“Don’t-” Joey said, moving his head away from Mikael’s, “Don’t breathe on me.”

Mikael looked at Joey, face blank. “How am I supposed to not breathe on you, Joey? We’re cramped into a corner on a plane and you’re hogging the iPad on your lap. I’m breaking my neck over here trying to watch the movie, Joey.”

They were a quarter of the way into Moana, one of the movies Joey had downloaded onto his iPad.

“Fine,” Joey said, shoving the iPad onto Mikael’s lap. “You hold it then. My arms getting tired anyway.”

Mikael rolled his eyes, picking up the iPad. “All we gotta do is-” He unhooked the tray in front of Joey, bringing it down and setting the iPad on it. He looked at Joey, ta-da.

“Mmm. You think you’re a genius, don’t you.”

“Around you, it’s not that hard to feel like one.”

The lady, now in the aisle seat, chuckled. They both spun their heads to look at her, taking out the earbuds they were sharing.

She bit her lip. “Sorry,” She held up her hands at them, “Sorry. It’s just... the two of you remind me so much of my parents.”

As Joey replied, “What do you mean? How?” Mikael simultaneously said, “You think we’re old enough to be your parents?” Because he figured they couldn’t have been more than 5 years older than her, max.

“Um, no, sorry.” She said, blush growing on her face. “I mean, just how the two of you bicker, like you just give off old married couple vibes, you know?” She said, sure she was sounding like an idiot and just wanting them to go back to their movie and forget she ever said anything.

But both men nodded knowingly, the opposite reaction to what she had been expecting. It relieved her tenfold.

“We get that a lot actually,” Joey said.

“We’re not though.” Mikael helpfully clarified.

“Oh.” She said, a tiny smirk appearing on her face. “So, you guys argue a lot then?” She couldn’t help herself.

“We’re actually on our way to therapy.” Mikael shared. “State-mandated.”

“Oh.” Her smirk was erased, eyes widening a little as she took in the guys once more. 

They looked innocent enough, but who got state-mandated therapy? 

Now she really wanted them to go back to their movie.

“It’s-” Joey said, reading her face, “It’s for work.”

“We’re partners,” Mikael explained. “Detectives. We all have bi-yearly mandated therapy and evaluations... and Joey and I failed.”

Joey rolled his eyes. “Apparently, we argue too much. So now we have to go to extra therapy cause this guy can’t get over the sound of his own voice.”

“No.” Mikael corrected, “We’ve gotta go to therapy because you don’t have enough trust in me.”

Joey’s brows scrunched. “I don’t have enough trust in you? I’m pretty sure I should get a CAT scan to figure out why the hell I have so much trust in you.”

Mikael couldn’t help but grin at the backhanded compliment.

“Yeah,” The lady spoke up once more, though she had a feeling her presence had already been forgotten again. But since they weren’t criminals, there was no harm in keeping the conversation going, right? “I could see why you’re boss wanted you two to get some therapy.”

“We’ve actually been going to therapy.” Mikael said, “For what, like a few months?”

Joey looked at him, “You’re the one who’s incredibly good at figuring out exact dates, you tell me.”

The lady could sense the inside...joke, jibe? She couldn’t tell which.

“Anyway,” Mikael continued, looking back at her, “We had a few more sessions of therapy left. But, we were also given the option to fly out and do a weekend therapy retreat thing instead of those. So I signed us up.”

“Without asking me, by the way,” Joey said, leaning forward to get a better view of the lady.

“Wow.” She said.

“I know. Thank you!" Joey enunciated with his hands. "He doesn’t get why that’s a big deal.”

“It’s a free vacation, Jojo!” Mikael said in a voice that sounded like it had been the 100th time he’d made that argument. “And I thought you’d be happy. It’s in New York. You’re always saying you feel like you don’t go home enough.”

“Don’t-” Joey sighed, “don’t call me that in front of strangers. And… I am happy." He smirked, "I just also like giving you a hard time.”

“I know.” Mikael sighed heavily, “You’ll be the death of me.” But he said it with a grin on his face.

The lady, feeling once again forgotten, said, "cool."