dann_0 | PSL: Sentinel AU

"No, she, uh... she gets that." Because christ, he'd been in before DADT, and you learned early and hard to be careful and quiet. PMCs and the mercenary world hadn't been any better. "But, well, she an' Hardison, we've been workin' together over five years now. They're family. It's just... it's not somethin' I advertise, an' there hasn't been any reason for it t'come up."

He shudders a little as Danny presses close, arms warm around him and head resting against him. If it was almost anyone else--probably even Parker or Hadison--he'd have broken out of the hold almost immediately. Having someone inside his guard, pressed right up against his spine, is the kind of thing that sets his instincts on edge. But it's Danny, and like everything else he's done, Eliot can't seem to do anything but welcome the touch.

Danny's words, though, set tension humming under his skin that he can't even start to conceal, not with Danny pressed so close to him. "That's-" He stops and folds his hands over Danny's, thumbs stroking restlessly over the backs of his hands. He'd like to be facing him, able to get his own arms around him in turn, but if Danny's chosen this then he won't push him. Not right now. "I don't get t'dictate terms t'you, sweetheart," he finally answers, slow and a little careful. "Like I said, this... it works however you want it to, darlin'." He's not going to risk pushing Danny away by making demands, no matter how hard what Danny wants is going to be to live with.

The tension is enough to make Danny pull back enough for Eliot to turns. "I don't want to do things you don't like." He licks his lips stroking his hands over Eliot's arms. "Would it be better if we're clothed? I can talk to him about doing it less, but I don't think he is going to handle nothing. He doesn't have the control on his own that you have."

The moment Danny gives him the leeway to move Eliot turns, and presses right back in as close as he can get, arms wrapping tightly around Danny as he presses his face into the side of his neck to breathe in deep. His grip tightens a little further at Danny's question, at the fact that he hadn't gone so far as to think of them naked together for these platonic sleeping arrangements.

The idea gets his hackles ever further up, and he can feel the ache and tug of the incipient bond under his breastbone, almost like a living thing. He's not even thinking coherently when he presses his lips to one of the marks above Danny's collar, giving in, however briefly, to the visceral need to refresh his marks. Whether it lasts or not, in this moment at least, Danny is his, and knowing his marks are there, on his body, claiming him, helps settle Eliot at least a little.

"I trust you," he finally murmurs, lips still pressed to Danny's skin. And it's true, in all the deepest ways, even if he can't quite make his brain get on board with his heart. "You... you do what you need t'do an' I'll handle it. Just-" He stops, arms going tighter and heart trip hammering. "I'm gonna need you t'not talk to me about it. I know intellectually it's not okay, but that doesn't do a damn thing for the fact we're naturally possessive as hell," he admits quietly. "An' I will not cope well with hearin' about that."

Danny shrugs. He thinks it is only fair to ask not to be told about it. "I can't not talk about him at all, he is a part of this since he is also my sentinel, but I can keep the details out of it." He gives a soft sound at Eliot's lips on his neck. He knows what Eliot is doing and he grins. Part of him likes being claimed like this, likes wearing a reminder to himself. Not that he is likely to forget at all. He reaches up to place a hand over Eliot's heart, breathing slowly and trying to make sure Eliot doesn't go too far down the rabbit hole. "I'm yours. You're my boyfriend and I won't do anything you're uncomfortable with."

"Don't expect that, just... yeah." He doesn't need to hear about their sleeping arrangements, how much time McGarrett might or might not spend curled around Danny, head over his heart or face pressed into the same spot Eliot's breathing deeply at right now. If he doesn't hear about it he can at least try not to think about it.

Like right now, when it would be so easy to get lost in Danny's scent, the sound of his voice and the steady beat of his heart, the slow rhythm of his breath and the warmth of him under Eliot's hands and mouth, except-

"Don't." He makes himself pull back, brows furrowed slightly as he looks down at Danny. "Don't do that, make promises you won't be able t'keep." Because there's a whole host of shit Eliot's not likely to be comfortable with, but like he said before, he doesn't get to dictate terms here. He knows that if he tries he'll be the one who loses in the end.

Danny frowns a little but he stays in the touch. Reaching up to stroke Eliot's hair. Was that a promise he would not be able to keep? He isn't sure but that shouldn't matter. Eliot is right, he knows from experience that you can't ask the one you're with to change everything they do that you don't like.

"How about this then, if you tell me you're uncomfortable with something, I promise I'll listen and together we'll try to work out something that we can both live with." That is a promise he feels he can keep.

Eliot tips his head into the touch, though it's still disconcerting how easy it is to not just allow, but enjoy. "That's a lot more realistic, sweetheart." Especially since it's dependent on him expressing his discomfort, which isn't something he's going to do if he can keep it to himself... admittedly difficult with a Guide he's so attuned to. But Danny's inexperienced and untrained, so it should be at least somewhat easier than it might otherwise be. "I don't want you t'upend your life 'cause of me." He's just hoping to find a place in it, at least temporarily.

"No, but I want to make room for you in it." He smiles slightly, enjoying the way Eliot relaxes in his touch, the way their bodies just seems to click well. "And I'd do that even if there wasn't the Sentinel thing." Eliot was his boyfriend too. He smiles to himself at that. "Last time I had a boyfriend was before I met Rachel. I tend to lean towards chicks but there are some men that are just too perfect to pass on. You're one of them." He tightens his grip on Eliot.

Eliot can hear and feel and see the absolute honesty of the statement, and he lifts both hands to frame Danny's face, his own lips twitching into a faint, warm smile as he leans in to press their foreheads together.

"Christ, sweetheart." He sweeps his thumbs over Danny's cheekbones, shivering a little at the rasp of stubble against his skin, and presses a soft, almost chaste kiss to his lips. "Hope it ain't gonna scare you away if I admit you're the first." He's been with a lot of men over the years, but never freely and openly, nothing's ever lasted long enough or been important enough to make that leap. "I grew up in the bible belt, then joined the Army." And he's old enough that had been before even DADT, when the military's position on homosexuality had been even more repressive. "Then PMCs. It just... never seemed worth the risk."

He tips his head slightly for another kiss, this one slower and deeper, though it's still warmth rather than heat. "You would'a been worth it." And it's terrifying to realize how true that is. How short a time he's known Danny and how completely, irrevocably committed he already feels, Guide gift or not.

"Never seemed worth being out about it you mean, because if you've never fucked a guy before I'll say you're a natural." But he chuckles a little and leans into the kiss. "I'll try to make sure I am." He shifts to press against Eliot, like he is trying to get as close as possible. "And you're not going to scare me away. It takes a lot more than that." Heck he is not even sure Eliot can chase him away.

"And you being happy is worth it too. Eliot, you deserve to be happy, no matter if it is with me or someone else." He places a hand on Eliot's chin, stroking over the stubble and everything. "And for that matter, if you decide us dating isn't working for you, I'll still be your guide, you know that right?"

Eliot laughs quietly, thumbs still stroking over Danny's cheeks. "Nah, I've had plenty of practice at the fuckin' part, just never got around to the relationship part," he admits.

Not that he's had that many relationships with women either. He's just been more open about the very many, very short term liaisons he's had with them, where very few men have been more than a one night stand. It's mostly been the difference between wining and dining women for a week or two or maybe even three... and fucking guys whose names he might not even bother to learn mostly in bathrooms, back rooms, or alleys, with the occasional actual hotel room or invitation back to some guy's place thrown in.

Eliot's breath catches as Danny continues, and though he can read the sincerity in his words, in the steadiness of his heartbeat, the calming warmth of his scent, it still irrationally panics him for a moment. Enough to drive home just how fucked he really is here. "Hey. No," he rasps, coupling it with a short jerk of his head. "No. I want... this. You. That... it's not gonna change, okay?

"Christ." He drops his forehead against Danny's again, and his eyes slip half shut, hands trembling slightly where they're framing Danny's face. "Haven't wanted anyone even half this much in-" He shakes his head, rocking it against Danny's, trying not to remember. "It don't matter, just... I want this, okay? I want you."

Danny catches the rocking and he reaches out to wrap his arm around Eliot and pull him close. "I believe that. And I am glad to hear it. I want you too." He smiles as he continues to stroke Eliot's back. He doesn't doubt that Eliot's got practice at the fucking part. Someone like him can easily get whoever he wants to bed, Danny is damn sure of that. Same with Steve. How the hell did he end up with both of them as his Sentinels?

"Does this mean I get to introduce you to all the silly couples things?" He grins at Eliot, his eyes glittering like he has something planned.

Eliot's spent most of his life keeping his emotional distance and protecting himself from the inevitability of loss, the fact that he's this completely committed already is terrifying. It's also something he knows himself well enough to know he has absolutely zero chance of changing, and he presses into the warmth of Danny's embrace without resistance.

"Can smell it on you," he murmurs, tipping his head to drag their jaws together, feel the rasp of stubble, and then press his nose into the warmth beneath Danny's ear again. "Smell so damn perfect." It's relaxing and grounding at the same time that it's probably the most arousing scent he's ever smelled.

He pulls back again at Danny's question, and there's something in that look he can't help but return, his own smile just as wide even if he's feeling maybe the slightest bit concerned by what might be a flash of unholy glee in Danny's eyes. "Darlin', you can introduce me t'just about anything you want." He's not sure there's much of anything he could say no to if Danny asked, and not because he'd feel compelled, just because he wants to see that damn look on his face.

"Good. For one I'd like to take you out. Proper dinner somewhere. Somewhere not your place." But he had plenty of other ideas he could come up with. Things he had done in the early years with Rachel before things became complicated and painful.

"I guess it makes sense that'd you'd be good at cooking with the enhanced senses. But how can you tell that I smell perfect? What does perfect smell like?"

"Think I can manage that," he allows, smile gentling to something softer and warmer. It's strange, yes, when all his dating experiences have been with women, where he's always done the taking out, the wining and dining, but the idea's... nice. Going out somewhere with Danny, enjoying a good meal and each other's company, getting to know him better. He likes it.

"Mmmmm." He nuzzles back in behind Danny's ear, drawing in an exaggeratedly deep breath. "Warm an' thick. Musky. Little bit spicy. Got a tang of metal an' gun oil that doesn't quite go away, 'cause you handle a piece just often enough t'keep it there. Like that your shampoo an' deodorant aren't heavy scents, an' you're not coverin' up how you smell with aftershave." Which is probably from already working with a Sentinel, but Eliot will take it and be grateful.

"An' christ, when you're turned on, smellin' the want on you... can almost taste it at the back of my throat-" His voice goes a little deeper and rougher at just the memory of it, and he can't resist pressing his lips to the soft skin beneath Danny's ear. "An' smellin' me on you."

"Yeah, I handle the gun more than I like but that is part of the job. I rather wish we didn't but going in certain places unarmed is the fastest way to get killed. I am not too fond of the guns, but they are a necessary evil." The shampoo is indeed a result of working with Steve. Originally he hadn't liked it but it didn't take long before he had gotten used to much smelling like much.

"Mmm, I wish I could smell that. Smell how you smell, how I smell now." He turns his head to kiss Eliot. "I mean I can smell a bit of you, but that is different. Nothing like what you're describing."

"You're a cop, gotta have a gun," Eliot agrees mildly. He doesn't like them or carry them himself for a multitude of reasons... one of which he's had a too-fresh reminder of in the body count he left behind him yesterday. It's too easy with a gun, his instincts too finely honed, even after all these years. Too hard not to kill. But he's not thinking about that now and he pushes the memory back to focus on here and now, on Danny's scent and taste and touch and the steady, grounding beat of his heart.

"Can't imagine livin' my whole life like that," he admits. "Came on-line so young I don't even remember before, an' the time I was dormant-" He shakes his head and breathes in deep again. "Felt like livin' wrapped up in cotton wool an' plastic, everything muted an' washed out an' just outa reach." He's honestly not sure he would have survived if his senses hadn't come back, though it had probably made the months of recovery from weeks of torture easier, at least. Maybe even the loss of his unit. It's all water under the bridge at this point.

"Can't imagine touchin' you like this-" He runs his fingers feather light over Danny's jaw, reveling in the catch and drag of stubble against his callouses- "An' not feelin' it this way, not smellin' how your scent changes, hearin' your heartbeat tick up... tastin' the want on you." The last comes out breathy, Eliot's mouth gaping slightly as he tastes Danny's scent on the air. His vision and hearing are his strongest senses, at the upward limits of what's been recorded for Sentinels, but it's his sense of taste that feels most sensitive to him even if it's objectively not, and he's rare among Sentinels for being so focused on it.

"I think it is because we don't know what it is like. When you don't know how something more feels then how do you know what you're missing?" He leans into the touch and when Eliot accurately describes what he can feel his body doing in response he actually blushes a little. "Guess there is no hiding any secrets from you." But he doesn't seem to mind much at all.

"I like it though. I don't have to worry about you not being able to see when something is up." He touches Eliot's hand and then turns to kiss the hand. "Is it like that with everything?"

"Yeah, if I'd never known the difference it'd just be normal, but losin' it after so long-" He shudders a little. His whole world had been blown completely to hell, and losing his senses on top of it... it's probably a miracle he hadn't drowned himself at the bottom of a whisky bottle. "It's probably whats gonna kill me some day, but livin' without it was hell."

He shivers at the brush of Danny's fingers, and then his lips. "Guess it depends on the secret. An' no, not with everything," he answers, tongue dragging along his bottom lip for a moment before he continues. "I can keep the world down to a dull roar most'a the time, or I'd'a gone batshit long before now, but when I want it-" He shifts his hand just enough to press his index finger to Danny's lower lip, to feel the softness and the hint of chapped skin, drags it down to the contrasting scratch of stubble on his chin as he breathes in deep. "When I want it, it's there. Not sure I could dial you out even if I tried, though," he admits, quieter, eyes going slightly unfocused. "Startin' t'think maybe I wouldn't want to anyway, though."

"I like that though. Knowing I can reach you. Drag you out of a zone if I have to. You know I won't hurt you with this, right?" He can't understand how anyone can willingly hurt if they've had this bond. "And it won't kill you if I have any say in the matter. I want to help you control it, not have it control you."

He smiles and shifts to settle against Eliot, letting himself be surrounded by his, his damn it, sentinels warmth. "I am happy to be right here, with you." He nods back to the couch. "You want to just ... Stay here for a bit. Nothing, just relaxing together?"

"Yeah, I know that, sweetheart." He also knows that even if he didn't believe that he'd have trouble distancing himself at this point. Danny's firmly inside his guard in a way no one's been... maybe ever. Even Boyd had never felt this integral to his very existence, and he'd lived and trained with the kid for weeks as the potential for a bond slowly built between them. Slowly. Nothing like the lightning strike of meeting Danny. "Like I said, I trust you."

He smooths one hand down Danny's spine, letting it settle into the small of his back, while the other cradles the back of his head. Just holding him as he settles in against him. Relishing the warmth and the closeness. It's relaxing and grounding, and even after this conversation he's so mellow just standing here, holding the smaller man, that he almost doesn't react to the nod or the question, and it takes him a moment before he does. "Yeah. That sounds good."

He presses a kiss to Danny's temple and takes his hand instead, tugging Danny almost into his lap as he folds down into the corner of the couch. "Don't have anything else that needs going today, spendin' the rest of it just hanging out with you sounds about perfect." There's more they need to sort out, or try to, and he just... wants to be with Danny. As well as learn whatever he can about him that's not contained in a background check: his favorite foods and color and music and books and so damn much else. And he has so little time to fit it all into.

PSL: Sentinel AU

Danny and Eliot: Having a chat

Re: Danny and Eliot: Having a chat

Danny and Eliot: Having a chat

Danny and Eliot: Having a chat

Danny and Eliot: Having a chat

Re: Danny and Eliot: Having a chat

Re: Danny and Eliot: Having a chat

Re: Danny and Eliot: Having a chat

Danny and Eliot: Having a chat

Danny and Eliot: Having a chat

Danny and Eliot: Having a chat

Re: Danny and Eliot: Having a chat

Danny and Eliot: Having a chat

Danny and Eliot: Having a chat

Re: Danny and Eliot: Having a chat

Re: Danny and Eliot: Having a chat

Re: Danny and Eliot: Having a chat

Re: Danny and Eliot: Having a chat

Re: Danny and Eliot: Having a chat

Re: Danny and Eliot: Having a chat

Danny and Eliot: Having a chat