Title: It’s You!
Characters/Pairings: Steve McGarrett/Danny Williams and various other characters from the show
Rating: G...PG?
Author:
simplyn2deepWord count: 1,100
Warnings: AU, also might be a little on the OOC side
Disclaimer: All Hawaii Five-0 characters herein are the property of CBS. No copyright infringement is intended.
Summary: Over the years, Steve goes to Danny’s bar
Author's Note: This was supposed to have been posted yesterday, but technology conspired against me. This is written for Dreamy for the 2019 Swap of Joy. I hope you like it.
I. 2000
Danny looked up as a group of four guys entered his bar. They were stumbling, joking around and Danny hoped they didn’t cause him any troubles. He was without a bouncer for the next 20 minutes and didn’t want to have to pull double duty.
“Just one drink. It’s not going to kill you, Smooth Dog,” one of the guys said as he dragged his friend to the bar. “’Tender…a drink for my friend! It’s his 24 birthday and we have a weekend pass!”
Danny looked at the two men and refrained from rolling his eye. “What’ll you have?”
“Four of whatever you have on tap,” the guy said. He tapped the bar a couple of times before turning and going back to the group.
Danny turned to grab the glasses to fill them when a clearing of a throat caught his attention. He turned and looked over his shoulder; it was the Birthday Boy and Danny raised his eyebrow in question.
“Make it three and I’ll have a coke. It may be my birthday, but someone has to be the sober one to get us back in one piece.”
Danny obliged by filling the drinks and handing them over. “Happy Birthday.”
Steve nodded his thanks and took the drinks to his friends.
II. 2005
Steve was being forced to take time off after his last OP went spectacularly horrible. Everyone got out alive-ish, but the higher ups weren’t pleased by how it all went down. If he was being honest with himself, Steve was pretty pissed at himself as well.
Wandering the city, Steve found himself outside of a bar he hadn’t been to since the last time he had some free time. Maybe now he’d get a drink without having to worry about anyone but himself.
Walking into the bar, Steve noticed the bartender. The same one as before. Steve didn’t want to think too closely about how he remembered the guy, but he did and allowed himself to give him more than a passing glance.
“What’ll you have?” the man asked as Steve sat on a stool at the bar.
“Something from the top shelf,” Steve said as he placed his money on the bar.
Danny turned, grabbed a nearly full bottle and placed it in front of Steve, “How’s this?”
Steve looked at the bottle and nodded. Danny grabbed a couple of glasses and filled them. He didn’t usually drink, but was almost done with his shift and one wouldn’t hurt.
“Here alone?” He asked.
“Yup, got some time to myself,” Steve said. He grabbed the glass, staring at the liquid before picking it up and downing it in one gulp.
“So not in the partying mood?” Danny asked as he sipped his drink. “Or is that only reserved for birthdays?”
III. 2010
Steve looked at the paper in his hands. It was nothing more than a napkin with Jersey’s stamped on it and an address and telephone number written down.
He’d been on the Islands…back home…for nearly a year and was just getting around to going to the bar.
The one Danny owned, apparently. He would have never figured the sand hating, city loving Jersey boy to move and open a bar on an Island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. But here he was…standing in front of Danny’s bar in the heart of the tourist area of Waikiki.
Steve took a deep breath and walked into the bar. He had to pause a moment because it almost felt like he was back in Jersey and walking into Danny’s bar there. But he was in Hawaii.
“So, you’ve finally made it to my piece of Jersey on your pineapple infested hellhole,” came a voice to Steve right.
Steve turned and grinned at the man behind the counter. “This looks exactly like Donavan’s,” Steve replied as he walked to the bar and took a seat on one of the bar stools.
Danny grinned in response and set about making Steve’s drink. “It better; this is just about everything from that place.” Steve raised an eye at Danny’s comment. “The place closed a couple of years ago. I bought and shipped over what I could so that I could have it here when I opened.”
IV. 2015
"We have got to stop meeting like this...," Steve says as Danny slides up to the bar next to him. "Otherwise I'll begin to think you miss me or something."
Danny snorted. "Yeah or something," he flagged Junior down and ordered himself a drink and a refill of Steve's drink.
"How'd you find me?" Steve asked as he glanced at Danny.
Danny raised an eyebrow and Steve ducked his head in concession. Right; they were in Danny’s bar after all. And if things had gone better, Danny wouldn’t have found Steve there at all.
“I don’t want to talk about it,” Steve said after some time.
“Good. I don’t either,” Danny replied. He took a sip of his drink.
There was another moment of silence before Steve spoke again, “I actually caught her in the lie…and called her out too. She didn’t have the decency to look ashamed.”
Danny made a sympathetic sound to show Steve that he was listening to what he was saying.
“I came right here after she left,” Steve continued. “Got a text, I guess it was from her, saying that she still loved me or something. Whatever.”
Danny reached into his pocket and placed the box on the bar top. “That would explain why I found this in my mail box this morning.”
Steve glanced at the box. “At least she gave it back,” Steve picked up the glass in front of him and downed the drink in one gulp.
V. 2020
Twenty years and counting and now they were. From that first chance meeting in 2000 at the bar he was working at in New Jersey to the previous when Steve proposed in their bar in Hawaii.
Somehow things fell into place. Between Steve still being active military and Danny juggling his bar and looking after his kids, the two boys he was fostering with Steve, Eddie the dog and Mr. Pickles the cat, life was hectic, but they made it work.
Danny and Steve grinned as they walked into Jersey’s to the sounds of their friends and family cheering for them. The bar was closed for a private event. Their private event.
“Ladies and Gentlemen, may I present the newlyweds, Mr. Danny Williams and Mr. Steve McGarrett.” Lou Grover said into the microphone next to the bar.
Danny and Steve raised their hands and cheered right along with everyone else.
~FIN~