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Johannes has always been a people magnet. For as long as Aarni has known him, people have gravitated to him like moths to a flame.
It probably helps that he is, by all accounts, very good looking.
Maybe that is why Aarni never sees him having anything other than a good time at parties. Not the looks, but the way people approach him. He has been the center of attention long enough by now that navigating it and enjoying himself is second nature even if he isn't the most social of their group.
And Jonttu is Jonttu. He'll get along with most people easily, and when he doesn't, he knows how to make himself scarce enough for it to not be a problem.
For all of Aarni's endless patience, he doesn't have either of those things working in his favour. Perhaps that is why he finds himself in these situations most often out of the three of them.
It starts as a fairly standard evening. What else is one to do in the midst of writing music in any European country not home? Take a break, go out for the night, return to the studio late the next morning filled with no more energy but perhaps a bit more life to their eyes or some new insight into the production that isn't working quite right just yet.
That is the standard approach, at least for them.
So yeah, a pub, a bar—any place with people really—some beers, a lot of conversation, and a struggle to find their way back to their hotel at the end of the night. Sounds about right.
Aarni feels he should have learned every step of this little song and dance already, but either he has drank more than he planned to or he simply hasn't learned his lesson despite the ample opportunities to do so in the past.
The girls approached him early enough that night, asking about his shirt. His own design, as luck would have it, which seemed to interest them even more, so they kept chatting.
It was easy and comfortable and Aarni had no reason to think much of it.
They run through a variety of topics over the course of what must have been an hour. Designing, the work they are doing in town (writing that album), where he is from (Finland) where they're from (the UK), who the guys he came in with are (the other girl, Kathy, seems particularly interested in Johannes, if the way her eyes keep drifting to him is anything to go by).
It's mindless and easy. It's pretty much what he expected and hoped for from tonight. Kathy ends up gathering her courage to move on to Johannes, leaving Lisa with Aarni, who only takes the opportunity to ask a bit more about Lisa herself, instead of talking about the band for half the night. Lord knows he talks about the band enough these days.
Yet maybe Aarni should have seen it coming. Maybe he should have realized that asking about his shirt was just a way to chat him up. Maybe he should have remembered that most people are out at night looking for someone special, or someone just willing to be picked up. Maybe he should have realized that Kathy has gone to chat with Johannes, very deliberately leaving Lisa alone with Aarni's full attention.
But he hasn't thought about any of that. While meeting people and chatting and spending the night in places like this is all fun and games, he didn't come out tonight to pick anyone up. None of them did. They were here for work and a bit of travel, not for anything more.
And Aarni forgot to consider it, despite the fact that he has now landed himself in this exact situation more than once.
So when he cracks some joke that makes Lisa laugh and lean forward so her hand lands on his arm, he's caught off guard.
"I thought Finnish people were supposed to be all cold and broody, but you seem like the light of the party here!" Lisa beams up at him.
He grins, now feeling just a bit awkward for not having realized what was most likely blatant flirting on her part.
"Oh you should meet Jonttu. If I'm the light of the party he must be the sun."
She rolls her eyes like he's said something entirely silly. "I doubt he'd be much compared to you."
She looks up at him through her very long fake lashes and her smile is coy and sweet and charming and suddenly Aarni doesn't know how to return it easily. He tries to match her humour anyway, if only to keep the conversation from turning awkward.
"Don't let him hear you. He'll get all mopey and then I have to stand that all day tomorrow." Aarni chuckles.
He should have picked up on her intentions much sooner, that's for damn sure.
"I'll consider it. But he's not out here making me laugh so much I've almost spilled my drink twice now," Lisa says, taking the last few sips of said drink.
"Sorry." Aarni shrugs and glances around.
Johannes is absorbed into a conversation with Kathy, looking at her like he does everyone, with stars in his eyes (and face just slightly flushed. Aarni hasn't kept track of how many beers he's had but they're probably approaching the limit by now.)
Jonttu is nowhere in sight, which is a shame since he would have provided a very easy out from this conversation right about now. Or at least his presence would have served as a great distraction from Lisa's advances as she continues to crowd Aarni's personal space with surprising fluidity.
"Speaking of spilled drink, do you want another one?" Aarni offers, because going to the bar would at least force some distance between them.
She shakes her head kindly, putting her hand back on his arm to stop him from leaving before he has even made a move to step away. "Don't worry about it. I think you have more than paid back for it by now."
Aarni keeps himself smiling, but tries to subtly maneuver himself out of Lisa's grasp by stretching his arms. It works in getting her to move her hand but he doesn't get her out of his personal space.
"Really? I don't feel like my jokes quite live up to the overpriced hype," he gestures at the drink menu, the movement allowing him to take a step back.
The bit of breathing room between them is quickly closed by Lisa leaning forwards to take a loot at the menu too, as if she hasn't noticed the ridiculous pricing by now.
"Well, your jokes are free and you are much sweeter than this cherry concoction could ever hope to be," she responds easily, flashing him another winning smile which he does his best to return without looking so put off. "Besides, there are more ways you can pay back than just buying drinks and cracking jokes."
And this would be the moment to tap out of this conversation, quickly. Immediately.
It shouldn't even be that difficult. Smile sadly, tell her that she is great and that the conversation has been great and that she hasn't done anything wrong. Just say it's not what he's looking for tonight. Find Johannes and Jonttu and call it a night.
"I think we should maybe call it a night," Aarni starts with, and is going to say something more about how wonderful she is but that he's not interested, when she responds empathetically.
"Yes, we should."
He raises an eyebrow at her. She looks at him expectantly.
Right, she probably didn't mean it the same way he meant it. Aarni covers his brief faltering with another smile that feels even more forced than the last.
"I mean, tonight has been great and I'd hate for it to end so abruptly, and you're-" Aarni's words cut off as she suddenly leans closer, a lot closer.
Close enough that he can smell the cherry on her breath and he almost stumbles back in his effort to dodge out of the way in what little room he has to move with her still crowding into his space so totally.
He looks back at her wide eyed. She looks confused, but does give him some breathing room, which Aarni counts as a victory as he tries to get his words back into order to say anything to salvage this awful situation he has landed in.
"Sorry, sorry," he stutters out trying to find a way to reassure her that it's fine, despite the fact that that was very much not fine.
He should have just said that to begin with, probably. But it's too late now. How did he even get here?
She tilts her head, and somehow manages to keep that effortless, humorous grin still on her face. "My breath doesn't smell that bad, does it?"
He chuckles, glad for her impeccable conversational skills. "No, no! That's not- no! Sorry, I just..."
He doesn't know what more to say other than 'no', because this has gotten really out of control for him really quickly.
She raises an eyebrow at him, waiting. "You just?"
Aarni takes a deep breath. No way to get out of this except through it, and all that.
"There you are!" A hand wraps around his waist and a very familiar scent, a mix of Johannes' aftershave and beer wafts over him as Johannes leans practically half his weight on Aarni's back, head landing on Aarni's shoulder. "Oh, and you must be Kathy's friend! Lisa, right?" Johannes beams at the girl in question, who is now looking as caught off guard as Aarni felt just moments ago.
Aarni takes the disruption in stride, as he has no idea what he could have said. He even takes the opportunity to lean back against Johannes to get himself another step back from Lisa, who has been successfully forced to vacate Aarni's personal space as Johannes has so effectively commandeered it all to himself.
"You okay?" Aarni asks Johannes.
Kathy pops up beside Lisa, who is now looking dubiously between Johannes and Aarni. Aarni can practically feel the confusion and frustration suddenly radiating from her. It's probably not entirely unfounded, considering how fast her likely plans for the night have gotten usurped.
Johannes either doesn't notice it or doesn't care as he places a brief kiss on Aarni's neck. "I'm wonderful. Have you two been having a good night?"
Aarni rolls his eyes. "Sure. And judging by your breath you have too."
Johannes pokes at his side, but then settles more comfortably against Aarni, before turning his bright smile back to the girls. "Aarni's kept you entertained, right?"
Lisa only nods, not returning Johannes' smile. Instead she gives Aarni a searching look. Aarni doesn't know what to make of it, so he just shifts to better support Johannes still leaning against him.
"Have you seen Jonttu?" Aarni asks before the conversation can devolve further.
"He said we should get going soon," Johannes responds, though he doesn't move to immediately pull Aarni away, making Aarni doubt the validity of that statement.
Even so, Aarni smiles apologetically at the girls. "Then I guess we better listen to him and get going."
"Yeah, we should," Johannes mumbles against his shoulder.
Aarni can more so feel the words than hear them.
The girls share a look that carries the weight of an entire conversation with it. They both seem to reach the obvious conclusion that neither of them is going home with a guy tonight, at least not either of these two guys.
Finally, Lisa turns back to Aarni. "I guess we're calling it a night then," she says tightly, a hardness to her face that wasn't there at all the entire time they were talking.
At least she has finally understood him.
Kathy gives Aarni and Johannes an easy going smile. "We had a lovely time, thank you."
Johannes lifts up his face and leans his chin against Aarni's shoulder once more. "Will you girls be alright for the night? Do you want me to call you a cab or something?"
"I think we'll be fine," Kathy keeps smiling, placing a conciliatory hand on Lisa's arm who is still mostly frowning at the two of them.
"Yes, I think we can make it back on our own just fine."
"You sure?" Johannes leans back from Aarni enough to assess both of the girls more properly.
They both nod, and after one last assessing look, Johannes nods back. "Good night, then. We had a lovely time, too."
"Yeah," Aarni agrees, smiling as genuinely as he can through the sudden exhaustion he feels.
The girls bid them good night, and with that, Johannes grabs Aarni by the shoulders and begins steering him away, suddenly seeming a lot more sober.
Somehow even on the way out someone quite obviously checks them out and moves to step their way, yet before Aarni can even react Johannes has put out a hand in a half wave, half 'stop' gesture and called out "Not tonight, sorry!"
Aarni doesn't know whether he should be impressed by Johannes' efficiency or frustrated at the way other people just are in places like this. In the end he is too tired from the encounter with the girls to really do either.
They don't actually head straight for the door. Instead Johannes leads them over to the bar, where Aarni can see Jonttu having an animated conversation with someone. This is further evidence to suggest Jonttu was in fact not looking to leave as soon as possible.
Johannes mumbles an apology to the stranger while tapping Jonttu on the shoulder, getting his attention and gesturing with his head for the door.
Jonttu nods, downs the rest of his drink and turns to the person sitting across from him.
"Duty calls, unfortunately. You have a good night!"
And with that, the three of them make their way out.
The cold night air hits Aarni's slightly sweaty skin, a welcome change from the indoors. He hadn't even realized how heavy the air inside had gotten until now.
Johannes must feel him shiver, or maybe he's more drunk than he looks and really does need Aarni to steady him, as he lets his arm fall around Aarni's waist again and leans on his shoulder once more.
"You okay?"
Aarni nods. "Yeah."
"You sure?"
Aarni is about to say yes again, but decides not to. Instead he shrugs as best as he can with Johannes against his shoulder still.
"I feel like I should know by now how to talk my way out of things like that."
Johannes hums, pulling Jonttu close with his other hand.
"Or they should have picked up that you weren't interested," Johannes says.
"That is also an option," Jonttu agrees, wrapping one of his arms around Johannes.
Aarni shakes his head automatically. "I should have picked up that they were. I feel like I missed a big neon sign in that conversation somewhere."
Johannes chuckles. "You might have. They were laying it on pretty thick."
Aarni raises an eyebrow at him, and Johannes presses a kiss to his shoulder. "Sorry. Just, I could see her flirting all the way from the bar. She was not being subtle. At all."
Aarni shakes his head, now more to himself. He can't help but feel like a bit of an idiot, if a quite drunk Johannes could tell what was going on from across the room before Aarni even realized.
On the other hand though, Johannes has been here since they were in school. He has had far more opportunities to learn than Aarni could imagine. It only makes sense that he'd be more attuned to these things. He is nothing if not observant.
"I wasn't too intrusive, I hope," Johannes says quietly, after a while. "Just... had to do something. You looked so uncomfortable."
Aarni frowns, but Johannes isn't looking at him.
"No, you were fine," Aarni reaches up to ruffle his hair for good measure. "Thanks for bailing me out. You could not have had better timing, really. So thank you."
Johannes gives him one of his patented looks, intense as ever, before pressing one more kiss to his neck. Aarni kisses the top of his head in response.
With that Johannes closes his eyes, content to let his two slightly more sober friends lead them back to the hotel, wherever it is.