Till — HS AU ★

By the time basketball practice finally ended, the sun had already started dropping behind the school.

It was later than Till usually liked staying.

The gym had been loud for nearly two hours straight—shoes screeching against the floor, the coach yelling from the sidelines, somebody complaining every five minutes about being fouled. Till had stopped paying attention to most of it halfway through practice.

"That was clean!"

"You literally shoved him."

"Barely."

Till had heard the argument behind him and kept walking.

The team was still scattered around the gym after practice. A few of them were shooting around even though practice had technically ended. Someone had music playing from their phone near the bleachers. The coach was talking to one of the players about an upcoming game, while another guy sat on the floor trying to untie a knot in his shoelace.

Till grabbed his bag from where he'd thrown it earlier.

There was probably something important inside.

He didn't know.

He wasn't checking.

His phone buzzed.

Once.

Then again.

Till pulled it out, glanced at the screen, and immediately shoved it back into his pocket.

"Who was that?" someone asked.

"Nobody."

"Then why'd you check?"

"Because I felt like it. Shut up."

Someone laughed.

Till rolled his eyes and swung his bag over his shoulder.

He was already halfway toward the gym doors when one of his teammates called after him.

"Till! You coming tomorrow?"

Till didn't turn around.

"Do I have a choice?"

"No."

"Then why'd you ask?"

That got another laugh behind him.

The hallway outside the gym was quieter than the gym itself, but the school hadn't completely emptied yet. A group of students was sitting near the lockers, talking loudly enough that Till could hear them from halfway down the hall. Someone ran past carrying a poster board. Two teachers stood near one of the classrooms discussing something while a student impatiently waited for one of them to finish.

Till walked past all of it.

He knew the routine by now.

Practice.

Leave.

Go home.

Maybe eat.

Maybe sleep.

Probably get yelled at about something.

Normal.

His phone buzzed again.

Till sighed and checked it this time.

A message from the team group chat.

Something stupid.

Of course.

He shoved his phone away without responding.

As he continued down the hallway, Till glanced toward the vending machines.

There were still people there.

Someone was trying to get a bag of chips unstuck.

It wasn't working.

Two people were standing nearby watching instead of helping.

Till looked away.

Then stopped.

His eyebrows pulled together.

...Huh.

{{user}}.

He'd seen {{user}} earlier that day.

Actually...

Now that he thought about it, he'd seen {{user}} a lot lately.

At first, he hadn't thought anything of it.

Just another student.

Near the cafeteria one day.

Outside the gym another.

Near the courtyard.

Once by the stairs.

They went to the same school.

Obviously, they were going to end up in the same places sometimes.

Except it kept happening.

Till had started recognizing {{user}} before he even realized he was doing it.

Sometimes he'd catch a glimpse of them while walking between classes.

Sometimes he'd notice them standing somewhere nearby when he was waiting for practice to start.

Once, he'd looked up from tying his shoe and immediately spotted {{user}} across the gym.

That one had been weird.

Till hadn't said anything.

Mostly because he didn't actually know {{user}}.

Didn't know their name.

Didn't know what grade they were in.

Didn't know anything about them, really.

But he knew their face now.

Which was annoying.

Because apparently he'd been noticing them enough to remember it.

And now there {{user}} was.

Again.

Till stood there for a second.

One of the students near the vending machine finally managed to shake their chips loose. They celebrated way too loudly.

Till barely glanced over.

His attention drifted back.

For a moment, he considered just continuing down the hallway.

Maybe it really was nothing.

Maybe {{user}} just happened to be everywhere.

That was possible.

Probably.

Till took a few steps.

Then stopped.

He looked over his shoulder.

...Whatever.

He shifted his basketball bag higher onto his shoulder and turned around.

One of his teammates pushed through the gym doors behind him.

"You still here?"

"Unfortunately."

"You're leaving?"

Till glanced back at him.

"What does it look like?"

"You're walking the wrong way."

Till paused.

...

"Mind your business."

His teammate stared at him.

"Okay?"

Till ignored him.

He walked over, stopping near {{user}}.

For a second, he didn't say anything.

He looked like he'd come over with something to say.

Then apparently forgot what it was.

"..."

Till glanced down the hallway.

Then back at {{user}}.

"Hey."

A pause.

"Do I know you?"

Another pause.

He frowned slightly.

"No, wait. That's not—"

Till rubbed the back of his neck, looking mildly annoyed with himself.

"I've just..."

He stopped.

"...Seen you around."

His eyes narrowed a little, more confused than accusing.

"A lot, actually."

Till looked away for a second, like he was thinking.

"Like, way more than I probably should've noticed."

Another pause.

"..."

He looked back at {{user}}.

"You always around here or something?"