It's still stilted and wrong, but at least Steve is talking, picking up what Danny's putting down. He might not be taking hold of the olive branch, exactly -- or it might just be that he's grabbing onto it only in order to whip it back at Danny's face -- but he's talking. Sort of.
It might be a little too sharp, a little too annoyed, a little too real, but he's still talking. Even if he's not looking at Danny. Even if his hands are tightening even further on the wheel in a way that makes Danny wonder if talking at all was a bad idea, if he should just be leaving Steve alone to cool off.
He will. If that's what Steve wants, he will, he'll go home and he'll let Steve have his time and they can even figure out some way to keep away from each other at work, for a while, if it's necessary -- Steve's partnered with Lou a couple of times and it's not like there isn't a world of paperwork for Danny to concentrate on with a break from the field -- but not yet. He can't let it go like that, how Steve will just pretend it never happened, but everything will have changed. He has to at least let Steve know that it's okay if he's mad, that Danny gets it, that he fucked up, that he knows it, that Steve has every right to want to be as far away from him as possible, but that Danny never meant for this to happen, to wreck it all.
To abuse Steve's trust. After everything they've been through: Doris, and Wo Fat, and finding Steve in that wet room, and how Danny didn't breathe until Steve did.
How Steve looked at him without recognition, and the way his face crumpled when Danny told him his father was dead, because he won't lie to Steve. Doesn't. Will never.
Only about this. And he knows, he knows it was, is, wrong. Knows the lie isn't even for Steve's benefit.
It's for his. Because it turns out, he's a selfish bastard, sometimes.
Just like now, when he's still trying to talk to Steve, even though Steve clearly doesn't want to talk to him. "Please, I was awake well before you all got there, and even if I wasn't, I would have woken up with that gunfight you all decided to wage directly over my head. Again, another plus to tonight: no shooting. It's a definite perk I could really get behind."
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It's still stilted and wrong, but at least Steve is talking, picking up what Danny's putting down. He might not be taking hold of the olive branch, exactly -- or it might just be that he's grabbing onto it only in order to whip it back at Danny's face -- but he's talking. Sort of.
It might be a little too sharp, a little too annoyed, a little too real, but he's still talking. Even if he's not looking at Danny. Even if his hands are tightening even further on the wheel in a way that makes Danny wonder if talking at all was a bad idea, if he should just be leaving Steve alone to cool off.
He will. If that's what Steve wants, he will, he'll go home and he'll let Steve have his time and they can even figure out some way to keep away from each other at work, for a while, if it's necessary -- Steve's partnered with Lou a couple of times and it's not like there isn't a world of paperwork for Danny to concentrate on with a break from the field -- but not yet. He can't let it go like that, how Steve will just pretend it never happened, but everything will have changed. He has to at least let Steve know that it's okay if he's mad, that Danny gets it, that he fucked up, that he knows it, that Steve has every right to want to be as far away from him as possible, but that Danny never meant for this to happen, to wreck it all.
To abuse Steve's trust. After everything they've been through: Doris, and Wo Fat, and finding Steve in that wet room, and how Danny didn't breathe until Steve did.
How Steve looked at him without recognition, and the way his face crumpled when Danny told him his father was dead, because he won't lie to Steve. Doesn't. Will never.
Only about this. And he knows, he knows it was, is, wrong. Knows the lie isn't even for Steve's benefit.
It's for his. Because it turns out, he's a selfish bastard, sometimes.
Just like now, when he's still trying to talk to Steve, even though Steve clearly doesn't want to talk to him. "Please, I was awake well before you all got there, and even if I wasn't, I would have woken up with that gunfight you all decided to wage directly over my head. Again, another plus to tonight: no shooting. It's a definite perk I could really get behind."