Chapter Text
Sua was upset with Till for some reason. He had no clue what he could have done to piss her off this time. Sure, when he first started he had more than his fair share of accidents. Since Sua was in charge of his training she’d been on the receiving end of several spills and mild burns. But honestly she’d never gotten that upset with him about those things. An icy glare that could turn the blood in Till’s veins to slush, but that was it.
Ever since Luka’s social media initiative Sua had been in a foul mood. Till had overheard some guests gossiping about a ‘Lily Smile Challenge’ that had popped up in the comments of their posts.
But that wasn’t Till’s fault! He was suffering just as much as her! At least her fans were being nice to her, Till’s kept trying to get him to blow up on them. They said his angry face was cute which made him wish it was legal to commit bodily harm to annoying customers.
That morning started with Sua walking into the mens changing room as Till was struggling to tie his tie and throwing a magazine into his face. He’d sputtered and fumbled to catch the magazine.
“Page seven.” She said, annoyed. Till eyed her cautiously and started to flip through the pages. A full page ad of Ivan stopped Till in his tracks. He was used to seeing pictures of his childhood friend, he was a model after all and a damn good one at that. That didn’t stop the sting in Till’s chest every time he was reminded of the friend he’d lost, the friend he pushed away.
An annoyed huff from Sua had him tearing his eyes away from the add and continuing through the pages. It was clear what she wanted him to see the moment he found the page. A small gossip article about their cafe.
“Maid Lilly and Butler E of Lavender Matrimony responsible for surge in the maid cafes popularity!”
Till looked up at Sua then back at the half page article. There was an image showing cut outs of both of them from a video where they’d been instructed to make a heart with their hands. Till had held out the k-pop version of a hand heart with one fist and Sua cupped both hands together to form a heart. Till looked as annoyed as the request had made him feel and Sua looked as stoic as normal.
The article went on to detail the ‘challenge’ associated with both of them. Sua’s was exactly what Till expected, people said her smile was pretty so they went out of their way to make her smile. People who succeeded would even go so far as putting it in their bio. An Etsy shop was selling pins that read “I Received Maid Lily’s Blessing.”
As Till had gathered, his challenge was much more mean spirited. People would push his buttons intentionally, lie about orders being wrong, spill things, ask for excessive substitutions and complex orders, all with the goal of getting Till to lose his cool. People would secretly film him lashing out and yelling at customers and add hearts and sparkles to the video when they posted it online.
Till should have realized something was up the moment Luka stopped getting on him about being nice to guests. The same Etsy shop that sold Sua’s pins also sold pins reading “I survived Butler E” with a prickly looking caricature of Till.
The worst part of the article by far was a tiny blurb at the end speculating if the ‘ice queen’ maid and the ‘fire cracker’ butler were in a romantic relationship together. Till read and reread the section several times, growing increasingly distressed with each reread.
He looked up at Sua and pointed to the last line. She glared at him and he could see her jaw tensing. There was nothing to do for Sua when she got like this. She just needed to be left alone to let off steam. So Till did what he always did, patted her on the back and said he’d handle the morning prep and that she could rest.
When she came out, five minutes before the doors opened, she didn’t look much better. Till knew he was in for a rough shift.
Sure enough. Sua took every possible opportunity to scold Till for things she’d normally let slide. She’d stop on her route to yell at Till over holding the trays wrong, to redo the napkin folds he’d just done, to find any and all opportunities to get on his ass.
When Till took his first fifteen minute break Luka approached him, the last thing he needed since all of this was HIS fault.
“You look like a wreck,” Luka said passively. Till knew that this was Luka’s unique way of asking how he was doing but that didn’t stop the anger he’d been bottling up from coming out in full force. He grabbed Luka by his lapels and shook him violently.
“You ruined my life!”
Luka delicately released Till’s hold on his shirt an arched one perfectly shaped brow at him, “Careful now. I’d prefer no one starts speculating on the nature of our relationship. You know I have my sights set elsewhere.”
Till shoved Luka back, glaring, “She can’t want you any less.”
Luka looked hurt, well as close to hurt as his stupid smug face ever got, “I think it’s been too long since you’ve run greetings.”
Till’s eyes flashed with discomfort. Greetings meant talking up guests and putting on a performance of being excited to see them. Not only were you tasked with seating patrons, you were expected to flirt and flatter. It was the job Till hated most and was worst at. Luka always told him that he should play into the ‘tsundere’ vibe he had. Till didn’t like simplifying his personhood down to an anime troupe.
But what Luka said went. So Till was shoved to the hostess stand and handed a stack of menus. Before Luka abandoned him to do fuck all, he added a final naile to Till’s proverbial coffin.
“Oh we’re short so you’ll have to keep waiting tables for b7-c2”
He was gone before Till could start ripping out his perfect hair.
Unfortunately, Till must have committed a warcrime in a past life, because the day kept getting worse. Before Till could start to properly balance his now overfilled schedule while making sure to avoid Sua like the plague, an unwelcome face appeared in the door.
The bell rang as Till was half sprinting back from one of the tables he was attending too. He dispassionately greeted the oddly familiar pink haired woman who stepped through the door and was about to do the same for her companion when he processed who it was, Ivan.
Till’s hands fell to his sides and his mouth opened wide. The whole world dissolved around him. All he could focus on was Ivan. The same Ivan who’d been the only stable thing in his life until two years ago. The Ivan who had taken care of him and loved him for so long without asking anything in return. The Ivan Till realized he loved too late.
Ivan didn’t look like he was faring any better. Which Till thought was entirely unfair since it had been Ivan who’d decided to cut contact, only to come waltzing into Till’s workplace.
The worst thing was, Till still loved him. Till’s heart fluttered and his cheeks got red. All of the anger and resentment he’d been carefully plastering over his affection melted away the moment teal met black. Till wanted to hate, wanted to ignore, wanted to do anything but stare at Ivan like he was the sun warming Till after a storm.
The girl who’d come in with them spoke and Till was forced to reckon with the fact that yes, Ivan was here with someone else. A very beautiful someone else.
“Hi! So you’re Till? Ivan’s told me so much about you.”
Till’s eyes flickered between this stranger and Ivan. Completely drunk on the knowledge that Ivan was still thinking about him, talking about him even after all these years.
Then Ivan wrapped an arm around Mizi and shot Till one his signature insincere smiles, “This is Mizi, she wanted to come and I’m more than happy to indulge her. Honestly I didn’t know you worked here until just now.”
Till frowned, his brows knit together as he tried to process the scene in front of him. He could tell Ivan was trying to imply something but he couldn’t for the life of him understand what. Luckily, Sua stepped in to save him. He heard her voice from over his shoulder and turned to her, more than happy for her to scold him or send him away from this unbearable situation.
“That would work a lot better if she wasn’t wearing a shirt with a lesbian pride flag on it.”
Till whipped his head back to Ivan and Mizi, he glanced down and confirmed that yeah, Sua was right. Ivan was staring down at his friends chest in complete shock then he looked up and his eyes went right past Till onto Sua.
“SUA!” Sua pushed past Till and covered Ivan’s mouth. The shove helped knock some sense into Till. He stepped up to the hostess stand and grabbed two menus. When he turned back Sua was wiping her hand off on her apron. Till hated that he felt jealous. He shouldn’t have missed Ivan being a freak and licking/biting his hands but apparently he did.
Sua started flirting with Ivan’s lesbian friend and she seemed more than receptive. Ivan said something to Sua about not knowing she worked here either. Till’s eyes snapped to the back of Sua’s head. He glared as if he could bore a hole through it and see any memories she shared with Ivan.
Sua started leading Ivan and Mizi to a table and Till trailed behind them uselessly. Technically Sua was taking his job but he couldn’t tell her off without risking her wrath. So he settled with setting down the menus once they were seated.
“One of us will come back to take your orders.” Till kicked Sua in the back of the leg subtly. A silent protest to Sua trying to take one of the tables in his section, and one with his estranged friend/first love at that. Sua showed no signs of noticing Till’s childish behavior.
“As an apology for our lapse in professionalism-” ahh… so she did notice, “-your drink will be free Mistress Mizi.”
Till looked at Sua with undisguised disgust. Her sickly sweet flirtatious behavior left a bad taste in Till’s mouth. He supposed he should just be happy in her improved mood regardless of the reason.
“Why don’t I get a free drink?” Ivan said with an exaggerated pout. Till found his eyes drawn to Ivan’s lips. They looked soft and painfully kissa- fuck no Till was on the clock. He forced himself to walk back to the hostess stand before he did further damage to their shattered relationship.
Till heard Sua say, “Because I hate you,” As he walked away and dug his fingernails into his palms to suppress the urge to run back and demand answers to the nature of her relationship with Ivan.
When Sua finally stepped away Till snatched her forearm in a bruising grip and yanked her to the hostess stand.
“How do you know him!” His hissed as Sua spit out the same question. They both looked at each other in confusion then back at the table. Ivan had his hand buried in his arms and Mizi was reaching towards him while laughing. Sua and Till watched with jealousy as Mizi cupped Ivan’s face.
“We’re cousins, fuck off.” Sua said as she half ran back to the table to interrupt whatever moment they’d been having. Till laughed to himself since Sua had been the one to point out that Mizi was a lesbian moments ago. He laughed even more when Mizi spun in her chair to face Sua, face burning.
If Sua got with this girl maybe she’d become softer at work. Till doubted but one could always hope. Those hopes grew as she turned towards the kitchen, still smiling. Till didn’t know what power this pink haired girl had but he wished she’d share. It was good to know Sua’s bitch switch had an off button.
Till intercepted her as she gave the orders to Hyun-woo, the barista. He grabbed one of her wrists and looked into her eyes imploringly, “I was in love with him.”
Sua looked at him with annoyance softened around the edges by pity, “Was?”
Till shook his head exasperatedly, “Don- I don’t wanna think about that right now. We haven’t spoken for years, let me take them their drinks ok?”
“Take the cookies,” She offered as a compromise. Till’s face must have looked exceedingly pathetic because Sualeft without further argument. Till turned to Hyun-Woo piling cookies on a plate and watched him anxiously.
“I’m not gonna go faster just cause you tap on the counter like that,”
Till looked down at his hand and discovered that he indeed was tapping the counter. He dropped his hand to his side in embarrassment. When Hyun-Woo was about to hand over the plate of cookies he paused.
“Didn’t know you batted for the same team?”
“I’m bi now give me-”
“He’s out of your league.”
Till frowned but had no comeback; it was true. Ivan had always been out of Till’s league, as a friend and especially as a lover. Till had been forced to come to terms with the fact that he ruined the best thing he’d ever had with his own two hands. Hyun-Woo finally handed over
All of the regret and guilt Till had been feeling translated into anger as he dropped the plate down between Ivan and his friend who he was mocking for not getting the name of the cafe.
“It’s like lavender marriages where gay men and lesbians would get together to help hide the fact that they were gay.” Till could feel his face burning and shame filling his mouth with bitterness. He turned it towards Ivan as he always did and bit out an insult at him, “You coulda just told her instead of being a dick.”
Till instantly regretted it. Especially as Ivan stared at him with that same warm gaze he’d always used. Like nothing had changed. Like Ivan hadn’t left Till behind. Like Ivan wasn’t better off since doing so.
“When did you start working here.”
The bitterness was back. Till could still remember the emptiness he’d felt when he realized Ivan had cut him off for good. He’d spent about a month wallowing in his apartment. The first day he finally went outside he’d been ensnared by Luka who told him he was attractive and he looked like he needed something to do.
Till took a deep breath and tried to calm himself before speaking, “Around the time you stopped responding to my texts,” Ok so he hadn’t done a good job calming himself down.
Ivan and Mizi both tilted their heads at Till in a perfect imitation of a puppy hearing the word ‘walk.’
“God the two of you are like fucking dogs.” Till flinched, he just couldn’t help himself could he?
Ivan pulled Till out of his self hatred spiral with a world shattering statement, “I never stopped responding to you Till, you stopped reaching out.”
Till felt a lump forming in his throat. All of the bitterness and anger he’d been feeling bubbled up to the surface. He grabbed his phone out of his pocket and shoved it in Ivan’s face as proof as he snapped, “I never stopped!”
Ivan looked at the text channel that Till had spent hours staring at with confusion and distress. It fueled Till’s rage. He was about to say something he would certainly regret when Mizi spoke up.
“What number do you have Till?” Till started to deflate. His mind started making connections and doubting the story he’d been telling himself for years. He handed his phone to Mizi and watched as she showed him Ivan’s contact on her phone versus his.
Different numbers.
Different
Numbers
Till had been texting the wrong number for two years.
And blaming Ivan for Till’s own carelessness the whole time.
“Ivan had a stalker about two years ago and he had to change his phone number. They stole his old phone so he had a lot of trouble transferring contacts.”
Till kept feeling worse and worse. Not only had Ivan not felt like he could confide in Till about being stalked, he’d just given up when Till stopped responding. Till knew it wasn’t Ivan’s fault, Till had always been harsh bordering on cruel towards Ivan. It was his own fault Ivan felt like he couldn’t trust him. That didn’t stop Till from lashing out yet again.
“How did you forget my number!”
Ivan stared at Till with an unknowable sorrow that pierced his heart with icy shards. Ivan put his hands up as if Till had any right to demand Ivan explain himself, “I didn’t! I called you so many times but you never picked up so I assumed you didn’t want to talk to me anymore!”
And what could Till say to that? Till had been the one that insulted Ivan and made him feel small time and time again. Till was the one who had broken their relationship to the point that Ivan would come to that conclusion. All of this was Till’s fault.
Mizi’s fingers gently wrapped around Till’s wrist, making him freeze in discomfort.
“Maybe you two should step outside or something, it seems like you’ve got a lot to talk about.”
Then, Ivan was grabbing Till and tugging him outside. Till should have been afraid of the discussion yet to come. But all he felt was warmth from the place where Ivan’s fingers touched him.