Chapter Text
New Year’s Eve couldn’t have possibly come fast enough.
2021 was a hard enough year for everyone to cope with. Milli was no stranger to the loneliness and isolation that came along with trying to stay home and be safe from COVID. She missed her family and took advantage of every chance she could to visit them, with the precautions of course. But after nearly a year and a half of being single, having left her last ex-boyfriend in Vaasa, she finally found a man who was perfect enough for her.
She hasn’t stopped thinking about her first date with Joel for the last two weeks. She’s been breathlessly calling everyone she knows - her sister, her best friend, her mom - because she couldn’t keep it all to herself that she went out on a real date with a man she already adored. But she needed to pass the good news along in a call to the most important person: Ilona.
“Hey, what’s up?” Ilona mumbled sleepily when Milli called her just a few hours after the couple’s first date.
“BIIIIIIIITCH!”
Ilona didn’t know whether to laugh or to be concerned. “Oh God, what happened?”
The giggles in Milli’s voice were enough to let her know everything was alright. “He’s the perfect man!” And without missing a beat, she went on to lay out every detail of their night - laughing off him being late, the roses, how handsome he looked in his favorite leather jacket, and the way they just seemed to click into place as if they weren’t total strangers. “So we're going out again soon. He’s gonna see if I can hang out backstage at the New Year’s Eve show so I'm finally gonna get a kiss at midnight and I can't wait.”
Ilona listened patiently and with a smile, grateful that somehow she managed to set up a successful blind date. She knew it was the real deal when Joel did the same the next day, although he was a little bit more muted than she was. But that was just in Joel’s personality to not be so flashy about his romantic feelings. Still, Ilona could tell from his words alone that he felt the same kind of love for her than she did for him.
Luckily for Milli, Joel was able to secure her a spot backstage at the New Year’s Eve show despite the audience restrictions. She pulled up to the venue and gave him a call. “Hey, I’m here whenever you have a chance,” she started after he picked up.
Upstairs, the guys were in their dressing room, trying to catch a little bit of relaxation time before they needed to get dressed for the stage. Joel looked bored, but there was a higher chance that he was just anxious about performing on national TV tonight. But the moment he got the call that Milli was ready to come up, he became a totally different man. He was all smiles and he had a new burst of energy, even if he tried his best to hide both of them.
The guys chuckled when he was out of the room before he could explain to anyone where he was going. “The Edgelord Tamer is here,” Joonas joked, having already given Milli a new nickname before even meeting her.
Tonight would be the first time that the guys would meet Joel’s (potential) new girlfriend. Although he hadn’t said yet if they were official, they could tell that he had no plans to let her go anytime soon. They knew he went out on a date between their shows after they’d come back to Helsinki, and days later he still wouldn’t stop smiling at his phone like a lovestruck teenager. If he was bringing someone he was seeing around them, that had to mean he was serious about it.
Milli loved the way Joel’s eyes lit up when he saw her. She flashed her vaccination card and recent test results to the security guard to let him know she was cleared to come in. “Come on in!” he cheered, grabbing her hand and resisting the urge to kiss her right there on the spot. He made a promise that he would give her their first real kiss with fireworks as their backdrop, and he had every plan to be a man of his word.
“Excited about tonight?” she asked, slipping her fingers between his.
Joel sighed. “Nervous as hell,” he admitted. “This is gonna be a huge night for us, I can feel it.”
There he was again, showing no shame in his pride for his band and his work. She wasn’t sure what to say in response, but she showed him her support, telling her that she couldn’t wait to see what they had in store for the night.
They walked into the room together that had gotten quiet upon the door opening. Joel stepped in first, guiding Milli through afterward. “Guys, I want you to meet someone special,” he started, pulling her forward. “Emilia, this is my band, I’ll introduce them all one at a time. This is Joonas’s girlfriend Kirsten, Niko’s girlfriend Jenna, and Olli’s… longtime friend Riina.” He offered up a sly wink to the bassist, who took a half-hearted swing at him for threatening to expose his crush on his best friend that was basically no secret to anyone at this point.
“Hi, nice to meet you all, you can just call me Milli for short.”
One by one, she was introduced to the rest of the band members. The guys’ girlfriends certainly weren’t shy about saying hello to her either. It had been a while since Kirsten was able to come out and spend a few hours with her friends, having been busy at home taking care of Sohvi. Tonight was different, as Joonas’s parents had come down from Oulu to stay at their home with the baby so she wouldn’t be lonely on New Year’s Eve. They were a godsend because she was long overdue for some time out of the house.
Kirsten and Riina, of course, were already well acquainted before the other two ladies came into their lives. Before tonight, she already knew Jenna from the other woman reaching out to her to help her take care of Sohvi. She was a little hesitant at first, not sure what to expect from the woman who was Niko’s ex coming back into his life, but she had no reason to be concerned. Milli seemed nice enough, a little shy but that was certainly to be expected from getting to know a ragtag bunch like the guys for the first time.
Milli wasn’t quite sure where to sit. Kirsten and Jenna were comfortable in their boyfriends’ laps and Riina was chilling on Olli’s side on the couch. Although she knew that she was going to take this past the courtship phase with Joel, she didn’t want to give the rest of the group a negative impression of her. She didn’t want it to look like she was already getting a little too close for comfort or that she was in it for the wrong reasons. But Joel made up her mind for her, as he wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her down onto his lap.
“Already getting handsy, huh Joel?” Joonas asked, wiggling his eyebrows.
“Says the dude with a kid at home,” Joel laughed in retort.
Milli, a woman who adores kids, perked up at the mention of one. “You have a baby?”
Kirsten laughed. “No, she’s at home with her grandparents. Joonas and I have a six-week-old daughter, wanna see?” Without hesitating, Joonas pulled out his phone and began to show off the latest pictures of Sohvi. The other guys rolled their eyes because Milli had no idea what she was getting herself into by asking him that, but Milli didn’t mind. Coming from a big family herself, she adores children and someday hopes for a few on her own. That thought was a little daunting at the moment, seeing that her relationship with Joel was brand new and she didn’t know his personal stance on having kids. But maybe someday they would figure it out together.
Soon it was time for the guys to get ready to go on stage. Their girlfriends quietly left the room to give them their space and privacy to get dressed. They found a spot for themselves to sit and chat, and Milli was surprised at how comfortable she was with these ladies already. They barely treated her like a stranger and she had no reason to be shy around them. If this was what she had to look forward to with dating Joel - these lovely ladies, their eccentric boyfriends, and sweet little Sohvi Porko - then she could get used to it.
The countdown came soon after the guys’ performance ended. They had been ushered backstage to wait with the rest of the performers as the clock counted down the last minute of the year.
Milli held onto Joel’s hand, her heartbeat thrumming like a bass drum as the seconds ticked down. She originally thought she would take this last minute to ponder on the year - her wins, her losses, the people who came in and out of her life - but now all she could think about was Joel. She could see the soft smile growing on his face, his best features perfectly illuminated under the neon light of the countdown clock. “Joel?” she asked him at the 30 second mark.
“Hm?”
“What’s on your mind?”
25 seconds.
“Just thinking about this crazy ass year -”
20 seconds.
“It felt way too long but not long enough -”
15 seconds.
“But at least I can start the next one the right way.”
At 10 seconds, the group began to count down in unison. Joel and Milli joined in, but all they could focus on was each other. With just over 30 centimeters of a height difference between the two of them, they found a happy medium to meet in the middle as the timer counted 3… 2… 1…
Their lips met in the middle as the first of the fireworks were shot into the air. The crowd was ecstatically cheering at the prospect of the new year, but the couple could only focus on each other. Joel’s lips were as soft as she remembered when he kissed her forehead after their first date. His arm around her waist pulled her closer and into a tighter embrace, which they eventually closed as she jumped into his arms, her arms around his shoulders and legs around his waist.
He nearly broke the kiss with a laugh but he held it together, merely smiling against her lips. They didn’t want to let go. He felt like her lifeline now, and the only thing she needed him to do at the moment is keep holding her like this. After a minute, they finally pulled apart to breathe, Milli laughing at the sensation of being kissed by him for the first time.
“Was it worth the wait?” he asked, rubbing his thumb against her cheek in a tender embrace.
Milli smiled and nodded, leaning closer. “It was perfect, Joel. One more?” Of course he couldn’t say no to a request like that. He offered up one more soft kiss, lasting a lot shorter than the other but it was no less magical for her.
At that moment, Niko and Jenna walked by, the couple having previously done the same as them. Niko snickered and whistled. “Oooh, the tabloids are gonna have a field day with this one.”
There were cameras all around the room, most likely still broadcasting everything live on national TV. And, in their loving haste, Joel and Milli weren’t the most discreet with their kiss. But Joel, no stranger to online gossip, just shrugged his shoulders. “So? Let them talk.”
He wasn’t about to let the media ruin the good thing he and Milli have going on. He’s the celebrity, she’s not, and if they have something to say about her, they can take it up with him first. Milli was a girl worth fighting for.
“Don’t worry, girl, we can fight back together if they get a little too chatty,” Jenna joined in.
Milli smiled. “I knew I liked you.
So it was safe to say that she and Joel were already an item. This was only the first day of a beautiful love story they couldn’t wait to write together.