Work Text:
"Ivan broke up with me."
Mizi jumps up at Till's unexpected arrival, taking a few worried steps towards him. Sua seems mostly unbothered, giving him a once over to check for injuries (or damage to their door, Till can't really tell). It's quiet for a moment, Mizi and Sua both looking at Till while Till stares resolutely at the wall in front of him.
"Um," Mizi starts, ever the most comforting presence in Till's life. "Are you sure he did?"
Scratch that, then. Maybe she's given the job over to Ivan at this point, even though Ivan is obviously doing a pretty shit job at it right now.
"Do you think I'd be over here if I wasn't?" Till retorts, resigning himself to slouching on their loveseat, folding in on himself to drive the point in.
Sua gets up with an audible breath, shutting the door and returning to her place on the couch. "Alright," she begins, "what did he do? Because I'm fairly certain Ivan wouldn't break up with you unless he was being blackmailed. Or, like, threatened in some way." At the incredulous look she receives from Till, she rolls her eyes. "Okay, fine, Till. That's great. You're single now, go find someone better. Is that what you wanted to hear?"
"Of course not." Till grumbles, throwing his head over the back of the seat cushion. He hates going to Sua for advice. She's always right, and awfully annoying about it. Unfortunately, going to Mizi meant going to Sua, too.
Mizi, bless her, still looks unendingly confused.
"Till, I don't want to downplay whatever happened, but can you walk us through it?" She asks, settling herself on the arm of the loveseat. She puts a comforting hand on Till's shoulder, but Till only felt it as a weight sinking him further into the cushion.
"Okay," he breathed, psyching himself up for making a fool of himself. No, he reminds himself, Ivan made a fool out of him. "Well, we had a date planned today. At the coffee shop on third?"
Mizi and Sua nod in acknowledgement. They look like they're on the edge of the their seats. Mizi, especially, looks worryingly close to slipping off and landing half on him and half on the floor. Having their full attention on him like this is a little disorienting, if he's being honest.
"And, uh, we planned to meet at four, after his shoot, but he didn't show up. I stayed there until six." Their eyes widen, but they gesture for him to continue instead of commenting.
"He's never been late to a date," he tells them. "He's always early, actually. But he never showed. And," he says emphatically, "and he hasn't answered my calls or texts. And then I texted his manager, and she said Ivan had already left for the day around one."
His friends just look at him, more confused than anything.
"So he has to be dumping me, right? Ivan's never done anything like this. He always answers my calls." Till huffs a breath through his nose, trying to cover up the frustrated tears welling in his eyes.
"Till," Sua says, voice grave and serious. "You're being a dumbass right now."
Well, ouch.
Sua continues before Till can get— rightfully— defensive. "Ivan would never do this, you're right. I'm more concerned about something being wrong with him than him breaking up with you."
Oh. Oh shit.
How did he not think of that?!
Till shoots up immediately, on his feet so fast it was as if his seat burnt him. "Oh fuck," he breathes, "what if something's wrong? What if he's hurt? I have to go to his apartment. Now."
So he does. He doesn't spare another second for wondering, he's out of Mizi and Sua's apartment like that, with nothing more than a, "Thanks!" thrown over his shoulder.
The drive to Ivan's apartment is short, what with Till driving ten over the speed limit the entire time. When he arrives, Till is out of his car so fast he almost forgets his keys, and definitely forgets to lock it. He's a mess at Ivan's door, bypassing knocking and going straight for unlocking it with his spare key.
Ivan's apartment is eerily quiet when he enters. Till walks in cautiously, eyeing his surroundings as if he doesn't practically live here. It looks normal. Meticulously neat sans some of Till's drawings and a few instruments, but normal. Like Ivan isn't home at all.
The worry grows in Till's stomach, his mind writing him a horrifying story of Ivan being out with someone else, maybe one of his model friends- when he hears it. A snore.
Is— is Ivan asleep?
But Ivan doesn't snore. Oh, god— what if he is with someone else?
The thought propels Till further into the apartment and to Ivan's room. He throws the door, left ajar, open unceremoniously, and freezes in his tracks at the sight that greets him.
It's Ivan, just Ivan, asleep in his bed, looking like shit.
Well, Ivan never really looks like shit, at least in Till's opinion, but he certainly looks off. His shoes are still on and he's fallen asleep on top of the covers, still clad in the blazer and dark khakis he undoubtedly wore to work. His face is visibly flushed, cheeks pink and forehead sweaty, and Till vaguely registers the snoring compared with his appearance and—oh.
Oh.
Ivan is sick.
Ivan didn't ditch him, isn't planning on breaking up with him. He's just sick.
Sick, and stupid enough not to come to Till about it.
Till approaches, placing a gentle hand over Ivan's forehead. Hot. Figures.
He pushes sweaty strands of Ivan's hair away from his face, and finds that all of the tension in his body has loosened.
"Idiot," he murmurs fondly, cupping Ivan's face. "Let me help next time."
He carefully takes Ivan's blazer and shoes off, then brings the blanket up over him properly. Next is a damp rag placed on his forehead, and then Till is in the kitchen texting his mom to make sure he's getting the soup recipe right.
It's the least he can do, he thinks. He's not exactly used to relationships, definitely not ones with someone like Ivan, who cares so much about Till and so little about himself. He has to remind himself, sometimes, that he is Ivan's priority, not Ivan. And that Ivan would overwork himself sick if he wasn't checked up on.
Till hopes Ivan can taste his unspoken apology in the soup. It's the first step, of many, he'll be taking to make sure Ivan knows he's Till's priority.