Chapter Text
The afternoon sun shines down on the park, painting everything with a tint of bright yellow. Jonas turns his head towards it, closing his eyes and letting it warm up his face. It's not exactly hot, but compared to Norway, the Austrian weather is almost a sauna in May. Honestly, Jonas can't complain, he finds it quite relaxing after hours and hours of rehearsing. It became a habit to take a stroll around Vienna after work, especially because who knows when he'll be back here the next time, when the entire thing is over.
He stretches himself out on his bench, watching the people pass with their dogs or sit in the grass and chat with their friends. At some point, a familiar figure catches his eye, jogging between the trees in the distance. It's Søren, in - compared to usually - rather bland clothes, a simple white shirt and some beige pants, fully engulfed in his little running session. Though it looks a bit strange if you know how energetic Søren normally moves, he's almost dragging himself down the path. A bit confused, Jonas keeps watching his friend, hoping he would turn his way so he can have a chat with him.
Søren doesn't see him though, even as he actually turns down the path that Jonas' bench is next to. Probably because he's so focused on getting forwards, while being caught up in the music playing over his headphones. Then, only a few meters away from Jonas, Søren finally spots him. As soon as he recognizes Jonas, his entire posture goes slack, before he hurls himself towards Jonas, covering the last few steps. Without any words, he slumps onto the bench next to Jonas and pulls his headphones off.
"Søren, what are you doing?", Jonas starts, a bit amused but also concerned.
"Running", Søren deadpans, still out of breath.
Jonas nonsensically gestures at him. "I've seen you going on runs a couple of times before, usually you don't collapse as soon as you stop moving."
"I'm just a bit tired." Søren rubs his hands over his face and stares into the distance.
Up close, Jonas realizes Søren actually does look tired. Though 'a bit tired' is clearly an understatement, Jonas can see faint bruises under Søren's eyes, which he probably wouldn't have been able to spot if Søren hadn't taken his make-up off for his exercising. His lips are pinching downwards every now and then, making Jonas frown himself. It's a rare sight seeing Søren down, and Jonas, personally, prefers having a happy Søren with him.
Jonas doesn't even have to ask, Søren starts talking by himself. "We were rehearsing and then some technical issues happened - half of the equipment stopped working. Unacceptable, if you ask me, but oh well. Nothing we could do about it, so we just did everything else where we didn't need those pieces." Pursing his lips, Søren makes it obvious how disappointed he is with the equipment they were given. "Later, it was working again, and we decided to cover all the stuff we didn't do earlier."
Jonas can already sense what this means. "How long did you rehearse over time?"
"Only two hours, we didn't get everything done that I wanted to get through today-"
"Two additional hours?" Up until now, Jonas was living under the impression that Søren knows his limits well and accommodates to them. Though a simple overstep can still happen to anyone, no matter how experienced. "You're nuts. I know it doesn't sound much, but it's still exhausting. And then you still went for a run after…"
Søren grins sheepishly, clearly he knows he might have pushed himself a bit too far. "I could just go to sleep immediately."
"You should", Jonas says accusingly.
Without any more warnings, Søren lets his head sink onto Jonas' shoulder, closing his eyes and letting out a long breath.
"Yep, you should definitely go back into the hotel." Jonas grins down at Søren.
He doesn't get an answer. After a moment, Jonas notices Søren's breathing has slowed down considerably and his eyes are still fluttered shut. He's not reacting to any of the movements Jonas makes. Jonas has to stifle his chuckles. This workaholic took him by word and just went to sleep directly on his shoulder. Not that Jonas would mind much, mainly he finds this incredibly funny. And, of course, he will make sure Søren gets into an actual bed as soon as possible.
Looking around, Jonas determines most people don't pay them any attention, so he decides he'll let Søren sleep for maybe ten minutes, to get over the first shock, and then he'll wake him up again and usher him back to the hotel. He pulls out his phone and starts scrolling through Instagram, not looking for anything in particular. Every once in a while, someone throws them a weird look, which annoys Jonas - the people really have to learn how to mind their own business - but he doesn't do anything about it.
After the determined ten minutes, Jonas gently nudges Søren into a sitting position. Søren blinks a few times and looks around, then he slaps his palm against his face. "Oh no, I'm sorry…"
"It's fine." Jonas can't help himself, he has to giggle again. "You really gotta get back to the hotel now, though."
Sorting out his hair, Søren gets to his feet. "Absolutely. I still have to-"
"You still have to go to bed, exactly." Jonas jumps up, cutting whatever overworking schedule Søren is cooking up right now short. "Wanna walk together?"
"Sure." Søren's expression brightens up at this and he waits for Jonas to pick up his phone from the bench.
Jonas falls into step with Søren and mentally prepares himself for a seriously-go-to-sleep-Søren speech. But then Søren begins questioning him about Jonas' own rehearsals, and they quickly drift off into light banter.
・✧・☽ ☀︎ ☾・✧・
As Jonas had feared, Søren starts listing all the things he still plans to do today as soon as they get close to the hotel. It's not horribly late yet, the sun is still well up, but every single task Søren has mentioned so far is definitely not urgent enough to sacrifice sleep. The thing is - Søren can absolutely handle a day of overworking. But if those days add up, the consequences will be much more dire. So, Jonas has decided he won't let Søren expand his state of exhaustion because of something avoidable.
As they're crossing the hotel lobby, Jonas finally catches a break in Søren's rambling and cuts in. "Listen, Søren. You can do all of those things tomorrow. There's no need to stack everything up at once."
"Oh, yeah, I know", Søren says cheerfully. "I just like to do as much as I can at once so I have more time later on."
Jonas holds the door open for Søren that leads to the ground floor corridors. "That's a valid concept, but that doesn't work for this specific situation."
"Why not?" Søren struts over to the elevator and presses the 'up' button.
"What do you think you're going to do when you have analysed every dance move for the tenth time? And all the other bits and bobs you just said?" The elevator arrives and Jonas interrupts his talking as they shuffle inside. "When you get to the point when you were originally going to do that, you won't just sit back and relax. You'll say 'Oh great! More time to rehearse even more!'"
Søren moves a hand through his voluminous hair and laughs. "You know me too well."
Grinning self-consciously, Jonas turns to the mirror that's reflecting the silvery inside of the elevator. Søren and him are standing beside each other, and now, in the reflection, Jonas can once again see the minimal change in Søren's posture. It looks like he has a heavy weight on his shoulders, though he covers it up pretty well. In fact, Jonas himself is pretty sure he only notices because he was quite stunned by the impression he got when they first met, therefore he looked a little closer at the start and determined Søren to be a bit of a whirlwind.
"But tell me, why would it be bad to have more time to rehearse?", Søren says, just as the elevator stops at their floor.
Jonas groans in exasperation. "No, that's not- It's not bad. The point is that you have enough time to rest, too." He exits the elevator after Søren and follows him down the hallway.
"Aaand now we've come full circle. I reduce my stress through doing everything beforehand." Søren turns around for a second to flash Jonas a cheeky grin.
"Oh my god." Jonas almost repeats his entire explanation with the rehearsals, but then changes his mind. It's clearly of no use, besides, they're already at Søren's room. "Just- please don't do too much anymore today, okay?"
"I won't. I'll just look at the recordings from the rehearsals today. And those from when the equipment wasn't working properly, maybe there are some things that I wouldn't see otherwise and then I can integrate them…" Despite his light attitude, Søren's voice sounds tired as he unlocks his door.
In Jonas' opinion, what Søren just said does not fall into the category of 'not too much'. As Søren trots into the small apartment, Jonas keeps standing on the doorstep, at a loss. He watches Søren drop his headphones and his phone on his nightstand, barely managing to hide the yawn escaping his mouth. But then Søren's eyes wander around the room, until they stop on the glasses that have been left on the small table at the window. No, this is definitely not going to work.
Søren slowly turns back to Jonas, who is still hovering in the doorway. "What? Are you going to stay here or what?"
"Actually, I will." In a spontaneous decision, Jonas steps inside and closes the door behind himself. "I am going to make sure you get enough rest."
"But-"
"No ifs, ands or buts." Jonas points finger-guns at Søren. "You're going to bed now."
Søren dramatically lets himself fall backwards onto his mattress. After a few seconds, he quietly mumbles: "Aw, man. You might have a point."
"See?" Jonas walks over to the couch and makes himself comfortable on it. "You still have enough time for everything."
Søren hums in agreement. Then, seemingly with great effort, he sits back up and kicks off his shoes before he properly hauls himself onto the bed. In a matter of minutes, he's fast asleep again. Jonas smiles to himself. He actually has no idea what Søren's schedule looks like, but if Jonas weren't right, Søren surely would've fought him more vigorously. So it's a win-win solution - Søren gets his rest and Jonas… well, Jonas won't have to deal with a burnt out mess in a few days. Maybe that's a bit exaggerated, but his point still stands.
Only after a few minutes of sitting on Søren's couch, Jonas realizes he hasn't planned on what to do after he has reached his goal of getting Søren to sleep. He supposes he could just leave and go back to his own room, the doors lock themselves automatically, so he wouldn't have to worry about leaving Søren's door open. But what if Søren wakes up again in a few minutes? That would completely undermine all of Jonas' efforts. He fondly shakes his head over Søren's stubbornness.
With sudden inspiration, Jonas pulls out his tiny notebook and a pen from his pocket and starts doodling in it. He doesn't consider himself to be an artist drawing wise, he just makes little loops and squiggles as he lets his thoughts wander. Every now and then he writes down a phrase he thinks could be neat for a future song. After a while, he gets bored of it, and he switches to his phone. Unfortunately, Søren's couch is just as small as the one in Jonas' apartment, so when he lays down on his back, he has to put his legs over the armrest. But that's fine, he has brought that upon himself.
・✧・☽ ☀︎ ☾・✧・
There's shuffling coming from the bed. Jonas looks up to see a very confused Søren staring at him. It takes multiple seconds until recognition settles on Søren's face and he lets himself fall back into the sheets with a groan. Grinning, Jonas puts his phone away, before he throws a look out the window and notices it's already dark outside. He picks his phone back up in surprise and quickly checks the time. 22:54. Fantastic.
"You didn't have to stay all that time." Søren is sitting on the edge of his bed now, his own phone in his hand, presumably also having read the time.
"I said I was going to make sure you get enough sleep and I kept my promise", Jonas reasons. "How could I know you'd sleep like a stone for hours?"
Søren sighs, then gets up to take off all his jewellery and disposes them on his table, next to his cosmetics. "Oh well. I guess you were right, the sleep roped me in immediately."
"I really hope you'll believe me now and not do anything else today."
"No. I'll get myself ready for bed and actually go to sleep."
"Good." Jonas stretches his back, then starts treading towards the door. "I'm gonna head up to my room now- Oh no."
Søren turns around and raises his eyebrows at him. "What?"
"Do you know what that would look like? Me leaving your room in the middle of the night?" Jonas tries and fails not to flush at the implications.
"Oh, I know exactly what that would look like." Søren throws him a playfully suggestive look, before he breaks out into laughter. "The speculations would go through the roof."
"Exactly." Despite himself, Jonas gets infected by Søren's giggles, unable to fight the grin spreading on his lips.
Søren sways around, clearly appreciating the impending chaos. "Uh-oh, guess you're trapped here."
Jonas pinches his nose and closes his eyes, not having the capacity to fully comprehend the situation like this. "Søren…"
"Sorry." Søren immediately switches to a serious tone. "We have two options here. Either you go outside now and potentially meet someone, which would fuel our online situationship endlessly. That's not the end of the world, but we would never be able to come back from that. Or…"
"Or we keep that at bay and I stay here over night", Jonas finishes warily. He can't decide which option he likes less, with the annoying addition that he doesn't hate either of them.
For a moment, they're both silent while they ponder over their situation. Obviously there's still a chance no one happens to be on the corridor in the moment Jonas leaves, but at this hour people are definitely still buzzing around outside. He's pretty sure most of the other artists or crew wouldn't willingly rat them out to the fans without their permission, but if he can be seen leaving Søren's room in the background of someone's video, for example, that would be enough. The people online have a talent for spotting everything that could imply literally anything.
Søren appears to have come to the same conclusion, probably also because Jonas hasn't moved an inch so far. Jonas can practically see the wheels turning in Søren's head. "There should be the good old spare hotel toothbrush and towel and everything in the bathroom, so at least that wouldn't be a problem."
"Good to know." Jonas looks back at the couch and he frowns unwillingly. He's not looking forward to sleep on that.
Søren follows his gaze and puts his hands on his hips. "No, you're not sleeping on the couch. You'd have to fold up like a lawn chair."
The only other sleeping accommodation is the bed. Well, technically other places would work too, but Jonas is pretty sure Søren is not suggesting he sleeps on the floor or in the bathtub. "I didn't want to intrude-"
Søren waves it off with a small smirk. "Oh, come on. If we call ourselves work husbands we might as well sleep in the same bed for one night, it’s not that big of a deal."
"That's a fair point." Even though Jonas agrees, he feels a bit awkward. On the contrary, he is very grateful he won't have to wake up with back pain tomorrow. Additionally, the bed is a double bed, so they won't have to squeeze together anyways.
"Okay, let me just-" Søren frowns down at himself, presumably realizing he is still wearing his outfit from running in the afternoon. "I'll take a quick shower and then the bath is all yours, yeah?"
"You can take your time", Jonas fends, knowing full well that Søren prefers to take his time with his beauty routine. "I've already grown accustomed to your couch. If I'm not allowed to sleep on it, then I might as well make the most of it while I still can."
"What a terrible host I am", Søren chirps, a hand on his heart, before he scurries off with his night clothes.
As he settles back down on the couch, Jonas congratulates himself on his choice of clothing for today. He can absolutely sleep in his comfortable cotton pants, even if they're not meant for it. He might take his tanktop off for sleeping if Søren is comfortable with that, like he always does. Considering his stage fit - and therefore almost all of his other public fits at the moment too - are practically shirtless anyways, he figures it won't be that big of a deal. On the other hand… sleeping in the same bed is much more intimate, even if it's a double bed with separate blankets and pillows. Nope, the tanktop is definitely staying on.
When Søren finally pops out of the bathroom, his hair still a bit damp and hanging into his eyes, Jonas suddenly understands all of the fan edits of Søren. Not exactly surprising in hindsight, Søren is a good-looking guy, but in that moment, Jonas can really see it. Shrugging it off, Jonas disappears into the bath himself and busies himself with getting ready for bed. The shower clears his head up a bit and he has to laugh about the stupidity of the entire situation. They have decided already though, so now they have to stick to the bit.
After Jonas is done too, they spend a while chatting about this and that, before they actually crawl into bed. Jonas hadn't noticed before, but the tiredness is creeping up to him as he wraps himself in the covers. His brain is a bit muddled up already, even though he is not the one who rehearsed over time today. That's probably also why it keeps circling back to the thought how close Søren is to him. Which is stupid, they have been much more physically close multiple times already, there's at least half a meter in between them right now. But this feels different, somehow.
Søren's voice rips him out of his thoughts, half of his face is hidden by his pillow, but he still manages to throw Jonas a conspiratorial look. "This is funny. In order to avoid feeding the fans with gossip, we do something much more gossip-worthy than the sole fact of you leaving my room."
"But they don't know that." Jonas grins into his pillow. "It's our secret."
"Exactly", Søren hums, sounding happy. "Good night, Jonas."
"Good night, Søren."