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Like most things, it starts with Hyuna.
"No," Luka interjects as he always does when most things starts with Hyuna. "We're not doing this again."
That was enough context for the rest of them despite not knowing the actual context, Till thinks. Luka is also Hyuna's worst enabler so naturally, if he's objecting against it this vehemently, it's probably nothing good. But curiosity did kill the cat and it's eventually going to kill the four of them too. Three and a half, he decides after taking a look at Ivan who was frying eggs for all of them, barely paying attention to the conversation at hand.
"I just want to know," Hyuna pouts. "I'm a curious scholar."
"We already had this debate with Isaac," the blonde man points out with an unimpressed look.
"He kicked us out before we reached to a conclusion!"
"He also told us to never come back to his place ever again," Luka replies cattily. "Ivan's apartment is very cozy. I don't want to be banned from here too."
Hyuna gasps rather dramatically, almost swiveling on her chair to yell, "Ivan!"
"Yes?"
"Would you ever ban us from your apartment? Like, kinda forever?"
The pan he's working with makes a loud sizzling sound before he answers. Till's getting impatient waiting for the fried eggs. Their ramen are going to harden in their bowls before they get to eat!
"No," Ivan says at first. There's another sizzle and, "Maybe Luka."
"I'm trying to stop a war from commencing in your apartment," Luka clicks his tongue in annoyance. "A little thank you would be nice."
"Thank you."
Hyuna laughs, boisterous with all her teeth on display which has Luka snap out of his stoic broody expression and melt just a little. It's still a miracle to Till that his blonde friend was capable of such delicate emotions.
"Ivan loves me! I'm his favorite!" Hyuna pauses as if to contemplate. "Second to Till."
"I would beg to differ," Mizi interrupts her with a determined grin. "Besides Till, I'm the only one who gets to hug him unprompted!"
"Yeah? Well, besides Till, I'm the one he sends cat videos to!"
"That's 'cause you two are the only people on Earth in their 20s to use YouTube Shorts."
Since when was Till being used as a scale to determine how close one is to Ivan? It's the first he's heard of such concept. And the truth is that besides Till, Ivan's closest to Sua— not that he's about to deal with Hyuna's whining or Mizi's disappointed face by saying it out loud.
Judging by Sua's sleepy expression, she's not in the mood to spread the gospel either.
"If Ivan loved me so damn much I'd have a fried egg in my bowl right now," Till grumbles, poking at his ramen. "Hurry up already!"
Ivan merely hums and doesn't reply. The pan continues to sizzle and Till doesn't understand why it would take anybody this long to fry a goddamn egg. Just toss the egg into the pan and turn up the heat to maximum, that's it! Who cares if Ivan is the professional cook between the two of them?
"What's the question anyway?" Mizi decides to ask instead. "It can't be that bad. If it is and a war breaks loose in here, Isaac can just bail us out."
"That's what I said!" Hyuna exclaims with a snap of her fingers.
"Just because he does it all the time doesn't mean you have to get him to do it every single time," Luka sighs. He gently swats away Hyuna's finger reaching out to poke his cheek which has her redirecting it towards a mostly asleep Sua, who doesn't fight back against the prodding. "Didn't we decide to be proper law-abiding citizens now that Ivan has a grown up job?"
Till nods sagely at the same time as Hyuna and Mizi. He hasn't gotten into a bar fight since Ivan broke the news to them about getting hired to be a sous chef at some Michelin fine dining restaurant. The kind of place a ragtag group like them, with Sua as an exception because Luka's been disowned since he threatened to shoot his excuse of a father in the face, wouldn't be allowed to step a foot in. It's a wonder, though, that Sua's modeling career is unaffected by her openly dating Mizi, who has a not so good reputation among their parts of the city.
Ivan's situation is more or less the same as Luka's too, except a gun wasn't involved and Isaac had let him crash in the storage room of the restaurant he used to work as a waiter after Ivan told him that he was disowned and homeless before dragging the kid back to his apartment. Till doesn't know the full details because he doesn't ask shit unless Ivan tells him and Ivan's not someone who likes to talk about said shit a lot.
All he knows is that his childhood friend stopped wearing designer clothes one day and started showing up to class after disappearing for two weeks in ratty shirts and shorts that looked hilariously big on him. Ivan had told him that he works part-time at a restaurant now instead of modeling and all Till asked back then over the Math worksheets they had been working on during lunch break was if he got paid for working there.
(He didn't but Ivan learnt how to make a real fucking good bowl of kimchi jjigae so Till didn't voice out any complaints. Once Ivan had turned 16, he used his first paycheck to buy premium wagyu beef to make a dish Till salivates over at the mere thought of to this day.)
Mizi sniffs, "I'm so proud of him," her lips waver dramatically as she looks back at Ivan who was still frying the goddamn egg. If Till wasn't his personal guinea pig to try new recipes on, he would've questioned Ivan's credentials as a sous chef. "But I'm so curious. I'm really, really curious."
"That's what the cat said…" Till mumbles but nobody hears him. Seated next to him, Sua starts snoring softly.
"We will be civil about it," Mizi promises. "Or we don't have to debate over it at all!"
"You're going to," Luka warns her. "You definitely will."
"Who says?"
"You are debating with me right now, you will debate over whatever Hyuna's about to spew."
"Who says?" Mizi repeats, pouting now.
Hyuna cackles. "It's a good debate! Dewey and Isaac had lotsa fun!"
"Dewey blocked you on all social media platforms and told you to not speak to him for three days," Luka points out.
Till raises an eyebrow at that. It would take a lot to get such a reaction out of Dewey, especially if Hyuna's at the receiving end of it. Maybe Luka is right. Maybe a war would break out if Hyuna reveals the question for this supposed, god-awful debate. If Ivan hurried the fuck up with the fried egg, Till would've inhaled his food and fled already.
"Now I'm more curious," Mizi whines. "I wanna know!"
Luka sighs for the nth time since they all sat at the dining table. He raises his hands diplomatically and says, "Go ahead. Whatever. I'm not taking any sides and I'm not going to identify myself as one of you if Ivan's neighbors calls the cops on us."
"Acorn is nice though," Mizi waves the blonde man off.
"He told Till to kill himself."
"Plenty of people tell Till that," Mizi says and Till shrugs. It's not a lie so he's not going to argue against it.
"It's ready!" Ivan calls out before the sizzling noises stops. Till's stomach makes noises of its own but now that Ivan's finally moving he can start feasting soon.
"So," Hyuna starts, mighty and loud as Ivan rearranges the plate of chicken on the table to make room. Just as he settles down the plate with six fried eggs on it, Hyuna proposes the question, "What do you think came first; the chicken or the egg?"
— 🥚🐔 —
The room falls silent at Hyuna's question initially, save for Ivan dragging a chair out to sit at the table, waking up Sua from her little nap at the loud screeching noise.
By the time she blinks herself awake properly, Hyuna and Mizi are in a heated argument as Ivan finishes distributing the eggs to everybody. He even manages to dodge one of Hyuna's flailing hands as she defended her point and slides an egg on her bowl before settling down again with a delighted hum.
"It's the egg!" Mizi thinks being the louder one is the same as being the right one so her volume rises higher and higher with each sentence. "That's where the chicken comes from!"
Hyuna, who just likes being loud in general, retaliates, "Oh yeah? Who laid the egg then?"
"The chicken, obviously—"
"So you admit that the chicken comes first, then—"
"—no! No? It's the egg— no, it is the egg first, definitely—"
"What is happening?" Sua asks with a half yawn, blinking at the two riled up women and then at Till.
"Just eat your food," Till pushes a set of chopsticks into her hands. "Don't question it."
Ivan sprinkles some pepper into his noodles bowl just as Luka adds some chili oil into his by the time Mizi and Hyuna repeats the egg first chicken first cycle for about five times. Sua takes one measly bite of her noodles before deciding she's too tired to chew and lets her head fall onto Till's shoulder since Mizi's was out of reach after she decided to continue her debate while standing.
He frowns at his friend. The weather was starting to get chilly and he remembers Sua telling them that her mother pushed her into doing winter brand campaigns more lately since it fits her snow angel doll princess whatever aesthetic. Till's not into the type of fashion Sua's involved in but he thinks she can pull off most looks so he doesn't really understand what the urgency is for.
"Hey," Till nudges at her gently. "At least eat before you snore off. Ivan took a million years to make those eggs."
"It's the egg first because there would be no chicken without the egg!" Mizi yells over Till's words.
"Who laid the egg then, huh? Riddle me that, Mizi, since you know every fuckin' thing that happens in the world!"
"But that chicken also came out of an egg!"
"And who laid that egg? Another chicken!"
"That chicken also came out of an egg first— oh my god, Hyuna—"
"An egg that a chicken laid! You're literally proving my point," Hyuna huffs, annoyed, and Till focuses on trying to wake Sua up instead of pointing out that this debate wouldn't even be happening if she didn't bring it up in the first place.
Till's about to try to gently slap Sua awake since Ivan seems to be of zero use with how engrossed he is with eating his food when he almost shits his heart out at Sua jolting awake like someone had just electrocuted her.
"The dinosaur," she declares ominously, killing the heat of the verbal fight bouncing back and forth between Hyuna and Mizi. "The dinosaur came first."
"Eh," Hyuna blinks at her owlishly. "We're talking about chickens and eggs here."
"Is your mother overworking you too much again?" Mizi asks, shooting her girlfriend a concerned look. Till really wants to point out that this shouldn't be the indication for how tired Sua might be but he holds his tongue. "You should really tell her off more, baby."
Sua doesn't reply and Till barely manages to get a hold of her head before it dove straight into the noodle bowl as she falls asleep again.
"She's right though," Luka speaks up this time, shifting Mizi's attention from fussing over Sua who started snoring again, creating small vibrations on Till's nape. It tickles a little but he lets her be. "Chickens evolved from dinosaurs. So the dinosaurs were here first."
"Good point," Hyuna clicks her tongue, sitting back down again. "The chicken came first from the dinosaur egg."
"That's not how it works—" Luka starts just as Mizi slams both of her hands on the table.
"So you do admit that it's the egg first!"
Sua grumbles in her sleep before settling deeper into Till's nape which feels too ticklish now so he pushes her noodle bowl away to place her head over the table instead.
"The dinosaur egg," Hyuna rolls her eyes. "Not the chicken egg."
"An egg is an egg is an egg!"
"Okay, Socrates."
"What the hell is that?" Mizi frowns at her. "Don't call me slurs!"
"Why would I call you a slur— it's that philosophy guy who invented the philosophy thing you just said with the egg!"
"I'm not trying to be philosophical with the egg, I'm saying an egg is an egg!"
"It's not even a philosophy thing," Luka butts in, placing his chopsticks down. "The original sentence, a rose is a rose is a rose, was used in a poem by Gertrude Stein in 1913—"
"The dinosaur egg came before the chicken egg," Hyuna cuts him off. "Which means the chicken came first before the chicken egg."
Luka mutters some colorful words before dumping a concerning amount of chili oil into his noodles. It makes Till's sensitive stomach churn. He finally takes a bite out of his own noodles, mild with a hint of lemon that he knows Ivan squeezed in for him specifically and savors the taste. Ivan's food always hit the right spot, bring a comfort greater than any words or touches. He just wishes he could enjoy it without Hyuna and Mizi potentially breaking the table with all the food on it.
"How would a chicken come out of a dinosaur egg?" Mizi presses, looking stressful.
Hyuna clicks her tongue again. She hums, deeply thinking over an appropriate response as Till takes a bite out of the chicken Ivan had brought from work for their dinner night for the first time. It's so damn good that he could cry.
"Mutation," Hyuna replies in the end. "The dino in the egg transformed into a chicken and then came out of it."
"Then wouldn't the egg be considered a chicken egg if the dinosaur is no longer a dinosaur in the egg before coming out?" Mizi argues back.
"Oh my god," Luka's groan goes unheard by the two women actively glaring at each other. "Oh my goooood. Ohhhh my goooood."
Till is almost done clearing out most of his bowl when he settles his chopsticks down, swallows what's in his mouth and nudges at Ivan to get his attention, "What do you think comes first, shithead?"
Ivan looks up from his meal for the first time since he sat down at Till's question. He cocks his head in confusion as Hyuna and Mizi quietens down to hear his response.
"Egg first or chicken first?" Till prompts.
Blinking slowly, Ivan looks at Hyuna and Mizi then Luka's tired face and then Sua, who was in deep sleep at this point before shrugging unceremoniously.
"It doesn't matter if it's the chicken first or the egg," he says with a grin. "I cooked both."
"Oh," Mizi and Hyuna mumbles in unison before looking down at the table as if they just realized what's on it.
— 🥚🐔 —
It's quiet after that, save for Hyuna ranting Luka's ears off about some other bullshit. He seems more happy to listen to it than the chicken and egg debate so that's that.
Mizi, on the other hand, had coaxed Sua out of her sleep so that she could feed her as much as she could before the older woman snored off again. Till watches Mizi effortlessly lift her girlfriend up bridal style to carry her to Ivan's couch so she can nap properly until it was time to head back home and thinks he should lift more weights often. He lets Ivan dump some kimchi into his bowl and decides he'll join Dewey in the gym some day.
"So," Hyuna speaks up once Mizi joins them back at the dining table. "Do y'all think we got one buttock or two—"
Luka interrupts her by shoving a comically large amount of kimchi into her mouth.
— 🥚🐔—
Later, Till helps out with the dishes and hums a song he remembers Ivan playing on loop the other day.
"I personally think Till came first," Ivan says after handing Till a freshly washed plate to dry off.
"Huh," Till mumbles, not quite catching on with what the other is saying. He wipes the plate carefully as he asks, "What are you talking about?"
"I read a book once and it says that the egg is the world," another plate gets handed over as Ivan continues, "In order for the bird to be born, it must destroy the world first."
Till doesn't understand where Ivan's getting to but one thing he's learnt after sticking by Ivan's side since elementary school and after taking the first, very scary step into confessing his heart out and kissing him before asking him out is to listen to whatever obscure shit he's saying until Till has enough context to piece something coherent together himself. If he thinks Ivan is attractive when he's spewing vaguely smart stuff, it's a thought he doesn't share with anybody else.
"But if the bird doesn't have a reason, would it destroy everything it knew just to be born?"
This time, Ivan hands him over a fork.
"So the reason to exist comes first before anything," Ivan lets the water stream over his hands before closing the tap. He turns his face towards Till, who already had his eyes on him, and gives him that lope-sided smile that still manages to make Till's heart skip a beat. "You are my reason. Which means you come first."
Well isn't that a nice to say to somebody while doing dishes together?
Till doesn't say that out loud but he puts the dish cloth and the fork down before pulling Ivan close to seal a kiss between them and hope it speaks for itself.
— 🍳 —