As Mikael climbed into bed he was hit with an overwhelming sense of relief.

He had promised Joey the most luxurious bed he had ever slept in. It had been completely pulled out of his ass, he just wanted something to shut Joey up.

But he figured there had to be some basis for the lie. Otherwise, the hotel wouldn’t be rated 5 stars, wouldn’t be that expensive.

Now, as he slipped into the bed, he realized the hotel had made good on his promise.

He could feel the tension rolling off of him as the bed molded to him. The bed alone was worth every penny, every minute in the air.

It was perfect, well, almost perfect.

Mikael opened his eyes, propping himself up on his elbows to glare at the windows.

The light was assaulting him.

The sound coming from the city was assaulting him.

There was honking and yelling and music and honking and sirens and honking, so much honking.

It was like the city of New York had realized Mikael was visiting them from Hawaii for the first time and decided to be extra New Yorky just to piss him off.

It was working.

Thankfully they were so far up that the cacophony of sounds sounded distant, like a record player being played softly in another room.

But Mikael was used to sleeping to the sound of waves and crickets and leaves dancing in the breeze.

Though, he had also slept through much worse sounds, had to sleep through much worse sounds. Gunshots, screams, explosions, yelling, tears. But then again, he had never really rested then. It had always been half-sleep, always ready to bounce into action at the flip of a switch.

He could put up with one week of city sounds, he decided. For Joey. He could do that for Joey.

Still.

The light was bright and annoying and it seemed to be reflecting off everything in the room and Mikael knew that it was a personal attack on him.

He looked at Joey, so sound asleep with his stupid sleep mask on.

Mikael was tempted to shake him awake and ask him why he hadn’t told him to bring one for himself.

Then he remembered, oh yeah, Joey had told him to bring one. And Mikael had scoffed at him.

“A little light never hurt anyone.” Mikael had told him, reminding Joey that he had slept in far harsher conditions than New York.

Right.

His eyes stayed on Joey, watching as his lips let out little puffs of air every few seconds.

He hoped that he could just watch Joey sleep until sleep overcame him too. 

But, a few minutes later he was throwing a pillow over his head, cursing out the light as he flipped onto his belly and tried to sleep.