#actual married couple mcdanno

[sunnoah]

old married couple LITERALLY

[teruel-a-witch]

they really are *that* couple, the one whose flame never burns out, bubble never bursts, honeymoon period never ends, warmth shining through the years, only growing closer and fonder. As crazy about each other as when they met but somehow more in love.

[lemuria1134]

We got this in 1×01

And then we got actual married couple and their daughter

😉😉

[mafiatsunafish]

And I just realized some of my ship that one person basically baby trapped the other intentionally or because of the situation

(They also skipped dating life and jumped straight into married life and having kids and then maybe one or two divorced in between)

(They aren’t together is what they think and not people around them)

(Not you Hannibal)

Jonlock - baby Rosie

Dando - Grace and Charlie

Hannigram - Abigail

Buddie - Christopher

(Like if one of them was a female, then they would be together soooo fast)

[trickster-archangel]

I'm just saying. We're NOT TALKING ENOUGH about the way Steve decides to frame that famous statement in 8x06. You know which, right?

You think I don't want to live a long life? You think I don't want to maybe get married someday? Have my own kids? I love your kids, All right. Charlie, Gracie, I want to watch them grow up. I want to see Joanie grow up. 

I mean. He doesn't say, I want to go steady with Lynn, or even, I wish things had worked out with Cath, or maybe, I hope I'll find a nice young lady to marry one day.

No.

Maybe. Getting. Married.

One day.

Have my own kids.

With whom, pray tell?

Then, out of the blue, he says he loves Danny's kids and wants to see them grow, same with Joanie.

I mean. I might be seeing things, but it's quite suspicious of him to pair the words marriage and kids, never mention Lynn or any other woman, and then bring up Danny and his own kids whom Steve has been co-parenting from day 1. Those kids who are just as much his own as if they owned his same DNA. That Danny who's just confessed staying awake at night for fear of Steve's degrading health conditions....which isn't really a BFF's attitude, but rather a spouse's.

So tell me Steven...whom exactly had you been thinking about marrying?

[emphasisonthehomo]

HI!

I have loved your trans!Mcdanno, I am so curious about their future and their relationship!

Could you recommended Mcdanno fics? Because I have tried to read some.but they didn't satisfy me completely

THE WAY THIS WAS LANGUISHING IN MY DRAFTS AND I COMPLETELY FORGOT??? I AM SO SORRY.

Anyways, thank you so much!!!

I do tend (mostly) towards fic surrounding the first few season, just because I do have beef with some of the canon writing choices that were made. I think that can be reflected in my own writing as well tbh. Anyways, that's my way of saying a couple of these are old as hell. I'm not gonna rec too many, but these are a few that I think of fondly and often.

NOW. In no particular order. Actually in alphabetical order, because I've got OCD.

Deus Ex Girlfriend by ninjaboots and thingsandstuff

I don't remember how I stumbled on this one, but its legit how I got back into H50 after flirting with it briefly ages ago. A/B/O and genuinely so so fucking good. THE PINING.

Mr. Rosso Goes to Hawaii by Siria

Some good old fashioned undercover as married fic. You gotta love it.

'Ohana Kupa by shaefrotherdon

I love "Steve goes to Jersey" fics, and this has got to be one of my faves. Basically everything about Danny's family in this was written before the show addressed it, and it's very sweet.

Thirty-Six Hours and Fifteen Minutes by leupagus

Very hot, very funny. The two of them figuring out the beginnings of their relationship. Lots of banter.

Transformative by boxparade

A nice trans danno series! I cannot lie, I started having Thoughts™ about Danny being trans, and went looking for it. These fics really cemented that I was going to be writing some of my own, because I was like "There's not enough, I need more."

[deluweil]

So I’m just a spectator for your fandom. I don’t watch the show nor care too not really my taste. And a part of me honestly thinks you’re still being baited by the show. Be that as it may I still think you all have a very good chance of going canon and it’s based on one fact, Buck and Eddie have not had a true serious love interest since in bucks case when the show started and in Eddie’s case 5 years ago.

I’m going to cite three examples of popular “queerbait” ships that were never going to happen because of what I pointed out above.

Swan Queen - a fanon ship between Emma swan and the evil queen regina. Emma’s actual love interest Captain Hook was introduced in s2 and you can tell that was the route they were going on so they never truly made any remarks or showed in the show that SQ ever had a chance.

Merthur - now for this one I personally do absolutely believe they were queerbaited especially cause the endgame romance didn’t hold a candle to merthur. Be that as it may the character that ended married to one part of the ship was introduced in the first season and was a main character. The actual romance did not start till season two.

Mcdonno - the one that buddie is compared to. The best friends from Hawaii 5-0 that much like buddie were always there for each other and were each others deepest relationships. However one half of McDanno was involved in a will they won’t they romance with a character named Catherine since season 1. And this relationship was up and down for 10 seasons until they got together in the end. This was another thing of shippers getting their hopes knowing full well who someone was gonna be paired with but they got their hopes up and dashed. McDonno never stood a chance because of Catherine.

now notice the trend all these have that buddie does not? A serious love interest introduced in the first seasons of a show. Has not happened to buddie and right now we are in the middle of season 6. It is way too late to introduce a serious love interest for either one of these men and the audience just accept it. It would be poorly written, forced and unnecessary and there will be huge backlash. They had three seasons at least to introduce buck and Eddie with serious endgame love interests. Hell they both had relationships I believe in s4 and by s5 both relationships ended so again I ask…it’s way too late to do anything but buddie.

Look, I'm not particularly fond of the term queerbaiting, but your ask is interesting so I had to respond.

I personally never watched once upon a time, so I can't comment on that.

But I have watched Merlin, and it was pretty clear from the beginning that merthur will stay a fanon only thing. We all knew where this will end and there was no real chance for merthur to begin with.

Mcdanno, God, they fit so well. They were the very definition of old married couple. But this would never have turned canon either, because Steve right off the bat was introduced as "Uncle Steve." And the amount of "pal" and "Brother" were used so often that it was clear that this was going to stay fanon too. (So sad though)

Especially with the amount of times we saw both Steve and Danny have serious LIs throughout the show, not to mention the mythological significant others (Rachel and Catherine) that kept popping up. - I am still unbelievably upset with the fact that after all the times Cath screwed Steve over, the writers decided to bring her back for that last scene. So no "queerbaiting" there either.

Now, as for buddie, I agree with you that at this point, their only play is buddie endgame, for all the reasons you listed and more. Buck was never uncle Buck, brother was uttered one time only, and that was at the very beginning, and Buck is somehow "his Buck" (Eddie’s words when referring to Christopher’s presence at Buck’s loft). - Not to mention that unlike Steve and Danny, they very rarely talked to each other about their current gfs.

They indeed both had LIs but it was weak at most, no real connection, no smile inducing build up to a good relationship scenes, nothing. - I get my hetero "I believe in young love" thrill from other shows lol

I mean in both Station 19 and Chicago fire, even when I shipped a character with someone else, the writers made us like the current relationship, by endearing it to us.

It doesn't happen in 911. All women were a poor imitation of the real deal.

So is there a chance showrunners are screwing us over? Maybe.

Is it going to make me stop believing that buddie can and will happen? Absolutely not.

A little anecdote: I was watching 3x09, the famous kitchen scene, and my younger cousin, who never in his life watched that show, turned to me and asked: "Are they together?"

So, if a complete stranger can make that immediate deduction based on one scene, I'd say I like our odds.

[bieddiediaz]

“actual married couple” mcdanno part 3 

[itwoodbeprefect]

for the prompt request - undercover as a couple, mcdanno? (or, if that doesn’t work for you, mcdanno bodyswap maybe? idk idk, it’s straight crack but god i love bodyswap fics)

Fdfjdk I would have loved to have written undercover as a couple while bodyswapped for you, but I’m honestly not sure if I’ve read a single bodyswap fic in the last ten years, so I wouldn’t even know where to begin with that trope. Undercover as a couple it is! Sort of. Even that got a little weird, maybe.

>>> Read it on ao3 here

---

“What kind of world do we live in, anyway,” Danny asks, shaking open a paper from yesterday someone must have left behind, “where gay hitmen are a thing?”

Steve’s been perusing a National Geographic. He licks his index finger to turn a page. “What, would you rather have homophobic hitmen?”

“I’m just saying it would make a little more sense, you know. Instinctively.”

Steve lifts his magazine to tap the glossy cover. There’s a dramatic picture of a whale in the familiar yellow frame, with a month and a year printed all the way at the top. “It’s 2021, Danny. Two guys can get married and still do freelance work for the mob.”

“Until we arrest them,” Danny reminds him. “And Tani gets into their Google Calendar and it lets us know that they had a first meeting with another client in Hawaii planned this afternoon.” He gives up on the paper and folds it again. Way too much of a cliché for an illicit meeting, anyway. “Which all sounds like fiction. You know that all sounds like fiction, right?”

“Doesn’t matter,” Steve says, turning another page in his National Geographic, like he’s actually reading it, here, in a dentist’s waiting room, while they’re trying to impersonate the married hitmen they arrested this morning. Danny supposes there’s nothing that says a hitman can’t have a passion for nature. Probably good for climate change, knocking a few people off the Earth every now and then. “As long as whoever’s meeting us here buys it.”

Danny glances at his watch. “They’re about to be late.”

About to be, but it never gets that far - one of the three doors in the far wall swings open. Out steps a tall white man, greying, with a good haircut, and exactly the look one would expect a dentist to have. Little more handsome than average, maybe. “Rafferty and O’Brien?”

Danny doesn’t frown, because that might be suspicious, but he hopes this isn’t their guy. He pushes the glasses he had lying around from his stint as professor Jeffries back up his nose.

They get up perfectly in sync, like they planned it that way. Steve tosses the National Geographic back on the pile of magazines on the little side table. “I’m Rafferty,” he says, his hand finding the small of Danny’s back, “he’s O’Brien.”

“Of course. I’m Dr. Vos.” Danny already knew that, but he smiles dutifully and shakes the this-man-has-definitely-been-to-a-tanning-salon-even-though-he-lives-in-Hawaii hand he’s offered. “Come on in.”

They follow Dr. Vos into the dental treatment room. It’s a familiar sight: crisp white decor, cabinets along the walls, a large window looking out onto the little park alongside the building, and the large dark blue leather chair as a central piece.

Steve lets Danny go through the door first, which is suspicious until Danny remembers the parts they’re playing. He has to be someone who’s willing to take money to kill another human being, and also be in love with Steve. It’s a very layered role.

Apparently, Steve has decided that his interpretation of Rafferty includes having manners. Must be hard, playing a character that’s such a far stretch from Steve’s actual personality.

Dr. Vos sits down in the wheely chair he uses when he’s working on a patient and studies them for a moment. “I have to admit to some curiosity,” he says, and Danny thinks shit and has to keep his hand still to not go for the fake glasses again or the real gun strapped to his ankle. High class hitmen aren’t twitchy. Dr. Vos continues, “Neither of you took the other’s last name?”

Steve glances at Danny. “We became partners first, then we got married,” he says, and it sounds very natural. Danny blinks. “We already had a reputation at that point. Would’ve been bad for business.”

“Ah,” Dr. Vos says, giving a rueful little smile. His teeth are an excellent advertisement for his practice. “Very smart. Marriage can certainly be complicated in the most unexpected of ways, can it not? Especially on a fiscal level.” He sighs, turns his chair, gets a little frame from a corner of one of the cabinets, and turns back to them. “This is my wife,” he says, handing over the frame.

Steve takes it, so Danny gets close up against his side to have a look. He grabs Steve’s wrist to turn it a little for a better view and then doesn’t let go. Steve drops an arm along Danny’s shoulders to accommodate him. “Pretty,” Danny says, even though the woman in the picture looks like her husband is a plastic surgeon, rather than a dentist.

“Yes,” Dr. Vos agrees absently. He reaches behind to get something else from the cabinet: an unmarked white envelope that appears to contain a pretty thick stack of paper. “Unfortunately I’ve done the calculations, and it’s really not cost-effective to go through a divorce. The friend that referred me to you informed me of your going rates - I assume paying half now and half after the job is done is acceptable?”

Danny sneaks a glance at Steve. They’ll need a little more than that. “Which job?” he asks, taking one for the team.

Dr. Vos looks at him like he’s a little disgusted by how stupid that question is. “Killing my wife.”

It’s really, really nice when criminals are inept enough to state their criminal intentions out loud. Dr. Vos makes a grab for a very sharp instrument from his little dentist’s tray when they try to grab him, but Danny is quicker, foregoing his gun in this tiny indoors space to tackle their perp to the floor and pin him there, knee between the shoulder blades.

“Ugh,” Danny says, and really means it.

Steve has put down the little photo frame of the intended victim and is sweeping up some of the money that fell form the envelope when Dr. Vos dropped it in the scuffle, but he pauses and looks Danny over, sharply, at Danny’s verbal complaint. “You okay?” There’s a glint of gold on Steve’s finger, where his hand still hovers in the air just over the money on the floor. The ring doesn’t look half bad on his hand.

Danny shakes his head. “No. Wanna hear something that sucks? This is my dentist.”

Dr. Vos frowns, handsome face pressed against the floor. “That’s a lie. I’ve never seen-”

Danny takes off his glasses. There’s a gasp from the guy under him, even though Danny’s knee is still in his back and to see anything Vos needs to twist his neck at an angle that looks uncomfortable.

“What?” Steve asks, a little annoyed, while passing Danny a pair of handcuffs. God knows where he was hiding those. “Why didn’t you say anything?”

Danny yanks Dr. Vos’s hands close enough together to cuff him, and then pulls him into an upright sitting position on the floor. “I was hoping it would just be the girl working the front desk, or something.”

Steve shakes his head like he can’t believe it. “She looked like a student. How’s she going to pay for college and a pair of hitmen?”

“I don’t care. Now I have to find a new dentist.” Like life isn’t scarring enough without a guy who’s been in your mouth with a little drill turning out to be a murderer.

“Use mine.” Steve offers a hand - the one with the ring on it, Danny notes - and pulls Danny up from his crouch. “They’re popular, but I’m sure they’d be able to squeeze in their favorite patient’s spouse.”

“Why are you their favorite patient? Your teeth are perfect, what do you need-” Danny pauses in the middle of his sentence and decides on a different thing to focus in on. Steve has this unique ability to include at least two or three preposterous implications in everything he says. “Wait, you know we’re not actually married, right?”

“Yeah, I know,” Steve says, and Danny can breathe again, letting go of the horror stories unfolding in his head in which Kono set their cover up so well she hacked some government servers to file legally binding marriage certificates. Marriage is one bad idea - being married off is a way worse one.

“You’re not?” Dr. Vos asks, from the floor. He sounds genuinely surprised. 

They both ignore him. Steve continues, “But we’re pretty good at pretending that we are.”

Danny looks at the ring on his own finger. It, too, perhaps does not look completely terrible, which is a strange thought to be having post-Rachel.

He slips it off anyway, but then lets it drop into his shirt pocket, instead of Steve’s again outstretched hand. Steve doesn’t protest, even though he’ll probably have to explain to the Governor why the wedding bands they requisitioned were never returned. “I’ll keep this close for now,” Danny says, with a pat to his shirt. “Might need it in the future.”

Steve grins. “Good thinking, buddy.”

“Ugh,” Danny’s ex-dentist says, and this time he seems to really mean it. “What kind of world do we live in, anyway?”

Danny pats Steve on the ass on the way out, just to show him.

[sunnoah]

THEY ARE SO FUNNY ICBBBBBB JSJSJSDJ "you neanderthal animal" lmaooo

[teruel-a-witch]

1.03/1.18/5.06 Danny's Family Problems Are Steve's Problems

'I'd be alone on this island', from the first scene that touches on how deeply lonely Danny feels in Hawai'i, it's clear Steve vows that it will never be the case, that Danny won't have to solve his personal problems alone. Danny is bracing himself to brave the unruly waters on his own but Steve shows up for him every time.

When Danny is looking into an uncertain future, Steve is always looking at Danny in his quiet intensity, firm and certain that he will be there for him, they are each other's Sure Thing. 'I may not carry your burden, but I will carry you'. Danny once told Steve that there's no 'my own' in their relationship so that 'your problems become my problems', Steve shows him that it goes both ways.

[lemuria1134]

Just love the way Steve looking at Danny when Danny said "Love makes you do crazy things".

(Steve: YES! LET'S DO SOMETHING CRZ BABE!😏

[murphyhatesme]

Getting a new car leads to some life changing realisations .. After a talk with Chin Danny finally decides to take a chance on Steve.

--

Danny closes his eyes and presses his lips together before he answers Jack, from ballistics, “Yeah okay, I’ll get back to you with a budget okay?”

“Sure thing Danny, I’ve already given them an estimate on the parts so that should help.”

“Yes it should, thanks Jack. Hopefully we’ll talk soon.”

Just as he puts his phone down Steve walks into his office, “what was the verdict?”

“It’s totalled. Couldn’t be saved. I’m going to have to speak with the governor about a budget.”

“ Ah .”

Danny looks up at that, “What did you do?”

Steve takes a step back, pointing at himself “Me? Nothing?”

“ Steven. ”

Steve sighs, “Now, I need you to promise me you won’t get mad.”

“Tell me!”

“A ah, promise me first.”

“Steven I swear to god ..”

“Fine! I was going to tell you at dinner tonight. I may have talked to Sam already and he agreed with my choice.”

“Your choice? Explain how this is your choice when it’s my car?”

“Danny, I always drive our car.”

“Excuse you, there is nothing ‘ our’ about the car. It’s mine!”

Steve waves his protests away and walks around the desk coming to stop besides Danny. He leans over and pulls the keyboard towards himself. Danny refuses to move aside and Steve is signing, letting him know he’s annoyed by Danny’s unwillingness to move aside. He knows he’s being petty but he’ll be damned if he lets Steve take over his office as well as his life.

“Will you just ..” Steve snaps before shoving the keyboard back “Ugh, fine! Have it your way you big baby.” he steps back and Danny smirks only to lose it when his chair is jerked back and he’s bodily lifted out of his seat. 

Danny can feel his eyes widen as he’s sat down on Steve’s lap. “Excuse you?” Squirming he tries to stand up but Steve tuts at him and rolls the chair back up to the desk. Pulling the keyboard closer he logs out of Danny’s mail and into his own. “Steve, I’m sorry okay, can you let ..” He’s distracted by the beautiful, sleek black Camaro that appeared on screen. He bends forward and takes over the keyboard, he immediately opens google. He types in the dealer’s website, looking up the specs on the car Steve just showed him.  “Did you really? And Sam agreed? You really ordered this one?”

Steve chuckles behind him, “Yes Danny, really. So I take it, you're fine with me picking our car?”

Danny nods and sits back, Steve’s hands wrap around his waist to keep him from sliding down and he’s suddenly aware of just where he’s sitting. His breath hitches and his stomach muscles quiver when a warm thumb caresses his hip bone, oh fuck. He bolts up and steps away from his desk, clearing his throat, “Right, so uh when is it arriving?”

Steve’s eyes are glittering with amusement when he answers “We can pick it up tomorrow.”

“Okay, so first thing in the morning?”

“Uhu, we have an appointment at nine.”

“Great! Now go, I have things to do.”

Steve smirks, “sure, things ..”

Danny can feel his face flush and he narrows his eyes, “What’s with the tone? Huh? You don’t believe I have things to do?”

“Oh no, I do believe that, but I wonder if you are ever going to own up to those things .” 

Danny freezes, his first thought is that Steve knows! Followed by he knows and wants Danny to do something about it. He files it away and shoos Steve out of his office. More than a little freaked out he picks up his wallet and drags Chin out for an early lunch. Chin is a good soundboard and he’ll be honest.

*

 After ordering he folds his hands and takes a deep breath, “So Steve ..” he pauses, not sure how to begin. 

Chin sighs deeply, “So he finally told you huh?”

Danny sits up and he eyes Chin suspiciously, “What exactly do you think he told me?”

Chin rolls his eyes, “Danny, he feels the same way about you as you feel about him. He’s been waiting for you to act on it.”

“Well if he knew then he could have been the one to act on it.”

Chin raises his brow, “No, because you would have hidden behind a wall of insecurities and excuses.”

“And those still stand!”

“Then why are we here?”

“Because .. I rea .. No, I just ..” He sighs, “Maybe I freaked out a little bit.” Chin nods his head in sympathy and Danny bristles “Not because of the reasons you think! He’s my boss and I actually like him. If I act on it and it goes south then I ..”

Chin interrupts him, “You forget that he’s in the same boat, also are you really scared that things won’t work out? Because you and Steve are basically married already.”

“We are not!” 

Chin holds up his hand “Couples counselling Danny.” he ticks off a finger, “You share a car.” He puts another finger down, “You live together and last but not least,” he ticks off another finger, “You have a date night every other week.”

Danny shakes his head, “No, nope. It’s my car. I stay in the guest room because I have mold. And we watch a game!”

Chin however is not impressed, “You two cuddle, Danny.”

“Ugh! Fine. it’s only because it’s easy with him okay!”

“Danny, why is it easy?”

 “We’re best friends. I trust him.”

“I’m your best friend.”

“That’s different.”

“Brah ..” Chin lets out a long suffering sigh. 

“Let’s talk about something else.”

“Danny .. Stop running, he loves you just as you are. He isn’t Rachel.”

Closing his eyes, Danny breathes out. “I know, okay. I know.”

Chin smiles at him, “Good talk. Should we take back lunch for Steve and Kono?”

“Fine, what does Kono normally like?”

“She likes spicy tuna.” 

Danny orders a spicy tuna sandwich and a meat lover's one for Steve. When he gets back to the table Chin is smirking, “What?”

“You notice how you didn’t even think about what to get for Steve?”

“That logic is flawed because you knew what Kono liked.”

“Only because I take our lunch orders at least twice a week, what’s your excuse?”

Danny decides to ignore the knowing grin and focuses on the counter, waiting for their order to be called. 

*

 The next morning Danny is up early, he tries to enjoy his morning coffee but he’s too excited, or nervous. He’s getting a new car. He ignores the other reason for his nerves. Despite him waiting for it he still startles when the front door opens and Steve swans in. “Ready?”

“Good morning to you too.”

Steve rolls his eyes, “Come on, traffic is going to be a bitch.”

“Well, you should have thought about that before you made an appointment on Saturday at nine.” But he still follows Steve out to the truck. He manages to slap the back of his partner's head when he hears Steve mutter ‘ bitch bitch bitch ’.

Steve is in the office with the dealer, taking care of the paperwork and Danny is standing in front of his car. The powerful, sleek, black muscle car is exactly what he’d have chosen for himself. Which also means  that despite what he says Steve knows Danny through and through. He slowly walks around the car, fingers lightly tracing the shiny new paint. He slides into the driver's seat, lovingly caressing the steering wheel and smiling as he takes in the new car smell. 

Steve comes out of the office, and the manager waves over one of the sales guys. Steve smiles when their eyes meet and Danny smiles back as he holds up his thumb. Steve gestures for him to get out before turning and shaking the manager’s hand. Danny gets out and Steve steps in close as the salesman, Gary, who followed Steve comes over to shake his hand. “You made the right decision with this car.”

“Yes, I believe we did. Do I have to sign anything?”

“No Sir, your husband took care of everything.” Danny opens his mouth to correct the assumption but Gary is talking again, “So here are the keys.” He hands the keys to Steve, “Congratulations on your buy.” 

Danny plucks the keys out of Steve’s hand, “Thanks Gary.” He leaves Steve standing there as he slides back into the driver's seat. When Steve pulls the seatbelt over his chest Danny starts the car, “What about your truck?”

“Nahele is picking it up with Jerry later, driving lessons.”

Danny nods and turns smoothly onto the motorway, “I love my new car.”

“ Our car Danny.”

“Just because Gary back there thinks we are married doesn’t make it true.”

“So I feel like this car is a Goliath?” Steve says and Danny chokes.

“Excuse me?”

“No? Atlas then?”

“We are not naming this car Atlas.” Danny snaps

Steve grins. “It has a lot of horsepower, so maybe black beauty, BB for short?” 

“No, this car has no name. It doesn’t need one. If we name it then we become attached and in our line of work that is not a good thing Steven.”

“So Zeus is out?”

“Oh my god. Stop it. Please for the sake of my sanity.” 

Steve suddenly seems to notice they are driving out of town instead of home. “Huh? Where are we going?”

Danny grins but doesn’t say anything. He takes a right turn and smiles when he hears the quiet ah as Steve figures out where they are going. 

When he parks the car, they get out and walk to the edge of the lookout. Danny takes Steve’s hand and presses the keys into his palm. “What are we doing here Danny?”

“I figured something out yesterday, and as you know this is where I go to start life changing decisions.”

“Life changing?” Steve’s tone is both hopeful and disbelieving and Danny suddenly knows he won’t regret what he’s about to confess. Instead of visions of failure he sees himself old and wrinkled on the beach behind their house, bickering about stupid things. For once he can see a happy future because he loves this man and he’s pretty sure Steve loves him in return.

He takes a deep breath, finally ready to say it and mean it. “Okay, I’m going to come out and just say it then. I love you.”

Steve tilts his head, “I love you too?”

“No, Steve, I’m in love with you.”

“Oh. Yes, I knew that.” Steve tells him before pulling him in and kissing him soundly on the lips. 

Danny splutters, and pushes Steve away, “Don’t you have anything to say to that?”

“I’ve been saying it for ages Danny, I’m glad you finally caught up.” Steve states matter of factly and slowly leans back in, Danny shudders as their lips connect once again. Danny deepens it almost immediately and Steve groans as their tongues brush together for the first time. He loses himself in the kisses as the sun steadily rises and the traffic rushes past behind them. 

When they break apart, both breathless Danny sweeps his thumb over Steve’s kiss swollen bottom lip, “How about we go home and find some things to do?”

Steve grins, “Yes please.” He gives Danny a quick, hard kiss before dragging him to the car. 

Danny is laughing as he slides into the passenger's seat, “So eager.”

“Well if I had known that picking out a new car for us would have this result ..”

“A new car for me .” Danny feels the need to point out. 

Steve scoffs, “We both know I’ll be the one to drive it five days out of the week.”

“I ..” and just like that it doesn’t matter, so he sighs and gives in. “Fair enough.”

Steve’s grin lights up his face and Danny knows he’ll spend the rest of life trying to keep that smile in place. 

                                                  Fin

[mcdannomoment]

finale feelings

Okay, I have a ton of feelings about the finale, and now that I’ve had some time to think them through, I’ll write them. Please be kind, I’ve seen the series once only, I’m really tired, and I’m sure this was all said before.

Okay firstly let’s just put aside Catherine as a character in and of herself… that whole thing made no sense. Catherine never showed an inkling of having the sort of skills to decode anything, much less being one of only two people in the world who could decode a thing. That was silly and just an excuse to get her back on Steve’s radar. Not to mention that Catherine just never showed much interest in Steve. I’ll come back to Catherine later as she stands as an external prop for Steve’s character, but I think we can just leave it here that Catherine’s character, for herself, made 0 sense.

Let’s focus on Steve.

Steve broke my heart this episode. The worst part is that I don’t think what he did was actually OOC. Steve has a pretty long and uncomfortable history of putting his own needs over Danny’s, starting from when he first met him and forced him to be his partner. I get where Steve was coming from, but this whole army commander take what I need for the mission attitude is the whole problem. Consulting Danny even as a courtesy never entered Steve’s mind.

(more below cut)

Steve just does this with Danny continually throughout the series, like leaving him with a letter to run off chasing Shelburne. Again, he doesn’t bother even consulting Danny as a courtesy before he leaves. He has an objective, Danny doesn’t fit that objective except to keep his seat warm in 5-0. He honestly just never gives Danny even basic autonomy, from things like choosing his lunch for him right through to putting him in situations he’s not comfortable with. Sometimes Steve pushing Danny is definitely a good thing since Danny does get paralyzed by fear (the incident where Steve pushed Danny into jumping across the building gap springs to mind; if they hadn’t have done that they would have died) but sometimes it’s just more of Steve has an objective to achieve, and Danny is a means to achieve that objective (the skydiving incident).

I don’t mean to slam Steve’s character, and I’ve known quite a lot of people like this! They’re good people, they just need a lot more emotional development. Between the two of them I think Danny’s a lot more emotionally mature and empathetic, and they’re quite good for each other in many ways. But Steve is very selfish, in the sense that his focus is always on himself. What he wants, what his objective is, how the things around him make him feel. With where Steve’s head is at, I don’t think he fully and completely understands Danny as an individual human being with his own needs. Hell, he even bullies Danny into including him in his retirement plan and abandoning said retirement plan.

With Steve’s focus always within his own head, and the people around him established as tools he can use to achieve his own ends, I can really start to understand Steve’s severe control issues in season 10 in particular. His mother dying was what sealed his fate, really. I think it was really the first time a person close to Steve fully used their own initiative and choice to go against what Steve said, and Steve trying to force his mother to do what he wanted and become a controllable force in his self-directed life ended up getting her killed. And that screwed him up badly. I don’t think he fully processed his role in his mother’s death properly. He ends up dumping Danny, who is really the love of his life, saying he needs time for himself, that he’d spent a decade saving everyone else. In reality I think Steve is just spiralling from loss of control. He tries to regain some control by cutting out the more unpredictable variables: the other people in his life.

Then Danny gets kidnapped and tortured. This is obviously devastating for Steve, because Danny really is the love of his life. And Steve kind of loses it, but he loses it in a very interesting way. Steve gives up all control to Daiyu Mei. He doesn’t even entertain not letting her control the situation. Danny’s been in danger before, but Steve has never given up control so completely like this before.

Steve’s really broken by this. And it’s the hardest he’s ever taken Danny getting hurt. Because I think he’s less broken by Danny getting hurt as much as it is leftover trauma from his mother’s death and spiralling loss of control.

He winds up leaving Danny when Danny can hardly move and must have only just been released from the hospital, and isn’t that a dick move. He claims he’s going to “find himself” but I think he’s just running away from people in order to regain a sense of control. He can’t control other people. He couldn’t control Danny being taken or his mother making the choices she did in Mexico. If he’s alone, he can gain full control over the situation.

And Danny? Well, Steve sort of has him trapped. Danny can’t leave - he has a son, it’s implied Steve gave him his dog to look after and possibly his house, and while he’s injured Danny can’t go and get himself into dangerous situations that Steve feels the need to save him from. Danny sort of becomes an ornament in Steve’s home ready to welcome him when he comes back. Steve’s been on record several times being pretty aggressive about Danny staying in Hawaii, but he’s never shown remorse for leaving himself, and he doesn’t here.

I hate to characterise Danny as Steve’s “wife” but that’s the dynamic I get from them. You see it so often in married couples, particularly married couples where the husband has to travel for work, whether that’s military, mining, corporate, trucking, what have you. The husband has his goal, his life, and he sees his wife as someone to support that and make it happen. This is exactly what happened in my own family, as I had a travelling father. His need to fulfil himself drove him away again and again, and my mother, trapped where she was by children and the obligations her husband abandoned her to deal with, was left to clean up his mess. It’s what happens when the husband is selfish in the way Steve is - the emotionally more mature wife has to clean up the parts of his life he won’t deal with. In Steve’s case Danny is left with a bullet hole, a dog, a house full of ghosts, and a lot of mourning friends. Not to mention the kids Steve abandons. And there must be more too. Steve leaves a week after Danny is shot. That really doesn’t leave much time for Steve to get his affairs in order. I think he left Danny to clean up his emotional mess.

Minus the bullet hole, I’ve seen my mother go through very similar things. And it can destroy your sense of self. You end up living for the ghost of your husband as he pursues what he perceives as his destiny. It’s a really shitty thing but it’s so common. Every family I know with a travelling husband ended up like this.

Back to Catherine. As established Catherine as her own character makes no sense at all. But Catherine’s role in the finale as an extension of Steve’s character does make some sense. Steve is running away from his stable family, the love of his life, his role as a parent to Nahele, Grace, and Charlie - he’s running from all the progress he has made, because he is afraid of losing control the way he did when he lost his mother, and when Danny was taken from him. Catherine is safe. She’s Steve’s easy emotional release and fuck buddy. She’s familiar. And she’s basically Steve’s mother. A flaky CIA agent who always picks the job over Steve is far more familiar and therefore comforting to him than a stable family life with Danny. In his panic Steve runs from all the progress he has made back to Catherine.

It actually reminds me a lot of a wonderful fic I read, the love that you gave by Teeelsie. I never thought I’d read a cheating fic, let alone a McDanno cheating fic, because McDanno is my all time OTP, but this fic was highly recommended and wow, did it nail it. The fic is more about Steve’s internalised homophobia, but I think the way it relates to the show is in how Steve panics and goes back to the familiar. Back to Catherine. It’s a common thing just in life. It’s also extremely common for these travelling husbands that I think characterise Steve to be cheating on their wives, too. Now I’m just pretending Catherine wasn’t there, because it makes no sense for her to be there (jfc, she wasn’t a codebreaker and how did she know he would be on the plane anyway, and was she just sitting in transit in Honolulu waiting for Steve to get on the plane like a stalker) but I think there’s an element of “emotional cheating” to what Steve’s going through when he runs away from the emotional risk that is staying with Danny at the end.

So basically I don’t think Steve running off was OOC. I think it was very in character. What was so frustrating was that the story clearly isn’t over. Running away will not solve Steve’s many issues, and he really does need Danny - and Danny needs him. Steve desperately needs to learn to stop being so selfish and see Danny and the others as full and complete human beings with their own complex needs. It’s tough because Steve pushing Danny was very good for Danny in many respects, so I want to see them learn to thread that line where Danny doesn’t get treated like an emotional doormat, but he also isn’t allowed to just retreat to the safety of familiarity all the time either - he needs a little McGarrett magic in his life!

But after what Danny told Steve when they were stuck in the building collapse, it’s going to be hard for them after this. Danny doesn’t have to look at Steve and imagine him leaving him any longer. Danny now has the memory of it.

tl;dr Steve is a whacked out, certifiable control freak.

[piratefalls]

A McDanno rec list for a new friend. (These are also authors I enjoy, so consider this a blanket rec list.)

The Bareknuckle Poet by pleasebekidding

After a serious accident left Steve temporarily wheelchair-bound, working towards his recovery, he enrolled at Rutgers for a year. He met Danny Williams in his criminology course, wearing pride pins and chipped black nail polish, so sure of himself that Steve found it breathtaking. What happened next redefined Steve's sense of self, his ambitions, and many of his priorities.

Tax Benefits by renecdote

“Everyone already assumes we’re married so maybe we should just...” Danny gestures broadly with his beer. He’s maybe a little bit… Not drunk, but definitely tipsy.

“For the tax benefits.”

Danny gives him an aggravated look. “Yes, Steven, for the tax benefits.”

Danny (jokingly) suggests they should get married. Steve takes him seriously.

ua kaha aku la ka nalu o kuu aina (the surf has pressed upon my land) by icoulddothisallday, TetrodotoxinB

Steve knows, he learned, how a man behaves. He can play his part. Danny, who is a good man and great father, looks nothing like what Steve was taught. Reconciling the two means giving up everything he's clung too for the last two decades, and there's nothing about it that's easy.

*potentially triggery AF (deals with effects of conversion therapy) but beautifully rendered

the art of leaving and saying goodbye by Verasteine

2007 is the year Danny learns that choice can be the worst kind of heartbreak. AU.

*warning for infidelity (not mcdanno)

in jest by apathyinreverie

“No, babe,” Danny shakes his head with a grin. “If the apocalypse were to go down while I’m elsewhere for some godforsaken reason, then you stay put and I’m coming to wherever you are.” His grin widens. “And I expect you to have cleared any aliens or zombies or whatever else might be messing with us off the island and to have set up a nice, comfortable military dictatorship for us to rule over by the time I get back.”

It’s a joke.

Of course it’s a joke.

Until it isn’t.

(A the-day-after-tomorrow-style apocalypse AU, where the world decides to end right when Danny is visiting one of the other islands with Grace. Because, of course, it does.)

not just friendship (romance too) by earthquakedream

Steve's gone and gotten himself a boyfriend. Danny's not sure what worse: the fact that he's stupidly jealous or that he actually likes the guy.

All I Ever Wanted (It Comes with a Price) by leviarty

Steve gets shot. Again. Danny is not okay.

* warning: a young grace shoots someone to protect both herself and a gravely injured steve

After All Our Troubles, We Have This by Banshi13

"I'm ending this," McGarrett muttered after a few moments of silence. "I'm not coming back until Wo Fat is in the ground. I'll dig his own grave and bury him myself if I have to, but my father is dead, my mother is running all over the world in hiding, my sister and I were uprooted from our lives, and now he's got Danny locked somewhere in a basement in the middle of Japan." He looked both Chin and Kono in the eye, deadly resolve in his eyes. "This ends. Now. This is the absolute last time that man interferes with my life and my family."

The Other Guy by haldoor

Danny tells Steve what he thinks is a funny story from when he attended Grace's school play. Steve doesn't think it's so funny; in fact, it makes him jealous.

Strapped by stellarmeadow

Steve's determined Danny's going to be prepared next time.

Warm to the Touch by veronicaluv

Danny didn't think twice about going to North Korea to find Steve. He just didn't know everything would go to hell when they got back.

Me and my heart (We got issues) by SquaresAreNotCircles

“I’m in love with you, Steve,” Danny says. He does it softly, quietly, laying the words into the darkness of Steve’s backyard like they’re something breakable, something to be tiptoed around. “I thought you should know.”

Steve’s heart jumps. It rams against his ribcage so hard it’s going to leave bruises. So hard he startles awake, and he almost yells before he realizes he’s outside because he fell asleep in one of the garden chairs in his backyard again.

how to be gay for your best friend in ten easy steps by commatme

See, the thing is that Danny doesn’t really do gay sex, what with being straight and all, but when Steve says I love you he sounds so earnest he makes Danny want to consider it. Which is crazy, right? He’s pretty sure that’s crazy, or at least a little unhinged.

It’s Not So Easy Caving In by paradis

The one where Danny used to be a heroin addict.

blame it on the ocean view by carryokee

Danny gives in, freaks out, and comes to his senses.

So Have I Loved You by Brumeier

In which Grace has a surprise for Steve's birthday and there's not a dry eye in the house.

take it back to a couple years yesterday by itsrosencrantz

Danny really, really doesn't want to go to his twenty year high school reunion.

Steve decides they're going anyway, and Danny takes it about as well as you'd expect.

View From The Shipwreck by flowerfan

Danny Williams isn’t in a great place – he’s a reluctant transplant to Oahu and an outsider at HPD. Former Navy SEAL Steve McGarrett isn’t doing much better, having suffered a career ending injury. When Danny’s young daughter Grace wanders into Steve’s bar after getting lost on a school field trip, Danny is drawn to Steve, somewhat against his better judgement – he’s got enough on his plate. He’s not exactly sure what Steve sees in him. As they spend more time together, Danny learns how Steve’s injury has changed his life in many ways, but not the most important ones. As one thing leads to another, Danny realizes that things might be looking up after all.

True North by lavvyan

“Tell you what, my dad’s throwing his annual Christmas Ball on Saturday. It’s not a trip to Aspen or anything, but it is nice. Fancy food and everything. You guys should come!”

On the trail of a suspected war criminal, Steve and Danny have to go undercover at a fancy ball. The sacrifices they make for the job.

Oh, and Steve's pining like the taiga. Nothing new there.

outside the lines by withoutwords

“I’m Detective Williams.” Danny says, not trying too hard to keep it smug free. “This is my partner, Detective Mackenzie.”

Ken Doll keeps his arms up, his eyes flickering between them all as if he's only seeing police for the first time. “Good cover,” he tells Danny, and it sets Danny’s teeth on edge.

“This is the part where you say sorry for assaulting a police detective, for compromising an investigation, and for acting like a complete asshole while doing it,” Danny growls, about to change his mind and cuff the guy himself.

“Sorry, Officer.”

The bastard is still grinning.

Boys Like Me, We Try Too Hard by romanticallyinept

Steve's always wound so fucking tight.

And Danny's worried about him. Legitimately worried about him. Because maybe Steve always lays into the perps a little hard, and maybe he follows his own rules and his own morals and doesn't stop to sleep unless his body's actually shutting down around him, but usually, Steve's okay at the end of the day. Usually, Steve's not leaning against the wall of the alley they're in, eyes closed and shaking, with the perp he'd cuffed a minute earlier lying on the ground and crying about his broken nose.

Steve keeps a secret, and Danny does his best to patch him back up when it comes to light.

Transformative by boxparade

“You know, I’d heard you’d changed a lot after high school, but I’ve gotta admit, this is a little weird.”

* trans (FTM) Danny

All the Way by VictoriaAGrey

Danny has lost count of how many times he and Steve have used the sexual tension between them for undercover work, only for it to be bottled away after the op is over. With Saint Michael as his witness, that ends tonight.

Nocturne in C# Minor (featuring Stevie Ray Vaughn) by minor_demimonde

So, to recap, Danny has beautiful eyes, great shoulders, a pleasantly-shaped butt, a delectable mouth, expressive hands, and he smells good.

You know, Steve has gone to bed with women who didn’t have that much going for them.

seen it in the flight of birds by Siria

AU from the beginning of Season 2. The Five-0 task force has been reinstated, but the new governor's determined to shake things up. Facing changes and unexpected betrayals, the team has to work together to face new challenges.

It Ain’t Me Babe (Nah), It Ain’t Me You’re Looking For (Babe) by tourdefierce

A story in which Danny makes lists and can't find his heterosexuality underneath all his homogay, Steve has a lot of faces, Kono is perfect in every way and Chin continues to keep Hawaii safe from the Five-O's general disfunction—Or, a story about Kono being awesome and how she likes her men with hearts in their eyes for each other.

Ratios, Decimals, and Percentages by fuchs

In which Steve takes an internet quiz and slowly loses his mind. Danny's okay with it.

Let’s Dance Like We Used To by AndreaLyn

There isn't a world in which Danny wouldn't go after Grace. So when Rachel moves the family to California, Danny goes with. Steve gets left to process life without Danny.

Gunfire, Rainfall, and Beach Erosion by thegrrrl2002

Steve and Danny are kidnapped. After which there is too much swimming and too much rain and it's all very romantic. If you are Steve, that is.

Moving In (To Every Single Aspect of Danny’s Life, Including the Boring Bits like Dry-Cleaning by westgirl

It felt wrong for Steve to sound unsure of his place in Danny’s life. His place in Danny’s life was at Danny’s side, driving him slowly insane. Steve should feel secure about that.

Always Known What I Wanted To Be by mickeysixx

Grace Williams has always wanted to be a cop.

The Taper Phase by popfly

It’s like being run over by an armored car, like the impact of gunshot to tac vest. The pride Danny feels for his daughter and something else, something about Steve’s tank top sticking to his stomach, the way his shorts stretch across his thighs. The goofy grin that lights up Steve’s face when he sees Danny and Charlie, waving one hand while he nudges Grace with the other.

Pitching Woo by SBG

In which Danny pitches (and then accidentally catches) woo.

clue: four letters, ‘is a many splendored thing’ by armillarysphere

“Crosswords? What are you, sixty?”

“They stimulate brain activity, Danno. You ought to try it sometime.”

Steve doesn’t even look up from his newspaper, half-chewed pen resting at the corner of his mouth in an entirely too distracting way.

That’s Not Just Friendship, That’s Romance by thismuchmore

Danny and Steve start out accidentally dating each other, and it turns into something more.

it’s not what you’re sure of (it’s what you don’t know) by somehowunbroken

Art thief Steve McGarrett and his team come up against FBI Special Agent Danny Williams, and things spin wildly out of control from there.

Same Deep Water by JiM, kalena

This isn't the first lifetime Danny's been in Hawaii. When the stress ratchets up, the dreams get more and more real. Turns out Danny has some unfinished business . . . with Steve.

Warning: Ambien use may lower inhibitions in a wakeful state.

Curiosity Didn’t Kill This Cat by unadrift

"I'm confused," Rachel says. "Are you two dating or not?"

Danny sighs. "You remember that thing with the cat in the box? The one that's both dead and alive?"

"Schroedinger's cat?"  

"It's kind of like that."

"Okay," Rachel says. She clearly has no idea what he's talking about.

2727 Piikoi Street by imaginary_iby

The ways in which Danny makes himself at home by Steve's side, and the family he gains as the years go by. (Featuring Steve in Timberland boots and little else, and happy goofs who like to make out against the front door).

All The Earth Awaits Thee by Portrait_of_a_Fool

Steve knows all about war and willpower, but this is still the hardest battle he’s ever had to fight.

* warning: life threatening illness, no MCD

The Vertical Challenge by AlamoGirl80

Five times Danny thinks about his height, and then realizes that being "not-tall" doesn't really suck at all.

Some Things to Think About When You Decide to Be an Asshole by sutlers

Steve gets high and tries to fuck Danny; things devolve from there.

Inked by thehoyden

Of course Steve is enjoying himself. They're bait for a serial killer who has some sort of serious hangup about tattooing loved ones' names on their skin -- of course Steve thinks this is practically like a vacation, but better, because the chances of collateral damage are higher.

This Thing Of Ours (It Needs a Better Name) by leupagus

Cosa Nostra: (kō'sə nō'strə) etym: Italian n. The branch of the Mafia operating in the United States. Literally, "our thing" or "this thing of ours."

Ho’oponopono by ember_firedrake

Groundhog Day AU. Danny finds himself trapped in the same day over and over again.

Swim for Brighter Days by zarah5

Danny kisses Steve late on a Tuesday, early on a Wednesday. Steve punches him. (Set vaguely post-finale, so spoilers for that.)

All My Guards Away by sheafrotherdon

Tag to episode 1x18, with all the heartache that implies. Now with bonus fixes. With thanks to dogeared for all her suggestions and edits.

Let’s Take it from the Top by pterawaters

Steve goes along with the bachelor-party-in-Vegas, because he chose Danny to be his best man, and that's what Danny wants to do. Unfortunately, the things that happen in Vegas don't necessarily stay there.

How to Keep Your Mouth Shut by primetime

Danny’s sometimes gay. Gay, sometimes. Does dudes. He doesn’t know how to say it right. He doesn’t know how to say it at all.

Don’t Turn Me Home Again by gyzym

After a rough day of island living, Danny wakes up in New Jersey and learns the hard way to be careful what he wishes for.

End-Around by t_fic

Steve hesitates with his hand on the doorknob, looking back over his shoulder at Danny and nodding once before disappearing inside, and yeah, Danny is going to be so fucking lucky to get through this night without a coronary event.

Lonely People Do Stupid Things by waketosleep

Danny decides to show Steve the true meaning of Christmas, and does it by dragging him to New Jersey.

Down Beneath the Waves by samjohnsson

A picture may be worth a thousand words, but sometimes it takes another thousand to explain it.

Love’s a Battlefield (and the Navy Did Not Train Steve for This Shit) by cyerus

The Kalakaua-Kelly clan are determined to matchmake Steve. Out of desperation, Steve makes up a boyfriend named Danny.

It doesn't quite go according to plan.

put your mind at ease by eleanor_lavish

Somewhere in the last year, while Steve was busy killing bad guys, Don’t Ask Don’t Tell has been erased from the books and guys like Jeff can marry whoever they damn well please.

You’ve Got Hawaii (and all I’ve got is you) by queenklu

In which Danny has issues, presents, and Steve fleas, not necessarily in that order.

Jaws by JoeLawson

Danny has a secret.

[agentmarymargaretskitz]

I didn't get invested in McDanno right away. It took me a few seasons to start really shipping them, because I liked Catherine (Steve's ex-girlfriend and almost fiancée) up until she left him and lied to him. Then I realized what had been staring me in the face the whole time, and I ended up very invested very quickly.

So, just for fun, have a few Steve/Danny queerbait highlights:

They constantly say "I love you" to each other.

They frequently refer to their partnership as a marriage.

The younger team members jokingly call them Mom and Dad.

Danny and Gracie interrupted Steve's movie night date with his girlfriend, and they sat in between the couple, and Steve put his arm around Danny.

Danny asked his girlfriend to leave him alone with Steve for a few minutes just so he could tell Steve that he loves him.

They went on a double date with their girlfriends where they ended up sitting together with their arms around each other.

When both of them were hallucinating/imagining the future at different times, they were always together in the end.

On an undercover mission someone assumed they were a married couple, and Danny was upset with Steve when he clarified that they weren't actually a couple.

They literally crossed the world to save each other and bring each other home multiple times.

Their relationship was paralleled in the actual dialog of the show to Junior/Tani, which was set up as a slow burn right away with actual payoff after a few seasons.

That entire couples retreat episode.

And honestly I could keep going.

And yet, in the end Steve just left Danny and the rest of his found family. Like, he got on a plane and left,, making up with Catherine in the process.

And I'm still pissed about it.

-Quarantine Anon

..........are you kidding me?! Are you f*cking kidding me???? I’d be losing my mind every week!

All that and for nothing at the end?! 

(I now have a lot of ideas for Buddie though so thank youuuu)