Fic: Smooth Dog Has a Rough Day
Title: Smooth Dog Has a Rough Day
Characters: Danny and Steve
Rating: PG, gen
Disclaimer: Hawaii 5-0 does not belong to me, and no infringement is intended.
Summary: Danny finds out the hard way how Steve got his nickname. Minor references to episode 1.09 "Po'ipu." This story was originally posted to the Hawaii 5-0 Flash Fiction community.
Danny woke up feeling like crap. He ached all over, and he was hyper-sensitive to smells and sounds. To top it off, something was wrong with his eyes -- it was hard to focus, and everything looked grey. This didn't feel like any hangover he'd had before. In fact, when he thought about the previous night, he couldn't remember drinking anything. The team had spent the past week running all over the state, tracking some scumbag across four islands, only to end up right back where they started. Danny and Steve had finally caught up with the guy yesterday. As HPD led him away to a squad car, he cursed at the pair from 5-0 and called them the governor's dogs. Steve got mega-aneurysm face, but Danny just laughed and teased his partner until he relaxed. They left the paperwork for the next day because everyone was exhausted. In fact, Danny and Steve had both been so tired that they fell asleep as soon as they got to Steve's house. It had been a rough week, but Danny didn't think it should have hit him that hard. Maybe he was coming down with something.
He started to get up to find some aspirin, but when Danny saw his hands, he yelped and fell out of the bed.
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Steve woke up feeling like crap. He ached all over, and he was hyper-sensitive to smells and sounds. To top it off, something was wrong with his eyes -- it was hard to focus, and everything looked grey. "Not again," he thought with a sigh. He had hoped that this was all behind him once his loan time to the special division was done. Well, now Danny would know how he got his nickname. Since the other man had spent the night, there was no way to hide this. Steve wondered how his partner would take it and anticipated a truly epic rant in the near future.
Steve's speculation was cut short by a yelp and a thud from the spare bedroom. "Not Danny too!" he thought, as he dashed for the door.
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Danny looked up as Steve ran toward him. At least, he thought it was his partner. It certainly smelled like Steve (although Danny didn't want to think about how he knew what Steve smelled like). However, instead of the normal six-foot-plus human frame, Danny saw a very large dog with short, black fur. "What the hell, McGarrett?!" Danny tried to wave his arms and discovered that the best he could do was throw his head around and pace. "What the fuck is going on here? When did we become dogs? How did we become dogs?" Danny turned to glare at his partner. "This sort of thing never happened in New Jersey, Steven! Only on your impossible islands do people get turned into pets overnight."
Steve sat down and looked at Danny as he continued talking. The New Jersey native's canine form was smaller and stockier than Steve's, with longer, light-colored fur. The SEAL didn't know much about dog breeds, but he suspected Danny was some sort of terrier. That certainly fit with his temperament -- brash and tenacious, with a mouth that never quit.
Right now, Danny's mouth was spiralling out of control. Steve had seen this type of rant before but not often. Unless something managed to interrupt him, Danny would get more worked up the longer he talked. He was already shivering and panting a little, sure signs of stress in dogs. He also smelled like "rational concern." Steve knew he needed to find a way to snap his partner out of this quickly.
The big dog shrugged mentally. Might as well start with the easy options. "Danny...."
"No, you do not get to talk yet, Steven. I don't know how, but I'm willing to bet that us being dogs is somehow your fault, and...." Danny could tell that he was just getting more upset, but he'd been turned into a dog, and he thought that deserved a good rant.
"Danny," Steve repeated, putting a little growl into his voice.
"Still talking here, McGarrett," Danny said with just as much force, not even pausing for breath before continuing with what he had been saying.
Deciding that desperate times called for desperate measures, Steve stepped forward and licked Danny's ear.
The smaller dog sat down, startled. "Glah! Wha-! Steve, what the hell are you doing?!" Danny finally stopped talking and stared at his partner, rubbing at his wet ear with one paw.
"You were getting worked up and looked like you were about to go into shock, so I licked your ear," Steve said calmly. Now that Danny's rant wasn't going to spiral out of control, he felt more confident that they could deal with the situation.
"Ok, first, ear-licking is not an acceptable way to deal with, well, anything. Only a Neanderthal like you would lick someone's ear to get their attention! Second, of course I was getting worked up. We got turned into dogs, McGarrett! Any normal person would be worked up!" Danny looked closely at Steve. "Come to think of it, I know you're not normal, but you're also taking this far too well for someone with your control issues."
"I don't have control issues," Steve replied, settling down on the floor and trying to look innocent.
"Uh-huh," Danny said skeptically. "We'll come back to that later. You know other people who have been turned into dogs, don't you? Was it one of those special projects you and Nick mentioned?" Danny stood up straight and pricked his ears at Steve as something clicked in his head. "Oh, my God! That's why he called you 'Smooth Dog,' isn't it? You've been a dog before!"
Steve sighed. Sometimes Danny was too smart for his own good, or at least for Steve's good. "I can't talk about that."
Danny barked a laugh. It was bad enough when Steve claimed things were classified under normal conditions, but this was too much. "Why not? Who am I going to tell, Rover next door? This isn't exactly English we're barking."
"No, but we should be human again before long. That guy didn't strike me as an expert at this sort of thing; we'll probably change back in a day or so. If we don't, I'll contact some people who can reverse the effects." Steve really didn't want to have to do that. Danny's security clearance wasn't anywhere near high enough for this, so there would be problems if Steve had to call for help.
"So, what, we just hang out here all day as dogs? Kono, Chin, and Lori are going to worry when we don't show up for work. We don't want them coming here. There's no way we could explain this, particularly since they won't be able to understand what we're saying! Also, what'll we do for food? It's kind of hard to work the stove without thumbs."
Steve was a little impressed at how quickly Danny got past the initial shock and started thinking of the practical issues of being turned into a dog. "I should be able to use the computer to send them text messages. I'll say that we're still wiped from this week, and the team can take a day to recover. As for food, there's leftovers and pre-cooked stuff in the fridge, so we should be ok." Steve got up and led the way downstairs.
"Shit -- I just thought of something. What if the rest of the team got turned into dogs, too?"
"Unlikely. They weren't at the final take down, so that scumbag was focusing on us. Let's not worry about it unless we don't get a reply from someone." Typing the message took a while. Even with Steve's training, it wasn't easy for a dog to read a monitor, much less use a keyboard. Fortunately, they got a quick response from all three of their teammates and breathed a sigh of relief.
Moving to the kitchen, Steve managed to pull open the refrigerator door and drag out food for breakfast. Danny decided that there were times when having a ridiculously large partner was useful -- his own canine body just didn't have the mass to open the door, and he couldn't reach much beyond the vegetable crisper and drinks. The mess they left on the floor annoyed Steve, but there was only so much cleaning that two dogs could do. Afterwards, they curled up on the living room couch for a nap. The food had helped, but they were still feeling the effects of the change and needed more rest.
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Several hours later, Danny opened one eye to see a large, black nose only an inch away from his. He jumped backwards a little but managed to stifle his instinctive yelp of surprise. Soulful brown eyes stared at him, and Steve said, "I'm bored, Danny."
The smaller dog tried not to growl. "Then take another nap."
"I don't want to nap any more. Will you play with me?" Steve knew he was whining, but he didn't like being a dog unless he had a mission.
Danny decided that it was just his luck that Steve's "puppy dog eyes" look was even more effective when he was an actual dog. He stalled to avoid giving in as quickly as he wanted. "Does being transformed make us act more like dogs or something? This doesn't sound like you."
"Not unless the spell is very strong. Since we're still able to communicate this well, it's unlikely that we'll experience psychological effects." Steve still remembered all the information he'd been given in training, no matter how long ago that training had been. "C'mon, Danno, I'm bored," he repeated.
"So why wait for me? Why not do whatever you usually do when you're bored?" Danny asked.
Steve sighed. His partner was not making this easy. Ok, it was Danny, so that shouldn't surprise him, but it was still frustrating. "When I'm human, I have more options for amusing myself. I can go for a swim or a run, I can work on our latest case, I can tinker with the Marquis, I can go surfing, I can...."
"Taunt me into starting a rant, you can blow something up -- I get the idea," Danny interrupted, trying to sound irritated and failing miserably. The more he thought about it, the more he realized that his partner frequently did come to him when bored. Not that Mr. Repression would say that outright, but Steve often dropped by for no reason or invited Danny to do things with him. Anyway, now that he was awake, doing something besides lying around staring at the walls all day sounded pretty appealing. "What did you have in mind? We can't exactly take ourselves walkies, after all, and playing in your house would probably be a bad idea -- you're not a small dog, and I don't want to trash the place."
"Actually, we can go out if we're careful. The straight handles on the door to the lanai will be relatively easy to open, but we should prop a cushion in them to make sure we don't get locked out. As long as we stay in my yard, the neighbors won't bother us. If anyone asks later, I'll tell them I was keeping an eye on a friend's dogs." Steve looked hopeful, and his tail started to wag slowly.
"Ok, fine, let's go outside for a while. Finding a bush is probably a better idea for what I need to do than navigating the plumbing anyway," Danny grumbled. Steve wagged harder and jumped off the couch. Danny trailed along behind as his partner grabbed a cushion and headed towards the back yard.
Getting out was as easy as Steve had said, and they both spent some time simply exploring the yard and all of the different scents. Steve showed Danny how to recognize people's individual smells based on what you remembered from being human -- Kono's light perfume, Grace's shampoo, and Kamekona's shrimp were familiar enough that they could use them to learn the more subtle scents picked up by their canine noses. While Danny had no interest in spending much time as a dog, he had to admit that being able to smell everyone and everything that had been through the yard in the past few weeks was pretty cool. He was even able to track where Grace had gone on their last weekend together. She loved Steve, and they always spent part of their father-daughter time with him -- in the yard, on the beach, or just hanging around the house.
When he saw Danny starting to get depressed thinking about his daughter and how much he missed her, Steve snuck up behind him. "Tag," he called as he bumped Danny, then ran a little ways away before looking over his shoulder to see if his partner was following.
"Tag? Seriously, Steven? What are you, ten?" Danny grumbled, trying to keep his tail from giving away his pleasure at seeing his friend so relaxed. They rarely had time to just play like this, with no time limit or plans.
"C'mon Danny! You said we'd play," Steve wheedled. His tongue lolled out in a grin. "Unless you don't think you'll be able to keep up with me on those short legs."
"Why you.... I'll show you who's going to have trouble keeping up!" Danny launched himself at his partner, almost knocking the taller dog over by ramming his hind legs. "How's that for tagging?" he called over his shoulder as he took off around a corner of the house. Steve dashed after him, barking with laughter.
They chased each other around the yard until they were both panting too hard to keep going. Danny declared himself the "winner" since he had tagged Steve last, knocking him down and standing over him while they tried to catch their breath. As his heart rate got back to normal, Danny suddenly realized that he was effectively naked, standing over his equally naked partner, and that his body was having a definite reaction to that fact.
"Oh, jeez, sorry, Steve! I uh...," Danny stammered as he jumped to one side.
Steve stayed where he was, still panting slightly. "Don't worry about it, Danno. It's a normal physical reaction to exercise, particularly when it has a combative element like this." Danny still seemed embarrassed, curling in on himself and refusing to look at Steve. The larger dog rolled his eyes and shifted onto his back so his own erection pointed at the sky. "Think of it like morning wood, Danny. It doesn't mean anything."
"Yeah, well, most guys don't want someone else's morning wood pointed right at them, ok?" Danny relaxed a little, although his ears were drooping and he still kept his gaze focused on anything except his partner. "Also, Army guys don't have the best reputation when it comes to dealing with another man's erection."
Steve growled a little. "It's a good thing I was in the Navy, then, isn't it? I had my big gay freak-out in high school, Danny, when some rough-housing with the other football players brought on the same reaction. Even if I hadn't, you're my friend, and I don't care whether you're straight or gay or somewhere in between." He looked at Danny for another moment, but the smaller dog didn't say anything. "Let's go inside. The sun is setting, and I'm getting hungry."
Danny stayed subdued as they scavenged more food out of the fridge, then moved into the living room. They jumped onto the couch and lay down at opposite ends. It was mostly habit that took them there -- neither felt up to trying to watch television as dogs, but they also weren't in the mood to play any more. Steve was getting worried. If Danny were ranting, it would be different, but he didn't know how to handle things when the Jersey native was so quiet.
Finally, Danny shook his head, glaring briefly when that made his ears flap. "I'm sorry, Steve. I shouldn't have freaked out like that. I wasn't putting the moves on you or anything, but I am bi. I haven't told you because I wasn't sure how you would take it. A few of the guys I've told... let's just say they didn't handle it well. If you'd asked, I couldn't have lied outright, but I didn't speak up because I was worried about how it could affect us, in and out of work."
Steve moved over so that he was lying next to Danny, offering what comfort he could. "You're my friend, Danno. And yeah, I know that some guys would drop a friend if they found out he was gay or bi, but not me. I'll always be here for you."
"Thanks, babe." The smaller dog sighed. He was relieved that Steve wouldn't break off their friendship or make him leave the task force, but with that stress gone, he was back to worrying about their underlying problem. "What are we going to do, Steve? Don't get me wrong -- spending the day with you has been fun, but I really don't want to stay like this permanently. What would happen with Grace?"
"Well, you said that she's been asking for a dog...." Steve's tail thumped the couch as he teased his partner, who just glared at him in reply. "Seriously, we'll probably change back by morning. If we don't, there are people I can contact." His ears drooped at the thought.
"I'm getting to know your dog-faces, Steven. What would happen if you had to 'contact people' to get us changed back to human?" Danny asked.
"Not much, really. They'd change us back and probably wipe our memories. Of course, they'd also take the guy who did this, so they could either use his abilities or make sure he never did it again." Steve growled a little at the thought of someone taking away the man they had chased for so long.
"Wait, back up -- they'd wipe our memories? What, do they have the flashy thing from 'Men in Black'?" Danny asked sarcastically.
"Um, something like that, yeah."
"Whoa. But you remember doing this before, right? So they don't always wipe people's memories." Steve was silent for a moment, trying to think of a good response, but Danny started talking again before he could come up with anything. "Oh. You mean they'd wipe my memory, don't you? You'd still know what happened, but I would forget everything."
Steve sighed. He should have known that Danny would pick up on it that quickly. "I'd ask them to do mine, too. It would be too hard, remembering spending the day together when you didn't. The chance that I would let slip something that jogged your memory would be too high. Wiping us both would be safer."
Danny yawned, the stress and activity of the day seeming to catch up with him all at once. "I hope it doesn't come to that. I want to remember this, Smooth Dog."
Steve laid his head protectively across Danny's back. "I do, too."
"Hey, McGarrett! I'm not your pillow!" Danny squirmed but couldn't manage to shift away from Steve before they both fell asleep as suddenly as they had the night before.
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Steve woke up sprawled on the couch. He could tell right away that he was human, by the amount of space he covered and the way smells and sounds were muted. He started to roll over and stretch before he realized that Danny was still on the couch too and that they were very close to each other.
Danny opened his eyes when something moved against him. He still felt half asleep, but the difference from yesterday was obvious. "Oh, thank God! We aren't dogs anymore."
Steve watched his partner for a moment, carefully not moving his head. "Are you going to freak out again?"
Danny grinned, unwilling to let go of his good mood. "Why, are you going to lick my ear again? I'm not going to freak out because we changed back!"
"Yes, but we're also naked, on the couch together, and sporting morning wood. Plus, I'm still using you as a pillow," Steve smirked. "Apparently, some guys find that sort of thing upsetting." As Danny whacked him with a couch cushion and started a truly epic rant about letting one's partner have time to appreciate things, Steve just smiled, glad that things were back to normal.
Characters: Danny and Steve
Rating: PG, gen
Disclaimer: Hawaii 5-0 does not belong to me, and no infringement is intended.
Summary: Danny finds out the hard way how Steve got his nickname. Minor references to episode 1.09 "Po'ipu." This story was originally posted to the Hawaii 5-0 Flash Fiction community.
Danny woke up feeling like crap. He ached all over, and he was hyper-sensitive to smells and sounds. To top it off, something was wrong with his eyes -- it was hard to focus, and everything looked grey. This didn't feel like any hangover he'd had before. In fact, when he thought about the previous night, he couldn't remember drinking anything. The team had spent the past week running all over the state, tracking some scumbag across four islands, only to end up right back where they started. Danny and Steve had finally caught up with the guy yesterday. As HPD led him away to a squad car, he cursed at the pair from 5-0 and called them the governor's dogs. Steve got mega-aneurysm face, but Danny just laughed and teased his partner until he relaxed. They left the paperwork for the next day because everyone was exhausted. In fact, Danny and Steve had both been so tired that they fell asleep as soon as they got to Steve's house. It had been a rough week, but Danny didn't think it should have hit him that hard. Maybe he was coming down with something.
He started to get up to find some aspirin, but when Danny saw his hands, he yelped and fell out of the bed.
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Steve woke up feeling like crap. He ached all over, and he was hyper-sensitive to smells and sounds. To top it off, something was wrong with his eyes -- it was hard to focus, and everything looked grey. "Not again," he thought with a sigh. He had hoped that this was all behind him once his loan time to the special division was done. Well, now Danny would know how he got his nickname. Since the other man had spent the night, there was no way to hide this. Steve wondered how his partner would take it and anticipated a truly epic rant in the near future.
Steve's speculation was cut short by a yelp and a thud from the spare bedroom. "Not Danny too!" he thought, as he dashed for the door.
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Danny looked up as Steve ran toward him. At least, he thought it was his partner. It certainly smelled like Steve (although Danny didn't want to think about how he knew what Steve smelled like). However, instead of the normal six-foot-plus human frame, Danny saw a very large dog with short, black fur. "What the hell, McGarrett?!" Danny tried to wave his arms and discovered that the best he could do was throw his head around and pace. "What the fuck is going on here? When did we become dogs? How did we become dogs?" Danny turned to glare at his partner. "This sort of thing never happened in New Jersey, Steven! Only on your impossible islands do people get turned into pets overnight."
Steve sat down and looked at Danny as he continued talking. The New Jersey native's canine form was smaller and stockier than Steve's, with longer, light-colored fur. The SEAL didn't know much about dog breeds, but he suspected Danny was some sort of terrier. That certainly fit with his temperament -- brash and tenacious, with a mouth that never quit.
Right now, Danny's mouth was spiralling out of control. Steve had seen this type of rant before but not often. Unless something managed to interrupt him, Danny would get more worked up the longer he talked. He was already shivering and panting a little, sure signs of stress in dogs. He also smelled like "rational concern." Steve knew he needed to find a way to snap his partner out of this quickly.
The big dog shrugged mentally. Might as well start with the easy options. "Danny...."
"No, you do not get to talk yet, Steven. I don't know how, but I'm willing to bet that us being dogs is somehow your fault, and...." Danny could tell that he was just getting more upset, but he'd been turned into a dog, and he thought that deserved a good rant.
"Danny," Steve repeated, putting a little growl into his voice.
"Still talking here, McGarrett," Danny said with just as much force, not even pausing for breath before continuing with what he had been saying.
Deciding that desperate times called for desperate measures, Steve stepped forward and licked Danny's ear.
The smaller dog sat down, startled. "Glah! Wha-! Steve, what the hell are you doing?!" Danny finally stopped talking and stared at his partner, rubbing at his wet ear with one paw.
"You were getting worked up and looked like you were about to go into shock, so I licked your ear," Steve said calmly. Now that Danny's rant wasn't going to spiral out of control, he felt more confident that they could deal with the situation.
"Ok, first, ear-licking is not an acceptable way to deal with, well, anything. Only a Neanderthal like you would lick someone's ear to get their attention! Second, of course I was getting worked up. We got turned into dogs, McGarrett! Any normal person would be worked up!" Danny looked closely at Steve. "Come to think of it, I know you're not normal, but you're also taking this far too well for someone with your control issues."
"I don't have control issues," Steve replied, settling down on the floor and trying to look innocent.
"Uh-huh," Danny said skeptically. "We'll come back to that later. You know other people who have been turned into dogs, don't you? Was it one of those special projects you and Nick mentioned?" Danny stood up straight and pricked his ears at Steve as something clicked in his head. "Oh, my God! That's why he called you 'Smooth Dog,' isn't it? You've been a dog before!"
Steve sighed. Sometimes Danny was too smart for his own good, or at least for Steve's good. "I can't talk about that."
Danny barked a laugh. It was bad enough when Steve claimed things were classified under normal conditions, but this was too much. "Why not? Who am I going to tell, Rover next door? This isn't exactly English we're barking."
"No, but we should be human again before long. That guy didn't strike me as an expert at this sort of thing; we'll probably change back in a day or so. If we don't, I'll contact some people who can reverse the effects." Steve really didn't want to have to do that. Danny's security clearance wasn't anywhere near high enough for this, so there would be problems if Steve had to call for help.
"So, what, we just hang out here all day as dogs? Kono, Chin, and Lori are going to worry when we don't show up for work. We don't want them coming here. There's no way we could explain this, particularly since they won't be able to understand what we're saying! Also, what'll we do for food? It's kind of hard to work the stove without thumbs."
Steve was a little impressed at how quickly Danny got past the initial shock and started thinking of the practical issues of being turned into a dog. "I should be able to use the computer to send them text messages. I'll say that we're still wiped from this week, and the team can take a day to recover. As for food, there's leftovers and pre-cooked stuff in the fridge, so we should be ok." Steve got up and led the way downstairs.
"Shit -- I just thought of something. What if the rest of the team got turned into dogs, too?"
"Unlikely. They weren't at the final take down, so that scumbag was focusing on us. Let's not worry about it unless we don't get a reply from someone." Typing the message took a while. Even with Steve's training, it wasn't easy for a dog to read a monitor, much less use a keyboard. Fortunately, they got a quick response from all three of their teammates and breathed a sigh of relief.
Moving to the kitchen, Steve managed to pull open the refrigerator door and drag out food for breakfast. Danny decided that there were times when having a ridiculously large partner was useful -- his own canine body just didn't have the mass to open the door, and he couldn't reach much beyond the vegetable crisper and drinks. The mess they left on the floor annoyed Steve, but there was only so much cleaning that two dogs could do. Afterwards, they curled up on the living room couch for a nap. The food had helped, but they were still feeling the effects of the change and needed more rest.
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Several hours later, Danny opened one eye to see a large, black nose only an inch away from his. He jumped backwards a little but managed to stifle his instinctive yelp of surprise. Soulful brown eyes stared at him, and Steve said, "I'm bored, Danny."
The smaller dog tried not to growl. "Then take another nap."
"I don't want to nap any more. Will you play with me?" Steve knew he was whining, but he didn't like being a dog unless he had a mission.
Danny decided that it was just his luck that Steve's "puppy dog eyes" look was even more effective when he was an actual dog. He stalled to avoid giving in as quickly as he wanted. "Does being transformed make us act more like dogs or something? This doesn't sound like you."
"Not unless the spell is very strong. Since we're still able to communicate this well, it's unlikely that we'll experience psychological effects." Steve still remembered all the information he'd been given in training, no matter how long ago that training had been. "C'mon, Danno, I'm bored," he repeated.
"So why wait for me? Why not do whatever you usually do when you're bored?" Danny asked.
Steve sighed. His partner was not making this easy. Ok, it was Danny, so that shouldn't surprise him, but it was still frustrating. "When I'm human, I have more options for amusing myself. I can go for a swim or a run, I can work on our latest case, I can tinker with the Marquis, I can go surfing, I can...."
"Taunt me into starting a rant, you can blow something up -- I get the idea," Danny interrupted, trying to sound irritated and failing miserably. The more he thought about it, the more he realized that his partner frequently did come to him when bored. Not that Mr. Repression would say that outright, but Steve often dropped by for no reason or invited Danny to do things with him. Anyway, now that he was awake, doing something besides lying around staring at the walls all day sounded pretty appealing. "What did you have in mind? We can't exactly take ourselves walkies, after all, and playing in your house would probably be a bad idea -- you're not a small dog, and I don't want to trash the place."
"Actually, we can go out if we're careful. The straight handles on the door to the lanai will be relatively easy to open, but we should prop a cushion in them to make sure we don't get locked out. As long as we stay in my yard, the neighbors won't bother us. If anyone asks later, I'll tell them I was keeping an eye on a friend's dogs." Steve looked hopeful, and his tail started to wag slowly.
"Ok, fine, let's go outside for a while. Finding a bush is probably a better idea for what I need to do than navigating the plumbing anyway," Danny grumbled. Steve wagged harder and jumped off the couch. Danny trailed along behind as his partner grabbed a cushion and headed towards the back yard.
Getting out was as easy as Steve had said, and they both spent some time simply exploring the yard and all of the different scents. Steve showed Danny how to recognize people's individual smells based on what you remembered from being human -- Kono's light perfume, Grace's shampoo, and Kamekona's shrimp were familiar enough that they could use them to learn the more subtle scents picked up by their canine noses. While Danny had no interest in spending much time as a dog, he had to admit that being able to smell everyone and everything that had been through the yard in the past few weeks was pretty cool. He was even able to track where Grace had gone on their last weekend together. She loved Steve, and they always spent part of their father-daughter time with him -- in the yard, on the beach, or just hanging around the house.
When he saw Danny starting to get depressed thinking about his daughter and how much he missed her, Steve snuck up behind him. "Tag," he called as he bumped Danny, then ran a little ways away before looking over his shoulder to see if his partner was following.
"Tag? Seriously, Steven? What are you, ten?" Danny grumbled, trying to keep his tail from giving away his pleasure at seeing his friend so relaxed. They rarely had time to just play like this, with no time limit or plans.
"C'mon Danny! You said we'd play," Steve wheedled. His tongue lolled out in a grin. "Unless you don't think you'll be able to keep up with me on those short legs."
"Why you.... I'll show you who's going to have trouble keeping up!" Danny launched himself at his partner, almost knocking the taller dog over by ramming his hind legs. "How's that for tagging?" he called over his shoulder as he took off around a corner of the house. Steve dashed after him, barking with laughter.
They chased each other around the yard until they were both panting too hard to keep going. Danny declared himself the "winner" since he had tagged Steve last, knocking him down and standing over him while they tried to catch their breath. As his heart rate got back to normal, Danny suddenly realized that he was effectively naked, standing over his equally naked partner, and that his body was having a definite reaction to that fact.
"Oh, jeez, sorry, Steve! I uh...," Danny stammered as he jumped to one side.
Steve stayed where he was, still panting slightly. "Don't worry about it, Danno. It's a normal physical reaction to exercise, particularly when it has a combative element like this." Danny still seemed embarrassed, curling in on himself and refusing to look at Steve. The larger dog rolled his eyes and shifted onto his back so his own erection pointed at the sky. "Think of it like morning wood, Danny. It doesn't mean anything."
"Yeah, well, most guys don't want someone else's morning wood pointed right at them, ok?" Danny relaxed a little, although his ears were drooping and he still kept his gaze focused on anything except his partner. "Also, Army guys don't have the best reputation when it comes to dealing with another man's erection."
Steve growled a little. "It's a good thing I was in the Navy, then, isn't it? I had my big gay freak-out in high school, Danny, when some rough-housing with the other football players brought on the same reaction. Even if I hadn't, you're my friend, and I don't care whether you're straight or gay or somewhere in between." He looked at Danny for another moment, but the smaller dog didn't say anything. "Let's go inside. The sun is setting, and I'm getting hungry."
Danny stayed subdued as they scavenged more food out of the fridge, then moved into the living room. They jumped onto the couch and lay down at opposite ends. It was mostly habit that took them there -- neither felt up to trying to watch television as dogs, but they also weren't in the mood to play any more. Steve was getting worried. If Danny were ranting, it would be different, but he didn't know how to handle things when the Jersey native was so quiet.
Finally, Danny shook his head, glaring briefly when that made his ears flap. "I'm sorry, Steve. I shouldn't have freaked out like that. I wasn't putting the moves on you or anything, but I am bi. I haven't told you because I wasn't sure how you would take it. A few of the guys I've told... let's just say they didn't handle it well. If you'd asked, I couldn't have lied outright, but I didn't speak up because I was worried about how it could affect us, in and out of work."
Steve moved over so that he was lying next to Danny, offering what comfort he could. "You're my friend, Danno. And yeah, I know that some guys would drop a friend if they found out he was gay or bi, but not me. I'll always be here for you."
"Thanks, babe." The smaller dog sighed. He was relieved that Steve wouldn't break off their friendship or make him leave the task force, but with that stress gone, he was back to worrying about their underlying problem. "What are we going to do, Steve? Don't get me wrong -- spending the day with you has been fun, but I really don't want to stay like this permanently. What would happen with Grace?"
"Well, you said that she's been asking for a dog...." Steve's tail thumped the couch as he teased his partner, who just glared at him in reply. "Seriously, we'll probably change back by morning. If we don't, there are people I can contact." His ears drooped at the thought.
"I'm getting to know your dog-faces, Steven. What would happen if you had to 'contact people' to get us changed back to human?" Danny asked.
"Not much, really. They'd change us back and probably wipe our memories. Of course, they'd also take the guy who did this, so they could either use his abilities or make sure he never did it again." Steve growled a little at the thought of someone taking away the man they had chased for so long.
"Wait, back up -- they'd wipe our memories? What, do they have the flashy thing from 'Men in Black'?" Danny asked sarcastically.
"Um, something like that, yeah."
"Whoa. But you remember doing this before, right? So they don't always wipe people's memories." Steve was silent for a moment, trying to think of a good response, but Danny started talking again before he could come up with anything. "Oh. You mean they'd wipe my memory, don't you? You'd still know what happened, but I would forget everything."
Steve sighed. He should have known that Danny would pick up on it that quickly. "I'd ask them to do mine, too. It would be too hard, remembering spending the day together when you didn't. The chance that I would let slip something that jogged your memory would be too high. Wiping us both would be safer."
Danny yawned, the stress and activity of the day seeming to catch up with him all at once. "I hope it doesn't come to that. I want to remember this, Smooth Dog."
Steve laid his head protectively across Danny's back. "I do, too."
"Hey, McGarrett! I'm not your pillow!" Danny squirmed but couldn't manage to shift away from Steve before they both fell asleep as suddenly as they had the night before.
H50-H50-H50-H50-H50-H50-H50-H50-H50-H50
Steve woke up sprawled on the couch. He could tell right away that he was human, by the amount of space he covered and the way smells and sounds were muted. He started to roll over and stretch before he realized that Danny was still on the couch too and that they were very close to each other.
Danny opened his eyes when something moved against him. He still felt half asleep, but the difference from yesterday was obvious. "Oh, thank God! We aren't dogs anymore."
Steve watched his partner for a moment, carefully not moving his head. "Are you going to freak out again?"
Danny grinned, unwilling to let go of his good mood. "Why, are you going to lick my ear again? I'm not going to freak out because we changed back!"
"Yes, but we're also naked, on the couch together, and sporting morning wood. Plus, I'm still using you as a pillow," Steve smirked. "Apparently, some guys find that sort of thing upsetting." As Danny whacked him with a couch cushion and started a truly epic rant about letting one's partner have time to appreciate things, Steve just smiled, glad that things were back to normal.