Danny realized there were now three things he looked forward to in the week: Wednesday outings with Joey, Fridays with Kai-er, camp,- he corrected in his head, he meant Fridays at camp, and weekends with Elena.

“Arturo!” Joey said as he walked into Danny’s precinct.

“Izziani!” Danny said, standing from his desk.

“Let’s go!” Joey said, waving his hand and turning to leave.

Danny grabbed his keys and followed. “Where we goin?”

“Museums!” Joey said, holding up a handful of brochures, “Remember, if you're gonna live here you need to learn more about Hawai'i than that one paragraph they teach in mainland schools.”

“So,” Joey said as they sat down in the museum cafe for a coffee break, “how’s it going with that guy?”

“Um, good. He’s annoying, but…” Danny wrapped his hands around his coffee mug, tapping the rim a few times with his thumb before continuing, “yeah, good. His name’s Kai by the way.”

“Kai. That’s a good name.” Joey said, leaning back in his chair, “I like names with K’s in them. Tell me everything.”

This is my chance to set things straight, Danny thought as he stared at his coffee, just tell him this has been a whole misunderstanding that you’re not… you’re not what he thinks you are. Tell him you’re not interested in Kai like that! Tell him!!!

“I mean,” Danny said once he was able to open his mouth and form words, “there’s not really much to tell,” he said as he looked up at Joey. “He’s annoying.” Danny shrugged as if that summed it up.

Joey nodded. “Say more.”

Danny shrugged, again, shifting in his seat, hands still clasped around his coffee mug. “I don’t know, he’s good at playing guitar,”

“Ugh,” Joey shook his head in disdain, “the nerve!”

Danny chuckled, “and he sings too, very well.”

“Evil bastard.”

“Exactly!” Danny grinned, happy to have found someone else to commiserate with, even if they were just messing around. “I mean, why does he get to be soo good at everything? Can't he leave some things for the rest of us?”

“What else is he good at?”

“Everything! Running, hiking, swimming.”

“So… sporty things.”

“No, he's funny too, and sarcastic, which are the roles I usually like to have in a relationship.” Friendship Danny corrected in his head, friendship, relationship, whatever.

“So you're telling me you and I aren't going to work out then?” Joey said, brows raised, playful grin on his face.

Danny laughed. “Bold of you to assume you're funny.”

“Hey!” Joey said, kicking Danny softly under the table, “and I’m sarcastic too.”

“Alright,” Danny grinned, “you have your moments... I guess.”

Joey grinned, “watch it, Arturo,” he said trying to put on a menacing scowl, “or I might not want to take you on any more of these field trips.”

Danny shrugged, “Kai will take me then, he’s already offered.”

“Ouch. Replaced like that,” Joey said, snapping his fingers, “what happened to friends before… whatever it is you wanna call Kai.”

“Annoying?”

“Right. Sure. So what else is he annoyingly good at? Is he hot?”

“Oh… uh… I—”

“You're blushing so I'll take that as a yes.”

Danny shifted in his seat and took a sip of coffee.

“Well, I mean,” Danny said, eyes on his coffee once more, “I think he’s what some might call conventionally attractive. Objectively speaking. He’s tall-"

Joey's hand went to his chest, Danny wasn't sure if it was because Joey himself wasn't tall or if it was because Joey had a thing for tall guys. 

"And," Danny continued, "has… I don’t know, nice curly hair and freckles and- yeah-he’s- he's fit too…” he was so not used to stating his observations out loud.

When he had in the past, it had been to his wife. She would always chide him and shut him down, telling him to not compare himself to other men, that he was just as hot in his own right.  

“He's got tattoos.”

“Ooh, bad boy?” Joey said with a scandalized look on his face.

“No, like meaningful, personal, kind of heartwarming tattoos.” Danny said, thinking about them, remembering what else he’d noticed on Kai’s chest, “I mean, he’s also got scars and stuff but I think those are from when he was in the military…”

"Ugh," Joey said, "military men," he shook his head then held up his mug waiting for Danny to cheers it.

Joey sighed then said, "So he’s basically a hot, funny, kind-hearted hero with cool tattoos that sings like an angel.” 

Danny wanted to argue, wanted to insist one more time that that was why Kai was so infuriatingly annoying, and not to mention he’s a cocky knife-wielding lunatic. 

But he stayed quiet.

“And you said he’s tall right, so you like tall guys? Which again," Joey shrugged, "is another strike against me."

“Um I don't-” Danny spilled some of his coffee as he fidgeted with his mug, he looked down and quickly grabbed a napkin, “I’m, um,” he said as he dabbed up the spilled coffee with a napkin, “I mean, my wife, ex-wife, was a bit taller than me I guess.”

Joey’s eyes widened a bit, he watched as Danny piled the coffee-soaked napkins on a saucer plate. “Oh, so you were married.”

“Yeah,” Danny said, lifting his hands up in the air as if saying guilty, “so I'm not…” he again couldn't bring himself to say the words. Why couldn't he just say it?! He cursed his brain and tried again. “So I’m not really... um... ready to date again.”

Finally a truth! Danny thought, a grin appearing on his face thinking he’d finally settled their misunderstanding. Not what I was trying to say but just as good.

Joey nodded and Danny shrugged an oh well, nothing we can do about it shrug. 

“So enough about me and Kai, tell me about you and your friend,” he said, trying his best to imitate what Joey had done to him the week prior, wink and nudge and all.

“Um, similar boat.” Joeys sighed, “You and him. He just got out of a serious relationship, not really looking to date…. Plus I'm pretty sure he’s straight so…”

Ahh, Danny thought, so the exact same boat.

“Speaking of straight,” Danny said, thinking he’d found another in, “I think... I think Kai’s probably straight too.”

Danny decided not to focus on the fact that it was so easy to say that Kai was straight when he couldn’t get the words out about himself.

He focused instead on Malia, telling him how amazing and hot Kai was at the campfire while Kai sang.

Joey looked at him with a puzzled face. Hadn't the guy and Danny already slept together? That's what Danny had told him when they'd first met, he'd grabbed lunch with the guy then they went to get breakfast the next morning. 

“I think he's dating one of the other counselors, she kept talking about how amazing he was, pretty sure they're together.”

"Oh," Joey said, nodding. 

Had he just used Danny as a little experiment? Or was he bi like him? Had he already been dating this girl when he hooked up with Danny? How could he be stringing Danny along like that? His dislike for Kai began to grow.