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Staring into his bleary-eyed reflection, Till wrestled with his tangled hair. His body had always possessed a mind of its own while he slept, leaving him tossing and turning all night. His roommate, Ivan, had always teased him about it, saying that he was bound to fall off his bed at some point and that Till would be safer sharing a bed with him. Till would always counter his clever remarks with a scoff and a murmur about how he wished the former wasn’t his roommate. Sometimes he really meant it. After all, Till’s predicament with Ivan hadn’t been his fault, Mizi had helped him fill out his dorm applications after a night of horror movies and very much underage drinking. Till, oblivious to his friend’s scheming, had sent in the applications without so much as a second thought.
Sighing, the gray-haired man turned to leave his bathroom when he felt his phone buzz in his pocket. Retrieving it and looking at the screen revealed a message from his personal professional problem.
Shit Head: R u coming to the assembly @ the football field 2day????
Till: Not if u keep txting me abt it :/
Shit Head: K ill stop just pleaseee comeeeee!!!
Till: K
While Till wished he didn’t, he still had many classes to get through before he could finally head back to his dorm and crash. First, he needed to attend a lecture about computer science, and while he generally found the class enjoyable, the professor didn’t seem to like him. Then, he would go to a cafe which was near campus and do a virtual class. The class itself wouldn’t take long, but Till always liked to stay far beyond the duration of the class in order to catch up on any work he had to do. He would just have to finish by the time his English class started at 1:30, so he would have to leave the cafe at 1:20? Or maybe a little earlier to account for the time it would take to walk to the building?
Till once again let out a heavy sigh, college was amazing, but there were times he struggled to find balance. That was what his friends were for. Mizi, Sua, and even Ivan, he thought, were all of great importance to him. Especially Ivan, he thought. All of them helped him unwind after hard days, and even when he was tired or upset, they seemed to only ever know how to cheer him up. Till smiled as he got dressed, throwing on a plain black long-sleeve shirt with a loose-fit short-sleeve over top of it. The T-shirt he chose was one of his favorites, he had bleached it himself in the design of a ribcage. He and Ivan had done matching ones the previous year, and Till’s had come out nicely while Ivan’s looked quite unsightly. Ivan however, still insisted he wore it out the next day, and while he got some stares, nobody voiced their opinions to the football player, so he just assumed everyone loved it as much as he did.
Finding an old pair of baggy jeans hung in his closet, he threw them on and made a mental note to do laundry when he returned home later. Till looked over to his nightstand where most of his jewelry lay in a pile. After sorting through it he found two silver necklaces that complimented his outfit, as well as a pair of obsidian earrings Mizi had gifted him for his birthday. Feeling ready to face the day, Till grabbed his phone, earbuds, and keys and made his way out the door and to his computer science lecture.
Something was off, Till knew it. Throughout the day he had received multiple texts from his friends asking if he would be at the football field tonight. Till knew it wasn’t anything important, just some pep rally to get the school ready for the football team’s last game of the season. Thinking about it, Till really didn’t think they needed an assembly for it, anyone who wanted to watch the game would definitely know when and where it was by now, as they were only a few days from it. If their team won, it would make them state champions for the 2nd time in a row. While no one actually stated the reason for the school’s recent accomplishments, everyone knew that the team’s new quarterback was the reason behind many of the close games they had risen from victorious. Till also knew this, and while he had, at first, no desire to, he eventually grew close with said quarterback.
Although it proved meaningless, Ivan had been the one to initiate the first conversation. In response, Till had given him the cold shoulder. Forever optimistic, Ivan had persisted with his attempts at friendship. Over the course of a week, Ivan had tried to interact with what he was starting to think was a brick wall. Asking for a pencil? Nope. Asking what day it was? He was called stupid and told to stop staring at Till and look in front of himself to see the date written on the whiteboard. Once he asked Till what his favorite color was and was met with a blank stare and was ignored the rest of the class. It wasn’t until Ivan had begged Sua to put in a good word for him that Till started to be a bit kinder. Looking back on it now, Till thought it ironic how he’d come to look forward to the other man’s presence when he’d been so abrasive at first.
A notification pulled Till from his thoughts.
<3Mizi<3: Hey, you’re coming to the assembly tonight, right?
Till: Bro literally why is evry1 asking me that??? Even Luka txted me earlier to ask and we aren’t even that close idek how he got my #????
<3Mizi<3: It’s because we wanna see you!!! Ivan’s been hogging you for like, ever!
Till: Ew dont say it like that but yea im coming ig
<3Mizi<3: You better!!
Till: Kkkkkkkkkkkkk
Till let out an exasperated yawn as he gathered up his belongings. He had just finished his last class of the day and lamented that he still had one more thing to do today. The assembly. Grabbing the last of his papers, he shoved them into his bag and made for the door to the lecture hall. Till weaved through crowds of people until he made his way out of the crowded building and outside onto the sidewalk. As he walked to the football field, Till wondered how long this excursion would be and if he should have made a quick trip back to his dorm to put his bag up. Before he could change his mind and leave, the sight of a familiar pink-haired girl caught his eye. Before he could call out her name though, he felt a warm hand catch his wrist.
“Hey, Till!” Ivan smiled wide, one fang peeking out from his mouth, "I was looking for you!”
Turning to his friend, Till went red and replied, “Let go! And shouldn’t you be with the other players waiting for them to call the lineup? Why are you out here?”
Ivan looked confused, “Like I said, I was waiting for you.” Till stared at the man who had yet to free his hand. Ivan stared back.
“Well you saw me, so go!” Till all but shouted, “Or you’re gonna be late and your coach will get mad and beat me up or something!”
Ivan wasn’t yet able to respond when another voice chimed in, “Yeah, Till’s right,” a sweet voice remarked. Till beamed as he saw his guardian angel had come to rescue him. Followed closely behind by Sua, Mizi approached the two men.
“Hey Mizi, Sua,” Ivan stated, looking dejected. Mizi laughed at his expression.
“Don’t worry,” she started, “we’ll make sure he doesn’t run off somewhere.”
“What!? Why are you guys all just plotting against me today? What did I even do to you!?” Till exclaimed at his friend’s words. Mizi winked as Ivan finally ran off and left the three of them alone. “Hey Mizi, hey Sua, how have you guys been?” Till asked tentatively.
“We’ve been good,” Sua answered with a smile. While Till wasn’t as close to Sua as he was to Ivan or Mizi, they were still good friends, and he was happy to see her.
“The real question is…” Mizi began, “How have you and Ivan been?”
Till blushed once again and looked away, “You know it’s not like that-”
“Bullshit! If it’s not like that , then I don’t know what is!” Mizi interrupted.
“Well yeah you know how I feel about him, but you don’t know how he feels,” Till explained. He had told her all about his feelings regarding his roommate, but Till was sure Ivan didn’t like him back.
“And you do?” Mizi asked.
“Yeah, I do”
“How? Did you ask him?” she quipped back.
“I just do ! Can’t you just-” Till’s voice was cut off by someone speaking into a microphone. Till was starting to get annoyed by Mizi’s insistence and was glad something stopped it, but after just a few minutes of the announcer talking he almost wanted to go back to arguing. Till looked over to Mizi and Sua, who were both grinning ear to ear. Till rolled his eyes as he looked on as the football team walked onto the field. His eyes caught on a certain black-haired quarterback. A thought crossed his mind. One that terrified him. What if Ivan really did like him back? Till had never entertained the thought, too scared to get his hopes up. Ivan was popular and extroverted, Till didn’t know why Ivan was so insistent on becoming friends. And he even seemed genuinely ecstatic when he saw the two of them were roommates.
Till pushed these thoughts away as the announcer cleared her throat, “And now, a message from your quarterback!” Ivan walked up to the woman and smiled, taking the microphone from her hands. Till watched intently as Ivan made a spectacle of pulling out his phone, and pressing the screen a few times until he put it up to the microphone. The song playing on his phone reverberated around the quiet field as Ivan opened his mouth to sing along.
“I met this guy who rocked my world like it’s never been rocked!” Till’s mouth fell open.
“And now I’m living just for him, and I won’t ever stop!” Till looked to Mizi, who, to his surprise, was already looking at him with a shit eating grin.
“What the actual fuck is he doing !?” Till had never been in such an absurd situation. He would have never dreamt of hearing someone profess their love for somebody via song in front of a whole college. Moreover, he didn’t even know who Ivan could possibly be singing about!
“I never thought that it could happen to a guy like me!” Ivan shouted enthusiastically into the microphone as he pointed into the crowd. Till and the others weren’t too far from where the football players had walked onto the field. As such, when Ivan pointed, it was obvious who it was directed toward. Till started blanky at the man, and only then did he realize Ivan had undone the buttons of his letterman jacket to reveal the crude shirt he had on underneath. The crude shirt that matched the one Till was wearing at that exact moment. “But now look at what you’ve done!”
It was only then that Till could really comprehend what was happening to him. Ivan was singing a love song. About him. In front of the whole college. That they both attended. Till looked over to Mizi, horrified, then quickly back at Ivan.
“You’ve got me down on my knees!”