It had taken him some time but now that he had noticed it, it really bothered him. Because now that he knew, there was no way to deny it.

Admittedly, when they had started dating two months ago he'd had to adapt as well. His last relationship –if you could even call it that- had mostly consisted of a few phone calls or e-mails confirming the other was still alive and a few nights between the sheets here and there. So this was something new and he thought he had adapted pretty well to a girlfriend that lived in the same time zone 24/7.

But that was just the thing. He hadn't had to change. Because although he was dating Kono Kalakaua everything was still the same. And it annoyed the crap out of him. Okay, maybe 'dating' was the wrong term. They never really went on a typical date. They met to train, to surf and well… to have sex mostly. But it was a relationship. He'd checked with her after the first very casual month, not that that had won him any brownie points. But nothing about said relationship was as he'd expected it.

"Kono?"

"Hm?"

"Are you uncomfortable with me?"

Kono heaves her head out from under the pillows, her eyes barely open. "Wha'?"

"Are you uncomfortable with me?" Steve repeats slowly.

Kono turns her head to look at him and sweeps her hair out of her face before she gestures down her nude body hidden under the covers.

"Seriously? What makes you question that right now?"

"I don't know." Steve says and rolls onto his side and stretches out his arm to caress her bare back. That's right. He has to stretch his arm. Because against all expectations, his girlfriend doesn't like to cuddle after sex. Or at all it seemed.

"Steve? What's going on?"

And now he feels like a complete idiot. Like he has to explain something that is so painfully obvious to him.

"Nothing. Forget it."

"Steve." He woke her up for this so they were having it the hell out now.

"It's ridiculous." He keeps stroking her back and leans over to press a soft kiss to her shoulder blade.

"Steve." Her tone was impatient.

He takes a deep breath. "Okay. So I have a nice house, right?"

"Ye-es."

"And it's right by the beach and you love surfing and here you'd have all the waves to yourself." He murmurs into her ear, still bent over her back, stroking her soft skin.

"Okay."

"But you never just drop by to do that. Or just to hang around. With me."

Kono turns her head so she can have a better look at his face. "You hate it when Danny drops by unannounced."

"Yes."

"I know because you've been complaining about it very vocally for the past two years."

She's missing the point here. "You're not Danny."

"I just thought that you liked your privacy and your space."

Huh. Admittedly, so had he.

"It's 2 am, Steve. So let's speed this up. What the hell is this about?"

Steve drops back onto the other side of the bed as Kono props herself up on her elbows.

"Apparently, nothing. Let's go to sleep."

"No." She could be just as hard-headed as him if she wanted to. "You want me to spend more time at your place with you? I can do that."

Steve shakes his head and fixes her with a gaze she can't identify. "I don't want you to spend more time here."

"Huh?"

He quickly holds out his hands. "That didn't come out right. It's not that I don't want you to be here more, because I do. I really do. But I want you to want to be here with me more."

"What?" Kono is thoroughly confused now.

"I want you to want to spend time with me, to hang out with me. Or just, you know… sit next to me when we watch a game. Hell, you show Danny more affection than me."

Kono sits upright in bed and turns around to face him fully. The sheets pool around her hips and he has a clear view of her naked body.

God. Talk about distractions.

"Our current position says otherwise, Steve."

"Forget it." Steve gets up from the bed and shrugs into some pants and a discarded shirt. Kono watches him.

"Steve."

"Go back to sleep." And then he is out the door without granting her another look and Kono has no idea what just happened. She can hear the front door slamming only seconds later. She lays back and takes a deep breath, blinking a few times to get herself in check.

Fuck.

.

..

.

By the time he is back Kono had gotten dressed and went to sit outside, listening to the waves crashing a few yards away from the house.

She doesn't hear the truck. But she hears the front door open and close and then the telltale creaks of the stairs. She waits until she hears the stairs again, his gait quicker and more purposeful this time. She calls out to him then and he is outside in quick strides. Kono can hear his breath coming in short shallow bursts.

"What the hell are you doing outside? You scared the crap out of me."

"I'm sorry." She barely dares to look up at him as he towers above her.

"I thought you had fucking left. Jesus, Kono." He takes a few pacing steps, scrubbing his hands over his face. He stops directly in front of her and suddenly Kono's afraid to look at him, afraid of the anger she might see.

"Aren't you going to ask me where I went? Why I left?"

Kono shrugs.

"You don't care? Is that it?"

She nearly bites her tongue off trying to keep her quick retort to herself. Of course she cares. But if the answer isn't Danny, driving around or shooting something, she doesn't want to know.

Steve sits down next to on the porch steps, leaving a foot of space between them. Kono looks down at that foot and tries to blink away the burning in her eyes.

It was Steve who ultimately breaks their stalemate.

"I just don't get it, Kono. The first day I met you, you punched a guy over a wave. You repeatedly rip Danny a new one when he eats the last slice of pizza. You even give the referee at football games more heat than me. But with me… you never fight back. You're snappy and pissed at me, but… that's it. You never… fight. Which makes me think that you just don't care all that much."

Steve turns to look at her profile but she seems like an impassive mask to him. Kono turns her head to return his gaze. Okay, not so impassive after all, if the glistening moisture was any indication.

"Is this what tonight was about? That I don't fight with you?"

Steve huffs. "I'm pretty ridiculous, right?"

Kono gives him a soft smile. "That what Danny said?"

Steve chuckles. "Amongst other things." Like a string of expletives for waking him up at such an unholy hour. "It's just that… when you feel like you love someone more than they love you, it can make you a little crazy... It can make you a lot crazy."

Kono doesn't even think about it as her arms reach out to steady herself on his shoulders as she turns and swings one of her legs across his lap. She pulls herself in front of him into his lap and straddles him. Her hands leave his shoulders in favor of his neck and hair.

Steve's surprise only lasts a moment before his hands are on her hips, pulling her closer against him. Kono can see his eyes darken as she leans in, whispering. "You're an idiot, Steve McGarrett."

Her fingers wind into his hair as she kisses him. She is anything but gentle when her lips and teeth nip at his mouth, her tongue insistent and unrelenting. Steve doesn't seem to mind. His hold on her is possessive, his hands trailing up her bare thighs until he reached the delicate swell of her ass and his grip tightens. His mouth is rough against hers, meeting every stroke of her tongue with his own, hot and demanding. One of his hands wanders under the back of her shirt and he presses her flush against himself. When Kono rolls her hips against his he groans. His fingers dig into her skin and it takes Kono a second to realize he is not pulling her closer, but pushing her away.

"Kono-"

But she interrupts him with a kiss. This one less intense and more playful. Easy.

"Steve." She leans back to look into his eyes, a small smile dancing across her lips. "I'm crazy about you. So much that I'd spend every minute of every day with you."

"Then why don't you? Why the distance?" Steve asks.

Kono takes a deep breath. "It's easy giving Danny a hard time or punching a guy for cutting into my waves. But with you… Your last girlfriend was G.I. Jane. I can't compete with that. I'm just afraid I might say or do something that will make you realize I'm not really such a great girlfriend because I can be needy and clingy and I'm incredibly jealous. And then you'll realize that great sex isn't really worth all that while I just fall more and more in love with you."

When she dares to look at him again Steve was grinning stupidly at her. "Who's being ridiculous now?"

Kono shrugs. "Didn't say it was rational."

Steve takes her head into his hand and fixes her with a hard look. "I want you, Kono. All of you. I want all the needy and clingy and apparently neurotic."

Kono swats his chest. "Shut up, brah."

Steve just smirks and keeps going. "So what, you're afraid you can mess up so bad I'll just give up on you?"

"You are a real smug bastard, you know that?"

"You can't." Steve's voice is reduced to a rough whisper. "And you won't. You're mine now. "

His hand leaves her waist in favor of his pant pocket and he pulls something out of it.

"What's that?" Kono frowns.

Steve gives it to her with a smile, but Kono still doesn't get it.

"A toothbrush?"

Steve nods. "Your toothbrush. Which is going to stay in my bathroom. When you're here, you're going to stay over. No more going home after sex."

Kono plays with the toothbrush and has to bite back a smile. "Why? Does it make you feel used?"

Steve leans in, his lips hovering over hers. "Very."

Kono wants to laugh but apparently they are done talking for the night.

::

When Steve wakes up a few hours later he feels warmer than he's used to. He opens his eyes and has to smile. So that's why he feels more confined as well. Kono was sleeping sprawled across him, her head resting on his chest and her legs tangled with his.

He brushes his fingers through her dishevelled hair and moves it back so he can take a look at her face. Her nose scrunches lightly when the sunlight hits her eyes.

"Morning." He rasps.

"Hm."

He laughs and the rumbling of his chest stirrs her more awake. She squints her eyes open and looks a him through tiny slits.

"Hi." he tries again.

"Hmhm."

Steve takes her head into his hands and presses a soft kiss against her lips.

"Why are you even awake yet?" Kono croaks. She rolls off his chest to look at the clock. 0730. She groans and dives back into the pillows. "You're crazy." She murmurs.

Steve just smirks at her and gets up from the bed. He walks over towards his dresser and reaches for a new pair of boxers. When he turns around again, Kono is already asleep again so he goes downstairs to fix them some coffee.

"Steve." She calls. Okay. So maybe she wasn't asleep.

"Yeah?"

"Can you go grab my toothbrush from the porch? Pleeease."

Steve chuckles and shakes his head as he makes his way to the back door. A few hours and things were already different.

He liked it.

Fifteen minutes later he deposits a cup of coffee on the bedside table and throws the toothbrush onto the mattress next to Kono's lounging form.

"Come on, Kono. We have to get going."

"Go where?" She groans from under the pillows.

He stops in the doorway and turns back to her. "I want to go meet your parents."

Steve's already halfway down the stairs when he hears her shriek.

"What?"

Oh yeah. He really liked it.

Don't know if I can keep this up, but so far my ambitious plan is one update a day. We'll see :)

Totally out of Context: After much insisting, I watched Once Upon A Time and Excuse, Me! How awesome is that show? Henry is just great, but considering Snow White used to be a Robin Hood like badass, she sure is one whiny pit of neediness once she married her Prince Charming. And someone should go kick Rumpelstiltskin's ass. He's just annoying and he kinda freaks me out.

Thanks for reading!