Chapter Text
Ivan arrived at Till's apartment after what seemed like an eternity. In reality, he'd been gone so long that the sun was only a few hours away from setting again.
During that time, Hyuna and Luka continued to care for Till as best as they could, and he eventually woke up.
And right now, the weirdest thing the three of them would ever see in their lives was happening.
Ivan announced his arrival as he walked towards Till's room, but stopped dead in his tracks when he heard Hyuna and Luka's voices.
“Till, wait!” It was Hyuna.
“You can't get up yet, let him come here instead.” It was Luka.
However, it seemed that this had not convinced Till, as he ran out of the room as best he could, straight towards Ivan.
Of course, just like Luka had said, Till wasn't in any condition to get up even after getting sick. He didn't have enough strength.
Till tripped over his own feet just before reaching Ivan, colliding with him rather roughly. Still, Ivan could feel through his clothes how tightly Till was clinging to him, and not exactly to try to keep himself from falling completely to the ground.
“Come on, I told you you couldn't get up..” Luka scolded him.
He tried to pull him away from Ivan, but he seemed like a little boy clinging to his mother the first time he was dropped off at kindergarten. At least that's how Ivan and Luka could compare it.
“Let me go!” Till shouted, though not as loudly as he normally would.
However, Luka ignored him and kept trying.
“Luka, it's okay,” Ivan assured, holding Till in a hug.
Only in this way did Luka stop trying to separate him from Ivan.
It wasn't that he didn't want them together, but rather that he was worried about Till, since he wasn't in any condition to get out of bed on his own. He just sighed at that.
Luka and Hyuna looked at each other and decided they should give them some space, so they went back to the bedroom while Ivan and Till stayed in the living room.
“Till? How are you feeling?” Ivan whispered, loud enough for Till to hear.
“...Who knows.” It was a very vague answer, so Ivan was confused.
Fortunately, it had all been a dream, but every scene was vivid in his mind. He'd rather ignore the fact that he was living someone else's life than accept that he didn't belong. If he did, he feared he'd break even more.
The only important thing now was that Ivan was with him.
As soon as he woke up, he'd been confused for a while, until he remembered where he was. He looked around for Ivan, and when he couldn't find him, he'd tried to get out of bed just like he had just done, but at that time Hyuna and Luka had actually caught him.
And even though they assured him that Ivan would return, Till didn't know if he could trust their words. Unfortunately, both were people he hadn't fully known in his own reality, and one of them had a reputation built on lies there, so Till couldn't even consider his opinion.
Since he didn't have enough strength to free himself from them at that moment, he decided to wait a little longer. And eventually, Ivan arrived. At least that made him trust the other two's words a little more.
What brought him out of his thoughts was Ivan's hand on his forehead.
“Your fever is gone, that's good.” Ivan smiled at him.
Great. He was just discovering he had a soft spot for that smile.
“Where did you go?” Till asked, though he was hiding his face against Ivan's shoulder.
“Oh, I went to see the director. Fortunately, they were able to arrange an alternative so you wouldn't have to record Round 6 yet. So you don't have to worry about that anymore, Till.”
Ivan began to stroke Till's hair slowly, being attentive in case the other expressed any displeasure at the action.
“Idiot,” Till blurted out.
“Huh?” Ivan was confused.
“Seriously, why do you keep thinking about me when all I do is make you suffer?” He whispered.
Ivan shook his head as he continued to shower him with affection.
“You're the one who seems to have suffered more than me. It's only fair that I think of you when you can't even think of yourself right now.”
Suffering is a two-way street. No one can hurt anyone without hurting themselves too. That was something Ivan understood.
He picked Till up and carried him to the sofa. Only then did he get Till to move slightly away from him, finally seeing his face.
He looked tired. And Ivan couldn't help but run his hands over his cheeks. A gesture he knew would comfort Till, even a little.
“You're still an idiot...” Even though he said that, there was a slight smile on Till's face.
“That's what they said, basically.”
Hyuna, Luka, and Till were sitting in the living room while Ivan stood in front of them, at a considerable distance.
After everything had happened, Hyuna and Luka finally showed up, and Ivan was quick to tell them what the directors had decided.
“A trip?” Luka asked.
“That's a great idea! It would really help everyone clear their minds a little, especially Till,” Hyuna commented.
Till didn't seem particularly excited or thrilled by the idea. In fact, he suspected they were trying to kidnap him for some reason.
Before Alien Stage, during the time Till had to live full-time with Urak, it hadn't been uncommon for the occasional alien to try to kidnap him, even though his visuals were poor. However, Till considered himself smart enough to not to have fallen into any traps during that time.
It wasn't that he preferred his owner, but he couldn't say whoever kidnapped him would be better than him. It was doubtful, and Urak tended to leave him abandoned most of the time if he wasn't interested in showing him off.
But back to the topic.
“How do I know this isn't a trap?” Till spoke, one of his hands in the air as if he was asking permission to speak.
“Why would it be a trap? All of this is being done for your well-being. I don't see why it would be any kind of trap,” Luka replied.
Surprisingly, Till didn't answer in a bad way, but with the usual caution with which he had asked the question before.
“Because I find it suspicious that only the actors and "some" others go on this trip. I can accept the blogging part because it's supposed to be, and I believe it's, my job.”
“Get to the point.”
“I don't want to go with you.”
Everyone fell silent at that.
No one had any idea what one thing had to do with the other, but apparently Till couldn't hold back from throwing a passive agressive comment at Luka any longer.
“I thought you two would start getting along after what happened,” Ivan said, trying to keep a calm expression and not laugh.
“I tried to get them to get along, but Till's distrust of Luka and Luka's bounce back at Till's comments aren't a good combination.” Hyuna was also trying not to burst out laughing, although she did have a small smile on her face.
Luka's "bounce" meant he couldn't help but respond in kind to anyone who used a rude or aggressive tone toward him. Strangely, it also made itself present with the specific gesture Till loved to use against the Aliens.
Ivan coughed to hide the laughter that threatened to burst out once and for all.
“Till, if you're really unsure about this, I can also ask the minis to join us on the trip. Having your brother around might make you feel a little more secure in an unfamiliar place.”
“If you put it that way...” Till seemed to think about it.
He didn't know if he would feel safer or more worried if his brother or any of the other minis went with them.
“You can think about it, but the trip itself can't be canceled. Otherwise, you'll have to start filming Round 6 first thing tomorrow morning to make up for the scenes you didn't film today, even if you were sick,” Luka said, though it sounded more like a threat.
Hyuna had to put her hand on Luka's head to calm him down. She could tell he still hadn't gotten over Till's "I don't want to go with you."
Till seemed to think about it, but in the end, he didn't really have much choice. So he just nodded in agreement with what Ivan had said.
“Then everything's settled. The director might be in touch with them, but Hyuna, could you confirm with Mizi and Sua too?” Ivan asked.
“No problem, Ivany.” With that, she took out her phone to text them both.
The nickname did not go unnoticed by Till.
“Ivany?”
Hyuna looked up at him, smiling.
“It's my nickname for him. Mizi sometimes calls him Navi, and Hyun-Woo sometimes calls him Ivi. I wanted to have a special name for him too.” She looked back at her phone. “After all, Ivan is really a nice person to everyone.”
Hyuna spoke with affection, and although her words didn't offend anyone, Till's mind was an expert at distorting reality.
Again, an unpleasant feeling, which Till did not want to accept, appeared.
“Ivan, Ivany, Navi, Ivi.” Till repeated in a whisper. “Ah, it's unpleasant,” he blurted out without explanation.
He hadn't been referring to the names, but rather to the growing feeling inside him. But this was one of those times where he didn't mean what he said and ended up saying something he didn't mean.
Everyone fell silent again, now out of discomfort.
What broke it was the sound of Hyuna's phone receiving a message.
“Oh, Mizi says she knows and can't wait to see us all together again...”
It was really uncomfortable.
Ivan and Till were having dinner. It was late, so Luka and Hyuna didn't want to stay any longer, and they left shortly before nightfall.
Till had slowly realized his mistake when not even Hyuna could save the conversation from that awkward silence. Now he felt guilty.
“I didn't mean it like that. I didn't mean the nicknames. Honestly.” He said, looking down at his food.
Instead of letting what Till had said go, he decided to look into it.
“What did you mean then?”
“I just...” He didn't want to admit it, but he didn't want to lie to him. “Sometimes, there's a very unpleasant feeling inside me when others... talk about you, as if they knew you more or better than I do.”
It was true that everyone knew Ivan better than he did in that reality, but he couldn't shake the feeling anyway.
Ivan understood what he meant when he said it was "unpleasant" after mentioning the names, and above all, he understood that Till could be jealous of others without realizing it.
“I see. But if it helps, Till, remember that there's a me only you know, and no one knows him better than you. He's still a part of me even if I don't have those memories.”
‘He's still a part of me.’
Yes, maybe that was it.
Maybe Till was also a part of himself that for some reason ended up in the wrong reality.