MCA #1, Wednesday afternoon

[grenadesandohana]

Steve hadn't noticed anything going horribly wrong today until he called back to Honolulu when Hawaii finally woke up. Chin's lazy "Howzit," reply had led to Steve unloading about how he actually was for two solid minutes before he could get himself to shut up.

So now he was working from home. In his room. With the door locked.

Very normal.

[OOC: for Danno.]

Comments

[hatesparadise]

"Babe, you're gonna need to come out at some point today," Danny said outside the door. "If you pee in a bottle, I'm--going to be very grossed out."

Couldn't even joke about divorce. Rude.

[grenadesandohana]

"I'll pee out the window," Steve said. "It wouldn't be the first time."

Steven.

"...it'd be the first time here," he said, not able to stop himself, "but I won twenty bucks doing it at the Academy."

[hatesparadise]

"I'm not even surprised," Danny sighed. "Are you going to let me in or am I gonna have to sit out here waiting?"

[grenadesandohana]

There was a long pause. "Why do you want to come in?"

[hatesparadise]

"Because you're freaking me out with the hiding," Danny snapped before he could try and massage it into something less harsh, but no less true.

[grenadesandohana]

"I don't mean to freak you out," Steve said, going to the door and opening it. "I'm just better by myself today."

[hatesparadise]

"Babe," he sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose.

[grenadesandohana]

"I keep saying the wrong thing," Steve said. "It's too honest."

[hatesparadise]

"We don't have to talk," Danny replied, staying where he was at. "But hiding is causing me to catastrophize here."

[grenadesandohana]

"Here I am," Steve said, gesturing to himself. "Not doing anything remotely useful. Like normal now."

[hatesparadise]

Danny's mouth tightened for a moment at that, trying to figure out words there. It wasn't going to help at all, considering.

"Here you are," he agreed. "Do you not wanna be here?"

[grenadesandohana]

"Define 'here'," Steve said. "Without thinking the worst."

He squeezed his eyes closed.

"Nothing is coming out right," he complained again.

[hatesparadise]

Well, you go and say shit like that, Steve! What do you expect for a response?

"I love you," Danny replied, voice even. "And I'm concerned. I'm concerned that you're feeling trapped here. With me. Because of how things went with the Navy and your career."

[grenadesandohana]

"I feel stuck," Steve said. "Like..." he blew out a breath. "I've never gotten a C in my life. It's never even been close. And now, as hard as I work--and I'm working my ass off--I'm a C. And I hate it."

[hatesparadise]

"You're not a C," Danny replied, making a face.

[grenadesandohana]

"I'm not an A," said the valedictorian special ops rabid overachiever.

[hatesparadise]

"No one needs you to be an A!" Danny replied louder than he intended. "This... this was going to happen, Steve. You're not young."

Which wasn't something he'd say to Steve so bluntly on any other day.

[grenadesandohana]

Steve's face crumbled just a little at that.

[hatesparadise]

Danny winced, reaching out to grab hold of him. "You are not your goddamn career, okay?"

[grenadesandohana]

"I don't know how to deal with that," Steve admitted.

[hatesparadise]

"Because there isn't a magic fix here," Danny sighed. "It's going to be hard."

[grenadesandohana]

"I'm fine with hard," Steve said. "I'm not fine with hard but no forward progress. I'm getting nowhere, Danny."