Blurry

- 4 -

Opening his eyes felt like a dreaded action, expecting everything to be a dream. But bright light greeted his still tired gaze, a golden yet fake glowing. He pulled the blanket around his shoulders more, ducking his head down to avoid the lights. He noticed Ethan wasn't in the car. Slowly, Norman looked around the environment. A hotel, with barely any other cars in the lot, and seemingly bland environment. It felt like paradise at that moment, a vacation to Heaven even. Waking up even more, Norman had more time to think. He forced himself to keep his thoughts only about Ethan, not wanting to think about what he endured just yet. It still felt heart lifting to have Ethan show such care for him. Perhaps it was simply the fact that he wasn't used to someone caring that made it so special, and not because it was Ethan.

"Ah, you're awake." Ethan's voice jolted the silence, making Norman jerk slightly in surprise. He looked towards the driver's side, rubbing his eyes. He felt like he could fall asleep again at that moment, and must've shown that on his face since a nudge shook him awake yet again. "Do you need me to carry you to our room or something?" Ethan asked, sounding slightly genuine but still teasing. Norman shook his head, shoving the blanket off himself to feel cold night air. A small chuckle rumbled from the other man, the agent half smiling as he got out of the car. The cold air felt shocking yet his body still felt exhausted, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"Where are we, exactly?" Norman asked, looking over at Ethan across the car. He could barely make out the man's features despite the hotel lights shining on them. But he knew the man's face well enough to know every feature. He felt his gaze stay on the man instead of looking at the hotel to find out for himself where they were. He felt at peace looking at Ethan instead of anything else. Perhaps the darkness around them was the reason why. Being in a dark room for such a long time made darkness feel threatening, which he already knew would happen. Having too much time to think lead to accepting that. Not preparing for it however.

"Almost in New York. I figured we both needed sleep." Ethan shrugged, rubbing the back of his neck. "I don't know what state, I just...know a route from Washington to New York." He admitted, sounding almost shy about the fact. Norman nodded slightly, not even caring about the state. He wasn't going to be staying in Washington and that was good enough for him. He glanced at the hotel, surpressing the yawn. The agent hesitated before asking his only question he currently had for Ethan.

"How...How long was I, er, away?" He asked, already regretting the fact that he asked. Even without seeing Ethan's face fully, he could see hesitation on his features he had memorized. But the man walked around his car to stand next to the agent, obviously to be more comforting. It worked, slightly relaxing the agent's tense body. The suspense still gripped his mind tightly, close to suffocating him.

"It would've been a month if I didn't get there today," the other man answered in a quieter tone. The answer gripped his heart tightly and clawed at his lungs. But he forced any thoughts and feelings about it away, into a bottle. Ethan was worried enough about him, opening up now would be overwhelming. Norman never had a chance to open up before. It felt like going into gunfire without a bullet proof vest, opening up words he never wanted to say to anyone. Yawning, the agent gave a small nod to signal he heard and accepted the answer. He could feel Ethan's concerned gaze like sunshine on bare skin. "I have a room booked for us, the last one with two beds."

That was a jolting and brighter thought to over analyze. The darkness hid his flushed face, thankfully. He ducked his head down, letting Ethan hold his arm to guide him into the hotel. Normally, the agent would reject that sort of help and stumble his way to wherever he needed to go. But he felt too tired to protest; besides, the gentle touch felt rather nice. Between the hand on his arm and counting the floors they were going up, those were the only things keeping the agent awake. Falling asleep where he stood was harder to resist, but he didn't want to actually be carried to the hotel room. Even if he'd be in a seperate bed and unable to remember being carried.