Strangers

"What are you doing here?"

something jumped up on Kristian's chest and knocked all the air out of his lungs. He couldn't catch his breath right away.

"Citrus, you piece of shit!"

The cat began licking his chin, and Kristian stroked him.

Things had gotten better. He still missed Kostya terribly, but the days got easier to go through. 

It was strange how he could miss him. Kristian had thought getting some space from Kostya would be good, but it had been harder than he thought to be away for so long. Once his boyfriend had left, Kristian had realized how small their problems were.

Citrus stepped over to Kristian's side, stretching his back before slumping down next to Kristian, who sat up in bed and picked up his phone.

He opened Snapchat and sent Kostya a selfie with him and Citrus. Not long later, he got a reply. 

How are you awake already? You always sleep late.

Citrus woke me up, he replied.

Haha, he's the reason why I always wake up so early.

Send me a pic? Kristian wrote. I miss your face.

Soon, Kristian got a photo of Kostya, with adorably messy hair and dark stubble on his cheek. His bare chest was just barely covered by white hotel bedsheets. Happy now? the caption said.

Yes, it's as perfect as you are.

***

Kristian pulled on a T-shirt and sweatpants, and turned on the radio. Catchy pop was filling the room, and Kristian was making breakfast (not burned pancakes this time, he had learned his lesson)with Citrus twirling around his legs. He turned up the volume and picked up Citrus, making the cat dance in his arms. For once, he just felt happy, just pure, silly, superficial happiness bubbling in his stomach.

***

His fans were screaming at him, throwing flowers and gifts on stage, all trying to get his attention. It was distracting, even when he tried to ignore them. 

He knew he should be more grateful for his fans, especially those who were accepting of his boyfriend. But some of them were still living in a fantasy; that he actually wanted to date one of his fans, or that the relationship with Kristian wasn't real. Some were sending Kristian death threats. That was what bothered Kostya the most; that they thought they knew him, but that they in fact only knew Mélovin, the handsome Ukrainian Eurovision vampire. They only knew the face and persona he put on, not the actual Kostya. 

Once the show was over, he went into his hotel room. He looked at the clock. It was still relatively early, at least for a night owl like him.

He took a shower, changed, and went into a taxi.

***

The beer was warm, he was warm, the whole nightclub was warm, but Kostya didn't care. He jumped along to loud music about sex and women's asses, just allowing himself to be himself and have a good time for once.

Some girls that were stinking of vodka were staggering over to him, clearly drunk. A blonde with long eyelashes was trying to hit on him, but Kostya rejected her and walked over to the other side of the club. There was another bar there, and Kostya ordered a whiskey.

The drink burned comfortably in his throat, and he felt his previously tense muscles relax. He watched the crowd on the dance floor, jumping rhythmically to the beat like a pulsing heart.

"Hi, Kostya." A familiar voice spoke in his ears, but he could not place it. He turned around to see a man his age, with dark wavy hair complementing his tan skin.

"Benjamin?" Kostya hadn't met him since Eurovision, where they had gotten to know each other a bit. They had lost contact after that.

"Yup, it's the guy from Sweden!"

"What are you doing here?" Kostya cringed at his strong accent, but was too drunk to care.

"I went to your concert a few days ago! I loved it!"

"Thanks!"

Benjamin sat down next to him on the cheap leather bar stools.

"So... what are you doing here?" Benjamin almost had to shout for Kostya to hear.

"Just needed to forget... myself. For a while."

"Oh?"

"Yeah."

They sat in silence.

"So... do you like Ukraine? Is it pretty to you?" Kostya's voice felt thick, and he noticed his English was nowhere as good as Ben's.

"Oh, yes, very. I like it very much." Benjamin smiled, showing a row of beautiful, straight teeth. 

"That is really nice."

"yeah."

Silence. Kostya looked over at Benjamin.

"Want to come over to my place?"

---

Haha, yes, I said I'd upload every Thursday, but guess what? I felt like surprising you guys!

I hope you enjoyed this early chapter! Be sure to vote and comment of you wanna see more ;)