Chapter Text
Søren presses out a breath while looking at himself in the mirror. Excitement is building in his chest as he fixes the last rhinestone right above his eyeliner. Feeling sexy in his suit, new jewellery and the snatched makeup, he dances happily to the music that is playing. After fixing his makeup he walks out of the bathroom to squeeze himself beside Aviaya on the large armchair in one corner of his hotel room. Aviaya looks up from her phone with a tired but genuine smile, she is already done getting ready and of course looks stunning with her short blond hair styled in a sleek look.
"Don't you dare fall asleep now, we have to go in half an hour." Søren complains.
"No, I'll be wide awake once we get there!" she sighs and leans her head on her besties shoulder.
Today Søren and the whole Danish Eurovision crew arrived in Vienna. Vivi who is also one of Søren's dancers, didn't sleep enough because she still had to pack last night. Denmark is in a division for rehearsals that will meet tonight to get to know each other and talk about the upcoming week of rehearsals. Søren is nervous about tomorrow, seeing the others perform and also performing in front of them... but today he is mainly excited to first of all have a little peek at his opponents and hopefully connect with some people. Already some contestants have followed him on Instagram and he of course followed right back; the Danish singer is certain his extroverted persona won't have too hard a time fitting in. And he will be with his whole dance squad, including his best friend, which is always a boost of confidence.
"But a little nap would really be a game changer now." Vivi lets out an unrestrained yawn.
"Babe, we don't have time for that. We are going to grab you a coffee and then off we go to the fucking dinner, I'm hungry!" he lets his sentence fade into a happy falsetto melody and pulls Vivi with him from the couch.
———
"Yes we'll talk again tomorrow Mio, don't worry, but now it's time for bed!" Jonas blows more kisses than he can count at his phone, where he sees his son on the screen.
The camera then shifts and for a moment he looks at his ex-wife who gives him a forced smile, but nothing else, before hanging up. The singer feels his own smile fading, and he takes a few controlled breaths to try and shake off the tension that is always connected to talking with his son when the mother is present. Jonas and his ex-wife decided to do a smooth fade from being together until moving out. They have decided to break up a few months ago, but having a young child who shouldn't suffer from the divorce changed the usual procedures of break-ups. Jonas was still sleeping in their flat about 4 nights a week and already showed Mio his new place "where you and me will spend more time in the future together". The word "separated" or similar terms have never been dropped in front of their child. They know at some point that transparency is necessary but the parents plan not to rip it off like a band aid.
When he wrote his Eurovision song a year ago, Jonas never could have imagined to be in a situation like this: at the peak of his career so far, yet without the one person he had loved so dearly just months ago. He and his wife separated on good terms, but still it feels like the most stable support has vanished and he doesn't know yet how to fill the remaining emptiness. His son is a welcome distraction, yet the little boy cannot understand why his father must stay in Vienna for two more weeks representing Norway, and he asks to speak to him several times a day, as though reassuring himself that he has not disappeared.
Since Jonas' arrival in Vienna at noon, his ex-wife has called him twice because Mio was so restless, but Jonas was also in the middle of getting settled in his hotel and getting to know the Wiener Stadthalle. The next days will be entirely packed with rehearsing, fit checks, Social Media promotion and getting to know his co-contestants. He just hopes to be able to immerse himself in this Eurovision world and not think about the complicated state his family is in right now.
A knock at his hotel room door tears Jonas out of his thoughts.
"Yup, come in."
As expected it is his manager who comes to pick him up for the dinner.
"The guys are already in the lobby." Simona says referring to Jonas' band.
"Ya, I'm ready."
He gets up from the bed to do a last moustache check, carefully smoothing it with his fingertips before following her to the elevator.
He chose a simple pair of black suit trousers fixed with suspenders over his shoulders, a white tank top underneath and on top a black blazer with glittering ornaments at the collar. Downstairs in the lobby, Jonas greets his band mates joyfully, trying to get in the mood for the night. At first it will be organisational stuff but later on they will definitely have a party to get to know the other artists.
"You hungry Joni?" Martin asks slinging an arm around Jonas' shoulders.
"I'm nervous man, hopefully I can eat at all." Jonas replies with a scoff, pushing his guitarist away playfully.
"I'll eat your meal if you can't get anything down, we don't want you having a diarrhea situation again." Truls the drummer advises him and receives a laugh from the other two band mates in response.
"Mean!" Jonas acts offended.
Jonas' spontaneous nervous poops shortly before going on stage are a running gag within the band, even though they rarely ever happen anymore.
Arrived at the location, Jonas and his band are lead to a table with a small Norwegian flag and a Danish flag set in the middle. Nobody else sits at the table yet. Jonas starts chatting with the band but simultaneously keeps an eye on the door. He remembers the Danish entry was from a young guy and sounded very much like dance pop, he liked that it was in Danish but only watched it once. He leans over to Sondre, his bassist, to ask him what the name of the contestant was again but then he realises what they are talking about and is easily distracted.
"Dude you can't have "Ya Ya Ya" as a sticky song again!" he chimes in their discussion confronting Martin.
"Can't help it, it's too catchy, you know that."
Jonas throws him a warning glare, a bit playful but still signalising he should keep his mouth shut about it now. Jonas couldn't quite shake off the nervousness and just hoped he would get along with the other guy... "What was his name again? The Danish guy." he asks the others, almost a bit panicked now.
"Søren" an unfamiliar voice answers from behind him.
Jonas snaps his head back and looks up in surprise. An embarrassed laugh erupts from his mouth and he tries to cover it up with a hand. His eyes are fixed on the man he recognises as the Danish contestant.
"And he speaks Norwegian!" Truls adds in English with a high pitched laugh, understanding Jonas is totally embarrassed now.
Jonas checks out the dark outfit Søren is wearing; their outfits are quite similar, except where Jonas is wearing a white top underneath he has a transparent shirt on. To cover up the awkwardness, Jonas decides to introduce himself and stand up for a greeting.
"Oops, I'm Jonas!" he switches to English as well.
"Oh, I know." Søren laughs it off in a relaxed manner.
Before Jonas can offer his hand for a shake, Søren gestures for a hug, which Jonas gratefully accepts and leans into. It is only a short moment but Jonas recognises it as a manner of respect and realises Søren is not offended. Søren is about a head taller than Jonas but has a dainty composure whereas Jonas is shorter but also sturdy. The hug is brief and not too tight, also because Jonas is slightly afraid of crushing the other one's bones.
"Have a seat, you guys!" Jonas gestures to the empty seats around the table that are reserved for the Danish fraction.
"Oh of course the only Scandinavian countries in the division are seated at one table!" Søren remarks amused before sitting down.
Søren and the five people he arrived with (from just the look, probably his dancers) sit down; Søren sits down exactly beside Jonas to have the best view at the small stage. Jonas is now able to examine his face with the striking cheek bones and the wonderfully detailed eye make-up. Jonas reminds himself not to act too quiet and snap out of his depressed state. Because if that is the first impression the other artists have of him, he probably won't be able to shake that image off again.
"Well if you speak Norwegian that does make a lot of sense!" Jonas shoots back at Soren's comment confidently.
"I don't speak Norwegian, but the language is so similar... I just understood 'Danish guy', it was a lucky guess that you forgot my name." now Søren goes into the offence.
"Look, I'm sorry, I won't dare loose it again." Jonas puts up his hands in resignation, monitoring his voice to sound jittery.
"That's right!"
The music coming from the speakers suddenly fades and everyone turns their heads towards the stage. A long greeting with mentions of important sponsors follows and gifts are being distributed to the contestants. Jonas barely had time to check out the other contestants because he arrived so late, and now he is only focussed on Søren.
———
Luckily there is wine and food, Søren thinks he wouldn't survive the amount of input without it. According to the many refills of wine his Norwegian seat neighbour had, Søren suspects him to feel the same. He turns his head towards Jonas slowly and watches his dreamy eyes which signify he is definitely not listening to anything that is just being said.
"Norway, you're zoning out." Søren leans over to him with a whisper.
"Don't tell me you're not." Jonas gives him a sassy look.
Jonas shifts in his seat and takes off his jacket, giving Søren a moment to check out his many tattoos up close for the first time. He feels Jonas looking back at him again and he quickly turns his gaze away, suddenly aware of how obvious he is. In attempt to cover it up, he reaches out for his wine glass.
A lady comes around with the bottle again and offers to refill the empty glasses on their table. Søren quickly tries to empty his, but he is too slow. He looks over to Vivi in a disappointment, and she gives him a theatrical head shake in return, making him smile slightly.
There is a poke on his upper arm and Søren snaps his head back to the Norwegian fraction. He watches Jonas filling half of his wine into Søren's glass. Charmed by the thoughtfulness he in return raises his glass to toast with Jonas. As they hold eye contact for a moment, the small gesture causes Søren's tummy to tingle with warmth and he can't stop the corners of his mouth from lifting.
———
Jonas stands up in relief as soon as the formal part of the dinner is over. During the unnecessarily long introduction of their rehearsal plan, his band mates shared the leftovers of Jonas' plate which gained him a bemused look from Søren.
"Afterpartyyy!" Søren now exclaims.
His dancers in return cheer which Jonas and his band decide to join.
"Jonas, oh my god!!" Someone else interrupts them to his right, and he turns towards the person.
It is Antigoni, from Cyprus, who has reached out to him a few weeks ago already, praising his song and saying she looked forward to meeting him. They had a short exchange of messages, but nothing deep. Jonas didn't reach out to any other contestants because he was too busy with the circumstances his life is in right now. He also couldn't remember Søren's name because he only watched every contestant once to get a picture, but never dug in deeper.
"Antigoni, hey!" he greets her back.
They chat for a moment about their trips to Vienna and the dreary meeting they were just in, but soon separate again because she wants to talk to other people as well. Jonas turns around and sees Søren is already talking to another contestant who has the Latvian flag in her hands. Slight disappointment drops on his shoulder; he sort of expected to have a little more conversation with Søren, their interactions so far have been mostly nonverbal, but Jonas did enjoy them a lot more than he showed.
He tears his gaze away from the two laughing contestants and decides to talk to Delta from Australia.
———
Jonas' clumsily throws on his jacket over his sweaty skin. His feet already hurt from the non-stop dancing and his head starts to feel heavy from the amount of alcohol consumed tonight. He is happy to go outside with Sondre to get some fresh air and smoke one last cigarette before the preparation for the ESC start.
"I'll have one as well." he announces to Sondre who is now taking one out of his Pall-Mall-box.
Sondre raises his eyebrows at him.
"Last one! From tomorrow on I'll focus!" he promises his bassist.
Jonas smokes in silence leaning against the wall, listening to Sondre telling him some random facts about the venue. The Norwegian singer's gaze drifts away to a movement in the corner of his eye, and he spots Søren in his transparent top and his makeup shining in the dimmed light coming from the lanterns. Without losing more time, Jonas struts over to Søren and the woman he came outside with.
"Søren!" he calls from a few meters away causing the two people to turn towards him.
"How sweet of you to remember my name!" Søren rests a hand on his heart.
"This is going to haunt me now." Jonas mutters to himself in Norwegian.
"Jonas, meet Eva, she is a huge fan of my song!" Søren exclaims cheerfully, receiving a chuckle from the other person.
Jonas holds his cigarette the furthest away to give Eva a hug.
"And I am also singing for Luxembourg!" she adds proudly.
"Yes, I watched your performance online." Jonas smiles.
And before Søren should dare to complain again, he adds: "And I also watched your performance, but after watching all 30 performances in one go I couldn't remember every single name!"
Søren nods in acceptance of the justification.
"Because Jonas didn't know my name when we met just now, but he made up for it by sharing his wine with me!" Søren explains to Eva.
"Oh, so like Jesus!" Eva suggests.
Jonas and and Søren make eye contact and immediately start to snort with laughter. Slowly calming down again, Jonas is reminded to keep smoking before his cigarette burns down by itself.
"Naughty boy, you're smoking Jonas!"
Søren must also be tipsy, eliminating all restraints he might have had before.
"Only during parties sometimes... and when I get nervous..." Jonas briefly reflects back to the night his wife told him it was over.
"Oh I totally get it" Søren nods knowingly.
"Uh, do you want a drag" Jonas offers his half burned cigarette.
"Nah I used to smoke sometimes, but I am not that girl anymore." Søren answers casually.
"I wouldn't've let you anyway, can't be responsible if your voice suffers." Jonas holds back his disappointment about not being able to observe a hot man smoking from his cigarette.
"Responsible, that makes it sound like you're my dad."
"Sorry it's just the first day, can't shake off the dad part that easily." Jonas chuckles.
"Aw, you have child?" Eva asks genuinely interested.
"Yea, my son, he's two years old, he means everything to me!" Jonas starts to enthuse about Mio also showing a few pictures.
Søren notices he doesn't mention the mother of the child or has her on any pictures. This gives Søren a satisfaction deep down. Jonas is a good looking guy and Søren's weakness has always been with men covered in tattoos.
The three keep on talking almost forgetting the time until Søren starts freezing. Back inside, the party has not quieted down yet and the three join the dance floor as a squad. Jonas catches himself staring quite a lot at Søren, watching the smooth movements of a true artist. He also enjoys the feeling Søren gives him when his eyes wander over Jonas's arms and chest in admiration of his tattoos. Jonas realises, he could get used to this feeling.