Chapter Text
After an eight-hour flight, Martin and Luke arrived in New York at 3pm local time. Luke was rather beat; his legs were cramped, his back sore, and he felt the beginnings of a headache knock on his temples.
But he was positively spry compared to Martin. His poor husband struggled to keep himself on his feet. Barely awake, he had doggedly slouched after Luke from the plane through passport control to luggage claim.
Luke had managed to snag a free bench by the luggage carousel. He was playing on his phone while Martin was leaning against him and gently snored.
A loud thump made Luke look up. The luggage carousel had whirred to life and suitcases tumbled onto it one after the other. His was amongst the first.
“Martin, love, can you let me get up?” Luke shook Martin’s shoulder.
Martin muttered and buried his face in Luke’s jacket.
Luke chuckled. “Martin, let go.” One after the other, Luke pried Martin’s fingers off him. He gently lowered him down onto the bench. Then, he took his jacket off and put it under Martin’s head. Martin immediately clutched at the jacket and sighed.
Martin’s suitcase took a longer time to appear, and when it did, it had snagged on another suitcase right behind it. The other suitcase’s owner, a middle-aged woman, immediately rushed to Luke when he tried to wrench the two suitcases free of each other. Together, they hauled the luggage off the carousel and managed to untangle it.
Juggling both Martin’s and his own suitcase, Luke turned around. And froze in alarm. Two burly security guards had approached Martin. One was trying to wake him, the other was talking into his radio.
As quickly as he could, burdened with luggage as he was, Luke jogged over. “Is something the matter?”
The security guard speaking into the radio, who was bald, turned around. “Hold that,” he told the radio. He sized Luke up sceptically. “Do you know this man, sir?”
“Yes, that’s my husband. Is something the matter?”
“This man appears to be intoxicated or drugged,” said the other security guard, who had a thin buzz cut.
“Ah, I see. No, he’s just really, really jet-lagged.”
The two guards exchanged a look. “Where are you from, sir?” asked the one with hair.
“We live in East Sussex,” Luke replied. Seeing the confusion on their faces, he added, “That’s Southern England.”
“You seem much perkier’n him,” the bald one said.
Luke was losing his patience. All he wanted was to get a taxi, get to the hotel, and get Martin into a proper bed so he could sleep this off and they could start enjoying their holiday. “People are different. And besides, he’s a vampire.”
The one with hair flinched back from Martin like he was scalded. Which didn’t help with Luke’s dwindling tolerance for the little power trip the two were on.
“Is there actually anything you want from us or can we go already?”
“No, sir, you can go.” The security guard with hair waved him off. “Welcome to the United States of America.”
Luke barely suppressed an eyeroll and a snarky remark on the guards’ idea of a warm welcome. Instead, he pulled Martin onto his feet, which woke him up just enough for him to protest it. He pushed at Luke’s chest, but Luke held him firmly.
“Let me sleep, please, Luke,” said Martin. Almost sobbed, really.
“I know, love, I know.” Luke pecked a kiss on his temple. “We’ll be at the hotel soon.” He gave Martin his own suitcase so he could support himself on it and with barely a glance in the direction of the security guards still watching them, Martin and Luke left the airport to get a taxi.