#aleksy got that big loving and loud family

[sunsmitten]

A quick insight to Aleksy’s large, immediate family. They’re a rowdy bunch and host big Christmas and Halloween parties. 

Najia and Halden Patera: They’ve been married for twenty-three years! Both from Greece but eventually moved elsewhere. Najia is a CEO of a shoe company, famous for women’s heels while his father joined the military at a young age. He’s long since been retired and receives money for his service, and used to be a stay at home dad. But now that Aleksy’s left the house, he’s lonely :( He likes to bake cookies and gives them to the neighbors tho!

Cassia Patera: Graduated art school but ultimately became the owner of a bakery! Just turned 35 years old and recently got married to her girlfriend of five years!! Her main expertise is making artistic sculptures out of cakes and that’s how she makes her business. She’s the eldest sibling of the family and she’s often looked to as another parent for her much younger siblings. Very stern and hard to get to laugh, but she’s a softy underneath her hard exterior!

Dotty Patera: Went to the same art school as her sister Cassia, but dropped out when she found a love for tattooing. She’s the one that convinced Aleksy to get his ears and tongue pierced, and was the person to give Aleksy the sun tattoo on his ribs. 33 years old and almost the complete opposite of her older sister. Carefree, loud and boisterous, she used to be quite the player until she met her current girlfriend. She’s also the one that spikes the drinks at all the family parties. 

Lars Patera: 29 years old and the most mellow one out of the siblings. They’re a peacekeeper and prefers calm atmospheres instead of any hustle and bustle. They kept all their other siblings sane while they were all in the same house together and their room was often used as an escape haven from everyone else. More of a listener than a talker, they give good advice when advice is due. Used to help Aleksy with his sports if their parents were too busy. Stands in the corners at parties and likes to watch the chaos instead of join it. If someone wants official approval from the family, they have to earn Lar’s favor first.

Darius Patera: Was the biggest troublemaker out of the siblings and still is to this day. He’s been arrested twice for ‘public disturbance’ charges and remains to be a huge partier. He’s off and on with all of his ex boyfriends and girlfriends and tends to hop from one job to the next. Right now, at 27 he works as a cook at a dive bar. He doesn’t see a problem with his current lifestyle and tries to convince his siblings to live like he does, but they never fall for it. 

Jace and Mateo Patera: Twins, 25 years old and Jace is on the brink of graduating film school while Mateo, like Aleksy, loves to travel and has been in Norway for a little over a year. Unlike the stereotypical belief that twins were inseparable, Jace and Mateo were very independent from each other. They had a good relationship growing up, and are by far the closest to each other than any of their other siblings, but they’ve never felt the need to be together at every waking moment. Jace has his hands busy making a short film while Mateo is planning his next trip. 

[poodlejoonas]

Aleksi - Fur Baby

For @bcfanweek Day 6: Aleksi Kaunisvesi

Words: 1,559

Description: You and Aleksi take the next big step in your relationship - adopting a dog together.

Notes: Aleksi Kaunisvesi/Reader (gender unspecified)

Aleksi took you totally by surprise the night he asked if you wanted to adopt a puppy with him. It was your shared ritual that one of you will cook and one of you will clean, and tonight was your night to do the cleaning. The dishes were almost done when he strolled back into the kitchen, looking down shyly at the floor with his hands in the pockets of his basketball shorts.

It’s a rare sight whenever Aleksi is too shy to look you in the eye. He hasn’t done this since your first date, when he spent the entire dinner with his face blushed over in red. He was even more straightforward about asking you to move in with him than he is now. Whatever was on his mind had to be bad, so you prepared for the worst.

“Yes?” you asked, waiting for him to finally look you in the eye.

Aleksi finally looked up to you with a soft smile on his face. That relieved some of your concerns, but it left you with more questions than answers. “So I’ve been thinking -”

“Oh, that’s never a good idea,” you joked, to which he only responded with a short laugh. This kind of teasing is a common part of your relationship, so he took it with a grain of salt.

“Anyway, I’ve been thinking… I know we’ve talked about this, but do you think we’re ready for the next step?”

What’s the next step? Marriage? Buying a house and moving out of this little apartment? Aleksi had such a way with words, especially the words that leave you more confused than ever.

“What do you mean?”

His smile grew much bigger than before. “Do you want to adopt a dog with me?”

You nearly dropped the plate you’d just been cleaning. You mentioned in passing a few months ago that you’ve wanted a dog for a while. Both of you are animal lovers, so you hoped that someday the two of you could have a little fur baby to call your own. The look in his eyes meant that he was serious about it.

“Yes, Aleksi!” you practically shouted and ran into his arms. He caught you just before you nearly barreled him over. “Where do you want to start?”

He showed you pictures from an open-air rescue he found online. They had plenty of rave reviews about their shelter - the quality of the care, great customer service, adorable and loving dogs looking for homes. It was in a small town just outside Helsinki, with plenty of room for the dogs to live and roam. “Do you want to go this Saturday?”

That left you with four days to get everything you needed to bring the new fur baby home. Money was no problem, and all you needed was a good shopping day to get prepared. You thought about it and nodded your head.

Aleksi smiled from ear to ear again. “Perfect.” With one last kiss, he disappeared to take a shower, leaving you waiting in the living room for him to return so you could enjoy a couple more hours together.

The thought of the pitter patter of tiny, furry paws around your home filled you with excitement. Saturday just couldn’t come fast enough.

--

Aleksi merged off the highway just a couple miles away from the shelter. It had just begun to heat up outside, so both of you wanted to be home with your new family member before it became sweltering. The box in the back seat sat empty in wait, lined with an old fleece blanket to make the ride home more comfortable. You wiggled in your seat and Aleksi couldn’t help but notice your excitement.

“Patience,” he said through a laugh. “We’re almost there.”

The shelter was even more pleasant than you could have imagined. It was colorful and inviting, and you could hear the sounds of the barking dogs playing outside. A shelter employee greeted you at the door and asked what they could do for you.

“We’re here to adopt,” Aleksi started, and right away she knew exactly where to take you. She told you everything you needed to know about getting the paperwork started and gave advice on how to pick a dog that was right for you. They had 45 dogs at the time, all of whom had been surrendered or rescued from difficult living situations. She also warned that some of them had some form of trauma, either from neglect or being separated from their previous owners.

After the talk in the office, she took the two of you outside to interact with the dogs. One by one, each dog ran to you to vie for your attention, in the hopes that you would take them home. Some of them were big, like a husky named Cyrus who nearly knocked you over while you were sitting. There were some that were small, like a Pomeranian named Teddy who just bounced all over the place.

“Aleksi, why is this such a hard decision?” you complained, petting one dog in each hand while a third climbed onto your lap.

“I really want a big one but can it even live in our apartment?” He then laughed and pointed to a Boxer who was staring him down. “This one’s called Tommi.”

“You’re kidding!” You had to look for yourself and sure enough, the name tag showed that this dog shared its name with Aleksi’s bandmate. “He even looks a little bit like him.”

Aleksi snapped a picture to send to the band group chat. He was surrounded by just as many dogs as you were, struggling to keep them from licking and crawling all over his face. He looked like he was in heaven, and quite frankly you couldn’t blame him. “What do you think so far?”

It wasn’t that none of them had caught your eye yet - your real problem was that all of them had. There was no way you could pick just one, especially knowing that you would have to leave the rest behind. “10 more minutes?” you asked with a pleading look on your face.

“Sure.” Aleksi couldn’t resist it when you gave him that look. He threw a couple toys around, seeing which ones he felt he could play better with. You asked a few questions about the backgrounds of your favorites so far to see what help, if any, they would need to readjust to their new home.

The shelter door connecting to the playground opened and another employee came out holding a Dachshund. She placed the dog down on the floor, who immediately shook her entire body and carried on towards the crowd. This dog was a round one, not to the point that it affected her mobility, but she looked like she’d been fed well. She was dark brown with beady eyes and large ears that flopped down at the ends.

As cheesy as this sounds, laying eyes on this dog was love at first sight for you. She came up to you and when you went to pet her, her first instinct was to raise her own paw for a high five. She caught Aleksi’s attention, who called your name and turned his left arm over. It was his arm with his “small town” tattoo, one that he got so he could feel like he carried home with him wherever he went. And right on the street of that hometown was a weenie dog who looked exactly like the one in front of you.

“She’s perfect,” was all he had to say. He read her name tag out loud: Seidi. “We have to have her. Please?” You thought it was endearing that Aleksi fell more in love with this dog than you did.

Of course you couldn’t say no, the prediction of your meeting was literally inked into his skin. You gave each of the dogs around you one more pat before you stood up and held Seidi in your arms. “We want this one.”

“Perfect!” The two employees took you to the front and guided you through the rest of the adoption process. You looked down at Seidi and she didn’t miss a beat on trying to kiss your face. “She’s been waiting for her forever home for three months now,” the girl commented. “I bet she’s glad to have a home now.”

Aleksi smiled proudly. “We’ll give her a good one.” Your heart hurt thinking that Seidi had to wait so long for someone to scoop her up. But at the same time, you were grateful that she’d waited around to come into your life.

Out in the car, Seidi turned around in her box and sat down, panting but it looked like there was a smile on her face. Aleksi pulled out his phone and got closer to you, close enough to get you in the shot but with a gap so Seidi could fit in the shot too.

“@alexmattson: On our way home with the new baby! Everyone, say hello to Seidi Kaunisvesi. Isn’t she cute?”

You hadn’t gotten home yet before he was flooded with loving comments. Seidi would need some time to get used to your home, but she’d already filled a spot in your home you never knew was missing.

Endnotes:

A gift for my favorite resident Aleksi stan, @gncvillain​.

[theflyingfeeling]

My favourite TV show of all time is Spartacus, so I'd be interested to see the boys in an Ancient Rome/ Gladiator scenario? My sister also suggested a Regancy period AU, like Bridgerton if you've watched that! p.s. I love all your AUs so far. Keep up the great job :)

I have not watched Spartacus (seen clips though), but I've read and loved books such as the The Song of Achilles, Axios: A Spartan Tale, and Captive Prince, so I sort of get the idea 😅

I've been meaning to watch Bridgerton and this ask actually gave me the final push to actaully do it, so thanks 😂 I looooooooove period dramas, so I'll do that AU in a different post! 💖 In the meanwhile, enjoy some Ancient Roman drama, featuring an unfortunate fool who hasn't got a clue of what's going on, a born-to-be gladiator who may not want to be one after all, another gladiator with surprising fringe benefits, a son of the emperor who lives like the ancient gods, a slave whose only ambition is to live another day, and a hopeless man trying to figure out how to get his lover back

(a little game for ya: try and guess who's who before reading 😏)

Joonas has no idea how it all happened: when he fell asleep, he was lying in bed next to his beloved husband in the outskirts of town, but waking up, Joel's chest under his has been replaced by a cold stone floor

And in such a deep sleep he was that it wasn't even the rock-hard floor that woke him up but the loud clang of something metallic hitting it. "Put it on," a voice sais, before Joonas even understands what "it" is: a bronze armour

The next thing he knows he's being forced into the armor and shoved forward until the bright daylight blindens him momentarily. When he opens his eyes again, he sees an open arena surrounded by excited spectators and a man standing in the opposite end. Joonas may not be Cicero, but it doesn't take him strenuous use of his intellect to realise what he's expected to do

He's still far from comprehending how he ended up in a gladiator arena, but there he is and his options are limited, so to say. His panic only increases when his opponent walks closer and Joonas sees just how big he is. The look in the man's eye tells Joonas he isn't there to perform a poetry recital

The man in question has been trained for gladiator since he was a boy, like all his brothers have been. Tommi wants to bring honour to his family, like all his brothers have before him. So why does his heart break whenever he's made to fight the dark-haired slave who barely fights back? The crown wants blood, but every time Tommi sees the small figure emerging from the dungeon, he knows they won't be given it. That is why he's expetionally glad they have brought a new opponent for him to beat and batter

Aleksi's astronomer parents were not in the emperor's favour, if one wants to be politically correct about it. A part of him believes they're still alive, but he's not going to hold his breath. He isn't sure why his capturers are still keeping him alive, and he's planning to make his escape before he finds out

Olli's not exactly the strongest of the gladiators, but he sure is the one whose face artists paint on the walls of the bath house and whose appearance make a certain part of the audience squeal in excitement. Unbeknownst to the girls, however, a guard fetches Olli every evening and escorts him to the chambers of Niko, the son of the emperor

The dried stripes of blood that sometimes remain on Olli's face even after his bath are equal parts saddening and arousing to Niko. In the privacy of his chambers, he tends to his lovers wounds and feeds him grapes...and maybe they sometimes have a bit of fun as well 😌

Meanwhile Joel is desperate to find Joonas who was taken from their secluded home after they both had been drugged in their sleep. Why, Joel doesn't even dare guess, but when he hears word of a new gladiator with blond curls and eyes bluer than the Mediterranean, he knows he's found him. Now he only needs to figure out how to get to him

The plottwists include Tommi helping Aleksi escape and contemplating following his suit, Niko being jealous of Olli flirting with the screaming ladies in the audience (and punishing him accordingly once the evening comes (and by punishing I don't mean hurting him in anyway way, unless it's for pleasure lol)), Joonas nearly getting himself killed when he notices his husband in the audience mid-fight, and Joel with a dark purpose to poison the emperor