C&O Canal Trail, Washington DC, Saturday afternoon

[grenadesandohana]

There was probably not an explodable meth warehouse in Georgetown, which is the only way Steve got Danny to agree to going on another hike with him.

"This will be great," Steve said enthusiastically. "It's historic, with lots of interesting things to look at--" maybe not in February, "--and it's only 184 miles to Cumberland!"

He probably wasn't expecting Danny to hike 184 miles but it was a lot of fun to mess with him.

"How are your shoes?"

Comments

[hatesparadise]

"My shoes are fine." They were not.

[grenadesandohana]

"If you're sure," Steve said dubiously.

He was in combat boots, naturally.

[hatesparadise]

"Yes, Steven." This was going to end in something happening to his foot, wasn't it?

[grenadesandohana]

Oh, totally.

"Doc says I can ditch the sling next week," Steve said happily as they set out.

[hatesparadise]

"Yeah?" Danny asked, perking up at the news. "That's great!"

[grenadesandohana]

"She said I've really been applying myself in PT."

With a semi-manical focus, but Steve was leaving that part of the review out.

[hatesparadise]

Danny would be just shocked to learn that Steve could somehow be an overachiever at pushing himself. So shocked.

"Well, good. I'll buy you a beer to celebrate when it's gone."

[grenadesandohana]

"You can buy me two," Steve said, grinning. "One for each hand I can use again."

[hatesparadise]

"Don't get ahead of yourself," he drawled back at him, tucking a hat further down onto his head.

[grenadesandohana]

Steve was also wearing a black knit cap that he'd snagged from some classified something and had left the puffy coat at home because he planned to walk quickly enough to warm himself up. "So this is Georgetown," he said with a little smirk, "just in case you don't recognize it in daylight from our bar crawl."

[hatesparadise]

"I did not get drunk, so yes, I remember it." It was just... a little hazy.

[grenadesandohana]

"So we can skip past the cupcake ATM this time?" Steve asked.

[hatesparadise]

"Why would you refuse me a cupcake, Steven?" Because it was a cupcake and he deserved it for this hike.

[grenadesandohana]

"It's nothing but empty calories, Danny," Steve said. "You should have something with protein."

[hatesparadise]

"Does anything that fits your exact specifications come from a vending machine?" Danny countered.

[grenadesandohana]

"Do they have a smoothie machine?" Steve asked.

[hatesparadise]

Danny did an exaggerated look around. "Well, I don's see one."

[grenadesandohana]

Steve sighed. "That would be so much healthier."

And probably why they didn't exist, Steve. No one wants a kale smoothie.

"Will you whine the entire time to Cumberland--" there was no way they were getting to Cumberland, "--if we don't get a cupcake now?"

[hatesparadise]

"I will now." You had to know this was what you got yourself into, Steven.

[grenadesandohana]

"Fine, a quick detour," Steve said, getting off of the trail and up into the shops.

[hatesparadise]

"You can get one too," Danny said graciously.

[grenadesandohana]

"You paying?" Steve teased.

[hatesparadise]

"Am I paying to watch you eat a cupcake like a ravenous beast? No." He was paying to get weird glee out of making Steve do real people stuff.

[grenadesandohana]

Steve laughed. "Well, then you'll have to help take the paper off first. Cupcake eating with one hand is tougher than you'd think."

[hatesparadise]

"Yeah, yeah. I'm not feeding it to you, though. I gotta draw the line there."

Unless Steve did something really dumb like injure both arms.