Chapter Text
Sua harshly lifted Till’s hand off the wooden desk and examined it close to her face, “You know, painting your nails would really complete your…” She hesitated before looking him up and down, “...look.” She said coldly. Though that comment may have sounded offensive to anyone else, Till knew Sua meant no harm. She simply said what she thought without thinking carefully. Not only that, but she was completely right.
“I know but I can’t buy nail polish, my dad will call it gay. He already looks like he’ll pop a blood vessel every time he sees the way I dress.” Till replied before deeply sighing. He motioned to the over sized band t-shirt he wore, paired with black ripped jeans, silver jewelry, and black fingerless gloves, the sharp eyeliner carefully drawn on his eyelids adding to the outfit.
Sua lightly nodded her head in understanding, letting go of Till’s hand. She put her finger to her chin thoughtfully for a moment before speaking, “I have nail polish. How about I do them for you?” She asked.
The offer surprised Till a great deal. Though the two have been friends for a while, neither of them have been to each other’s houses before. Their normal hangout spot was at a quaint coffee shop downtown that most people at school didn’t know about. Assuming that they wouldn’t allow two teenagers to treat their establishment where food was being served as a nail salon, that meant that they’d be hanging out at one of their houses.
Though after thinking for a moment, the idea made Till quite happy. He quickly nodded his head at the proposal before adding to the conversation, “Just n-not at my house…” He mumbled. He looked down at the floor nervously before meeting Sua’s gaze once again.
Sua processed the implications of Till’s suggestion for a second before the realization finally kicked in. Her expression softened in the slightest and she gave the silver haired boy a faint smile, “No worries, we can go to mine.”
Till let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding in before returning Sua’s smile, signifying his agreement.
Though Sua had never met any of Till’s family, she knew that they were no good. His mom died when he was young and his father was a lousy drunk that often took his anger out on Till. For the most part she understood his situation due to their frequent coffee shop vent sessions, and the late night calls she’d receive from Till. Often in which he’d be sobbing about how awful it was at home. Despite all of these things, Till still remained to be the mentally strongest person she knew, and she greatly admired him for that, though she’d probably never admit it.
The rest of the day dragged on as if it would never end. Normally, Till loved art class. It was one of few classes that he truly enjoyed and excelled in. Though today it felt like an obstacle in the way of the joy that awaited him after school. Hanging out with Sua was always fun no matter what they did because it meant that he wasn’t home.
Today in specific Mizi and Hyuna’s usual chatter about rumored relationships at school and strange people that added them online sounded like a brutal cacophony exploding in his eardrums. He didn’t mind sitting near them since they didn’t make fun of him, but sometimes their over the top gossiping made his head hurt. Thankfully, the bell rang soon enough and he was dismissed from school for the day.
“Normally I get a ride home from my brother but he has football for a few hours today. I hope you’re good with walking.” Sua said calmly.
Till nodded his head in agreement. From what Sua’s said, her house didn’t seem to be too far from the school. Even so, it’s not like Till isn’t used to walking home every day.
The walk to Sua’s house is nearly completely silent. Though it isn’t uncomfortable, more peaceful. Neither of them are particularly talkative people so they find themselves sharing silences more often than not.
After fifteen more minutes of walking, Sua announced that they’ve arrived home. Till looked up at the large house in front of him. The house appeared so fancy and expensive that Till thought he might owe $1000 dollars to Sua’s family for simply stepping on the driveway. Though he shoved his worries aside and followed Sua into her home.
They both neatly placed their shoes by the door and Sua motioned for Till to follow her into the main room of the house. Till does as he’s instructed and analyzed the living room as he did so. It certainly matched the elegant exterior of the house with intricately painted china littering the countless white painted wooden shelves and tables all about. A flatscreen TV big enough to present a movie to an entire nation took up a whole wall and a man, presumably her father, was watching a prerecorded football game on it, quietly mumbling about questionable choices the players made. He glanced at Sua and Till for a second, giving them polite smiles before returning to the game.
A slender and tall woman standing over the kitchen counter turned to face the two friends, her face immediately beaming upon Till’s presence in the house, “Hello, I’m Sua’s mom! You must be Till.” She said happily. Based on her tone and expression, Till assumed things like this didn’t happen often. Sua’s family knew she didn’t have many friends at school. Though what they didn’t know about was her countless admirers and fan club that were so intimidated by Sua’s enchanting looks and cold personality to approach her.
“Uh, yes. It’s nice to meet you.” Till replied awkwardly. He repeatedly shamed himself in his head for managing to stutter at such a simple sentence. He slightly shuddered upon thinking about how Sua was definitely going to make fun of his awkwardness later.
“It’s nice to meet you too! I won’t keep you two any longer, you can go run along to Sua’s room.” Sua’s mom said sweetly, flashing the two friends a bright smile before turning to face the kitchen counter once again.
Till let out a small sigh of relief upon realizing there will be no more awkward parent interactions for the time being. Without another word between the two, Sua and Till walked up the wooden spiral staircase to Sua’s bedroom.
Upon seeing Sua’s room, Till almost fainted, “Dude, the size of your room is the size of my house…” Till muttered, flummoxed that a mere bedroom could be so large.
Sua decided it might be a good idea to not show Till her walk in closet at the time so he wouldn’t get too overwhelmed. Instead, she set both of their bookbags next to a nicely sized wooden table and sat down at the chair closest to her bag, "Don't tell me you forgot about our geometry homework? That needs to get done before I do your nails.” She said blankly, pulling a black composition notebook decorated with a few purple stickers Till made for her using a cheap sticker-maker in middle school. They kept falling off and rather than throwing them away, she neatly taped them on the front cover of the notebook.
Till groaned, dreading the four paged packet awaiting them. He always thought it was absolute bullshit that their geometry teacher gave them packets as weekend homework. Weekend homework shouldn’t even be a thing…
Two tedious hours later, they finished the packet, Sua much quicker than Till. It took them so long since Sua had to walk Till through every little step and detail of each problem in order for him to understand. Math had never been his best subject. Fortunately, he had Sua to help him with that, or anything in school for that matter…
Sua grabbed a small white bag with purple flower designs printed all over it and set it down on the table. She sat down and immediately rummaged through the bag, discarding random colors to the side of the table, continuing to search for the right one. That was until she finally found what she was looking for. Sua set down a small bottle of black nail polish on the table, scooting the bag off to the side with the discarded nail polishes.
“This one would look nice.” Sua suggested in a soft yet sincere voice.
Till smiled and nodded his head. Sua really did know him like the back of her hand.
She popped the lid off of the small bottle and gently held up Till’s hand. He curiously watched every intricate swipe of the polish Sua would apply to the silver haired boy’s nails. To his astonishment, Sua didn’t let a single drop of the liquid stain his skin, all of the product neatly coating Till’s fingernails.
At last, Sua took a small sigh of relief that it came out okay. She examined her work for a second, satisfied with what she’d done before lidding the nail polish and putting them all back in their bag. “Those just need to dry for a little bit, then you’re all done.” Sua said, smiling.
Till stared at his, now painted, nails in awe, “Thanks Sua.” He couldn’t help the small smile creeping onto his face.
Seeing Till so happy felt like a weight lifted off of Sua’s chest, “No problem, Guitar Boy.”
Till jokingly scoffed at the nickname, recalling its origin. Sua first gave him the nickname to poke fun at him after learning that he had a secret social media account where he covered popular rock songs with his guitar.
Sua’s bedroom door swings open and the two friends turn to its direction to see the source of the disturbance. “Sua, mom needs you downstairs.” A tall and well built boy, seemingly not much older than Till and Sua leaned on the door frame of Sua’s bedroom. His fair and smooth appearing skin contrasted beautifully with his rich, dark colored hair and eyes. He lightly tapped his pale, slim fingers against the door and for a second, Till considered asking the boy if he’d ever considered becoming a hand model. As a matter of fact, Till should’ve asked if he ever considered becoming a model in general. When he spoke, Till spotted a charming little fang peeking out of his mouth every so often, and his lashes were so long that any girl would easily be jealous. Though the feature that stood out to Till the most was the unusual color of his eyes. His irises were black as a void with a small ring of crimson circling his pupils. Till’s entire body froze at the sight of this hauntingly beautiful man.
Sua groaned, snapping Till out of his trance, “Till, stay here. Your nails still need to dry.” She said, turning to face Till before getting out of her seat and slipping past the raven haired man. Once Sua was out of sight, Till figured the guy would’ve left but instead, he remained leaning on the doorway, intently staring at Till with a strangely sinister look in those entrancing eyes of his.
Till nervously swallowed, hoping it wasn’t too audible, “Uh, I’m Till, Sua’s friend.” He mumbled quietly. He wasn’t sure who this man was but based on the man sharing a few similar features with Sua, Till figured they were related. Till didn’t know what the man wanted from him, so the least he could offer was his name.
The raven haired boy repeated Till’s name quietly, as if testing how it would sound on his tongue. Seemingly satisfied with how it sounded, his lips curled up to form a cheeky smile, the small fang Till noticed earlier peeking out as he did so. “I’m Ivan, it’s nice to see little sis bring one of her friends over.” He said teasingly, a twinge of sincerity in his voice as he spoke of Sua.
Knowing the boy’s identity made Till feel slightly reassured, though still a bit on edge. After all, why was Ivan still standing there? He should’ve left after Sua got the message…
“For associating with my sister, you don’t seem too bad. Actually, you’re pretty cute.” Ivan said smugly, looking Till up and down.
Till sensed his entire face going red, and he couldn’t help but feel like Ivan was trying to unravel him with his eyes. And unfortunately it was working, Till nervously tapped his fingers against the wooden table in response to Ivan’s intense gaze. “You’re such a creep! What are you even talking about…” Till snapped, embarrassed at the compliment. He’s never been one to react well to compliments so suddenly receiving one from somebody so insanely attractive felt strange.
Ivan was about to respond when the sound of Sua’s footsteps coming up the stairs alerted the two boys.
“Well, I hope I’ll see you around, emo boy.” Ivan said cheekily, his once teasing smile growing into one of mischief. Without another word he turned around and left for his own bedroom.
“Emo boy?!” Till replied, annoyed. He groaned and rolled his eyes.
Sua entered the bedroom and sat across from Till at the table once again, “Sorry that took so long, my mom wanted me to help her check Ivan and I’s grades on the computer. But she doesn’t know the first thing about technology…” She said, trailing off at the end of her sentence slightly.
She continued on about how her mom didn’t even remember her own computer login and how they had to make her a whole new account in the process but Till couldn’t focus on her rambling due to one certain person crowding his brain.
Every time he tried to listen to Sua’s story and form an actual response to what she was saying,the focus of his mind shifted to a certain raven haired, fang-having, football player currently in the room next to them.
After an hour of trying to remove Ivan from his brain while Sua rambled on about her day, it begins to get late and Till decides that he needs to go home.
“Are you sure you’ll be okay?” Sua asked, her voice slightly deepening as her tone fills with genuine concern.
Till stays silent for a minute, unsure himself of the answer to her question. Though he knew he couldn’t stay there for the night, “Yeah, I’m fine.” He responded, attempting to sound cheerful in order to lighten Sua’s worries.
Judging by the look on her face, she wasn’t convinced. Though she knew she couldn’t force Till to stay over. “Whatever you say. Ivan and I will give you a ride home so you don’t have to walk.” She said blankly. She called for Ivan by screaming at him to “get downstairs” with a cuss word or two thrown in the mix.
Ivan came down the stairs while throwing his red varsity jacket on, struggling with the sleeves while attempting not to fall down the spiral staircase.
The sight of Ivan alone was enough to make Till go red in the face and he awkwardly turned away from the siblings, hoping neither of them noticed. Upon seeing the raven haired boy again, Till couldn’t help but think back on their previous interaction. It also didn’t help that Till felt Ivan’s intense gaze burning on the back of his neck…
He avoided looking the raven haired boy in the eyes as he climbed into the back seat of Ivan’s car. He avoided looking at Ivan as the siblings bickered in the front seat about random things. Though the second he looked into the rearview mirror, he saw Ivan’s deep black and crimson eyes flicker to meet his gaze for a second before looking back at the road. The simple eye contact between them was enough to give Till slight shivers down his spine. He didn’t know why he was acting like this.
For once in his life, he wanted to leave the car and go home to sit in his bed and contemplate his emotions. His wishes were answered when the car pulled into the driveway of Till’s house. After unbuckling his seatbelt, Till cringed upon seeing his own home after just being At Sua’s. Unlike Sua’s house, Till’s house appeared very dingy and small, an overfilled trashcan with countless species of insects surrounding it adding to the house’s trashy exterior. He wondered if Ivan still thought Till was cute after seeing the dump he lived in. Though he quickly shook that thought from his head because he shouldn’t even care in the first place…
Till awkwardly exited the car, not saying anything except for a few brief “thank you’s” to Ivan for the ride and Sua for her time.
As Till entered his house, he was suddenly snapped back to reality. The main room stunk of beer and empty cans and wrappers littered the dirty hardwood floor. He cautiously avoided his dad who was snoring obnoxiously on the beat-up couch.
Till took a deep sigh of relief upon entering his bedroom, today was chaotic and he needed time to process all of its events…
……
Ivan intently watched Till as he entered the house, carefully analyzing every step the silver haired boy took. After Till made it inside, Ivan began to back out of the driveway in order to return himself and Sua home.
“Why were you looking at him like that..?” Sua asked, coldness present in her tone.
“Do I need a reason to inspect somebody? It’s a completely normal thing to do upon meeting somebody new.” Ivan responded calmly with a twinge of teasing in his voice. Teasing Sua would never get old.
“You know exactly what I’m talking about, Ivan. You probably freaked him out with how your eyes were practically glued to him the entire way here. I thought we were gonna crash and die.” Sua said dramatically, slightly leaning back in her seat. As she did so, she tucked an annoying piece of black hair behind her ear that kept getting in her face as she spoke.
“Keen as always, Sua. I simply like his attitude, he’s pretty cute too.” Ivan said, knowing his attraction to Till would rile her up.
Her head snapped towards his direction sharply, “Don’t you dare try anything Ivan! Stay away from my friend.” She said, her tone a confusing mix of teasing and defensiveness.
Ivan merely chuckled, “No promises…”