Chapter Text
Recently, there’s been a rising interest towards an 18+ BL novel featuring obsessive male leads and a feisty main character. It was entitled The Clipped Feathers’ Flight, shortened to TCFF.
People especially praise the personality of the MC, saying that he has a lot more agency compared to other MCs of the same genre. Words like “hard-headed” and “strong” were thrown around. More importantly, the web novel stretches on for thousands of chapters, and it focuses on rehabilitating the ML and MC’s relationship after the abuse and imbalance in the first few hundred chapters.
The second ML, however? He’s a douchebag through and through. A rotten egg, if you will! He only served the role of the young master with a titanium spoon in his mouth, but was spoiled too rotten to the core to even have any good parts of him.
“What the fuck!” Ivan yells in frustration, feeling his mud mask crack painfully on his face after having left it on for too long. “At least the ML got his character arc! What the hell do you mean the second ML doesn’t even pay for his crimes?!”
He scrolls up and down his phone screen, desperately trying to find a next chapter that he logically knows won’t exist. The chapter he’s on was very obviously stated to be the epilogue, after all. But that can’t be! Seriously! What! “Say it isn’t sooooo~!”
Ivan clicks his phone closed, and he turns on his bed so that he’s laying on his back. He bemoans the end of the novel that he’s been following for four years now, but also the complete disregard of the second ML’s character! It’s like after abusing the MC, the author tossed him aside!
“I wanted him to have a good character arc too…” He grumbles, tugging at the fluffy headband holding his bangs from his face.
Well, you can’t blame him for feeling so affected. At first, he’d been purely hate-reading the thing, going through hundreds of chapters of (frankly disturbing and at times too detailed) abusive scenes that were appropriate for its genre for the sole purpose of critiquing and making fun of the story.
However, he’d grown quite fond of the MC, Till. His tenacity never once dampened under the cruel actions of the two MLs. If anything, he’d fought tooth and nail to get to a place where he was stable and safe, happy with himself. And it’s not like he let the ML have him easily, either. The author poured in thousands of chapters on the ML’s redemption alone, much less them rekindling their relationship, albeit tentatively and almost sweetly.
Still, though. He can’t deny that the only reason his hatred for TCFF had drawn him to follow his passionate, rage-filled loyalty to reading, was because of the second ML. After all, he has Ivan’s exact name! He’s even described to be of the same face, and is shown evidently on the few fanarts and volume covers. It only differs on their personality and life.
“Hah, it’d be funny if this was foreshadowing the start of another BL web novel.” He jokes to himself, mostly. How cliche is it, after all? Same face? Same name? Just a difference in personality, wherein every part of the story would have been better if he swapped places with his character counterpart?
It’s like it was the set-up for one of those transmigration stories that he’d always found so cheesy and also happened to hate-read on the off times that he wasn’t consumed by this novel! He couldn’t help making a joke of it.
Not like it’d ever happen, anyway.
It was foreshadowing the start of another BL novel.
“You gotta be kidding me…” He says through gritted teeth, and he pulls his hand away from where he was in the middle of punching somebody’s jaw in.
Seriously? He didn’t even get the comfort of waking up in a bed or something? Just rawdogging it and throwing him in the middle of… whatever this is?
“I’m sorry,” A man beside him says in response to his grumbling. He must’ve thought Ivan was complaining from being pulled away from his beating session. “But your old man would be upset if you do more than this much.”
He sighs and allows himself to be pulled away from the scene, the boy he’d been beating up bruised and bloody. The guy shoves him into a car and starts the engine. “This is just for precaution, but don’t drink any alcohol for now, okay? Your dad’ll call anytime now. You know that.”
He takes a good look at the man; tanned skin, styled brown hair, a dimple. It’s gotta be Hyunwoo, then. Ivan’s closest friend and ultimate cheat card when a crime or douche move doesn’t work out well for him. Hyunwoo always felt like a blanket that the author would pull over any unresolved scenarios with Ivan. What was more convenient than saying that Hyunwoo handled it, when it comes to the consequences of his actions?
He’s thankful though. Because of the existence of Hyunwoo and his complete competence in being Ivan’s fairy godmother, Ivan has an impeccable reputation.
“Yeah. Just get us home.” Ivan answers as indifferently as he can, yawning. “I don’t feel too good.”
He finds that he isn’t lying. The beginnings of a fever pull at his eyelids, and he feels heady with the onset heat. Ugh, seriously? He already feels his knuckles hurting from the shit that ML-Ivan was pulling earlier, but now he also gets a fever? What a great welcome into the world, man!
“That’s not good.” Hyunwoo mutters, and Ivan opens his eyes enough to see that he reaches over and reclines Ivan’s seat. He clicks the seatbelt on and procures a blanket from the backseats. “Sleep on the way home, okay?”
“Yeah.” Ivan says, snuggling into the blanket. Hyunwoo turned the car’s heater on, and it felt toasty and pleasant. “Thanks, Woo.”
The only response he gets is the hum of the engine and the feel of the speed of the car’s momentum.
So, Ivan will get two things straight: he’s no longer a college student in the real world, although he’ll admit that he doesn’t remember what it is that he was actually doing there; and, he absolutely has no idea what the fuck a music major is supposed to be doing.
These two things don’t matter in the grand scheme of things, though. The grand scheme being that he’s fucked.
“I think I’m going to fail…” He quietly bemoans. Hyunwoo looks down at him from where he’s wringing a towel, and sighs.
“Don’t joke like that, man. What’s wrong with you, anyway?” The tanned man unceremoniously plops the cold towel on Ivan’s forehead, giving it a slight slap for good measure. “You know daddy’s money will always save the day, right?”
… Hah. So that’s how ML-Ivan got away with drinking his college days away and still maintaining constant top spots in his university?
“That’s miserable.” He mutters petulantly.
Hyunwoo snorts, “You’re more miserable when put in front of a book. Get over yourself.”
“I want rice and barley tea!” He retorts instead, and tries not to get horrified with how spoiled he’s already gotten from just a few days in this world.
He peeks towards Hyunwoo, who frowns, “You’ve gotten really strange cravings lately…”
… Shoot. Was he supposed to ask for something worthy of a rich young master? Like wagyu steak or something? But he doesn’t want to stomach something like that in his state! Fevers are the worst time to eat meat! Besides, he doesn’t even want to think about what a blue rare steak would taste like, which was revealed to be ML-Ivan’s choice of done-ness…
“Stop pouting.” A finger pokes at his cheek. “Rice with barley tea is on the way~ I’m just saying, you’d usually go for tomato soup and sour bread or something, when you were sick.”
“Well… I changed my mind.” He sasses, hiding deeper in his duvet.
Hyunwoo laughs, “That you did. Go sleep, Vani. I’ll wake you up when it’s time to eat.”
“I want homemade kimchi too.”
“Where on earth can we get that right now?!”
He laughs at Hyunwoo’s incredulous tone, but listens to him and drifts off to sleep. He thinks he’s yet to slip into dream realm when he hears the other mutter, I hope things stay this way.
Anyway, the point of the matter is that Ivan wasn’t exactly rich in his old life. He was book smart, sure, but he was also alone and… unfortunately, not very street smart.
He doesn’t like thinking about his past now, though, no matter how foggy his memory is. He just remembers being in the slums most of his life, and then working corporate jobs, trying to dig himself out of the debt that his late parents left to his name.
Well, if anything, that experience definitely lent a hand to him being adaptable and grateful for whatever comes towards him in life. And, for that matter, led him to where he is now.
That is, in a billion-won penthouse apartment’s floor, pickling lettuce and chopping vegetables.
A week into this novel world had taught him that he’s not exactly finding his way back to the old world, and so he’s let himself adapt. At the very least, he was thrown here during winter break, so he doesn’t have to worry about classes just yet. He’s also recovered from his fever just fine, and has allowed himself to declutter the remnants of ML-Ivan’s life of debauchery.
“What… Are you doing?” Hyunwoo sighs from the doorway, except he doesn’t sound surprised anymore.
He supposes the other’s grown desensitized to Ivan’s antics. In just a few days, he’s thrown away all alcoholic beverage in his house except a few wines and champagnes; cleared all contacts from his phone and changed numbers; gone shopping for much more comfortable clothes (he really doesn’t want to show his chest more than necessary); and re-furnished the apartment to feel more comfortable.
He knows that it’s the side top’s job to be dark and edgy, a mysterious sexy man who smokes and drinks like it’s his oxygen and only form of sustenance… But Ivan’s decided since day one that he’s promptly not following the story’s twisted plot.
Can you blame a man for trying to enjoy the things that he wasn’t allowed to in his original world?
“Making kimchi.” Ivan hums, tuning back into the conversation from where he’s tasting the pickled lettuce. “Ooh, these pickled nicely!”
“I see that.” Hyunwoo saunters into the apartment, locking the door closed behind him. He places a bag of groceries on Ivan’s counter, and promptly grabs some gloves so that he can help the other man. “But why?”
“It’s winter! Perfect for making kimchi. Besides, I bought those fancy containers to help with the fermentation. No need for old fashioned jars or anything~” He motions to the kitchen island, and lo and behold, there stands said containers that he’d splurged on. He has to give ML-Ivan credit where credit is due. Being lucky enough to be born as a chaebol should still be considered talent, after all.
“I can see that,” Hyunwoo laughs. “What can I do?”
“Taste this,” Ivan pushes a piece of cut lettuce towards Hyunwoo’s lips. The other easily opens his mouth and chews on it. “Well?”
“Yeah, they’re not bitter anymore.”
“Hmm~ Well, we should rub in the marinade now! I got it ready,” He stands up from his squatting position, and grabs the sauce.
“Smells good.” Hyunwoo comments as Ivan settles it between them and in front of the tub of cut vegetables. “Do we rub it in between the leaves too?”
Ivan tilts his head, “Did you not make kimchi before?”
That seemed to make Hyunwoo laugh. His dimples appear, and he looks a bit exasperated, “I’m supposed to ask you that. Shouldn’t we just ask the cook to make it for us?”
Ivan frowns. “No! He specializes in western cuisine, he wouldn’t get the homemade kimchi taste down.”
“I doubt two first-timers would, either. What’s gotten you in a frenzy lately, anyway?” The comment that he changed after his fever is left unsaid, although he’s sure that Hyunwoo definitely questions the abrupt change.
He thinks carefully on what he should reply. It is true. He can’t justify just how much he’s changed in a way that would be understandable to Hyunwoo. ML-Ivan may not have thought much of the man, but they were childhood friends. Hyunwoo saw Ivan through all of his phases and was there for all of them, helping him through it and everything. How can he say that he’s a changed person without outright saying he’s literally a changed person?
Hyunwoo must’ve seen his hesitation, because he picks up a large leaf of lettuce and a handful of the marinade and rubs it in, “You know, the semester’s about to start. You said you wanted to stop asking for answer sheets and start studying properly, right?”
“Yeah… Yeah, we should drop by the library on campus, or something.” He answers, grateful for the change of topic. “Thanks, Woo.”
“Stop it. It’s weird hearing you say that.” Hyunwoo says good-naturedly, but Ivan knows better than anyone that he means it. ML-Ivan never once showed Hyunwoo any gratitude, even after he covered for Ivan’s fuck-up after fuck-up.
He almost feels sorry, when he remembers that he wasn’t the one who did that, and it’s yet to even happen.
“Can’t a man change?”
“Not so abruptly that it’s caught even me off guard!”
“Maybe you’ve just lost your luster. No longer the sharpest tool in the shed and all that?”
“Ha, ha. Very funny, Vani.”
Ivan’s sitting in front of a mountain of books about the classes he’ll be taking next semester — something something, music theory, something something, composition — when he squints.
What the hell, ML-Ivan needs glasses?
It wasn’t too obvious back then. He’d thought he was just still bleary from the fever or something, when he couldn’t see very well. But in front of these textbooks, he can immediately tell he needs glasses. It’s hard to make out the words from the blob they’ve become, until he pulls it farther from his face than comfortable.
“What’s the matter with you?” Hyunwoo whispers beside him. They’re seated in the campus library at the moment. Trust him to always notice when there’s something wrong with Ivan. “Suddenly want to give up, now that you’re in front of books?”
He’s definitely gotten sassier with his tone, after he’d adjusted to Ivan’s new attitude.
“You have your library card, right?” He asks, instead.
“Well, yeah.” He answers, pulling said card from his duffle bag.
Ivan gathers the books, standing up, “Great. Let’s borrow these books.”
“Wait, why?”
“We’re getting my eyes checked.”
The two of them easily borrow the books and make it out of the library, but not without Hyunwoo asking him questions. Entering the car, they put the books in the backseat and get the engine started.
As they’re seated, Ivan punches the address of an eye clinic into the GPS.
“What, we’re not going to your family doctor? If we go to a public clinic, it’ll definitely take longer.” Hyunwoo raises a brow.
“Just follow what I say, man,” Ivan rolls his eyes. The thought of seeing ML-Ivan’s family makes him uncomfortable. He doesn’t know how to act around them because they were rarely ever mentioned in the story, and he definitely didn’t last long enough in his old world to see the side stories that they might or might not have been part of.
Hyunwoo sighs, starting the engine. “Whatever you say.”
The car rides have become something that Ivan deeply enjoys in this life. It helps that ML-Ivan was loaded, and so he’s got an extra fancy car. The cushions and warmed seats were nice. The sleek interior also elevates the whole experience, making him feel like a main character while he looks out the window. … He eyes Hyunwoo and concedes that it perhaps makes him feel like a passenger princess, too.
But it’s not just the nice car that makes him enjoy the experience. It’s the easy companionship of Hyunwoo. Spending so much time with the other man, one that he’d known only as a sidekick to ML-Ivan in the world of the novel, was surprisingly easy. Hyunwoo takes everything that Ivan does in stride, if not going along with his antics.
The silent car ride wasn’t daunting. It was comfortable, as he looked out into the city skyline dressed with snow and ice.
He can’t believe his first friend in a while was a character in the novel that he’d been following for a long time.
“We’re here,” Hyunwoo snaps him out of his thoughts. Right, now wasn’t exactly the time to get sentimental. He has to get his head on straight and get his eyes check. God, he hopes that he doesn’t have to strictly wear his glasses all the time…
Shuffling inside the clinic, there was a wall of frames on display on either side of the room. On the far end, there was a table and a lady. On cue, Hyunwoo taps on his shoulder, “I’ll get over there and inquire for you.”
“Sure.” Ivan nods easily. While Hyunwoo talks with the clerk, Ivan looks at the wall of frames. He quite liked the interior design, with the way mirrors were scattered about the display. Grabbing a random pair of glasses, he puts it on and looks at his reflection.
He pushes a strand of hair to the side, and looks at the way the frames nicely complement his face. Not to toot his own horn, but he thinks he looks quite cute. He and ML-Ivan share the same looks, and not just anyone can become the second ML in a BL novel. You have to be attractive to make up for all the shit you pull, after all.
He chuckles softly at the thought and places the glasses back in place.
“Ivan?” A voice beside him softly calls. He looks towards the source and finds a pink haired girl. Her hair was cut very short, and it immediately gives away who she is.
Mizi. One of Till’s closest friends, and the bane of ML-Ivan’s existence.
Well, Ivan himself doesn’t really mind her. If anything, he actually particularly enjoyed Mizi’s side stories with Sua, who’s one of his favorite characters. Besides, seeing the length of her hair now goes to show that they’re only still at the prologue of the novel, leading him to a sense of complacency. He’s at least assured that he hadn’t done anything heinous to his favorite MC yet.
“What are you doing here?” She asks, holding a pair of round frames and an envelope.
“Hey, Mizi,” He answers easily, and she looks confused. He worries that he answered too casually, but continues on nonetheless. “I’m just looking at frames for now. I’m getting my eyes checked.”
“Oh!” She chirps, surprised. “I didn’t know you needed glasses. You never seemed to wear them.”
“Yeah, I just happened to push getting my eyes checked back until I couldn’t really avoid it anymore.” Ivan shrugs. “I wasn’t exactly thrilled about getting glasses…”
That makes Mizi giggle, “Yeah, they’re pretty inconvenient, huh? Why not try contacts?”
“Oh, no way,” He answers sheepishly, scratching at his neck. “I don’t think I can handle all the…” He motions vaguely at his eyes. “Things that’ll go on there.”
That gets a laugh out of Mizi. “You’re silly. I like you.” … Well, her straightforwardness was what made her pierce the hearts of those in the fandom. He knows enough about her lack of even a single heterosexual bone in her body to know she doesn’t mean it any other way, though. “Wanna get coffee sometime?”
“Sure! It’ll be my treat,” Ivan smiles.
That gets a pleasant smile out of the girl, “You’re sweet. But no! I invited, so I’ll pay.” Then, she turns and gestures to the lady that Hyunwoo was talking to. “I have more errands so I can’t really chat for longer. It was nice meeting you though! By the way, your new style matches you a lot more. Stick to it! I’ll see you when the semester starts!”
“Alright, see you.” He nods and allows her to easily get away. After Hyunwoo leaves the table, she starts talking animatedly with the clerk lady.
He looks down at his clothing, a cardigan and a sweater layered on because he dislikes the cold, and finds himself confused. He always thought that ML-Ivan presented himself to be a strong, mature person that matched the more formal style that the author gave him, but he guesses that the softer comfort of casual clothing made him more appealing to people like Mizi. At least he looks more approachable now.
“Vani,” Hyunwoo calls out. “Good news, they take walk-ins. Let’s get your eyes checked, the doctor’s in the back.”
“I’m sure that even if they didn’t accept walk-ins, you’d find a way to make them take us.” He laughs as he follows the other man, who scoffs but doesn’t deny.
Ivan pushes the glasses that slip on his nose bridge back up, and takes a sip of hot-chocolate. They’re reaching the tail-end of winter break, which means that it’s colder with the snow starting to melt. That’s discouraged him from going outside recently, and rather encouraged him to start reviewing for his classes.
Thankfully, Ivan’s quite smart. What he lacks in emotional intelligence, he makes up for in books. He’d always thought that his intellect was his best feature in his past life. The topics were easy for him to grasp, so maybe he’d be able to maintain ML-Ivan’s top spots, but without the under the table cheating.
“Well, you’re holding up much better than I thought you would,” Hyunwoo snarks, exiting the bathroom with only a towel wrapped around his waist.
Ivan rolls his eyes, grabbing a throw pillow from beside him on the couch and chucking it towards Hyunwoo with pin-point precision, “And you’re a lot more indecent than I thought you would be.”
It wasn’t a surprise for him to find out that Hyunwoo has a room in Ivan’s apartment. Although, he does know for a fact through reading the novel (and various disgusting scenes wherein Till had been abducted and restrained by ML-Ivan in this very apartment), that he doesn’t stay there often. It’s to his pleasant surprise that, even after Ivan recovered from his fever, Hyunwoo stayed with him.
Maybe Hyunwoo moving out had directly been influenced by ML-Ivan’s obsession towards Till when the novel started?
He shakes his head and shuts the book on his lap closed.
“What’s indecent about being shirtless when it’s just two guys?” Hyunwoo snorts.
“I’m gay.” Ivan deadpans, and Hyunwoo shrugs. The other’s indifference eggs him on, “You’re bi.”
“Fork found in the kitchen!” He laughs, pulling a white shirt over his head. “Stop making it a big deal, Navi, it’s not like you haven’t seen my dick before.” Hyunwoo makes a gesture, obscenely moving his hand in front of his mouth and using his tongue to poke at his cheek.
Ivan chokes on air. He did not need to know that about ML-Ivan and Hyunwoo’s … past. Especially not when the author hadn’t even disclosed it in the main storyline. Oh, god, he won’t be able to look at his friend the same again.
He must have a ridiculous expression on his face, because Hyunwoo barks out a laugh. “What? Don’t tell me you forgot?”
Ivan remains silent for a minute, before he grabs another pillow and aims for Hyunwoo’s head. “We’re done talking about this.”
“What, our passionate night—”
“Done, Woo! Closed!”
“But you were so pretty back then— Yeowch!”
… Well. Their relationship just got a thousand times more complicated. Maybe ML-Ivan’s character arc was supposed to be unpacked in the side stories, and he would’ve ended up with Hyunwoo?
Eurgh. Hyunwoo is perfect and all, but Ivan can’t stomach the thought. The other man deserves someone better than his douchebag childhood friend.
“Put on your pants!” He fumes instead, huffing. He decides that the thought shall be, in fact, closed like he said. No point thinking about it.
“Yessir…” Hyunwoo pouts, obeying diligently. Then, he takes a seat beside Ivan and picks up the book on his lap. “What’re you reading now?”
“Dry your hair!” He chides in response, and he grabs the discarded towel on the armrest of the couch to do just that. He doesn’t bother to answer the question. He’d come to the unfortunate realization that Hyunwoo zones out when he starts to ramble too much about how he’s supposed to read sheet music, or something else equally frustrating to Ivan.
But it’s a special kind of comfort, he realizes, to have your own home that you know will always be yours unless you choose to move. To have a friend you know will always be there with you. To know that you have a life to look forward to. To know that you’re in a better state than you ever were before.
Maybe that’s why he accepted his transmigration so easily. Back then, all he could look forward to was reading crappy BL novels and working underpaid overtime jobs. Now, he could actually do things. Now, he has someone.
It’s nice. The bickering is obnoxious at times, sure, but it’s nice. It’s a luxury, more so than any designer bag or fancy car that ML-Ivan owns.
“Anyway, the start of semester’s next week, so make sure that you absolutely get these subjects and can take the classes without daddy’s money.” Hyunwoo says, waving the book around as Ivan dries his hair.
Ivan rolls his eyes, “Well, yeah. I’ll be fine.” A few silent moments pass, before he remembers something. “Oh. A few weeks ago, when I finished beating up a guy… Didn’t you say he’d call?”
“Oh, he did. You know how Unsha is.” Hyunwoo cringes. “He was pretty mad. I got a few words in, but he only heard the word fever and probably thought it was karma. He sent your black card back because of it, though.”
Huh. So that’s how they’ve been paying the stuff they’ve been spending on recently. “Well, it worked out in the end, huh?”
“Yeah, well, you weren’t exactly a sickly child. You were pretty tough and we never saw you get sick. A fever’s all it took to get Unsha rattled, so there’s that.”
“Does he care?” He finds himself asking curiously. Hyunwoo looks at him with a raised eyebrow, as if asking seriously?
“Not to burst your bubble, but Unsha would only care if you doubled over and died. Maybe even then, he’d only pay attention if you made a public spectacle out of your death. And that’s on whether or not your mom makes a point to notice it, so that’s a 50-50 chance.”
Well, great. ML-Ivan had a bad home life. Who would’ve thought?
Then he notices how the other cuts himself off quickly, looking at him nervously, like he’s worried that he spoke too harshly and broke Ivan’s heart.
So, Ivan laughs. “Nah, I expected it. Just wanted a reminder.”
“Right…” Hyunwoo deadpans. Ivan rubs the towel into his hair harder, just to see him laugh and struggle against it.
It’s finally the start of the semester, and officially been a month since he’d transmigrated into TCFF.
Honestly, Ivan had acclimated quite well into the novel. But standing in front of the campus, he feels a bit daunted. He’s seen the world and talked with the people in it enough to feel real, just as real as his original world, but facing the characters? That would be different.
Hyunwoo had been fine. He played a minimal role in the main story, after all, and so had stayed in the back of Ivan’s mind while reading, if at all. But the main characters? Mizi was pushing it already. If he had to see Sua? Luka? Till? He might just find a way for the ground to eat him whole.
“What’s the matter with you?” Hyunwoo shoulder checks him jokingly, although he can see that he is worried for him. “Suddenly want that cheat sheet instead, after all?”
Ivan steels himself and huffs, “Stop joking. You know I’ve got these classes down.” He takes a step towards his building, flipping the other off discreetly. “You should go. You’re gonna be late for class. The law building’s all the way across campus.”
“So you do care!” Hyunwoo laughs, but he’s already half-way sprinting across school grounds. “Remember! Lunch is with me! You’re booked for the day!”
Ivan rolls his eyes, but can’t help the fond smile on his face. At one point during the break, he’d joked that Hyunwoo felt like a secretary handling his schedules and everything. Unfortunately, Hyunwoo took that joke and ran with it.
When Hyunwoo blurs out into the crowd, he turns back around and takes a good look at his building. It looks sleek, as expected from a top university that caters to only the best of the best. It must receive a lot of… funding. From people like ML-Ivan, that is.
Shaking his head, he walks the halls. The building is surprisingly warm, considering the clinging winter cold outside. The weather’s yet to transition into spring, so he’d worn a bit more layers, concerned by how easily he freezes to the bone. He supposes that doesn’t matter as much when he’s indoors. He’s resolved to take his cardigan off as soon as he enters the classroom.
When he opens the doors though, all eyes snap to him. They seem somewhat indifferent, although there’s a hint of animosity in the air.
Hey… What happened to Ivan having a good reputation because of Hyunwoo? Hey…
After a short staring contest with a crowd with way too many eyes, seriously, he finds himself wandering towards the corner of the classroom with the windows. Taking the second row to himself, he momentarily feels proud of his careful choice.
You see, because this is a BL novel set in university, most of the interactions happened during class hours and, surprise surprise, the classrooms itself. However, each character had specific spots they naturally gravitated to.
For example, the ML, Luka, prefers to sit in exactly the middle of the classroom; the middle column on the middle row. Sua, an important side character, sat towards the corner that Ivan’s in, usually on the very first fow. Mizi sits beside Till in the very back. Ideally, he would’ve taken the column closest to the door to avoid any interaction with the main cast, but that’s where ML-Ivan sat, and by default, where his goons hung around. And, well, he doesn’t want to connect with that type of crowd anymore at all if he could help it.
Anyway, he’s stuck sitting behind one of his favorite characters for now, so it’s not exactly a bad fate. Sua doesn’t really interact with others too much, but it wouldn’t hurt to get close with her. Maybe Ivan could even mess with the girl when he’s not seen as public enemy number one in the future.
Taking his cardigan off and hanging it on his backrest, Ivan pats himself on the back for the job well done on choosing a very effective seat.
… Or at least, what he’d thought to be an effective seat choice.
One thing Ivan’s failed to mention is that he absolutely crushed on Till. It’s very embarrassing. When he was younger, a wide eyed twenty-something, he’d discovered TCFF.
Again, he lived in not just a dumpster-fire of a life, but the dumpster-fire of a life. He used to busk tables, bartend, help with construction, cut hair — you name a job, he’s done it. Anything and everything to get out of the slums that he grew in.
But when he finally got out of that miserable state and landed himself an office job, a third-rate lending company run by gangsters had reached out to him, saying that his parents failed to pay off a debt before they ran away, and he’s the only one that popped up in their family registry. When they’d shown a number in his life so big that he hadn’t even dreamed about it, he knew life had been over for him.
So, TCFF was his reprieve. At first, to blow off steam by hating on it. And later on, as part of his routine.
Till’s character, however, was more than just that — he was somebody that Ivan had followed on a thousand-chapters journey with. Even with the genre being the way that it is, Till’s personality managed to shine through and reach out to him. And in a way, he felt himself relating to what the MC had gone through and worked through. Till was beyond just a character, he was a light of hope that whispers to his heart a possibility for a better future.
So, sue him. He liked Till. That was why he was determined to not let himself see the other, much less interact with him.
…
“Ivan, Ivan!” Mizi pokes at his side, and he barely manages to not yelp. He makes a mental note to tell her he’s ticklish later on. “What’s with you and Till?”
He makes a point not to look at Mizi’s general direction, looking straight ahead. If he does, he might just combust.
You see, Ivan had been peacefully preparing himself for the lecture, taking out his materials for note taking and all. Truly, he was serious about maintaining good grades.
But then, Mizi entered the scene, all bright and bubbly with Till in tow behind her. He fully expected her to lead them to their usual seats at the back, so Ivan allowed himself to take a peek at Till.
… Urk, he’s genuinely too good looking.
Anyway, he took his time looking at the pair, before he slowly questioned why Mizi wasn’t beelining for their seats. Instead, she seemed to be looking for something…? Oh, she was looking towards him— she’s waving? Oh god, she’s heading here.
And that’s what led them to this predicament. Ivan, squished and trapped because he sat beside the windows, with Mizi beside him and Till beside her. The professor seemed to be running late, so Mizi had been chattering away to the both of them animatedly, and Ivan chips in when prompted to, but Till seemed to be withdrawn.
Had Ivan already been a douchebag to him during the first semester after all…?
He doesn’t get the time to wonder, because Mizi seemed to catch on as well, and had leaned in to ask her question. And, well, Ivan didn’t really know yet what exactly was up between the two of them, so he hesitates to answer.
“Maybe he’s just thinking about the groupings for the project in our next class,” He answers, instead. It’s a safe option. “Rumor has it we have to compose a song and it’ll serve as our midterms, on top of being an assignment.”
“What?!” Mizi squeaks. That ought to get her rattling. “No, no, no, we won’t get to choose our group?!”
He laughs, “When did we ever?”
“I wanna be with Sua-unnie~” She whines, slamming her forehead on the table.
Till, finally chiming into the conversation, pulls Mizi upright by her forehead, “Stop that.” He shoots Ivan a glare that says the same, and said man can only look away guiltily.
Fortunately, Sua appears in front of the group, taking her seat on the front row. At least she does what she’s supposed to… Thank god for small mercies.
“Hello, Mizi,” She greets with a nod, when she catches the eye of the pink haired girl.
“Hi, unnie!” Mizi immediately perks up. Ivan can’t help the smile that appears on his face — how can he, when Mizi is so pathetically down for Sua? “Your hair looks beautiful today!”
Sua plays with the long strands of her hair, slightly wavy with texture, “Hm, really? I wanted to cut it recently, but if Mizi says so, I’ll keep it this length.”
The way she says Mizi’s name, Mi-zi, so patiently and adoringly, like she wanted it to linger on her tongue, is not lost on Ivan. Her eyes, too, gazing unwaveringly at Mizi, whose line of sight flitter everywhere.
However, their conversation — and, consequently, Ivan’s appreciation for their gentle romance — is cut when the professor walks in, 20-ish minutes late. She’s in a rush, and so is the lecture, kicking off without so much as a warning.
It finally sinks into Ivan that he’s in university.
The lecture was surprisingly engaging, regardless of the professor’s rush. It answered the questions that Ivan had when he was simply reading books, and by the end of it, he finds his hand hurting with the amount of notes he’d taken.
He packs his bag silently, with Till having Mizi’s ear about something or the other. Perhaps something about a new song idea, as Till had always played around with the idea of releasing music at the start of the novel. Regardless, Ivan’s steeled himself to not bother the two anymore — narratively, him being near them was already wrong. And honestly, he hadn’t decided what to do about the main plot yet, if he wanted to leave it alone or mess with it.
Sighing, he closes his bag and squeezes past the two with a quiet “sorry, excuse me,” and he exits the classroom.
If he decides to mess with the plot, what will he even do? Mess with Luka so that he doesn’t bother Till? That’s plausible, although he doesn’t know if he can do much right now. And he also doesn’t know if it would be right. In the story, Luka obsessing over and hurting the other and Till fighting him off was important to their romance arc later on. Without the dark side of the story, they won’t be able to conclude with the lighthearted romance. And really, Ivan doesn’t want to mess with Till’s happy end. God knows the guy’s had enough misfortune. He doesn’t need Ivan to be added into the mix.
He heaves a heavy sigh. It’s like all he ever does in this world is worry.
He’s snapped out of his thoughts when he exits the building and finds himself shivering from the cold wind. That’s weird… He wore a cardigan, didn’t he?
He checks his bag to see if he stuffed it in there, and there’s no trace of it. Just great. He must’ve left it on his chair.
As if on cue, Hyunwoo appears in front of him, huffing, “I’m here… huff huff… God, my building being so far from yours is a crime… huff…”
“Who said you had to run all the way here, anyway?” Ivan rolls his eyes, offering his water bottle. “You could’ve waited by the gate.”
Taking a good swig of water, Hyunwoo lets a soft ‘pwah!’ and hands the bottle back to Ivan. “Well, what good of a secretary would I be if I didn’t pick up the young master?”
“Ha, ha, you’re so funny.” He snarks, but not without a small shiver running through his body.
“Woah, where’s your cardigan?” The other immediately asks, raising a brow. “Did you leave it behind? We should go get it before we get lunch.”
Going back in means running into Till and Mizi, and that means Mizi might make good out of her offer for coffee back then. And he would love to go with her and all, but not when Till is around, if he’s being honest. At least not until he decides what it is he wanted to do with regards to the storyline and meddling with it.
“No, no, just give me your jacket.” Ivan finally decides. He points at the denim jacket that Hyunwoo was carrying.
“Man, seriously?” He laughs, but does as he’s told. Quickly grabbing the jacket and wearing it, he finds himself immensely grateful for the fact that Hyunwoo’s body ran warm, and that he can find a reprieve in it from the harsh pre-Spring wind.
“Alright, let’s go,” Ivan nods when he’s satisfied, taking a step. However, it seemed that his lack of urgency was seen by the universe as an invitation to fuck with him.
“Ivan!” He hears Mizi call out for him. She exits the building with both Sua and Till in tow, all the while waving the knitted pink cardigan that he left behind. “Ivan, your cardigan!”
She skids to a stop right in front of him, “You forgot your cardigan! Oh… That’s Hyunwoo, right?”
The question sounds like it was directed towards the person behind him, but he can tell from Sua’s gaze that they mean the jacket on his shoulders. “Oh, uh, yeah. This is Hyunwoo.”
“Yup! I major in pol-sci. Nice to meet you guys.” He greets them all with a pleasant smile, his dimples showing.
“You look familiar,” Till tilts his head, as if trying to remember where he’d seen the other before.
“Oh, you must’ve seen my younger sister, Hyuna. I think she helped you with a music video, yeah?”
“Ah! Yeah, back when we were in high school. I didn’t know you guys were siblings.”
“Haha, yeah, small world~ She’s set to study here next year, actually.”
“That’s nice. I hope I get to work with her again soon. She’s a great actor.”
“Touching not-so-reunion and all,” Sua butts in, eyeing Ivan. “But this guy’s going to shiver off all his limbs if we stand around for longer.”
He’s almost touched that she paid that much attention to him. Unfortunately, he apparently lacks a brain to mouth filter, because he blurts out, “Noona~ I didn’t know you cared for me!”
“Geh…” She makes a face, and subtly steps behind Mizi, who giggles.
“Sua unnie looks like that, but she’s a softie at heart!” She comments, all while letting Hyunwoo take Ivan’s cardigan. “Anyway, why don’t we all go eat out? I’m starving!”
Ivan tries to subtly motion towards Hyunwoo that, as much as possible, he’d like to avoid this interaction. Now, he did say that the other was a good friend and brought him sweet comfort in a world that he’s unfamiliar with. And while this is true, Ivan did fail to mention that Hyunwoo wasn’t exactly the type to show up for Ivan’s desperate calls for help.
That is to say, he doesn’t even hesitate to look Ivan in the eyes and exclaim, “Yeah, that’ll be a lot of fun! I didn’t even know Ivan had friends from his department.”
That’s how Ivan finds himself sitting across Till, who’s glowering at him.
Sua and Mizi went to the restroom, and Hyunwoo was busy punching in their orders into the machine, so there wasn’t exactly any way to avoid the interaction. It doesn’t stop him from feeling uncomfortable, though.
Like, how can he even begin to wrap his mind around the fact that his favorite character, the character that helped him through the hardest times of his life, the character that (at one point) had been his sole purpose of living… How can he begin to wrap his mind around the fact that the very same character — Till — is sitting in front of him? And glaring at him very glaringly? And looking so good? With his piercings and rings and punk attire? And long lashes framing his angled eyes that are accentuated with his eyeliner? And—
“Stop looking at me, you creep.” Till hisses. Ivan digresses, and immediately whips his face towards the window. He’s glad that, despite choosing a fast food chain, the windows were clear of fog and he could look out into the street.
Thinking about it now, there are a lot of other college students on the street… Must be because this place is close to campus? Maybe the food isn’t very good in this place, though. There aren’t many people inside. (Not that Ivan isn’t familiar with food that can’t be described to taste like anything beyond sustenance. God knows he lived barely scraping by with those things.)
Speaking of being inside, it’s getting a bit hot. Hyunwoo’s denim jacket is a bit too thick, isn’t it?
Ivan makes a move to take the jacket off, and he’s in the process of wiggling around in the booth so that he can shimmy the sleeve off when Till speaks up again, “I don’t know what kind of trick you’re playing at but it won’t work on me.”
“Hm?” Ivan makes a noncommittal noise, still trying to maneuver in the tight seating space.
Till makes a frustrated grunt. “I know you’re trying to get me to lower my guard around you, but it won’t work. Whatever you’re doing won’t work.”
He sounds awfully wary around Ivan… He pauses to think if he truly, really remembers clearly on whether or not ML-Ivan hadn’t done anything to the MC at this point in the story. This hostile attitude has to root from something, after all. Till, as a character, was a bumbling, awkward type of kindness incarnate. He wasn’t exactly hostile to people without the person warranting that attitude from him.
But no… Ivan remembers clearly that it happened in the latter half of the second semester, right after winter break, when the two got paired up on some project or the other, that Till really caught ML-Ivan’s attention. Any interaction between the two beforehand wasn’t memorable.
At least resolved and steeled with some level of confidence that Ivan had yet to do any atrocities to this Till, he folded up the denim jacket to rest on his lap.
“I’m just trying to make some better friends,” He reasons with what he hopes is a friendly smile. “I know I wasn’t exactly part of the right crowd last sem, but I’m trying to turn my life around a little!”
The other only eyes him suspiciously, and he’s comparable to a cat like that. “There are lots of other people to do that with.” Besides me is left unsaid.
“Yep!” Ivan chirps. “It just so happened that Mizi wanted to hang out, and I can’t deny her, can I?”
Till looks disturbed by that response, and if he were a cat, his hairs would be standing up high by now. He says slowly, “Stay away from Mizi.”
“Hm? Why?” Mizi bounds up to them, scootching to sit on the same side as Till. Said man moves so that he’s pressed up on the window, making space for Sua to sit beside Mizi.
Till doesn’t make a move to answer, leaving Ivan to deal with the awkward aftermath of their conversation, “Oh, it’s nothing~ I kinda teased Till-sunbae about tickle spots, and you were brought up!”
“Till isn’t very ticklish, though,” Mizi points out with a laugh.
Thankfully, Hyunwoo came back after fucking off god-knows-where, and butts in, “Ivan here’s very ticklish!”
As if to make a point, he pokes at Ivan’s side as he sits down beside him, triggering a squeak out of the man.
Increduously, Sua laughs.
Yeah, this day’s shaping up to be quite the weird one.