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the bond of all companionship

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"You know, it's bad enough I've had to put up with that face all day at work, now I have to have it at home, too?"

"It's my home, Danny. And I don't have a face."

Danny snorts, sitting down beside Steve on the second floor deck, the French doors to the bedroom open behind them. He puts the two bottles of beer he's fetched from the fridge down between them and rests his arms on his knees, legs crossed at the ankle and drawn up to his chest. Why Steve is sitting on the floor instead of the perfectly good chairs less than three feet away from them, is a question Danny doesn't have the strength to ask right now.

"You want to turn this into one of those 'do not - do so' arguments? Because I have a sister in New Jersey who I can call right now who will tell you that I am the master of those arguments. You have a face. Deal with it. Or actually, how about you tell me why you have a face? 'Cause that'd be a nice change of pace. Right up there with letting me drive my own car, or paying for your own drinks at the bar."

Danny counts off on his fingers as he speaks, grabbing one of the bottles and taking a swig to emphasise his last point. Steve nods at him, lifting a hand to point at the beer as Danny swallows and brings it back, holding the neck loosely between his fingers.

"You're drinking my beer right now, Danny."

"Ah, no, see, these are the beers that I bought last weekend. And don't change the subject."

Steve sighs, and Danny knows he's nagging, and he knows that he's got a pretty good idea as to why Steve has a face on, after today, but still. He wants Steve to tell him for once.

"It's nothing. I'm fine."

"Yeah, the last time you said you were fine, you broke into the Governor's mansion and ended up in jail. You tellin' me I'm gonna wake up tomorrow and find you in handcuffs again? And I'm not talking about the headboard this time, babe."

It's a struggle but Danny manages to keep a straight face as the last part gets a snort and a smirk out of Steve. Danny nudges Steve with his shoulder, leaning into his warmth. The breeze off the ocean is cool in contrast, making the curtains by the doors flap around.

"So the wife of that SEAL we went to see, she said something like 'it's not easy being married to a SEAL'. I came this close to telling her I know how she feels."

Steve makes a strangled choking noise, and Danny can't contain his own snort of amusement at the beer dripping down Steve's chin and hand.

"I'm sorry, what?"

"Did I just make beer come out your nose?"

"Now who's changing the subject? You were gonna tell a victim's wife about us? DADT has only just be-"

Danny cuts him off with a waved hand, distracted only for a second when Steve lifts the hem of his shirt to wipe his face off.

"No, numbskull, of course I wasn't, I was trying to make a point. You, with the face and the not talking about it."

"Yeah, what about you and the nagging?"

"Nagging? I don't nag, Steven. I am rationally vocal about your continued wellbeing."

"Rationally vocal about my continued wellbeing? Wow, you learn big words like that in school or from a calendar?"

"You should know, you bought me the damn thing."

"Just keeping you rationally vocal."

"See? You do like it. What are you gonna do the day I catch laryngitis and can't talk for a few days? You, my friend, you will be bereft at the loss of my dulcet tones."

Danny pokes Steve hard in the chest, but they're both grinning now, and the look in Steve's eyes says that Danny is a few minutes away from being knocked backwards and pinned to the floor by six-feet of SEAL - married or not.

"So, are you going to talk to me about it, or do I have to continue my rational vocalisations? I'm just getting warmed up, I could go all night."

Steve takes the beer out of Danny's hand and puts it to one side, along with his own, then leans in even closer, his warm, beer-scented breath landing on Danny's cheek. Up close, his eyelashes make Danny's stomach do that tiny leap he can't seem to control.

"How about we go all night at something else, and I make you give a few irrational vocalisations?"

Danny sighs, opening his mouth to complain yet again about the change of subject, but finding his voice stopped by Steve's tongue in his mouth and those stupid, perfect lips closing over his own. He stops Steve before he can push him back onto the floor though, spreading his hand wide over Steve's chest. Danny can feel his nipple through the cotton of his shirt.

"Really? On the floor? Is this a SEAL thing, too? Should I go back and ask that lady if-"

Danny's already laughing when Steve kisses him again.