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Till tugged at the collar of his turtleneck sweater uncomfortably. He hated clothing items that were tight around his neck, even his necklaces had to hang down at a certain length or he refused to wear them. He disliked anything that felt constricting.
Maybe that preference carried further than just his clothing.
Maybe it was why he'd dodged committed relationships his whole life.
He was going to be turning 31 in a few months, and he'd yet to find someone to settle down with. To be honest, he wasn't really ever looking. When he was younger, he liked the idea of love. But the more he tried it on for himself, it just… never worked out.
Was it his taste in partners? Or was his headstrong personality the problem? Not like that mattered much anymore, his say in the situation had been revoked.
Unbeknownst to Till, his mother had decided to take this "problem" into her own hands.
She called him up last week and announced she had found him a partner.
According to her, his…uh…fiance's parents were pushing just as hard for this marriage between the two of them.
Something about his job as a composer, the fact he was known for being laid back, the amount of money unspent he sat on and his connections made him an acceptable husband.
He wasn't sure what all this about "unspent money" and "connections" his mom was babbling about. He spent what he had comfortably, and he took whatever work he got. He'd been in the business for coming on a decade, so while he did work with a few household names occasionally, he surely wasn't friends with any of them. He was already getting a headache at the fact he was going to responsible for cleaning up those, and whatever other, misunderstandings came from his mother playing him up.
After she hung up the phone, he debated calling her back for a few days and insisting for her to call the whole thing off. But it wasn't like she was setting him up for what sounded like the same reasons his partners family was.
It wasn't that she wanted grand kids either. Till wasn't given much information about who he was meeting today, but part of what he did get was that he was meeting a man.
His mom just wanted to see him happy.
So, Till found himself going with it and sitting in the middle of a park on a plaid blanket at 10 in the morning.
"A picnic? Really?" He murmured to himself, staring down at the array of crackers, cheese, and snacks in front of him. He'd spent a ridiculous amount of time in the grocery store last night debating over what kind to get.
What kind of crackers would he like? What about cheese? Would he like melon and banana, or should he just get an array of berries? What about chocolate? Was that too much for a breakfast? What if he ate breakfast early and he was buying too much for a brunch?
In the end, he bought everything.
He ended up spending two hours this morning unpacking it all and cutting the fruit into reasonable portions, placing it all into tupperware containers to he wasn't hauling around three reusable bags.
Till couldn't help but feel a little embarrassed.
This was a grown man having a picnic with another grown man.
Way to go, Mom. What a stellar, age appropriate activity.
He grabbed his phone and set it on his knee, looking down to use it as a mirror to fix his bangs one last time. Till wasn't sure why he put so much effort into his appearance, going as far as to wear this stupid turtleneck that his mom had given him years ago that he hated. But she had put a lot of effort into this, so he at least owed it to her to take it seriously, and it was the nicest item of clothing he owned.
"I hope I'm not late."
"Holy shit-" Till nearly jumped at the sudden voice coming in his direction, his phone sliding off his knee and smacking onto the ground.
"Oh no, did I scare you?" a rushed apology came his way.
Till's eyes met the man walking over, and had to fight the urge to rub them.
"Holy shit," Till echoed in a murmur, this time not because he was scared. It was because he was trying to process just exactly who was walking his way.
The morning sun framed his back as he walked across the grass, carefully stepping over sticks while he held on tight to a drink carrier, trying his best not to spill anything.
He wore black slacks, and a light peach turtleneck, though this one was loose-fit compared to Till's and the fabric looked much softer.
This was the guy his mom was setting him up with?
Till wasn't even sure if he was human.
He looked something closer to an angel, or maybe one of those mythical creatures known for their beauty.
Till tried to blink his way out of his complete shock and sprung to his feet, rushing to meet his partner to help with the drinks, "No, don't worry. You're not late at all, I just got here a bit early to set up."
His partner sent him a smile, and Till nearly had to cover his eyes.
He was too bright, it was blinding.
"Oh, I'm glad," he grinned, "I'm Ivan, by the way. My parents refused to tell me your name, or anything about you really."
Till chuckled awkwardly, "Likewise. My mom said she wanted this to be 'as normal as possible.' My name's Till."
"Till, huh? What a pretty name," Ivan commented, before sucking in a deep breath as if he hadn't meant to say that out loud and quickly changed the topic, "I heard that you like chai, so I got you an iced one. I planned on hot drinks, but it's unexpectedly warm this morning."
Till reached out to accept his drink, and felt the tips of his ears heat up when their fingers brushed, "I know. I'm regretting my sweater."
Ivan laughed, "So am I, but I'm not mad about it, since we match."
Till looked down at his outfit and back to Ivan's, "Oh- That we do."
"We almost look like a real couple."
Till swallowed, his face burning as he thoughtlessly countered, "Are we not a real couple? We are engaged."
They both stood there for a moment, processing what had slipped out of Till's mouth. Till watched as Ivan's face flushed before he quickly turned his eyes towards the ground.
But right as the air between them started to grow awkward and Till started to deeply reconsider reflecting on the need to think before he speaks, Ivan spoke up, his tone much quieter than before as he mumbled, "Yeah, we are a real couple."
Till couldn't help the smile that crossed his lips. Ivan was just too cute. How his mom managed to set him up with such an adorable lover, he wasn't sure.
What he did know was that he was going to spend the rest of his life trying to make it up to her.