Chapter Text
Ivan had a problem. A few actually. The first one being he had a crush on his best friend Till since the third grade. The second was watching a guy flirt with him.
Ivan had sworn to himself long ago that he would never keep Till to himself, no matter how much he wanted to. He knew he was twisted. He was like a parasite. If he could have all of Till he wouldn't let anyone besides him look at him ever again. He told himself that he would watch Till fall in love and move on and not get in the way. However, he certainly did not expect Till to like men. That changed things. But it didn't change Ivan's cowardness.
He had invited Till to the party they were currently at, luring him in with the promise of free food and drinks, with the plan of potentially confessing him tonight. Potentially. Hence the cowardness.
Till was hot to say the least. When he hit high school he started to grow into himself and embrace his style. He became more emo and antisocial, constantly swearing and flipping people off. God was that hot. When they got to college he started wearing darker makeup, and got more piercings. He had them littered on his ears, one on his eyebrow, nose and belly button, and two on his chest. His favorite was the tongue piercing, but the nipple piercings were a close second. Ivan wished he could suck on every one of them.
Tonight Till was wearing a long sleeve mesh shirt underneath a tanktop that hung so low you could almost see the whole side of his chest. His nipple piercings glinted in the strobe lights that flashed through the party. He was wearing low waisted black jeans that had so many holes in them it was showing more skin than it was covering. On his feet he had on chunky combat boots with spikes impailed on the top and side of them. He had on chains around his waist and neck, his spiky choker matching the spikes on his boot. Ivan stood no chance.
Ivan's original plan was to confess to Till at the party, for if he got a little tipsy he hoped that he could somehow be more brave than he had been for the past 15 years. He had talked to Mizi last month (both her and his sister Sua knew about his hopeless crush on Till), and she had told him that Till came to her saying that he was bisexual. So of course Mizi hosted a large party to get Till to come so Ivan could finally tell Till that he liked him.
Of course that was the original plan. Now Till was blushing as some guy wrapped his hand around his waist. That made Ivan furious, for no one should be allowed to touch Till so casually except for him. He had split off from him for about five seconds to get drinks for them both and came back to this bullshit. Ivan was standing here talking to this girl as an excuse to get close enough to see what they were saying, and he almost wished he hadn't.
“Surely a pretty thing like you has a boyfriend?” the man asked, leaning into Till's personal space.
Till rolled his eyes and snorted at those words. “No I don't. Why do you ask,” he said, eying the hand around his waist.
The man smiled and said “because I'm into you. What's your name, baby?”
Till flushed and muttered, "It's not baby, it's Till.” But he made no move to remove his hand.
“Pretty name for a pretty man. It fits. My name is Ye-jun. Nice to meet you Till.”
Ivan unconsciously gripped the cup he was holding, causing it to overfill and sill everywhere. He wanted to murder this man and scream at him to get his hands off of his Till. But Till wasn't his. Ye-jun was able to confess to Till in a matter of seconds that Ivan couldn't grow the balls to do in years.
Ivan excused himself from the conversation that he was having with the girl, unfortunately noticing that he had murdered the drink he had got for Till, and sauntered over to the pair. Till ripped Ye-jun’s hand away as he noticed Ivan approaching. Curious.
“Ah who's this?” the man asked, sizing Ivan up as he looked over to Till’s line of sight.
“I'm Ivan. Till's best friend. And you are….?” He held up a hand.
“Ye-jun. Nice to meet you.” He met Ivan's gaze, looking just as happy as Ivan, and took his hand, gripping it a little tighter than necessary. So Ivan gripped back harder until he yanked his hand away.
Ivan didn't say anything but smirked a little then turned to Till, face softening. “Hey sorry I spilled your drink, but you can have mine. I'll go grab another.”
“Ah no that's alright I can go get it myself,” he looked very uncomfortable. He muttered, “ I'll be back” to no one in particular and scurried off like a rat escaping a fire. Great. Now it was just him and jackass over here.
Ivan waited until Till disappeared in the crowd before turning to Ye-jun. “You stay away from him. He's mine.”
Ye-jun just laughed and gave him an icy smile. “Till sure don't think so. If you're his best friend you would have had plenty of opportunities to ask him out. But that's too late isn't it? He's interested in me now” he said, looking triumphantly at Ivan. He stiffened and Ye-jun knew he was dead on. “Hmm, such a shame. Now if you excuse me I'm going to go find him.”
He shouldered passed Ivan and headed in the direction that Till went. Ivan didn't know what to do. The right thing to do was leave Till and Ye-jun alone, but Ivan never did the right thing. So instead he turned and did what he always did. Went and followed Till. Two could play at that game Ye-jun, he thought to himself.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Ivan honestly didn't know what he was doing. A bunch of people were settled down in a circle for a round of spin the bottle. Ivan had watched as Ye-jun led Till by the hand over to the circle and of course Ivan followed. When did he not follow Till? He always had and always will. He currently sat across from the pair and watched as Till downed a whole cup of who knows what. Till sure did like to get drunk at parties and Ivan was always the one getting him home safely. It was one of his favorite things to do, for Till was extra talkative and clingy when he was drunk, which was cute.
Mizi was standing over his shoulder explaining the rules for spin the bottle, with Sua glued to her side like a barnacle, and Mizi said that Ivan was going to start and the bottle got placed down in front of him. He shrugged, ignoring Till's stare from across the circle, and spun it. He hoped and prayed that it would end up on Till, but of course he should have remembered God hated him.
It slowed to a girl who was blushing wildly and her friends whispered loudly near her. He inwardly sighed, and put a smile on his face as he leaned over and connected their lips. He made it last a few seconds, just so the girl and her friends could have something to talk about, but made sure it wasn't anything more than just pressing dry lips together. He pulled away just as fast as it had started and looked over at Till. He looked pissed. He always looks pissed but he seems more so than usual right now. Why? Did the thought of Ivan kissing someone make him mad?
Before he could think more about Till's reaction and the growing hope in his stomach, Mizi whispered in his ear.
“Hey, have you confessed to Till yet?”
He sighed and shook his head. Mizi pouted and asked “why not?”
“This guy beat me to it before I could,” he said, nodding his head toward Ye-jun. Mizi glared across the circle at the man, who fortunately wasn't looking, and then at Ivan. “AND WHO THE FUCK CARES?!” she practically screamed which made Ivan jump and cover her mouth with his hands.
“Oh my God Mizi, that was way too loud.” Sua glared from behind Mizi at Ivan's hands on her girlfriend and he quickly removed them.
She gasped, clearly distraught. “Shit, I'm so sorry Ivan. But I am right. Who the fuck cares. Till has known this dude for about 30 minutes and has known you his whole life. Who do you think he would choose if you were honest with him?”
“But what if he doesn't like me like that? Then what? I just ruined our friendship and he would never want to see me again. I love being by his side and if that means only as friends then so be it.”
Mizi groaned, slapping a hand over her eyes. “Oh my God you're useless. Would you rather stare at him longingly and crave him your whole life instead of confessing? Sua was right, you are an idiot.” Sua nodded and said, “I'm always right.”
Ivan was going to argue back but then his eyes shot to where Ye-jun was spinning the bottle and every thought that Ivan had in that moment died. And Ivan especially knew the Gods hated him when low and behold, the bottle stopped at Till sitting by his side.
Till was blushing up to his ears now as Ye-jun leaned in. Their lips connected soft at first, but then he could see Till's lips part as Ye-jun slipped his tongue into his mouth. That bastard's hands slid to Till, going around his waist and on the back of his neck, holding him there. He heard Till let out a soft groan, then suddenly, as if that noise startled him, Till's eyes went wide and he shoved Ye-jun away hard. He looked down and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and refused to make eye contact with anyone. Ye-jun just smirked beside him and rested a hand on Tills knee.
Everyone was laughing or whistling, but Ivan only cared about how Till made that noise for someone else. Ivan had dreamed of Till making noises for him, but of course he had to sit and watch his dream unfold for someone else, always at arms reach of Till.
It was now Tills turn to spin the bottle, and Ivan wasn't sure if he could handle watching him kiss someone else, someone that wasn’t Ivan, so he turned to Mizi in an act of desperation.
“Mizi!” he whisper-shouted. Her and Sua were standing there looking shocked at what went down in front of everyone, but she looked over. “Let's play seven minutes in heaven instead.”
Her eyebrows shot up. “Are you sure? You know its Tills turn right? He probably will get someone random,” she said, knowing exactly what Ivan wanted to get out of this.
“Yes, just do it please,” he said, begging. He knew the chances of Till getting Ivan was low, but high risk high reward. He tried not to think of him and Till getting shoved in a little closet all alone, just the two of them, breaths mingling as they leaned in and their lips connected-
“Ivan! Are you even listening to me? If you don’t get Till you are not allowed to throw a pity party for yourself all week okay? I don’t want to hear any of it because this shitty plan of yours goes downhill.” Ivan nodded and she clapped her hands and spoke up to the group.
“Alright everyone, change of plans! We are now playing Seven Minutes in Heaven!” Everyone hooted and cheered and Tills head shot up for the first time since the kiss. He caught Ivan's eye and he quickly looked away. Ivan tried to ignore the hungry stare from Ye-jun aimed at Till, and he prayed that just once he could get what he wanted. He has never prayed so much in his life.
“Okay Till! You start!” Till just sat there and stared at the bottle until someone next to him clapped him on his back, which made Till jump and cuss them out. He leaned forward with shaking hands and spun the bottle. It kept spinning for what felt like forever until it slowed near Ivan, and he was ready to grab Till and run to the nearest closet when his heart dropped.
The bottle slowed too soon and ended up on Acorn, Till's roommate, sitting beside Ivan. He could hear Till let out a sigh. Of relief or disappointment, Ivan wasn’t sure, but he was too busy glaring at Till’s roommate to think about it too much. Acorn nervously glanced at Ivan, then Till, then Ivan again and stood up abruptly.
“Oh hah! Sorry I have somewhere I have to be! Bye.” He jumped up, scrambling away, and almost tripped trying to get out of Ivan's line of sight as fast as possible.
Till was pissed. “Reallly Acorn? I knew you hated me you stupid fucking bastard! There will be snakes in your bed tonight andI hope you get bitten and die a painful shitty death!” He screamed at him as Acorn disappeared in the crowd (Till was just embarrassed because he thought Acorn didn't want to be seen near Till, which technically wasn't incorrect, but he was just scared Ivan would dismember him if he went in the closet with Till).
Mizi suddenly announced overhead, “well since Acorn left that means technically the bottle would go to the person next to him which happens to be… Ivan!” She was grinning ear to ear, happy that Ivan's plan worked.
Till was frozen in place. His face was beat red now and he mouthed “Ivan?” like he couldn't believe it landed on him. Ivan felt his heart sink a little knowing that Till was this disappointed that the bottle landed on him, but he shrugged it off and stood up. He walked over to where Till was sitting and flashed him a smile. “Shall we, darling?”
Suddenly Ye-jun next to him spoke up. “Are those even the rules? I demand a respin!”
Mizi and Sua both glared at him. Mizi marched up to him and said “This is my house so my rules. If you don't like them, then get out.”
Ye-jun opened his mouth and quickly shut it again, sending another glare Ivan's way. Ivan simply smiled at him. This felt like a victory.
Ivan's gaze fell back to where Till was sitting stock still, and he crouched down next to him and leaned in to whisper in his ear. “I’m sorry if this makes you uncomfortable, you know don't have to come with me if you don't want to. I can drop out of the game as an excuse for you.”
That finally got a reaction out of him and he stood up abruptly, grabbing Ivan's wrist. “Fuck you. I’m a grown ass man, I don’t need your shitty excuses. I'm fine.” He started dragging a very happy looking Ivan away to the closet where Mizi was pointing. Ivan stepped in front of Till and opened the closet door for him, then immediately followed behind, closing the door behind them both.
It was dark in the closet, with no light but the few strips shining in from the lines in the door. It highlighted Till's face as he refused to make eye contact and Ivan thought, not for the first time, how pretty he was. He craved for any time with Till, and this small closet wasn’t helping with the desire hot in his stomach.
Till was currently squished against the wall opposite of Ivan, and looked as if he was trying to be one with the wall, pressed up completely against it. Even then, they only had a few inches of space between their chests, but their legs intertwined in the middle.
Ivan finally spoke up, breaking the silence. “We don't have to do anything in here if you don’t want to.” Although he wanted to. Really bad. He wanted to press Till against the wall hard and kiss him until he didn't remember his own name. But he wanted Till to feel comfortable first and foremost.
“Do you not want to?” The question was asked so quietly Ivan had made sure that he said something.
“Huh?”
“Do you not want to do anything? With me I mean. You don’t want this?” Till was now looking up at him and glaring. He looked so cute when he was pissed, for he was about as scary as an angry hissing kitten.
Ivan blinked, recollecting his thoughts. “Till-”
“No don’t Till me. You always ask what I want and I am so sick of it. What do you want Ivan?”
There was a pause and Ivan looked Till dead in the eyes where he was still glaring. “I want you,” Ivan said simply. “I want you so bad it hurts.” Tills' eyes went wide. His face flushed and he sat there for a second before he whispered, “then have me. I’m yours.”
Ivan hesitated for a moment, looking into Tills eyes to make sure he really meant it. Till rolled his eyes and started, “for God's sake Ivan just hurry up already before I change my min-” Ivan interrupted him by crashing their lips together. He wrapped a hand around Till’s lower waist, pulling him closer until they were flush against each other, which earned a gasp out of Till. He wanted to hear more sounds out of him like that. He used the moment as an opportunity to slip his tongue inside of Till's mouth, to which Till opened it more for him, which made Ivan groan. Tills arms wrapped around his neck as he tried to pull him closer.
Ivan mapped out the expanse of his mouth, tasting him like a starving man, and his hands slipped under his shirt and played with the piercing on his chest. Till moaned at that was a sound Ivan could get used to. Fulfilling his earlier wish, he sucked on Tills tongue, feeling the piercing that resided there. Till made another noise, and that made something hot stir deep in his gut.
Finally Till pulled away, gasping for air. He was utterly and completely flushed now, all the way down his neck and to his shoulders, his eyes half lidded. He looked at Ivan like he was starving. Hot. Before Till could say anything Ivan leaned in and murmured in his ear, “you don't know how long I have been wanting to do that, baby.” Till shivered as Ivan's breath ghosted across his ear. “Wh-what?”
“I said I want you.” Ivan's hands took Till's nipple piercing between his fingers and pinched it a bit, earning another groan out of Till as he arched his back slightly at the motion. “God Till, you really don’t know what you do to me.”
Till huffed a little laugh but it came out a lot more breathless than he meant. Cute. “Says you. You get to go around flirting with everyone that comes your way then you turn to me and act like I’m the only one you care about. It's confusing… I don’t know if you are like this for everybody or if you actually like me.”
Ivan's eyes widened at that statement. “What? You think I don’t want this? Want you?”
Till looked down in embarrassment and shook his head. “Why would you? You can have anyone you want. Why choose the emo failure and pathetic excuse for a person. I'm the last option on anyone's list.”
“Till look at me.” When he still refused to do so Ivan gently cupped his face in his hands and brought his gaze back up to meet his. “I love you.” Tills eyes widened. “I have since we were little. I told myself that you would never love me the way I love you, because you are perfect and I didn't want to corrupt you. My love is already twisted, and I didn’t want you to see that side of me, for my love can look sick to others. But I love you and I always will. I hated the way Ye-jun touched you tonight, I hated that he could so easily have you after I have spent so much time longing after you thinking that you could never love me back. I didn’t want to ruin what we already had, and I knew that if I told you this, and if you didn’t like me like that, then we wouldn’t be friends. So I kept it inside. I would rather die than lose you.”
Till had tears streaming down his face now, smearing the back eyeliner that he had on his waterline. “Stupid. You think I wouldn’t want you back?” He gave a little watery laugh and looked so lovingly at Ivan that it melted his heart. “I love you too you stupid fucking bastard, just next time tell me so we both don’t sit a suffer in each others company.” Till slid his hands up in Ivan's hair and held him there. “Now kiss me you idiot.”
Ivan didn’t need to be asked twice, and reconnected their lips. This kiss was different from the first, now knowing that they both loved one another. Till groaned as Ivan slotted his thigh between Till's legs, noting the hardness there. Till gently pulled at the sensitive hair at the nape of his neck and Ivan hummed in pleasure. Till's cold hand slipped under Ivan's shirt, feeling his warm body and well toned stomach and he muttered “god that's hot,” before he shoved his tongue into Ivan's mouth, piercing knocking against Ivan's teeth. He could die here right here and now and he would be a happy man.
“TIMES UP,” Ivan heard someone yell just beyond the door and that snapped them both back to reality. Till shoved Ivan away hard and the both hit the opposite ends of the closet with a thump as the door flew open. Sua was there and she eyed the crumpled state of the both of them. “Well finally you two imbeciles realized your feelings for each other. I was getting annoyed by you two.”
“Oh shut it,” Till muttered, his face a bright tomato red. He grabbed Ivan's hand and quickly got away from the closet as fast as people, ignoring the hooting and hollering from the circle of people behind them.
“Let’s go back to my place,” Ivan said, and Till nodded. Ivan glanced back to the circle to see a clearly angry Ye-jun standing there saying something, but he didn't care much to try and hear what. Till was his now.
They stumbled out the front door and Till paused, looking nervous. It felt nice out here, cold and quiet, a contrast to the party.
“So…” Till started, fidgeting with Ivan's hand. “Does this mean we are dating or…”
“Only if you want-”
“No, stop that. Do you want to be my boyfriend or not?”
Ivan smiled at him and brought Till’s hand to his lips and murmured against it, “yes Till, I would love to be your boyfriend.”
Till huffed and rolled his eyes. “Good finally you can get some intelligent words out of that stupid mouth. Cuz I want you to be my boyfriend too.”
Maybe the gods didn’t hate Ivan as much as he thought they did.
They walked to Ivan's car, and he held the door open for his new boyfriend, who muttered “thanks,” as he got into the passenger seat. Ivan smiled and whispered, “anything for you, my love,” and shut the door and headed around the car. They started towards Ivan's place, and he kept a hand on Till’s thigh all the way there, as if to make sure this was real.