Rating:T

Categories:M/M

Fandom:Hawaii Five-0

Relationships:Steve McGarret/Danny "Danno" Williams

Characters:Steve McGarret, Danny Williams, Kono, Gracie

Additional Tags: Humor and Fluff. OOC, VERY light slash, randomness unlimited

Disclaimer: Don't own them and never will.

Author's Notes:

Okay, this is a challenge from my best friend. We were trying to do some 'cliche' both of us and I ended up with Coffee shop AU.

... it didn't really work out as I wanted, and I feel that at some point it's just a bit hurried and that it's asking for a sequel...but ... god knows. It MIGHT happen.

~ Coffee, Muscles and Chocolate~

The day started good. Which meant that Rachel didn't call Danny about some changes to his routine with his little girl, yet, and he even managed to write part of the chapter he was horribly behind. He didn't get woken up by weird neighbors arguing – and it didn't even sound like they were doing business this morning, so Danny didn't need to look around three to five times and judge whether it was safe to get out without meeting some kind of drug addict.

So yeah. The day started good, wonderful even and Danny wore his favorite tie, because Hawaii or not (and Danny STILL hated that hole, even on the nice day like this), one ought to look professional no matter what. And everything went fine until Danny got to his café. Which, usually was pleasantly half full, with some people taking their coffee and leaving and some sitting around and staying, with a nice humming music and no long queues.

… there was one now.

Danny frowned, impatient, because hello, he didn't have his first coffee yet, and why the hell was there a row when people should get lost and don't stay in the way and he wanted his coffee now and maybe he could work after, but noooo, he had to wait in a QUEUE, so long as some of the freakish Anacondas that were on some of the discovery channel Gracie liked to watch were. And Danny's nice day? Forget it, it went straight to hell.

He huffed, trying not to listen to females in front of him, giggling and chattering, being worse than the old hags back home, which were at least less tanned and less blonde and he frowned trying to look around to see what the hell happened. Did Lori mess up the register again?

And the line was moving sooo slowly, that Danny decided to fuck it and pulled out his phone, checking things he head to do, and writing few points of the ideas that came to him with the story. It was time it moved to some direction and somehow it still didn't and Danny really wanted to be finished, because the deadline was nearing and he hated it breathing down on his neck –

"What can I get you, bro?"

"Seriously? I come here every DAY and you still pretend you don't know what I'm ordering Ko-" But wait…. THAT wasn't Kono's voice. It pretty much wasn't FEMALE voice at that and it sounded nothing like Chin's voice and Danny looked up, frowning.

Okay…. THIS guy, he never saw here. What the hell.

"Where is Kono?" He asked and the guy blinked.

"Not here. Order?"

"You can't make coffee." Danny was sure as he narrowed his eyes. "No one with muscles like that can make coffee." And the guy had a lot of those, all over his arms and under his shirt, and it looked like there were preparing to jump out and freak out anyone who glanced at his chest for more than two seconds. So Danny didn't. At all.

"You don't even have apron. You should have an apron, if you make coffee. It's actually in the law, that you either wear clothes that would distinguish you from the customers or have at least a name tag or something." He rambled, because Kono didn't like the apron but stile wore it because she knew it, and she wasn't breaking the law, like this man, who should seriously hide those muscles, because Danny was starting to feel threatened by them.

The guy stared at him, the bored look leaving his face as he lifted an eyebrow.

"You want to know my name? Is that what this is about?" He asked and Danny groaned. How did 5-0 café found an asshole and idiot like this?

Danny blinked and wondered whether he should start yelling now or a bit later. Now seemed like a pretty much good idea.

"Your name? No, why would I want to know your name?!"

"Well, you asked about my name tag." The guy said and motioned to his chest. "you know. Which usually has a name on it."

Danny frowned. Asshole, asshole, asshole. And even though Kono was teasing him most of the time, he didn't really mind because it felt somehow familiar, somehow friendly and much, MUCH nicer than anything this asshole did.

"I don't care about your name!"

"Then why did you ask about the tag?"

And Danny really wanted to be cultivated. He really did, but there was some woman clearing her throat behind him, and he even heard a tapping, and the woman probably wanted to ogle this asshole's muscles, which were still there, and they SHOULD disappear because they pulled Danny's eyes down, ever so often and he could admit it, he was a tiny bit jealous. But just a tiny bit, because if he looked like that, Rachel probably wouldn't want to leave him for some another asshole, and this one… this one… well, this one had lifted an eyebrow and was still staring at Danny, and there was a little smile on his face and Danny was starting to think that the bored expression suited him more than this one, amused on Danny's account.

… okay, not really, but Danny could pretend it was like that to make himself feel better.

"Are you slow? Are you like… mental? Is that why you are here? Did they decide to be nice to people and take in a stray that has mental problems? Because I heard about places that are hiring hard employed people, but I really don't think a café is a good place and Kono probably knows, but she probably lost a bet against Kamekona or something and that's why you are here, but I need to tell her that you shouldn't be, because not only can't you make any coffee you're also an asshole with capital A now that I think about it." And just when Danny was taking a deep breath to continue his rant and mention something about mental people obviously having free pass to gym and a lot of time on their work if he should go by this guy, the guy grinned widely and leaned over the counter.

"What's your name?" He asked and Danny stared.

He blinked, opened his mouth and closed it, frowned… and repeated the whole process again, while the guy shushed some woman who was standing in the queue behind Danny, and Danny made a mental note to mention this behavior to Kono, because god knew, maybe the woman was a regular, like Danny, or perhaps a soon to be ex-regular.

"What?" Danny asked, his voice a bit pitched, because they were arguing and this guy suddenly asks his name? Danny insulted him for God's sake!

"Your name." The guy said patiently, not really bothered by the row of huffing and growling people. (And some were also giggling and squealing, but Danny was not admitting to that, because that would mean some of the people around had to be on the same mental level as this guy in front of him, which truly, would be mentally degrading for this whole café, and Danny LIKED this café. That is, if the guy wasn't there.)

And okay, so Danny heard the question correctly.

"What are you? Some kind of crazy stalker? I'm NOT telling you my name." He growled and the guy smiled, and Danny was getting just a tiny bit irritated with how… fine everything on this guy seemed. Why the hell couldn't he miss ONE tooth? To mess up the model or whatever look he was obviously going for? Mental people shouldn't look like that. It was unfair to normal people like Danny, because then the women all went for mentals. Like Rachel.

The man lifted the other eyebrow also and chuckled quietly.

"No, but I kind of need it." He said slowly and when Danny opened his mouth he lifted a cup. "To write it down. And also your order would be nice."

"Dark, no sugar." Danny spat and when the guy stared at him instead of writing his order down, Danny grit his teeth. "Chin."

The guy rolled his eyes at him. "Really." He said and it wasn't even a question. Not even if Danny wanted to pretend it was.

"Yeah, what's wrong with the name? I like the name."

The guy didn't even bother to push the 'I-know-you're-bullshitting-me' face away. Rude.

"Because funnily, one Chin works here."

Danny shrugged. "It's a common name."

"Actually it's not." The guy said, but at least was writing the name down veeeeeery slowly. "As far as I know it's pretty rare. Chin." He added as he put the cup down and smiled at Danny again. "Are you taking your order with?"

And Danny really wanted to say yes, that he will take it with him and fuck you random guy that Danny will never ever see again, very hopefully, and wish you get choked on your muscles at some point… but that would kind of mess up his plans for today, so he frowned.

"No. I'm going to sit down and-" Danny blinked. "Weren't you supposed to ask me that BEFORE you took plastic cup for my coffee?" he asked and the guy grinned.

"Got your name, Chin."

Danny stared… huffed and turned around, stalking to the booth and sitting down. What an ASSHOLE.

Danny really hated the day. Doesn't matter if it started good or not, because now it went WHOLE to hell. The queue didn't get smaller, on the contrary it seemed to get bigger every time Danny looked up when he heard giggling or too loud not to be intentional whispering, and it was all getting on Danny's nerves as he was glaring at the screen, or more like over the screen, at the all groups of people that shouldn't do ANYTHING there, because they chose a cup to go, and seriously that guy wasn't even that hot, and they were disturbing Danny from writing and he was going to have his deadline soon so he should hurry and he made it a custom to work here and he didn't want to mess it up, because the devil decided to put the Muscle guy in his way, and it was UNFAIR and-

"Danno!"

And Danny would know the call anywhere, so he smiled and slipped out of the booth, before getting down on one knee, opening his arms and hugging the light of his life.

"Monkey."

And the world was so much better. There was quiet, no sounds anywhere, just Gracie's arms around his neck as she clung to him.

"Where is your mother?" He asked, when she pulled back, because he wanted to be decent in front of Gracie, to be a good example and all that, and it MIGHT take a little time if Rachel was around.

But Gracie shrugged.

"She was waiting by the door until we saw you. Then she told me to take care and went, because Step-Stan and she have the day planned." And eugh, okay. He didn't want to think what exactly did the phrase mean, and he was doing pretty good job and-

"Here you go, Danno."

And he already KNEW that voice. In the few hours – and three coffee's that were just… EUGH not good enough - he heard that voice enough times. Only now it wasn't saying 'Chin' it was saying 'Danno' and fuck.

And the guy had no right to call Danny on that, because come on, he could be some stalker or freak or something and of COURSE Danny wasn't going to tell him his real name, and so what if he wanted to have 'Peter Parker' written on the cup he could have, and there was no way that he was going to feel guilty only because the guy was looking at him like that, his eyebrows a bit raised as if he was looking at some kid who had their hand in the cookie jar or something like that and Danny was not a kid anymore, he was adult, he had stuff that proved that thank you very much.

"I didn't order anything."

He hissed, because the man was freak and when he didn't order anything it meant that he didn't WANT anything, obviously and what the hell.

"I know." The guy BEAMED at him and then he glanced down at Gracie and Danny had to fight the urge to push her behind his back, to stop the guy from looking at her, plotting whatever he could possibly plot in that freaky head of his. But he couldn't because Gracie was smiling and all that and she was being a nice and proper child and Danny didn't want to freak her out.

… even though he was trying to figure out how to leave and call cops at the same time without being way too obvious.

"It's chocolate on the house for the princess here." The guy said and Danny frowned even though his child beamed. And Gracie was way too nice for her own good and maybe he should have a talk with Rachel about this, about how to make their child meaner.

He glanced at the chocolate not sure if it was poisoned or not.

"Did you make it?" He asked and when the Muscle-Man nodded, Danny took the chocolate from his girl and groaned. Well, it surely tasted poisoned anyway.

"Gracie, just sit tight for a moment, okay?" He asked her and walked to the back, getting rid of the poisoned chocolate – ignoring the Muscle-Man's 'hey you're not allowed to go there's and prepared new one.

"Calm down." He huffed, glaring at the MM. "It's not like I didn't help Kono before." Sure it wasn't so often, but sometimes he did. Danny seemed to have some kind of superpower when it came to making coffee and chocolate, or perhaps it wasn't superpower per say… Maybe it was just the fact that Danny drank so much of it, and also made a lot of it himself, and they had an agreement. Whenever Kono had a LOT of people there, with her serving, he would come up and help and she would give him the coffee for free and some quiet time in the backroom where he could work on his book.

Danny blinked at the chocolate and picked it up, walking back out and offering it to Gracie. Who smiled and kicked her feet as he sat in the booth and sipped on it and-

"Hey." MM said and Danny groaned, before turning around.

"Yeah?" he asked and… uh-oh. What was the look in the guy's eyes supposed to mean? Danny did not like it. Not at all.

"You seemed like you knew where was what in there." He said and Danny cursed in his mind.

"Yeah, well, I do."

"… don't tell me. Are you the Wonder Boy Kono keeps talking about? The guy to save her day?"

Danny made a face.

"I have NO idea why you would make a reference to Robin here, because you know… he was kind of just a side kick to Batman and all that and-"

"Go back to the coffee machine."

Danny blinked and gaped. What the hell?

"Excuse me?"

He asked, because seriously. What the hell. How did the guy even DARE to do that? To talk to him like that? And who gave him the right to boss him around?!

"Go back to the coffee machine and help me sort this out. There is a ROW out here, man, and you seem to work magic with the machine."

And the guy was smiling, blindingly and Danny groaned, because hell, even the MUSCLES on the guy seemed to shine happily and … that was NOT supposed to happen. It didn't even happen in books, and Danny knew a lot about those.

"I'm not! I have my child here and – "

But the guy was already pushing at his back to get him into the backroom.

"I'll take care of her, don't worry." He gave Danny another blinding grin and smiled. "We're gonna get along great." He added with a blinding smile and Danny was so shocked that he didn't even manage to get out a normal answer, not to mention something SNAPPY and sarcastic before the doors closed… and only god knew why he turned to the coffee machine and started working on the drinks that shone on the screen.

… what an idiot.

Danny wasn't sure whether it was one or two hours that passed, before Kono walked in the room and blinked at Danny, before throwing a calculative look at the door, and smiling.

"Hi, Danny." She said and grinned.

"Thanks for the help." She said, as if he wasn't FORCED to work there, while his kid was kept as blackmail – and okay, maybe it wasn't exactly like that, but hell it was Danny's imagination and Danny could do with it whatever he wanted.

"I'm not sure you know about this, but there is a freak out there." He hissed, walking to the door and glancing out. "He's mental. Why do you let people like that work here? I mean… yeah, that's very nice and all that you don't want him to be homeless and I really understand the thought behind it, but come on, surely you could get someone… less mental than the Muscle-Man? Someone who is safe to have around other people? And my kid?"

Kono blinked and then shook her head.

"Come on. Steve is not that bad."

And huh…

"Steve?"

Danny asked and frowned and Kono grinned.

"yeah. You know… his name. Even though Muscle-Man has a ring about it. And you know… describes his packs."

And thank God that Kono said that in appreciative voice and not in love voice, because Danny would seriously freak out then.

"oookay. You know what? I'm going to leave. And never come back hopefully."

"Well, we have the coffee you like so much." Kono said innocently and Danny groaned.

"Well, you don't when Mu-Steve is out there." Because Danny had NO idea how such a horrible guy could work in a coffee shop when he couldn't make simple white chocolate.

He huffed and all but ran out of the door, grasping Gracie's hand and taking her with him, ignoring Gracie's wave to the – to Steve as well as Steve's:

"See you soon again, Danno!"

He was NOT returning to that place and to that scary muscled body… No way.

… well not until tomorrow at least.

Kono shook her head as she stepped out of the back room and lifted an eyebrow at Steve, who was still grinning at the closed door, already seated in one of the booths. Thankfully there were no queues anymore, Danny doing good work and perhaps if he ever didn't feel like writing anymore, Steve could just offer him a job in Five-O caffee.

"You know, boss," she said with teasing smile. "Next time perhaps just… ask Danny out. Don't need to go all 'spec ops' undercover coffee shop worker on him."

"Don't know what you're talking about, Kono."

"Yeah, try saying that to someone who didn't watch you pine and spy every day for what? Month now?"

"Three weeks."

Kono snickered.

"Right… if that makes you feel better." She shrugged and smiled sweetly at the next customer and Steve rolled his eyes.

Okay… maybe he should've just asked him out… but this was much more fun – and it didn't seem like Danny minded so much. Well… okay maybe he had no idea that he was going to become Steve's boyfriend yet – and there were no doubts about that, it WAS going to happen – but he was going to find out.

…soon.

~The End~