Chapter Text
“I just don’t know how she doesn’t get it—! Agh, why is she so stupid?!” Sua complains, slamming her head down on the table. “I give her so many hints, but she just doesn’t do ANYTHING!”
“Did you ask her to play the pocky game?” Till asks, offering her a strawberry cinnamon muffin in condolences.
She roughly grabs it from him, taking a bite, “Yes! …well, no, not really. I brought pocky, and I kept mentioning it to her, but she never took the bait.”
“You should just tell her that you like her.” Luka idly comments, swiping his 3rd chocolate scone. “It’s clear that she likes you anyway.”
Sua scoffs, “Didn’t you wait like a year for Hyuna to confess to you, even if you knew she liked you back?”
“Touché.”
Luka tries grabbing another scone, but Till slaps his hand away. “You’ve already had 3 scones, 2 muffins, and a slice of carrot cake. Calm down!” Luka pouts, but Till goes on undeterred, “It wasn’t supposed to be all for you! I was planning to give the rest to your parents.”
“I’m an only child, it would’ve gone to me anyway.” Luka tries to reason.
“Bullshit. I know your parents enjoy my baking as much as you do.”
They were at Luka’s house (more like a mansion), the usual meeting spot for their weekly hangouts. Majority of the time, it was just them gossiping, but Sua and Till found a common problem between them…
“Can we get back to the actual topic now?” She snaps.
“Your sad love life?”
“Shut up, Luka.” She grumbles into her next bite of the muffin, “Speaking of which, Till, how’re things going on with Ivan?”
The problem is that their crushes (Mizi and Ivan, respectively) both like them back but refuse to confess. Why don’t Till and Sua confess their love first, you may ask? Well… in Sua’s words: it's too embarrassing, and she’d rather die (she wants Mizi to initiate everything), and in Till’s words: Ivan would never stop teasing him about it (he wants Ivan to initiate everything).
“Oh, don’t get me started on him!” Till groans. Despite the earlier bumps in their relationship (jealousy on Sua’s part, believing that Till wanted Mizi, but it turns out he wanted Mizi’s best friend instead, and general shyness from Till), Sua now values Till as a friend (not that she’d tell him that) and thinks that he probably could do better than her cousin. She takes the last bite of that delicious muffin, and scratch that, he could definitely do better than Ivan. If only Till was a girl…
“Does he still think you like Mizi?” Luka says, still eyeing the box of sweets Till banned him from.
Till sighs, holding his head in his hands and lightly gripping his hair.
“...taking that as a yes?”
“YES! I literally liked her for like 4 months in grade 7, that was 4 years ago! Now he thinks I’m gonna be in love with her for the rest of my life…” Till complains. Sua pats him on the back in solidarity. “I mean, we hang out a lot, and he teases me about it being dates…”
“But you freeze up and deny?” Sua finishes, reaching for another dessert before Till swats her hand away.
“No more for you. And yes!” Till says, “It’s just embarrassing.”
“Wow.” Luka remarks, “That must suck.” He says, emphasizing the k. What a rich, nosy little bastard, Sua curses in her head. How lucky he is to be dating the object of his affection while she and Till flail around. She briefly imagines poisoning Till’s cooking to feed it to him. Or to feed him her cooking which has been described as poisonous (fuck you Ivan, her cooking is perfectly safe to eat! Minus the fire hazard).
“It is…” Till says miserably, and she thinks that 3 months ago she would’ve been reveling in his sadness, but now she continues to pat him on the back. Crazy what good food and even better gossip do for a friendship.
“There, there…” She says soothingly, “Ivan is a stupid, insecure man who self-sabotages all the time.”
Luka nods in agreement. “Besides, he doesn’t deserve you. You’re such an amazing coo— person.” Luka’s still staring at the box, which was full at the beginning of their hang-out and is now at 1/3rd fullness. Majority of the sweets were eaten by Luka, who had a voracious appetite, despite his slim figure. So this ended up in Luka stealing a lot of food from people, like the fatass he is.
Till raises an eyebrow but ultimately accepts their feeble comfort. “Thanks guys..?”
Luka slowly tries to sneak his hand towards the container. “So, Sua. What are you going to do with Mizi?” He says this as if he isn’t trying to commit a crime.
“I…” She begins. Luka’s hand reaches the top of the container, but Till swiftly pulls it away, much to Luka’s dismay, “I’m not sure.” She says. “I’ve run out of ideas…”
“I mean,” She says, “We’ve been on amusement park ‘dates’, I’ve made several hand-made gifts for her—thank you, Till, for that— we even watched a movie together and held hands while walking home together! And there were fireworks in the background! How does she not get it!?” Sua slams her hands on the table, earning Luka's glare.
“I know you’re frustrated, but please don’t break my table.”
Sua rolls her eyes, and Till scoffs.
“You’re rich. You can get another one,” Till retorts. He adds on, more kindly to Sua, “Have you tried pretending to be sick, so she can take care of you?”
“Yes.”
“Have you tried ‘accidentally’ making too much for lunch and giving her some?”
“Mhm…”
“Have you offered your drink to her so you guys can indirectly kiss?”
“Yea— wait, no!” Sua brightens, “Do you think she’ll even drink it..?” She worries.
“Mizi would jump off a cliff and commit several war crimes for you.” Luka deadpans, “I think she’d be delighted to share a drink with you.”
Sua flushes, “If you guys say so…”
“Okay, problem solved. Can I have another scone now?” Luka pleads, trying to do his best puppy eyes towards Till. It’s not every day that you see a ‘cold and mysterious’ guy try and act cute for food.
“You FATASS!”
__
It was currently lunch break for them, and Sua waits for Mizi on a bench. Sua takes a deep breath, her hands shaking as she holds her drink. It was a mango slush with tapioca pearls, she bought it on Luka’s recommendation. Maybe she should’ve bought a strawberry slush instead. Or just regular milk tea. Does Mizi even like mango?
“Hi, Sua!” Mizi’s cheery voice jolts her out of her thoughts, “Oops, did I scare you?”
She shakes her head, taking a nervous sip of her boba, “It’s okay.” She softly says.
“Sorry for taking so long. I was busy doing my science project…” Mizi smiles bashfully— with a little guilt.
“It’s okay.” She repeats. God, she really doesn’t know what to say… “I got boba from the nearby boba shop.”
Mizi perks up, “Oh yeah! What flavour?”
“Mango.”
“I’ve never tried that one!” There! That’s her cue!
She hesitantly raises the cup to Mizi. “Do you… do you want to try some?” Sua mumbles, turning her head away. She really, really hopes she isn’t blushing right now.
“Ehhh?!” Mizi’s eyes widen, and she starts to babble, “A-are you sure? I mean, you probably spent a lot on that, boba’s reaaalllyy expensive nowadays, and like, I can just buy my own if I really want to try—”
“I’m sure.” Sua firmly says, offering the cup to Mizi.
“I mean… I guess— sureI’lltakeit!” Mizi is furiously blushing, snatching the drink away from her. Sua stares as Mizi averts her gaze, taking a short sip to taste the drink— and along with it, Sua’s lipgloss left on the straw.
Mizi swiftly hands the drink right back, and Sua can hardly contain her excitement as she puts her own mouth on the straw. Indirect kiss accomplished! Sua looks up and realizes that Mizi’s staring at her, entire body frozen and mouth gaping.
“...do you not like it?” Sua asks as if she doesn’t know what's running through Mizi’s mind right now.
Mizi flinches, “Ah– n-no! It’s really good, actually… I was just thinking…” She trails off as her voice gets softer, “We just had an indirect kiss…”
Now it was Sua’s turn to get flustered. “Ah. Yes.” She said, feeling her face turn bright red. She did plan it, but she wasn’t expecting Mizi to point it out..!
“AH! I’M SORRY IF THAT MAKES YOU UNCOMFORTABLE!” Mizi profusely apologizes, and Sua thinks if she lets this go on Mizi will end up on her knees begging for forgiveness. Well, Sua might not mind picturing Mizi on her knees, but not in this context.
“It’s okay.” She says, patting the spot next to her, “I’m the one who offered it anyway. Besides…” She adds on, softer, “I wouldn’t mind it with you.”
“O-oh.” Mizi sits down next to her, stiff as cardboard, “I… I don’t mind it either! Yeah!”
Sua smiles at her as Mizi changes the topic to whatever the latest news is for today, but in reality, she wants to start shaking Mizi. How could she just shake off that entire thing like it was nothing?! It’s confirmed: Sua’s gonna die lonely and loveless.
Mission: Success..?
Later, when the bell rings and they all go to class, Mizi walks her to her class, and they see a very flustered Ivan running past them. They give each other a look, and Sua shrugs, waving bye to Mizi. She enters her history class and pretends like she’s gonna have a very productive work period, but she and the rest of the class know damn well that they weren’t doing shit in a history class. She fishes out her phone, hiding it behind her laptop.
NEVER BACK DOWN NEVER WHAT?!
Jan 29, Wednesday, 2:03 PM
marysua: Guys
Untill(i kms): What
marysua: chronically online
marysua: why’d you answer my text immediately
Untill(i kms): i have a sub
marysua: isn’t this the second week u got one????
Untill(i kms): YES SHE’S BEEN GONE FOREVER I HAVE TO TEACH MYSELF THE LESSONS AND ITS COMPUTER SCIENCE IM COOKED I HAVE NO FRIENDS HELP ME
marysua: why’d you take it
Untill(i kms): I WANTED PSYCHOLOGYYYYY
marysua: Sad. ANYWAY
marysua: i did the thing
Untill(i kms): ??what thing
marysua: the thing.
marysua: the indirect kiss thing.
Untill(i kms): ohhh
Untill(i kms): okay ur scaring me now did she like
Untill(i kms): tell u that was wierd or?????
marysua: no actually
marysua: she drank it
marysua: she was blushing so much it was cute
Untill(i kms): awh thats good
marysua: ???
marysua: stay away from my girl
Untill(i kms): WAHT BRO I MEANT ITS GOOD FOR YOU
Untill(i kms): I DONT WANT HER DAMN
marysua: hm. okay
marysua: anyway
marysua: she mentioned that it was an indirect kiss
marysua: and i froze up
marysua: but after that she just acted like everything was normal
marysua: no other flirting or anything…
Untill(i kms): i mean
Untill(i kms): shes probs just embarressed
Untill(i kms): dw she’ll be thinking abt this for the rest of the week
marysua: sighhhhh i hope
marysua: also why was ivan blushing so hard as he ran
marysua: did you do something???
Untill(i kms): oh
Untill(i kms): erm i kinda stole ur idea and played the pocky game with him
marysua: WHAT COPYCAT KYS
Untill(i kms): IM SORRY ILL BAKE YOU THE CHAI CARAMEL COOKIES THAT YOU LIKE
marysua: oh nvm continue
marysua: make extra so i can share with mizi
Untill(i kms): okay
Untill(i kms): anyway so
lemon: ↳ ‘ IM SORRY ILL BAKE YOU THE CHAI CARAMEL COOKIES THAT YOU LIKE’
can i have some
Untill(i kms): WHY DID U GET SUMMONED BY THAT
marysua: old news lukas a fatass
marysua: what happened between u and ivan
Untill(i kms): okay so…
__
“You wanna play the pocky game?” Ivan says, cheekily biting down on his (stolen!!) pocky.
“W-what? I–uhm,” Till curses himself as he stutters, Ivan set everything up perfectly, so why is he struggling?? Stupid, stupid, stupid!!!
“Or did you bring this for Mizi? Strawberry is her favourite after all…” Ivan continues, going to the WRONG conclusions.
“Isn’t strawberry your favourite too?” Till points out, face looking like a strawberry.
Ivan’s eyes widen in surprise, but he quickly regains his confidence, “Wow~ I can’t believe you remembered that!” He reaches over to grab another pocky stick. “You’re so cute.”
If it’s somehow possible for Till to end up blushing more, he does. “M’not cute.” He grumbles and waits for Ivan to make the next move.
Ivan hums, making quick work of the pocky. Till must’ve looked at him weirdly because he asks, “What?”
“...the pocky game?”
“You—” Ivan falters, a small victory for Till, “You wanna play?”
He shrugs, trying to play it off, but he is still blushing like crazy. It seems like Ivan was blushing more than him, so it was another victory for Till. How does it feel to be the one embarrassed now?
“...I mean if you insist!” Ivan laughs, cheeks still red and smile strained. Till realises this is his cue and fumbles for the pocky, or more accurately, he drops the box like the idiot he is. Ivan picks it up, taking a pocky stick out.
“So, uh, do we just… do it?” Till asks awkwardly. Ivan’s eyes darken for a second, and oh god did he mess up—
In lieu of an answer, Ivan pokes Till’s lips with a pocky stick, and Till is alert enough to open his mouth. Ivan freezes, eyes zoned in on Till’s open mouth. Is Ivan really that pent-up he would openly stare at Till like this? Was he imagining his dick in place of the pocky stick? Till shudders, and whether that shudder was in excitement or fear is unknown, even to himself.
He holds the pocky stick in his mouth (he got the icing side, how thoughtful), waiting for Ivan to go to the other end. Ivan is still frozen in place, and Till clears his throat to signal Ivan to hurry the fuck up. Ivan, finally getting the hint, moves to the opposite end of the pocky stick.
Ivan takes a big bite of the stick, surprising Till because, one, he didn’t know that they were starting, and two, how did Ivan go from being so flustered to so bold?! It’s truly unfair whenever Ivan embarrasses Till he’s like that for the rest of the day.
Till nibbles his end of the stick, and wow their faces are really close. What if someone finds them like this and takes a video? He would never hear the end of it from Luka and Sua, but his (lack of) good reputation would go down the drain! Never mind him, Ivan’s on the student council! He’s an honours student! How would this reflect on him? Maybe he shouldn’t have brought pocky to school, maybe he should back out now before anything happens—
Ivan again takes another big bite of the pocky, and he’s halfway across the stick. Ivan narrows his eyes in amusement as Till still doesn’t do anything. He thinks I’ll quit, Till realises. TIll narrows his eyes in petty anger, ready to surprise Ivan.
He takes a big mouthful of the pocky, hearing it crunch in his mouth. Ivan is indeed surprised, eyes wide and face in that dumb expression that Ivan always wears when he’s trying to figure something out. Till bets that he’d become slack-jawed if he didn’t have the pocky. Ha! That’s for being so cocky!
In a new-found surge of confidence, Till munches a bit more before he and Ivan are literally face-to-face. He could feel Ivan’s heavy breathing on him. Is he hyperventilating? Oh shit, Ivan is literally shaking. Till feels like he’s right next to a ticking time bomb. He really hopes Ivan stops pussying out because their first kiss ending up in a completely flustered and blushing Ivan while Till was as cool as a cucumber (ignoring the fact that Till was blushing as much as him) was a very appealing thought and a once-in-a-lifetime chance. So please, just—
As if Ivan could hear his thoughts, he backs away, leaving Till with the rest of the stick.
“Haha, o-oh wow, you won!” Ivan stutters, and—is he fucking panting??? Disappointed, Till eats the rest of the pocky, tilting his head. That seems to have an affect on Ivan because his smile becomes more strained and his words more frantic, “The bells gonna ring soon— I’ll get to my class!” Ivan swiftly grabs his bag, already 10 steps away from Till, “Byeseeyousoon!”
“But our classes are right next to each other..?” Till calls out, but Ivan doesn’t respond. Did he go too far? Maybe Ivan got uncomfortable and left..? No, Ivan is a freak, he reminds himself. This is the guy that stole his stuff when they were younger to get his attention, and tried to lick his scraped knee clean like some dog.
He let his face fall in his hands, groaning. It’s okay, it’s whatever. He’s not pissed at all that Ivan just blew off that chance to kiss him. He sighs, moving to clean up his things and heads to his next class.
__
Untill(i kms): so yea thats what happend
marysua: HA
marysua: ngl i wasn’t expecting ivan to chicken out like that
marysua: i thought it was gonna be u for sure
Untill(i kms): SAME
Untill(i kms): but like
Untill(i kms): what do i do now…
marysua: if that was me id shoot myself to make ivan feel bad
marysua: only bc its ivan tho
Untill(i kms): no but actually
Untill(i kms): is it over for me
marysua: ivan’s inlove with you so ur good
Untill(i kms): NO BUT LIKE
Untill(i kms): WHAT IF HE STARTS AVOIDING ME OUT OF EMBARRESSMENT
marysua: i feel like that’s physically impossible for him
marysua: he needs his daily dosage of you
lemon: i agree
lemon: but i think you broke him
lemon: the teacher called on him and he stared at her for a minute before going “huh” and answered the mitochondria
lemon: mind you the question was to give an example of a disease that affects the nervous system
marysua: THATS SO FUNNY
lemon: as Till says
lemon: -1000 aura
Untill(i kms): WHATTHGJF
marysua: this is all on you till
marysua: why would u teach the old man brainrot
lemon: he’s been staring at his worksheet for the last 10 minutes
lemon: he hasn’t done anything
marysua: oh wow hes really in deep
lemon: do you still have more pocky
Untill(i kms): uhhhh i think
lemon: can i have
Untill(i kms): sure i dont like it that much anyway
marysua: wait give it to me so i can play the pocky game with mizi
lemon: i called on it first its mine
Untill(i kms): wait i actually dont have it??
marysua: ↳ “i called on it first its mine”
fatass
lemon: ↳ “wait i actually dont have it??”
what
Untill(i kms): i think ivan took the box with him
lemon: oh
lemon: i’ll ask him for some
marysua: why is he hungry we just had lunch
Untill(i kms): its kinda impressive the lengths he’ll go to for food
marysua: he only tries hard for food and his gf
marysua: i hate him
lemon: till i hate your boyfriend
Untill(i kms): not my bf but go on
lemon: i asked for the pocky and he stared me dead in the eyes while eating one
marysua: HAHA DESERVED
lemon: shut up
lemon: till can you text him to give me some
Untill(i kms): ??no
lemon: PLEASE I LOVE YOU
“marysua” has screenshotted the chat
marysua: im sending that to hyuna
lemon: this is blackmail i hate you all
marysua: loser
Untill(i kms): what the fuck