Work Text:
Hal Jordan was the absolute worst person to sleep next to. Everyone had warned him about it (well, at least, half of the Lanterns Ollie had met had warned him about it), and Ollie, idiot that he was, had completely shrugged it off. Rumors were exaggerated all the time, especially when it came to big named heroes, it would seem. If he had a dollar for every rumor spread about him? Well. He’d probably give his family fortune a run for its money.
He hadn't believed it, that was, until they’d ended up in the world’s shittiest motel sharing what felt like the world’s tiniest full sized bed.
“I can complain,” Ollie had offered, but Hal had shrugged it off, dropping his tattered duffel bag on the side of the bed closest to the grimy window, covered only with a thin, fraying piece of fabric that Ollie wasn’t sure technically qualified as a curtain.
“It’s two in the morning,” Hal responded and shrugged his jacket off, throwing it on the floor beside his bag and peeling his t-shirt off not long after. “We’re in a room that looks like something straight out of a true crime documentary in a motel that could probably be the scene of a horror movie.” Ollie watched as Hal sat down and started to unlace his boots, seemingly unbothered by the situation they found themselves in. “I’d really rather not wake up dead because you pissed the manager off.”
Ollie fought a laugh at that. He had a point there, though he’d never admit to it. He sat on his side of the bed and kicked his shoes off, watching them fall onto the carpet that looked like it had never seen a vacuum in its life. Part of him wondered if he should grab all of their things and throw them in the bathtub. With their combined (lack of) luck, they’d probably pick up some bedbugs.
On second thought, maybe it would be better if they just left everything behind when they checked out later that morning.
“I need a shower,” Hal groaned and stretched, letting his back pop. Ollie tilted his head and watched as the younger man stood and started toward the bathroom and debated what to say. It wasn’t like they couldn’t both use a good shower. They’d driven for fourteen hours straight, not counting a thirty minute power nap in a Walmart parking lot, the air conditioning in the truck had died somewhere around Montgomery, and it seemed like no matter what they did, they couldn’t shake the smell of fast food and gasoline that kept clinging to them.
But…
He took another glance around the room with its peeling paint and dusty surfaces. “You’ll probably get dirtier in the shower,” he commented, rubbing the back of his shoulder.
“Showered in dirtier places,” Hal shrugged, and Ollie watched as he retreated to the bathroom, the door clicked shut behind him.
He sighed and stood up, grabbing his phone and turning the flashlight on and searching the room as closely as he could. Someone seemed to be looking out for them for once. He didn’t find so much as a fly.
He stripped down to his t-shirt and boxers, not wanting to bother going through his bag to find something more comfortable. No. Better to keep everything contained. Besides. It was only for one night. It wouldn’t be the end of the world to be a little bit uncomfortable. He climbed into his side of the bed and reluctantly got under the blanket, a scratchy, thin thing that he was pretty sure he could see through with decent lighting.
It was amazing how big a full sized bed had felt when he’d gotten back from the island. How much space there had seemed to be. But there had only been one person it then, and he wasn’t entirely sure he and Hal were both going to fit.
They’d have to, he figured.
No way in hell was he sleeping on that floor.
He shut his eyes and tried to relax, the sound of the shower running in the background and a couple arguing down the hall the only sounds filling the void. It was almost nice. Certainly quieter than the constant noise of work and the Watchtower, the kind of constant buzz that made it harder and harder to hear himself think. Harder and harder to find the signal in the noise.
The water screeched off, and Ollie fought the urge to roll onto his side and watch the door and wait for Hal to emerge. It wasn’t like either of them had enjoyed much privacy over the last several days, crammed in a two ( maybe three) seater pickup and hopping from one shady motel to the next. Still. It was a nice gesture to make.
The bathroom door clicked open, and Ollie sat up, resting his back against the cheap pressed board headboard. Against his better judgement, he glanced over at Hal and that damned towel wrapped around his waist. “Good shower?”
A grimace crossed Hal’s face, and Ollie fought the ‘I told you so,’ smirk that threatened to show. “No hot water,” he commented as he crossed the room and unzipped his bag. “None,” he added with a shake of his head. “At all.”
“I told you the shower was a bad idea,” Ollie shrugged and lay back down. He wondered how old the mattress was. Probably older than he was. With all the one-star places they’d been sleeping in lately, he wondered if he’d be putting some lucky chiropractor’s kids through college one day.
“And I told you I’ve had worse” Hal responded without missing a beat. Ollie tried not to watch as he dropped the towel and pulled on a pair of ratty sweats. “Oh my God,” he groaned as he all but fell into bed beside Ollie. “I think I just felt my spine compress in on itself.”
“You know,” Ollie began, turning onto his side to face his friend. “If you hadn't missed the exit, we’d be at a Hampton Inn right now.”
“You know,” Hal replied, mimicking Ollie’s tone. “If my asshole copilot had told me to take the damn exit instead of asking me where I was going when I passed it, I wouldn’t be covered in freezing cold water right now.”
“All I’m saying is you’d think if you could navigate space, you could navigate a freeway.”
“Shut up,” Hal groaned and moved to turn his bedside lamp off. “Asshole,” he muttered under his breath.
“You love me.”
“Someone has to.”
Ollie chuckled and moved to turn his own bedside lamp off before lying back down and listening as the couple down the hall’s argument finally stopped. He listened as Hal’s breathing slowed and evened out and let the peaceful rhythm lull him to sleep.
His eyes snapped open when a harsh kick to his ribs forced him awake. On instinct, he reached for his bow, forgetting momentarily that he’d left it back in Star. Wasn’t that the point of this trip? No heroics? No League politics? Just two bros bonding? A strong ‘fuck you’ to the League and the Corps and everyone in it?
He scanned the room quickly, looking for the threat when he zeroed in on a foot jammed into his side A foot connected to one Hal Jordan, who had some way, somehow managed to squirm around in his sleep until his head was at the foot of the bed, one leg hanging off the edge, and the other jammed into Ollie’s side.
In hindsight, he shouldn’t have been particularly surprised. Two shady motels ago, he’d woken to a harsh thud, only to find Hal on the floor, beside his bed, somehow inside the duvet cover. Ollie had spent the entirety of the drive through Arkansas trying to wrap his head around how he’d done it. Guy and John had both warned him about how Hal slept. Guy claimed Hal had shaken his shoulder and told him all about how much he hated O’Hare in his sleep, and John had told him of all the times (multiple times) they’d found Hal sleepwalking and waking up in places he shouldn’t have.
And now here they were, Hal’s foot jammed into Ollie’s rib, one arm with a vice grip around Ollie’s leg, keeping him in place. Though he did try to move, to no avail. Damn Hal and his rock solid form, complete dead weight in the moment.
He carefully shifted and glanced at the surprisingly functional clock radio in the room. 4:17 AM. A solid two hours before daybreak, and a solid five or so hours before Hal would wake on his own.
He figured he could try and wake Hal and get him to move. Hal never had been a particularly heavy sleeper. It wouldn’t be too difficult.
But…
Ollie glanced at Hal’s face, completely relaxed and calm in a way Ollie rarely saw it. Not a false calm like the front he tried to keep up. It was all a lie, and a bad one at that. Because deep down? Beneath the snark and sass and false confidence? Ollie knew there was a man who knew too much and had seen too much and had gone through too much.
He’d let Hal sleep and suffer through his own discomfort.
But Hal was definitely picking up the first driving shift in the morning.