S.T.E.V.E

It took a few moments for Steve to realise his partner was not coughing, since that was what he had been doing for almost a month now, but laughing. It was a quiet laugh, Danny obviously didn't want to start himself off in yet another coughing fit, but at least now he could laugh, not like last weekend. Now they were snuggled together on the sofa, something Marvel-like on the TV in front of them, Danny with his laptop in his lap reading something sounded like it was hilarious.

"What?" Steve asked him after a few moments and moved his chin from the top of Danny's head from where he'd rested it some time earlier when they arranged themselves on the sofa. It had been their usual spot: Steve in the corner, a couple of cushions behind him, Danny draped against him, relaxing on a Sunday evening with the kids upstairs in bed. "What's tickled you?"

Danny did cough, but then looked up at him and moved the laptop so his lover could see what was on the screen. "Someone's found a new aurora, not known to science," he explained to him with a smile. "And guess what they called it?"

Steve frowned down at him for a moment before he looked at the screen. He read the headline, then read it again, and the subsequent grin was wide and highly amused. "Seriously?" he said and used his free hand (not the one draped over Danny's shoulders, that one stayed exactly where it was supposed to be) to make gimme motions to the laptop. Danny obliged and moved it to Steve's own lap so the SEAL could scroll through the article. His partner liked to go through several news websites, and this was on the BBC's UK site on the science tab.

An absolutely gorgeous photo of an aurora, with a large purple vertical stream that he didn't recognise, taken by some people in Canada. He read it and his grin increased, if possible. "Huh," he commented. "Twenty-five kilometres an hour, at six kilometres a second, six hundred times faster than that surrounding it."

Danny leant back against him so he could also see the screen again. "It's all rather apt," he replied and looked up at him. "Faster than the other stuff around it. Not previously known to science. Not recognised as a catalogued phenomenon, that sort of stuff."

Steve hugged him a little tighter and pressed a kiss to his temple. "I like the quote," he told him. "'It's amazing how a beautiful natural phenomenon, seen by observant citizens, can trigger scientists' curiosity.'" he read. "That Roger Haagmans guy is very clever."

Danny laughed quietly again which morphed into another cough. It wasn't as bad as his cough had been, something that had started a month ago from a cold that lingered, and lingered, and lingered, and then came back with a vengeance a couple of weeks ago. That, combined with a few manic weeks at work had made him so ill he'd ended up in an ER after having such a bad coughing fit in a car with Lou the other guy had driven there in a panic when Danny hadn't been able to catch his breath afterwards. The diagnosis of pneumonia hadn't been a shock, the amount of antibiotics and inhalers it had lead to had been, but they were working, he was feeling better, he wasn't coughing so much, he could sleep a lot more than he had managed before, he had moved back into their bedroom a few days ago having moved into one of the spare ones with the false thought that Steve himself would sleep better if they weren't in the same room. That had been a fallacy of course, the SEAL hated to sleep alone and most of the time ended up in the same bed anyway. He'd explained that on one classified mission in the desert somewhere he'd fallen asleep after a mission had been extended and woke up eighteen hours later. To find the base had been attacked, the tent they'd been assigned missing a side and some of the roof after a mortar had landed a bit too closely, the rest of his team laughing at him as he'd sat up and wondered why he was covered in a couple of blankets and his own, and someone else's kevlar.

Whether Danny believed that story or not didn't really matter, it had happened, and it had persuaded the stubborn mainlander back into their room. And now he did feel well enough to spend the day with Steve, Grace and Charlie, Kono, Adam, Lou, Renee, Chin and Abbie, then relax after they had all left or gone upstairs, rather than go to bed himself. Which had lead to their present conversation.

When he'd stopped coughing, this one only a quiet couple of coughs this time, not the horrible ones that sounded like he was choking on his lungs, Danny looked up at him with a smile. "I'm observant," he told him, fondly amused. "I spotted a beautiful, natural phenomenon when I got to this island."

"Oh yeah?" Steve queried, trying not to laugh. Danny was not a sap, so he had no real illusions of what was going to come out of his mouth next. "What was that?"

Danny paused for dramatic effect. "Malasadas and cocoa puffs," he told him, and then cracked up again. This time he pressed his face against Steve's shoulder and buried any coughs in his lover's tee shirt as he chortled at his own joke.

The Commander grinned, knowing it was one of his most goofy as Danny liked to describe him, hugged him tight and kissed him again. "The romance is gone," he intoned. "My boyfriend prefers pastries to me. Woe is me, what shall I do?"

Danny laughed even harder and slapped his thigh. "Stop making me laugh, doofus," he complained, his voice quiet and hoarse, because of the cough. "It only sparks me off again."

Steve, completely unrepentant, (Danny had been feeling so crap only a week ago that he hadn't even had the inclination to laugh, however hard Steve had tried to get him) laughed himself. "Doofus?" he retorted. "Where did that come from?"

Danny looked up at him when he had recovered enough to speak again. "Yes, doofus. The technical term for goof cubed."

"Huh?" Steve ended up saying, which was not an uncommon response when Danny was on form.

The man in question sighed. "You, the goofiest goof to have ever goofed," he explained. "Goof cubed, or doofus."

Steve rolled his eyes so much he was worried they would stick that way, but they didn't, he could look at him again. "Idiot," he replied fondly. "Tell me more about this beautiful natural phenomenon," he told him and sat back while Danny turned back to the laptop and started reading aloud from the top.

"'Aurora photographers find new night sky lights and call them Steve,'" he began, and pointed at the picture on the screen. "Doesn't look a lot like you," he commented and huffed a laugh when Steve used the hand on his shoulder to shake him gently. Then started again. "'A group of aurora enthusiasts have found a new type of light in the night sky and named it Steve. Eric Donovan from the University of Calgary in Canada spotted the feature in photos…' Here, you read it," he stopped and pushed the laptop a bit closer to him.

Steve smiled and kissed his hair - he just loved kissing his lover. "I like the sound of your voice," he explained. "Even when you're shouting at me."

"One of your stranger foibles, you masochist," the man in question responded.

"Yeah, yeah," Steve replied and passed the laptop back. "You love it. Put that on the coffee table before we drop it," he instructed.

"Drop it doing what?" Danny queried, but did as he was told. When he was mellow like this he could be obedient, and Steve used it as much as he could.

"So I can do this," the SEAL told him and used both arms and hands this time to manhandle his lover into his own lap. Then he used a hand to bury in his soft blonde hair, massaged his scalp and bent close to him. "I love you, kiss me."

Danny moved close to him and laughed again. "I love you too, you hot stream of fast-flowing gas," he told him and cupped Steve's cheek in his own palm. Their kiss was gentle tonight, all-encompassing and full of affection, them really.

End

www . bbc /news/world-us-canada-39686055 (take out the spaces)

New night sky lights and they are called STEVE - Sudden Thermal Emissions from Velocity Enhancement.