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It was a warm summer day, the air was crisp and warm, the sun was shining behind dark clouds, and the songs of insects could be heard for miles. It was a peaceful day, a quiet one, with the occasional thunderstorm to break the soft hum of locusts.
Every deep green leaf on the trees crinkled as they rustled together. It was, to a particular pair and their sleeping cat, a perfect day that was full of both new and old memories as well as surprises.
“Damn it Ivan, where did you get this from?” A younger man with silver hair quirked a brow at the offending party. Ivan only looked back at him with a sly smirk.
“Nowhere too important, Till,” he said softly, coming closer to his companion. “I simply thought it’d be a nice surprise for you after your hard work, and picked it up on the way home.”
Till grumbled a little. “Thanks… I— umm. It is… nice,” he said in a low voice. He felt rather awkward. Till was still not too used to receiving gifts, or even being in the receiving end of affection, for that matter.
Even after three years of being subject to Ivan’s constant affections, he didn’t know if it would ever not make his heart leap.
The offending object was none other than a high-end headset. One that Till just so happened to have his sights set on for months. He knew Ivan bought it for him specifically for his music composition, but he also could use it when he played online games with Ivan.
“Ahh, sorry, um. This was… really nice of you. Thanks for this,” Till tried again, after processing what he had just received from the other.
“Anytime, my love. Buuuut…” Ivan crossed his arms over his chest, looking so smug as he threw him a rather animated and contempt expression.
“Wh-what. What is it.” Hardly a question.
“There are other ways you could thank me, you know. Ways that you could show me what it means to you,” Ivan spoke lowly with a half-lidded, seductive expression on his features, growing ever so slightly closer to Till’s ear.
Till flushed furiously as chills ran down his spine. “What?! I— what do you mean..?”
Ivan jumped backwards quickly, now with an innocent, angelic smile replacing his former devious one. “Take me somewhere!”
Till’s shoulders dropped. And let out a breath. He didn’t even know when he raised his shoulders. Or stopped breathing. “Oh. Yes. Somewhere. Where… exactly?”
Ivan huffed a small laugh. “It’s up to you. It can be a surprise for me now! Why? What were you thinking about?”
Till felt his face flush again, and he fought with all his strength to get his head out of the gutter before he embarrassed himself.
“Nothing! It’s nothing. In that case, how about we go to the beach? And then we’ll come home, and test out this,” Till pointed to the unopened headset, “While we play some games together.”
“Hmm, that sounds absolutely lovely,” Ivan grinned at him. He always knew how to tease him so. Till let out a small laugh to let out some of the built tension.
“Alright, let’s go then.”
-
The pair made their way to a nearby beach, where the now setting sun’s light glistened radiantly on the reflecting waters. Clouds still littered the sky, and the soft sand held a gentle sparkle, shifting occasionally with the breeze.
“Wow, this is actually beautiful,” Till admired the scene before him, mentally painting a picture to capture such a serene moment with his loved one. He turned to Ivan with a small smile.
“Surprise. What do you think?”
Ivan couldn’t help but mirror his love’s expression. “It is certainly beautiful. The colors are gorgeous. But, I think I still prefer viewing the ocean during the day.”
Till tilted his head ever so slightly, curious at how any view of the water could beat this one. “Huh. Why’s that?”
“Well, the color of the water during the daytime has always, to me anyway, closely resembled your eyes. You can see the blue and turquoise hues more easily. The soft greens entangling themselves with the gentle blues. Did that sound poetic?” Ivan teased, despite the authenticity and gentleness in his statement.
Till felt his face warm up slightly. And before he could respond, Ivan grabbed his hand.
“Besides, there is plain and simply no sight more beautiful than you,” he whispered with a gaze of pure love and awe in his eyes. He kissed the back of Till’s hand, and with a slight flush on his features, tucked a loose strand of hair behind Till’s ear with the softest of touches.
Till turned away, embarrassed. “You’re so cliche, saying the cheesiest things imaginable.” Despite the embarrassment he was feeling, he felt truly loved in this moment, and let himself reside in Ivan’s arms.
“Well, it’s only because they are true,” Ivan said casually while carefully brushing through Till’s hair with his fingers. “You have always been what made all the love songs make sense.”
Ivan stopped for just a moment to fully embrace his companion. “Till, I adore you. I love you with all my heart and soul. I know life distracts us sometimes, but that fact is something I never want you to doubt or forget. You are my soul, my light, my entire purpose,” Ivan laughed a little and wiped his nose as a tear fell.
One tear was nothing. Till already shed several. “Ivan…”
“Till, my love… are you alright?” Ivan worried automatically, seeing his lover cry. All the times he saw Till cry in far less fortunate circumstances put Ivan on high alert.
“Yeah, I’m okay, I’m perfectly fine. I just love you so much. I can’t believe how lucky I got. Finding you, I mean. You mean the world to me, and I can’t believe how I almost missed this. All of this. Loving you, you loving me, our life together... It’s scary to think about,” Till stated, shivering at the thought of not having Ivan in his life as a permanent person.
“But you’re here with me, and you are so precious to me, Ivan. I hope you know that too,” he raised his hand to the back of Ivan’s neck and lifted his head to place a kiss on Ivan’s temple.
“I adore you too, Ivan, so very much,” he laughed lightly and places another kiss on his jawline. He felt Ivan shudder at his loving touches.
“Till… you have no idea what you do to me,” Ivan choked out, grasping Till’s head in his hands and this time placing a few kisses on his lips.
“I might have an inkling,” Till smirked, returning his lover’s kisses.
The two remained wrapped in each other’s arms until the sun had fully set.
-
“Seriously though,” Till piped up from atop Ivan’s back, the latter carrying the former in piggyback fashion. “If I hadn’t found out how you felt, what do you think I would’ve done?”
“Hmm… I guess you would have still pursued Mizi?” Ivan tried not to cringe as he contemplated the scenario.
“Ahaha… maybe? I think by that time though, I already knew it would never happen,” Till replied with a laugh. “I wish I could’ve snapped out of that sooner. It would have only given me more time with you, right?”
Till had a long-lasting secret crush on Mizi when he was younger. It was not nearly as long as Ivan’s secret crush, but it did take a long while for him to move past his childhood feelings for her. The girl had been happily dating their mutual friend Sua for a significant amount of time before he realized his chances were quite literally nonexistent.
“Perhaps. But, I’m definitely happy things turned out the way they did. Rushing things may not have worked for us,” Ivan looked up at Till happily.
“I’d hardly call that rushing things… it still took over 10 years. How did you even manage? I liked Mizi for like half that time and got so damn antsy,” the silver-haired boy lamented, looking back down at the other.
“Probably… because I was convinced it would be just like that forever. I never expected you to find out how I felt, let alone feel the same,” Ivan sighed in awe. “It still shocks me to this day.”
Till blushed. “Well, to me, my feelings were no surprise. Honestly, how could I not have any, with how you were always there for me, loving me selflessly,” he said sweetly, before a mischievous grin overtook his expression. “But boy, I sure am glad that I read what you wrote, aren’t you?”
Ivan flushed even harder than Till at his bold question. “Ahh… haha… um, well, I might have preferred you find out in a less awkward manner. Like, I dunno, maybe it could have been a conversation instead of you accidentally reading my deepest darkest thoughts and desires about you?” The black-haired boy replied, still embarrassed.
“Pfff- haha!” Till couldn’t help but laugh, as the whole ordeal had been rather strange. But, as it turns out, truth is stranger than fiction.
“Now that was surprising. Nothing could be more shocking than finding out my silly Ivan had those deep, dark thoughts and desires about me of all people.”
Ivan had been away for a music training and Till had stayed at Ivan’s place to care for his cat. He was in the middle of cleaning up a stack of papers in Ivan’s room that the cat had apparently knocked over when Till accidentally zoned out a little too hard an open page in a small journal.
Till had never blushed harder in his entire life one he realized who he was reading about, and then who wrote it. He frantically called Mizi, who was the closest to Ivan aside from himself, and asked if she thought Ivan had feelings for him.
Being the sweet girl she was, and Ivan’s confidant for all things Till-related, she tried not to spill too much. However, Sua had been there too. Needless to say, she had vented to Till just about everything she could have informed him of. It was a very awkward but even more so rewarding conversation with Ivan when he returned.
Ivan groaned and facepalmed. “It still embarrasses the life out of me three years later…”
Suddenly, Till jumped down from Ivan’s shoulders, instead coming to his side and grasping his hand. “Don’t be embarrassed! It all worked out, huh?
The gentle rocking waves slowly rose to their ankles as the moon began to pull the tides higher. The now dark sky made room for the light of the stars to glisten brightly on the water.
Till began to run, splashing in the water and pulling a slightly surprised but thoroughly enamored Ivan along with him. He laughed and spun around, never stopping his movements. “Isn’t this great? I’m here with you, right now. And it’s so beautiful… I truly couldn’t be happier.”
Ivan’s face lit up at his lover’s joy and excitement. “Ahhh Till! My Tilly. You are the cutest thing ever!” He chased after him with a newfound vigor.
“Pssh, no way. Never cuter than you,” Till teased the other before he made a run for it.
“You’re way cuter than me, Till. Nice try though. Get back here so I can smother you and properly thank you for the surprise!” Ivan reached his hands out to attempt to grab Till as they ran.
Till, unfortunately for Ivan, was a professional when it came to dodging. And he had only gotten better at it since their many childhood fights all those years ago.
The pair of them splashed in the water and chased after one another, laughing and shouting as the waves around them crashed gently against each other.
The moon watched them as they played in the water together before they eventually returned home and played games together just as they promised earlier in the day.
A kind universe this one was. A life of love and happiness was being built for them and truly was only just beginning.