Chapter Text
It was dark out the apartment window, it slightly open letting the cold breeze drift through the apartment room giving a slight chill to it. Till sat at his desk, eye bags heavy and noticeable, his computer screen vibrant illuminating his face. It had been 2 days since the incident, thanks to Ivan his company got out a small story about Ivan. Making some story up about the photo however, they wanted more. Till knew what he signed up for when he took this job, this company was known for being crazy when it came to stories. The media ate up every article published through them.
Just as Till was scrolling through the recent article, he had his elbow propped up on his desk, chin in the palm of his hand quietly scrolling. Then his phone illuminated with a call, buzzing softly as he glanced at it.
‘Fuck.’ Till thought seeing the caller ID, Urak, his adoptive ‘father’ though he wasn’t exactly a good one. Till doesn’t all remember his life before being with the man. Sometimes he imagines what his real parents look like and what happened for him to be stuck with that person. Till stared at the phone as he let it ring, it was late, 23:00. He could just play it off as he went to bed early and text him tomorrow.
The ringing noise eventually died out and not a moment later a text came.
*I know you’re awake. Don’t ignore my calls. We need to fix this whole career plan you have.*
Much to his parental guardian’s dismay, Till kept his read receipts off so, he read it without much worry, staring at the words. He then turned his phone off choosing to just simply ignore it when he paused. He grabbed his phone and sent one single message before powering it completely off.
*fuck off*
Till then turned his computer off and grabbed his camera, putting a light leather jacket on before leaving his apartment. His camera wasn’t going to get the photo’s themself were they?
The street was quiet, with a few cars passing by and late party goers buzzing about every now and then. Till had a place in mind to go, somewhere that may reveal a big story about Ivan. Ancient texts would call the area the slums, the poorer back-alley he passed through not long ago. He still couldn’t exactly remember everything that happened that night but what else is knew.
Till wasn’t staying up just for nothing, he was digging up old stories, articles from even when Ivan was a kid. Everyone knows Ivan’s father, he’s a millionaire, the guys a nepo baby. However, something Till just learned, that could very well be a lie, is that Ivan is an adopted nepo baby. He had apparently grew up in this poorer side of town before getting adopted.
That’s why Till was here now, walking down the alley as the smell of smoke hit him big time. He himself didn’t own or wear anything fancy so he didn’t stand out too much. However, the minute he got there he felt eyes in him.
‘Does someone recognize me?’
‘Am I just paranoid from the last time..’
‘Whatever…it’s fine’
He had thought to himself, slight shaking his head to rid the thoughts. All he needed was to ask around and get some photo’s, then he could get some well deserved sleep.
The article that mentioned this area had little to no information, just the fact that someone who grew up here knew Ivan. So Till began talking around, he went up to some of the shops, some random people who seemed sober and those who didn’t. Starting the conversation off normally before casually dropping the article he saw to see if anyone recognized it.
To his phenomenal luck, he got nothing.
Either the article was lying, which was highly likely, or the people weren’t telling him anything, which was also plausible.
Till made his way to some bar, or club, whatever he didn’t care he just wanted a drink before going home.
He sat at the bar and the bartender, a guy, decently tall with ashy skin and curly black hair, seemed to pause as he saw Till. Maybe it was his imagination, because the bartender came and got his drink right away. Till paid for the one, only planning to have the one anyways, and turned his phone back on. He was not exactly paying attention, a dangerous thing to do around a drink, especially in this area.
Till saw a few more messages from Urak and sighed grabbing his drink to take a sip when suddenly his vision went black.
Someone’s hands were covering his eyes and he immediately pulled away, turning to see who it was.
“What the fuck-you’ve got to be kidding me..”
Till mumbled then last part as he saw. Ivan. Dressed casually standing in front of him smiling.
Ivan moved to the stool next to Till taking his drink and handing it to the bartender.
“Get him a new one and me the usual”
Till looked at Ivan confused then at his drink*
“What the hell? I didn’t even drink it yet-“
“Someone put something in it. You should be more careful.”
Ivan said in a surprisingly serious voice, staring at Till intently.
“Unless you wanted to get roofied be my guest”
Till scoffed, “who in their right mind would want to get roofied?”
“Someone with a kink for that I guess,” Ivan said taking the drink the bartender made for him and sipping on it. Then Till realized, ‘the usual, the usual?’
“Wait. First off weird coincidence you’re here right at this moment. Its 1 in the morning. Second, ‘the usual’ you come to this bar often? You a rich kid.” Till questioned as if he was an interrogator.”
Ivan just smirked at him, “you seemed pretty curiously about me all night.”
“What..” Till responded confused then accused Ivan, “have you been following me?”
“Bingo”
Ivan said taking a sip of his glass.
“If you were so curious you could’ve just asked,” Ivan stated staring at Till.
Till looked at Ivan suspiciously, but recalled how easily he gave up a photo to him and asked, “did you really grow up here?”
“I dunno, did I? Maybe I did,” Ivan annoyingly smug answered, ticking Till off immediately.
“You just said-“
“I want something before I answer.” Ivan cut Till off before he could finished. Till thought about the statement, ‘he wanted something from me? What? Not that I have much to give.’
“I don’t have money,” Till responded.
“I have plenty of that myself,” Ivan retorted staring at Till, “I want something small, and you get some information, deal?”
Till was staring at Ivan intently for a long while going over every possible thing he could want in his head then sighed, “fine.”
The next second Till felt something against his Lips, warm and slightly wet, his eyes widened immediately, Ivan was kissing him.