Genre: Alternate Universe - High School (met as kids)
Pairing: Steve McGarrett/Danny Williams
Spoilers/Warnings: none
Author's note: Written in a slightly different style than I normally would but I just let it flow this way. A little bit experimental. This whole story began as a fledgling idea of wee!Steve and wee!Danny playing hide and seek and giggling while snuggled close to each other under a bed while hiding. yup.

Thanks to Paulette for the beta again.

Originally published (on ao3): June 2013

Danny's parents had divorced not long after his little brother was born. He had no real memory of it, he'd been nothing much more than a toddler at the time himself, but he had this vague recollection of saying goodbye to his father; clutching his blue stuffed giraffe close to his chest and holding back tears as he held onto his older sister's hand walking through the airport.

It wasn't that his father didn't love them. He loved them very much, but his mother decided to move to Hawaii so she could get help with the four kids. So they had moved to where her sister and husband were. Danny's father was a firefighter, he was always on call and couldn't be relied on so well to always be there when needed, it had probably in part led to the breakdown in the marriage, as he gave so much of his time to the job rather than his family. Danny didn't remember much, he did know he resented his father for a long time when he was a teenager, but as a young kid he'd always appreciated him as a hero, and his mother had tried her best to make sure all the kids remembered that. Even if they didn't love each other enough to stay together as a mom and dad. Even though they were now thousands of miles from their father.

There were letters, and phone calls. There were presents; they spent the summers in New Jersey. They never once felt like their father was truly absent. He still had a say in things and if there was a problem he was on the other end of the phone to help where he could.

He remembered his first day at school. Funny, he didn't remember much of his early school years, but he remembered letting go of his mother's hand and bounding into the classroom. He'd been excited. He'd wanted to learn, he'd wanted to be with kids his own age to have fun with them and the toys inside that classroom had been so inviting.

But once inside, he'd felt a strange shyness. Normally so outgoing, so vocal - something honed in an early life with three siblings - he was suddenly struck a little bit dumb when faced with so many more faces and hearing so many new voices.

There was one boy. One who stood out.

Steven.

He was bigger than Danny (but Danny was on the shorter side and from then on, always would be) and he smiled wide at Danny and held his hand out like he'd been taught by his own father and introduced himself and somehow, from then on, the two had been inseparable.

It was funny, looking back. They'd had a lot of adventures, the two of them, and when they were four, it had been no further than the end of the sandbox, but they'd lived all sorts of fantasy lives. Pirates, cowboys, space explorers, they'd done the lot.

Even with simple games, these two boys stuck close together. When playing hide and seek with the rest of the class, they'd always hid together. They'd watched the Three Musketeers together at Danny's house and from then on decided that they'd stick together, brothers in arms. There was one time they'd been hiding while playing at Meka's house and they'd hid under the bed, squeezed between two storage boxes. Essentially, they'd been spooning, with Danny in front and Steve's arms wrapped around him. Danny constantly reminding Steve to not let his feet slip out and give them away. He had no idea how long they'd been hiding there but it had felt like eternity before they'd been caught. And only then, it was because they'd giggled and been heard. He was sure if they'd been quiet, they'd have lasted a lot longer.

As they got older, and taller, Steve always towered over Danny and so it was easy for him to sling an arm around his shoulder, hug him from behind. Steve would jump on top of Danny all the time, trying to get the smaller boy to the ground in a light-hearted wrestling match. It was no wonder that although short, Danny was building up strong in the chest.

By high school they were still the best of friends. People just took it for granted that they were around each other so if one wasn't there, the other would be asked for details. Other kids, teachers, everyone just assumed. If one was sick, the other was given the homework to take round. If one was in detention, then… well, the other would be, too. Their parents never worried about anything happening to them when they were out together because they trusted them to look after each other.

Steve's energy and determination leant him to being a good sportsman. His height and build made him a great quarterback and Danny was always at the games to cheer him on, always sporting the red colors of Kukui High. When it was baseball season it was Danny's turn to be in the limelight more and Steve would be in the crowds then to cheer him on in return.

It wasn't just all Steve and Danny, though. There was a group of them that hung around together. Meka and Amy were around a lot and a few others from the team or the Science club Steve liked or the Debate club that Danny took part in. Occasionally, being that they were such nice people, Mary and Matty were allowed into their circle to hang out. They always brought their friends too, so the little crowd at the beach could get to be quite large sometimes. By the time they were 16, it was expected that Danny would grouch about the sand by about the ten minute mark. He didn't so much mean it anymore, but it was always worth it for the look on Steve's face as he then did his best to extol the virtues of paradise.

Danny would always hate pineapple, though.

It wasn't perfect. High school never is. He had some rose tinted glasses, looking back, because he and Steve had been such great friends, but there was the odd fight (usually over stupid things) or there were people who didn't like them. Other groups of kids who didn't like that Steve was class president, head quarterback, smart, and yet totally laid-back in his popularity. Danny would never let Steve develop a big head, so he'd never been the mean popular kid. But because he was basically a nice guy who seemed to have it all, there were kids who had it out for him.

They usually tried to pick on Danny first. He was the shorter of the two, more outspoken, and much more of a haole than Steve was. When that happened, Steve would go into protective mode, despite Danny's protests, and yes, they'd come close to being suspended when the fight had broken out, leaving Steve with a dislocated shoulder and his arm in a sling for two weeks, while Danny tore his ACL and wound up on crutches.

The other guys looked worse.

After that, there had been no more in the way of fist fights. Instead, everything came down to a war of words between the two tribes.

He remembered a day, it was lunchtime. Their group was out by one of the tables. Amy, Meka and Steve were all sitting beside each other, the rest of them were in a circle on the grass in front. There wasn't much room left when Danny arrived and Steve had lifted himself up onto the table part and opened his legs so that Danny could sit on the bench in front of him. He'd given him an easy smile and a wink and Danny had grumbled about how Steve had some kind of mental problem about how chairs worked. But he'd sat down nonetheless.

He'd then had to force Steve to lower his 'freakishly long giraffe legs' by pushing down hard on them so he could actually see the rest of their friends rather than just Steve's knees. Steve had loosely folded his ankles around Danny's lap, and Danny had leaned back against Steve with his arms over each thigh like Steve was his own personal arm chair.

Because that was the thing. They'd always been close physically as well. They touched each other a lot, they had no problem with being in each others' personal space and it had become second nature as they grew up. Regardless of any kind of Feelings, with a capital F, it was just normal. And neither boy would have it any other way.

Then the other group had come by. They'd wolf-whistled and made fun of them, calling them gay, queer, fags, anything they thought would be derogatory. Danny had scowled at them, shouted back something he was sure at the time had been scathing, though he couldn't remember what it was now, and Steve had leaned over him, wrapped his arms around Danny's neck like the genetic experiment of human sliced with octopus and giraffe that he was and resoundedly left a smacking kiss on the top of his head.

Because that's who they were.

They were two boys who loved each other very much, had been friends for as long as they could remember and they just… fit. They were comfortable in their own skins… and each others'.

They were happy for the longest time.

And then Steve's mother had died.

His father had decided he was to be sent to the mainland and there was nothing Steve could do. The night before Steve left he'd come to Danny's place. They'd cried a little, not caring about being 'manly' and stoic and had promised each other that everything would be okay and that they'd still be able to be best friends even over a distance.

Steve had stayed at Danny's that night. Usually they'd lie on the bed together, but in sleeping bags they'd had since they were ten. But tonight, they'd wrapped themselves in Danny's comforter, pulled it over their heads and blocked out the world. Steve had wrapped himself around Danny's smaller frame and they'd fallen asleep together spooned like they would when playing hide and seek at the age of six.

They tried. They really did. At first they'd phone all the time, but then the adults in their lives had chastised them for the massive phone bills and they'd been forced to speak less. Emails helped, but weren't the same.

Danny had decided after graduation to head back to the east coast and to his father. Steve was also on the east coast, so being in the same time zone would help them out. But it wasn't that simple. They were growing up and long distance friendships were difficult. They'd made new friends, though it wasn't the same. Danny was heading to the Newark Police Academy after college and Steve was determined to join the Navy.

After a few dorm moves, they no longer knew each others' addresses and then Danny lost track of Steve entirely when his email address stopped working. He didn't know where Steve was on assignments and besides, he was studying to become Detective and that took up a lot of his time, so he put off getting back in touch properly until after. It was just that 'after' never actually came.

They always had the back up of Steve's dad and Danny's mom in Hawaii to let the other know anything important and that seemed to be enough. It was a shame, but life moved on and childhood friendships didn't always last.

Then Danny met Rachel and had Grace. And then their marriage fell apart and Rachel remarried and somehow, in some kind of wacky circle of life, Danny found himself back in Hawaii, back in Honolulu and thinking about his greatest childhood friend. The boy he'd loved and held onto the memory of.

He'd never met anyone like Steve and never would again. He compared everyone he met to Steve and always wondered if he could be as close to anyone again as he had been to Steve.

When John McGarrett was murdered, Danny had asked to be put on the case. It seemed right. He'd do it for Steve, wherever Steve was. He didn't know what the Navy's protocol was now for what Steve could and couldn't do. Steve hadn't been back to Hawaii in the years since he'd left, he didn't know if Steve even wanted to come back.

Then it happened.

He'd been upstairs, standing in Steve's old room, recalling childhood memories and being swept up in the past when he'd heard movement downstairs. He unholstered his gun and quietly made his way down, avoiding the creaky step he still remembered from his youth.

Making his way into the garage, he saw the other man from behind and began shouting at him. In the next moment they had their weapons trained on one another and identical shocked looks. Because there was no mistaking who the other was, even if they hadn't been in proper contact in years.

"Danny?"

"Steve."

Surprised was one word for it, but there were plenty more. Danny still hadn't realized Steve knew what was going on, let alone had the time to come home. Steve told Danny his dad had mentioned months ago in an email that Danny was back in Hawaii, but he'd thought he meant for a vacation, not to live.

Like he was drawn to Steve, magnetized, he made his way over. While the blood thrummed in his ears he reached a hand out to Steve's shoulder and it made it's way to cup loosely around his friend's neck. "I can't believe you're here."

Steve's eyes changed in a way that only Danny could recognize. He was keeping things in check, hiding his feelings deep down but that change in his eyes spoke to Danny of whatever pain he was feeling over his father's death and anything else that had led him to this point. It was minute, it was fleeting, but in that moment they were kids again and Danny could see that Steve just wanted to lean into his touch and lose himself. "Same here," Steve tried to smile. "I'm really glad you're here."

"Listen," Danny stepped back and turned. "I know it's your dad and all, but I can't have you around. You know the drill, it's a crime scene."

"You're the detective they put on the case? Chin never said it was you."

"Chin Ho Kelly? Wow, there's a name I've not heard in a while. They don't talk about him at the precinct. Mind you, apart from Meka, they don't really talk to me much. The haole cop. Doesn't seem to matter that I grew up here."

"Meka's still here, too?"

"Yeah, we partnered up for a bit. He's on another assignment now, and I got your dad's murder."

"Okay, there's something I need to do." Steve held his phone up to show Danny, who just gave Steve a baffled head shake back and then listened in as Steve began talking to the Governor, watching Danny all the time.

"What the hell was that?" Danny asked as Steve hung up.

"Now, I'm staying, too. And you and I are going to pick up where we left off." Steve beamed a smile at Danny, and Danny got the feeling it had been the first real smile Steve had managed in a while and so he couldn't help but be swept back up into Steve's life again, just as he had been when they were four and meeting for the first time when they began school.

By the time Victor Hesse had two bullet holes in him and Steve's new task force was taking shape, Steve had made a point of trying to get Danny to move in with him and was determined to meet his daughter ASAP.

Apparently, Danny's apartment offended Steve on a base level, and this was coming from a guy who lived in barracks (or whatever it is on a boat) for a long time. In the meantime, as if expecting some kind of token fight that might last a few weeks, Steve bought Danny a weekend at the Kahala hotel so the two of them could take Grace to swim with the dolphins. Steve seemed to want the perfect opportunity to get himself in Danny's daughter's good books and was not above bribery. But then, Danny couldn't deny Steve or Grace the opportunity.

Hanging around the new office, drinking beer and laughing reminded Danny of the old gang, even if Chin and Kono weren't a part of it back then. It was like old times for Steve and Danny, though. Years apart and yet, they had gravitated back to the other easily. They'd changed, of course they had. Experiences had changed them, some light, some dark. They'd be able to talk to the other, tell them what they could of their lives and fall back into that old friendship.

The physical side of it was there again straight away. Steve had wrapped his arms around Danny from behind while Danny berated Kono for her terrible 'strike force' idea and he'd almost swayed off his seat from Steve's strength. He'd then told Steve off for sitting on boxes and desks instead of the chairs like a normal human being would.

Kono had given them a funny look and asked. "So were you guys close growing up?"

"Were they close?" Chin had sputtered and laughed as he answered for them. "These two cats were inseparable. They went everywhere together. You know, Steve, your mom was convinced you guys would get married someday. She used to make all these side comments to me and your dad when you were out of earshot about what you'd be like when you were forty."

"She said that, really?" Steve asked.

"I can see it now, babe, you walking down the aisle in a white dress…" Danny joked.

"Woah, hey now, I am not the bride. That's you, my friend," Steve pointed at Danny.

"Why me?"

"It's logistics, Danny; you're the shorter of the two of us."

"Because tall women don't exist, right? And they don't marry short guys."

"I'm sure they do, but I think the pictures will look better my way round."

Danny picked up a couple of pens from the box beside them and threw them at Steve, which only left Steve gaping at Danny for the abuse and then lifting up from his perch on the desk and grabbing Danny in a bear hug from behind, trapping his arms so he couldn't use them. Danny cried uncle, but Steve did nothing more than loosen his hold to allow Danny to breathe again and they stood there, a little out of breath, but like everything was perfectly normal.

"I have a feeling working with you guys is going to be fun," Kono said.

Danny was right. It took only a few weeks to wear him down to moving in with Steve. Grace loved her new Uncle already and was excited that Danny would be living in a house with its own beach. Steve had promised to teach her how to boogie board (it was a compromise, as Danny still felt she was too young to surf) and they were going to redecorate Steve's old room for her.

They'd spent their Grace-free weekend moving Danny in (he didn't have much with him at the apartment, storing a lot of it with his mom and step-dad at their house) and then got to work clearing out Steve's old room. The problem was it was taking forever as they kept finding things to reminisce about.

Late afternoon found them exhausted and curled up on Steve's old bed which, once upon a time, had fit them both a lot more comfortably than it did now.

As had somehow become standard, Steve was spooning Danny from behind and they were lying there laughing occasionally but enjoying a laid-back, carefree silence the rest of the time.

"Do you remember when we were in the 3rd grade, and Amy and Meka kissed for the first time behind the bike sheds."

"Yeah…" Danny began, wondering what part of the story Steve was working his way to.

"And we came home and…"

"Experimented?" Danny asked.

Yes, he remembered. They'd decided to see what it was like for themselves and had tried to kiss each other but being so young, they didn't do much more than smack their lips together. Steve made fun of Danny's soft lips, he remembered that much.

"You feel like experimenting again?" Steve asked. His voice uncertain, but his grip was solid on Danny.

"We could…" Danny hedged. "I mean, I think I remember we decided kissing was weird between us so kissing girls would be disgusting. And I've kissed a few girls since then and it wasn't so bad after all."

"So theoretically, if we were to try again, maybe even do it properly now that we're older and wiser and had more practice, it might not be weird anymore?" Steve asked.

"It's a sound theory," Danny nodded, then turned in Steve's arms. He was flat on his back while Steve hovered over him.

"You know, I've met some people over the years," Steve looked down at Danny's chest, at his own hands playing over Danny's t-shirt. "And I've loved them as much as I could but it's never been anything like how I felt about you. I can't help but wonder if you came back into my life at the perfect time."

"The perfect time?"

"Classified," Steve sniffed through a smile.

"Well, if it means anything, I've compared everyone to you. And the facts speak for themselves, because I'm single right now."

"I've never…"

"Been with a guy?" Danny finished for Steve again, but the other shook his head.

"Come out. Navy and all. I've known for a long time that I like guys and I've, y'know… just never been able to talk about it or have anything public." He didn't ask Danny for anything, but his questioning eyes spoke for him.

"I've never been with a guy. Never really thought about it much."

"Oh," Steve's eyes fell.

"That's not to say I'm not open to the possibility. If the right guy came along."

At Danny's words, the smile returned to Steve's face and he rested his head on Danny's chest long enough to press a kiss against the cotton of his tee. He lingered there, right over Danny's heart, and Danny curled his hand into the soft hairs at the nape of Steve's neck and held on, letting the moment wash over them.

Steve placed a few more soft kisses over the material of Danny's shirt and then lifted his head to look at him again, assessing, checking Danny was okay with everything before shifting a leg over Danny's, bringing their bodes more flush with each other, and then running a thumb over Danny's lips as his fingers brushed lightly over Danny's cheek and neck.

"Still soft," he murmured quietly before ducking his head and pressing their lips together.

Much like in the third grade it was a simple touch of lips and nothing deeper. There was a quiet confidence in Steve that Danny recognized as the man pulled back. But it was only for a moment and then his lips were on Danny's again, this time his tongue traced against Danny's bottom lip and when Danny let out a small gasp, Steve took the opportunity to deepen their connection and let his tongue explore into Danny, meeting his own in a dance and with a moan, Steve melted into Danny, his body settling against his with contentment.

The kisses seemed to last forever. They breathed when they needed to, but with a change of angle, or noses playing against the others' in eskimo kisses, it all led back to their lips meeting once again, and again. Hands began to join and explore but with no end game, just to enjoy the journey.

Steve broke off the kisses, laid another on Danny's cheek and pulled back. He arranged them again, with Danny turned up against him in a half spoon as Steve snuggled in close, his chin resting on Danny's shoulder.

"You know," Danny began. "Considering that this room is soon to be my daughter's, this is pretty much the last memory we're going to make in here before it's all different."

"It's the end of an era," Steve sighed, shifting, trying to get closer.

Danny nodded against him, but the grin pulling at his lips couldn't be denied. "But the start of a new one, too. Just imagine what kind of memories we're going to make in the room next door."

"It does have a bigger bed," Steve smiled down at him.

"It does," Danny agreed, soberly. "Which means that maybe we can spread out a bit more."

"What do you mean by that?"

Danny gestured at how they were lying. "You do realize we've been in this position since we were six."

A look flitted over Steve's face as he thought back. Danny watched as realization dawned on the other man's features. "Hide and seek, I remember. God, we did that for years. I took any excuse to get you to myself, all snuggled up nice and close."

"Really?" Danny laughed and Steve shrugged in response. "Now you decide to come clean to me? After all these years?"

Steve shrugged. "It doesn't matter how big the bed is, I'll still be cuddling you."

"Well, thanks for the warning."

They stared a each other for long moments until Steve cleared his throat. "So are we gonna…?" He pointed to the door, flicking his finger to indicate going round to the master bedroom.

"What, now?" Danny asked, feigning some ignorance.

"Well, yeah, now… been waiting about thirty years. Seems long enough."

Danny waved his head back and forth as if considering. "Thirty years… no pressure…"

Steve leaned down again and kissed Danny to shut him up. The kiss was perfect, he couldn't think much about it because he just lost himself in the feel of it, of Steve with him like he'd probably always wanted. His eyes were closed as Steve pulled back, and he opened them slowly.

"Tell you what," Steve suggested. "How about we play a little game of hide and seek. I'll go hide."

Steve pushed himself up from the bed, smoothed down his cargo pants and Danny brought himself up to a sitting position, scowling at Steve. "You're going to be under the bed aren't you."

"Count to ten, then come find out," Steve winked at Danny then bounded out the door.

Danny sat for a moment then loudly shouted to ten as fast as he possible could. "Ready or not, here I come!"