Chapter Text
Jere a.k.a Käärijä, with his broken English, from Vantaa, shirtless most of the time, was the favourite of all the other contestants. Jere was lovely to anyone and tried so hard to understand and form understandable sentences. He had been making new friends from the beginning of the Eurovision pre-parties. Jere felt like he was getting along with everyone really well but he was closer with some of the contestants. One of the closest ones with him was Alika, Estonia’s representative. They had met in one of the pre-parties and instantly they started talking and sharing pretty deep secrets with each other’s. Jere felt like he had gotten a sister from this competition. Actually, Jere had two Eurovision sisters, the other one was Norway’s representative, Alessandra, who clicked with both of them immediately. They became a gossip group and everyone knew that if something suspicious happens, those three are analysing it. After the gossip group was formed Jere got closer with new representatives, Joker Out, a band from Slovenia.
Bojan, a flirty and positive guy, get’s women’s attention, is good-looking, was the nicest person you could ever find. He got along with everyone and he could make anyone smile. Bojan and his band are a close group and they know each other better than anyone else does. When the group met a Finnish guy in a neon-green bolero they really liked him. Bojan and Käärijä didn’t really chat at first, they just gestured with facial expressions. They always just burst out laughing when they met somewhere at the pre-parties. Their connection was instant and of course, Jere told about it to his “sisters” and they wanted to get to know the Slovenian guys as well. So after one of the pre-parties, the group of eight Eurovision artists went out to eat together. Bojan and Käärijä sat next to each other and that was the evening when those two started chatting and getting to know each other.
After a nice dinner, the Eurovision bus was waiting for them and the friend group hopped in. Bojan and Käärijä continued sitting next to each other in the bus and now they really hit it off. They joked and laughed with each other. Alessandra snuck into the conversation a few times, sitting across the aisle from Käärijä and Bojan. Quickly Alessandra took note that these two men had something special between them so she just let them chat and smiled at the two. Alessandra shared her pre-party hotel room with Alika and when they got to the hotel Alessandra practically grabbed Alika’s hand and drew her towards their room. “Hey hey, what’s up? Why we’re rushing?” Alika questioned but Alessandra just flashed a smile at her. They got into their room and Alessandra let go of Alika’s hand. “I think that Jere and Bojan might get together at some point”, Alessandra quickly told. She was seemly excited about this and Alika just stood there trying to process what the energetic Norwegian was telling her. “Why do you think that?” Alika asked and Alessandra calmed down. “You don’t think so?” She asked back and Alika shrugged his shoulders. “I don’t know, I just see them as good friends”, Alika said and Alessandra sighed. “Maybe I just got too excited, but they would be cute together”, Alessandra said and Alika smiled at her, patting her shoulder. “I agree with you on that”, she smiled and Alessandra’s face lit up immediately. “Good!” She smiled brightly. “Should we get to sleep?” Alika suggested and Alessandra happily agreed. Alika checked her phone and Alessandra started changing into her pyjamas. “Wait”, Alika said when she opened a piece of news. “What?” Alessandra asked pulling her panda-patterned pyjama pants on. “Look”, Alika showed the article to Alessandra. There was a big headline that said FINLAND’S AND SLOVENIA’S EUROVISION REPRESENTATIVES, KAARIJA (JERE POYHONEN AND BOJAN CVJETICANIN), IN A RELATIONSHIP. Alessandra blinked her eyes and scrolled down the article. There was a picture of those two from the outside of their hotel, they looked happy, laughing together. Bojan had a cigarette in his right hand and Bojan’s left arm was wrapped around Jere’s shoulders. Jere was seemly laughing at Bojan’s jokes. “This can’t be true, Jere would’ve told us”, Alessandra handed the phone back to Alika and crossed her arms.
Bojan had drunk a beer at the restaurant and it made him feel relaxed. He was happy to chat and get to know Käärijä more, and now they hung out outside of their hotel. Bojan smoked one cigarette and took his opportunity to make Käärijä laugh as much as possible. “You’re funny Joker man!” Käärijä laughed and leaned onto the wall of the hotel. “You too Käärijä, you too”, Bojan said and blew some smoke out. “You can call me just Jere”, Käärijä said and shrugged his shoulders. “Really? I thought only your friends can do that”, Bojan said, intentionally, trying to confuse the Finn. He achieved his goal, because Jere turned to look at him, scrunching his eyebrows. “Are you not my friend?” Jere asked and muttered his bottom lip. Bojan wrapped his left arm around Jere's shoulders and smiled at him. “Of course, I am your friend, Jere”, Bojan said, trying to pronounce his name as well as he could. “Good!” Jere smiled back and accepted when Bojan offered the cigarette to him. Jere inhaled the smoke and Bojan returned the cigarette back on his own lips. Bojan kept his arms around Jere’s shoulders and they just continued like nothing was different. Soon they saw a group of people walk towards the hotel, but they didn’t move a bit. When the group had walked past them Bojan asked: “Should we go in?” Jere nodded and Bojan stomped the cigarette on the ground. They made their way inside the hotel and into the elevator. “Should we hang out still?” Jere asked pressing the floor 8. “Sure, I can come to check your room”, Bojan smiled and Jere smiled back.
Bojan and Jere got into Jere’s hotel room. “This is surprisingly clean”, Bojan said and sat on the end of the bed. “I’m actually a pretty clean person, I like that stuff has its own place”, Jere told and took off his jacket. “I can see that”, Bojan said and scanned through the clean room. Then Bojan realized that he hadn’t checked his phone. “Hey, can I borrow a charger?” Bojan asked when he remembered that his phone’s battery had run out. “Sure, it’s on the nightstand”, Jere said and Bojan put his phone to charge. “Are you excited for the Eurovision?” Bojan asked when his phone started to open up. “Yeah, it’s going to be so awesome!” Jere said smiling and sat also on the bed. “How about you?” Jere asked back. “What the fuck”, was the only thing Bojan said. “What?” Jere asked. “No, no, no!! This can’t be true”, Bojan said and started panicking. “What?” Jere asked again and moved closer to Bojan. “Look”, Bojan showed the article to Jere and Jere’s mouth popped open when he read the headline. “Oh no”, he said realizing what had happened. “It’s already all over the social media”, Bojan said. Jere could see how panicked he was but Bojan tried to hide it. Panic started rising inside Jere as well. “What do we do now?” Jere asked and Bojan shrugged his shoulders. “Tell the truth?” Jere suggested. “It will sound like we’re trying to hide it”, Bojan mumbled and Jere nodded. “I know, but what else can we do?” Jere sighed loudly. “I don’t know, let it be?” Bojan tried. “You know that’s not going to help, there are going to be interviewers and everyone is going to ask questions about it”, Jere said crossing his arms. “Then we pretend”, Bojan said, sudden confidence appearing in his voice. “What?” Jere was amused. “We have a fake relationship”, Bojan said and Jere just blinked his eyes. “Is it going to work?” Jere asked confusedly. “Yeah, just these two days. Before Eurovision, everyone has already forgotten this!” Bojan was sure about his theory. Jere started to warm up to the idea. “Well, maybe it can work”, Jere said. “Are we going to lie to our friends? How about your bandmates?” Jere asked. “I can’t lie to my friends or family”, Bojan said and Jere agreed with it. Then there was a loud knock on the door.
Alika and Alessandra stormed in. “WHAT IS THIS?” Alike showed the article and Jere raised his hands up. “It’s a mistake, it’s not true”, he defended himself. “Oh”, Alika said and just blinked her eyes. “But it’s all over the internet?” Alessandra questioned. “Yes, we know and we have decided to fake it these few days and then just let it be”, Bojan answered, still really confidently. “You think it’s going to work?” Alika asked and Bojan just nodded his head. “It has to because we sound too suspicious if we try to deny it”, Bojan told and Alessandra nodded her head. “I think that’s right”, she answered and then there were new knocks on the door. Alika, being closest to the door, opened it and there was the rest of Joker Out. “Is Bojan here?” Angry sounding Jan asked. “Come in”, Alika said and the four of them burst in. “Dating? Without telling us?” Jan raged and Bojan stood up to calm his friend down. He explained the whole thing again to his bandmates and they were a bit unsure about the plan, but they couldn’t change Bojan’s mind in this thing. “This could be a good thing. We can help young people in a sexual minority”, Bojan nodded his head. “Okay, maybe it will be okay”, Jan shrugged his shoulders. “Okay, so do we need to help you?” Kris asked. “In the faking thing?” He added. Bojan shrugged his shoulders. “I don’t think so”, he said. “I’ll take a picture to our Instagram story”, Nace said. “Look like a couple”, Jure shooed Jere and Bojan. Bojan scooted even closer to Jere and wrapped his arms around him. Jere didn’t know what else to do, so he just laid his head on Bojan’s shoulder. Jere could fall asleep, he had been quieter and just lost in his own thought. Now Bojan was holding him and Bojan next to him felt warm. “Okay, I’ll just post this”, Nace said after snapping the picture. Bojan immediately scooted further away and Jere felt emptiness. “Are you okay?” Bojan asked and Jere just formed a quick smile. “Yeah”, Jere just said. “A bit tired”, he mumbled afterwards. Bojan nodded at him and then looked at the group. “Should we head to sleep”, Bojan said aloud and everyone agreed with him. “Yeah, it’s been a long day”, Alika said and they changed goodbyes and everyone started leaving. Bojan whispered to Kris, with whom he shared a room, “I’ll be there soon”. After the door closed Bojan walked back to Jere. “Hey, you seem upset”, Bojan said and Jere sighed. “I’m just a bit scared, I don’t know how to fake a relationship”, Jere mumbled and Bojan closed him in a hug. “It’s going to be alright, if you feel uncomfortable, we don’t have to do this”, Bojan said back and rubbed Jere’s back. “Okay, thank you Bojan, you are a good friend!” Jere said and Bojan smiled at him. “You too, we’ll see at the breakfast, okay?” Bojan said, standing up from the bed and walking towards the door. “Yeah, I’ll see you in the morning”, Jere said and Bojan exited the room. That night Jere couldn’t sleep. He just rolled around the bed and couldn’t sleep. How did he end up in this situation?