MCA #0, Friday evening

[grenadesandohana]

Steve had been gritting his teeth and pushing through pain all week, nourished only by bland, terrible food, decaf coffee, and stubbornness.

(He was also fueled by his transplant anti-rejection pills, which he'd take for the rest of his life. He hated that.)

He wasn't running, but he was definitely walking up and down the steps of the island until his calves burned, and then did it for another half hour.

(His body had betrayed him after decades of work making it a finely oiled machine. He was punishing it just a little.)

And now he was back in the apartment, looking for something interesting to eat. There was nothing interesting to eat, but he was looking anyway.

[OOC: For Danno.]

Comments

[grenadesandohana]

"Right," Steve said, hand spasming out to touch Danny's but resting on his own knee instead, not sure he was welcome.

[hatesparadise]

Danny leaned into him, not even noticing the hand this time. Which said a lot about where they were.

[grenadesandohana]

None of it good.

Steve let out slow breath and leaned back, closing his eyes. He was so tired.

[hatesparadise]

"We're gonna be okay," Danny said like that would make it so.

[grenadesandohana]

"Promise?" Steve asked quietly.

[hatesparadise]

"Promise." He freaking panic married you with the weird forged paperwork you had in the safe, Steve.

[grenadesandohana]

Very normal reaction!

"Love you," he said in that same quiet voice. "I'm sorry you're hurting."

[hatesparadise]

"I love you too," Danny replied, closing his eyes. "I'm sorry too."

[grenadesandohana]

Steve reached for Danny's hand then, holding on a little too tightly.

[hatesparadise]

Danny held on, letting out a little sigh. "Stay with me, got it?"

[grenadesandohana]

"Got it," Steve said, sliding his finger over Danny's tattoo.

[hatesparadise]

Danny hummed, not about to move away from this any time soon. "We're ordering pizza. I don't care about the freaking diet."

He would when they both ended up feeling sick.

[grenadesandohana]

"I am dangerously close to turning into a bowl of oatmeal," Steve said, sounding relieved.

[hatesparadise]

"And bananas. And rice," Danny grumbled. "Sick of it all."

[grenadesandohana]

"So sick of it," Steve agreed. This part of the whole mess, he could talk about.

[hatesparadise]

Of course he could. It was easier.

"Maybe tonight we can see if we can sleep in the same bed."

They'd end up bumping into each other too much.

[grenadesandohana]

"I'd really like that," Steve admitted softly. He needed the grounding, he just didn't realize it.

[hatesparadise]

Weird what not having the usual touch did to them, huh? Could you imagine if they hadn't even had that before this?

"It's a date."

[grenadesandohana]

"I miss dates, too," Steve said with a wry smile.

[hatesparadise]

"After this weekend, we'll figure it out."

Because Father's Day was hardly the time to do it.

[grenadesandohana]

"We're going back to Honolulu, right?" Steve checked.

He probably wouldn't be jumping off roofs. Probably.

[hatesparadise]

"Of course, gotta see the kids," Danny said. And he'd attempted to ask the team to give them easy pitches for a bit.

[grenadesandohana]

"Exactly," Steve said. "Shave ice and grilled ahi?"

[hatesparadise]

"And a hot dog for Charlie." Peak parenting.

[grenadesandohana]

Steve made a face. "Turkey dog?" he countered.