Till knew his place.

He was the freak. The emo kid. The one teachers overlooked and students mocked behind his back—or worse, to his face. He stopped caring a long time ago.

Until Ivan started looking at him.

It wasn’t just curiosity. Till could feel the way Ivan lingered in the halls, how his eyes followed him in class, how his voice got quieter around him. And one day, Ivan showed up behind the gym, all swagger and confusion.

Till pretended not to care. He knew Ivan’s type—jocks who only looked when no one else was watching. But Ivan kept coming back.

And that scared Till.

Because Ivan wasn’t just playing around. He meant it, even if he didn’t understand it yet. The way he listened when Till talked about music. The way his hand brushed just a little too close. The way he flinched whenever someone said something homophobic in the locker room and tried to laugh it off.

Till had been down this road before. One-sided crushes. Secret stares. Guys who swore it wasn’t “like that.”

So when Ivan disappeared—stopped texting, stopped showing up—Till told himself he was an idiot for hoping.

Then one night, Ivan found him under the bleachers.

He looked wrecked. Scared. Beautiful in a way Till wished he could forget.

“You’re avoiding me,” Till said, trying to sound cold.

Ivan fumbled for words. Till waited. He didn’t need the apology—he needed the truth.