Olli and Allu are strangers to each other and both of them have dogs that look almost identical. They take a walk and let their puppies run free in the park and accidentally swap them! Chaos ensues :D
hi there, anon, thank you for leaving a request, here it is!! 🫶
it's about 6650 words, some minor liberties were taken with the prompt (they don't go for a walk in the park), and in general there's maybe less puppy action and more "two strangers meet in the dark" kinda action. hope that's cool with you, anon 🥺 the doggos are still there though of course, don't worry!! 🐶🐶
oh, and Aleksi has blond hair here btw, not that it's a crucial detail in any way, I just thought I'd mention it so y'all won't be bewildered when it's mentioned in the fic🤭 more of author's commentary in the tags~
enjoy!! 💞
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Olli was having one of the worst nights of his life.
One of the worst ones so far, at least. He suspected it would be all downhill from then on.
He was happy for his sister, of course he was. The ceremony at the very church their parents had gotten married some 30 years ago had been grand, yet intimate, with rose pedals scattered down the aisle and a violin solo from the maid of honour. The actual celebration at the recently renovated industrial-esque venue wasn't any less pompous either, with live music and white flower arrangements decorating every table and windowsill, even though the bridal couple had to settle for the smaller banquet hall at a very short notice due to an accidental double-booking. They had been determined not to let such a mishap intervene with their wedding plans, and least of all they wanted to cancel anyone's invitation so close to the big day; it just meant they'd have to seat the tables a little more tightly, which, according to the bride, would only 'make the atmosphere even more charged with positive excitement!'
By all accounts, that was what Olli should have been feeling too, he reckoned. He should have felt encouraged by the hopefulness of weddings and by the privilege of witnessing love that was larger and more powerful than the entire universe. It should have filled him with anticipation of his own future and what would await him when he'd find 'his person', but it sort of killed his mood when his cousins and all his sister's old classmates gave him sympathetic looks of 'oh... but I'm sure you'll meet someone soon' when he told them that no, he did not have a partner to bring as his avec, or when he heard his mother promptly change the subject when Olli's aunt asked if he had already found 'a nice girl to introduce to them over some coffee and cinnamon rolls.'
So perhaps it was the multitude of people cramped in a room that was a tad too small for them all, or the roses and lilies and all the other fragrances, perfumes and colognes pushing their way to Olli's nostrils and making him nauseous, or his unfortunate nicotine addiction, or simply just the fact that his sister's beloved pet dachshund, the ringbearer and the guest of honour at the reception, kept pawing his foot under the table, which made Olli feel like he needed to get the hell out of there, if only for as long as it took him to smoke a cigarette or two.
He lifted the hem of the tablecloth to peek at the dog. She stared back at him with her big, wet eyes, the bow on the top of her head a little askew.
The dog would be the perfect getaway, Olli decided.
"I'm taking Sansa out," Olli said to his mother, who was too engaged in a conversation with her sister to care if Olli was leaving and whether or not he was taking the dog with him.
Olli clipped the leash to her brand new cream-white collar and scooped her under his armpit, wobbled for a second standing up as his body reminded him of the craft beers he had downed that evening, felt the pocket of his trousers with his other hand to make sure his cigarettes were still there, and made his way through the room towards the entrance hall. He let out a frustrated grunt when he saw through the large glass doors that the front of the building was already crowded with other wedding guests chatting, smoking and laughing, both from their party as well as the reception in the larger hall. Sweat was already forming on his forehead and Sansa was squirming in his arms, but it was then Olli realised that this was the moment where assisting the bridesmaids with decorating the place for two days paid off.
He turned at his heels and headed to the other end of the entrance hall, where he remembered a fire exit to the backyard to be.
It was pitch black when he stepped out the door, greeted by a chilly September breeze. The contrast with the stifling heat of the party was drastic and almost literally took his breath away as he inhaled the cold air, but to him it was the seventh heaven. He knew he'd get cold without his suit jacket, but he was too blissed out to even care, and besides, Sansa was already sniffing the ground by Olli's feet enthusiastically, and he'd just hate to interrupt her work.
Olli passed his hand through the loose loop of Sansa's leash and pocketed his hand for his cigarettes. His head felt much lighter already, knowing it would be a matter of seconds until he'd get his next nicotine fix. He took a fresh cigarette out of the pack, put it in between his lips, and then searched for his suit jacket for the—
"Fuck." The cigarette almost dropped from his lips when he realised his lighter was in the inside pocket of his suit jacket, the one he had taken off and laid on the back of his chair hours earlier.
He wasn't that addicted that he would have started crying over such a matter, but he had really been looking forward to having a smoke, for he had barely found the time to take more than a few drags all day, and he really didn't want to go back in just yet, now that he finally was alone in the peace and quiet of the outdoors.
A few seconds of distressed agony later, Olli was to find out he was outdoors, yes, but he was not alone.
"Need light?"
Olli jumped at the voice addressing him from the dark. He tried to look for its source, but saw only a glowing ember of a cigarette and the vague shape of a human figure leaning against a wall a few steps from him, and that was about it.
"Sorry, didn't mean to scare you. I don't know why they haven't bothered fixing any of the lights on this side of the building," a man's voice spoke to him, and then there was some rustle of fabric. "Here."
Stepping closer to the stranger in the dark, Olli saw a matchbox being handed towards him. He accepts it with a nod.
"Thanks. I forgot my lighter inside," he added, realising that whoever was in his company probably couldn't see much more than he could.
Olli lit his smoke and started off with a few long, thorough drags, and only when his thoughts were sobered up enough, he handed the box back to its owner.
"You really needed that, huh?" the man chuckled. The evening was only getting darker by the minute, but Olli's eyes had already adjusted to the dusk enough for him to make out a cunning smile.
"You would too, if you were me."
The man laughed shortly, a dry, humourless laugh, almost on the brink of bitterness. "I don't usually smoke, but... yeah. It's been one of those days for me too."
Olli wondered why this stranger felt it necessary to explain his smoking habits to him, but asked no further questions about it. Probably the man had his reasons, just like Olli did. They smoked in silence for the few moments that followed, but eventually Olli's curiosity got the better of him.
"So are you from that other wedding party? In the grand hall?"
"Yeah. My sister's wedding," the man added without Olli asking.
"No way? Mine too."
"Oh yeah? That's crazy."
"I know," Olli grinned and brought the smoke to his lips anew. "Are you, by any chance, also escaping the intrusive questions of distant relatives and the silent disappointment of your parents?"
The laughter is more breathless now, and somewhat less gloomy. Olli was beginning to make out the man's facial features now: a sharp nose and cheeks that filled in when he smiled.
"Something like that, I'd say."
"A fellow wedding sufferer, huh? Welp, seems like we're on the same bo—" Suddenly Olli felt a sharp tug at his wrist "Hey, stop pulling, Sansa, stay!" Olli ordered the dachshund, who was eager to catch a whiff of the stranger's pant leg.
"I guess your dog just wants to say hi to Rilla."
Olli didn't know how he had missed it the first time, but now that he focused his eyes to the ground by the stranger's feet, he saw two black buttons giving him the side-eye.
"Oh! I didn't even notice you there, hi!" Olli bent down to offer his hand for the dog to sniff while trying to keep Sansa from getting too close for the other dog's comfort.
"It's okay, you can let your dog nearer if she's interested. Did you say Sansa is her name?"
Olli loosened Sansa's leash a little to let her practically bury her snoopy nose in the fur of the other dog, who resigned herself to being inspected.
"Yeah, Sansa. Like the Game of Thrones character."
"You're a fan of the show, then?"
Noticing his hand was being ignored as the two dogs made each other’s acquaintance, Olli straightened his back to face the man again.
Olli could now see his two twinkly eyes, meeting his gaze through the dim of the late evening. He wondered about their colour.
"I am, but this is actually my sister's dog. I'm just the ring-bearer's assistant, you see." The stranger laughed, and oh, what a bubbly little giggle it was this time, not at all like the sombre snorts Olli had heard from him thus far.
"Well, this is Rilla, and she's actually my own. I don't think being the ring-bearer's servant is quite as bad as bringing your own dog as your plus one to your sister's wedding."
It was Olli's time to giggle now, if for nothing else but for the tragic absurdness of their conversation. Something about it warmed Olli from the inside; just a minute ago he would have killed to be alone for just the shortest of whiles, but now he found certain comfort in having company, as unexpected as it was.
It made him feel way less lonely, somehow, to know that as close as next door there was someone who was also having a lousy time at a dear sibling's wedding.
Maybe the beer Olli had drank at the reception to ease his discomfort were finally kicking in, or maybe the warmth of the the stranger's gaze was slowing down his train of thought, but once their giggles died and silence fell between them, Olli's mind was blank of any more witty one-liners to say, so he brought his cigarette back to his lips once more. He watched the man do the same, all the while looking at Olli with unspoken curiosity, and Olli couldn't help trying to figure out if the man's eyes really were as blue as the autumnal clouds above them, or if it was just the darkness playing tricks on Olli's perception of colours.
Under the cover of the darkness and the silence surrounding them, Olli studied more of the man's features. His fair complexion was standing out against the blackness of his shirt now that Olli looked more closely, and in the glow of the ember every time he took another drag, Olli could make out the shape of his lips at glimpses.
They were as if carved out of marble; way too pretty for such bad habits as smoking, Olli thought. Then again, he had said it wasn't a habit of his, which led Olli to wonder if there was more to it than what the man had told him.
Did they, perhaps, share the same fate in other ways too, apart from being the misfits of wedding parties? Or was it just Olli who felt inconsolable shame for not being the son their parents always thought he'd be at his age, one with a house and a wife and a baby on the way? Did this stranger also feel eternal guilt over avoiding his family's inquiries about when and how and why, or if he was going to 'put an end to this nonsense soon', or blatantly suggest that he 'just hadn't found the right girl yet'.
('Could it be that he's just confused?' Olli had overheard his aunt whisper to his mother just earlier that day. That one had hurt a bit, Olli had to admit.)
Could he ask this stranger, or was it just the alcohol in his system convincing him that it wouldn't be horribly inappropriate?
Before Olli could make up his mind, they both took fright when the fire escape door opened and a woman's head peeked out. Olli's companion was quick to hide his cigarette behind his back.
"Aleksi? Are you coming back in soon? We're taking photos!"
The stranger (Aleksi?) coughed and tightened Rilla's leash.
"In a second," he replied, in a tone that showed much less enthusiasm than the woman's.
"We're waiting for youuuuuuu..." The woman's sing-songy voice disappeared behind the heavy door, and Aleksi sighed.
"Fuck," he muttered to the ground. He dropped the stub of his cigarette there and stepped on it.
Aleksi encouraged his dog to do her business once more, and Olli felt disappointment wash over him as he realised Aleksi was about to excuse himself from his company. There was something alluring about him, something Olli was too intrigued by to let him go just yet. A gut feeling – or just a tipsy whim – told him that if he didn't keep Aleksi around for just a little longer, he might end up regretting it.
"I'm sure they'll manage a few more minutes. You can always tell them Rilla has constipation," Olli suggested and, in another spontaneous tactic to delay Aleksi's escape, offered his hand for Aleksi to shake. "I'm Olli, by the way."
"Aleksi." Olli couldn't understand how, but Aleksi's hand was pleasantly warm despite the cool weather. "And actually, Rilla has been having some tummy issues lately."
"There you go, then. They won't bat an eye." Olli was pleased how easily Aleksi seemed to buy his excuse. Then Olli took a long, relaxed drag of his shortening cigarette and leaned his shoulder against the brick wall behind them, his eyes studying Aleksi who mirrored him, turning to face Olli.
"So did you ever watch Game of Thrones?" Olli asked him, for the lack of a more clever way to keep Aleksi engaged without scaring him away with anything deeper just yet.
"Some of the first seasons," Aleksi nodded. "My, umm, my ex liked it a lot."
Willing to get invested in the interests of his partner? That's a good sign, Olli thought to himself. He also loved the mention of the word ex.
"What about your current partner?" Olli tried to keep his tone conversational, but there was no hiding his true intention, not even with good will. Aleksi chuckled at Olli’s straightforwardness.
"If I had a partner, one might think I'd have brought them as my avec instead of my dog."
Okay, Olli may have already forgotten about that detail in Aleksi's lore, so he was grateful the late-night dusk veiled his blushing cheeks.
"Well, sorry but they could have been at work for all I know! My sister's godmother almost couldn't make it today because they wouldn't give her a day off."
"That's true," Aleksi shrugged. "Anyway. I'm more of a Star Wars guy myself."
Olli could work with that too.
"Funny, I can't remember there being a Star Wars character called Rilla..."
Aleksi laughed again, and the more Olli heard Aleksi's bright giggles, the more determined he was to keep on making silly jokes no one at the wedding reception would have laughed at.
He was not given the chance to fire another one yet, for Sansa was whining for his assistance, having got a paw dangled up in her own leash.
"You ever thought of getting a dog of your own?" Aleksi asked him, once Sansa's leg was free. "Or are you that much of a dog person?"
"Oh yeah, I'm definitely getting one in the future, once I'm more...settled. Graduated, and stuff. I'd hate to leave the dog all alone at home for hours at a time."
Aleksi nodded. "That's the downside of being a single dog parent. The look Rilla gives me every morning when I'm off to work...breaks my heart each time."
Olli could imagine; Rilla's fur blended into the night so well that he couldn't quite figure out what breed she was, but the endearing side-eyes she kept giving Olli told him she was quite the character. A well trained pup, Olli also supposed, since she had mostly been sitting calmly right by her human's feet during their chat, but it was also easy to imagine Aleksi spoiling such a cutie to heaven and back.
"What do you do for a living, by the way?"
"Umm..." Aleksi scratched his jaw. A shiny watch peeked from under his shirt sleeve. "I'm in the music business. My dad owns a small record label. Officially my title is Artist Relations and Development Representative, but that's just a fancy way of saying I'm dad's runaround."
Daddy issues, huh? Olli wasn't expecting that, but he was intrigued to learn more.
"Actually that sounds pretty cool. Do I know any of the artists you work with?"
Aleksi looked down at the ground between them, almost in a bashful manner. Strands of his blond hair fell on his forehead.
"It's mostly up-and-coming artists and bands, so probably nah. I can give you a few recs of my favourites though, if you're genuinely interested." His small smile seemed so shy all of a sudden, barely staying on his lips while he waited for Olli’s response. Olli tried not to imagine feeling the shy smile against his own lips, but he couldn't help his tipsy mind wondering about it, nor his unruly eyes from wandering.
"That would be nice," he said. Aleksi's smile widened a little, until he spoke again.
"And yourself? Studying in uni?"
"Yeah, I'm currently writing my thesis. Hoping to finish it by Christmas."
"What about?" Aleksi wanted to know before Olli could direct the topic to safer waters where Olli wouldn't hit the rocks he usually did when getting to know someone new.
"Ehh," Olli glanced at his own feet in turn. "Extremism and satanism in black metal?Just some weird geeky stuff like that."
Olli expected Aleksi to give a titter of belittling laughter or to crunch his forehead in confusion – the reactions Olli was used to by now – but instead Aleksi's head perked up, his eyes twinkling like faraway stars.
"You're a music major?"
"Trying to be, at least. I'm also working as a nurse, so writing's been pretty slow recently."
Aleksi's eyes were almost too pretty to look into, but Olli forced himself anyway. In a matter of minutes, someone was bound to come looking for Aleksi again, and this time they wouldn't leave without him, so Olli saw it better to make every second count, in case he'd never get to share any with Aleksi ever again.
He hadn't even noticed how the two of them had gradually gravitated towards each other, their shoulders still pressed against the brick wall, but the tips of their loafers almost touching.
"So tell me," Aleksi's tone was playful, "what are the main findings of your research so far?"
Olli never thought that the topic of his thesis – the very topic that most of his friends and all of his dating partners frowned upon – would be a matter of some subtle flirtation, but here he was.
"Well, it seems that those Norwegians who burned all those churches were just your regular, small-dicked, attention-seeking losers and should thus be left out of the statistics as outliers."
It wasn't even close to Olli's best quips, yet Aleksi bursted out in laughter all the same. Olli suspected Aleksi had also had a drink or two at his own sister's party, but Olli didn't slither away when Aleksi rested his forehead on his shoulder, his own still shaking with giggles.
"In all seriousness," Aleksi said once he got the control of his chuckles, "that's such an original topic. I might read it."
Aleksi's expression was so soft, so sincere, that Olli wanted to believe what he said.
"I'll send you the link if I ever get around to publishing the whole thing."
In the end, it was nothing but empty words between two strangers crossing each other's paths for a fleeting moment, and Olli knew it. Still, when he watched Aleksi study his face up close as carefully as he did, with as much gentleness to his gaze as he had, a flare of foolish hope flashed through Olli. They were strangers to each other, yes, and they were likely to part ways soon, possibly never to see each other again, but they were two strangers who clearly enjoyed each other's company, very much indeed, despite the shortness of their story so far.
Who was to judge Olli, if he let himself be entertained by the idea that it wasn’t only the oppressive atmosphere indoors, nor the awkwardness of their respective situations, nor even pure, lucky coincidence that had led the two of them to meet there and then, in the pitch dark backyard of their sisters' wedding venue?
(Well, his mother would, but she wasn't there now, was she.)
Aleksi's face was serious now, leaving Olli to wonder if he thought the same, or if he was just glad to have an excuse to not go back inside just yet. If that was the case, Olli was happy to be of service, if in the meantime he got to make this lovely man laugh against his shoulder.
Olli would have done so all night if given the chance, but the buzz of his phone had other ideas.
"Someone's missing you," Aleksi nodded towards Olli's vibrating pocket. Olli sighed at the push-up notification he saw.
"The maid of honour. My sister's asking for Sansa."
"I should get back too," Aleksi said quietly. His gaze dropped to the ground, and Olli didn't know where to look or what to say for his farewell to this guy who, for the first time in a long while, had made Olli feel like he wasn't some kind of freak, so he squatted to say his farewell to Rilla instead. He scratched the underside of her jaw, and Rilla wagged her tail, basking in the attention she was given.
"Bye then." The rims of Olli's eyes suddenly burned, and he didn't even know what for. "Maybe we'll see each other again one day." His voice almost broke at the end, which was silly and stupid and stupid and stupid, so he spent a few extra seconds crouched near the dog, taking shaky inhales to calm himself, and when he stood up again, his head felt dizzy and his eyes still burned and his lips were sealed with another pair of lips.
The kiss was a surprise for the first half a second, after which Olli realised it had probably lingered in the air for a while already; he had just been a little too oblivious. He gave in to it embarrassingly fast, downright melting in Aleksi's arms and dropping his long-neglected cigarette on the ground to grasp Aleksi by his waist, his fingers pressing into the softness through Aleksi's shirt.
The kisses were hungry and rushed, yet Olli still recognized a few familiar tastes off Aleksi's lips and tongue: smoke, for sure, but also something sweet (powdered sugar on top of spoon biscuits?), something a little sour (apple in a stew?) and, yes, a bit of booze as well. As their lips moved together, Olli wondered if Aleksi could also taste the flavours of Olli's mouth: the mango filling of the wedding cake and the craft ginger ale made in the groom's brother's brewery that no one had the heart to say tasted a bit too gingery.
Their urgency eased gradually, leaving them to revel in the kiss instead of hurrying through it. Olli's hands sneaked to Aleksi's backside and further down to his bottocks, hoping to maybe do a little squeeze there if he'd be bold enough. His fingers found Aleksi's buttcheeks round and full, but also a phone in his back pocket and his pack of secret smokes in the other, so Olli commanded his palms to rest just above the curve of Aleksi's bum instead. He massaged and stroked the clothed skin there, and if his finger slipped under the waist of Aleksi's trousers, it was purely an accident.
In the meantime, Aleksi had slipped his long fingers in the nape of Olli's neck, locking him to the kiss, as if Olli had any intention to break out of it. There were moments when Olli thought Aleksi was going to, as their mouths parted from each other for just long enough for Olli to fear it, but then Aleksi would take Olli's bottom lip in between his own again, kissing all of Olli's fears away.
And then a small dog's yap brought them crashing back to reality.
"Wha— hey, where's Rilla? RILLA!"
Aleksi slipped away from Olli's arms as suddenly as he had fallen there and turned around aimlessly. In his dazed, kiss-drunk state, it took Olli a moment to notice that neither of them were holding on to the dogs' leashes anymore and that the dogs themselves were nowhere to be seen.
Olli's sister was going to skin him alive.
"Fuck's sake, SANSA! Oh fucking, fucking, fucking fuck..."
Aleksi kept calling out for Rilla and Olli whistled, both of them eyeing the lightless lawn in front of them. For the longest time, they saw nothing much but infinite darkness, and just when Olli thought he might as well start planning his own funeral, they heard the rustles of dried leaves near a large maple tree, no farther than four of five steps from where Olli and Aleksi had just been making out as if the world around had stopped just for them.
Blood started circulating in Olli's veins when he realised the dogs had not run away forever, or been caught by whatever bloodthirsty predators lurked in the shadows, but had only found something fascinating in a leaf pile.
Olli wasn't going to take any more risks with the curious dachshund and leaped to pick her up. Aleksi followed his suit, huffing and puffing as they approached the dogs.
"Goddammit, Rilla, you're not supposed to sneak away like that," Aleksi muttered, as if it wasn't him who had dropped Rilla's leash when his hands had found Olli's neck to hold.
Their warmness haunted Olli's skin still; the taste of Aleksi lingered on his lips. He knew their moment was gone now, however, and was not to be retrieved, as he watched Aleksi hurry to the fire exit.
"Your paws are all cold, let's get you inside," he said to Rilla and not a word to Olli before banging the door closed behind him.
~*~
Olli's nose was running when he returned to the warmth of the banquet hall. He wasn't sure if time had paused or leaped while he had been out; nevertheless, it felt like an entire day had passed since the last time he had been there. Trying his best to avoid anyone stopping him to ask where he'd been, he threaded between tables to his assigned seat, where he collapsed on the chair and hoped no one would come and bother him until his head had made sense of all that had just happened.
Forming a short-term bond and a budding romance within minutes with a complete stranger at the back door of the venue was certainly not on Olli's bingo card for his sister's wedding, but there he was, half dumbfounded by it, half fearing it had all been just a beery dream.
Sansa whined and wriggled in his arms, and he scratched the dog behind her ear.
"Yes, yes, Sansa, let's go find—"
Olli's body did a speed-run of the nine levels of hell his sister was about to drag him through when he looked at the dog on his lap in horror. It was a wire-haired dachshund like Sansa, but with a somewhat darker tinge to her fur. She was missing the bow Olli had put on her earlier that morning with great difficulty, and the colour of her collar was purple, not creamy white.
"You're not Sansa," Olli remarked, in all his great wisdom.
Took you long enough to notice, dumbass, Rilla blinked back at him.
"I'm sorry but WHERE are Olli and Sansa? I feel like I haven't seen them in hours," the voice of Olli's sister's carried from somewhere. If Olli wanted to live to see another day – and he did, despite everything – he'd better run.
Cursing under his breath all the way through the party again, he prayed to all the deities and fairytale creatures that Aleksi had also noticed he had been scolding the wrong dog and came back looking for Rilla. He arrived in the entrance hall to find it packed with people swarming, forming a slow-moving queue to exit the venue. It seemed Aleksi's sister's reception was coming to an end soon, and panic curled its cold fingers around Olli's throat; what if Aleksi had already left, along with Sansa?
Olli could never forgive himself for having lost Sansa like that – if his sister would let him live long enough to feel remorse.
A familiar voice suddenly called for him from the other end of the entrance hall.
"Olli! Here!" There was Aleksi, his other hand waving at Olli, the other holding Sansa; the bow from her head had fallen somewhere along the way, but she seemed perfectly unbothered otherwise. Olli's knees almost buckled from relief.
"Oh, thank fuck, I was sure you had left already," Aleksi sighed once Olli reached him.
They quickly exchanged the dogs with relieved chuckles before something even more catastrophic would occur. Rilla wiggled in Aleksi's arms, licking his jaw and cheeks all over while Aleksi tried to bury his nose in the fur of her neck.
"I'm sorry, Rilla!" Aleksi's apology sounded more like a sob. "I'm so sorry, I feel so bad, sorry sorry sorry sorry..."
Meanwhile Sansa was looking around herself in Olli's arms attentively, murmuring at the passers-by she considered the most suspicious. By the looks of it, she hadn't even realised she had just been almost accidentally kidnapped to another family. Olli smiled down at the carefree little dog, and was going to make a clumsy joke about it to hear Aleksi's laugh one last time before they'd say goodbye, but instead he heard Aleksi sob, actually sob into Rilla's fur.
"I'm sorry," Aleksi repeated, although Olli understood it was now addressed to him and not to Rilla. "It's been a long, weird day, and I was...fuck, I was so scared for a while there. I thought I'd lost her."
A few people that still rubbed elbows with each other in the hallway shot concerned looks toward them, so Olli took Aleksi by the hand and led him to a calmer corridor, past the door to the men's room.
"Hey," Olli ran this thumb over the back of Aleksi's hand. "Everything's okay now. I can tell you Rilla was very brave through it all."
Aleksi laughed at last, and gosh, even if a little tearful, his laughter still made Olli melt to the ground.
Aleksi's hand slipped from Olli's as the man dried his cheeks on his sleeve and took a few deep inhales. Regarding these as signs of Aleksi being ready to make his exit soon, now that his darling pet was safe and sound in his arms again, Olli had to either act fast or regret forever.
"Hey, umm, d'you wanna go get drinks somewhere? Preferably somewhere with no weddings," he grinned. "It was nice chatting with you earlier, and it's only..." Olli tilted his head to read the time on Aleksi's wrist watch, "...eleven, apparently. Unless you wanted to stay here for your sister until call time."
The tears now dried from Aleksi's eyes, Olli saw their bright blue hue for the first time. They reminded him of gentle summer nights, and of biting winter frosts, both at once, somehow. Olli didn't often go speechless, but he did now, his mouth dry and empty of words, so he was thankful Aleksi filled in the silence for him.
"That would be nice," Aleksi broke their eye-contact to look down at his dog, "but I have no one to look after Rilla. I can't leave her alone in the hotel room."
"Of course you can't," Olli agreed (idiot, idiot, idiot!!). He didn't know what else to say, what else to do to make their paths cross just a little longer. He wasn't sure if he could bear another half-goodbye, so he took a step backwards, anticipating Aleksi making more sensible excuses and walking out of his life for good.
"But, uhhh," Aleksi breathed out a short laugh and bit his lip, his gaze still down. He didn't continue for a short while, and then he struck Olli dumb with surprise. "There's a minibar in my hotel room. And my dad's paid for it all already. He's a bit extravagant like that." Aleksi rolled his eyes. "So, umm, I guess we could get drinks there?"
The smile Aleksi gave him was cautious, yet hopeful, merely playing with those flawless marble lips of his. It widened when Olli's lips curved into a smile as well.
"Shall we call an Über?"
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.......there may be a spicy bonus scene down here somewhere.......
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~*~
They had ended up not calling an Über, for Aleksi said Rilla and himself both enjoyed late-night walks, and the hotel wouldn't be far away either. Once they had arrived there and entered Aleksi's room, they had ended up not drinking at all from the minibar either; the only refreshments they had needed were each other's bodies, which tangled up on each other the moment they were safely inside the room; they were only thirsty for the other’s skin, kissing and mouthing its softness all over.
The morning after, too sleepy still to open his eyes, Olli replayed the bits and pieces he remembered best of the night before: Aleksi's strong hips pinning him down on the bed; his firm buttocks that Olli finally got to feel properly; his hungry teeth that had nibbled on Olli's neck and earlobe; their cries of climax that had then turned into hearty giggles and furthermore into satisfied sighs as they had cuddled in the afterglow of their lovemaking, relaxed limbs interlaced, puffed lips still chasing each other although their drowsy eyelids had already been drooping.
The memories almost made Olli hard again. He nuzzled his nose on Aleksi's cheek, which he now noticed was decorated with acne scars. It was as if every minute that Olli finally saw Aleksi in proper lighting, he found something new to admire.
Olli kept caressing the scars with his nosetip and left small kisses here and there on Aleksi's cheek and along his jawline until the man stirred awake.
"Hi."
Aleksi blinked at him slowly, like a cat. "Hi."
"You're so lovely."
Aleksi's lips landed on the bridge of Olli's nose when he turned.
"You are too."
Ready to fall back asleep, with Aleksi's lips still pressed against his nose and Aleksi's hand petting his chest, Olli forced himself to stretch his limbs and open his eyes, or else he might not make it out of bed in time to go back to the venue and help the bridesmaids take down the decorations.
"I should shower," he yawned.
"Mmmmmmh," Aleksi hummed and grabbed Olli's torso to keep him next to him.
"Wanna go together?"
Aleksi opened his eyes too, his eyelashes tickling Olli's cheek.
They almost tripped on the bathroom threshold, too busy kissing to watch where they were going. They made out some more under the water stream, shampooed each other's hair and jerked each other off, and once they had finished gently patting each other dry with soft hotel towels, with extra gentleness on the cock and the balls, they were both aroused anew when they fell back on the bed, cocks already throbbing as they rubbed against each other.
"I really should get going,” Olli sighed, his entire body limp after the multiple orgasms. “I promised I'd be at the venue by half past ten." There was no comment from Aleksi, who was lapping their cum off Olli's bare stomach.
His tongue would 'accidentally' brush the sensitive tip of Olli's cock with every other lick, driving Olli insane with need all over again.
"Aleksi, please," he whimpered, not sure himself if he was pleading for Aleksi to stop or to keep going until he'd be ready to go at it one more time.
"You'll stay for breakfast?" Aleksi laid his chin on Olli's abdomen all innocently when he was finished teasing Olli. "I've heard the scrambled eggs here are fit for a king."
"Don't you think we have scrambled our eggs enough for one day?"
Aleksi laughed against Olli's tummy, and it was the best feeling in the entire stupid world.
Did they really need Olli at the venue today? To him it seemed his place was right here in this cosy love nest, making the man with the most gorgeous eyes laugh and cum, perhaps even at the same time, if Olli had his way.
"To be honest, I should start packing. My shit's all over the place." Aleksi now rested his cheek on Olli's navel to glance at the open suitcase next to the bed.
"Welp, we better get up then," Olli said, and so they did, lazily, but all the same. Olli gathered his clothes off the floor and put on his trousers, but winced smelling the armpits of his dress shirt.
"Can I borrow a t-shirt?" Olli gestured towards Aleksi's suitcase.
"Sure, hold on." Aleksi ransacked the suitcase and made even more of a mess than there was before, until handing Olli a black shirt.
Olli studied the brushwood logo on the front and recognized it as one of the bands he was studying for his thesis.
Fucking marry me, Aleksi, Olli nearly blurted out, but managed to swallow such spontanous fooleries at the last second. Instead he grinned, pulled the shirt on, and was instantly surrounded by a musky, comforting scent; Aleksi's scent.
They exchanged their final embraces on the street while waiting for Olli's Über and for Rilla to do her morning business. Resting his forehead against Aleksi's, Olli still held on to the hope the bridesmaids would call him and say they'd manage without him. For a second he even considered just coldly standing them up and going back inside with Aleksi and Rilla for more cuddles and orgasms, but he supposed a good brother wouldn't do that to his sister's best friends the day after her wedding. He owed her that much for having almost lost Sansa, even if she would never hear about the incident.
His Über came, and Rilla was tugging on her leash for Aleksi to walk her around the block. The goodbyes were inevitable, but at least this time, Olli was hopeful they wouldn't be forever.
He'd make sure they wouldn't.
He sneaked Aleksi's phone from the man’s back pocket and saved his number in Aleksi's contacts.
"For when you need your shirt back," he said when handing the phone back.
"May I call you otherwise too?" Aleksi smiled with sleep in his eyes still.
Olli leaned in to whisper to him (and to kiss his lips right after):
"Please do."