Chapter 11: Sweet Departure

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Kostya's heart began to pound in shock and excitement. He cupped his mouth as the audience began to roar in happiness and admiration, he felt like jumping up and down like a child but he kept his cool. Fred strolled out from the velvet curtains, grasping a glass trophy in his hands. His friends eagerly waiting in the wings couldn't resist it, they dashed onstage, all excitedly hugging him all at once.
"Congratulations!" Fred cheered, handing him the reward with care.
"I can't believe this happening..." He breathlessly uttered as he began to bow. The curtains closed as the show came to a satisfactory end. They stepped down and made their way into the dressing room- ready to finally go home; sure, this was an amazing experience, but the night had drained them all down to the point where the sight of a bed would make them drop.

"I'm so... happy...." Ari yawned, giving up halfway through taking off his gear and practically falling into a nearby armchair. Miki trudged over to him, trying to help him strip down from the metal and leather, failing due to the fact that Ari was slipping away from consciousness: Mikolas attempting to not do the same. Soon enough, they gained the courage to head out beyond the back of the school and out into the empty street, it could only have been around 7pm but the whole area seemed dead silent. They successfully broke this silence by sleepily chatting all the way home- coming to their separation in the centre of Greenshields Road. Here, Benji waited tiredly at the bus stop, Kostya turned right and Niki walked straight forward. As the remaining two took a left, their urge to fall into a slumber strengthened- weakening them to the core.

"I'm so sleepy..." Ari mumbled as he rubbed his eyes.
"Just a block or so more." He whispered, smiling at his adorable, tired eyes.
"I don't want to walk anymore..." He mumbled, his speech becoming slightly slurred and slow. Mikolas thought for a second before grinning, becoming slightly more energetic. He scooped up Ari in his arms; making him almost jump out of his skin.
"Wha-what are you doing?" He whimpered, too surprised for his exhausted demeanour.
"You don't want to walk any further, you don't have to." He giggled in return.
" N-no I'm... heavy. You'll... drop me. " he said slowly. "I don't wanna... be any trouble."
"You're okay, Ari. Anyways, you're light as a feather man. Isn't this what boyfriends do?"
" I guess so. " he yawned, stretching his arms out. "But really, I can... I-I can...can..." His eyes began to drop as his body loosened and his breathing began to deepen.

Miki smiled at him, never before had he been so glad to have someone like him in his life. It made him rethink his journey from first meeting Ari until that present moment. Friends. No, close friends. He meant the world to him and until he found out the way Ari felt about him, he thought it was just their friendship. But, no... it was love- shaded in to the back of his mind along with his unknown sexuality. He smiled softly as memories of their friendship crossed his mind, he thought about how trapped Ari must have felt about having a crush on him but not being able to tell him; he was just happy they finally got to break the ice. Miki looked up, seeing Ari's house in the distance, then he glanced back down at his face: he looked so cute when he slept. Slowly approaching his garden gate, Miki began to whisper to him.

"Ari...Ari. You're home now. Wake up..." His eyes opened sleepily, his eyelashes fluttering as he adjusted to his blurred surroundings; smiling upon seeing Mikolas' face.
"Did I... fall asleep?" He groaned, confused
"Yeah." Giggled Miki, helping him to his feet. "You're absolutely exhausted."
"Great observation." Ari sarcastically replied. He yawned once again. "I should get to bed..."
"I guess I'll see you later then." They went in for a tight hug before Miki held his face next to his and passionately kissed him. "I love you." He whispered. Their sweet departure commensed as Ari closed the garden gate behind him, glancing back for a moment in their romantic bliss.

Kostya shut his front door.
"Hello?" He called, walking around the quiet house. No response, it appeared his parents were still at work- as he checked the clock, he realised they'd be around an hour. Trudging up the staircase, he began to take off the suit jacket and the white shirt he'd been stuck in all day long. As soon as he swung open his bedroom door, all he wanted to do was fall limp onto his bed and sleep. He could sleep for days. Weeks. Months. A nap was exactly what he needed, he put his phone on his bedside, lay down on to the silky bedsheets and rested his head on his pillow. As he was closing his eyes, they fixated on to the piano in the far corner of his bedroom- a smirk coming to his lips.
"Just a quick song won't hurt." He thought to himself before getting up and approaching it- suddenly a lot less tired.

Kostya sat down at the piano, flexing his fingers and cracking his knuckles in preparation. His fingers began to caress the keys, so used to them by now that he could probably play with his eyes closed. He smiled to himself, curious to test out his theory, shutting his eyes and beginning to play a song he'd recently learned. At first, he was doing well, muscle memory taking responsibility of the song as he sat playing blindly. However, he stumbled along a few keys and began to play something completely wrong. He opened his eyes disappointedly at first, but then he thought for a second. It was as if he recognised the song. He played the same notes over again and again until he grinned; he'd realised where he'd heard this angelic melody before. It was from Nikita's song- 'Forever'. Now he wished that he had a copy of the full page he'd made in Music class, longing for the full song that seemed to bless his very ears every time he heard it: especially when Niki sang to it. It felt like a daydream to him.

Kostya was pulled out of his dream land when his phone began to vibrate on his bedside table. He walked over, picking it up curiously- "NEW NOTIFICATION" it stated. As he clicked on it, it brought him to the Euro High Website, he groaned, coming to the conclusion that one of his teachers had set more homework for him. As he scrolled along the detailed webpage, he clicked onto his homework folder. To his surprise, there was no new homework for him to complete. Strange. He went back to the homepage, searching for the source of the mysterious notification, his mind also searching for answers. Then he saw it- the announcements page- there was one new event added to it. Puzzled, he clicked on it, expecting it to be a mistake or maybe something to do with the talent show... But no.
NEW EVENT: Euro High Formal tickets go on sale tomorow morning. Get them while they last!
Kostya looked up from the screen. Formal? That meant he had to bring a plus one, a partner, a date... He thought to himself before gulping nervously. He knew exactly who he had to bring...

That's the end of the volume! I hope you guys enjoyed it, I'm so glad that this AU has come this far, it makes me so happy! I'd like to thank all of my active readers:
Amb3r-The-Zombie
Eurovision_Freak
KiraSalvatoreHale
Lilla_R
rosesintheattic
Trinity_Navigation
And last but certainly not least,
uwu-vision
This means the world to me, thank you all so much!
-Ellie x

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