hatesparadise | Williams Family Home - Newark, NJ, Friday Night

Steve had been on the air mattress since last night and air mattresses had not gotten more comfortable since the last time he'd been on one.

He let out a soft huff, sat up--he could feel the floor through the mattress already--and then stood up and stood beside Danny's twin bed. "Scoot," he ordered.

Danny shot him a confused look because, well, it was a twin bed for one. And for two... he didn't actually have a two, so he scooted over as much as he could manage.

"Air mattress that bad?" he grumbled like that was clearly the reason for this invasion.

Steve'd slept sitting up on the floor of a grubby shop last week without complaint. He was hoping Danny wouldn't think of that. "Yup," he said instead, climbing in.

Danny wasn't thinking about much, really. It was a kind of nothing and everything point of the night.

Which was why he accepted Steve's scooting into his personal space with no complaint. Which probably said more than any nominal bitching that it would normally cause.

Steve was going to blame being six feet tall and in a twin bed--plus his natural octopus-like tendencies--for why he had curled himself around Danny now.

If Danny asked, which he wasn't sure he would today.

Danny would not ask. And would not question the cuddling because if there was ever a time that he needed this, it was now.

Though there was the niggling thought in the back of his head that he didn't deserve this sort of comfort for what he'd done. It didn't stop him from wrapping his arms around Steve's ridiculous chest and tucked his head in against his shoulder silently.

Steve reeled him in, hugging him back tightly. It had been a hellish few days, and Steve hadn't even been in the house for some of it because he'd been taking care of getting Grace to New Jersey.

In related news, he was kind of over talking to Rachel for a while.

No one liked dealing with the ex. Even if things were infinitely better with her than they had been before.

Danny let out a long sigh, shoulders shaking a little bit as he held onto Steve. This... he'd needed.

Steve rubbed small circles on Danny's back, remembering how much he'd wanted something like this in the days after Freddie and his dad's deaths.

Steve had deserved that sort of comfort then. And Danny would fight anyone who said otherwise.

"Thanks," Danny finally croaked, voice cracking with emotion. For being here. For the hug. For everything.

Steve kept up his little back rub. "I don't need thanks, Danny," he murmured. "Of course I'm here."

"Pretty sure you've gone above and beyond, babe" he replied, sounding as tired as he probably looked and clutching at the back of Steve's shirt like maybe he was worried Steve would pull away.

"You needed to be here for your folks," Steve said. "I don't ever mind spending time with Grace."

That made Danny smile against his shoulder, even if it was watery. Because it wasn't fair to care so much about his kid. He let out a little huff of laughter and would kindly thank Steve to ignore how his shoulder was getting damp.

Steve wouldn't dream of mentioning it. His hand ghosted along Danny's spine, up and down, trying to be soothing.

Danny was always going on about those kinds of emotions were better out than in, so Steve was going to trust him on that and just hope what he was doing was helping. The McGarrett family tradition of ignoring it until it stopped hurting had certainly done Steve no favors.

Danny curled in toward him a little more at that, trying to get as much contact as he could right now. Because the Williams family was definitely more open about their emotions, but Danny still thought he needed to be strong for his folks and sisters during this whole thing.

So this? This right here? This was what he'd needed to not lose his goddamn mind.

"I'm so sorry, Danno," Steve murmured, holding him close.

Which just made the tears come harder and faster. Which probably wasn't ideal for Steve, but there it was.

"I've got you," Steve murmured. "Let it all out."

"If I'd just stopped him--" Danny said like Matt hadn't been an adult who made all the choices that lead up to his end.

Steve hummed and returned to rubbing circles on Danny's back. "You tried then, too," he said softly.

"He'd be in jail and he'd hate me, but he'd be alive," Danny said, clutching at him like a lifeline. Which Steve was in the moment.

Oh, Danny.

Steve held on just as tightly with one arm, and moved the other up to toy with the soft hair at the nape of Danny's head.

"This isn't your fault," he said firmly.

Danny held on tightly, just breathing in that comfort even if he didn't think he deserved it.

Not after what had happened in Colombia.

"I should have done more."

"Like what?" Steve asked, happy to let Danny spin himself out for a while. Survivor's guilt was a very real thing. Hell, his entire drug-enduced Wo Fat hallucination had kept his father alive.

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