Chapter Text
That woman was going to be the end of him. The only available slot she had to deliver the thing-which he had emptied his allowance on- had to be in the middle of the damn performance.
He turned off his phone and threw it in his duffel bag. He crossed his legs and slumped on his seat with defeated shoulders and a prayer.
Sua was not impressed to say the least.
"Mizi, why did we have to bring him?" Sua grimaced, looking Till over like he was scrap metal from a dumpster. Fixing her bubblegum pink hair, Mizi shot her a look.
They were sitting in the fourth row of Hanbit Stadium. Of course the annual Winter Competitions were right when Till decided to dramatically stay at campus for a month.
His mom had left for China for work so there wasn't any use in going back to the house. He just kept going back and forth between his dorm and classes, surviving on energy drinks. How fun.
"He said himself that he would rather stay at the dorms than see Ivan's performance," Sua continued. She glanced at the earnestly decorated rink and then back at him. Till felt like he was in a chipmunk made Igloo. How the fuck were these two not freezing?
Mizi sighed and continued stirring her bubble tea. "Sweetie, it's been two weeks since he's been out."
Well, thank whatever diety she didn't know that it's been way longer.
"I just wanted him to get some fresh air. Besides, Ivan would appreciate the support!" she beamed, as Till was blatantly ignoring the mentioned figure skater's entrance and the screams and clapping that followed.
Mizi pressed a quick peck to her girlfriend's cheek and wrapped her arms around her from behind as Sua flushed red and went limp in her embrace. Mizi's gloved arms still hanging around Sua, they started chatting about extracurriculars or whatever.
As much as Till wanted to avoid Sua's inevitable fury, he didn't need to be here for this lovey dovey shit. He rolled his eyes and took two steps away from the sickly sweet couple. He heard the ding of his phone.
Notification
KM: I'm here where are you?
If the woman was going to complain about "being on time" of all things Till would drive Hyuna's motor over her. At least three times. And use her corpse to feed the campus rats.
Till quickly shuffled between the crowd of fans, even getting his head smacked down by a "I want to have-nevermind" sign made out of fucking recycled cardboard. He pushed the woman carrying it out of the way.
"Horny people." He mumbled to himself.
He ran down the stairs and went through the back section of the stadium. After pushing through people and stepping on someone's spoiled cheeseburger. he eventually managed to make it- literally no where near the exit door. Perfect.
He still felt weird about this whole thing. The last conversation he and Ivan had was... Not necessarily great.
---
"Seriously you should learn to take a joke." Ivan had bought him some Tteok-bokki since Till couldn't be bothered to leave his room. As always the man managed to get Till throwing hands as him. Again and again and-
"Me?! You're telling me I should learn to take a joke. Is this coming from Mister popular 'i have practice' or 'I have to flake' or 'if you come near him or me I'll-"
Ivan suddenly looked- shocked.
"You heard that?"
Till felt a lot better.
"Yeah so what?" he cocked his head.
And there was that vacant stare again. It was like a switch went off in Ivan's mind. Like he-
"Do you find me that endearing to spy?"
"Excuse me? You're the one that always follows me around like some lost puppy!"
"Is my presence that bothersome Till?"
Till heard satisfaction in that tone.
"Yes. You are literally unbearable."
---
Till shook his head. He hauled up his crimson red duffle bag and readjusted the strap, he's so irritating. Every time he brought food. Every time he gave Till the syllabus notes. Every time he hanged out with him. Every time he listened to Till playing his guitar. Why couldn't Ivan just leave him alone?
Why couldn't he- they be normal?
Till never thought twice about it when they were kids. Back then, Ivan wasn't comfortable with his adoptive family so he had found comfort in Lo's house, and more specifically, in Till's arms. They used to chase each other around the backward, picking pick ladybugs off of the flowers. They used to fight over the small worn blanket when Ivan stayed overnight.
That was when they were kids. When they still thought that champions could kill dragons with magical arrows, that saving up their fallen teeth would earn them a fortune from a fairy.
Those were the days that Till liked to remember.
Ivan used to laugh. Like actually laugh. With creases under his eyes as a bright smile took over his face. How his small hands came up to cover his mouth when he giggled over his mom's ghost stories. Till would stare at him, at his face, looking for all the answers to his unasked questions.
A lot of people compared Ivan to the moon, or stars, a black hole or just about anything dark and ominous. Personally, Till thought when he laughed, he may as well have been the damn sun.
Without warning, a group of drunks shoved him down right into the front row line, bringing him back from his thoughts. He tripped and fell straight on his face. Who the hell were those idiots?
After the ringing in his ears stoped and he finally saw the world in any color besides white hot pain, he could almost hear the laughter of a plaid dressed woman on the right lane seat.
As he slowly leaned on his arms and pushed himself up, he watched a contestent leave the rink with mascara running down his cheeks. Till stared at the strawberry blond figure skater as he walked up to a sheepish girl and left.
None of them can get a grip huh?
Till slowly left the cold floor with twitching hands and when he looked up he finally saw him.
Ivan
He had trimmed his hair before the competition Till thought. Unlike four days ago, His side bangs were set a little higher than his ears. He could also see some light makeup on his skin. Probably nothing but concealer to hide some blemishes, but Till knew that definitely wasn't approved by his father. Unsha. Just thinking about the old man made his skin crawl.
Ivan was wearing a night blue costume with the gloves turning from the dark hue into a creamy white. The costume was adorned with silver rinestones running down his body in a wave like pattern. It was after a few minutes that Till registered the performance had begun.
It was only the beginning of Ivan's routine so the moves were more focused on aesthetics before the technicality of his later spins. Even so, Till could see the grace in each turn, without fail. He could feel the balance he was so desperate to keep. He could hear the slide of his blades on the ice, cutting through the roaring crowd or any possible error. He could see all of it. Sua and Mizi probably could as well.
Till knew Ivan's routine like he knew the strings on his guitar. It made sense. He often went to the skating rink with him for practice sessions before their shared Korean language class. It was more practical being there than in his own dorm which was on the other side of campus. At least that's what he told Ivan, and he would not find out otherwise.
Till was grateful he kept that to himself because the prick would absolutely never let him live down the fact that he had been and currently was ogling him like some creep-
Shit
Ivan was building up to a triple axel.
Till stared at the rink in utter shock. While not the first time a teen has done it, it's still considered an advanced move, and that was make or break in a competition. Ivan had talked about doing it maybe once or twice.
Too risky. Till didn't want to but in and it wasn't like he was a savante in figure skating so for once he shut up.
Nevertheless, he was absolutely sure the maniac had only practiced the move a handful of times. Too risky.
The crowd screamed in joy and panic and the announcer's voice boomed throughout the stadium.
Till came back to himself.
Just at the midway crescendo of Ivan's routine, he stalked out the passageways and slowly but surely made it to the exit.
---
He could feel his calves burning. He could feel every gush of wind hitting his face. He could feel the slight give of the blade of his right skate. He fought to keep balance.
He felt the adrenaline pushing him into staying conscious before he collapsed mid turn. Ivan had to win. Unfortunately that didn't mean he was going to.
The crowd was screaming.
His father was starring.
Mizi was cheering.
Sua sent an anxious look to the exit door.
Only two seconds left until-
Till was gone
He stuck the landing. But he didn't need to see the judges' reaction.
He continued for what felt like hours, trying not to expect a certain silver haired boy.
Of course, at the end he felt like his kneecaps were going to pop. So he did what any good figure skater does. He flashed a smile to the roaring crowd and bowed to the juges.
---
Second place. He should have known better.
Ivan quickly slid back to the entrance gate and saw his father waiting for him. Behind the hoard of interviewers and cameras, he spotted Mizi and Sua with chocolates waving at him behind the hoard of interviewers and camera. He channelled all the noise out.
Ivan tried to get Till's image out of his head.
He fought a smirk on his face. He could tell Till was shocked that he actually decided to execute—or at least attempt to execute—a triple axel. The boy's eyes were bulging out of his head.
How he stared at him. Ivan felt like he was dancing on clouds. Like he would do anything if Till just continued to look at him like that. Beautiful and absolutely intoxicating.
He was wearing a black skeleton themed sweater with red slacks and some mild eyeliner, his duffel bag hanging loose on his shoulder.
He knew Till wasn't a big fan of his pass time of not choice and he didn't blame him for leaving the stadium. For leaving him.
Not really after that conversation.
Ivan stood still for a second and fixed his gloves. He wished he could stay there, on the rink. Hurting, burning, anything except feeling or thinking.
There would be hell to pay once he arrived back at the house. Back with his parents. A voice told him to go and get it over with. Let his father, Unsha scold him as usual. Let his mother, Aera tell him to try harder. He would just tell the girls that he already has plans-
But another voice told him that it could wait.
So he quickly undid his skates, went to the change his clothes and cheerfully marched to the girls and laughed along as they dragged him off to celebrate with dinner at Hyuna's.
Maybe he'd catch a glimpse of Till.
---
Till felt like shit. Apparently the performance had ended while he was getting the flowers from the the florist. Waiting for his friends, he strode near the white GV60 parked crookedly next to a purple and red van.
Minji's car. Luka's supposed step mother.
The boy was desperate to see Hyuna and the girls wanted to visit the twins so they all begrudgingly got the egocentric senior's mother to drive them to the stadium before arriving for dinner.
Where was the sick little creep anyway?
Till noticed people spilling out of the stadium in a haze of black, white and blue, discussing the skaters' performance and sharing videos. Some of the juges were at the back, laughing as they gestured their hands in frantic motions, arguing about the best skater.
Obviously Ivan.
He ignored the instinctive need to look for his friends. He leaned on the front door of the car and pulled his phone out of his sweater pocket. He noticed the misscalls from Sua and Mizi. They'll understand later. He quickly flicked through his texts between him the annoying florist.
---
Till: I was thinking something more elegant because It's for a competition
KM: I see. Is it for the girlfriend? You mentioned this was for an ice skater. We offer couple packs it you're interested.
Till: No it's not for a girl
*Till sent a photo
Till: Just put together the assortment I sent
---
Dumbass
Till still cringed when thinking about it.
"Are you celebrating a win or planing a proposal?" Luka suddenly said, standing next to him. He hadn't even heard him walk up. Till shrieked as the assortment almost dropped to the pavement.
"God you're pathetic."
"Shut up Luka," Till snapped. The other boy just sighed.
Luka was wearing a light blue turtleneck with a ankle length white coat, accompanied by two fuzzy mittens and a ridiculous looking hat. How original. He stared at the cotton tote bag in the boy's hand.
He assumed Luka had bought a welcome back gift for the twins. No doubt the one with the fancy hand writing was for Hyuna. Even the wrapping paper was higher quality.
Till spared his bouquet one last hesitant look. His makeshift apology wrapped in brown paper. This better make up for it.