Chapter 109

He woke up a few hours later, he looked to his right where Jon was still sitting as if he hadn't moved at all, except he was holding a book. Richie sat up and stretched, then looked at Jon again.

"Are you reading my book?" He asked.
Jon looked up from the book. "Good morning to you too."
"Time?"
Jon turned his wrist to check for the time. "5, means we're almost there."
"Thank fuck." Richie started getting up, feeling the soreness of being cooped up for so long.

He waited for Jon to move so he could get into the path and walk to the washroom. He needed to stretch after sleeping in a chair for almost 4 hours.

On his way back he stopped at David's seat for a quick chat, glad to be standing for a little longer before he returned to his seat again. A private plane was definitely more comfortable but in the end, it was still just a plane and that didn't change all that much about a 15 hour flight.

Returning to his seat, he sat down across from Jon. "Enjoying my book?"
"It's pretty good."

His phone read 2:15am when the plane finally landed but they were told it was 6pm locally. That was by far the longest time difference he had had in his relationship with Sarah. He couldn't wait to get to the hotel and give her a call. It would wake her up, he knew that but he wouldn't be able to do anything with his day if he didn't at least let her know he had arrived.

Before entering the hotel, their road manager stopped them from going any further as soon as they were out of the cars.

"They fucked up." He said, already noticing everyone's moods changing as soon as he said it.
"How much did they fuck up?" Jon countered with his question.
Richie looked at him, noticing how angry he sounded already.
"They got the rooms wrong. Someone miscommunicated and they've got us all in rooms with two bedrooms in them instead of two separate rooms."
"So we're sharing?" Jon sounded even more angry.
Richie looked at their road manager, seeing how he knew they messed up but wasn't able to fix it for them. "It's fine man." He looked at Jon. "We'll be roomies."
"Why do you get to pick roommates first?" David countered quickly from his other side.
Richie looked at him, confused at why he would protest. "Did you want to share with Jon?"
"Hell no."
"Then what the fuck are you complaining?" He asked.
"I just want the option to pick."
Richie sighed at how little sense that explanation made. "Then decide if you want to share with Tico, Hugh or Bobby?"
Jon took his key cards and walked away, done with everything and everyone.
"Hey," Richie said, catching up to him, "I need a key too."

Jon kicked the door closed after Richie opened it for them and they made their way into the room. Richie shook his head and walked to the main room, dropping his shoulder bag on one of the chairs. The room was pretty big, there was a living room with dining area and a wet bar, no full kitchen this time. By the looks of it the two bedrooms were separated with the bathroom between it. He walked over to the bedrooms, looking inside both, deciding which one he wanted for himself but finding them almost exact.

He turned around when Jon was still continuing his hissy fit by the entrance to their room.

"How can they fuck up booking rooms!"
Richie rolled his eyes and walked back to him. "Work on your Japanese and book them yourself next time." He pointed out smartly.
"It can't be that hard."
"Maybe not but just calm down, will you? It's not that big of a deal, it's only a couple nights, we're leaving on Tuesday after the show and we still have separate rooms. We've done worse."
"I doubt it."
"You doubt?" Richie questioned him. "We used to share a fucking bed so get over yourself."
Jon just glared at him in response.
"Go pick out a bedroom and go have a nap or something so I can call my wife."

He ignored Jon after that and sat down on the couch, pulling his phone from his pocket as he did so. With a swipe he unlocked the screen and opened Sarah's contact, then touched the phone icon to call her. Once he heard Jon close the bedroom door, he stretched out on the couch and put the phone on speaker phone, waiting for a reply from Sarah instead of the ringing tone. As he waited for a reply,  he opened messages and started a text to Ava. In the middle of it he heard the ringing tone stop as his call was answered.

"Sarah?" He asked when a reply didn't come right away.
"I'm here." She mumbled.
In her voice, he could hear he had woken her up. "I'm sorry." Quickly, he apologized first. "I just wanted to let you know I got to the hotel."
"What time is it?" Sarah asked sleepily.
"For me or for you?"
"You."
He looked at the corner of his phone as he continued typing his text to Ava. "7:35, pm, he clarified." Then he heard Sarah trying to do the mental math as she didn't answer him right away. "16 hours." He added on, saving her from calculating it.
"Wow."
"Yeah."
"How's Japan?" Sarah asked him quickly.
Easily he could start to hear the difference in her voice, he was waking her up. He didn't mind. "Not all that great so far. They messed up the rooms so I get to share with Jon. He's very angry about it. I sent him to bed like the 5 year old he was acting like."
Sarah chuckled at that. "That's because he doesn't sleep on planes."
"The boy needs his naps." Richie agreed with his own chuckle.

It had only been a day and he already missed her so much.

After a little while, he decided to let Sarah go back to sleep. Surely she was tired as it was the middle of the night for her. Time didn't make much sense to him right now.

Once he said goodbye, Richie attempted keeping himself busy but the TV was too Japanese and after browsing on his phone for a while, he felt bored. He looked up at the bedrooms, one door closed as Jon had most likely gone to sleep.

Just as he though of going to check what everyone else was up to, he heard noise outside of the room and got up to investigate. Unlike he had expected it was just their bags being dropped off after the mix up the hotel had made. He helped out hauling them into the room, then took his own to his room, leaving Jon's outside his door. He regarded his suitcases for a second until his guitar case made the most sense to him. Picking it up, he carried it back to the living room and took it out of the case.

Jon sighed when he walked out of the bedroom, finding what had woken him up. Knowing it was useless to say anything, he walked over to the couch where Richie was sat playing his guitar. It took a moment before Richie looked up at him, he always got lost.

"Yes?" Richie asked when he noticed Jon staring down at him. Realizing that meant Jon was awake, made him change his answer. "Oh, did I wake you up?"
"Kind of, yeah."
"Sorry, I was killing time until dinner."
That one caught Jon's attention. "Want to go for dinner?"
"Sushi?"
"Duh."

They easily found a sushi place in the large city, even if it was close to 10pm locally. There would never be a way that his first meal in Japan would not be sushi. It'd be the same as going to Italy and not having pizza, it did not make sense.

The restaurant was fairly small which was always a good sign. Generally Japanese people respected their privacy more than fans at home or in Europe. It was easier to sneak away here than it was in many other cities. After the long day they had, it was nice to be able to go out for dinner peacefully and not be overwhelmed by everybody.

When Richie's sushi craving had been satisfied, they headed back to the hotel. It was getting late, although it really didn't feel like that at all.

That feeling was confirmed when Sarah texted him a good morning. Not much later he finally got his reply from Ava as well. Glad she had not woken up in the middle of the night for him. As they were driven back to the hotel, he continued his text conversation with Ava and Sarah. Noticing Jon next to him was doing the same on his own phone. When he finally got a response to his text to Noah, he gladly told him all about the book he had read on the plane. He'd hang on to it for Noah to read as well.

Not much later, the car parked outside of the hotel and Richie and Jon headed for the elevator. Looking up for a second, Richie found the perfect moment to bug Jon again.

"Do you need me to hold your hand in the elevator?" He asked as he pressed the button to make the doors open.
Jon's eye roll was almost audible. "Fuck off." He said as the doors slid open and he stepped inside.
Richie shrugged, still enjoying his joke. "Nothing wrong with claustrophobia."
"Then why are you being annoying?"
"I'm not being annoying. I'm looking out for you." He followed Jon into the elevator and watched him press the button for their floor.
"Pretty sure I've been taking elevators for years now."
"I remember when we used to have to take the stairs."
"Was good for you." Jon pointed out.
"Calling me fat again?"
"Just looking out for you man."
Richie laughed at that, knowing Jon was trying to annoy him in return but he didn't mind it. "Thanks, we should hit the gym again tomorrow morning, get a run in." He didn't actually mind that idea at all.

Richie used his key card to let them both into their hotel room. His texts from Sarah had ended as she had to start get ready for the day, then take Noah to school. He had wished her a good night, just in case he did go to bed and didn't have a chance to do so again.

Jet lag was definitely going to bother him. It was past 11pm by now but he still felt as if it was yesterday afternoon or something. His nap on the plane had been short but all together, it surely didn't feel as if it was close to midnight.

On the other hand, that wasn't a terrible feeling either. Tomorrow they would be coming back from their show around this time. He could try to catch up on sleep or keep busy for a little longer and make sure he would be able to sleep.

"Want to watch a movie?" He asked Jon as he moved his guitar off the couch where he had left it and into its case for safekeeping.
"Sure." Jon responded, not sounding too sure about it.
"Did you want to go to bed?" Richie asked, making sure before starting up a movie. "I just don't think I can sleep." He picked up the remote so try and search for a movie.
"I'll be fine. Which movie."
"Not The Godfather." Richie didn't really care but it was always the same movie with Jon. "Broaden your horizons for once."
"Whatever. Pick a movie." Jon went over to the mini fridge in the bar area and found some snacks and drinks to bring over to the couch.

Richie got himself comfortable on the couch as he accepted what Jon passed him, then watched Jon get settled in the chair next to the couch before turning on the movie.

A while into the movie, Richie couldn't help himself, knowing Jon hated whenever someone started talking during a movie but he just had to say it.

"This brings back memories." He said, looking over at Jon.
Jon finished the handful of popcorn he had just stuffed into his mouth before agreeing. "Yeah, it kind of does."
"We had good times." Richie reminisced about their early days.
"We still have good times." Jon pointed out, wiping his hand on his jeans.
Richie nodded at that, it was true. They'd gotten older but it was still fun. "We're not sharing a bed though."
Jon raised an eyebrow in question at him. "Don't want to cuddle up with me?" He teased.
"I think we're both too married for that." Richie reminded him quickly, he knew they were only joking around but he was definitely too old to share a bed with another man. Unless it was a little man named Daniel.

He focused on the TV and the movie again but his mind wasn't all there. It had gotten stuck in 1988 where Jon and him did this often in the middle of the night or trying to live through jet lag like they were now. Everything was so different back then, they always shared rooms back then. There became a point where they could afford to get separate rooms for everyone but back then it was fun to share and keep an extra room for other, more private needs when needed.

Nowadays, they all enjoyed their downtime in a different way which lead to private rooms for everyone.

He tried to think of the last time they really had shared a room, he knew it was back in the 80's but couldn't pin point a time where they decided to spend the extra money. All he knew for sure was that touring in the 90's with Keep The Faith was when he got his own room. Generally always right next to Jon. Not that it really had mattered or made a difference but that's just how it went. These days, he didn't care all that much. As long as he had a bed to sleep in and could spend his free time the way he pleased.

A slight noise to his left, brought him back to the hotel room. Looking over, he noticed Jon had fallen asleep in the chair next to him. The time on his phone showed his mind had wandered for the last half hour. He was clueless about what the movie was about and decided to leave it that way. Grabbing the remote, he turned the TV off and sat up, reaching out to Jon next to him.

"Dude." Richie got up from the couch, ready to head to bed himself as he reached out to shake Jon's shoulder.
It took him two more tried before Jon looked up at him. "What?" He asked confused.
"Just though you might want to go lay down in bed." Richie clarified.
Jon yawned as he stretched before standing up from the chair. "Thanks."
"No problem." Richie headed towards the bedroom that he had moved all of his stuff into earlier. "Just looking out for you man."