Work Text:
‘’I’m speaking of sex, dear, when you and he are all alone.’’
Ilona has never been known for being clever, not to be rude but even Ilona herself knew that she wasn’t much of a smart girl. She had however a lot of experience when it came to sex, relationships and how to keep that fire burning in your sex life.
Sure, after her horrible relationship with Steven Kodaly she may have realized that she needed a better relationship, but she had learned so much from their meetings at his home. For instance, the moment she returned to work after new years eve she knew that the tension in the air had shifted to something else. Something sinister.
And it was practically screaming in her face whenever she saw Amalia, her beloved friend, and Mr. Nowack interact around the shop. They would still banter, but all hints of hate was instead replaced with longing and desire, and Ilona was sure that they must have fucked.
She pushes Arpad and Ladislav to the workroom on a late night, when the shop was closing and Georg was in Mr. Maraczek’s office working on some paperwork and Amalia had gone home earlier due to an appointment.
‘’Miss. Ritter, I really have to visit Mr. Maraczek’’ Arpad says, hurrying along to his locker and taking out his coat.
‘’I only want to place a bet with you two, since im short on money this month.’’ Ilona replies, and Ladislav raises an eyebrow at that.
‘’But won’t it be worse if you lose?’’ He muses, taking out his own coat from his locker so that he could also hurry home.
‘’I am positive I will win this one.’’ Ilona argues back with pride, and Arpad stops next to her questioningly.
‘’What is your bet about?’’ He asks her and she has to pinch his cheek.
‘’Whether or not Amalia and Georg have had sex’’ Ilona simply answers.
Immediately after she says that, Ladislav starts coughing loudly, a clear look of surprise on his face as he tries to regain himself with the help of Arpad, who was lightly smacking Ladislav’s back whilst looking quite red in the face.
‘’Miss. Ritter!’’ Arpad yells, one of the few times he has raised his voice at her, for other reasons than to get her attention ‘’That is such a-’’
‘’I'm in’’ Ladislav cuts him off after finishing his coughing fit, and Ilona grins.
‘’Alright, bet you 10 that they had sex on Christmas’’
‘’Ill do you one better, I say they had sex on the 28th, since they were both practically shining when they came to work together ’’ Ladislav drawls out the last word, as if to make his point much more convincing. It would have worked if Ilona wasn’t so sure that it must’ve happened before.
‘’But did you see them during Christmas eve? They were all over each other!’’ Ilona replies, her recalling the facts as if her life depended on it. ‘’I mean, Georg could barely keep his hands to himself!’’
‘’Yes, but knowing Georg it would take him a few days to actually muster up the courage to do something about it, since he is so shy* ’ ’
‘’Oh that’s where you’re wrong, Mr. Sipos.’’ She snarls out his name, and he frowns at her. ‘’Knowing Amalia, she would have taken him by the lapels and done him right here on Christmas eve, that is if we weren't around.** ’’
‘’Miss. Ritter! Mr. Sipos! Why are the two of you so certain that they have had … done that ?’’ Apad joins in after having stayed silent, and both Ladislav and Ilona glared at him as if he was crazy. He decides to continue before they start arguing loudly, money really does make old people ferocious. ‘’I mean, they would at least have informed us that they were in a relationship, but they haven’t even done that. Also, i’m sure they would both wait until they were in a stable relationship before doing something so… Vulgar’’ Alright, so maybe Arpad was starting to get into it as well, even if the subject at hand was an uncomfortable one to discuss.
‘’So what are you saying kid? That those two lovebirds have been wasting time circling each other?’’ Ladislav asks, struggling to wear his coat perfectly.
‘’Precisely’’ He nods sharply, and Ilona claps her hands.
‘’Alright then, boys! It’s decided. Winner gets 10 each from the losers’’ Ilona smiles widely, and so her plan to uncover the truth and win had started.
This was certainly going to get interesting.
-- -- -- -- -- -- --
Ilona was very much inspecting every single move the couple under investigation did, and she was pleased by all the subtle hints that lead her to believe she was right. She noticed how Georg would send Amalia longing looks, or how when he passed by her in the shop he would casually put his hands on her hips, and Amalia would in no way react to it. She also noted on the way Amalia would take the first chance she gets to touch or hold him, as in instead of calling out his name she would place a hand on his back, how she would fix his vest when it gets powder on it or his hair when a strand was out of its place.
And on top of that, the shop was now filled with playful banter, small arguments that would last for over an hour and would infuriate Ilona so much more than when they were having actual fights before. It was so painfully obvious that they were in love, in a relationship, going to get married in a day and had already had sex. Speaking of relationships, when she saw Amalia pull on Georg’s hand and lead him to the workroom in the corner of her view, Ilona grinned widely. Bingo.
She looks around and makes sure that she isn’t needed right now, noting how a proud Arpad was happily tending to a customer and Sipos was quietly shelving some Cold creams. It was always much more quieter after Christmas for about a month, so she knew that there would not be a rush.
Ilona walks slowly closer to the door that leads into the workroom, putting her ear against it and listening for whatever sound. She knows that the doors here at Maraczek were very thin, so you could hear a lot of what was happening behind them. It was however strangely very quiet, there was barely any sound, in fact there was none that she could hear. So maybe they were the quiet type? That would make sense, since they are at work. But there wasn’t even a sound of lips smacking against each other.
There was no way in hell they went away into the workroom, looking that suspicious and lovey dovey at each other, to fill tubes or bottles. Oh, who was Ilona kidding. They were probably sitting in there reading books, and not in any way touching each other.
Ilona groans quietly for herself and opens the door, and surely enough she was right. The couple had been sitting close to each other, but they both held books in their hands and were happily reading them, not even bothering to look up at her.
‘’Are you bloody kidding me?’’ Ilona loudly states, closing the door behind her with a smack. ‘’You two are reading books during your breaks?’’ At her loud outburst, both Georg and Amalia let out surprised yelps, Georg even dropping his book and cursing himself for losing where he was.
‘’Ilona, I thought you were starting to understand the mea--’’ Amalia starts, and Ilona gives her a harsh look that makes her back down with the sentence and look somewhat confused. Since when was Ilona able to make her refrain from finishing her sentences?
‘’You literally eye-fuck each other out there all morning and evening, then you come in to the workroom to read?!’’ She continues with her rant and both Amalia and Georg turn red at that.
‘’What? No!’’ Georg says defensively, his voice a few pitches higher than normal and panic clear in it, and on his face. ‘’Miss. Ritter what has gotten into you?’’ He shrikes and Ilona has to also give him a pointed glare. They both uncomfortably shift in their seats as Ilona rolls her eyes.
‘’Please tell me that this isn’t what you do in the bedroom’’
‘’That is highly inappropriate to discuss!’’ came from Georg as Amalia responds with ’’Why the hell do you want to know that?’’.
‘’One, this is barely as inappropriate as the things you heard from Mr. Kodaly’’ Ilona shivers at that name, disgust clear in her face ‘’ and you certainly never told him that it was inappropriate’’ Georg kind of nods at that point and looks and Amalia, mouthing ‘she’s got a point’ and Amalia lightly smacks his shoulder. ‘’And two, I am in desperate need of this win’’ Ilona finishes off, and Amalia looks slightly confused.
‘’What win?’’ She asks, and suddenly realization drawls over her face. She hides her face behind her hands, ‘’This can’t be happening’’
Georg helplessly looks at both her and Ilona ‘’Hey, don’t leave me out of this. What's happening?’’
‘’Do you remember when Arpad approached us outside the shop?’’ Amalia explains, and Ilona is now the one who’s confused. Georg however, is on the verge of becoming a tomato.
‘’No, you can't possibly mean that they have a bet on this’’ he slowly says, and Amalia slowly nods. They both look very embarrassed, and Ilona would hardly blame them.
‘’Arpad did what?’’
‘’He went up to us, his face red as his hair, and just shouted that he wishes that we haven’t had sex yet’’ Georg clarifies, and Ilona has to take a deep breath as to not go out there and scream at the young boy for being so stupid.
‘’When was this?’’ Ilona asks, her face twisting into a very strained smile.
‘’About two days ago?’’ He responds again. Damn, that was a day after the bet was made. Ilona curses that little boy, but now that the couple is on board with this, she might as well get an answer. There’s a pregnant pause, where the three just stare blankly at each other or into space. Amalia rests her head gently against Georg’s arm, and Ilona was once again unconsciously noting at Amalia’s tangibility.
‘’Then can we finish this bet off and make me win?’’
‘’I- We’re not going to answer that question!’’ Georg crosses his hands and Amalia nods along with his statement. Iloan pouts.
‘’Why not? We’re friends! Friends tell each other things like that!’’ She tries to reason, and they both shake their heads.
‘’Yes but then everybody in this shop will know the date and that's just.. Weird’’ Amalia shudders at the thought, and Ilona has to double take the last sentence. Surely, this investigation and being with Paul has made Ilona much sharper at understanding when to read between the lines.
‘’So you admit you two have had sex?’’ Ilona smirks and Amalia’s head whips up fast from laying on Georg’s arm, her eyes wide and her hand covers her mouth. She sends a distressed look at Georg, who returns it. ‘’Aha! Come on, there’s nothing wrong with having sex after the first date’’ Ilona ushers on and she sees the couple look at each other, this time for a longer period of time.
‘’Alright, fine’’ Georg raises his hands up in surrender. ‘’Miss. Balash and I have been corresponding with letters for a little over a year now, but our relationship-’’ He pauses at that, looking over at Amalia with such passion in his eyes. Amalia responds by taking his hand in hers, squeezing it gently. ‘’-began on Christmas eve’’
‘’And the first day you had sex?’’ Ilona rushed to the part, and Amalia looks down.
‘’Christmas’’
‘’YES!’’ Ilona pumps her fists up into the air, pride showing on her face and her hands immediately reaching for the door to go out and tell Ladislav and Arpad the best news she has heard in a while. Ilona could barely hear what Amalia and Georg were saying, as the moment she actually opens the door, she yells ‘’IT WAS ON CHRISTMAS!’’.
‘’Goddamnit!’’ Ladislav lets out ''Why couldn't you have waited three more days?!''