Ivan fiddled fretfully with his fingers, weaving them in and out through each other until he certainly had made a nervous mess of his large hands. He wondered if he should have knocked again. Did he have the right address? His stomach fluttered with butterflies, every wingstroke causing another wave of unrest and anxiety in his already churning stomach. Slowly, he brought his quivering hand up to the door again, eyes pressed lightly closed. His breath was held as he knocked, yet he exhaled quickly when his knuckles did not strike the hard black wood of Yao's ornate door, but rather something softer, something cuter, something with long copper hair and eyes of amber fire.

Ivan squeaked, realizing he had just knocked on Yao's head rather than the door. "Yao!" he gasped, flushed red at his blunder. He was much more embarrassable than normal right now, as he was dressed as finely as he could (a thin-fitting black jacket and neon pink skinny jeans with some galaxy vans), and was very prone to doing silly things like knocking on his date's poor face. Yao himself was dressed considerably finer than Ivan, and now Ivan felt a tad silly. He hadn't been on a date in ever, so he didn't know the dress code. Yao just looked up at him with a blank expression, only showing a change in emotion when he slowly raised a single pruned brow at Ivan, as if he hadn't been surprised in the least.

"Well, hello to you too," Yao scoffed lightly, folding his reading glasses and putting them back inside before pulling the door shut behind himself. "Thanks for that."

"I honestly didn't mean to," Ivan said quietly, walking back into the cool wintery street with his date. It was an alright season, in Ivan's opinion. It was only early winter, and only little bits of snow dusted hedges and grasses in the yards of those they passed. They headed down the footpath together, neither of them able to pick up and carry an appropriate conversation. As they turned right and continued down their path, Yao huffed softly and buckled under the pressure of silence.

"My hands are cold," he insisted, lifting one of his soft, small palms to display to Ivan. "See them? They need to be warmed up."

"It'll be warm when we get there," Ivan assured with a soft smile, bobbing his head and then blowing a puff of air up at his fringe when it poked his eyes. "Or for now, you could put them in the pockets of your cute little coat." Ivan suggested this too, pointing vaguely to the large pockets on the sides of Yao's long jacket.

"You're an idiot," Yao observed, simply snatching Ivan's hand and lacing their fingers neatly. "You've never had a boyfriend before, have you?"

Ivan tensed. How had Yao known that? Was he doing something wrong to the point where Yao would be able to determine such a thing? Ivan bit his lip and paused in his step, glancing to Yao with heavy apprehension in his pale indigo eyes. "No, I haven't."

"Well!" hmmphed Yao, cheeks rosy as he puffed them out in slight embarrassment. "I'm glad to be the first." Ivan let his breath out, and with that relieved release, took what felt like a pile of stones from atop his chest.

"I'm glad you're my first, too," Ivan said after a moment of choosing his words carefully. The rest of the walk to the café was calm and collected. Ivan quite enjoyed the feeling of holding hands, especially with sweet Yao. Yao's fingers were small, thin, and spidery, whereas Ivan's were clumsy and bulky and he dropped pencils sometimes because of his dumb chubby fingers.

They arrived at the quaint little café. The area was littered in tawny leaves fallen and forgotten amongst the gardens that surrounded it, and a very faint fall of snow could be felt in the air. It was a lovely afternoon. Yao and Ivan sat down toward the front of café building, with Yao lightly placing his bag beneath one of the circular tables. From the table's middle stemmed a large patio umbrella, creating them some shelter from the lightly raining snowflakes. "This is where I like to eat," Ivan nodded a little, glad that Yao didn't seem to be too disappointed. He was smiling, a sweet, lopsided smile that made Ivan's heart jump about in his chest.

"I expected as much," Yao laughed heartily. "You're a café person, I knew it."

"You were thinking about it?" Ivan asked, turning his head to squint at the menu on the wall inside and try to work out exactly what it said from where they were sitting. "I think you are a restaurant person."

Yao tsked. "I don't particularly mind, as long as my date is nice and the food is tasty," Yao chuckled softly. "Put on your glasses, Ivan. You can't read the menu."

"I know that!" Ivan huffed, looking away in embarrassment as he reached into his pocket and pulled out his thin glasses case. Slowly, he opened it, and retrieved his square-rimmed spectacles. After sliding them onto his large nose and blinking a little, he found his vision much clearer. Yao was three times as beautiful as he had been before. "I'd been wearing contacts all through classes today," he insisted quietly, looking up at the menu. "What would you like?"

Yao took observed the menu from their outside table, eyes flicking left and right almost like a metronome as he looked through all the choices. "It's more of a breakfast menu," he remarked softly. "But I don't mind breakfast for dinner." Ivan laughed softly, in adoration of his dear math teacher. How sweet.

"Got something in mind that you are wanting?" Ivan asked softly, tapping his fingers in an indecipherable rhythm on the table.

"Yes. I think I will have a blueberry danish and some tea." Yao nodded, smiling up at his date. Admittedly, Ivan looked lovely in the light of the setting sun, the soft pinks and oranges of the sky giving a gentle kind of glow to the pale indigo of Ivan's eyes. Yao sighed quietly, snapping back to attention when Ivan began to speak again.

"The danishes here are lovely," he breathed softly. "I will have a custard tart and some tea as well." Yao nodded slightly, and tried getting up, but felt as if he were stuck to this spot.

"Aaah…" Yao mumbled, still in a bit of a daze because of just how beautiful Ivan looked in the colorful light of the afternoon. "Your eyes are lovely," he said quietly, unable to look away. Ivan flushed red, eyes becoming very wide as he instinctively raised his hands to deny what Yao had just said. As he opened his mouth to say something flustered and embarrassed, Yao just smirk and stood up. "I'm going to go and get our food, okay?" he chuckled, before turning quickly and heading inside.

Ivan, still very red, glanced back down to the table, slowly returning his hands to his lap. He was trying not to hyperventilate simply because he was so self-conscious and flustered right now, and he was shivering lightly from the cold. When Yao returned, a pair of paper bags and two teas in paper cups in his arms, Ivan was less red, although he was still quite jittery. "Something wrong, Ivan?" Yao asked, sliding over Ivan's food and drink.

"I am fine.. Aah.. You just caught me off guard, that is all," he puffed very softly. "I'm not used to nice things being said about me.."

"Oh, really?" Yao frowned, opening the lid on his paper cup and putting in a little sugar. "Well, I could try my best, if you wanted." Ivan was silent, so Yao just started anyway.

"Your hair is cute," Yao nodded, deciding to start at the top and work his way downward. "I like the way it curls in some places, yet falls flat in others."

"I always thought that was terrible," Ivan mumbled, turning a bright shade of scarlet again. "I can never get one definite style going."

"No, no, it's lovely," Yao scoffed, tsking lightly and taking his danish out of the paper bag. "You have the most gorgeous eyes I have ever seen."

"Even without contacts?" he squeaked, incredibly embarrassed by this. He himself thought his eyes were weird and freaky, and he'd always been told so in the past. "They look dumb.."

"Are you doubting me!" huffed Yao, almost angrily shoving the danish in his mouth and taking a large bite of the pastry. Ivan was silent, so Yao continued. "I like your big dumb nose, and your little dumb ears, and your really big shoulders!" he insisted, half-spitting his food everywhere. He gulped down his mouthful, and practically chugged a portion of his tea. "I bet your body is lovely beneath your clothes!" he finished, red as a rose too.

Ivan was quiet now, subdued as he poked at his custard tart, hesitantly lifting some of the wobbly yellow filling to his mouth. "Aah.. Did I go overboard?" Yao asked, cautious and frightened that he'd said something wrong.

"No.." Ivan mumbled quietly, pouring a little of his tea onto his tart simply because he could. He began to then pick at the soggy tart again. Yao didn't question it. "I'm just.. very embarrassed.." he said quietly. "Aah…" he said quietly, lifting a piece of tart to his lips and chewing it gently.

"Alright," Yao breathed. At least he hadn't upset the man. "Well, then."

The rest of their meal was consumed in an awkward kind of silence, with Ivan unable to make eye contact with Yao again until later that evening. Ivan handed over money to Yao to pay him back for their food, and they both stood up, not another word spoken. Yao gingerly took Ivan's hand, feeling the lightly calloused skin against his own as their fingertips brushed and laced once again. They began to walk home. Ivan was still quiet as they passed through the town, and he was entirely oblivious as to where Yao was leading him. Only when he saw the large pool of blue did he realize he was standing at a lake, or perhaps a dam, full of glistening water still illuminated by the last lights of the day.

"The lake?" Ivan asked quietly, the first time he had spoken anything since the café. "Why are we here?"

"It's pretty. Come on, sit down," Yao huffed, stepping back a little and climbing up to sit upon a short brick wall that was about tall enough to reach the top of Yao's legs. Ivan, still holding loosely onto Yao's hand, joined him, watching the little lake. They sat in a park now, a small, sandy place that was empty now excepting the two teachers. It was dusk, and no children were out here, still frolicking or playing games with one another. It was just the two of them in this place; this serene environment was theirs tonight.

"See how nice it is? It gets better when the stars start to shine," Yao nodded surely, giving Ivan's hand a little squeeze as he shuffled closer to the big man. "You can see them glinting in the lake water."

"But for now, it is just dark and empty," Ivan pointed out softly, looking down as Yao's head came to rest against his shoulder. He awkwardly shifted his arm so it would be more comfortable for him. "Like a pit of nothingness."

"But just you wait," Yao huffed. "It will shine brightly soon enough!"

"It will actually reflect light, not shine by itself," Ivan remarked quietly.

"It will reflect light soon enough!"

Another silence befell them, but Yao decided he wasn't going to let this one sever their conversation for the night. After a little while of thought and pause, he spoke up. "Today was a nice date," he nodded, smiling brightly up at Ivan. The moon was starting to rise now, casting a slight white glow over the streets. Ivan's pale cheeks seemed to glow in this illumination, and Yao giggled softly. "You look like a ghost."

"Even though we didn't talk much?" Ivan said quietly. "I suppose I do," he mumbled, looking down at his pale hands within Yao's. "Am I a scary ghost?" he asked, softly.

"No, you're not. You're a lovely ghost. I wouldn't mind doing this again sometime."

Ivan weakly bowed his head, before turning and looking up at Yao, sneaking a glance at Yao's lovely amber eyes, this kind of gold turned light brown in the evening light. They were beautiful, just as Yao was, with his petite features and smooth olive skin. Just as quickly as their eyes had met, Ivan's darted away again, fearing that eye contact would make things awkward between them. "Hey, look at me again," Yao said quietly, leaning off of Ivan's shoulder and reaching up to put his hand on Ivan's cheek. With his help, Ivan's head was turned back to face Yao, quivering lightly and frightened as he was. "Tell me, what is the answer to the equation, you plus me?"

Ivan was speechless, mouth opening and closing as if he were a fish. "You're the math teacher," he blabbered quietly, amazed he could even speak that much while looking into Yao's eyes. "You tell me."

"You plus me equals.." he mumbled, turning Ivan's head a little more and starting to lean in. "It equals another date, Ivan," he smiled, lips centimeters from Ivan's. "Tell me the distance between our faces."

"I don't have a ruler," Ivan answered softly, trying to calm down, knowing Yao was going to kiss him soon.

"Come borrow one some time," Yao smiled smugly, voice becoming soft and even a little husky as he neared Ivan even more. "Okay?" Ivan meekly nodded his head.

Ivan's eyes shot wide when their lips finally met, and he took only a moment to look at Yao's perfect face before closing his eyes too as he knew he was supposed to. Yao's lips were soft and sweet, and he still tasted a little like blueberries from the danish. Sweet, tender, and beautiful were the words best used to describe Yao's kiss. Ivan became flustered and ran out of breath quickly, as that had been his very first kiss, ever. He simply looked at Yao once he had pulled away, very red and very dazed. Lovestruck, perhaps?

"That was lovely," smiled Yao, shuffling back close to Ivan and resting his head upon the larger man's shoulder again. "I think I'm going to like being your boyfriend."

"B-boyfriend?.." Ivan wheezed. "Aaah… I'm so happy, I don't even know what to say?!" he cried softly, smiling stupidly down at Yao.

"Yeah, boyfriend." Yao smiled, closing his eyes and lifting Ivan's hand to wrap the man's arm around him. "You don't need to say anything for now. Just be here with me." And Ivan did just that.

For that night, they sat there, Ivan simply thinking about how warm and calm Yao made him feel, and Yao stuck up on how adorable Ivan was with his cute chubby cheeks and those big pudgy fingers. He was going to be a lovely boyfriend, Yao could just tell. And Ivan would certainly do his best to make sure Yao was happy, to make sure they were a loving couple. Everything was right in the world for this moment, and Ivan thought himself an equation. It seemed that he plus Yao equaled happiness of the highest degree.

i tried using more descriptive language \o/