Chapter Text
Jere sighed before wiping the tears from his face. If he stayed any longer in the bathroom someone would come knocking, and he wasn’t sure he could steady his voice enough to answer if they did, especially not in English. There had been pretty much non-stop partying since the final, and while it did make him feel better, it was also starting to be too much. He should be proud of his accomplishments. He knew that. Deep inside, he knew that he did his best. But it didn’t matter because his best hadn’t been good enough. Or, if he was going to believe what everyone was saying, his best hadn’t been good enough to beat the rigged results. But he didn’t know if he should believe the conspiracies, especially not since Loreen had been nothing but kind to him, and she definitely didn’t deserve all the hate she was getting. Still, it was hard not to feel sad about it. All the cheers and the hype had made him believe it was a guaranteed victory, a way to bring pride to his country. And he had failed.
He exited the bathroom and walked through the hallway to get back to the living room where the party was still raging. The minute he entered the room, he smiled at the sight. The music was loud, the people were happy, the drinks were tasty, and he couldn’t think of a better way to celebrate his success and drown the sorrows of his failure at the same time. Immediately, his friend Oliver noticed him and pointed his finger straight at him.
“KÄÄRIJÄ!” he screamed, bringing all the attention to Jere as the rest of the party joined the cheering and applauded him.
Jere did a slight bow to the group with his signature grin on his face before loudly yelling out “It’s crazy! It’s party!”
Once again, the room cheered for him, and he joined in the dancing and drinking, feeling better in an instant.
He didn’t get home until 4:00 AM, but even that was earlier than most nights during the entire Eurovision journey. He lay on his bed, staring at the ceiling as he felt his heart beating loudly, still feeling the party atmosphere. He knew he had to sleep as he had an interview with a talk show just eight hours later, but he wasn’t tired at all. In fact, he was just awake enough for the sinking feeling to force its way back to him, settling in his stomach as the stubborn tears started to force their way out of his eyes. One fell, and then another, and then another, and then another. He blinked angrily to try to force them away, tired of their salty stings making their way into his ears and tired of being unable to control them. He was Finnish for god’s sake, not some whiny Dane or – God forbid – Swede.
He was about to give up and succumb fully to the crying when he heard his phone vibrating on his nightstand. He sat up and scooched back until he was sitting by the headboard and grabbed his phone.
B: Are you awake?
He smiled to himself. Bojan had been texting him every night since they went their separate ways to make sure he was okay, but as he usually texted him around 1:00 AM, Jere had figured he wouldn’t send anything today.
J: Of course
Almost immediately, his phone dinged as he received an answer.
B: go to sleep then ಠ_ಠ
J: what is that?
B: it's an angry emoticon
J: emoticon?
B: like emoji or like a smiley face but it’s angry
J: like this one 😡
B: yeah lol
J: why you use that thing instead of 😡
B: because I want to
Jere chuckled to himself as he put his phone down and went to the bathroom to get ready for bed. The highlight of the competition (aside from the fans and the incredible experience of course) had been making new friends. Alessandra from Norway, the dancers, everyone. But Bojan? Bojan was something else. They had just clicked. Connected. Bonded. If neither of them had press or tours right now, they definitely would have stayed together longer before returning home to their countries, but it was okay that they didn’t. They still talked every day. Not on the phone, but over text, which was enough for now. To tell the truth, Jere had thought that they would lose contact immediately after Eurovision was over, but Bojan had kept texting him. Jere didn’t like taking the initiative or texting first. He always felt like he shouldn’t. Like he wasn’t worth it or wasn’t allowed to or supposed to. Bojan wasn’t like that. Bojan was outgoing and never afraid. Of course, they had only known each other for a few weeks, but it was as if they had been friends for ages.
His phone buzzed again as he took off his clothes and got under the covers.
B: how long do you have to do press and stuff?
J: dont know, maybe one month
B: ok, I think it’s the same for me
J: it will be intense I think
B: yeah I agree. Maybe after I can go to you or you come to me?
Jere smiled at his phone, mouthing the words as he read them. Of course, he wanted that. Of course, he would do that. He would go to Slovenia that very second if Bojan asked him to. He had never had a friend like that, especially not someone he had known for such a little time. Someone he would drop everything for just to be with.
J: of course ☺️ I go sleep now, I wake up in five hours
B: Jere!!!
J: what?
B: you have to go to sleep earlier
He could practically hear Bojans smile through the text. Stern words with a sweet tone were his speciality.
J: I will I will! Goodnight
B: goodnight, sleep tight
With that, Jere put his phone on charge and turned off the lights. That night, he fell asleep with a smile on his face, for the first time since his loss at the final.