Chapter Text
The first few contestants danced on the ice, but Till couldn't care less. He wasn't the type to actually know the rules of ice skating; he only knew if a skater did well by the claps of the audience and how cool the jump was. Some people slipped, some people did well, and some people exceeded the expectations of the people.
Ice skating was always like that—as Ivan described it to Till, the winners shine and the losers whine. After the first few contestants, the 4th and next one on stage was one of the ones deemed to shine by the audience and judges. His name was Hyunwoo, former national champion and brother of Hyuna, who is known as the Golden Flower, and to be fair, he was a good skater in Till's opinion and probably in everyone else's too. Till sat quietly as the lights dimmed and the spotlight shone in the direction of Hyunwoo; his moves were full of grace and power, and every spin and jump he made was met with admiration and awe from the crowd.
Till was in awe too; the shimmering ice, due to the lights, made it more heavenly than it was supposed to be. His jumps were perfect, synchronized with the clapping and cheering of the audience. The brunette glided gracefully in the center where he finished his short program, panting yet proud, as the people who watched him seemed to enjoy it, even Till himself. As Till was doing a standing ovation, he saw a familiar figure from the crowd sitting while looking at their phone. He squinted his eyes, yet he couldn't make out who the figure was; he could only make out what appeared to be a white cap.
He sat back down, trying to forget that—even though it kinda bugged him not to find out who that was. Yet no more waiting, as it's Ivan's turn, and as if on theme, he's the last one to perform for the short program.
"Thank you so much, Hyunwoo; your performance was an absolute piece of art! Now moving on to our 5th and final contestant, the Ice Prince!" People cheered loudly and clapped, and strangely enough, White Cap person finally clapped for the first time this entire night.
"If I am right, did White Cap person just clap for the first time or not?" he sat quietly as the cheers died down, while a figure in a black outfit with gold metallic accents entered in a gentlemanly fashion in the middle of the rink.
It was Ivan; his lean yet muscular figure was obvious in that outfit. He was surrounded by the glistening glow of the ice, and it shone even more because of the accessories. Ivan looked at the crowd as if searching for someone. When he saw the familiar guy with the silver hair and gothic outfit, he smiled. He came to actually watch him.
"Good luck, penguin dancer. Don't mess something up; I'll get second-hand embarrassment," he said in a joking and serious tone, as the sound of his bag's zipper echoed as he took out the camera.
"This camera was specifically for my own memory dump, but no way in heck am I gonna miss out on recording this, and might as well show this to him if he makes a mistake."
He lifted it, the lenses showing him what happened in that competition. Clear as day, Ivan was seen in the middle, preparing as the song started to play. An acoustic guitar melody echoed with the words that followed: Fable and Truth. It was by Gigi Perez. Till noticed it was the second those words were uttered, but Till wondered why it was that specific song. Yet Ivan always picked things for a reason, so Till just left it aside as it was probably Ivan's own feelings.
Ivan left marks on the ice beautifully alongside the seemingly melancholy music. The gentle moves were illuminated and made clear; it surprisingly complemented the tone of acoustics and sorrow the song gave.
"When I lifted her urn
Divinity says, "Destiny can't be earned or returned"
I feel when I question my skin starts to burn
Why does my skin start to burn?..."
The bang of metal on ice reached Till’s ears because of the jump, at the exact time the acoustic guitar made a dramatic change in the atmosphere's song and his performance. He danced with the frost flakes seemingly like glitter and shimmering tears. The choreography was smooth; his arms were like silk in the way he moved. He glided on the ice; everyone's eyes were on him. He jumped, and everyone clapped and cheered, while the acoustics and vocals started to get intense.
"Ah-ah, capital loss..."
He swiftly skated to the middle, as the pressure was on now; the song was gonna reach. He looked up towards the light; his face was unreadable to Till; it looked different from what he'd seen before.
"Love was the law and religion was taught, I'm not brought."
He swayed his hands suddenly and jumped while spinning, his skating blades cutting through the ice, leaving marks, while the flakes made it look like tears. He skated with the instruments, as he did more twirls and jumps, making the spectators' cheers louder than before. As he skated, the lights illuminated the carving he did in the ice; they looked shiny, while he looked weightless with the movements he just did. Ivan's flow of his body was surreal; it was gentle and so satisfying to see.
Till's eyes followed him—now shimmering with admiration. The blades were at a halt until he spun around in the ice—longer than the sick boy imagined. Till didn't know how good that move was to professionals, but he was amazed. The lenses of his camera shone, capturing this moment filled with awe. The music got quieter, signaling the end of the dance and short program. His skating became even gentler, as he twirled in the middle, arms outspread and bowed to the audience.
The crowd cheered and clapped as Ivan looked up and smiled at the audience. His score was 104.87, just behind Hyunwoo, who got 106.34. Till cheered on as he turned off the recording; it was truly a surreal moment to record. People started to stand up as they were given a 5-minute break period, as the skaters themselves needed that.
Till stood up, his back aching from the posture he had been in because he was stubborn about getting a nice recording. He got out of the dark stadium and looked out towards the halls. It was not full of people, a rare sight. Many people went home now, because the moon and stars could be seen clearly now via the many big windows the school has.
As his keychains and other accessories clinked at each other, his insatiable hunger struck again. His stomach was growling when he had just eaten something 30 minutes ago. So he made a detour to go to the cafeteria instead of the library, where he was originally gonna go. As he was walking, the moment that was happening right now was blurred—their relationship was awkward.
He sped up his walking as the cafeteria was probably gonna close soon now. After a few steps of walking—and the sound of metal accessories rubbing against each other- he finally made it to the cafeteria. The cafeteria is a mix between dark and not dark; the upper floors had no light anymore, and only the first floor was illuminated. He walked up towards the vending machines; there was almost nothing inside. The only acceptable option inside was a bag of Lay's chips.
He scanned his student card begrudgingly and picked the numbers that would make the Lay's chips fall. Lay's chips dropped down, and Till opened the door to get it. The bright yellow packaging seemed even brighter the darker your surroundings were. He looked around at the people inside the cafeteria; less than 10 people were the amount he could count.
Till started to walk out of the cafeteria when his green eyes spotted a familiar white-capped person. They suddenly sat up, finishing their can of soda, with a hint of their face recognizable to Till now. It was Sua wearing a white shirt and a silver necklace. Sua walked out, seemingly heading towards the right hallway—where the nearest exit was not the stadium.
"I didn't know that girl had an interest in figure skating. If she did, she would've at least watched the figure skating match last month." he walked towards the stadium while the words bounced inside his head.
"Maybe she was revisiting old memories of figure skating; after all, I heard she tried it when she was a kid but switched to ballet at the end, or that's at least the rumors I heard."
"But why isn't Mizi there? The two are practically inseparable."
He walked down towards the stadium now, making random conspiracy theories with random students again. As the plain white hallway stretched, his mind got reminder notifications about the painting he was doing in the art room—that he needed to pick up, and maybe the book from the library earlier—Will You Accept Me?
"Oh right, I need to get the painting later or now." he looked at his watch: 2 minutes left before the continuation.
"Should I just take it later, or— you know what, I might get locked up in the school if I do that later."
So he raised his leg to start walking toward the art club room. The walk through it was just passing by dark classrooms and the moonlight walking beside him as he hummed some song he liked. His body turned around a corner, and he took out keys from his pocket. The sound of a keyhole being opened with a key ring as he opened the entrance to the art room.
It was dark inside the room. He tapped his phone to turn on his flashlight because there was no way in heck he was gonna accidentally bump and break stuff. Till walked in with the light, navigating the walls to see where the light switch was—cursing under his breath for forgetting his glasses. After a short while, he found and opened the room with a flash of light.
Right there on a canvas stand near the window sat his painting. The colors of it were mixed with the different hues of yellow and blue, with hints of orange at the main centerpiece, which was a person standing out from the color. After a few stares and him looking at it from afar to make sure it reached the standards, the cabinets opened with him taking out the extra canvas bags in it.
“Well you look okay for a rough shape of the vibe I'm going for,” his phone went into the camera app and flashed some photos of the art, probably posted in " were close friends' stories in Instagram by now.
He stuffed the canvas carefully inside the bag, it was a difficult task for him as he didn't want to risk some paint to come off due to it having no varnish. Till walked carefully with the big container holding carefully, he didn't want a single complaint of a broken vase or sculpture later that night. Then the lights went out with him as well, as he popped his 6:30 PM pill while he sprinted towards the ice rink.
…
He opened the door—breathless, and got inside the stadium again, and his guess turned out right, he didn't see Sua anymore. Yet he just decided to forget the curiosity as who cared about the thoughts and decisions of that girl? Plus the free dance was gonna start in what seemed like a few minutes or seconds.
He sat back down those plastic chairs, and opened the bag of Lay's chips, the air inside it instantly wooshed out. When he looked inside, he could count the amount of chips inside, and instantly regretted wasting his money on a bag of Lay's air. He took out his phone, and opened it—it was already 6:37. Till scratched his head, realizing the time he actually had to complete the painting.
"Well, if I can clutch up a bundle of activities, I can probably get this done by 1 with miracles and prayers."
The sweat and restlessness in his hip was unbearable, with the numbing sensation from sitting down too long finally caught up to him as he waited for the clock to hit the time it's supposed to be. Scrolling while the light of his phone casted a faint light to his face, until taps from the microphone echoed throughout.
"Well hello everyone, welcome back to the continuation of the male figure skating, I hope that you guys aren't tired yet as the judges made a little twist on the rules of this competition." followed by the gasps of many.
"You really are an unlucky cookie Ivan, getting the twist on your competition is really bad, you know? Why did the founders even decide to make a tradition where they bend the rules of one's competition?" he slouched worried about the result of this chaos.
After the collective gasps, many people started to murmur, "could it be they switch scores?" "maybe it's giving them less time," until the proctor tapped her mic again.
"Well now, the twist is as you guys know is a tradition where the founders wanted to embrace the unpredictability of our life by bending one's competition. And the twist for the day is, only the top 3 contestants will perform while they're given 1 extra minute, turning the free dance 5 minutes for each contender." Everyone became worried about the result of this, because 5 minutes of skating will take a toll on your body.
The 2 contenders stood up from their seats—probably number 5 and 4. Behind the glass walls their faces burrowed with annoyance, they probably couldn't complain about the rule as they probably signed waivers about "keeping the school's tradition alive." But, an extra minute of spinning and dancing was a troublesome problem for the rest.
"So now, let the show begin!" as they called the first figure skater to come in the ice rink.
Everyone clapped, now their faces looking worried about the guy. The music started to play, it was some random pop song that Till doesn't recognize. The first few minutes were tame, people clapping and cheering him on was the one ringing in the stadium. Everything was fine with the improvised extra choreography until he slipped from the exhaustion of it.
It became even more obvious with the stiff movement of his dancing. When he reached the end and was about to do their final pose, their ragged breathing was obvious. When they finished, the claps sounded like it was mixed with pity with the last one minute of choreography being clunky and with rough edges, as they skated back onto the seats.
"Well Ivan, my confidence kinda wavered there now,” as he sat in disbelief realizing how bad an extra minute to their free dance is, while the crowd carried worried murmurs in the air on what's to come for Ivan and Hyunwoo. And as if it's on theme for that day, Ivan was gonna perform last again. Till just sighed, guess no one was coming home at 8.
The familiar brown haired skater returned as the people cheered on him. Hyunwoo smiled as he prepared for the start of his free dance. A retro style tune caught the attention of everyone watching. The moves he did were full of energy, swaying with his bright smile and energetic composure; the claps and the chorus of bravos were directed at him. His performance was like a golden ribbon spinning and twirling—it was full of grace, shining brightly at the audience. The golden flower reached the final minute, refusing to wilt under the pressure of expectations and his own body gasping for air.
The flower jumped for a spin in the ice, he landed and faltered his form for a second. The sportscaster's voice was mixed with a hint of worry as Hyunwoo failed to perfect the landing. Nonetheless, the flower pursued to bloom with a smile on his face completing his free dance. He stood under the audience, smiling while he took deep breaths after that pressurizing performance. Beads of sweat rolled down his face, while the screen above him flashed his score, 314.07, now being on the lead.
He flashed one final smile before he went back to their area in the bleachers. Till's ears broke with the screams of Hyunwoo’s fans behind and beside him. His grip tightened on the camera, refusing the urge to shove it up their loud mouths. Yet finally after the wait of an eternity he endured, it's finally time for the Ice Prince to end this program.
He came back again to his domain, Till's camera lens shined with the many colors reflected by the stadium. Ivan looked at the crowd while he prepared his opening pose on a banger of a performance. As he sat in position, the sportscaster’s voice was buzzing in the speakers.
“Ivan Sokolov, with the music choice of Red Wine Supernova,” Till's eyes widened, with the words “Are you serious omg” in his head echoing back and forth
“Ohhh..
“She was a playboy, Brigitte Bardot”
The gracefulness of his arms and body was mixed with an incomparable energy he had while the voice of Chappelle Roan was guiding him through it. The pop song got everyone snapping their heads in the direction of the joyful dance Ivan was doing, his jumps felt ecstatic, radiating to the eyes of the people.
“I'm in the hallway waitin' for ya
Mini skirt and my go-go boots (uh-huh)”
The movement of his feet was smoother than Till wanted to admit, Ecstatic cheers of go and very good was now part of this pop of a performance nobody and even Till expected because of his previous song. The ice Prince reached the final minute, looking radiant and more happy than the other 2 contestants were. The black outfit showed his diligence and carefulness he made for this performance to be in his favor, contrasting the bright white the ice rink made.
“Can he make it and reach it, Joe? His score is going higher and higher now, and is he gonna take the lead now?!!” The sportscaster's amazed voice hyped up the crowd even more.
“Baby, why won't you come over?
Red wine supernova…
The golden accessories blurred as he spun, with him looking like a flower swaying in the wind. Under the light with the score going higher and higher, was Till's reaction to this performance he revisited again, with the memory appearing once before him again.
September 26—Ivan’s first real performance in this school. The atmosphere's nostalgia with Ivan amazing the silver haired guy to the max was lovely, Ivan ended up 1st place that time, with Till cheering like a maniac in the background, “such a beautiful memory, but won't it cease to exist when I'm gone?...” the thought scared Till as much as he hates to admit it, with his hand tightening around the camera. His green eyes stared down at Ivan, he reached the final minute with the smile he had the entire time. Till removed the frown on his face, as after all, this was a performance supposed to be enjoyed.
The applause grew louder with each jump and spin the dark haired skater did. Chappell Roan was reaching the chorus with 20 seconds remaining and the current score being 308.13. The stadium grew silent, the pressure that the skaters faced seemed to reflect back to them. Ivan's body started to curve, with him preparing a jump that will surely gain him enough points — a quadruple Axel. His body leaped into the air, his lungs felt like it was on fire, yet the determination lived on.
He spun 1, 2, 3… and 4 times in the air. The crowd started to scream like they've seen a dragon flying and doing dog tricks. And same goes with gothic boy — going back to his roots to scream like a maniac and outdo the others.
“Omg Ivan, I definitely did not judge you for a second even the tiniest bit and oh my fucking god that was awesome — wait aw no, the camera heard me swear — my mom will probably judge me in my coffin when she sees these videos, but anyways, Ivan you're so goated!” He continued to scream and cheer until others backed away from this lunatic.
The time stopped as Ivan finished his performance with him utterly exhausted and the score of 319.37. The audience went wild, with them screaming and matching their maniac actions with Till. After all, this was one of the most pressurizing and once in a lifetime performances. The hosts wrapped up the competition with them preparing for the awarding ceremony.
After a few minutes of waiting for the judges to finalize the scores, the results came in. Till brimming with excitement to see it.
“3rd place, Eric Williams.” the figure moved into the ice with the claps following behind him.
“2nd place, Hyunwoo, Gonzalez.” the flower who lost didn't seem wilted, instead his look was just him being there.
“And finally for our first placer, Ivan Sokolov with him having the final score of 320. 18!” Ivan looked at the pedestal with pure pride and pleasure as Till was screaming and hollering in the background was another great memory under their belt.
After a few words of congratulations and the ushers and volunteers started to help clean up the place, Till found himself in the hallway with a text coming from Ivan.
__________
Ivan: U still at school?
If u are, can we like meet up at anakt garden?
__________
The glow of the phone fell on his face as he was standing in the middle of the hallway, it's getting pretty late. But, it's not gonna be a bad thing to visit him, nonetheless, it's a good thing actually, visiting your friend to congratulate them and watch them rest is one of the things that will probably be the one to keep them moving forward. So he tapped the screen of his phone and sent the word “K.”
…
The garden was lit by solar panel powered lights that took care of the greens. Beyond the greens, stood a hooded figure with black hair — Ivan. Till stepped closer as Ivan turned around and waved his hand by the sight of his “friend” being there. And after a few steps they were near each other now.
“Soo… what brings you to invite me here?”
“Well it's simple, what did you think of today?” as Ivan sat down near the bench with Till later joining him.
“Well not to raise your ego or anything, but this day was actually pretty fun. It's like completing a secret side quest in my bucket list.”
“Well I'm glad that you enjoyed what happened today, plus can i see your notebook again?”
“Wow, being so demanding again,” he said sarcastically while handing the notebook to Ivan.
Ivan opened a page and took out his own pen to write in the pages. Till looked silently worrying if he put something like a bajillion penis drawings in the pages. The pen and his hand stopped moving in the notebook, as he handed it back to Till.
“Well, I hope you complete that new thing I added musician,” as the silver haired guy read the contents of what he wrote, “Make music for Ivan to perform.”
“Hey I didn't sign up for this, plus I don't have the time between hospital visits and school already!” his face immediately crunched up into an angry monster.
“Well speaking of hospital, meaning your health, did your doctor tell you anything that can cure or at least relieve yourself?”
“Topic changer!”
“Hey, you should be grateful for someone who cares about your health.” His face had a slight grin on his face while Till sat on the bench with his arms around his legs up against his chest.
“But finee, I will tell you. I'll have a longer time of living if practically all of my organs get replaced, or something like that. But where would I even find a donor like that?” He looked at his ruby eyes, reflecting him smiling — likely a fake one.
“No more of these sad topics, if I die, I die. We should live in the present, not the future. After all, who will guess what happens next? I might survive or something like that, then I'll have a happy ever after.”
“Sigh, I guess you do have a point, plus it's getting really late, don't you have an art exhibit tomorrow?”
“Well you're right so bye!” He packed up his things quickly and sprinted top speed towards the exit.
Ivan waved and said bye, to his “friend” running. Till snapped his head back again, who had reacted with the farewell. As he was panting for air, he screamed back the words “Also I will delete that bucket list thing you wrote okay?” Ivan scoffed at the reaction while his “friend” continued to rush home with the stars finally visible for viewing.
…
Their dark brown front door was lit by the bulb in their porch, with Till looking hesitant. He reached out on the door, yet stopped and thought of stuff — while the door’s number plate reflected the numbers 8970. Transportation was rather tame this day compared to last festival weeks he experienced during his time at Anakt Academy, which he was really grateful for. For what he was hesitant though, was rather a certain person that gave birth to him named Io. Yet he needs to finish this painting faster so the words “Your mama raised no cowards was showing,” as he opened the door.
His mom sat at the kitchen table, with her looking back at another pair of emerald eyes. The cup of tea was still fresh with the steam it had in her hands. Till smiled at his mother's gaze, fidgeting with the sleeves of his hoodie. After a long silence with looking at each other, Io lowered and placed the tea cup in the table and opened her mouth to speak.
“So, where have you been?” The abrupt question made Till flinch with shock and prepared himself to explain.
“Well… I was in school and, things happened a lot and stuff and—”
“Give me specifics Till, I wanna know if anything happened with you in school today.”
“Well… I joined and watched festival shows and stuff…” after he said it, his mom's expression lightened, probably by the fact her son is now more active in school than he ever was.
“Well, did you make any new friends?”
“Oh, huh?”
“Well did you make friends?” as the steam from her cup of tea went up the air, his face was mixed with the quiet love and respect he had for his mother.
“Well… I became friends with Ivan again, does that count…?” the kitchen’s chair scrapped by the tiles as his mom stood up and walked towards Ivan as she embraced him in a hug.
After the embrace and confused expression of Till, his mom
walked towards the stairs to her room as she spoke with a soft gentleness said, “Good night Tilll.”