No Place to Go
Pairing: Steve/Danny
Summary:
With Steve indisposed, Danny and Chin are easily the best-looking men in the room. The collection of high-brow campaign contributors and prominent Hawaiian businessmen sport tuxedos which easily cost triple what Danny had paid for his but they don’t wear them half as well.
“All good out here, Chin,” Danny reports over the comms as he watches the squad car pull away. “The second shift is in place and there’s nothing suspicious.”
“Same out here.” Chin and Kono are sweeping the grounds at the back of the estate and checking that the shift handover goes smoothly out there too.
“Did you hear from Steve yet?” Danny asks.
“Not since you asked a minute ago, brah.” Chin rolls his eyes at his cousin who shakes her head. “He can take care of himself, Danny.”
“It’s not like him to nick off and leave us to deal with this,” Danny grumbles. “Whatever. The Governor’s just pulled in so I’m heading back inside.”
“See you soon,”
Danny had been in such a good mood this morning. He had actually been looking forward to the black-tie gala tonight, the one where Five-0 were meant to be part of the guest list rather than protecting them. But that had all gone off the rails when the Governor’s office reported a threat against the event and the taskforce had been put on point for a joint operation with the HPD. Then at four that afternoon, McGarrett had snuck into his office to take a mysterious phone call and nobody had seen him since.
Danny isn’t so much worried as he is pissed off. Well, ok. He’s a little bit worried too, but he’ll never admit to it. His one concession is that with Steve out of the way, he and Chin are easily the best-looking men in the room. The collection of high-brow campaign contributors and prominent Hawaiian businessmen sport tuxedos which easily cost triple what Danny had paid for his but they don’t wear them half as well.
Yes siree, he looked good and he knew it. The cut suited him just right and he hated to admit it, but maybe living in a state with such ethnic diversity had its advantages. ‘Off the rack’ with a few adjustments had never before worked so well for the short detective.
Walking back in through the front entrance, Danny notes the governor’s position and attire in case a threat arises and he has to find her quickly in the crowd. She’s standing with her back to him. Her aide had informed Five-0 that Jameson would be wearing a red evening gown. She’d even emailed through a photo of the dress (sans governor) and Danny could tell that it would make her look both elegant and effortlessly powerful. You don’t live with Rachel for almost a decade and not pick up on a few things.
He turns his attention to the governor’s escort. His hackles rise and something unsettling churns in his stomach. Who the hell wears a white suit to a black tie gala? ‘Vinnie’ (as Danny instantly decided he needed to be code-named) stands about six feet tall and, yeah ok as far as Danny can tell from behind, he fills the monstrous eyesore of a tux out well enough. But from the way every woman in the room (and more than a couple of the men) is now staring at ‘Vinnie’, Danny wonders how he's going to be able to keep from laughing in the guy’s face. He sizes him up, noting a tacky glint of gold at the shoulder seam of the jacket and taking in the pretentious prop at the man’s hip. Is this guy for real? Who the hell wears a sword to a gala, especially one on high security alert. It's the kind of insane stunt that McGarrett would…
Oh.
“Well shit,” Danny thinks, just as ‘Vinnie’ turns his way and flashes him a dazzling smile. Danny’s mouth becomes chokingly dry and he feels like all the blood in his body just did a free-fall into his feet. The governor’s escort leans in and says something to her, nods in Danny’s direction and comes his way.
Danny wants to run but his body betrays him like a bad poker face. His legs won’t move and his heart is trying to break out of his ribcage. The betrayal may be starting in other areas also.
“Evening, Danno,” Steve smiles again, rows of medals glinting on his chest. “Everything ok so far?”
“Huh?”
“I don’t have an earpiece yet, one of the HPD guys is bringing me one in,” Steve thinks Danny’s confusion is over the operational oversight. “Danny? You ok?”
“What? Oh. Yeah, everything’s smooth so far b…” he trips on his tongue. Because suddenly calling his very,very hot partner ‘babe’ seems like a very, very bad thing to do. And Danny’s not even a little bit mad that he has been completely trumped for the best-looking man title.
Not when there are dress whites involved. Dress whites with a goddamned sword. Not to mention the cummerbund which is secured snugly around Steve’s… No. Danny refuses to go there.
“I, uh… So I guess that was the governor on the phone this afternoon then?” He tries to regroup but the damned sword is holstered at the most distracting angle.
“It was. I tried to talk her out of this,” he sweeps his hand casually across his body to indicate his shining white splendour, “But she insisted that it would add an extra level to the imposing Five-0 presence.”
“It certainly adds an extra level of something,” Danny nods. Grandma Williams, rainbows, kittens, cute baby pandas and fuck it the list of innocent and completely non-sexy things is not working.
“It fits ok?” Steve slides his thumbs inside the top edge of the cummerbund and pulls at it self consciously. “I haven’t worn it in so long it feels too tight.”
Danny wonders if anybody thought to install a trapdoor as part of the extra security, coz he’d sure like to fall through one right about now. “You’re kidding me right? That thing is… Fuck, Steve,” he breathes and he feels all the blood rush back up from his feet and fill his face with embarrassed heat.
He looks up at his partner, whose expression is morphing from self deprecating to smug in record time. Danny reaches out to lay a finger on the handle of the sword and Steve steps in, heavy with intent and…
“Woah, Bossman. Nice threads!” Kono breezes over to them and they jump apart.
“Thanks, Kono. You’re looking lovely yourself.” Steve smiles and for all they just got busted, Danny’s glad that at least one of them can muster up some subtlety. And dignity.
“Well, uh, I’m just gonna…” Danny points his thumb back over his shoulder and waggles it.
“See if the HPD officer is on his way with my earpiece?” Steve suggests.
Danny nods, a little too vigorously. “Yes. That. Surveillance. Earpieces which allow us to surveil and…”
“Danny?”
"Yes?"
“Go.”
“Right.” He turns and walks back the way he had come in and swear to god, he hears Kono snickering behind him.
When he returns five minutes later, Kono is gone and the governor is making network-building small talk while Steve watches the room from beside her. He smiles at Danny when he approaches and the pair make a swift and discreet exchange of the earwig.
“So, Danny, you like my uniform?” Steve murmurs as he positions the piece.
It’s all Danny can do to nod.
“When this thing is over, you should come over for a few beers and I’ll tell you the history behind it.”
“Huh? Wait was that a line? Smooth dog my ass. I ought to report you to…”
“Oh my god, Danny, seriously?” Steve groans. “You can’t say smooth and refer to your ass in the same sentence. Not while we’re on the clock.”
“But later, at your house, we will be not on the clock and then…”
“And then you can report me for being out of uniform. If you know what I mean.”
Danny swallows. “Yes.”
“Yes you’ll come or yes you know what I mean.”
“Both.”
“Okay.” Steve twitches and looks around the room again. “Do you think we could fake a threat so the…”
“No.”
“I didn’t even finish!”
“I know where you were going with that, and whilst I admire your enthusiasm for… later… just, no. We do this thing then we can go, okay?”
“Fine,” Steve pouts. “But just so you know, I fully intend to find out just how smooth your ass is.”
“Oh god,” Danny squeezes his eyes shut and clenches his fists. “I am walking away now so I can do my job. You are a tease and you will pay for this, Steve.”
Steve grins. “Promise?”
“Yeah,” Danny grins back. “I promise.”
Notes:
Because I have a serious thing for dress whites. And Steve. And Steve neeeeeeeeds to appear in dress whites in the show.
That is all.