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NEDJELJA 10:45
Lovro woke up to the usual clatter of pans coming from the kitchen.
His mom was already up, cooking yet another set of cupcakes or cookies that none of them would eat. Surely, she would send him around the building, to hand out the sweets to the neighbours. As always, he would start by complaining. He’d say something mean at some point. She would answer with her typical hurting face, and he would end up ringing at every door before noon, a full cake box between his hands. A great morning in prospect.
As he was emerging from sleep, he tried to remember what the cause of this fuss could be. What was it she told him she was doing this weekend? Was she supposed to be visiting her mother in Samobor? Spending the night at her best friend’s?
Lovro wasn’t quite sure. It didn’t matter really. He was fully aware that she hadn’t talked to that said friend in months, and that his mom could not stand her own mother for more than a couple of hours in a row. Yet he’d never questioned her excuses. Only asking about what time she would be home and trying to overlook the inconsistencies.
What he was certain, though, is that she wasn’t supposed to come back before late in the afternoon. But here she was, banging around the kitchen. From the sounds he could overhear, Lovro could tell she was upset.
Baking had been her coping mechanism ever since his dad left them. She used to make pancakes when she was bored, and she'd always been known for her kremšnita’s recipe. But lately, it had turned into an obsession. Her bad days were now punctuated by a fridge full of complex pastries, and Lovro had come to dread the rattle of the dishes and the hum of the oven.
Feeling fully awake now, he reached for his phone and his nose spray. As he went to grab his earphones, he realized the case was empty. He must have left them in his jacket pocket again. He remembered dropping it on the sofa the day before.
Not quite ready to get out of bed yet, he let his thoughts drift elsewhere.
Ivan.
It’s crazy how fast someone can enter your life.
A couple of weeks ago, this name wouldn’t have rung any bell. How many guys named Ivan in Zagreb? There were dozens in his school only.
Then he met him. And just like that, he couldn’t hear this name again without seeing those playful dark eyes and this smug smirk.
He was his boyfriend.
It felt unreal. Lovro had a boyfriend. He was in love with someone called Ivan.
His thoughts were cut short by voices coming from the living room. His mom was talking to someone.
That was unusual. Maybe she’d blown a fuse, with all the devices she was always using at once. She'd probably called for Mr Leko, the downstairs neighbour, to help her resetting the circuit. Lovro tried to concentrate to distinguish the words, but it remained unintelligible.
Then he heard Ivan’s voice.
He straightened up in his bed, listening more carefully. This didn’t make any sense.
“How do you even do that?”
Yup. That was Ivan.
Half a second later, Lovro was standing next to his bed, picking up the jeans he left on his desk chair. He put his slippers and grabbed a t-shirt from his drawer. It was already wrinkled, even though his mom had folded it just the day before. That would do.
He didn’t take time to gather his thoughts before opening the door and stepping outside of his room. The voices were clearer now.
“Ughh… I told you mine would look all trash.”
Ivan wasn’t making any effort to keep his voice low. It was a miracle he’d managed to enter the flat without Lovro noticing.
The warm scent of fresh bread drifted down the corridor. Curious, Lovro crossed the living room and poked his head into the kitchen.
His mom and Ivan were hovered over the kitchen table. The boy was sitting, holding a piping bag and carefully working on frosting a single cupcake. Across the table, Ana was stirring another preparation while watching closely his clumsy work.
“You’re doing just fine,” she said, a faint smile tugging at her mouth. “At least we won’t feel bad about eating them.”
Ivan looked up, smirking at Ana. Between them, the table was covered with bowls and spoons coated in sticky dough. A fine layer of flour covered everything, reaching up to Ivan’s T-shirt. He must have felt Lovro’s gaze, and his eyes flicked toward the kitchen entrance.
“Good morning”, he said, smiling tentatively in his direction.
Ana glanced up and dropped the whip she’d been using to walk over to her son. He didn’t pay much attention to her as she pecked him on the cheek. His eyes were still on Ivan, who was busy figuring out how to set the piping bag down without spilling its contents.
“What are you doing here?” Lovro asked, rubbing the back of his neck. His mom was the first to answer.
“Ivan offered to help me, can you believe that?” she asked, with a crooked smile. Before he could say a word, she added in Ivan’s direction, “See? I told you my disgraceful son would be left speechless”.
Ivan chuckled. He’d finally laid the frosting and was smiling softly at Lovro, trying to gauge his reaction.
“What?” Lovro’s brow furrowed as he looked at his mom.
She ignored him. Without a word, she handed him three plates, gesturing toward the table. Ivan was already cleaning it to make room for the three of them. Lovro didn’t move, his eyes fixed on her, demanding an explanation.
“He rang the bell as I was putting the bread in the oven,” she spoke over her shoulder, as she started picking things from the fridge, stacking them in Lovro’s arms. “I thought it was some neighbour that forgot their keys and so I let him in”.
She shut the fridge and tapped on Lovro’s shoulder. Once he reached the table, Ivan helped him get rid of the wobbling tower in his hands. When he put down the last plate, Lovro finally met his gaze, noticing just now how close they were standing.
“Hey,” Ivan muttered, eyes sparkling as he tried to hide a grin, glancing warily at him. Lovro immediately felt the heat climbing up his cheeks and his ears, as a bashful smile took over his lips.
Ivan returned his smile brightly. His shoulders relaxed and his eyes dropped to Lovro’s mouth. The playfulness in his expression faded, replaced by something steadier. When his gaze lifted again, it lingered on his face. For a breath, it looked like he was about to kiss him.
Ana’s voice rang out, and Lovro suddenly remembered where he was. Ivan held his gaze a second longer, a boyish smile tugging at his lips. He reached out and swiftly pinched Lovro’s cheek, before slipping past him and heading back into the kitchen to offer his help.
Lovro watched him disappear, standing still as he waited for the warmth to drain from his face.
The table was quickly filled with enough dishes to feed a small village. Lovro didn’t feel like commenting for once and simply took a seat across from his mom. Ivan was sitting next to him, already cutting the bread into thick slices.
Fresh bread was Lovro’s favourite part of his mom’s newfound baking obsession. Back when his father still lived with them, they’d always pick it up from the supermarket. It wasn’t exactly bad, but the crust was never quite how he liked it. And he hated eating his bread cold. Poor bread had been one of the main downsides of living in the flatshare.
“Mom?” Lovro called, pouring coffee into their cups. “Can we go back to the part where you let a total stranger into our home while I was asleep?” he smirked, ignoring Ivan’s fake protest.
“Oh, is it what it is?” she replied, smirking back while filling up her plate and Ivan’s with scrambled eggs. “A total stranger?” Her eyes were glistening, clearly enjoying the chance to tease her son.
“Well… no,” Lovro caved, feeling the blush bloom across his face again. “You know what I mean,” he added, his voice trailing off.
He didn’t dare glance at Ivan, well aware that the other boy’s eyes were probably staring him down. He lowered his head instead, finishing spreading Nutella over his bread as everyone began eating. He took a big bite. Perfect.
“Your mom knew my name,” Ivan threw in, not waiting for Lovro to finish chewing. He raised his eyebrows playfully in his direction and added “I take it you’ve been talking about me.”
Lovro’s whole face was now burning. His mom didn’t leave him time to deny the allegations before speaking.
“You matched the description he gave me,” she told Ivan. Apparently, no one cared to check with Lovro if he agreed for that kind of exposure.
This picked Ivan’s curiosity. He dropped his fork and shifted in his seat to face Ana better.
“What did he say?” he asked, leaning forward. Lovro didn’t have to look to know what he looked like in this moment. His head slightly tilted, gaze fixed on Lovro’s mom, amusement sparkling in his eyes.
“He said you were a tall, good-looking young man,” she answered matter-of-factly, taking a sip of coffee.
Lovro scoffed and waved a dismissive hand. He didn’t say that. “You did,” she insisted, unwavering.
He glanced at Ivan, who hadn’t gone back to his food yet. He was watching them, openly entertained, a satisfied smile tugging at the corner of his mouth. The snug look lingered on his face as he prepared to speak. Lovro didn’t let him the chance, knowing he would only be adding fuel to the fire.
“Naaah be serious.” He shook his head, leaning back in his chair. “I would never say good-looking young man.” He let out a disbelieving laugh, running a hand through his hair.
“But you said tall?” Ivan shot back with a cheeky grin.
“You ARE tall,” Lovro said, rolling his eyes.
He caught his mother’s gaze, expecting her to back him up. She didn’t respond, simply looking between the two of them with a soft smile.
“What about good-looking?” Ivan asked casually, giving him a wink that made Lovro’s stomach flip. He glanced towards his mom, who had resumed eating her eggs.
Lovro gave up and tried to remember how exactly this conversation had gone. “She asked me what you looked like,” he recalled. “I said that you had brown hair and that you were tall.”
“Then I asked if you were handsome and he said you were!” Ana finished.
“I said I guess so!”
Ivan laughed, taking a sip of water before repeating between his teeth. “I guess so…” He raised his eyebrows and turned back to him with a sly grin. “Worst part is that this might actually be the nicest thing you ever said about me.”
Lovro bit his lip, holding back a smile. He opened his mouth, then quickly closed it again, short of a good comeback. Instead, he listened as his mom scolded him while Ivan eagerly took advantage of the moment to complain that he was “never nice to him”. His eyes kept drifting back to Lovro’s face, checking his reaction after every jab.
They lingered at the breakfast table well into the afternoon, conversation drifting easily from one thing to another.
After a while, Ana got up to get the cupcakes she and Ivan had made together. As she crossed the room, Ivan caught his boyfriend’s eye and muttered quietly, “All good?”.
Lovro gave him a faint smile, taking the other boy’s hand under the table, resting it on his lap. Ivan leaned in and pecked him quickly on the cheek, before adding some made-up compliment. Something about the sunlight on his face. Lovro's smile broadened and he brushed his fingers against Ivan’s. A quiet warmth spread in his chest. Maybe he could get used to this.
He kept playing with his boyfriend’s fingers after Ana came back, half-listening to their rant about Winter Olympics. When Ivan tried to reach out for a cupcake, Lovro held on to his hand, not letting him go.
Eventually, they started cleaning up the kitchen. As he was trying to find space in the fridge for the newly baked cakes, Ana slipped up beside Lovro.
“He was here before nine,” she whispered. “Wanted to take you out for brunch and everything.”
“We agreed not to tell him!” Ivan protested, having clearly overheard her from the kitchen sink, where he was washing the dishes.
Ana shot him a mischievous look before turning back to the cupboards, digging for more boxes to store the pastries.
“You’re never beating the Tuškanac snob allegations,” Lovro tossed, eyes rolling upward as a grin spread across his face. He ignored Ivan’s mock protest and met his gaze. “So… what made you change your mind?”
“Your mom,” Ivan shot back, eyebrows raised, barely holding in a laugh.
There was something endearing about the way his smiles took over his entire face.
Lovro pointedly ignored him and glanced toward Ana. She was still buried in the cupboard and hadn’t heard the joke. Ivan followed his gaze and reached out to bump his nose, visibly pleased with himself.
“She opened the door just as I was about to start banging on it to wake you up.”
Lovro scowled, which only made Ivan’s smile widen.
“I was hungry,” he added, as if that helped his case. “But then she warned me how dangerous it is to wake you up, and I couldn’t take the risk, you see?”
“The boy was terrified,” Ana chimed in, finally finding what she’d been looking for.
“I was terrified,” Ivan repeated solemnly, nodding.
“Ah.” Lovro nodded, rolling his eyes. When he looked up, he caught them exchanging a knowing glance. Colour rose on his face once again.
His mom let them finish tidying up on their own, heading to the bathroom to do the laundry.
Once they were done, Lovro hung the towel back and rose on his tiptoes to kiss Ivan’s cheek. “Thank you,” he said.
Ivan smiled, glancing around to make sure Lovro’s mom had truly left. He stepped closer, cupping Lovro’s face, and pressed their foreheads together.
I think she likes me,” he said, a boyish pride glinting in his eyes as he met Lovro’s piercing blue gaze. He lingered there a moment, then placed a gentle kiss on the tip of his nose.
“She does”, Lovro replied softly, smiling bashfully. His hands settled Ivan’s shoulders as he leaned closer. Ivan’s hands found his waist, pulling him in for a tender kiss.
“I love you,” Lovro whispered against his lips. Ivan’s smile widened. He wrapped his arms around Lovro’s neck, pressing him even closer.
Lovro closed his eyes, resting his head against his shoulder, as Ivan pressed another soft kiss to his cheek. Warmth flooded his chest.
His heart skipped when Ivan murmured into his hair, “Lucky me.”
When they parted, Lovro glanced over Ivan’s shoulder and winced a little. Across the living room, his mom was watching from the sofa, a quiet smile softening her expression.
Ivan looked back briefly and took a step back.
“I’m going to the bathroom.” He let his hand wander lightly along Lovro’s upper arm before pulling away.
Lovro watched him squeeze past the cabinets and disappear down the corridor. He took a slow breath before heading toward the sofa.
He sat down beside his mom, staring at the floor.
“You okay?” she asked.
Lovro rubbed his elbow. “I’m sorry,” he uttered in a low voice, swallowing hard. “I hadn’t seen you.”
She straightened up, moving closer. “What are you even talking about?” Her hand reached out, caressing his cheek with the back of her palm.
“I know it must feel weird…” he started, grabbing a small pillow from the sofa and resting it on his lap.
Ana’s fingers moved to his nape, tugging lightly at his growing hair. He knew she was probably resisting the urge to remind him to cut it. She wasn’t exactly a fan of his mullet plans.
When it became clear he wasn’t going to finish his sentence, she leaned in and kissed his temple. “I haven’t seen you this happy in years, Lovro,” she said with a serious voice.
He slowly lifted his gaze, meeting her eyes. His fingers played with the corner of the pillow.
“You’re beaming,” she said, holding his eyes. “And if you think that makes me feel anything other than relief, you’ve got it all wrong.”
She searched his face and caught the tiny shimmer of unshed tears. He blinked them away.
“Everything a mom dreams of,” she continued fervently, “is someone looking after her baby. I trust him to be that person for you.”
“You do?” he asked, a shy smile tugging at the corner of his mouth.
“How could I not?” she said honestly. “You’ve really brought me the perfect son-in-law.”
Lovro chuckled. “He really is.”
His mom rolled her eyes, listing with a warm smile: “Polite, intelligent, good-looking...” She caught the pink tint rising across his cheeks. “And he makes you laugh,” she added playfully, poking his nose.
Lovro rubbed the unshed tears out of his eyes, a bashful grin spreading across his face.
“So… you like him?”
“I like him,” she said firmly. “And I couldn’t be more pleased.”
His smile broke open, lighting his whole face. The tiny gems on his teeth caught the light, sparkling between his lips.
She lingered, watching him.
Footsteps echoed down the corridor, stopping at the doorframe. Ana glanced up at the tall young man standing there, his sharp eyes were fixed on Lovro, watching him closely.
Her gaze travelled back to her son, who looked up from the pillow to meet his boyfriend’s eyes. The happy smile stayed on his lips as colour rose tohis cheeks. He nodded slightly, and Ana watched Ivan ease off.
And just like that, the knot of worry inside her loosened.
He would be fine.