The Maestro | RusAme |

Fifteen

The moment that Roderich had ended the call with Ivan, he was calling Gilbert, knowing he didn't have the day shift that day.

"Hello?"

Roderich answered back. "Hey, Gilbert? I have some new intel."

"What is it?" Gilbert asked, with a shit-eating grin on his face.

"Yan's got a company party on Wednesday. So if you could, would you maybe, uh, follow her around? Is it enough in advance that you could do it for us?"

Gilbert cackled maniacally, "Kessese! I wouldn't care if I didn't know ahead of time. I would love to do it! I would be perfect for the job..."

"Good, because I wouldn't have given you the option, you sly fox. Now, I'm going to ask you to relay this information to Amelia." Roderich instructed him.

"Ja?"

He thought a moment and then filled Gil in. "Apparently, Ivan's running all of Yan's errands beforehand. He's also at the house alone most of the time, and Yan works 'overtime' more often than not."

"Is that all?" Gilbert yawned.

Roderich sighed, rolling his eyes. "Yes, your awesomeness. Now note that and let Amelia know. I'll talk to you later."

"Auf wiedersehen." He said as he hung up.

Gilbert felt flattered, whispering to himself, "'Your awesomeness'... Hehe, that's me..." He pushed his hair back from his face, looking over to mirror on the wall in the livingroom and winking at himself.

Just as he approached the mirror to fix his hair, Amelia walked in the door looking quite content.

"Hey, Gil." She flashed a smile at him.

He nonchalantly dropped his hand to his side, pretending that he wasn't just blowing a kiss to himself in the mirror. "Oh, hey there Frau. I have a message to relay to you from Roderich."

She laughed, "Yeah, what is it?"

"Ivan is running all of Yan's errands and spends most of his time alone at their house while Yan works overtime. What a pushover, hehe..." He trailed off. "Just joking, by the way." He added quickly before continuing. "But all jokes aside, he may as well be a housewife, ya know?"

Amelia shook her head, knowing how easily influenced he was. "Poor Ivan...  Important information, though. Thanks, Gilbert." She walked over to him, hugging him from the side.

"No need to thank me, Frau. Because for all of this, you can cook tonight."

-∆-

Speaking of food, just when Ivan was done with housework, Yan got home.

"Hey Iwan! Are you home?" She set her purse down on the coat rack next to the door, seeing that he was laying in the livingroom on his phone.

"Hey, Yan," He put his phone down, sitting up, "Do you still have stuff to do?"

She hesitated, "Well, uh, I don't have any work I have to get done immediately, no. Why?"

"I wanted to go out for dinner, but I did not know if you were going to have something to do..." He trailed off, surprised.

She pushed a loose, framing piece of hair behind her ear. "Okay, then let's go out. I want something American." She said, a small smile on her face.

He nodded, still surprised she didn't have anything to do. And surprised she said she wanted to spend time with him, for the first time in weeks. "Okay, well, let's get ready and go."

Yan changed out of her office clothes, wearing a bell sleeve with cigarette pants.

Ivan dawned the scarf again, with a knit sweater and jeans. He could feel it getting chilly again, as it was nearing October.

Yan didn't ask why he felt the need for it again, but it was probably since he wasn't wearing a higher collar. They made their way to an older diner, and ate silently with each other.

Although Ivan thought it was slightly tense, he appreciated Yan sitting across from him, not hidden behind a computer screen or hidden in her office.

She felt that it was fine, knowing she hadn't eaten out in a while, at least just with Ivan.

"I forgot my card. Do you have yours, Iwan?" She asked, looking in her purse

He sighed internally, feeling his pockets. "Yes."

They didn't speak another word at dinner, except to the server. But when they got in the car, Yan spoke again.

"Hey, Iwan?"

Ivan started to pull out of the small parking lot in front of the diner, and replied. "Yes Yan?"

"I'm sorry we don't get to spend more time with each other, this was nice." She said uneasily.

Ivan smiled a timid smile at her. "There's nothing to apologize for, you do so much for us by going into work everyday."

Yan sighed, relieved. "You're the best... You know, I think I might get promoted soon, so I should have more time off in the future. But I might have to sacrifice my free time for the next couple weeks before that happens. Would you be okay with that?" She asked him.

Ivan answered supportively. "Yes. If you think you can do it, it is worth sacrificing some time if it means you will get more out of it." Underneath his loving demeanor, he doubted this.

They had a more peaceful silence for the rest of the car ride, and they were both slightly tired. So they spent some time washing themselves up and brushing their teeth so they could curl up in bed.

Ivan was glad they could do this like they used to, so before he fell asleep, he told her thank you and the went to sleep. He didn't see her in bed the next morning.