Chapter Text
There’s a saying that goes “The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.”; meaning that a particular thing will be identical to its origin. Well, that’s how it was between Till–a grey-ish haired boy with a rebellious nature. And Ivan–a stoic and quiet boy. Quite wistful deep down. Their trees were Io. And well… Ivan’s mom. They were neighbors for the longest, yet she never gave her name away. Ivan’s mom positioned Io as his guardian later on when they started to attend middle school, before she fled. It was strange. Where did she go? That wasn’t something that Till didn’t mind asking himself. Ivan didn’t either, and that was the strangest part. Didn’t he miss his mother?
Till and Ivan were opposites. Till? He made sure his voice was a sign of his freedom; he practically carried it around like a crown on his head. As for Ivan, he was quite accepting of any outcome, not to mention his trouble with proper social behavior.
Till always thought he was a weirdo despite others thinking he was “perfect”. Although he was thankful Ivan came to acknowledge his liking of composing music, doodling, and floral art. He needed someone to admire his talent for a while.
Ivan only grew more attached to him, which was fine. He did end up enjoying his comfort after all. He never got over the fact that the boy was always a little touchy towards him and was often found doing weird things.
He considered himself mature for any age he reached. As said, Ivan was quite the contrary. However, they were coming to an age where they had to sprout and bloom. It was starting to make him worry a bit.
He found Ivan doing all sorts of weird things. When they were in middle school, Ivan would bring ketchup packets home every day after school. It was a completely insane addiction. What was his reason for it?
It was a good topping, he admitted. However, seeing the sight of ketchup so often started to make him feel queasy.
The lunchroom was filled with the bustle and chattering of people. Their table somehow always ended up being the loudest whenever Ivan teased Till. Mizi was brought into it whenever it did happen.
The grey-haired boy looked at the bowl cut’s face beside him intensely, their elbow on the table as he rested his face on his palm.
“Ivan…. how can you eat so much ketchup? Seeing how much you eat it starts to make me feel disgusted…”
He stuck his tongue out in disgust, a tint of repulsion in his voice as he winced.
“Does your stomach not hurt? I’m frightened your stomach hasn’t ruptured at how daily you snack it up.”
“What’s with this?”
Till’s reproaching grew into the background, Ivan’s ears buzzing with white noise instead. Ohh~
The way the chunky sauce felt against his tongue. It wasn’t similar to what he wanted. But it upheld its job right. The acidity and zest pranced on his tongue. It was a mid-alternate.
Ivan sucked his 4th packet, savoring it slowly as his lips squeezed out the chunky liquid; his fingers also sliding up the packet. His fang lightly scraped it.
He pulled his mouth away from the top opening of the packet, his most noticeable trait poking out his lips, his fang. He grinned, his thumb and index finger squeezing the pack to get the remaining sauce. The rest of it clumped on his fingers. He quickly pressed the clump on Till’s lips before he could even continue his daily disciplinary against Ivan.
The rebel’s body indurated, his face flushing—of disgust, that is.
“Mmm…What’s that? Are you worried about me... dying or something?”
He giggled; his smile wide, brows arching as his little fang scraped his bottom lip slightly. It was something that he was used to. It warmed his heart that he cared to ask about his well-being.
“Well, don’t worry about me Till, I'm pretty buff! I wouldn’t die from a stomach rupture. I'm pretty... irresistible if I do say so myself.”
He winked at the flushed rebel, who quickly frowned at him.
On the opposite side of them were Mizi and Sua, who were already a little loud themselves. Sua, on the other hand, looked fatigued at seeing both boys.
The girl with the black bob shifted forward on the table, her eyes on them with an intensity.
Mizi noticed this gesture, her voice wavering. Her round, stainless eyes scanned Sua and the boys before them.
Noticing this, her hand went to fondle her silky hair. The bob turned to the beauty beside her, smiling at her sweetly.
She was so beautifully captivating.
“Give me a moment, Mizi. Let me throw a word in here…”
The roseate nodded with an angelic smile as she agreed to wait patiently, while Sua faced forward, her hand retreating from the strands of hair.
“Hey, hey! Stop! Do you know… what you’re doing!?”
“Touching someone without their consent is a crime!”
Till's loudness assaulted their ears instantly. Aggressively turning towards Mizi, he lightly pounded the table with his index finger. His face softened.
“Y-You do know...!” He stuttered, biting his lip. He clenched his hand in between them, and his face bloomed pink. Crap!... He must’ve sounded like an annoying, speechless fool in front of her! He needed to sound kinder to her.
“You need to learn how to place…”
He pondered upon his words. He snapped his fingers.
“Boundaries… Boundaries! You need to learn how to place them, or else people are gonna take advantage of that!”
He ushered his words, hoping the roseate would open her eyes to a few true things.
“Boundaries?”
She responded, balmy.
Both oblivious to Ivan and Sua’s conversation, Sua leaned closer to the table.
“I va n”
She called with a slight biting tone.
“Yes? ”
He smiled nervily; an eyebrow raised.
She sighed, clearly displeased. It was clear that they didn’t like each other. But not as much as to the point of overdoing it to their muse.
“W e both… want to protect them. You understand, don’t you? We have to keep them away from each other …”
“I don’t need Mizi around bad influences. I’ll protect her as long as I can. Mizi doesn’t need to know anything yet-”
“ I ’d say we’re both alike, aren’t we ?”
He smiled. She was starting to strike a nerve already. He certainly didn’t like the way she was acting towards him.
His small, chubby cheeks rounded up, and his fingers lightly tapped the table in thought.
“I get that you’re trying to protect her… but it’s not all about you .”
She shook her head, instantly biting back.
“ I t’s not about you either. At least my Goddess feels the same way to o. ”
“ Y ou’re … such a hypocrite .”
…
Ivan wasn’t ignorant, he wouldn't call Mizi ignorant either. She was just… not well informed. Yet.
He clenched his jaw. He was completely aware of Till’s feelings for Mizi. He just pretended not to care. He did a pretty impressive job when he reflected on it. He took a deep breath, quickly brushing it off as he turned snarky. His fang poked out with a cynical grin.
He rested his chin on his palm.
“ T hat's … impressively appalling coming from a fourteen-year-old; year 7… to a thirteen-year-old in year 6... ”
He signaled between them. His eyes darted to the rebel, his rebel. Still babbling to Sua, his red pupils dilated all over Till.
“T hat is a little immature from someone who’s in year 7. Let’s try being a little nicer to your younger classmates. And to think you were a kind person. If you stop being so rude, then maybe it’d be easier to talk to you. ”
“R espect can go both ways, Noonim. Or would you like Noona better since we look like siblings? Better yet, twins if I must say ?”
She nearly gagged at the thought, completely flabbergasted. There’s no way in hell she’d ever be related to him. They didn’t have a single aspect that was similar! To her, at least…
“But… so you can stop with this… childish behavior, I’ll do what benefits us both. No hate to your… Goddess.”
“Pardon me.”
He grinned, slowly leaning towards Till. It’s like he wasn’t even aggravated anymore. It was like giving a little kid their lollipop back. Till was his candy to ease his sweet tooth. Like he just wasn’t serious, he immediately went back to being a kid again.
He threw himself on Till, slumping his head on his shoulder as he wrapped his arms around him. He squeezed him tightly, squeezing the air out of his lungs.
“Till...”
“You don’t need any boundaries for me, right? ~”
“I can hug you, squeeze you, and love you all I want…~”
He poked his sides, the boy squirming.
“Hey! What’s your problem!?”
He shifted towards him, uncomfortably. His head hovered over Ivan's. His eyes focused on how his hair looked for a moment. Io always told Ivan his little cut was adorable. It reminded his mother of a boba ball. Wasn’t that what they were called? Boba… pearls? Tapioca? Whatever the name was, he could see it. It was kinda adorable.
But now wasn’t the time for it. He was getting ridiculed in front of Mizi!
“Get off me, Ivan.”
“Hey! What’s it with you? I'm trying to … EAT!”
Till shoved the boy's head to the other side, but he only seemed to cling tighter.
“I-van!” Getting pushed rougher, Ivan’s behind slipped from his seat, bringing down Till with him. With an instinct, Ivan quickly adjusted his hands around Till securely– a hand on his torso and one on his head. It was stupid to try to cling to something that couldn’t hold you, and yet he found himself doing so in both senses. He tried to hook his leg onto his seat pole, but it only ended up straining his leg.
The chattering around them halted, people’s eyes widening in horror. A few of them snickered discreetly, but it didn’t go unnoticed by Ivan. Others looked at the scene in pain, constraining them to what it’d be like to be in such a position.
Mizi and Sua jumped from their seats. Their hands were the table as they peeked their heads to the other side swiftly.
“Ivan!” called Sua in alarm, grimacing at the scene.
“Ivan! Till!” called Mizi next in line, full of anguish.
Ivan squeezed his eyes shut. His face felt all tingly… What the hell was it?
Till began to rise from his position, looking directly down at him. His head felt wet. His hand quickly went to brush the side of his hair. Ketchup. This was all his fault. He brought trouble every time he decided to tag along.
“Ugh! Seriously!? What’s wrong with you, Ivan!?” He quickly put a hand on his face, only shoving him more onto the floor with an irritated glare. He seethed, rubbing in the ketchup more onto his face.
His hand seemed to wander all over the place, but mostly on his nose. Ivan couldn’t breathe.
Ivan’s fingers found their way towards Till’s neck, tackling him to the other side. Now straddling his waist, one of his hands went up to brush his hair back to grasp onto some of his composure. He let out a small huff before quickly landing a blow on Till’s cheek.
They were both infuriated. Although it was rather a completely different sensation... Till was infuriated at the fact that he couldn’t get even a second to talk to Mizi because Ivan was always clinging onto him like a koala.
On the other hand, Ivan was infuriated at the thought that this was the only way he could have his attention. It was the least to say exhilarating.
He grinned at him sappily, his pupils dilating as his voice grew a little rougher.
“Is this how you like it, Till?”
“Is it?” He questioned, his fingers rubbing harder on his small Adam’s apple. In a defensive instinct, Till brought both his hands up to equally grip his throat. Ivan’s smile was out of control. He didn’t know whether to let his anger take over or to be happy at the thought that all of Till’s attention was on him.
His red pupils dilated over his beet-red face. He looked completely enraged, huffing, his hands only tightening more into Ivan’s throat. Ivan didn’t care that he was getting strangled, but something else brought his thoughts back to Earth. Was that blood?
“C lose your eyes ” He simply pleaded with a sense of urgency, unhanding Till before his thumbs went to close his eyelids. His pupils dilated at the blood. It was tempting. He swallowed. He swore himself he would never taste blood , it was for the best of living a normal life and Till. But yet again, it was Till. He had tasted blood a few times before. Would his blood taste different? Sweeter perhaps? You know… since he’s the apple of his eye?
It’s just gonna be a one-time thing, I promise. Mom told me to try and be normal like her! I promise I won’t touch blood again after this… But Till’s blood can’t be so bad, can it?
His thoughts swirled in his mind. It was now or never. He inclined towards his face, sticking his tongue out to the flowing source— Till’s nose.
Vision went all black, Till squirmed, struggling to move his best friend’s hands on his face, although he could feel his breath fanning on his face .
“H -Hey! I can’t see !”
But before his tongue reached that point, someone rushed towards them.
A young man with blonde hair and yellow eyes quickly stood them up from their collar, rushing between them, hand creeping to pat their back with a crooked smile.
“Excuse me, lads. I'm taking these two home!”
Till and Ivan both peeked their heads forward to look at each other, leaving aside their banter for a moment while they focused on being puzzled at the young man’s sudden appearance. Ivan dropped his gaze to the floor, his face heating up as soon as he recognized his mistake. He didn’t care that it was Till, but the thought of trying blood.
The blonde took a miniature step back, looking back at the table where they sat.
“Girls, I’ll be taking the boys home today. Io sent me. Oh, and she sends greetings.”
He smiled, his blonde eyelashes fluttering. A unique color trait.
Sua tilted her head to the side, glancing awkwardly at Mizi.
Mizi, on the other hand, seemed more comfortable than anything. She beamed, nodding.
“Thanks, Luka! Please send my greetings too! Do tell her I’ll come to visit her garden again!”
Luka nodded, throwing another smile in.
“You got it.” He muttered before stepping back up towards the boys.
Stepping into position, he lightly bent his legs to be on their level. His face was dragged between both of them.
“Well...”
Walking down the pavement, with only Luka stopping them from yet another fight, they simply bantered.
“It's true!” Till puffed his cheeks, stomping with his arms crossed.
“I-is not!” Ivan said defensively, though he sounded like he wanted to convince himself more than Till and Luka.
“You were the one who started clinging to me! Not only that, but you were also huffing in my face! Were you trying to kiss me or something!?” The grumpy boy pointed at Ivan aggressively, sticking his tongue out.
Luka cleared his throat, butting in.
“It looked like he was gonna… lick you?”
Ivan sheepishly looked away, scratching his head. He should let Till and Luka win this one.
The boy on the left nudged the blondie, looking up at him. He let out an exasperated sigh.
“Aren’t you supposed to be in your dorm, Luka? Did they cancel class today? Or did you just come to get us because my mom asked you to?”
Luka rubbed his chin for a moment, feigning to think.
“I came because Io asked. Aren’t I nice? Your mother is a lovely lady after all.” He winked with a taunting smile.
Till, on the left, rolled his eyes. “Yea, Yea. Don’t think about being my dad. Go talk to Hyuna or something. Isn’t she a little too young for you?”
He nudged hard on his ribs. Luka sucked his teeth in pain, his face gaining a crimson color.
“Ow! She’s not my crush or a-anything! And Says-Says who!?”
He tripped on his words, sounding like a complete fool. Till laughed, a light shining in his eyes that usually appeared when he was having a good time.
“Ivan, look! He looks like one of those Red Anemone flowers! You know? The ones my mom has in her shop!”
Focusing on Till’s face, his poor little heart thumped rapidly. It felt like bursting in his chest simply by being entranced with his smile. Ivan smiled widely, his singular fang becoming more apparent. He brought his hand up, concealing his smile as a smile blush appeared on his face.
“You’re right!”