Mikael and Joey were both woken up by a bell.
They turned their heads on their pillows and stared at each other, confused.
Were they still dreaming?
Then they heard a throat clearing and their eyes widened in panic.
In one swift, nearly imperceptible, movement, Joey grabbed his pillow and flung it towards the intruder.
It hit the bellhop on the chest as he croaked out, “Room service.” He blinked at looked down at the pillow, it had been thrown with scary precision.
“We didn’t order any room service,” Joey said suspiciously, hands already gripping a second pillow as if ready to throw that one too.
His eye mask was wrapped around his forehead, tangled with his hair, which was sticking out in all directions.
It didn’t make him look any less menacing.
The bellhop let out a tiny whimper.
Mikael put a hand over Joey's chest, trying to calm him, he could feel Joey's heart racing.
A few weeks back, in an undercover case, they had nearly lost one of their teammates in a situation too similar to this one.
Keeping one hand over Joey's chest, he used his other to reach for his wallet.
“We’re cops.” He explained, holding up his badge. “Sorry about my partner, he's not a morning person...” Mikael looked out the window, remembering it was almost evening, "er... um, a night person... He doesn't like surprises."
“We didn’t order any room service,” Joey repeated through gritted teeth.
Joey didn't recognize the bellhop, it wasn’t the same person that had shown them to their room.
His eyes kept flicking from the bellhop to the cart he’d brought in.
“I-” Mikael said dismissively, though it still sounded sheepish. “I did.” He said, his hand going from Joey's chest to Joey's shoulder, giving it a comforting squeeze.
Joey finally tore his eyes away from the rattled hotel employee. “You did?”
“Yeah.”
“When?”
“When I was trying to find us another room. I asked them to bring us dinner at 5.”
“It’s five.” The bellhop said.
“You didn’t knock,” Joey said, glancing back at the bellhop.
“I did too!” The bellhop replied, sounding almost like a young kid arguing on the playground.
“Well... you can’t just walk in if we don’t answer,” Joey said, sounding equally childish as he let go of the pillow in his grip.
“You-” The bellhop looked ready to argue, then he paused and looked at them, finally noticing more than Joey's scary good aim.
Their bed hair, the way Mikael still had his hand on Joey's shoulder, the tangled up bed sheets. Oh. He blushed.
“You... you didn’t have a Do Not Disturb Sign up.” He replied weakly, gaze lowering to the cart of food. He’d rung the courtesy bell and everything.
“Kyle, is it?” Mikael said, squinting his eyes to read the nametag on the boy’s uniform.
The bellhop considered it for a second, wondering if he could get away with giving them a fake name. He gave a slight nod, as if unsure about his name.
“Kyle, sorry about all this,” Mikael said, nodding towards Joey and the pillows.
Joey pouted.
“It’s been a long day.” Mikael said, “And we haven’t eaten any real food in over 15 hours.”
"Well..." Kyle rocked on his feet for a second, "it's a good thing I brought this then. He lifted the covers off the cart to reveal the food in all its delicious steamy glory.
He gave Joey a told you so look.
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