Chapter Text
Aleksander adjusted the sleeves of his white shirt, still unsure about whether he should pull them up or down. He couldn’t help but feeling nervous now that he was preparing himself to walk inside. Being back in his old boarding school brought back a lot of memories. Some happy, some weirdly random. Some reminded him he had lost his father during his senior year.
"Is it the Romeo to my Juliet I see?"
The sound of her voice made him perk up instantly and he could've sworn he'd heard angels sing when he looked up and saw her face.
"Alina, hi!" he stuttered, walking up to her immediately and pecking her cheek, giving her a warm hug.
"You look great, Romeo! See you inside!” she smiled, rubbing his arm up and down quickly before giving him a pat on the shoulder and being on her way, saying hi to everyone she encountered as she neared the entrance.
Alina Starkov looked even more beautiful than she did ten years before, if that was even possible. Her once long hair had a darker tone to it, the hot pink of her teenage rebellious phase long washed away, and it was now resting above her shoulders. She had ditched her Doc Martens and her band t-shirts, but she was still Alina. Good old Alina. The same girl he had a huge crush on for years. The one that got away.
"You really need to get it over with, buddy." the raven-haired man heard someone say from behind him, making him turn around to find one of his best friends shaking his head in disapproval. "It's been what, fifteen years?"
"Come on, man... I just broke up with my girlfriend." Aleksander rolled his eyes, putting his hands in his pockets.
Nikolai's eyes lit up like a Christmas tree and a giddy smile crept up on his lips.
"Nazyalenski!" he yelled out to the young woman approaching them, looking through her purse. "Pay up, doofus!" the blond man demanded, making their friend groan loudly.
"Did you bet on how much time my relationship would last? Again?" the taller man huffed, annoyed at his friends’ lack of sensibility.
"Sorry, dude... I just really love making money at your expense. Plus, Zoya is going to have to wear a clown nose the whole day because of this." Nikolai shrugged in response. "Look, as I see it, this is your chance. From what I've heard, she's pretty much single. You're single. When was the last time you two were single at the same time? That's right, never. This is how it's going to go down: you finally get it over with this weekend and we all live happily ever after. I promise it won't hurt." he added, giving him a thumbs up.
Nikolai looked at him baffled, incredulous at his honesty and how forward he was about this particular subject. He had always been particularly invested in helping set the two up, but the raven-haired man was too shy to act on his feelings and Alina... Was Alina. Beautiful. Talented. A+ student. Incredibly oblivious.
"You're really annoying, did you know that?" he conceded, sighing and wrapping an arm around Zoya's shoulders, kissing the top of her head. "Hey, you."
"Don't mind him, Aleks. You know how he is." Zoya chuckled. "Especially since we had Leo. It’s like I’m raising two kids alone."
"I heard that, Zo! You guys go ahead, I need to check if I locked the car!" they heard him say as he walked away. “Go get her, Morozova!”
The raven-haired man chuckled nervously, trying to ignore the butterflies in his stomach.
God, Aleksander... Get it together, man. he thought to himself, trying to shake away the feeling that he was inevitably going to make a fool of himself. The two friends walked onto the stage, heavily decorated for the chats they were supposed to have with the students.
When Alina spotted them, the wonderful smile that decorated her face grew wider.
"Come here!" the small man beside Alina urged, motioning for the pair to move faster. "Principal Keramsov wants me to take a picture to post online. He says it's good publicity for the school. Aleksander Morozova and his leading lady Alina Starkov, former students, now living in Os Alta and changing the world in their own way. Whatever gets us more kids than the other schools in the region...”
“Do you mind?" Alina asked kindly, her big brown eyes looking up at her old scene partner, completely mesmerizing him. "Aleksander?"
He was snapped back to reality by her voice, a coy smile forming on his lips as he managed to stammer a quick of course without sounding too desperate.
“You should make it look disgustingly cute.” their old drama teacher suggested. “Imagine how many people will volunteer to do sets for the drama club just so they can ask me things about you guys!"
"Yeah, sure. I think I know what you mean." he conceded, as Mr. Yul-Erdene reached for his phone.
"This isn't fair, you guys. I also want kids in Robotics club!" Mr. Kostyk protested from the control booth in the back of the auditorium, making them laugh.
"I got them first!" Botkin yelled back. “Zoya, darling, my protégée, would you be a sweetheart and take it for me?”
“Yeah, it would turn out terrible if you took it anyway.”
Aleksander chose to ignore the way his heart beat faster as he stood behind his high school dream girl, resting his chin on her shoulder and snaking his arms around her waist, resting his hands on her stomach. Her smell was inebriating and sweet. The very description of Alina Starkov.
"Okay, are you ready?" Zoya inquired, looking at them through the phone screen.
The petite woman nodded and he stood still, his trademark smirk making an appearance, as often requested.
"I think everyone's going to go crazy over these." the photographer commented, handing the device to Alina, who started looking through the pictures that were taken. “Hold it for me for a few minutes please, I need to check with David’s dad if we’re good to go.”
The woman beside him hummed in response, her eyes not leaving the screen.
"We're definitely getting these kids' attention." Alina announced cheerfully as she raised her fist for him to bump.
She showed him the photographs and he had to admit it: she was right. They looked so happy and... couple-y. Her finger accidentally swiped right once more, a picture of a little girl showing up on the screen.
"Is that..."
"Yeah... Mischa. My pride and joy. I sent this to Botkin the other day. He’s a sucker for her." his old friend gushed. “I think if I close my eyes and open them again this little girl will be a teenager already."
Aleksander gave her a loving look before letting his mouth work faster than his brain.
"She's beautiful. Takes after her mom."
"Where you this charming in high school?" she blushed slightly, swatting at his arm playfully. "I only remember you being scared of girls."
As he was about to reply, he heard his name being called.
"Oh my god, it's Aleksander Morozova!" a girl screeched, pulling her phone out of her back pocket.
The dark-haired man sighed, his shoulders slumping before he regained composure and sent her an apologetic look.
"Go ahead, superstar. We have plenty of time to catch up." Alina smiled, seeming to be reading his mind.
He reluctantly nodded, heading over to the young admirer and posing for pictures.
Alina picked up her bottle of water from the chair she had been previously sitting in, distracted by thoughts of him. It was so weird to be with Aleksander Morozova again. To actually see his face in person, to hear him speak and act all flustered around women. The endless hours rehearsing in that old and dusty auditorium flooded her thoughts for the first time in years.
"Is it just me or does he get more attractive by the year?" Zoya inquired, startling her.
"Who?" she croaked out, almost dropping Botkin’s phone.
"What do you mean who? Alina, who else? Have you seen that jawline?"
She was right, he aged like fine wine. Aleksander had always been beyond cute, but as years went by, he turned into an extremely handsome man.
"Oh yeah... He does look good." the brunette mustered, slightly embarrassed by her own thoughts.
"Good is an understatement. But you already know that. Anyway, duty calls… Again. See you in a bit. Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do." her friend teased her, grabbing the phone and leaving her alone with her thoughts.
Alina found herself mindlessly wandering around, her memory failing to come to her aid as she looked for a bathroom.
Principal Keramsov took pride in his most successful students and had organized an event around their class, the ones he considered to have put his school in the map at some point, in hopes it would bring good publicity to the institution and, hopefully, raise some money for the renovation of the old auditorium where they once spent hours upon hours rehearsing. There would be Q&A’s, photo ops and a dinner party. It was going to be a long weekend.
"So, back with the boyfriend... What is it like?" Nikolai jumped in front of her as soon as she stepped out of the bathroom, a few minutes after.
"Jesus Christ! You scared the shit out of me!" Alina shrieked, placing both hands over her heart.
"Sorry... So, as I was saying, excited to be back with your boy?"
"Aleksander?"
"The one and only." the blond man chirped, batting his eyelashes.
"It's really good to see him."
"You know, he could really use your support right now..." Nikolai started, locking arms with her while leading her back to the auditorium.
"Why, what happened?" the teacher furrowed her eyebrows in confusion.
"He just broke up with his girlfriend..." her friend told her, feigning sadness over the news.
"That's awful." she commented, frowning slightly.
"Yeah... Look, he could really use a friendly face. Show him some love if you can." Nikolai suggested in response, holding her by the shoulders.
"Okay?"
"Thanks, Lin, you're a peach!" he crowed, opening the door for her. "I'm going to hide before Mr. Kostyk sees me."
She eyed Aleksander a few feet away, stuck taking pictures with some of the students that had gathered up around him in the meantime, sending him a sympathetic look. He winked at her and excused himself, meeting her in the middle.
Alina grabbed his hand, dragging him to the stage before any of the people behind him could even process they were in the presence of the Alina Starkov, whose picture was beside nearly every single award the clubs in school had won. For some, she was merely known as Sankta Alina, for the miracles performed for the school’s reputation.
“Alright, fellow Aleksander enthusiasts! We’ll be back in ten for the Q&A, tell your friends!”
The entire auditorium cheered in glee as they walked out arm in arm. Aleksander led her to the couch Mr. Yul-Erdene had convinced Mr. Kostyk (and David) to help drag on stage, waiting for her to sit before he did the same, keeping a safe distance from her mesmerizing presence.
Alina noticed the distance he had willingly put between them and leaned in, gently touching his toned arm.
“You know, you can come closer. Promise I won’t bite.” she whispered in his ear, sending chills through his entire body.
He reluctantly scooted closer to her, goosebumps covering his skin as she nodded in approval.
The first question came from the left side of the room. A young girl almost jumped up from her seat, eagerly grabbing the microphone that was handed to her by their old drama teacher.
“What was it like working alongside each other during your high school days?”
“Oh, awful!” the brunette scoffed. “Can you imagine having to kiss and act with this guy every day?” she teased, pointing at him.
“Yeah, just horrible. No chemistry whatsoever. Dreaded every single day of it.” he followed, hearing the students laugh at their playful bickering.
“It was great, we had so much fun together.” she concluded, resting her hand on his leg.
“Yeah.” the singer agreed, hoping people didn’t notice the way his cheeks flushed when he felt her touch. “Alina’s an amazing partner in crime, we were the dream team. I’m very thankful for the time we spent together.”
“Do you have any funny stories you could share with us?”
“The entirety of drama club would taunt me all the time because of the Megan Fox poster I kept in my locker.”
Alina broke into a fit of laughter, remembering the weird picture of a Transformers era Megan Fox that was taped to the inside of his locker everyone in the cast and crew had made fun of him for.
“During one of the rehearsals we were supposed to do one of the kiss scenes and we had been kissing for about five minutes straight and no one would tell us to stop. Eventually we did decide to stop, completely weirded out, noticing there was no one around. As it turned out, our friend Jesper had brought his guinea pig with her to rehearsals, and it had disappeared, so everyone was out frantically looking for it. It was really embarrassing and awkward because we had to explain to everyone why it had taken us so long to realize there was guinea pig on the loose.” she confessed, hiding behind Aleksander while trying to avoid everyone’s gaze.
The students broke into hysterics, typing quickly on their phones, letting everyone on the internet know about the Aleksander Morozova story no one had ever heard of until now.
“If this is how they react to what we’re saying, imagine what will happen when Botkin posts the picture.” the raven-haired man laughed as his partner regained composure.
“Kiss again!” someone shouted from the back of the room.
Aleksander’s eyes grew wide as he was left completely speechless. Of course he had thought about kissing her again, but not in front of everyone, not a stage kiss. A kiss like the one they had shared that afternoon when no one would say stop. He never told her, but he had noticed the auditorium was empty way before he reluctantly stopped and moved away from her.
Alina thought about her next move briefly, before softly grabbing his face and kissing his cheek. She knew he always blushed when she improvised, but she had no idea about the effect she truly had on him.
“There you go.”
Everyone in the room swooned over the perfect pair, clapping before the next question was asked.
Zoya and Nikolai were watching from the sidelines. The ballerina was wearing a clown nose, as promised, and the blond rubbed his hands against each other, overjoyed by the turn of events.
“Want to make another bet?” he suggested, wiggling his eyebrows.
“I’m pretty sure I’ll probably lose and I’m not willing to wear this thing ever again.” Zoya sighed in response.
“Oh, come on!” Nikolai whimpered when Alina pecked Aleksander’s cheek.
“What’s wrong?” Genya inquired, squeezing herself in between them.
“They had the perfect opportunity to kiss and she went for the cheek!” he protested in response.
“Nik’s very passionate about other people’s love lives.” Zoya explained.
“They’d do make a really good couple, I’ll give you that, Lantsov.” the redhead agreed, not taking her eyes off the pair on stage.
“Aleksander’s too shy to do anything about his fifteen-year-long crush and Alina seems to have no idea he practically faints whenever she looks his way… We seriously need to intervene.”
“This is exactly like that Anne Hathaway movie where the main characters are friends for twenty years before finally shacking up together. They’ll come around to it.”
“Zoya, Anne dies in the end. They could’ve had it all without having to wait twenty years for it.” Nikolai reasoned, rolling his eyes.
“Don’t go all Hitch on them, sobachka.” his wife warned.
“Let me know if you need help setting them up.” Genya chuckled.
Meanwhile, Aleksander and Alina took one last question before the Q&A session ended, giving them some time off before photo ops.
“Aleksander, are you performing tomorrow? Would you mind giving us a preview of the album and sing something to us right now?”
“No, I’m really sorry, but I can’t… I’m here off duty because my voice gave me a little scare the other day so I’m just cheering for my super talented friends instead. One of them is Miss Starkov here. Maybe she can give you a sneak peek of how brilliant of an actress she was… Alina?”
“If you insist…” she chuckled, clearing her throat before reciting one of her favorite monologues.
As Alina spoke, Aleksander listened attentively, her angelic voice soothing his broken heart and it came to his attention that he would give anything to hear her talk all night long. Her lively eyes locked with his and she rested her head on his should, his signature cologne invading her senses. He finally felt at home.
When they finally got backstage, the singer opened his mouth to speak, but he was quickly interrupted by her phone ringing. She excused herself, getting her phone out of her pocket and checking to see who it was.
“It’s my mom. Mischa must want to talk to me.” Alina said, sending him an apologetic look. “We’ll see each other soon for the photo ops, alright man of the hour?” she winked, before reaching up and hugging him, answering her phone and vanishing from his sight.
“Wouldn’t miss it for the world.”