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Sways of the trees synchronize with the two's heartbeats, but as slow as everything may seem they don't match that at all, and the air is warm and there is a moderate breeze that is a good disruption to the two's "game"..
It was something of their creation at this point but no one has to know.
An orange haze covers the entirety of the county and leaves fall like pieces of glass reflecting the setting sun, scattering over the small city and occasionally being swept away from the faded ball courtyard, further scratching off its dull paint. It was old and worn, but that only made the memories spent there all the more comforting.
"Ready? Catch it properly this time!" Till darted his eyes around the area, narrowing his brow on instinct from the sudden gust of wind that caused a part of his hair to get in his left eye, before immediately glaring back at Ivan's pestering innocent expression as if he isn't going to miss the basketball again.. on purpose.
..It's always a habit of his at this point, as repetitive as it is, it never gets boring to Ivan. Nothing about annoying Till ever gets boring.
"I will," Ivan almost mutters while still managing to sound as if he means it, taking his hands from the pockets on his black and white striped jersey feeling the cold air on them again to show how much effort he's willing to put into really catching the ball, which was what keeps making him keep them there in the first place.
Till sighs and rolls his eyes at Ivan's confusing intentions despite going out of his way to have him here even if another person isn't required for this type of practice, the "practice" that they're "doing" isn't even anything Till would consider as much to improve from for his own sport.
But even if they're together and clearly like each other more than enough to simply make time to spend with each other, nothing will ever make Till admit he does this more often than he wants to admit to himself, however.
Without anymore hesitation, the ball flew directly towards Ivan, and who knew, he hit it back at Till like it was in the middle of a volleyball game rather than basketball, right at his face by accident, but of course Ivan still couldn't help but chuckle.
"It's always anything but basketball.." Till thinks to himself, scoffing the moment he saw Ivan do anything slightly off than what looked like he was actually catching the ball this time.
The wind once again was too strong to notice the swoosh sound from the ball heading towards Till at first, and he immediately bat it away from his face before it got to him not caring in the slightest of where it ends up rolling.
"Why do I even do this to myself.." Till mutters knowing that Ivan is always attentive to such things, throwing his hands in the air shortly and turning away from Ivan with a defeated expression not wanting to see his aggravating smile and irritating ever so slight sparkle in his eyes whenever he knows Till is looking at him.
"Actually.. you know what? You sit over there and you watch me do it properly, or I'm going to find someone else to practice with and you'll have to watch me with someone else." Ivan knew Till wouldn't ever do such a thing, so he just stood there and watched him get frustrated over him and only reminded him of one reason for why he likes being here.
The sound of crickets were noticed abruptly due to the silence which made Ivan speak.
"Someone else? I thought you were a loser with no friends.." he stared plainly at Till, putting his hands back in his pockets subconsciously because of the strong winds returning, hearing the ball roll completely off the concrete in the courtyard before an idea came to his head feeling the temperature. Ivan walked over and picked up the ball with one hand—something Till could never do—and bounced it over the proper way that Till was teaching him for basketball.
"Well yeah? doesn't that makes you more pathetic than you already are that you decided to date one?"
"It does, but I'd be pathetic for you." Ivan still had that same smile on his face as he continued dribbling the ball towards Till.
"Shocker coming from a weirdo like you.." Till gave the weirdo in question a judging irked look on his face, looking a bit distant in the eyes for a moment as his gaze follows Ivan walking towards him.
Ivan felt that gaze on him that was skeptically unsure of what he possibly had on his mind this time, is all he thinks about ways to annoy him? Is this part of some kind of scheme again? Till scoffed. It's not as if this is serious practice anyway, but it still manages to get to him thinking about it as a whole.
"What? I told you to just watch but thanks for fetching the ball I guess.." He snapped out with a slight ironic tone, reluctantly accepting the pass of the ball from Ivan.
Ivan watched him dribble it for a few seconds in the same spot as Till looked as if he were thinking for a moment, his hair blowing in the wind and getting in his eyes again, before quickly grabbing the sleeve of Till's jacket causing it to fall from him half way and runs behind him with it still in his hands and tearing it off entirely by going around. Till reacts immediately as if he were waiting for this to happen.
"Hey!" he turns around glaring, watching Ivan run off with his jacket in this cold weather now getting goosebumps due to being exposed so suddenly to such frigid air.
"It was the wind." Ivan turns his head to the side slightly to get that across, and Till chases after him before Ivan even spoke a word.
"You're just as annoying as the wind!" He doesn't even hear the ball get lost from bouncing away on the pavement again into another pile of leaves and catches up quickly enough at the edge of the courtyard, where all the leaves get swept to and they begin to crunch loudly and sharply from their steps.
They start fighting over Till's jacket and Ivan was smiling as usual in times like this, especially knowing that despite how Till was annoyed from this he could still tell he was just enjoying his presence but Till sometimes hates that it's true.
Right after thoughts like this passed through Ivan's head he spotted Till cracking a smile for a split second, while Till is also trying to return the favor by snatching Ivan's jersey off as well, which was probably the idea that put that smile on his face.
Ivan misses a few steps behind him after these noodle arms almost got a good hold of his own jacket, almost tripping and falling over in the piles of different shades of orange and red that are.. deeply affected by the wind.
"Ivan, stop playing with me already I'm fucking freezing!" Till clumsily leans over Ivan jumping slightly over and over in attempt to take back his jacket, refusing to look at Ivan's face.
"It's already gone so you're going to have to keep struggling until you get it back." Ivan keeps stepping backward slightly every time Till gets closer, smiling widely of course.
"Shuut uup.." Till almost gets a shiver after his attention shifts back to the temperature again until he unintentionally snaps a stick in the leaves, bringing his focus back to getting one of his things away from Ivan again..
Ivan just continues holding up his jacket in the air with one of his arms, even if they're only 8 centimeters apart in height somehow Ivan still makes Till struggle with it as if it were a much larger difference. After a lot of leaves getting messed up and spread back on the courtyard, Till gets the chance and pulls with all he can to get one side of Ivan's jersey off which caught Ivan off guard a little, causing Till to be able to make his arm come back down enough to slide it off and snatch his own jacket back to himself, running off with both jackets in his possession.
Very still, Ivan stands there for a moment, too focused on Till to notice how the cold the air comes in contact with his skin without much warning as he couldn't help but admire Till with a remote glistening in his eyes.
The way the almost completely set sun shined on Till's face, the breeze messing up his hair more than he already does on purpose, and how his eyes had such a strong spark to them had to be worth losing some time to go after him to admire.
The sun was in his eyes as well, but isn't it true that love blinds you sometimes…………………………………………… Ivan then chased back after him without a word.
"Ha! That's what you get." Till looks back subtlety wanting to catch a glimpse of Ivan's expression, letting out a heavier cold sigh from panting.
Then.. he looks forward again and immediately gets attacked again not even within a second, and by the time the second passes Till finds his jacket gone yet again causing him to strengthen the hold on the other jacket in his hands, which is Ivan's of course..
"You think you're so smart over there leaving your jacket with me so I wear it instead of my own huh?" Till let out a really loud exaggerated sigh to make sure Ivan would hear it and roughly puts it on as if he had done it a thousand times already.
He sighs quieter to himself this time, at how the feeling of the warmth of Ivan wearing it is still present inside it despite it being flown around in this condition of air so much.
Ivan simply laughs while swinging Till's jacket on himself even if it's noticeable it isn't his size at all, he didn't mind that it'd make him colder because of that if it was Till, and after all the trade would make Till warmer.
"Shouldn't practice be over by now?" Ivan suggests while straightening his sleeves, knowing they should head back and rest earlier as Till has a game tomorrow.
"Yeah it should be, I'd fall asleep pretty quickly. Go get that ball back and then let's go." Till eyes the pile of leaves and gestures his head towards it with a half effort as he is getting drowsier just thinking about it.
Despite there being a game of his tomorrow, that only influences his usual sleep schedule.. occasionally.
"Make me."
"..Just get it before I leave without you!" Till scoffs, feeling a wave of exhaustion come over him. The kind that makes it feel like your head goes underwater before drifting off.
Ivan turns around and blinks a couple of times due to facing the light again. It's not really the sun as much anymore, it's nearly entirely set and the sky is an average mix of blue and purple, the orange had nearly faded away by now.
He kicks the leaves off of one of the piles, and spots the ball with one of his hands still in the pockets of Till's jacket and kicks it out as well, then speed walks to pick it up and store it away. As he walks he notices Till looking away from him and casually turns his head in the same direction, now both getting the last glimpses of the sun for today.
Ivan creaks open the wooden box for keeping sport items in and drops it in, dropping the lid closed as well which makes a slight echo throughout how quiet the valley is at this hour. He buries both his hands in these pockets again, feeling something in the right one and takes it out to see what it is.
"Isn't this one of the lollypops I gave you? Can I have it now?" The item makes a crinkling sound which caught Till's attention.
"No, only if you hurry up and start walking back to the dorms." Till furrowed his brow eyeing the candy, a thought passing through his head to take it back from him when they're home.
"So.. you really want to walk with me?" Ivan asks innocently, twirling what he found in his hands and absentmindedly holding it up to watch the wrapper glisten with a soft smile.
"Well yes idiot, isn't that what we're supposed to do?" Till took out his phone and decided to check the weather for tomorrow while walking, habitually fluffing up his hair in the process.
"That's why.." He brought his arm lower still twirling it.
"Why what?"
"…"
…
The quiet answer made Till look up from his phone to Ivan beside him, seeing that the smile on his face just got wider and he looked as if he was in a trance thinking about something.. probably still dwelling on the fact that Till admitted he wanted to walk with him as obvious as it already was that he did.
"Idiot.." Till muttered, looking back down at his phone to see that it will rain before 7, which is around the time he is meant to get ready for the game tomorrow, at 8, but Till's sigh carried bits of relief and disappointment as fortunately it was apparently going to be short lasting and not during the game, his game.
The two continued walking the rest quietly along the sidewalk that is worn, but not as worn as the old courtyard, back to their shared room at Anakt College (don't say anything). Thinking about each other in such a silence is more comforting when the person is right beside you.
Now the moon was risen enough to just barely see it over all the houses and buildings. It was a half moon but shined just as bright with the assistance of all the stars out glistening like there was snow falling in the sky.
Ivan sighed and checked his phone as well after a few more minutes of walking, seeing a notification of a text from Mizi.
Mizi: YOU AND TILL'S FANS ARE COMING TOGETHER AND SHIPPING YOU GUYS
Ivan: really? i want to see where you got that from
Mizi: look
It was a link to a post captioned "so are these two together or something?" with various hashtags containing their names and associations with basketball and figure skating. Ivan smiled seeing one read as "#tillnoodlearms" as peculiar as it is.
"Hey Till, look, they're shipping us." Ivan tapped Till on the shoulder, seeing him looking as if he's in deep thought absentmindedly using his phone, holding up his phone to show the post to him.
"To where..?" Till asks, still keeping his head down and suddenly starts using his phone more actively realizing that he wasn't actually doing something on it and instead was thinking about the game.