Chapter Text
Ivan walked away before Till would notice.
That smile—the one Ivan always used when he was putting up a front—lingered in Till’s mind. It was a practiced, fake expression that Till knew very well. He always showed that smile to his admirers, so why is he using it on him?
Usually, Ivan would be right there beside Till, bothering him and wearing that annoying smirk just to get his attention. He was supposed to be following him like a clingy puppy. But over the last few weeks, he had completely stopped. Ivan didn't annoy Till in the hallways anymore. He didn't stare at him during class and worst of all, he wasn't clinging to him anymore. He treated Till like a stranger, and it felt entirely wrong.
Till stood frozen, his fist clenching around the strap of his guitar case, wondering why, of all people, Ivan had stopped clinging to him.
"I mean it's not like I miss him or anything... but still." Till muttered as he shoved his guitar into his locker.
That was exactly what Till had always wanted, wasn't it? To be left alone. He likes Mizi—or at least so he thought. But looking across the room at her now, the familiar flutter in his chest wasn't there. Instead, there was just a heavy, suffocating weight.
For years, Ivan's relentless teasing, the lingering stares, and the constant invasion of his space felt like a deliberate provocation. Till used to think Ivan was just trying to annoy him because he likes Mizi—trying to push his buttons, trying, in his own twisted way, to ruin the friendship they had.
But Ivan hadn't ruined anything. He had just given up. He had looked at Till, looked at his hopeless love for Mizi, and quietly stepped back across the line.
“Go talk to her.” The words tasted like ash.
Ivan was finally playing by the rules, giving Till the exact boundary he had always dreamed of. But as Till watched Ivan walk away from his grasp, he realized the undeniable truth: he didn't love Mizi. It was mere admiration. Now, he was left regretting losing the one person who truly loved him.
He wanted Ivan back, even if Ivan had moved on to find someone else.