Work Text:
Looks can be deceiving
Detective Daniel Williams loves his daughter like nothing else in this world and he would have followed her everywhere, even in Space if necessary, but he doesn´t knew why the urge to follow her to Hawaii was so much more pressing than other possibilities until he stands in the garage of a crime scene and points his gun on one Steve McGarrett (Commander McGarrett to be exact, but that’s beside the point).
Danny should have seen this coming, really. He sensed something was up as he set foot on this pineapple infested hellhole – Ok, Hawaii grows on him since he lives here, it maybe, only maybe feels now 6 month later so much more like home to him, than New Jersey ever did (not that he would have admit it – He has an appearance to uphold). The Detective just ignored it all in favor of spending more time with Grace (and having custody battles with his ex-wife, not that these are so much fun). Now the blonde knows why he is here 7243 Miles away from his birthplace – It´s all there in front of him and looks him straight in the eye. If it wasn´t for the whole standing on gunpoint Act they have on at the moment Danny would so hold Steve now and never let him go, especially since he just lost his father(again).
Steve on the other hand is puzzled. He is absolutely sure that he never saw the blonde Detective before but there is a strange kind of familarity in their fighting for dominance that’s confuses him. It´s almost as if he doesn´t know the face and the body but the person behind it. And there is also a sudden desire to be near Daniel Williams – Danny, his mind insists out of the blue – that doesn´t make it better. (He is a SEAL, he don´t hug total strangers in his father´s garage, or elsewhere. But he wants to – The question is why?) It isn´t until hours and a whole lot of researching later (which don´t include a security check that the CIA would be proud of, really not) that Steve´s curiosity gets the better of him and he shows up on his partner doorstep. Yes, he makes the blonde his partner, downright forces it on him (and on himself if he´s honest).
What the hell is wrong with him that this feels so right? Like its fate or something? Steve doesn’t know how right his assumption is until the blond jumps right into his face und punches him with gold glowing eyes (perhaps the arm lock was a little bit too much?). Danny, no Merlin has a mean right hook (he should know, he taught him)! “Merlin…,”stutters Arthur, stunned. He can´t believe his eyes, never in a million years would he have guessed that he found him in the form of a blonde, loudmouthed New Jersey Detective on Hawaii. But it´s true, his mate is scolding him for the entire world to hear and Steve is grinning and can´t seem to stop. He is – they are – at home, finally.
“No Arthur! ...,”he is ranting, yes, Danny knows this and maybe it´s not the right time since they´re surrounded from HPD-Officers but he can´t hold it in any longer. (This is too much, too soon. It feels like yesterday since he lost him the last time – Steve couldn´t wait for showing his death wish, like in never? No he let him fear for his life the moment they met, typical!) He so wants to lock him away from any and every danger now, its unhealthy (for him at least) besides Arthur isn´t stupid and really? Who else should he be – Puff the magic dragon? “...Of course I´m Merlin! Who else would watch your back, if you decide, again, to dive headfirst into danger without looking for your own safety first, huh? Really, how do you survive all this time without me? Didn´t you get it in your stupid head that it has an impact on the people around you if something happens to you? And don´t even think to look at me like that, it doesn´t help your point!” Naturally Steve makes puppy-dog eyes the second the blond tells him not to do it (nothing new, really).
“But Mer…,” his mate starts, only to be interrupted by the fingers of doom (better known as Danny´s hand waving abilities). “No buts! No but it´s for the good of whatever - I heard enough of it to last for ten lifetimes! You, my friend, will stay alive as long as humanly possible and if it means for me to lock you up in a cell and throw away the key, so be i..Arthur – What are you doing??” (No, he isn´t screaming like a girl – Ok, maybe a little bit but who wouldn´t if some clearly insane and really sneaky person decides to take you up in the air without warning?) “I only give you some fresh air before you blow up, I´m just concerned for your health!” “Really funny, can you let me down, babe? Now perhaps?” replies Merlin annoyed.
(Sure, he could be on the ground in one second if he wants to be but firstly is Steve smiling on him like a five year old, who just got his best Christmas gift ever – And that’s a weapon that in all these years they´re together he never learned to disarm (not that he really tried) – and secondly they´re relationship has an order to it. One of them punches a button and the other fights right back, so where would be the fun in that?)
Arthur just smirks on the blonde. “Only, if you´re finished,” with ranting he means, but that’s kind of obvious, because if Merlin will stop to be worried about him, it will be the end of the World (he is sure of that). “No, I´m not finished! I won´t lose you again, babe, not yet! I just found you,” his lover is fuming again and Steve decides enough is enough, he lets him down, but not out of his reach. In fact, he is perhaps holding on to Danny like the shorter man is his lifeline. Sure, Arthur normally isn´t one of the people who shows great affection in public – He never was and his military trainings doesn´t make it better – but this feeling of never want to lose Merlin, goes right back (so give him some slack). “Calm down, ok? I´m here, nothing happened!” Steve strokes the back of his partner reassuringly, let himself lean into the embrace. It feels so good to be able to touch him again (and if he shivers it´s only his Adrenalin high coming down, not Danny in his arms, really). “Yeah, this time!,” his mate mutters into his shirt, only to look him straight in the eyes right after – It´s strange that Merlin needs to see up to do this.
“Promise me one thing, Steven, ok? You look more after yourself – I´m not always there to do this – and I don´t want to lose you in the next 60 years or so (if you die in the meantime I´ll so haunt you from your deathbed till your new birth you will never know what hits you, I mean it)!” “Fair enough!” He mocks his partner just a little, not that Arthur doesn´t want to promise this – He knows that this outcome is more likely after all their lifetimes together – he just wants to make sure that Merlin has everything out of his system before he makes it. (And here it comes...)
“That is not a promise! Do you really need me to explain to you what a promise is? It usually begins with I promise and ends with a more than two word answer and means you hold what you say. So this was definitively not a promise, not even the beginning of it – My 8 year old daughter could do better than you!” The blonde chastises him and Steve gives in before the remembrance that Danny was with someone else overwhelms their first meeting. (It isn´t like they need to be exclusive before they found each other again, but tell that this feeling of jealousy who hits him nonetheless, every time it comes up.)
“Ok, Ok. I promise that I will live with you for a very long time, are you satisfied now? And maybe you want to do something about that?” Steve nods his head to the Officers around them, who seems more and more likely to get them in the psycho ward. “I´m not your manservant anymore, you can´t order me around, Steven!” Danny only head slaps him, outright grinning now but the tiny flicker of gold tells Arthur that he did something to their audience. “Oh, really? Maybe it was the wrong order – Kiss me?!” he winks meaningful before Merlin pulls him down to breathe on his lips. “I´ll think about it!” Of course the blonde needs to make fun with him, but that´s just how they are. “Ow, come on – You love me!” Arthur is playing shocked (unsuccessfully). “Maybe..,” Danny sucks on his bottom lip. “...a little..,” he teases him with his tongue which throws all of Steve ´s thought out of the nonexistent window. “...bit!” Now Merlin is begging for entrance and if he lets him in right away, sue him, he just found his mate! (Yeah, they are definitely, truly at home now.)
And it ends how it must...
Danny enters the 5-O Headquarter, purposefully striding over to Chin on the tech-table, with Steve right behind him. “Ok, that´s enough! Gaius give me the book, I so need a spell, right now!” He is fuming, flipping his fingers under the other mans nose, even if it gets him only a raising eyebrow. “Today, please!” Merlin snaps. “You don´t get anything if you don´t ask nicely, young man!” That’s just gets him going (and lets Arthur smirking, typical). “Yeah, yeah, I don´t have time for this! Do you know what this crazy Idiot of a...” “Hey!” reacts the man in question irritated. “Oh, shut up you goof! It´s more than true, you know this!” now Danny is playing angry birds in the air (minus the birds) while bumping on the tech- table in the meantime, “…Or is that what you call, you look after yourself, Steven? Do you really need to throw the suspect and yourself out of the window? It was the second floor, babe. The second! Because the first isn´t good enough for us?? No, it must be the second – Did you learn this shit in the Army?”
“Navy, Danno, Navy!” “Yeah, whatever stirs your coffee, but what do you expect from me, that I get cushions out of nowhere? I´m maybe a sorcerer but I can´t help you every time! “ “Perhaps you will come down a little, Merlin?” Chin asks concern for both men and his technical equipment in his eyes. “No, I don´t want to come down – Didn´t you hear with was I have to put up with? So where is the book please?” Danny is determined to end this with a partner who doesn´t drive him insane every time they´re out on a case (he doesn´t say anything against his ideas in the bedroom…). Gaius seems to see this, so he gives him what he wants, but Merlin’s relief is short- lived. “An Ipad? You´re kidding, right? You can´t just give me an Ipad and tell me it´s the book!,” he bitches instantly, the foremost reason for his anger temporarily forgotten, sending death glares to Chin and the device in question. The latter one would be doomed to end on the floor really soon, if it wasn´t for Kono´s helping hand, which comes out of nowhere.
(It´s times like this that Danny misses the old times with Camelot the most – Perhaps that´s the real reason why he married Rachel, she is British after all!) “What brought this on?” “He maybe, or maybe not searched for a spell to make me less reckless.” Steve answers her, since their other teammates are involved in a staring match. The rookie just shakes her head – Somethings never change. “Really, brah? By now he should know that doesn´t work!” “Yeah, but there is a first time for everything! And by the way why is he taller than me? ” asks Danny unexpected, changing thoughts midsentence and bumping Arthurs shoulder to show he has forgiven him (for now). “He is the Prince!” Gaius calmly replies, but Merlin just ignores this, waving his hands between himself and his lover. “And? I´m the wizard! We´re equals, two sides of a coin, remember?”
Now, it´s Kono´s time to groan. “I can´t believe I said this!” “Sorry, too late to backpedal now, so why is he taller than me?” Danny is arching his eyebrows, watching from one of them to the other, clearly wanting an answer as they all are interrupted from a squealing girl, who jumps right on her father. (He nearly forgot that Rachel wanted to bring Grace over today.) “You´re silly, Danno! It doesn´t matter how you looks, on the inside you´re just the same,” she´s scolding him, much to wise for her age. “You´re absolutely right monkey, I just forgot it for a little while. Are we good?” The little girl smiles up to him, a calculated look in her eyes. “When you get me a shave ice? “ “Ok, shave ice it is, Steve are you coming with us?” Merlin doesn´t bother to look as he leaves with his daughter, he knows that Arthur is right beside him. Chin in the meantime sees from Kono to Grace and needs to ask. ”Are you sure, that she is Gwen and you´re the dragon?” “Oh, shut up, Cuz!”
So in the end it doesn’t matter how they look from the outside Steve and Danny are just the same as always - They protect their land, they protect their family and they protect each other but most of all they are together and that´s what counts!