things that could be passed off as random bits of trivia. "...What?" Danny asks, ignoring the way Steve is staring at him like he's just found his fellow science-geek soul-mate. "Grace," he says, flapping a hand at them. "She loves nature documentaries."
She does, actually, but hers is a specific kind of focus that Danny's not going to go into at the moment because that would be giving too much away.
"Hey, hey," Danny says, because Steve's still staring at him. "Eyes on the presentation, McGarrett. There's a case to deal with here, you know."
Steve snorts, but dutifully turns his attention back to the flatscreens and the files and photos Chin's put together.
====
====
Danny remembers, very vividly, thanks to Steve and his understanding of various forms of interrogation techniques, Steve talking about aumakuas. He also remembers, not quite the same way, but it stands out in his mind, the moment someone drops "mo'o" into the mix when it comes to their latest case.
Steve gets a strange look on his face and just says they need to talk to the husband of the missing woman again. There's a certain tone in his voice Danny can't quite place, and the looks Steve keeps giving him on the drive out to the husband's house are strange, even for him.
"What? What is with that look, McGarrett?"
Steve shakes his head and mutters something too low for Danny to hear and goes quiet, eyes focused on the road.
====
====
Danny knows all about strange happenings, things that can't be explained through science, or logic or anything resembling common sense. He does. Still, when they confront the missing woman's husband, he's not really expecting to be told this mo'o thing is real, that it's one of the aumakua Steve mentioned, and that it's fucking pissed at the woman's husband.
"I can honestly say I never expected this," Danny says, because really? Out of all the things he's seen, a thirty foot long lizard that looks like a fucking gecko rising out of the fish pond at the missing woman's home was not one of them. "And yet, this isn't the weirdest thing I've ever come across."
Steve gives him an amused look, because, what? Jersey isn't allowed to have weird shit?
And then Steve's talking to the mo'o, trying to negotiate with it to please not eat the terrified husband who murdered his wife for her money so they can throw his ass in jail, like he thinks that's going to work. Like the mo'o is interested in stupid human justice when it's clearly bent on the only kind of justice it understands, and honestly, Danny gets it. He does.
The only problem is that he's lived by human rules his entire life, and as satisfying as it would be to see this stupid bastard get what's coming to him, he can't let that happen. It's not as though Danny knew about the mo'o before this case, before Hawaii, or that he thinks he can get through to it any better than Steve can because of what he is, but he steps forward because Steve.
Steve is too smart for his own good sometimes, and too brave for anyone's good all the time, and the mo'o is angry and full of righteous fury. The mo'o might not have reason to harm either one of them, but Danny knows if Steve insists on being Steve, he's going to get hurt or eaten, and then Danny will have to do something stupid, at which point he will probably get hurt and or eaten, and really? Not how Danny wants to go out, all told.
Danny ignores Steve's annoyed hiss of, "Danny what the hell are you doing?", when he pushes past him to stand in front of the mo'o, which is now watching the two of them intently. Probably trying to decide which one to go after first, or if it's worth whatever repercussions will result if it does kill them to get to the bastard responsible for this mess.
"Shut it, McGarrett," Danny says, slapping at Steve's hands when he tries to pull him back, away from the mo'o.
The mo'o takes a few steps closer, eyes focused on Danny now, and Jesus, why did he ever think this was a good idea?
"Danny - "
Danny doesn't look away from the mo'o. He knows better than to appeal to its better side, because really? Something as old as it is doesn't have one. Or not one that would be recognizable to them. It vaguely understands things like honor and justice, but things like mine and protect are very clear, very real to it. And at the moment, it knows something that it's meant to protect, to guard, has been taken from it and the person responsible is right there.
Now that he has its attention, Danny doesn't know what to say. "What he said," he says, gesturing to Steve, and shrugs.
It's not the most eloquent thing in the world, but really. What could he say? He doesn't know how the mo'o became the aumakua to the missing woman's family. He hasn't been in Hawaii long enough to have a firm grasp on how things work between the aumakua and beings like him to even begin to know what to say.
"Also, shut the hell up, McGarrett," Danny says, knowing Steve's probably giving him his "You've offended my maidenly virtue" face and is appalled right now that Danny's not treating the mo'o with more reverence. But. Fuck it. There's not much they can do here.
The mo'o stares at him for a long, unnerving moment, and then turns back to the pond and slides back into the water, leaving them alone with the sound of geckos in the trees and the hysterical crying of the woman's husband.
====
====
One of the very few upsides to Hawaii, Danny's willing to admit, is the climate. Jersey's always going to be home. But - and it pains him to admit it - he could get used to the warm temperatures and abundant sunshine and -
"What the hell were you thinking?"
And Steve, being angry and pissed and standing in Danny's light when he's trying to enjoy the goddamn sunshine. The same sunshine Steve's always telling him is, "Great! Fantastic! Good for you because you look like you've been living in a cave your whole life! Jesus, Danno!"
"At which point?" Danny asks, opening his eyes to see Steve standing over him, hands on his hips and scared because for once he wasn't the (only) one taking stupid risks. There's also a look of dawning realization that, shitshitshit, he has people in his life that care about him, what the hell is that?
Steve goes from hands on hips to arms crossed in front of his chest and trying to look like a big, bad SEAL. "When you almost got yourself killed!"
Danny looks at Steve for a very long moment. "Again, you'll need to be more specific," Danny says. "That kind of thing tends to happen a lot around here." He waits for that to sink in. "Granted, usually it's you trying to get yourself killed in truly creative ways, but," Danny shrugs and spreads his hands.
"The mo'o - "
"Wasn't after us," Danny says, sitting up because he's getting a crick in his neck looking up at Steve. "It was after that stupid, greedy bastard, and you - we - were in its way. You think it wouldn't have gone through us to get to him? You think it cared all that much if it had to kill us?" Danny's not going to think about the fallout in the supernatural world that might have followed if the mo'o had killed them. Killed Steve. He doesn't know what kind of aumakua Steve's family has looking out for them, but he has a feeling it's something old and very, very angry with the way things have been unfolding for Steve's family recently. Something that knows how to bide its time, and Jesus, Danny has a feeling whenever it makes its move, Steve's going to be involved.
Steve's eyes narrow.
"Look," Danny says. "Don't act like you didn't know about the damn mo'o when we found the scales." That was when Steve and the others started acting weird. Squirrelly, almost, but Steve had been the worst. Distracted and not focusing the way he usually did.
Steve scowls at him. "I didn't," he says, and holds up a hand when Danny opens his mouth to call bullshit. "At first, I didn't. I couldn't figure out how the scales tied in, I wasn't even thinking about, you know," Steve says, making a face because he can't bring himself to say "supernatural" or "otherworldly".
"But you knew, is my point," Danny says. "You knew about the mo'o, and you still did something as stupid as getting in its way."
Steve just looks at him because, yes. Steve really is just that stupid.
"Just." Danny sighs, tired of this. Whatever it is. "Just shut up and be happy about not being dead and enjoy the goddamn sunshine," he says, and lays back down. He doesn't actually get that much time to just bask now that Steve is in his life and they're running all over the place acting like they're waging a war against crime and injustice in Hawaii.
Steve doesn't say anything, and for a minute Danny thinks he's going to leave. But then Steve sighs, tired and weary, and takes the chair next to him.
====
====
Danny's second mistake, the one that ends up with him having to explain to Steve and the others that he sometimes turns into small lizard happens entirely by accident.
"What is this?" Steve asks, helping Danny pack up his shit because, God help him, Danny is moving out of his shitty apartment and into a nicer place. Steve is taking it as a sign that Danny doesn't actually hate Hawaii. That he does, in fact like the place, and may one day set down roots.
Danny looks over to see holding up a small keeled scale. "It's a scale," Danny says. "I'm sure you've seen one before."
The look he gets for that is worth whatever shit Steve will give him when he finally figures things out.
====
====
Steve doesn't see Danny in his lizard form until a few weeks later, and, again, it's completely by accident.
Danny sometimes loses track of the cycles of the moon because he has other, more important things on his mind. Things like gunrunners and drug dealers and missing people. Things like Steve being an idiot and Danny and the others keeping an eye on him to make sure Steve doesn't do something stupid, and sometimes. Sometimes Danny turns into a small lizard at the most inconvenient times.
Steve's staring at him now, a small brown lizard clinging to the side of a tree on Steve's property with little patches of blue at his throat and on his belly and clearly not native to Hawaii.
Danny flicks out his tongue and scurries up the side of the tree and out of sight when Steve comes closer because this? This is not the ideal time for him to be a small lizard, nor is it the ideal time to explain to Steve that, hey, Danny's not entirely human. Go figure.
====
====
When Steve finally puts all the pieces together. All the strange, unexpected things Danny knows, or has done, or whatever, Steve comes to him. He comes armed with notes and evidence bags with scales and bits of shed skin and a look on his face as though he's expecting a fight.
"So you finally put it all together, huh?" Danny says, poking through Steve's case for Danny being a were-lizard. He even has charts for the cycles of the moon, which is impressive, although not entirely unexpected for Steve. "Good for you."
"...Why didn't you just tell me?" Steve asks, and the way he sounds, the tone of his voice tells Danny he's expecting to hear something about trust or the lack of, of Danny being afraid of Steve's reaction, of the team's reaction, and that. That had been part of it, at first.
"It didn't occur to me as something that might be important in regard to our jobs," Danny says, picking up one of the evidence bags to look at the scale inside, aware of the look of disbelief on Steve's face. "What?" he asks, setting the evidence bag back down. "Don't give me that look.”
"I. What?"
Danny sighs. "Okay, it's like. Does it ever occur to you that you're a freaking giant compared to normal people?"
"I'm not a giant," Steve says, getting his aneurysm face on. "Also, fuck you, but how is that even - "
"Or Kono," Danny goes on, ignoring Steve. "Do you think she ever stops to think, 'Oh, hey. Shit. I'm a woman, I should probably let the team know'?"
Steve's staring at him with his mouth open, and it's definitely not an attractive look on him at all. "And you say my brain is a miserable place. Jesus, what the hell are you even trying to say?"
Danny smiles because now Steve isn't thinking that Danny's not telling him, them, has to do with Danny not trusting them with this secret. Instead he's thinking Danny's just crazy in ways he hadn't considered.
"Okay, you're right." Danny says. "At first I didn't tell you because I'm not exactly human, and some people have problems with that." The way Steve immediately looks as though he'd like to introduce those people to his fists of fury says everything. "But then it just. Look, okay. I know I should have said something, but when would have been a good time for that? When we were going after Hesse that first time?" Steve grimaces. "Or what about the thing with Kono's old surfing sponsor? Oh, oh, what about the time there was a fake tsunami? Would then have been a good time to talk?"
Steve groans and covers his face. "Jesus, I get it."
Danny shrugs and sits back in his chair. "Yeah. Not really something that pops up during work situations or normal conversations, not that we've ever had a normal conversation. I knew you'd figure it out eventually, although really? I thought we'd be having this little discussion months ago. Way to shatter my faith in your detective skills there, McGarrett."
Steve flips him the bird and glances at the evidence and notes he's been hoarding for who knows for how long, and then back up at Danny. "Did you know about the mo'o?"
Danny's been waiting for that one. "No," he says. "I didn't know about it until it came out of the fish pond, and then, you know. I did some research afterward. Got in contact with some friends back in Jersey who knew people who could give me some information on how things like that work here in Hawaii."
"'How things like that work here in Hawaii'?" Steve asks, almost like he knows he doesn't want an answer.
"Hey, look," Danny says, because Steve has to know there's more to the supernatural world than angry thirty foot long guardian spirits and were-lizards. "There's an entire world of things like us out there, and not all of us operate like the mo'o." The mo'o is something of the Old World, ancient and powerful and timeless. Something apart. Beings like Danny are more of the New World, for all that they're still something out of myth and legend, they're not that different from humans.
Steve's looking at him now, and Danny lets him. It's a risk, a big fucking risk letting Steve get this close, letting Steve have the truth of what Danny is, but. He trusts Steve with it, and he trusts Kono and Chin with it, and that's the important thing.
"Jesus, Danno," Steve says when it hims him. When he gets how big this is.
"Yeah," Danny says, because there's really nothing else he can say to that.
"Are you going to tell Kono and Chin?" Steve asks, because he can't not.
Danny shrugs. "I'm pretty sure they already know." Kono and Chin are scary like that. "But I wasn't planning on keeping it a secret from them, no."
And because Steve knows him, he starts smiling. "...But you aren't sure." It's not really a question.
"Not so much, no," Danny admits, because there's every possibility they don't know sometimes he turns into a small lizard.
"They're going to kill you when they find out you didn't just tell them, you know," Steve points out, because he's just as much of an asshole as Danny is.
Probably, but that's half the fun.
Okay, so this whole, horrible thing started with some random thoughts, and then somehow I wrote a ficlet where Danny is part Gorgon because my mind actually is a miserable place? And now there is this. Aumakua. This is where I got my information on the mo'o. Also? Danny turns into this little guy, who has been known to live in New Jersey. :D?
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