Chapter Text
Till and Ivan are an odd bunch.
They were introduced to each other from being in the same childcare centre, and then fate made them meet once more in kindergarten, where they became deskmates for those few years together. The teachers would make Ivan sit next to Till in hopes to mellow down his loudness and rambunctiousness. They did this instead of doing their jobs properly, because it's easier to just let the quiet and obedient kid show the troublemaker how to properly behave, right? But what unfolded was something that they did not expect, Ivan started to learn bad habits from Till instead of the other way around.
Much to the dismay of the adults.
A vital encounter in their life caused them to get even closer to each other. It happened during a family camping trip with Till's parents. (Till insisted that Ivan would come, and his mother didn't seem to mind Ivan's presence anyway). Under a meteor shower painting the night sky with a red hue, they both swore an oath. To forever stay close even when Ivan eventually gets adopted, to watch every single meteor shower together. A promise to stay friends forever.
They both found comfort from each other as they grew up. Obedient little Ivan gets to be a kid around Till without the pressure of his rich adopted family. Meanwhile Till gets to wind down his tendency to pick fights with people for the smallest things by having Ivan ground him into reality. He is glad to have grown up with Ivan by his side.
As they reach their first year in high school, they also ended up as deskmates. A familiar feeling, this time they've both grown to fine young men. Till was considerably tall for the average Korean teenager going well into puberty, but it seemed that Ivan beat him to it by a mile. Ivan is a goddamn tree compared to Till.
He used to be so little, Till had to tilt his head down to talk to him when he still had that weird little bowlcut. Did Till not drink enough milk as a kid? Eat his vegetables? Get enough sleep? Why did this weird kid suddenly become so tall? Not to mention, taller than him ? The worst part is that he knows Ivan will never let him live this down.
Ivan also makes it his mission to bother Till as long as Till even breathes in his vicinity.
He keeps stealing his pencils while they're in class (It has been way too many times for Ivan to keep forgetting to bring his pencilcase to school, and Ivan never returns them to Till, what the fuck!). He makes little paper cranes with note papers and throws them onto Till's head when he falls asleep mid-lesson. He also steals food from Till's plate during lunchtime (Which makes even less sense because all students get the same exact lunch.)
Ivan is just weird and Till doesn't understand why he is like this.
Despite all that though, Till always preferred seeing this imperfect, more juvenile side of Ivan. This Ivan is more loose with his emotions, free from the burden of being the son of a wealthy family.
People outside of his close circle only know Ivan as the popular top student in their year. Perfect grades, outstanding personality, catching the hearts of girls and heck even boys alike of the entire school. He's basically the school's idol to put it simply, a true heartthrob. But deep down, Till knows that this is just a persona. This perfect image Ivan crafted, only serves to maintain his family reputation, to make them look good on paper. His adoptive parents donated a lot of funds to the school after all. It would be a shame to have the school prince not be held up to such a high standard only to end up faulty.
Long story short, he may act like an annoying leech always glued to Till's side, but leeches are also cute depending on the person you're asking. Wait, but does that mean Till finds those blood-sucking parasites, cute?? Let's not dwell on that further.
Both of them were standing in the school hallway, the sunset shining through the windows, basking them in its warm orange glow. School is over for the day, both holding their printed timetables in their hands. For the first time, their timetables are not identical.
"Till... We're not gonna be in the same class for our final year..." Ivan mopes, appearing devastated while looking at the class arrangement notice on the school board for the new school year just to double check.
"Big deal, it's just one year. I can survive not having you always sitting next to me."
"But, Till. I'm going to miss you so much..." He pouts.
"Ivan, it's not like I'm moving away. We can always see each other after school, okay?"
"Could we though? It's not just any school year, it's our final year. We have entrance exams to worry about as well."
Ah, that's true. Suneung season is right around the corner, both of them will be very busy. They only have very little time to have fun before they have to put all of their focus on studying for the most important exams of their lives. Ivan especially, will definitely be busy with cram school after classes. Till laments that in addition to no longer being in the same class, he will also get to see Ivan way less frequently than usual. It is an unwelcome change to their lives. But there is nothing they can do about it.
Till sighs, "Well, then. Let's have a little bit of fun before cram school starts then. What’s the fun in studying all the time, am I right? Cheer up, would you?"
"..."
Ivan doesn't immediately reply to Till's question, there he goes again lost in his thoughts.
Thud!
Till hates it when he does that.
So he whacks him in the head.
"What was that for?" Ivan yells.
"Stop overthinking! Everything will be fine in the end, worrying too much about the future will only make you feel worse!"
And with that, Ivan lights up. He gives Till a teasing grin.
"Aww, Till actually cares about people's feelings?"
"What the fuck!? I'm not some heartless monster! What do you take me for?"
"I can't believe big meanie Till, who punches people that ate his flowers in kindergarten, can actually be soft for once... hahaha!"
"That’s because they were supposed to be a gift! A gift for Mizi! And you just had to put them in your mouth… What if they were poisonous? They could’ve killed you!"
“Honestly, dying from something you made doesn’t sound so ba-”
“ Ivan , don’t say stuff like that.”
“...”
“...”
They moved on from the conversation.
And went to get ice cream downtown before they walked back to their own homes.
Fuck it, they'll just wait and see what the future holds for them.
Several months have passed since they were split from their regular seating arrangements. Both boys were in different classes for the first time since their first meeting.
Not having Ivan always by his side, Till starts to hang out with a new group of friends in his class. If Ivan is busy, he guesses he might as well start bothering other people to make this final year more bearable up until he graduates.
He befriends this loud and outgoing class representative called Hyuna, who treats him like a long lost little brother. And with Hyuna, this person called Luka tags along.
Luka is insufferable . Honestly, Till is not sure if he can consider him and Luka, friends. Or if Luka is even a real person. He is unusually attached to Hyuna that it's borderline creepy. Luka has a reputation akin to Ivan's school prince status, but unlike Ivan who is a sweet talker loved by many, Luka is all looks and smarts to hide his horrible personality. He has no redeeming qualities the moment he opens his mouth. But Hyuna doesn't seem to mind him. Though Till is always on edge whenever he steps into the room. It's like the atmosphere turns dark the moment he enters the vicinity. That is, according to Till’s eyes.
They were playing a little game of spin the bottle at the rooftop, a game of truth or dare to pass the time as they wait for the school bell to ring. The prompts so far were for the most part pretty tame, until the mouth of the bottle points towards Till.
"Finally, it's your turn again, Till!" Hyuna exclaims.
"Oh no, whatever shall I do?" Till said sarcastically. He's getting tired of everyone playing it safe by only choosing to reveal truths. Where's the fun in that? It's called "Truth or Dare" for a reason! In a desperate attempt to spice things up, he chooses to dare.
Hyuna ponders in silence, thinking of a dare to give Till. She hadn't thought of a perfect one to get back at Till for making her crawl across the school hallway on all fours like a ghost in broad daylight (and end up scaring the daylights of every student she came across in the corridor), she needs to one up that somehow. She contemplates for a bit, and then an idea springs into her head.
"Hey, Till."
"Hmm?"
"I dare you...to ask the top student in our school, out on a date."
...Huh?
"A date? With who? Well, Luka's right here anyway honestly noona that's too easy don't you thi-"
"Not him! The other guy, you know..."
What other guy? Who else would Hyuna be talking about? Apart from Luka, the other person could only be-
..oh
The other guy...
“So, Till? What’s up?”
Till knows very well who the other guy is.
This is so embarrassing. Ivan was in the middle of what seems to be a group project discussion when Till decided to open the door to his class. Calling for him, saying that they need to talk in private. And the people surrounding him just wooed, fucking wooed .
Till already struggles trying to ask Ivan to help him with his homework. Now he has to fake confess and ask him out on a fake date?
Ivan was already suspicious of him the minute he agreed to go with Till. Till doesn’t usually seek for him, it was always him coming to Till like it’s his default move. Now Till’s here, dragging Ivan’s hand and walking to a more secluded area of the school. He is gonna curse the heavens at Hyuna for dragging Ivan into this game that he is very well not a part in. But a dare is a dare, and Till is not a loser.
They've been best friends since they were kids, surely Ivan would catch on that Till was being set up to do this. Right? Till has to put up with Ivan’s fake flirts all the time back when they were still sitting together, this shouldn’t change. It shouldn’t.
Till doesn’t turn back to look at Ivan as he walks to their destination.
It annoys Ivan that Till doesn’t look back.
So Ivan asks him again.
“Till, I know we haven’t seen each other much this year. But I don’t think you willingly dragged me to the other side of the school, just to say you miss me.”
God. This dare is gonna be the end of him. He makes sure he’ll treat Hyuna (and Luka) for a nice meal to make up for this humiliation. It’s so convoluted and a hassle to pull off. He just wants to get it over with.
They halted their footsteps under a cherry blossom tree. Ivan’s favourite hiding spot.
When Ivan couldn’t keep up the mask and needed to be left alone, Till would find him here. This is a place where they could forget the small fights and bickering to seek comfort from one another, just like they promised they would be. In this space, they can just forget reality for a moment and just exist.
In Till’s mind, bringing Ivan here would make the dare seem more believable. Hyuna said it would be boring if he just half-assed the dare when Hyuna had to build up so much courage just to do hers. Might as well go all out with his acting skills.
He turns around to look at Ivan, face beet red and blurts out,
“Ivan, would you go out with me?”
The world stops then. Everything went silent as Till desperately waited for Ivan’s answer. The teal-haired boy continues,
“We’ve been friends for forever, but I was always afraid that my feelings would ruin our friendship, so I decided to come clean. I’ve.. liked you for a while now. Can I take you on a date, maybe?”
God, Ivan please get the memo. He can feel his heartbeat rapidly thumping in his chest and he is not sure if it was from shame or nervousness. Because Ivan is surely taking a while to respond it makes him antsy.
Fuck this game, truly.
Till has kept his eyes closed throughout everything because he doesn’t want to face anyone after this stupid act. And anyone being Ivan. But he has to face it regardless, he reluctantly opens his eyes.
“Hey, are you okay? It’s okay, I understand if you don’t-”
What awaits him is a face he does not expect.
Ivan. Ivan… is blushing . He’s not looking at Till at the moment, covering part of his face with his left hand out of embarrassment. The tips of his ears are flushed a bright red. With his free hand, Ivan is fidgeting with his hoodie strings, visibly restless. He’s sweating more than usual.
It’s Till’s turn to get flustered because this is Ivan. Ivan . Ivan is blushing because of him . Why is Ivan reacting like that? Is he also acting? That’s right, Ivan must have caught on that this was totally out of character for Till to do, so he decided to also play along, right? Continuing the act, right?
Right?
Till deludes himself into thinking so. But judging by Ivan’s intense reaction and the way he is not barking back at Till with teases at all, Till finally connects the dots.
Ivan likes him. He genuinely likes him. And this is how Till finds out, by playing with his feelings because of a dare.
He can’t believe this is how he finds out Ivan has a crush on him. All this time? And how long did Ivan like him? When did it start?
Till is so fucked.
What does he even do in this situation?
Ivan stutters in his speech as he gathers up the courage and responds,
“W-well, uh. I wasn’t expecting this to actually happen. This… this is quite out of my radar. Hmm… Till, I… hahhhh…”
Till has never seen Ivan this flustered and shy. Long gone was the confident and teasing Ivan, immediately reduced into a puddle the moment Till’s “feelings” are out on the table.
He continues,
“I-I need more time to process this. It’s just that I’ve felt the same for quite a while now, give me some time to answer you. Please?”
“Ivan,I-”
The school bell started ringing at the worst time possible. Lunch break was over. Till tried to salvage the situation and explain but Ivan was already bolting back to his classroom, saying a brief goodbye to Till and running away to actually process Till’s confession in private.
Till has never been this scared of his life anymore.
He is fucked, genuinely fucked.
He did not sleep at all that night.