haolehothead | (no subject)

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- game: tabula rasa

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Danny's been trying to think up some way to try and mend the bridge between him and Steve. It's not that it's destroyed or damaged, but going home and seeing his father being taken from him like that (and seeing Danny taken as well) has got to leave a kind of mark in the brain. Steve's acting like he's fine, but when Danny himself has been having trouble sleeping and can't seem to manage to find a state of peace, he knows that drastic measures are necessary.

Drastic, in this case, involves a pigskin.

Danny's got the ball in his hands and is tossing it up and down, thinking of the last time he played -- which he thinks was Thanksgiving at home with Matt and his three sisters, when they all ganged up on him (even Matt) and somehow Danny was meant to win just him and their father. Sure, they didn't manage to pull out a victory, but they'd put up a good fight.

He'd left a note at the hut for Steve to come down to the volleyball net by the beach and Danny's wearing very little. His t-shirt is tucked into the back pocket of his board shorts and shows off a tan, which matches the brightness of his hair. It's all further evidence that he's been on some kind of island for far, far too long.

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Steve's already laughing as Danny literally hauls him out of the water by that grip on his hand, not putting up any resistance whatsoever - except to reach down for his shoes, which he puts back on without tying the laces back up, and his shirt, which he throws over one shoulder without bothering to pull over his head. "You started it with the football," he points out, lips quirking in amusement. "I'm just returning the favor."

"Yeah, but this, this is huge," Danny says, his eyes wide as he starts to gesture wildly all over the place. "You stay with the dog, I'm showering first, seeing as I actually need a second or two to make myself look decent whereas you just shake out your hair and manage."

"That I can do," Steve replies, refraining from making a comment on how long it actually does take Danny to get ready and crouching down to greet the wriggling puppy that greets them when they go inside.

Zulu's getting bigger and harder to carry all the time, but that doesn't stop Steve from picking him up after the puppy's gone outside to do his business first, cradling him against his chest as he walks into the bedroom and sets him down at the foot of their bed. He picks out his clothes while Danny showers, laying them out with precise neatness.

Danny takes his time because there's really no way to get his hair under control except to give it a good amount of time and care. Twenty minutes later, he's got a towel wrapped around his waist and he's heading out to the bedroom, leaning down to brush a kiss to Zulu's fur before leaning up to steal a kiss from Steve. "Shower's all yours. Try not to be too tone deaf if you sing in there, will you?"

Steve's examining a pair of socks when Danny comes in, trying to figure out who they belong to. All their clothes are pretty much mixed together these days, so getting dressed in the dark is something of a gamble. He lays out a pair of black socks against the fabric of the dress trousers and then brushes past Danny to hop in the shower himself.

He doesn't need to do much, other than rinse off the sand, soap up and scrub his hair, but he does run a razor over his jaw afterwards, standing in front of the bathroom mirror in just a towel, tilting his chin up to shave underneath. "Be out in a sec," he murmurs, when he senses Danny lingering in the doorway.

"Yeah, yeah, I just need the mirror," Danny says as he nudges into the room in nothing but his boxers. His hair is still wet, but he figures he can towel-dry and rub some gel into the strands, best as he can. And if he just so happens to press kisses to Steve's shoulder while he does, well, it's just an honest mishap, isn't it? "I am a goddamn lucky bastard, you know that?"

Steve's hand never flinches while he's got the razor pressed against his face, but there's something of a spark in his gaze when he feels Danny's lips graze his shoulder, once and then again, and he rinses the razor out before splashing his face with water, using a smaller hand towel to dry his face off. "You saying that like I'm not lucky?" he asks, swiveling past Danny to give him full use of the mirror, hand grazing his hip as he goes. He leaves the towel hanging up to dry in the bathroom, walking naked back into their room.

"You? Please. You're not height-deficient. You can have your pick of guy or girl because you're tall, handsome, and they like damaged. They do not like short, a bit heavy, and runs his mouth so much that he can't stop for the life of him. You'd get your pick of anyone. I'd get to settle if not for how you're a crazy bastard who picked me." Danny borrows the razor, washing it out once more before giving himself the time to become clean-shaven, as well, as his hair dries out.

By the time Steve rejoins Danny in the bathroom, he's fully suited, finishing up the buttons on his white dress shirt and stopping at the neck, shrugging the jacket on over his shoulders and leaving that unbuttoned. He still needs to put on his shoes, but he's almost finished at this point. Football and exercise have only served to make him hungry, and his stomach growls audibly. "Then I guess I should just be grateful I got to you before you had to settle," he teases, dropping his lips to Danny's neck.

Danny shakes out the razor as he sets it down, smirking while bumping his hip against Steve's before he gets the last of the gel in his hair, turning to survey his closet and appraise what he wants to wear to really look good. In the end, he decides on a good silk baby-blue shirt with grey pants and a grey waistcoat atop, laced up shoes sitting and waiting to be put on.

Steve sits on the edge of their bed, putting on his own shoes as Zulu stretches out next to him on his stomach, gnawing on a small length of rope Steve's given him to teeth on so the furniture doesn't pay while he's going through his chewing phase. "Looking sharp, D," he replies, glancing up as he sets his foot down.

Danny fixes the last button shut carefully as he throws Steve a bemused and proud look. "Not half bad, am I?" He shifts so that he's standing, sliding the fabric of the shirt a little further over his waist before he takes a turn to make sure he looks decent. He finishes with the laces and bends down on one knee to help Steve with his own.

"Not bad at all," Steve murmurs fondly, resisting the temptation to reach down and ruffle Danny's hair as he kneels in front of him. He doesn't want to mess things up after Danny spent so much time perfecting it, but he does rest a hand on Danny's shoulder, rising to his feet before he offers Danny that same hand to help him to his. His fingers run along the lapels of the vest, adjusting the collar on Danny's shirt, gently tugging on the tie and finishing with a kiss pressed to his mouth as he tilts in.

Danny leans into the kiss, swaying forward on his toes with a dazed look in his eyes as he licks his lips, pressing his tongue to the corner of his mouth when he's done, peering down and deciding to do something drastic. Quickly, with nimble fingers, he unworks the tie and drapes it on the bed, undoing the top button of his shirt.

The waistcoat is good enough, he figures.

Steve's pretty sure his mouth has fallen open in sheer shock, but he doesn't have the force of will to bother closing it. "No tie?" he exclaims, both eyebrows rising. "Seriously?" He reaches up to toy with the collar on Danny's shirt, thumb swiping across the side of his neck, feeling that pulse beat a little harder at the brush of contact. Danny smells good, feels good - all of it, it's just good, and Steve's grinning like a fool right now.

"Yeah, yeah, you're shocked, I know," Danny teases with a stupid grin, leaning into that touch against Steve's hand. "I figure, the way I see it, I got the vest on. The vest substitutes for the tie, don't you like it?" He feels like his clothes are fitting a bit looser, lately, too. It must be all the damn walking he does.

"Oh, no, I like the vest. Definitely like the vest," Steve promises, taking a few steps back to give himself some distance before he starts forgetting about dinner altogether. He remembers to feed Zulu before they leave, putting some food in his bowl and changing out the water in his dish, and then joins Danny out on the front porch. "It's just almost like seeing you without an arm," he teases.

"You see me naked practically every night," Danny complains, with his hands in his pockets as he waits for Steve to come outside. "How is me without a tie in public really like seeing me without an arm? I don't wear it for baseball or swimming or hanging around with you, lunkerhead. I just wear it when I work."

"Well, I didn't mean it literally," Steve mutters, jostling Danny's arm with his as he starts walking, his own hands loose from his pockets and down by his sides. "I just meant that I'm used to seeing you with a tie more often than not, so when you actually choose not to wear a tie when you could - maybe I'm just rubbing off on you a little, babe," he adds, winking.

"Look," Danny sighs out and now he's getting serious (Lord help him), "I figure, I figure that if I do eventually marry you around Christmas or whenever, I'm gonna have to relax a couple things to be a married man again. It hasn't been so long that I don't remember, but it has been a pretty long go. I remember the changes, though."

"I wouldn't ask you to give up your ties," Steve insists, his hand reaching out for Danny's, clasping the wrist attached to the hand shoved into his pocket. "I know how much you like to look nice, look professional. And as far as I'm concerned, we've made a lot of these adjustments already by just living together. Making things legal won't change much more than that. But I'm willing to compromise. I'm willing to settle down," he murmurs. "For you."

"I'm saying, Steven, that I'm going to want to relax," Danny clarifies, bumping across the distance to give him a reprimanding look, given the fact that Steve's missed the point. "I'm going to want to wear my ties less around you. Because I'll feel more at home, and not at work."

"Oh. Oh." Steve's grinning against once he figures out what Danny means by his original statement, but doesn't shrink under Danny's gaze. If anything, his partner's words make him stand up a little straighter, emboldened by that revelation. "I get it," he softly promises.

"Do you?" But Danny's only teasing, tightening his hold on Steve's arm as he gets comfortable until they hit the main path, at which point Danny lets go, just in case there are people around. "Good. Because there's other things I plan on doing. I hope you're ready for me to be a lazy ass now that I don't have to woo you anymore."

Steve slumps into a slightly more relaxed posture, his shoulders rolling forward as he slips one hand into his pocket, letting his other arm swing naturally. "Oh? So what are you planning on doing once we make it official?"