a/n: So, this is the SEQUEL to "A Sprinkle of Sugar". Can be perceived as pre-slash, but it's just these guys seriously comfortable with each other as I'm sure you saw in the last story. Enjoy.

Summary: Steve leaves a sweet gift on Danny's desk, but the detective is far from appreciative and accepting.

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HAWAII . 5 - 0

A Bag Full of Sugar

Danny walked into the Palace bright and early as usual, sipping on his paper cup.

He'd had Grace that weekend and she'd asked him if she could have a cup of coffee too. He'd come into the habit of not drinking alcohol in front of her, so instead, he got more wired with the caffeine instead of a relaxed buzz of beer that he needed after a long and stressful day at work.

"No. It'll stunt your growth." He had told her firmly.

She'd blinked innocently up at him, "But you're tall, Danno, and you drink coffee all the time."

Danny had put down his coffee and picked his girl up in a fierce hug. "Oh, Monkey! You know just what to say to your old Danno!"

Now, he was drinking some chai virgin coffee that he'd never heard of or could pronounce the proper name of, that tasted like it had more caffeine in it that his regular black cup with two sugars. It felt like his blood was buzzing.

No one seemed to be in the office yet, so he turned course towards his office—only to pause in the doorway as he in the spotted a dark brown, black-spotted thing at the epicentre of his cluttered desk. Looking around, he slowly approach, cautiously. He was a cop, after all. Strange packages and things were not their favourite. He set his paper cup on the corner of his desk and pulled a pen from the mug—and yes, he had a pencil/pen cup now—and poked at the thing with as much distance as he could between them. It felt soft under the packaging.

When it didn't explode in his face and blow all his hair clean off, he straightened and stepped closer, circling to the other side of the desk. He had no idea what it was, despite the lettering on the clear plastic packaging—it looking to be in Korean. But he came to the conclusion that it was a... food? and he suggested that lightly.

He looked down at in confusion. What was this and who had left it for him, or mistakenly put it on his desk?

Something crumpled underfoot. He lifted his foot and peeled what was apparently a sticky-note off the bottom of his shoe. Through the print of his shoe, he recognized Steve's scrawl instantly:

HERE'S SOME SUGAR, SUGAR.

Danny glanced from it, to the back of what was apparently Korean Sugar on his desk and attempted to take a deep breath. So, Steve had been here, or still was here, probably hiding, clapping himself on the back, thinking he was a funny man, and laughing at his partner. He kind of thought they were over this after they ended up sleeping in the same bed—platonically, of course—and cuddling.

He took a second deep breath, crumpling the note in his hand as he reached across his desk for his paper cup. He drained the remains of his chai mystery and threw it and the note in the trash. He picked up the four pound bag of foreign sugar in one hand, and made from his way from his office—just as Chin and Kono were coming in for the morning.

"Hey," "Morning, brah." They looked at the sugar in his hand, recognized the straight-line of his brows for what it was, a forewarning—now, was just the wait for the fireworks as soon as the blond found who he was looking for.

"Hey," Danny nodded and turned on his heel to Steve's office. "Steven?"

"Oh, hey, Danno." The Commander just sat in his chair behind his desk, playing with a pen. "I see you got my gift."

"My gift, he says." Danny muttered. "What the hell is this, Steve? And why was it taking up my entire desk?"

"It's sugar." He said. "I was doing some spring cleaning—"

"It's September, but don't let that stop you."

And he didn't. "—And I found that." He pointed at it with the pen. "It made me think of you."

"Always appreciated the thought, you know that, don't get me wrong." That was just the wind up. "But me? How could this remind you of me?"

Steve rocked back in his chair. "You seemed upset when I borrowed that cup of sugar—"

"Borrowed?" he scoffed. "You broke into my home, helped yourself to all of my sugar, woke me up, criticized me—then asked for the sugar like it was an afterthought!"

"—So I gave you that." He carried right on without missing a beat, "I figured it would last you a while. What's the problem?"

"What's the problem?" he demanded. "The problem, Steven, is what do you expect me to use this for? It doesn't look like any sugar I've seen before!" He waved the hand with the bag in it for clarity.

"Well, you've never seen all the sugar from every country, Danny." Steve pointed out reasonably. "Not everything can be Splenda."

"Splenda?" he sputtered. "You think that I put that garbage into my body? My body is a temple!"

Steve snorted. "Then what is all that other artificial, chemical crap called that you do feed it?"

"Character. Anyway," he snapped. "How do you know it's even sugar, hm? It's in Korean!"

"I—" Steve started, sitting forward.

"Aht!" Danny held up his empty hand. "Let me guess... you read Korean." Steve just shrugged. Danny gave an aggrieved sigh. "Alright, what does it say?" he held out the bag.

"Sweet Sugar."

"Are you kidding me?" Danny's nostrils flared as he took a deep breath. "Sweet Sugar. Sugar is already sweet, why do you need sweet sugar? Why don't you just mix syrup and molasses while you're at it?" he gestured wildly, "Because god knows either aren't sweet enough already!"

Steve sighed. "Just try it, Danny. You might actually like it."

"Like it?" he repeated incredulously. "You actually think I'm going eat this? and then like it? Are you out of your mind?! If it's so fantastic, why didn't you keep it and use it, huh? You just found it in the back of a cupboard?" he scoffed. "What, left over from the nuclear war? It's probably still radioactive. Try it?" he narrowed his eyes, "Are you trying to poison me?"

Steve sighed heavily this time, his eyes closed briefly. He thought he was being quite reasonable about this. He stood. "I thought I was being nice. And no, I'm not trying to poison you, trust me," he said in a tone like he was talking to a dim child, "If I was trying to kill you—it wouldn't be poisoning you (that would definitely take too long if I wanted to cover my tracks)—you know that..." he went around the desk, "We've had this conversation before."

He slipped passed the shorter man in the doorway in a smooth manoeuvre—and promptly snubbed the bag of foreign sugar thrust at him.

"Yeah, I remember," Danny followed after him, not one to be ignored, "You said you were going to drown me in pineapple juice. I'll shoot you before I let you do that!"

Steve chuckled. "You'll fight back, sure. Put up a pretty good fight if I know you any. But I'll win in the end,"

"And that's very rude of you, Steven." Danny declared in a scolding tone. "We're partners, babe. You're supposed to do it quick and painless—not garner enjoyment!"

"Don't worry, Danny." Steve paused in his stride and squeezed his shoulder. He murmured softly, "I'll take good care of you... with the least enjoyment possible."

"Why are we friends again?" Danny wondered, following after the taller man once more as he continued on. He was still hefting the thing that claimed to be sugar, but he still wasn't buying it.

They passed the cousins hanging in the command center with all the screens. Chin, perched on a stool and pretending to at least read a file as he eavesdropped on them (not like the two were being quiet); as opposed to Kono who was watching the entertainment openly, it was better than cable.

Steve finally stopped at the counter where the coffee pot was kept and all the fixings that went with it; sugar packets, twirler straws; there was a microwave, and a small sink; under the counter was a mini-fridge to keep the milk and creamers. Danny halted behind him. He got out a clean mug from the rack, and started to tear open sugar packets.

"Don't you always say you wouldn't never ask one of us to do something that you wouldn't do yourself?" Danny questioned reasonably. He continued with, "So here's your sugar. Have at it," he nudged it against the man's back.

"So, you're not accepting my gift?" he asked, ignoring the prod as he continued with his work.

"No, I'm returning it."

"Alright." Steve accepted. "I actually think I have a recipe I can use with that." He let the smirk flash across his lips, unseen.

"You really are insane." Danny ruminated, like he hadn't actually believed it every other time he said it. "I know you think you're Superman, but for all you know—this could be your kryptonite."

Steve chuckled. "I'm not eating it, Danny." He turned around to finally face him, mug in-hand, level with his chest.

"You just said..." Danny started before realization of the SEAL's exact meaning took hold. "Of course!" he shook his head and sneered at the sugar in his hand. "It would be a recipe for a bomb!" he exploded. "I apologize, truly, for thinking of associating something so domestic with a McGarrett. My bad, you freak of nature."

"I'm not the freak of nature around here," Steve replied pointedly, leaning back against the counter. "That goes to the other 'Steven.'" He did the air-quotes with his free hand.

"Don't you dare bring 'Steven' into this!" Danny shouted, holding up a finger at him. "He was an innocent and you shot him in the face!"

"That thing was the evil spawn from hell, Danny!"

"Do you know what they're talking about now?" Kono whispered to her cousin.

Chin didn't even look up from the file as he responded, "Did you know what they were talking about in the beginning?"

"Good point."

"Here," Steve said, holding out the mug to his partner, "Take this and I'll take that."

Danny took the full mug incredulously, perhaps going into a little bit of shock. "You made me coffee? Has hell frozen over? Is it snowing in Hawaii? Do I have a concussion?"

"It's September," Steve reminded him. "And it's Hawaii, as if it would ever snow." He took the bag of sweet Korean sugar and gave the blond a half-smirk, "Do I look like a servant, Danno?"

"Uh..." Danny looking into the mug in his hand, and realized that he hadn't seen any steam rising from the cup to begin with. Instead of coffee, it was filled with—"Sugar?"

"Yep." Steve nodded. "I thought this might have a better chance of making you happy. I took a cup of sugar from you," he gestured at the cup, "And now I'm giving you a cup of sugar back. Good white American sugar."

"When did you even...?"

Steve patted Danny on the shoulder. "Now you can't complain about it again!"

"Got something, boss!" Kono called.

Steve left the counter, deposited the sugar in his office, and returned to the command center with Kono and Chin, meeting up at the big-touch table. "What do we got?" he crossed his arms.

Danny stared at the piled of torn and empty sugar packets on the counter, next to the now empty little basket where they previously resided. He gave a quiet laugh and shook his head. That man was incorrigible. He placed the cup of sugar back on the counter, and with a sweeping hand, swiped the empty packets into the trash—cleaning up after his friend, again. Now he was going to have to be the one to replace them.

"You still haven't returned my mug!" Danny ribbed the man as he finally joined the others.

Steve just grinned at him.

It looked like Williams was just going to have to break into the McGarrett home and detect it down himself. It wouldn't be the first time and it certainly wouldn't be the last.

f

HAWAII. 5 - 0

Alright, so this was well, that. I have ideas for at least one more, I'm sure you can guess what that's about. Anyway, please review, and thanks for reading this far. Also, I have no idea about sugar; I totally made this up.

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