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Till was standing in the kitchen of his and Ivan's shared apartment. He had his laptop open on the counter and he was going back and forth between sifting through documents and cooking dinner.
Ivan was going to be a little bit late to getting home, but Till didn't mind. It just meant he had more time to cook and work on going through files. He was humming one of his songs to himself, needing some sort of sound in the otherwise quiet home.
A home, huh.
Till loves his home. Till is glad he shares this space with Ivan. Till is glad he can call Ivan his home.
They've been dancing around something for a while now, but never really saying anything about it. Till is... okay with it. Him and Ivan have been friends for two decades now. That's just how they operate. They dance around the most important of topics until they're forced to face it.
Till doesn't know what they are anymore. Best friends felt too insignificant, but Till was scared to call Ivan a lover. If he were to call Ivan a lover, he'd risk losing everything. He knows that crossing that line has led many to losing decade old friendships.
Till would be lost without Ivan.
He huffs to himself, pulling out of his stupor as he realizes he might've over-stirred the pot.
He hears the door unlocking not too long after and perks up when he hears Ivan walk through the door.
"Tillyy~!" He sang.
Till snorted, "Welcome home, idiot."
Ivan giggled as he took of his shoes and dropped his stuff by the entrance. He made his way over to Till, looming behind him to see what was being made.
"'S nothing special, it's almost done. Go change."
Ivan doesn't move though. Till looks up and behind him to question Ivan, but he meets his eyes instead. Ivan was looking at him.
"What're you staring at me for??" Till asked, a bit annoyed. He killed the heat, turning around to face Ivan fully.
Ivan reached out and turned Till's face to the side. Now he was more confused than annoyed. Ivan was studying whatever was on Till's face.
"You... still have acne scars." Ivan so gracefully pointed out.
Till bats his hand away, going back to being annoyed. He was pretty self concious of it in highschool, but managed to get his hands on a good dermatologist in college who gave him medicine and reccomendations for skin care.
His face has cleared up since he started. The scars will go away eventually, but it's gonna take a while.
"Yeah, whatever. Shut it."
"Nono... I saw something, let me see."
Till raised an eyebrow at him, but made no effort to move. He let Ivan reach for his face again as he turned his face to where the light hit it effectively.
Ivan studied his face for another two minutes before Till started growing restless under the scrutiny. Ivan seemed to notice because he pulled back to speak.
"They make a constellation. Your scars."
Till stared at him wide-eyed. He knew Ivan was a nerd about stars, as in, it was one of his autistic special interests, but he didn't expect Ivan to catch something like that. Especially on Till's face of acne scars of all places.
"...Which one?"
It's not like Till would know what Ivan is talking about, but he loves listening to Ivan talk. He loves hearing the passion ooze out of every pore on his body when he talks about one of his interests.
This time is no different, Ivan lights up at the idea of telling Till about it.
"You have constellation Lyra, which is funnily enough mostly visible in your birthday month! It's not a very big constellation and it directly means Lyre, a stringed instrument. Which is also funny because you play guitar! They're not similar in any capacity but they're both stringed and that's enough for me. You even have a darker scar where the brightest star is in Lyra. It's called Vega. Sometimes it has another star connected to it, but generally Lyra is viewed with five stars, depending on when you see it."
Ivan was using his fingers to idly trace the constellation on Till's face as he spoke. He tapped the spot where the brightest star would be and he got closer sometimes to see it closer. Till was astonished.
Till was awestruck. What was so different was that Ivan was relating the constellation to him. Ivan was saying how well it fit Till and that it was perfect. The passion Ivan has when he talks about his special interests translates to Till, too.
Ivan was calling one of Till's longest standing insecurities perfect because it so uniquely fit him. Till couldn't help the next words that tumbled out of his mouth before he could stop them.
"I think I'm in love with you."
Ivan stopped talking and froze. He let the words sink in as he regarded Till's face. They were both pink in the cheeks at the admission and Till opened his mouth to rewind, but Ivan beat him to it.
"I've been in love with you, Till. Thanks for catching up to me, though."
Till's breath hitches.
What an Ivan thing to say...
He giggles, losing his composure completely and letting himself fall onto Ivan, who caught him easily.
"Sorry, m'sorry. I've been thinking about it for a while and you... that... what you were saying kinda just. made it click, I guess."
"About you having a constellation on your face? How did that...?"
Till starts to really laugh now. He knows flirting is a bit lost on Ivan, even if the man knows how to tease to high hell.
"I don't think you realized what you were saying, Ivan. You were telling me that there was a constellation, something related to what you love dearly, on my face from scars that are left over from one of my biggest insecurities over the years. You told me in your own way that one of my flaws was beautiful to you."
Ivan stays quiet. He's wrapped his arms around Till fully and is holding and squeezing him tightly against his body. They're rocking back and forth slightly, enjoying the warmth of each others embrace.
"It's ironic, really. This is the one time I actually didn't mean to drop a hint. I was genuinely excited to point it out. I kinda forgot you were insecure about it."
Till snorts again. Yeah, that sounds about right.
They continue to bask in eachothers embrace as they sway back and forth. It's peaceful. Till doesn't quite like total silence, but he can hear Ivan. All of him. And that's all he really needs.
"Can I... connect it? With a pen?"
Till pulls back and presses a kiss to Ivan's cheek, delighting in the way his eyes widen and his face goes red.
"Of course. You'll have to wait until after dinner, though."
Ivan whines, dropping his head onto Till's shoulder.
They said what they needed to, Till said he loved Ivan and vice versa. That was enough for Till. He could call them lovers.