MCA #0, Saturday aftenoon

[grenadesandohana]

Steve was back in his Naval Academy sweatshirt from his college days (and yes, it still fit, thanks), his butt firmly planted on the sofa with beer and snacks.

And three inflatable reindeer with Navy-patterned scarves, one of which had a "GO NAVY, BEAT ARMY" sign duct taped between its antlers.

Steve took his Army-Navy game seriously.

This should come as a surprise to exactly zero people.

[OOC: For the roommate!]

Comments

[hatesparadise]

"Are you gonna be like this all day?" Danny called from the kitchen. Because clearly he never got really into sports or anything.

[grenadesandohana]

"Roger that, Danno," Steve said with a grin. "It's like the Superbowl, but with stranger mascots."

[hatesparadise]

"Uh huh. Should I root for the Army on principle?" And to annoy Steve, of course.

[grenadesandohana]

"Only if you want to live on the lanai," Steve retorted.

[hatesparadise]

"I lived here first." Like that would stop Steve.

[grenadesandohana]

Steve blinked. "...and your point is...?"

[hatesparadise]

Danny rolled his eyes and abandoned Steve to his weird rivalry with the Army. "Don't pop a reindeer if your team loses!"

[grenadesandohana]

"They wouldn't do that to me!" Steve called back. "They've got a 14 year winning streak back home."

Let's just say it was good Steve wasn't watching the actual 2016 game.

[hatesparadise]

One day he'd learn of it, though. One day.

"How many of these have you watched?"

[grenadesandohana]

"Most of 'em," Steve admitted, grinning around a chicken wing.

[hatesparadise]

Danny rolled his eyes, but it was good-natured at least. "You're not allowed to complain about me watching baseball in the spring."

[grenadesandohana]

"But baseball takes forever," Steve said.

[hatesparadise]

"That's why you drink beer," Danny replied.

[grenadesandohana]

"And then you're drunk and bored," Steve countered. "Okay, fifteen minutes until kickoff."

[hatesparadise]

Danny snorted, patting him on the shoulder as he got up to finish making the cookie dough. "You better have ordered pizza without pineapple on it," he called.

[grenadesandohana]

"Just for you!" Steve said, grinning at his back. "You'd bitch all the way through the game otherwise."

[hatesparadise]

"Yeah yeah." That smile said it all, Steven.

[grenadesandohana]

Steve grinned back, settling into the sofa a bit more, and then his phone rang.

He turned down the volume on the game and reached for the phone, surprised when he saw who it was. Normally calls from Hawai'i didn't connect. "What's going on, Cath? You watching the game, too?"

Catherine didn't have time for small talk. "I need your help, Steve. I got a call a few minutes ago from an old contact of mine, a man in Afghanistan named Amir Khan. His 14 year old son, Najib, has been kidnapped by the Taliban. They don't exactly do kidnapping and ransom, so--"

"He was recruited against his will," Steve said, running a hand through his hair and leaning his head back against the sofa. The poor kid.

"Or they're going to strap an IED to him and turn him into a suicide bomber," was Catherine's equally cheerful conclusion. "Either way, his life is over." She took a deep breath. "Which is why I'm going over there. I'm going to find him and bring him back to his family."

Steve blinked at the phone. That seemed like suicidal overkill for the kid of a contact. "What?"

[hatesparadise]

The door bell rang in the middle of all that and, with Steve focused on something else, Danny was left to go get it, shooting him a confused look at the phone in his hand.

[grenadesandohana]

"Cath," Steve mouthed back, looking just as confused.

"I know what you're going to say and I know it sounds crazy--" Catherine continued on the phone.

"Just stop for a second," Steve replied. "Who are these people to you?"

Cath was quiet for so long that Steve worried the line had gone dead before answering, "Remember that mission in 2007 that I told you about? The recon surveillance op that went sideways?"

"You got separated from your unit," Steve said, nodding.

"The part I didn't tell," Cath said, "was that I was badly wounded: GSW to the leg, broken vertebrae, a broken arm, and no radio or sat phone. I was completely cut off. And that's when Amir found me, and for reasons I didn't understand at the time, helped me, and then hid me from the Taliban when they conducted a sweep of the village a few days later. I left a day after, flagged down a military convoy and made it back to base. For their own safety, I never mentioned Amir by name in any of my reports--the Taliban would've killed them. They risked everything to help me and that's why I have to go back to help them."

Steve thought this reasoning was complete crap and it showed on his face, but fortunately for everyone, he was on the phone. "I understand wanting to help them--I really do--but Cath, you're in Honolulu. Call the military on the ground there already. Let them handle this."

[hatesparadise]

"Cath?" Danny mouthed back before the doorbell rang again and he was sighing in annoyance to go get it. How the heck did Catherine call when they'd seemed almost completely shut off from the real world here?

Then mouthed it again to himself as he took the much too large pile of pizzas from the bored looking, if slightly chocolate coated, delivery guy.

[grenadesandohana]

Steve was going to need some pizza to wallow with, but right now he was still on the phone. "It'll take them days or weeks to verify what Amir told me," Catherine said. "Meanwhile, I could be on the ground by dawn."

Steve's entire face furrowed. "How could you do that? Last I checked, you weren't active duty. You can't just hop a military flight to Kabul."

"That's where you come in," Catherine said. "Well, where Joe White comes in. I need you to talk to him and get me into Afghanistan under the radar."

Right, so she wasn't actually calling to talk to a supportive boyfriend. She needed him for his contacts. He wished that didn't cut quite so deep. "This is crazy, Catherine!"

"This is not up for discussion, Steve," Catherine replied. "This is happening. Now you can either call Joe or I can make my own arrangements."

Steve sighed heavily. "I'll call Joe," he said quietly.

"Thank you," Catherine said, disconnecting immediately.

Shit. Steve couldn't even enjoy the game now.

[hatesparadise]

"Everything okay?" Though, judging by the look on Steve's face, everything was very much Not Okay. Even if he was giving Steve the benefit of the doubt in saying so.

[grenadesandohana]

"I have to call Joe," Steve said, wiping at his face. "Hope that I can..."

[hatesparadise]

Danny dropped the pizza boxes on the table in front of Steve so he could ask, "Why do you need to call Joe?" with a little more gravitas.

Joe being involved in things usually ended in explosions and hospital trips.