Chapter Text
Till finds Mizi scribbling away onto a note, and she’s so focused on it that she doesn’t hear Till come in.
Startled, Mizi instinctively slides the note from Till’s eyes under her bag. She flashes a clumsy smile at Till, her hands clutching onto her bag.
“I didn’t mean to scare you, sorry,” Till mumbles sheepishly. He awkwardly stands still at the doorway. He feels if he walked into the classroom further, Mizi would throw her bag at him out of embarrassment. So for their sakes (notably his safety), Till pretends he didn’t see anything.
“Sua-ssi told me to tell you that her club meeting got cancelled last minute, that’s all,” Till waves a quick goodbye to Mizi, whose mood seemed to improve immediately at the prospect of walking home with her best friend. Apparently, Sua’s Bioscience club cancelled their meeting last minute. And for some reason, Sua has designated Till (who bumped into her as he was on his way to leave school grounds) to be the messenger to Mizi to inform her.
Till walks away, but he’s too damn curious for his own good so he heads back to the classroom and peeks into the trash can after Mizi leaves. He figures that Mizi was working on a song or lyrics, something that Till and the others (normally Till and Mizi) do together and he wants to glimpse at the scrapped work. Instead, he finds that it’s a note – a love letter to be precise – and his eyes bulge out as he reads the familiar, big, bubbly writing:
“To you who has stuck by my side for years,
I have found solace and strength
In your illuminating perfect smile
That brings meaning to my existence
My god, My universe
I want you to know
Despite your troubles
I want all of you, if you would let me
I want to pull you close
Run my fingers through your perfect raven hair
And discuss our future together.
Despite your packed schedule
You always find time for me
And I appreciate that
S–”
And that’s where Mizi ends her letter, with scramblings and smudges which Till deduces that Mizi was too nervous to complete it (and his sudden appearance at the classroom door didn’t help either). Till ponders for a bit and he can only think of Ivan who fits the description. They’ve all been friends since elementary – their group has become inseparable. Or rather, Mizi and Sua were inseparable, and Ivan has been stuck by Till’s side for as long as Till can remember. But from opposite genders, Ivan and Mizi have been particularly close together, now that Till thinks about it. He remembers how Ivan would give Mizi piggy-back rides in elementary and in middle school, and Mizi would ask Ivan to braid her hair (to which Sua would immediately intervene for some reason).
He feels a pit in his stomach, but Till chalks it up to how he had a crush on Mizi.
Had a crush.
He decided last year it would never work out as he categorized the feelings he felt for Mizi were of adoration and admiration, not romantic love.
Thanks to that decision, now he can be a wingman for his friends with no hurt feelings!
Till throws the note away, wanting to respect Mizi’s decision on trashing the letter. Exiting the classroom, he bumps into Ivan at the door. “Where are you going?” Ivan grabs Till by the shoulder, “We’re on duty to clean the classroom together this week.”
Oh , that slipped Till’s mind completely. What a perfect opportunity to interrogate Ivan on his ideal type!
Ivan steps into the classroom, his head turning to Till when he doesn’t immediately follow him. Ah, I shouldn’t ask immediately right now, Till thinks, That’d be too obvious.
As they prepare to clean the classroom, Till can’t help but eye his best friend and tries to picture him with Mizi.
Strangely, he doesn’t feel thrilled.
Nor can he picture them together.
But for Mizi’s sake, he’ll silently encourage her behind the scenes!
Till and Ivan are sweeping the floor silently before Till breaks the silence with a question, “I’ve never asked, but who’s your ideal type?”
Till continues to sweep, but he notices that Ivan has stopped in his movements. Peeking his head at his friend, Till can see that Ivan is watching him with a small glint in his eye. “Someone creative with a daring soul,” is all Ivan says and he quickly goes back to cleaning the classroom.
Not exactly how Till would describe Mizi, but it almost matches what Ivan’s ideal type is. Till claps his hands together, again determined to be the wingman for his best friends.
Ivan merely glances at Till, a slight blush creeping on his neck and ears.
The next couple of days fly by.
Till would bump Ivan into Mizi, making the two crash together. (“Sorry, I’ve been out of it recently,” is what Till tells Ivan when he bumps into him for the fifth time). He would distract Sua (for twenty seconds at most) for questions on homework so Ivan and Mizi can chat amongst themselves (“Go bother Ivan-ssi, not me,” is what Sua would normally reply after peeking at the questions on the papers. “But you’re the vice-president, can’t you help me too?” Till asked once when Sua brushed him off again. Sua just shot him a look, and Till gave up on asking her questions.) During their lunches, Till would beat Mizi in sitting next to Sua, forcing her to sit next to Ivan.
On the fourth day, Sua politely asks Till to help her in the music room with one of her creative projects.
Feeling nervous (because Sua has never asked Till for one-on-one time) Till agrees to meet with her. Ivan looks at Sua, but Till can’t understand the meaning of the glance between the two as Sua shoots Ivan a look too. Mizi keeps the conversation going, asking Sua what her new creative project is (“Oh just a song I’ve been struggling with,” is all Sua replies with a smile to Mizi and swiftly changes the topic).
Till quickly meets Sua after the bell rings at the end of final class.
Before Till can close the door behind him, Sua bluntly asks, “Ya, Till-ssi, why are you pushing us together?” Till, confused, replies with, “I don’t- I’m not trying to get together with you-” Till ignores the sigh of relief and the quiet ‘ Thank god ’ from Sua for the sake of feeling offended.
“There has to be a reason you keep separating me and Mizi-ya from sitting together during lunch,” Sua crosses her arms, staring at Till.
Till bites his lip.
He can trust Sua with Mizi’s attempt on a secret love confession. The fact that she’s trying to confess to Ivan.
They’re best friends. Best friends support each other, after all.
“I found a letter that Mizi-ya threw away, and she’s trying to confess to someone,” Till begins and he notices Sua perking up, ”And I think she's trying to confess to Ivan.”
Till doesn’t bring up the eye twitch in Sua’s right eye. “Why do you think it’s Ivan-ssi?” Sua asks bewilderedly.
Does Sua know something Till doesn’t know?
Till remarks off the top of his head on the contents of the letter, not forgetting the descriptives it used of having a perfect smile, raven hair and having a busy schedule. Sua’s eyes widen, and her face flushes red and she hunches over and covers her face with her hands.
Alarmed, Till rushes to her side before Sua immediately shoves him away from her. “It’s not Ivan-ssi, idiot,” Sua mumbles as she stands back up. Till’s eyes narrow in confusion before Sua adds, “You’re really dumb, but at least you’re good for something right now.” Till just gawks at Sua, not knowing if he should defend his idiocy or cheer at the implication that he’s helpful in some way right now.
How ? He doesn’t know. He doubts Sua would tell him how either.
Clicking her tongue, Sua fixes herself and shoots Till a sharp look. “You suck as a wingman, so stop meddling in people’s businesses and just focus on your own relationship,” is all Sua says before she exits the room.
Ah.
Till remembers the excuse Sua used for them to meet together, I guess she doesn’t actually need help with a song after all .
Till waits outside the student council classroom, expecting Ivan to emerge any minute now so they can clean their classroom together.
“Yo,” greets Hyuna as she ruffles his hair before putting her arm on his head for support. A yellow lollipop is dangling between her fingers. All Till can do is hiss at her, mumbling a Hi Hyuna-noona , and continue to wait for Ivan to come out. “Is my favorite hubae waiting for his boyfriend to come out of their meeting?” Hyuna smirks at Till. Before Till can answer, Hyuna hums, “Such is the woe of life for our boyfriends to be the class presidents again, eh?” Hyuna sticks the lollipop into her mouth as she ruffles Till’s hair again.
“I’ve got no boyfriend, noona,” Till rolls his eyes as he pushes Hyuna’s hand off of his head. Damn it all, he wishes he got taller – maybe as tall as Ivan or a little less – so he can stop being a supportive arm pillar for Hyuna and Hyunwoo. But then again, the twins were strangely tall ever since middle school ( they’re both athletic, maybe that’s why, Till thought to himself last year when he met the twins and that blond freak).
“Oh?” Hyuna pops her lollipop out of her mouth, another smirk forming on her lips. Till feels shivers down his spine. “You could’ve fooled me,” is all Hyuna says before a hunched blond figure with glasses emerges out of the room.
Maybe I should’ve waited in the classroom and begun cleaning before Ivan , Till thinks as he watches Hyuna leave his side to snake her arm around Luka’s waist. Till grimaces at the sight. He doesn’t understand what Hyuna sees in Luka.
“I got my boyfriend, have fun with yours, Till-ah!” is all Hyuna shouts as she and Luka walk away together. He can see Luka glance at Till before leaning into Hyuna and snuggling into her embrace.
Ew .
Till leans back on the wall, waiting, until a familiar tall figure steps out. “Ah, Till-ah, were you waiting for me?” Ivan smiles at Till.
Boyfriend, huh?
Till rolls his eyes, dismissing the thought before his imagination takes over. Hand holding, cuddling, sharing clothes, kissing—
Till mentally slaps himself.
Till and Ivan are standing in the hall, in silence, as the rest of the classroom presidents exit out of the council room. All Till can do is mumble, “Well, we have to clean the classroom together.” He grabs onto Ivan’s wrist, pulling him to the direction of their homeroom.
He really can’t picture Ivan with Mizi. With any woman, or anyone in particular.
Who exactly was Mizi trying to confess to?
Ivan is wiping away on the whiteboard as Till is almost done sweeping the room.
“So,” Ivan begins, “Why are you pushing me and Mizi-ya together?”
Ack.
Till can feel that Ivan has stopped scrubbing away the markers off the whiteboard and has his full attention on him. “Was that obvious?” Till feels his hand sheepishly rub his neck in embarrassment. “Subtlety is not your strong suit, unfortunately,” is all Ivan says as he resumes scrubbing away on the whiteboard.
Till sighs, running his hand through his hair. No harm in telling Ivan, since apparently Mizi is trying to confess to someone else. “I found Mizi-ya writing a love letter and I thought she was writing it for you,” Till feels his grip on the broom tighten.
Weird.
The pit feeling in his stomach is back again.
Till looks at Ivan, who has finished cleaning the whiteboard but has his back turned on Till.
“Mizi-ya? Having a crush on me?” Ivan’s shoulders are trembling.
Is he upset? Till rests his broom against a desk to check on Ivan, ready to comfort his friend. Oh, did he have a crush on Mizi? Is he feeling dejected to find out that he wasn’t the recipient of Mizi’s love confession?
Before Till can place his hands on Ivan’s shoulders as a gesture to console him, he hears Ivan stifling his laughter. Why is he laughing?
“Till.”
“Yeah?”
“You’re aware that Mizi-ya is a lesbian, right?”
Huh.
“Mizi-ya likes girls?” Till blurts out in confusion. Ivan nods before clearing his throat. “She told us last year, at that small party at Hyuna-sunbaenim and Hyunwoo-sunbaenim’s place?”
Till vaguely remembers it, not specifics. He just remembers he got very tipsy (thanks to Hyuna’s encouragement, and thanks to Hyunwoo stopping his twin and preventing Till from being completely blackout drunk) and woke up next to Ivan in his own bed. He remembered his mother reminding him to thank Ivan for taking him home safely when he slowly stepped into the kitchen for water. His head pounded a bit, and he had the urge to throw up (not a strong urge thankfully, he knows somehow Ivan will wake up to the sound of Till retching and find a way to stay in the bathroom with him under some random excuse).
“I’m glad you have Ivan-ah with you,” his mother softly said before her tone changed, “For keeping an eye on my son who drank too much for his own good.”
Till cringed. He thought he did a better job of hiding his current state from his mom.
“I’m sorry eomma, it won’t happen again,” is all Till pathetically said as his mom placed a glass of water in front of him. He felt his mother’s hand rest on his shoulder. He also felt his mother examining his face.
“Did you and Ivan-ah get into a fight? There’s a cut on your lip, sweetheart,” Till felt his mother squeeze his shoulder. “No, we didn’t get into a fight,” Till quickly defended himself, “I probably just cut it on something at Hyuna-noona’s house.” Till can tell his mother is relieved that her son didn’t get into a physical altercation again.
“I’ll prepare some haejang-guk for you, in case you need it,” Till’s mother patted his shoulder before she trailed off into the fridge to prepare the soup ingredients.
Till closed his eyes, silently thanking his mom, and he rubbed and massaged at his throbbing temple. His finger then immediately traced the cut on his bottom lip.
What kind of sharp shit do the twins have in their house that Till put his mouth on willingly?
}
Before Till can say anything, Ivan has a smirk on his face, his fang visible, as he slightly leans into Till’s space, hands behind his back. “Were you too drunk to remember Mizi-ya coming out to us?” There’s that glint in his eyes again.
Till pushes Ivan away from him softly, red with embarrassment. “So what if I was?” grumbles Till. Before Ivan can remark on that, Till shouts, “I was trying to be a supportive friend! I caught her writing a love confession, so I thought I’d try to help her! Is that such a bad thing now?”
“Hmm.”
Ivan has that pondering look on his face before he looks at Till, tilting his head. “Even though that one friend is a lesbian and you thought she was going to confess to me, a man?”
Till grumbles again, except it’s a mixture of excuses, “I didn’t know / I was too tipsy / Not my fault Hyuna-noona kept giving me soju shots. / By the way, you’re no man, you’re some guy at best.” Ivan laughs softly, playfully bumping his shoulder into Till. “I was confused why you kept opting to sit with Sua-ssi at lunch,” Ivan says, “I thought you were replacing me with her, but I know Sua-ssi would rather die than become closer with you.”
Till shrugs, knowing that Sua and him aren’t that close like the others for some reason, but that’s always been their dynamic. “Yeah, she told me to stop meddling earlier and that I’m an idiot,” Till sighs.
Wait, Ivan is supposed to be under the impression that Till helped Sua with her song.
He can hear Ivan trying to not laugh again. “I know I’m an idiot,” Till rolls his eyes, walking back to retrieve his broom. “I just wanted to see Mizi-ya be happy,” Till remarks as he can feel Ivan’s eyes on him again.
“What?”
“...Do you still have a crush on Mizi-ya?”
Now it’s Till’s turn to laugh.
“Dude,” Till chuckles at first before glancing at Ivan, “you just told me she’s a lesbian.” Till sneaks another peek at Ivan, who’s still staring at him, so Till decides to make it clear, “And FYI , I stopped having feelings for her since last year.”
All he hears from Ivan is a Hmm, interesting, in acknowledgement.
Till pulls his attention back into sweeping the floor again.
Silence fills the room again. But Till feels uneasy.
“Did I miss something, or should I remember anything about the party, like for instance, another friend coming out or something?” Till teases. He’s currently struggling to sweep under a desk. Ivan freezes up, his hand pinching his own neck. “No,” Ivan shakes his head, “Nothing to note of.” His gaze continues to linger on Till.
Perking an eyebrow, Till stops sweeping and peeks up towards Ivan. “So I did miss something, judging how tense you are,” Till states. Ivan shakes his head again.
Even though Ivan is good at concealing things to everyone, he ( for some reason ) sucks at lying to Till.
“Come with me to take out the trash?” Ivan politely asks Till before Till can probe further.
Whatever. He’ll bug Ivan or his other friends about it another day.
It couldn’t be something big.
Till walks into his classroom the next day with Ivan trailing behind him. He wasn’t expecting Mizi and Sua to be holding hands on the table.
That’s new.
“Till-ah, Ivan-nie, guess what!” Mizi’s eyes are glistening, and Till looks over to Sua who has a small smile on her face, eyes focused on Mizi. He notices that Sua’s hand is caressing Mizi’s hand – her thumb running in circles on top of Mizi’s hand.
Till directs his attention to Mizi again.
She’s very jittery and very excited, which isn’t normally a shock, but classes haven’t even begun for the day yet.
“Exciting news?” Till asks as he sets his bag down at his desk and sits on the desk in front of the girls. Ivan sits on the chair next to Till. Mizi nods and she glances at Sua, who nods at Mizi.
There’s a blush on both of their faces.
“Sua-unnie and I – we’re dating now!” Mizi exclaims. Till gapes at them as Ivan claps politely.
There’s a conversation being had between Ivan and Sua again, through their staring.
“So it was Sua-ssi you were writing to?” Till asks before remembering that Mizi’s love letter was a secret. And Mizi didn’t know that Till dug it up from the trash can.
Ah shit.
“Huh?” Mizi tilts her head at Till before her attention is directed to Sua, who is now giving the middle finger to Ivan. Ivan simply chuckles at the gesture. “Huh?” Mizi goes again, utterly confused.
There’s a smug look on Sua, and Ivan raises his hands in defeat. “I’m happy for you guys,” Ivan smiles at them. Sua pretends to gag as Mizi claps her hands together. “Thank you! I’m so happy, I feel like I’m dreaming!” Mizi dives into Sua, embracing her as she nuzzles her head into Sua’s neck.
“You guys are perfect for each other,” Till can’t help but comment. It makes sense. Mizi and Sua make sense together.
They fit each other.
They’re perfect for each other.
So Till can’t help himself but smile at his friends’ PDA.
Sua peeks at Till.
“Thank you,” mumbles Sua before she nuzzles into her girlfriend’s hair.
Wait a minute.
“Sua-ssi,” Till starts off slowly, “when you– when you asked me for advice about your song yesterday…” All attention is on Till now.
Sua speaks first, before Till can say anything further, “Yeah, your advice was very helpful. I have to thank you for that.”
Ah.
So when Till outed Mizi’s secret love letter to Sua, he outed it to the actual recipient of the love confession.
Sorry Mizi-ya , Till quietly apologizes in his head before he feels Mizi’s hands grab onto his hands. “Unnie's song was really sweet! I have to thank you too for helping her!” Mizi’s eyes sparkle at him.
Till looks over to Sua, who looks away humming.
But I didn’t even help with the song–
“It was a surprise for her to confess to me when we were walking home,” Mizi begins, her hands tightening on Till’s hand, “But she sang me a lovely song and it was so, so sweet.” Mizi sighs dreamily, letting go of Till’s hands as she slumps back into her seat.
“Honestly, it’s funny because I was writing a love letter to unnie too! It’s like, she knew I was going to confess to her soon!” Mizi beams. Till stills as Ivan fakes a cough. Sua shoots a glare at the two of them. “Y-Yeah,” Till says weakly, rubbing his neck anxiously.
“I would say it’s because you two were meant for each other,” Ivan quickly interjects. Mizi giggles before continuing on, “Like how you and Till-ah are meant for each other too, right?”
Huh.
Huhhh.
Till jolts up, his attention snapping immediately on Ivan who simply glances at him. An eyebrow is perked up, a faint smirk on his face with his snaggletooth slightly visible. He simply lifts up his hands at Till and shrugs.
Asshole .
Why isn’t he saying something?
It’s one thing for strangers and classmates to mistake them as a couple but their childhood friends too?
“How are Ivan and I meant for each other, exactly?” Till quickly asks, ignoring Ivan who’s stretching out his arms next to him. He’s not too fazed that Ivan isn’t defending himself. He always just nodded or shrugged when other students would ask and assume the relationship between him and Till. (“Let them think what they want,” Till remembers Ivan telling him when Till had to comfort a crying girl that No, he and Ivan weren’t together– so it’s not Till’s fault that Ivan rejected her confession.)
Till looks at Mizi and Sua, who both glance at each other before turning to him. “Don’t tell me–” Sua begins before Mizi interrupts her, “You guys aren’t secretly together?”
Secretly together?
Till wants to laugh out of pure confusion. He desperately needs to know how his friends came to that conclusion.
Why would he and Ivan be secretly together?
“Huh?” is all Till manages out of his mouth before Sua whistles. “I swear you and Ivan-nie had a secret relationship! Like, you guys didn’t want anyone to know, so we just respected that,” pouts Mizi.
“You were all over Ivan-ssi at Hyuna-sunbaenim’s party last year, don’t you remember?” Sua asks, her eyes are flickering between Ivan and Till. Her gaze settles on Ivan, who simply glances back at her before he settles his gaze on Till. “And you’ve been bumping into him more this week, like you wanted his attention more or something,” adds Mizi, her pointer finger tapping on her chin.
Till doesn’t want to explain to Mizi about his failed attempt at being her wingman, so he doesn’t bother explaining that behavior to her.
“Ivan,” Till begins. “Yes?” Ivan coos sweetly.
Till can feel the gears turning in his head. He needs to remember that classes haven’t even begun, yet he already wants to strangle Ivan.
Their last physical altercation was in middle school, but hell, maybe he can strangle Ivan right now for a quick minute. Just for good, ‘ol times.
“You told me nothing happened at the party?”
“Nothing to note of, yes.”
Sua swiftly interjects, “You think your best friend kissing you and trying to slobber all over you, is nothing noteworthy?”
Till freezes at that. He can hear the sound of a window shattering in his head, he can picture Ivan on the ground, next to the broken glass shards, writhing in pain ( or pleasure, knowing the damned bastard ) as Till beats the living out of him. Instead of giving into the violent tendencies, Till shoots a glare at Ivan, expecting his friend to make a good excuse quickly on why he would conceal that information from Till.
“Hm, our relationship has been stable all this time, so why would it change even if he kissed me and gave me a hickey?” Ivan shrugs.
Ah.
Till’s really going to kill Ivan.
Before he realizes, a Ya, you bastard! escapes from his lips. Till has tackled Ivan off the chair and is shaking him by the shoulders on the ground violently. As if any information about that night would spill out of Ivan right now.
Mizi and Sua attempt to pull Till off Ivan. “The teacher is here, you idiot,” Sua hisses into his ear before Till feels their grip on him loosen as a new pair of bigger, authoritative hands drag him off Ivan.
Classes haven’t even started yet, but Till and Ivan are already outside the classroom, their arms raised above their hands as punishment by their teacher (who coincidentally walked into the classroom the moment Till lunged at Ivan).
So many questions, yet Till doubts that Ivan would give him the answers.
Why didn’t you tell me that happened?
Till glances at Ivan next to him, who is staring straight ahead, avoiding eye contact.
Asshole.
There’s no way that Till would kiss Ivan, and he would remember if he kissed his friend. Wouldn’t he?
Till makes a silent vow to himself that he’ll never drink again.
Stupid Hyuna-noona , for hosting the party and giving him shot after shot of soju into his hands.
Stupid peach-flavored soju , even though it burned his throat the first three times of taking down the shots before Till was able to drink it like it was juice by his sixth shot.
Stupid Ivan , for not saying anything for the sake of their friendship, or whatever reasoning he has because Ivan confuses him sometimes.
Stupid Till, for kissing Stupid Ivan’s stupidly well-proportioned face onto his stupid lips where there’s that stupid sharp snaggletooth peeking out.
Stupid.
Till feels incredibly stupid right now.