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alexiabae · 6 months

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SHOOTING STAR; fridolina rolfö x fem!reader

Summary: a new scandinavian player arrives at the fc barcelona femení. or frido developing a crush on y/n.

Warnings: questioning sexuality, frido(29 years old) crushing in a young player (22 years old), slow burn, very long, +18.

Note: English is not my first language.

not my gif.

FINNISH STRIKER SIGNED FOR FC BARCELONA FEMENÍ.

Y/N Y/L/N, the revolution of Finland came to reinforce the attack in the blaugrana club. The 22 years old player, born in Helsinki and formed in the youth academy of PK-35 Vantaa, came calling the attention from various and potentially big teams. Scoring in almost every match she played for PK-35 Vantaa did not guarantee them the title league. We saw too how in the last European cup she was bright with her National team, scoring to Spain in the first seconds of the match, sadly Finland didn't pass to the next round, but Y/N earned the attention with the minutes played in only three matches.

Finally, she decided to stay another year with the team to choose for her at an early age. But this year, Y/N wanted to explore her football in another club, allowing too to PK-35 Vantaa to earn a amount of money for her departure, a win-win for everyone.

Y/N opt for Barcelona to progress. After a lot of rumours that she would sign for Olympique Lyon, Wolfsburg and the potential one, Chelsea, she finally chose the Condal team.

The Finnish girl answered beaming when the journalist asked her why she opted for Barcelona:

"Well, I chose this team basically because I'm a big fan of this team. Maybe it's a cliché but when they offer me a contract, I don't want to know about other teams. I'm a culé." She finished giggling, shrugging.

We can wait for her next chapter in Barcelona. We know for sure it's a big signing and wishing her all the best in this club.

"We have another Scandinavian on the team." Patri hummed content when Mapi finished reading the article.

"I'm happy she came here. I have followed her for a long time and I can't wait to play with her." Ingrid commented, sipping from her coffee.

"Since when?" Mapi asked, frowning. She raised her head to look at her.

Patri and Claudia shared a knowing look, suppressing a smirk.

"Since she stands out with her numbers in a small league." Ingrid explained. "Also I follow Scandinavian leagues." She shrugged.

Mapi raised an eyebrow, making Ingrid scoff.

"I watched some videos of her and she is a good player." Claudia opined, scrolling on her phone.

"Jona informed us before she will join us tomorrow, just like Frido, Lucy and Keira." Mapi commented. The rest of the players who assisted the world cup joined them that day.

They are waiting for the next training session. The team finished the Mexican preseason a few days ago, the new signing was announced when they were in Mexico, but it was a good surprise to close the preseason.

"I can't wait for them to come back." Patri said, missing her friends.

At that moment, Alexia and Jana sat down on their table. "¿De qué estamos hablando?" Alexia asked, letting her phone on the table.

"About who Patri missing Keira and Ingrid following the Scandinavian league." Mapi teases a little, earning a roll of eyes from the mentioned and a laugh from Claudia.

"I follow that league too." Alexia murmured, letting the spoon on the plate, sipping from her coffee.

Mapi scoffed. "Of course you do, it didn't surprise us." Alexia slapped her arm playfully, her friends chuckling by the interaction.

Ingrid and Alexia started a conversation about the Scandinavian league, while the others began to talk about trivial things.

•••

"You know? You don't need to be here now." Jona joked, his arms crossed.

Alexia rolls her eyes, but remains on the spot. "I'm doing captains duty. That's all." She murmured.

"I'm not doubting that." He teased, smirking.

"You all are insufferable." Alexia muttered, leaning her back on the wall.

Jonatan laughed, patting her shoulder gently. At that moment, a new person approached the big doors, where Jonatan and Alexia were.

"Hello, Y/N! Nice to see you again." Jona greeted his new player, extending his hand and stretching it when the player accepted his hand. Y/N shyly greets him too. He patted her shoulder gently. "She is Alexia, she is here doing captains duty." He inevitably teases a little.

Y/N watched how her new captain blushed a little while trying to maintain a firm expression. "Hi. Nice to meet you." The Catalan copied her coach action and extended a hand.

The Finnish accept it, trying too to hide her excitement to see for the first time the Spanish player.

"Nice to meet you too." She cleared her throat, not liking how it sounded in another language, maybe because she isn't used to it.

Jona offered to enter the big building, one inside he started to explain some things, Alexia flying next to the new player, letting their coach give the necessary information.

"We are going to the meeting room. We will study our first opponent." He gave her a friendly smile, opening a door to his right. Jona entered where soft chats were heard.

"Come with me." Alexia gently said next to her. The Finnish follows her like a lost child, well it's how she feels now. Y/N looks to the ground, not wanting to meet the curious eyes from her new teammates. "Here." She said, sitting next to another person. Y/N looked at her and saw how the brunette patted the seat next to her left.

She sat down, letting her backpack on her feet. "Damn, you're tall." The girl next to Alexia murmured, gaining Y/N's attention. She saw how the girl next to her left smacked her arm.

"Sorry. But I'm afraid to say that you will get used to it. I'm Ingrid." Y/N let out a tiny chuckle by the other's comment.

"Hallo, I'm Y/N." The Finnish introduced herself, waving softly with her left hand to the two girls.

"María, but everyone calls me Mapi." The tattooed girl introduced herself with a cheeky smile, waving too. "By the way, this one is a big fan of you." She exposed the tall brunette, who started to blush, giving a death glare to the Spanish defender, who still has her cheeky smile.

Y/N matches Ingrid's and plays briefly with her hair, giggling awkwardly. "Thanks... You are an amazing player to play against." She awkwardly compliments, remembering the last encounter she played against Norway.

Ingrid flashed her a kind smile.

"Fan girl moment..." Mapi whispered, gasping when Ingrid smacked her again, this time hard.

Alexia gave her an apologetic smile.

Jona claps to gain their attention and once he has, the explanations start. Y/N felt lost, she barely caught anything and she felt relieved every time approach a video on the white board. Alexia notices it and resumes her in a low voice the best she can, mistaking sometimes making the brunette blush for it. Y/N appreciate her efforts, clearly she understood more now thanks to her.

"Don't worry, he will explain it again to you." Alexia shyly said to her after it finished.

Y/N sighed relief. After all, it is her first time in a team out of Finland.

"Thank you. You help me a lot." Her accent showed up, something that will occur for a while.

Alexia chuckled, finding her accent adorable, but she doesn't say anything, noticing that her new teammate is shy and she better knows how she feels.

"I'm glad. And if you need it, don't be afraid to ask." She kindly said, standing up. Y/N copied her.

Soon they are surrounded by a few of them. "Hi! I'm Aitana." A short brunette introduced herself, a gentle grin plastered on her face. And the rest followed her.

"We have another Nordic! We will soon complete the collection." The one who introduced herself with the name Patri said cheekily.

A warning by Alexia and a dissimulated laughter by their teammates, the Balear smiled to Y/N sheepishly.

Y/N chuckles. "I'm glad to contribute to the collection." She murmured, following Patri's joke.

"See Ale." Patri showed her tongue to the midfielder and passed an arm by Y/N's shoulder, surprising her, the cheerful brunette too distracted to notice it. But someone else notices.

"It's shocking at first." A strong but kind voice murmured to her side. Y/N turned to look at her, seeing one of her favourite players and not knowing if it was more shocking than Patri's affection. "I'm Caroline, but call me Caro."

Y/N saw for a few seconds the hand she extended towards her, blinking repeatedly when she awake from her brief fan state.

"Nice to meet you. I'm Y/N." Y/N slowly said, shaking her hand kindly and repeating once again the same sentences.

"I guess you are having your fan girl moment now..." Mapi whispered to her when Patri moved out. Y/N feels a warm creep to her cheeks and sees the same cheeky smile on Mapi's face.

"Ingrid, please! Take your tamagochi to another place." Alexia intervened quickly when she noticed Y/N's behaviour. A lot of laughter was heard by this comment, Mapi frowning for the name her friend called her. Y/N bit her lip, holding a smile.

Ingrid lets the conversation with two people and approaches them with a done look. "Let's go baby." The brunette wraps an arm around Mapi's shoulder and walks with her outside, ignoring her complaints.

Alexia turned around to Y/N again. "Are you okay?" She asked, her careless side showing up.

The tall girl nods. "I am okay." She verbalise.

"Training will start soon, do you know where it is?" Mariona announced, asking later to the new girl and laughed softly when saw the thinking face. "Let's go, I will accompany you." She offered.

Y/N follows the Balear to the exit. Footsteps were heard behind them, following too but taking another way. Mariona starts a conversation, asking if everything is going well since she is in the city, when Y/N was in the middle of the explanation, someone behind them approached.

"Sorry, I forget my shin pads." A new voice for Y/N spoke. The tall blonde was trying to pass them quickly when she noticed the new face alongside Mariona, stopping herself. "Hiii! You must be Y/N, nice to meet you. I'm Frido." Her blue eyes scanned the tall young woman in front of her. She heard and read great things about this player.

Y/N nods, giving her a lipped smile. "That's me! Nice to meet you too." She murmured, waving shyly.

Frido chuckles, waving too.

Mariona started walking again, resuming the way. "Here we are." She said, making her point with a move of her hand. She opened the door. "I doubt you knew your dorsal number..." Mariona asked doubtful, Y/N confirmed it with a move of her head. "Alright, you can sit down between me and Claudia." She proposed, signaling with her index finger.

The blonde walked behind them to her cubby, searching for her shin pads that are in her backpack. Hearing how Mariona explained a few things about how some things work there. She grabs it and watches the two girls, her gaze fixing on the tall one.

"Okay. I'll let you change, I'll be waiting outside." The Balear offers, patting Y/N's shoulder. "You coming?" She asked Frido.

Frido nods. "Yeah." She smiled at Y/N before she got outside, leaning her back on the wall. Mariona copying her.

•••

"Okay, in pairs now!" Jonatan ordered, whistling.

Y/N breath heavily, putting both hands on her knees. She looks at her surroundings, seeing how slowly they find their partner.

"¡Me voy con la nueva!" Y/N heard someone exclaim, of course not understanding anything. "Hey! Do you want to be my partner?" Her Spanish accent showed up.

"Yes." Y/N said, following the girl when she confirmed.

"By the way, I'm Ona." The freckled girl said, grinning.

For Y/N, it's a weird name, never heard it before, but she liked it. "I'm Y/N." She introduced too.

Ona indicates with her index finger to where they need to go and jogs to the other part, Y/N following behind. The rest of the training, Ona helps Y/N whatever their coach instructor them to do the next exercise.

"You are good." Ona compliments her, panting. Her hands searching support on her hips, giving her new teammate a smirk.

"Thanks. You are a difficult one to pass." The Finnish compliment her too, the warmth on her cheeks remaining from the heat.

The freckled girl chuckled, walking to grab a water bottle, grabbing another for Y/N. She throws it at her, who catches it easily.

"I want to do the next drills with you." Patri walked by their side, commenting with an amazement on her face. She gave a big sip to her water bottle.

"We need to discuss that." Another brunette comment behind Patri. She gave a warm smile to Y/N when she turned to look at her. "Claudia." She simply said, waving with a hand. Y/N reciprocates the greeting.

"Everyone here calls her Pina." Patri clarified. "I can give you some nicknames from some of us..." she thought to herself, making Y/N hold a smile.

"Leave her alone, annoying girl." A thick accent smugly said. Y/N saw Lucy Bronze pass an arm around Patri's shoulder. She can't believe she is a few centimeters from someone like her, but then she remembers that she met Alexia, Caro or Mapi.

"I'm not annoying!" Patri gasped, making Lucy laugh. "Well, we call her Lucia Roberta." The brunette said, teasing her friend. Soon, a hand flew to her head and smacked it, making the other laugh. Actually Y/N felt entertainment with them.

"She is known here by pepino." Lucy said back, laughing when saw Y/N's confused face. "It's a cucumber." She explained, seeing how she painted a smile when she understood it.

"Do you have a nickname?" Claudia asked, curious.

Before Y/N could answer, someone else did it for her. "Yeah. She is known by shooting star." Ingrid approached behind, commenting on it excitedly. When everyone turned to look at her, she blushed. "Sorry, I'm a big fan of Nordic's leagues..."

Y/N chuckles, calmly.

"That's truth?" Ona asks, curiosity written on her face.

The Finnish nodded. "It's a silly story..." she trailed off, scratching the back of her head.

"I like it!" Patri exclaimed, delighted by the nickname. Of course she notices Y/N wasn't shared, almost now, the meaning of the nickname, so the Balear brings attention to her.

"I agree with her. Actually I think it is the best nickname right now..." Claudia comments, smiling.

"Better than la reina? I doubt it..." Y/N joked lowly, making them laugh. She cleared her throat again when pronounced something in Spanish and she didn't like it.

They keep talking, making light conversation while they come back to the changing room. The little group always involves Y/N on it, even if only to say the answer with a yes or no, the tall girl felt grateful for their efforts.

Y/N trailed behind them alongside Lucy, the British keeping an eye on the new, knowing very well how she feels when you are in a new country and a different language.

"How are you feeling on your first day?" Lucy spoke, slowly. She tried to not speak fast to make the other understand her.

Y/N turned to look at her, seeing a smile on the brunette's face. "I'm feeling really good. Better than I thought..." she chuckled a little at the end.

"Why?" The defender imitates.

The Finnish bit her bottom lip, nervous. "Well... I'm afraid because I need to speak another language, learn the main one quickly and it scares me to make a mistake, even knowing that it will help me in the future... I'm around big names, players that I admired from a long time ago, I don't know... it's a lot of things. Sorry." Y/N said fast and lowly, her gaze looking everywhere but her teammate.

Lucy put a hand on her shoulder, stopping her and herself. She wears a worried look on her face. "Don't put yourself in so much pressure." She kindly said. After giving a sight, she continued speaking. "I know what you are talking about. But I don't know why, I feel you care what others think..." she said carefully, the blush on Y/N's cheeks confirm her theory. "Okay, you need to focus on yourself, they don't matter. Keep on your way without thoughts from other people getting to you." She advised the best she could, already taking the tall girl under her wing.

Y/N nods, walking again when the brunette pushes her softly towards the changing room entry.

•••

A nervous sigh escaped from her mouth.

She jumps on her spot a few times, stretching too.

Y/N is going to be sub on right now, her first time playing on this time and in front of a big crowd.

Jona reassured her after giving his tactics to her, promising that everything will be okay. It helps her more than he expects.

Her gaze saw how the fourth referee put on the black board and showed the numbers. 17 - 20.

Oshoala jogs when she notices she is the sub off this time. Claps from the people on the stands resound in the stadium.

The forward showed a pearly smile to Y/N raising her hands at her.

The tall girl raised her hands too and they high five, Oshoala giving her some encouragement words.

Y/N ran fastly to her position, shaking some hands from her teammates, who gave her support words too. She waited for the rival goalkeeper to move on the ball again.

The goalkeeper put the ball on with a long shot, sending it to the midfield. The ball stays on the rival team but is pressured by the barça players.

Ingrid stopped the attack, passing the ball to Mapi. They will build a new attack, starting from the defenders. The Aragonese sent the ball to Ona, who ran with it and passed to Mariona.

Y/N was near her and Salma too. So she ran to the area but stopped shortly when the opponent quit off the ball from Mariona's feet.

It does not take too long to have the ball again, this time thanks to Lucy, who saw Aitana slip and pass the ball to her. Y/N's mind ran a mile per hour, creating some possible tactics to bring up. Until she found one. A risk one.

Aitana saw Y/N has someone behind her and chose to pass the ball to Caro. In Y/N's mind is needed to be right now, so she raised her hand up, she still isn't into the area, but she can win the battle with her shadow, only if the blonde trusts her.

The blue eyes focus on her and not seeing other options that are her or herself, the probabilities they scored is by Y/N, so dribbles easily the central winger and centres the ball.

Y/N knows who is behind her, so taking advantage of the stature, she catches the ball easily and dribbles it to the defender, another person shoots the ball to the goal, but of course they don't think that if they did it, the goalkeeper could catch it easily. So Y/N, who thinks about it, feint she will shoot but not, she passes the ball behind her, letting Alexia shoot it in the upper corner.

The people on the stands stood up, shouting happily. The Finnish saw how Alexia turned to look at her immediately, jogging towards her with an incredulous look.

"Why didn't you shoot?" She asked once she was near her, wrapping her left arm around her middle section, since Y/N is taller than her.

Y/N shrugged, giving her a sheepish smile.

A bunch of arms wrapped around them, jumping on their backs. A lot of compliments by them give Y/N more confidence.

Frido, is one of the few who can match Y/N's height, give her a cheeky smile, wrapping an arm on her neck and giving a strong hug, wrapping the other on Alexia's too.

"Det du har gjort gört inte alla." Frido muttered, still with the cheeky smile on her face. Clearly she said it to only Y/N, even if Alexia could hear her and don't understand her.

"I'm not like everybody." Y/N answer in English to let her captain have a concept about what their teammate said. The blonde to help Y/N get more comfortable speaks to her in her native language, since the Finnish can understand and speak to her in it too.

Frido shakes her head with her impeccable smile and jogs away, not without kissing Alexia's forehead and a pat on Y/N's shoulder.

"Next time you score, okay?" Alexia said firm, but gently.

"We are winning by three goals... but okay, barcelona mentality." Y/N murmured, going to her position and letting an amused Alexia go to hers.

•••

After that match, where Y/N gives an assist and a goal, the team walks to the bus, since they are playing like visiting another city.

Usually Y/N sits down at the end in a corner alone, not enjoying the multitude so much. So taking her routine, she did it. She lets out a tired but content sigh when she sits down.

Her gaze focuses on her teammates who steps up in the bus, light chat. She notices how the Spanish ones wear a tired expression but always with welcome words and kind smiles. She can't imagine what they are passing right now.

"Is this seat available?" A strong Spanish accent said, breaking her thoughts. Mapi stood up in front of her, her backpack on her back and her hands in either pocket while giving her an innocent smile.

Y/N can't explain how much Mapi's constant interest in her means. The defender always has an eye on her, usually to say a funny comment.

"Ok." She agreed, moving her backpack from the next seat to her. Mapi let out a grunt, stretching her arms when she sat down. "Väsynyt?" She asked, chuckling lowly when the Aragonese looked at her confused. "Tired?" She asked this time in English.

"Ahh, yes. But I'm happy with the first three points." She commented, putting both hands on her mouth and hiding a yawn.

Her eyes move apart when Mapi grabs her phone. She saw how Ingrid was sitting next to Frido, both of them giving their backs. Still, Y/N can see their profiles. She didn't know why, but seeing Frido's constant smile make her relax. She noticed the last couple days, how calm she felt around the tall blonde. She leaned her head, relaxing and while her mind was flying away from there, her gaze was still on the tall blonde.

"When do you have your fly?" Mapi interrupted the silence, making Y/N think about it.

"At 18:45. I landed tonight." Y/N murmured, in a sleepy tone.

"I don't know if someone explains the rules when it is a national camp, but when you are in the place or city, you write a text to the group chat." The defender says.

Y/N frowns. "Why?" She asks confused.

"Because we can sleep better. It's a simple emoji to let the others know." Mapi explains, shrugging.

"If I forget about it... I've been in trouble?" She asks, unsure.

Mapi chuckles. "At first not. Only it counts after a few months."

They keep talking a lot more, starting for a simple conversation to know each other better. That's it until Lucy and Claudia had another plan.

"Hola amigas." Lucy said, smiling. Her voice changed to pronounce it correctly. She sits down in the row before them, Claudia sitting next to Mapi.

"What do you want?" Mapi asks directly, giving her an inquisitive look.

Lucy rolls her eyes. "Can I be friendly?"

"No." Claudia and Mapi answered at the same time, making Y/N giggles and Lucy gaps.

"Well, for your interest, me and Claudia want to play cards, but anyone else wants to play. So... do you two want?" The British asked, leaning her chin on the back seat.

Y/N shrugged and looked at Mapi, letting her decide the final choice. The Spanish defender sighed and looked briefly at Y/N. "Bring your ass here, Bronze. I will kick your ass."

Lucy squeals excited, sitting in front of them and Claudia doing the same. "Also, please repeat the word ass once again." She teased, making Mapi throw something at her.

The four keep playing until they go to the airport, the two pairs winning a few of them and Lucy and Mapi with a constant challenge.

This time, Mapi sat down with Ingrid after she asked if it was okay to wander by herself, something Y/N reassured her until the defender went out with an unsure look, making the Finnish laugh by her behaviour.

"Seems we will be together on this fly." Someone comments behind her, when Y/N was putting her suitcase up. She recognised the voice.

"Weird not seeing you with Ingrid." Y/N teases a little, sitting near the window.

Frido chuckles, copying what Y/N did before with her suitcase. "She prefers another right now." She dramatically said, throwing herself in the seat next to Y/N giving a cheeky smile when this one let out a muffled laugh.

"Är jag ditt sista alternativ då?" She feigned being offended, doing emphasis putting a hand on her chest.

"Ei koskaan." Frido said in a thinking face, remembering some Finnish words.

Y/N opens her eyes surprised. She didn't think that Frido knew Finnish or remember some words. "You said that to everybody?" She whispers, leaning to her a little to pretend nobody could hear her.

The blonde giggles. "Only cute people like you." Her blue eyes scanned her expression, biting her contagious smile.

•••

"WHAT. A. GOAL!"

"SHE IS CRAZY! HOW CAN YOU SCORE FROM THAT LONG?!"

"THE FINLAND'S STAR DID IT AGAIN!"

"WE UNDERSTAND WHY EVERYONE CALL HER SHOOTING STAR!!!"

Frido looks stunned by the screen of her phone, not believing what she is watching.

She found herself alone in her bedroom and seeing she has some free time, decided to put herself the Finland's match. The Nordic country was losing but not for too much, only 0-1 giving the advantage to Canada.

And then, without waiting for it, Y/N scored from the midfielder in a hard shoot. Nobody could guess she will be doing that, apparently the Canadian players are in their position, but clearly she was wrong. Frido saw how all Finnish players throw themselves on Y/N, hugging and cheering her proudly.

The Swedish know how lucky her team club has to have someone like her. And Finland too, standing out.

A knock interrupted her thoughts, humming a coming to whatever it is. She saw how Magda and Stina walked inside, the forward sitting on her bed next to her and watching whatever Frido is seeing.

"A match? Who is it?" Stina asked curiously, trying to decipher the opponents.

"Finland and Canada" Frido mumbled. "You lost one of the best goals." Also she comments, a concentration face looking at the screen.

Magda sat down to her other side and looked briefly at the device. "Not for being disrespectful... but since are you interested in that match?"

It's that comment that makes her lose her concentration, not knowing very well but starting feeling nervous. She cleared her throat.

"Well... my new teammate is Finnish and Ingrid always praises her football. I saw her during training and in a match and I can say how good she is... I wanted to see how she plays with her national team and it's a wonderful player." Frido says with a hint of admiration, something Magda catches quickly.

The defender hummed and stayed looking at her for a few seconds, trying to read her features and she noticed it's been a long time since she looked like that. If Stina notices it too, she looks or acts distracted.

"Whoa! She scored that?!" Stina exclaimed when they put again the repetition from Y/N's goal. Magda looked again at the screen and got really impressed by that goal.

"Já! That's an amazing goal..." Magda whispered, hearing Frido giggles by their comments.

They stayed watching the game a little more before they went to training, they came back from Spain the same day they had the match. Then, they will be traveling to Italy in a few days.

Before Frido left her phone in her bedroom, she congratulated Y/N by her goal, feeling a little weird. Usually she is always congratulated when her teammates did an amazing match, but with the tall girl, it's a different feeling. She pushed it away in her mind and went outside where Stina started singing loudly in the form of protest by Frido's delay.

When she comes back to her bedroom and sees her phone, a lot of notifications appear on her screen. The majority of the group chat about her club, so she pressed it, taking her to the top when it started. Ingrid was the first, sending a video. Showing Y/N beautiful goal. The others comments were from the others complimenting her, laughing in a few of them by their antics.

Then, after she wrote an answer and exited from the group, saw Y/N text her back. She pressed her chat.

Another tall ^^

Hallo!

Thank you, it came naturally I guess.

By the way I watched the highlights and it was a great match, I'm sure Sweden will pass to the next round. 💪

Frido typed a few words back, the smile never leaving her face.

"Recently you are smiling a lot more... everything is going good, uhh?" Stina entered with Nathalie, who is Frido's roommate. The tall blonde raised her head and saw the teasing smirk on Stina's face.

"Perfect..." Frido muttered, rolling her eyes and giving a sarcastic smile, matching her words.

Stina doesn't wait for that answer at all. "What? Are you two still together, right?" She asks, confused.

"Yes, we are." Frido said in a low voice, type said person. Her eyes read what he said and her mind was very distracted.

Nathalie and Stina exchange a look. The forward decided to let that conversation in another moment and alone. So she kissed her head, since the barça player was sitting on the bed and walked away after saying goodbye to the other roommate.

"I'm going to talk with Aurora." Nathalie informed her, giving a sympathetic look, even if the tall blonde wasn't looking at her.

Frido hummed an affirmation and laid down and thinking how fucked she is right now.

•••

"BONDING TIME TONIGHT!" Patri shouted in the changing room after the last practice that day.

Cheering was heard, matching her enthusiasm. It's been a long time since they had one. Actually it's the first one in this season.

Y/N watch with a smile how they started to speak loudly, proposing some games and films to see. Her Spanish is better, she understood more than she speaks. Sure it helps when Mapi is basically speaking it all the time next to her, only switching to English when Y/N really struggled to understand.

"We are going to go for you and come with us, okay?" Mapi approached Y/N and leaned on the wall next to her, crossing her arms.

"Do I have a choice?" She inevitably joked, already loving the bond they created.

Mapi smiled sarcastically and shook her head. "And less if Ingrid is involved." Y/N chuckles, conscious about the admiration that the tall brunette felt about her, she can't believe someone like Ingrid feels like that towards her, but she feels grateful.

"I'm going with you two for Ingrid, you knew it right?" The Finnish said, standing up and looking down at Mapi.

"Of course." The defender muttered, patting her shoulder gently. "Be ready, I have enough with that one." She grumpily said, making Y/N laugh quietly.

When the forward starts to walk to the exit after saying goodbye to a few of them, Alexia stopped her.

"Are you going to be okay going with them?" She asks kindly, knowing very well how Mapi sometimes could be overwhelming.

Y/N nods, smiling. "Yeah."

Alexia smiled too and parted away, going to their respective apartments.

The time she has free time, the group chat can't stop sounding, a lot of texts coming from her teammates proposing things to do or simply texting about what they can bring tonight.

Y/N relaxed reading her book she started the first of that month until she needed to start to be ready. She decided on something comfortable and light, since still in Barcelona the weather is warm, something Y/N doesn't get used to.

Mapi texted her like an hour before, warning her she needed to be ready for her sake, knowing very well that Ingrid could still be choosing the outfit. So the Finnish got ready in time and waited patiently in her balcony, seeing the sun get down and appreciating the sunset, taking some photos and sending it to her family.

"Wow, you look like another person." Mapi whistled when she saw her coming out from her building.

Y/N blushed and avoided their gazes, gaining the soft chuckle of Mapi when she entered.

"Quiero decir, que estás muy guapa con ese look." Mapi chose to say it in Spanish, her voice sounding more soft. Clearly Y/N doesn't understand her and Ingrid translates it.

The shade of the colour of her cheeks turns more crimson while she whispered a thank you and watched the city by the window. The striker heard how the couple kept a small conversation, or better say, Mapi whining and begging about next time Ingrid doesn't take too long to get prepared, to which the Norwegian didn't promise anything with a teasing smirk, for Mapi desperation.

After they parked the car, they got to the building, got to the elevator and the couple were begging Y/N to take a photo with them, the three approached Patri's door where they could hear some commotion.

"¿Cásate conmigo?" Patri says in a shocked face, looking up and down at Y/N, making this one continuing blushing, fortunately for the Balear, Y/N doesn't understand her, but the pair behind her were another case. They laughed and started making fun of the midfielder.

Mapi put a hand in Y/N back and pushed her softly into the apartment through Patri whining and cursing.

"This is going to be fun..." the defender muttered at Ingrid with a smirk.

Y/N saw how Claudia is walking towards them and asking Patri why she has that look on her face, in which Mapi gladly explained in detail what happened. The Finnish is still lost, but she is guessing that soon she will find out. So she walked guided by Mapi where a big group were sitting or standing up while they talked.

"Great! We are the last one, again!" The Aragonese let out a sarcastic comment and went towards Marta and Irene, joining the improvised defender squad.

Ingrid huffed and muttered something Y/N could understand because she had some knowledge in Norwegian and laughed quietly, sharing a look with the brunette.

"She is lucky that I love her..." Ingrid commented jokingly at Y/N.

"Next time Y/N is coming with me." Someone else comments behind them while putting a hand in her shoulder and squeezing it.

Lucy gave her a warm smile and hugged her. "Good luck with that one." Ingrid said pointing with her head to where Mapi is sharing the recent behaviour of her teammate with a smirk.

The British snorted. "I can deal with her. By the way, you look stunning, I'm regretting being taken now..." Y/N hit her arm softly, gaining Lucy's laugh. Ingrid rolled her eyes but a smile remained on her face.

"I heard you." Keira emerged from the kitchen and wore a teasing look that was directed to Lucy. She stood next to them with her arms crossed.

"Babe... look at her." Lucy whispered like if the other two weren't there. The defender after the hug remained an arm around her shoulder, so it can't be unnoticed by Y/N.

The midfielder did what Lucy said and moved her gaze towards the tall girl. Her jaw dropped to the floor and her eyes going up and down, like Patri did before.

Keira blushed, making her girlfriend laugh for her reaction. Y/N actually finds it funny and adorable for her part.

"Shut up." Keira muttered and pushed her.

"Everyone!" For Keira's luck, Patri calls to gain their attention. She put herself in front of the TV. "Okay, we will start now since we all are here. Please, go to sit down while me and some of you bring the snack." The Balear announces, walking to the kitchen with some of them going with her, Y/N excusing the three to help her, her nature of helping people wanting to show up.

But Lucy has another plan and with a smile grabbed her wrist, stopping her. "Nop. You are the new one. Keira here can go to help her favourite person." The defender gave a cheeky smile to the British midfielder, who rolled her eyes but didn't say anything and went to the kitchen, whispering some cursing to her girlfriend.

"You are so mean to her." Ingrid teases, starting to walk to an empty couch but getting distracted soon when she sees her tall blonde friend.

Lucy follows Ingrid still with the hold in Y/N wrist. The defender sat down, bringing Y/N to sit down next to her.

"Do you see how hot Y/N looked?" The thick accent from Lucy interrupted the conversation between the nordics.

Y/N rolls her eyes and blush when felt the blue eyes fix her eyes on her. The Finnish cleared her throat and punched softly to Lucy.

Frido noticed how she held her breath for a moment. Her gaze looks over her features, and she can't avoid how beautiful Y/N looks.

"Lucy's right. You look... beautiful." The Swedish decided to change the last word for that one, but internally agreeing with her friend that she looks hot.

The striker gave her a shy smile, seeing how her coloured eyes lost the battle with her pupils. Y/N read about the symptoms when someone likes the person they see, and that's one of them.

The visual contact finished when Ingrid sat down between Frido and Y/N, the last one moving her eyes awkwardly for the room, looking at Lucy when she heard how the other let out a soft laugh.

"What?" Y/N asked lowly.

Lucy shrugs and passes an arm around her shoulder while giving a sip to her cup. Before Y/N could ask again, Mapi threw herself at them, gaining the protest from Ingrid and Lucy.

"Do you think I didn't sit down here?" Mapi asks rhetorically.

"You need to learn to be away from her..." Lucy muttered, looking at the TV waiting for Patri to put the chosen film. But her smirk betrayed her.

Mapi frowned and sat down better between Ingrid and Y/N. "And let you win? Never, Y/N has better taste."

The laugh that let out Lucy make the attention brought to them and muffled the gasp Ingrid let out. Y/N hold her laugh, not thinking that the last comment was directed towards her and not her girlfriend, guessing too that Lucy had the same thought.

"It's amazing how she passed to tease me about my admiration for her to be the only one fighting by her attention." Ingrid muttered, crossing her arms and feigning being offended.

Mapi turned to look at her with a sheepish smile and threw her arms around her neck, kissing her head a few times. Y/N let out the laughter she held when Mapi didn't deny it, joining Lucy.

Frido's eyes brightened when she heard her laugh. The blonde was laughing too, but slowly it died to enjoy and contemplate her. The loud chat when the defender explains what happened was muffled by her melodic laugh.

But soon got interrupted when someone yelled to shut them up and pay attention to the film. Her blue eyes scanned a few more moments on her figure and then fixed it on the TV. The place where she was sitting was full, five of them sitting there, even if Mapi was more laying in Ingrid's lap, still she is on the sofa, putting more distance between her and Y/N.

The first film passed with all of them in silence, maybe some comments with the near person, but mostly they are paying attention. When it finishes, some of them take the opportunity to go to the bathroom, something Y/N did. She walked quickly to it when Aitana got out.

The blonde thought twice before she stood up and walked to the bathroom, waiting outside. She knew it was a riskier move, but Frido felt like a magnet when it comes to Y/N. She just wanted to have some little time alone with her.

When Y/N opened the door, she felt surprised to see her standing there, a shy look on her face. She stopped in the entry, her hand leaning on the frame.

"Hallo..." Frido lowly said, putting both hands on her pant's pocket.

Y/N felt goosebumps when she heard that simple word with her Swedish accent. "Hey." She greeted her too, crossing her arms. Frido could hear how some of them were getting near them and not wanting to go without exchanging some more words with her, in a bold move, she quit off her hands from her pockets and kindly pushed Y/N inside of the bathroom, again. She closes the door softly.

"Sorry about that..." Frido apologizes when notices what she did. She cleared her throat awkwardly. "Just wanted to pass some time with you." She confessed, a little embarrassed to say it loud.

The Finnish's heart softens up to see the blonde like that. Y/N didn't know what force made her do the next move, but she grabbed her face between her hands and smashed her lips on hers.

Frido's eyes opened, but relaxed considerably after processing what Y/N did. Her hands came back to her waist but this time it remained there. The kiss is short and awkward. Y/N was going to apologise once they separated, but Frido has another plan and decides to muffle the apologies with her mouth.

This time the blonde deepened it, kissing her with conviction. Her grip on her waist tightening and bringing her closer to her. Y/N's hands proceed to lose on her blonde hair, pushing softly towards her. Once again they separated, this time for air. With every kiss, their mind got more fuzzy and their lips more swollen. It's when Y/N let out a low moan that Frido got braver and kissed her vehemently, turned on only to hear her doing that. She pushed her a little too hard on the bathroom door, biting her bottom lip in the process and sneak in her tongue in her mouth.

Maybe they are in their world at this moment, but the others heard the noise provoked by Frido unintentionally and some of them went to investigate.

The girls separated abruptly when someone from outside knocked. They look at each other alarmed. "Hey! Everything okay?" Alexia asks.

Frido whispered something at Y/N in Swedish, this one nodded with her head slowly. They fully separate this time, even if neither of them wanted. The Finnish fix the blonde hair with a smile, seeing how her cheeks change of colour. She saw too how swollen her lips looked, she imagined her lips matched hers.

"Sorry! I'm helping Y/N to find her earrings." Frido lied, she opened the door and showing it to Alexia and Patri with a convincing smile. The blonde extended it to Y/N.

"Shit, for a moment we worried." Patri muttered.

The four walked back to the living room, going to where they previously sat down. Lucy was talking with the couple until Y/N removed her legs from the spot where she was sitting, a pout making her way on her face. It was before she started to protest that she noticed something. The British opened her mouth to speak, but nothing was saying. However she gave her a smirk and resumed the conversation with the other two.

•••

The days passed, Frido and Y/N started to share some kisses in the changing room behind their teammates back. Their bond is getting stronger by the time, sharing moments outside the pitch too. Frido always has a plan to spend more time with the Finnish girl, at the same time the nights for her turned a war in her head. She is enjoying her time with Y/N, but the reality is far away from the truth.

It showed after a month how the darkness down her crystal eyes deeper with every day passed. The first ones in notices of course were Y/N and Ingrid, but the blonde always replied with a cheeky smile and saying she is okay. Frido knew when she realised what happened, she was screwed up. Plus, it is her first time with a woman, going through a simple crush in the past to actually kiss one.

It's a lot right now.

A hand on her chin made her break the train of thought and raised her head to see the guilty or the saviour.

"Jag kan höra dina tankar på långt håll." Y/N said with a sad smile. She knows something happened and feels she has a big part in it.

Frido shakes her head and reassures her that it is okay. Not wanting to bring her to her intern problem. "I need to be quieter I guess." She joked, standing up and grabbing the hand resting in her chin with hers, walking to a quieter place, before she inspected the area to see if some of them were paying attention.

"You don't need to worry about me, kärlek." Frido whispered in her mouth once she closed the door, pressing Y/N's back on the wall, putting both hands on her sides.

Y/N smiled when she heard how the blonde called her, putting her hands behind her back and giving her an innocent gesture. "Then, don't give me a reason for it." She teased her a little, giggling when Frido started trickling briefly her sides.

Her lips ghosted Y/N's and was the Finnish who closed the gap when grabbed her collar with her hands and smashed their lips.

"Jag älskar att du alltid initierar kyssen." Frido muttered, to later kiss her fervently.

"You do it on purpose to be me who kisses you first." Y/N muttered too once they separated from the intense moment.

"My fault." Frido innocently said, pecking her nose. "By the way, I have a plan to spend this afternoon together... are you in?" She asks, hopefully the other confirms it.

Y/N did like she is thinking about it, pretending. "Depends... What place is it?"

"The beach. I never went with you. So I thought is a good idea." Frido revealed, shrugging with a hopeful smile. "Do you go since you are here?"

"I went once time with Lucy and Mapi. And both of them finished in the sea..." Y/N commented, her gaze fixed on the wall remembering the moment, making the blonde chuckles lowly. "So... I'm in, you are lucky."

Frido give her a beaming smile and didn't lose more time to kiss her, knowing very well if they are disappeared for a few more minutes, their teammates would suspect and get to find them.

"We need to come back..." The blue eyed girl comments, pecking a few more times her lips, bringing both hands to her cheeks this time, making Y/N to put her hands on her waist, caressing her sides.

With the promise to see the other later, they separated. Y/N going first to the, now, full room. The coincidence that her cubby is next to Frido made her very happy. But the constant reminder that Lucy is too, even if they are separate by say person.

"What?" Y/N asked when she passed in front of the defender and hear how she snorted, stopping on her tracks to look at her inquisitive and crossing her arms.

Lucy is sitting on her cubby, a smug smirk plastered on her face while she is saving her shoes in her training bag.

"Nothing..." She hummed, winking at her and her attention coming back to the previous thing.

"Olet outo..." She murmured and went to her seat, sighing.

"I don't know what you said, but it's rude." Lucy points with her index finger at her.

"Ja kysyminen ja vastaaminen välttelyillä on myös." Y/N laughed quietly when saw her confused face, returning to her task of removing her shoelaces.

"What that mean?" She asks, this time inquisitive and narrowing her eyes. "Frido please, can you translate for me what she said?" Lucy like a child say.

The Swedish acted normal and asked for Y/N to repeat it. "Sorry, Lu. I can't understand what she is saying. My level in Finnish is limited." She gave at her friend an apologetic smile.

Lucy huffed and turned to look at Y/N finding a smug expression. "It isn't over." She stood up and messing up with Y/N hair, she contentedly went away when Y/N whined.

•••

The kisses and the touches were more prominent. The wish for more than that increases. And it happening right now.

For their luck, they are roommates in this trip. It's a Champions League game. Frido was in top of Y/N, not surprising for the second one. She knew that the blonde loves be dominant, even if her aura didn't demit it.

Sloppy kisses, hands traveling by their bodies, the sound escaping from the mouths it's not enough anymore. With the little sanity Y/N feels in that moment, she pushed Frido's chest softly, opening her dilated eyes.

Frido frowned and opened them too, a confuse gesture crossing on her features. "Everything okay?" She whispers in a husky tone, her lips ghosting Y/N's.

"Yeah, yeah..." Y/N confirmed immediately. "But tomorrow we have a game and we can't do this..." She trailed off, reminding her the match.

Frido groaned, completely obvious at the fact, forgetting about it and pushed it behind her head the moment her lips found her comfort place.

"You are right..." She muttered, removing herself between her legs and laying down next to her, and letting out a frustrated sigh.

Y/N grabs her hand and caress her palm with her thumb, gaining her attention. "We can do it after it's over..." She suggests, a shy expression replacing the last one.

It's melt her heart every time Frido sees her shy side, that it's every day but with the trust she is gaining with their teammates, it less and less.

"Sorry, I don't want pressure you. It's the last thing I want to do. I just... I want feel you more." Frido confessed, her cheeks red, this time for a different reason. "Please, don't try to do it for me. We will do it when both of us feel ready." She said, caressing with her free hand her cheek, her eyes getting lost in hers.

•••

"I want the kiss you promise me." Frido whispered in her ear when they come back to the changing room after they finished the match.

Y/N turned to look at her, still sipping from her water bottle. "Here?" She jokes, laughing quietly by her reaction.

"I see the hat-trick you scored give you some confidence..." Frido muttered, slapping her butt and going to where Ingrid is, not without giving her a teasing smirk.

"Damn Frido, let something for us." Claudia jokingly said, making who hear her laugh. Y/N made a funny face, don't understanding the comment.

Exchange Frido got pallid, swallowing hard and praying no one say something else. Ingrid notices her change and before she could ask her, someone else spoke.

"Do you not have enough?" Patri follows her friend's game, oblivious about the current situation for the blonde.

Y/N get rigid. She isn't a fool to hear the implication in that comment, but enough for Frido to play with her. She turns to look at her and saw how the Swedish cowardly look at the floor, ashamed. While they laugh about an innocent situation, Y/N excuses herself, starting to feel dizzy and betrayed.

She soon is a sea of tears, closing carefully the door to protect herself from them, hiding the pain she is feeling. She slipped slowly to the floor, hugging herself and buried her face.

Soft knocks were heard, startling Y/N. "It's me." She relaxed when heard the voice. In a trembling voice give permission to enter. Lucy opened it and her heart shattered when saw her state. Immediately she got in and closed the door, bending down and hugged her, letting Y/N soak her freshly clothes. The brunette catches what happened in the first moment, noticing the looks and in a short period of time, their swollen red lips. She cursed herself to believe Y/N knew the blonde's status, clearly not.

Lucy let Y/N cry, her hand caressing her back up and down without the necessity to say something to comfort her, because the truth is however you say now, it still would hurt. So she chose the silence and be there for her.

Her phone vibrate, cursing once again while grab it with a hand, the nickname she typed at her girlfriend showing on her screen.

"Where are you? We can't find you or Y/N. Is she with you?" Keira's worried voice greet her.

"I'm with her." Lucy muttered, hearing how the midfielder let out a relief sigh, she proceed to add before the other could. "Give me some more minutes and we will be there." She begged her, knowing her voice sounding serious, something unusual on her, make Keira help her immediately.

"Okay. We have five minutes before we need to go. I can give you that." Keira informed her. Lucy replied a short answer and they hung up.

"How do you know?" Y/N asked in a hoarse voice, raising her head to look at her.

"Because I have eyes on my face." She simply answered, not liking how bloodshot her eyes seem.

"The others have too..." Y/N whispered, her gaze going to the floor while her mind fly to another part.

"Well, I'm more clever than the rest." She heard how Y/N let out a tiny laugh, making Lucy cheer mentally. Feigning been offended by her laugh, she added. "What? I feel insulted if you think someone else here is smarter than me." It made Y/N laugh more, Lucy painting a smile this time, gladly she made her forget momentarily about the situation.

"We need to go, right?" Y/N asked after her laugh died.

The British nodded with a sad smile while put a lock of her hair behind her ear. She extended her hands towards hers when she stood up, Y/N accepting it. While Y/N opened the door, for their luck no one is there, Lucy take advantage of it and sent a quick text to Ingrid:

Please, don't let Frido get near Y/N. I can't tell you the reason because it isn't my business, thank you x.

Lucy save her phone and grabbing her hand, lead the way outside, hearing more near their voices. Y/N hang down her head, embarrassed for her behaviour. The defender notices how Mapi walked to them with a worry expression, her eyes remaining on Y/N, but Lucy stopped her and when the Spanish looked at her questioning, Lucy shakes her head, muttering this isn't the moment.

Alexia notices immediately when she put a foot there something happened. Seeing how Frido sat down with her head low and Ingrid by her side caressing her back, indicating something it's off. But her worry intensifies when Y/N entered on her peripheral vision and saw her dry stained red cheeks. So when Lucy is shaking her head at Mapi, she grabbed her things and went towards the three.

"I'm going to the bus, come with me." Alexia protectively put an arm around Y/N's shoulder and walked with her outside, not letting room for the defenders to complain. The brunette, who is a little short alongside her new teammate, take her quickly to the bus, apologies escaping from her mouth when the people waiting for a photo or an autograph couldn't have it. The loud screams were muffled once they entered the bus, Alexia remembering the spot usually her new friend takes, she put her way to that direction. "Here, sit down." She offered with a kind smile.

"Gracias..." Y/N muttered, still not liking how her voice sounded in Spanish and it worsen with the voice she has now.

Alexia messed up Y/N's half wet hair and sit down next to her. "You played amazingly. I can't believe you don't come here before." She tried to put on a subject and since she isn't so good with the emotions, she chose to speak about she loves.

Y/N painted a sad smile. "I'm playing well because I have amazing people that help me play like that." She awkwardly said, seeing how Alexia gave her a sincere smile.

Soon, more screams were heard and slowly they climb up and started to sit down, giving a quick look to where they are and respecting their space, mostly Y/N's space.

When Frido get in, her eyes immediately went to the back seat bus and saw how distractedly Y/N looks at the window. She let out a sad sigh and feel ashamed when her eyes finds Alexia's one, seeing the hardness on them. She knows that look, but never been the one to receive it. She swallows and sit down to the front rows, grabbing immediately her headphones and blaming herself.

•••

The days passed and Frido tried to speak with Y/N, but this one always walk past her, making her heart shatter with every step she takes. After the success, the next day Frido spoke with her boyfriend and tell everything.

She blames herself even more when he didn't got angry with her, with pain he said that some day he would forget her, but right now he can't. He texted Ingrid when he walked out from the place he thought was his home, because he didn't talk about the place or city, is the person crying disconsolate who he is referring.

The Norwegian went fastly to her place, finding a broken mess who can't stop to blaming herself. That afternoon she found out what truly happened that last half month. She knew Frido did badly, but she is her friend and always will be there for the good or bad.

It's there too when Lucy or even her own girlfriend push away Frido when she tried to speak with the Finnish, something she didn't get surprised knowing their behaviour. Maybe the surprise came when Alexia joined them, a stoic face and simple cold word make Frido ran.

"Before you judge, try to know the other part too." Ingrid angrily said at them, mostly to her captain, before she follows her friend. Caro following her too.

Caro leaned on a table with her arms crossed while see how Ingrid consolate her friend. When her national teammate sat down with Frido while side hug her, the Norwegian decided to speak.

"We don't know what exactly happened," Caro started, gaining their attention. "but I personally don't judge you. They didn't know anything too, specially Mapi or Alexia, the rest try to comprehend what happened, but we didn't know." She tried her best to comfort Frido.

The Swedish wipes the tears from her eyes and let out a chuckle. "Consoling it's not your big virtue."

Caro chuckled too, shrugging. "I guess it isn't."

The next few days Frido decided to give some space at Y/N, try to the situation calm down. It's difficult for her, like the serious mistake she made and caused pain to one of the best people she met. So when she entered in the changing room where Y/N is there, starting to smile whatever Patri is saying at her, Frido didn't know what force make her to change her steps and directed towards her. Their eyes meeting a brief moment, until Y/N moves her gaze and tried to not pay attention at her. But Frido has enough, she needed to let out what has inside of her.

"I don't know what I have to do to explain everything." She started, not caring about the surprise on Patri's face. Y/N froze on her spot, her back facing the tall blonde. "I don't care if they found out what the reason is. I'm sorry Y/N, I made a big mistake. I played with you and I played with the person I shared my life and thought he was the only one," Frido wipes aggressively her wet cheeks, the only sound of the big room her broken voice. "I thought I have a good life with a wonderful guy by my side, sharing moments, complicity, vulnerability... Ups and downs. He always support me in every decision I took." She explained briefly, Y/N turning slowly towards her, not liking at all the state she is, but let her get her chest off from everything, so she stayed quiet. "Then, you approached. I heard things about you, watched some videos about how easily you scored, thanks at Ingrid of course. I can't believe how adorable you looked the first day. Lost and always with a shy smile. And it didn't surprise me when Alexia went to your rescue, she is who can understand you better in some ways." Frido gave a quick look at her captain, who has teary eyes and give her a nod.

"After that day, we started talk, little conversations that turned long and deep ones. You don't know it, but you help me too. I was feeling homesick and speak with you in my language help me. I know I needed tell you about my relationship, but I was selfish and wanted you entirely for myself. I'm sorry." Frido finished to say, soft sobs escaping from her mouth while she hides her face between her hands, broken.

Ingrid was to step where she is and take her to a quiet place, but saw how Y/N anticipate and get towards the blonde.

The Finnish removed her hands gently from her face and wipe carefully her cheeks. She didn't know what to say, so she wraps her arms around her shoulders and hugged her. Instinctively Frido wraps her arms around her waist and leaned her head on hers, more tears escaping from her eyes.

"I-I'm s-sorry." The blonde lowly said, hiccuping.

•••

"WHAT A SEASON THIS PLAYER HAD MADE! IT'S UNBELIEVABLE THE AMOUNT OF GOALS SHE SCORED AND THE ASSIST SHE GAVE. IT'S SO FAR, ONE OF THE BEST SIGNING FROM THIS CLUB. THEY HAVE A GEM."

"BARCELONA WON THEIR THIRD CHAMPIONS!!! AND THE SECOND IN A ROW! WHAT A PLEASURE SEEING THIS PLAYERS PLAY, ESPECIALLY ALEXIA PUTELLAS AND Y/N Y/L/N, WHAT A CONNECTION THEY HAVE."

"THE TOP SCORER FROM THE LEAGUE ARE ALEXIA AND Y/N, LEICY SANTOS FOLLOWING BEHIND WITH ONE GOAL LESS. BUT WAIT TO KNOW THE CHAMPION'S LEAGUE TOP SCORERS. Y/N Y/L/N WITH 27 GOALS, ALEXIA PUTELLAS WITH 24 GOALS, AITANA BONMATÍ WITH 21 GOALS AND FRIDOLINA ROLFÖ TIED WITH CAROLINE GRAHAM HANSEN WITH 17 GOALS. FIVE PLAYERS FROM THIS CLUB ARE THE TOP SCORER. WHAT. A. TEAM!!"

Y/N raised the trophy in the air, gaining the screams from her teammates and the people who traveled to the stadium to support them. She can't describe the adrenaline she is feeling right now.

After they made a round to raise it, they walked around the stadium to thanks the people, letting them know is for them too. They took a lot of photos with the trophy too.

Before Y/N follows some teammates inside to translate the party there, she poses with the champions league cup and the award she received for being the MVP that match.

"Jag är väldigt stolt över dig." A whisper from behind make Y/N jump a little on her spot, turning to see a Frido laughing by her reaction. Y/N whined, smacking her arm playfully. "Before you go with Jonatan to give the press conference you deserve. Make me the favor to take some photos with me?" She asked hopefully, a cheeky grin on her face when Y/N nods.

"Of course, idiot." Y/N chuckles to grab the cup, extending it at her too. The blonde accepting it and both of them grabbing the cup, posed with it with happy smiles on their faces.

For Frido's surprise, Y/N kissed her cheek sweetly. It's only for the photo, but they knew what it means for them. When the forward separated, Frido can't hold not to look at her, a loving face showing the love she felt for her.

"You need change your expression or you would break the internet." Y/N teases, poking her cheek where a dimple is showing there.

Frido leaned more on her, their noses touching and their lips to centimeters, her eyes traveling from her mouth to her eyes. "I don't care." She whispered, licking her lips.

A throat behind the phone cleared. They pair look at her and saw her cheeks, making them laugh. Alexia rolled her eyes. "I suggest you two save it for another moment, where people can't see you." She warned, depositing the phone in Frido's hand. "By the way, we need to go." She said at Y/N.

When Y/N started to follow Alexia, Frido gives the cup at Marta and grabs Y/N's wrist gently, turning her body towards her. "Do you mind if I break the internet?" She knows that Y/N didn't care because they talk about it, if not, she never would that in public.

Y/N bit her lower lip, suppressing a smile. She brings her hands to Frido's cheeks and slowly brought her face to hers, but not closing the gap. "If you want break it, you need take the lead."

"Gladly." She muttered, before she smashed her lips on hers.

Alexia frowned when didn't hear steps coming behind her and turned to look to find the couple showing their love publicly. "Great, they can't hide it like everyone." She muttered, but a smirk approached in her face, seeing how her teammates ran to them and jump happily.

#woso x reader #woso #woso imagine #fridolina rolfö imagine #fridolina rolfö x reader #fridolina rolfö

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dresshistorynerd · 3 months

Text

European history is not white

Someone commented this to a post I reblogged, which message is basically "we shouldn't venerate the Dead White Man HistoryTM and we should elevate other history too, but we still need to learn Dead White Man HistoryTM to understand the world today". It's basically a response to the attitude you sometimes come across in the internet that sees learning about those Dead White MenTM as not worth our time. And this person, who seems to be following this blog because they responded to my reblog, takes it as a personal attack against all white Europeans. For some reason. Well I take these comments as a personal attack against historical understanding.

Firstly, the post clearly didn't say you shouldn't venerate any European history, because not all European history is Dead White Man HistoryTM. Obviously this person thinks European history is white, which is not true, but surely, surely, they know it's not all men? Secondly, what is "west culture"? When did it start? There is not one western culture, not one European culture. The first concept of some shared Europeanness was the Christendom in Middle Ages, but it was not exactly the same as we think of Europe today, because it did not include the pagan areas, but it included a lot of Levant and parts of Central Asia, where there were large Christian areas. And Europe was not "very white" nor was the Christendom. The more modern concept of West was cooked in tandem with race and whiteness during colonial era and Enlightenment, around 17th to 18th centuries. And Europe was certainly not very white then. The western world also includes a lot of colonized areas, so that's obviously not white history. Thirdly, implying that asking white people to apologize for European history (which no one did ask) is as ridiculous as asking black people for African history is... a choice. Black people do exist in a lot of other places than Africa, which white people should be the ones apologizing for, and really white people also have a lot to answer for about African history. Lastly, if you think the quote "anyone who thinks those dead white guys are aspirational is a white supremacist" means you as an European are demanded to apologize for your existence, maybe - as we say in Finland - that dog yelps, which the stick clanks. (I'm sorry I think I'm the funniest person in the world when I poorly translate Finnish sayings into English.)

The thing is, there is no point in European history, when Europe was white, for three reasons. 1) Whiteness was invented in 17th century and is an arbitrary concept that has changed it's meaning through time. 2) Whichever standard you use, historical or current, Europe still has never been all or overwhelmingly white, because whiteness is defined as the in-group of colonialists, and there has always been the internal Other too. In fact the racial hierarchy requires an internal Other. 3) People have always moved around a lot. The Eurasian steppe and the Mediterranean Sea have always been very important routes of migration and trade. I've been meaning to make a post proving exactly that to people like this, since as I've gathered my collection of primary images of clothing, I've also gathered quite a lot of European primary images showing non-white people, so I will use this opportunity to write that post.

So let's start from the beginning. Were the original inhabitants of Europe white? Of course not. The original humans had dark skin so obviously first Europeans had dark skin. Whenever new DNA evidence of dark skinned early Europeans come out (like this study), the inevitable right-wing backlash that follows is so interesting to me. Like what did you think? Do you still believe the racist 17th century theories that white people and people of colour are literally different species? I'm sure these people will implode when they learn that studies (e.g. this) suggest in fact only 10 000 years ago Europeans had dark skin, and even just 5 000 years ago, when Egypt (an many others) was already doing it's civilization thing, Europeans had brown skin (another source). According to the widely accepted theory, around that time 5 000 years ago the Proto-Indo-European language developed in the Pontic-Caspian steppe, which extends from Eastern Europe to Central Asia. These Proto-Indo-Europeans first migrated to Anatolia and then to Europe and Asia. Were they white? Well, they were probably not light skinned (probably had brown skin like the other people living in Europe around that time), the Asian branch of Indo-European peoples (Persians, most Afghans, Bengalis, most Indians, etc.) are certainly not considered white today and a lot of the people today living in that area are Turkic and Mongolic people, who are also not considered white. I think this highlights how nonsensical the concept of race is, but I don't think Proto-Indo-Europeans would have been considered white with any standard.

Around Bronze Age light skin became common among the people in Europe, while in East Asia it had become wide spread earlier. This does not however mark the point when "Europe became white". During the Bronze Age there was a lot of migration back and forth in the Eurasian steppe, and the early civilizations around Mediterranean did a lot of trade between Europe, Africa and Asia, which always means also people settling in different places to establish trading posts and intermarrying. There were several imperial powers that also stretched to multiple continents, like the briefly lived Macedonian Empire that stretched from Greece to Himalayas and Phoenicians from Levant, who didn't built an empire but settled in North Africa, Sicily and Iberia. In Iron Age the Carthaginian Empire, descendants of Phoenician settlers in current Tunisia, build an Empire that spanned most of the western Mediterranean coast. Their army occupying that area included among others Italic people, Gauls, Britons, Greeks and Amazigh people.

Iron Age also of course saw the rise of the Roman Republic, and later empire, but it was preceded by Etruscans, who populated Tuscan, and possibly preceded the Indo-European presence. However, weather through trade and migration with other Mediterraneans or the continuing presence of darker skin tones of the early Europeans, their art quite often depicts darker skin tones too, like seen below in first two images. Roman Empire at it's height spanned from Babylonia to the British Isles. They recruited soldiers from all provinces and intentionally used stationed them in different areas so they wouldn't be too sympathetic to possible rebels or neighboring enemies. Historical sources mention black Nubian soldiers in British Isles for example. They also built a lot of infrastructure around the empire to ensure protection and easy transportation through trade routes inside the empire. During this time Jewish groups also migrated from Levant to both North-Africa and Europe. Rome even had non-European emperors, like Septimius Severus who originated from Levant and was Punic (descendants of Phoenicians) from his father's side, and who was depicted with darker skin (third picture below). Various ethnicities with differing skin tones are represented all over Roman art, like in the fourth picture below from hunting lodge in Sicily.

Eurasian steppe continued to be important source of migration and trade between Europe and Asia. Scythians, Iranic nomadic people, were important for facilitating the trade between East Asia and Europe through the silk road during the Iron Age. They controlled large parts of Eastern Europe ruling over Slavic people and later assimilating to the various Slavic groups after loosing their political standing. Other Iranic steppe nomads, connected to Scythian culture also populated the Eurasian steppe during and after Scythia. During the Migration Period, which happened around and after the time of Western Rome, even more different groups migrated to Europe through the steppe. Huns arrived from east to the Volga region by mid-4th century, and they likely came from the eastern parts of the steppe from Mongolian area. Their origins are unclear and they were either Mongolic, Turkic or Iranic origin, possibly some mix of them. Primary descriptions of them suggests facial features common in East Asia. They were possibly the nomadic steppe people known as Xiongnu in China, which was significant in East and Central Asia from 3rd century BCE to 2nd century CE until they moved towards west. Between 4th and 6th centuries they dominated Eastern and Central Europe and raided Roman Empire contributing to the fall of Western Rome.

After disintegration of the Hun Empire, the Huns assimilated likely to the Turkic arrivals of the second wave of the Migration Period. Turkic people originate likely in southern Siberia and in later Migration period they controlled much of the Eurasian steppe and migrated to Eastern Europe too. A Turkic Avar Khagenate (nation led by a khan) controlled much of Eastern Europe from 6th to 8th century until they were assimilated to the conquering Franks and Bulgars (another Turkic people). The Bulgars established the Bulgarian Empire, which lasted from 7th to 11th in the Balkans. The Bulgars eventually adopted the language and culture of the local Southern Slavic people. The second wave of Migration Period also saw the Moor conquest of Iberia and Sicily. Moors were not a single ethnic group but Arab and various Amazigh Muslims. Their presence in the Iberian peninsula lasted from 8th to 15th century and they controlled Sicily from 9th to 11th century until the Norman conquest. During the Norman rule though, the various religious and ethnic groups (which also included Greeks and Italic people) continued to live in relative harmony and the North-African Muslim presence continued till 13th century. Let's be clear that the Northern Europe was also not white. Vikings also got their hands into the second wave migration action and traveled widely to east and west. Viking crews were not exclusively Scandinavians, but recruited along their travels various other people, as DNA evidence proves. They also traded with Byzantium (when they weren't raiding it) and Turkic people, intermarried and bought slaves, some of which were not white or European. A Muslim traveler even wrote one of the most important accounts of Vikings when encountering them in Volga.

By this point it should already be clear that Medieval Europe was neither white, but there's more. Romani people, who originate from India and speak Indo-Aryan language, arrived around 12th century to Balkans. They continued to migrate through Europe, by 14th century they were in Italy, by 15th century in Germany and by 16h century in Britain and Sweden. Another wave of Romani migration from Persia through North-Africa, arrived in Europe around 15th century. Then there's the Mongol Empire. In 13th century they ruled very briefly a massive portion of the whole Eurasian continent, including the Eastern Europe. After reaching it's largest extent, it quickly disintegrated. The Eurasian Steppe became the Golden Horde, but lost most of the Eastern-Europe, except Pontic-Caspian Steppe. They ruled over Slavs, Circissians, Turkic groups and Finno-Ugric groups till early 15th century. The Mongolian rulers assimilated to the Turkic people, who had been the previous rulers in most of the steppe. These Turkic people of the Golden Horde came to be known as Tatars. Golden Horde eventually split into several Tatar khagenates in 15th century, when the khagenates, except the Crimean Khagenate, were conquered by the Tsardom of Moscovy. Crimean Khagenate was annexed by the Russian Empire in 1783. Crusades were a movement from Europe to Levant, but they also meant intermarriage in the the Crusader kingdoms especially between the European and Levant Christians, and some movement back and froth between these kingdoms and Europe, trade and a lot of movement back after the Crusader kingdoms were defeated in 13th century. Generally too trade across the Mediterranean sea was extensive and led to migration and intermarriage.

And here's some example of people of colour in Medieval European art, shown as part of the majority white European societies. First is from a 15th century French manuscript depicting Burgundy court with dark skin courtier and lady in waiting. Second one is from a Flemish manuscript from 15th century of courtiers, including a black courtier, going for a hunt. Third is a 15th century Venetian gondolier with dark skin.

In Renaissance Era Europe was only increasing it's trade and therefore had even more connections outside Europe. The first picture below is Lisbon, which had strong trade relationship with Africa, depicted in late 16th century. People with darker skin tones were part all classes. Second image is an Italian portrait of probably a seamstress from 16th century. Third one is a portrait of one of the personal guards of the Holy Roman Emperor. Fourth image is a portrait of Alessandro de' Medici, duke of Florence, who was noted for his brown complexion, and the modern scholarly theory is that his mother was a (likely brown) Italian peasant woman.

Colonialism begun in the Renaissance Era, but the wide spread colonial extraction and slavery really got going in the 17th century. Racial hierarchy was developed initially to justify the trans-Atlantic slave trade specifically. That's why the early racial essentialism was mostly focused on establishing differences between white Europeans and black Africans. Whiteness was the default, many theories believed humans were originally white and non-whites "degenerated" either through their lives (some believed dark skin was basically a tan or a desease and that everyone was born white) or through history. Originally white people included West-Asians, some Central-Asians, some North-Africans and even sometimes Indigenous Americans in addition to Europeans. The category of white inevitably shrank as more justifications for atrocities of the ever expanding colonial exploitation were required. The colonial exploitation facilitated development of capitalism and the industrial revolution, which led to extreme class inequality and worsening poverty in the European colonial powers. This eventually became an issue for the beneficiaries of colonialism as worker movements and socialism were suddenly very appealing to the working class.

So what did the ruling classes do? Shrink whiteness and give white working classes and middle classes justifications to oppress others. Jews and Roma people had long been common scapegoats and targets of oppression. Their oppression was updated to the modern era and racial categories were built for that purpose. The colonial powers had practiced in their own neighborhoods before starting their colonial projects in earnest and many of those European proto-colonies were developed to the modern colonial model and justified the same way. In 19th century, when racial pseudoscience was reaching it's peak, Slavs, others in Balkan, the Irish (more broadly Celts), Sámi (who had lost their white card very early), Finns, Southern Italians, the Spanish, the Southern French and Greeks all were considered at least not fully white. The Southern Europeans and many Slavs were not even colonized (at least in the modern sense, though with some cases like Greeks it's more complicated than that), but they looked too much and were culturally too similar to other non-white Mediterraneans, and they were generally quite poor. In many of these cases, like Italians, the French and Slavs, it was primarily others belonging in the same group, who were making them into second class citizens. All this is to highlight how very malleable the concept of race is and that it's not at all easy to define the race of historical people.

However, even if we would go with the racial categories of today, Europe was still far from being all white in this period. You had Roma, who certainly are not included in whiteness today, and European Jews, whose whiteness is very conditional, descendants of Moors in Southern Europe and Tatars and Turks in Eastern Europe and Turkey, which today is often not thought of as part of Europe, but historically certainly was. And then colonialism brought even more people into Europe forcibly, in search of work because their home was destroyed or for diplomatic and business reasons. There were then even more people of colour, but they were more segregated from the white society. Black slaves and servants are very much represented in European art from 17th century onward, but these were not the only roles non-white people in Europe were in, which I will use these examples to show. First is a Flemish portrait of Congo's Emissary, Dom Miguel de Castro, 1643. Second is a 1650 portrait of a Moorish Spanish man Juan de Pareja, who was enslaved by the artist as artisanal assistant, but was freed and became a successful artist himself. Third is a 1768 portrait of Ignatius Sancho, a British-African writer and abolitionist, who had escaped slavery as a 20-year-old. Fourth painting is from 1778 of Dido Elizabeth Belle, a British gentlewoman born to a slave mother who was recognized as a legitimate daughter by her father, and her cousin. The fifth portrait is of an unknown woman by (probably) a Swiss painter from late 18th century. Sixth is a 1760s Italian portrait of a young black man.

In late 18th century England abolished slavery in British Isles first, then in early 19th century in the whole British Empire, thanks to the continuous campaign of free Black people and some white allies, notably Quakers. Around the same time slavery was abolished in France (briefly till Napoleon got to power) after the French revolution. This meant there were a lot more free black people in Europe after that. In 18th century the Europeans, British especially, were colonizing Asia as much they could, which meant that in 19th century there started to also be a lot more Asian, especially Indian people in Europe. First picture below is of Thomas Alexander Dumas, who was son of a black slave woman and a white noble French man and became a general in the French revolutionary army. His son was one of the most well-known French authors, Alexander Dumas, who wrote The Count of Monte Cristo and The Three Musketeers. Second portrait is of Jean-Baptiste Belley, a Senegalese former slave, who became French revolutionary politician. Third portrait is from 1810 of Dean Mahomed, an Indian-British entrepreneur, who established the first Indian restaurant in London. Forth is Arab-Javanese Romantic painter Saleh Syarif Bustaman, who spend years in Europe. Fifth is a 1862 photo of Sara Forbes Bonnetta, originally named Aina, princess of Edbago clan of Yoruba, who was captured into slavery as a child, but later freed and made Queen Victoria's ward and goddaughter. She married a Nigerian businessman, naval officer and statesman, James Pinson Labulo Davies (sixth picture).

So any guesses on at what point was that "very white Europe" when the "west culture" begun? It kinda seems to me that it never actually existed.

#history #poc history #black history #historical art #european history #history of race #colonialism #racism #slavery #painting #photograph

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potatounicoorn · 11 months

Text

K��ärijä's Helsinki live concert, mid-speeches translated

Okay as promised I will try to translate Käärijä's speeches of his concert. I am doing this as training for my English exam so I will make mistakes. Also Käärijä speaks in Finnish spoken language, and it has more slang than written language. So the translations are a polished versions of his speeches. Please correct me on my grammar mistakes! :D

---

"Good friends! Welcome to Käärijä's journey!

---

"Just like that. There is a lot of you. I heard some people have been waiting for a week in there. That requires skills. Thank you for that. Good lord give your self a big applause for this."

"Käärijä in Vantaa. From Vantaa. A sold-out Black box (the concert)."

"Nobody would have believed this. Not you, not me, no one. But accidents happen to everyone and now one happened to Käärijä.

"Amazing, let's continue."

(applause)

"Oh don't start yet, I'll take my jacket off. (A friends name?) take my jacket off."

"This leather is a bad choice for the outfit cause there are flames and everything. Leather against leather.

(The Finnish word for skin and leather is nahka so it's a fun play with words).

"A sip of water and we will continue."

"But one question! Did we come here to have fun? (Crowd cheers) Okay then we will continue."

---

"Thank you"

"Hey! Now there is this thing, and I am hoping that this friend who is coming here has drunk water. So that he won't go into the pyres, because today this one guy has a bachelor party."

(The guy in question appears, and Käärijä speaks to him. The guy wears a monkey suit)

"And I bet. And I bet you don't get any further. This will remain as a bachelor party. And you can start looking for a new friend, a new companion. I hope they are watching this."

"Hey! Here we have a monkey. And so am I."

"This job that we are doing here is really a job of a monkey. (With monkey they mean kinda silly or stupid). Glad to see someone else in this suit and next we have the song Kiertävä sirkus."

"You can go wild but don't go into the flames."

---

"Thank you! (Speaking to the monkey guy). I wish you nothing but the best and good luck."

"If everything went badly because of this, then you can move into my tiny apartment. You are always welcome."

"Okay take that monkey away."

(Speaking to the crowd again)

"It makes me glad. (He said "vetää hiljaiseksi" which means "pulls me silent", but idk how to translate that well)."

"People are wearing green and some people don't have clothes at all on them, but that is fine."

"So, have you been enjoying yourselves huh?"

(crowd cheers)

"Well yes. So I actually went to Eurovision, I don't know if anyone watched it, but-"

(cheering)

"Yes that was, that was like a basic gig in Nivala. Yeah we did that out of the way and- now we are here. So I appreciate all of you so so so so much."

"This is not self-evident, so many people want to see this circus monkey, I don't- I mean I am thinking what is wrong with you all, but it's nice that you are all here. Yeah just kidding.

"I also want to thank you for everything, you guys have made this thing, not me I just made the song. I didn't do much more than that. You guys created this around Käärijä- well I am not sure what sort of chaos this is, but you guys are guilty for that. Thank you for that."

(Crowd cheers)

"And then I would like to respect this guy called Antti Tuisku. " (Antti is a very popular and beloved Finnish singer).

"Sadly I need to tell you that Antti had much more better things to do, than come to Käärijä's concert."

"He is somewhere in Spain, with an oiled chest. Macarena- or what is that song."

"But we are trying to give our respects to him. He is apparently quitting his career, good for me, he made me some room. Thank you Antti."

"Antti was Finland's best live performer, notice "he was". Who is it now? I do not know."

"But- I was thinking we could do it for you guys (his and Antti's song "Auto jää".) We can respect Antti and- this sounds like a funeral speech. He is alive. And is doing well. Is doing better than ever."

"Antti, if you are watching this somewhere, I don't know somewhere. But if you are not watching then all the best for you. See you in Spain."

"Let's get going."

"You can sing along! I have no idea how these lyrics go, but let's try."

---

"Thank you."

"Pity that Antti didn't come."

"Antti did not come and you can't do anything about it."

(I don't know how to translate the word "onpa" but he says that a few times. Basically a word to start a sentence)

"I don't know, this makes me speechless. (the sound is not working) And now my headset is starting to get broken. I am absolutely messed up over here. I am not drunk but otherwise I'm messed up."

"There is- hey (points into the crowd) you put me messages about that hat, didn't you? Yes. Think about this, there is this one person who made a- I don't know how many weeks or months it took you to make that- that hat. Hat. First they were flexing me like "Look at this hat" and I was like oh that is kinda cool "Do you want this?".

(The person starts to point at the hat and ask does Käärijä want it)

"Why would I take it, it's yours!! Dear lord- no I can't- maybe later."

"Quite a hustle and bustle."

"Shall we continue still?"

(Crowd cheers)

"Yes we will continue- I am trying to look if there are any- all of you are my friends. And that much I want to say that welcome to Käärijä's family."

(Cheering)

"Even if you don't want to, now you are a part of Käärijä's family, because you came here. You have sold your souls to Käärijä.

(Cheers"

"And I hope everyone respects each other here, because otherwise I will come there and no one will have fun anymore."

"Because there are small family members here, so I hope they too will see something. So if there is a little Lassi somewhere in there, then take that Lassi and carry him so he could see too. Or then they can come here 10 years later."

"I feel like that 5 year old Lassi is as tall as me. Or what was its name. But I guess-"

"Okay then we will do a few new songs. We released this mixtape and decided to do those songs as well. I am kinda terrified already, (looks at a paper on the floor) and I went to look what were the names of the songs."

"Are they- Are these the songs? Well I guess there is no other choice but to do these."

"Are there anyone who bought that mixtape?"

"Well they did not sell that well but- that is why I am not even wearing a shirt on."

(A pink guy whispers something to him)

"What?"

"Is it the wrong song? That was the wrong song."

"What was it?"

"Well it was Mic mac."

"Sorry for that, I am still kinda in Liverpool, but well just ignore that."

"Let's play Mic mac then."

"If someone knows this legendary dance, you are allowed to dance."

---

"There is a mini Käärijä. Hello."

"That is cool. Is that my missing bolero? That was- you never returned it. But that's okay, it is yours now."

"Who else do we have here. What is that, a Pokemon card, a Bulbasaur- so many gifts here again."

"You guys are- a finnish flag- yes I know where we are."

"Someone came here "Really, Käärijä can't remember. We should show him that he is here in Finland, and no more in Liverpool!"

"Draw me a tattoo."

"Now you are- I will come there at some point. You are- you are- you are going hard over there, there is absolutely no sense in this."

"Dear lord."

"Does anyone else want a tattoo? I have the equipments over there."

"When this career in music starts going downhill, I was thinking about- well I guess I need to have a tattoo shop then, because so many want to take one."

"Alright, let's do more new songs then. Is that ok?"

(Crowd says yes)

"Well this is the first time we are doing these live, so give us some air and mercy. We are a bit confused, but that's the spirit."

"Let's go."

---

"Thank you."

"That went surprisingly well. A bit of confusion, but that is okay. Forgive me."

"And then there would be this "Morgan", has anyone heard it?"

(cheering)

"I can tell you, yesterday when we were practicing it- it was horrifying to watch. Let's hope it is today, just as horrifying to watch."

"So let's go!"

---

"Thank you (starts laughing)"

"Guys, you should never present a song you learned yesterday."

"But that went quite well, didn't it?"

"Yeah, the same thing was with Eurovision. I learned the lyrics a day before the show, and it went well!"

"Hey it is absolutely amazing. Life ain't so serious. It's good to go wild sometimes, but like nicely, no stupid things."

"I also want to say hey to the back row."

(cheering)

"Käärijä's concerts rarely have a back row, but now there is one."

"That is very nice, welcome here. I hope you can see something, I'm kinda a tiny short guy."

"People have been talking about how tall Käärijä is. So you know what?"

"I don't know."

"That's it."

"Let's go to the next song!"

---

"That kind. That song."

"Hey, a question. Always interesting a question like this."

"How many people knew about Käärijä before UMK?"

(Crowd answers)

"Not everyone could have know no. Where have you been those days? When Käärijä sang lonely gigs? In Pudasjärvi, in a corner of a pizzeria. Haven't seen you guys there."

"How many of you, Käärijä was not really known, before UMK?"

(Crowd answers again)

"Well now it badly seems like, people are trying to get pity pints to Käärijä. Same guys who said "Yes I have listened" raised their hands in "I haven't listened"."

"Well it is what it is. That I will never know. Numbers will know."

(The person with a tattoo sign is waving their sign)

"You are still swinging there. We should take a hotel room later, now take it easy. We will make that tattoo."

"Wow. Are there- How many made a bolero?"

(People raise their hands, one guy is jumping, Käärijä points at him)

"You. The same crazy person again here. I can never get rid of you. Now you have some kind of a teddy bear with you. What gig was it- it was Lap- Lappeenranta?"

"This guy stole the whole show."

"You got paid and everything."

"Yes well- yes no wonder Kärtsäri is not driving around with a fancy car when this one guy takes it all (the money)."

(The guy takes his wig off)

"Put that potty back you looked better in it."

"Hey I want to- there is a bolero. I first of all want to thank you- I am usually not the one to say thank you, I am that kind of a person who is not thanking everyone. That's not who I am. Thanking everyone is more of Antti's thing, not mine."

"But I want to say, to all the families that there here. Are there any families here?"

(Crowd answers)

"I assumed at first of course that "Yess there are families here". And nobody came. Let's just say, the smallest family members welcome here, and I hope parents know where they just took their kids. And I try to behave accordingly, today. This is the last time."

"This is the coolest thing that has happened to me, honestly."

(Crowd cheers)

"There- there in Liverpool the fact that there were 15 thousand people and 250 million people watching from TV, this is much cooler. Thank you for that."

(Crowd cheers)

"Even if I lie a lot, I am not lying about this."

"Okay shall we continue?"

"Hey, will any shirts come off? Next up is Paidaton riehuja (shirtless rampage) so will any come off? There! There went one."

"Remember at Käärijä's concert we are all family, so you can take off your shirt no matter gender or who you are. Of course be aware of the smallest family members, so they wont get trauma."

(Points at the crowd)

"What kind of a duck costume are you wearing?"

"You have come to the wrong concert, no but let's go."

---

(Käärijä goes near the crowd.)

"Thank you"

"Like that."

(Someones money drops)

"Your money dropped here."

(A little kid in a pink dress comes next to Käärijä)

"You- oh goddaughter even came here. Go fast to your mother or you'll drown there (in the crowd)."

(People give him stuff. Käärijä leads the kid back)

"Are these for me? Thank you. Amazing. (girl's name maybe?)"

(Käärijä goes back to the stage)

"I'll go back to the stage, I didn't go back home like some of you thought."

(Someone in the crowd shouts something, I am not sure what)

"It will come, it will come. It is the next one actually."

"Let's see. First time ever I had to do a set list. Because there are like 16 songs here."

"I am not sure what these songs are, but here they are."

"What are these songs? Do we even have time to do these all? Hey, before Urheilujätkä, there will be Hirttää kiinni."

"Is that okay?"

(He asks "Hirttääkö jengillä kiinni? Hyvä niin minullakin", not sure how to translate it right.)

---

"Kärtsäri's concert haven't had this kind of a feeling in a long time."

"Old man's pump is starting to fail, I hope our first aid is ready. Okay no that was a joke, no need to worry."

(Watching fan signs)

"What is there? "Greetings to mom and dad" my parents? Do you have something to say to my dad? "Cha cha cha, hirttää kiinni ja Mic mac" very well... "

"That is a cool sign, I need to give you my respects. My apartment is full of drawings, and shoes and socks and... I sleep on top of all the fan made things... and I don't have the money to move to a bigger apartment yet, but maybe someday for sure."

(Points to the crowd)

"Why are you jumping over there?"

"Cool is your bolero, what is it made of? Sheets maybe? No, just kidding, it's amazing."

(Cameraman is filming a fan with a sign "Make a <3 if you think Bojan is hot" Käärijä sadly did not notice :( Love the fan for trying)

"Soon we will give you some cha cha cha. And and well not yet, I tricked you guys a little, but soon."

"Before that, I would like to ask some people- wait I need to check who I was supposed to ask here."

"Yeah my memory left in- I need to say that this journey from Liverpool- no actually from UMK to here has really been a journey of some kind. And you people have made me come through it. I must say that if people think that this kind of life is just some highlight and very cool- this is very cool yes, but there are a lot of dark sides into this."

But I must say that the moment I see so many people here because of me- Dear lord."

"If my mom comes here well that is normal, but this many people, I am not sure how many is just wow. Nobody probably bought their own ticket here. You won your tickets from some cereal packet or-"

"Hey next I would like to ask people here on the stage. First of all I am asking my friend, who is actually the reason why I am on music business at all, and I have learned a lot from him and he is a dear friend. We have been through some hardships but we are still friends and I hope it stays like that, so now with a big applause welcome to the stage Soni!!! (I think it was Soni)"

(crowd cheers)

Soni: "Good evening"

Käärijä: "Pay your debts"

Soni:: "Tomorrow"

Käärijä: "Welcome to the stage"

Soni: "Thank you thank you"

"And next I would like to ask, one friend, who we made the first Käärijä song with and my best friend. Who was with me in Liverpool as an interpreter but he didn't get to do anything cause I became so good in English. My English is kinda good nowadays."

"Yes yes mister worldwide here"

"Applause to Jesse!!!!!"

"And before all this I will go get this one shirt. Where is it? Here."

Soni: "Does anyone have lamps on their phones? Could we get those up for the next song?"

Jesse: "This is the moment"

"This is very awkward to wear this shirt on. But is e here, is uncle Jaska here somewhere? Sportguy himself."

"He is not. Hey now it looks cool. Are you ready before the big final? Let's go!"

---

""Well that was a journey."

Joni: "What a circus."

"Jesse over here has played hockey before. Can't believe he is here now. Well career didn't start on that area and Jesse is not doing anything in this area either."

"Hey a few songs left I hope you have all enjoyed. Tomorrow I will go to a vacation so don't try to contact me. I won't answer. Cause now Kärtsäri needs a vacation."

"A few songs left and then you can all go to home to sleep. Are you ready?"

"I'll go take my shirt of and then we will continue."

(Someone shouts take your pants off)

"Pants off? These pants are stuck in my skin. So they won't leave. If you didn't know I actually sleep in these."

"Journey has been hard and it has a prize and that we pay."

"Next we will have a tense atmosphere"

"So let's continue."

---

(Crowd shouts Cha cha cha)

---

"Thank you!!!!"

"Give a big applause to yourselves! Give a big applause to the dancers! And give a big applause to my pink friends!"

"Do you want it to play again?"

"DO YOU WANT IT AGAIN?"

"Okay let's do it, now everyone goes as hard as they can!"

---

"Thank you!"

"Dear god, thank you thank you thank you!"

"Now my tank is empty and I will go to a vacation. remember to take a break and have a vacation."

"I will remember this always, I don't remember anything from the Eurovision show but this I will always remember. Thank you!"

"And I hope we can take one family photo. Everyone here, YLE will shut the TV soon. Okay good, good. And you can lift our hands."

(Crowd is chanting "Winner! Winner! Winner!")

"Thank you! See you in the future and maybe somewhere else!"

"Thank you, thank you. Goodbye!"

---

And with that I have decided to never translate anything ever again. Why did I think this would take an hour max? Anyway I hope this was useful to someone out there. It was a fun protect and after this, my English exam better be a 10.

GOODNIGHT!!!!! <3

#käärijä #kaarija #eurovision #esc 2023 #eurovision 2023 #finnish #english #translation #käärijä concert

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jokeroutsubs · 4 months

Text

ENG translation: "We are advocates of the fact that it is possible to create in our language"

An interview with Bojan Cvjetićanin and Kris Guštin in Slovenian magazine Reporter Magazin, originally published December 2023

Original article written by Katarina Keček for Reporter Magazin; photos by Primož Lavre and Urša Premik; English translation by @kurooscoffee and another Joker Out Subs member, proofread by IG GBoleyn123.

Also available in audio version on Spotify, read by IG GBoleyn123:

If you repost quotes from the interview, please link back to this post!

After a fantastic recent concert season with the currently most popular Slovenian music group Joker Out, who have already broken all boundaries at home, the boys are now ready to conquer the world's music stages. European first, said the band's two members, guitarist Kris Guštin and singer Bojan Cvjetićanin, modestly, when we met in their rehearsal room, "Then we'll think ahead." A few days after our conversation, Joker Out embarked on a new tour, which will include 13 European countries, including France, Belgium and Italy. Among others, they will be playing at some of the world's most iconic venues, such as the O2 Shepherd's Bush Empire in London and the Academy 2 in Manchester. A musical success that has no comparison here.

I'm sure you have given hundreds of interviews over the years? How do you cope with them?

Kris: If the questions are good, the interview is also good.

Bojan: During Eurovision we had about 40 interviews a day. Let's say two of them were a little different in terms of questions.

What kind of questions don't you like?

Both: Where did our name come from? When was the band formed? The kind of thing that everybody can find on Google.

Eurovision was a big breakthrough for you abroad, but you also said that you would not do a competition like that again.

Kris: We didn't say that.

Bojan: We have another one in January. We're playing at a festival in the Netherlands, it's a kind of show where you present yourself. It's a competition in a sense, but it's not very specific like Eurovision.

But these music competitions can't be real competitions. They are about the taste of the listener, just as art is about the taste of the observer. How are you going to evaluate a quality, a song?

Bojan: Eurovision is a really interesting experience and has a very specific concept. It's a three-minute spectacle contest, there are tangible standards, but on the other hand there are not. This spectacle may be different from what any of us would think of as "spectacle", let's say a lot of fire, explosions, and fireworks, but if the story is properly told in the flood of all these fires and explosions, just one deep silence can make the performance spectacular. For us, the competition was more about whether or not we would make that breakthrough. A contest against ourselves.

When you were at Eurovision, did you have in mind the country you were representing, or did you, first and foremost, see yourself in this contest? As an opportunity for the group to present itself?

Bojan: It was absolutely important for us to sing in Slovenian at this festival because we are advocates and representatives of the fact that it is possible to create in our language and that it is right to create in our language. It's right to speak it and it's right for the language to develop. The younger generations of Slovenians are also gaining an appreciation for the Slovenian language and an understanding of what it can be used for. The aim was to show ourselves. In the end, it is true that a country wins, let's say Sweden won, or Finland won, but the most important thing for us was that when someone says, "Do you remember Slovenia in 2023?" that it will be a positive image and a positive memory. We managed to do that, which is a big enough victory as far as we are concerned. At the same time, we did everything we could to represent ourselves and Slovenia in the best possible way.

Despite all this, we welcomed you home with great joy, we did not blame you for your result in the competition, because we saw that you gave your all.

Bojan: I was honestly happy to see the positive reaction, even though objectively speaking we had a pretty poor placement.

Kris: After a long time, us Eurovision performers also had the same kind of support of the nation at home that our athletes have.

It's interesting that you hold on to the Slovenian language so lovingly and don't give in to the prejudices that claim that Slovenian is not a poetic and melodic language. You write songs in various languages, but mostly in Slovenian.

Bojan: For me, it is most natural to write songs in Slovenian. My thought process, during my subconscious existence, is in the Slovenian language.

Your parents are not of Slovenian nationality, they both came from Bosnia during the war in 1991, with the last Unprofor convoy. Kris's mother is also Dutch, and you both love the Slovenian language.

Kris: My mother moved to Slovenia before Slovenia joined the EU and, as she explained to me, it was very difficult for her at that time too. All the bureaucratic stuff dragged on, just like it would for someone who came from Bosnia.

Bojan: I never had any problems with my parents being from Bosnia. I was at a school where there were quite a lot of children who had parents from the former Yugoslavia and we had no problems with that. I coped with the Slovenian language quite well from a very young age. However, this does not change the fact that the living conditions of many children at our school were of a lower standard. I don't know what was going on in their homes, because I know that for many it was not so rosy at home, but we children did not feel any revolt or hatred from our classmates at that time.

Your parents are both doctors, and they have made a new home in Slovenia. Do you still go to Bosnia?

Bojan: Yes, more and more often. I feel very Slovenian, I think and speak in this language, but on the other hand I am immensely proud of my roots and I also feel Bosnian, Serbian, at my core, and it seems to me that the fans from the former Yugoslav countries have now taken us very much as their own because of that.

You had very successful concerts in Zagreb and Belgrade. Interestingly, the visitors knew all your songs by heart, and what's more, they sang them with you in Slovenian. We haven't been used to that since the days of Lačni Franz* and Videoseks.*

*(The only two groups prior to Joker Out who succeeded in ex-Yugoslavia region enough to have the audience sing their songs in Slovenian)

Kris: Isn't it interesting that we find it bizarre that Serbs are singing in Slovenian, because before it was always the other way around?

Bojan: I also never understood before that Croatians or Serbs didn't understand us. As in, is the difference in languages really so big that you don't understand us? We can understand you. The fact is that Slovenians have been in contact with the Serbo-Croatian language in one way or another since we were very young, we all go to the seaside in Croatia, and we also listen to music from those parts en masse.

But the young people of your generation speak to the locals on the Croatian coast in English because they no longer understand their language.

Both: Yes, that's also true.

How come these Balkan languages don't cause you any problems?

Bojan: It's my mother tongue anyway, so I don't have any problems.

Kris: It seems very stupid to me that Slavs should communicate in Germanic languages. Even with the Czechs at Eurovision we communicated in both languages and it worked. It seems to me very inauthentic to speak English, but on the other hand I understand, because young people in Slovenia today are surrounded by English, maybe even more than Slovenian, and it is much more natural to them than to struggle in their own language or in a language that is supposed to be related to their own. It would be interesting if "interslavic" was introduced in all countries with Slavic languages as a second or third language. This is a mixture of all the Slavic languages, which is supposedly understood by all the members of the Slavic peoples. A language that is similar in its own way to all of us.

Esperanto, invented in the late 1980s as a counterbalance to the overuse of English, was a similar project. I do not know how many people still use it today.

Kris: Introducing a new language is not the easiest cultural process.

You have a big tour coming up, actually the first tour of European capitals.

Kris: Yes, first we're going to Skopje, then Munich, The Hague, Amsterdam, Madrid and Barcelona. On the 11th of December we're going back to Slovenia for a week, when we're planning to record some more in the studio, and then we're going to do concerts until the end of the year in Slovenia, in Celje, Maribor, Novo mesto and Ljubljana.

These tours must be exhausting. Every day travelling, buses, different cities, masses of people wanting something from you.

Kris: We have six concerts coming up now.

Bojan: We've just played nine concerts in fourteen days, we were in Lithuania, Poland, Czechia and Croatia.

Do fans in other countries remember you only from Eurovision or do they know your other songs as well?

Bojan: The most fascinating thing is that they have learned all the songs from the past too. We actually managed to break that barrier with just one song, but people learned two hours of material in another language. I don't know how many hours they had to devote to it, but they did.

Are you surprised by such enthusiasm? None of you could have planned this.

Kris: We went to Eurovision with this intention, so we can't say that we were completely surprised by the success. The ultimate goal all along was to make a breakthrough abroad. But we were absolutely surprised by the scope of the response. It could have been that Carpe Diem would have been very successful abroad, but the other songs would not have caught on. But we get to the concert and there is no feeling of waiting for this greatest hit, from the first minute people are "in it" and singing.

Bojan: If we sometimes dropped a song from our repertoire that we didn't want to play in Slovenia anymore, one of them being "Proti toku" because it was totally getting on our nerves, there were revolts on the internet and people were carrying banners at concerts saying "Play Proti toku!"

Kris: When we released New Wave with Elvis Costello, we thought that foreigners would prefer to listen to the song in English, but somehow everyone demanded it in Slovenian.

Bojan: They learned the Slovenian version and that's what they want.

I could say that you are kind of the pioneers of a new wave of Slovenian music, one for which Slovenia is obviously too small. None of the previous Slovenian Eurovision representatives have impressed Europe so much.

Bojan: I really don't remember us having any artist like that before. When Sestre went to Eurovision, they rode the wave at the time too, they were doing a lot of international shows too. I mean, it was a different concept, it was a project, but it still worked. Mostly because they actually had a vision, a plan and also a background behind them, there has to be some kind of support mechanism in the process. We didn't have performers in the sense of, okay, you showed up at Eurovision, now do a one-hour concert for me. Most of the performers couldn't do that because they didn't even have enough songs.

Kris: It's not only a problem in Slovenia, you find it everywhere, even among foreign artists. The Norwegian representative was fifth in Eurovision this year, she's very popular, but she only had one song on the market after the contest was over. Now she is going to release an album, but she hasn't had enough material so far.

Have you been preparing on your own to go abroad or do you maybe have some very professional agencies behind you to promote you and push you forward?

Bojan: With the people who are with us, we are our own management. We've never had someone above us who was our boss. We have always been our own bosses. We have our own people around us, but we have reached a level of performing in Slovenia that requires you to have a big team around you. We have about 30 people accompanying us on a regular basis, including the driver. When this success story happened, this breakthrough abroad, we were able to channel our system in a new direction, to at least somehow "patch up" the line up abroad for this year.

Do you cultivate a system of democracy in the band? How do you agree on certain things? By raising your hands?

Bojan: There hasn't been a need for that so far.

Kris: Usually the majority wins, within reasonable limits, of course.

Where do you find yourself more, live performances, making music, travelling, mingling with fans?

Kris: It really depends on the time period. It has to alternate. Solely playing infinite concerts is really fun for a while, but then it becomes tiring. The number of concerts we have played now is just about on the borderline for us to go back to the studio again for some time. On the other hand, spending infinite time in the studio isn't good either. During Covid, we were locked in for two years and we were just making music the entire time, and somewhere in there we kind of lost motivation. In the studio you also realise why you love the stage.

Are you tired after concerts, after a few hours of jumping around the stage?

Kris: The concert itself tires you out much less than the travelling. If you're lucky enough to be able to afford a private bus that takes you from concert to concert, then it's a lot easier. You get into it after the concert, fall asleep, and wake up in another city. The tour that is ahead of us, however, is made up entirely of flying, and that is the worst. Hotels, rushing, packing, taxis, airports, the atmosphere in airports is really unpleasant, no one is happy there, the hours drag on... that is the harder part. The concert itself doesn't tire me out that much. Most of all, we could play two concerts in a row if the atmosphere is right.

All that requires psychological and physical fitness as well. Do you practice any sports?

Kris: I used to be a more sporty person, I regularly played tennis, but ever since Eurovision, I can't find the right time to go back to something regular. I also used to play football recreationally every week, that's gone too. When on tour, I can only afford to run or to go to the hotel gym. But I haven't gotten to the point where I could make peace with that yet.

Bojan: I currently don't exercise at all. I used to train judo for a long time, but now, unfortunately, I haven't yet forced myself to go to the gym or go running when I have a free day. I'd like to start doing that, but I'm the type of person who needs a companion to pull me along and motivate me every day. I'm most drawn to football, martial arts, or extreme sports, but now I don't dare to do anything anymore because of injuries. Lately I've been going horse riding when I'm home. I find that horses calm me down.

Do you follow politics, are you interested in what's going on in Slovenian society?

Kris: Even a year ago, I was a lot more interested than I am now. Not just because we had a different government, but because I had time to think about it. I studied international relations for a while, I'm currently doing my master's. Otherwise I'm a chemical engineering graduate who switched to another university. I used to follow Slovenian politics a lot, but now I don't know if I feel like a fully qualified citizen of Slovenia anymore, since we've spent more than half a year outside of it. When I walk through our city now, I see it with different eyes. I see it almost as if it was any other city in the world, I pay attention to things like architecture or the atmosphere people create. Before, I used to walk through Ljubljana, it was my city, but I didn't pay attention to what was around me. Now I feel like half a stranger, which is weird in a way.

Bojan: For me, Ljubljana has now become a kind of base, a safe haven. I also see it differently than before. I agree with Kris that there are plenty of things that I didn't notice at all and I only see them now. I always perceived Ljubljana in a kind of romantic way, pretty much only the centre, even though I didn't live there from a young age. Only now that we've travelled around countries like Poland, Lithuania, or Finland, I see a lot of architectural similarities, but it has started to bother me that Ljubljana is so diverse in this aspect.

Is this diversity not a good thing?

Bojan: I don't know. Ljubljana smells nice to me, when I was walking around yesterday, I felt like Ljubljana was the last stage of a place. It's hard to say that this is a city, let alone a capital city of a country. Last night I was walking around the capital city of Slovenia at half past nine, and it was literally like I was in a "zombie land". There was no one anywhere. Incredibly weird, but on the other hand, nice.

Kris: That's pretty weird.

Bojan: Everything is getting more rigid, people are locking themselves up in their homes more and more.

Where can young people of your age go out in Ljubljana?

Kris: I'm facing this problem too.

Bojan: I think that in Ljubljana, we have quite a lot of choice when it comes to the number of places meant for parties. When they are open is another problem. We have a number of high quality clubs: K4, Cirkus, Orto, Shooter... for such a small place, we have a lot of clubs. The problem for me is that Ljubljana is a completely dead city in the summer. You can't go anywhere in the summer because everything closes down except Metelkova. For a tourist who's 20 or 25 years old and comes to Ljubljana in the summer, when it's wonderful, it's the most beautiful in the summer, it's a city where they have nothing to do.

Kris: There are plenty of places to hang out, but none of them appeal to me. I used to like going to K4, not anymore now, the last club I visited was Gala hala. It was awesome there.

When you come home nowadays, do you want to go to parties, go around the town?

Bojan: No, not at all. We're not really enthused about going out. When we come back home, we find other ways to relax. When I'm home, it suits me to be able to rest. Otherwise, what I like best is going to a concert.

Kris: That's what I like best too.

The band members constantly stick together, you even go on holidays together?

Kris: We already went together, it was awesome, we function great. The only concern is that we're constantly together. It's not good to be together all the time, each of us has his own life and things to do.

But, Bojan, you even went on holiday with your parents this year? How come?

Bojan: Yes, after eight years, we went on holiday together again. I was supposed to go to Thailand with the band, after the concert in Stožice. I got tonsillitis on the day of departure, so I avoided the long journey. When I felt a little better, I went to my grandma in Banja Luka, and after that, I went on holiday with my parents for five days.

Do they look at you differently in Banja Luka than in Slovenia?

Bojan: They don't recognise me on the street there nearly as much as it happens in Slovenia, it has only happened to me a few times.

Kris: The level at which I get recognised on the street is still okay for me. Bojan is more exposed and definitely has a different perspective. Maybe the most annoying thing is that you are expected to constantly be smiling and ready to take photos. We really are like that most of the time, but there are days when you're not in the mood to socialise, but you still have a concert. Afterwards, a lot of listeners are waiting and would like to hang out with you. I'd like to tell them that I am very grateful that they're there, but that I really don't have a never-ending social battery to be able to talk to all of them.

Bojan: It is ungrateful to talk about recognisability as something negative, because it's simply a consequence of everything we have and it's an expected side product. If I'm in a public place, I know that everyone around me is listening to what I'm talking to someone about. It has become uncomfortable to talk about anything personal with anyone, because you always feel like someone is eavesdropping.

What's your favourite thing to do when you finish a gig?

Kris: The first thing I do is to take a shower. I hang out a little with the team, with the band members, sometimes we go out to take photos, but otherwise, as soon as possible I drink a glass of water and go directly to bed.

Bojan: I'm such a good boy. I always take at least one hour for taking photos with fans.

I haven't yet come across you getting caught drunk or high on various substances, which isn't rare in the music world, it's more like a rule.

Bojan: I view all these extreme excesses as filling a void. For 99 percent of these performers who are said to do this, the roots of those voids are very clear. They come from personal trauma, mostly from childhood. Thankfully all five of us in the band come from very stable and happy families, none of us lacked for anything, quite the opposite, we all had everything endlessly. We have maximum support from all the people around us. We don't feel the need to rebel against anything, because we actually have nothing to rebel against. All these bands that did a lot of drugs and alcohol actually mostly broke up very quickly.

Bojan, you appear to be very energetic on stage, you're spontaneous and charismatic, you have the public eating our of your hand. Do you unleash your alter ego on the stage? Is that a different Bojan?

Bojan: You'd have to ask the guys from the band who spend the most time with me. As far as I know from the stories from people who have known me since I was little, I have always been loud and very talkative. I always liked performing and I wouldn't say that I put on an act on stage. On stage, I let myself go to the max, I think that I really mould myself into what I think belongs on stage. It's not a different Bojan on the stage, he just does some things that belong on stage.

Kris: Bojan on stage is in a higher gear. It's the same for the whole band.

Bojan: People can feel other people. Everything that happened to us is also in large part a consequence of people actually feeling that we are the same people on stage as we are when we come off the stage. We're real here, there's no acting, we also don't think that we're any better than them. We're all friends, they're below the stage, we're on the stage, and we have fun together.

Kris: It's also true that I feel more free on stage. We're allowed more. I enjoy the fact that our concert is a sort of a valve, even though I hate that word.

Like every ordinary woman, I can't skip past your fantastic stage clothes. All my female friends want to wear them.

Bojan: I would also like to wear them in my private life, but I already have a closet full of clothes that have piled up throughout my life, and they aren't like the ones we wear at gigs. But I would like to walk out of my room every day dressed in a way that made me look like I'm in Miami in the 80s, or like a mix between a "drug dealer" and a "drug cop".

Kris: My sister has already looted my closet. I looted my dad's.

Bojan: I have looted the closets of my parents and my sister.

Kris, your dad is a famous musician. Did he help you at the start, what kind of advice does he give you?

Kris: My dad only helped me in the sense that I sometimes showed him what I had written or what we had recorded in the studio, and he gave his opinion. But that hasn't happened in a year now, ever since I moved out. Before that, he could hear me through the walls when I was playing.

Bojan: I've also become independent. Although now when we come back from a tour, I still like going back home the best.

What does independence look like?

Kris: I like it. I can't imagine going back home anymore, even though I love my family immensely. But us not living together anymore has only made our relationships better. I like having my own peace, but I also like coming back home for lunch.

BIOGRAPHY In 2017, five friends started a band called Joker Out. They had all been musically active before, but they achieved the first big success as a band as the winning group of Špil liga in Kino Šiška in Ljubljana. After this victory, the boys became sought-after on all Slovenian musical stages. They released two albums, Umazane misli in 2021 and Demoni a year later. In those two years, they also received two 'Zlata piščal' ('Golden Flute') awards, in 2020 for newcomers of the year, and again next year for artists of the year. This spring, RTV Slovenia sent Joker Out and their song Carpe Diem to Eurovision where, despite a lot of attention from fans, they ended in a modest 21st place. Despite that, European music enthusiasts have welcomed them as their own, their popularity is growing quickly. Joker Out are currently filling the biggest European concert stages, which no Slovenian musician has managed before.

If you repost quotes from the interview, please link back to this post!

#joker out #bojan cvjeticanin #bojan cvjetićanin #kris gustin #kris guštin #Spotify

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thisismeracing · 5 months

Note

Oh, what about someone with finnish! reader, pure fluff and gentleness for whichever driver you want ?

(loving from a finnish follower)

Hi, babes!!!! <3 I decided to go with danny, hope you like it!! *mwah* Also I hope I got the words right!! Let me know if I messed it up and I'll adjust!

Finnish Skies | DR3

― Pairing: Daniel Ricciardo x Finnish!reader (sher/her) ― Warnings: tooth-rotting fluff; typos. ―my masterlist | my taglist | patreon guide ― you can support my writing by reblogging, leaving a comment (don’t forget to follow me if you like the piece), or buying me a coffee

Your phone played a gentle melody while you read a book. Beside you, Daniel had a guitar on his lap, strumming the chords softly as if trying to come up with a new song, something he had been doing a lot lately. He loved racing, the adrenaline, and the constant travel, but he found peace in slowing down, especially with you beside him. So when his break rolled around and you told him you were visiting your home, he suggested to follow you. It was his idea to rent a cabin close to a lake.

It was also his idea to go to Helsinki. It would be his first time experiencing the city and the festival. He was eager to meet Finland with you. To discover more about your culture besides what you told him.

But right now, you were just bathing in how your country could feel like home even to Danny who was not from there. The green threes, the brown sand, the long and beautiful lakes, and especially, the starry nights. You had been to a lot of places, but none felt like home did. No other sky in the world was close to your Finnish sky.

"Kulta," you called Danny once you finished the chapter you were intended to. You were about to suggest you started on dinner but stopped yourself watching as his fingers stopped, and his face turned to you in a beat. He had a grin on his face, eyes not leaving yours.

"I love it when you call me that," he put his guitar on the coffee table in front of you and crawled close to your spot on the couch. "Olet kultaseni."

He had just called you his sweetheart.

"Where did you learn that?" You lace your arms around his strong neck.

Danny shrugs, dipping his head to capture your lips in a soft kiss, "I told you I was planning on asking you to visit Finland together, I've been taking classes."

You felt your body warm, and your heartbeat skyrocketing. There was something so pure and deep about someone learning your language even though you can already communicate using a different one. There was something magic about wanting to learn about one's culture and to experience life by one side. To know each small detail that makes you who you are, and to love them with all his heart.

"Minä Rakastan Sinua," he whispered, foreheads touching. He watched attentively as your expression changed once again. A bright smile graced your lips, lips which he couldn't help but kiss again.

The three magic words.

Sure he had told you he loved you in English, but it wasn't the same. It's never the same when there's a different way to say it, one you've been hearing since you were a kid. Since a time when you weren't even able to form words.

This is the most special kind of I love you.

"Minä Rakastan Sinua," you whisper back, bathing on how lucky you were for finding a home in him. Even though Finland was your home, Danny was also your home.

#dr3 #daniel ricciardo #daniel ricciardo blub #daniel ricciardo fluff #daniel ricciardo imagine #daniel ricciardo x reader #finnish!reader #f1 x reader #formula one x you #f1 fandom #formula one imagine #op: blurbs #millie writes #millies inbox #anon #requests #f1 x you #f1 imagine #q

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chut-je-dors · 11 months

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Hello! Do you happen to know any good resources for learning Finnish? As basic as possible, I literally started on Duolingo half an hour ago:) I know, I know, I'm a poser for learning Finnish *after* Käärijä, but the language sounds soooo interesting (although I've heard the grammar is quite difficult...). Thank you in advance and also love your blog:)))))

Hi!! So very very ecstatic that you've decided to learn Finnish! No reason to feel ashamed that you'd only start after Käärijä... believe me, in Finland people are just altogether very taken if a foreigner wants to learn Finnish, no matter the reason. (And all reasons for learning a language are good!) (And we're SO SO PROUD of Käärijä, he's done a monumental job of bringing our language to the public eye more than ANYONE ELSE BEFORE so, yup! He's a VERY good reason to start learning Finnish!!)

I'm not sure if I'm the right person to point you towards any resources... But I tried finding some for you! I've checked out the Duolingo course and it's a good place to begin! Here's also a drive folder that has some Finnish language books as PDFs.

Also here's a page for beginner's Finnish from our national news media Yle (it's like our version of BBC).

Here is a "picture book" kind of a page for learning names for objects, good to start with!

Here's an online course for beginners! This has grammar too, and links for further reading and studying.

Finnish is also notorious for having it's written language differ drastically from how people actually speak. We don't have accents per se, but dialects instead, which don't just affect the way we pronounce words (=accents, as in English) but the way we form them. So for example, the written Finnish "I am" is "minä olen", but in spoken Finnish it can become e.g. "mä oon", "mää oon", "mie oon", depending on where you live (and there might be some more variations as well but these are the most common ones.) Many foreigners find themselves in a spot where they can read and understand written Finnish pretty well, then the moment a Finnish person opens their mouth it's a bloodbath. But don't let it deter you! And Finnish people are more than happy to switch to written Finnish if you don't understand them. I found this website for learning the basics for spoken Finnish!

A good place is also good ole Youtube! Just type in "Finnish for beginners" and you're set to go!

Finnish is a difficult language to learn because of the grammar and lack of prepositions if your language has them... but look at it this way, I struggle with them in any language that uses them cos I haven't grown up using them. I still occasionally mess up with in/on or for/to (it's even worse with French and Swedish). Doesn't stop me from writing 100k fics in English apparently!

Welcome to learning Finnish! Remember that the most important thing is to learn the swear words, you'll go far with those. Just drop in a perkele and it's always the right thing to say haha.

Jokes aside, I'm very happy to hear this! Finnish is a very beautiful language and a very inventive one as well, which allows for more word play and creativity with the language than, say, English for example. And while Finnish is difficult, you'll find that once you've learnt the rules, there are no exceptions to them or the kind of hassle with the grammar as there is to English or French. I've known exchange students who've learnt near perfect Finnish in less than a year!

If anyone knows and wants to add more good resources here, go ahead!

#suomi #finland #finnish #eurovision #käärijä #i was so glad to receive this ask!!#i hope you have a good time learning finnish #welcome to the party it's crazy <3 #also check out spotify lists of finnish songs! you might find some artists you like #bless you nonnie!!#anonymous #answered

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snowberrydream · 11 months

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Stoma gave Käärijä a new life - english translation of an interview for Finnilco ry 8.5.2023

Translator’s note:

If you’ve been wondering about that scar on Finland’s favorite green boi’s belly …this is about that. (Because why be cha cha cha when you can be sad sad sad and read about how he was like a week away from death at one point in his life. Though I guess it kinda fits the post-ESC depression, really)

Okay, now some actual notes about the text. So, Finnilco is a Finnish organisation for patients with stomas and the like, so the interview talks a lot about medical stuff and is clearly geared towards people with similar health issues. It might not be as ”entertaining” as all the other stuff you might’ve seen about him recently, but I recommend reading it anyways, as I feel it gives a lot of insight to who Käärijä is as a person. It hasn’t always been just crazy and party for him.

There is a lot of medical vocabulary in this, and I’ve done some intense googling and wikipedia-ing to figure out what the correct terms are, but I can only hope they are right. Trying to understand whether things are synonymous with each other or completely different things is kinda hard when you have zero knowledge about the subject. I deeply apologize for any mistakes that might occur.

I’ve also done some minor tweaks to the text (like cut down on repeating his last name in nearly every sentence) for the sake of easier reading, as the style of it is quite academic and ”dry”, but overall I’ve kept as close to the original as I could.

link to the original finnish interview:https://www.finnilco.fi/post/avanne-antoi-k%C3%A4%C3%A4rij%C3%A4lle-uuden-el%C3%A4m%C3%A4n

***

Jere Pöyhönen, known by his artist name Käärijä, is the finnish representative in the Eurovision 2023 Song Contest. The artist, known for his style and energetic live-performances, had his youth shadowed by serious health issues, to which he even almost lost his life.

By his own words Pöyhönen is still just a normal guy. Vantaa-born Pöyhönen was diagnosed with colitis ulcerosa, a type of imflammatory bowel disease, when he was young. As the disease got worse, he had to eventually have an emergency surgery, where he got a temporary stoma. Later the stoma was removed and replaced with a J-pouch (ileo-anal pouch), a reservoir pouch formed from the end of his small intestine. Currently in good health, he wants to be open about his disease so that he could offer peer support to others battling with the same issues.

- I am truly fine with this, I am not ashamed about it, on the contrary, I want to tell about this to everyone. I hope that by sharing my experience I could help someone else, Pöyhönen says with a smile.

Symptoms lead to an emergency operation

When Pöyhönen was at ninth grade, he was diagnosed with rectal inflammation. The inflammation was treated with suppository and oral medication, and it got better. When he was 18, the symptoms returned. For a year he was on an elimination diet that kept the inflammation under control, but eventually his condition got worse again, and in the end his entire colon got inflamed. Several treatments were attempted, but none worked. At the worst point Pöyhönen weighed only 49 kg, and his hemoglobin was swaying between 54-56.

- I was still somewhat right in the head, though I was feeling dizzy and kept bumping into bathroom doors. It was quite a rough time in every way, he reminisces. He defecated blood multiple times a day and was practically bedridden, his parents had to feed him. But nothing seemed to help. Pöyhönen remembers how his mother was crying by his bedside. Back then he had blood tests done regularly to control his condition, and after one time he got a call and was told that his hemoglobin was so low that he needed to be treated urgently. After the call his dad went to start the car and drove him straight to the hospital.

At the hospital, an emergency surgery awaited. While waiting for his turn he wondered about what would happen to him in the surgery, afraid that he’d need a stoma. At the same time he thought that the most important thing was to stay alive.

- Do whatever you have to, as long as I’ll get better, he remembers thinking before going in. A stoma had been suggested to him already before, but until then he hadn’t been able to accept it and had tried to manage by other means. Afterwards he has been thinking that the fear was due to the issue being so unknown. He didn’t know much about stomas and had never seen anyone with one.

- It was a tough spot. I wondered how the stoma would affect my life and me as a person. How would I look like, what would happen to my sexuality. Those kind of things scared me the most about it, he recalls.

Life as a young person with a stoma

The first thing he did after waking from the surgery was feeling his stomach and the collection bag.

- It was a weird feeling, confusing. But at the same time I felt just immense calmness. The root of the problem, the inflamed colon had been removed entirely. Confusion soon turned into acceptance.

- I wasn’t sad about it for that long, on the contrary. When it sank in that I was still alive, the stoma felt like a pretty small thing, considering everything. It was a happy thing that I had it.

Despite feeling thankful about the stoma, it was still a shock at the beginning.

- When I was taken to get a shower for the first time and I saw it, I nearly fainted, he laughs.

The emergency surgery was lifesaving for Pöyhönen. if it hadn’t been done, the inflammation could’ve spread from his bowel to the rest of the body within weeks, or even days. So Pöyhönen came really close to death, but thanks to the stoma he got to continue living.

– Getting the stoma gave me a second chance. A chance that not everyone gets to have. But if they get it, they should take the offer with a smile.

Pöyhönen tells that he got used to living with the stoma quite quickly. But it required him to adjust his own attitude – he had to accept the situation as it was. Luckily he was able to enjoy life even with the stoma

- When I had it, I did all the same stuff as other people. I did sports, went to restaurants, I truly lived a really ordinary life.

Of course he faced also some difficult times. At the time 18 years old Pöyhönen was in a relationship, and he tells that at first things relating to sexuality felt difficult.

- It was indeed nerve-racking. Overall, you are only starting to try out stuff at that age, and then there is the stoma on top of it all.

But one thing was clear for him already at the time:

- If the other party in the relationship doesn’t accept your situation or the stoma, then that person isn’t worthy of you.

From stoma to J-pouch

Pöyhönen lived with the stoma for five months until it was replaced with a j-pouch. In the beginning the pouch got clogged, but he didn’t tell about it right away. He was fed up with spending his time in a hospital and wanted to live a normal life. When he finally told about the clogging, the issue was fixed and the difficulties eased.

- I’ve done all the normal stuff. I’ve travelled around the world, done and eaten the same things as everyone else.

Pöyhönen has had the j-pouch for almost eight years now. He hasn’t had any serious complications, but occasionally there’s been some milder issues.

- Sometimes there’s been minor inflammation or bleeding. Once I went to have an endoscopy after there was more blood and I got frightened. Old fears about how things were in the past rose to the surface, Pöyhönen tells.

Overall he is feeling positive about everything.

– At the moment I’m really contented with my situation, and I wouldn’t change anything. I wouldn’t even want that colon back, as this all has become a part of my identity, he says.

Music as a part of life

Music has always meant a lot for Jere Pöyhönen. Yet it wasn’t always obvious that it would turn into a career.

While spending his time in hospitals, listening to music comforted him and gave him hope. Laying in a hospital bed with an IV drip next to him, Pöyhönen also wrote his own songs. If other patients wondered about his doings, he simply answered that he was making music.

During his time in hospital he realized that life might be short. He decided that if he’d be alive and healthy again after the emergency surgery, he’d go and try doing music for real and with everything he had. Of course, at the time he had no idea how far that decision would eventually bring him.

- My values became clearer there in the hospital. I realized what are the things I love and what is truly important for me. One of those things is music, and doing that was what I set my mind on to.

Pöyhönen tells that he especially enjoys doing live shows, because then he gets to entertain people. He feels he is at his best while performing.

Daily life of an artist

Nowadays health issues don’t cause much trouble in Pöyhönen’s everyday life as an artist, but he still needs to take good care of his body. At gigs he must pay extra attention to what he drinks and eats, when and how much. He is sweating a lot while performing on stage, and to balance that he drinks salt/mineral water. The excitement also affects his bodily functions, and during stressful moments he’ll need to use the bathroom more often. But he tells that he doesn’t really get nervous about doing gigs anymore.

However, the approaching Eurovision song contest is a kind of gig he has never experienced before. The event is big and the place as well as the proceedings are all new to him. Despite all that, Pöyhönen seems trustful.

- I don’t know how it is going to be like in there, but I don’t think I’ll have any problems. His confidence relies both on his general attitude and that over the years he has learned to know the way his body functions quite precisely. He knows when his energy levels are getting low and when he needs to drink or eat.

Family’s support has been important

When Pöyhönen was sick, the support from his family was what helped him to keep going. Thanks to his family he has always felt valued and loved.

– The contribution from my parents has been enormous. I will never be able to repay their efforts, other than by being alive.

Pöyhönen tells how his parents gave him their full support while he was sick.

- When I first got diagnosed with the rectal inflammation, they wanted to figure out what could cause it right away. They delved deep into the matter, made phone calls and searched for information from the internet.

His parents drove him to his tests and put their time and money into finding out what was going on. The financial support made it possible that he could have all the different tests done despite them costing a lot.

Stories from peers bring hope

Though his family and friends have been there for him, they haven’t been able to offer him peer support. When he was sick, Pöyhönen did sometimes feel very alone with his issue.

- I didn’t know anyone else in a similar situation as myself. I didn’t get to talk face to face with peers, he says. He did search for peer stories from internet, but people online were usually anonymous, and though he gained information through it, he was longing for human connection and faces to relate to. Lucky for him, an acquaintance of his was in the hospital at the same time as him due to a similar issue. They became friends and messaged daily through Facebook, asking each other about the number of times they went to bathroom and the like.

Pöyhönen says that those kind of discussions with a peer were a big help. It was important to hear that someone else was experiencing similar things as him. An ice hockey player Teemu Ramstedt gave him another face to relate to.

– It gave me lot of faith to see someone else with the same stuff going on as me. That an athlete, a hockey player, had been dealing with the same issues, he tells.

Attitude and dreams helping to go forward

While being sick Pöyhönen gained strength from daydreaming and steering his thoughts towards future.

- I kept thinking that at some point I’ll have good moments with my family and friends again. That one day I’ll be healthy and able to feel happy about everything. In the end it was quite simple things that helped, and also humor helped to get through it all.

Pöyhönen tells that he has been a joker since he was young, and when he was unwell, he also used humor to deal with the difficult things. But there was also something else hidden underneath the jokes.

- Maybe all the joking was also a survival tactic. A way to escape from it all. In the beginning I didn’t want to accept the reality, even though I tried to convince myself that I had done so.

Pöyhönen tells that the songs he used to listen to while in hospital were difficult to listen to after he got out of there. Also some familiar places would bring up old memories in an unpleasant way.

But in the end, time heals, and years later those same songs are back on his regular playlist. Now they just uplift his mood and push him forward.

It’s worth it to open up

When Pöyhönen was sick, he didn’t always tell about his symptoms to his parents or the hospital staff right away. One reason that he mentions was shame. At first he himself didn’t want to believe it to be real when he first saw blood down in the toilet.

- But when it happened again, I realized that this might not be something that would just go away. That it might be something more serious that should be taken care of, he recalls.

And to his younger self, or someone else in a similar situation he would give the advice that you should be open about your problems. He also encourages to try and find some peer support, as he himself was left without it for the most part. Though the bit he did get was a big relieving factor..

– When a person suffers from an illness, the most important thing really is that you are mentally in a good condition. If you are feeling down, the healing process will be really hard, he points out.

At the moment he dreams about that he and the people closest to him would stay as healthy as possible. He wishes that he would get to do things he enjoys in his life and to spend time with the people that are important to him.

To the readers of Finnilco he sends the following message:

– Go forward with humility, but don’t be too meek either. Love yourself, your body and mind. Be well, and if problems arise, react to them right away. Enjoy life and do things that make you happy.

***

#käärijä #eurovision #eurovision 2023 #cha cha cha #interview #translation #ulcerative colitis #inflammatory bowel disease #stoma #it's a bit sad read but also comforting #he sounds so nice and so does his famiily

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writeforfandoms · 8 months

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Waking Lions 12

Find the series masterlist

Ace is in over her head, but she can swim.

Warnings: Swearing, brief kidnapping, threat of violence, new characters get plopped onto the chess board, spy shit.

Word count: 1.3k

Reminder: this is a slowwwwwww burn. But we will get there! Eventually.

The van finally stopped. You had no idea how long it had been - it was harder to judge the passage of time without sight and without any sounds other than the engine and generic road sounds. Not that you’d heard another car for a while.

Your guess was that you were somewhere well outside the city. Finland had lots of open land, after all.

The door opened and hands caught your upper arms, guiding you out of the car. You swallowed but went easily, stumbling only a little. You had two days still until Captain would expect a check in, Laswell had no idea where you were, and no one else was expecting you.

Okay. There were times that being an independent had some downsides.

A door opened ahead of you, hinges creaking, and the air cooled a little as the sunshine vanished. You clenched your jaw as you were guided by the elbow before someone turned you and pushed you down into a chair.

Light hit your eyes as the bag was removed, and you blinked a few times. Now there were three men: the two who had grabbed you and an absolute behemoth of a man wearing a… hood of some sort. Definitely the tallest man you’d ever seen.

You couldn’t help but swallow at that, nerves alight with fear.

This was going to end so poorly.

“What were you doing with this man?” The leader held out a photo to you, and you took it. It was a shot of you and the informant in Ireland. Based on the angle, taken from where up high. Like a sniper nest.

Well. Guess you knew who had killed him, now. And shot you.

“He was an informant,” you said slowly, frowning down at the picture. “That’s all.”

“An informant?” The leader leaned in closer, trying to use his height on you to his advantage.

“I’m an independent intelligence agent.” You shrugged a little. “He was a lead.”

“A lead for what?”

You tipped your head slowly, looking up at him. “I was gathering information on a group in Russia,” you said slowly. He didn’t strike you as being allied with the Russians, and you were gambling on that. “He was providing me with a piece of that puzzle.”

“Yeah?” His lips curled a little in amused derision. “And was one of those puzzle pieces where to join up?”

You snorted. You couldn’t help it. “Not a chance in hell. The world isn’t perfect but I like it without a major war.”

The man took the picture back from you, handing it back to his associates without looking. “So your interest in this Russian group is…?”

“Intel, like I said.” You shrugged a little. “I don’t get involved.”

“Don’t suppose you have anyone to vouch for you.” The gleam of his teeth was an open threat.

“Suppose that depends on who you know.” You spread your open hands out, away from your body. “What would convince you not to shoot me?”

“Tell me who you work for.”

You clenched your jaw briefly. “I work for several people, that’s the point of being independent. But the people having me gather this information are American.” You paused. “And English.”

“I need a name.”

“I can’t give you a name, not without risking my client.” You refused to be cowed, even when the big guy drew a knife that must have been as long as your forearm.

“You’re not giving me a good reason to keep you alive.”

You frowned down at your hands, thinking fast. They’d shot your contact in Ireland (and you), because they assumed you were using him to join up. They assumed you were working with the Ultranationalist group, or possibly with AQ. The problem was that there was no easy way to prove that you weren’t. Not without compromising people, and you refused to do that.

So you had left what you always had.

Information.

“Perhaps I can interest you in an exchange, instead?” You smiled a little. “My life for the information I have on the ultranationalist group.”

He considered it, leaning back a little, fingers tapping against the butt of his pistol. Then he nodded once. “You give me everything,” he agreed. “You wait here while I verify information. If you’re not lying, I won’t kill you.”

You nodded slowly. “Agreed.” You drew in a deep breath. “You might want to record this.”

The leader silently held his phone in his hand and nodded to you.

So you started talking. You told them everything, including the things you hadn’t gotten to Captain yet. (You did feel a bit bad about that but, well, needs must.) You gave them the few concrete links you had to AQ.

Telling it all this way took a while, and you were parched by the time you were done, throat a little sore. But you were still alive.

The leader nodded once and tucked his phone away again. “Wait here,” was all he said. He and the other man who’d grabbed you walked out.

Leaving you alone with the behemoth.

You shifted your weight, careful not to make any sudden moves. At some point while you’d been talking, the knife had gone back into the sheath, but the man was still armed to the teeth.

Not that he needed to be. Looking at the size of him, you wouldn’t be surprised if he could rip you apart with his bare hands.

So you kept quiet and unassuming and as still as you could manage. You did not reach for your phone. You did go over everything you’d told them and everything you’d extrapolated.

The one thing that still didn’t make sense was why they’d shot your contact (and you). He hadn’t been involved.

Unless he had, and he’d been feeling you out. You closed your eyes and grimaced. Damn. Someone had given you faulty intel and you’d nearly gotten killed for it. Twice, if you decided to count this encounter. You hated it when you missed things like that.

“You are alright?”

You blinked at the behemoth (you were just gonna start calling him Goliath soon), his voice quiet and accented. “Yes, thank you. Just realized something.”

He nodded once, hood shifting with the movement, and settled back against the wall again.

You weren’t sure how long you sat there, going through your intel, looking for holes or inconsistencies. But it was a while. Long enough that your ass had gone numb by the time the leader came back in.

“Time to go,” he said to Goliath. He glanced at you, eyes dark. “You’re clear. But we’re behind schedule. You’ll have to find your own way back.”

“Fine.” You’d take that over getting shot any day of the week.

The leader nodded once and stepped out again. Goliath paused at the door, looking down at you. Way, way down. “I am sorry, for the shot.” He touched his own side where you had been shot. And then he was gone.

Well. Guess you knew who had shot you. And why.

Relief made you a little dizzy, and you slumped in your chair. You waited until you heard the van start up and leave before you left the room.

You had been absolutely right. Middle of nowhere.

And now you needed to find a way back to your hotel to collect your things.

You thanked all your lucky stars that you had service, and then settled in to wait for a cab.

#waking lions #john price x reader #john price x you #f!reader

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doyoulikethissong-poll · 2 months

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Dua Lipa - New Rules 2017

"New Rules" was released as the seventh single from English-Albanian singer Dua Lipa's self-titled debut studio album. It reached number one in the UK, the Netherlands, Belgium (Flanders), Ireland, Israel and Romania, while peaking within the top ten in Australia, Canada, Finland, Germany, Italy, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden and several other countries. "New Rules" became Lipa's third entry and first top 10 on the US Billboard Hot 100, peaking at number six. It was nominated for Song of the Year and Best Choreography at the 2018 MTV Video Music Awards.

Lipa has won three Grammy Awards: one for Best New Artist, one for Best Dance Recording for "Electricity" with Silk City in 2019, and for Best Pop Vocal Album in 2021 for her album, Future Nostalgia.

"New Rules" received a total of 63,3% yes votes!

youtube

ate! ✨

#finished #high yes #high votes #low reblog #10s #dua lipa

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nonivittumitavittuataas · 11 months

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Useful links to Learn Finnish

~ Learning resources ~

# Apps #

Duolingo, a classic, it teaches you vocabulary and basic sentence structure

Drops, a great app to learn vocabulary, and it’s organized by subjects

Clozemaster, makes you fill sentences, slightly advanced

Memrise, good to learn vocabulary, includes textbooks vocabulary too

Mondly, teaches vocabulary and basic sentence structure

WordDive, seems like a comprehensive course (I haven’t tested this one)

# Textbooks #

Suomen Mestari, the book most Finnish classes use, is in Finnish only

Oma Suomi, a book for self-learning English speakers

# Websites #

The Finnish Teacher, easily approachable grammar lessons

Verbix, to find verb conjugations

Sanakirja, very complete dictionary and translator

Urbaani sanakirja, Finnish equivalent to Urban dictionnary

Uusi kielemme, a good vocabulary list divided by themes and levels

Finnish swear words on Wikipedia, essential!

# Video & audio lessons #

Finnish Pod, numerous audio and video lessons

Supisuomea-videot by Yle, videos with simple Finnish and subtitles

FSI courses, recordings of conversational Finnish

# Complete beginner resources #

A Taste of Finnish, reading, listening and grammar points

Kielet by Yle, lessons in Finnish with videos

Venla, for vocabulary, structures and grammar

Digital Dialects, games to learn Finnish

~ Listening resources ~

# Podcasts #

Opi Suomea!, a podcast in simple Finnish

Yle uutiset selkosuomeksi, a news podcast in easy Finnish

Auta Antti!, a podcast where the host answers listeners questions

# Music & Radio #

Radio Suomi Pop, only Finnish songs & Finnish speakers

Tunein, to access more Finnish radios

#vainsuomihitit, Spotify playlist with all the new Finnish hits

Suomen musiikki, my Finnish spotify playlist

Mirka Karoliina, Disney songs with Finnish subtitles and translations

# Movies & TV shows #

My Finnish movies masterlist (needs to be updated)

Yle Arena, legal streaming of Finnish shows & others with Finnish subtitles

Some American streaming services (Netflix, Disney+ etc) have things dubbed in Finnish (mostly cartoons and kid’s shows), but most of those are only available if you’re in Finland (or use a VPN)

# Youtubers #

Papananaama

KAKSI ÄITIÄ

maiju

~ Reading & Writing resources ~

# Reading #

Yle uutiset selkosuomeksi, news articles in easy Finnish

Oppiminen by Yle, various articles in easy Finnish

Free Finnish books, for advanced level

# Writing #

LangCorrect, write diary entries and get corrected by native Finnish speakers

~ Communities ~

# Finnblrs #

Tags on Tumblr: Finnish / Finnish langblr / Finnblr / Finnish language

This is Finnish

Suomen Kieli

Fennophile

Tealingual

Finn in training (mine)

# Others #

LearnFinnish on Reddit

Static page version of this post can be found here. Older versions of this article can be found here and here.

#Finnish #Finnish language #Finnblr #finnish langblr #learning Finnish #learn Finnish

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because-its-eurovision · 3 months

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UMK 2024 IS HERE!

WHAT: Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu (Contest for New Music) abbreviated UMK, Finland’s national Eurovision selection

WHEN: Saturday 10th of February at 21.00 Finnish time (20.00 CET)

WHERE: Live from Nokia Arena in Tampere, Yle TV1 & Yle Areena

Commentary available in Finnish, Swedish, English, Ukrainian, Russian, Northern Sami and Inari Sami, Finnish Sign Language and Finland-Swedish Sign Language

HOSTS: Pilvi Hämäläinen, Benjamin & Viivi Pumpanen

RUNNING ORDER:

1. Sini Sabotage - Kuori mua

2. Cyan Kicks - Dancing With Demons

3. Jesse Markin - Glow

4. Mikael Gabriel x nublu - Vox Populi

5. Sara Siipola - Paskana

6. Sexmane - MANIA

7. Windows95man - No Rules!

OPENING ACT: KUUMAA & Benjamin

GUEST ACT: Käärijä & Erika Vikman

VOTING: 75% public vote, 25% international jury

Voting via Yle App (one free vote), text message or calling (1 €/vote, unlimited)

PS. All performances, including the opening and interval acts, will be uploaded to UMK’s YouTube channel. Full show will also be available for re-watching at Yle Areena.

#umk #uuden musiikin kilpailu #yle #suomi #finland #eurovision #euroviisut #2024

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glorysalazar · 11 months

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No Duolingo, no problem

Jere Pöyhönen / Käärijä x Fem! Reader

Summary: You moved to Finland a few weeks ago and can't seem to feel at home: you're starting at a new job, you don't understand the language, you're kind of going through a break up... One tired and cold evening you head into the first bar you can find and briefly meet a cute guy you can't stop thinking about for the next few weeks. You try to forget about him, but when you go back to the same bar for some random gig your coworkers have invited you to go to, you find him again. [This takes place way before Eurovision]

Word count: 5.9k

Warnings: English isn't my first language and I got a little lazy mid writing. Also they smoke a vape oops (seriously now don't do it it's shit for your health). Maybe smut implications at the end?

A/N: I didn't know what to name this lmao. I cannot believe I wrote fanficiton for the first time in YEARS because I fell in love with a Finnish guy after watching Eurovision. Anyway, I noticed an enormous shortage of Jere fics and decided to risk my final exams to serve the people. I hope it's worth it! Also apologies if the Finnish translation is shit I used a random website for it lol

Glossary:

"Anteeksi, pudotit takkisi" -> "Sorry, you dropped your coat"

"Jere, istuimme takapöydässä" -> "Jere, we are sitting at the back table"

"Olen tulossa" -> "I'm on my way"

"Hetkinen, kiitos!" -> "One moment, please!"

"Jere, sinun vuorosi on kymmenen minuutin kuluttua" -> "Jere, you're on in ten minutes"

"Minä menen nyt" -> "Coming"

"Hei kaikille, miten meillä menee tänään?" -> "Hi everyone, how are we doing today?"

"Kiitos, Mikko, arvostan sitä todella" -> "Thank you, Mikko, I really appreciate it"

"Miten uskallat tulla tänne?" -> "How dare she come here?"

"Meidän on hyödynnettävä sitä" -> "We'll have to make use of it"

"Mikä on sana?" -> "What's the word?"

...

It was cold. Hell, it was colder than she could have ever imagined before coming here. Sure, she had checked the country's temperatures before moving, researched online about what to expect for someone who was used to easy winters, had bought the fuzzy-fur-on-the-inside-boots and the heavy jacket and all that was recommended to face the never-ending snowing. But still, it somehow hadn't been enough.

A job offer and the need to find some new purpose to latch onto had led (Y/N) here. Now three weeks in, with no friends and hardly a place to call her home had helped regret start to settle in. So many things felt out of her control: the way her colleagues seemed to think she was a mess, the cashiers at the supermarket sighing because she still didn't understand the language, everyone from her hometown rolling their eyes when she announced she was leaving in a way that meant you're not gonna make it.

Yet being thrown outside her comfort zone, and being forced to move on however she could manage, made her feel at least some kind of thrive. Which was far more than she had back home.

As she walked down the street for some place to find shelter in, hands shaking and breaths almost uneven, a neon sign caught her attention. Even though she couldn't figure out the name, it looked like a pretty okay bar. She didn't need much convincing anyway; anything would do to get out of this freezing gale. She made her way in.

The warmth was a instant relief. Stripping down from the many layers of upper clothes, she took a quick glance to check the place out. Not many people, which was fair for a Wednesday evening. There was low music playing, mild chatter and a bunch of people sitting alone in the stools, which was a relief. At least she wouldn't be the only one.

As she ordered a beer (one of the few phrases she had made sure to master) she felt her hands come alive again. The beverage came along and she took a long, much anticipated sip. It tasted significantly different from the brands she was used to, but it was just fine. Alcohol is alcohol.

Finally feeling at ease, she took her phone out and started mindlessly scrolling through social media to kill some time. It was still early in the evening since she had just gotten out from work. An extra challenging day is what had led her to wander outside for a bit instead of heading back to the dull apartment she hadn't even been able to decorate yet. Going home right after would've led her to start overthinking if this job was even right for her, if she had gone crazy by moving hundreds of kilometres away from what she's always known, if her ex-girlfriend had been right when she accused her of being too impulsive, if it would be such a bad thing to give it up already and leave—

"Anteeksi, pudotit takkisi", she heard a voice say behind her.

When she turned around to give her "sorry I still don't speak Finnish" speech, she was met with a blue-eyed, dark-haired, funky but sweet looking guy holding her jacket, which she now understood had fallen to the floor. It caught her by surprise that she somehow forgot how to speak for a brief moment.

"Oh! Thank you, I hadn't noticed it was on the floor" she ended up answering, taking the jacket back as the man handed it to her with a confused look in his eyes. "Sorry, I'm not from here. I don't speak Finnish yet" she added with a small chuckle.

"No, don't worry, Finnish, uh- hard language to learn" he answered through an amusing smile, with a thick accent and a clear struggle to speak English.

She half laughed at his answer. Until now, people hadn't been so kind about the language-barrier impediment. "Yes, it is a little bit", she followed, now taking in his appearance.

Painted nails. Double nose piercings. Earrings. Facial hair. A bowl cut? Interesting choice, but it suited him surprisingly well. Her brain decided through that brief examination: he was cute. Attractively cute.

"You can try Duolingo. I use for my English, but don't work very very well" the man said the second part more as a correction to himself, making both of them laugh from the random half advice. He tried to fix it: "Maybe for you works better".

"Maybe. I'll check it out. Thank you again" her response was going to be followed by an invitation for him to sit down with her, as she felt a sudden wave of boldness: I need to make some friends in this town or else I'll go crazy. But a group of three other guys that had come in after him caught her stranger's attention.

"Jere, istuimme takapöydässä", one of them said to him, while walking to a table at the back corner of the bar.

"Olen tulossa" he turned around to answer, then looked at her once more, "I go now with my friends. Enjoy your beer" he smiled and small-waved goodbye, as she copied his gesture. "Enjoy your evening".

That small interaction was enough for her to spend the next half hour looking up from her phone, which she had retreated to, to glance at him from time to time. His group of friends and him seemed to be having a good time, and she enjoyed the view of him. He looked like a very interesting person, too, and if she was being honest, she hadn't been struck by someone new in quite some time. Not by her neighbors, not by the people she was starting to coincide with at the grocery shop, not even by her co-workers.

She noticed him looking at her from time to time as well.

When her glass was empty and just as the clock on her phone struck seven, she got up and got prepared to face the freezing wind once again. At least it wasn't that long of a walk to her place.

She lingered for a moment before exiting the bar, then finally did so while warning herself not to get too caught up on the nice stranger she suddenly felt she was leaving behind. It was just a one minute interaction. You probably won't see him again. Quit this teenager act. Focus on the important tasks ahead of you.

It was already pitch black outside, snow accumulated on the sidewalks, the air was even colder than before.

Excitement started to bubble up in the pit of her stomach.

...

Two weeks had gone by and although she had been meaning to return to the bar, she just hadn't find the time to do so. Once the job's training period ended, the hectic rythm started. In her free time, when she wasn't taking care of the house or just resting, she was trying to find some language academy where she could actually properly learn Finnish. Cute guy had been right: Duolingo just didn't do the trick.

She had hoped he would appear around the neighborhood, that maybe he lived nearby. But there had been no luck. It was fine, though. She knew she would let go of it rather quickly at that point, it's not like she had been thinking about his addictive smile or pretty eyes or soft-looking hands. Not at all.

It was Friday, and some acquaintances from work she had managed to pull off had invited her to a small gig. She didn't even remember the musician's name nor did she know where it was going to be, but nevertheless she was happy to go and actually get to have some fun with other people. Who knows, cute guy might even be there.

She didn't even realize they were headed to the bar until they were right in front of it. Inside, a small stage platform had been set up and tables and chairs had been removed to make space for the audience. It wasn't very spacey anyway, the place could hold about a hundred people squeezed together tops.

"Huh, hadn't even thought of this place as a venue" she let her thoughts trail out loud.

"Have you been here before?" her coworker Aubrey, who she had slightly bonded with because she was also a foreigner, asked her. "Only once" the girl explained, already searching for a certain someone's face in the crowd. "So, who have you brought me to see tonight?" she asked, in the hopes of at least getting some conversation non-work related flowing. "I don't really know, coming here was Mikko's idea. He's always trying to get us into these weird small rap-rock Finnish bands, and listen, I've lived here for over a year now and I still don't really get the hype" Aubrey explained making both of them laugh "But it always ends up being fun when we go out" she added.

The rest of the group had moved forward to get a good spot near the humble stage, as Mikko babbled on and on about nonsense the two women couldn't figure out from the distance. "Hey, I'm going to the bathroom real quick. Mind saving me a place?" (Y/N) asked her colleague, who answered affirmatively.

She made her way through the crowd in between "excuse me's" and "sorry's" but got there with quite ease. One of the two toilet doors had a sign that read "Out of order", so she knocked on the one that was left to check if anyone was inside. A voice that sounded vaguely familiar came from the other side: "Hetkinen, kiitos!"

Nervousness suddenly struck her. Is this who I think it is?

When the door opened there was no doubt. Cute stranger was standing in front of her.

"Oh! Hello" he blurted out just as he saw her, sounding surprised. Today he was wearing eye makeup and bottom eyeliner, which suited him very, very well. He has such a pretty face.

She realized now she had not been able to get over this guy in the two weeks of not seeing him, even though she didn't even know his name.

"Hi" was all she could manage to say. She had been looking for him when she entered the bar but she was convinced he was not actually going to be there, "It's good to see you!" she added, as a way of avoiding an awkward silence.

"You as well. You, uh, you come to... concert?" he inquired, struggling to find the last word while pointing towards the direction where the stage was to make sure he was being understood.

She noticed he was wearing an all yellow outfit that consisted of corduroy pants and a button up. He looks good in it.

"Yes, some work friends brought me here. But if I'm being honest I don't even know who's playing" she confessed, slightly covering her mouth with one of her hands to joke around, as if she had spilled a dark secret. Stranger burst out laughing. His laugh was cute. "Do you know if he's good? I wanna know if I'll be wasting my time or not" she asked him, pretending to be a diva to keep his laugh going.

He had his arms crossed and his tongue between his teeth as he slightly giggled. "No, I think he's pretty ok. I think you will like, even if no understand" his answer was playful and accompanied with another small laugh. She continued joking around, this time putting her hands up in pretend self defense "Hey, I'll try my best. Maybe using Duolingo for two days actually did something" she shot back, realizing after saying those words that she had just told Mr. Stranger she had followed his advice.

He narrowed his eyes and tilted his head playfully "You did what I say to you" he stated. "Yes, but you were right. It's not really helpful. Now I just keep getting emails from the goddamn owl and feel scared that he's going to find me and kill me for not going back to the app" she explained exaggeratedly, which made their giggles grow bigger and even he bent his knees with laughter.

Their little chit-chatting was cut when a man who looked like he had been searching for someone stopped in his tracks at the beginning of the bathroom hall and shouted at them: "Jere, sinun vuorosi on kymmenen minuutin kuluttua". She turned around to look at the source of the voice and then back at stranger when he answered "Minä menen nyt". She wished she knew what they were saying, but she assumed it had just been his friend telling him to hurry up. Also, was Jere his name? She had heard it two times already.

"Someone's always calling out for you", she commented when they were left alone again. "It's because me popular, yes yes" he joked, putting a hand to his chest and shrugging. "Listen, I go now. Concert starting soon" he explained, pointing out to the stage's direction once again "I see you there?" he asked, eyebrows raised as he put a hand to her shoulder, looking into her eyes. His blue ones had her mind going blank for a moment. That seemed to happen a lot when he was around. "Uh- yeah, sure, see you there". He smiled again then moved past her to return to the hall. She stared at him leave as she opened the door to the bathroom and finally went inside, smiling to herself and biting her bottom lip.

She hurried back once she was finished not only in fear of missing out the start of the concert, but more so in fear of not finding him again. Aubrey raised her hand to catch her attention and she followed the lead back to the group. The place was packed, it was hot, and there was a lot of chatter going on.

"What took you so long?", Aubrey asked as she got to her side, just in front of the stage, "They're about to start". (Y/N) was standing on her tiptoes and turning her head in all directions. She had just talked to him and the bar was not that big: where the hell had he hid himself?

"There was a long line to the bathroom..." she started off distantly, then turned to face Aubrey "Hey, this is going to sound weird, but have you seen-" just when she was going to make the question, she noticed some people walking up to the stage and everyone started cheering.

As she looked up, she couldn't have been more dumbfounded.

It was him. Mr Stranger was the one performing tonight.

"Hei kaikille, miten meillä menee tänään?" he shouted out to the public, (Y/N) assumed as a way of greeting everyone. He took no time noticing she was right there, which made him grin even wider. "I see we have international people tonight. Good" he said while looking directly at her. She felt her coworkers eyes on her.

"Do you know him?" Aubrey whispered-shouted to her, "I- uh, no, yes? Briefly" she responded back as he continued on in Finnish. She remembered the question she had made him earlier and mentally facepalmed. This cheeky dude. Lying to her face just so he could later get her reaction.

Since there was no way of understanding what he said, she concentrated on what she could see. Two men behind him wearing pink shirts and shorts and sunglasses. A DJ table, no instruments. There was a sign hanging from the wall that read "Käärijä". Was that his artistic name? She was very intrigued by everything going on and wondered what genre he was going to play.

She had no idea what was coming.

As soon as he stopped talking and the music started playing, his demeanor changed. His stare became fiercer, his movements provocative and unleashed. He walked around the stage like he owned it, stared at the audience like he knew they would do whatever he asked them. Every beat before he started singing rumbled inside her, made her hold her breath in anticipation. She let it out once the words started to fall from his mouth.

The lyrics could have been shit for all she knew. His deep voice, the exotic pronunciation, the hard rapping from the boy who had seemed so sweet and wholesome but was now showing another side of him, the song's rhythm and tone. She was all in. So in, that her body started swaying to the sound almost like an automatic response, and jumped around alongside everyone else when the music demanded to do so.

"Ok, he's really good" she said to her coworkers as the crowd sung alongside him. "Mikko, you were right, he's really good" she insisted to the boy beside her, who was clearly enjoying himself. "I told you!" he answered amidst chanting, "Jere is my most talented friend". Oh, okay. Mental note taken.

As he performed his songs, (Y/N) couldn't help but admire the dedication Jere put on and the absolute fun he looked like he was having. Also, she realised he was at least kind of known around here, because people were singng alongside him.

The head banging, self touching, slightly undressing and sticking his tongue out only added more to his eclectic movements and gestures that made the show feel like a mix of energetic, passionate and, why deny it, lascivious state. Her eyes were glued to him in a capitative stare, that he would catch from time to time and hold for a few seconds. Then he would turn to his attention somewhere else, but a smirk would make a clear appearance on his face.

Whenever he finished a number, the loud clapping allowed him some time to take a sip of water. The clothes he was wearing and its material soon became unbearable, which lead him to take his shirt off completely. "Sorry, it is hot in here" he stated into the microphone pretending to excuse himself as a joke, as everyone in the room made a fuss about it. He was heavily sweating all over his face, neck and torso.

If she had previously been absorbed by him, at this point it was almost unbearable. She had not expected to see so much exposed flesh, and the pectoral tattoo nearly had her weak on her knees.

For some reason, freehing himself from his clothes somehow made him behave even wilder from then on out. He started getting closer to the front row, some even holding out their arms to interact with him, him receiving the gesture with no issue. The Fin looked so confident in what he was doing, it only made her feel even more attracted to him.

He moved so quickly (Y/N) didn't even have time to process when he positioned himself right in front of her, amidst performing a song, and full on stroked her cheek for a few lasting moments, all the while mainting direct eye contact. It was as if no one else had been around them, as if this instant had been theirs only. She didn't respond to the touch by touching him herself, since she couldn't find the strength to be as bold; but the breath hitching and swallowing saliva right after were a clear sign to Jere that he made her feel things. He would quite probably feel embarrassed about it later, but right now it made him feel close to powerful.

The whole gig ended on a high note, the applause was strong and lasting. (Y/N) clapped her hands so fast they even started hurting a little, and could understand through the noise that Jere was thanking everyone for coming out to see him. As he was about to exit the stage, some music started playing over the speakers as to signal that the performance was over and everyone could retreat to either leave the bar or get a drink and stay there for a longer while. As the people from the front row turned around and waited to have a chance to move, (Y/N) felt a hand on her shoulder.

Jere looked exhausted, but it also seemed like the whole night had riled him up. "You don't leave now?", he meant to ask, but came out more as a plead. She wouldn't even dream of doing so right now. "No, no, I'm staying" she rushed to answer. "Good. Wait for me?" he went on. She could only manage to nod her head yes. He smiled and quickly went "backstage" to freshen up.

"Okay, what the actual hell was that?" Aubrey took no time to pry her, "It did not look like knowing each other briefly". (Y/N) shrugged while putting her hands in the air and half laughing, not knowing how to beat those allegations.

"It's classic Jere. Finds a girl cute and cannot stop himself" Mikko chimed in, while grinning, "Now I understand, you must be the girl he saw a couple of weeks ago over here, right?"

"He's talked about me?" she said, a bit shocked, while Mikko lead the way for the three of them to go grab a drink. "Yes, well, now that I connect the dots, that evening you came here, it was a Wednesday, right? I came too, but it must've been after you left. When I arrived he was commenting it".

Some of the other coworkers were starting to leave, not without commenting the elephant in the room before grabbing the door. "You're gonna be the talk of the office now", Aubrey asserted, making Mikko laugh and (Y/N) grow redder by the minute. "I don't even- we haven't even talked that much, really. But watching him onstage was..." she trailed off, letting out a sigh and grabbing the drink Mikko offered her, thanking him in the process. "Yes, it's his special trait. That magnetism he holds is what's gonna get him places", he agreed.

"Okay, but does this whole act mean that he always does this? Like, does he take advantage of his concerts to mindlessly flirt with random people?" (Y/N) suddenly tried to rationalize the fast track of actions Jere was taking on with her. Sure, she liked him, and she really, really wanted to have some fun. Needed it, even. This bonding moment with Aubrey and Mikko right now, this non-work related, exciting chatter; the going out; as precipitating as it sounds she was starting to feel like she was finally making friends, establishing a life. But she also didn't want to be played around with.

"Ohhh, no, not necessarily" her coworker laughed, calming her down "Käärijä the performer is seductive, provocative, even uncontrollable" he took a sip from his drink, "But Jere the person is another story. Dude wouldn't even hurt a fly, I mean it" he reassured her. He then was about to say something else, but stopped on his tracks when they all noticed the man of the hour and the tow men who had performed with him coming over to them. However, he quickly commented to the girls the following before Jere could hear them: "If anything, he's the one who has been played around with".

Jere approached Mikko first, going in for a hug, which made total sense given the fact that they were friends. (Y/N) appreciated it, because his last comment had caught her by surprise. He had changed into some track pants and graphic loose t-shirt, and over all he already looked far more calmed down and back to his more, to put it some way, innocent self. Aubrey and (Y/N) exchanged a look before introducing themselves to the guys in pink, who had not changed their outfits. Their names were Jaakko and Aleksi.

"Hey, I recognize you. You were all in the bar that day I was here" she said as a realization. "Yes, we were planning tonight" Aleksi answered, "Did you like it?" he added, to both her and Aubrey.

While the four of them engaged in small talk, the girls understood that Mikko was congratulating his friend on his performance and Jere was thanking him, "Kiitos, Mikko, arvostan sitä todella", he said with appreciation on his face, closed smile and big puppy eyes (Y/N) couldn't ignore. With one last ruffle on his hair from Mikko, the two men stayed with one arm over the other's back and turned to the group.

"Alright, let's talk in English now so we can all understand each other..." Mikko started off. "I see you guys have already introduced yourselves, very good. Now let me introduce you girls to Käärijä himself, although maybe a certain someone doesn't need it" he playfully remarked, making Jere look away while hiding his face and (Y/N) roll her eyes. "Jere, these are (Y/N) and Aubrey from work. Aubrey, (Y/N), this is Jere" he played around using a formal tone and letting out of their embrace.

"Nice to meet you" Aubrey answered, shaking hands with him and gently pushing (Y/N) forward once she was done to signal her to do so as well.

"I finally know your name" he commented, making her chuckle, "Yes, I guess you do". Mikko and Aubrey swiftly moved to give them some space, going over to Jaakko and Aleksi, who were all in in the same unspoken plan.

"You like the show?" he seemed a bit nervous as he rested his elbow on the counter and signaled the waiter to get him a drink, while attentively listening to her answer, "Honestly, I'd never been to one quite like this. I mean, I've been to rock concerts and such, but this energy you guys put on stage was totally new for me. I really enjoyed it tho, you're really good" she sincerely said.

"Oh, thank you, really" Jere put a hand to his chest as to show gratitude, "It was first concert after months of not doing", he further explained, "So means a lot all people who come here, yes. I'm so happy for this, I was worried if not work well". He sounded so humble (Y/N) couldn't help but grow to like his personality even more. She was curious to know why he hadn't played in a way, but also didn't want to intrude, so she opted for another response. "Well you should be. We all had a blast".

"You understand anything I sing?" he wondered with a perky smirk, before taking a sip from the beer that had just landed in front of him. "I didn't need to", she let it out without giving it a second thought, almost as if this was the only real answer she could give, which to her felt absolutely true. He was shocked by it and spilled some of the drink out, quickly catching the dripping by covering his mouth with a napkin.

"Ah, I make fool of me now, great!" he tried to cover up by playing down the incident. She couldn't stop laughing out loud, some people even noticing the whole scene between the two of them, specially Mikko and company who laughed as well from a distance, "That's what you get for lying to me before" she joked, but grabbed a napkin as well to clean his shirt up, softly patting it on his chest. "Sorry, I wanted to surprise" he justified. It was in that moment that she noticed they were almost the same height. When her gaze moved upward from the stain she was cleaning up, his stare was way closer than she had thought. He carried on talking.

"Also, before, I hope I not make you... uh-, mikä on sana epämukavalle?" he looked over at Mikko for help regarding a language inquire.

"Uncomfortable"

"Yes, that" Jere said, "I hope I not make you uncom... uncomfortable when I, you know-" he tried to explain himself, struggling with the pronunciation. He stroked his own cheek to interpret what he attempted to say. "Oh! No no, don't worry, it was- it was okay. I liked it, actually", his relief was evident after she assured him. He let out a nervous giggle.

Then, something caught his attention. His gaze had travelled to the door, past (Y/N), and what he saw made his face turn dead serious, although also sad. Mikko, Aleksi and Jaakko very quickly noticed what was happening. Aubrey and (Y/N) also turned around to check it out: a girl was standing by the entrance looking for someone with a worried expression.

"Miten uskallat tulla tänne?" Jaakko expressed angrily. The three men addressed Jere, who suddenly was a loss of words and course of action.

"Ex alert" Aubrey whispered to (Y/N) while sipping from her drink's straw. "They're asking him if he wants to go talk to her" she informed her friend, which (Y/N) was thankful for. It was really tiring to not catch anything on her own sometimes. While the four men were talking to each other, deciding what to do next, (Y/N) grabbed Jere's arm and everyone's attention fell on her. She just couldn't stop strongly empathizing with him because she had also recently been through a break up and knew how shitty it was. Jere seemed more at ease when she talked, "Are you okay? Do you want to get out of here?" he looked past her again, everyone following his direction and realizing his ex was coming over to them. "I do, please", "Then we're getting out of here", (Y/N) decided, "You guys coming?" she asked the rest. "No, you guys go on. We'll make sure she doesn't follow" Mikko stated, thankful for her determination.

They said rushed goodbyes and (Y/N) got ahold of his hand to guide him towards the door. When they walked past her, she tried to talk, but they were quick to get out.

As per usual, it was freezing. They started to wander off to anywhere.

...

"I'm sorry about having to go"

They had found a comfortable spot in a park overlooking the town's river and had settled there. They had walked for a while, him trying to talk about anything else but his ex.

"Don't sweat it. I fully understand" she comforted him, then took the vape he had previously offered to her and took a puff before continuing, "I got broken up with three months ago... I hate to admit it, but it's part of the reason I ended up deciding to move here", she explained. He listened to her attentively, with a stern face.

The night was silent over here. It was only the sound of the stream and their hushed voices

"Can I ask why the break up?" he inquired, not wanting to pry on too much. "Only if I can ask why the break up", she made him chuckle. "Yes, of course" he accepted.

"She said I was too impulsive and that she couldn't trust me to maintain a steady and stable relationship, because I couldn't even do that with my own life" she sighed after her explanation and rolled her eyes.

"Wow" Jere said, disapproving look on his face "Hard thing to say".

"Yes, but honestly, I don't hold a grudge anymore. She had her right to think that way too. I do so too sometimes" she admitted, handing back the electronic cigarette, since they were taking turns to smoke.

"That's shit" he commented, which made them both laugh, "But I understand, too. "My ex, Sofia, that's her name, she uh- said she not approve of music career" his gaze moved upfront, "She said It's either me or music, and I think she not like my answer" Jere let out a half-sad cackle, "This is all I ever wanted to do. I loved her, I feel like I still do a bit, you know? But..." he nodded negatively before finishing the sentence, "I need someone who give support. What I told you before, the not doing concerts? A part of it was because I got, uh, insecure".

Silence fell between them as they both got lost in their own thoughts for a brief moment.

"You know, for someone who claims to not be good at English, you can maintain quite a deep conversation" her words made him belly laugh again. He looked at her and handed the vape once more. "Don't need Duolingo for that" he referenced. He was about to speak again but cut himself. "You can go on, it's fine", his doe-like blue eyes seeped cherishment.

"Oh, I not know, talking about ex was not in my plans when being alone with a girl I like" he made her blush, "I just thinking that, you know, I'm almost... mikä on sana" he struggled again with the language "Thirty year old?" he doubted if he had said it right, and the girl nodded to indicate him he had, "Thirty year old, and when younger I thought Oh, I achieve my dreams at thirty, have the family, all that... You know? And... nothing of that" he described, "My songs, some say that. But you not understand, so..." he added jokingly to lighten the mood, erupting laughter from her.

"Hey, I'm trying really hard to find a place where I can learn Finnish! Give me a break..." she defended herself, while the giggling from both of them died down. "But, just so you know, most of us feel this way too. Having your life figured out at thirty? That only happens to the lucky ones, I can assure you" she saw his tired expression and put a hand to his shoulder, "And by the way, you're crazy talented. We were all mesmerized by your performance. You can get to whatever place you want to be, and if you don't, well... It won't be because of your fault".

They were once again looking in each other's eyes. His gaze travelled down to her mouth. They were sitting close to one another as to avoid the cold wind. Her heart beat faster. How come did she feel like he had known him for such a long time if this was practically their first ever proper conversation? Yet she couldn't fight it. She had seen so many sides of him in such a short amount of time; she swore she'd never been that much of a romantic but the alcohol, mixed with how vulnerable they both felt in that moment and the fact that she was finally feeling at ease after more than a month of such a big change in her life, probably did the trick.

"Can- can I...?" he started nervously, but was interrupted.

"Yes"

Their lips crashed, finally killing the anticipation. Her hands cupped his face and his ones settled on her waist. She felt his long eyelashes touch her face, his beard tickled her jaw and his hoop piercing was cold on her nose. (Y/N) enjoyed feeling all these parts of Jere on her. He truly was so pretty. And suddenly, she wanted to make sure he knew just how pretty he was and how much he deserved to know it. The wave of boldness she had had to ask him to sit down with her those two weeks ago, but had been interrupted, came back as a stronger force.

When they separated to catch their breath, (Y/N) kept his face close to hers. He was panting through a timid smile and hot red burned his cheeks. She noticed her face doing the same thing.

"My apartment is a five minute walk from here" she suggested.

"Meidän on hyödynnettävä sitä" he whispered, hands going up and down her sides, and the Finnish language had never sounded so seductive to her.

"I didn't catch that",

"You don't need to. I will show you".

#kaarija #jere poyhonen #eurovison 2023 #eurovision #esc23 #bojan cvjeticanin #kaarija x reader #käärijä x reader #jere x reader #jere pöyhönen #cha cha cha #finland was fucking robbed #finland is my winner #finland esc #justice for finland #käärijä #joker out

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