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The moment he learned it’d snowed in the night and stuck, Till knew what he wanted to do with Ivan: make snowmen. It wasn’t childish right? Adults still did this right?
It was valentines plus Ivan’s birthday and adoption day.(Till knew he couldn't care less about the latter and was neutral about the former hating it less over the years) Mizi and Sua would come around their place later with gifts so Till had the other man all to himself for a few hours.
Ivan bundles him up with a smile and Till stares up at him getting flashbacks of how his mother used to be when he was a little boy as he ties his black and green scarf for him.
“Ivan." he huffs.
“I’m helping.”
Till looks at him.
“You need a scarf too and gloves.”
“I’ll put them on in a minute.”
He zips up Till’s black jacket and the other man huffs when he pulls up the fluffy black hood.
“I’m twenty one not three. I can do it myself, knock it off.” Till pushes the hood back down.
Ivan stops, smile still on his lips and grabs his black gloves, putting them on and zipping up his black jacket.
“Scarf, dum-...Dude.” he mutters, making Ivan smile a little more.
Till sighs when the taller man doesn’t move and opens up his jacket, grabbing Ivan’s red scarf, tying it around his neck and slightly standing on his tiptoes as he does. He stuffs it down said jacket and zips it back up.
“You just wanted me to do it for you.”
“Prove it.”
Till rolls his eyes and double checks his laces on his own boots, then glances at Ivan’s. Perfect loops unlike Till’s messy ones but both are tight enough to stay put.
“So why are we foregoing the warmth for the cold?”
“To make snowmen…We have carrots right?”
Ivan tilts his head like a confused dog.
“I think so?”
Till frowns.
“What do you mean you think? We do or don’t.”
The taller man shrugs and heads into their kitchen, Till follows him as Ivan opens the fridge and rummages around.
He drags out a bag and turns back to Till with a soft smile. Till melts a little at it.
The grey haired man heads to him, grabs the carrots from him and kisses him quickly, pulling away with a blush and hurrying outside.
Ivan stands there for a second, blushing a little before he bites back a smile and follows Till.
* * *
Both roll up snow for their snowmen bases figuring it’d be quicker to work solo vs alone maybe. It isn’t. That was a stupid idea, who suggested that?
Till looks over to him, noticing Ivan’s base looks bigger than his.
How?
He heads over once Ivan decides on a spot for it.
“Want help with the next one?”
Ivan looks to him then at the attempt Till had been rolling.
“We could use that.” Ivan points at it causing Till to look over.
“You sure? It’s shitty.”
“It’s just small. It’s fixable."
Till smiles at that, breathing out and seeing his breath as he does.
Ivan dusts snow off his own gloves before making a start, Till joins in seconds later.
* * *
The duo roll the ball together, their fingers brushing against each other as they do. The touch warms Ivan despite the fact there’s a barrier between them thanks to the gloves.
He glances at his boyfriend, intensely focused as he rolls the ball in the snow with him making Ivan laugh a little.
Cute
“What’s so funny?” Till asks.
“You. You’re so focused on this. It’s adorable.”
Till blushes.
“I don’t want it to suck ass.”
“It won't. Promise."
“If you’re sure.”
They keep at it until it’s big enough for the head. Ivan places it while Till watches.
“What about the eyes?” Till asks.
“What about them?”
“He needs a mouth.”
“Just poke holes in it. What about eyes?”
“I already have an idea for them.”
Till sighs, Ivan hears him walking around.
“What are you-”
“Looking for stones.”
“...Can I work on the nose then?”
He hears rustling of a bag from Till’s jacket pocket before the other man comes over and hands him a carrot.
Ivan smiles and nuzzles him, making him blush but shyly nuzzle back before backing off and rushing off to find stones.
* * *
After Ivan’s placed the carrot nose, Till returns with some stones Ivan suspects he’s maybe searched on his hands and knees for judging by the snow on his pants.
Ivan steps aside and lets his boyfriend decorate, watching as he uses them to make a mouth. A jagged stone is placed underneath the smile he’s made, then he uses his finger to draw two lines where the eyes should be.
Two more stones are used as buttons on the body then he says something about arms and wanders off to find sticks.
Ivan stares at the snowman and blinks. It’s him, isn’t it?
It’s cute?
He made it cute
Is this how he sees me?
He feels warm at the thought, eyes burning a little with unshed tears. No one’s ever made a snowman of him before. Hell he’s never played out in the snow before but Till doesn’t need to know that.
Ivan swallows and gets to work building snowman Ivan, a boyfriend to distract himself. If Till notices the tears in his eyes he can just blame the cold, it’s believable.
* * *
Till slots the arms in the snowman and heads over to Ivan.
“Need a hand?”
The other man hums, it’s shaky and Till freezes.
“Are you ok?” he asks, concerned.
Ivan looks up, tears rolling down his face. Till feels like an icicle has pierced his heart.
“I’m fine, it’s the cold.” he sniffles and Till knows he’s lying.
The grey haired man pulls his boyfriend into a hug and rubs his back.
“What’s up?”
“I’m happy, promise.” is muffled against him.
“Coulda fooled me.”
Ivan looks up at him, by some miracle Till too doesn’t cry.
“Snowman.” He sniffles.
Till feels his stomach drop.
“I um can change it if you hate it.” he replies somewhat awkwardly and Ivan looks horrified by the suggestion.
“Please don’t.”
Till wipes his tears with one glove.
“I won’t…So why are you crying?”
“It’s embarrassing but…No one’s ever done this for me…”
Till blinks.
“You’ve never made a snowman with your mom or dad?”
Ivan scoffs.
“Never played in the snow either…They wouldn’t allow me to.”
Till holds him tighter and scowls.
Bastards
“We’re gonna have a blast out here ok? Fuck your parents.”
Ivan blinks up at him.
“What else do you do out here?”
“I’ll show you.”
* * *
They make the other snowman, Till tries to make the snow point up at points for his hair while Ivan adds the buttons and arms (he may have their snowmen’s stick fingers be touching but Till doesn’t comment on it)
“...Why did you make the other one cute?” Ivan asks.
Till blushes and grabs some stones from Ivan for the mouth.
“...Cause you are too.”
“Am I?”
Till stops and stares at him.
“Dude, you look like a model.”
Ivan blinks before a smile crosses his lips.
“Thank you?”
“I’m not bullshitting, I’m serious.”
Ivan doesn’t respond, he just looks up and realises Till’s given the snowman version of himself that cute goofy flustered face he does that Ivan adores.
“Cute.” he says looking directly at Till
Till turns bright red, blessing him with said flustered face with the goofy smile.
“T-T-Thanks.”
* * *
Till grabs a fistful of snow and shapes it into a ball before hurling it at Ivan’s jacket who looks oddly delighted by the action.
“...You’re supposed to do it back.” Till states. “Y’know like they do in movies.”
What if he wasn’t allowed to watch movies?
Now you look like an insensitive ass
“You could watch movies right?” he asks shyly, earning a laugh in response.
“Yes Till, I could watch movies.” he smiles fondly and makes a snowball, throws it at him.
It hits Till’s jacket and the slightly smaller man smirks.
“You know about snow forts right?”
Ivan nods.
“Get building your defenses then.” Till rushes off and starts piling up snow making his cover.
He peeks over it, noticing a snow pile slowly transforming into a cover in the distance.
He smiles to himself and goes back to working on his fort.
* * *
The moment he peeks up again, he earns a snowball directly to the face, he hears his boyfriend laugh before he speaks up.
“Are you ok?!” he calls out.
Till responds by throwing a snowball directly at his face.
“Fine! You?!”
Ivan wipes his face and smirks.
“Same!”
“So it’s war then?!” Till yells earning more laughter, it’s music to his ears.
“Sure! It’s war!”
Till laughs a little and ducks behind his fort, preparing his ammo (snowballs) with a smirk. He feels like a kid again, something he didn’t really expect to feel today.
It’s a snowball fight, focus
Relationships don’t matter here
There’s only room for one winner
Is that too intense?
Nah
He hears footsteps rapidly approaching and looks up to find Ivan.
“You’re not supposed to leave your fort.”
“Who said?”
“Me.”
“You didn’t specify any rules.”
Till swallows, noticing a decent amount of snowballs in Ivan’s arms. (How did he do that so fast?) His eyes widen and he smiles nervously at his boyfriend.
The taller man smirks at him. He’s never looked more terrifying in his life.
“...Did I ever tell you how much I love you?” Till’s nervous smile widens, he might look unhinged.
Ivan blushes a tad and but stands his ground.
“You do, every day. Anything else?”
“...Um…I’ll do laundry for a week?”
“It’s your turn on laundry duty anyway.”
“Um…I…I’ll bake for you?”
“We both know you can’t bake.”
“...We can have a bath together after this?”
Ivan looks at him, considering it.
“...I can wash your hair?”
“Sure….Fuck it we can mess around in there if you want.” he turns a dark red and looks away.
He misses Ivan’s eyes light up.
“Unfortunately...Bath’s too small for that. Wouldn’t want to go through the ceiling now would we?”
The evil smirk widens. Till feels like he might die today on this battleground. He hopes his mother knows he loves her.
“Bedroom then?” Till feels like he’s sweating, eyes darting around. Will this peace treaty work?
Ivan hums.
“My arms are getting heavy.” he says and Till flinches.
“Don’t you fucking dare!”
“I’m struggling to hold them..There’s so many.”
He knows he’s doing it to get a reaction but still, Till scoops up his own ammo and scrambles out of his fort somewhat frantically.
Ivan follows him, Till totally doesn’t scream when he tries to combine the snowballs into a giant one.
He will admit to screaming though when he hears the other man full on sprinting at him.
* * *
Ivan drops his giant snowball attempt and tackles Till to the ground. The pair land with a dull thud on soft snow and Ivan flips his boyfriend over who’s face is a little red thanks to faceplanting the snow.
Said boyfriend is currently looking up at him with a mix of a pout and scowl and teary eyes that he swipes at.
“...The fuck was that?!” he hisses.
“War.”
“You’re terrifying.”
“Thank you.”
“That’s not a compliment.”
“I’ll take it as one.”
Till flips him off making Ivan smirk.
He blushes as Ivan leans over him with a hungry look in his eyes. Till swallows and stares up at him.
He smirks and leans in, Till studies him for a second before Ivan kisses him. The other man snakes his arms around Ivan’s neck, kissing back.
He pulls back after a minute and Till looks up at him with a fondness.
“I can’t stay like this.” Ivan states and Till’s eyes widen.
“No no no don’t fall on me!”
“My arms are weak.”
“Ivan!”
He pretends to be seconds away from falling before he feels something ice cold against his skin.
Did he just-
The surprise of having snow shoved down his pants makes him actually fall onto Till with a curse who makes a sound like a dying animal.
“...G-Good i-idea.” Ivan teases him.
“....Fuck off.” he wheezes in response.
“...D-Did I-I h-h-hit something?”
Till nods, curses and mutters about karma biting him in the ass before Ivan rolls off him.
“W-Would snow h-help?” he scoops some up.
“...Don’t….Think…About it.”
* * *
After recovering, he helps Ivan up. Apologising for putting snow down his pants.
Ivan shivers but smiles, claiming he had fun which in turn makes Till smile. Though hearing his teeth chattering makes him feel bad.
“Let’s get you warmed up. I’ll make you hot chocolate too.”
Ivan leans against him and hums happily.
“E-Extra m-m-marshm-m-mallows?”
Till nods.
“Whatever you want.”
* * *
After changing into dry comfy clothes and bundling Ivan up in maybe more blankets than he needed, Till makes them both hot chocolate.
Ivan’s fine, no longer shivering and warming up nicely to Till’s relief. The snow thing was stupid but he panicked and wasn’t thinking.
Still he has apologised a few times now and does so again as he heads over with two mugs of hot chocolate, offering the sugary nightmare one to Ivan.
“You turned me into a cocoon. I can’t hold it.”
“Shit, sorry.” Till places the mugs on the table nearby and unbundles Ivan until he gains access to his arms again.
The taller man gives him a kiss on the temple making Till turn red and grabs his mug.
Till swallows and grabs his own, sitting on the couch and curls up next to his boyfriend, taking a sip of his own drink.
Ivan puts an arm and some blanket around him and takes a drink too.
“Did you have fun?” Till asks, looking up at him.
Ivan smiles and hums, swallowing before speaking.
“I did. Thank you.”
Till can’t help but smile back. He’s glad, happy he could give him a fun few hours.
“...Sorry for almost turning your dick into an icicle.”
The black haired man laughs a little and ruffles Till’s hair.
“I almost broke yours so we’re even.”
Till snorts.
“Guess so.” he takes another drink and sighs happily. “Happy birthday.”
“You said that when we woke up.”
“I’m saying it again, shut up. I can say it more than once y’know?” he smiles at him, leaning up and kissing his cheek. He blushes and curls back up against Ivan. “I love you.”
Ivan bites his lip, tears threatening to fall.
“Love you too.”