mickeym | Wrapped In the Arms of Love, 1/1, PG, Steve/Danny (Hawaii Five-0)

Title: Wrapped In the Arms of Love
Pairing: Steve/Danny
Words: ~970
Rating: PG
Warnings/Spoilers: References events in 1.17
Summary: "Go hug Grace, Danny," he said finally, scrubbing his hands over his face. "You can drop me off at my house after."
A/N: This is for

raynedanser , who said to me, "there needs to be coda fic where Danny goes to hug Grace." This wasn't quite what I'd expected to come out when I sat down to write, but hey. I'm just the writer, why should I be in charge of what Steve and Danny decide to do? Anyway, hope y'all enjoy :)

By the time there'd been hugs and handshakes all around, and Five-0 was able to extricate themselves from the Hilton, Steve was jittery with a weird combination of post-arrest adrenaline rush and exhaustion. He couldn't decide what he wanted to do more: go home and crash for eighteen hours, or take Danny home with him, and fuck until they were unconscious.

He also kind of wanted a hug, but it was a hug he wasn't going to get since the man he wanted it from was dead.

He was still angry over Justin's death – angry at Justin's dad, and angry with himself. The anger kept bleeding into the jitters, combining with the adrenaline and exhaustion, and Steve wasn't even aware of where he was driving until he pulled the car up in front of Rachel and Stan's house.

"You wanna tell me what we're doing here?" Danny was giving him the look Steve associated with 'I think you probably should be committed, but I'm going to humor you first anyway', though underneath it Steve could hear what he wasn't saying: I need to know my daughter's okay, so thank you.

"Thought you might—you should—" Steve looked at Danny and sighed. "Go hug Grace, Danny," he said finally, scrubbing his hands over his face. "You can drop me off at my house after."

Danny kept looking at him, calm and steady, and Steve felt—he wasn't sure what to call it. Something warm, washing through him. "What?"

"C'mon. You can get a hug, too."

"Nah, I'll wait here." In the car, in the dark, in the quiet. Hopefully it would be enough to calm him down some.

It was probably idiocy to go in there; it was late, well past nine, and Steve had spent enough time with Danny – and Grace – to know she'd be in bed by now. But it seemed important that someone get comforted tonight, and Steve was determined if it couldn't be him it would be Danny.

"Don't be a dick, McGarrett. Come in, get a hug." If Steve didn't know better, he might think Danny's eyes reflected concern.

It was easier to give in than to fight; Steve'd had enough of fighting for one day. He slid out of the car as the front light came on; in the reflection he could see Rachel, frown firmly in place, already pushing the door open.

He was far enough behind Danny that he didn't hear whatever he said to Rachel, and then it was just a matter of waiting, conscious of Stan hovering in the background, the click of Rachel's heels against the floor, and Danny standing impossibly still before a small body dressed in a pink-and-gray nightshirt was hurling toward them, arms stretched outward.

"Hey, Monkey," Danny said, and for just a second, the barest stretch of time, Steve ached with the loss of his dad, with Mary's absence, with everything doing his job took out of him. He watched Grace cling to Danny while Danny murmured something into her hair, the words too soft to be heard. He felt the hug as much as he saw it; thought about the parents who would never hug their child again, and all the others who were going to sleep tonight knowing their sons or daughters were safely back with them.

"Steve? Daddy said you need a hug, too." In that moment Steve didn't think he could deny it if his life depended on it, so he nodded and knelt down beside her. She threw her arms around his neck, and he held her, breathing in the scent of fresh laundry and baby powder. Grace was light as a feather, but solid against him, and he closed his eyes for a minute before squeezing her, then letting her go with a mumbled, "Thanks."

They were out the door a minute later, the lights going off around them as the house settled back down for the night.

Steve was fumbling in his pocket for the keys when Danny grabbed him and pulled him in, holding him tight. Just holding on. Hugging him.

"Danny—"

"Shut up. Just, shut up." The pressure increased, shifted, Danny moving them out of the light and into the shadows beside the car, hands smoothing up and down Steve's back. He didn't realize how tensely he was holding himself until the tension bled out of him and Danny's arms were all that was holding him up.

"Can I talk yet?" Steve brought his arms up slowly; leaned into Danny's embrace.

"No. Shut up and hug me. Let me hug you." There was the barest hint of a waver in Danny's voice, and Steve's heart skipped a beat hearing it. "You're an idiot, you know that?"

"Uh—"

"Eloquent, too." The hands slid up and down the length of his back until Steve wanted nothing more than to arch into the touch. And maybe purr. He settled for tightening his hold on Danny, sighing as the rest of his tension – his jitters – leached away slowly. "Super SEAL, can't ask for a hug. You don't lose macho points, you know."

"I know." He did. Didn't he?

"C'mere."

Steve didn't get a chance to say he was already as close to Danny as he could get – at least without being horizontal without clothing – because Danny's mouth was already on his, tongue teasing at Steve's lips until he opened up and let Danny in.

The world fell away then, become nothing but a backdrop for Danny's arms around him and Danny's mouth on his. Wrapped up in Danny, Danny was the world.

"Come home with me?" Steve breathed the words against Danny's mouth. "Please."

He didn't need to hear Danny's response; he could feel it in the way Danny's arms tightened around him.

~fin