#can you tell i've never set foot in a music studio before lol pls be nice 🙈

[theflyingfeeling]

Hi, if I'm not late to throw this idea at you: Aleksi and Olli aren't dating yet, but they both want to make a move at the Valentines day. So we have an incredibly long day at studio, two nervous (idiots) boys in love and others who either try to help or observe the whole show with some popcorn

Again, right up my alley! 💞

Also, you were not late, but I am, horribly so 😂

(long(ish) text alert!)

~

Aleksi stared at the road ahead of him, sucking his lips as he tried to find the right opener to present his reuqest to Niko.

“Hey, umm,” he began and ran his fingers through his hair, “can I ask you a favour?”

Niko looked up from his phone. “What is it?”

“Well, umm…” It was laughable how nervous he was about the whole situation. “Actually, never mind,” he sighed after a moment.

It’s not like he’d ever actually have the courage to do something about it; getting together with Olli was just a daydream, nothing more, and whether Niko helped him out or not made little to no difference.

But oh, what a daydream it was! How lovely were the butterflies that fluttered around inside his stomach whenever Olli smiled at him, sometimes bashfully, other times knowing exactly what he did to Aleksi. How devastating was it when he looked away, indifferent or insecure, Aleksi could only guess, yet it broke his heart a little each time. Combined with all the small touches, the lingering hugs, and the way he occasionally straight up crawled next to Aleksi in his bed on tour or on the sofa at their training studio and snuggled against him when he was tired or drunk enough, it was all but simple trying to figure out how Olli felt about him. Even still, he really, really wanted to believe the crush was requited. Unfortunately, you just couldn’t be completely sure when it came to Olli Matela, who on his best (or worst, depending on how you looked at it) days could behave like he lived off kisses and cuddles as much as Porko did.

As if Niko had been reading his mind, he asked: “Is it about Olli?”

And if there was one thing Aleksi had learnt over the years spent with his violent pop boys, it was that there was no use lying to Niko about anything. He’d dig out the truth eventually, one way or another; hiding the truth from him would only slow him down, if even that.

“Yeah,” Aleksi said quietly, not even bothering to ask what had given him away.

“He likes you too, bro,” Niko stated, proceeding to browse his phone. “In case you were wondering.”

Ironically, that information did not help Aleksi’s despair in the slightest.

“I like him so bad,” Aleksi groaned, tightening his grip on the steering wheel, “and I was gonna do...something about it today, but… ugh, I don’t know.”

“Well, what did you have in mind?” Seemingly realising the conversation was not over, Niko pocketed his phone and turned on his seat for a better view at Aleksi.

Aleksi felt his cheeks warming and he groaned again, feeling like a clueless teenager crushing on his classmate.

“Aww, did you wanna kiss him? Ask him to be your Valentine?” Niko chirped. Aleksi didn’t need to look at him to know the kind of smile Niko was wearing.

Suddenly he regretted not having consulted Tommi instead.

“I just want to… be with him.”

“Lucky for you buddy, I have good reason to believe the bassist will be at the studio as well. I mean, he damn better be, if he wants to have his bass lines finished today.”

“But you all will be there too,” Aleksi muttered, already dreading the chaos awaiting them at the studio. Nothing in particular needed to even happen; when Blind Channel assembled, it was sure to end in pure mayhem, often sooner rather than later.

“Why, that minor obstacle is easily dealt with,” Niko assured him. Aleksi just barely dared to take a glance at Niko, only to see an annoyingly smug smile stuck on his lips. “Trust me.”

Niko boosted his word by lightly nudging Aleksi’s shoulder with his fist.

Aleksi did not trust him, not even a little bit, but he supposed it was the best shot he got.

~

Olli was not surprised to find the terror twins already at work by the time he arrived at the studio with Tommi.

“Is Aleksi here yet?” Olli asked as he stepped in the room.

Joel shook his head, never lifting his gaze from his guitar, but Joonas immediately looked up, eyebrows risen. Then he began wiggling them while smiling widely at Olli, not missing a beat as he kept plucking on his six-string.

“Ooh, so will this finally be the day?” he asked, tapping Olli’s foot with his as Olli sat next to him on the sofa.

“I don’t knooooooooow,” Olli growled and slid against the back rest. He slammed his palms on his cheeks and lightly pressed his eyes with his fingers.

It was so unlike him to spend half the night awake imagining all the thrilling, hand-trembling, and sometimes even absurd scenarios in which he would finally make a move on Aleksi, or at least a more obvious move than what he had done thus far. He had tossed and turned in his bed, his mind unwilling to let him rest from thoughts of taking Aleksi’s hand in his, looking him in the eyes for as long as his patience would allow before stepping in closer, maybe sliding his other hand to Aleksi’s smooth neck and leaning in for a kiss. Perhaps Aleksi would meet him half way; that’s what Olli allowed himself to hope anyway. Although Olli infamously had a history of failing at putting together the clues when someone was crushing on him, he was fairly certain he had been reading Aleksi’s non-verbal cues correctly. Only fairly certain, however, because of course Aleksi could have been moaning Olli’s name in his sleep that one night on tour as a friend, too. And how was Olli supposed to know whether the heart next to his name in Aleksi’s WhatsApp contacts Olli had seen when he had been looking over Aleksi’s shoulder as he browsed his phone meant anything at all?

There was a chance it all was just foolishly wishful thinking and he could very possibly turn their whole relationship incredibly awkward if his gut feeling had misled him. But how much longer would he stay sane, not knowing for sure?

He knew his bandmates would argue he wasn’t all that sane to begin with, which is why he generally avoided asking their advice regarding matters like this, if only he could help it. Thus, turning to Joonas only showed just how desperate he was.

“What should I do?” he whined and leaned his head on Joonas’ shoulder. “I don’t think I can handle this anymore.”

“Handle what?” Joel finally looked at Olli, wearing a slight frown on his face.

Joonas was kind enough to provide an answer. “He can’t handle the fact he wants to handle Aleksi.”

“Ah. Sure,” Joel shrugged and turned his focus back to his guitar.

Olli rolled his eyes but stayed put against his friend. “Thanks, Porko, that’s exactly how I would have put it myself.”

“Tell me I’m wrong, though,” Joonas patted Olli’s thigh. “But honestly speaking, I don’t understand why you two still keep playing cat and mouse. Even my mom wondered the other day why you’re not already official.”

“Oh god, is that why my mom texted me the other day asking if I have something to tell her? Porko, what the fuck, argh!” Olli whined, hiding his face with his hands again.

“I didn’t tell her anything, I swear, I can’t help she’s nosy!”

“Wait, is that why my mom texted me the other day complaining how she’s always the last one to know about everything? She seemed proper pissed,” Tommi frowned, causing Olli to groan some more.

“If it helps at all, my mom’s not interested in your marital status whatsoever,” Joel commented. “Although she did ask me when you’ll be moving to Helsinki. Didn’t really understand what she was on about so I told her to ask you.”

“Wonderful, so now all your mothers are after me? Has anyone called Niko’s mom yet?” Olli sat up and spread his arms, exasperated.

“Called my mom about what?” Niko peeked his head from behind the studio door, making the four of them jump. Less of a surprise were Joonas’ quick wits that came up with a comeback not a second later.

“About his son being a fine piece of ass. Someone ought to let her know,” Joonas said and puckered his lips to make kissy sounds at Niko’s direction. Niko walked over and ruffled Joonas’ already messy hair, Aleksi following right at his heels, looking at everything and everyone except Olli before finding his seat by the mixing table. If Olli wasn’t tormented by all the anticipation and uncertainty before, he was now so deep in damnation that even the ruler of the Underworld would have taken pity on his sorry soul.

A moment later, his misery was relieved a little when Aleksi’s eyes finally found his from behind his black hair when Olli stood up to grab his bass and go to the recording room. It was just the briefest of glances, fortified with a tiny smile, but in that moment it meant the world to Olli, giving him just the right kind of inspiration to put his everything to his final tracks.

~

Aleksi could not stop marveling at what an amazing job Olli had done with his instrument. His parts neared perfection, and this time he had almost remembered to unmute the thing on his first try which, by Olli’s standards, was a definite advancement. However, Aleksi would lie if the mishap hadn’t made the man only more lovable in his eyes; the embarrassed smile and the slight blush looked sinfully good on him. Similarly, Aleksi had nothing to complain about when half an hour after Olli had successfully wrapped his part, he was still chuckling to himself and hiding his face on the front of Aleksi’s hoodie, mumbling about what a dumbass he was.

“You’re not a dumbass,” Aleksi consoled him, petting his soft hair. They had spread themselves on the sofa, which was enough intimacy for Aleksi to consciously having to keep his mind from wandering to irrelevant details, such as Olli’s lower stomach pressed against his crotch or Olli’s hands moving slowly on Aleksi’s chest, frustratingly so.

“He’s a little bit of a dumbass,” Joonas remarked from the squeaky office chair, spinning on it back and forth.

“You heard him!”, Olli revealed his face to Aleksi as he set his chin on Aleksi’s chest. All of a sudden his face was only a few inches from Aleksi’s, and the view made Aleksi hold his breath.

What’s worse, he could feel it having the same effect on Olli, his body going completely still against Aleksi’s own.

Then, Niko’s suspiciously loud voice broke the tension that had suddenly settled in the room.

“So, umm, that problem with your car, Tommi, did you wanna go us have a look at it now?”

“What prob– ow!” Tommi cried when Niko elbowed him.

“You know, the problem with the, umm,” Niko said, pausing to nod towards Aleksi and Olli, and not particularly discreetly, “the...umm, the…”

“Cylinder,” Joonas whispered to him, even less subtle in his efforts.

“Yes, the cylinder!”

“Ooohh, that problem,” Tommi nodded. Had Aleksi’s hands not been so comfortable buried in Olli’s hair, he would have facepalmed himself, for Niko’s “mastermind plan”, as he had called it in the car, was an even more transparent scheme than he had expected. He could not imagine a less convincing excuse to go outside than helping Tommi with a car issue; if you were to ever go near the hood of Tommi’s beloved Peugeot, you were either extremely brave, extremely stupid, or downright suicidal.

“We better go at once, and Joel should come too, in case we need to tow it to the carage,” Joonas contributed. Joel said nothing, but the raise of his eyebrow indicated he wasn’t completely following. Still, Aleksi appreciated it when he, too, put down his guitar and followed the others outside.

Once the loud chatter disappeared behind the door, Aleksi looked at Olli, whose face was as puzzled and amused as Aleksi’s own probably was. Then they burst into giggles, Olli burying his face against Aleksi’s chest again. He could feel the vibrations of Olli’s body, the body Aleksi was desperate to feel closer to his, even though Olli wasliterally lying on top of him.

When the laughter died, Olli shuffled further up and tilted his head so that his cheek was on Aleksi’s collarbone, his nose blowing calm breaths on his neck. Olli’s fingers travelled up Aleksi’s chest again, stopping right by the neckline and poking at the drawstrings of his hood.

“You’re cute,” Aleksi blurted out as he looked down at Olli, who was seemingly preoccupied with his important task of fumbling with the details of Aleksi’s sweater.

The unscheduled announcement made Olli abandon his work and lift his head. His mouth was partly open and his eyes blinking softly, and Aleksi found it incredibly hard to restrain himself from giving in at last and kissing him.

“You’re cute too,” Olli said and bit his lip, as if just his smile wasn’t enough to send Aleksi to nirvana. Aleksi could barely hearhis own thoughts from the thumping inside his chest, each beat voicing a rhythmic Olli, Olli, Olli, but miraculously he managed to persuade his brain to form intelligible words.

“Do you wanna go out?”

Olli blinked at him a couple of times. Mentally, Aleksi slapped himself.

Thanks, brain, knew I could count on you.

“Like… to look at Tommi’s car or–“

“With me,” Aleksi cut him short. “Do you wanna go out with me?”

Olli kept blinking his long lashes, mouth shaping a small O.

“As in, on a date,” Aleksi elaborated, just to make sure Olli wouldn’t think he was asking Olli to join him on the balcony to get some fresh air and wonder about the weather.

There were a few more soft blinks before Olli burst into a series of quiet giggles against Aleksi’s chest. Having collected himself relatively soon, he touched Aleksi’s neck with his hand and brought his face so close that Aleksi thought he was gonna pass out from the sheer beauty of Olli’s eyes, staring right into Aleksi’s soul that humbly wished it had found its counterpart.

“Yes,” Olli answered. On some level, Aleksi had known he would, but still the relief of finally hearing itwashed over him like a tornado, fast and thoroughly.

“But just so you know, I don’t kiss on the first date,” Olli said, and suddenly Aleksi felt like the whirlwind of emotions had taken everything with it.

“Oh,” hemanaged to say. “That’s–“

“Which is why I suggest we do it now, so that I won’t have to give up my principles.”

The addition made Aleksi exhale and chuckle silently. He wondered how he had ever fallenfor this absolutedoofus of a man, but at the same time, he couldn’t name a single reason why he shouldn’t have.

“Well, I’d hate for you to loosen your morals.”

Aleksi heard a few warm giggles before Olli closed the gap between their mouths.

The sensation was everything Aleksi had imagined in his lovelorn daydreams, yet nothing like he could ever have expected. Their lips and tongues worked together so seamlessly that it was hard to believe they were sharing their very first kiss. In Aleksi’s mind they had, of course, done this multiple times in a range of scenarios, but now that Olli was finally kissing him for real, all of that seemed like a huge waste of time; dream-Olli sure was lovely, but he did not even begin to compare to the one sucking on Aleksi’s bottom lip right now, grinding his body against Aleksi’s.

Aleksi could not stop himself, nor did Olli for that matter, when his hands slid under Olli’s shirt, stroking his back muscles while Olli’s hands roamed Aleksi’s chest. Heat started building up in Aleksi’s lower stomach as their movements grew more erratic, their kisses more sloppy, and breathing seemed like a secondary chore that had to make room for shaky laughs and barely audible moans.

How far they would have gone, they’d never know, as the opening of the door make them drop what they were about to do and bolt up from the sofa.

“Oh, shit, sorry, we thought you’d be done by now.” Joonas’ head appeared from behind the door. “Carry on,” he winked and closed the door again.

Laughing at the absurdity of it all, Aleksi and Olli fell into another embrace, one that was a little less lustful than the one they had shared on the sofa, although their hearts were still racing and their cheeks coloured by a healthy shade of red.

Aleksi stole another kiss, reveling in the fact he could nowdo so whenever he wanted. Sighing into the kiss, he let his lips stay on Olli’s for as long as it felt comfortable, which would have easily been for the whole eternity.