This is a new bonus chapter of how Joey and Danny met ( ^-^)

Danny was folding and ironing his clothes, talking with his mom on the phone when she asked the two dreaded questions.

Have you gone on any dates?

Have you made any friends?

Danny sighed. “No,” he said to the first question, then moved quickly along to the second, “and sort of.”

“Sort of?” His mom said.

Danny was grateful she didn’t pester the first question further. Cristie’s already remarried, she would say, you need to find someone too, I don’t want you to be alone mijo.

“Danno,” She said in her chiding voice, “you promised me you were going to try and make friends at least. Como voy a dormir si estoy preocupada por ti?”

“Well, you don’t have to worry about me, ma,” Danny said, knowing it was a no use statement. “And I said sort of, I’ve just been busy with the move and everything.”

“Daniel you’ve been there 6 weeks!”

Danny looked around his apartment, still so far away from feeling like a home. “It takes time to move in! And… It’s not that easy to make friends at my age ma!”

“Of course it is! You just walk up to someone and say, do you want to be my friend? And then they say yes and bam, you have a friend.”

Danny pinched the bridge of his nose, then took a deep breath. He grabbed another shirt to iron.

“I’m joining a camp!” He said in a cheery tone, “The guy that runs it has made some questionable choices I don’t agree with, but other than that he seems nice.”

“Oh that’s good!”

“And, I’m gonna go watch a movie with some guys from the station this weekend!” That was a lie, but it wasn’t like his mom would find out. 

He was friendly with everyone at work, but he still felt like the new kid coming in halfway through the year when everyone had already found their friends and their lunch spots.

He thought of Elena and how she was the new kid now too.

But thankfully, unlike him, she was a pro at making friends, and had started her new school year with some already in her pocket. That had been one of the reasons why Cristie had wanted to send her to summer camp, so Elena could get to know some kids before school started.

And it had worked, one of her camp friends was her best friend now, according to Elena, and they ended up being in the same school and class.

Danny wondered if the same would happen for him, if joining the camp would help him make friends, or if all of Kai’s track activities would just end up giving him a heart attack.

Danny was at his desk googling Camp 50, wanting to know more about it before starting training that weekend.

“Detective Arturo?” A guy asked as he stopped in front of Danny’s desk.

Danny looked the guy up and down, he was wearing plain clothes but Danny spotted the badge tucked into his jean pocket.

“Yeah?” Danny said.

The guy gave Danny a very pointed once over. “I could tell.” He said, his grin growing wider. “Heard there was another city transplant here, wanted to come over and introduce myself. Joey Izziani,” he held out his hand, “New York.”

“Chicago,” Danny said, a smile appearing on his face as he shook Joey’s hand.

“You’re lunch break coming up?” 

“Um, yeah, on it now,” Danny said, glancing at his computer.

“Come on, let’s get lunch, my treat,” Joey said, then turned and started walking towards the door.

“Oh, okay,” Danny said, grabbing his wallet and walking after Joey.

“So,” Joey said as they waited for their food, “how long you been in Hawaii?”

“About two months.”

Joey nodded thoughtfully, “how’re you liking it so far? How you adjustin?”

Danny shifted in his seat. “It’s-it’s a beautiful place, so serene.”

Joey nodded, “I had to download an app, city noises. Too used to the traffic and screams. The calm here at night made me feel paranoid, every small sound felt amplified.”

Danny laughed. “Um, same actually, I’ve just been playing music or leave the tv on the infomercial channel.”

Joey nodded approvingly and they laughed together.

“Made any friends yet?” Joey asked.

Danny stopped laughing. “Uh…” his brows furrowed together as he debated on whether or not to tell Joey that it was none of his damn business.

“It’s isolating,” Joey said, “moving somewhere new. Trust me, I know. I went through it, remember?”

Danny nodded, the creases between his brows disappearing.

“What about your partner?”

“Oh, I don’t have a-um, I’m not-” then Danny realized Joey meant work partner, not life partner, “oh, uh, on the job? I mean, yeah, he’s great.”

Joey stared at him, like he was trying to analyze all the subtext behind Danny’s words. “You don’t hang out with him?”

Danny wondered if his mom had somehow arranged this whole thing, all the way from Chicago. Paid someone to come interrogate him and be his friend.

“Um,” he said, shifting in his chair, “I mean it’s not like I’m hanging out at his house every night, no. We have gotten a few beers together though.”

Joey nodded. The waitress brought their food and Joey dug into his fries.

“He and the guys on my team invited me to a luau my first week on the job,” Danny said. “I wasn’t able to go cause I was so busy moving and everything but, it was nice of them to invite me.” 

Danny regretted not going.

He had wanted to, to at least try and enjoy this new life and culture he was immersed in, try and focus on the positive, try to have fun and laugh and make friends. 

But he had only made it to his car that night, couldn't even finish backing it out of the driveway.

“I got really lucky,” Joey said as he picked up another fry, “my partner really took me under his wing when I got here. I don’t think I would have felt so at home here without him.”

Danny nodded wistfully, chewing on his own fries.

For some reason, Kai came to mind.

“I mean,” Danny said shifting in his seat as he grabbed another fry, “there is this guy… we went out for lunch. It was nice,” he shrugged as he dipped his fry in ketchup. “We even had breakfast the next morning. I guess I kinda felt that, when I was with him, you know? Like I had someone to talk to...”

Joey nodded, a small grin on his face. “That’s great Danny!”

Danny nodded, not seeming as sure. “That was last month though, I haven’t really talked to him since… But we’re supposed to meet up this weekend, I signed up to volunteer at his camp thing.”

“Well hopefully it works out, and if it doesn’t, let me know." Joey said, grinning as he patted his own chest, "I know some really great bars for us that we can hit up!”

Danny nodded, not really sure what that had to do with anything, but excited at the idea of hanging out with a new friend.

“This guy that I was going out with a few months ago,” Joey said as he took a bite of his burger, “turns out he owns one of the bars, so we can’t go to that one, cause it did not end well between us!” Then he shrugged, “but it wasn’t even that great of a gay bar so… we won’t really be missing much.”

Danny nodded again, a smile still on his face as his brain connected the dots.

Ooh. Danny thought, once his brain caught up and he realized what he’d said had been misinterpreted by Joey. Not what I meant, but okay.

Danny picked up his burger and took a bite, deciding to not bother correcting Joey.

When he got back to the station an hour later he had a full belly and plans to hang out with Joey again.

As he sat back down at his desk he pulled out his phone, wanting to share the good news with someone.

He couldn’t text his mom because she thought he already had friends, so he texted his older sister instead.

I made a friend! :) He sent with a grin on his face as he hit send.

She called him immediately.

Spanish Translations:

¿Cómo voy a dormir si estoy preocupada por ti? - How am I supposed to sleep if I’m worried about you?

Author's Note 

Hope you liked the bonus chapter!! More bonus chapters will be coming soon! This may make ch numbering a little wonky!! (Chapter posted on 4/24/2021!)